Portable audio appliance

• US 8,200,976 B2
• Filed: 07/07/2009
• Issued: 06/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Rhoads, Geoffrey B., Conwell, William Y.
• Primary Examiner(s): Song, Hosuk
• Application Number:
  US12/498,930
• Publication Number:
  US 20100036881A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,071 Days
• Field of Search: 713/165, 713/167, 713/170, 713/176, 726 26- 33, 380200-203, 380 54- 55, 705/51, 705 57- 59, 382/115
• US Class Current: 713/176
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 45/1418 the inserts being deformed or preformed, e.g. by the injection pressure
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 25/29 Securities; Bank notes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/634 Query by example, e.g. query by humming
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06037 multi-dimensional coding
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06046 Constructional details
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/14 the marking being sensed by radiation
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 2019/06253 for a specific application
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1417 2D bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1447 extracting optical codes from image or text carrying said optical code
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/341 Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40145 Biometric identity checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0021 Image watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/0034 using watermarks
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/004 using digital security elements, e.g. information coded on a magnetic thread or strip
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/16 for devices exhibiting advertisements, announcements, pictures or the like
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/26 for printing, stamping, franking, typing or teleprinting apparatus ticket printing or the like apparatus G07F17/42
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/086 : by passive credit-cards adapted therefor, e.g. constructive particularities to avoid counterfeiting, e.g. by inclusion of a physical or chemical security-layer for security documents G07D7/00; for the reading of record-carriers in general G06K7/00; for the design of coded credit-cards G06K19/10
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 : Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 : Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00007 : Time or data compression or expansion audio compression based on psychoacoustics G10L19/00; data processing for reproducing audio data at different playback speeds G10L21/04; video compression H04N19/00; data compression per se H03M7/30
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00086 : Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy indicating unauthorised use of record carriers in general G11B23/28; scrambling for television signal recording H04N5/913; network architectures or network protocols for network security H04L63/00; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00144 : involving a user identifier, e.g. a unique customer ID
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00195 : using a device identifier associated with the player or recorder, e.g. serial numbers of playback apparatuses or MAC addresses
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00891 : embedded in audio data
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/31 : using in-band signals, e.g. subsonic or cue signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/84 : combined with power distribution network
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/93 : which locates resources of other pieces of information, e.g. URL [Uniform Resource Locator]
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/50 : characterised by the use of watermarks
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/63 : for services of sales data processing systems or methods specially adapted for electronic commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/74 : using programme related information, e.g. title, composer or interpreter
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00005 : relating to image data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00037 : Detecting, i.e. determining the occurrence of a predetermined state H04N1/00031 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00079 : remotely
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00973 : from a remote device, e.g. receiving via the internet instructions input to a computer terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32122 : in a separate device, e.g. in a memory or on a display separate from image data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32144 : embedded in the image data, i.e. enclosed or integrated in the image, e.g. watermark, super-imposed logo or stamp
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3216 : using Fourier transforms
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32203 : Spatial or amplitude domain methods H04N1/32309 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32219 : involving changing the position of selected pixels, e.g. word shifting, or involving modulating the size of image components, e.g. of characters H04N1/32224 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32229 : with selective or adaptive application of the additional information, e.g. in selected regions of the image H04N1/32213 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32261 : in binary data H04N1/32256 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32304 : Embedding different sets of additional information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32352 : Controlling detectability or arrangements to facilitate detection or retrieval of the embedded information, e.g. using markers for decoding, detection or retrieval operations H04N1/32149 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23892 : involving embedding information at multiplex stream level, e.g. embedding a watermark at packet level
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42203 : sound input device, e.g. microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4394 : involving operations for analysing the audio stream, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in audio streams arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of audio in broadcast systems H04H60/58
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 : for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 : for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8113 : comprising music, e.g. song in MP3 format
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8358 : involving watermark protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3205 : of identification information, e.g. name or ID code H04N2201/3209 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3207 : of an address
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3225 : of data relating to an image, a page or a document
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3226 : of identification information or the like, e.g. ID code, index, title, part of an image, reduced-size image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3233 : of authentication information, e.g. digital signature, watermark
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3239 : using a plurality of different authentication information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/327 : which are undetectable to the naked eye, e.g. embedded codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3271 : Printing or stamping
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3274 : Storage or retrieval of prestored additional information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/328 : Processing of the additional information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 : Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

The presently claimed invention relate generally to portable audio devices. One claim recites a method including: receiving audio content data through an interface of a portable personal digital device capable of playing audio; storing the received audio content data in electronic memory; audibly rendering said audio content data; utilizing an electronic processor, counting a number of plays of the received audio content data; and displaying the number of plays of the received audio content data to a user of the portable personal digital device. Of course additional claims and combination are provided as well.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

an interface configured to receive audio content data;

data storage configured to store the received audio content data;

a processor configured to;

decode a digital object identifier from the received audio content by cyclically applying different digital watermark decoding techniques until a decoding technique that produces valid data is obtained;

play the received audio content data; and

count a number of plays of the received audio content data; and

a display configured to display the number of plays of the received audio content data.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to utilize the digital object identifier for tracking the number of plays of the received audio content.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the device comprises a portable personal digital device.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine a number of permitted plays of the audio content by reference to information stored in association with the digital object identifier; and

govern playback of the audio content in accordance with the determined number of permitted plays.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the digital object identifier comprises an identifier corresponding to a standardized digital object number system of the International Digital Object Identifier Foundation.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine validity of data produced by the different digital watermark decoding techniques with reference to a checksum.

7. A method comprising:

receiving audio content data through an interface of a device configured to render audio data;

storing the received audio content data in electronic memory;

decoding a digital object identifier from the received audio content, wherein the decoding comprises cyclically applying different digital watermark decoding techniques until a decoding technique that produces valid data is obtained;

audibly rendering the audio content data;

counting, via a processor, a number of plays of the received audio content data; and

displaying the number of plays of the received audio content data via a display.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

by reference to information stored in association with the digital object identifier, determining a number of permitted plays of the audio content; and

governing playback of the audio content in accordance with the determined number of permitted plays.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the device comprises the electronic memory, the processor, and the display.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the digital object identifier comprises an identifier corresponding to a standardized digital object number system of the International Digital Object Identifier Foundation.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining validity of data produced by the different digital watermark decoding techniques with reference to a checksum.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising utilizing the obtained decoding technique until the obtained decoding technique produces invalid data.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the counting is based at least on the digital object identifier.

14. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving audio content data through an interface;

storing the audio content data;

decoding a digital object identifier from the received audio content, wherein the decoding comprises cyclically applying different digital watermark decoding techniques until a decoding technique that produces valid data is obtained;

audibly rendering the audio content data;

counting a number of plays of the audio content data; and

displaying the number of plays of the audio content data.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the counting the number of plays is based at least on the digital object identifier.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the instructions, upon execution by the computing device, are further configured to cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

by reference to information stored in association with the digital object identifier, determining a number of permitted plays of the audio content; and

governing playback of the audio content in accordance with the determined number of permitted plays.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the digital object identifier comprises an identifier corresponding to a standardized digital object number system of the International Digital Object Identifier Foundation.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise determining validity of data produced by the different digital watermark decoding techniques with reference to a checksum.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving audio content data through an interface;

instructions for storing the audio content data;

instructions for decoding a digital object identifier from the received audio content, wherein the instructions for decoding the digital object comprises instructions for cyclically applying different digital watermark decoding techniques until a decoding technique that produces valid data is obtained;

instructions for audibly rendering the audio content data;

instructions for counting a number of plays of the audio content data; and

instructions for displaying the number of plays of the audio content data.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions for counting the number of plays are based at least on the digital object identifier.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, further comprising:

instructions for determining a number of permitted plays of the audio content by reference to information stored in association with the digital object identifier; and

instructions for governing playback of the audio content in accordance with the determined number of permitted plays.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the digital object identifier comprises an identifier corresponding to a standardized digital object number system of the International Digital Object Identifier Foundation.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, further comprising instructions for determining validity of data produced by the different digital watermark decoding techniques with reference to a checksum.

24. A device comprising:

means for receiving audio content data using a processor;

means for storing the received audio content data using a processor;

means for decoding a digital object identifier from the received audio content by cyclically applying different digital watermark decoding techniques until a decoding technique that produces valid data is obtained;

means for audibly rendering said received audio content data;

means for counting a number of plays of the received audio content data; and

means for displaying the number of plays of the received audio content data.

25. The device of claim 24, wherein the means for counting utilizes the digital object identifier.

26. The device of claim 24, wherein the digital object identifier comprises an identifier corresponding to a standardized digital object number system of the International Digital Object Identifier Foundation.

27. The device of claim 24, further comprising means for determining validity of data produced by the different digital watermark decoding techniques with reference to a checksum.