Patent Application
20080010318
The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The aspects and features of the present invention and methods for achieving the aspects and features will be apparent by referring to the exemplary embodiments to be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments disclosed hereinafter, but can be implemented in diverse forms. The matters defined in the description, such as the detailed construction and elements, are nothing but specific details provided to assist those of ordinary skill in the art in a comprehensive understanding of the invention, and the present invention is only defined within the scope of the appended claims. In the entire description of the present invention, the same drawing reference numerals are used for the same elements across various figures.
The present invention will be described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating block diagrams and flowcharts for explaining an apparatus and method of managing content stored in portable digital devices according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer usable or computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer usable or computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.
The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.
Also, each block of the flowchart illustrations may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of the order. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved.
In the following description of the present invention, the term “portable digital device” means a portable device that can generate or play diverse kinds of content such as a photograph, a moving image, music, and so forth, and means a device that has a storage means mounted therein, such as a memory, and thus can store generated content. In addition, it is defined that storage media, which do not generate or play digital content, but simply store the digital content, are included in the portable digital device.
The term “digital management device” means a device that manages diverse kinds of local content or that is connected to the portable digital device and displays the content stored in the portable digital device. Here, the term “content management” means all operations for accessing the content such as a storage, movement, deletion, and playback of the content.
The content management device allocates the local content and the content stored in the portable digital content to a modularized frame structure, and displays the frame on a display screen.
In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the term “module”, as used herein, means, but is not limited to, a software or hardware component, such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), which performs certain tasks. A module may advantageously be configured to reside on the addressable storage medium and configured to execute on one or more processors. Thus, a module may include, by way of example, components, such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components and task components, processes, functions, attributes, procedures, subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuitry, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functionality provided for in the components and modules may be combined into fewer components and modules or further separated into additional components and modules. In addition, the components and modules may be implemented so as to execute one or more CPUs in a device or a security multimedia card.
The device manager module 210 senses or detects a plurality of portable digital devices connected to the content management apparatus 200, and provides an environment in which the content management apparatus 200 can communicate with the respective portable digital devices.
The content DB 240 stores therein various kinds of content such as a photograph, a moving image, music, and so forth. In order to discriminate between the content stored in the content DB 240 and the content stored in the portable digital device, it is defined over the entire description of the present invention that the content stored in the content DB 240 of the content management apparatus 200 is “local content”, and the content stored in the portable digital device is “media content”.
The application module 220 manipulates the local content stored in the content DB 240 or the media content provided through the device manager module 210. In this case, the term “content manipulation” includes playback of the local content or the media content, and classification of the local content or the media content according to a content type such as a photograph, a moving image, and music, according to a user's request. Also, the “content manipulation” includes movement of the local content to the portable digital device, and movement of the media content to the content management apparatus 200, according to a user's command. In addition, the “content manipulation” includes edition, printing, and storing of the content selected by the user in another storage medium.
The user interface module 230 provides a user interface that enables the user to visually or aurally recognize the content manipulated by the application module, and provides a user interface that enables the user to input commands for the content manipulation. In this case, the user interface is designed only to indicate, i.e., represent or show, function modules corresponding to the content management apparatus 200 and the respective portable digital devices in a main frame. That is, various functions required to play the content such as a photograph, a moving image, and music, are implemented as unit function modules and pre-stored in the function module DB 250, and the application module 220 extracts only required function modules from the function module DB 250 according to the content management apparatus 200 or the portable digital device, and provides the extracted function modules to the user interface 230. Then, the user interface module 230 presents the extracted function modules in the main frame. For example, in the case where the portable digital device is an MP3 player playing MP3 music files, the user interface module 230 presents the function modules providing various kinds of functions required to play the MP3 music files in a frame. In this case, it can be understood that the function modules stored in the function module DB 250 include not only the function modules for the interface with the user but also function modules required to perform functions provided from the corresponding apparatus or devices.
As described above, the functions for playing various kinds of content are implemented in the form of a function module and pre-stored, and thus in the case of updating a specified function, only the corresponding function module can be updated, so that the result of updating can be reflected in any portable digital device connected to the apparatus. Also, in the case where a new function is added, a function module corresponding to the added function is added to the function module DB 250, and this facilitates the maintenance/repair and extension of functions for the content playback.
In addition, the user interface module 230 displays the portable digital device connected to the content management apparatus 200 on the wallpaper of the content management apparatus 200 as an independent object. Accordingly, the user can intuitively recognize the type and the number of portable digital devices presently connected, and the content exchange between the content management apparatus 200 and the portable digital device can be easily performed. This independent object may be pre-stored in the function module DB 250 of the content management apparatus 200, or may be provided from the portable digital device through the device manager module 210.
First, when the content management apparatus 200 such as a personal computer starts its operation, the application module 220 displays an object of the content management apparatus 200 on the wallpaper of the content management apparatus 200 through the user interface module 230 (S310). In
Then, if the user connects the portable digital device with the content management apparatus 200 (S320), the device manager module 210 senses the portable digital device, and informs the application module 220 of the sensed portable digital device. The application module 220 then displays the object of the connected portable digital device on the wallpaper through the user interface module 230 (S330). When the portable digital device is connected to the content management apparatus, the corresponding object is displayed in such a manner that it glidingly moves from the outside of the wallpaper to the inside thereof, as shown in
That is, as illustrated in
In moving the object 730, the abstract concept that the portable digital device existing in the real world enters into the virtual world of the content management apparatus 200 through the connection with the content management apparatus 200 is visualized by animation, and thus a user can naturally and intuitively accept the process of recognizing the existence of the portable digital device without any gap or shock. In addition, this animation enables the user to adequately acknowledge the fact that the portable digital device has been connected to the content management apparatus and then to attempt the manipulation of the content stored in the portable digital device.
After the object of the portable digital device is displayed on the wallpaper as illustrated in
If the object of the content management apparatus 200 and the objects of the portable digital devices are displayed on the wallpaper, the user may select a desired object. Then, the application module 220 displays the user interface for the object selected by the user through the user interface module 230 on the basis of the function modules stored in the function module DB 250 (S360). A method of displaying the user interface will now be described in more detail with reference to
The user manipulates the local content or the media content through the user interface (S370).
If the user selects an object displayed on the wallpaper, the application module 220 generates a frame for the selected object (S410). Then, the application module 220 searches for the function modules related to the corresponding apparatus or device from the function module DB 250 (S420).
For example, function modules for an MP3 player may include an audio environment setting module, an audio codec module, a log manager module, an audio album module, a navigation module, and so forth, and function modules for a digital camcorder may include an audio codec module, a video codec module, a media browser module, a media player module, a multi-format conversion module, and so forth.
Then, the application module 220 executes the searched function modules or presents them in the frame generated through the user interface module 230 S430, and then displays a list of local content stored in the content DB 240 or a list of media content stored in the portable digital device through the user interface module 230 (S440).
First, the user selects an object indicating the content management apparatus (S510). In this case, the selected object as illustrated in
The user selects local content to be transmitted (S530), and moves the selected local content to an object 1220 of an MP3 player as illustrated in
Through the above-described method, the user may transmit the local content to an object 123 of a camcorder or transmit the media content between the portable digital devices. In this case, the term “transmission” includes a copy and a movement.
As described above, according to the present invention, the user can manage the media content more conveniently. In addition, an efficient software maintenance and repair for the portable multimedia devices can be achieved.
Although exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2006-0063151 | Jul 2006 | KR | national |
