Patent Application
20050062888
The present invention relates to the presentation of multimedia. More particularly, the present invention relates to a media player and a method for presenting images to a user via a high-definition display, such as a high-definition television.
High-Definition (“HD”) display devices, such as HD televisions (“HDTVs”), use high-resolution video formatted signals to present images that are much clearer than images provided by traditional television signals formats, such as National TV Standards Committee (“NTSC”) or Phase Alternating Line (“PAL”) formats. Typical HDTVs can display images statically and/or dynamically at a resolution of at least 720 p or 1080 i, which is 1920 horizontal by 1080 vertical pixels. Although consumers of HD video are beginning to enjoy television broadcasts at this high-resolution format, they are unable to use their HDTVs to their fullest potential with conventional media players.
For example, conventional digital media players are designed for use with traditional televisions rather than HDTVs. These digital media players enable consumers to upload digitized photographs (or videos) from digital cameras via an inserted memory card (or over a network from a computing device) into these players for display on a television. Further, these digital media players allow consumers to add music (or other sounds) to create personalized multimedia slideshows. But these digital media players are generally designed to display digitized images in digital video disc (“DVD”)-quality resolution. DVD-quality resolution is usually described as 704 horizontal by 480 pixels. Consequently, conventional digital media players are not well suited for displaying images at HDTV resolutions.
With the growing popularity of sophisticated home entertainment centers, HDTVs are increasingly becoming a focal point at which family and friends congregate to socialize. As such, not only can an HDTV provide primary entertainment in the form of multimedia slideshows or digital jukeboxes, the HDTV can naturally provide background sights and sounds while family and friends engage in social discourse. In either case, the HDTV can be either inadvertently or intentionally left powered on over extended periods of time with no change in the displayed image. As most HDTVs are susceptible to fading and/or burnout (i.e., a detectable image has been burned onto the screen), an HDTV screen may lose its ability to present clear, crisp images after prolonged, static display of images.
In view of the foregoing, a media player capable of displaying images in high-definition video format is highly desirable. Ideally, the media player would be configurable to display images on an HDTV, would protect components of the HDTV and may or may not include other features not found in conventional digital media players, such as a mechanism for simplifying media player operation when portably-stored content is introduced into the media player.
The invention includes a high definition media player and method for presenting high definition images from portably-stored content. In one embodiment of the invention, a media player comprises a high definition output terminal configured to communicate a high definition video signal to a high definition display, and a port configured to receive portably-stored content from a portable storage device. The exemplary media player can also include a controller configured to select an image file from the portably-stored content. The controller then generates at least a portion of a high definition image on the high definition display. In another embodiment, an exemplary media player includes a screen saver module configured to monitor the high definition video signal. In another embodiment, an exemplary media player includes a media insertion manager module to automatically present the portion of the high definition image to a user after the image file is discovered.
According to the present invention, an exemplary method of presenting a high definition image includes detecting the presence of portably-stored content and identifying that one or more media files are auto-run media files. Also, the exemplary method can include presenting on a high definition display at least one high definition image associated with the one or more media files. In another embodiment, an exemplary method includes identifying that no media file of the portably-stored content is an auto-run media file, and presenting on the high definition display at least one high definition image of the portably-stored content if the portably-stored content includes only image files.
The invention is more fully appreciated in connection with the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
The present invention provides a number of HD media player devices, as well as methods for presenting HD media, which includes images and audio, to a user. An exemplary high-definition (HD) media player, according to a specific embodiment, includes a controller configured to manage the processing of HDTV data signals to present static images, dynamic images (i.e., a sequence of images depicting movement) and/or a combination thereof with a resolution at least commensurate with the 1080 i format. A high-definition media player, as described herein, can be further configured to maintain the quality of an HDTV screen (or display) by at least minimizing fading and/or burnout. According to the present invention, the HD media player is designed to present and to facilitate manipulation of HD images for presentation individually, or as a part of a slideshow performance. Moreover, the HD media player can play high-quality music or other sounds optionally with photographs, or with a computerized visualizer for generating HD images programmatically. “High-quality audio” can refer to music or sound produced according to 5.1 multi-channel surround audio format, for example.
HD media player 100 is coupled to screen saver module 118 to at least receive data indicating whether an HD-OUT signal should be replaced with screen saver image data as the HD-OUT signal. In one embodiment, this HD-OUT signal can be a “pass-through” video signal or a “screen saver image” video signal generated by controller 102. The screen saver image video signal includes motion art, graphic images, etc., as well as any user interface (“UI”) element and/or image as generated by UI-Task manager 202 of
Screen saver module 118 provides these two modes of operation as: (1) an auto-bypass mode and (2) a no-motion detect mode. In auto-bypass mode, screen saver module 118 allows HD-IN signals to be communicated substantially as HD-OUT signals. That is, screen saver module 118 does not alter operation of HD media player 100 until there is an absence of HD-IN signal. When screen saver module 118 detects that the HD-IN signal is absent, it operates to switch HD-OUT from HD-IN to a signal displaying a screen saver image generated by HD media player 100 (e.g., such as a UI display). For example, if a TV broadcasted HD image is input as an HD-IN signal into HD media player 100, screen saver module 118 allows the signal to pass-through. But if the video signal goes away, the HD media player 100 will automatically switch from outputting a pass-through video signal (e.g., HD-IN) to a screen saver image. When HD-IN is again detected as being present (regardless of whether the video depicts motion), then HD media player 100 switches from displaying the screen saver image to the TV broadcasted HD image as a “pass-through” signal.
In no-motion detect mode, however, screen saver module 118 operates to detect whether an active HD video signal has negligible motion, and if negligible motion is detected, then screen saver module 118 switches from passing-through HD-IN as HD-OUT to displaying an image generated by controller 120. That is, a screen saver image video signal is output as a HD-OUT signal. In one embodiment, the threshold at which a displayed image is deemed to have “negligible motion” is a percentage (e.g., user-defined) of the HDTV screen that does not have sufficient motion (e.g., changes in pixel values).
An exemplary interval of detection can be up to 10 minutes, or any interval that minimizes or prevents conditions for fading and/or burnout. An example of a case 1 situation is where the user has turned off a video input device, such as a satellite receiver. After screen saver module 118 detects either no substantial active video signal (i.e., the absence of video) or no motion, depending upon which mode is screen saver module 118 is configured to operate (i.e., auto-bypass mode or no-motion detect mode), then screen saver module 118 instructs controller 120 to substitute the HD-OUT signal with a signal representing one or more screen saver images, which can be in a slideshow format with or without audio. An example of this is when the user pauses the display of an image, and then that image is continually displayed up to the end of the detection interval. A screen saver image can be of any image type, such as MPEG, JPEG, or the like. For example, a screen saver image can be an HD MPEG video generated programmatically to render a life-like fish tank. In one embodiment, screen saver module 118 is configured to instruct the controller 120 to reduce the size of the screen saver image to, for example, 70% of its original dimensions. Then the display of this reduced screen saver image is moved, from time to time, under control of controller 120, to various portions of the HD display so as to provide motion to each of the display pixels thereby protecting the HD display from burnout, etc. The size, the rate at which the image is moved, and the like can be defined by a user.
HD media player 100 is coupled to light sensor module 114 to receive data indicating the level of luminance (or brightness) of light at photo sensor 102. Light sensor module 114 is configured to detect one of at least 16 to 256 different levels of ambient light, for example, where the one detected level indicates the brightness of light illuminating the surroundings of the HDTV display, and especially at photo sensor 102. In response to the detected level of ambient light, light sensor module 114 can instruct controller 120 to adjust HD-OUT so that the brightness level of the HDTV display is optimal for viewing, and in some cases, optimal for minimizing any negative effects of showing HD images at relatively high levels of brightness. In one embodiment, the selection of images (e.g., digital photos and videos) can be determined by the level of detected brightness, especially if a screen saver is activated. For example, at low brightness levels, nocturnal images of the moon, stars, and the like are displayed whereas at high brightness levels, daytime images of the sun, etc. are presented as screen saver images.
Sources of HDTV images include local memory 116, which is coupled to controller 120, remote computing devices or storage accessible via interfaces one 124 and two 126, and portably-stored content accessible via any one of media slots 104, 106, 108 and 110. A source of HDTV images can also be an email attachment, a personal computer file directory, a remote computer serving web-cam images, a compact disk, a DVD, or the like. Portably-stored content includes media files containing image and/or audio data (e.g., MP3 music files, WMA files, etc.) and can reside on or in any known portable storage device, such as a compact flash card (e.g., CF Type I, CF Type II or the like), a SmartMedia™ card, a Secure Digital (SD) or MultiMedia (MM) Card (either of which can be denoted as “SD/MMC”), a Memory Stick, XD, or any other suitable media adapted to receive data from digital cameras, personal digital assistants, mobile phones, electronic musical instruments, voice recorders, printers, scanners, and the like.
Controller 120 is coupled via bus 112 to slot one 104, slot two 106, slot three 108 and slot four 110, from which HD media receiver 100 receives portably-stored content, such as HD images, audio, and the like. Each of these slots can be designed to receive image data from any of the above-described portable storage devices. These slots can be any type port for receiving data electro-magnetically, mechanically, optically, or the like, from any type of portable storage device. In one embodiment, slot one 104, slot two 106, slot three 108 and slot four 110 are adapted for receiving a compact flash card, a SmartMedia™ card, a SD/MMC, and a Memory Stick, respectively. In another embodiment, all of these slots are located on one surface of housing 101, preferably the one surface most readily accessible to a user. Controller 120 is also coupled to memory 116 to at least receive locally stored content. In one embodiment, memory 116 also stores boot and program code for execution by controller 120. Memory 116 can include one or more 32 Mbytes double date rate random access memory (“DDR RAM”) devices, or any other device using a suitable memory technology.
As shown in
HD media player 100 can also include one or more user input devices, such as an infrared remote control (not shown) or a user I/O 130 on the surface of housing 101. The user I/O 130 can be a set of buttons, which include “navigate left,” “navigate right,” “navigate up,” “navigate down,” “select,” “menu,” and the like. Using these buttons, the user can guide the presentation of portably-stored content shortly after a card or other storage medium is inserted into one of slots 104, 106, 108, and 110.
In one or more embodiments, any of the following features can be implemented with an HDTV media player of the present invention. In one example, digital processing circuitry is included in HD media player 100 for using digitized audio signals to generate “visualizer-type” displays, which are computer-generated images having visual characteristics based on characteristics of an audio signal. In another example, controller 120 is a central processing unit configured to decode at least HD MPEG video data, and is further configured to support resolutions at 1080 i, 720 p, 480 p, 480 i or other like formats. In yet another example, controller 120 includes ATSC Tuner 128 for receiving HDTV broadcast signal formats as defined by the Advanced Television Systems Committee.
UI-task manager 202 controls the display of graphical information via an HDTV display. UI-task manager 202 accepts user inputs from, for example, an infrared remote control and presents to that user actions for either querying the functional state of an HDTV media player or executing one or more commands. For example, UI-task manager 202 provides graphical information to enable a user to select any media file containing content or any specific storage device that includes such content. Moreover, UI-task manager 202 enables a user to view and/or listen to any specific media file, to manipulate a media file (e.g., rotating an image), and to launch a photo viewer application or an audio player application individually, or in combination, as a part of a slideshow.
View task 308, when selected, causes UI-task manager 202 of
UI-task manager 202 supports browser navigation of media files arranged in a flattened file structure having no hierarchical arrangement. This allows a user to browse some portably-stored content from devices that do not store media files in a hierarchical (e.g., “folder”) file structure. But in some embodiments, UI-task manager 202 can also support browser navigation of media files arranged in a hierarchy of directories, such as a folder-based file structure.
Returning to
Media insertion (“MI”) manager 206 operates to at least detect an insertion of at least one card into one of slots 104, 106, 108, and 110 of
At block 606, MI manager 206 determines whether the user has selected a preference for overriding the default behavior of MI manager 206. The default behavior in this example is to automatically launch into performing an image and/or an audio play list, which includes media files designated as “auto-run” files. If user preferences have been set to override the default functionality, MI manager 206 will instruct UI-task manager 202 to launch a task view, such as shown in
At block 604, MI manager 206 scans image and audio files to determine whether any one file or a group of similar files (i.e., either all image or all audio) are indicated as an “auto-run” play list. By default, auto-run files are launched directly by MI manager 206 as these files are generally inserted to provide an immediate visual (and audio) performance on an HDTV display. For example, portably-stored content including “artwork” images, such as movie posters, classic paintings, people and nature photos, “nature-in-motion” images, such as a lake with ripples, forest with wind, earth from space, logs on fire, time-lapse clouds, etc., as well as other images are created for enjoyment in a user's HDTV-based entertainment system. Hence, MI manager 206 will assign a higher priority to these files for presentation.
Continuing with the previous example, the user has indicated a preference for launching audio files before image files. But if MI manager 206 detects an auto-run image file, then the auto-run image file takes precedence for display.
Consider that no auto-run files are found. Then, MI manager 206 will begin presenting a slideshow of images only if selected portably-stored content includes only photos and/or videos. Otherwise, the operation of MI manager 206 flows to block 610. Here, MI manager 206 will begin presenting music or other sounds (e.g., nighttime sounds of crickets, etc.) optionally with a visualizer (or other images) only if selected portably-stored content contains only music and/or sounds. Otherwise, the operation of MI manager 206 flows to block 612 to launch the task view. After flowing to block 612 from blocks 608 and 610, MI manager 206 has determined that a mix of images and audio files exists in the selected portably-stored content. Consequently, the user will be prompted to provide input as to how the HD media player should handle this mixed content.
View orientation manager 208 of
In the former case, view orientation manager 208 monitors data representing an image (or accompanying the image) to detect whether a camera capturing the image embedded (or attached) an indicator (e.g., one or more flags) to the file of that photo. Typically, the indicator will represent a displacement of 90, 180, or 270 degrees from the horizon. If view orientation manager 208 detects a rotation from the indicator, then view orientation manager 208 will adjust the orientation accordingly for proper display. Similarly, view orientation manager 208 monitors and detects whether a user has manually defined a rotation for a specific image. For the latter case, view orientation manager 208 searches for an indication that an HDTV display has been rotated by 90 or 270 degrees and then adjusts the rotation of images displayed to correct for the angular displacement of the display from landscape mode (e.g., 16 by 9) to portrait mode (e.g., effectively 9 by 16). For example, view orientation manager 208 detects that one or more flags are set by a user to indicate that the display is rotated. Optionally, the one or more flags can also indicate the direction of rotation.
Thumbnail resolution manager 210 is configured to optimize the display of one or more thumbnail representations of images. For example, thumbnail resolution manager 210 first detects a degree of resolution associated with each image to be displayed as a thumbnail, and then operates to reduce the amount of data required for displaying a full-size version of the image. This miniaturized image has sufficient detail to enable a user to detect the subject matter associated with the thumbnail. With the reduced amount of image data for each thumbnail, an HD media player according to the present invention can display an array of thumbnail images, such as those depicted as “img” in
Smart display manager 212 is designed to show images with minimal “black space” (i.e., the amount of space not used to display an image), unless the images are susceptible to unsatisfactory distortion. Examples of images that are susceptible to distortion include images in portrait mode, and images that are relatively very wide and short. In one embodiment, smart display manager 212 can first compare the actual dimensions of an image to a user-defined tolerance for allowable image distortion. If a degree of distortion is acceptable in accordance with the user-defined tolerance, then smart display manager 212 will redimension the image so as to minimize unused screen space. In another embodiment, smart display manager 212 detects an image type associated with a specific image, where the type of image distinguishes that image, which depicts “nature,” for example, from other image types. In accordance with the detected image type, smart display manager 212 can adjust the dimensions of the specific image to minimize “black space.”
Miscellaneous manager 214 can be any other suitable manager for employing the features of the present invention. For example, miscellaneous manager 214 can operate to coordinate displaying images on a specific HDTV, but in synchronization with other HDTVs, all of which form an array of HDTV displays. For example, each HDTV display of an array of 9 HDTV displays (e.g., 3 by 3) can be controlled to display a unique portion that constitutes {fraction (1/9)}th of an image. Such control can be coordinate by an external computing device via interface one 124 of
In one embodiment, task view 300 of
As another example,
Returning to
In another embodiment of the present invention, HD media player 100 of
As an example,
An embodiment of the present invention relates to a computer storage product with a computer-readable medium having computer code thereon for performing various computer-implemented operations. The media and computer code may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present invention, or they may be of the kind well known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts. Examples of computer-readable media include, but are not limited to: magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs and holographic devices; magneto-optical media such as floptical disks; and hardware devices that are specially configured to store and execute program code, such as application-specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”), programmable logic devices (“PLDs”) and ROM and RAM devices. Examples of computer code include machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing higher-level code that are executed by a computer using an interpreter. For example, an embodiment of the invention may be implemented using Java, C++, or other object-oriented programming language and development tools. Another embodiment of the invention may be implemented in hardwired circuitry in place of, or in combination with, machine-executable software instructions.
The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, used specific nomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that specific details are not required in order to practice the invention. Thus, the foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the invention are presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed; obviously, many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications, they thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the following claims and their equivalents define the scope of the invention.
