The present disclosure generally relates to graphical displays, and more particularly to displaying two or more multimedia signal sources on a graphical display simultaneously.
Televisions offer picture in picture (PiP) in which one program or channel is displayed on the full television screen at the same time one or more other programs are displayed in inset windows. PiP is often used to watch one program while waiting for another program to start or advertisement to finish.
However, the selection of the audio related to one picture when multiple pictures are simultaneously displayed is often cumbersome and requires user input with a remote control.
Displaying two or more communication channels on a display is often difficult. A communication channel may be defined as either a physical connection, such as WIFI®, or a logical connection, such as a sub-channel in a multiplexed over-the-air broadcast. Dividing a display based on a number of physical or logical communications is not automatic and requires user input.
Eyeglasses for 3-D viewing of multimedia data are available. Eyeglasses are also available for simultaneous viewing of distinct multimedia content on a display. One example is SimulView™ on Sony® Corporation's 3D Playstation®. Using the SimulView™ feature, each viewer or player gets their own unique view. Selecting audio related to one picture or content on a display when multiple pictures are simultaneously displayed is not always possible. The same audio stream is given to both players rather than a unique audio stream related to the content being viewed.
The accompanying figures where like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views, and which together with the detailed description below are incorporated in and form part of the specification, serve to further illustrate various embodiments and to explain various principles and advantages all in accordance with the present disclosure, in which:
As required, detailed embodiments are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely examples and that the systems and methods described below can be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the disclosed subject matter in virtually any appropriately detailed structure and function. Further, the terms and phrases used herein are not intended to be limiting, but rather, to provide an understandable description.
The terms “a” or “an”, as used herein, are defined as one or more than one. The term plurality, as used herein, is defined as two or more than two. The term another, as used herein, is defined as at least a second or more. The terms “including” and “having” as used herein, are defined as comprising (i.e., open language). The term “coupled” as used herein, is defined as “connected” although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically.
The term “display” means any type of output device for presentation of information in a visual form including electronic visual displays, computer monitors, television sets, and both 2-D and 3-D output devices.
The term “wireless device” or “wireless communication device” is intended to broadly cover many different types of devices that can receive signals, such as BLUETOOTH®, WI-FI®, satellite and cellular. For example, and not for any limitation, a wireless communication device can include any one or a combination of the following: a two-way radio, a cellular telephone, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a two-way pager, a wireless messaging device, a laptop/computer, a personal digital assistant, a netbook, a tablet computer, and other similar devices.
Described below are systems and methods that automate dividing of a display into two or more logical screens or regions. Each region is capable of presenting its own or distinct multimedia data or content without user intervention. The audio channel for a desired multimedia data is sent via wireless connections, such as BLUETOOTH®, WI-FI®, or other wireless personal area networks (WPAN), to each user. The described examples enable multiple content viewing on a single wireless device.
Turning to
The process begins in step 202 and immediately proceeds to step 204 in which the number of communication channels, such as WI-FI®, that are currently receiving distinct multimedia data is determined. Multimedia data is broadly defined in this discussion to include broadcast television shows, streaming television, and streaming video and audio programs. In one example, two communication channels have distinct multimedia data when the multimedia data being compared does not match and do not have an association with each other, such as, program information, or close caption. Next in step 206, the display of the wireless device is automatically divided into a number of regions to correspond to the number of communication channels with distinct multimedia data being received. These regions are shown in
In step 208, each of the respective distinct multimedia data in a respective region within the plurality of regions are each displayed simultaneously. The term “simultaneously” is used, in one example, to mean each of the regions are displayed at the same time. Next, a determination is made, at step 210, whether the number of communication channels that are currently receiving distinct multimedia data is changed. In the event the number of communication channels that are currently receiving distinct multimedia data is changed, the display is automatically re-divided, in step 206, to correspond to the number of communication channels. Otherwise, if in response to the number of communication channels currently receiving distinct multimedia data has not changed, a determination is made on whether input from a user or system, such as a timer, or program to terminate the automatic division of displays is received in step 212. In response to that input being received, the process flow ends in step 214; otherwise, the process flow loops by returning to step 210 and proceeds as described above. It is important to note that in this example the display is automatically divided into a number of regions to correspond to the number of communication channels with multimedia data being received. In one example, the distinct multimedia data is simultaneously displayed from each of the communication channels in each of the regions of the display. In another example, the display is automatically divided into a number of regions that is related to but does not directly correspond to the number of communication channels. For example, two communication channels may result in the display of two, three or four regions on the display. These extra regions may be used to present additional content such as PiP, sub-titles, other metadata or combinations of these.
Although wireless communication channels have been described in the examples above, it should be understood that wired communication channels, such as Ethernet ports, can operate using the methods and system described for wireless communication channels.
Local storage 318 is electronically coupled to the wireless transceiver 316 and enables time shifting of multimedia data for later viewing. This time shifting is a function performed by, for example, a digital video recorder (DVR) and allows a multimedia data set to be recorded for future playback. In this example, the number of how many WLAN connections is determined by the wireless transceiver 316.
Continuing further, the wireless device 340 with display 342 receives three broadcasts: i) a sports channel 344, ii) a children's channel 346, and iii) a streaming video 348. A second wireless local area network, which is a short-range personal area network (PAN) 350, in this example, is shown coupled to wireless device 340. This second wireless network has a lower bandwidth requirement of the WLAN because the second wireless network generally is used to carry audio content through an audio subsystem coupled to PAN 348 for each multimedia data stream or channel to a user 1 360, user 2 362, and user 3 364. Examples of PAN 350 include BLUETOOTH®, ZIGBEE®, and Near Field Communications (NFC).
Examples of a user interface for selecting an audio channel are now discussed. One example is a control button (not shown) located on the wireless device 340. This control button can be selected by a user's hand, with a wireless remote, through voice commands, or through any combination of these.
Another example for selecting the audio channel includes the use of eyeglasses, such as 3-D eyeglasses with special electronics. 3-D eyeglasses are used to create an illusion of three dimensions on a two dimensional surface by providing each eye with different visual information. Classic 3-D glasses create the illusion of three dimensions when viewing specially prepared images. The classic 3-D glasses have one red lens and one blue or cyan lens. Another kind of 3-D glasses uses polarized filters, with one lens polarized vertically and the other horizontally, with the two images required for stereo vision polarized the same way. Polarized 3-D glasses allow for color 3-D, while the red-blue lenses produce a dull black-and-white picture with red and blue fringes. A more recent type of 3-D eyeglasses uses electronic shutters, while virtual reality glasses and helmets have separate video screens for each eye. A 3-D effect can also be produced using LCD shutter glasses.
The process of selecting an audio channel by the electronic device based on gaze is now described with reference to
In step 606, the user's gaze position relative to two or more regions of the display is tracked. In one example, the gaze position is tracked using either the technique described with reference to
Discussion thus far is using multiple regions of the display of the wireless device associated with multiple users. In another example, a single user is able to be simultaneously presented with two or more presentations of multimedia data but select audio channel for one of the presentations separately. In such an example, the eyeglasses of
In another example, not only is the gaze as determined by eyeglasses 402, 452, 502, 552 used to select the desired audio channel, the determined gaze is further used to control other graphic elements on the display. For example, the determined gaze can be used to scroll a window, select a button, drag and drop items, or a combination of these. Further, this feature of tracking the gaze can be enabled or disabled. One method to disable tracking a user's gaze is the user's viewing a special area of the screen, or by operating a special button on the glasses, by voice commands, or a combination of these. This will enable a user to control when the gaze determination function and corresponding audio selection is activated.
The illustrated wireless device 700 is an example of a wireless device that includes two-way wireless communications functions. Such wireless devices incorporate a communication subsystem 702 comprising elements such as a wireless transmitter 704, a wireless receiver 706, and associated components such as one or more antenna elements 708 and 710. A digital signal processor (DSP) 712 performs processing to extract data from received wireless signals and to generate signals to be transmitted. The particular design of the communication subsystem 702 is dependent upon the communication network and associated wireless communications protocols with which the device is intended to operate.
The wireless devices 700 include a microprocessor 714 that controls the overall operation of the wireless devices 340, 480, and 580. The microprocessor 714 interacts with the above described communications subsystem elements and also interacts with other device subsystems such as non-volatile memory 716, random access memory (RAM) 718, user interfaces, such as a display 720, a keyboard 722, a speaker 724 or other audio port, and a microphone 728, auxiliary input/output (I/O) device 726, universal serial bus (USB) Port 730, short range communication subsystems 732, a power subsystem 756 and any other device subsystems.
A battery 754 or other power pack such as fuel cell, or solar cell or combination thereof is connected to a power subsystem 756 to provide power to the circuits of the wireless device 700. The power subsystem 756 includes power distribution circuitry for providing power to the wireless devices 700 and also contain battery charging circuitry to manage recharging the battery 754. The external power supply 736 is able to be connected to an external power connection 740 or through a USB port 730.
The USB port 730 further provides data communication between the wireless device 700 and one or more external devices, such as an information processing system. Data communication through USB port 730 enables a user to set preferences through the external device or through a software application and extends the capabilities of the device by enabling information or software exchange through direct connections between the wireless device 700 and external data sources rather than via a wireless data communication network. In addition to data communication, the USB port 730 provides power to the power subsystem 756 to charge the battery 754 or to supply power to the electronic circuits, such as microprocessor 714, of the wireless device 700.
Operating system software used by the microprocessor 714 is stored in non-volatile memory 716. Further examples are able to use a battery backed-up RAM or other non-volatile storage data elements to store operating systems, other executable programs, or any combination of the above. The operating system software, device application software, or parts thereof, are able to be temporarily loaded into volatile data storage such as RAM 718. Data received via wireless communication signals or through wired communications are also able to be stored to RAM 718.
The microprocessor 714, in addition to its operating system functions, is able to execute software applications on the wireless device 700. A predetermined set of applications that control basic device operations, including at least data and voice communication applications, is able to be installed on the wireless device 700 during manufacture. Examples of applications that are able to be loaded onto the devices may be a personal information manager (PIM) application having the ability to organize and manage data items relating to the device user, such as, but not limited to, e-mail, calendar events, voice mails, appointments, and task items. Another example is a tracking program 750 which in conjunction with user gaze sensor 752 tracks the user's gaze position as described in
Further applications may also be loaded onto the wireless devices 700 through, for example, a wireless network 705, an auxiliary I/O device 726, USB port 730, communication subsystem 702, or any combination of these interfaces. Such applications are then able to be installed by a user in the RAM 718 or a non-volatile store for execution by the microprocessor 714.
In a data communication mode, a received signal such as a text message or web page download is processed by the communication subsystem, including wireless receiver 706 and wireless transmitter 704, and communicated data is provided the microprocessor 714, which is able to further process the received data for output to the display 720, or alternatively, to an auxiliary I/O device 726 or the USB port 730. A user of the wireless devices 700 may also compose data items, such as e-mail messages, using the keyboard 722, which is able to include a complete alphanumeric keyboard or a telephone-type keypad, in conjunction with the display 720 and possibly an auxiliary I/O device 728. Such composed items are then able to be transmitted over a communication network through the communication subsystem.
For voice communications, overall operation of the wireless devices 700 is substantially similar, except that received signals are generally provided to a speaker 724 and signals for transmission are generally produced by a microphone 728. Alternative voice or input/output audio subsystems, such as a voice message recording subsystem, may also be implemented on the wireless device 700. Although voice or audio signal output is generally accomplished primarily through the speaker 724, the display 720 may also be used to provide an indication of the identity of a calling party, the duration of a voice call, or other voice call related information, for example.
Depending on conditions or statuses of the wireless device 700, one or more particular functions associated with a subsystem circuit may be disabled, or an entire subsystem circuit may be disabled. For example, if the battery temperature is low, then voice functions may be disabled, but data communications, such as e-mail, may still be enabled over the communication subsystem.
A short range wireless communications subsystem 732 is a further optional component which may provide for communication between the wireless device 700 and different systems or devices. One example of a shortwave communication system 732 transmits to a personal area network through antenna 762 using short range communication protocols such as BLUETOOTH®, ZIGBEE®, Near Field Communication or any network capable of transmitting audio data wirelessly. However these different systems or devices need not necessarily be similar devices as discussed above. The wireless communications subsystem 732 comprises one or more wireless transceivers, optionally associated circuits and components, and an optional infrared device for communicating over various networks such implementing one or more wireless communication technologies such as, but not limited to, Bluetooth® and/or a wireless fidelity technologies.
A media reader 742 is able to be connected to an auxiliary I/O device 726 to allow, for example, loading computer readable program code of a computer program product into the wireless devices 340, 480, and 580 for storage into non-volatile memory 716. One example of a media reader 742 is an optical drive such as a CD/DVD drive, which may be used to store data to and read data from a computer readable medium or storage product such as machine readable media (computer readable storage media) 744. Examples of suitable computer readable storage media include optical storage media such as a CD or DVD, magnetic media, or any other suitable data storage device. Media reader 742 is alternatively able to be connected to the wireless device through the USB port 730 or computer readable program code is alternatively able to be provided to the wireless devices 340, 480, and 580 through the wireless network 703.
Although specific examples of the subject matter have been disclosed, those having ordinary skill in the art will understand that changes can be made to the specific examples without departing from the scope of the disclosed subject matter. The scope of the disclosure is not to be restricted, therefore, to the specific examples, and it is intended that the appended claims cover any and all such applications, modifications, and examples within the scope of the present disclosure.