VISUAL AUDIO LINKS FOR DIGITAL AUDIO CONTENT

• US 20120066592A1
• Filed: 09/05/2008
• Published: 03/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Concert Technology Corporation
• Original Assignee: Lemi Technology, LLC (Concert Technology Corporation)
• Inventors: Issa, Alfredo C., Evans, Gregory M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,949,718 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/716
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning

Abstract

Methods and systems for providing visual audio links for digital audio content include playing the digital audio content on an electronic device that has a display; displaying on the display visual audio links associated with terms of relevance from the digital audio content as the terms of relevance are played during playing of the digital audio content, wherein each of the visual audio links is a reference to additional content associated with the corresponding term of relevance; in response to receiving a user'"'"'s selection of one of the visual audio links, presenting the additional content associated with the corresponding term of relevance, wherein the user is granted a license to the additional content; and when presentation of the additional content completes, playing the digital audio content at a point where the corresponding term of relevance was mentioned, such that the user is granted rewind rights based on the terms of relevance.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

playing digital audio content on an electronic device, the electronic device having a display;

displaying on the display visual audio links associated with terms of relevance from content of the digital audio content as the terms of relevance are played during playing of the digital audio content, wherein each of the visual audio links is a reference to additional content associated with the corresponding term of relevance;

in response to receiving a user'"'"'s selection of one of the visual audio links, presenting the additional content associated with the corresponding term of relevance, wherein the user is granted a license to the additional content; and

when presentation of the additional content completes, playing the digital audio content at a point where the corresponding term of relevance was mentioned, such that the user is granted rewind rights based on the terms of relevance.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the visual audio links comprise hyperlinks that are displayed as at least one of a text, an icon, and a graphic that scroll across the display as the digital audio content is played.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising using a preference value settings in a user profile to control a speed at which the visual audio links scroll.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the visual audio links appear to float from a bottom of the display to a top of the display.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the license is restricted by a time duration.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the time duration is configured such that the license to the additional content automatically expires at least one of:

an end of a streaming program;

at a predetermined time after at least one of a beginning or an ending of at least one of streaming, downloading, and playing the digital audio content; and

at a predetermined time and date.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting the additional content further comprises at least one of presenting video, audio, text, and a web page.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising in response to receiving the user'"'"'s selection of one of the visual audio links, pausing the playing of the digital audio content, and automatically continuing playback of the digital audio content when presentation of the additional content completes.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising receiving the user'"'"'s selection of one of the visual audio links to enable the user to scroll back and navigate to a previous position in the digital audio content where previous topics were mentioned.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising enabling the user to scroll forward through the visual audio links to provide the user with fast-forward rights.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving the visual audio links with the digital audio content.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving the visual audio links separately from the digital audio content.

16. The electronic device of claim 2 when the visual audio links appear to float from a bottom of the display to a top of the display.

13. An electronic device, comprising:

a display;

a media player application that plays digital audio content; and

a visual audio link application that functions to;

display visual audio links associated with terms of relevance from the digital audio content as the terms of relevance are played during playing of the digital audio content, wherein each of the visual audio links is a reference to additional content associated with the corresponding term of relevance; and

in response to receiving a user'"'"'s selection of one of the visual audio links, present the additional content associated with the corresponding term of relevance, wherein the user is granted a license to the additional content; and

wherein when presentation of the additional content completes, the media player plays the digital audio content at a point where the corresponding term of relevance was mentioned, such that the user is granted rewind rights based on the terms of relevance.

14. The electronic device of claim 13 wherein the visual audio links comprise hyperlinks that are displayed as at least one of a text, an icon, and a graphic that scroll across the display as the digital audio content is played.

15. The electronic device of claim 14 when preference value settings in a user profile control a speed at which the visual audio links scroll.

17. The electronic device of claim 13 wherein the license is restricted by a time duration.

18. The electronic device of claim 17 wherein the time duration is configured such that the license to the additional content automatically expires at least one of:

an end of a streaming program;

at a predetermined time after at least one of a beginning or an ending of at least one of streaming, downloading, and playing the digital audio content; and

at a predetermined time and date.

19. The electronic device of claim 13 wherein presenting the additional content further comprises at least one of presenting video, audio, text, and a web page.

20. The electronic device of claim 13 wherein in response to receiving the user'"'"'s selection of one of the visual audio links, the playing of the digital audio content is paused and playback of the digital audio content is automatically continued when presentation of the additional content completes.

21. The electronic device of claim 20 wherein in response to receiving the user'"'"'s selection of one of the visual audio links, the electronic device enables the user to scroll back and navigate to a previous position in the digital audio content where previous topics were mentioned.

22. The electronic device of claim 20 wherein enabling the user to scroll forward through the visual audio links provides the user with fast-forward rights.

23. The electronic device of claim 13 wherein the visual audio links are received with the digital audio content.

24. The electronic device of claim 13 wherein the visual audio links are received separately from the digital audio content.

25. A system, comprising:

a server;

a natural language processor executing on the server that is configured to;

associate visual audio links with the terms of relevance detected in text of digital audio content, wherein each of the visual audio links is a reference to additional content associated with the corresponding term of relevance, and

send the digital audio content, the visual audio links, and a license to the additional content over a network; and

an electronic device that receives the digital audio content over the network, the electronic device, further configured to;

display the visual audio links associated with terms of relevance from the digital audio content as the terms of relevance are played during playing of the digital audio content,

in response to receiving a user'"'"'s selection of one of the visual audio links, present

the additional content associated with the corresponding term of relevance if the license associated with the additional content validates; and

when presentation of the additional content completes, play the digital audio content at a point where the corresponding term of relevance was mentioned, such that the user is granted rewind rights based on the terms of relevance.

26. A system, comprising:

a server;

a natural language processor executing on the server that is configured to;

receive digital audio content from a content provider;

associate visual audio links with the terms of relevance detected in text of

the digital audio content, wherein each of the visual audio links is a reference to additional content associated with the corresponding term of relevance, and

send the visual audio links and a license to the additional content over a network.

27. An executable software product stored on a computer-readable medium containing program instructions for providing visual audio links with digital audio content, the program instructions for:

playing the digital audio content on an electronic device, the electronic device having a display;

displaying on the display the visual audio links associated with terms of relevance from content of the digital audio content as the terms of relevance are played during playing of the digital audio content, wherein each of the visual audio links is a reference to additional content associated with the corresponding term of relevance;

in response to receiving a user'"'"'s selection of one of the visual audio links, presenting the additional content associated with the corresponding term of relevance, wherein the user is granted a license to the additional content; and

when presentation of the additional content completes, playing the digital audio content at a point where the corresponding term of relevance was mentioned, such that the user is granted rewind rights based on the terms of relevance.

28. A method of receiving additional media content stored on a server with an electronic device having a display, comprising:

playing digital audio content on the electronic device, wherein the digital audio content includes an audio term and the electronic device stores a link to the additional media content, the link being associated with the audio term;

during the playing of the digital audio content, begin displaying the link from the display of the electronic device when the audio term is played; and

in response to selection of the link, retrieving the additional media content by the electronic device from the server.

29. A method of presenting licensed content by an electronic device having a display, comprising:

playing digital audio content on the electronic device, wherein the digital audio content includes an audio term and the electronic device stores a link to the licensed content, the link being associated with the audio term;

during the playing of the digital audio content, begin displaying the link from the display of the electronic device when the audio term is played;

in response to selection of the link, receiving a license to the licensed content by the electronic device; and

presenting the licensed content on the electronic device once the license has been received by the electronic device.