FR2747525A1 - INTERACTIVE INFORMATION RECEIVER, PARTICULARLY INTERACTIVE RADIO SET, AND CORRESPONDING METHOD FOR INTERACTIVE INFORMATION TRANSMISSION - Google Patents

Abstract

The information receiver consists of reception means (3) to receive a broadcast primary signal containing basic data items to be restored at least in an audible form and, at least temporarily, one or more service data items, separation means (18) connected to the reception means to extract from the received primary signal the said basic data items and the said service data, restoration means (5) to restore the basic data items at least in audible form, a non-volatile memory (21), a first control unit (4), a first monitoring unit (20) capable of storing at least part of the service data in the non-volatile memory in response to the operation of the control unit (4) on a display unit (2) to display at least part of the contents of the non-volatile memory.

Description

Interactive information receiver, in particular interactive radio set, and corresponding method for interactive information transmission.

 The invention relates to devices for receiving information, in particular radio information, allowing interactivity between the person at the origin of the information transmitted, for example the host of a radio program, and a listener receiving said information on its receiver.

 No such interactive information reception devices are currently known.

 The invention therefore provides an information receiver, comprising reception means for receiving a primary broadcast signal, the latter containing on the one hand basic information intended to be reproduced at least in audible form and on the other hand, at least temporarily, at least one service information. The receiver also comprises separation means connected to the reception means for extracting from the primary signal received on the one hand said basic information, and on the other hand, said service information. Main means of restitution are then able to restore the basic information at least in audible form. The receiver also includes a saved memory, a first control member, a first control means capable of storing at least part of the service information in the saved memory in response to the actuation of the control member, and a display for displaying at least part of the content of the saved memory.

 The receiver according to the invention finds numerous applications, in particular in the field of radio transmissions and / or reports. This being so, the basic information received by the receiver according to the invention is not limited to radio information but can also be, for example, audiovisual information intended to be received on a television set. In other words, the term "broadcast" applies to the broadcast of sound and / or television information.

 In general, within the meaning of the present invention, the service information is transmitted jointly, at a given time for example, with the basic information but is not intended to be restored in audible form in the same way as said basic information. This service information is intended to be displayed, for example at least in part, on the display of the receiver in order to provide the listener with additional information relating to the radio broadcast or report he is listening to. .

This service information can also be, for example, at least partly stored in the saved memory so as to be subsequently possibly redisplayed on the display or else restored outside the receiver, for example in the form of an acoustic signal.

 More specifically, in the case of transmission of radio information, the service information or information can be transmitted using advantageously the transmission standard RDS (Radio Data System in English).

 The invention therefore makes it possible to transmit, via service information, additional information which will not disturb the dissemination of basic information, but which will however be accessible to the listener (if the latter so desires), by actuation of the control member. Furthermore, the selective storage in the saved memory, by the listener, of the broadcast service information, makes it possible to provide a reduced memory size compared to the quantity of service information which is likely to be broadcast.

 This service information can advantageously be directly associated or correlated with the basic information which is being broadcast. This is particularly the case in at least some of the applications mentioned now.

 A first application of the invention may be an application of the "notepad" type. More precisely, when the listener is interested in basic information broadcast, for example a piece of music, he actuates the control unit, which has the effect of storing in the saved memory at least part of the information of service that was simultaneously transmitted with the piece of music, for example the title of that piece of music.

Thus, the listener may possibly later consult the title he has memorized on his display. As a variant, the service information may contain not only the title or the name of the performer "in the clear", but also an identifier associated in a one-to-one manner with this piece of music. The title or the name of the performer, "in clear", can be displayed on the display throughout the duration of the piece of music without the need to perform any action, while it is the identifier which will be stored in the saved memory if the listener, interested in the piece of music, activates the control member. This identifier can then be restored, for example in the form of an acoustic signal, outside the receiver and transmitted via telephone communication to a voice server which, on receipt of the identifier, can communicate by telephone to the listener additional information on this piece of music or on the performer, for example the sale price of the disc on which the piece of music is located or the future concert venues of the performer.

 The invention thus makes it possible to deport in a voice server a part of the memory necessary for the storage of additional information, and thus avoids the use of excessively large memories in the receiver.

 Another interesting application of the invention is an application of the "radio purchase" type. More specifically, the host of the radio program, for example, orally offers listeners a free test voucher for a car, free admission to an amusement park, an invitation to a conference, a discount voucher for a particular purchase, or a promotion for a disc and, simultaneously with these oral proposals, the receiver according to the invention receives the service information corresponding to these various proposals.

If the listener is interested in one of them, he manually activates the control unit, which has the effect of storing part of this service information, for example his identifier, in the saved memory. coded, while the proposal in clear can be displayed on the display. Subsequently, in the same way as that described above, the coded identifier corresponding to the proposition of interest to the listener, will be restored outside the receiver, for example in the form of an acoustic signal, so as to be transmitted by telephone to a voice server which, on reception of the acoustic signal, will record the said proposal so that a ticket or corresponding voucher can be sent to the listener at a later date.

 Game applications can also be envisaged by virtue of the service information transmitted simultaneously with the basic information. More precisely, it is conceivable that the service information includes questions, the correct answers to the questions, the response times, the numbers of winning points. The control unit can then consist of a keyboard that the auditor will be invited to operate during oral requests from the facilitator.

 A loyalty application turns out to be also a particularly advantageous application of the receiver according to the invention. More specifically, the radio station can distribute points. If the listener listens to the station at the time of the broadcast, he accumulates the points announced orally by the presenter and transmitted in the form of service information, by pressing on the control unit of his receiver. The display can then at any time display the content of the saved memory representative for example of the cumulative points previously acquired. When this accumulation is sufficient to obtain, for example, a gift, such as a disc or concert tickets, the content of the stored memory can be restored outside the receiver to a voice server so as to record the gain.

 In general, in order in particular to obtain additional information on all the subjects in which the listener has expressed his interest, while minimizing the memory size of the stored memory, the receiver advantageously further comprises means restitution auxiliaries, for restoring outside the receiver, restitution information comprising at least part of the content of the saved memory.

 These auxiliary restitution means can advantageously restore said restitution information in the form of an acoustic signal.

 More generally, the auxiliary means of restitution and the main means of restoring basic information may include common elements. It may in particular be the loudspeaker of the radio station intended to broadcast the basic radio information. In this case, the listener can approach the loudspeaker of his radio set from his telephone handset in order to restore the restitution information to the voice server.

 While various data transmission networks can be envisaged for the connection between the reception device and a voice server, such as for example fiber optic transmission networks using appropriate call stations, it has been considered currently preferable, in particular to use existing infrastructure and for cost reasons, to use a telephone network.

Given this particular choice, it would be possible to use for example the conventional mode of telephone transmission known by a person skilled in the art under the acronym FSK (Frequency Shift
Keying) which uses two transmission frequencies to transmit a computer bit according to its logical value 0 or 1. However, it has been observed that it was preferable to use, instead of in particular a transmission mode of the FSK type, coding using a single frequency signal. This avoids disturbing the transmission of data with parasitic frequencies and can also lead to a hardware simplification of the transmitter.

More precisely, said restitution information being made up of a plurality of bits, the auxiliary restitution means advantageously comprise:
- an auxiliary activation member, for example a push button,
coding means, for example implemented in software within a microcontroller, capable, in response to the actuation of the auxiliary activation member, of delivering, for one bit of said restitution information having the value "one" logic, a logic signal having a high state for a first predetermined duration and a low state for a second predetermined duration. For a bit of said restitution information having the logic value "zero", the coding means deliver a logic signal having the low state during all of the first and second durations, and
- an electro-acoustic transducer, for example a piezoelectric blade, delivering no acoustic signal in response to a logic signal in the low state, and delivering in response to a logic signal in the high state, a monofrequency acoustic signal whose frequency is located substantially in the center of the bandwidth of a telephone line.

 Such an acoustic coding system is similar to an "acoustic barcode".

 According to one embodiment, the receiver comprises a second control member, for example also a push button, and a second control means capable, in response to the actuation of the second control member, of extracting from said saved memory said part of its content intended to be displayed on the display. Concretely, by manually actuating this second push button, the listener can either redisplay stored service information or display additional information which was part of the transmitted service information and which had previously been stored in the memory. saved in response to the actuation of the first control member.

 Of course, these two control members may be different or identical, their management being able in this respect to be carried out in software by a microcontroller which incorporates the control means. In practice, the receiver advantageously comprises a keyboard, connected to the microcontroller, one or more of the keys of which can produce the control member (s).

 Likewise, the keyboard can advantageously incorporate the auxiliary activation member allowing the restitution of the restitution information outside the receiver. According to an advantageous embodiment, the receiver may comprise a detachable module, for example located at the rear of the station, incorporating at least the control means or means (in particular the microcontroller), the saved memory and the auxiliary restitution means , and if necessary, the keyboard.

 However, all of these means can also be integrated directly into the receiver, without being part of a detachable module.

 The invention also relates to a method of transmitting information between a transmitting station and a receiver of information, allowing the materialization of an interactivity.

 More specifically, a carrier is broadcast by at least one transmitting station, on a transmission channel, containing on the one hand basic information intended to be restored at least in audible form and on the other hand, at least temporarily, at minus service information. The carrier is made to receive by an information receiver and the basic information is extracted therefrom on the one hand so as to restore them at least in audible form, and on the other hand the service information (s). At least part of the service information is stored in a memory stored in the receiver in response to actuation of a control unit of the receiver, and at least part of the content of the memory saved is displayed on a display. of the receiver.

 According to one embodiment, restitution information is reproduced outside the receiver, in the form of an acoustic signal, comprising at least part of the content of the stored memory, said acoustic signal is conveyed via a telephone installation, and said acoustic signal is received by at least one receiving station connected to said telephone installation to process said corresponding restitution information.

Other advantages and characteristics of the invention will appear on examining a non-limiting embodiment and the attached drawings in which
FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a reception device according to the invention,
FIG. 2 is a schematic rear view of the device of FIG. 1,
FIG. 3 very schematically illustrates a transmission system implementing the method according to the invention,
FIG. 4 is a very schematic block diagram of the essential components of a receiver according to the invention, and
- Figures 5 and 6 illustrate a restitution of information using an acoustic bar code according to the invention.

 An embodiment of the invention will now be described in more detail, more particularly focused on radio broadcasts, although the invention is not limited thereto.

 As illustrated in FIG. 1, the receiver 1 comprises a box 14 comprising a receiving antenna 3, and on its front face, in addition to the conventional elements of a radio station (such as a loudspeaker 5), a liquid crystal display 2, and a keyboard 4.

 On its rear face, the radio station housing comprises (FIG. 2) a housing 6 comprising a connector 70 and intended to removably receive a module 7 comprising a plurality of actuation keys 8. As will be explained in more detail below, this module 7 is capable of communicating, acoustically, with the microphone of a telephone handset 9.

 A transmission system, using the receiver of FIGS. 1 and 2, is illustrated very schematically in FIG. 3. In addition to the receiver which has just been described, this system includes a transmitting station 10 comprising station coding means 1 1 intended in particular for to produce the primary signal comprising the basic radio information which will be reproduced by the loudspeaker of the radio station, and one or more service information. When using the RDS transmission standard, these means 1 1 include in particular an RDS encoder such as that described in European standard EN 50067 (CENELEC - BRUXELLES; Ref. EN 50067: 1990 E.

This station 10 also comprises in a conventional manner a stage 12 of HF transmission connected to an antenna 13.

 The station 10 also includes a voice server 16 connected via a telephone transmission line 15 to the telephone set 9 capable of cooperating acoustically with the housing 14 of the receiver. Of course, the voice server could be incorporated into a receiving station separate from the transmitting station.

 The internal architecture of the receiver 1 is illustrated very schematically in FIG. 4.

 To the reception antenna 3 is connected a conventional high-frequency reception stage delivering the signal received to separation means 18, which can be conventionally to an RDS decoder such as that described in European standard EN 50067 (if this transmission standard is used). The primary signal delivered by the high frequency stage 17 contains on the one hand the basic information constituting the radio program being broadcast on the air by the station 10, and, on the other hand, one or more service information consisting of data that has been inserted into the carrier by the station's RDS encoder. The decoder 18 therefore extracts the basic information from the primary signal, which is delivered to a conventional low-frequency processing stage before being restored in audible form by the loudspeaker 5 of the radio station.

 Furthermore, the decoder 18 delivers the service information to control means 20 connected to the display 2, to the keyboard 4 and to a saved memory 21, for example a saved random access memory. Within the meaning of the present invention, a saved memory must be understood as being a memory retaining the information it contains, even in the absence of a power failure of the receiving station.

 Coding means 22, connected to an auxiliary activation member 8, such as a push button, are arranged between the control means 20 and an electro-acoustic transducer 24, such as a piezoelectric blade.

 We will come back in more detail below on the function of these control and coding means. That said, their respective functions can for example be performed in software form, and there is then advantageously provided a microcontroller materially and functionally incorporating the control means 20 and the coding means 22. The microcontroller also includes a software function for managing the 'display and keyboard.

 Although all of these means can be fully incorporated within the receiver, it is advantageously provided that the module 7 includes the microcontroller, the electroacoustic transducer 24, the stored memory 21 as well as the auxiliary activation member 8 which may for example be one of the keyboard keys located on this module.

 We will now describe in more detail the operation of the device of the system according to the invention.

 During a radio broadcast, for example, a piece of music by a known performer is broadcast. The carrier broadcast by the transmitting station may then include, for example, throughout the duration of the piece of music, service information, the first part of which consists of the name of the performer. The microcontroller upon receipt of this service information then clearly displays the name of the interpreter on the display 2. In addition to this first part, the service information also includes a second part consisting for example of a tracked identifier an additional indication relating to the piece of music or to the performer. If the listener is interested in the piece of music he hears, or at the invitation of the host of the radio program, the listener can then press a specific key on the keyboard 4 which has the effect of send a command signal to the microcontroller so that it stores the second part of the service information in the saved memory 21.

 Subsequently, the listener can, for example by pressing another key on the keyboard 4, redisplay part of the content of the saved memory, namely the additional information contained in the second part of the service information. It could for example be the full title of the performer's album and / or its price.

 In the event that the listener is interested in ordering such an album, or else wishes to obtain other additional information, he can then extract the detachable module 7 from its housing 6 and actuate the auxiliary activation member 8 Such actuation has the effect of sending a control signal to the microcontroller so that the latter extracts from the saved memory part of the content thereof, namely in this case the identifier of the second part of the service information. This identifier is then coded by the coding means in the form of an electrical signal delivered to the transducer 24. The latter then delivers an acoustic signal which is transmitted to the voice server 16 of the receiving station via the telephone line 15, after call by the telephone handset 9.

 The voice server 16 of course comprises decoding means capable of deducing the restitution information, namely the identifier, which has been transmitted by the telephone link.

 This identifier can then advantageously be the address of a memory zone of the voice server which then orally delivers via the telephone link and the listener of the listener's telephone set, the additional information relating to the piece of music. that he heard. The reception of the identifier may also constitute for the voice server an order to order the album in question which will subsequently be sent to the listener.

 Of course, very many types of service information can be transmitted by the transmitting station. It can be for example the telephone number of the restaurant which is the subject of a radio report, but also in particular permanent daily information, such as the indication of the day, the indicator of the saint of the day or even information daily weather.

 In the case of a loyalty application, the service information may include not only the number of points which will be awarded to the listener who actuates the specific key on the keyboard 4 at the invitation of the host of the radio program , but also start and end indication signals defining the interval during which the listener can actually press the specific key.

 It is particularly advantageous, in particular in order to avoid disturbing the transmission of the data with parasitic frequencies, to use a coding of the information of restitution in the form of an acoustic bar code. Concretely, the coding means 22 are able, for a bit of logical value "1" of the restitution information, to deliver a logic signal having a high state for a first predetermined duration and a low state for a second predetermined duration. On the other hand, for a bit of logical value "0", the coding means deliver a logic signal having the low state during all of the first and second durations.

 In combination, the transducer 24 will deliver no acoustic signal in response to a logic signal in the low state, and, in response to a logic signal in the high state, will deliver a single frequency acoustic signal whose frequency is substantially in the center of the bandwidth of a telephone line.

 A frequency of 2048 Hz will therefore preferably be used, which is moreover easily usable from a conventional 4-bit microcontroller, since this frequency is a multiple of two. The logic signals S1 and S2 corresponding to bit codings having respectively logic values "1" and "0" are illustrated in FIG. 5. The total duration T of transmission of a bit is 15.625 ms, which corresponds to about three times the time constant of a carbon microphone fitted to a telephone set. With regard to the signal S1, the duration T 1 during which the logic signal is in the high state, is taken equal to 11.71875 ms, while the duration T2 is equal to 3.90652 ms.

 In fact, only the mask of the signal S1 is represented for the purposes of simplification in FIG. 5, and we will nevertheless speak of a high state for the signal S1 for the duration T 1 although in reality, during this duration, the signal consists of a plurality of peaks at the frequency of 2048 Hz.

 This transmission time of 15.625 ms, corresponding to a transmission speed of 64 baud, was adopted here because of its ease of implementation. It is nevertheless possible to choose an optimal transmission speed between 15 baud and 16 baud, which makes it possible to obtain a stable transmission signal taking into account the time constant of a carbon microphone.

 Data transmission takes place by sending successive frames. The reception, at the local server, is then of synchronous type, that is to say that there is a synchronization carried out on the header of each transmitted frame. This synchronization allows in particular the adjustment of the reception levels by an automatic gain control device, the detection of the transmission speed, and the setting of the reception means. The adjustment of the reception level by an automatic gain control device allows good reception of the frames and compensates for the loss of levels due to the carbon microphone, or by means of amplification of a signal produced by an electronic microphone.

 A transmission frame is illustrated in FIG. 6. The duration of the header of a frame is 575 ms and is broken down into a logic signal S3 in the high state for a duration T3 of 400 ms maximum allowing automatic control. gain, followed by a low signal S4 for a duration T4 of 50 ms allowing the setting of the server receiver, finally followed by a synchronization byte S5 comprising an alternation of bits 1 and bits 0 for 125 ms. The signals S1 and / or S2 corresponding to the restitution information are then transmitted.

Claims (11)

 1. Information receiver, comprising reception means (3) for receiving a primary radio signal containing on the one hand basic information intended to be reproduced at least in audible form and on the other hand, at least temporarily, at minus service information, separation means (18) connected to the reception means for extracting from the primary signal received on the one hand said basic information and, on the other hand, said service information, from the main restitution means ( 5) to restore the basic information at least in audible form, a saved memory (21), a first control member (4) operable manually, a first control means (20) capable of storing at least part of the service information in the memory stored in response to actuation of the control member (4), and a display (2) for displaying at least part of the content of the saved memory.  2. Receiver according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises auxiliary restitution means (22, 24), for restoring outside the receiver, restitution information comprising at least part of the content of saved memory.  3. Receiver according to claim 2, characterized in that the auxiliary restitution means and the main restitution means comprise common elements (5).  4. Receiver according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the auxiliary restitution means restore said restitution information in the form of an acoustic signal.  5. Receiver according to claim 4, characterized in that, said restitution information being made up of a plurality of bits, the auxiliary restitution means comprise  - an auxiliary activation member (8),  - coding means (22) capable, in response to actuation of the auxiliary activation member, of delivering, for one bit of said restitution information having the logic value "one", a logic signal having a state high for a first predetermined duration and a low state for a second predetermined duration, and for a bit of said restitution information having the logical value "zero", a logic signal having the low state during all of the first and second durations, and  - an electro-acoustic transducer (24) delivering no acoustic signal in response to a logic signal in the low state, and delivering in response to a logic signal in the high state, a monofrequency acoustic signal whose frequency is located substantially in the center of the bandwidth of a telephone line.  6. Receiver according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a second control member (4) operable manually and a second control means (20) capable, in response to the actuation of the second member command (4), to extract from the saved memory said part of its content intended to be displayed on the display.  7. Receiver according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a microcontroller (20) incorporating the control means or means, and a keyboard, connected to the microcontroller, incorporating the control member or members.  8. Receiver according to claims 5 and 7, characterized in that the keyboard (4) incorporates the auxiliary activation member.  9. Receiver according to one of claims 2 to 8, characterized in that it comprises a detachable module (7) incorporating at least the control means or (20), the saved memory (21) and the auxiliary means restitution (22, 24).  10. A method of transmitting information between a transmitting station and a receiver of information in which one transmits by at least one transmitting station, on a transmission channel, a carrier containing on the one hand basic information intended to be restored at least in audible form and on the other hand, at least temporarily, at least one piece of service information,  said radio carrier is received by an information receiver, and the basic information is extracted therefrom on the one hand so as to restore them at least in audible form, and on the other hand the service information (s),  - At least part of the service information is stored in a memory stored in the receiver in response to the actuation of a control unit of the receiver, and at least part of the content of the memory saved is displayed on a receiver display.  11. Method according to claim 10, characterized in that the restitution outside the receiver, in the form of an acoustic signal, restitution information comprising at least a portion of the content of the saved memory, vehicle said acoustic signal via a telephone installation, and the signal is received by at least one receiving station connected to said telephone installation to process said corresponding restitution information.