AUTOMATIC EQUALIZER ADJUSTMENT SETTING FOR PLAYBACK OF MEDIA ASSETS

• US 20090290725A1
• Filed: 08/07/2008
• Published: 11/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Huang, Szu Wen
• Application Number:
  US12/188,046
• Publication Number:
  US 20090290725A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/103
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 5/165 Equalizers; Volume or gain control in limited frequency bands

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed in which correspondences with content or other media assets can be established such that a media player or portable media device can automatically modify or adjust an equalizer setting based on information associated with the content or other media assets. The media player may automatically adjust one or more equalizer settings based on genre, artist, album, or the like. In some embodiments, metadata associated with content or other media assets can be analyzed to determine normalized data thereby potentially grouping content into supersets. Based on the normalized data, the media player may automatically adjust equalizer settings for each superset or grouping of content. Correspondences with one or more accessories may be established such that the media player can automatically modify or adjust an equalizer setting based on the one or more accessories.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a media player for playing content, the method comprising:

receiving information related to content;

determining one or more settings for an equalizer associated with the media player based on the information related to the content; and

outputting the content using the one or more determined settings associated with the equalizer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the one or more settings for the equalizer associated with the media player based on the information related to the content comprises determining a mapping between the information related to the content and the one or more settings.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving from a content management application information indicative of the mapping between the information related to the content and the one or more settings for the equalizer.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving from a user input indicative of the mapping between the portion of the information related to the content and the one or more settings for the equalizer.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

analyzing metadata associated with the content to generate the information related to the content based on matching portions of the metadata to normalized data.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the one or more settings for an equalizer associated with the media player based on the information related to the content comprises determining the one or more settings based on at least one of a title, an artist, an album, a genre, a category, a rating, a bit-rate, an encoding, or a format associated with the content.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the one or more settings for the equalizer associated with the media player based on the information related to the content further comprises determining the one or more settings based on an accessory attached to the media player.

8. A computer readable medium configured to store a set of code modules which when executed by a processor of a media player become operational with the media player for playing content, the computer readable medium comprising:

code for receiving information related to content;

code for determining one or more settings for an equalizer associated with the media player based on the information related to the content; and

code for outputting the content using the one or more determined settings associated with the equalizer.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 8 wherein the code for determining the one or more settings for the equalizer associated with the media player based on the information related to the content comprises code for determining a mapping between the information related to the content and the one or more settings.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9 further comprising:

code for receiving from a content management application information indicative of the mapping between the information related to the content and the one or more settings for the equalizer.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 9 further comprising:

code for receiving from a user input indicative of the mapping between the portion of the information related to the content and the one or more settings for the equalizer.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 9 further comprising:

code for analyzing metadata associated with the content to generate the information related to the content based on matching portions of the metadata to normalized data.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 8 wherein the code for determining the one or more settings for an equalizer associated with the media player based on the information related to the content comprises determining the one or more settings based on at least one of a title, an artist, an album, a genre, a category, a rating, a bit-rate, an encoding, or a format associated with the content.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 8 wherein the code for determining the one or more settings for the equalizer associated with the media player based on the information related to the content further comprises code for determining the one or more settings based on an accessory attached to the media player.

15. A system for playing content, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory configured to store a set of instructions which when executed by the processor become operational with the processor to;

receive information related to content;

determine one or more settings for an equalizer based on the information related to the content; and

output the content using the one or more determined settings associated with the equalizer.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the set of instructions become operational with the processor to determine the one or more settings for the equalizer based on a mapping between the information related to the content and the one or more settings.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the set of instructions become operational with the processor to:

receive from a content management application information indicative of the mapping between the information related to the content and the one or more settings for the equalizer.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the set of instructions become operational with the processor to:

receive from a user input indicative of the mapping between the portion of the information related to the content and the one or more settings for the equalizer.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the set of instructions become operational with the processor to:

analyze metadata associated with the content to generate the information related to the content based on matching portions of the metadata to normalized data.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein the set of instructions become operational with the processor to determine the one or more settings for the equalizer based on at least one of a title, an artist, an album, a genre, a category, a rating, a bit-rate, an encoding, or a format associated with the content.

21. The system of claim 15 wherein the set of instructions become operational with the processor to determining the one or more settings for the equalizer based on the presence of an accessory.