Virtual radio

• US 20060009199A1
• Filed: 06/29/2004
• Published: 01/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conversant Wireless Licensing S.à.r.l. (f/k/a Core Wireless Licensing S.a.r.l.) (MOSAID Technologies Inc. (f/k/a Conversant Intellectual Property Management))
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Mittal, Nitin
• Granted Patent: US 7,409,205 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/12 wherein another information is substituted for the portion of broadcast information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8113 comprising music, e.g. song in MP3 format

Abstract

A portable electronic device such as a mobile station 22 has a broadcast radio receiver 60 and an internal storage 50 for storing media files 74, 76, 78, 80. When a received broadcast radio signal exceeds a quality parameter, that signal is sent to a speaker 56. Otherwise, the device 22 enters a virtual radio mode and plays the stored media files in an order that is not determined by the user of the device. The order is determined by an instruction stored in the internal storage 50, and switching to the virtual mode is based on a quality of the received broadcast radio signal. Media files may include entertainment music or video files, traffic and weather, DJ commentary, and advertisements. Various media files may be updated on different frequency intervals so that the content remains current, and to better commercialize the invention. Users may add personal media files and may select a genre or source for certain other media files.

Claims

1. A portable electronic device comprising:

a broadcast radio receiver to receive a broadcast radio signal;

an internal storage to store a plurality of media files and an instruction as to an order of play for the media files, each of said media files comprising an audio component;

a speaker for converting the received broadcast radio signal and the media files to an audible signal;

a switch to decouple the speaker from the broadcast radio receiver and to couple the speaker to the plurality of media files, said switch automatically actuated based on a quality of the received broadcast radio signal; and

a processor to play the plurality of media files according to the order of play when the speaker is coupled to the plurality of media files.

2. The portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the portable electronic device comprises a mobile telephone.

3. The portable electronic device of claim 1 further comprising a user interface by which a user may manually actuate the switch.

4. The portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the order of play for the media files may not be altered by a user of the device.

5. The portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the order of play for the media files may be altered only in part by a user of the device.

6. The portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein at least one media file of the plurality comprises a disc jockey commentary.

7. The portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein at least one media file of the plurality comprises an advertisement.

8. The portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the portable electronic device further comprises a microphone and the plurality comprises at least three media files, at least one of which is received at the internal storage via the microphone.

9. The portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein said plurality includes at least a first and a second group of media files, and the instruction comprises a first instruction as to an order of play for the first group that plays when the broadcast radio receiver is tuned to a first station, and a second instruction as to an order of play for the second group that plays when the broadcast radio receiver is tuned to a second station.

10. The portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the switch further is to decouple the speaker from the plurality of media files and to re-couple the speaker to broadcast radio receiver based on a quality of the received broadcast radio signal.

11. The portable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the broadcast radio signal is selected from the group AM, FM, and digital radio.

12. A portable electronic device comprising:

a broadcast radio receiver to receive a broadcast radio signal;

an internal storage to store a plurality of media files and an instruction as to an order of play for the media files, each of said media files comprising an audio component and the order of media play not normally alterable by a user of the device;

a speaker for converting the received radio signal and the media files to an audible signal;

a switch to selectively couple the speaker at any instant to only one of the broadcast radio receiver and the plurality of media files; and

a processor to play the plurality of media files according to the order of play when the speaker is coupled to the plurality of media files.

13. The portable electronic device of claim 12 wherein the broadcast radio signal is selected from the group AM, FM, and digital radio.

14. A method of playing media files in a portable electronic device comprising:

storing, on an internal storage media of a portable electronic device, a plurality of media files and an instruction directing an order of play for the plurality of media files;

receiving a broadcast radio signal at the electronic device;

coupling said broadcast radio signal to a speaker of the portable electronic device;

automatically upon a quality of the received broadcast radio signal passing through a threshold quality parameter, coupling the plurality of media files to the speaker and playing the plurality of media files in the order of play directed by the instruction.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the plurality of media files comprise first-stored media files, the method further comprises:

receiving and storing at least one updated media file at the internal storage; and

sequencing the at least one updated media file in the order of play.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein receiving and storing at least one updated media file comprises downloading the at least one updated media file via a wireless link.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein receiving and storing at least one updated media file comprises receiving the at least one updated media file via a microphone of the portable electronic device.

18. A method of commercializing a service to provide media files to a portable device comprising:

electronically providing to a portable device a series of media files and an instruction as to a sequential order in which the media files are played on the portable device, wherein each media file includes an audio component and at least one media file is an advertisement;

charging a fee to a business entity identified in the advertisement.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein charging a fee to the business entity comprises charging a first fee if the instruction lists the advertisement at a first position in the sequential order and charging a second lower fee if the advertisement is at a second later position in the sequential order.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

charging a fee to a user of the portable device for electronically providing at least some of the series of media files.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein electronically providing a series of media files further comprises wirelessly providing at least one media file to the portable device that is within a group of media files selected by a user of the device prior to the downloading.

22. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

making available for electronic transfer to a portable device, a first set of updated media files at each of a first time interval and a second set of updated media files at each of a second time interval that is greater than the first.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the first time interval is no greater than twenty-four hours.

24. A portable electronic device comprising:

receiving means for receiving a broadcast radio signal;

storage means for locally storing a plurality of media files each comprising an audio component;

transducing means for converting the broadcast radio signal and the audio component of the media files to sound; and

switching means for de-coupling the transducer means from the receiving means and for coupling the transducer means to the storage means automatically in response to a measured signal quality of the broadcast radio signal.

25. The device of claim 24, wherein:

the receiving means comprises one of an AM and an FM radio receiver;

the storage means comprises a computer readable storage media;

the transducing means comprises a speaker; and

the switching means comprises an electronic switch actuated by a computer program executed by a processor, the computer program embodied on a computer readable storage medium.

26. A program of machine-readable instructions, tangibly embodied on an information bearing medium and executable by a digital data processor, to perform actions directed toward selectively coupling a speaker to different input sources, the actions comprising:

monitoring a quality of a broadcast radio signal at a portable electronic device;

responsive to the monitored quality passing through a threshold quality in a first direction, de-coupling the broadcast radio signal from a speaker of the device and coupling at least one locally stored media file to the speaker and playing the at least one media file through the speaker.

27. The program of claim 26, wherein the actions further comprise storing an order of play for a plurality of locally stored media files, the at least one locally stored media file being one of the plurality and at least a portion of the order not selectable by a user of the device;

and wherein playing the at least one media file comprises playing at least two of the plurality of media files according to the stored order.

28. The program of claim 26, further comprising:

responsive to the monitored quality passing through a threshold quality in a second direction opposite the first, de-coupling the at least one locally stored media file from a speaker of the device and coupling the broadcast radio signal to the speaker.