Interface apparatus for effecting captioning and communications between a telephone line and a television

• US 5,375,160 A
• Filed: 05/28/1993
• Issued: 12/20/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ledler Corporation
• Original Assignee: Ledler Corporation
• Inventors: Guidon, John, Moore, Merle D., Easton, Douglas J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing F.
• Application Number:
  US08/068,740
• Time in Patent Office: 571 Days
• Field of Search: 379/52, 379/90, 379/93, 379/96-99, 358/85, 358/142, 358/143, 358/147, 348/14, 348/22, 348/460, 348/461, 348/468, 348/478
• US Class Current: 379/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/066 Telephone sets adapted for data transmision
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00283 with a television apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4112 having fewer capabilities than the client, e.g. thin client having less processing power or no tuning capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4884 for displaying subtitles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0882 for the transmission of character code signals, e.g. for teletext circuits for the digital non-picture data signal H04N7/035

Abstract

A telecommunications device is disclosed which provides TDD services for the hearing impaired as well as other closed-captioning services. Incoming data is displayed over the television picture and may be stored in memory for review by the receiving party at a later time if desired.

Claims

1. A captioning unit for use with a television receiver comprising:

a modem for receiving and transmitting digital data over a telephone subscriber loop and for providing telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) data and operation;

a composite video signal source;

an analog video processor, coupled to the composite video signal source, for slicing hidden caption data in a vertical blanking interval, separating sync data from the composite video signal and selectively overlaying the caption and TDD data on the composite video signal;

a digital decoder and display processor, having inputs coupled to the analog video processor for decoding the caption data and having an output for inserting data from a volatile memory representative of luminance and chrominance information of the caption and TDD data;

link interface means, coupled to the modem, for isolating the modem from the telephone subscriber loop and for detecting rings; and

a CPU coupled to the modem, the display processor, the link interface means and the memory, for setting selective display modes for answering, announcing unavailability, and recording an incoming message in response to a preselected number of rings, for displaying an icon to alert that an incoming call is being received and to indicate that a message has been left.

2. A captioning unit as recited in claim 1 wherein the video processor further includes a switch having inputs coupled to luminance and chrominance information in the composite video signal source and to the luminance and chrominance information stored in the memory, the switch providing a video signal output which overlays the caption and TDD data on the composite video signal.

3. A captioning unit as recited in claim 1 further comprising a wireless remote control unit and receiver for sending TDD information and control inputs to the CPU.

4. A captioning unit as recited in claim 1 wherein the CPU further includes means for increasing the display size of the caption or TDD data.

5. A captioning unit as recited in claim 1 wherein the CPU further includes transcript means for saving captions and TDD information in a form of a transcript.

6. A captioning unit as recited in claim 1 wherein the CPU further includes means for decoding caption data in the composite video signal which is unrelated to the underlying program.

7. A captioning unit as recited in claim 1 wherein the CPU further includes means for providing a pop up menu selection on the television screen to prompt a user in making a selection choice.

8. A captioning unit as recited in claim 1 further including an interface for loading data in the volatile memory into permanent storage.

9. A captioning unit as recited in claim 1 further comprising means for powering on the television receiver in response to a preselected number of rings.

10. A self contained electronic unit coupled to a standard telephone subscriber loop and between a radio frequency (RF) signal source and a RF input on a television receiver comprising:

(a) a TV tuner for receiving a RF signal TV broadcast and providing a composite video signal output;

(b) a line interface coupled between the telephone subscriber loop and a modem for isolating the modem from the subscriber loop and for properly terminating the subscriber loop in response to a predetermined number of rings and detection of a data carrier signal;

(c) an analog video processor, coupled to the TV tuner, for slicing VBI caption data and for separating sync data from the composite video signal;

(d) a digital decoder and display processor, coupled to the analog video processor, for receiving the vertical blanking interval (VBI) caption data and sync signals and for routing synchronized pixel information representative of caption or telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) data to the analog video processor for mixing into composite video signal output;

(e) a TV modulator, coupled to the analog video processor, for modulating the mixed video signal at a RF frequency; and

(f) a CPU for performing general overhead including parity checking in the data, interpreting control and color codes, for answering announcing unavailability, and recording an incoming message in response to a preselected number of rings, and in response to detecting a modem carrier signal, activating a wake-up relay for switching an AC power outlet on.

11. A self contained electronic unit as recited in claim 10 further comprising a serial interface through the digital processor to the CPU for linking data stored in memory to a permanent memory device.

12. A self contained electronic unit as recited in claim 10 wherein the analog video analog video processor comprises:

(i) a buffer for buffering incoming composite video signals;

(ii) a data slicer having an adaptable slicer level, for slicing digital data out of the VBI in the composite video signal;

(iii) a sync separator for separating composite sync signals from the composite video and converting the signals to digital levels for use in the digital processor;

(iv) an audio detector and a chroma demodulator for extracting audio and chroma information from the video stream respectively; and

(v) a video switch for receiving luminance information from the buffer and chrominance information from the chroma demodulator and selectively inserts pixel data stored in memory representative of caption or TDD data to form an aggregate video signal.

13. A self contained electronic unit as recited in claim 10 wherein the digital decoder and display processor comprises:

(i) a VBI data extractor, for receiving serial data from the analog video processor, accumulating the data into a preselected number of parallel bits, and outputting the parallel bits to the CPU;

(ii) a display engine including a timing generator coupled to the analog processor;

(iii) a CPU-RAM interface for receiving strobes from the CPU and converting the strobes to DRAM compatible strobes;

(iv) a first state machine coupled to the timing reference, for reading a virtual screen stored in memory;

(v) a second state machine for providing video display and RAM timing signals; and

(vi) a memory address latch and decoder, coupled to the CPU, for decoding a desired memory access address.

14. A self contained electronic unit as recited in claim 10 further comprising a display and switch panel for providing inputs to the CPU so that a user may power the unit on, change TV channels, select which mode to operate in, and select captioning size.

15. A self contained electronic unit as recited in claim 10 further comprising an infrared receiver for receiving signals from a QWERTY type keyboard and for providing digital data representative of the signals to the CPU and to the digital decoder and display processor.

16. A self contained electronic unit as recited in claim 10 further comprising a read only memory, coupled to the CPU, for storing fonts, alternative languages, and control codes for interpreting the caption and TDD data.