Aural indication of remote control commands

• US 8,528,040 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2007
• Issued: 09/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bangor, Aaron, Blanchard, Harry E., Brandt, Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Koenig, Andrew Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHUNG, JASON
• Application Number:
  US11/866,411
• Publication Number:
  US 20090089856A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,163 Days
• Field of Search: 725 39- 61, 725131-133, 725139-141, 725151-153, 704/260, 704270-272
• US Class Current: 725/153
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/02 Methods for producing synthetic speech; Speech synthesisers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/202 by remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205

Abstract

A disclosed set top box or other multimedia receiver suitable for use in a multimedia distribution network includes a remote control interface operable to receive a signal from a remote control device and extract a remote control command from the signal, a processor coupled to the remote control interface and operable to detect the remote control command, and a machine readable storage resource containing computer executable instructions operable to: invoke an aural indication application that returns an audio stream suitable for processing by an audio output device, wherein the audio stream, when processed by the audio output device, causes the audio output device to produce an audibly detectable signal indicative of a function corresponding to the remote control command. The application may generate the audio stream by invoking a speech synthesis module or by retrieving an audio file. The application may retrieve electronic programming guide (EPG) data associated with a remote control command and incorporate at least some of the EPG data in the audibly detectable output.

Claims

1. A multimedia receiver suitable for use in a multimedia content distribution network, the multimedia receiver comprising:

an audio database and a customized text to speech engine, wherein both the audio database and the customized text to speech engine are provisioned into the multimedia receiver;

a remote control interface operable to receive, from a remote control device, a wirelessly transmitted remote control command;

a processor coupled to the remote control interface; and

a non-transitory machine readable storage resource, accessible to the processor, containing program instructions operable by the processor, the program instructions including instructions to;

generate programming content output suitable for providing to a display screen wherein the programming content output includes a first program associated with a first channel of the multimedia content distribution network;

modify the programming content output in response to the remote control command to produce modified programming content output including a second program associated with a second channel of the multimedia content distribution network when the remote control command is a change channel remote control command; and

determine if a customized audio feature is enabled;

select the customized audio database or the customized text to speech engine if the customized audio feature is enabled;

generate, by the multimedia receiver in response to modifying the programming content output, an audio stream representing a first audible message suitable for playing by an audio output device based on the customized audio database when the customized audio database is selected, wherein the first audible message identifies a title of the second program and announces the channel change remote control command;

generate, by the multimedia receiver in response to modifying the programming content output, an audio stream representing a first audible message suitable for playing by an audio output device based on the customized text to speech engine when the customized text to speech engine is selected, wherein the first audible message identifies a title of the second program and announces the channel change remote control command;

wherein an aural indication application generates a second audible message that announces caller ID information associated with an incoming telephone call received via the multimedia content distribution network and a communication indicating an event associated with recording, by the multimedia receiver of programming content.

2. The receiver of claim 1, wherein the program instructions include instructions to generate the audible message by indexing stored audio files to retrieve an audio file corresponding to the remote control command.

3. The receiver of claim 1, wherein the program instructions include instructions to retrieve meta data associated with the modified programming content output and the audible message is indicative of at least some of the meta data.

4. The receiver of claim 1, wherein the audible message includes speech in a voice selected from a voice of an acquaintance of a user and a voice of a celebrity.

5. A method comprising:

provisioning both an audio database and a customized text to speech engine into a set top box;

receiving, from a remote control device, a wirelessly transmitted remote control command;

generating programming content output suitable for providing to a display screen wherein the programming content output includes a first program associated with a first channel of the multimedia content distribution network;

modifying the programming content output in response to the remote control command to produce modified programming content output including a second program associated with a second channel of the multimedia content distribution network when the remote control command is a change channel remote control command; and

determining if a customized audio feature is enabled;

selecting the customized audio database or the customized text to speech engine if the customized audio feature is enabled;

generating, by the set to box in response to modifying the programming content output, an audio stream representing a first audible message suitable for playing by an audio output device based on the customized audio database when the customized audio database is selected, wherein the first audible message identifies a title of the second program and announces the channel change remote control command;

generating, by the set top box in response to modifying the programming content output, an audio stream representing a first audible message suitable for playing by an audio output device based on the customized text to speech engine when the customized text to speech engine is selected, wherein the first audible message identifies a title of the second program and announces the channel change remote control command;

wherein an aural indication application generates a second audible message that announces caller ID information associated with an incoming telephone call received via the multimedia content distribution network and a communication indicating an event associated with recording, by the set top box of programming content.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the aural indication application generates the audio stream by indexing stored audio files to retrieve an audio file corresponding to the remote control channel change command.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the aural indication application retrieves meta data associated with the program and incorporates at least some of the meta data in the audible message.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the audible message includes speech in a voice selected from an acquaintance of a user and a celebrity.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium including stored program instructions, executable by a processor, for enabling an aural indication feature on a set top box suitable for use in a multimedia content distribution network, the program instructions including instructions to:

provision both an audio database and a customized text to speech engine into the set top box;

receive, from a remote control device, a wirelessly transmitted remote control command;

generate programming content output suitable for providing to a display screen wherein the programming content output includes a first program associated with a first channel of the multimedia content distribution network;

modify the programming content output in response to the remote control command to produce modified programming content output including a second program associated with a second channel of the multimedia content distribution network when the remote control command is a change channel remote control command; and

determine if a customized audio feature is enabled;

select the customized audio database or the customized text to speech engine if the customized audio feature is enabled;

generate, by the set top box in response to modifying the programming content output, an audio stream representing a first audible message suitable for playing by an audio output device based on the customized audio database when the customized audio database is selected, wherein the first audible message identifies a title of the second program and announces the channel change remote control command;

generate, by the set top box in response to modifying the programming content output, an audio stream representing a first audible message suitable for playing by an audio output device based on the customized text to speech engine when the customized text to speech engine is selected, wherein the first audible message identifies a title of the second program and announces the channel change remote control command;

wherein an aural indication application generates a second audible message that announces caller ID information associated with an incoming telephone call received via the multimedia content distribution network and a communication indicating an event associated with recording, by the set top box of programming content.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions to produce the audio stream include instructions to index stored audio files to retrieve an audio file corresponding to the remote control command.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the program instructions include instructions to retrieve meta data describing programming content associated with the second program and incorporate at least some of the meta data in the audio stream.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the meta data includes electronic programming guide data.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the audio stream includes speech in a voice selected from an acquaintance of a user and a celebrity.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, further comprising instructions to enable downloading, to the set top box, a customized audio file for use as the audio stream.