Systems, methods and apparatus for transmitting weather information in a television distribution network

摘要

Described herein are techniques for transmitting alert information in association with television programming in a transport stream. The alert information may be transmitted to a plurality of television receivers for which the message may be applicable to at least a portion of the television receivers. Each television receiver receives the alert information and determines whether to output the alert information for presentation to a user.

主权项

1. A television receiver comprising:
a communication interface operable to receive a transport stream, the transport stream including a first set of packets associated with a first television program and a second set of packets associated with weather information; control logic communicatively coupled to the communication interface, the control logic operable to process the second set of packets to determine whether to output the weather information; and an output interface operable to output at least one of the first television program and the weather information for presentation by a presentation device, wherein:
the first set of packets associated with the first television program are associated with one or more program identifiers (PIDs) and the second set of packets associated with weather information are associated with a different program identifier (PID) that is different from the one or more program identifiers (PIDs) associated with the first set of packets associated with the first television program;the transport stream further includes a third set of packets associated with second television program, wherein the third set of packets associated with the second television program are associated with one or more program identifiers (PIDs) different from the one or more program identifiers (PIDs) associated with the first set of packets associated with the first program; andthe one or more program identifiers (PIDs) associated with the first set of packets include a first program identifier associated with a video component of the first program and a different second program identifier (PID) associated with an audio component of the first program, the one or more program identifiers (PIDs) associated with the third set of packets include a third program identifier associated with a video component of the second program and a different fourth program identifier associated with an audio component of the second program, and the program identifier (PID) associated with the second set of packets associated with weather information is a fifth program identifier (PID) different from the first, second, third and fourth program identifier (PIDs).