Data processing: speech signal processing – linguistics – language – Speech signal processing – Synthesis
Reexamination Certificate
1996-01-11
2001-02-06
Hudspeth, David R. (Department: 2741)
Data processing: speech signal processing, linguistics, language
Speech signal processing
Synthesis
C379S088160
Reexamination Certificate
active
06185532
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to broadcast communications systems, and more specifically concerns such systems in which each receiver in such systems can personalize the received information to his own requirements.
A conventional radio news or other information broadcast contemplates a single stream of news items spoken by a newscaster and simultaneously received by thousands of listeners. The newscaster must attempt to transmit items which are of interest to the maximum number of listeners in the limited time available. The listeners for their part must attend to many items which are of no interest to them personally in order to catch the relatively few which are of interest. Additionally, the listeners must be available at the time the items are transmitted; delayed listening via recording is not very practical. The analog voice nature of radio broadcasts also makes them rather wasteful of scarce spectrum resources.
Some recent information services attempt to get around one or more of these limitations. News items are available in stored digital form to subscribers of facilities such as Prodigy(R) interactive personal service. Other services even scan news wires for selected topics, then clip them automatically into folders for a recipient. Although such items can be accessed at any convenient time, these services require the recipient to be located at a computer terminal connected to the service, and the visual presentation requires enough of his attention that little other simultaneous activity is possible. Even more recently, specialized portable terminals receive broadcasts of digital information items such as stock-market quotes, for display on a small screen.
Solutions to the above problems still fall short in many respects. The recipient is tied to a computer terminal, must read a display, or attend to all items being broadcast. A large number of people who need current information on a relatively small number of topics could benefit greatly from a service using the paradigm of a radio news broadcast which can be individually tailored to each listener's specific interests, and which can be listened to at any time convenient to them.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides apparatus and methods for personalizing or tailoring the contents of a system for reception of broadcast news or similar text items to the specific requirements of each individual user of the system. (The term “broadcast” in this context refers to the transmission of a signal from one location to a number of separate receiving locations which are not fixed or even known to the transmitter.) The information items can be listened to at any convenient time, regardless of the actual time of transmission. They can be skipped, repeated, erased, and otherwise manipulated; these operations can be performed in an easy, intuitive way using controls already familiar to most users. Because the items are presented aurally rather than visually, driving, walking, or other activities can be engaged in while the user listens to the information. Receiver units can be made physically small enough that they can be carried about on the user's person in the same manner as today's personal tape player/radios. These units can also be fitted in cars or other locations not now normally used for receiving such specialized information. Because each receiver is individually programmed to continuously and selectively store only the information of interest to one user, and the user may retrieve the information at any convenient time, broadcast companies need not guess as to the topics or times to transmit.
Broadly, such a communications system includes a single transmitter and a large number of individual receivers. The transmitter broadcasts a signal over a medium a continuous stream of coded text items, each carrying information as to one or more subjects described by an index term. Each receiver includes a detector for continuously receiving the broadcast signal, a profile storage tailorable by each user individually to contain a list of desired index terms, a filter for selecting only those items having index terms matching those in the profile storage, and a memory for storing the selected items. The user can activate the receiver to play back items in the memory, to choose among the stored items, and to erase them, freeing space for future items. The items chosen for playback are converted from digital text to a synthesized voice, which is sent as an audio signal to the user.
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Lemaire Charles Arthur
Striemer Bryan Lester
Anglin J. Michael
Felsman, Bradley, Vaden, Gunter & Dillon
Hudspeth David R.
International Business Machines - Corporation
Lerner Martin
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