Transmitting apparatus, receiving apparatus, recording apparatus, and reproducing apparatus

• US 6,163,803 A
• Filed: 10/07/1998
• Issued: 12/19/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Watanabe, Koichiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn, Nathan
• Application Number:
  US09/168,316
• Time in Patent Office: 804 Days
• Field of Search: 348/12, 348/13, 348/7, 455/4.2, 455/5.1, 345/327
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/018 Audio watermarking, i.e. embedding inaudible data in the audio signal

Abstract

A URL input unit 101 supplies a URL to be transmitted to an encoder 102. A keyboard can be mentioned as a typical URL input unit. The encoder 102 supplies an encoded audio URL signal to an audio signal multiplexer 103 on the basis of the URL from the URL input unit 101. The audio signal multiplexer 103 multiplexes the audio URL signal supplied from the encoder 102 to an audio signal which is supplied from an input terminal and supplies a multiplexed signal to an audio signal transmitter 104. The audio signal transmitter 104 transmits the signal through a transmitting antenna 105. The audio URL signal and the audio signal from the input terminal are switched at a proper timing in accordance with a predetermined rule and either one of them is transmitted.

Claims

1. An audio uniform resource locator signal transmitting apparatus comprising:

a uniform resource locator input for inputting a uniform resource locator to be transmitted;

an encoder for generating an audio uniform resource locator signal by cross-referencing said uniform resource locator in a table of uniform resource locators and corresponding digital representations to determine a digital uniform resource locator corresponding to said uniform resource locator and performing a digital to analog conversion operation on said digital uniform resource locator; and

an audio signal transmitter for transmitting the audio uniform resource locator signal generated by said encoder.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an audio signal multiplexer for multiplexing said audio uniform resource locator signal generated by said encoder with an externally supplied audio signal; and

an audio signal transmitter for modulating the audio signal multiplexed by said audio signal multiplexer.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a keyboard for inputting said uniform resource locator to be transmitted.

3. An audio uniform resource locator signal receiving apparatus comprising:

an audio signal input for inputting an audio signal supplied from a receiver; and

a decoder for decoding an audio uniform resource locator signal from said audio signal input by performing an analog to digital conversion operation on said audio uniform resource locator signal to generate a digital uniform resource locator and cross-referencing said digital uniform resource locator in a table of uniform resource locators and corresponding digital representations to determine a uniform resource locator corresponding to said digital uniform resource locator.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a receiving antenna for receiving said audio signal.

5. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising an audio signal demodulator for demodulating the input audio signal.

6. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising an information processor for automatically accessing an on-line site in response to the decoded audio uniform resource locator signal.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a command input for inputting a user command;

wherein said information processor, in response to said user command, automatically accesses the on-line site.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a storage device for storing information acquired from said on-line site accessed by said information processor.

9. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the received signal is received from a television transmitter which transmits said audio uniform resource locator signal as a television signal.

11. The apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising an audio/video signal receiver for demodulating audio/video signals.

12. The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a signal converter for converting on-line information supplied from said information processor to a video signal.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising a monitor for displaying the video signal.

14. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said information processor automatically accesses through a telephone line the on-line site in response to the uniform resource locator.

15. The apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a storage device for storing in response to a uniform resource locator the audio uniform resource locator signal.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising an information processor for erasing the uniform resource locator stored in the storage device after a predetermined time.

17. The apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising an information processor for notifying a user when a uniform resource locator is captured.

18. The apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising a storage device for storing a plurality of stored uniform resource locators;

and

a selector for selecting one of said plurality of stored uniform resource locators, wherein said information processor automatically accesses through the telephone line the on-line site in response to the selected uniform resource locator and displays information accessed from the on-line site.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein said information processor erases the uniform resource locator stored earliest in time when a capacity of the storage device is reached.

20. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein said storage device stores information from said on-line site together with said uniform resource locator.

21. An audio uniform resource locator signal recording apparatus comprising:

a uniform resource locator input for inputting a uniform resource locator;

an encoder for encoding an audio uniform resource locator signal in response to the inputted uniform resource locator by cross-referencing said uniform resource locator in a table of uniform resource locators and corresponding digital representations to determine a digital uniform resource locator corresponding to said uniform resource locator and performing a digital to analog conversion operation on said digital uniform resource locator; and

an audio signal recorder for recording said audio uniform resource locator signal to an audio signal recording medium.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21, further comprising an audio signal multiplexer for multiplexing said audio uniform resource locator signal encoded by the encoder with an externally supplied audio signal.

23. An audio uniform resource locator signal reproducing apparatus comprising:

an audio signal reproducer for reproducing an audio signal recorded on an audio signal recording medium; and

a decoder for decoding an audio uniform resource locator signal from said reproduced audio signal by performing an analog to digital conversion operation on said audio uniform resource locator signal to generate a digital uniform resource locator and cross-referencing said digital uniform resource locator in a table of uniform resource locators and corresponding digital representations to determine a uniform resource locator corresponding to said digital uniform resource locator.

24. The apparatus according to claim 23, further comprising an information processor for automatically accessing through a network line an on-line site in response to said uniform resource locator.

25. The apparatus according to claim 24, further comprising a storage device for storing information supplied from said information processor and reading out the stored information in response to a user command.

26. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein said audio signal is recorded on an optical disk along with an externally supplied video signal.

27. The apparatus according to claim 26, further comprising a keyboard for inputting a uniform resource locator.

28. The apparatus according to claim 26, further comprising an optical disk reproducer for reproducing said audio signal and said video signal from said optical disk.

29. The apparatus according to claim 28, further comprising a speaker for outputting said audio signal from the optical disk reproducer.

30. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein said decoder determines a uniform resource locator from said audio uniform resource locator signal.

31. The apparatus according to claim 24, further comprising an operation key for supplying user commands to said information processor.

32. The apparatus according to claim 24, further comprising an on-line information video signal converter for converting to a video signal information accessed from said on-line site and supplied from said information processor.

33. The apparatus according to claim 28, further comprising a video signal switcher for selecting either video signals supplied by an on-line information video signal converter from information accessed from said on-line site or the video signal supplied from said optical disk reproducer.

34. The apparatus according to claim 33, further comprising a monitor for displaying the video signal supplied from said video signal switcher.

35. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein said information processor automatically accesses through a telephone line to the on-line site in response to said uniform resource locator.

36. The apparatus according to claim 24, further comprising a storage device for storing said uniform resource locator when said audio uniform resource locator signal is decoded.

37. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein, when an access command to the on-line site is received, said information processor accesses the on-line site through a telephone line in response to said generated uniform resource locator.

38. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein said information processor erases the uniform resource locator from said storage device when a predetermined time elapses.

39. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein said storage device stores, when said audio uniform resource locator signal is decoded, said uniform resource locator.

40. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein said information processor erases the uniform resource locator and information accessed from said on-line site and stored earliest in time when a capacity of said storage device is reached.

41. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein when said audio uniform resource locator signal is decoded, said information processor immediately accesses through a telephone line the on-line site represented by the uniform resource locator, captures the information from the on-line site and stores said captured information together with said uniform resource locator in said storage device.