Patent ID: 9219634
Filing Date: 2015-12-22
Classification: G06F,H04L,H04N

Abstract:
1. A user interface device for accessing at least one of a plurality of digital media files by a tuning movement in a single tuning band having a plurality of virtual channels, the interface device comprising: a physical processor configured to associate the plurality of digital media files with the plurality of virtual channels and to assign each of the virtual channels to a corresponding location in the single tuning band, wherein the virtual channels are configured such that tuning through the virtual channels provides access to channels without traversing layers of metadata; and a selection mechanism configured to select a first virtual channel from the plurality of virtual channels for playback in response to the tuning movement to a first location in the single tuning band corresponding to the first virtual channel, the first virtual channel being associated with digital media files determined, via examination of metadata, to have attributes similar to the attributes for the first virtual channel based on selection criteria, the selection criteria including one or more of the following: past listening history of the user, genre, or tempo, wherein rendering and playback of the digital media files associated with the first virtual channel occurs automatically in response to the tuning movement to the first location corresponding to the first virtual channel, wherein the digital media files associated with the first virtual channel are accessed from at least two different sources, including local storage and an internet streaming audio source, wherein the selection mechanism comprises a display screen having a single linear dial corresponding to the single tuning band and the tuning movement for the first virtual channel corresponds to positioning of an indicator on the single linear dial to the first location corresponding to the first virtual channel, and wherein the single linear dial comprises a plurality of sections, each of the plurality of sections corresponding to different categories in a primary level of a hierarchy relating to metadata for content of the digital media files.