Photo album with provision for media playback via surface network
First Claim
1. A photograph album for storing a plurality of photographs, said photograph album comprising:
- a plurality of pages for mounting two dimensional photographs;
an array of conductive tracks arranged for communicating with a plurality of data storage devices for storing data related to said photographs and adapted to be carried by said album; and
a controller for;
(a) selecting individual ones of said data storage devices carried by said album; and
(b) reading said data stored in said individual data storage devices.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A multi-media photograph album comprises a network of electrical conductors which connect with plural data storage devices storing audio data and/or image data. A user, via a user interface, selectively address the data storage devices. The user selects individual sound bites for immediate playback via a speaker in the photo album, or via transmission over a wireless link, for playback through an external audio device, for example a hi-fi system. Image data are retrieved from the data storage devices and sent via a wireless link to an image data storage device, e.g., a personal computer. The data storage device can be embedded within a photograph, or can be a separate data storage device attached to the album.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A photograph album for storing a plurality of photographs, said photograph album comprising:
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a plurality of pages for mounting two dimensional photographs;
an array of conductive tracks arranged for communicating with a plurality of data storage devices for storing data related to said photographs and adapted to be carried by said album; and
a controller for;
(a) selecting individual ones of said data storage devices carried by said album; and
(b) reading said data stored in said individual data storage devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A photograph storage system, said photograph storage system comprising:
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a photograph album and a plurality of data storage devices adapted to be carried by said album and capable of storing data corresponding to a photograph stored in said photograph album, said photograph album comprising;
at least one substantially two dimensional array of electrically conductive tracks, said plurality of conductive tracks being arranged for communicating with at least one of said data storage devices; and
a controller for individually addressing each of said plurality of data storage devices communicating with said array of conductive tracks, for downloading data from said data storage devices;
at least one of said data storage devices comprising (a) an electronic memory for storing electronic data, and (b) at least one conductor for providing electrical access to said memory via said tracks. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. A multi-media photograph album for storing a plurality of photographs, said photograph album comprising:
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an array of conductive tracks arranged for contacting a plurality of data storage devices for storing electrical signals representing digital data associated with an image and adapted to be carried by said album;
a user interface for enabling a user to select a said data storage device;
a controller coupled with the user interface for addressing and downloading said data from said selected data storage device in response to a selection by the user activating the user interface to select a particular data storage device; and
a play-back circuit for playing said data downloaded from a selected data storage device. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of addressing individual data storage devices in a photograph storage system, said photograph storage system comprising:
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a photograph album and a plurality of data storage devices, said photograph album comprising;
at least one array of electrically conductive tracks, said plurality of conductive tracks arranged for engaging at least one said data storage device; and
a controller capable of individually addressing each of said plurality of data storage devices engaging said array of conductive tracks for downloading data from said data storage devices;
one of said data storage devices comprising an electronic memory storing electronic data and at least one conductor providing electrical access to said memory;
said method comprising the steps of;
sending an interrogation command having a device identifier from said controller across said array of electrically conductive tracks to said data storage devices;
reading data stored in said memory of said data storage device having the device identifier; and
coupling the read data stored in said memory of said data storage device to a user of the album. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method of addressing individual data storage devices in a photograph storage system, said photograph storage system comprising:
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a photograph album and a plurality of data storage devices, said photograph album comprising;
at least one array of electrically conductive tracks, said plurality of conductive tracks being arranged for engaging at least one said data storage device; and
a controller capable of individually addressing each of said plurality of data storage devices engaging said array of conductive tracks for downloading data from said data storage devices;
a said data storage device comprising an electronic memory storing electronic data and at least one conductor providing electrical access to said memory;
said method comprising the steps of;
sending an interrogation command having a device identifier from said controller via said array of electrically conductive tracks;
at the controller responding to no identifier data being received from any data storage device in response to said interrogation command, by defining a new unique identifier data and sending said new unique identifier data on said plurality of conductive tracks;
storing said unique identifier data in one of said data storage devices; and
then at said controller issuing a flag set command, setting a flag within said data storage device in response to the issued flag set command, at said data storage device responding to the set flag, by locking said received identifier data in a memory of said data storage device, thereby uniquely identifying said data storage device.
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Specification