Abstract: Methods and systems provide for the distribution of both computer and home entertainment information. Computer and home entertainment audio-visual sources are distributed to displays throughout a house, and any of the sources can be viewed from any of the displays. Computers and televisions are integrated while allowing the computers and the televisions to be located in separate rooms of the house, thereby minimizing the need to co-locate items or to install additional wiring. The computer and home entertainment sources may be located in a single area and distributed to various receivers throughout the house. Multiple users may share any given information source. The entertainment and computer sources are connected to a single information hub that distributes the various source signals to remote receivers. Users may view any of the sources from any receiver in the house, and multiple different users may view different sources from any receivers in the house.

Abstract: Methods and systems are provided to switch television channels during a commercial break and automatically notify the viewer when the commercial on the original channel is over so that the user may switch back to watch the original channel. This permits a viewer to avoid commercials during live television while maximizing the viewing of desired content on the original channel. A television channel selection device includes two independent tuners. In normal operation, a first tuner provides channel-selected signals to a television. When a viewer sees a commercial, the system begins a process employing a second independent tuner to internally monitor the first tuner signal until the termination of the commercial is detected. In the meantime, the first tuner provides channel-selected signals so that the viewer may view other channels. The viewer is notified of the end of the commercials by one of a variety of notification techniques.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for rendering a circle with a radius on a display device comprises (a) providing a set of vertex points; (b) selecting a subset of vertex points from the set of vertex points based on the radius of the circle; (c) scaling each vertex point in the subset of vertex points to produce scaled vertex points; and, (d) connecting the scaled vertex points to approximate the circle. The subset of vertex points may be utilized to determine scaled vertex points for all four quadrants of the circle. The subset of vertex points may be selected by determining the number of vertex points required to render the circle with an error less than a predetermined error threshold. The subset of vertex points is then selected so that the number of members in the subset of vertex points is equivalent to the number of vertex points required to render the circle with an error less than the predetermined threshold.