1101i 51115111111111 111111111 11
Contents
1. In an alternate more sophisticated decryption system where it is believed there is a problem of manufacture and sale of unauthorized receiver units proper data encryption is used requiring receipt of a key and decryption of the received data with decryption circuitry in block 16 Hence unauthorized receiver units without such dedicated decryp tion circuitry will not be operative at all In one embodiment of a decryption system analogous to pay per view cable TV encryption decryption keys are delivered by radio transmission Each individual receiver unit has a unique hidden key of for instance 40 to 50 binary digits in read only memory Each unit also has a public non hidden serial number All transmitted data is conventionally encrypted using a master key which is changed periodically to enhance security Each receiver unit receives a master key to decrypt the data transmission The master key is transmitted to each unit as follows Periodically the broadcast transmission of the data is interrupted to transmit key information The key information is a series of packets one packet for each individual receiver unit with each packet including 1 an address field which is the public serial number of a particular receiver unit followed by 2 a second field which is the current master key encrypted with the unique hidden key of the receiver unit having that particular serial number The receiver units look for these packets w2. G08G 1 096 WO8704309 7 1987 WIPO 04 7 00 Primary Examiner Bernarr E Gregory Attorney Agent or Firm Gerow D Brill 57 ABSTRACT A system and method of information dissemination that permits the user to listen to the specific content of informa tion when and where he or she wants to A radio or television receiver system receives information from an FM subcarrier a television vertical blanking interval transmission an active picture area television transmission a television separate audio program transmission or a dedicated radio channel and stores the transmitted information in a memory A user interface allows selection from the memory of the stored information via a set of menus controlling a hierarchical database so as to access particular items of the information Typically the system includes RAM and or a magnetic storage medium such as a digital audio tape a magneto optical mini disk a magnetic disk or optical disk sufficient to store information for several hours of audio output A decompression device accepts the accessed compressed digital audio information items and transforms them into audible speech signals The user interface is either a voice control or a single or multi position switch allowing scan ning through and selection from the menu items The system is also capable of transmitting alphanumeric data and con verting this alphanumeric data to an audible form using a voice synthesizer 47 Claims
3. a personal profile so as to extract particular information without having to scan through all the menus BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING These and other features and other aspects of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description appended claims and accompa nying drawings where FIG 1 shows a block diagram of a receiving apparatus in accordance with the present invention FIG 2 shows a block diagram of a transmission system in accordance with the present invention FIG 3 shows a block diagram of an alternative embodi ment of the apparatus of FIG 1 and FIG 4 shows a block diagram of a second alternative embodiment of the apparatus of FIG 1 DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG 1 shows a receiving apparatus 10 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention A broadcast signal is received from an antenna 11 as used in automobile or portable applications which provides a received radio broadcast signal or television broadcast signal to a tuner 12 Each audio data item is tagged with a designation to allow retrieval of the stored encrypted audio data from the data base Tuner 12 is either an FM Subcarrier tuner of the type well known in the art for extracting an FM broadcast subcarrier signal a television tuner designed to produce the output of the Vertical Blanking Interval or active picture area or of a Separate Audio Program channel from a tele vision broadcast signal
4. or a dedicated radio channel tuner In the case of an FM subcarrier tuners as is well known the subcarrier signals are typically transmissions of digitized data on subcarriers leased from commercial FM stations The Vertical Blanking Interval is already available for point to multipoint transmission As discussed above the active picture area of a television transmission can be used using the WavePhore system The tuner 12 provides on line 14 the extracted digitized audio data which is typically encrypted to conditional access circuitry 16 and to microcontroller controller 20 described below on line 18 Conditional access circuitry 16 ensures that the encrypted data on line 14 is decrypted only if the proper key or command has been provided as described below Condi tional access circuitry 16 decrypts the received data as authorized by microcontroller 20 over line 22a and pro vides same on line 26 as plain decrypted data for storage to the memory 28 which may be conventional integrated circuit random access memory RAM Memory 28 may be volatile or non volatile integrated circuit random access memory Memory 28 may include a nonvolatile storage medium such as a digital audio tape a magneto optical mini disk a magnetic disk or an optical disk with sufficient capacity to store information for several hours of audio output data In order to provide the needed quantity of audio data in a minimum time frame to minimize bandwi
5. 4 Drawing Sheets 46 34 5 524 051 Sheet 1 of 4 Jun 4 1996 U S Patent L o4nBi4 lonuo uognqusnd 40 99I0A eoepelju Jes 9 Ly 49 O 40020J9IJA ye OUM 4 zis qlu4S 92I0A al qac Bee 01400 jOJUOD eq ureld ANO Joss iud ss o5v v q uiooe guonipuot g 7 92 02 66 82 91 8l 3 eeg peid iou3 aaun LL guu luy 5 524 051 Sheet 2 of 4 Jun 4 1996 U S Patent z uonnqu s q Ae WSA A ZQuoe3 sequosang Sull g v9 63 I I I i amo i L9 ered ejeg ouequinw eudiy S oipny z i Anoo d u yods Kjipioe 4 Bunyeuuo SMON Ayyoe uols e uondAou3 PIRAU pue uoneoijisse 2 Buueureo eed eed pue SM OlUl pue SMON I PM 8 Vivq i 0 n add 0 0 NOLLVLS NOlS AZTAL HO eoe OIQVH ONILSIXA enau Buniuelg jeomeA AL uoniesu eeg d i 10 qVS 1eueoqns W4 29 I Aoe i i uje1604d i is euugjuy 05 5 524 051 Sheet 3 of 4 Jun 4 1996 U S Patent ainbi4 lonuo uonnqusnd Jo uouo 92I0A DES Ov oeH lu Jos ge y R jy 8l 49 O 3u09049IA 1ozisouu g qoz vec YOUMS 92IOA 0140 0 14020 rL ANNO ejeq uleld JosseJd ss oo v a
6. path to the latest news regarding the General Motors Corporation might be NEWS BUSINESS NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE GM 0 The path to a review of the recent movie Aladdin might be ENTER TAINMENT HOLLYWOOD MOVIE REVIEWS ALADDIN Typically items will be reached after four or five YES responses from the user In one embodiment three additional spoken commands by the user such as BACK STOP and GO are sufficient to provide the user effective and rapid control of the system In another embodiment a manual input device such as a switch assembly having for instance four positions up down left right corresponding to the familiar cursor con trol on a computer with each position indicating one of four commands is provided for user manual operation This switch may be adapted to attach to the steering wheel of an automobile for use by the driver The control is linked to the rest of the receiver apparatus 10 by wire infrared or ultrasonically as is a conventional television remote control Another version of the user interface 40 includes a one position control switch The user briefly depresses the 5 524 051 5 switch to select the category or item as announced or to scan through the menus Briefly depressing the switch while an actual data item is being read executes stop Depressing it again then executes go Holding the switch down for e g a second or two executes back at
7. quite expensive Data can also be transmitted in the Vertical Blanking Interval of a television transmission The Federal Commu nications Commission has set aside several lines of the Vertical Blanking Interval for point to multipoint data trans mission which may be sold to interested users In addition to using the Vertical Blanking Interval data can be transmitted via a television channel using 384 Kpbs transmission system during the active video portion of the television channel using a system available from Wave Phore Inc This system piggybacks digital data within the active area of an existing broadcast signal without interfer 20 25 30 35 45 50 55 60 65 2 ing with the regular television picture The decoded data can include text and sound An additional channel of communication for data or audio transmission is the Separate Audio Program channel avail able in television broadcasting All of these systems have the disadvantage that the listener or user of the data is restricted to a specific place or time to access the information The portable radio be it hand held or in an automobile also limits the user to accessing only the information that is presently being transmitted SUMMARY The present system and method permits the user to listen to a specific news or information item when and where he or she wants to The present invention is directed to a method and system for information dissemina
8. radio or television receiver Another embodiment may encompass all of the elements of the receiver unit except the interface 40 and audio elements 36 38 in a device located in the trunk of an automobile similar to CD music systems with an output mini radio transmitter tuned to an unused FM or AM radio channel This radio transmitter output would be coupled to the standard automobile radio antenna for outputting of the audio signal to the user Another embodiment of the receiver may provide for the reception and storage of the data in a home base unit wherein the received data is stored on disk storage as discussed above and the disk is played back on the portable auto mobile unit A further variant includes a home base unit containing all the features of an automobile unit which can be unplugged from the home base and plugged into an automobile unit for continuing use while the user is in the automobile The transmitting portion of the system is illustrated in FIG 2 indicating the following steps and elements The data generating portion 51 contains the usual human non elec tronic steps of news and information gathering 55 and the news and information classification and formatting 56 These are the data gathering and organizing steps typical of any news service that provides a data base For the audio transmission this news and other audio information is input into the electronics portions by speaking into a microphone not sho
9. receiver sharing components of the radio receiver One embodiment of the user interface is a four way switch the positions corresponding for instance to the cursor control keys on a computer for selection from and scanning through menus listing various categories of information Typically the system includes either volatile or non volatile RAM random access memory or a non volatile storage medium such as a digital audio tape a magneto optical mini disk a magnetic disk or optical disk sufficient to store information e g for a few hours of audio The information is for example news sports weather cultural information advertisements commercial listings or music The informa tion is transmitted in encrypted digital form using data compression techniques The use of encryption techniques controls access to the information data base as a whole or to selected parts that the user has contracted for Another feature is a channel skipping tuner for finding the particular FM radio station subcarrier TV station vertical blanking interval active TV picture area channel or TV station SAP channel on which the service is provided The speech producing device may be under either automatic or user control to produce different speeds of the audio output This control of the speed of the audio may change the pitch or change the spacing between words Also the user has the 5 524 051 3 opportunity to preselect database items thereby to construct
10. uio2e M dnd ed x peid iou3 92 06 ES E B OL LL euuejuy 5 524 051 Sheet 4 of 4 Jun 4 1996 U S Patent p o1nBiJ jo3juoo uognqusnd 10 uoniu oo9J l0A 5 gt x Jes 1 86 ev 9 ly gl olpny JO OIJUODOION 1 vE Jeziseuu S laste 0410025 0 1402 i yi eed uleld Mnp I josseJd i v q Mowe ulooeg s v iaun L eje peidAmu3 1 zy v 92 I 06 82 6 91 e OL LE euuegjuy 5 524 051 1 METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUDIO INFORMATION DISSEMINATION USING VARIOUS MODES OF TRANSMISSION CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This invention is related to a copending commonly owned application Ser No 08 181394 filed Jan 12 1994 entitled A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INFORMATION DIS SEMINATION USING VARIOUS MODES OF TRANS MISSION by John O Ryan which is a Continuation in Part of application Ser No 08 031 763 filed Mar 15 1993 entitled RADIO RECEIVER FOR INFORMATION DIS SEMINATION USING SUBCARRIER BY John O Ryan now U S Pat No 4 706 620 BACKGROUND 1 Field of Invention This invention relates to a radio or television broadcasting system for transmission of audio and text information and more specially to transmitting digitized audio data and text data 2 Description of the Prior Art Numerous systems transmit information on FM radio subcarriers See for instance U S Pat No 5
11. 152 011 issued to Schwob Sep 29 1992 Also known is a single sideband communication system with FM data capability for trans mission of analog voice signals See U S Pat No 4 852 086 issued to EastmoLd et al Jul 20 1989 Also known is FM radio sideband broadcasting to spe cially adapted computers for transmission for instance of news and financial information Commercially available products available from Mainstream Telemet and DeskTop Data broadcast data over FM radio sidebands for receipt by personal computers equipped with special FM radio receiv ers and software Typically information is transmitted in digital form received and stored in the computer memory for access by the computer user using menu driven software The data is displayed on the computer screen in conven tional alphanumeric form One product in this category is News Edge a news service available from DeskTop Data Inc of Waltham Mass which delivers a number of news and financial information services to a user via FM radio side band Software provided with the product scans incoming information and when the incoming information meets parameters set by the user the information is saved to disk and or displayed on the computer screen These systems have the disadvantage of requiring a personal computer as a platform and providing information only on a computer screen The usual computer skills are needed in order to operate such systems which tend to be
12. United States Patent no Ryan ILLI GE BHL A 5 524 051 Jun 4 1996 un Patent Number 145 Date of Patent 54 METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUDIO INFORMATION DISSEMINATION USING VARIOUS MODES OF TRANSMISSION 75 Inventor John O Ryan Cupertino Calif 73 Assignee Command Audio Corporation Sunnyvale Calif 21 Appl No 223 641 22 Filed Apr 6 1994 51 me a HO4L 9 00 HO4B 1 06 32 DS CL siete tette 380 9 380 49 380 50 455 45 381 34 58 Field of Search 455 151 1 151 2 455 151 4 186 1 381 29 30 34 59 110 348 473 379 88 380 4 9 19 20 49 50 561 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 266 243 5 1981 Shutterly 380 19 4 393 277 7 1983 Besen et al 379 88 4 473 824 9 1984 Claytor 340 825 27 4 682 368 7 1987 Takahashi 455 38 1 4 788 543 11 1988 Rubin 340 825 44 5 042 070 8 1991 Lima et al 381 59 5210611 5 1993 Yee et al 348 473 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 0128093 12 1984 European Pat Off HO4N 7 08 Antenna Encrypted Data Conditional Access Circuitry User Interface Voice recognition or pushbutton control Plain Data Control Microcontroller 0552051 7 1993 European Pat Off H04M 3 50 2651352 3 1991 France
13. a from a transmitted television signal carrier 5 The device of claim 4 wherein said tuner extracts data from a blanking interval of said transmitted television signal carrier 6 The device of claim 4 wherein said tuner extracts data from an active picture area of said transmitted television signal carrier 7 The device of claim 4 wherein said tuner is a separate audio programming channel tuner 8 The device of claim 1 wherein said tuner is tuned to a cellular telephone channel 9 The device of claim 1 wherein said tuner is tuned to a satellite channel 10 The device of claim 1 wherein data stored in said memory comprises an entire database 11 The device of claim 10 said data including elements for designating a hierarchy for said database 12 The device of claim 1 wherein said memory com prises volatile integrated circuit memory and non volatile storage 13 The device of claim 12 wherein said non volatile storage is selected from the group consisting of a magnetic tape a magneto optical disk a magnetic disk an optical disk and a non volatile integrated circuit memory 14 The device of claim 1 wherein said extracted data is digitized audio data 15 The device of claim 14 wherein said digitized audio data is compressed 16 The device of claim 14 wherein said digitized audio data is encrypted 17 The device of claim 1 wherein said extracted data is alphanumeric data 18 The device of claim 17 wherei
14. aid digitized data transmitting said encrypted data extracting said data from said transmitted signal storing said extracted data providing a set of menus for accessing said data selecting items from said set of menus providing portions of said stored data in response to said selection of items decrypting said provided portions of said stored data and converting said decrypted portions to analog signal 47 A system for providing compressed digital audio data to a transmitter comprising an analog to digital converter having an input terminal connected to receive an audio signal and having an output terminal and menu selection data compression and encryption cir cuitry having an input terminal connected to said output terminal of said converter and having an output ter minal connection to said transmitter
15. any time to return to a predetermined point in the database For full effectiveness the receiver apparatus 10 may be at least partly powered on 24 hours a day In order to conserve power the received data may be first stored in random access memory RAM which is a part of memory 28 which consumes little power and when the RAM is full transferred to a storage medium such as a digital audio tape a magneto optical mini disk a magnetic disk or an optical disk Tuner 12 microcontroller 20 conditional access circuitry 16 and memory 28 are the elements that typically remain powered on at all times by battery power if necessary to receive a continuous update of the broadcast information and thereby to store current data in memory 28 When using the Vertical Blanking Interval to transmit data it is possible to transmit at a rate of 2 megabits per second on 6 consecutive Vertical Blanking Interval lines each with a 50 microseconds duration to provide a 24 000 bit per second channel with a 50 error correction overhead In one version the receiver apparatus 10 of FIG 1 is a portable unit similar to a portable radio and includes in the housing the user voice or manual interface 40 In another embodiment the receiver apparatus of FIG 1 is built into a conventional portable radio or automobile radio sharing where possible common components and where appropriate a separate user interface 40 In one embodiment user interface 40 includes a spe
16. dth requirements and to minimize the memory requirement the original audio data is one embodiment subject to a data compression algorithm at the transmitter to compress the data sufficiently This data compression circuitry as shown in FIG 2 is discussed later The receiving apparatus 10 includes a companion decompression algorithm in the decompression 10 15 20 25 30 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 circuitry 39 connected to the output of memory 28 by line 43 to provide the decompressed data to the digital to analog converter 30 for conversion of the digitized dat to analog audio signals The conditional access circuitry 16 and microcontroller 20 are further described below The decrypted compressed data output of the memory 28 is accessed under control of microcontroller microprocessor 20 via control signals at line 225 to determine which particular items of data stored in memory 28 are to be provided via output line 43 to the decompression circuitry 39 Some of the data that a user uses in such a system may be in alphanumeric form that can be easily transmitted in that form and converted to audio at the receiver via speech synthesis Such data is transmitted in alphanumeric form for bandwidth speed and memory conservation considerations In order to accommodate the dual transmission of alphanu meric data as well as audio data switch 46 controlled by microcontroller 20 on line 47 determines wh
17. ed control to determine the output speed of speech output The digital to analog converter 30 or the voice synthesizer 45 may receive data faster than normal speaking speed It is well known that people can understand speech at faster than normal speech rates Thus the user interface 40 increases the speech speed as described above so as to obtain information faster analogous to skimming printed material This speed ing up can use well known techniques that change the pitch or eliminate the gaps between words A similar slowing down approach can be used in case the user wants to carefully note what is being said for example while taking notes In the embodiment using a voice activated user interface 40 the number of commands provided is typically limited for instance to 5 to 10 and hence a relatively simple commercially available voice input recognition circuit is sufficient In another embodiments the user interface for an auto mobile based system is associated with a heads up display expected to be available in various automobiles in the near future This provides visual display of the database menus analogous to a computer screen to allow faster access to the database menus Advantageously by transmitting and storing the audio data in a compressed form even though encrypted the required bandwidth of the transmission channel is vastly reduced as are the requirements of memory 28 thereby substantially reducing the component co
18. ed in block 57 in FIG 2 In addition to data compression since the transmission facility is not transmitting the information in a live fashion as with most broadcasting facilities the transmission facility can maximize the use of the available bandwidth of trans 10 15 20 25 30 45 50 55 60 mission or available memory by not only using the above mentioned data compression techniques but can transmit the data at a rate unrelated to the speed of speech The speed of transmission of the data can be faster than the real time speech when broadcast bandwidth considerations permit In 65 8 addition the speed of transmission can be slower than the real time speech if only a narrower broadcast bandwidth is to be used This variation in transmission speed affects the time required to transmit a given amount of information The variation in the speed and the amount of speech compression can be dynamic and be a function of the nature of the information being transmitted The completed data on line 63 is inserted into the FM subcarrier Separate Audio Program channel the active picture or the television Vertical Blanking Interval using a conventional data insertion device 62 for transmission by conventional television or radio transmitter 53 via antenna 54 in addition to conventional audio and video program generation of material from element 52 In the embodiments of FIGS 1 and 2 the order of the el
19. ements may be varied for particular needs of a system In an alternative embodiment in FIG 3 including many ele ments identical to FIG 1 memory 28 receives and stores encrypted data on line 14 prior to processing by conditional access circuitry 16 In an alternative embodiment in FIG 4 decompression circuitry 39 performs its function prior to storage of the digital data in memory 28 This embodiment assumes that there is no need to conserve use of memory 28 A system for audio information dissemination as described above creates possibilities of uses beyond infor mation transmitted by voice or alphanumeric data By selec tively controlling the compression and data transmission rate the system permits the transmission of music The transmis sion of music allows a Walkman type portable receiving device to receive only music These broadcast transmissions may include e g a Top Ten list of rock music for teenagers or other combinations programmed by the transmission facility This special portable receiver has all the elements of the system described above except for voice synthesizer 45 and switch 46 The loud speaker 38 is replaced by a headset User interface 40 includes a push button to select specific musical selections The conditional access circuitry 16 is programmed to receive only the type of musical selections the user has contracted for In order to conserve power and space memory 28 includes only random access m
20. emory RAM sufficient to store the length of music play required A separate long life power source is incorporated to keep tuner 12 conditional access circuitry 16 microcontroller 20 and memory 28 active to receive the broadcast music when the user is not using the portable receiver Decompression circuitry 39 digital to analog converter 30 and audio ampli fier 36 are powered in addition to the above noted elements 12 16 28 and 20 only when the user is listening to the music Tuner 12 is adapted to one of the transmission channels described above the SAP the Vertical Blanking Interval of a television channels an active picture television channel or an FM Subcarrier transmission For a broadcast medium in addition to the FM subcarriers Separate Audio Program channel the television active pic ture area or the television Vertical Blanking Interval means of transmitting the data a dedicated radio channel can be used in accordance with the invention An example of such a dedicated radio channel is dedicated cellular telephone channel Cellular telephone systems have a central transmit ter in each cell that accommodate thousands of telephone calls within its cello One of the channels in each cell of such a system may be dedicated to transmission of data dedicated receivers An addition dedicated channel may include a satellite transmission of the data Since some subscribers may not have their receiver units on when certain data is t
21. ether the cur rently accessed data is in the form of originally alphanu meric data or compressed audio data When originally alphanumeric data is being accessed the alphanumeric data is provided via line 43 to a speech voice synthesizer 45 whose audio output is connected to switch 46 for connection to conventional audio amplifier 36 and loudspeaker or earphone 38 User interface 40 inputs commands on line 42 to micro controller 20 to determine which data from memory 28 are to be accessed The information is categorized stored and accessed as a conventional hierarchial database stored in memory 28 under control of microcontroller 20 User inter face 40 either a simple manual or voice control driving a hierarchy of menus allows a user to access the information by indicating his selections from the menus In one embodiment user interface 40 is a voice activated command system For instance the device is turned on and initialized by the user s spoken ON command It then responds by audibly announcing via loud speaker 38 the major database categories available e g NEWS SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT etc When the desired category has been announced the user responds by saying YES The device then announces again the sub categories of the selected major category and the user again selects the desired sub category with a spoken YES until the specific item needed is accessed For example the category and sub category
22. hich are denoted by a particular signature or occur at particular times to avoid confusion with the data When a particular receiver unit receives the packet including its own address public serial number it stores and decrypts the subsequent encrypted master key field thereby obtaining the master key in order to decrypt subsequent encrypted data In a second decryption system embodiment a uniquely encrypted master key for each individual receiver unit is physically delivered to each user periodically such as once a month The key is entered into each receiver unit by a keypad or the key is embodied in an electronically readable card or device inserted into a suitable port in the receiver unit In another embodiment voice synthesizer 45 is controlled to provide a variety of particular voices These voices are selected by the user i e to be male female or other voices or the system is programmed via microcontroller 20 to select different voices for different types of or categories of infor mation The device of FIG 1 as incorporated in a conventional radio or television receiver uses the antenna 11 of the radio or television receiver The tuner 12 may be in addition to the 5 524 051 7 conventional radio or television tuner or may be part of the radio or television t ner The other blocks of FIG 1 with the exception of amplifier 36 and loud speaker 38 are unique to this system and are added components to a conventional
23. id analog signal 28 The device of claim 1 said receiving system being adapted to connection to at least an antenna of an automobile radio set 29 The device of claim 1 said controller storing said extracted data in a an integrated circuit portion of said memory up to the capacity of said integrated circuit portion before transferring said extracted data to a storage portion of said memory wherein said storage portion is selected from the group consisting of disk medium tape medium and a non volatile integrated circuit memory 30 The device of claim 29 wherein said tape medium is a digital audio tape 31 The device of claim 29 wherein said disk medium is a magnetic disk 32 The device of claim 29 wherein said disk medium is a magnetic optical disk 33 The method of claim 29 wherein said disk medium is an optical disk 34 A receiver for receiving a transmitted signal including compressed data comprising a tuner connected to receive said transmitted signal at an input terminal thereof and having an output terminal a decryptor having an input connected to said output terminal of said tuner and having an output terminal a user interface device connected to said decryptor said interface comprising a set of menus relating to said data and for indicating selections from said set of menus a memory having an input port connected to said output terminal of said decryptor and having an output port a decompression ci
24. itized data and transmitting said compressed and encrypted digitized data 43 The method of claim 42 wherein a speed of trans mission of said data is varied thereby to efficiently use available bandwidth of said transmitted signal 44 The method of claim 42 further comprising the steps of providing digitized alphanumeric data encrypting said alphanumeric data transmitting said encrypted alphanumeric data and selecting said compressed data or said encrypted alpha numeric data 45 A method for transmitting audio data comprising the steps of converting said audio data to digitized data forming menus for selection of particular element of said data base compressing said digitized audio data encrypting said compressed data transmitting a signal including said encrypted and com pressed data extracting said data from said transmitted signal storing said extracted data providing a set of menus for accessing said data selecting items from said set of menus providing portions of said stored data in response to said selection of items decrypting said provided portions of said stored data ix decompressing said decrypted data and converting said decompressed data to an analog signal 46 A method for transmitting alphanumeric data com prising the steps of converting said alphanumeric data to digitized data forming menus for selection of particular segments of said data encrypting s
25. n said speech produc ing portion includes a speech synthesizer for converting said alphanumeric data to said analog signal 10 20 25 30 35 45 50 55 60 65 10 19 The device of claim 1 wherein said extracted data is data that has been digitized encrypted and compressed and further comprising a decryptor coupled to said controller and to said memory for providing access to and decrypting said extracted data 20 The device of claim 19 wherein said decryptor is enabled by a key device connected to said decryptor 21 The device of claim 19 wherein said decryptor is enabled by a key received by said tuner 22 The device of claim 1 wherein said device includes decompression circuitry coupled to said memory to decom press said extracted data 23 The device of claim 1 wherein said user interface is voice activated 24 The device of claim 1 wherein said user interface includes a manual input device on a steering wheel and a link from said manual input device to said controller 25 The device of claim 1 wherein said user interface includes a control for determining a speed at which said speech producing portion outputs said analog signal 26 The device of claim 1 wherein said tuner includes a channel skip tuning portion 27 The device of claim 1 said speech producing portion comprising a convertor for converting said selected data to an analog signal and an amplifier for amplifying sa
26. ransmitted it is apparent that the 5 524 051 9 broadcasting facility 50 51 will update the data base from time to time even if no new information has been recently generated at step 55 The data for a particular news item may include a date time code to indicate to the user the currency of the information While preferred forms of the invention have been shown in the drawings and described since variations in the pre ferred form will be apparent to those skilled in the art the invention should not construed as limited to the specific form shown and described but instead is as set forth in the following claims I claim l A receiver to receive data in a transmitted signal comprising a tuner for extracting said data from said transmitted signal a memory coupled to said tuner for storing said extracted data a user interface for providing a set of menus relating to said data and for indicating selections from said set of menus a controller coupled to said memory and to said user interface for selecting data from said memory in response to said indicated selections and providing said selected data and a speech producing portion for converting said selected data to an analog signal 2 The device of claim 1 wherein said data includes news stock information and music 3 The device of claim 1 wherein said tuner is an FM radio station subcarrier tuner 4 The device of claim 1 wherein said tuner extracts said dat
27. rcuit having an input terminal con nected to said output port of said memory and having an output terminal and a converter having an input terminal connected to said output terminal of said decompression circuit and having an output terminal for providing an analog signal 5 524 051 11 35 The receiver of claim 34 wherein said output terminal for providing an analog signal is a headset connection 36 The receiver of claim 34 further comprising a voice synthesizer circuit having an input terminal con nected to said output port of said memory and having an output terminal and a switch having two input terminals connected respec tively to said output terminals of said voice synthesizer and of said converter said switch having an output terminal for providing an analog signal and further having a control terminal connected to said decryptor 37 The receiver of claim 34 wherein said decryptor includes access circuitry connected between said output terminal of said tuner and said input port of said memory and having a control terminal and a microcontroller connected between said control termi nal of said access circuitry and said user interface 38 The receiver of claim 34 wherein said receiver is a portable receiver 39 The receiver of claim 34 wherein said receiver is programmed for receipt of musical selections 40 A method for receipt of transmitted digital compressed data comprising the steps of t
28. st of memory 28 When used in FM subcarrier transmission the typical trans mission speed is one kilobaud In an SAP channel the typical speed of transmission is 15 kilobaud In use after acquisition of the receiving apparatus 10 the user programs it to the frequencies of the local stations providing the transmissions There may be multiple such stations in one area due to the limited transmission distance 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 of FM radio and TV signals A channel skipping feature as is now available commercially in various radios in one embodiment included in microcontroller 20 seeks out sta tions having a particular signature or frequency to maintain reception even when moving from the transmission area of one station carrying the service to the transmission area of a second station carrying the service It will take less than a minute for the system to scan the entire FM band or TV band looking for the signature transmission The data decryption access of block 16 is accomplished in several alternate ways In one embodiment a simple addressed on off command is transmitted without data encryption to disable individual receiver apparatuses belonging to users who have not paid the required e g monthly subscription fee to receive the service The decryp tion can be used to provide access to the entire data base or to individual parts of the data base depending on what the user has paid for
29. tion using various modes of transmission and that satisfies the individual needs of such a user The invention includes a system for receiving information via a tuner that extracts digitized alphanumeric data and or compressed audio data from the Vertical Blank ing Interval of a television station s video signal the active television picture area using the WavePhore system the Separate Audio Program SAP signal from a television station s audio signal or a system for receiving the digitized alphanumeric data or compressed audio information via radio sidebands subcarriers which include an FM subcar rier of an FM broadcast signal In addition a suitable dedicated transmission facility may be provided Condi tional access circuitry in the receiver decrypts the previously encrypted digitized alphanumeric data or compressed audio data which is then stored as a database in a memory A user interface for instance either a simple manual switch or voice activated control driving a hierarchy of menus allows the user to access the information by indicating his selec tions from the menus The system then extracts the infor mation from the database A speech producing device including a decompression system and a digital to analog converter D A or other speech producing device converts the extracted data to an audio signal for provision to the user via a loud speaker or earphones This system may be stand alone or be a part of an existing radio
30. uning to a broadcast signal including said digitized data extracting said digital data from said broadcast signal decrypting said extracted digital data storing said decrypted data accessing portions of said stored data in response to user commands decompressing said accessed portions of said data and converting said decompressed data to an analog signal 41 A system for transmission of audio data comprising converter for converting audio information to digital data a compressor for compressing said audio data an encryptor for encrypting said digital audio data an inserter for inserting said compressed encrypted digital data into a transmission channel signal a tuner for extracting said digital data from said trans mission signal a memory for storing said extracted data a user interface for providing a set of menus to a user describing said stored data a controller for selecting data from said memory in response to selections from said menus a decryptor for decrypting selected data a decompressor for decompressing said selected data a converter for converting said digital data to analog audio data 42 A method for transmission of audio data comprising the steps of converting said data to digitized data arranging said data into specific areas according to a menu list compressing said digitized data 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 12 encrypting said dig
31. wn the output of which is provided to a convertor 60 which converts the analog audio signals to a digitized audio data form The digitized audio data is compressed for memory and bandwidth considerations in compression cir cuitry 57 The compressed digitized audio is encrypted in data encryption circuitry 58 according to key distribution instructions from a billing subscriber unit 59 This billing subscriber is a human input to the system that determines the decryption key appropriate for an individual subscriber The encrypted digitized audio data establishes a data base When it is advantageous to use originally alphanumeric information such originally alphanumeric information from news and classification and formatting step 56 is conven tionally put into a form for transmission and encrypted by data encryption circuitry 64 which is similar to data encryp tion circuitry 58 Switch 61 is controlled by an operator to determine whether the system transmits compressed digi tized audio or alphanumeric information The Data from switch 61 is sent by a transmission path such as a dedicated telephone line 63 to a transmission station such as an existing radio and television station 50 In order to provide the needed quantity of audio data in a reasonable time frame to conserve bandwidth and save memory space in the receiver the audio data is passed through a data compression algorithm at the transmitting end This data compression is includ
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