Abstract:
To create an audio personal newspaper, descriptive information about newspaper articles (such as subject matter, author, source) is extracted from newspaper articles and the text of the newspaper articles is converted into audio files so the user can listen to the content of the newspaper articles. The audio newspaper can be personalized by compiling only the articles matching a user&#39;s preferences for subject matter, author, source, and the like. In some embodiments, the audio newspaper may be stored in a data file, which may have advertisements appended to it and which may be stored as a single file so as to prevent the user from skipping over advertisements.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefit of the U.S. Provisional Application 60/596,048, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     The invention relates generally to the conversion of text-based content to audio content, and more particularly to the compilation, storage, and delivery of the converted content to a user.  
         [0003]     Portable audio players allow users to listen to content of their choice. The use of audio players for delivering music is also known in the art and audio books allow users to listen to the content of books. Up-to-the-minute, personalized audio news content, however, is not currently available.  
         [0004]     Traditional sources of news have certain disadvantages. For example, newspapers can be unwieldy and difficult to read because of the small size of the typeface. Additionally, commuters who drive to work cannot read the newspaper during their commute. Radio news programs provide audio versions of the news, but often radio news stories only provide a cursory discussion of the news, and the listener cannot choose which news clips most interest him or her. In addition, listeners of news radio programs cannot choose the time at which they listen to the news stories presented, as there is no way to pause a radio program or record it for future listening.  
         [0005]     Thus, there is a need for an apparatus and method for delivering personalized news content based on a user&#39;s preferences that is selectively retrievable by the user.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     To create an audio personal newspaper, descriptive information about newspaper articles (such as subject matter, author, source) is extracted from newspaper articles and the text of the newspaper articles is converted into audio files so the user can listen to the content of the newspaper articles. The audio newspaper can be personalized by compiling only the articles matching a user&#39;s preferences for subject matter, author, source, and the like. In some embodiments, the audio newspaper may be stored in a data file, which may have advertisements appended to it and which may be stored as a single file so as to prevent the user from skipping over advertisements. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0007]     The invention is described with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating the entities involved in the provision of an embodiment of the invention.  
         [0009]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a high-level block diagram of the text content processing functionality according to an embodiment of the invention.  
         [0010]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating the steps text content undergoes as it is processed according to an embodiment of the invention.  
         [0011]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating an audio file according to an embodiment of the invention.  
         [0012]      FIG. 5  is a functional block diagram illustrating the transmission of an audio file from the text content processing functionality to an end user&#39;s portable electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention.  
         [0013]      FIG. 6  is a functional block diagram illustrating the provision of audio content according to an embodiment of the invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 7  is an example of a graphical user interface available to a user according to an embodiment of the invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 8  is a schematic block diagram of an audio file with an advertisement inserted therein, according to an embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0016]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating the entities involved in the provision of an embodiment of the invention. The content processing functionality  2000  interfaces with content sources of varying form  1000 , and end users  3000 . The content source provides content items to the content processing functionality. There are many types of content sources. For example, a newspaper may be a content source. A website may be a content source as well. The content source may contain only text content items (e.g., printed text) or it may contain text content items that are associated with other media, such as, for example, audio, video, and/or graphics. Text content items are provided from the content source to the content processing functionality  2000 , where the text is converted to audio format and processed for download or transmission to a user  3000 .  
         [0017]     The user  3000  is an individual who possesses a processor (e.g., a computer)  3010  that can download audio format files and enable the user  3000  to listen to audio format files. The user  3000  may also possess another processor such as, for example, a portable handheld device  3020  that is capable of receiving audio format files and that enables the user  3000  to listen to audio format files.  
         [0018]     The user  3000  provides preference information for news articles to the content processing functionality  2000 . For example, the user can select the type of content they desire to download based on a variety of factors. The factors include, for example, subject matter, author, source, time frame, geographic location of interest, topics, and the like.  
         [0019]     The content processing functionality  2000  can match the user&#39;s preference information with descriptive information about the text content items received from the content source. The content source can be one type of descriptive information that identifies a particular text content item. For example, if the content source is a newspaper, and the text content item is an article from the sports section of the newspaper, then the descriptive information associated with that text content item includes (but is not limited to) the source, which is the particular newspaper, and the subject, which is sports. The descriptive information and or preference may be narrowed further. For example, the user may identify a particular sport or team of interest and the descriptive information may be similarly profiled.  
         [0020]     In some embodiments, an advertiser can be a content source. For example, the advertiser  4000  provides advertising content to the content processing functionality  2000 . In some circumstances, the content processing functionality  2000  converts the content obtained from the advertiser to audio format. Alternatively, the advertiser  4000  could provide content that is already in audio format to the content processing functionality  2000 . The content from the advertiser is available to the user  3000  via the content processing functionality  2000 .  
         [0021]      FIG. 2  is a high level block diagram describing the various components of the content processing functionality  2000 . The content processing functionality  2000  includes one or more content acquisition functionality  2010 , content metadata categorization functionality  2020 , content cleansing functionality  2030 , content repository capacity  2050 , content conversion functionality  2060 , content selection functionality  2070 , and content delivery functionality  2080 . The content acquisition functionality  2010  acquires content from the content sources. Generally, text content items are received by the content acquisition functionality. Where there is information other than text, such as graphics or audio, the content acquisition functionality can remove all information other than the text. Alternatively, the content acquisition functionality can leave the non-text information in place and not convert that information.  
         [0022]     The text content item is processed by the content metadata categorization functionality  2020 . The content metadata categorization functionality  2020  assigns descriptive information to the text content item based on an analysis of the text content and identifying words or phrases that can be associated with certain categories. The content metadata categorization functionality could be automated or performed by a person who reads the article and assigns descriptive information to the article. For example, if the words home run or World Series appear in an article, then the metadata categorization functionality  2020  could assign the text content item to the categories of “Sports” and “Baseball.” 
         [0023]     In some embodiments, the content cleansing functionality  2030  alters the text content item to prepare it for conversion from text form to audio form. The content cleansing functionality can take the form of removing or inserting punctuation marks that are recognizable by the content conversion functionality or removing, inserting, or altering words, letters, or symbols that would not normally be literally spoken if an individual were to read text content item aloud. The content cleansing functionality can also take the form of replacing phrases, words or abbreviations with phonetically accurate representation of these phrases, words, or abbreviations, to more accurately reflect how they would be read. For example the phrase, “Sen. Tom Smith (R—DE)” might be replaced with “Senator Tom Smith, Republican from Delaware”. The content cleansing functionality can also take the form of lexically decomposing one or more sentences to determine the parts of speech (noun, verb, adverb, possessive noun) for each word in the sentence to determine the correct pronunciation of each word and proper phonetic inflection of each word. For example, the phrase “He will take the lead in the presentation” may be replaced with “He will take the leed in the presentation.” Similarly, the phrase “He will take the lead to the factory” may be replaced with “He will take the led to the factory.” 
         [0024]     The text content item is converted from text form to audio form by the content conversion functionality  2060 . The content conversion functionality  2060  may consist of code stored on a processor that converts text-to-speech, or an audio recording of an individual reading a text content item. Audio content items are stored in a memory in the content repository  2050 .  
         [0025]     The content selection functionality  2070  compares the descriptive information associated with text content items that have been converted to audio content items with a content preference. For example, some users may prefer to read baseball stories, and the content selection functionality  2070  would ensure that users whose content preferences are set in that manner would receive baseball stories. The content selection functionality  2070  performs the personalization of the delivered/downloaded audio content.  
         [0026]     The audio content items selected for a particular user by the content selection functionality are delivered to the user by the content delivery functionality  2080 . In some embodiments, the content delivery method is determined by user preferences regarding type of audio files downloaded (e.g., MP3, WAV, etc.), the frequency with which they are downloaded, and the devices they have to receive the audio files.  
         [0027]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating the sequence of steps through which content is processed by the invention. Beginning at  5010 , content in text form is acquired by the content processing functionality. Descriptive information about the text content item, such as the text&#39;s source, author, genre, or other qualities, is next acquired at  5020 . In some embodiments, the text content is next altered at  5030  in a manner as discussed above that improves the quality of the audio content item that is ultimately prepared. The text content item is next converted  5040  into an audio file. The text content item is then stored at  5050  in a memory of a content repository  2040 . Finally, the text content item in audio form, is delivered to or downloaded by the user  5060 .  
         [0028]      FIG. 4  is a schematic block diagram depicting an audio file  6000  containing text content items  6010  that have been converted to audio form for delivery to the user. The audio file is stored on a computer readable medium and may be any sort of file associated with the playback of audible items (e.g., .MP3, WAV, other audio files). The audio content items  6010  have descriptive information associated with them and are compiled by the content selection functionality.  
         [0029]      FIG. 5  is a functional block diagram illustrating the transmission of an audio file from the text content processing functionality to an end user&#39;s portable electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention. The content processing functionality  2000  generates an audio file  6000 . The content processing functionality  2000  delivers the audio file  6000  to a user&#39;s computer  3010  or to a user&#39;s handheld  3020  according to the user&#39;s preferred delivery method. For instance, the user may prefer to have an audio file downloaded once per day. Or the user may prefer to have an audio file downloaded every hour. Similarly, the user may specify the delivery method (e.g., e-mail, download from a website, etc.). The audio file  6000  is then optionally downloaded to the user&#39;s handheld portable device  3020  according to the protocol associated with the handheld portable device.  
         [0030]      FIG. 6  is a functional block diagram illustrating the provision of audio content according to an embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, an audio content counterpart to a text content item can be made available on a website in conjunction with the text content item. Accordingly, a content source  7010  associated with the Internet website  7000  or the Internet website  7000  sends content  8000  to the content processing functionality  2000 . In some embodiments, the Internet website itself is the content source. The content may be in text form, audio form, or any combination of text and audio and/or graphics/pictures. The content processing functionality  2000  converts the content provided by the Internet website to a desired audio item  9000 . The audio content item  9000  is then delivered to the Internet website  7000 , where a website user  10000  can access the audio content item  9000 .  
         [0031]      FIG. 7  illustrates an example of a graphical user interface  7500  that is received by a user when navigating the Internet website  7000 . On the graphical user interface, the user is presented with the text content  7700  and a separate icon  7900  that can be actuated to listen to audio content or download the audio content. When the user actuates the icon by, for example, clicking on the icon with a mouse, the audio content associated with the displayed text content  7700  is played or downloaded/accessed as discussed above.  
         [0032]      FIG. 8  is a schematic block diagram of an alternative embodiment of the audio file. In some embodiments  11000  the audio file includes at least one advertisement item  12000  in addition to at least one audio content item  13000 . In other embodiments, the advertisement has descriptive information associated with it and the advertisement is selected to be included in the audio file  11000  based on the content preferences. In some embodiments, the audible advertisement and the selected/downloaded audio content item are included as part of one audio file. In this manner, the advertisement would have to be downloaded along with the audio content item  13000  and cannot be selectively deleted by the user.  
       CONCLUSION  
       [0033]     The previous description of the embodiment is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the invention. While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.