TELEVISION APPARATUS FOR SIMULTANEOUS DECODING OF AUXILIARY DATA INCLUDED IN MULTIPLE TELEVISION SIGNALS

TELEVISION APPARATUS INCLUDES FIRST (115) AND SECOND (143) AUXILIARY DATA DECODERS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY EXTRACTING AUXILIARY DATA FROM RESPECTIVE FIRST AND SECOND TELEVISION SIGNALS TO PRODUCE FIRST AND SECOND AUXILIARY DATA. THE DATA DECODERS CAN SELECTABLY EXTRACT DATA FROM ONE OR MORE AUXILIARY DATA INTERVALS, E.G., ONE OR MORE LINE INTERVALS DURING VERTICAL BLANKING WITHIN A TELEVISION SIGNAL.THE FIRST AND SECOND AUXILIARY DATA IS COUPLED TO A CONTROLLER (112) SUCH AS THE MAIN MICROPROCESSOR OF THE TELEVISION APPARATUS INCLUDES FIRST AND SECOND AUXILIARY DATA DECODERS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY EXTRACTING AUXILIARY DATA FROM RESPECTIVE FIRST AND SECOND TELEVISION SIGNALS TO PRODUCE FIRST AND SECOND AUXILIARY DATA. THE DATA DECODERS CAN SELECTABLY EXTRACT DATA FROM ONE OR MORE AUXILIARY DATA INTERVALS, E.G., ONE OR MORE LINE INTERVALS DURING VERTICAL BLANKING WITHIN A TELEVISION SIGNAL. THE FIRST AND SECOND AUXILIARY DATA IS COUPLED TO A CONTROLLER (112) SUCH AS THE MAIN MICROPROCESSOR OF THE TELEVISION SYSTEM. THE SECOND AUXILIARY DATA IS COUPLED TO THE CONTROLLER VIA AN AUXILIARY DATA BUFFER AND AN I2 C SERIAL DATA BUS. THE TELEVISION SIGNAL FROM WHICH THE SECOND AUXILIARY DATA IS EXTRACTED CAN BE PROVIDED BY A SECOND TELEVISION SIGNAL SOURCE SUCH AS A SECOND TUNER OR AN EXTERNAL SIGNAL SOURCE (E.G., VIDEO CASSETTE RECORDER, VIDEO DISK PLAYER, AND THE LIKE).