APPARATUS HAVING AN EMERGENCY ALERT FUNCTION WITH PRIORITY OVERRIDE FEATURE

摘要

An apparatus (20) such as a television signal receiver, radio or other apparatus provides an emergency alert function with a priority override feature to ensure that users are informed of significant emergency events. According to an exemplary embodiment, the apparatus (20) includes a signal receiving element (21) operative to receive emergency alert signals providing an emergency message. A processor (27) is operatively coupled to the signal receiving element (21) and detects if a condition associated with the emergency message exists. The processor (27) processes the emergency alert signals in accordance with user settings for the emergency alert function if the condition does not exist. The processor (27) overrides the user settings and enables an alert output if the condition exists.