VIDEOTE
`
`VIDEOTE
`
`VIDEOTE
`
`IDEOT
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`VIDEOTEX
`
`the new
`television I telephone
`information services
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`COMPUTING SCIENCES SERIES
`Editor: S. j. Orebi Conn
`
`VIDEOTEX
`
`the new
`television I telephone
`information services
`
`ROGER WOOLFE
`Butler Cox & Partners Limited
`London
`
`LONDON · PHILADELPHIA· RHEINE
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`Heyden & Son Ltd, Spectrum House, Hillview Gardens, London NW 4 2jQ, UK
`Heyden & Son Inc., 247 South 41st Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
`Heyden & Son GmbH, Miinsterstrasse 22, 4440 Rheine, West Germany
`
`British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
`Woolfe, Roger
`Videotex.
`1. Viewdata (Data transmisssion system)
`I. Title
`J4S.ss'4
`
`so--4u·;ss
`
`TK1sos
`
`© Heyden & Son Ltd, 1980
`
`All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
`system, or
`transmitted,
`in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
`photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Heyden & Son Ltd.
`
`Typeset in Great Britain by Computacomp (UK) Ltd, Fort William, Scotland
`Printed in Great Britain by Heffers Printers Ltd, Cambridge
`
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`

`
`CONTENTS
`
`Foreword
`
`Preface
`
`Acknowledgements
`
`Part 1
`
`VIDEOTEX SERVICES
`The fundamentals
`
`Chapter 1
`
`Videotex Information Services
`
`What videotex is
`What videotex is for
`Service providers and the marketplace
`Competing and complementary systems
`Worldwide activity
`
`Chapter 2
`
`System Components
`
`Service centres and database arrangements
`Transmission networks
`Videotex terminals
`Displaying characters and graphics
`Character sets and codes
`
`v
`
`lX
`
`Xl
`
`Xlll
`
`3
`
`3
`6
`IO
`I I
`I3
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`I6
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`I6
`20
`23
`26
`32
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`CONTENTS
`
`Chapter 3
`
`Participants in the Supply of a Publicly Available
`Service
`
`System operators and the PTTs
`The information providers
`The- TV, equipment and software industries
`lnvestm.ent and returns
`
`Chapter 4
`
`The Marketplace
`
`The residential marketplace
`The business marketplace
`Market penetration
`
`Part 2
`
`BRITAIN'S PRESTEL
`The iirst large-scale publicly available videotex
`service
`
`Chapter 5
`
`Using Prestel
`
`Finding infornution with Prestel
`Becoming a Prestel user
`
`Chapter 6
`
`Development of Prestel up to the Early Public Service
`
`Origins and early trials
`Strategy for mass nurket creation
`The Test Service
`Roles of the participants
`Start of the public service
`
`Chapter 7
`
`Prestel's Information Retrieval Service
`
`Structure of the database
`Content of the database
`
`Vl
`
`40
`42
`46
`47
`
`51
`
`5 I
`56
`59
`
`63
`
`63
`68
`
`73
`
`73
`75
`76
`78
`So
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`Sr
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`Sr
`83
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`Response frames
`Publishing on Prestel
`
`Chapter 8
`
`Prestel System Components
`
`System architecture
`Service centres and computers
`Prestel software
`Terminals
`
`Chapter 9
`
`Prestel Costs and Revenues
`
`Revenue flows
`Costs and revenues for service providers
`User session costs
`Service investment
`
`Chapter 10
`
`Development Plans and Prospects
`
`Short term expansion plans
`New Prestel services
`Network and terminal developments
`Future of Prestel
`
`Part 3
`
`WORLDWIDE VIDEOTEX
`DEVELOPMENTS
`Trials and service plans
`
`Chapter 11
`
`Developments in Europe
`
`Widespread interest in Europe
`France's Teletel and electronic directory
`West Germany's Bildschirmtext
`Holland's Viewdata
`Other European countries
`Private and closed user group systems
`
`CONTENTS
`
`94
`
`94
`95
`96
`97
`
`I03
`
`I03
`105
`107
`I08
`
`IIO
`
`IIO
`II2
`II5
`II7
`
`I2I
`
`I2I
`125
`I 29
`133
`135
`139
`
`Vll
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`CONTENTS
`
`Chapter 12
`
`Developments in the USA
`
`The regulatory environment
`Proliferating private sector plans
`
`Chapter 13
`
`Developments in Canada
`
`The regulatory envirom11ent
`Proliferating plans for Telidon videotex
`
`Chapter 14
`
`Developments in Japan
`
`Telephone-based videotex
`Two-way cable trials
`
`Chapter 15
`
`Concluding Comments
`
`Glossary of Terms
`
`142
`
`142
`145
`
`152
`
`I 52
`I 54
`
`157
`
`I 57
`r6o
`
`162
`
`r6s
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`FOREWORD
`
`Computing Science has now progressed so far that it is no longer the exclusive
`preserve of the research specialist but extends into everyday life, from the
`microchip which controls the modern washing machine to a company's accounts
`or word-processing operations. The width, scope and impact of the subject will
`continue to expand during the 1980s and the purpose of this series is to chart the
`changes with a set of monographs and other extended works which will enable
`the reader to understand the effects and the potential of any key features and
`exciting developments in the fteld.
`The level has been chosen to appeal to both the seasoned data processing
`professional who wishes to keep abreast of his subject, and to the informed
`layman such as the line manager, who is likely to be the end user of commercial
`computer systems and who wishes to appreciate the possible beneftts and
`disadvantages in his work and even, nowadays, in his leisure activites.
`This book describes the world of videotex (until recently called viewdata)
`systems, which is the result of linking domestic televisions to remote computers
`using the normal telephone network, and which provides a whole new method of
`information communication. Work in this fteld was effectively pioneered by the
`British Post Offtce which has now implemented the ftrst large-scale public
`service under
`the name Prestel; many other countries are, however,
`experimenting with the idea and this book describes the beneftts to both the
`private customer and the commercial user, and the economics of a videotex
`service, and then goes on to describe the worldwide plans of the national post
`offices.
`The author is one of few people who are qualified to comment not only on' the
`UK service but also on the worldwide developments, as much of his work during
`the last few years has been concentrated on monitoring closely the experiments,
`problems, failures and successes of the various potential service suppliers. Here
`for the ftrst time is a detailed overview of the state of the videotex art at the start
`of the '8os.
`
`May 1980
`
`S. J. Orebi Gann
`
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`PREFACE
`
`Videotex-or viewdata as it is also known-is the name of a new kind of online
`information service able to use adapted television receivers and suitable for use
`commercially or in the home.
`It is already emerging as a worldwide phenomenon. In Britain, where the idea
`originated, the Post Office's Prestel version of videotex is already a publicly
`available service. Following the publicity which has surrounded its launch,
`Prestel is becoming increasingly visible to the man-in-the-street as well as to
`users in a variety of business sectors who are attracted by its ease of use and
`relatively low cost. Other businesses are developing their own private versions of
`the same basic idea.
`Elsewhere in Europe many of the PTTs (state telecommunications authorities
`similar to Britain's Post Office) are actively developing publicly available
`services. They come under a variety of names: Bildschirmtext in West Germany,
`Viditel in Holland, Data Vision in Sweden, Telset in Finland. In France there are
`particularly ambitious plans for videotex developments using names including
`Antiope, Teletel and the Electronic Directory project.
`In the USA, private sector videotex plans and trials are proliferating: they have
`been announced by AT&T, Aregon, GTE, Knight-Ridder, OCLC and others. In
`Canada, almost universal allegiance to Telidon videotex technology is
`the
`common fea.ture of trials announced by Alberta General Telephone, Bell
`Telephone, Manitoba Telephone System and others. And in Japan, the state
`telecommunications authority is testing a service called Captain with special
`technical features for handling the language.
`The trials and service plans are marked both by similarities and differences. All
`share the common aim of easy use, costs appropriate for the mass market, and a
`range of attractive services. But the distinctions are significant; they include
`differences in the industries involved, in target market sectors, in speciftc
`applications, in market entry strategies, in regulatory environments and in
`technical features.
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`PREFACE
`
`Now is a particularly interesting time in the history of videotex developments.
`The ftrst few years of the I 98os will see videotex change from speculation and
`experiment to establishment as an itTlportam new medimTl in the residential and
`business marketplaces. From the foundations laid in these early years will spring
`the mass markets of the mid to late 198os.
`The purpose of this book is to provide a broad introduction to this fast-moving
`subject. The book is for readers who are not familiar with videotex, but who wish
`to gain a broad overview of what it is all about and where it is going. It tries to
`present the world scene in sufficient detail to avoid superfteiality without
`attempting to penetrate to the level necessary for specialists. It will be of interest
`to a wide audience, and particularly to businessmen who want to know about
`videotex's potential as a medium for electronic publishing, and as a means for
`improving internal business cotTlmunications.
`
`December I 979
`
`R. Woolfe
`
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`ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
`
`We are grateful for the co-operation of the following organizations whose
`illustrations are reproduced in this report:
`
`ABC Travel Guides
`British Airways
`Captain Centre, Tokyo
`The Caxton Publishing Company
`Central Office of Information
`Centre Commun d'Etudes de Television et de Telecommunications,
`Rennes, France
`Consumers' Association
`Department of Communications, Ottawa, Canada
`Direction Generale des Telecommunications, Paris
`Family Living
`Information Services and Equipment Limited
`ITT Consumer Products Limited
`Post Office Research Centre
`Prestel *
`Standard Telephones & Cables
`
`* Prestel and the Prestel symbol are trademarks of the Post Office viewdata service.
`
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`Part 1
`
`VIDEOTEX SERVICES
`the fundamentals
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`CHAPTER 1
`VIDEOTEX INFORMATION
`SERVICES
`
`WHAT VIDEOTEX IS
`
`The term videotex
`
`Videotex is the name of a new kind of online information service for the home,
`suitable for adapted TV s.
`That simple statement needs some explanation and some qualif1cation.
`Online means needing a both-ways (two-way) connection-usually by
`telephone, though it can be by cable-to a remote computer. Information service is
`a catch phrase for a variety of services which people f1nd useful. One such service
`is information retrieval: searching for and fmding facts and flgures stored on a
`computer about anything from antiques to weather reports. Another is messages
`which users can send to one another. And there are others.
`Videotex can be used in the home. That means it must be inexpensive, and easy
`to learn and to use. It was originally conceived to make use of adapted TVs. Most
`homes have a TV and most have a telephone: put the two together, and a
`powerful new kind of service is created. But videotex does not have to use
`domestic TV s; it can use other kinds of tenninal as well. Nor is its use restricted
`to the home. The very attributes which make it appealing in the home apply
`equally to businesses.
`the CCITT
`is a generic suggested originally by
`The
`term videotex
`(International Telephone and Telegraph Consultative Committee). Although a
`defmition was still being sought at the time of writing at the end of r 979, it was
`quite likely to include both one-way and two-way services. If that turns out to
`be the case, the distinction between the two service classes will probably be
`emphasized by calling them broadcast and interactive videotex respectively.
`
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`VIDEOTEX
`
`Other terminals
`
`Adapted TV
`terminal
`
`Other terminals
`
`Figure '1.1. Videotex system schemotic.
`
`Purpose and scope of the book
`
`This book is about two-way, interactive videotex. It is not about one-way
`broadcast videotex, though that should not be taken in any way as an indication
`of their relative importance. For clarity, one-way videotex, on the occasions
`whe~ it is discussed here, is referred to as teletext. Two-way videotex is called just
`plain videotex from now on.
`
`Table 1.1. Characteristics of videotex"
`
`An ability to use adapted domestic TVs as terminals.
`
`Its appeal to a mass market rather than a small number of specialists.
`
`Low cost, compared with traditionol online informotion retrievol services. Videotex's relotively
`low cost results from its hardware/software design optimized for informotion retrievol;
`dedicoted minicomputers with minimum overheods; high user loadings to reduce the system
`cost per user; low cost terminols; ond Iorge scole use.
`
`Eosy use, with minimol operating instructions.
`
`An obility to be used for informotion retrievol, sending messages (for exomple, between users
`and information providers), computotion, ond software distribution.
`
`Its display of still pages (screenfuls) of text ond pictures (grophics), often in colour. Audio
`accomponiment ond onimotion ore both possible, though they leod to added expense.
`
`Two-woy terminol/videotex centre connections over the public switched telephone network
`(although two-way cable is on olternative, its use in practice is very restricted; the penetrotion
`of two-woy coble is very limited, ond in the public domoin it is virtuolly non-existent).
`
`" In the form in which the term is used in this book.
`
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`VIDEOTEX INFORMATION S.ERVICES
`
`is a
`idcntiftes the characteristics of videotex, and Figure I. I
`Table I. I
`schematic of a videotex system. Table r. 2 contains brief defmitions of videotex
`and teletext, together with some of the other terms which arc associated with
`services of this sort.
`This book is for readers who are not familiar with videotex, but who wish to
`gain a broad overview of what it is all about, and where it is going. It tries to
`present the world scene in sufFicient detail to a void superftciality, without
`attempting to penetrate to the level necessary for specialists. It should be of some
`interest to a wide audience, and particularly to businessmen who want to know
`about videotex's potential as a medium for electronic publishing, and as a means
`for i111proving internal business cmnmunications.
`There are three parts to the book. Part I
`is about basic principles: what
`videotex can do, the components of a system~, who the service participants are and
`the likely response from the marketplace. It is generally independent of spec.iftc
`
`Table 1.2.
`
`Videotex and associated terms
`
`The generic term used, but not formally approved (at the end 1979), by
`CCITT for a two-way interactive service emphasizing information retrieval,
`and capable of displaying pag·es of text and pictorial material on the screens
`of adapted TVs.
`An alternative term to videotex, used in particular by the British Post Of,fice
`and generally in Britain and the USA. Elsewhere,
`the term videotex is
`preferred. Viewdata was coined by the BPO in the early 1970s, but found to
`be unacceptable as a trade nome; hence its use as a generic.
`A generic term used to describe one-way broadcast information services for
`displaying pages of text and pictorial moteriol on the screens of adapted
`TVs. A limited choice of informotion pages is continuously cycled at the
`broadcasting station. By means of c1 keypad, a user con select one page at o
`time for disploy from the cycle.
`The information is tronsmitted in digital form usuolly using spare copocity
`in the broadcast TV signal. Careful design can ensure that there is no
`interference with the normal TV picture. Alternotively, it can use the full
`capacity of a dedicated chonnel.
`Compared with two-woy videotex, teletext is inherently more limited,
`though generolly less costly.
`A text communication standard for communicating word processors and
`similar terminals combining the fCIC:ilities of office typewriters ond text
`editing.
`Ceefox ('See focts') is the British Broodcasting Company's name for its public
`teletext service availoble on two TV chonnels using spare copacity.
`Oracle ('Optional recognition of coded line electronics') is the nome of the
`IBA's equivalent teletext service.
`The proprietary ncimes for speciiic videotex implementotions described in
`Port 3.
`
`Videotex
`
`Viewdata
`
`Teletext
`
`Teletex
`
`Ceefax
`Oracle
`
`Bildschirmtext
`Data Vision
`Captain
`Teletel
`Prestel
`Viewtron
`etc.
`
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`VIDEOTEX
`
`service implementations though examples arc referred to occasionally for
`comparison, or to illustrate a point.
`Part 2 examines the background, progress to date and future plans of Britain's
`Prcstel. As the world's ftrst publicly available videotex service, Pres tel has created
`worldwide interest. The experience gained with Prestel has proved useful to
`others intent on following a similar path.
`Part 3 is about videotex plans and developments in other countries: continental
`Europe, the USA, Canada and Japan. The similarities-and differences(cid:173)
`between these plans are highlighted, and the book concludes with a chapter
`predicting some of the ways in which videotex may change in the future.
`
`WHAT VIDEOTEX IS FOR
`
`Because of its two- way flexibility, videotex can be used for a variety of different
`things, which can be grouped conveniently under four headings: information
`
`Table 1.3. Representative residential applications
`
`Amenities and services
`
`What's on, current events, local facilities, schools and libraries,
`opening I closing times.
`
`News, sport, weather
`
`News headlines, news summaries, local and regional news,
`sports hxtures and results, regional weather forecasts.
`
`Home education
`
`Teach yourself, home education courses, cooking, do-it(cid:173)
`yourself, gardening, library services, hobbies, encyclopaedia,
`self improvement, focts and f1gures, general knowledge.
`
`Welfare ond consumer advice
`
`Product and price reviews and comparisons, benehts and
`entitlements, shopping advice, government oid programmes.
`
`Travel and tourism
`
`Personal health
`
`Timetables, road conditions, sight-seeing, route planning, tours
`and speciol offers, holidays, packages.
`
`Diets, keep ht, recipes, exercises, medical care, self diagnosis,
`medical odvice.
`
`Promotion, teleshopping,
`classihed ads
`
`Promotional advertising, catalogue sales, classihed ads, special
`offers.
`
`Reservations
`
`Banking
`
`Hotels, planes, trains, theatres, restaurants, sports facilities.
`
`Account balances, account transfers.
`
`General entertainment
`
`Quizzes and games, jokes and amusements, raffles, reviews
`and comments, betting.
`
`Calculations
`
`Tax routines, mortgage calculations, discounted cash flow, net
`present value.
`
`6
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`retrieval, messa,Res, computation, and sojtware distribution. The distinction between
`them is not rigorous, but the aim here is to make discussion easier.
`
`VIDEOTEX INFORMATION SERVICES
`
`Information retrieval
`
`Information retrieval is the term used for searching out and finding information
`for display on a terminal. Users select what they want to look at, a pa,Re*
`(screenful) at a time, from a wide choice of possibilities. They do this either with a
`keypad (restricted to just numeric keys plus a few others) or keyboard (extended
`keypad, with keys for the letters of the alphabet) connected to the terminal. A
`page appears on the screen and stays there for as long as required until another
`one is selected or the terminal is switched off. Generally pages are still, as opposed
`to animated, and generally they are unaccompanied by audio, so are silent.
`
`Some examples of the sort of infonnation which can be retrieved in this way
`are timetables, news reports, classified advertisements, advice and current events.
`A representative list of residential applications is shown in Table r. 3·
`The pages are put into videotex in the first place by information providers. They
`are responsible for the content and presentation of their pages-their accuracy,
`appearance, currency (keeping them up-to-date), and usually price as well. The
`data prepared by the information providers, and from which pages are created for
`display, are stored in electronic files called data bases. Videotex users can connect
`with a database through a service centre, run by a centre operator. The responsibility
`for the whole videotex system lies with the system operator, who will often be a
`centre operator and an information provider as well.
`
`With information retrieval, the flow of information is mainly one-way, from
`the service centre to users' terminals, as shown in Figure I. 2.
`
`Messages
`
`With a videotex message service, users (message senders) can bring specified pages
`to the attention of other users (recipients). Message senders can select a message
`page by choosing from a menu of preformatted pages such as 'happy birthday', or
`by creating a page by entering information themselves-for example 'I agree to
`your proposal' might be entered through the keyboard. Messages can be formed
`by a combination of selection and creation, as when a sender selects a
`preformatted message to confirm his intended arrival at a destination ('I will be
`arriving tonight at ... '), and then creates a variable part by entering the arrival
`time details(' 19.05 ').
`
`* Sometimes the term frame is used as an alternative to pa,ge in this book. It is likely that the
`authorities which recommend terms will agree definitions for page and frame, and leaf as well (leaf
`is not used in this book).
`
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`VIDEOTEX
`
`Information retrieval
`Service centre
`
`Database
`
`2
`
`1. Store and forward
`2. Conversational, via the service centre
`3. Conversational, direct terminal to terminal
`
`Computation
`
`Software distribution
`
`Figure 1.2. Videotex informotion flow.
`
`Messages can be grouped into two classes: those between ordinary users, and
`those between users and information providers. In both cases, m.essages can be
`sent via the videotex centre and stored there for collection by a recipient. This is
`called a mailbox, or store and forward system. In both types of message service,
`recipients are identif1ed by a number, as with the telephone.
`Sending messages may be tedious compared with the telephone, but it can be
`helpful when a recipient's line is busy or not answering. Messages between users
`and information providers are primarily for carrying out transactions. A user may
`place an order for goods to be delivered by responding to a preformatted proposal
`or offer page, sometimes called a response page. Or he may request a reservation at
`a hotel, or the transfer of funds between his personal checking and savings
`accounts at the bank. A payment mechanism nuy be coupled with the message,
`so that the acts of ordering and payment are simultaneous from the user's
`standpoint-called teleshopping.
`
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`VIDEOTEX INFORMATION SERVICES
`
`With store and forward message services the onus is on the recipient to collect
`the stored message, raising a number of interesting questions about how delivery
`may be ensured, and who pays.
`Usually messages involve storage at the service centre, though this is not
`essential. Conversational messages, which are instantaneous and involve no
`storage, are also possible, and are conceptually sirnilar to the normal telephone
`service and to most telex systems. Either way, the flow of information in a
`videotex message service is backwards and forwards between users, in contrast
`with information retrieval (see Figure 1.2).
`
`Computation
`
`Computation involves data processing under a user's control at the videotex
`centre. Users can select what type of computation they want to carry out in
`much the same way as with information retrieval, and they can then enter
`parameters through their keypads. The programs needed to carry out the
`computation are stored on the database, and executed on a computer in the
`system. The results are transmitted back to users for display (see Figure 1.2).
`An example of the sort of computation which might suit videotex is a
`mortgage calculation. Here a user, who could have selected a property using the
`information retrieval service, can respond to screen prompts (instructions) by
`entering parameters through the keypad to specify the interest rate, size of
`advance and repayment period, with the purpose of learning the value of the
`monthly repayments which are necessary.
`
`Software distribution
`
`Software distribution, sometimes called tclcsojtwarc, works much like information
`retrieval. Users specify
`the software item they wish to retrieve, and the
`corresponding pages are transmitted back to them from the centre. The
`distinction between information retrieval and software distribution is over the
`nature of the material transmitted: readable by people on the one hand, and by
`machines on the other.
`The purpose of software distribution is to provide a rapid and convet~ient
`source of software, implying programs which are portable and standardized, and
`distributable on a commercial basis. An example of the use of software
`distribution is in programmable TV games. New games can be distributed
`through the telephone (downloaded), to be stored on a cassette, for instance.
`Downloading an accounting routine for running on a small business computer is
`another example of an application of software distribution.
`
`9
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`PMC Exhibit 2139
`Apple v. PMC
`IPR2016-00753
`Page 20
`
`

`
`VIDEOTEX
`
`SERVICE PROVIDERS AND THE MARKETPLACE
`
`Public and private serv1ces
`
`Videotex can be publicly available, or restricted just to private users.
`Publicly available services can be aimed at either or both of the residential and
`business market sectors. Some information pages may be of equal interest to both,
`such as
`road conditions and
`travel
`timetables. Others will be clearly
`distinguishable: recipes for housewives, and commodity prices for businessmen.
`However, the boundaries between residential and business users are not clear cut.
`Many people conduct business from their homes, and businessmen often want
`access to leisure information from their offices. And apart from these two market
`sectors there are others as well. For example, terminals may be designed for use in
`places like airport buildings, hotel lobbies, schools and universities.
`People who want to take part in a publicly available service need to have the
`right sort of tenninal, recognizable at a videotex centre with a valid identity
`number. But the principle is the same as with the telephone: anyone who wants
`to subscribe and can afford to pay can be connected. No special membership
`qualif1cations are needed.
`Private services, on the other hand, are not available to the general public.
`They are restricted
`to privileged users possessing password numbers, or
`equivalent identifying mechanisms. There are two broad categories of private
`service: closed user group and in-house.
`A closed user group is a circle of users sharing a common interest. Often, the
`users will be geographically dispersed, such as
`travel agents, doctors and
`solicitors. Compared with a publicly available service, a closed user group service
`can offer added security, restricted access, and probably beneficial tariffs in return
`for high volume usage as well.
`An in-house service is for the employees of a single business organization, and
`so is like a closed user group for just one company.
`Private users will often use their terminals to access publicly available
`information. The principle of com1non accessibility through a single terminal is
`very important. The potential synergy of videotex could be realized following the
`adoption of its interface standards on a wide scale.
`
`Three main service providers
`
`To bring a publicly available service to the marketplace requires the combined
`efforts of three broad groups of service provider: system operator, information
`provider, and terminal and equipment supplier.
`
`IO
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`PMC Exhibit 2139
`Apple v. PMC
`IPR2016-00753
`Page 21
`
`

`
`VIDEOTEX INFORMATION SERVICES
`
`The system operator (SO) is responsible for the provision of the service centre
`or centres (their running may be subcontracted to a centre operator), and co(cid:173)
`ordinating the activities of the other service providers. The SO arranges the
`service centre equipment and software, connection between service centres and
`databases, terminal connection, usage recording and subscriber billing.
`SOs may be private entrepreneurial companies like newspaper publishers,
`computer service bureaux, or telephone companies. In Europe, where the means
`of telecommunications is in the hands of monopoly state controlled PTTs (postal,
`telephone and telegraph authorities), it is the PTTs who are the prime candidates
`for the SOs' role in publicly available national services. Private sector businesses,
`however, may compete in the provision of closed user group and in-house
`serviCes.
`The contents of databases are supplied by information providers-businesses
`seeking the attention of users, either at a fee or free of charge. To give its service
`broad appeal with a wide range of information topics, an SO may solicit the
`involvement of a number of different information providers representing, for
`exan1ple, general news, travel, leisure, education, local events, entertainment,
`consumer advice and fmancial news. Alternatively an SO with a limited public
`service, or a specialized private service, may wish to concentrate injust one area.
`In this case, only one information provider may be involved with an SO, such as
`in providing information for farmers.
`Information providers choosing to become involved with videotex do so in
`pursuit of their normal corporate aims-profit, revenue growth, promotion,
`exploiting new ·pusiness opportunities, or discharging an obligation to the public.
`The third of the three main groups of service providers is the terminal and
`equipment suppliers. This group consists of TV manufacturers and retailers;
`semiconductor suppliers (chip sets to adapt the TV s); suppliers of computers and
`equipment for the service centres and databases; computer terminal suppliers;
`and suppliers of software and peripheral equipment.
`
`COMPETING AND COMPLEMENTARY SYSTEMS
`
`Because of the broad scope of the services it offers, videotex competes with and
`complements a number of distinct, but related services (see Figure r. 3).
`Teletext is the generic term for one-way broadcast information services using
`adapted TV s. The information can be transmitted using spare capacity in the TV
`video channel. Typically a small number of pages of information-perhaps just
`one or two hundred-are transmitted in a continuous cycle. The restriction is
`due to waiting time: more pages means a longer average waiting time. For a
`given average waiting time, the page capacity of a teletext system can be greatly
`increased if the capacity of a full TV channel can be dedicated to it.
`
`I I
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`PMC Exhibit 2139
`Apple v. PMC
`IPR2016-00753
`Page 22
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`

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`VIDEOTEX
`
`Figure 1.3. Competing ond complementmy systems.
`
`Teletext users identify the page they want to see by pressing buttons on their
`keypads. Then they wait for the page to come round in the transtnission cycle,
`and to be displayed.
`Teletext is appropriate for topical information of general interest such as news
`headlines and weather reports. It avoids the expense and complication of
`telephone connection and the possibility of busy lines. But compared with
`videotex its capacity is limited, and it lacks two-way flexibility. Though they are
`possible with teletext, charging mechanisms are less easy to conceive and
`implement than with videotex, so
`the comtnercial possibilities are n1ore
`restricted. However, having complem