System and method for providing user-definable audio indicators for multimedia channel selections

• US 20070107037A1
• Filed: 11/07/2005
• Published: 05/10/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SBC Knowledge Ventures LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SBC Knowledge Ventures LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Walter, Edward, Diroo, Yolius
• Granted Patent: US 8,751,931 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/135
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4882 for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8106 involving special audio data, e.g. different tracks for different languages
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/60 for the sound signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A method includes receiving user input indicating a selection of a first multimedia channel from a set of multimedia channels for display. The method further includes determining a first user-selected audio indicator associated with the first multimedia channel. The method additionally includes providing the first audio indicator for audible output in response to receiving the user input indicating the selection of the first multimedia channel. Another method includes providing a user interface to facilitate an association of one or more audio indicators with one or more corresponding channel selection actions.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving user input indicating a selection of a first multimedia channel from a set of multimedia channels for display;

determining a first user-selected audio indicator associated with the first multimedia channel; and

providing the first user-selected audio indicator for audible output in response to receiving the user input indicating the selection of the first multimedia channel.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user-selected audio indicator represents an audible description of a channel identifier associated with the first multimedia channel.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user-selected audio indicator represents a voice recording of a user.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving user input indicating a selection of a second multimedia channel;

determining a second user-selected audio indicator associated with the second multimedia channel; and

providing the second user-selected audio indicator for audible output in response to the user input indicating the selection of the second multimedia channel.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first user-selected audio indicator and the second user-selected audio indicator are different.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving user input indicating a selection of the first user-selected audio indicator from a plurality of locally-stored audio indicators.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an audio content file representative of the first user-selected audio indicator.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the user input indicating the selection of the first multimedia channel comprises one of user input representative of a selection of a next multimedia channel in a sequence of multimedia channels and a selection of a previous multimedia channel in the sequence of multimedia channels.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the first user-selected audio indicator for audible output comprises providing the first user-selected audio indicator for audible output via a speaker system of a display device.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the first user-selected audio indicator for audible output comprises providing the first user-selected audio indicator for audible output via a speaker system of a set-top box.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user-selected audio indicator is determined in response to the user input indicating the selection of the first multimedia channel.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user-selected audio indicator is determined prior to receiving the user input indicating the selection of the first multimedia channel.

2. The method of claim I, wherein determining the first user-selected audio indicator comprises selecting the first user-selected audio indicator from a plurality of locally-stored audio indicators based on a characteristic of the first multimedia channel.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the characteristic comprises a multimedia content category.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first user-selected audio indicator represents an audible description of the multimedia content category.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the characteristic comprises a content level of the first multimedia channel.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first user-selected audio indicator represents an audible description of the content level.

18. A method comprising:

providing a user interface to facilitate an association of one or more audio indicators with one or more corresponding channel selection actions;

receiving a first user input indicating an association of a selected audio indicator with a selected channel selection action via the user interface; and

providing the selected audio indicator for audible output in response to receiving a second user input indicating the selected channel selection action.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first user input comprises a user selection of the selected audio indicator from a plurality of predefined audio indicators.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the selected audio indicator is associated with the selected channel selection action based on a characteristic of an identified multimedia channel.

21. A system comprising:

a user interface to receive user input indicating a selected multimedia channel from a set of multimedia channels; and

a processor to;

determine a user-selected audio indicator associated with the selected multimedia channel; and

provide the user-selected audio indicator for audible output in response to the user input.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

a display interface to provide multimedia data to a display device;

a data interface to receive data representative of one or more multimedia channels of the set of multimedia channels; and

wherein the processor further is to process multimedia data associated with the selected multimedia channel for output to the display device in response to the user input indicating the selected multimedia channel.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising:

a speaker; and

wherein the processor provides the user-selected audio indicator for audible output via the speaker.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the processor further is to:

provide a graphical user interface for display at the display device via the display interface, the graphical user interface to facilitate an association of one or more audio indicators with one or more corresponding channel selection actions; and

receive user input indicating an association of the user-selected audio indicator with a selected channel selection action.

25. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

a storage component to store a plurality of audio content files representative of a plurality of audio indicators; and

wherein the user-selected audio indicator is selected from the plurality of audio indicators.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

a data upload interface to receive an audio content file for storage at the storage component, the audio content file representative of the user-selected audio indicator; and

wherein the data upload interface is connectable to a user-controlled device or a data network to receive the audio content file.

27. A system comprising:

a processor to provide a graphical user interface for display at a display device, the graphical user interface to facilitate an association of one or more audio indicators with one or more corresponding channel selection actions; and

a user input interface to receive user input indicating an association of the user-selected audio indicator with a selected channel selection action via the graphical user interface.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the user input comprises a user selection of the user-selected audio indicator from a plurality of predefined audio indicators.

29. A computer readable medium tangibly embodying a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions comprising instructions to manipulate a processor to:

receive user input indicating a selection of a first multimedia channel from a set of multimedia channels for display;

determine a first user-selected audio indicator associated with the first multimedia channel; and

provide the first user-selected audio indicator for audible output in response to receiving the user input indicating the selection of the first multimedia channel.

30. A computer readable medium tangibly embodying a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions comprising instructions to manipulate a processor to:

provide a user interface to facilitate an association of one or more audio indicators with one or more corresponding channel selection actions;

receive a first user input indicating an association of a selected first audio indicator with a selected channel selection action via the user interface; and

provide the selected audio indicator for audible output in response to receiving a second user input indicating the selected channel selection action.