Claims:We Claim:
1. A system for parental control of the media content comprising allocation of viewing hours by the parent for their children, which includes balanced ratio for both education and entertainment.
2. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the parents can allocate the number of viewing hours for their children in the ratio of 60:40 of the viewing hours for education:entertainment, which can also be varied accordingly.
3. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the child can gain access to view and enjoy the electronic entertainment such as television shows, cartoon, movies, games etc., for the 40% of time, only if the criteria of 60% of education time is fulfilled.
4. A method for parental control of the media content comprising:
a. allocation of 60:40 viewing hours by the parent for the child;
b. the child is allowed to complete the 60% of the viewing hours for education; and
c. the child is provided an access to enjoy the electronic entertainment for 40% of the viewing hours.
, Description:Technical field of the Invention:
The present invention relates generally to television systems, and more particularly, to parental control of television and other digital media usage by the children.
Background and prior art:
Parents are usually deeply concerned about their children spending time in front of TV. Many parents also feel they are failing in the task of protecting their children from violent or sexually explicit content which are usually shown in TV shows, which cannot be avoided. There are several issues related with the children spending long hours in front of TV, which makes the children physically weak, and instead of playing or engaging with other kids in the neighborhood, they spend time for the electronic entertainment, which keeps them uninterested in other useful activities such as reading, playing, or engaging in sports.
In this competitive world, unfortunately the parents who would have to work to earn a living get very little time to look after and supervise the activities in which their children are into. In the case of single parent, it is still more difficult to monitor their children, who usually depend on the maid or a caretaker.
Young children love spending time in front of the television, to watch their favorite TV shows while eating or before sleeping and even after waking up. Watching television for a longer period of time is not good for young kids who are just coming out of their shells and their brain is at a developing stage. Proper viewing of TV can be helpful and the informative programs actually help your child gain some knowledge, but if the child is spending more amount of time in front of the television by glued to the seat and cares more about the timing of his favorite shows, then the child may be suffering from after effects of too much TV time.
There are several applications and programs which are developed to demonstrate and teach the ways of parental control, where the parents are taught how to deal with the issues. For example: a V-chip is developed which is used for blocking access to unsuitable TV shows, and internet filters for blocking access to unsuitable internet sites when children are provided the access. The problems which are associated with the technological solutions are that the parent must keep track of both content and technology issues with each of the media their children use separately, which is very time consuming and inconvenient. Also in the cases of violent shows which are shown on TV, can persuade the children to commit crime as well. All the contents which are viewed by the children cannot be monitored 24/7 by the parents. Continuous watching of TV reduces the interest for studying in the children, leading to poor grades.
There are several problems which arise in children due to continuous and prolonged TV watching which can include obesity, effect on their behavior as they are still in developing stage, irregular sleep time, being alone all the time, reduced interest in studies and socializing, effect on eyes and brain and so on. Furthermore, parents do not currently have any convenient way of tracking the overall timing of the children spending on the electronic entertainment. Therefore, there is a need for a system which can allow the parents to monitor and control their children's use of electronic devices.
Objectives of the invention:
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a system and method for parents for controlling the media content viewed by the children.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a system and method for controlling media content where the parents can allocate the number of viewing hours for their children.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a system and method for controlling the media content where the parent can set a 60:40 time ratio of education: entertainment, where the child has to complete 60% of education related activities in order to enjoy the 40% of entertainment through the electronic devices.
Summary of the invention:
The present invention discloses a system for parental control of the media content which is viewed by the children on day-to-day basis. According to the present invention, the parent develops a method or a rule wherein the child can both study and enjoy the electronic entertainment in a more balanced way, which is more beneficial for them.
According to the present invention, a parent can exercise parental control in order to control the media content, where the parents can allocate the number of viewing hours for their children. The child can gain access to view and enjoy the electronic entertainment such as television shows, cartoon, movies, games etc., only of the criteria of 60:40 time ratio of education:entertainment is fulfilled. If the child successfully completes the 60% of time for educational purpose i.e. studies, then they are provided with an access to enjoy the electronic entertainment for 40% of time.
The ratio provided in the present invention is not limited to the above explained figures, but can be varied accordingly based on the preference of the parents the difficulty level of studies of the children.

Brief Description of the Drawings
FIG 1 illustrates the schematic representation of the method employed using the mobile application.

Detailed description of the invention
The present invention discloses a system and method for parental control of the media content which is viewed by the children on day-to-day basis. According to the present invention, the parent creates a system or a rule wherein the child can view the electronic entertainment which can include television, iPad, laptop, mobile phone etc., which entertains them.
With the help of the present invention, a parent can exercise parental control in order to control the media content, where the parents can allocate the number of viewing hours for their children. The child can gain access to view and enjoy the electronic entertainment such as television shows, cartoon, movies, games etc., only if the criteria of 60:40 time ratio of education:entertainment is fulfilled.
According to the present invention, the child is provided 60% of time for educational purpose i.e. studies, which when completed, is provided with an access to enjoy the electronic entertainment for 40% of time. The time ratio of 60:40 can be varied by the parent accordingly i.e. during examination season, the parent can vary the ratio to 80:20 and during leisure time or vacation time the parent can vary the ratio to 20:80, and so on.
FIG 1 illustrates the schematic representation of the method employed for parental control of the media content for the children. Referring to FIG 1, the parent allocates the number of viewing hours of the electronic entertainment for their children, which is preferably set in the time ratio of 60:40. If the child successfully completes the 60% of allocated time for studies, then the child can enjoy the 40% of the allocated time for watching the electronic entertainment such as television, iPad, laptop, mobile phone etc. If the child does not complete the 60% of the allocated time for education purpose, then the child is not provided an access to the electronic entertainment, until the 60% of time allocated for education is completed successfully.
The present invention can be best understood with the help of an example:
Example 1: The parent A allocates viewing hours for their child A, where, in the 24 hours of the day, 10 hours is dedicated to sleep, 4 hours for food consumption and human interaction; and the remaining 10 hours can be split in the ratio of 60:40. In the remaining 10 hours, if the child completes 6 hours of study, then the child is allowed to watch the electronic media content for 4 hours.
The primary reason behind the time allocation for the children to view the electronic media including television, iPad, laptop, mobile phone is that they spend long hours in front of the media, which can hamper the growth and lead to various physical and mental issues in the children. The present invention aims as providing a system where the child is persuaded to study in order to enjoy the entertainment. The 60% time which is allocated to the studies can also be converted to interactive study sessions by the parent, which is more beneficial to the child as interactive sessions makes the children learn faster.
According to the present invention, it is important for a parent to set some rules and assign television time to their children in order to avoid the problems that arises in children due to too much screen time, including obesity, behavioral changes in the developing stage, irregular sleeping time, loneliness, reduced interest in studies and socializing, effect on eyes and brain and etc., As the children spend more hours sitting in front of the television watching their favorite television shows or playing games in the mobile phone, iPad, laptop etc., their preference for playing outside in ground is not encourages and they find it easy to play with the electronic devices. Continuous watching of the television without any physical activity leads to obesity problems in young kids because all they are doing is eating and watching and not doing any physical activity. The rule of 60:40 of education: entertainment, where the 60% of time can also be used to teach the kids certain physical activities for motivation.