Patent Application
20100162120
The usage paradigm created for digital audio players in recent years is based upon the ability of the user to identify and select certain audio tracks or collections for download onto their digital audio players. It relies on the ability of a user to actually find what he is looking for. Users who are avid consumers of music but do not rely on specific artist or song knowledge, such as radio listeners, may be left with a frustrating experience. In addition, even those users who are comfortable with operating within this paradigm are faced with complicated devices that require sometimes as many as five menu selection tasks before the playing of music can commence. Many times, a user just wants to power-on a digital audio player and start playing a certain type of music without navigating through various menu levels. Streaming audio solutions, such as Internet radio, solve the audio experience problem and provide a satisfying experience in delivering rich content with simplicity. However, this is only available in network-connected environments, and PCs and some digital audio players that provide a network connection have user interfaces that can be as, if not more, complicated than the digital audio players described above. Several services, such as Slacker Portable and Rhapsody Channels, emulate a radio-like listening experience on a portable digital audio player by allowing users to select different channels of music. Such services offer a user the ability to listen (with some restrictions) to a large pool of content at a price lower than if the user purchased each individual song. In operation, such services cache a plurality of songs along with a playlist or other mechanism that specifies a predetermined play order of the songs.
The present invention is defined by the claims, and nothing in this section should be taken as a limitation on those claims.
By way of introduction, the embodiments described below provide a digital media player user interface. In one embodiment, a digital media player comprises a memory storing a plurality of channels of digital media files and a plurality of background animation files, wherein each channel is associated with a respective background animation file. The digital media player receives a user selection of a channel, displays a channel name of the selected channel, and plays the background animation file associated with the selected channel. In another embodiment, the digital media player receives a user selection of a channel, displays a channel name of the selected channel, and displays a visual representation of the plurality of channels, wherein a first indicia is used to represent the selected channel and a second indicia is used to represent the other channels.
Other embodiments are disclosed, and each of the embodiments can be used alone or together in combination. The embodiments will now be described with reference to the attached drawings.
Introduction
By way of introduction, the following embodiments relate to a user interface for a digital media player. Before turning to these embodiments, a general overview of exemplary digital media players is provided.
Exemplary Digital Media Players
In general, a digital media player is a device having a memory (either embedded or removable (e.g., a removable memory card)) that stores digital media files and circuitry for playing those files. The digital media player can comprise other components, such as, but not limited to, a display device, an audio output jack, a speaker, and a wireless transceiver. The memory in the digital media player can take any suitable form, such as, but not limited to, a non-volatile solid-state memory (e.g., flash memory, NAND memory, and multi-level cell (“MLC”) memory), optical memory, and magnetic memory. As used herein, “circuitry” can include one or more components and can be a pure hardware implementation and/or a combined hardware/software (or firmware) implementation. Accordingly, “circuitry” can take the form of one or more of a microprocessor or processor and a computer-readable medium that stores computer-readable program code (e.g., software or firmware) executable by the (micro)processor, logic gates, switches, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic controller, and an embedded microcontroller, for example. In addition to being operative to play digital media files, the circuitry can be operative to perform other functions, such as, but not limited to, communicating with a host device via a wired or wireless connection, recording digital media files, and managing the operation of the digital media player. While the digital media player can be a device dedicated to playing digital media, it can also be a device that performs various other functions, in which case the circuitry in the player can also be operative to perform those other functions. For example, a digital media player can be part of a mobile phone, a game device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), an email/text messaging device, a digital camera, a personal navigation system (PND), and a mobile Internet device (MID).
Digital media can take any suitable form, such as, but not limited to, audio (e.g., a song, spoken word, a podcast, one or a series of sounds, etc.), video (with or without accompanying audio) (e.g., a movie, an episode of a TV show, a news program, etc.), still or moving images (e.g., a photograph, a computer-generated display, etc.), text (with or without graphics) (e.g., an article, a text file, etc.), and a hybrid multi-media presentation of two or more of these forms. For simplicity, in the following embodiments, the digital media player will take the form of a portable digital audio player. Again, a digital audio player is just one of the many forms a digital media player can take, and the claims should not be read as requiring a digital audio player unless that term is explicitly used therein. Accordingly, these embodiments can be adapted for use with other types of digital media (e.g., digital video).
Turning now to the drawings,
In this embodiment, the digital audio player 100 receives digital audio files from the host computer 10 in communication with the digital audio player 100 via the USB 2.0 interface 114. As used herein, the phrase “in communication with” means directly in communication with (e.g., through a wired or wireless connection) or indirectly in communication with through one or more components, which may or may not be shown or described herein.) The digital audio player 100 and the host computer 10 can have mating ports, or a cable or cradle can be used to connect the digital audio player 100 with the host computer 10, which downloads digital content to the embedded NAND flash memory 140 in the player 100. The source of the digital audio files can be the host computer 10 itself or an external location in communication with the host computer 10 via a network, such as the Internet.
It should be noted that the digital audio player 100 shown in
For simplicity, the embodiments described herein will be described in conjunction with the digital audio player 200 of
Returning to the drawings,
The digital audio player 300 also has a slot 390 for accepting a memory card storing digital media files and playlists. Preferably, the digital media files and playlists are stored in a secure fashion in the memory card to prevent unauthorized use or tampering. In a presently preferred embodiment, a TrustedFlash™ architecture from SanDisk Corporation is used to store the digital media files and playlists in a hidden partition on the memory card. Further information about TrustedFlash™ can be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/314,411 (published as U.S. patent publication 2006/0242068A1), Ser. Nos. 11/557,028, and 11/322,812 (published as U.S. patent publication 2007/0043667A1), which are assigned to the assignee of the present application and hereby incorporated by reference. Preferably, although not required, in this embodiment, the memory card does not contain a general library of digital audio files outside of the files referenced by the playlists.
Further information about exemplary digital media players and methods for use therewith can be found in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/967,861 and 12/134,664, which are assigned to the assignee of the present application and are hereby incorporated by reference.
Exemplary User Interface
The following paragraphs will describe the visuals and interactions associated with a preferred user interface for a digital media player and, for simplicity, will be described using the digital audio player 300 in
In this embodiment, the user interface for the digital audio player 300 consists of two modes: a Card Mode and a FM Mode. The Card Mode is separated into three sub-categories depending on what type of memory card is inserted into the slot 390. These three modes are PS (“Powerfully Simple”) Mode, PL (“Pre Loaded”) Mode, and User-Defined Card Mode. (In one presently preferred embodiment, PS Mode works with slotRadio (or slotMix) memory cards, and PL Mode works with slotMusic cards.) Each of these modes and sub-modes will now be described.
PS Mode
In this exemplary embodiment, the PS Mode is entered when the switch 380 is set to the Play position and a PS memory card is inserted into the slot 390. A PS memory card is a memory card that contains two or more pre-defined channels of multiple songs. For example, a memory card can be labeled as a “jazz card” and contain different channels of jazz music (e.g., “Groove Boutique,” “Classic Jazz,” and “Modern Jazz”). As another example, different channels on a memory card can be associated with different genres of music. In this embodiment, each channel is associated with its own plurality of playlists (i.e., a first channel is associated with a first plurality of playlists, a second channel is associated with a second plurality of playlists, etc.). Each of the channels can have unique tracks, such that there is no overlap in songs, or two or more channels can share at least one track between them. More information about the use of playlist can be found in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 12/157,844 and 12/157,846, which are assigned to the assignee of the present application and are hereby incorporated by reference. The user interface associated with the PS Mode allows the user to skip between channels with the left and right arrow buttons 320, 330 and can skip to the next song in the current channel by pressing the skip button 370.
As shown in
It should be noted that while six circles are shown in
The above example assumed that the memory card had six pre-established channels (i.e., that the memory card only contained channels sold with the memory card). In some embodiments, a user is able to add one or more channels to the memory card.
With the general description of the PS Mode user interface now described, the following paragraphs describe a file organization of a presently preferred embodiment. It should be noted that this is merely an example, and other file organizations can be used. In this embodiment, channels on the memory card are virtual and are not tied to the folder structure of the underlying file system. The memory card contains a directory for the music as well as one that defines the channel organization.
In this embodiment, the root directory also contains a top level configuration file that defines all the channels on the card. In the example shown in
In other embodiments, the top level configuration file can be located in the root of the channels folder or other predetermined location. In the example shown in
When the user presses the right or left arrow buttons 320, 300, the digital audio player 300 moves forward or backwards in the list of channels and accesses the channel information in the appropriate folder.
Each channel folder contains zero or more playlists, channel background animations, and a second level configuration file that describes the playlists in the channel. An example content of a channels folder is shown in
Multiple playlists can be used to vary the play order of the songs and even the content of the channel. When all the songs in a playlist have been used, the player 300 can select a new playlist rather than starting over again at the beginning of the same playlist. The selection of the next playlist can be sequential, random, or follow a predetermined iteration pattern. Song information and next song information are data extracted from the ID tags of the song files themselves. The active playlist is used to sequence each song in the channel and to determine the song that will be played next.
The digital audio player 300 uses the channel configuration file to locate “artFiles” or Channel background images of animation. These images can be static (jpegs) or animations (such as multiple bitmaps wrapped in a special .mbmp format, as shown in the example, or other animation types such as motion jpeg (.mov) files). The configuration file can list multiple different resolutions and file formats, and the player 300 can determine which is best for its display needs. The textual information and song progress graphics are overlaid on the background image or animation. The player 300 can use a built-in default animation for a channel if an acceptable background format cannot be found in the channel
Finally, in the root of the memory card is stored bookmark files as shown in the example in
PL Mode
In contrast to the PS Mode, which allows a user to navigate between channels of music on the memory card, navigation in the PL mode is derived from the physical structure of directories on the memory card.
As mentioned above, in the PL Mode, navigation is derived from the physical structure of directories on the memory card. In one embodiment, the PL memory card has a predetermined directory structure: all music is in a folder in the root directory with a specific name (Sm_Music), and all albums are subdirectories under this folder.
User-Defined Card Mode
In the User-Defined Card Mode, navigation is derived from the physical structure of user-defined directories on the memory card. This embodiment operates similar to the PL Mode except the entire card is scanned for folders containing music and each is used as an album name. Information within an album folder is extracted and displayed similar to the PL Mode. The “next” song in the User-Defined Card Mode is the one next alphabetically or in directory order in the current folder/album. The song progress bar is estimated from file attributes and information stored in the song header, and bookmarking can be used to resume playback.
As with the PL Mode, the user navigates between folders using the previous and next buttons 320, 330 and can skip songs in a folder by pressing the skip button 370. As shown in
When the user reaches the last channel or folder in the list, and player 300 can give feedback by showing a limited slide action showing “no more” channels are available. This will be very helpful in the User-Defined Mode if the user does not organize their music in folders.
FM Mode
A user enters FM Mode by sliding the switch 380 to the FM position. The FM Mode uses FM tuner hardware, and the firmware in the player 300 sets and maintains presets and frequency ranges. The firmware initiates firmware reception at the selected frequency. If Radio Data System (“RDS”) information (such as channel name, artist and song information) is available on a given frequency, it is extracted from over-the-air protocols defined for the RDS standard.
As shown in
Conclusion
It should be noted that any of these embodiments can be used alone or in various combinations. Also, it is intended that the foregoing detailed description be understood as an illustration of selected forms that the invention can take and not as a definition of the invention. It is only the following claims, including all equivalents, that are intended to define the scope of this invention. Also, some of the following claims may state that a component is operative to perform a certain function or configured for a certain task. It should be noted that these are not restrictive limitations. It should also be noted that the acts recited in the claims can be performed in any order -not necessarily in the order in which they are recited.
