1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, apparatus, and computer software program for the display of textual media data associated with Emergency Alert System (EAS) events, and more particularly, to adjusting a scroll rate of the textual media data.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national system that requires broadcast and cable systems to administer national alerts, warnings, and required testing. The SCTE 18 Standard is a standard published by the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers defining the EAS in detail and is a standard that cable service providers and broadcasters may follow to comply with EAS requirements. Under certain circumstances, cable service providers and broadcasters are required to display text associated with an EAS event.
During a television program, a scrolling message containing the EAS event information may be superimposed on the bottom or top of the television screen. SCTE 18 requires that any EAS text information to be displayed on the screen be scrolled “slowly” from the right to the left of the screen. The SCTE 18 standard, however, gives no guidelines on what constitutes “slowly.” Instead, the scroll rate of the EAS text is typically set at a fixed rate that is programmed by the manufacturer of the device displaying the EAS text. This fixed rate of scrolling that is programmed by the manufacturer is often set at a rate that is not convenient for the user. Some users viewing the EAS text may prefer that the EAS text scroll at a slower rate in order to read and understand the text. Whereas other users may prefer that the EAS text scroll at a faster rate so that the entire EAS text may be read in its entirety sooner.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to adjusting a scroll rate of textual media data associated with EAS events that substantially obviates one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method, apparatus, and computer software program for adjusting a scroll rate of textual media data associated with EAS events.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the method of presenting emergency alert textual media data on a display unit comprises the steps of receiving emergency alert textual media data, storing the received emergency alert textual media data into a memory, superimposing the stored emergency alert textual media data on the display unit at an initial scroll rate, detecting a user operation, and adjusting the scroll rate of the superimposed emergency alert textual media data according to the user operation.
In another aspect, an apparatus for presenting emergency alert textual media on a display unit comprises an input that receives emergency alert textual media data from a headend, a first memory that stores the received emergency alert textual media data, a decoder that decodes the received emergency alert textual media data stored in the first memory, a second memory that stores the decoded emergency alert textual media data, an encoder that formats the decoded emergency alert textual media data stored in the second memory and sets a scroll rate of the emergency alert textual media data to an initial scroll rate, a processor coupled to the input, second memory, and encoder, the processor adjusting the scroll rate of the formatted emergency alert textual media data stored in the second memory based on a user command, and an output port coupled to the processor and second memory, the output port being controlled by the processor and transmitting the formatted emergency alert textual media data stored in the second memory to the display unit according to the adjusted scroll rate.
In yet another aspect, a program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform the method of adjusting a scroll rate of emergency alert textual media data presented on a display unit comprises the steps of receiving emergency alert textual media data, storing the received emergency alert textual media data into a memory, superimposing the stored emergency alert textual media data on the display unit at an initial scroll rate, detecting a user operation, and adjusting the scroll rate of the superimposed emergency alert textual media data according to the user operation.
In yet another aspect, an apparatus for presenting emergency alert textual media data on a display unit comprises an input that receives emergency alert textual media data from a headend, a memory that stores the received emergency alert textual media data, a decoder that decodes the received emergency alert textual media data stored in the memory, an encoder that formats the decoded emergency alert textual media data and sets a scroll rate of the emergency alert textual media data to an initial scroll rate, a processor coupled to the input and encoder, the processor adjusting the scroll rate of the formatted emergency alert textual media data, and
an output port coupled to the processor, the output port being controlled by the processor and transmitting the formatted emergency alert textual media data to the display unit according to the adjusted scroll rate.
In yet another aspect, an apparatus for presenting emergency alert textual media data on a display unit comprises an input that receives emergency alert textual media data from a headend, a decoder that decodes the received emergency alert textual media data, an encoder that formats the decoded emergency alert textual media data and sets a scroll rate of the emergency alert textual media data to an initial scroll rate, a memory that stores the formatted emergency alert textual media data, a processor coupled to the input, memory, and encoder, the processor adjusting the scroll rate of the formatted emergency alert textual media data stored in the memory based on a user command, and an output port coupled to the processor and memory, the output port being controlled by the processor and transmitting the formatted emergency alert textual media data stored in the memory to the display unit according to the adjusted scroll rate.
In yet another aspect, a method of presenting emergency alert textual media data on a display unit comprises the steps of receiving emergency alert textual media data, storing the received emergency alert textual media data into a memory, superimposing the stored emergency alert textual media data on the display unit at an initial scroll rate, detecting users operations including entering a keyword or phrase and selecting a display option that causes the keyword or phrase to be displayed on the display unit according to the selected display option.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:
Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
The operation of adjusting the scroll rate of EAS messages will now be discussed in greater detail with reference to
After the EAS event information is received from the cable network 304 via the cable television interface 306, the data information is stored into one or more of the DRAM 308, flash memory 310, or hard disk drive 312. The EAS data information is subsequently decoded by the decoder 314. The encoder 316 formats the decoded emergency alert message data into a text format to be viewed and superimposed on the screen of the television 102 and whose scroll rate is capable of being adjusted. Additionally, the resulting formatted text information may also be stored into one of the memory devices 308, 310, or 312. The memory devices 308, 310, and 312 may operate to perform similar tasks. As a result, a particular storage task can be executed by any of the memory devices. For example, the decoded or formatted EAS information can be stored in either the DRAM 308, the flash memory 310, or the hard disk drive 312. Additionally, other memory devices such as SDRAM, are contemplated, and are interchangeable with the memory devices listed above to accomplish the same task. Moreover, device 300 need not include all three types of memory 308, 310, and 312, but may rather, include a subset thereof. It is also contemplated that the invention may be implemented without storing of the decoded EAS data information. In this case, the EAS data information is decoded and outputted directly for display. Conversely, it is also contemplated that the invention may be implemented without storage of the received EAS data information. In this case, the EAS data is stored only in RAM after it has been decoded. Thereafter, the stored raw EAS data information is appropriately formatted and output to the device display.
After the EAS information is formatted into a text format whose scroll rate is capable of being adjusted, the formatted information is sent to the video processor 320 to be displayed on the screen of the television 102. The EAS text information is initially displayed and scrolled from the right of the screen to the left at an initial, predetermined rate as shown in
In some instances, the rate at which the text of the EAS message scrolls may be too fast for some viewers to read. It is often difficult to absorb and comprehend messages that are displayed too quickly. If the viewer chooses to view the EAS text message at a slower rate, this can be done by pressing the right arrow button 208 of the remote control 200 (step 408). However, if the position of the text is already located at the beginning of the EAS text message (step 410), in other words, the text is not currently scrolling, the scroll rate of the text is not decreased and the message will begin scrolling from the right of the screen to the left of the screen (step 404). Alternatively, if the position of text is not located at the beginning of the message, it must be determined whether or not the scrolling is currently paused (step 412). If the scrolling is not currently paused and if the scroll rate is not at the minimum scroll rate (step 416), then the rate of scrolling will be decreased (step 418). Once the scroll rate of the text is decreased, the text will continue scrolling at the decreased rate in the existing forward direction (step 406). If the scroll rate of text was determined to be at a pause (step 412), then pressing the right arrow button while the scroll rate is paused causes the text to scroll backwards (step 414). The text will continue to scroll at this rate in the backwards direction (step 406). Thus, a viewer need not waste time and wait for the entire message to loop back to the beginning to read a relevant portion of the message that has just left the screen. Adjusting the scroll rate allows the user to read at a rate that is comfortable and convenient to the viewer.
If the viewer chooses to view the EAS text message at a faster rate and view the message in a shorter amount of time, this can be done by pressing the left arrow button 206 of the remote control 200 (step 420). However, if the text is currently scrolling backwards (step 422), pressing the left arrow button will cause the rate of the backwards scrolling to decrease (step 418). If the text is already scrolling in the forward direction at the maximum pre-determined rate, pressing the left arrow key produces no results and the text will continue to scroll in the forward direction at the maximum rate (step 406). Thus, if the text is not currently scrolling backwards and the text is not scrolling in the forward direction at the maximum rate (step 424), pressing the left arrow button causes the scroll rate to be increased (step 426). Increasing the scroll rate gives viewers who may be under time constraints to read the message in its entirety in less time. The ability to increase the scroll rate also allows viewers to quickly move ahead to the portions of the EAS message that are pertinent to the viewer.
In certain instances, the viewer may wish to pause the scrolling of the EAS text (step 428). This can be accomplished by pressing the action button 210 of the remote control 200 (step 430). The text, however, is only temporarily paused for a predetermined duration that may be set by the manufacturer, or until another user operation is detected. Additionally, should no user interaction be detected after ten seconds, or some other duration set by the manufacturer, the text will resume scrolling in the forward direction (step 404).
The viewer can continue to adjust the scroll rate of the EAS text message for the entire duration that the message is presented on the television screen 102. Once the end of the EAS message is reached (step 434) and the EAS text message timeout has expired (step 436) the scrolling is ceased (step 438) and the EAS message is removed from the screen (step 440). However, if the EAS message timeout has not expired, the EAS message resumes scrolling in the forward direction (step 404). If during the process of presenting the EAS message the EAS message timeout expires, the message will continued to be displayed until the end of the message is displayed to the viewer (step 434).
As another example of an embodiment of the invention,
Additionally, the present device and method for adjusting the scroll rate of textual media need not be limited to cable television systems for the Emergency Alert System, but also has utility in any media environment where textual messages and information are presented in a scrolling manner. For example, as shown in
Applicability of the present invention to closed captioned text and teletext is also contemplated. The present invention may also be directed to other forms of captioning such as roll-up captioning, where text is displayed from the bottom of the screen one line at a time and pop-on captioning, where all previous captions are erased when a new caption block is displayed. Moreover, “scrolling” text is not limited to text that moves in a continuous manner from the right of the screen to the left or from the bottom of the screen to the top. Instead, scrolling text refers to text whose display is defined by some movement or rate.
Furthermore, it is also contemplated that the present invention enables the viewer to scroll or quickly move ahead to the portions of the EAS message or captioned text by allowing the viewer to search the textual media. The viewer can input search terms using a keypad and quickly move ahead to the relevant portions of the textual message that are of interest to the viewer. For example, the viewer may only be interested in portions of the EAS message applicable to a particular location. Likewise, the viewer may be interested in viewing a specific segment of captioned text from a television show and is able to identify a particular topic of interest or a particular word in that segment. A searchable text feature can allow the viewer to quickly access relevant portions of the textual media.
Similarly, as illustrated in
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the method of adjusting the scroll rate of textual media of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.