Emergency alert system

• US 6,543,051 B1
• Filed: 08/05/1999
• Issued: 04/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Triton US VP Acquisition, Co.
• Original Assignee: Scientific-Atlanta Incorporated (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Addington, Timothy H., Manson, Azita M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Faile, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): HUYNH, AN SON PHI
• Application Number:
  US09/368,561
• Time in Patent Office: 1,335 Days
• Field of Search: 725/33-34, 725/108, 725/36, 725/114, 725/116, 725/138, 725/144, 725/146, 348/461, 348/473, 455/404
• US Class Current: 725/33
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/008 with transmission via TV or radio broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2335 involving reformatting operations of audio signals, e.g. by converting from one coding standard to another details of audio signal transcoding G10L19/173
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2355 involving reformatting operations of additional data, e.g. HTML pages optimising the visualization of content for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/9577; tracking of instant messages H04L51/234; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/814 comprising emergency warnings arrangements specially adapted for emergency or urgency in broadcast systems H04H20/59; arrangements for providing alarms, notifications, alerts to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8146 involving graphical data, e.g. 3D object, 2D graphics
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/08 Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band , e.g. by time division H04N7/007 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309

Abstract

A system for inputting conventional emergency alert messages into a digital subscriber television system. The method allows existing emergency alert equipment to interface with the digital system equipment in the headend of a digital subscriber television system. A unique identifier and the format of the digital emergency alert message allow the input of an emergency alert message and allow for a wide variety of optional data formats, system control options, and data storage options.

Claims

1. A method for inputting an emergency alert message into a digital subscriber television system, comprising the steps of:

receiving the emergency alert message;

if the emergency alert message contains a text message, converting the text message into a display file;

if the emergency alert message contains an audio message, converting the audio message into an audio file;

creating a digital emergency alert message including

a unique message identifier;

event information associated with the emergency alert message;

display data information, including at least one of an indicator of the existence of the display file, an indicator of the format of the display file, an indicator of the length of the display file, the location of the display file, and the display file; and

audio data information, including at least one of an indicator of the existence of the audio file, an indicator of the format of the audio file, an indicator of the length of the audio file, the location of the audio file, and the audio file; and

transmitting the digital emergency alert message to the digital subscriber television system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital emergency alert message is re-transmitted at set time intervals during a valid time period of the emergency alert message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio file is transmitted separately and stored in a memory device in the digital subscriber television system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio file is stored in a memory device outside of the digital subscriber television system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the format of the audio file is selected from a group comprising:

an Audio Interchange File Format, a Resource Interchange File Format Wave format, or a Creative Voice VOC format.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the display file is transmitted separately and stored in a memory device in the digital subscriber television system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the display file is stored in a memory device outside of the digital subscriber television system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the format of the display file is selected from a group comprising:

American Standard Code for Information Interchange format or Hyper Text Markup Language format.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique message identifier includes a time stamp and an event number.

10. A method for inputting an emergency alert message into a digital subscriber television system, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving the emergency alert message on an emergency alert receiver/controller;

if the emergency alert message contains a text message, converting the text message into a display file;

if the emergency alert message contains an audio message, converting the audio message into an audio file;

creating a digital emergency alert message including

a unique message identifier;

event information associated with the emergency alert message;

display data information, including at least one of an indicator of the existence of the display file, an indicator of the format of the display file, an indicator of the length of the display file, a location of the display file, and the display file; and

audio data information, including at least one of an indicator of the existence of the audio file, an indicator of the format of the audio file, an indicator of the length of the audio file, a location of the audio file, and the audio file; and

transmitting the digital emergency alert message from the emergency alert receiver/controller to an application server of the digital subscriber television system; and

converting, at the application server, the digital emergency message into a digital format of the digital subscriber television system for delivery to a subscriber receiver.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the digital emergency alert message is re-transmitted at set time intervals during a valid time period of the emergency alert message.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the audio file is transmitted separately and stored in a memory device in the digital subscriber television system.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the audio file is stored in a memory device in the emergency alert receiver/controller.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the format of the audio file is selected from a group comprising:

an Audio Interchange File Format, a Resource Interchange File Format Wave format, or a Creative Voice VOC format.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the display file is transmitted separately and stored in a memory device in the digital subscriber television system.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the display file is stored in a memory device in the emergency alert receiver/controller.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the format of the display file is selected from a group comprising:

American Standard Code for Information Interchange format or Hyper Text Markup Language format.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the unique message identifier includes a time stamp and an event number.

19. A subscriber television system for receiving and displaying an emergency alert message to a subscriber comprising:

emergency alert equipment operative to receiving the emergency alert message, creating a digital emergency alert message, and transmitting the digital emergency alert message,

the digital emergency alert message including;

a unique message identifier;

event information associated with the emergency alert message;

display data information, including at least one of an indicator of the existence of a display file, an indicator of the format of the display file, an indicator of the length of the display file, a location of the display file, and the display file; and

audio data information, including at least one of an indicator of the existence of an audio file, an indicator of the format of the audio file, an indicator of the length of the audio file, a location of the audio file, and the audio file;

an application server for receiving the digital emergency alert message and converting the digital emergency message into a format of the subscriber television system; and

a subscriber television system headend for transmitting the digital emergency alert message in the format of the subscriber television system to a receiver for display to the subscriber.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein if the emergency alert message contains a text message, the text message is converted into the display file.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the format of the display file is selected from a group comprising:

American Standard Code for Information Interchange format or Hyper Text Markup Language format.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein if the emergency alert message contains an audio message, the audio message is converted into the audio file.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the format of the audio file is selected from a group comprising:

an Audio Interchange File Format, a Resource Interchange File Format Wave format, or a Creative Voice VOC format.

24. The system of claim 19, including the receiver for displaying the emergency alert message to the subscriber.

25. The system of claim 19, wherein the digital emergency alert message is re-transmitted at set time intervals during a valid time period of the emergency alert message.

26. The system of claim 19, wherein the unique message identifier includes a time stamp and an event number.