The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 26, 1996
Filed:
Jun. 09, 1994
James E Hailey, Sr, Indianapolis, IN (US);
David E Virag, Indianapolis, IN (US);
Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc., Indianapolis, IN (US);
Abstract
A digital television system receives transmitted television information in the form of a stream digital packets representing video and audio information in compressed form. A packet transport unit routes the digital packets to respective digital video and audio signal processing sections according to header information contained in the packets. The digital processing sections decode and decompress the respective packets to form sequences of digital words which are subsequently converted to analog form. Apparatus for providing audible messages, such as operating instructions and status information, in tone or voice form includes a memory for storing digital representations of the audible messages in the same compressed form which the transmitted audio packets have, and a controller for selectively directing the digital representations to the packet transport unit when it is desired to provide the audible messages. The digital representations of the audible messages are automatically routed by the transport unit to the digital audio signal processing section which will decode and decompress the digital representation of the audible messages in the same manner as it does the transmitted audio packets. As a result, analog versions of the audible messages will be produced.