Public alert and advisory systems
First Claim
1. A public alert and advisory system comprising:
- a central transmitter station including first transmitter modulation means for modulating a signal to be transmitted with programming, using double sideband amplitude modulation, for transmission of the programming to manually controllable first receivers having first receiver demodulation means responsive to double sideband amplitude modulated signals for the reception and demodulation of said modulated signal to allow selective perception of the programming by members of the public,second modulation means coupled to said central transmitter station for modulation of the signal to be transmitted with public alert and advisory information utilizing narrow band small angle quadrature modulation of the carrier of the amplitude modulated signal, to which said first receiver demodulation means are not primarily responsive,alert and advisory signal means coupled to said second modulation means for providing a signal responsive to alert and advisory information thereto which is at least partially a voice signal,a plurality of remote second receivers, each of said second receivers having second receiver demodulation means responsive to said narrow band small angle quadrature modulation for the reception and demodulation of the transmitted signal to provide the public alert and advisory information at the respective remote location, said second receivers each also including presentation means for presenting said alert and advisory information in humanly perceivable form at the respective remote location, said second receiver each further including self initiating means coupled to said second receiver demodulation means for presenting a humanly perceivable malfunction signal at the respective remote location if said self initiating means is not periodically reset by a reset signal received from said second receiver demodulation means, andmeans coupled to said second modulation means of said central transmitter to provide a periodic signal thereto for transmission to and demodulation by said remote second receivers to periodically provide said reset signal thereto, whereby said humanly perceivable malfunction signal will be presented at the remote location of any said second remote receiver not receiving and responsive to said reset signal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Public alert and advisory systems for the communication of emergency and/or other information from one or more central locations to a plurality of remote locations, such as, by way of example, information regarding a nuclear accident and evacuation procedures. This system utilizes conventional programming stations such as AM, FM or TV stations, central transmitting equipment, with the emergency information being modulated by a second modulation technique differing from the first modulation technique for the ordinary programming so that conventional manually operated programming receivers will not be responsive to the emergency information. The receivers of the system however, are responsive to the transmitted emergency information, so as to sound a warning alarm, display codes relating to evacuation or other information and/or receive and present audio information depending upon the specific configuration of the system. Normally the remote receivers are given recognition codes so that the receiver may be given different emergency information, either on an individual or on a group to group basis. Fault detection is provided by configuring the remote receivers to automatically provide a fault indication if not periodically reset by the communications link. A unique telephone link, also disclosed, can be used for reliability testing or for ordinary data communication. Various embodiments and features are disclosed.
202 Citations
40 Claims
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1. A public alert and advisory system comprising:
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a central transmitter station including first transmitter modulation means for modulating a signal to be transmitted with programming, using double sideband amplitude modulation, for transmission of the programming to manually controllable first receivers having first receiver demodulation means responsive to double sideband amplitude modulated signals for the reception and demodulation of said modulated signal to allow selective perception of the programming by members of the public, second modulation means coupled to said central transmitter station for modulation of the signal to be transmitted with public alert and advisory information utilizing narrow band small angle quadrature modulation of the carrier of the amplitude modulated signal, to which said first receiver demodulation means are not primarily responsive, alert and advisory signal means coupled to said second modulation means for providing a signal responsive to alert and advisory information thereto which is at least partially a voice signal, a plurality of remote second receivers, each of said second receivers having second receiver demodulation means responsive to said narrow band small angle quadrature modulation for the reception and demodulation of the transmitted signal to provide the public alert and advisory information at the respective remote location, said second receivers each also including presentation means for presenting said alert and advisory information in humanly perceivable form at the respective remote location, said second receiver each further including self initiating means coupled to said second receiver demodulation means for presenting a humanly perceivable malfunction signal at the respective remote location if said self initiating means is not periodically reset by a reset signal received from said second receiver demodulation means, and means coupled to said second modulation means of said central transmitter to provide a periodic signal thereto for transmission to and demodulation by said remote second receivers to periodically provide said reset signal thereto, whereby said humanly perceivable malfunction signal will be presented at the remote location of any said second remote receiver not receiving and responsive to said reset signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A public alert and advisory system comprising;
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a central transmitter station including first transmitter modulation means for modulating a signal to be transmitted with programming, using a first modulation technique comprising double sideband amplitude modulation, for transmission of the programming to manually controllable first receivers having first receiver demodulation means responsive to signals modulated with said first modulation technique for the reception and demodulation of said modulated signal to allow selective perception of the programming by members of the public, second modulation means coupled to said central transmitter station for modulation of the signal to be transmitted with identification codes and public alert and advisory information associated therewith utilizing a second modulation technique comprising narrow band phase modulation of the carrier of the amplitude modulated signal wherein the phase and frequency of the phase modulation is limited so that the carrier of the amplitude modulated signal stays within legally prescribed limits for commercial AM broadcast stations when modulated by said alert and advisory signal, to which said first receiver demodulation means are not primarily responsive, alert and advisory signal means coupled to said second modulation means for providing a signal containing identification codes and alert and advisory information thereto, which signal is at least partially a band limited voice signal, a plurality of remote second receivers, each having assigned thereto a predetermined identification code, each of said second receivers having second receiver demodulation means responsive to signals modulated with said second modulation technique for the reception and demodulation of the transmitted signal to provide the public alert and advisory information at the respective remote location, said second receivers each also including code recognition means for recognizing said predetermined identification code of the respective said remote second receiver, and presentation means for presenting said alert and advisory information in humanly perceivable form at the respective remote location upon recognition of said recognition code, said second receivers each further including self initiating means coupled to said second receiver demodulation means for presenting a humanly perceivable malfunction signal at the respective remote location if said initiating means is not periodically reset by a reset signal received from said second receiver demodulation means, and means coupled to said second modulation means of said central transmitter to provide a periodic signal thereto for transmission to and demodulation by said remote second receivers to periodically provide said reset signal thereto, whereby said humanly perceivable malfunction signal will be presented at the remote location of any said second remote receiver not receiving and responsive to said reset signal. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A public alert and advisory system comprising;
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a central transmitter station including first transmitter modulation means for modulating a signal to be transmitted with programming, using double sideband amplitude modulation for transmission of the programming to manually controllable first receivers having first receiver demodulation means responsive to double sideband amplitude modulated signals for the reception and demodulation of said modulated signal to allow selective perception of the programming by members of the public, second modulator means coupled to said central transmitter station for modulation of the signal to be transmitted with public alert and advisory information utilizing narrow band small angle quadrature modulation of the carrier of the amplitude modulated signal, to which said first receiver demodulation means are not primarily responsive, alert and advisory signal means coupled to said second modulation means for providing a signal responsive to alert and advisory information thereto which is at least partially a voice signal, and a plurality of remote second receivers, each of said second receivers having second receiver demodulation means responsive to signals modulated with said narrow band small angle quadrature modulation technique for the reception and demodulation of the transmitted signal to provide the public alert and advisory information at the respective remote location, said second receivers each also including presentation means for presenting said alert and advisory information in humanly perceivable form at the respective remote location. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A public alert and advisory system comprising:
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a central transmitter station including first transmitter modulation means for modulating a signal to be transmitted with programming, using a first modulation technique, for transmission of the programming to manually controllable first receivers having first receiver demodulation means responsive to signals modulated with said first modulation technique for the reception and demodulation of said modulated signal to allow selective perception of the programming by members of the public, second modulation means coupled to said central transmitter station for modulation of the signal to be transmitted with public alert and advisory information utilizing a second modulation technique to which said first receiver demodulation means are not primarily responsive, alert and advisory signal means coupled to said second modulation means for providing a signal responsive to alert and advisory information thereto, a plurality of remote second receivers, each of said second receivers having second receiver demodulation means responsive to signals modulated with said second modulation technique for the reception and demodulation of the transmitted signal to provide the public alert and advisory information at the respective remote location, said second receivers each also including presentation means for presenting said alert and advisory information in humanly perceivable form at the respective remote location, said second receivers each further including self initiating means coupled to said second receiver demodulation means for presenting a humanly perceivable malfunction signal at the respective remote location if said self initiating means is not periodically reset by a reset signal received from said second receiver demodulation means, and means coupled to said second modulation means of said central transmitter to provide a periodic signal thereto for transmission to and demodulation by said remote second receivers to periodically provide said reset signal thereto, whereby said humanly perceivable malfunction signal will be presented at the remote location of any said second remote receiver not receiving and responsive to said reset signal, and wherein said central transmitter station includes means for providing a phone control signal to said second modulation means for modulation and transmission to said remote second receivers, and wherein at least some of said second remote receivers include; phone control means, phone answering means, and data communication means, said phone control means being coupled to said second receiver demodulation means and to said phone answering means to enable said phone answering means in response to said phone control signal, said phone answering means also being coupled to a phone line and said data communication means, said phone answering means, when enabled, being a means for sensing a ring signal on said telephone line, providing an off-hook signal thereto, and coupling said data communication means to said phone line, said data communication means being a means for communicating data over a phone line. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36)
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37. A public alert and advisory system comprising;
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a central transmitter station including first transmitter modulation means for modulating a signal to be transmitted with programming, using a first modulation technique, for transmission of the programming to manually controllable first receivers having first receiver demodulation means responsive to signals modulated with said first modulation technique for the reception and demodulation of said modulated signal to allow selective perception of the programming by members of the public, second modulation means coupled to said central transmitter station for modulation of the signal to be transmitted with identification codes and public alert and advisory information associated therewith utilizing a second modulation technique to which said first receiver demodulation means are not primarily responsive, alert and advisory signal means coupled to said second modulation means for providing a signal containing identification codes and alert and advisory information thereto, a plurality of remote second receivers, each having assigned thereto a predetermined identification code, each of said second receivers having second receiver demodulation means responsive to signals modulated with said second modulation technique for the reception and demodulation of the transmitted signal to provide the public alert and advisory information at the respective remote location, said second receivers each also including code recognition means for recognizing said predetermined identification code of the respective said remote second receiver, and presentation means for presenting said alert and advisory information in humanly perceivable form at the respective remote location upon recognition of said identification code, said second receivers each further including self initiating means coupled to said second receiver demodulation means for presenting a humanly perceivable malfunction signal at the respective remote location if said initiating means is not periodically reset by a reset signal received from said second receiver demodulation means, and means coupled to said second modulation means of said central transmitter to provide a periodic signal thereto for transmission to and demodulation by said remote second receivers to periodically provide said reset signal thereto, whereby said humanly perceivable malfunction signal will be presented at the remote location of any said second remote receiver not receiving and responsive to said reset signal, and wherein said central transmitter station includes means for providing a phone control signal to said second modulation means for modulation and transmission to said remote second receivers, and at least some of said second remote receivers include; phone control means; phone answering means, and data communication means, said phone control means being coupled to said second receiver demodulation means and to said phone answering means to enable said phone answering means in response to said phone control signal, said phone answering means also being coupled to a phone line and said data communication means, said phone answering means, when enabled, being a means for sensing a ring signal on said telephone line, providing an off-hook signal thereto, prior to ringing, and coupling said data communication means to said phone line, said data communication means being a means for communicating data over a phone line. - View Dependent Claims (38)
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39. A public alert and advisory system comprising;
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a central transmitter station including first transmitter modulation means for modulating a signal to be transmitted with audio programming, using a first modulation technique, for transmission of the programming to manually controllable first receivers having first receiver demodulation means responsive to signals modulated with said first modulation technique for the reception and demodulation of said modulated signal to allow selective perception of the programming by members of the public, second modulation means coupled to said central transmitter station for modulation of the signal to be transmitted with public alert and advisory information utilizing a second modulation technique to which said first receiver demodulation means are not primarily responsive, alert and advisory signal means coupled to said second modulation means for providing a signal responsive to alert and advisory information thereto which is at least partially a voice signal, and a plurality of remote second receivers, each of said second receivers having second receiver demodulation means responsive to signals modulated with said second modulation technique for the reception and demodulation of the transmitted signal to provide the public alert and advisory information at the respective remote location, said second receivers each also including presentation means for presenting said alert and advisory information in humanly perceivable form at the respective remote location. - View Dependent Claims (40)
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Specification