Importance

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Abstract

An IPPV technique is provided for a cable system having one-way addressable converters. Each of several central offices in a metropolitan area will provide ANI information representing the cable subscriber's phone number and a code representing the cable event to be viewed or cancelled. The data is sent asynchronously to a respective telephone communication unit located at the central office. This telephone communication unit (TCU) does some buffering, eliminates unnecessary data, and sends data synchronously to a telepone communication controller (TCC) located at the cable headend station. The TCC will acknowledge the data. There will be several TCCs located at the cable headend station corresponding to the several central offices who may give telephone service to the cable operator's subscribers. All of these TCCs at the headend station are coupled through a multiplexer to a system controller. Each TCC provides intermediate processing which converts the subscriber's telephone number into binary. The multiplexer provides buffering, flow control, and arbitration among various TCCs. The multiplexer adapts to data flow conditions. The system controller receives data from each subscriber, locates a corresponding home terminal unit address, examines the password and other information, and maps the two digit program identification which was entered by the subscriber into an authorization code. It then authorizes the home terminal units in accordance with the IPPV requests by transmitting the subscriber's cable address and a new authorization code in the vertical blanking interval, generates the commercial transaction, and downloads the transaction to a billing system.

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First Claim