Audio information dissemination using various transmission modes

• US 5,751,806 A
• Filed: 12/18/1996
• Issued: 05/12/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Command Audio Corporation
• Inventors: Ryan, John O.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gregory, Bernarr E.
• Application Number:
  US08/769,092
• Time in Patent Office: 510 Days
• Field of Search: 380/4, 380/9, 380/23, 380/25, 380/49, 380/50, 380/59, 340/825.31, 340/825.34, 455/39, 455/42, 455/45
• US Class Current: 380/237
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00086 Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy indicating unauthorised use of record carriers in general G11B23/28; scrambling for television signal recording H04N5/913; network architectures or network protocols for network security H04L63/00; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/0021 involving encryption or decryption of contents recorded on or reproduced from a record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00224 wherein the key is obtained from a remote server
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00231 wherein the key is obtained from a local external medium, e.g. a card
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00246 wherein the key is obtained from a local device, e.g. device key initially stored by the player or by the recorder
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00413 wherein the key is input by a user
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/0071 involving a purchase action
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/10527 Audio or video recording; Data buffering arrangements G11B20/12 - G11B20/18 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/031 Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/102 Programmed access in sequence to addressed parts of tracks of operating record carriers access by moving the head G11B3/08, G11B5/54, G11B7/085, G11B21/022; by moving the record carrier G11B15/005, G11B17/005, by driving of both record carrier and head G11B15/1816
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/28 Arrangements for simultaneous broadcast of plural pieces of information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/34 using an out-of-band subcarrier signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/95 characterised by a specific format, e.g. an encoded audio stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/15 on receiving information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/17 on recording information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/23 using cryptography, e.g. encryption, authentication, key distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/25 Arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/27 Arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/602 : for digital sound signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/04 : Systems for the transmission of one television signal, i.e. both picture and sound, by a single carrier H04N7/084, H04N7/087 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/06 : Systems for the simultaneous transmission of one television signal, i.e. both picture and sound, by more than one carrier H04N7/084, H04N7/087 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/081 : the additional information signals being transmitted by means of a subcarrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/088 : the inserted signal being digital
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0881 : the signal being time-compressed before its insertion and subsequently decompressed at reception
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/162 : Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing

Abstract

A system and method of information dissemination that permits the user to listen to the specific content of information when and where he or she wants to. A radio or television receiver system receives information from a FM subcarrier, a television vertical blanking interval transmission, a television separate audio program transmission or a dedicated channel and stores the transmitted information in a memory. A user interface allows selection from the memory of the stored information via a set of menus controlling a hierarchical database, so as to access particular items of information. Typically the system includes RAM and/or a storage medium such as a digital audio tape,a magneto-optical mini-disk, a magnetic disk or optical disk, sufficient to store information for 10 hours of audio. A decompression device, accepts the accessed compressed digital audio information items which may have been encrypted and transforms them into spoken speech. The user interface is either by voice or a single or multi-position switch allowing scanning through and selection from the menu items. The signal for such a device is generated by converting analog audio signals into a digital audio data stream which may be encrypted. The encrypted digital data stream is compressed and inserted on the radio or television carrier via an FM Subcarrier, the television vertical interval or the separate audio program channel of a television transmitter. The system is also capable of transmitting alphanumeric data and converting this alphanumeric to a voice form using a speech synthesizer.

Claims

1. A receiver for receiving transmitted data comprising:

access circuitry for extracting data from a received transmission;

a memory coupled to the access circuitry for storing the extracted data as a database;

a user interface for providing a set of menus describing the database, and for accepting selections from the set of menus;

a controller coupled to the database for selecting data from the database in response to the accepted selections and providing the selected data in a digital form; and

a speech producing sub-system for converting the selected data from the digital form to an analog signal.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the memory stores the entire database.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the memory comprises a combination of a volatile RAM memory and a non-volatile memory.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the non-volatile memory is selected from the group consisting of an audio tape, a magneto-optical mini-disk, a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the received data is audio data that has been converted from analog form to digital form.

6. The device of claim 5, where in the received digitized audio data is digitized and has been compressed.

7. The of claim 5, wherein the digitized audio data has been encrypted.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the received data is alphanumeric data.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the alphanumeric data is converted to voice data by a speech synthesizer.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the extracted data is in digital form, has been encrypted and compressed, and further comprising a decryptor for decrypting the extracted data.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein said system has a decompression algorithm to decompress data that has been compressed prior to its transmission to the receiver.

12. The device of claim 10, wherein the decryptor is enabled by a key received by the device.

13. The device of claim 10, wherein the decryptor is enabled by a key device operatively connected to the decryptor.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein the user interface is voice activated.

15. The device of claim 11, wherein the user interface includes:

a manual input device adapted to be mountable on an automobile steering wheel, and a link from the manual input device to the controller.

16. The device of claim 11, wherein the user interface includes a control for determining a speed at which the speech output device outputs the analog signal.

17. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

an amplifier connected to the speech producing device for amplifying the analog signal; and

means for converting the amplified signal to sound.

18. The device of claim 1, further comprising means for connecting the receiver to an automobile radio set.

19. The device of claim 1, further comprising means for designating a hierarchy for the database.

20. The device of claim 1, further comprising means for storing said digital data received in a RAM memory up to the capacity of the RAM memory before transferring said digital data to a memory from a group consisting of a disk medium and tape medium.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein said disk medium is a digital audio tape.

22. The device of claim 21, wherein said disk medium is a magnetic disk.

23. The device of claim 20, wherein said disk medium is a magnetic-optical disk.

24. The device of claim 20, wherein said disk medium is an optical disk.

25. The device of claim 1, wherein a speed of transmission of said data can be varied.

26. A method for information dissemination for transmitting alphanumeric and audio data comprising the steps of:

converting said audio data to digital audio data;

providing said alphanumeric data as digital alphanumeric data;

establishing a data base of digitized data with menus for selection of particular segments from said data base;

compressing said digital audio data;

encrypting said compressed digital data;

encrypting said digitized alphanumeric data;

selecting between digital alphanumeric data and compressed audio data;

transmitting said selected data;

extracting the data from the transmitted signal;

providing a memory;

storing the extracted data in the memory as a database;

providing a set of menus describing the database;

selecting items from the set of menus;

providing portions of the stored data in response to the selected items from said menus;

decrypting said encrypted data;

selecting digitized alphanumeric data or compressed data;

decompressing said compressed digital data;

converting the provided portions from the digital form to a first analog signal representing audio signals;

converting alphanumeric digitized data to a second analog signal representing spoken words; and

outputting said first and second analog signals for human hearing.

27. A device comprising:

an extractor for extracting data from a transmitted signal;

memory for storing the extracted data as a database;

means for providing a set of menus describing the database, and for making selections from the set of menus;

means for selecting data from the database in response to the selections;

means for providing the selected data in encrypted, compressed and digital form;

a decryptor for decrypting the selected data;

a decompressor for decompressing the decrypted data;

a converter for converting the digital data to analog audio data; and

means for outputting the analog audio data.

28. A system for information dissemination to transmit audio data comprising:

a data producing sub-system for converting analog audio information to digital data and producing an associated database with menus;

a data compressor for compressing the encrypted audio data;

an encryptor for encrypting the digital audio data;

an inserter for inserting the compressed encrypted digital audio data into a transmission channel;

a receiver for receiving the transmitted compressed encrypted digital audio data;

a memory for storing the selected data in the database;

means for providing a set of menus to a user describing the database, and means for updating the data in the database;

a controller for selecting data from the database and providing the selected data in the encrypted compressed digital form;

a decryptor for decrypting the encrypted compressed digital audio data;

a decompressor for decompressing the compressed digital audio data; and

a converter for converting the digital audio data to analog audio data representing the analog audio information.