Method and apparatus for digital serial scanning with hierarchical and relational access
Patent 4429385 Issued on January 31, 1984. Estimated Expiration Date: 
December 31, 2001. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.
December 31, 2001. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.Patent References 3214736 3827026 3840811 3860745 3927250 Real time conversational student response teaching apparatus Data recording with high speed search capability Apparatus for control and data transfer between a serial data transmission medium and a plurality of devices Pictorial information retrieval system Piggy back row grabbing system InventorsAssigneeApplicationNo. 06/336224 filed on 12/31/1981US Classes:705/30, Accounting340/825.52, Addressing725/105, VIDEO DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM WITH UPSTREAM COMMUNICATION725/131Receiver (e.g., set-top box)ExaminersPrimary: Brigance, Gerald L.Attorney, Agent or FirmInternational ClassG06F 17/30 (20060101)AbstractDigitally encoded data such as classified advertising and other data bases of similarly related messages are broadcast on a serial-type digital data transmission system. Each message is preceded by a headnote, structured so that upon reception, the receiver can select messages based upon a combination of hierarchical and relational views of the message data, without any interaction whatsoever with the broadcast system."Hierarchical access" means that messages are considered in categories and sub-categories. "Relational access" means that within sub-categories access is possible by a combination of attributes or keywords (i.e. using "and", "or", and "not" to combine multiple key phrases).We call the invention ReQueSt-DB. The name is derived from "Relational Queries on Sequential Data Bases". ReQueSt-DB allows rapid and facile access to one-way, cyclically broadcast, bit serial, sequential data bases consisting of (possibly) many thousands of messages with high selectivity.In the content of a particular broadcast data base (i.e. one in which part of the data base is classified advertising), a ReQueSt-DB query might be the logical equivalent of "Show me on my television screen the set of classified, real estate ads which describe houses for sale in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, which are in either Allentown or Bethlehem but not in Easton, and that have 3 or more bedrooms and have central air conditioning and may or may not have a family room and are priced between $60,000 and $100,000".Other References
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