System for processing broadcast stream comprises a human-perceptible broadcast program embedded with a plurality of human-imperceptible sets of information

• US 6,021,432 A
• Filed: 02/06/1997
• Issued: 02/01/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Vringo Infrastructure, Inc. (XpresSpa Group, Inc. (f/k/a FORM Holdings Corp.))
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Caldwell, Charles D., Sizer, Theodore II, August, Katherine G., Henrick, Robert F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky, Moustafa M.
• Application Number:
  US08/795,743
• Time in Patent Office: 1,090 Days
• Field of Search: 395/200.49, 395/200.61, 395/200.36, 395/200.47, 395/200.59, 348/7, 348/10, 348/12, 709/200, 709/201, 709/203, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/00 Interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units interface circuits for specific input/output devices G06F3/00 ; multiprogram control therefor G06F9/46; multiprocessor systems G06F15/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/47 for recognising genres
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/65 for using the result on users' side

Abstract

A broadcast stream contains different types of information with the different types identified in the stream. An information processing device receives the broadcast stream and selectively captures (for future playback) only those pieces of information corresponding to one or more preselected types of information. In one embodiment, the broadcast stream is a radio broadcast and the different types are identified in digital sidebands of the radio signals. In other embodiments, the broadcast stream is embedded into audio signals or video signals using luminance or chrominance modulation or other spread spectrum techniques. A user is able to edit a personal profile that is stored in the device and contains the list of preselected types of information. In one embodiment, the device has an interface that allows the user to edit the personal profile, for example, by connecting the device to a personal computer running a profile-editing software program or by communicating with a service bureau that provides the profile-editing function. In this way, each information processing device can be programmed to capture only the subset of information in the broadcast stream in which the user is interested.

Claims

1. A method for processing broadcast information, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving, by an information processing device, a broadcast stream comprising a human-perceptible broadcast program embedded with a plurality of human-imperceptible sets of information, each set of information corresponding to one of a plurality of available types of information, wherein;

the human-perceptible broadcast program can be directly perceived by a person; and

the information in the human-imperceptible sets of information cannot be directly conveyed to a person without first being processed by an information processing device;

(b) automatically analyzing, by the information processing device, the broadcast stream to identify a subset of information in the broadcast stream corresponding to one or more preselected types of information identified in a personal profile stored in the information processing device; and

(c) processing, by the information processing device, the subset of information to present the subset of information in a human-perceptible form to a user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sets of information are embedded into human-perceptible audio sound signals or human-perceptible video light signals using luminance or chrominance modulation or spread spectrum techniques.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the personal profile was edited using an external profile programmer in communication with the information processing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises the step of recording the subset of information for playback in a human-perceptible form, wherein the playback comprises at least one of displaying textual information and playing audio information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the broadcast stream comprises playback signals comprising human-perceptible public information and human-imperceptible private information, wherein the private information is encoded within the playback signals;

step (b) comprises the step of analyzing the playback signals to extract a subset of the encoded private information selected for the user; and

step (c) comprises the step of decoding the extracted subset of encoded private information to make the private information available to the user in a human-perceptible form.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the playback signals comprise at least one of:

(1) human-perceptible audio sounds received from a speaker, private information being encoded in the audio sounds; and

(2) human-perceptible video light received from a video monitor, private information being encoded in the luminance or chrominance of the video light.

7. An apparatus for processing broadcast information, comprising:

(a) means for receiving a broadcast stream comprising a human-perceptible broadcast program embedded with a plurality of human-imperceptible sets of information, each set of information corresponding to one of a plurality of available types of information, wherein;

the human-perceptible broadcast program can be directly perceived by a person; and

the information in the human-imperceptible sets of information cannot be directly conveyed to a person without first being processed by an information processing device;

(b) means for automatically analyzing the broadcast stream to identify a subset of information in the broadcast stream corresponding to one or more preselected types of information identified in a personal profile stored in the apparatus; and

(c) means for processing the subset of information to present the subset of information in a human-perceptible form to a user.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the sets of information are embedded into human-perceptible audio sound signals or human-perceptible video light signals using luminance or chrominance modulation or spread spectrum techniques.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the personal profile was edited using an external profile programmer in communication with the apparatus.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein means (c) is adapted to record the subset of information for playback in a human-perceptible form, wherein the playback comprises at least one of displaying textual information and playing audio information.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

the broadcast stream comprises playback signals comprising human-perceptible public information and human-imperceptible private information, wherein the private information is encoded within the playback signals;

means (b) is adapted to analyze the playback signals to extract a subset of the encoded private information selected for the user; and

means (c) is adapted to decode the extracted subset of encoded private information to make the private information available to the user in a human-perceptible form.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the playback signals comprise at least one of:

(1) human-perceptible audio sounds received from a speaker, private information being encoded in the audio sounds; and

(2) human-perceptible video light received from a video monitor, private information being encoded in the luminance or chrominance of the video light.

13. An information processing device, comprising:

(a) a receiver;

(b) a processor;

(c) a memory; and

(d) a playback device, wherein;

the information processing device has a personal profile corresponding to a user and stored in the memory, wherein the personal profile is adapted to be programmed to preselect one or more types of information from a plurality of available types of information;

the receiver is adapted to receive a broadcast stream comprising a human-perceptible broadcast program embedded with a plurality of human-imperceptible sets of information, each set of information corresponding to one of the plurality of available types, wherein;

the human-perceptible broadcast program can be directly perceived by a person; and

the information in the human-imperceptible sets of information cannot be directly conveyed to a person without first being processed by an information processing device;

the processor is adapted to automatically analyze the broadcast stream to identify a subset of information in the broadcast stream corresponding to the preselected types identified in the personal profile; and

the processor is adapted to store the subset of information to the memory; and

the playback device is adapted to play back the subset of information from the memory to present the subset of information in a human-perceptible form to the user.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the sets of information are embedded into human-perceptible audio sound signals or human-perceptible video light signals using luminance or chrominance modulation or spread spectrum techniques.

15. The device of claim 13, wherein the playback device comprises at least one of a display device adapted to display human-perceptible text and an audio device adapted to play human-perceptible audio sounds.

16. The device of claim 13, wherein the information processing device is further adapted to function as a portable personal paging device.

17. The device of claim 13, further comprising an interface, wherein

the interface is adapted to connect to an external profile programmer to enable the user to edit the personal profile.

18. The device of claim 13, wherein:

the broadcast stream comprises playback signals comprising human-perceptible public information and human-imperceptible private information, wherein the private information is encoded within the playback signals;

the processor is adapted to analyze the playback signals to extract a subset of the encoded private information selected for the user; and

the processor is adapted to decode the extracted subset of encoded private information to make the private information available to the user in a human-perceptible form.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the playback signals comprise at least one of:

(1) human-perceptible audio sounds received from a speaker, private information being encoded in the audio sounds; and

(2) human-perceptible video light received from a video monitor, private information being encoded in the luminance or chrominance of the video light.

20. A method for transmitting a broadcast stream, comprising the steps of:

(a) generating pieces of information corresponding to one or more available types of information;

(b) assigning a label to each of the available types of information;

(c) generating a broadcast stream comprising the pieces of information with a label for each piece, the pieces of information being embedded in a human-imperceptible form in a human-perceptible broadcast program, wherein;

the human-perceptible broadcast program can be directly perceived by a person; and

the information in the human-imperceptible sets of information cannot be directly conveyed to a person without first being processed by an information processing device; and

(d) transmitting the broadcast stream for receipt, processing, and selective capturing by one or more information processing devices based on one or more sets of preselected types of information.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the sets of information embedded into human-perceptible audio sound signals or human-perceptible video light signals using luminance or chrominance modulation or spread spectrum techniques.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein:

step (c) comprises the step of generating the broadcast stream comprising human-perceptible public information and human-imperceptible private information, wherein the private information is encoded within playback signals corresponding to playback of the broadcast stream; and

step (d) comprises the step of transmitting the broadcast stream for receipt and playback by a public-information rendering device that converts the broadcast stream into the playback signals encoded with the private information.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the broadcast stream comprises a human-perceptible audio sound stream, the playback signals are human-perceptible audio sounds, the public-information rendering device comprises a speaker, and the private information is encoded in the audio sounds.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the broadcast stream comprises a human-perceptible video light stream, the playback signals are human-perceptible video light, the public-information rendering device comprises a video monitor, and the private information is encoded in the luminance or chrominance of the video light.

25. An apparatus for transmitting a broadcast stream, comprising:

(a) means for generating pieces of information corresponding to one or more available types of information;

(b) means for assigning a label to each of the available types of information;

(c) means for generating a broadcast stream comprising the pieces of information with a label for each piece, the pieces of information being embedded in a human-imperceptible form in a human-perceptible broadcast program, wherein;

the human-perceptible broadcast program can be directly perceived by a person; and

the information in the human-imperceptible sets of information cannot be directly conveyed to a person without first being processed by an information processing device; and

(d) means for transmitting the broadcast stream for receipt, processing, and selective capturing by one or more information processing devices based on one or more sets of preselected types of information.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the sets of information are embedded into human-perceptible audio sound signals or human-perceptible video light signals using luminance or chrominance modulation or spread spectrum techniques.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein:

means (c) is adapted to generate the broadcast stream comprising human-perceptible public information and human-imperceptible private information, wherein the private information is encoded within playback signals corresponding to playback of the broadcast stream; and

means (d) is adapted to transmit the broadcast stream for receipt and playback by a public-information rendering device that converts the broadcast stream into the playback signals encoded with the private information.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the broadcast stream comprises a human-perceptible audio sound stream, the playback signals are human-perceptible audio sounds, the public-information rendering device comprises a speaker, and the private information is encoded in the audio sounds.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the broadcast stream comprises a human-perceptible video light stream, the playback signals are human-perceptible video light, the public-information rendering device comprises a video monitor, and the private information is encoded in the luminance or chrominance of the video light.