(12) Ulllted States Patent
`Logan et a].
`
`(10) Patent N0.:
`(45) Date of Patent:
`
`US 7,509,178 B2
`*Mar. 24, 2009
`
`US007509178B2
`
`(54) AUDIO PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION AND
`PLAYBACK SYSTEM
`
`(75) Inventors: James D. Logan, Candia, NH (US);
`Daniel F. Goessling, Wayland, MA
`(US); Charles G. Call, West Yarrnouth,
`MA (Us)
`
`(73) Assignee: James D. Logan and Kerry M. Logan
`Famlly Tl‘ust,M0I1I0e,MA(US)
`
`( * ) Notice:
`
`Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
`patent is extended or adjusted under 35
`U_S_C_ 154(1)) by 633 days_
`
`This patent is subject to a terminal dis-
`claimer.
`
`(21) Appl. No.: 09/782,546
`
`(22) Filed:
`
`Feb‘ 131 2001
`
`(65)
`
`.
`
`.
`
`.
`
`Prlor Pubhcatlon Data
`
`5,153,579 A 10/1992 Fisch et a1.
`5,168,481 A 12/1992 Culbertson et a1.
`5,406,626 A
`4/1995 Ryan
`5,428,732 A
`6/1995 Hanfock et al'
`i
`Eon}
`t 1
`5’475’835 A 12/1995 Hman" e a '
`,
`,
`1ckey
`5,481,509 A
`1/1996 Knowles
`5,486,645 A
`1/1996 S h t l.
`5,499,316 A
`3/1996 s?doeh it 31‘
`5,510,573 A
`4/1996 (3110 et al.
`5,524,051 A
`6/1996 Ryan
`5,541,638 A
`7/1996 Story
`5,557,541 A
`9/1996 Schulhofet a1.
`5,572,442 A 11/1996 Schulhofet a1.
`5,590,195 A 12/1996 Ryan
`5,594,601 A
`1/1997 Mlmlck et al'
`
`(Continued)
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`
`Moorer, J.A.; Abbott, C.; Nye, P.; Borish, J. & Snell, J.; The Digital
`Audio Processin Station, Jun. 1996, J. Audio En . Soc. vol. 34, No.
`g
`g
`6, pp, 545.463, Audio Eng, See, Us,
`
`US 2008/0155616 A1
`
`Jun. 26, 2008
`
`(Continued)
`
`Related U.S. Application Data
`
`Primary ExamineriCurtis KuntZ
`
`(62) Division of application No. 08/724,813, ?led on Oct.
`2, 1996, noW Pat. No. 6,199,076.
`
`é?fziqozjigfryzgzzrygayg€ggs€ can
`’
`’
`'
`
`(51) Int‘ Cl-
`
`(57)
`
`ABSTRACT
`
`G06F 17/00
`
`(2006.01)
`
`(52) U.S.Cl. ...................................................... .. 700/94
`(58) Field of Classi?cation Search
`715003
`f
`"""""""" " _
`434/319’ 32’ 185’ 156’ 169’ 318’ 321’ 700/94’
`704/1 200' 360/15" 709/219' 725/133
`1.
`t.
`?l ’f
`’
`1 t ’
`hh. t’
`S
`ee app lea Ion e or Comp 6 e Seam 15 Dry’
`References Cited
`
`(56)
`
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`3,947,882 A
`
`3/1976 Lightner
`
`.
`.
`.
`.
`.
`,
`au 10 ro ram an messa e is r1 u 1on s s em 1nW c
`An ‘1 P g
`.d
`g d ‘.b‘
`y‘
`hl h
`a host system organizes and transmits program segments to
`client subscriber locations. A playback unit at the subscriber
`location reproduces the program segments received from the
`.
`.
`.
`.
`.
`.
`host and includes mechamsms for interactively navigating
`among the program segmentsVoice input and controlmecha
`nisms included in the player alloW the user to perform hands
`free navigation of the program materials.
`
`29 Claims, 7 Drawing Sheets
`
`Download
`Pmeoulng
`
`____ ______________ __‘
`I.
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`Program:
`
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`
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`:Progllm Duh Library 135
`
`LENOVO ET AL. -- EX. 1001 -- Page 1
`
`

`

`US 7,509,178 B2
`Page 2
`
`US. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`5,966,440 A * 10/1999 Hair .......................... .. 705/26
`
`5,610,774
`5,616,876
`5,619,425
`5,625,608
`5,670,730
`5,751,806
`5,810,600
`5,815,671
`5,841,979
`5,914,941
`
`A
`A
`A
`A
`A
`A
`A
`A
`A
`A
`*
`
`3/1997
`4/1997
`4/1997
`4/1997
`9/1997
`5/1998
`9/1998
`9/1998
`11/1998
`6/1999
`
`Hayashi et al.
`ClutZ
`Funahashi et al.
`GreWe et a1.
`GreWe et a1.
`Ryan
`Okada
`Morrison
`Schulhof et al.
`Janky ....................... .. 370/313
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`
`Enco America, DADpro Digital Audio Delivery System, Mar. 1996.
`7 unnumbered pages, product description, Enco America,
`Farmington Hills, MI.
`Nielsen, J. & Desurvire, H..; Comparative Design Review: An Exer
`cise in Parallel Design, Apr. 24-29, 1993, INTERCHI 93, pp. 414
`417, ACM, U.S.A.
`
`* cited by examiner
`
`LENOVO ET AL. -- EX. 1001 -- Page 2
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
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`LENOVO ET AL. -- EX. 1001 -- Page 3
`
`LENOVO ET AL. -- EX. 1001 -- Page 3
`
`
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Mar. 24, 2009
`
`Sheet 20f7
`
`US 7,509,178 B2
`
`Establish Account
`
`207
`
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`Programming &
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`
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`
`\ 215
`
`217
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`
`Fig. 2
`
`LENOVO ET AL. -- EX. 1001 -- Page 4
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Mar. 24, 2009
`
`Sheet 3 of 7
`
`US 7,509,178 B2
`
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`LENOVO ET AL. -- EX. 1001 -- Page 5
`
`LENOVO ET AL. -- EX. 1001 -- Page 5
`
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Mar. 24, 2009
`
`Sheet 4 of7
`
`US 7,509,178 B2
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`LENOVO ET AL. -- EX. 1001 -- Page 6
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Mar. 24, 2009
`
`Sheet 5 of7
`
`US 7,509,178 B2
`
`355
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`Selections
`
`353
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`LENOVO ET AL. -- EX. 1001 -- Page 7
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Mar. 24, 2009
`
`Sheet 6 of7
`
`US 7,509,178 B2
`
`403
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`Potential
`Content
`
`Content
`Sources
`
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`
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`
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`
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`
`LENOVO ET AL. -- EX. 1001 -- Page 8
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Mar. 24, 2009
`
`Sheet 7 of7
`
`US 7,509,178 B2
`
`HTML File
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`.
`. <IMG SRCI"llVlGFlLE1.JPG'°><EM>Televislon and motion pictures
`<IE|V|>offer the viewer a rich combination of sights and sounds which effectively
`convey a large amount of information to the viewer, and hence require an
`information delivery system having substantial <EM>bandwidth<IEM>. Radio
`programming requires only a fraction of the bandwidth of a <A
`HREFI"target">tull-motion video<IA> presentation, and is especially suitable
`for conveying information expressed in text narrative form. Using suitable audio
`compression techniques. speech can be transmitted over communications
`pathways of much more limited bandwidth, <lMG
`SRC-"lMGFlLEZJPG“>inolud' ng telephone dal up connections to the Internet,
`permitting that facility to be used to provide real-time telephone connections
`between two computers connected via the lnternet,<lMGOFl-'> and play
`pie-recorded audio ?les as they are transferred from an Internet server to a
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`LENOVO ET AL. -- EX. 1001 -- Page 9
`
`

`

`US 7,509,178 B2
`
`1
`AUDIO PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION AND
`PLAYBACK SYSTEM
`
`CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED
`APPLICATIONS
`
`This application is a Division of US. patent application
`Ser. No. 08/724,813 ?led on Oct. 2, 1996, now US. Pat. No.
`6,199,076.
`
`FIELD OF THE INVENTION
`
`This invention relates to electronic information distribu
`tion systems and more particularly to a system for dynami
`cally and interactively selecting and playing particular pro
`grams from a program library.
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`2
`radio players impractical for routine desktop use, and Wholly
`unsuitable for use by an automobile drive.
`It is accordingly an object of the present invention to pro
`vide easy access to rich selection of audio programming and
`to alloW the listener to dynamically and interactively locate
`and select desired programming from the available collection
`in an easy and intuitive Way Without the need for a visual
`display screen and using only simple selection controls.
`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`
`The present invention takes the form of an audio program
`player Which automatically plays a predetermined schedule
`of audio program segments and Which further includes simple
`controls that alloW the listener to perform one or more of the
`folloWing functions:
`to skip the remainder of any segment being played in order
`to listen to the next program segment;
`to skip backWard to the beginning of the current segment,
`and then backWard again to the beginning of the prior
`segment on the schedule, thereby replaying any desired
`segment or search for a previously played segment in the
`sequence;
`to listen if desired to an audio speech announcement
`describing each segment before it is played, and to skip
`the forWard or backWard to the next or prior announce
`ment, thereby immediately obtaining the information
`needed to determine Whether a given segment is or is not
`of interest;
`to listen if desired to an audio speech announcement
`describing a subject matter categories Within Which sev
`eral program segments are grouped, and to skip from
`category announcement to category announcement in
`either the forWard or reverse direction, skipping all pro
`gram segments in categories of insuf?cient interest;
`a. to listen to only predetermined highlight passages in any
`program segment, thereby more rapidly revieWing the
`highlights only of a program segment With the ability to
`commence normal playing at any point Where the high
`light passage reveals information Which the listener
`desires to hear in more detail;
`b. to execute a hyperlink jump to a different, cross-refer
`enced position in the program sequence, or to a program
`segment not speci?ed in the program sequence, and to
`provide audible cues to the listener to identify passages
`Which identify the presence of a cross-referencing
`hyperlink.
`According to a further feature of the invention, the audio
`program player plays program segments in an order deter
`mined by a session schedule Which identi?es an ordered
`sequence of program segments. The session schedule is pref
`erably created in the ?rst instance by a server subsystem
`Which develops and periodically transmits to the session
`schedule top the player. According to still another feature of
`the invention, the player subsystem incorporates means for
`modifying the session schedule received from the server sub
`system by adding or deleting speci?c programs and by alter
`ing the order in Which the programs are presented.
`As contemplated by the invention, the player subsystem
`includes a control mechanism responsive to commands
`received from a listener to dynamically alter the sequence and
`content of the programming material actually presented.
`More speci?cally, the player may advantageously incorporate
`means for skipping the remaining content of any program
`being played at any time, or returning to the beginning of a
`particular subject to replay its content. Each given program
`segment is preferably preceded by a topic description seg
`
`The three dominant commercial systems for providing
`audio programming to a listeners are broadcast radio systems,
`cassette tape playback systems and compact disk playback
`systems.
`Broadcast radio uses both the AM and FM frequency bands
`making a large number of simultaneously broadcast pro
`grams available on an essentially random access basis. Unfor
`tunately, since most broadcast stations attempting to appeal to
`the same general listening audience, much of the program
`ming is duplicative and special interest programs are broad
`cast on a limited basis. In addition, because there is no con
`venient Way for listeners to be aWare of the Wide variety of
`materials scheduled for broadcast, most people listen to only
`a limited number of stations Which dependably broadcast the
`programming considered to be most acceptable. Even When
`desired programming is found, it must typically be listened to
`When it is broadcast; that is, at times chosen by the broad
`caster and not the listener.
`Tape and compact disk audio players offer the listener the
`opportunity to purchase speci?c music selections or albums
`performed by favorite artists and to replay selections from
`these purchased recording Whenever desired. Pushbutton
`track selection, as Well as improved ?delity, has made the CD
`player the preferred choice of many, despite the cost and
`inconvenience of purchasing a library of desired disks. Unfor
`tunately, specialiZed information programming, unlike
`music, is largely unavailable on tape or disk, and that media is
`not capable of adequately conveying rapidly evolving infor
`mation such as local and World neWs, Weather reports, and
`rapidly changing trade and business information. Although
`broadcast radio provides adequate, up to the minute coverage
`of general neWs topics, specialiZed information continues to
`be largely unavailable on any of these three audio delivery
`systems, not Withstanding the fact that radio, tape and CD
`players continue to be Widely used, particularly in automo
`biles, for general neWs and music programming.
`More recently, “Internet radio” sources has been intro
`duced Which make ?les of audio program material available
`for doWnloading on the World Wide Web using conventional
`Web broWsers to locate and request speci?c ?les Which are
`then played in real time by special programs, including the
`popular “Real Audio” program offered by Progressive Net
`Works. Although Internet radio systems make it possible to
`deliver a richly diverse selection of audio programs to inter
`ested listeners on request, including specialiZed information
`not offered by conventional broadcast media, the use of a
`visual Web broWser to search for and then play individual
`program selections one at a time makes conventional Internet
`
`20
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`25
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`30
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`LENOVO ET AL. -- EX. 1001 -- Page 10
`
`

`

`US 7,509,178 B2
`
`3
`ment, and the program skipping mechanism is the player is
`preferably adapted to automatically skip to the next topic
`description, bypassing the intervening program content,
`Whenever a skip command is receive When a topic description
`is being played. Similarly, related topics (program segments)
`are sequentially grouped together by subject category, and a
`subject description program segment advantageously pre
`cedes each subject collection. When the user issues a skip
`command at the time a subject description is playing, the
`player automatically skips all of the program segments (top
`ics) Within the described subject and continues by playing the
`next subject description. In this Way, the listener can rapidly
`skim through subject categories, one at a time, until a desired
`subject is reached, and then alloW the player to play topic
`descriptions one at a time until a desired topic (program
`segment) is reached.
`In accordance With still another feature of the invention,
`means are employed for identifying one or more discrete
`passages Within any program segment as being a “highlight,”
`and the player incorporates means operative When the player
`is placed in a “play highlights” mode for skipping those
`portions of the content Which are not highlights, thus enabling
`the listener to revieW only the key points of a presentation, or
`to more rapidly locate particular passages on interest Within
`the body of a particular program segment.
`According to yet another feature found in the preferred
`embodiment of the invention, a designated portion of a pro
`gram segment may be designated as a hyperlink anchor from
`Which, at the request of the user, the player jumps to another
`portion of the session sequence and begin playing a different
`sequence of program segments. Means are advantageously
`employed for generating an audible cue signal to inform the
`listener that a hyperlink anchor is being played, enabling the
`listener to request that the link be executed. The hyperlink
`capability may be used to advantage to implement cross ref
`erences to related information, or to provide an audible menu
`of alternative programming Which the user may select merely
`by executing the link When the anchor pas sage identi?es other
`information of interest to the listener. In the preferred
`embodiment, a stack mechanism is used to alloW hyperlinks
`to be called in nested fashion, so that a hyperlink may be
`executed from a linked program segment, With each “retum”
`command from the user causing play to be resumed at the
`program segment from Which the last link Was performed.
`As contemplated by still another aspect of the invention,
`the player subsystem includes means for identifying a pro
`gram segment, or a particular passage Within a program seg
`ment, as a bookmarked item for ease of reference later. In
`addition, the player system incorporates means for accepting
`a dictated annotation from the user Which associated With any
`bookmarked passage. This annotation mechanism may be
`used to particular advantage When the program segments
`provided to the subscriber include email or voice mail mes
`sages, since the bookmarking may be used to identify speci?c
`messages, or portions thereof, Which require later attention,
`and the annotation mechanism provides a convenient mecha
`nism for dictating replies and/ or specifying actions to be take
`in response to particular messages or portions thereof.
`These and other objects, features and advantages of the
`present invention may be more completely understood by
`considering the folloWing detailed description of a preferred
`
`4
`embodiment of the invention. In the course of this descrip
`tion, reference Will frequently be made to the attached draW
`ings.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`FIG. 1 is a block schematic diagram of an electronic pro
`gram and advertising distribution system Which embodies the
`invention;
`FIG. 2 is a How chart illustrating the principle steps fol
`loWed in the course of the performing the information distri
`bution functions contemplated by the invention;
`FIG. 3 is a How chart illustrating the principle steps per
`formed during a playback session in the illustrative embodi
`ment;
`FIG. 4 is an information structure and data How diagram
`illustrating the manner in Which programming is selected and
`accounting functions are performed in the illustrative
`embodiment of the invention;
`FIG. 5 is an information structure diagram illustrating the
`manner in Which the program segments are dynamically
`selected and played in response to the user’s preferences and
`control decisions;
`FIG. 6 is a How chart Which describes a preferred procedure
`for preparing the program content Which is distributed to
`subscribers in accordance With the invention; and
`FIG. 7 is an information structure diagram illustrating the
`manner in Which a narrative text ?le expressed in hypertext
`markup language (HTML) may be translated in to the com
`bination of an audio speech ?le, a text ?le transcript, and a
`sequencing ?le used by the player to create a multimedia
`presentation.
`
`DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED
`EMBODIMENT
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`The illustrative embodiment of the invention shoWn in FIG.
`1 utiliZes the Internet to provide communications betWeen a
`host computer indicated generally at 101 and an audio player
`device illustrated at 103.
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`Subscriber Audio Player
`The player 103 may be advantageously implemented by a
`conventional laptop or desktop personal computer including a
`processor (the client CPU 105), a time of day clock 106, and
`a data storage system consisting of both high speed RAM
`storage and a persistent mass storage device, such as a mag
`netic disk memory, the data storage system being used for
`storing audio, text and image data at 107 and for storing usage
`data at 109 Which records the nature of the programming
`reproduced by the player 103. The player 103 further includes
`a sound card 110 Which receives audio input from a micro
`phone input device 111 for accepting voice dictation and
`commands from a user and Which delivers audio output to a
`speaker 113 in order to supply audio information to the user.
`The program data stored at 107 may advantageously include
`compressed audio recordings and/ or text (?les of characters)
`Which may be converted into audio form by conventional
`speech synthesis programs executed by the client CPU 105.
`The sound card 110 is conventional and preferably com
`plies With the recommendations detailed in the Hardware
`Design Guide for Microso? Windows 95, by Doug Klopfen
`stein, Microsoft Press (1994), ISBN l-556l5-642-l. The
`sound card 110 advantageously supports a 44 kHZ, 16-bit,
`stereo codec providing analog to digital conversion of audio
`input signals from the microphone 111 as Well as digital to
`analog conversion for programming directed to the speaker
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`LENOVO ET AL. -- EX. 1001 -- Page 11
`
`

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`US 7,509,178 B2
`
`5
`111. The sound card provides external connections and hard
`Ware support for Microphone-In, Line-In, Line-Out, and
`Headphones-Out, With volume controlled by the player soft
`Ware (including volume level logging as discussed later in
`connection With FIG. 3 of the drawings).
`To support multimedia capabilities, the CPU 105 should
`meet or exceed the capabilities of an Intel 486 DX2-66 com
`puter to provide consistently good playback results and the
`sound card 110 should include a 16-bit digital-to-analog con
`verter for playback and a 16-bit analog-to-digital converter
`for recording. The sound card 110 should further support 8,
`1 1, 22, and 44 kHZ Waveforms.A frequency of 44 kHZ is used
`for CD-quality sound and fractions of 44, such as 11 and 22,
`are often used for compressed Waveforms meant to save CPU
`processing. Support for an 8 kHZ frequency shouldbe in order
`to properly support WindoWs 95 TrueSpeechTM compression,
`Which is optimiZed for compression and playback of human
`speech. Using TrueSpeech compression, programs contain
`ing largely voice narrative data can be substantially con
`densed, and users can record annotations and voice mail
`responses as discussed later.
`In addition, the sound card 110 should be capable of repro
`ducing doWnloaded MIDI (Musical Instrument Device Inter
`face) commands, enabling the system take a MIDI data
`stream and produce sound according to the compressed ?les
`consisting of digital sheet music instructions. Preferably, the
`sound card should support at least 16-voice polyphony (the
`ability to play several sounds at the same time), and polyme
`ssage MIDI, an capability included in WindoWs 95 that alloWs
`a sound card to receive and batch-process multiple MIDI
`messages (such as Note On and Note Off). The sound card
`110 should also a microphone port for microphone 111, a
`speaker-out port (for one or tWo (stereo) unpoWered speakers
`113, and a headphone-out port.
`The personal computer CPU 105 is also preferably con
`nected to a conventional personal computer video display 118
`and a standard keyboard 119, as Well as a pointing device
`(such as a mouse, trackball or touchpad, not shoWn). The
`facilities provided by the operating system, such as WindoWs
`95, typically includes multimedia support, as noted above, as
`Well as a standard WINSOCK TCP/IP stack and modem dial
`up driver softWare to support a SLIPP/PPP Internet connec
`tion, as next discussed.
`The player 103 further includes a conventional high speed
`data modem 115 for receiving (doWnloading) the program
`information 107 from the remote server 101 and for transmit
`ting (uploading) program selections and preferences as Well
`as usage data in the ?le 109 to the server 101. To effect these
`?le transfers, the modem 115 is connected via conventional
`dial up telephone SLIP or PPP TCP/IP series data communi
`cation link 117 to an Internet service provider 121 Which
`provides access to the Internet. The service provider 121 is in
`turn connected to the host server 101 via a high speed Internet
`link seen at 123.
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`Host File Server
`The host server 101 provides a FTP server interface 125
`Which provides ?le transfer protocol services to the player
`103, a CGI interface 127 Which performs Common GateWay
`Interface script program execution in response to requests
`from the player 103, and an HTML interface 129 Which
`provides hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) World Wide
`Web server functions to the connected player 103. The host
`server 101 stores and maintains a plurality of data ?les includ
`ing a program data library indicated generally at 130 consist
`ing of a collection of compressed audio program segments
`131, announcement (“glue”) segments 132, text program seg
`
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`6
`ments 133, image segments 134, advertising segments 135
`and program catalog information 137.
`The compressed audio segments program segments com
`prise audio voice and music ?les Which may be compressed
`using conventional compression mechanisms suited to the
`data being compressed, such as TrueSpeech compression for
`voice signals and MIDI ?les for compressed synthetic music
`reproducible by the sound card 110 as noted earlier.
`Compressed voice programming in the database 131 may
`advantageously be accompanied by text transcripts (?les of
`characters) stored in the text database 133. Similarly, images
`stored in the image database 134 may be used to provide a
`multimedia presentation Which combines images reproduced
`on the display 118 of player 103 With concurrently presented
`audio at the speaker 113 and/or displayed text. Program seg
`ments Which present advertising, illustratively shoWn as
`being resident in a separate database 135 in FIG. 1, may
`likeWise consist of audio, text and/ or image segments, as may
`the program segments Which provide announcements
`betWeen program segments as Well as audible and visible
`menu options Which the user may select as described later.
`As hereinafter described in connection With FIG. 5, each
`voice or text program segment preferably includes a sequenc
`ing ?le Which contains the identi?cation of highlighted pas
`sages and hypertext anchors Within the program content. This
`sequencing ?le may further contain references to image ?les
`and the start and ending offset locations in the audio presen
`tation When each image display should begin and end. In this
`Way, the image presentation may be synchronized With the
`audio programming to provide coherent multimedia pro
`gramming.
`As contemplated by the invention, information Which is
`available in text form from neWs sources, libraries, etc. may
`be converted to compressed audio form either by human
`readers or by conventional speech synthesis. If speech syn
`thesis is used, the conversion of text to speech is preferably
`performed at the client station 103 by the player. In this Way,
`text information alone may be rapidly doWnloaded from the
`server 101 since it requires much less data than equivalent
`compressed audio ?les, and the doWnloaded text further pro
`vides the user With ready access to a transcript of voice
`presentations. In other cases, Where it is important to capture
`the quality and authenticity of the original analog speech
`signals, a text transcript ?le Which collaterally accompanies a
`compressed voice audio ?le may be stored in the database 133
`from Which a transcript may be made available to the user
`upon request.
`The host server 101 further stores Web page data 141 Which
`is made available to the player 103 by means of the HTML
`interface 128. The host server 101 additionally stores and
`maintains a user data and usage log database indicated at 143
`Which stores uploaded usage data received from the store 109
`in the player 103 via the Internet pathWay 123 and the FTP
`server interface 125. The user data 143 further contains addi
`tional data describing the preferences, demographic charac
`teristics and program selections unique to each subscriber
`Which is developed largely from user-supplied data obtained
`When users submit HTML form data via the Internet pathWay
`123 for processing by the CGI mechanism 127.
`The host server 101 periodically transmits a doWnload
`compilation ?le 145 upon receiving a request from the player
`103. The ?le 145 is placed in a predetermined FTP doWnload
`?le directory and assigned a ?lename knoWn to the player
`103. At a time determined by player 103 monitoring the time
`of day clock 106, a dial up connection is established via the
`service provider 121 and the Internet to the FTP server 125
`and the doWnload compilation 145 is transferred to the pro
`
`LENOVO ET AL. -- EX. 1001 -- Page 12
`
`

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`US 7,509,178 B2
`
`7
`gram data store 107 in the player 103. The compilation 145 is
`previously Written to the download directory by a doWnload
`processing mechanism seen at 151 in the server 101. DoWn
`load processing, as described in more detail later, extracts
`from the library 130 data de?ning compressed program,
`advertising, and glue segments, and/or associated text pro
`gram data, based on selections and preferences made by (or
`inferred for) the user as speci?ed in the subscriber data and
`usage log database 143.
`The doWnload compilation ?le 145, though represented as
`a single ?le in FIG. 1, preferably takes the form of one or more
`subscriber and session speci?c ?les Which contain the iden
`ti?cation of separately stored sharable ?les. By Way of
`example, the recommended order and the identi?cation of the
`program ?les making up an individual playback session are
`stored in a session schedule ?le (to be described in detail in
`connection With FIG. 5) Which contains program identi?ers
`of the program segments to be played during an upcoming
`session. The player 103 doWnloads the session schedule ?le
`and then issues doWnload requests for those identi?ed pro
`gram segment ?les Which are not already available in the
`player’s local storage unit 107.
`Usage data in the store 109 maintained by the player 103 is
`preferably uploaded as a ?le bearing a predetermined ?le
`name indicative of the particular subscriber and upload time
`and stored in a predetermined FTP upload directory. This
`upload advantageously occurs at the same time the player 103
`establishes a doWnload connection to the FTP server 125 as
`noted earlier, and occurs prior to the doWnload of the compi
`lation 145. Because the upload data from the store 109 in the
`player 103 identi?es program segments desired by the sub
`scriber, program segments neWly requested by the user are
`appended to the compilation 145. Note that, in typical cases,
`programming in addition to the speci?cally requested pro
`gramming Will be included in the doWnload compilation, and
`the transfer of that programming can begin immediately
`While the neWly uploaded user selections and other informa
`tion are being processed as indicated at 153 to identify addi
`tional information to be included in the doWnload compila
`tion.
`As indicated at 161 in FIG. 1, the host server upload pro
`cessing mechanism 153 also provides a number of reports, as
`described in m