FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to an improved system and method for
transferring emergency alert data from DTVs to display devices in a network. In
particular, the invention relates to a new emergency warning system for extracting
teletext, emergency alert message or graphics from a television signal and display the
information on digital devices like digital photo frame that supports to display the
textual and graphical information. The invention also provides an improved digital
photo frame for receiving and displaying data transferred by the television.
The invention can be applied to an apparatus that can be used as a presentation device
like a digital photo frame (DPF) that also supports IP functionality. Thus the
functionality of a DPF can be extended so that it could be used for many other purposes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
US Patent 6,658,104 Bl discloses an apparatus and method for alerting users using a
telephony exchange system. The telephony exchange system receives an alert signal
and in response to the received signal alerts a plurality of identified users.

A digital television (DTV) system for forwarding EAS information is disclosed in
document US 2007 / 0018822. The DTV forwards EAS information to an external device
like a mobile phone and a user can receive the EAS information via mobile phone even
when not viewing the television program.
Document WO 2006 017218 A3 includes a home network, a broadcast network and a
DTV receiver connected to the two networks. A DTV related service is implemented on
the home network for exposing to the network the functionalities of the DTV receiver.
A tuner service is included for providing to other devices in the network information on
the tuners, about their capabilities and for controlling the operation of the tuners
according to the commands received from control points. A resource manager is
provided for allocation of resources on DTV device.
The main disadvantage of the prior art described is that they do not provide a
mechanism for transferring emergency alert message / data from the digital television
to one or more network devices.
There is therefore a need for an improved emergency warning system for sending a
warning of incoming disturbances over presentation devices in a network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Thus the main object of the present invention is to provide an improved emergency
alert / warning system and method for sending warning of incoming disturbances
through a device or a plurality of devices over a network,
The present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to
provide a new emergency warning system apparatus and method which has many
advantages over the currently used system and many novel features that result in
extending it to a new emergency warning system.
To achieve this, the present invention generally comprises a system which is used to
extract teletext, emergency alert message or graphics from a television signal and
display the information on digital devices like digital photo frame (DPF) that supports to
display the text information. The information that needs to be transferred to another
device could be transmitted through internet protocol, infrared, bluetooth, WiFi or other
types of methods that supports data transfer between devices.

Thus the present invention provides an improved system for transferring emergency
alert data from DTVs (digital television) to display devices in a network, said system
comprising: a digital television (DTV); and a specific or a group of digital display
device(s); said DTV being provided with a module for extracting emergency alert data
from a television signal and for transmitting the extracted data to said digital display
device(s) for displaying the received data.
In another preferred embodiment of the invention, it provides an improved method of
transferring emergency alert data information from DTVs for display in network devices,
said method comprising the steps of: extracting emergency alert data from a television
signal of said DTV with the help of an extractor provided therein; transmitting said
emergency alert data from said DTV to a specific or to a group of display devices in a
network with the help of a redirector; and displaying said emergency alert data in said
display device(s) in the network.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The invention can now be described in detail with the help of the figures of the
accompanying drawings in which

Figure 1 shows the block diagram of the present invention.
Figures 2(a)
and 2(b) illustrate the flow chart of execution for data transfer.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Figure 1 is a block diagram of the present invention. Here the television is provided with
a new module 3 comprising means 3' for extracting emergency alert data and means 3"
for transferring or redirecting emergency to a specified address. The purpose of this
module 3 is to parse the television signal obtained by the extractor 3' in such a way that
the redirector 3" can send the information to the specified address. The extractor 3'
gets the information such as teletext, emergency alert message or graphics and pass to
the redirector 3". The redirector 3" checks the available destination addresses on which
the redirector 3" needs to send the information (teletext, EAM or graphics etc). After
getting the list of the destination addresses the redirector 3" starts sending to the
destination devices and checks at regular interval that the destination device is available
or not. If not available the redirector 3" intimates the sender with meaningful

information. Similarly if television is not sending any information or devices are not
getting information then DPF can request for the information from television through a
requestor 7' provided in a module 7 of the DPF device. Module 7 is also provided with
means 7" for receiving messages from redirector 3".
Figure 2a describes the execution to receive the content at DPF presentation device.
Figure 2b describes the flow of execution in television how the process of sending
teletext, EAM or graphics etc. information takes place when the user wishes to send the
information to the devices.
According to the present invention, televisions directly provide support to transfer
teletext or emergency alert messages to other presentation devices such as a digital
photo frame (DPF). In case of an alert message, the system is provided with means
(not shown) to indicate that it is an emergency alert so that all other processing of DPF
is stopped. The idea suggests a mechanism to identify teletext, graphics and
emergency alerts received by a digital TV or any other multimedia signal processing
device, extracting them and transferring them to digital photo frames.

The information that television can parse to redirect or transfer to the digital photo
frame could be teletext, audio / video text of emergency alert message or other type of
graphics like animated pictures.
The teletext information can be formatted to be transferred and displayed on to the
presentation display devices. The transfer to display devices can be done directly. A
graphical user interface may be included having a selectable indicator of an option
where user can customize the information to be sent. The selectable indicator can also
provide an option for initiating an emergency call. The selectable Indicator can also
have an option where user can customize the list of target devices accordingly.
The teletext data may represent characters for providing information such as news,
weather forecast, traffic information, quiz programs and other types of similar
information. Emergency alert message is a warning system that informs people for any
type of catastrophe, adversity or disaster. These EAS messages can be of various types
such as force tune, channel override or SCTE-18 scrolling text messages.

The graphical user interface provided in the system includes a selectable indicator of an
option to input user preferences including criteria for sending a video emergency alert
to the display device, criteria for automatically initiating an interactive session relating
to a video emergency alert, a format to display video emergency alerts, a format to
display information related to video emergency alerts, whether to send information
related to video emergency alerts to other access points, other preferences.
Presentation devices can request for specific type of messages and can get the data
accordingly. Emergency alert messages can be transferred to the presentation devices.
During this period it stops all other processing of the presentation devices. Emergency
alert messages can be taken as indicative and similar information can be sent to other
devices using IP protocol.
The graphical user interface includes an option to send text messages, audio alerts to
connected devices using home networking protocols. Similarly, the timing for
information transfer can be customized and during that period television will transfer
information and after that neither television will send nor can other devices request for
information. The television or other television signal-processing device can manipulate
or operate on the signal to redirect / transfer the signal to said devices such as DPF or

other presentation devices. The television or other television signal processing device
can redirect / transfer / receive data by any of the technology such as internet protocol,
infrared, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or other types of methods for data transfer. The idea can be
restricted for short distance by using short distance technology. The technology can be
used for both server-oriented and server-less technologies.
In the present invention the television is able to extract the information according to
user preferences and redirect or transfer to a specific or to a group of digital photo
frames or other presentation devices. The mechanism to govern the devices on which
television needs to transfer the extracted information could be server-less or
server-oriented. User needs to specify all the device addresses / IPs / other unique
identity every time or once only on which extracted information needs to be transferred.
The entire feature or data provided by the television and extracted from the incoming
television signal for transfer to a specific or to a number of digital photo frames can be
governed through specific login-ID. Along with this the user can customize the feature
any time or update the devices from a list that are getting the data from television. To
attain this an interoperability system needs to be developed to interconnect users of
various communications systems to allow them to converse with each other on a
day-to-day basis or during times of crisis.

The system of the present invention is designed in a way that audio content of that
channel can be sent to PMP device and audio, video and text can be sent to DPF. All
specifications and capabilities of devices connected are stored at the time of registration
and referred while transferring the data.
The DPF will provide a feature in such a way that if DPF viewer requires a specific type
or category of information from television then viewer should be able to request for that
type of information. In this case DPF viewer will send a request and the television will
respond on that according to setting of the controller for the device. Television user can
also set transmission feature manually. DPF will receive data and display accordingly.
If the data is bulky and DPF is not able to show the content in the same time then DPF
can intimate the sender that data could not be displayed. If DPF is having sufficient
preprocessing background to display the content then DPF can do that. Otherwise
sender can parse accordingly and send again if necessary.
The television can maintain the record of the device addresses / IPs / other unique
identity on which data needs to be transferred and act as a server or television can
customize the transfer for a session only if session breaks then devices will not get any

data from television, this mode can be treated as server-less. Any other intermediary
device can be used to govern the communication between television and DPFs /
presentation devices. This device can act as a server or can act as a redirector for the
information.
In response to an emergency event, an emergency announcement system causes
display of an escape route based upon a room location. Once an emergency event is
detected, the data relating to the emergency event is transmitted to an emergenc/
server the server determines the method and content is sent to a display device.

WE CLAIM
1. An improved system for transferring emergency alert data from DTVs (digital
television) to display devices in a network, said system comprising:
a digital television (DTV); and
a specific or a group of digital display device(s);
said DTV being provided with a module 3 for extracting emergency alert data
from a television signal and for transmitting the extracted data to said digital
display device(s) for displaying the received data.
2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said emergency alert data comprises
warning of incoming disturbances having teletext, alert message or other type
of graphics like animation graphics
3. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said teletext, data represents
characters for providing information on news, weather forecast, traffic
information, quiz programs, etc.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said digital display device is a
presentation device like a digital photo frame (DPF).
5. The system as claimed in the preceding claims, wherein said module 3 provided
in the digital television comprises means 3' for extracting emergency alert data
from a television signal; and means 3" for redirecting or transmitting the
extracted emergency alert data to said digital photo frames.
6. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said digital photo frame is provided
with module 7 comprising means 7" for receiving redirected data from said DTV
module 3.
7. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said module 7 further comprises
means 7' for enabling the digital photo frame to request information from the
television when the DPF devices are not getting the emergency alert data from
the television.
8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the system is further provided with
means for indicating an emergency alert in the display device for stopping all
other processing of the device.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said system is provided with a
graphical user interface comprising a selectable indicator for an option for
customizing the information to be sent to the display device.
10. The system as claimed in claim 9, wherein said selectable indicator of the
graphical user interface is provided for exercising an option to input user
preferences with criteria for sending video emergency alert data to the display
device, for automatically initiating an emergency call or an interactive session
relating to the video emergency alert, and for a format to display video
emergency alert information.
11. An improved method of transferring emergency alert data information from
DTVs for display in network devices, said method comprising the steps of:
extracting emergency alert data from a television signal of said DTV with
the help of an extractor 3' provided therein;
transmitting said emergency alert data from said DTV to a specific or to
a group of display devices in a network with the help of a redirector 3";
and
displaying said emergency alert data in said display device(s) in the
network.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said redirector provided in the DTV
checks at regular intervals if the destination display device is available or not
and informs the sender accordingly.
13. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the display device (DPF) can
request for information from the television if no information is being sent by the
television, through a requestor 7' provided in a module 7 of the DPF device.
14. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the user can customize the
information to be sent to the display devices.
15. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the emergency alert data extracted
from the television can be parsed and formatted to redirect or transfer to the
digital photo frames in the form of teletext, audio / video text of emergency
alert message or other type of graphics like animated pictures.
16. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein before transferring emergency
alert data extracted from the television to the display devices indications are
provided with the help of means for stopping all other processing of the display
device so that the emergency alert data could be received.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein said indicating means is in the form
of an audio alert to the connected devices using home networking protocols,
18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the timing of transferring of the
information from the television to the display devices can be customized such
that during the period of transfer of data no other information will be sent from
the television nor there shall be any request from the display device for such
information.
19. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said transfer of extracted
information from the television to the display devices can be server-less or
server-oriented.
20. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said extracted emergency alert
data from the television is redirected to the display devices with the aid of
methods like internet protocol, infrared, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.

21. An improved digital photo frame comprising a module for requesting for
emergency alert data extracted from a television signal, said module being
provided with a receiver for receiving the extracted data for display in said
digital photo frame.
22. A system and method for transferring emergency alert data from DTVs (digital
television) to display devices in a network substantially as herein described and
illustrated in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

Thus the main object of the present invention is to provide an improved emergency alert / warning system and method for sending warning of incoming disturbances through a device or a plurality of devices over a network. The present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new emergency warning system apparatus and method which has many advantages over the currently used system and many novel features that result in extending it to a new emergency warning system. To achieve this, the present invention generally comprises a system which is used to extract teletext, emergency alert message or graphics from a television signal and display the information on digital devices like digital photo frame (DPF) that supports to display the text information. The information that needs to be transferred to another device could be transmitted through internet protocol, infrared, bluetooth, WiFi or other types of methods that supports data transfer between devices. Thus the present invention provides an improved system for transferring emergency alert data from DTVs (digital television) to display devices in a network, said system comprising: a digital television (DTV); and a specific or a group of digital display device(s); said DTV being provided with a module for extracting emergency alert data from a television signal and for transmitting the extracted data to said digital display device(s) for displaying the received data. In another preferred embodiment of the invention, it provides an improved method of
transferring emergency alert data information from DTVs for display in network devices, said method comprising the steps of: extracting emergency alert data from a television signal of said DTV with the help of an extractor provided therein; transmitting said emergency alert data from said DTV to a specific or to a group of display devices in a network with the help of a redirector; and displaying said emergency alert data in said display device(s) in the network.