AUDIO REPRODUCING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND AUDIO REPRODUCING METHOD, ALLOWING EFFICIENT DATA SELECTION

• US 20080204408A1
• Filed: 02/22/2008
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Honda, Shinichi, Yamashita, Kosei
• Granted Patent: US 9,030,413 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/157
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/64 Browsing; Visualisation therefor generation of a list or set of audio data G06F16/638
• 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

Abstract

An image display field, a whole map display field, a cursor are displayed on the music data selection screen. In the image display field is displayed an array of images which belong to one partition that can be displayed at a time and which are included in an array of images which represent whole audio data and is defined fixedly in advance. In the whole map display field is displayed a whole map indicating a display-area guide which shows where a partition being displayed now is located in the whole array and indicating a trajectory line which represents the trajectory of the cursor in the past. A plurality of pieces of music data represented by an image, which the cursor indicates, and images located around the image are reproduced concurrently.

Claims

1. An audio reproducing apparatus comprising an interface for allowing a user to select one of a plurality of pieces of audio data, the apparatus comprising:

a display unit operative to lay out and display images associated with the respective plurality of pieces of audio data, in an array on a screen;

an input unit operative to receive an input for selecting a position among the images on the screen; and

a reproducing unit operative to reproduce at least a part of the plurality of pieces of audio data corresponding to the image determined according to the selected position on the screen, wherein

the display unit lays out and displays the images while not changing positions of the respective images in the array once displayed, thereafter.

2. The audio reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reproducing unit concurrently reproduces respective parts of the plurality of pieces of audio data corresponding to a plurality of images displayed within a predetermined boundary of the selected position on the screen, via the input unit.

3. The audio reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the input unit receives sequentially positions of a cursor as selected positions on the screen the user moves the cursor displayed on the screen, and

the reproducing unit changes the audio data to be reproduced continuously according to changes of the selected positions on the screen.

4. The audio reproducing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the reproducing unit decodes the respective parts of the plurality of pieces of audio data to be reproduced concurrently and perform a process for allowing at least some of a plurality of audio signals obtained by the decoding to be separately aurally perceived by the user.

5. The audio reproducing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the reproducing unit performs a process for changing aural perceivability levels of the audio signals obtained by the decoding according to respective distances from the selected position on the screen to respective ones of the plurality of images displayed within the predetermined boundary that are associated with the respective parts of the plurality of pieces of audio data.

6. The audio reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit switchably displays respective partitions of the array of images, the partitions being formed by dividing the array of images.

7. The audio reproducing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the display unit further displays a whole map which indicates a position of the partition being displayed within the whole array of images.

8. The audio reproducing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the display unit further displays a graphic figure which is a trajectory of the cursor, on or near the displayed array of images to assist the user in selecting the position on the screen.

9. The audio reproducing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the display unit changes a mode of the graphic figure according to an elapse of time.

10. The audio reproducing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the graphic figure is a line having a predetermined color, the line indicating the trajectory of the cursor and the density of the line being changed continuously according to the elapse of time so that a part of the line older than a predetermined time constant is assimilated into a back ground color.

11. The audio reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an area without an image can be set in a middle of the array of images displayed by the display unit.

12. The audio reproducing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the reproducing unit refers to previously stored data on the trajectory of the cursor and reproduces the at least a part of the plurality of pieces of audio data corresponding to images determined based on the previously stored data on the trajectory of the cursor and on the position of images displayed in the array of images.

13. An information processing apparatus comprising an interface for allowing a user to select one of a plurality of pieces of electronic data, the apparatus comprising:

a display unit operative to display images associated with the respective plurality of pieces of electronic data in a predetermined array on a screen; and

an input unit operative to receive input for selecting from among the displayed images, wherein

the display unit further displays, on the array of images, a graphic figure indicating an input selection history received by the input unit.

14. The information processing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the display unit displays a line representing a trajectory of a cursor, which is moved on the screen for allowing the user to input selection images from among the displayed images, as the graphic figure representing the input selection history.

15. The information processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the display unit changes a mode of the line representing the trajectory of the cursor according to an elapse of time.

16. An audio reproducing method comprising:

setting and displaying images associated with a plurality of pieces of audio data, in an array on a screen while not changing the array;

receiving an input for selecting a position on the screen; and

reproducing at least a part of the plurality of pieces of audio data corresponding to an image determined according to the selected position on the screen.

17. The audio reproducing method according to claim 16, wherein the reproducing concurrently reproduces respective parts of the plurality of pieces of audio data corresponding to a plurality of images displayed within a predetermined boundary of the selected position on the screen.

18. The audio reproducing method according to claim 16, further comprising:

displaying a graphic figure indicating a selection history of the selected positions on the screen on or near the displayed array of images, received in the receiving of the input.

19. A computer program product comprising:

a first module which stores an array of images associated with a plurality of pieces of audio data as a fixed array into a memory;

a second module which sets and displays the images in an array of images on a screen according to the fixed array stored in the memory;

a third module which receives an input for selecting a position on the screen; and

a fourth module which reproduces at least a part of the plurality of pieces of audio data corresponding to an image determined according to the selected position on the screen.