Importance

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Abstract

Apparatus for enhancing the interactivity of a consumer electronic product in the home. The invented apparatus includes an electronic product typically located in a user's home, e.g. a television (TV), equipped with an input/output (I/O) port that permits an external device to be operatively connected thereto for interacting with the TV, wherein the external device receives and optionally transmits user information over an existing paging network. The external device may itself be a pager, or it may be any device capable of receiving useful user information from a remote source and formatting it for porting to a memory buffer within the home electronic product via the I/O port. In response to receipt of such information and an appropriate command, the electronic product such as a TV may display the information in a window created within the TV screen or may overlay the information in such manner that it is visible to the TV viewer without interrupting regular broadcast or cable TV reception. Information received from the remote source may include weather warnings, sports scores, stock exchanges, news reports or other information. Preferably, the electronic product is a TV, the embedded microprocessor and memory of which are programmed with a soft ICAP emulator that establishes a handshake and protocol with the I/O port and is responsive to data and commands that are received thereat from an external device. Preferably also, the external device includes a programmed microcontroller or processor emulating the ICAP protocol and capable of receiving information from a remote source such as the paging network, establishing a handshake with the TV's emulator software, conveying data into the TV's memory and issuing display or other commands to the TV based in part upon user inputs or programmed preferences, etc.

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First Claim