Streaming audio/video guidance in a consumer appliance
Contents
1. the rendering of the guidance message if the electronic device enters a new state 16 The method of claim 11 wherein the guidance message is one of a plurality of guidance messages located at a plurality of sources and the method further includes receiving the guidance message from one of the plu rality of sources based on a prioritization of the sources of the plurality of sources 17 The method of claim 11 wherein the guidance message corresponds to at least one of an instruction message related to at least one of installation operation and maintenance and an advisory message regarding at least one of features benefits options problems solutions and upgrades 18 The method of claim 11 wherein determining whether the guidance message is available for the state is based on an attribute that is associated with the state and Dec 4 2003 the method further comprising detecting an upgrade to the electronic device identifying one or more states that are affected by the upgrade and modifying the attribute that is associated with each of the one or more states to indicate that the guidance message has not been previously rendered 19 A consumer device having a primary function of rendering entertainment material to a user the consumer device including a user interface that is configured to receive input from the user that effects a change in a state of the consumer device and a controller operabl2. US 20030223411A1 a Patent Application Publication 10 Pub No US 2003 0223411 Al as United States de la Fuente 43 Pub Date Dec 4 2003 54 STREAMING AUDIO VIDEO GUIDANCE IN A CONSUMER APPLIANCE 76 Inventor Ramon de la Fuente Cupertino CA US Correspondence Address Corporate Patent Counsel U S Philips Corporation 580 White Plains Road Tarrytown NY 10591 US 21 Appl No 10 158 725 22 Filed May 30 2002 Publication Classification 51 Int CII nssr HO4L 12 50 111 112 2 Access Controller Device Local ia Audio Video Renderer 52 U S O oncuserenue ceed 370 359 370 410 57 ABSTRACT A system provides context dependent advice and training in an audio or video form to a corresponding consumer electronic device Preferably the device receives the advice and training from a server on the Internet When the device is not in contact with the Internet the advice and training are provided from local memory either within the target device or within a local area network that is in contact with the consumer device In this context the advice and training will generally provide information related to connecting to the Internet To facilitate ease of operation the advice and training is provided in audio and or video form depending upon the rendering capabilities of consumer device and depending upon the context and or content of the advice and training informati
3. ance information will include instructions and advice regarding the any upgraded features functions or corrections 0016 Ina preferred embodiment the guidance informa tion is distributed among storage elements 115 130 165 at the device 110 the local network 120 and the Internet 150 respectively to provide economic efficiency If detailed information is provided for example supplying the infor mation from a manufacturer s Internet server 160 will generally be more efficient than incorporating the detailed information into each and every device 110 that the manu facturer produces particularly with regard to requirements for memory to contain this information On the other hand guidance regarding how to connect to a local network would be incorporated into the storage 115 of each device 110 because it would be ineffective to require that the device be connected to the local network 120 or to the Internet 150 to receive this guidance from the storage elements 130 165 If the local network 120 reliably provides access to the Internet 150 the need for storage 130 on the local network 120 is minimized and may be eliminated 0017 In accordance with this invention the guidance information is provided as audio and or video information depending upon the particular device 110 and the particular guidance information For example if the device 110 is an audio system without a display device the guidance infor mation will be a
4. ance mes sage from one of a plurality of sources the plurality of sources including a first storage element that is local to the electronic device and a second storage element that is remote from the electronic device and the controller is further configured to preferably access the guidance message from the second storage element 10 The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the guidance message corresponds to at least one of an instruction message related to at least one of installation operation and maintenance and US 2003 0223411 Al an advisory message regarding at least one of features benefits options problems solutions and upgrades 11 A method of providing guidance instruction to a user of an electronic device comprising determining a state of the electronic device determining whether a guidance message is available for the state and rendering the guidance message if the guidance message has not been previously rendered 12 The method of claim 11 wherein the guidance message includes at least one of an audio message and a video message 13 The method of claim 12 further including receiving the guidance message from a source that is remote from the electronic device 14 The method of claim 12 further including receiving the guidance message from an Internet server 15 The method of claim 11 further including delaying the rendering of the guidance message and canceling
5. arning should be issued because the user is about to initiate a destructive task there may be no delay imposed If on the other hand the message is merely general information regarding options that could be taken from a particular state a much longer interrupt period is provided 0027 At 260 after rendering the message corresponding to the current state the state is marked as having had a message rendered using a flag a date time stamp or other technique that is provided to minimize the rendering of redundant messages Thereafter the system loops back to 210 to await the next recognized change of state 0028 The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the invention It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements which although not explicitly described or shown herein embody the principles of the invention and are thus within the spirit and scope of the following claims I claim 1 An electronic device comprising a user interface that is configured to communicate user commands to the electronic device Dec 4 2003 the user commands being communicated to affect a state of the electronic device a controller operably coupled to the user interface that is configured to determine whether a guidance message is associated with the state of the electronic device and a renderer operably coupled to the controller that is configured to render the guidance
6. er this message has previously been rendered and if it has been previously rendered the system loops back to 210 A num ber of techniques common in the art may be applied to keep track of which messages have been rendered In a straight forward embodiment each state has an associated rendered flag that is set when the message is first rendered However the use of a single flag does not facilitate the rendering of updated messages if the former message was rendered In a more extensive tracking system each state may have a date time stamp associated with the last time that a message was rendered If the date time of the accessed message is more recent than the last rendering date time then this accessed message is determined to be unrendered 0026 If at 240 the message is determined to be unren dered the system renders the message via the consumer device at 250 Preferably this rendering is preceded by a notification signal to catch the user s attention and suc ceeded by a message termination signal Typically different notification signals are provided for different events For example a warning message may have a different notifi cation signal than an encouragement message As noted above the message rendering may be delayed to assure that the user is purposely pausing at this state Different delay times may be imposed depending upon the type of message If for example the system determines that a w
7. example a download from the Internet 150 the controller 113 is pref erably configured to selectively reset or initialize messages related to the functions that are affected by the upgrade to unrendered so that the user is provided the opportunity to receive any guidance information related to the upgraded functions or features 0023 FIG 2 illustrates an example flow diagram for invoking the audio video guidance system of this invention At 210 a change of state is detected This change may be caused by a user action by the expiration of a countdown process by termination of an action by a component asso US 2003 0223411 Al ciated with the consumer device and so on As is common in the art certain changes of state or certain classes of changes of state may be defined as don t care changes with regard to the guidance system 0024 Upon detection of a recognized change of state the system determines whether a message for the newly entered state exists at 220 As noted above preferably this deter mination is made in a top down fashion to allow upper levels of the information hierarchy to substitute messages for information sources that are lower in the hierarchy If there is no message available for guidance at this state the system loops back to 210 to await the next recognized change of state 0025 At 230 the message corresponding to the state is accessed and at 240 the system determines wheth
8. ice when it was first received many users are unaware of subsequent features and benefits or of possible fixes to problems that they have experienced in the past BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 0008 It is an object of this invention to ease the task of learning to operate a consumer electronic device It is a further object of this invention to provide advice regarding features and benefits available for the electronic device It is a further object of this invention to provide an efficient and effective method of integrating the learning experience into Dec 4 2003 the operation of the device It is a further object of this invention to facilitate and encourage the upgrading of the electronic device It is a further object of this invention to provide a relatively low cost method and system for achiev ing the above objects 0009 These objects and others are achieved by a system that provides context dependent advice and training in an audio or video form to the corresponding consumer elec tronic device Preferably the device receives the advice and training from a server on the Internet When the device is not in contact with the Internet the advice and training are provided from local memory either within the target device or within a local area network that is in contact with the consumer device In this context the advice and training will generally provide information related to connecting to the Internet To facilitate ea
9. message upon com mand of the controller wherein the guidance message includes at least one of an audio message and a video message 2 The electronic device of claim 1 further including an access device that is configured to access the guidance message from a remote source 3 The electronic device of claim 2 wherein the remote source includes a storage device that is accessed via an Internet connection 4 The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the controller is configured to command the renderer to render the guidance message based on whether the guidance message has previously been rendered by the renderer 5 The electronic device of claim 4 further including an access device that is configured to access the guidance message from a remote source 6 The electronic device of claim 5 wherein the remote source includes a storage device that is accessed via an Internet connection 7 The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the controller is configured to command the renderer to render the guidance message based on whether a pre define time duration has elapsed since the electronic device has entered the state 8 The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the controller is configured to command the renderer to render the guidance message based on whether the electronic device has subsequently entered an other state 9 The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the controller is configured to access the guid
10. nt material from the Internet The Streamium MC i200 product from Philips Electronics for example is a full functioned AM FM stereo system with CD player and MP3 recorder and player that is also designed to connect to a home network via an Ethernet gateway router When connected to the home network the MC i200 is able to receive MP3 encoded entertainment material from a Personal Computer PC or a file server and if the network provides Internet access is able to receive entertainment material from online music services such as Internet Radio sites from online music collections from online vendors and so on 0015 The guidance information includes instructions for installing operating or maintaining the consumer device US 2003 0223411 Al 110 and may include detailed instructions for each feature and function of the device 110 or may only include instruc tions for some of the more complicated or unusual features and functions Additionally the guidance information may include ancillary information such as a description of the benefits that particular features provide how best to com bine features and so on In like manner when the device 110 is connected to the Internet 150 the ancillary information may include advertisements for future features or functions or notifications of corrections of faults in existing features or functions that are available by upgrading the product When online upgrades are provided the guid
11. of this invention the controller 113 detects when the device is in a state that the device has not previously entered and determines whether a guidance message is available for this state The controller 113 is configured to initiate a search for the message at the highest level of the information hierarchy and proceed downward In the example of FIG 1 the controller 113 will first attempt to find the message at the storage 165 of the Internet Server 160 via the access device 114 If unsuccess ful the controller 113 will next attempt to find the message at the local storage 130 If also unsuccessful the controller 113 will next attempt to find the message within its local memory 115 In this manner messages that are updated at the Internet server 160 can effectively replace the messages that were installed in the device 110 when it was manufac tured 0020 If a guidance message is available the controller 113 provides the message to the rendering component 116 but preferably only if the message has not previously been rendered or if the user explicitly requests guidance During the search and rendering process if the device undergoes a change of state the process is terminated and the next state is evaluated That is for example if a first state is entered for a brief period of time and then exited for a second state the need to present guidance related to the first state passes and the controller 113 determines whether
12. on MEN 120 Local Storage Patent Application Publication Dec 4 2003 US 2003 0223411 A1 Access ee Audio Video Renderer Consumer Device 210 Message State exists 240 Message State already rendered Mark State as Rendered No 250 Render Message State FIG 2 US 2003 0223411 Al STREAMING AUDIO VIDEO GUIDANCE IN A CONSUMER APPLIANCE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 0001 1 Field of the Invention 0002 This invention relates to the field of consumer electronics and in particular to a consumer appliance that automatically provides instructions on the use of the appli ance and or advice on the features and benefits of the appliance in an audio and or video format based on infor mation received from the Internet 0003 2 Description of Related Art 0004 Consumer appliances such as stereo systems tele visions home entertainment systems recording devices and the like are becoming increasingly more sophisticated Such devices for example include multiple input and output ports for transmitting or receiving content material to and from each of a variety of other devices and may also include one or more input output ports that provide connectivity to home networks 0005 Learning to operate most high end electronic devices to their greatest potential is often a daunting task At times also learning to operate even simple devices to a mediocre level of
13. performance can be daunting as well depending upon the technical expertise of the user and or depending upon the quality of the user s manual and other documentation provided with the device Some devices include a help system that can be used to learn how to use the device or to perform diagnostics but the help system often becomes yet another feature of the device that the user fails to learn to use 0006 To assist the users of their products some vendors offer comprehensive on line tutorials hypertext based user manuals training videos and other applications that facili tate learning about each product s features and functions Typically however the user must use a computer terminal or a set top box to access this training material Unless the consumer device and the computer or set top box are collocated this process typically requires the user to learn about the device at one locale and then apply the learning to the device at another locale Also operating the computer to obtain the instruction while simultaneously operating the device to apply the learning introduces a discontinuity in learning that substantially reduces the effectiveness and efficiency of the learning process 0007 To complicate the matter further many consumer electronic devices are configured to be upgradeable often by merely downloading a new version of software In addition to not fully appreciating the features and benefits of the dev
14. se of operation the advice and training is provided in audio and or video form depending upon the rendering capabilities of consumer device and depending upon the context and or content of the advice and training information BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0010 The invention is explained in further detail and by way of example with reference to the accompanying draw ings wherein 0011 FIG 1 illustrates an example block diagram of an audio video guidance system in accordance with this inven tion 0012 FIG 2 illustrates an example flow diagram for invoking the audio video guidance system of this invention 0013 Throughout the drawings the same reference numerals indicate similar or corresponding features or func tions DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 0014 FIG 1 illustrates an example block diagram of an audio video guidance system 100 in accordance with this invention The system 100 includes a consumer device 110 that is configured to connect to a local network 120 such as a local area network LAN or home automation network and from the local network 120 to the Internet 150 Option ally the consumer device 110 may be configured to connect directly to the Internet 150 using for example a broadband connection such as a cable modem or dialup connection The consumer device 110 may be for example an Internet enabled audio system that is configured to receive online music and other entertainme
15. there is an as yet unrendered message available for this second state 0021 The controller 113 may also be configured to pause some minimal amount of time before rendering guidance information to allow a user to transit to a new state That is in this embodiment only if the user pauses at a particular state for more than the minimal amount of time will the message corresponding to the state be rendered 0022 By providing the guidance only when a user pauses at a state and only if the same guidance has not been given in the past the user is not inundated with messages that might cause the user to disable this feature Not illustrated the controller 113 provides the user the option of disabling the above described automated guidance The controller 113 also provides the option of resetting all messages to unren dered so that a user may reinitiate the learning process or so that a new user may be provided with the guidance information If the device 110 includes an option for user identification the controller 113 is configured to maintain independent user options including independent lists of which messages have been rendered for each user The controller 113 also allows the user to receive guidance information on demand typically by entering a particular state and pressing a help button or performing some other defined operation corresponding to a help request In like manner if the user upgrades the device via for
16. udio suggestions or comments If the device 110 includes a display device the guidance information may include instruction videos schematic diagrams suggested layouts and so on If the guidance information relates to how to display images on the display device it will prefer ably be a vocal description of the process 0018 Also in accordance with this invention the presen tation of the guidance information is context sensitive A controller 113 in the consumer device 110 is configured to effect the rendering of select guidance information based on a current state 111 of the consumer device 110 The state 111 of the device 110 is controlled and or determined by the actions of a user at a user interface 112 by actions of the controller 113 and so on The state of an audio system may correspond for example to power on connected to local network no input selected surround sound selected bass enhanced and so on In this state there is no need to guide the user for connecting to the local network because the state of the device indicates that the device is already connected to the local network In like manner there is no need to guide the user on selecting specific tracks on a CD because a CD has not been selected as the input to the device It may on the other hand be wise to provide guidance on how to select a particular device or component for providing input to the device Dec 4 2003 0019 In a preferred embodiment
17. y coupled to the user interface that is configured to automatically effect a rendering of a guidance message that is associated with the state of the consumer device wherein the guidance message includes at least one of an audio message and a video message 20 The consumer device of claim 19 further including an access device that is configured to obtain the guidance message from a source that is remote from the con sumer device 21 The consumer device of claim 19 further including an access device that is configured to obtain the guidance message from an Internet server 22 The consumer device of claim 21 wherein the controller is further configured to provide an other guidance message from a memory that is local to the consumer device to facilitate a connection of the access device to the Internet server 23 The consumer device of claim 19 wherein the guidance message corresponds to at least one of an instruction message related to at least one of installation operation and maintenance and an advisory message regarding at least one of features benefits options problems solutions and upgrades
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search