Patent Application
20060146765
The present invention relates to portable device technology including products that implement storage and wireless connectivity, and particularly to a user interface concept for a portable multimedia storage device with the focus on content sharing over ad-hoc networks.
Today's portable “infotainment” (content used for information or entertainment) players have already a large capacity. One example device is the “iPod” digital music player available from Apple Computer, Inc. However, to exchange music or video files they have to be connected to a PC or audio equipment with connections now mostly established with the use of cables (e.g., USB or FireWire) and the user interface of those products is adapted to that situation.
The Portable Content Container (PCC) is considered to be the next generation portable multimedia player enabled by advances in wireless connectivity, digital data storage and compression, display and power supply technologies.
For example, with respect to wireless connectivity, the PCC device may implement the 802.11b standard, also known as Wireless Fidelity (WiFi™) which makes it possible to create a wireless network. In theory, the bandwidth 3 should be sufficient to transfer a TV signal wirelessly with a range of up to 100 m. Within the WiFi™ connection two modes are defined: 1) an infrastructure mode that makes it possible to set up a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), for examples, in offices and hotels. This is used to create wireless workspaces. In this mode fixed access points are used to communicate with the portable devices. Each device communicates with one of these fixed access points. Its device's position can be derived from the distance to at least three of these points; 2) the ad hoc mode is used to make a link between portable devices for a peer-to-peer (p2p) connection.
Operating in this mode, it becomes possible to spot other devices that are within range by sending out a signal now and then to check their presence. When another device or access point is discovered, standardization in the field of communication between wireless devices makes that a communication link can be established.
Apart from the described WiFi™ connection, also other wireless applications may be added such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and Internet connections. By adding these, worldwide communication and location determination are possible. This way the
PCC concept becomes more an all-purpose device with the functionality of a portable audio player, a PDA and a mobile phone combined.
Currently, the present quality of wireless connections is not sufficient to be used in a product like a portable multimedia player. Especially using the ad hoc mode linking devices in a secure way is a problem.
With respect to data storage, the PCC device may implement distributed or local storage. With stored, distributed content, every time a specific item is rendered, the information has to be transferred. Storing the content locally is the only solution for portable devices that are used on the move when no stationary database is nearby to ‘stream’ data from. Three types of storage are available: optical (for example the Compact Disc), magnetic (Hard Disc) and solid state (Flash memory). Optical discs are easily exchangeable and relatively cheap; however, a drive is needed. Although, the capacity is increasing and the size decreasing, optical discs in portable devices are sensitive to shocks especially during writing the data. Solid-state memory is one of the fastest, smallest storage available. Because it has no moving parts, it is well protected against shocks. Currently the capacity is insufficient and the price too high. At this moment a hard disc is the cheapest form of storage and its capacity does exceed that of the other two forms of storage. It provides a large capacity on portable size. Currently, a small 1.8-inch hard disc can hold up to 200 Gbyte, while its capacity is still rapidly increasing.
It is understood that music and video requires vast storage capacity and currently, hard discs are the only form of storage that can satisfy this requirement. Since the PCC device combines wireless connectivity with local storage, the memory itself does not have to be exchangeable. Therefore, a hard disc is a preferred solution, however, solid-state memory will be a viable option as the price and capacity will be competitive to that of hard discs.
With respect to the display, the PCC device must implement a color display for rendering photos or videos and to keep the device portable (the size of the present PDA's) a screen size of approximately 4-inch is advantageous. While the screen is illuminated to guarantee good visibility under all conditions, the resolution of present 4-inch screens is 240×320 pixels, minimum. Apart from viewing photos and videos the display can be used for controlling the device. For example, adding a touch screen it becomes possible to operate the device by an onscreen interface, and operable with a stylus.
Almost all portable devices rely on rechargeable batteries. Rendering photos or videos on an illuminated screen consumes lots of energy. Likewise holds for the wireless connection when checking for other devices and when transferring data. With today's capacity the operating time is limited to only a few hours, however, developments like the polymer battery or fuel cell provides a solution for this problem.
Prior art solutions in the field of connecting and transferring data content focussed on the interactive use of portable displays include: “Kidcom” (Kusano, Kidcom project, Personal Intelligent Communicator for girls aged 7-12 years old, Master's Industrial Design Engineering Project, Philips Research, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, University of Delft, Delft, The Netherlands 1994), which is a communication device for children that can communicate with other devices using a short-range infrared connection. Text notes, pictures can be created and sent to other users. The sending is initiated by pushing a button on top while aiming at another device. An LED and an audible signal provide feedback whether the transmission was successful. To send messages to another device, the infrared ports have to be aligned.
Sony's Pick-and-Drop system described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,341 to Rekimoto, is a manipulation technique to copy data from one (computer) screen to another. A more natural way to move things: lifting things up, move and drop is used instead of the well-known drag-and-drop way. To do this, a pen and a touch-screen are used. When the user contacts the screen with a pen and lifts the pen a little, the file is ‘floating’ above the screen using a shadow. When the user completely lifts the pen, the pen virtually holds the file. It is now possible to tap at another screen and copy to the other computer system. Here the mental model of the user is different from the way the system works. For the user it seems like the data is stored locally in the pen, but the pen does not have storage capacity. The pen contains a unique ID tack, which can be read out when close enough to the screen. The network uses this ID to copy the file wirelessly to the designated place, for example another PDA device.
Thus, the new technologies described above make it possible to exchange content wirelessly with other users on the move. This development has great implications for the user interface (UI) of these devices. Aspects like privacy and ‘ad hoc’ networking are becoming very important issues and personal content or content protected by digital rights should not be available for anyone. Until now there is no existing user interface that deals with these aspects.
It would be highly desirable to provide a user interface concept for a portable multimedia storage device such as the PCC with the focus on content sharing using current technology.
It is the usability of the PCC device interactions and the development of a user interface that meets the technological constraints, that is the focus of the invention.
According to the principles of the invention, there is provided a system and method for ad hoc sharing of content stored in portable devices, the system comprising: a means for establishing a communications link to connect a single portable device to one or more other portable devices; a means for generating a visualized shared space on a display area of each portable device of a connected user for facilitating content exchange between connected users via established communications links; and a means for enabling each individual connected user to control transfer of content to and from that user's portable device via said communications link in response to manipulation of items representing user content in said shared space.
The objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art, in view of the following detailed description taken in combination with the attached drawings, in which:
FIGS. 2(a)-2(f) depict example PCC usage scenarios in the “connect-exchange-disconnect” order according to the invention;
FIGS. 3(a)-3(e) depict examples of the “Being connected” variant for establishing ad hoc transfer of media content between PCC devices;
FIGS. 4(a)-4(c) depict in greater detail the ‘point & link’ concept and the visualization of content transfer between PCC devices according to the invention;
FIGS. 5(a)-5(f) depict examples of the “Connect when sending” variant for establishing ad hoc transfer of media content between PCC devices;
FIGS. 6(a)-6(c) depict in greater detail the ‘point & link’ concept and the visualization of content transfer between PCC devices according to the invention;
FIGS. 9(a)-9(b) shows two variations of a border bar that borders a space holding the content stored on a PCC device;
FIGS. 10(a) and 10(b) depict selected content in a text view metadata format (music) and a thumbnail view format (photos);
FIGS. 13(a) and 13(b) illustrate an exemplary user interface scenario for navigating through content; and,
FIGS. 14(a)-14(l) illustrate an exemplary user interface concept according to a further embodiment of the invention.
The Portable Content Container (PCC) is the next step in portable multimedia players having dimensions on the order of the size of current PDAs. Since the concept of an PCC audio/photo player with the added functionality of exchanging items is considered to be one aspect of the PCC, this functionality is illustrated in
The PCC 12a, 12b is considered the successor of the portable multimedia player, with added functionality to share content wirelessly. For ad hoc communication, a WiFi™ connection with limited range is preferred, but other short range wireless communication standards may be used. Furthermore, it is assumed that users prefer to communicate before they actually exchange music or photos. Thus, the invention assumes a prior face-to-face communication, i.e., social contact, preceding the exchange of content. Thus, a “connect-exchange-disconnect” order is followed so that a user feels in control by being able to decide to whom he/she connects and when he/she aborts the link.
In a first usage scenario 20, depicted in
With respect to exchanging content items, a user must indicate to which device he/she wants to communicate. In the absence of wired connections the problem occurs to indicate the desired device to connect with. As the nature of the content may be personal, the user has to be provided with a secure feeling that his content is available for specific users only which requires linking the devices in a secure way without involving other devices by accident. As mentioned, transferring content wirelessly involves a secure transmission as all devices within range can intercept the transferred data. Encryption technologies are thus used to establish this. By encrypting data before transferring it wirelessly, it cannot be decrypted without having the ‘key’. Particularly, a content owner encrypts the content and the information about this process in stored in a key. With this key, the receiver can decrypt the data and transform it back in a readable format. The advantage of using encryption in a multi-user situation is that only the users that posses the key can ‘read’ the data. The owner can provide the key to the users he selects. This key can be combined with personal information about the owner (e.g., a name or icon).
Within encryption, the PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) standard makes use of two keys: a public and a private one. The public one is available for everyone and is used to encrypt information. The private one is held by one person and is used to decrypt the information. Content transferred PGP makes it possible to build a friend list and send content to the selected person, no matter the location.
Furthermore, Infrared communication is a connection standard can be used to wirelessly ‘beam’ data from one device to another. It requires facing the transmitter to the receiver and it only works within a short range. Within infrared connections, there are two modes that may be exploited: A short range, e.g., up to 1.0 meter, connection for sending data called IrDA data. This mode requires the aiming of the infrared port at another infrared port. In this mode, the angle of the beam and the intensity are adjustable. The second mode, called IrDA control functions up to 6 meters, for example, and is used in a wireless mouse and keyboard. It is bidirectional and allows up to eight (8) devices simultaneously.
Furthermore, sensors may determine the location or orientation of the device. Thus, is determining locations in an ad hoc network can be realized with the use of ultrasound transceivers, for example. This technology makes use of sound pulses to determine the relative location of nearby devices. A set of orientation sensors can determine the orientation of a device. Thus, for example, it is possible to determine whether a device is in an upside down position or not.
More particularly, as will be described in greater detail, physical contact may also be used in the key exchange. For example, each PCC is equipped with an infrared port Aligning the infrared ports and pressing a button initiates identification and key exchange between the devices. Once the devices are identified the WiFi™ connection is used to transfer at high speed and wider range. Thus, each device may include a tag that can be read out by other devices when being in very close proximity (centimeters). The tag contains the decryption key and information about the user. To prevent unwanted links, the devices may be held against each other. The action is only performed with the full awareness of both users, like a handshake. The information on the tags can be reprogrammed when the user changes his profile. Furthermore, an infrared beam may be used for the linking. Each device is equipped with an infrared port. Aligning the infrared ports and pressing a button exchange the key and identification between the devices. Once the devices are identified the WiFi™ connection is used to transfer at high speed and wider range. A stylus exchange may also be performed whereby, after two users meet they exchange their stylus which includes a tag; The tag is read out when bringing it close to the user's respective touch screen. Information about the ID of the users and the key are stored in here. Giving the stylus to another person calls for trust. Additional hardware in the stylus is needed. The touch screen, in this instance, cannot be operated by finger.
With respect to the graphical user interface, content to be exchanged has to be represented in a way that makes clear to the user on what location the content is stored and what actions can be performed. As will be explained in greater detail, a graphical user interface that follows the desktop metaphor is established. Preferably, all content items are represented by icons and can be moved and handled like real physical objects. Present users are additionally represented by icons. Here the accessibility and the relation between the items and the users are visualized. In a so-called spaces concept the different locations on the screen are mapped with physical spaces whereby users and content items are moving around in the virtual space. The spaces concept symbolizes the different storage locations. Each storage location (contacted device) is represented by an onscreen space. Thus, when functioning as a stand-alone player only a single space (user's own space) is visible, for example. As will be explained in greater detail, moving items from space to space by drag & drop initiates copying and transferring between the devices.
The conceptual structures for physically linking described herein combined with the spaces interface result in structural concepts that provide solutions for ad hoc linking and exchanging content items.
It should be understood that the connect-exchange portion of the linking includes two actions: connecting to the right user and exchanging the items. In this, two variants appear: 1) a “Being connected” variant whereby a first the device sets up a connection with the other device and, when this connection is established, the exchange of content can be started. During the status of ‘being connected’ content can be transferred until a user disconnects; and 2) a “Connect when sending” variant whereby there is no status of being connected. Every time the user wants to exchange content, he/she makes a new connection, i.e., between the data packages there is no connection.
FIGS. 3(a)-3(e) depict examples of the “Being connected” variant. In a first embodiment 100 depicted in
The variants depicted in FIGS. 3(a)-3(b) represent a ‘point & link’ concept combining an infrared connection with the high speed WiFi™ connection to initiate the contact. Other variants of the “Being connected” concept include: a “Feel the force” type concept 102 as depicted in
With further respect to ‘point & link’ concept depicted in greater detail in FIGS. 4(a)-4(c), when two users meet, they point their devices 12a, 12b each with an infrared port located thereon, at each other, and both press the ‘connect’ button 17a, 17b at the same time ((
FIGS. 5(a)-5(f) depict examples of the “Connect when sending” variant In a first embodiment 200, depicted in FIGS. 5(a)(1)-5(a)(2) a user transferor device 12a first pre-selects the content items (icons) 95 by dragging them in a separate area 75 (
The variants depicted in FIGS. 5(a)(1) and 5(a)(2) represent a ‘select & shoot’ concept whereby content is first selected and beamed to another user while pointing at the desired device. Both in the selection of the items and in the transfer, the initiative is with the owner. Other variants of the “Connect when Sending” concept include: a “Kiss” type concept 201 as depicted in
With further respect to ‘Select & shoot’ concept depicted in greater detail in FIGS. 6(a)-6(c), the transferor user pre-selects the content he/she wants to send to another user.
Selecting the content items represented as icons 95, is performed by the user himself or after getting an indication from the other (transferee) user which items he/she would like to receive. As shown in
It is a feature of the invention to make content accessible for other users with decreased effort, e.g., a single action. Thus, adding a third space to the embodiments described with respect to FIGS. 4(a)-4(c) and 6(a)-6(c) that enables visualization of the items stored on other devices may reduce the effort needed for the owner when distributing items. With the permission of the owner, users can browse the items themselves instead of asking to place them in the shared space.
Thus, as shown in
It should be further understood that as the stored content has a private nature it must therefore not be accessible to everyone. It is understood that, while this solution minimizes the combined effort for all users, privacy and security is still maintained.
As mentioned herein, when contact is made with another device, feedback is provided as to whether the connection was successful and with whom the connection has been made. This is realized by representing the connected user on the screen. Representing the connected user(s) may be done by displaying their names in a list or, preferably, as shown in
When more users are connected, more icons appear on the screen. Giving each connected user his own space would make the screen overcrowded. The shared space shown in
When two devices are connected items can be shared using the shared space. This provides the user total control about the content that is accessible for other users. As mentioned herein, when an item is dragged to the shared space, a copy is made. When the other user is looking for a specific item or just wants to browse through the items of another user, permission from the latter is needed. In most cases, this will be done simply by asking. When two users are familiar with each other, the permission can also be given without asking. Since no distinction is made in access level concerned the shared space, the same will be done with the ‘browsing’ mode. When a user gives permission, all users can browse his personal content. Apart from indicating the presence of other users, their access level (‘open’ or ‘closed’) is also visualized by the user icons.
FIGS. 9(a)-9(b) show two example variations of a lower border bar 29 that borders the lower space holding the content stored on the own device. The width of both lower bar 29a,b depicted match the device screen size. Since opening the user's personal space means giving access to other users and permitting them to drag items from this space to their own, it was chosen to visualize this by creating an opening in the closed border. Opening the own space
The huge collection of content, e.g., music and photos has to be organized in such a way that the user can easily and quickly navigate through all his content. Two ways of content organization can be distinguished: A hierarchical structure including organizing all content by placing it in folders that may include several related items. The same can be done with folders. Such an organization with multiple levels arises related to the way people store their content in the real world. Network structures only have one level. To find the way in this large pile of items smart search engines and filtering systems are put on top. The user can use keywords or indicate a direction and the system automatically generates a set of items that meets the criteria. To accomplish, this metadata is needed. Often a combination is used since people have the need to store related items in albums (photo books, CD's). The combination of a flexible structure and albums on the lowest level is proven.
The metadata available is often limited to song title and artist regarding downloaded MP3 songs. In the case of photos, the user often transfers them from his digital camera without renaming them or adding extra information (such as the location the photo was taken). In most cases only date information is included. Although technologies that generate or extract metadata automatically such as integrated GPS systems and photo analyzing software are gaining ground, with the expected usage scenarios not much metadata will be available. The lack of metadata makes the classic hierarchical structure more suitable. As little levels as needed were added to minimize the effort for the user. Photos, as well as music songs, are considered to be stored in albums.
The photos and music songs are stored in albums, which when opened, its contents are made visible. Preferably, music and photos are stored separately, for example, and the content of an album may be displayed in the same level, e.g., opening a folder in left column of a Windows Explorer type folder structure. Preferably, a one level structure is provided in order to avoid buttons to switch between the levels. Tapping it once can open an album and the album's metadata content may be displayed below the album icon that now indicates it has been opened as shown in
To perform a drag & drop operation (e.g., by tapping & dragging an item with the stylus) possible between all spaces, only one content type at the time is displayed in all spaces. This is to avoid a situation of dragging a photo into a space where music songs are displayed. A switch button allows the user to switch between the content types when he/she wants. Items can be represented by thumbnails 95a (e.g., for
As shown in
Since the users can always disconnect, it is only allowed to transfer one item at the time. This avoids situations were multiple items are being downloaded. While the owner disconnects and all downloads are lost Dragging items to the personal space and releasing them places them between the albums. Releasing items on an album, places them into this album so as to avoid an ‘inbox’ where items are stored temporarily.
A first exemplary embodiment illustrating the user interface concept according to the present invention is now described. As described herein, pointing two PCC devices at each other and pressing the link buttons, for example, will establish a connection between the devices. Keeping the buttons pressed for a short time, establishes a link. Feedback about the successful connection may be given by a sound signal.
In operation, a start screen on a device provides an upper border (not shown) that is dynamically lowered to indicate a second border to expose the presence of the shared space region. The user icons are placed in the circles as described herein with respect to
With respect to navigating through content, as now depicted as a scenario 300 in
With respect to exchanging items, an item may be placed in the shared space 75 and initially hold the color of the space they originate from. Upon dragging an item 95a to the personal space as shown in
With respect to rendering of items in the display screen, only items that are located in the personal space can be rendered. When tapping items in other spaces, a sound gives feedback this is not possible. Photos may be displayed full screen; and music can be listened through a speaker or headphones. To view landscape photos, the device has be rotated 90 degrees. Disconnecting is performed by pressing the same button that is pressed for connecting. Pointing at the other device is not necessary as the action may be performed without the cooperation of another user.
It should be understood that items may be placed in the ‘shared space’ 75 without being connected. The items placed here are immediately accessible for others after connecting. The space is opened by dragging down the border, and, just like sharing when connected, a copy is initiated. Since the shared space holds the items shared by all users, after disconnecting the space empties. However, in a not connected state it still remained possible to copy items to the shared space. Pre-placed items (by others) appear in the shared space upon connecting with them. The temporary character of the items in this space interferes with the possibility to use it also in the stand-alone mode. Dragging an item to the shared space is obvious making a copy, leaving the personal collection untouched.
Thus, after disconnecting, the shared space disappears completely to emphasize its temporary character, i.e., there is no shared space in the stand-alone mode. Thus, as shown in a further embodiment for the user interface 400 depicted in
The temporary character of the shared space implies that items disappear after the owner disconnects. This might necessitate quick grabbing of the items. The small screen does not offer enough space to visualize both spaces completely. In order to copy the items into the right location, actions like scrolling and navigating between different levels in the hierarchy are needed. Since these actions take time, an option to place the downloaded items on the temporary location is preferable, and subsequent thereto, organization of the content can be performed. Preferably, this ‘temporary location’ does not interfere with the concept of the spaces and, thus, a temporary space is located within the user's personal space, since the items are already downloaded and does not increase the complexity of the user interface.
A temporary place to park items (i.e., shared space) is opened when sliding over with an item and closes again when it includes no items anymore. Dragging an item to this area makes a copy, dragging an item from the area involves a move action. To minimize the number of items in the shared space, items are deleted from the space when every connected user has downloaded them. On the other hand, items that are still not downloaded by everyone should be accessible as long as possible. When the original owner disconnects, the item also disappears. However, when at least one of the others users has already downloaded the item, he/she could replace this item. This action can also be performed by the system. The item simply changes color in the shared space, indicating another user is now controlling it.
Functionality for enabling users to preview items before downloading them is provided. This can be useful since the screen space only offers a minimal amount of information of the items. Thus, to be sure to download the right item or when just browsing, the option of previewing is provided. The rendering of items from the shared space is aborted when the owner disconnects. The user should therefore be informed when viewing or listening to items he does not own. This may be indicated to a user by changing the color of the audio and video player 415, for example by enabling the player to take the color of the user to which the item belongs.
As mentioned, the personal space in the stand-alone mode is illustrated in
As shown in
After pointing and linking to another user in the manner as described herein, the icon 407 of that new user appears on all connected devices as shown in
When a hard button is pushed again, the device disconnects from the group. After disconnecting, the shared space disappears. When a photo is rendered in the shared space, the player gets the color of the user that owns the item. This emphasizes a preview is being made which can be aborted when the owner disconnects.
While there has been shown and described what is considered to be preferred embodiments of the invention, it will, of course, be understood that various modifications and changes in form or detail could readily be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is therefore intended that the invention be not limited to the exact forms described and illustrated, but should be constructed to cover all modifications that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB04/00408 | 2/16/2004 | WO | 8/19/2005 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60448640 | Feb 2003 | US | |
| 60484832 | Jul 2003 | US |
