System and method for providing described television services
First Claim
1. An apparatus for providing described television services, comprising:
- an encoder for encoding a description corresponding to visual scenes of an audiovisual program as text character data into a line of the vertical blanking interval of a video signal of the audiovisual program to form an integrated signal;
a transmitter for transmitting said integrated signal;
a receiver for receiving said integrated signal and extracting and storing said text character data from said integrated signal until a complete utterance is extracted;
a text-to-speech converter for converting said description data into a speech signal corresponding to the complete utterance; and
a speaker coupled to said text-to-speech converter for providing asynthesized voice to a viewer, wherein said synthesized voice is provided to the viewer asynchronously with spoken portions of an audio track of said audiovisual program.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for providing described television services includes a computer for receiving and storing description data corresponding to an audiovisual program; an encoder for encoding the description data into a program signal corresponding to the audiovisual program; and a receiver which receives the encoded program signal and extracting the description data from the encoded program signal. A text-to-speech converter converts the description data into a speech signal corresponding to the description data, and a speaker provides the speech signal to a viewer. Similarly, a method for providing described television services includes the steps of generating description data corresponding to an audiovisual program; encoding the description data into a program signal of the audiovisual program; and decoding the encoded program signal, whereby the description data is extracted from said encoded program signal. Once the description data is extracted, the description data is converted into a speech signal corresponding to the description data, and the speech signal is provided to a viewer.
-
Citations
19 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for providing described television services, comprising:
-
an encoder for encoding a description corresponding to visual scenes of an audiovisual program as text character data into a line of the vertical blanking interval of a video signal of the audiovisual program to form an integrated signal; a transmitter for transmitting said integrated signal; a receiver for receiving said integrated signal and extracting and storing said text character data from said integrated signal until a complete utterance is extracted; a text-to-speech converter for converting said description data into a speech signal corresponding to the complete utterance; and a speaker coupled to said text-to-speech converter for providing asynthesized voice to a viewer, wherein said synthesized voice is provided to the viewer asynchronously with spoken portions of an audio track of said audiovisual program. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. A method for providing described television services, comprising the steps of:
-
encoding a description of visual scenes of an audiovisual program as text character data into a line of the vertical blanking interval of a video signal of said audiovisual program to form an integrated signal; transmitting said integrated signal to a remote television receiver; receiving said integrated signal at said remote television receiver; extracting and storing said text character data from said video signal until a complete utterance is retrieved; and synthesizing a voice representing said complete utterance by which said description is provided to a viewer, wherein said synthesized voice is provided to the viewer asynchronously with spoken portions of an audio tract of said audiovisual program. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A receiver for use in a described television services system, comprising:
-
receiving means for receiving an encoded program signal including description data corresponding to an audiovisual program; extracting means for extracting said description data from said encoded program signal; a text-to-speech converter for converting said description data into a speech signal corresponding to said description data; and a speaker coupled to said text-to-speech converter for providing asynthesized voice to a viewer, wherein said synthesized voice is provided to the viewer asynchronously with spoken portions of an audio track of said audiovisual program. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A method of generating described television services, comprising the steps of:
-
generating description data corresponding to an audiovisual program; and encoding said description data into the vertical blanking interval of a program signal of said audiovisual program, wherein said step of generating said description data is accomplished through the use of an automatic speech recognition device, whereby spoken description inputs are converted into said description data by said automatic speech recognition device. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
-
Specification