Equalizer-effect media system and method

• US 6,831,881 B2
• Filed: 04/09/2002
• Issued: 12/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Original Assignee: PortalPlayer USA, Inc. (NVIDIA Corporation)
• Inventors: Patil, Sandeep M., Ghate, Nitin A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Neyzari, Ali
• Application Number:
  US10/119,568
• Publication Number:
  US 20030189881A1
• Time in Patent Office: 980 Days
• Field of Search: 369/30.18, 369/47.21, 369/53.22, 369/53.31, 369/53.1, 369/47.33, 369/47.38, 369/53.23, 369/44.25, 369/44.27, 369/275.1, 369/275.2, 369/280, 369/275.4, 386/126, 386/125, 386/104, 386/96, 386/11, 386/116, 704/503, 704/211, 704/270
• US Class Current: 369/30.18
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/10009 Improvement or modification of read or write signals
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/10046 filtering or equalising, e.g. setting the tap weights of an FIR filter
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/10212 compensation for data shift, e.g. pulse-crowding effects
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/00736 Auxiliary data, e.g. lead-in, lead-out, Power Calibration Area [PCA], Burst Cutting Area [BCA], control information sector headers or adresses in prepits G11B7/00745; address data in track wobble G11B7/24082

Abstract

A piece of media, apparatus and method are provided wherein the piece of media may store the audio data as well as equalizer settings that permit the audio data to be equalized. In one embodiment, the piece of media stores equalized audio data and the equalizer settings. In accordance with the invention, in one embodiment, the equalizer-effect piece of media permits the audio data on the piece of media to be equalized even when the audio data player does not include an equalizer. In another embodiment, the equalizer-effect piece of media includes raw audio data and equalizer settings and permits an external equalizer to play equalized audio data without needing to set the equalizer. In a preferred embodiment, the piece of media may be compact disk.

Claims

1. A piece of media having equalizer effects, the media having one or more pieces of data stored thereon, the data further comprising:

a plurality of digital samples of audio data; and

one or more equalizer settings so that the audio samples are equalized when the audio data is listened to.

2. The piece of media of claim 1, wherein the plurality of digital samples of audio data further comprise equalizer audio data.

3. The piece of media of claim 1, wherein an external equalizer equalizes the audio data on the piece of media using the stored equalizer settings on the piece of media.

4. The piece of media of claim 1, wherein the equalizer settings are stored in a particular location on the piece of media.

5. The piece of media of claim 4, wherein the particular location further comprises a lead in area on the piece of media.

6. The piece of media of claim 5, wherein the particular location further comprises a CD-TEXT area of the lead in area.

7. The piece of media of claim 5, wherein the particular location further comprises a main channel in the lead in area.

8. The piece of media of claim 5, wherein the particular location further comprises a table of contents in the lead in area.

9. The piece of media of claim 4, wherein the particular location further comprises a program area of the piece of media.

10. The piece of media of claim 4, wherein the particular location further comprises appended to the end of each track of audio data.

11. The piece of media of claim 1, wherein the equalizer settings affect the equalization of all audio data on the piece of media.

12. The piece of media of claim 1, wherein a particular equalizer settings is associated with each track on the piece of media so that each track has its own equalizer settings.

13. The piece of media of claim 12, wherein a particular equalizer settings comprise 20 bytes of data for a 20 band equalizer for each track on the piece of media.

14. The piece of media of claim 13, wherein the piece of media further comprises a compact disk.

15. A method for generating a piece of media having equalizer effects, the method comprising:

storing a plurality of digital samples of audio data onto a piece of media;

storing one or more equalizer settings onto the piece of media so that the audio data is equalized when it is played.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein storing the digital samples further comprises storing equalized audio data on the piece of media that, when executed, produce equalized audio data without an equalizer.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising utilizing an external equalizer to equalize the audio data on the piece of media using the stored equalizer settings on the piece of media.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein storing the equalizer settings further comprises storing the equalizer settings in a particular location on the piece of media.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein storing in the particular location further comprises storing in a lead in area on the piece of media.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the particular location further comprises a CD-TEXT area of the lead in area.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the particular location further comprises a main channel in the lead in area.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the particular location further comprises a table of contents in the lead in area.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein storing in the particular location further comprises storing in a program area of the piece of media.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein storing in the particular location further comprises appending the equalizer settings to the end of each track of audio data.

25. An apparatus for providing equalized audio data from a piece of media, the apparatus comprising:

a piece of media having a plurality of samples of audio data and one or more equalizer settings stored on the piece of media; and

a player for playing the audio data contained on the piece of media wherein the audio data is equalized.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the plurality of audio data samples further comprise equalized audio data stored thereon.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the player further comprises an embedded equalizer.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the embedded equalizer is off and the equalized audio data from the piece of media is played.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the embedded equalizer is on and wherein the embedded equalizer nullifies the equalized audio data on the piece of media using the equalizer settings to generate raw audio data and equalizes the raw audio data using its own equalizer settings.

30. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein an external equalizer equalizes the audio data on the piece of media using the stored equalizer settings on the piece of media.

31. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the piece of media has equalizer settings that are stored in a particular location on the piece of media.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the particular location on the piece of media further comprises a lead in area on the piece of media.

33. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the particular location further comprises a CD-TEXT area of the lead in area.

34. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the particular location further comprises a main channel in the lead in area.

35. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the particular location further comprises a table of contents in the lead in area.

36. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the particular location on the piece of media further comprises a program area of the piece of media.

37. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the particular location on the piece of media further comprises appended to the end of each track of audio data.

38. The apparatus claim 25, wherein the equalizer settings affect the equalization of all audio data on the piece of media.

39. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein a particular equalizer settings is associated with each track on the piece of media so that each track has its own equalizer settings.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein a particular equalizer settings comprise 20 bytes of data for a 20 band equalizer for each track on the piece of media.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the piece of media further comprises a compact disk.