System and method for delivering emergency alerts
OwnerImran Arif Maskatia, Benjamin James Kauffman +3inventors
InventorsImran Arif Maskatia, Benjamin James Kauffman, Thomas Lee Rich, Nicholas James Hottinger, Michael J. Chase, Jr.
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Abstract
A method of communicating an emergency alert includes receiving, by a central content controller (CCC), audiovisual (AV) content from a plurality of sources, encoding the content, transmitting the encoded content to regional controllers (RCs) associated with respective market areas (MAs) for broadcasting over the air (OTA), determining existence of one or more alerts, for each existing alert, identifying recipients designated for receiving the alert and transmitting the alert to devices associated with the identified recipients over a network.
Claims6
A set-top box (STB) comprising:
- a processor;
- a memory;
- a communication interface connected to an antenna and to a modem;
- and
- a system bus interconnecting the processor, the memory and the communication interface wherein
- the antenna is configured to receive encoded content broadcast over the air (OTA) as audio video (AV) signals from a regional controller (RC) associated with a market area (MA) in which the STB is located, wherein the encoded content is received by the RC from a central content controller (CCC) over a communication link, the CCC encoding AV content received from a plurality of sources,
- the processor is configured to
- decode and process the received encoded content;
- and
- present the processed content,
- the modem is configured to receive emergency alerts in an Internet Protocol (IP) format from the CCC over a network, the network being distinct from the communication link wherein the CCC converts alerts received from an emergency alert system (EAS) into the IP format and identifies recipients designated for receiving an alert.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.