RDS-TMC broadcast receiver

• US 5,784,691 A
• Filed: 07/15/1996
• Issued: 07/21/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mannesmann VDO AG (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Ruhl, Hans-Wilhelm
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, THANH C
• Application Number:
  US08/679,872
• Time in Patent Office: 736 Days
• Field of Search: 455/45, 455/46, 455/38.1, 455/38.4, 455/158.1-158.5, 455/186.1, 455/186.2, 455/276.1, 455/345, 455/185.1, 340/905, 340/989, 340/990, 340/995, 704/1, 704/7, 704/8, 704/200, 704/201, 704/204, 704/246, 235/380, 235/382
• US Class Current: 455/186.1
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/094 Hardware aspects; Signal processing or signal properties, e.g. frequency bands
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/34 using an out-of-band subcarrier signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/55 for traffic information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/13 radio data system/radio broadcast data system [RDS/RBDS]

Abstract

The invention relates to a broadcast receiver, comprising a control circuit (7) for delivering encoded messages, derived from a broadcast signal, to at least one storage device (12, 28), for receiving control data, derived from the encoded messages, from at least one storage device (12, 28), and for forming the messages from the control data in a form suitable for a display device (13) and/or a speech synthesizer circuit (14). In order to reduce the data file, at least one storage device (12, 28) is provided to store given control data under an escape code. The control data associated with an encoded message contains at least one first main component and at least one first subsidiary component and the control data associated with an escape code contains a second main component and at least one second subsidiary component. The main component may be, for example an orthographic notation of a language and the subsidiary components may be phonetic notations of a plurality of languages. In the presence of a first main component containing an escape code at least one associated first subsidiary component contains a dummy corresponding to the escape code. The control circuit (7) associates a corresponding escape code with a dummy.

Claims

1. A broadcast receiver, comprising a control circuit (7) for

delivering encoded messages, derived from a broadcast signal, to at least one storage device (12, 28)

receiving control data, derived from the encoded messages, from at least one storage device (12, 28), and

forming the messages from the control data in a form suitable for a display device (13) and/or a speech synthesizer circuit (14),

characterized in that

the at least one storage device (12, 28) is also for the storage of given control data under an escape code,

the control data associated with an encoded message contains at least one first main component and at least one first subsidiary component,

the control data associated with an escape code contains a second main component and at least one second subsidiary component,

when the at least one first main component contains at least one escape codes at least one associated first subsidiary component contains a dummy corresponding to the escape code, and the control circuit (7) is arranged

to receive at least one first main component with at least one escape code and at least one associated first subsidiary component with at least one dummy, and

associate a second main component with the escape code and/or at least one second subsidiary component with the dummy.

2. A broadcast receiver as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that

the at least one first subsidiary component comprises several dummies, and

association of the dummies with second subsidiary components is governed by an order of the at least one main component.

3. A broadcast receiver as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that

a first main component contains a plurality of escape codes, that at least one associated subsidiary component is provided with a corresponding dummy for each escape code, and that the correspondence between the escape codes and the dummies is determined by their order in the first main component and the relevant subsidiary component.

4. A broadcast receiver as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that

the main components are intended to form messages in an orthographic notation.

5. A broadcast receiver as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that

the subsidiary components are intended to form messages in a phonetic notation.

6. A broadcast receiver as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that

the encoded messages supplied with the broadcast signal are traffic messages.

7. A broadcast receiver as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that

a first main component contains a plurality of escape codes, that at least one associated subsidiary component is provided with a corresponding dummy for each escape code, and that the correspondence between the escape codes and the dummies is determined by their order in the first main component and the relevant subsidiary component.

8. A broadcast receiver as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that

the main components are intended to form messages in an orthographic notation.

9. A broadcast receiver as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that

the subsidiary components are intended to form messages in a phonetic notation.

10. A broadcast receiver as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that

the encoded messages supplied with the broadcast signal are traffic messages.

11. A module (47) for processing encoded messages derived from a transmitted signal, comprising a control circuit (64) which is arranged to

deliver encoded messages, derived from the transmitted signal, to at least one storage device (28, 68),

receive control data, derived from the encoded messages, from at least one storage device (28, 68), and

form the messages from the control data in a form suitable for a display device (61) and/or a speech synthesizer circuit (65),

characterized in that

the least one storage device (28, 68) is also for the storage of given control data under an escape code,

the control data associated with an encoded message contains at least one first main component and at least one first subsidiary component,

the control data associated with an escape code contains a second main component and at least one second subsidiary component,

when the at least one first main component contains at least one escape code, then the at least one associated first subsidiary component contains a dummy which corresponds to the escape code, and

the control circuit (64) is arranged to

receive at least one first main component with at least one escape code and at least one associated first subsidiary component with at least one dummy, and associate a second main component with the escape code and/or at least one second subsidiary component with the dummy.

12. A storage device (12, 28, 68) for a receiver or for a module (47) for the processing of encoded messages derived from a transmitted signal, for the storage of control data for a respective encoded message,

characterized in that

the storage device (12, 28, 68) is arranged to store given control data under an escape code,

the control data associated with an encoded message contains at least one first main component and at least one first subsidiary component,

the control data associated with an escape code contains a second main component and at least one second subsidiary component,

when the at least one first main component contains at least one escape code, then at least one associated first subsidiary component contains a dummy corresponding to the escape code, and

a second main component is to be associated with the escape code and/or at least one second subsidiary component is to be associated with the dummy.

13. A chip card (17) for insertion into a card reader (16, 66) for a broadcast receiver or for a module (47) for the processing of encoded messages derived from a transmitted signal, the card comprising a storage device (28) for storing control data for a respective encoded message,

characterized in that

the storage device (28) is arranged to store given control data under an escape code,

the control data associated with an encoded message contains at least one first main component and at least one first subsidiary component,

the control data associated with an escape code contains a second main component and at least one second subsidiary component,

when the at least one first main component contains at least one escape code, then the at least one associated first subsidiary component contains a dummy corresponding to the escape code, and

a second main component is to be associated with the escape code and/or at least one second subsidiary component is to be associated with the dummy.

14. A receiver system comprising

means for receiving an encoded signal, the signal including at least a partial message comprising first control data including first main and subsidiary components, the first main component including at least one escape code, the first subsidiary component including a dummy;

means for storing second control data under the at least one escape code, the second control data including second main and subsidiary components;

a control circuit for receiving and associating the first and second control data and for substituting at least part of the second control data for the escape code and/or the dummy;

means responsive to the control circuit for synthesizing speech based upon the first and second control data;

whereby the signal need not contain an entire version of the message, some of the message being provided by the receiver in response to the escape code.

15. The receiver system of claim 14 wherein the first main component comprises orthographic data in addition to the escape code.

16. The receiver system of claim 14 wherein

the first subsidiary component comprises first phonetic information in addition to the dummy;

the second subsidiary component comprises second phonetic information;

the control circuit substitutes the second phonetic information for the dummy.