BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to notification apparatus and methods, and more particularly to notification systems with a speech synthesizer.

2. Description of the Related Technology

An emergency notification system may facilitate dissemination or broadcast of messages to one or many points, alerting them to a pending or existing emergency or providing other information.

One-click notification is a method of clicking one button within a mobile app or emergency notification platform to initiate the dissemination of a message. An emergency notification system such as Red Messaging is an example of one-click notification. Organizations may use a one-click notification service to trigger the sending of messages via pre-saved configurations such as selected contact groups, chosen delivery methods, etc.

Emergencies place demands on communication processes that are often significantly different from the demands of non-emergency circumstances. Emergencies often involve escalating and evolving events that demand high performance and flexibility from the systems that provide emergency communication services. Message prioritization, automation of communication, fast message delivery, communication audit trails, and other capabilities are often required by each unique emergency situation. Inadequate emergency communications capabilities can have consequences that are inconvenient at best and disastrous at worst. There are many examples of emergency notification deficiencies.

During the September 11 attack in 2001, traditional telecommunications were stretched and overloaded. Phone networks along the entire East Coast were congested into uselessness. 911 operators were overwhelmed with calls and could do little more than offer encouragement because of the confusing information they were receiving. Communications between emergency services personnel were limited by a lack of interoperability between departments. Many fire-fighters died when the towers collapsed because they couldn't receive the warning that the police officers received from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) helicopters. Amateur radio played a large role in facilitating communications between the various emergency departments, which operated on different frequencies and protocols.

On the day of the 7 Jul. 2005 London bombings, mobile phone networks, including Vodafone, reached full capacity and were overloaded by 10:00 a.m., only an hour and ten minutes after the bombs went off. Because of an antiquated radio system, the damaged trains were unable to communicate with the Transport for London control center or emergency personnel, while senior emergency services managers, of the London Ambulance Service in particular, were forced to rely on the already overloaded mobile phone network because of the lack of digital radios. The Access Overload Control, implemented only in a 1 km area around Aldgate Tube Station, wasn't helpful because many officials didn't have ACCOLC-enabled mobile phones.

161 people were killed and at least 990 injured when an EF5 multiple-vortex tornado hit Joplin, Mo. Because Joplin is located in a tornado-heavy area of the country, many people considered the tornado sirens routine and ignored them. Instead, many residents waited until they received confirmation from another, non-routine, source, such as seeing the tornado, a radio or TV report, or hearing a second siren. In the aftermath, an assessment team recommended that emergency warnings take risk perception into account to convey a sense of urgency.

When Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 hurricane, hit New Orleans, the emergency communications systems were completely destroyed, including power stations, internet servers, mobile phone towers, and 911 services. The Federal relief workers' satellite phones weren't interoperable, even when they did work. A few AM radio stations were able to continue broadcasting throughout the storm, notably WWL Radio, which remained on the air by broadcasting from a closet. Amateur radio was instrumental in the rescue process and maintained signals when 911 communications were damaged or overloaded. In this case it was reported that voice and internet data channels were inoperative, while low overhead SMS traffic on cellular channels were operational.

The Virginia Tech Massacre, which resulted in the death of 33 people, helped propel discourse for effective emergency communication systems in schools. Virginia Tech had systems already in place, including e-mail and text notifications, but lacked a cohesive plan for using them. No warnings were sent out until after the event, two and a half hours after the initial shootings. Virginia Tech has since updated its emergency communications systems, especially public ones, since students can't always check e-mail in a timely fashion and professors often request that wireless devices be turned off in class. Because the massacre occurred within a 10-minute period, improved emergency communications systems with an emphasis on speed of communication are required.

The Japan Meteorological Agency's (JMA) early warning system, which uses seismometers, was able to alert millions of people across Japan about the impending earthquake via radio, mobile phone networks, including Docomo, AU, and SoftBank, and television, including both NHK channels and cable channels. The tsunami warning system alerted people shortly after, although the tsunami was larger than expected. In areas with infrastructure still intact, even though both landline and mobile phone lines were not functioning as might be expected, the Internet was still accessible. In the hardest hit areas, particularly Sendai and other areas of Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima Prefectures, satellite phones were often the only form of communication that functioned reliably. The following nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Plant was rife with communications problems. No communications plan was in place, internal communications were poor, external communications were slow, and the public quickly lost confidence in TEPCO and the nuclear industry.

During the 2012 Aurora shooting on Jul. 20, 2012, the gunman, James Eagan Holmes, released tear gas before opening fire during a showing of The Dark Knight Rises, causing many of the moviegoers to mistake the attack for part of the film's special effects. According to preliminary reports, the suspect initially went into the theater as a patron. He then exited and propped open an emergency exit, while he went to his car to get his bulletproof vest and weapons. He then attacked after reentry through the propped-open door. In this type of situation, there was no effective warning. Shortly after the assailant began shooting, the building's fire alarms were sounded. The natural inclination, in response to a fire alarm, would be to evacuate the building, but in this case, the assailant was specifically targeting people who attempted to exit.

Hurricane Sandy hit New York City, New Jersey, and the surrounding area on Oct. 29, 2012, destroying thousands of houses and leaving millions without electricity and thus without internet, mobile phones, or landline communications. To prepare for the hurricane, many areas provided additional emergency help lines in case 911 wasn't available, The Federal Emergency Management Agency has strengthened its ability to respond to a disaster since the communications problems during Hurricane Katrina and using Twitter in its rescue efforts, and amateur radio operators were on standby to provide emergency communications. In the aftermath, up to 25% of mobile phone towers, network providers, and television stations were powerless.

An emergency involves unforeseen combination of circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate action. As such, it should be considered critically important that any communication about an emergency be timely and quick to disseminate, in order to mitigate damage or loss of life. For example, during the Virginia Tech massacre, about two hours had passed before the first communication (an email) was sent to staff and students; and by that time, the gunman had already entered and secured a building in which he was shortly to begin his attack. In that case, it wasn't until about 20 minutes after the shootings began, that a loudspeaker announcement was made for people to take cover. In many cases, it's likely obvious that mere seconds and minutes are absolutely critical. There is a clear need for improvements to emergency notification/communication systems.

During a crisis, the people who use an emergency communication system need to quickly and easily launch their notifications and they need to be able to do so in a way that securely provides them with confidence and an intuitive, familiar and easy-to-use interface that can be accessed from any location. Messages, both in audio and visual form need to be deliberate, to the point, and be clearly understood. An emergency communication system that's designed for non-technical users will facilitate enhanced results in administration and usage; and during some life-threatening emergency situations, campus administrators must be able to react quickly and trigger the alert system swiftly. Yet emergency alert is probably among the least used and least familiar processes. Ease-of-use therefore is critical to the effectiveness of an emergency communication system.

However, in order to support a robust and capable emergency communication ability, this ease of use should not preclude the utilization of a complex, technologically advanced system. A sufficiently advanced system is required to coordinate multiple components to act in concert, to initiate and propagate emergency communications in any manner of ways. A distinguishing factor is in such a system bearing these advanced capabilities, while still being easy for the user to operate for both emergency and everyday communications (so users can feel comfortable with it)—not only for effective emergency communication, but also for an organization to realize the most return on investment, as well as the user being familiar enough with its operation as to effectively operate it under stressful emergency situations, such as in earthquake, tsunami, etc.

Overall, the more affordable the cost of procuring, installing, and maintaining an emergency communication system is, the more prolific such systems may become; and the more prolific these systems are, the more likely it is that these systems will be available to aid in times of emergency in more locations. Beyond supporting emergency response, mass notification systems may be a valuable asset for everyday, non-emergency, intra- and inter-plant communications. The deployment of interoperable, multi-device communications technology that enhances overall plant communications, and provides a host of useful software-based management and administrative tools is desirable.

An attribute of any modern emergency communication system is the ability to provide notification of an emergency and to provide clear and actionable instructions for how to respond to an emergency.

Emergencies often require delivery of different versions of the same communication at the same time. For example, in an armed hostage-taking incident, occupants of a building may need to receive instructions to lock and barricade the door until further notice, while first responders to the incident need to be aware of the lockdown instructions and be provided more specific details of the hostage-taking event to inform their actions.

It has been recognized that multiple means of delivering emergency information is desirable.

Conventional communication tools such as smartphones, flat-panel digital signage, GPS, and text-to-speech (among many others) are being used for emergency notification. There are drawbacks to current implementations of all of these tools.

There are primarily two major types of communication devices: those for individual people and those for groups of people. Public Communication Devices are the devices that are designed to deliver a communication to more than one person as a single process at the same time. Examples include a digital electronic sign, a loudspeaker that is part of a PA system, or a large flat panel display on a wall. A private communication device is a device that is designed to deliver communication to one person at a time through a single process. Typically, a single person is in control of such a device which is usually not shared. Examples include a cell phone, a text message on the cell phone, an email, or a message over a 2-way radio.

Public communication refers to the conveyance of messages to people, in such a way that anyone may receive the communication at nearly the same time as anyone else, typically using a common device. The most common way of facilitating public communications is by using devices that are incorporated into some public venue, such as public-address systems or digital signage. Using public devices for the purpose of public warning empowers people at risk to take actions to reduce losses from natural hazards, accidents, and acts of terrorism.

Private means the delivery of messages to a specific individual, in a private manner or in a way that even those nearby may not get the message. Common ways of facilitating private communications involve devices such as telephones or electronic mail.

Mobile phones may be considered a private communication device because they are usually associated with or owned by a single individual. One possible limitation of using mobile phones for emergency communications, in a bomb-threat situation, for example, might include the potential of cellular networks being disabled for fear that a bomb might be detonated using a cellular phone.

SMS text messages are a type of private communication because they are directed toward a specific mobile number; and, thus, they are designed to reach one person at a time without the general public knowing anything about the message. A limitation in using SMS messaging for emergencies is that it may not meet the needs of emergency communication: this is, it must be highly reliable, be secure, have excellent access control, and high-speed delivery. Additionally, to be effective a cellular phone must be registered in advance to receive standard SMS messages, and can only receive Government generated Cellular Broadcasts (CB) from the WEA notification system.

Machine to machine (also identified as machine-to-machine or M2M) refers to direct communication between devices using any communications channel, including wired and wireless. Machine to machine communication may be implemented by a system of networks that transmit data to personal appliances. The expansion of IP networks around the world has made machine to machine communication quicker and easier while using less power.

Cloud connectivity is becoming a significant piece of the machine to machine solution as cellular and wireless communication speeds increase. Machine to machine solutions providers now offer networks that allow users to manage deployments remotely.

The internet of things (IoT) is the internetworking of physical devices, vehicles (also referred to as “connected devices” and “smart devices”), buildings and other items—embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity that enable these objects to collect and exchange data. The IoT allows objects to be sensed and/or controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure, creating opportunities for more direct integration of the physical world into computer-based systems. IoT offers advanced connectivity of devices, systems, and services that goes beyond machine to machine communications and covers a variety of protocols, domains, and applications.

Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) or Low-Power Network (LPN) is a type of wireless telecommunication network designed to allow long range communications at a low bit rate among things (connected objects), such as sensors operated on a battery.

6LoWPAN (IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks) is based on RFC 4944 (updated by RFC 6282 with header compression, and by RFC 6775 with neighbor discovery optimizations) developed by the 6LoWPAN IETF group. The target for 6LoWPAN is IP networking for low-power radio communication is applications that use wireless internet connectivity at lower data rates for devices with very limited form factor.

ZigBee is another communication protocol that, like 6LoWPAN is low power for use in low data rate applications. Zigbee may be used to create personal area networks with small, low-power digital radios. ZigBee has a defined rate of 250 kbit/s, suited for intermittent data transmissions from a sensor or input device. DigiMesh is another low power radio communication protocol designed for peer-to-peer wireless networking topology. The DigiMesh protocol allows for time synchronized sleeping nodes/routers and low-power battery powered operation. Bluetooth low energy (Bluetooth LE, BLE, marketed as Bluetooth Smart) is a wireless personal area network technology. BLE provides considerably reduced power consumption and cost as compared to classic Bluetooth.

Current platforms and technologies include: LoRaWAN, Long Range Wide Area Network (WAN), from the LoRa Alliance; NarrowBand IoT (NB-IOT), standardization effort by 3GPP for a LPWAN used in cellular networks that evolved from Huawei's NB-CIoT effort; LTE Advanced for Machine Type Communications (LTE-M), an evolution of LTE communications for connected things by 3GPP; NB-Fi Protocol, from WAVIoT; NWave, a proprietary technology that also forms the basis of Weightless protocols; RPMA, Random Phase Multiple Access technology from Ingenu, formerly known as On-Ramp Wireless; Senet, public LoRaWAN provider in North America; Symphony Link, LoRa-based platform from Link Labs; Sigfox, UNB-based technology and French company; ThingPark Wireless, a platform from Acility (based on LoRaWAN specification); Weightless, a set of communication standards from the Weightless SIG; LoRa, proprietary CSS modulation technology used for LPWAN patented by Semtech by LoRa Alliance used by LoRaWan and Symphony Link; and UNB, Ultra Narrow Band modulation technology used for LPWAN by various companies including Telensa, NWave, Weightless-N and Sigfox.

Short Message Service (SMS) is a text messaging service component of telephone, World Wide Web, and mobile telephony systems. It uses standardized communications protocols to enable fixed-line or mobile phone devices to exchange short text messages. SMS was the most widely used data application, with an estimated 3.5 billion active users, or about 80% of all mobile phone subscribers, at the end of 2010. SMS is also employed in mobile marketing, a type of direct marketing.

SMS as used on modern handsets originated from radio telegraphy in radio memo pagers using standardized phone protocols. These were defined in 1985 as part of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) series of standards as a means of sending messages of up to 160 characters to and from GSM mobile handsets. Though most SMS messages are mobile-to-mobile text messages, support for the service has expanded to include other mobile technologies, such as ANSI CDMA networks and Digital AMPS, as well as satellite and landline networks. SMS also is used as a broadcast push notification called Cellular Broadcasts (CB) for government initiated broadcast of Amber Alerts, Weather and Emergency Notification events.

TCP/IP based communications such as HTTP, UDP and FTP can also be adapted for use in small data payloads over Low Bandwidth M2M communications, both wired and wireless. Providers such as Verizon have offered services that provide extremely low yearly fees, based on limited bandwidth. To allow usage of the cost advantage, data volume must be kept low, at a level that precludes practical transmission of audio information using conventional coding protocols. For example, a conventional MP3 audio message requires a minimum bit rate of 8 kbits/sec and up to 320 kbits/sec.

Packet sizes for LPWA data may be limited and only support small intermittent blocks of data. To increase content transfer binary compression with little or no overhead may be used to improve throughput. For example, payload information, may be converted 6-bit data while still preserving text and control code content, or compression such as Shoco, under license by MIT, can be used to increase content throughput by up to 50%. In this way LPWA data can be transformed into speech with more efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an advantageous feature of the invention, an audio amplifier supporting alert announcements over wide area wireless channels is described that operates more effectively than existing systems. The audio amplifier may convert ASCII coded data representing time-sensitive phrases and events to audio announcements based on data representing text and/or instructions received over a low bandwidth network. The audio announcements may be delivered by a loudspeaker associated with the audio amplifier. The system may support real-time dynamic content that may be created at distant locations. The real-time input data uses low cost wireless connectivity and, when the data input is idle, the wireless network is idle, to keep costs of the wireless provider low. To accomplish this, an integrated speech synthesizer such as Text-to-Speech may operate with low data rate inputs with real time management from a mobile device, automated machinery, or a cloud-based server. Push data mode may be incorporated for further cost savings to avoid use of bandwidth attendant to polling over a network which, in operation, would be done at intervals measured in seconds. Whereas use of push data may be limited by activation only when called for. In the case of an alerting announcement, the demand for network bandwidth is tightly linked to announcements made. Depending on need, the interval may be a year or more. This is contrasted by polling systems that require frequent activation. The extended intervals result in cost-effective idle state management allowing use of a service provided in Cellular SMS, Low Power Wide Area (“LPWA”) and other M2M networks. Additionally, the low data rate achieved using Text-to-Speech over wireless networks is cost effective because the cost of data communication services is typically based on accumulated bytes of data used and the bandwidth requirements for the presently described system are low enough to take advantage of very low cost low bandwidth communications. A low bandwidth transport medium may be considered to be any channel that, due to bandwidth, is unable to support data rates, latency, and/or packet size, do not permit streaming of audio with raw or even highly compressed data such as ADPCM, CELP, MP3, and others, such as those supporting VOIP Limitations inherent in low bandwidth transport media are that seconds may be involved to create a data buffer of sufficient size to collect data to decompress that will not avoid analog dropouts or [lossy] compression will result in unintelligible sound due to compression type, poor dynamic range, or audio spectrum cutoffs. This is further limited when networks are throttled in times of crisis and emergency, as mentioned in the previous historical events. The system outlined uniquely combines the advantages above in an integrated notification terminal.

A method for generating audio announcements may include the step of receiving transmission of messages that make up an announcement. The messages may include an announcement identifier, a sequence identifier, and a payload. The payload may include data representing commands and data representing linguistic symbols. The method may include the step of parsing the messages to identify the data representing linguistic symbols and the step of processing the data representing linguistic symbols through a speech synthesizer in an order prescribed per the announcement identifier and the sequence identifier. The method may include the step of monitoring an output of the speech synthesizer and issuing a confirmation upon detection that all linguistic symbols corresponding to the announcement identifier have been processed by the speech synthesizer. The linguistic symbols may be text and may be data representing phonemes. The step of issuing may include issuing the confirmation to an address association with the announcement. At least one message relating to an announcement identifier may include data representing an end of transmission indicator. The step of processing may be commenced after receipt of a message including data representing the end of the transmission indicator. The step of processing may be commenced after receipt of a message including data representing the end of transmission indicator and all messages relating an announcement identifier. The messages include data representing a time stamp. Messages relating to an announcement identifier may be discarded if a complete sequence of messages relating to the announcement identifier are not received within a time permitted for announcement of the audio announcement relating to an announcement identifier.

A mass notification terminal may include a communication terminal, a data parser and a decoder responsive to the communication terminal. A speech synthesizer connected to a linguistic output of the data parser and decoder and a sensor may be responsive to an output of the speech synthesizer and may have an output indicative of an output of the speech synthesizer. The communication terminal may be an LPWA (low power wide area) network communication terminal. The communication terminal may be a low data rate cellular terminal with an SMS (short message system) channel. The communication terminal may be a low data rate radio terminal with mesh network channels. The communications terminal may be a wired or wireless LAN with TCP/IP designed to support M2M data payloads. The mass notification terminal may include an amplifier connected to an output of the speech synthesizer and have a speaker, transducer or terminals connected to an output of the amplifier. The mass notification terminal may include a sensor connected to the data parser and decoder. The data parser and controller may further include a command parser configured to identify and connect input commands to a controller. The mass notification terminal may also include a message array connected to an output of the data parser and decoder. The mass notification terminal may also include a communication interface connected to a communication channel where the communication interface may be connected to the data parser and controller. The data parser and controller may have a trigger output.

A mass notification system may have one or more notification terminals having at least a low bandwidth communication terminal; a data parser and decoder responsive to the communication terminal; an audio file store connected to the data parser and decoder; a speech synthesizer connected to an output of the data parser and decoder; and an amplifier having a speech input connected to a speech output of the speech synthesizer and connected to a speech output of the audio file store. In addition, personal communication devices having an application program configured to dispatch linguistic symbols and control commands to a pre-established address corresponding to an address of the notification terminal may be deployed.

Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components.

Moreover, the above objects and advantages of the invention are illustrative, and not exhaustive, of those that can be achieved by the invention. Thus, these and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description herein, both as embodied herein and as modified in view of any variations which will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

