1265results about "Broadcast information characterisation" patented technology

An RFID token apparatus has a connection module for interfacing with an appliance capable of communicating and interacting with remote servers and networks, a translation module for moving signals between a USB interface and a smart card interface, a processor module which may be capable of operating as a dual-interface (DI) chip; and an input / output module having at least one RF antenna and a modulator. An RFID-contactless interface according to ISO 14443 & ISO 15693 and / or NFC. A wireless interface according to Zigbee, Bluetooth, WLAN 802.11, UWB, USB wireless and / or any similar interface. An RFID reader apparatus has a housing; a slot for a contact or contactless fob; and a USB stick alternately protruding from the housing and retracted within the housing.

In an encoder, multiple channels of audio information representing multidimensional sound fields are split into subband signals and the subband signals in one or more subbands are combined to form composite signals. The composite signals, the subband signals not combined into a composite signal and information describing the spectral levels of subband signals combined into composite signals are assembled into an encoded output signal. The spectral level information conveys either the amplitude or power of the combined subband signals or the apparent direction of the sound field represented by the combined subband signals. In digital implementations, adaptive bit allocation may be used to reduce the informational requirements of the encoded signal.

Systems and methods for navigating hypermedia using multiple coordinated input / output device sets. Disclosed systems and methods allow a user and / or an author to control what resources are presented on which device sets (whether they are integrated or not), and provide for coordinating browsing activities to enable such a user interface to be employed across multiple independent systems. Disclosed systems and methods also support new and enriched aspects and applications of hypermedia browsing and related business activities.

A viewer interface for a television program delivery system is described. The innovation relates to methods and devices for viewer pathways to television programs. Specifically, the interface involves hardware and software used in conjunction with a television at the viewer home to create a user friendly menu based approach to television program access. The device is particularly useful in a program delivery system with hundreds of programs and a data signal carrying program information. The disclosure describes menu generation and menu selection of television programs.

An apparatus for upgrading a viewer interface for a television program delivery system (200) is described. The invention relates to methods and devices for viewer pathways to television programs and services. Specifically, the apparatus involves hardware and software used in conjunction with the interface and a television at the viewer home to create a user friendly menu based approach to accessing programs and services. The apparatus is particularly useful in a program delivery system (200) with hundreds of programs and a data signal carrying program information. The disclosure describes menu generation and menu selection of television programs.

Disclosed is a wireless surround sound speaker system wherein a transmitter broadcasts a variety of FM signals that correspond to the individual speaker channels commonly found in a surround sound system. Receivers, individually equipped with signal receiving, conditioning and amplification components, are configured to receive any one of the broadcast signals in a remote location and are used to drive a conventional loudspeaker in that location. Powered by wall socket or via DC battery packs, the receivers, used in conjunction with the transmitter, provide surround sound capabilities without the need for complex and difficult wiring.

A portable music device (PMD) for capturing song tags while monitoring a broadcast (via Internet or radio), either on the PMD (either via an Internet connection or via a built-in FM radio receiver), or on a nearby radio (by detecting the station to which the nearby radio is tuned). The user can use the captured song tags to download song files, either on the Internet or in a physical music shop. Song tags may be ID3-type tags modified to include a link to a web address of a server for downloading songs. The PMD may also store credits for paying for the songs, and may include a contactless interface for secure payment.

A method and an apparatus suggests programs for viewing by a subscriber. Terminals installed at a subscriber's home and at central locations, such as bookstores, video rental stores and libraries, provide responsive or intelligent search functions to suggest programs for viewing according to a subscriber's viewing preferences. Responsive searching includes posing questions to and receiving answers from the subscribers. Intelligent searching includes gathering historical data, such as the subscriber's history of programs watched. The programs include videotapes, videodiscs, television programs and electronic books. Subscribers indicate their selection and order the programs using a menu system. An automated billing system tracks the programs ordered.

The sound reproduction of a multichannel sound reproduction system with a plurality of speakers which is connected to the output of an FM stereo receiver is controlled by a control signal derived from the reception quality. Preferably, the control signal from the FM stereo receiver for controlling the stereo and mono components is also employed to control the multichannel sound reproduction system. For example, stereo, pseudo-stereo or mono reproduction are provided in the multichannel sound reproduction system in response to the stereo component within the output signal.

An RFID token apparatus has a connection module for interfacing with an appliance capable of communicating and interacting with remote servers and networks, a translation module for moving signals between a USB interface and a smart card interface, a processor module which may be capable of operating as a dual-interface (DI) chip; and an input / output module having at least one RF antenna and a modulator. An RFID-contactless interface according to ISO 14443 & ISO 15693 and / or NFC. A wireless interface according to ZIGBEE wireless, BLUETOOTH wireless, WLAN 802.11, UWB, USB wireless and / or any similar interface. An RFID reader apparatus has a housing; a slot for a contact or contactless fob; and a USB stick alternately protruding from the housing and retracted within the housing.

Representations of spatial audio scenes using higher-order Ambisonics HOA technology typically require a large number of coefficients per time instant. This data rate is too high for most practical applications that require real-time transmission of audio signals. According to the invention, the compression is carried out in spatial domain instead of HOA domain. The (N+1)2 input HOA coefficients are transformed into (N+1)2 equivalent signals in spatial domain, and the resulting (N+1)2 time-domain signals are input to a bank of parallel perceptual codecs. At decoder side, the individual spatial-domain signals are decoded, and the spatial-domain coefficients are transformed back into HOA domain in order to recover the original HOA representation.

Detachable wearable electronic eyeglasses and head mounted gear with a plurality of electronic functions and interchangeable electronic function, and a wearable computer with optimal weight distribution and stretchable arms.

The present invention discloses a solution for assuring user-defined voice commands are unambiguous. The solution can include a step of identifying a user attempt to enter a user-defined voice command into a voice-enabled system. A safety analysis can be performed on the user-defined voice command to determine a likelihood that the user-defined voice command will be confused with preexisting voice commands recognized by the voice-enabled system. When a high likelihood of confusion is determined by the safety analysis, a notification can be presented that the user-defined voice command is subject to confusion. A user can then define a different voice command or can choose to continue to use the potentially confusing command, possibly subject to a system imposed confusion mitigating condition or action.

A virtual WWW (World Wide Web) server apparatus which can obtain a plurality of predetermined HTML files and combine these into a single HTML file in response to a specific URL sent from a WWW browser, can connect to WWW servers and the browser via a network such as the Internet, to thereby enable the browser to obtain via the network the contents of a plurality of data files each of which may be HTML files, acquired from respective WWW servers through the intermediary of the virtual WWW server apparatus as a single combined file, and to thereby display the respective file contents together on a single display screen. The virtual WWW server apparatus can further include a linkage file whose contents relate respective names of video cameras controlled by various WWW servers to URLs for sending control commands for these cameras, thereby enabling commands for respective cameras, sent from a browser, to be identified by the corresponding camera names. A plurality of video images from respective cameras can be displayed embedded in respective HTML file contents on a single display screen of a browser, and hence a remote monitoring system or interactive TV system can be easily implemented.

An Automatic Purchase System (APS) provides a radio broadcast listener with the ability to conveniently purchase media content such as music or speech while listening to the radio. The user can respond to items in the radio broadcast such as advertisements, fund raising drives such as those conducted by public radio, or interactive listener polls during the broadcast. Data such as song title and artist, author or publisher and the IP address for the location where the digital version of the content is stored, can be transmitted using the RBDS / RDS data stream. A reference number representing song title and artist, author or publisher and the IP address for the location where the digital version of the content is stored can also be employed for ease of implementation. This reference number can reside in a lookup table to be accessed by the APS server software on a Data Server located at the broadcast site, a remote site or both for purposes of redundancy. Transmission of purchase requests from a Technology Enabled Radio (TER) is provided via wireless transmission, or by accessing the Internet using a personal computer or through a cellular or wireless phone.

A situational awareness system includes a first local network having a plurality of digital communication devices, each device capable of gathering information pertinent to an area in proximity of the device and providing information to a control station capable of collaborating the information and provide such information to the devices on the local network; a first regional network having a plurality of local networks, including the first local network, within an area of responsibility, the first regional network having a regional control station capable of collaborating information from the devices and provide said information to devices on the local network; and a central network having a plurality of regional networks including the first regional network, the central network having a central control station capable of collaborating information from the regional control stations and provide the information to devices on a local network.

An acoustic channel is used for fault diagnosis, repair, and upgrades. Remote diagnosis uses self-test data encoded into sound waves. Repair data and upgrades are also encoded and transmitted as sound waves.

An integrated, fully automated video production system provides a video director with total control over all of the video production devices used to produce and broadcast a show. Such devices include, but are not limited to, cameras, robotic pan / tilt heads, video tape players and recorders (VTRs), video servers and virtual recorders, character generators, still stores, digital video disk players (DVDs), audio mixers, digital video effects (DVE), video switchers, and teleprompting systems. The video production system provides an automation capability that allows the video director to pre-produce a show, review the show in advance of “air time,” and then, with a touch of a button, produce the live show. In one embodiment, the invention provides a video production system having a processing unit in communication with one or more of the video production devices. The processing unit also records the show or elements from the show following its production. The show or elements can be recalled for subsequent broadcasts. An Internet interface supports live or on-demand requests for content from the video production. In an embodiment, an online user selects specific. elements and reorganizes the elements to personalize a broadcast. The processing unit receives and executes the online request to continuously stream or download the content to the user. In an embodiment, various supporting features enhance and extend the content of the video production, such as real time polling, hyperlinks to related web sites, video captions, and the like.

A method and apparatus for supporting a priority transmission of broadcasting data in a transmitter of a digital broadcasting system. A determination is made as to whether a priority transmission of one broadcasting service to be provided is supported. If the service supports the priority transmission, a plurality of subchannels to be transmitted for the service are set and a priority of the data to be mapped to the plurality of subchannels is set. The data of the broadcasting service is mapped to the plurality of subchannels according to the priority. Data streams mapped to the plurality of subchannels are encoded in different encoders and the encoded data streams are transmitted.

An expanded television program delivery system is disclosed which allows viewers to select television and audio program choices from a series of menus. Menus are partially stored in a set-top terminal in each subscriber's home. The menus may be reprogrammed by signals sent from a headend or from a central operations center. The system allows for a great number of television signals to be transmitted by using digital compression techniques. An operations center with computer-assisted packaging allows various television, audio and data signals to be combined, compressed and multiplexed into signals transmitted on various channels to a cable headend which distributes the signals to individual set-top terminals. Various types of menus may be used and the menus may incorporate information included within the video / data signal received by the set-top terminal. A remote control unit with icon buttons allows a subscriber to select programs based upon a series of major menus, submenus, and during program menus. Various billing and statistics gathering methods for the program delivery system are also disclosed.

Provided are apparatuses and methods for transmitting and receiving ESG fragments containing identification information. In one example, the identification identifies a mobile operator. For example, the identification information may include a Mobile Network Code (MNC), Mobile Country Code (MCC), or name corresponding to the mobile operator. In another example, the identification information may also contain a web address corresponding to a web page associated with the mobile operator. For example, the identification information received in the ESG fragment may be compared to stored identification information at a receiver. Based on the identification information in the ESG fragment and stored identification information, a corresponding web page may be provided. Also, a program or service corresponding to the ESG fragment may be filtered based on the identification information in the ESG fragment and stored identification information.

The present invention realizes electronic commerce by providing a reception section that receives product information and service information and a barcode formation section that forms a barcode based on the received information, displaying the barcode formed by the barcode formation section on a display section and allowing a barcode reader provided at a shop terminal, etc. to read this barcode.

The present invention realizes electronic commerce by providing a reception section that receives product information and service information and a barcode formation section that forms a barcode based on the received information, displaying the barcode formed by the barcode formation section on a display section and allowing a barcode reader provided at a shop terminal, etc. to read this barcode.

Systems, methods and devices for gathering data concerning media usage by predetermined audience members. An audience measurement code in acoustic energy produced by a media receiver is detected by a portable media monitor. The monitor also detects a location code produced in a vicinity of the media receiver.

An interactive TV content creation tool imports video and other assets, including WebPages, Java script, etc., as a series of resources for interactive TV content creation for real time audience estimation and program ratings. A processing system embeds hyperlinks into one or more objects contained in a program frame as desired. Each hotlink has attributes. These attributes include shape, name, description and Z-order. The hotlink can have one of several shapes, including rectangle, ellipse and parallelogram. The hotlink types are included in an object tree which is displayed in a window to a creator. A hotlink type is selected in the hotlink tree, and a window displays a linked properties tab available for the selected object. There are several link types available; linking to a URL, another interactive TV content file, a video clip, an audio clip, an image, or a tracking action and transaction action. There are different parameters for different actions. One parameter is a tracking script. Another parameter is a tracking flag. The tracking flag can be set to follow different tracking modes. If the "enable global tracking" is chosen, a name / value pair "global=true" will be appended to the tracking script transmitted to the global tracking server through network. If the "enable local tracking" is chosen, a name / value pair "local=true" will be appended to the tracking script. The embedded tracking information can follow three multi-level tracking patterns (MTP): regular program viewing tracking, enhanced program viewing tracking, and per object granularity tracking. The viewer returns the script to a server which calculates audience estimation and program ratings for the interactive TV program.

A switch that facilitates remote port mirroring is described. The switch can include an encapsulation mechanism and a forwarding mechanism. The encapsulation mechanism can be configured to encapsulate a copy of a first packet in a second packet, thereby preserving header information (e.g., a VLAN identifier and / or a TRILL header) of the first packet. The forwarding mechanism can be configured to forward the first packet using header information of the first packet, and forward the second packet using header information of the second packet. The second packet can be received at a destination switch which extracts the first packet from the second packet, and sends the first packet on a port which is coupled to a network analyzer.

A digital broadcast transmitting / receiving system and a signal processing method thereof that can improve the receiving performance of the system. A digital broadcast transmitter has a randomizer to randomize an input data stream which has null bytes being inserted at a specified position, a multiplexer to output a data stream formed by inserting specified known data into the position of the null bytes of the randomized data stream, an encoder to encode the data stream outputted from the multiplexer, and a modulator / RF-converter to modulate the encoded data, RF-convert the modulated data and transmit the RF-converted data. The receiving performance of the digital broadcast transmitting / receiving system can be improved even in a multi-path channel by detecting the known data from the received signal and using the known data in synchronization and equalization in a digital broadcast receiver.