Smart car radio

• US 20040002310A1
• Filed: 06/26/2002
• Published: 01/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Platt, John C., Herley, Cormac
• Granted Patent: US 6,996,390 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/179.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/433 using audio data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/435 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4387 by the use of playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/634 Query by example, e.g. query by humming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/639 using playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/68 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/683 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/20 for coupling gramophone pick-up, recorder output, or microphone to receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/27 Arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/37 for identifying segments of broadcast information, e.g. scenes or extracting programme ID
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/46 for recognising users' preferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/47 for recognising genres
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/58 of audio determination or detection of speech characteristics in general G10L25/00; speech recognition in general G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/65 for using the result on users' side
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/73 using meta-information
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

The present invention provides a large capacity, user defined audio content delivery system. The system delivers uninterrupted music and delivers information content (e.g., news by evaluating and encoding an input audio stream while outputting another stream. Undesirable audio content (e.g., advertisements and unwanted news) are not present in the output audio stream as only desired portions of information content are stored for playback on demand. The invention also includes a user interface that is simple enough to facilitate utilization of the audio system in an automobile and employs standard hardware available in typical computing and/or personal digital assistant equipment. Additionally, the audio system can be portable (e.g., as portable as a personal digital assistant) and can be updated in real time or off line via a personal computer.

Claims

1. An audio system comprising:

a tuner that selectively receives audio information content;

a controller that selectively records the audio information content based at least in part upon characteristics of the audio information content; and

a playback component that selectively plays a subset of the recorded audio information content.

2. The audio system of claim 1, the recorded audio information content being compressed.

3. The audio system of claim 1, the recorded audio information content comprising a report of a type of information selected from the group comprising news, traffic, weather and sports.

4. The audio system of claim 1, further comprising a computer readable medium that stores media.

5. The audio system of claim 4, the computer readable medium being portable.

6. The audio system of claim 4, further comprising a user interface that permits selecting of user preferences.

7. The audio system of claim 6, wherein the playback component accepts the user preferences, the user preferences comprising at least one seed item.

8. The audio system of claim 6, the user interface provides for selecting information content to be recorded.

9. The audio system of claim 1, further comprising a high-speed interface and an external media source, the high-speed interface being operative to transfer content from the external media source to the controller.

10. The audio system of claim 9, the high-speed interface being a universal serial bus.

11. The audio system of claim 9, the high-speed interface being a firewire based interface.

12. The audio system of claim 9, the high-speed interface being a wireless network.

13. The audio system of claim 1, implemented as part of a personal digital assistant.

14. The audio system of claim 1, implemented as part of a car radio.

15. The audio system of claim 1, implemented as part of a portable audio device.

16. A user interface for an audio system, the interface comprising:

a display;

a scan button located within the display, the scan button selectable to initiate a scan entertainment content function; and

at least one of the following buttons;

a weather button located within the display screen, the weather button selectable to play a recent weather report;

a news button located within the display screen, the news button selectable to play a recent news report; and

a traffic button located within the display screen, the traffic button selectable to play a recent traffic report.

17. The user interface of claim 16, the display being a touch screen.

18. The user interface of claim 16, the scan button further operative to select a desired seed item subsequent to initiation of the scan entertainment content function.

19. A system that facilitates utilization of information content comprising:

a tuner that selectively receives broadcasts;

a recording component that selectively records a subset of the received broadcast based at least in part on analyzed content of the received broadcast; and

a storage component that stores and maintains the subset.

20. The system of claim 19, the tuner being operative to receive digital satellite broadcasts.

21. The system of claim 19, the tuner being operative to receive radio broadcasts.

22. The system of claim 19, the analyzed content comprising an identified starting signature.

23. The system of claim 22, the analyzed content further comprising an identified ending signature.

24. The system of claim 19, further comprising a playback component that selectively plays the recorded report.

25. The system of claim 19, the recorded report being in a compressed format.

26. A scan-based playlist generation system, comprising:

a scan list engine that generates a list of candidate seed items and that receives user input regarding a candidate seed item and generates at least one seed item corresponding to the candidate seed item; and

a playlist generator that receives the at least one seed item and generates a playlist of media corresponding to the at least one seed item.

27. The system of claim 26, further comprising a button the user selects upon desiring to generate the seed item.

28. The system of claim 26, further comprising a playback component that receives the playlist and plays content identified in the playlist.

29. The system of claim 26, further comprising a media database that stores and maintains a collection of media items, at least some of the media items having associated metadata.

30. The system of claim 28, the scan list engine playing segments associated with the list of candidate seed items by utilizing the playback component.

31. The system of claim 26 further comprising a user input operative to select desirable and undesirable seed items.

32. A computer implemented method for recording information content comprising:

automatically searching at least one channel to identify a signature associated with a media item; and

automatically recording the media item on identifying the signature.

33. The method of claim 32, the starting signature comprising a previously known jingle.

34. The method of claim 32, further comprising continuing to analyze the broadcast while recording and identifying an ending signature.

35. The method of claim 32, further comprising compressing the recorded media item.

36. The method of claim 32, further comprising storing the media item.

37. The method of claim 32, further comprising training a system to recognize the signature.

38. The method of claim 32, the media item comprising information content selected from the group comprising news, traffic, sports and weather.

39. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for carrying out the method of claim 32.

40. A method that facilitates utilizing entertainment content comprising:

initiating a scan function;

generating a collection of candidate seed items, respectively having associated segments;

playing a current segment;

on a user indicating the current segment as desirable, identifying an associated candidate seed item as a desirable seed item;

on a user indicating the current segment as undesirable, identifying an associated candidate seed item as a undesirable seed item and iteratively playing a next segment until selected as a desirable; and

generating a playlist based at least partly on the desirable seed item and the undesirable seed item.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising playing media items as indicated by the playlist.

42. The method of claim 40, further comprising identifying at least one additional undesirable seed item(s) and wherein the playlist is further generated at least partly on the at least one additional undesirable seed item(s).

43. The method of claim 40, wherein the candidate list is iteratively generated by:

initializing the candidate list;

randomly selecting a number of media items for a random list;

removing media items from the random list that fail to have substantial metadata;

removing media items from the random list that are uncommon;

computing similarities for remaining media items in the random list; and

identifying a substantially dissimilar item from the random list and inserting the item into the candidate list.

44. The method of claim 40, further comprising playing media items as identified in the playlist.

45. A computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions of components operable to perform a method that facilitates recording information content, comprising:

a component for analyzing a channel that broadcasts a media item to identify a starting signature;

a component for recording the media item upon identifying the starting signature;

a component for compressing the recorded media item; and

a component for storing the recorded media item.

46. An audio system comprising:

means for selectively receiving audio information content;

means for selectively recording the audio information content based at least in part upon characteristics of the audio information content; and

means for selectively playing a subset of the recorded audio information content.