APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20130205337A1
• Filed: 02/26/2013
• Published: 08/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: McClenny, John, Augustine, Andrew J., McCarthy, Mary
• Granted Patent: US 8,566,864 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/33
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/40 Processing or translation of natural language natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/005 with transmission via computer network
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/008 with transmission via TV or radio broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/59 for emergency or urgency
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/63 to plural spots in a confined site, e.g. MATV [Master Antenna Television]
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/51 of receiving stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43074 of additional data with content streams on the same device, e.g. of EPG data or interactive icon with a TV program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4348 Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/436 Interfacing a local distribution network, e.g. communicating with another STB or one or more peripheral devices inside the home
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4516 involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4882 for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895
• 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 system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a server having a controller operable to monitor for emergency messages over a broadcast network and over the Internet, obtain an emergency message based on the monitoring where the emergency message comprises text data, audio data, schedule data and location data and where the text and audio data correspond to a plurality of languages, generate an alert message comprising the schedule data, the location data and at least a portion of the plurality of languages of the text and audio data, and multicast the alert message over an Internet Protocol Television network to a plurality of set top boxes, wherein each of the set top boxes presents a text alert that is synchronized with an audio alert based on the multicast alert message when the location data corresponds with a location of the set top box. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining, by a system including a processor, an emergency message including emergency information and location data;

obtaining, by the system, text and audio data corresponding to a plurality of languages representative of the emergency message;

determining, by the system, an amount of error correction data based on a number of the plurality of languages;

generating, by the system, an alert message comprising the error correction data, the location data and the plurality of languages of the text and audio data; and

providing, by the system, the alert message to a plurality of communication devices, wherein each of the plurality of communication devices presents a text alert that is synchronized with an audio alert based on the alert message when the location data corresponds with a location of the communication device, wherein each of the plurality of communication devices presents the text and audio alerts corresponding to a language selected from the plurality of languages, wherein error correction is performed by the communication devices based on redundant information in a translation of another language from the plurality of languages, and wherein the translation is performed by the plurality of communication devices.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising selecting the plurality of languages of the text and audio data based on demographic information associated with a region in which the plurality of communication devices are located.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising selecting the plurality of languages of the text and audio data based on language preference information received from a communication device of the plurality of communication devices.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising translating the emergency message to obtain the text and audio data corresponding to the plurality of languages representative of the emergency message.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising inserting metadata into the alert message, wherein the metadata enables the plurality of communication devices to identify a portion of the alert message for correcting an error.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing of the alert message to the plurality of communication devices is via multicasting.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a language from the plurality of languages of the text and audio data is not multicast to the plurality of communication devices.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the emergency message is a first emergency message and further comprising:

obtaining a second emergency message;

comparing the first and second emergency messages; and

generating the alert message based on the comparing of the first and second emergency messages.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining a priority of languages for the plurality of languages of the text and audio data; and

arranging each language of the plurality of languages of the text and audio data in a multicast data stream according to the priority.

10. A method comprising:

receiving, by a media processor, a multicast of an alert message over an interactive television network, the alert message comprising location data and a plurality of languages of text and audio data;

selecting, by the media processor, a first language from the plurality of languages of the text and audio data;

presenting, by the media processor, text and audio alerts in the first language based on the alert message responsive to the location data corresponding with a location of the media processor;

detecting an error in the text and audio alerts in the first language;

translating, by the media processor, a second language from the plurality of languages of the text and audio data to generate a translation of the second language; and

performing, by the media processor, error correction on the first language using corresponding data from the translation of the second language.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the detecting of the error is based on an analysis by the media processor of metadata included in the multicast.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the detecting of the error is based on a time analysis by the media processor of an expected length of the alert message.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the detecting of the error is based on an analysis by the media processor of word positioning in the alert message.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the detecting of the error includes identifying a portion of the text alert that is missing data.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of languages of text and audio data are arranged according to a prioritization.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the media processor is a mobile communication device.

17. A tangible computer-readable storage device comprising computer instructions which, responsive to being executed by a media processor, cause the media processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a multicast of an alert message over an interactive television network, the alert message comprising location data and a plurality of languages of text and audio data;

selecting a first language from the plurality of languages of the text and audio data;

presenting text and audio alerts in the first language based on the alert message responsive to the location data corresponding with a location of the media processor;

detecting an error in the text and audio alerts in the first language;

translating a second language from the plurality of languages of the text and audio data to generate a translation of the second language; and

performing error correction on the first language using corresponding data from the translation of the second language.

18. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the detecting of the error is based on an analysis of metadata included in the multicast.

19. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the detecting of the error is based on a time analysis of an expected length of the alert message.

20. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the detecting of the error is based on an analysis of word positioning in the alert message.