Denon 4802R - 7 Channel Surround Receiver User Manual download pdf (Page 6)

US

7,305,694

B2

1

METHOD

AND

APPARATUS

FOR

REMOTELY

CONTROLLING

A

RECEIVER

ACCORDING

TO

CONTENT

AND

USER

SELECTION

CROSS

REFERENCE

TO

RELATED

APPLICATION

This

application

claims

the

bene?t of

US.

Provisional

Application

No.

60/500,582,

?led

on

Sep.

4,

2003,

entitled

“Method

and

Apparatus

for

Remotely

Controlling

a

Receiver

according

to

Content

and

User

Selection,”

Which

is

incorporated

herein

by

reference.

FIELD

OF

INVENTION

The

current

invention

relates

to

entertainment

devices

and,

more

speci?cally,

to

systems

and

methods

for

automatic

control

over

peripheral

equipment

connected

to

media

man

agement

systems.

BACKGROUND

Media

management

systems

are

becoming

increasingly

popular

among

consumers

of

entertainment

media

Who

need

assistance

in

managing

their

ever-groWing

collections

of

CD’s,

DVD’s,

MP3

?les

and

media-playing

equipment.

Media

management

systems

interface

With

a

variety

of

sources

of

media.

For

example,

a

media

management

system

may

receive

media from

different

CD-changers,

different

DVD-changers,

the

Internet,

a

CD

player,

a

DVD

player,

a

personal

computer

and

a

hard

disk

drive.

Media

manage

ment

systems

also

interface

With

a

variety

of

media

players.

For

example,

the

same

media

management

system

may

play

media

on

a

monitor,

a

television,

and

on

different

audio

receivers.

Media

management

systems

are

also

typically

able

to

display

information

about

the

media

available

on

the

connected

sources

of

media

on

a

user

interface.

The

user

interface

alloWs

the

user

to

communicate

instructions

to

play

selected

pieces

of

media.

Developers

of

media

management

systems

aim

to

inter

face

With

as

Wide

a

variety

of

media

sources

as

possible.

Different

media

sources

make

media

available

in

forms

that

provide

different

capabilities

for

enhancing

the

user

expe

rience.

Web-sites

on

the

Internet

offer

users the

convenience

of

doWnloading

music

or

other

audio

as

MP3

?les.

Video

Works

and

music

are

noW

available

on

different

types

of

discs

such

as

DVD,

CD,

Super-Audio

CD

(SACD),

WAV,

MP3,

DVD-Audio,

etc.

offering

the

user

options

such

as

choices

in

surround

modes

available

to

the

user.

In

this

regard,

audio/video

receivers

noW

have

a

variety

of

inputs

to

alloW

a

user

to

connect

alternative

media

sources.

A

user

may

connect

media

sources,

audio

receivers

and

video

players

to

a

media

management

system

to

take

advantage

of

the

many

options

available

to

experience

the

media.

Providing

such

variety

of

capabilities

imposes

on

the

user

the

burden

of

learning

and

understanding

the

capabilities

available

on

the

user’s

media

management

system.

More

over,

the

user

typically

manually

con?gures

the

manner

in

Which

a

selected

piece

of

media

Will

be

played

each

time

it

is

played.

For

example,

a

user

may

direct

an

SACD

disc

to

a

6-channel

analog

input

on

the

receiver

When

playing

an

SACD

disc.

Then,

if

the

user

Wishes

to

listen

to

an

MP3

?le,

the

user

may

manually

con?gure

the

media

management

system

to

direct

the

output

to

a

2-channel

input

on

the

receiver.

Such

manual

con?guration

for

each

type

of

media

source

becomes

burdensome

to

the

user.

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

2

Based

on

the

foregoing,

a

need

exists

for

automatically

con?guring

receivers

to

play

media

using

sound

and

video

modes

according

to

characteristics

of

the

media.

SUMMARY

In

one

respect,

an

exemplary

embodiment

of

the

present

invention

may

take

the

form

of

an

apparatus

for

controlling

a

media

receiver.

The

apparatus

comprises

(i)

a

media

player

interface,

(ii)

a

media

database,

(iii)

a

play

selection

system,

and

(iv)

a

media

play

processor.

The

media

player

interface

includes

a

plurality

of

receiver

connections.

Each

receiver

connection

is

operable

to

communicate

With

the

media

receiver.

The

media

database

includes

a

plurality

of

media

unit

records.

Each

media

unit

record

identi?es

one

of

a

plurality

of

media

units

by

one

or

more

characteristics.

A

?rst

characteristic

of

each

media

unit

record

identi?es

one

media

type

of

a

plurality

of

media

types.

The

play

selection

system

(i)

retrieves

a

media

unit

record

from

the

media

database

for

a

selected

media

unit,

(ii)

determines

a

media

type

of

the

selected

media

unit

from

the

media

unit

record,

and

(iii)

communicates,

to

a

media

play

processor,

a

receiver

connection

selection for

the

selected

media

unit

based

on

the

media

type

of

the

selected

media

unit.

The

media

play

processor

con?gures

the

media

receiver,

and

couples

the

selected

media

unit

to

a

selected

receiver

connection,

according

to

the

receiver

connection

selection.

In

another

respect,

an

exemplary

embodiment

of

the

present

invention

may

take

the

form

of

an

apparatus

for

controlling

a

media

receiver.

The

apparatus

comprises

(i)

a

media

player

interface,

(ii)

a

media

database,

(iii)

a

play

selection

system,

and

(iv)

a

media

play

processor.

The

media

player

interface

includes

a

plurality

of

receiver

connections.

Each

receiver

connection

is

operable

to

communicate

With

the

media

receiver.

The

media

database

includes

a

play

mode

record,

and

a

plurality

of

media

unit

records.

Each

media

unit

record

identi?es

one

of

a

plurality

of

media

units

by

one

or

more

characteristics.

A

?rst

characteristic

of

each

media

unit

record

identi?es a

characteristic

selected

from

the

group

consisting

of:

title,

song,

genre,

location,

label,

artist,

media

type,

and

date.

The

play

mode

record

identi?es

one

of

a

plurality

of

play

modes

corresponding

to

the

?rst

charac

teristic.

The

play

selection

system

(i)

retrieves

the

play

mode

record

from

the

media

database,

(ii)

retrieves

a

media

unit

record

from

the

media

database

for

a

selected

media

unit,

(iii)

determines

the

?rst

characteristic

of

the

selected

media

unit

from

the

media

unit

record,

and

(iv)

communicates,

to

a

media

play

processor,

a

play

mode

selection

for

the

selected

media

unit

based

on

at

least

the

?rst

characteristic

and

the

play

mode

record.

The

media

play

processor

requests

the

media

receiver

to

play

the

selected

media

unit

according

to

the

play

mode

selection.

In

yet

another

respect,

an

exemplary

embodiment

of

the

present

invention

may

take

the

form

of

a

method

for

controlling

a

receiver.

The

method

includes

(i)

retrieving

a

media

unit

record

for

a

media

unit

selected

to

be

played

by

a

receiver

coupled

to

a

media

player

interface,

Wherein

the

media

unit

record

identi?es

a

media

type

for

the

media

unit,

(ii)

retrieving

a

media

type

con?guration

record,

Wherein

the

media

type

con?guration

record

identi?es

one

of

a

plurality

of

receiver

connections

corresponding

to

the

media

type,

and

(iii)

requesting

the

receiver

to

use

the

one

of

a

plurality

of

receiver

connections

to

receive

the

media

unit

for

play

by

the

receiver.

In

still

yet

another

respect,

an

exemplary

embodiment

of

the

present

invention

may

take

the

form

of

a

media

man

agement

system

that

includes

(i)

a

plurality

of

media

source

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ... 16 17

Comments to this Manuals

No comments