WO2011079392A1

WO2011079392A1 - System and method for emergency broadcasting

Info

Publication number: WO2011079392A1
Application number: PCT/CA2010/002074
Authority: WO
Inventors: James Van Kessel; Jeffrey Clarke
Original assignee: Bce Inc.
Priority date: 2009-12-31
Filing date: 2010-12-31
Publication date: 2011-07-07
Also published as: CA2786094A1; CA2786094C

Abstract

A system and method for emergency broadcasting including: receiving the emergency broadcast notification at a receiver module; determining one or more characteristics of the emergency broadcast notification and selecting a viewer notification method based on the one or more characteristics at a notification module; and presenting a viewer notification to a viewer based on the emergency broadcast notification using the viewer notification method at an output module.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EMERGENCY BROADCASTING

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/291 ,586 filed December 31 , 2009, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates to a system and method for emergency broadcasting and, in particular, to systems and methods for handling emergency broadcast signals for viewers that are not viewing live content, for example, viewing recorded content.

BACKGROUND

[0003] Emergency television broadcasts are typically used to notify or inform the general public of impending or currently occurring events that are unscheduled, time sensitive, important and/or catastrophic. Non limiting examples of events that may precipitate the use of an emergency television broadcast to notify the public include governmental (e.g. presidential) announcements or speeches, moments of civil unrest, inclement or dangerous weather forecasts, states of national emergency, etc.

[0004] Currently, television networks generally overlay text upon the broadcasted television content in order to inform viewers of critical or emergency-type events.

Alternatively, in other scenarios, it may be more suitable for networks to pre-empt or delay the show being broadcast in order to deliver an emergency broadcast to viewers. However, current methods for delivering emergency and/or time sensitive information or broadcasts suffer from various drawbacks, some of which are disclosed below.

[0005] As one example, viewers who are watching television content previously recorded with, for example, a television signal receiving apparatus that provides a digital recording function, such as digital video recorders (DVRs) or personal video recorders (PVRs), when an urgent emergency broadcast (e.g. concerning public safety/security) is issued will miss the emergency broadcast notification because they are not watching the live television broadcast. If the emergency notice relates to a potentially catastrophic event the viewer's health and safety may be in jeopardy. [0006] In another example, if a broadcasted show is pre-empted by an emergency broadcast, an individual who is recording the broadcasted show using a television signal receiving apparatus that provides a digital recording function will typically be missing part of their recording upon later viewing. In this scenario, any resulting emergency broadcast recorded will be less timely when the recording is viewed later by the individual.

Furthermore, the recorded emergency broadcast will be even less relevant when viewed later if, in the interim, the individual has been informed of the content of the emergency broadcast via alternative means such as radio, other live TV broadcast etc.

[0007] These situations apply generally to television providers, such as broadcast and cable television providers, and their customers who are not watching live television, for example, viewing recorded content using personal video recorders (such as PVRs, DVRs) or other types of television recording equipment or devices. Similar issues with handling emergency notifications may occur when viewers are watching recorded content such as that available through "on demand" services, in which programming is provided from the television provider in a recorded format rather than as live TV.

[0008] As such, there is a need for an improved system and method of handling emergency broadcasts and notifications.

SUMMARY

[0009] According to an aspect herein, there is provided a method of handling an emergency broadcast notification including: receiving the emergency broadcast notification; determining one or more characteristics of the emergency broadcast notification; selecting a viewer notification method based on the one or more

characteristics; and presenting a viewer notification to a viewer based on the emergency broadcast notification using the viewer notification method. [0010] In a particular case, the viewer notification method may include allowing the viewer to select whether to view the emergency notification or not. [0011] In another particular case, the viewer notification method may include presenting the notification in a pop-up window over content presently being viewed. In this case, the content presently being viewed may be recorded content. [0012] In another particular case, the emergency broadcast notification may be received as a separable signal forming a part of a television signal.

[0013] According to another aspect herein, there is provided a method of handling an emergency broadcast notification including: generating an emergency broadcast notification; providing information regarding the characteristics of the emergency notification together with the emergency notification; and sending the emergency notification to subscribers of a television service.

[001 ] In a particular case, the emergency broadcast notification may be generated as a separable signal forming a part of a television signal.

[0015] In another particular case, the emergency broadcast notification may be generated as a separate signal from a television signal. [00 6] In yet another particular case, the characteristics of the emergency notification may include importance of the notification.

[0017] According to another aspect herein, there is provided a system for handling an emergency broadcast notification including: a receiver module configured to receive the emergency broadcast notification; a notification module configured to determine one or more characteristics of the emergency broadcast notification and to prepare a viewer notification based on the one or more characteristics; an output module configured to output the viewer notification. [0018] In a particular case, the receiver module may be further configured to extract the emergency notification from a television signal.

[0019] In another particular case, the notification module may be configured to prepare the viewer notification as a pop-up window allowing the viewer to select whether to view the emergency notification or not. [0020] In yet another particular case, the notification module and output module are configured to present the viewer notification over content presently being viewed. In this case, the notification module and output module may be configured to present the viewer notification when the content presently being viewed is recorded content.

[0021] In still yet another particular case, the notification module is configured to selectively send a signal causing a TV to turn on based on the characteristics of the emergency broadcast notification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a system for emergency broadcasting;

[0023] FIG. 2 shows the system of FIG. 1 as embodied in a TV signal recorder;

[0024] FIG. 3 shows the system of FIG. 1 as embodied at a TV provider; and

[0025] FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of a method for emergency broadcasting.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] The present document relates to a system and method for improved emergency broadcasting. In particular, this document describes a system and method which provides an improved emergency broadcast alert function and describes techniques for receiving emergency broadcast signals and alerting and directing viewers to an emergency television broadcast, typically one that is imminent or presently occurring. The present disclosure also provides systems and methods that may find particular application to providing emergency notifications or broadcasts to viewers watching recorded content. For example, "on demand" content or using television signal receiving apparatus that provides a digital recording function such as digital video recorders (DVRs) or personal video recorders (PVRs).

[0027] Figure 1 shows an example system for emergency broadcasting 10. The system 10 includes a receiver module 15 for receiving a TV signal, a notification module 20 in communication with the receiver module 15 for handling emergency broadcast notifications (sometimes referred to as alerts or the like) received together with the TV signal, and an output module 25, in communication with the receiver module 15 and notification module 20 for outputting the TV signal and emergency broadcast notification. [0028] The receiver module 15 receives a TV signal. The TV signals may come from various sources, i.e. TV signal providers, such as, for example, TV networks or the like and may be broadcast over the air or over the wire (cable-type). The receiver module also receives emergency broadcast notifications. As noted above, the emergency broadcast notifications may be embedded in the TV signal, such as the banner-type notifications described above, or may be separate from the TV signal itself (shown by the dotted line feeding into the receiver in FIG. 1). In many cases, it may be preferable that the emergency notification be provided separate from or separable from the television signal so that the emergency notification can be handled and, in some cases, displayed separately. It will be understood that emergency notifications may relate to various types of notifications, including text-based types of notices, actual broadcast changes, program pre-emption, and the like, and that the various types of emergency notifications may be handled differently. In the case of, for example, an emergency broadcast pre-empting existing programming, the existing programming may also continue to be sent along with the emergency broadcast and the television provider may provide both the emergency program and the existing program on separate channels

[0029] In particular, it is anticipated that there will be signaling from a television network (e.g. City TV, CTV, CBC, ABC, TBS, etc.) to a television provider (e.g. Comcast, Dish, Bell, Rogers, Videotron etc.) that an emergency broadcast notification is being provided or is imminent. Such signaling will typically include information about the characteristics of the notification, such as type of notification, urgency or level of importance of notification, geographic range of notification, any specific channels the notification will be carried on, and other characteristics that may be understood to be relevant to viewers and their level of interest in the notification.

[0030] The receiver module 15, if necessary, separates the emergency broadcast notification from the TV signal and then sends the emergency notification to the notification module 20. The TV signal flows through to the output module 25.

[0031] The notification module 20 analyzes the emergency notification to determine characteristics of the emergency notification. As indicated above, the type of notification may include, for example, whether or not the notification relates to preemption of a broadcast, or whether or not the notification relates to a natural alert, such as a severe weather warning or the like. The urgency of the notification may be high, medium, low or the like. The geographic range may relate particularly to weather notifications in which only certain geographic areas may be involved. It will be understood that, for example, urgency may be higher in some geographic areas and lower in others. In some cases, the system 10, for example receiver 15 or notification module 20, may be configured to be able to turn a TV on if the TV is currently off but the urgency of the notification is sufficient.

[0032] The notification module then prepares an appropriate viewer notification for a viewer based on the characteristics of the emergency broadcast notification. The viewer notification may take any of a variety of forms, for example, a scrolling bar on the TV screen, for presentation on either live or recorded content, a pop-up window that appears during replay of a recorded program and notifies a viewer to switch to real time TV for an important notice, a pop-up window that notifies the viewer of a notification and allows the viewer to choose to switch to a different channel to watch the notification or alternate programming, or various other kinds of notifications that can be considered based on the knowledge of one of skill in the art.

[0033] The notification module 20 then sends the selected type of viewer notification to the output module 25 for sending with the appropriate TV signal. As with the incoming TV signal, the viewer notification may be a part of the TV signal or a separable part of the TV signal. In some cases, the viewer notification may be sent separately to the TV or TV screen through a separate pathway (as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 1). This separate viewer notification may be appropriate in situations such as the case of a pop-up window that is to be overlain on the TV signal at the TV set.

[0034] FIG. 2 illustrates the system 10 of FIG. 1 where the system 10 is provided at a viewer's TV equipment 30, for example, a set-top box, PVR or the like. It will be understood that the systems and methods herein may be implemented by hardware or software resident on the viewer (sometimes called customer or subscriber) equipment 30, such as a customer's personal video recorder (PVR) or the like.

[0035] In this case, the viewer equipment 30 is adapted to receive notification of an imminent or occurring emergency broadcast and, in response, notifies the customer (viewer) who may be watching previously recorded content and subsequently miss the important emergency broadcast. In some embodiments in which the viewer equipment 30 is appropriately configured, the system 10 may be configured to turn a TV on in a situation where the TV is currently off but the urgency of the emergency notification is sufficient. [0036] More specifically, the receiver module 15 at the viewer equipment 30

(PVR, DVR, etc.) may be a standard receiver that is adapted to receive an emergency broadcast signal over a broadcast or cable network and provide the necessary information to the notification module 20 that is implemented in the viewer equipment 30. The notification module 20 can then interact with the output module 25, which may be a standard output module adapted to allow for different methods of displaying notifications.

[0037] As noted above, depending on the implementation and possibly on the severity of the emergency, the viewer equipment 30 may notify the viewer of the viewer notification immediately or may in an unobtrusive way notify the viewer how to view the particular emergency notification by, for example, switching to a different channel or the like. As noted above, in one non-limiting example embodiment, receipt of an emergency broadcast signal by the viewer equipment 30 may trigger the viewer equipment to cause a notification pop-up (viewer notification) to appear on the viewer's screen to alert them to the issuance of an emergency broadcast. For example, the aforementioned pop-up may take the form of:

[0038] "Tornado Warning: Ontario: Press <SELECT> to view or <CANCEL> to Ignore" [0039] FIG. 3 illustrates an alternative embodiment wherein the system 10 is implemented at a TV provider such as a cable or satellite network or the like rather than at the viewer equipment. In this embodiment, the system 10 of FIG. 1 is incorporated into one or more TV provider devices at the TV provider head end via hardware or software. In this embodiment, the handling of the flow of notifications is performed for a larger number of viewers on a broader scale. This embodiment allows the TV provider to manage emergency notifications for many subscribers and will allow the TV provider to also indicate emergency notifications to viewers that are watching "on demand" content, that is, recorded content that is accessed via the TV provider rather than through viewer equipment at the user/viewer end. [0040] In particular, as shown in FIG. 3, the system 10 is provided at a head end of the TV provider 35, for example, a cable or satellite provider. Similar to the

embodiments above, the receiver module 15 receives the TV signal and the emergency notification, separates the emergency notification if necessary, and the notification module 20 and output module 25 prepare the TV signal and viewer notification for sending to subscribers (viewer equipment 30). Although only one set of viewer equipment 30 is illustrated, it will be understood that the Head End will be feeding TV signals to a plurality of subscribers and viewer equipment 30. In this case, the notification module 20 and output module 25 are preferably configured to allow the viewer notification to be sent to different subscribers, in different ways, depending on the subscriber status. For example, depending on whether the subscriber is viewing "on demand", live TV, or viewing recorded content on a personal recording device or the like.

[0041] FIG. 4 provides an example flowchart of a method of emergency broadcasting 200. In this case, the method 200 relates to a situation where the emergency notification relates to, for example, a weather emergency or the like. The method begins with monitoring a TV signal for an emergency broadcast notification 205. It will be understood that this may include monitoring the TV signal and/or a separate band or information channel for notifications. In the event a notification is received (Y at 205), the emergency notification is reviewed for any characteristics that are provided 210. As noted above, there may be many different characteristics, however, for this simple example, the focus is on the characteristic of urgency.

[0042] If the emergency notification is characterized as "urgent" 215, the notification is deemed to require additional attention and a pop-up window is presented to the TV viewer 220. If the notification is "semi-urgent" 225, the notification is deemed to require less attention and may be provided as a banner on the TV screen 230. In most cases, the banner could be shown for a predetermined amount of time and then terminate. Lastly, if the notification is characterized as "normal" 235, the notification is deemed to not require immediate attention and a pop-up window can be presented when the recorded program is paused, stopped or ends 240. During this process, the system may also continue monitoring for additional emergency notifications.

[0043] One of skill in the art will understand that a similar flow-chart can be formed or the flow-chart of FIG. 4 can be expanded to include a decision tree in relation to other characteristics of the emergency notification, such as geographic range or the like.

[0044] Advantageously, the present systems and methods enable television networks such as ABC, CBS CTV etc. to avoid interrupting prime time television that may be in the process of being recorded by customers' PVRs. For example, a customer recording television programming will not want to miss any part of his or her show due to important but non-life threatening events such as an unscheduled government (e.g. presidential) speech during primetime. Instead, the present systems and methods may indicate via back-end communications an alternate channel, such as an affiliated news station or channel that is carrying the emergency notification (information or broadcast). For example, for the city of Toronto, Ontario in Canada, the television network City TV could send out a signal, typically via a television provider, to cause each customer's recorder software to notify the customers (viewers) that the customer can switch to their affiliated 24 hours news station, CP24, in order to tune into the emergency broadcast. The customer's recorder can be configured such that this notification can be made whether or not the customer (viewer) is watching live or recorded television. In this way, a customer viewing previously-recorded content will not miss an emergency broadcast of critical and potentially life-threatening consequences. It will be understood that the television provider, such as a cable or satellite company, may also add to or modify the emergency notification as appropriate for their systems.

[0045] In this document, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the exemplary embodiments described herein. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments described herein may be practiced without at least some of these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the embodiments described herein. Furthermore, this description is not to be considered as limiting the scope of the embodiments described herein in any way, but rather as merely describing the implementation of the various embodiments described herein.

[0046] It will be understood that the systems and methods herein may be embodied in software or hardware or some combination thereof and that systems may be provided that include components that perform the functions of the methods. In the case that the systems or methods are embodied in software, it will be understood that the software may be provided as computer-readable instructions on a physical medium that, when executed by a computing device, will cause the computing device to execute the instructions to implement the system or method. It will further be understood that aspects herein may include embodiments in which a know device is modified or adapted to provide the additional functionality described herein.

[0047] Lastly, it should be understood that various modifications can be made to the exemplary embodiments described and illustrated herein, without departing from the general scope of the disclosure. In particular, it should be understood that while the embodiments have been described for PVR and DVR, the embodiments may be generally applicable to television recorders of various kinds. As noted above, it will further be understood that the systems and methods, or elements thereof, may be implemented at the broadcaster end, television provider end or at the customer end. For example, the emergency notification and/or the process to access it may be inserted into a TV signal (i.e. relevant programming) at the broadcaster end or television provider end in such a way that it is interpreted into a television stream at the customer recorder end.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A method of handling an emergency broadcast notification comprising: receiving the emergency broadcast notification;

determining one or more characteristics of the emergency broadcast notification; selecting a viewer notification method based on the one or more characteristics; and

presenting a viewer notification to a viewer based on the emergency broadcast notification using the viewer notification method.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the viewer notification method comprises allowing the viewer to select whether to view the emergency notification or not.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the viewer notification method comprises presenting the notification in a pop-up window over content presently being viewed.

4. A method according to claim 3 wherein the content presently being viewed is recorded content.

5. A method according to claim 1 wherein the emergency broadcast notification is received as a separable signal forming a part of a television signal.

6. A method of handling an emergency broadcast notification comprising:

generating an emergency broadcast notification;

providing information regarding the characteristics of the emergency notification together with the emergency notification; and

sending the emergency notification to subscribers of a television service.

7. A method according to claim 6 wherein the emergency broadcast notification is generated as a separable signal forming a part of a television signal.

8. A method according to claim 6 wherein the emergency broadcast notification is generated as a separate signal from a television signal.

9. A method according to claim 6 wherein the characteristics of the emergency notification comprise importance of the notification.

10. A system for handling an emergency broadcast notification comprising: a receiver module configured to receive the emergency broadcast notification; a notification module configured to determine one or more characteristics of the emergency broadcast notification and to prepare a viewer notification based on the one or more characteristics;

an output module configured to output the viewer notification.

1 1. A system according to claim 10 wherein the receiver module is further configured to extract the emergency notification from a television signal.

12. A system according to claim 10 wherein the notification module is configured to prepare the viewer notification as a pop-up window allowing the viewer to select whether to view the emergency notification or not.

13. A system according to claim 10 wherein the notification module and output module are configured to present the viewer notification over content presently being viewed.

14. A system according to claim 13 wherein the notification module and output module are configured to present the viewer notification when the content presently being viewed is recorded content.

15. A system according to claim 10 wherein the notification module is configured to selectively send a signal causing a TV to turn on based on the characteristics of the emergency broadcast notification.