Music synchronization arrangement

• US 20060107822A1
• Filed: 11/24/2004
• Published: 05/25/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Bowen, Adam
• Granted Patent: US 7,521,623 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 84/612
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/486 Bio-feedback A61B5/375 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2071/0625 Emitting sound, noise or music
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/803 Motion sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2230/06 heartbeat rate only
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/0686 Timers, rhythm indicators or pacing apparatus using electric or electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/636 by using biological or physiological data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/015 Input arrangements based on nervous system activity detection, e.g. brain waves [EEG] detection, electromyograms [EMG] detection, electrodermal response detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0008 Associated control or indicating means
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/18 Selecting circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/40 Rhythm
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/046 for differentiation between music and non-music signals, based on the identification of musical parameters, e.g. based on tempo detection
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/375 Tempo or beat alterations; Music timing control
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/385 Speed change, i.e. variations from preestablished tempo, tempo change, e.g. faster or slower, accelerando or ritardando, without change in pitch
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/391 Automatic tempo adjustment, correction or control
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/361 Mouth control in general, i.e. breath, mouth, teeth, tongue or lip-controlled input devices or sensors detecting, e.g. lip position, lip vibration, air pressure, air velocity, air flow or air jet angle
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/371 Vital parameter control, i.e. musical instrument control based on body signals, e.g. brainwaves, pulsation, temperature or perspiration; Biometric information
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/395 Acceleration sensing or accelerometer use, e.g. 3D movement computation by integration of accelerometer data, angle sensing with respect to the vertical, i.e. gravity sensing
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/081 Genre classification, i.e. descriptive metadata for classification or selection of musical pieces according to style
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/131 : Library retrieval, i.e. searching a database or selecting a specific musical piece, segment, pattern, rule or parameter set
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/135 : Library retrieval index, i.e. using an indexing scheme to efficiently retrieve a music piece
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 : of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 : Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D

Abstract

The invention generally pertains to a hand-held computing device. More particularly, the invention pertains to a computing device that is capable of controlling the speed of the music so as to affect the mood and behavior of the user during an activity such as exercise. By way of example, the speed of the music can be controlled to match the pace of the activity (synching the speed of the music to the activity of the user) or alternatively it can be controlled to drive the pace of the activity (increasing or decreasing the speed of the music to encourage a greater or lower pace). One aspect of the invention relates to adjusting the tempo (or some other attribute) of the music being outputted from the computing device. By way of example, a songs tempo may be increased or decreased before or during playing. Another aspect of the invention relates to selecting music for outputting based on tempo (or some other attribute). For example, the computing device may only play songs having a particular tempo. Yet another aspect of the invention relates to both selecting music based on tempo and adjusting the tempo of the music.

Claims

1. A method performed on a hand-held computing device, comprising:

designating a tempo; and

adjusting the tempo of one or more audio tracks being outputted to match the designated tempo.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the designated tempo is based on a user event.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 wherein the user event is body motion.

4. The method as recited in claim 2 wherein the user event is heart rate.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

storing a plurality of audio tracks, each track having a tempo;

selecting audio tracks from storage with a tempo similar to designated tempo; and

playing the audio track.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step of designating the tempo includes generating a signal indicative of a user event and extracting tempo information from the user event.

7. A method performed on a hand-held computing device, comprising:

storing a plurality of audio tracks, each track having a tempo;

designating a tempo; and

selecting audio tracks from storage with a tempo similar to the designated tempo.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein the designated tempo is based on a user event.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 wherein the user event is body motion.

10. The method as recited in claim 8 wherein the user event is heart rate.

11. The method as recited in claim 7 further comprising:

adjusting the tempo of one or more audio tracks being outputted to match the designated tempo.

12. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein the step of designating the tempo includes generating a signal indicative of a user event and extracting tempo information from the user event.

13. A computer readable medium contained on a hand-held music player and including at least computer code for managing music, comprising:

obtaining the tempo of an event;

outputting music; and

controlling the tempo of the music being outputted based on the tempo of the event.

14. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 13 wherein the tempo of the music output is adjusted in accordance with the tempo of the event.

15. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 13 wherein the music being outputted is selected in accordance with the tempo of the event.

16. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 13 wherein the event is body motion, and wherein the step of obtaining the tempo of the event includes receiving an acceleration signal associated with the event, and determining the tempo of the event from the acceleration signal.

17. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 16 wherein the step of selecting comprises finding a song with a tempo that closely matches the tempo of the event.

18. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 13 wherein the tempo of the music being outputted is continuously adjusted to match the tempo of the event.

19. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 13 wherein the tempo of the music being outputted is incrementally adjusted to match the tempo of the event.

20. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 13 wherein the tempo of the music being outputted is increased when the tempo of the event is low.

21. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 13 wherein the tempo of the music being outputted is decreased when the tempo of the event is high

22. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 13 wherein the event is associated with a body metric.

23. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 22 wherein the body metric is selected from boy motion, heart rate, respiration, and temperature.

24. A hand-held media player, comprising:

a housing of the media player;

an accelerometer disposed inside the housing of the media player and configured to measure the motion of the media player;

a music store disposed inside the housing of the media player and configured to contain one or more music items; and

a processor disposed inside the housing of the media player, and operatively coupled to the accelerometer and the music store, the processor being configured to dynamically control the tempo of the music items based on the motion of the media player.

25. A method performed on a hand-held media player, comprising:

sensing the pace of body motion;

playing one or more audio tracks;

adjusting the tempo of each audio track in accordance with changes in body motion.

26. The method as recited in claim 25 wherein the tempo is increased when the pace of the body motion falls below a desired value.

27. The method as recited in claim 25 wherein the tempo is decreased when the pace of the body motion rises above a desired value.

28. A method performed on a hand-held music player, comprising:

designating a tempo profile;

outputting one or more audio tracks; and

adjusting the tempo of the audio tracks based on the tempo profile.

29. A method of transferring data between a host device and a portable media device, the portable media device being capable of storing and playing media items, the method comprising:

at the host device, designating at least one audio file for downloading to the portable media device;

at the host device, generating a tempo tag for each designated audio file, each tempo tag indicating the tempo of the audio file;

at the host device, sending the audio file including the tempo tag to the portable media device.

30. The method as recited in claim 29 further comprising:

at the portable media device, receiving the audio file including the tempo tags from the host device; and

at the portable media device, storing the audio files including the tempo tags for future use.

31. A method of transferring data between a host device and a portable media device, the portable media device being capable of storing and playing media items, the method comprising:

at the host device, designating at least one song for downloading to the portable media device;

at the host device, producing a music collection for each designated song, each music collection containing the original version of the designated song and new versions of the designated song, each new version having a different tempo;

at the host device, sending the music collection to the portable media device.

32. The method as recited in claim 31 further comprising:

at the portable media device, receiving the music collection from the host device; and

at the portable media device, storing the music collection for future use.

33. The method as recited in claim 31 wherein the music collection includes the original song having a first tempo, a first new version of the original song having a second tempo that is higher than the first tempo, and a second new version of the original song having a third tempo that is lower than the first tempo.

34. An operational method for a hand-held music player, comprising:

storing music data, the music data including a plurality of music collections, each music collection containing an original song and a plurality of differently formatted songs based on the original song, the original and differently formatted songs having different tempos, the music collection being generated separately on a device other than the portable media device;

designating a desired tempo;

retrieving at least one song from storage having a tempo that closely matches the desired tempo; and

outputting one or more of the retrieved songs.

35. A portable media device capable of playing music, comprising:

a storage device containing downloaded music data, the music data including a plurality of music collections, each music collection including an original song and plurality of different versions of the original song, each song in the music collection having an attribute with a different value; and

a processor configured to supply a song to a speaker.