| abstract |
A Web-based television system for enabling an operator to access and display HTML-encoded documents located on the WWW. The system comprises one or more Internet information servers, an Internet terminal unit, and television set having a wireless remote control device and an audio-visual monitor. The Internet information servers store a plurality of HTML-encoded documents at a plurality of storage locations specified by a plurality of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). The Internet terminal unit is operably connected to the infrastructure of the Internet and embodies a GUI-based Internet browser program, supporting the TCP/IP networking protocol. The television set is operably connected to the Internet terminal unit. The wireless remote control device includes a bar code symbol reader for reading bar code symbols, and an IR-based communication circuit for establishing a wireless communication link with the Internet terminal unit. A WWW-site guide is provided to television viewers. On the guide, a plurality of bar code symbols are preprinted along with a plurality of Web-site descriptions. Each preprinted bar code symbol is encoded with information related to one of the plurality of URLs. The bar code symbol reader is programmed for reading the bar code symbols in the WWW-site guide. In response to reading each bar code symbol, the bar code symbol reader produces information related to one of the URLs, and this information is transmitted, over the wireless information communication link, to the Internet terminal unit. Thereupon, the GUI-based Internet browser uses the TCP/IP networking standard and the produced information to automatically access the HTML-encoded document specified by the related URL, and automatically display the accessed HTML-encoded document on the audio-visual monitor of the television set, for viewing purposes. |