Weather information interface system
First Claim
1. A system for providing real time wide area access to continuously updated local weather information from a plurality of remote sources of continuously available updated local weather information at a plurality of geographically dispersed localities, comprising:
- a plurality of local interface units, each said local interface unit being coupled to one of the remote sources, the local interface units receiving said local weather information from said remote sources and transferring the local weather information;
a central interface unit coupled to each of the local interface units and accessible by an incoming caller via telephone service, the central interface unit selectively coupling the incoming caller to one of said local interface units in response to selection of a desired locality by the incoming caller to provide the incoming caller with the local weather information in human recognizable audio form from the local interface unit of the desired locality on a real-time basis; and
wherein the central interface unit includes means for allowing a plurality of incoming callers to be simultaneously provided with the same local weather information from the same desired locality, without said incoming callers being able to interact with other callers.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A real time weather information access and distribution system having a central switching and interface unit accessed at least in part via a commercial telephone network. A remote weather station is selected by the incoming caller by means of a "decision tree" process using a touch tone phone, and the central switching and interface unit makes contact with a local interface unit at the selected geographically remote weather reporting station. Weather information being produced and broadcast locally by the weather reporting station is then provided to the geographically remote incoming caller on a real-time basis via the local interface unit, being in communication with said central switching and interface unit, and thence to individual callers desiring said real time weather information. The central interface unit includes means for allowing a plurality of incoming callers to be simultaneously provided with the same local weather information from the same desired locality, without said incoming callers being able to interact with other callers or affect operation of said central interface unit. At least one of the local interface units includes a bridge tap coupled to the NOAA weather radio console.
97 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A system for providing real time wide area access to continuously updated local weather information from a plurality of remote sources of continuously available updated local weather information at a plurality of geographically dispersed localities, comprising:
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a plurality of local interface units, each said local interface unit being coupled to one of the remote sources, the local interface units receiving said local weather information from said remote sources and transferring the local weather information; a central interface unit coupled to each of the local interface units and accessible by an incoming caller via telephone service, the central interface unit selectively coupling the incoming caller to one of said local interface units in response to selection of a desired locality by the incoming caller to provide the incoming caller with the local weather information in human recognizable audio form from the local interface unit of the desired locality on a real-time basis; and wherein the central interface unit includes means for allowing a plurality of incoming callers to be simultaneously provided with the same local weather information from the same desired locality, without said incoming callers being able to interact with other callers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A system for providing real time wide area access to continuously updated local weather information from a plurality of remote sources of continuously available updated local weather information at a plurality of geographically dispersed localities, comprising:
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a plurality of local interface units, each said local interface unit being coupled to one of the remote sources, the local interface units receiving said local weather information from said remote sources and transferring the local weather information; a central interface unit coupled to each of the local interface units and accessible by an incoming caller via telephone service, the central interface unit selectively coupling the incoming caller to one of said local interface units in response to selection of a desired locality by the incoming caller to provide the incoming caller with the local weather information in human recognizable audio form from the local interface unit of the desired locality on a real-time basis; wherein the local interface unit comprises; an input section receiving said local weather information as an audio signal; a gain control circuit coupled to said input section for monitoring and maintaining audio signal strength of said audio signal of the local weather information; and an interface circuit coupled to said gain control circuit for interfacing said audio signal with a communication line from the central interface unit. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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9. A system for providing real time wide area access to continuously updated local weather information from a plurality of remote sources of continuously available updated local weather information at a plurality of geographically dispersed localities, comprising:
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a plurality of local interface units, each said local interface unit being coupled to one of the remote sources, the local interface units receiving said local weather information from said remote sources and transferring the local weather information; a central interface unit coupled to each of the local interface units and accessible by an incoming caller via telephone service, the central interface unit selectively coupling the incoming caller to one of said local interface units in response to selection of a desired locality by the incoming caller to provide the incoming caller with the local weather information in human recognizable audio form from the local interface unit of the desired locality on a real-time basis; wherein the central interface unit comprises; a plurality of T1 circuit cards that are recessed by the incoming caller via a T1 interface; a plurality of voice circuit boards for processing the incoming caller; and a digital switch matrix coupled to each of said boards to provide cross-connecting between said T1 circuit cards and voice circuit boards. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification