What is claimed is:
1. A method for providing on-demand advertising, comprising the steps of:
providing advertising information for at least one item, wherein the at least one item is associated with at least one scene of a television program;
receiving 402 the advertising information along with a broadcast of the television program;
selecting one of a plurality of display modes, wherein the plurality of display modes comprises an advertisement mode;
alerting a viewer when the advertising information is available for the at least one item of the at least one scene; and
displaying the advertising information on a display along with the broadcast of a television program.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:
providing the broadcast of a television program;
transmitting the advertising information along with the broadcast of the television program; and
storing the received advertising information.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of display modes further comprises a non-advertisement mode and a stored advertisement mode.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of alerting comprises providing at least one alert to a viewer when an advertisement is available for at least one item in a displayed scene, wherein the at least one alert comprises a tone and at least one displayed mark.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the displayed scene comprises currently displayed scenes, previously displayed scenes, and scenes that are to be displayed in the future.
6. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one displayed mark is superimposed over the broadcast of a television program on the display.
7. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one displayed mark comprises an indicator that the advertising information is available for the at least one item in the displayed scene.
8. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one displayed mark comprises an indicator for each item for which the advertising data is available, wherein the indicator is representative of the item to which the indicator corresponds.
9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of requesting the advertising information, wherein the step of requesting comprises selecting the indicator corresponding to an item in which the viewer is interested.
10. The method of claim 3, wherein the stored advertisement mode causes all of the advertising information for the television program to be stored, wherein the stored advertising information is recalled and viewed at a time that is different from a display time of a scene in which an advertised item appears.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying comprises superimposing the advertising information over the broadcast of a television program on the display.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying comprises displaying the advertising information on a portion of the display along with the broadcast of a television program, wherein the portion of the display is selectable by a viewer.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising information is received simultaneously with the at least one scene in which the identified at least one item appears.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising information is received prior to receipt of the television program, wherein the prior received advertising information is stored.
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of receiving timing data that links the advertising information to the corresponding at least one scene.
16. The method of claim 1, wherein the television program comprises live television programs, prerecorded television programs, live television commercials, and prerecorded television commercials.
17. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one item comprises at least one product and at least one service.
18. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of controlling presentation of the advertising information using an electronic program guide, wherein the electronic program guide provides programming information for a plurality of broadcasting stations.
19. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing electronic links to at least one manufacturer and at least one dealer of the at least one item using the advertising information, wherein the electronic links comprise links to Web pages and electronic catalogs.
20. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of electronically ordering the at least one item using the advertising information.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1-11. (canceled)
12. A method for operating a radar system, comprising:
detecting at least one target object and at least one possible concealing object using radar technology;
recognizing whether a concealment situation of the at least one target object by the at least one concealing object exists; and
in the case of a recognized concealment situation, if the target object is not detected by the radar system, not automatically assuming a loss of the target object.
13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the radar system is a microwave radar system for applications in or on a motor vehicle.
14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the concealment situation is ascertained with the aid of plausibility checking of the existence of the concealing object, and further comprising increasing a plausibility value when the radar system detects or, after a concealment that occurred, redetects the target object, and decreasing the plausibility value when the radar system does not detect the target object.
15. The method according to claim 14, wherein only in the case where a current plausibility value is less than a lower empirically predefinable threshold value is it assumed that the target object has left a measuring range of the radar system and, in this case, the target object is deleted from a set of target objects detected by the radar system.
16. The method according to claim 14, wherein a non-detected target object recognized as possibly concealed has its plausibility decreased more slowly than that of a non-detected target object which is not recognized as possibly concealed.
17. The method according to claim 14, wherein particular increments for increasing or decreasing the plausibility value of the target object are made a function of at least one of a measurement resolution and a sensitivity of the radar system.
18. The method according to claim 12, wherein the recognition of a concealment situation of the at least one target object by the at least one concealing object takes place by evaluating a relative position to one another.
19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the possible concealing object is assumed to be rectangular or square and a concealment situation is computed by determining angles of four corners of the possible concealing object referred to a position of a radar sensor of the radar system, and minimum and maximum angles are computed from the four angles, objects further removed, which are situated between the computed minimum and maximum angles, being assumed as affected by a concealment.
20. The method according to claim 14, wherein the plausibility check is performed with the help of a probability of existence.
21. A radar system comprising:
means for detecting a possible concealment situation of at least one target object by at least one concealing object, and in the case of a recognized concealment situation if the target object is not detected by the radar system, a loss of the target object is not automatically assumed.
22. The radar system according to claim 21, further comprising means for performing a plausibility check of an existence of the concealing object, a plausibility value being increased when the radar system detects or, after a concealment that occurred, redetects the target object, and the plausibility value being decreased when the radar system does not detect the target object.
23. The method according to claim 22, wherein a non-detected target object recognized as possibly concealed has its plausibility decreased more slowly by the means for performing than that of a non-detected target object which is not recognized as possibly concealed.