METHOD, SYSTEM AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR AN EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM FOR AUDIO ANNOUNCEMENT

• US 20110154391A1
• Filed: 12/17/2009
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SBC Knowledge Ventures LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ford, James, Velazquez, Leonardo
• Granted Patent: US 8,356,316 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/59 for emergency or urgency
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8106 involving special audio data, e.g. different tracks for different languages
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/814 comprising emergency warnings arrangements specially adapted for emergency or urgency in broadcast systems H04H20/59; arrangements for providing alarms, notifications, alerts to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895

Abstract

A method is disclosed for distributing emergency alert audio data, the method including but not limited to receiving emergency alert message (EAM) data at an encoder/decoder in an internet protocol television (IPTV) system; sending the EAM to an emergency alert control (EAC) server in the IPTV system; verifying at the EAC that a valid audio message is received in the EAM; if the EAM contains an audio file, creating a MP3 audio file from or another acceptable format for the audio file; and if the received EAM is a state/local alert, placing the EAM in first-in-first-out order in a message delivery queue for delivery to end user devices in the order of the message delivery queue, else, if a streaming playback of state/local alert message is in progress, suspending the streaming playback of the state/local alert message, and continuously streaming the received EAM to end user device in the IPTV system.

Claims

1. A method for distributing emergency alert audio data, the method comprising:

receiving emergency alert message data at an encoder/decoder in an internet protocol television (IPTV) system;

validating headers in the emergency alert message;

sending the validated emergency alert message to a emergency alert control (EAC) server in the IPTV system;

verifying at the EAC that a valid audio message is received in the emergency alert message;

if the emergency alert message contains an audio file, creating a MP3 audio file from the audio file; and

if the received emergency alert message is a state/local alert, placing the emergency alert message in first-in-first-out order in a message delivery queue for delivery to end user devices in the order of the message delivery queue, else, if a streaming playback of state/local alert message is in progress, suspending the streaming playback of the state/local alert message, and continuously streaming the received emergency alert message to end user device in the IPTV system.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

calculating a start and stop time for delivering the audio data in emergency alert message based on the maximum time to deliver and present the audio data in emergency alert message in a language in which the emergency alert message is delivered, time to complete multicast joins for the end users receiving the emergency alert message and NTP tolerance.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the audio data further comprises multimedia data, and wherein calculating the time to deliver the audio data in the emergency alert message further comprises calculating the duration of the multimedia message data in the emergency alert message, wherein the multimedia message further comprises data selected from the group consisting of image data and video data.

4. The method of claim 3, the method further comprising:

finding key words in the multimedia data;

finding visual icons data in a data base associated with key words;

inserting the visual icons data into the emergency alert message, wherein the visual icons data further comprise data indicating the nature of the alert message, wherein an end user viewing the visual icons presented on an end user device during presentation of the emergency alert message are visually informed of the nature of the emergency from the visual icons.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the longest duration for video and audio presentations for the emergency alert message in any language is used for the emergency alert message duration to ensure that multiple retransmissions of the emergency alert message to end user devices do not overlap.

6. The method of claim 5, the method further comprising:

storing the emergency alert message data in a data base in a computer readable media accessible to the end user device;

accepting commands from the end user device, wherein the commands are selected from the group consisting of to fast forward, reverse, rewind, pause and delete the presentation of at least one of audio, video, text and visual icon data on the end user device; and

performing the command at the end user device on the presentation of the emergency alert message data.

7. A computer readable medium containing a computer program of computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer perform function useful for distributing emergency alert audio data, the computer program further comprising:

instructions to receive emergency alert message data at an encoder/decoder in an internet protocol television (IPTV) system;

instructions to validate headers in the emergency alert message;

instructions to send the validated emergency alert message to a emergency alert control (EAC) server in the IPTV system;

instructions to verify at the EAC that a valid audio message is received in the emergency alert message;

instructions to, if the emergency alert message contains an audio file, creating a MP3 audio file from the audio file; and

instructions to instructions to if the received emergency alert message is a state/local alert, placing the emergency alert message in first-in-first-out order in a message delivery queue for delivery to end user devices in the order of the message delivery queue,

else, instructions to if a streaming playback of state/local alert message is in progress, suspending the streaming playback of the state/local alert message, and continuously streaming the received emergency alert message to end user device in the IPTV system.

8. The medium of claim 7, the computer program further comprising:

instructions to calculate a start and stop time for delivering the audio data in emergency alert message based on the maximum time to deliver and present the audio data in emergency alert message in a language in which the emergency alert message is delivered, time to complete multicast joins for the end users receiving the emergency alert message and NTP tolerance.

9. The medium of claim 8, wherein the audio data further comprises multimedia data, and wherein calculating the time to deliver the audio data in the emergency alert message further comprises calculating the duration of the multimedia message data in the emergency alert message, wherein the multimedia message further comprises data selected from the group consisting of image data and video data.

10. The medium of claim 9, the computer program further comprising:

instructions to find key words in the multimedia data;

instructions to find visual icons data in a data base associated with key words;

instructions to insert the visual icons data into the emergency alert message, wherein the visual icons data further comprise data indicating the nature of the alert message, wherein an end user viewing the visual icons presented on an end user device during presentation of the emergency alert message are visually informed of the nature of the emergency from the visual icons.

11. The medium of claim 10, wherein the longest duration for video and audio presentations for the emergency alert message in any language is used for the emergency alert message duration to ensure that multiple retransmissions of the emergency alert message to end user devices do not overlap.

12. The medium of claim 11, the computer program further comprising:

instructions to store the emergency alert message data in a data base in a computer readable media accessible to the end user device;

instructions to accept commands from the end user device, wherein the commands are selected from the group consisting of to fast forward, reverse, rewind, pause and delete the presentation of at least one of audio, video, text and visual icon data on the end user device; and

instructions to perform the command at the end user device on the presentation of the emergency alert message data.

13. A system for distributing emergency alert audio data, the system comprising:

a processor;

a computer readable medium containing a computer program of computer executable instructions that when executed by the processor perform function useful for distributing emergency alert audio data, the computer program further comprising;

instructions to receive emergency alert message data at an encoder/decoder in an internet protocol television (IPTV) system;

instructions to validate headers in the emergency alert message;

instructions to send the validated emergency alert message to a emergency alert control (EAC) server in the IPTV system;

instructions to verify at the EAC that a valid audio message is received in the emergency alert message;

instructions to, if the emergency alert message contains an audio file, creating a MP3 audio file from the audio file; and

instructions to instructions to if the received emergency alert message is a state/local alert, placing the emergency alert message in first-in-first-out order in a message delivery queue for delivery to end user devices in the order of the message delivery queue,

else, instructions to if a streaming playback of state/local alert message is in progress, suspending the streaming playback of the state/local alert message, and continuously streaming the received emergency alert message to end user device in the IPTV system.

14. The system of claim 13, the computer program further comprising:

instructions to calculate a start and stop time for delivering the audio data in emergency alert message based on the maximum time to deliver and present the audio data in emergency alert message in a language in which the emergency alert message is delivered, time to complete multicast joins for the end users receiving the emergency alert message and NTP tolerance.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the audio data further comprises multimedia data, and wherein calculating the time to deliver the audio data in the emergency alert message further comprises calculating the duration of the multimedia message data in the emergency alert message, wherein the multimedia message further comprises data selected from the group consisting of image data and video data.

16. The system of claim 15, the computer program further comprising:

instructions to find key words in the multimedia data;

instructions to find visual icons data in a data base associated with key words;

instructions to insert the visual icons data into the emergency alert message, wherein the visual icons data further comprise data indicating the nature of the alert message, wherein an end user viewing the visual icons presented on an end user device during presentation of the emergency alert message are visually informed of the nature of the emergency from the visual icons.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the longest duration for video and audio presentations for the emergency alert message in any language is used for the emergency alert message duration to ensure that multiple retransmissions of the emergency alert message to end user devices do not overlap.

18. The system of claim 17, the computer program further comprising:

instructions to store the emergency alert message data in a data base in a computer readable media accessible to the end user device;

instructions to accept commands from the end user device, wherein the commands are selected from the group consisting of to fast forward, reverse, rewind, pause and delete the presentation of at least one of audio, video, text and visual icon data on the end user device; and

instructions to perform the command at the end user device on the presentation of the emergency alert message data.