British inventors Matthew Roach and Mark Pawlewski have applied for a US patent for a software application that can control the amount of cartoon programming displayed on a digital TV.
You just need to watch any Saturday morning cartoon to learn that the plotless, seizure-inducing fare, no doubt designed to help that cereal sugar rush kick in nicely, consists mainly of a lot of frantic movement, solid colours and fast cuts.
Roach and Pawlewski’s software can detect animation in digital television’s MPEG2 stream, and react accordingly – even switching itself off after a predetermined time, for those parents who can’t be bothered monitoring their own children’s TV dosage.
The software will be featured in next week’s New Scientist magazine.