Patent Application
20080005699
The features of the system, which are believed to be novel, are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The embodiments herein, can be understood by reference to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in the several figures of which like reference numerals identify like elements, and in which:
While the specification concludes with claims defining the features of the embodiments of the invention that are regarded as novel, it is believed that the method, system, and other embodiments will be better understood from a consideration of the following description in conjunction with the drawing figures, in which like reference numerals are carried forward.
As required, detailed embodiments of the present method and system are disclosed herein. However, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary, which 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 embodiments of the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. Further, the terms and phrases used herein are not intended to be limiting but rather to provide an understandable description of the embodiment herein.
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/or “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 “processor” can be defined as any number of suitable processors, controllers, units, or the like that carry out a pre-programmed or programmed set of instructions.
The terms “program,” “software application,” and the like as used herein, are defined as a sequence of instructions designed for execution on a computer system. A program, computer program, or software application may include a subroutine, a function, a procedure, an object method, an object implementation, an executable application, an applet, a servlet, a source code, an object code, a shared library/dynamic load library and/or other sequence of instructions designed for execution on a computer system.
The term “podcast” is defined as a method or system for distributing multimedia files, such as audio programs or music videos, over the Internet for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. The term “visual icons” is defined as an object that can be placed on a screen and visualized. The term “podcast attribute” can be defined as an attribute of a podcast, for example, a number of subscribers to a podcast, a length of a podcast, a popluarity of a podcast, a location of the podcast, a location of where the podcast was created. The term “region” can be defined as a geograpical area which can be described by county code, area code, zone, city, sub-urb, district, or a description of a geographical area, for example, such as mountains, central, north, south, east, west. A “podcast browser” is defined as a system providing resources for searching and selecting one or more podcasts based on one or more attributes of a podcast that are presented as visual icons.
Embodiments of the invention concern a method and system for searching and selecting podcasts based on a visualization of podcast attributes. The method and system can allow a user to quickly browse and identify a podcast based on one or more podcast attributes. One or more attributes of the podcast are collectively presented as a visual icon. The visual icon can be presented in a three-dimensional display wherein aspects of the visual icon correspond to one or more attributes of a podcast. For example, a height of the visual icon can identify how many people are listening to the podcast. A width of the visual icon can identify how many podcasts are in a podcast category. The color of the visual icon can reveal the subject matter of the podcast. The aspects of the visual icon can be adjusted based on a user's listening behavior or a podcast community's listening behavior. For example, the height of the visual icon can be updated hourly to reveal the popularity of a podcast. Podcasts to which the user subscribes can also be associated with an aspect of the visual icon. Embodiments of the invention allow a user to rapidly identify podcasts based on the visual icons. The visualization facilitates the interfacing by which users can identify podcasts prior to downloading a podcast.
Embodiments of the invention also provide a mobile device to facilitate a searching and selecting of one or more podcasts in a geographical region. A visual icon can be presented on a map at a position corresponding to the geographical location of the podcast. The visual icon can identify one or more attributes of the podcast in that region. For example, a height, a width, a color, a color shade, or a label of a visual icon can correspond to one or more attributes of the podcast in that particular region. In one aspect, a user can select a region to find one or more podcasts in the region and evaluate a popularity of the podcast in the region. The media device can also include a zoom feature for increasing a resolution of the map and increasing a detail of the visual icon.
Referring to
The mobile device 160 can also connect to the Internet 120 over a WLAN. Wireless Local Access Networks (WLANs) provide wireless access to the mobile communication environment 100 within a local geographical area. WLANs can also complement loading on a cellular system, so as to increase capacity. WLANs are typically composed of a cluster of Access Points (APs) 104 also known as base stations. The mobile communication device 160 can communicate with other WLAN stations such as the laptop 170 within the base station area 150. In typical WLAN implementations, the physical layer uses a variety of technologies such as 802.11b or 802.11g WLAN technologies. The physical layer may use infrared, frequency hopping spread spectrum in the 2.4 GHz Band, or direct sequence spread spectrum in the 2.4 GHz Band. The mobile device 160 can send and receive data to the server 130 or other remote servers on the mobile communication environment 100.
The mobile device 160 can be a cell-phone, a personal digital assistant, a portable music player, an electronic map, a navigation system or any other suitable communication device. The mobile phone 160 and the laptop 170 can be equipped with a transmitter and receiver for communicating with the AP 140 according to the appropriate wireless communication standard. In one embodiment of the present invention, the wireless station 160 is equipped with an IEEE 802.11 compliant wireless medium access control (MAC) chipset for communicating with the AP 140. IEEE 802.11 specifies a wireless local area network (WLAN) standard developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (IEEE) committee. The standard does not generally specify technology or implementation but provides specifications for the physical (PHY) layer and Media Access Control (MAC) layer. The standard allows for manufacturers of WLAN radio equipment to build interoperable network equipment.
The mobile device 160 can send and receive media to and from other devices within the mobile communication environment 100 over the WLAN connection or the RF connection. In one example, the mobile device 160 can connect to the server 130 for receiving one or more podcasts. The mobile device 160 can transmit and receive data packets containing audio, text, or video from the server 130 through a podcast website hosted on the server 130. The server 130 can stream media to the mobile devices 160 for podcasting. In one arrangement, the server 130 can feed media from one or more external sources to the mobile device. For example, a podcast may reference, or hyperlink, media from various sources. In another arrangement, the mobile device 160 can communicate with the laptop 170 over a peer-to-peer network for receiving and transmitting podcasts. The term “podcast” can mean both the content and the method of delivery.
Referring to
The mobile device 160 can also include a communications module 240 having a transmit module and receive module for receiving media and presenting the one or more podcasts to the processor 230. The communication module 240 can support packet data and establish a communication link to one or more media sources, such as the server 130, for providing a connection to a Universal Resource Indicator (URI), a hyper transfer text protocol (HTTP) address, or an Internet Protocol (IP) address. The server 130 can also push one or more podcasts requested to the mobile device 160. The communication module 240 can receive encoded podcast information and extract one or more attributes of a podcast from the encoded podcast information. For example, a podcaster (such as the server 130) can packetize attributes of a podcast which can be sent to the mobile device 160. Attributes of a podcast are sent rather than the entire podcast media for reducing the amount of data that is sent over the communication channel. The podcast browser 220 can create visual icons based on the one or more attributes extracted by the communication module without downloading the podcast media. The attributes provide selective podcast information which allows the user to screen podcasts prior to downloading a podcast. Upon the user selecting a visual icon corresponding to a podcast, the mobile device 160 can download the selected podcast.
Referring to
The mobile device 160 can receive media from one or more podcasters through communication ports or interfaces. A podcaster may be a server 130 (See
In one arrangement, the podcast browser 220 can automatically identify one or more podcasts, and present visual icons 350 corresponding to the one or more podcasts in the display 210. That is, the user does not need to enter in an address of the podcasts. The mobile device can scan a local region and present visual icons for one or more available podcasts. The display 210 can also present the podcast upon a selection of a visual icon 350. For example, the podcast may stream images or a video to the mobile device 160. The display 210 is not limited to presenting only visual icons, and can perform display operations similar to mobile device displays. For example, the display 210 can be an LCD display or any other suitable electronic display system capable of presenting images, video, or graphics. In one arrangement, the podcast browser 220 can also present a geographical map on the display. Visual icons 350 can be overlaid on the geographical map at positions corresponding to a geographic location of a podcast. A user can download a podcast from a location by selecting a visual icon 350 corresponding to the location.
The visual icons 350 can be presented in the three-dimensional grid 320 for facilitating podcast selection. In one arrangement, the podcast browser 220 can arrange the visual icons in a row-column format in the three-dimensional grid 320 based on a podcast category. For example, each column of a podcast can correspond to a subject matter of the podcast. Each row of a column can correspond to a podcaster within the subject matter. For instance, two or more podcasters may push podcasts having similar subjects which can be presented in the same column but at different rows. Each display cell can include a visual icon 350 that corresponds to a single podcaster. The podcast browser 220 can also sort the visual icons based on one or more user preferences. For example, the user may prefer to present the most popular podcasts of a subject at the front of the three-dimensional grid. The popularity may be a function of the number of users currently listening or the number of listeners expected to subscribe. The podcast browser 220 can sort the visual icons of a particular subject matter based on the attributes of the visual icon. For example, the visual icons can be sorted based on an size, area, or color of the visual icons. Notably, aspects of the visual icons correspond to one or more attributes of a podcast.
Referring to
The podcast browser 220 provides a multi-level scope for arranging podcasters based on a category in the category view 410. For example, the category view 410 can list podcasters by subject matter within the three-dimensional grid 320 and sort the podcasters by the subject matter. For instance, podcaster visual icon 350 can be science, podcaster visual icon 360 can be math, and podcaster visual icon 370 can be blog. In practice, the podcast browser 220 can assign a visual icon 350 to a display cell in the three-dimensional grid 320 based on a category of the podcaster. In particular, the visual icon 350 in the category view 410 represents a single podcaster. Upon a user selecting the visual icon 350 corresponding to the single podcaster, the podcast view 420 for the selected podcaster is displayed.
The podcast view 420 presents the podcasts pushed by the podcaster. For example, the podcaster visual icon 350 can expand to podcast visual icons 351-353 which each represent a podcast. Notably, the podcast view 420 is an expansion of a single podcaster visual icon 350. The category view 410 allows a user to evaluate attributes of one or more podcasters, and the podcast view 420 allows the user to identify one or more podcasts pushed by the podcaster. The podcasts 351-353 in the podcast view 420 can be arranged by various criteria. For example, the podcasts can be arranged or sorted in the three-dimensional grid 320 based on a date. As another example, the most recent podcasts can be presented near the front of the display in the three-dimensional grid 320. As yet another example, the podcasts can be sorted and arranged based on popularity. Understandably, the podcasts can be arranged in the three-dimensional grid 320 based on one or more aspects of the visual icons but are not limited to this arrangement. One can appreciate that the arrangement of icons may in fact not be based on—dimensional aspects of the visual icon. The sorting and arrangement can be specified by a personal profile created by the user. Understandably, the user can select the ordering of the visual icons in the three-dimensional grid 320 for facilitating a search and selection of podcasts based on personal criteria. An options window may be presented which allows the user to select the arrangement of icons on the display 210. The podcast browser 220 provides a multi-level scope for searching and selecting pod cast. That is, a user can scan for podcasters at a broad level category view 410, and upon selecting a podcaster, narrow the search down to one or more podcasts pushed by the selected podcaster.
Upon selecting the visual icon 350, the user is presented with the podcast view 420. The podcast view 420 presents one or more podcasts available within the category. One or more attributes of a podcast can be specified as a height, a width, a color, a shade, or a label of a visual icon. A user can identify a podcast based on visualized aspects of the visual icons 351-353. That is, aspects of the visual icon 350 in the podcast view 420 can correspond to attributes of a podcast. For example, referring to
In the category view 410, a height 510 of the visual icon 350 can correspond to a number of times a user has accessed a category. A width 512 of the visual icon 350 can correspond to a number of podcasts in the category. A color 514 of the visual icon can correspond to a category differentiation. For example, a visual icon can be red for a science category, or blue for a math category. A color shade 515 can describe how recently the category has been accessed in the category view 410. For example, a visual icon may be a dark shade of red for indicating recent podcast blogging activity in the science category. A label 516 can also be included with the visual icon for providing a text description of the category name. For example, the visual icon 350 in the category view 410 can have a label “NASA@science” for identifying the podcaster.
In the podcast view 420, a height 510 of the visual icon 351 can correspond to a podcast rating. For example, a listener within a podcast listening community may assign a rating to the podcast. Understandably, the listener can post a rating to provide an opinion to other listeners. For example, the rating may be based on the content of the podcast, the quality of service delivery for the podcast, or the relevance of the podcast to the category. A width 512 of the visual icon 350 can correspond to a number of people who have listened to the podcast. A color 514 of the visual icon can correspond to a sub-category of the podcast. For example, sub-categories within the field of science can have various colors. A color shade 515 can describe how recently the category has been listened to. A label 516 can also be appended to the visual icon for providing a text description of the podcast title. For example, the visual icon 351 in the category view 410 can have a label “Supernovas” for identifying a podcast pushed by the “NASA@science” podcaster.
The aspects of the visual icon presented in Table 500 are shown as dimensions or coloration attributes of the visual icon in
Referring to
At step 701, the method 700 can start. The method 700 can start in a state wherein a user of a mobile device has access to one or more podcasts. That is, the mobile device can receive one or more podcasts from one or more podcasterers which can be presented to the user. The mobile device can receive podcast information from the one or more podcasters without downloading the entire podcast. For example, briefly referring to
At step 702, one or more attributes of a podcast can be determined. Attributes of a podcast can include podcast listening statistics such as a number of listeners, a podcast popularity rating, a podcast running length, or a frequency of podcasts. Attributes of a podcast can also include attributes of a podcaster providing the podcast. Briefly referring to
Referring back to
At step 704, a visual icon can be created from the one or more attributes. For example, referring to
At step 706, the visual icon can be presented in the display of the podcast browser. Notably, the aspects of the visual icon correspond to attributes of the podcaster category or podcast as discussed in Table 500 (See
It should be noted that the podcast browser 220 can update aspects of the visual icons based on one or more user behaviors. For example, the podcast browser 220 evaluates a user behavior and updates the one or more visual icons based on the user behavior, wherein the user behavior is a number of times the user has accessed a category, a number of podcasts in the category, a differentiation of the category, a measure of how recent the category has been accessed, and a name of the category. In another arrangement, the podcast browser 220 evaluates a podcast listening community behavior, and updates the one or more visual icons based on the podcast listening community behavior, wherein the podcast listening community behavior is a number of times the podcast listening community has accessed a category, a number of podcasts in the category, a differentiation of the category, a measure of how recent the category has been accessed, and a name of the category. Notably, the podcast browser 220 informs the processor 230 to adjust one or more aspects of the visual icon, such as a color, height, or width in accordance with changes to the one or more user behaviors.
Referring to
At step 804, a geographical map of the region can be displayed. The geographical map can correspond to a region associated with the positional information provided by a server, or a location entered by the user. For example, a general region corresponding to the street address listed in the podcast information block can be displayed. Alternatively, the user can enter a location in the address bar 310 (See
In one arrangement, subject filters can be overlaid on the podcast map 900 for showing only visual icons containing subject matter specified by the subject filter. For example, referring back to
Notably, the podcast browser 220 also provides multi-level zooming into the geographical map 900 for increasing a resolution of the region and increasing a detail of the visual icon. For example, the user can zoom into the map using the selector 330. The user can identify one or more attributes of a podcast in the region based on aspects of the visual icon. In a default configuration, the podcast browser can present a region corresponding to a location of the mobile device 160. In this arrangement, a user can visualize podcasts in their local area. In another arrangement, the user can specify a remote region by entering a city, state, address, zip code, or country code into the address bar 310 of the podcast browser 220. The user can visualize podcasts in the remote region and evaluate one or more attributes of a podcast through the multi-level viewing capabilities of the podcast browser. A user can navigate to a podcast in the geographical map through interaction with the selector 330. At step 811, the method can end.
Where applicable, the present embodiments of the invention can be realized in hardware, software or a combination of hardware and software. Any kind of computer system or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein are suitable. A typical combination of hardware and software can be a mobile communications device with a computer program that, when being loaded and executed, can control the mobile communications device such that it carries out the methods described herein. Portions of the present method and system may also be embedded in a computer program product, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation of the methods described herein and which when loaded in a computer system, is able to carry out these methods.
While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it will be clear that the embodiments of the invention is not so limited. Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitutions and equivalents will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present embodiments of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
