Telephone-based interactive broadcast or cable radio or television methods and apparatus

A method for interactive broadcast or cable radio or television comprising the steps of:

• receiving via respective broadcast or cable radio or television data receiver means a data Bet consisting of a plurality of portions including
• A) a code identifying a predetermined telephone number available to be automatically dialed in response to a program element such as a musical recording, video, song, show or other program material intended to entertain, live or recorded speech intended to inform, a short announcement or commercial advertisement, political advertising, a public service announcement or an Emergency Alert System (EAS) event message or a product or service marketed or otherwise identified in said program element and
• B) said predetermined telephone number;
• detecting said code via detecting means coupled to said respective broadcast or cable radio or television data receiver means;
• processing in predetermined manner one or plurality of portions of said data set including said predetermined telephone number via data processing means coupled to said detecting means;
• storing at least one portion of said data set including said predetermined telephone number via memory means coupled to said data processing means;
• indicating via visual display means coupled to said data processing means said predetermined telephone number is available to be automatically dialed in response to said program element;
• activating via activation means coupled to said data processing means predetermined telephone means comprising automatic dialing means to automatically dial said predetermined telephone number;
• automatically dialing said predetermined telephone number via said predetermined telephone means comprising automatic dialing means coupled to said data processing means and
• audibly reproducing predetermined data via audible reproduction means comprising speech synthesizer means and audio system means coupled to said data processing means.

An apparatus for interactive broadcast or cable radio or television comprising:

• respective broadcast or cable radio or television data receiver means for receiving a data set consisting of a plurality of portions including
• A) a code identifying a predetermined telephone number available to be automatically dialed in response to a program element such as a musical recording, video, song, show or other program material intended to entertain, live or recorded speech intended to inform, a short announcement or commercial advertisement, political advertising, a public service announcement or an Emergency Alert System (EAS) event message or a product or service marketed or otherwise identified in said program element and
• B) said predetermined telephone number;
• detecting means coupled to said respective broadcast or cable radio or television data receiver means for detecting said code;
• data processing means coupled to said detecting means for processing in predetermined manner one or plurality of portions of said data set including said predetermined telephone number;
• memory means coupled to said data processing means for storing at least one portion of said data set including said predetermined telephone number;
• visual display means coupled to said data processing means for indicating said predetermined telephone number is available to be automatically dialed in response to said program element;
• activation means coupled to said data processing means for activating predetermined telephone means comprising automatic dialing means to automatically dial said predetermined telephone number;
• said predetermined telephone means comprising automatic dialing means coupled to said data processing means for automatically dialing said predetermined telephone number and
• audible reproduction means comprising speech synthesizer means and audio system means coupled to said data processing means for audibly reproducing predetermined data.