Synchronizing operational states of closed captioning and audio mute

摘要

The current invention addresses the problem of causing closed captioning to be launched or not launched automatically when a viewer mutes the audio on a digital television. The current invention allows for individualized options associated with a particular viewer. These options can be selected from a plurality of options either manually or automatically as determined by the viewer settings or viewer behavior.

主权项

1. A digital television system comprising:
a display; a television receiver operatively coupled to the display, operable to: display television content on the display; and display text overlaid on said television content; an audio subsystem that produces content associated with said television content; a closed captioning subsystem that produces said text; a processor operatively coupled to the display and to the television receiver; a non volatile storage medium communicably coupled to the processor, said storage medium including a database comprising multiple profiles, each profile comprising a set of data associated with at least one user of said digital television system, said database including at least one attribute pertaining to said user of said digital television system; each said profile including at least one attribute associated with said user pertaining to a behavior of said audio subsystem of said digital television system associated with at least one user, where said multiple profiles include a first profile for a first user which has a first behavior for said audio subsystem for said first user, and where said multiple profiles also include a second profile for a second user where said second profile represents a second behavior for said audio subsystem for said second user, said second behavior being different than said first behavior; and said at least one attribute associated pertaining to a behavior of said closed captioning subsystem of said digital television system associated with said audio subsystem that causes said audio subsystem to react different for said first profile that it does for said second profile.