Abstract: A jammer for an infrared remote control temporarily disables the remote control by transmitting an infrared pulse pattern similar to the pulse pattern of the remote control at approximately the same frequency but at a different pulse pattern, thereby confusing the detection circuitry of the receiving device, such as a television remote control receiver. The circuitry of the jammer preferably includes a timer for reducing battery power consumption by triggering a second timer on the transmitter to emit pulses only periodically.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for converting a conventional analog video signal carrying alphanumeric video characters into computer recognizable data is disclosed. A signal containing composite video information is received and is decoded into component signals comprising the analog video signal, the horizontal sync component and the vertical sync component. The analog video component signal is converted into binary matrix data representing the received signal carrying alphanumeric video characters. The binary matrix data is compared with binary data representing a known character reference set to determine the character data code for the particular unknown character and uniquely identifying the same and retrieving its unique data code. The character once identified may be sent to a host computer for further processing if desired.