Emergency alert system

• US 7,159,230 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2003
• Issued: 01/02/2007
• 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): Kelley; Chris
• Assistant Examiner(s): Huynh; Son P.
• Application Number:
  US10/404,359
• Publication Number:
  US 20030196200A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,372 Days
• Field of Search: 725 32- 36, 725108-110, 455/404.1, 455/466, 379/37, 379/45, 379 47- 49
• 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 providing information contained in an emergency alert message to television viewers, the method comprising:

receiving the emergency alert message;

determining whether the emergency alert message contains a text message;

in response to determining that the emergency alert message contains a text message, converting the text message into a display file and further processing the emergency alert message, wherein the text message conforms to a flexible message format;

in response to determining that the emergency alert message does not contain a text message, further processing the emergency alert message without converting the emergency alert message into a display file;

determining whether the emergency alert message contains an audio message;

in response to determining that the emergency alert message contains an audio message, converting the audio message into an audio file and further processing the emergency alert message, wherein the audio message conforms to the flexible message format; and

in response to determining that the emergency alert message does not include an audio message, further processing the emergency alert message without converting the emergency alert message into an audio file,

wherein further processing includes creating a digital emergency alert message, wherein the digital emergency alert message is formatted in the flexible message format, the flexible message format facilitating communication of the information contained in the received emergency alert message with any of a plurality of data file formats, and wherein the digital emergency alert message includes information from the received emergency alert message,

wherein further processing includes transmitting the digital emergency alert message to a digital subscriber television system, wherein at least a portion of the digital emergency alert message is broadcast by the digital subscriber television system to a plurality of television set-top terminals,

wherein the method results in receiving information from a conventional emergency alert message and inputting the at least a portion of the information into a digital subscriber television system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the digital emergency alert message by an application server within the digital subscriber television system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing by the digital subscriber television system the digital emergency alert message to a subscriber.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital emergency alert message is used to warn a subscriber of at least one of a severe weather emergency or a national emergency.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a format of the audio file is one of an Audio Interchange File Format, a Resource Interchange File Format Wave format, or a Creative Voice format.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a format of the display file is one of an American Standard Code for Information Interchange format or a Hyper Text Markup Language format.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital emergency alert message includes:

a unique message identifier;

event information associated with the emergency alert message;

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

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising

configuring the digital emergency message in a format that enables the digital emergency message to be transmitted to a home communication terminal.

9. A system for providing information contained in an emergency alert message to television viewers, the system comprising:

emergency alert equipment configured to;

determine whether the emergency alert contains a text message;

in response to determining that the emergency alert message contains a text message, convert the text message into a display file and further process the emergency alert message, wherein the text message conforms to a flexible message format;

in response to determining that the emergency alert message does not contain a text message, further process the emergency alert message without converting the emergency alert message into a display file;

determine whether the emergency alert message contains an audio message;

in response to determining that the emergency alert message contains an audio message, convert the audio message into an audio file and further process the emergency alert message, wherein the audio file conforms to the flexible message format;

in response to determining that the emergency alert message does not contain an audio message, further process the message without converting the emergency message into an audio file,

wherein further processing the emergency alert message includes creating a digital emergency alert message, wherein the digital emergency alert message is formatted in the flexible message format, the flexible message format facilitating communication of the information contained in the received emergency alert message with any of a plurality of data file formats, and wherein the digital emergency alert message includes information from the received emergency alert message; and

an application server configured to receive the digital emergency alert message from the emergency alert equipment, and to enable at least a portion of the digital emergency alert message to be broadcast to a plurality of television set-top terminals,

wherein the system is configured for receiving information from a conventional emergency alert message and inputting at least a portion of the information into a digital subscriber television system.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a modulator that is coupled to the application server and that is configured to transmit the digital emergency alert message to a television set-top terminal.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the digital emergency alert message includes a unique message identifier.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the digital emergency alert message includes event information associated with the emergency alert message.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the digital emergency alert message includes display data information, including at least one of an indicator of existence of the display file, an indicator of a format of the display file, an indicator of a length of the display file, a location of the display file, and the display file.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the digital emergency alert message includes audio data information, including at least one of an indicator of existence of the audio file, an indicator of a format of the audio file, an indicator of a length of the audio file, a location of the audio file, and the audio file.

15. A system for providing information contained in an emergency alert message to television viewers, the system comprising:

means for receiving the emergency alert message;

means for determining whether the emergency alert message contains a text message;

in response to determining that the emergency alert message contains a text message, means for converting the text message into a display file and means for further processing the emergency alert message, wherein the text message conforms to a flexible message format;

in response to determining that the emergency alert message does not contain a text message, means for further processing the emergency alert message without converting the emergency alert message into a text file;

means for determining whether the emergency alert message contains an audio message;

in response to determining that the emergency alert message contains an audio message, means for converting the audio message into an audio file and means for further processing the emergency alert message, wherein the audio message conforms to the flexible message format;

in response to determining that the emergency alert message does not contain an audio message, means for further processing the emergency alert message without converting the emergency alert message into an audio file,

wherein the means for further processing the emergency alert message includes means for converting the received emergency alert message into a digital emergency alert message, wherein the digital emergency alert message is formatted in the flexible message format, the flexible message format facilitating communication of the information contained in the received emergency alert message with any of a plurality of data file formats, and wherein the digital emergency alert message includes information from the received emergency alert message,

wherein the means for further processing the emergency alert message includes means for transmitting the digital emergency alert message to a digital subscriber television system, wherein at least a portion of the digital emergency alert message is broadcast by the digital subscriber television system to a plurality of television set-top terminals,

wherein the system results in receiving information from a conventional emergency alert message and inputting at least a portion of the information into a digital subscriber television system.

16. A method for providing information contained in an emergency alert message to television viewers, the method comprising:

receiving the emergency alert message;

determining whether the emergency alert message contains a text message;

in response to determining that the emergency alert message contains a text message, converting the text message into a display file and further processing the emergency alert message, wherein the text message conforms to a flexible message format;

in response to determining that the emergency alert message does not contain a text message, further processing the emergency alert message without converting the emergency alert message into a display file;

determining whether the emergency alert message contains an audio message;

in response to determining that the emergency alert message contains an audio message, converting the audio message into an audio file and further processing the emergency alert message, wherein the audio message conforms to the flexible message format;

in response to determining that the emergency alert message does not contain an audio message, further processing the emergency alert message without converting the emergency alert message into an audio file,

wherein further processing includes creating a digital emergency alert message, wherein the digital emergency alert message is formatted in the flexible message format, the flexible message format facilitating communication of the information contained in the received emergency alert message with any of a plurality of data file formats, and wherein the digital emergency alert message includes information from the received emergency alert message,

wherein further processing includes transmitting the digital emergency alert message to a digital subscriber television system;

wherein further processing includes receiving the digital emergency alert message by an application server within the digital subscriber television system;

wherein further processing includes broadcasting by the digital subscriber television system at least a portion of the digital emergency alert message to a plurality of television set-top terminals;

wherein the digital emergency alert message is used to warn a subscriber of one of a sever weather emergency or a national emergency;

wherein a format of the audio file is one of an Audio Interchange File Format, a Resource Interchange File Format Wave format, or a Creative Voice format;

wherein a format of the display file is one of an American Standard Code for Information Interchange format or a Hyper Text Markup Language format;

wherein the audio file is transmitted separately from the digital emergency alert message;

wherein the display file is transmitted separately from the digital emergency alert message; and

wherein the digital emergency alert message includes;

a unique message identifier;

event information associated with the emergency alert message;

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

wherein the method results in receiving information from a conventional emergency alert message and inputting at least a portion of the information into a digital subscriber television system.