Patent Application
20060067172
In the past, users of vintage juke boxes were content to wait for a short period of time between their selection of a song and the actual initiation of playback because the interval was filled with observable operations of the machine, such as a mechanical arm grasping a record disc, moving it to the turntable location, and dropping the needle. A juke box's song library was printed on pages, often with a flipping mechanism, and each song was assigned an access code such as “J7” or “512”. The track selection keys were part of a complicated mechanism that made very distinct sounds when pressed to select a music selection. Music was played back from records. Even today, the large-scale mechanical operations involved in loading a record onto a turntable are visually entertaining, and the audible mechanical movements within a vintage juke box assure a user that the unit is working to prepare a music selection for playback. Moving a record onto a turntable involves considerable mechanical component movement, and a vintage juke box appears to do a very precise job, so most users don't mind waiting for a while to hear music. Juke box systems are still popular, such as those shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,031,795 and 6,587,403, but many modern juke boxes use CD's instead of records for the playback of music, which may increase the number of selections available in some systems.
With the advent of digital music compression technology, such as the MP3 and WMA formats, the basic functionality of these juke boxes can now be carried in your pocket, but there are no large moving parts that suggest what the device is doing, and the operation of the device is virtually silent, so the only feedback to a user that indicates that the device is working is usually a small LCD screen. Many people miss the reassuring feedback provided by the sound of gears and ratcheting, as well as the crackling sound of a record needle dropping on the record, which has been eliminated through the use of digital storage sources of music. Even though these devices are silent, they often exhibit delays in operation while the device locates a track to be played. Search delays can be made worse by the small simple processors commonly used in low cost portable players.
In order to mask some of the silent processing delays associated with a modern MP3 based juke box while replicating some of the famous characteristics of a vintage juke box, we have added sound effects to a modern juke box. The mechanical movements, whirring sounds and crackling needle sounds of a “vintage” 50's juke box are preferably queued for playback just before the MPU processes the location of a music selection. The result is that sounds are heard by a user rather than silence during the delays associated with locating data. Most of the memorable characteristics of vintage juke boxes can now be enjoyed on a modern juke box that has all the benefits of the operation of a digital audio player having improvements that enhance functionality and ease of use. In a similar manner, sound effects that emulate the sound of key presses can be added, but those sounds must play immediately so that they coincide with actual key presses. In another embodiment, the feedback sounds could be verbal responses such as “great song!” or “lets play some music!” This feedback could be very reassuring to children or other less technical users who might be concerned during the silence of a processing delay.
The following is the menu of numerical callouts used in FIGS. 1-6:
The most preferred embodiment of the present invention, shown in
Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the appearance shown in the various figures may vary depending on the system implementation. For example, the software structure may have many additional steps that are not shown, or the steps may be arranged in a different order. The depicted examples are not meant to imply architectural limitations with respect to the present invention. The digital audio files may exist in compressed data formats, such as MP3, WMA, Real-Audio, or other suitable audio compression formats, or the files may exist in uncompressed format, which allows playback of standard format CD-DA compact discs. Decoding of compressed audio may be done by dedicated hardware, or may be done with a general purpose DSP. Although this description will discuss our most preferred embodiment, these preferences are not intended to exclude suitable or functionally equivalent alternatives.
To operate the juke box 10 shown in
The juke box is controlled using a computer processing means for processing data. The computer processing means is capable of scanning track selection keys, playing related audio files, and otherwise controlling the electronic functions of the juke box unit. A preferred data processing system, shown in the block diagram of
The data processing system is controlled by an MPU (micro processing unit) 54 that scans a large array of switches, allowing a user to control the system. Power to the system is provided by a power supply 50. The MPU can be a common controller, such as an Intel 8051 eight bit microcontroller, which integrates the memory and other peripherals required into a single inexpensive chip. One group of the scanned switches forms the track selection keys 20. Sound generation is usually done by an asynchronous subsystem which frees the MPU from time critical playback tasks. This audio subsystem usually contains a playback memory to store the sound to be generated. Often a decoder is integrated to allow the direct playback of compressed data. The MPU can quickly load the playback memory and initiate several seconds of audio playback. Once playback is initiated, the MPU is free to continue scanning for keys and locating the next segment of audio to be played. Sound effects 52 can be stored either in system memory, along with the main control program, or they can be stored along with the song database. The MPU controls the digital audio storage unit 56, as well as controlling generation of sound effects. Based on a user's selection, the system provides audio streams to an amp and digital audio decoder 58 that drives speakers 60.
Where a user's selection is from a database, the possible databases may be stored in any form of digital memory, including CD, hard drive, or FLASH. In addition to being able to be implemented on a variety of hardware platforms, the present invention may be implemented in a variety of software environments. A typical operating system or software runtime environment may be used to control program execution within the data processing system.
The digital audio decoder 58 preferably includes a D-to-A converter (digital to analog converter) that has some type of DSP (digital signal processor). By having the D-to-A converter as part of the decoder, the sound effects just need to be sent to the decoder so that the MPU is free to move to the next software step, such as locate data. By sending the sound effects to some other hardware, we can parallel process the sound effects with the data locate, or some other software step of the MPU. A sound effects chip could be added to the MPU for this purpose, or be completely separate hardware part, but a preferred method is to include a playback memory in the decoder that has enough memory to store the sound effects as well as some of the audio data stream of a song selection that is stored in the digital audio storage unit 56. Because it is common for a decoder used for playback of MP3 files to be capable of playing variable bit rates, the sound effects can be played at a lower bit rate so that even more time can be allotted to a locate data step.
These sound effects can be generated before each song is played, but they should be able to be disabled for when a more modern style of operation is desired. Optionally, these sounds can just be generated before a first song selection is played, and then subsequent song selections are just played one after the other without sound effects. The customer should be allowed to decide how often they want to hear the sound effects, so a procedure for turning the sound effects feature off should be included.
While a preferred form of the invention has been shown and described, it will be realized that alterations and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the following claims.
The present application is related to and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/610,875 filed Sep. 17, 2004, entitled “DIGITAL AUDIO PLAYER”, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60610875 | Sep 2004 | US |
