Abstract:
A personal audio player has a housing, an audio output device in the housing and an audio player in the housing and coupled with the output device for storing and playing audio files. Multiple display panels are located on the housing. Each display panel is controlled to have a unique presentation format for presenting different information to a user. A user interface on the housing has different illumination colors respectively corresponding to different operation modes of the audio player. A lyrics processor outputs lyric text to one of the display panels in synchronisation with playing of a corresponding audio file.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The current invention relates to personal audio players. 
   2. Description of the Prior Art 
   With the introduction of large capacity personal audio players their range of functions has increased considerably. Such players now also function as FM radios, photo and video clip players, voice/memo recorders and file storage devices. A large amount of content can be stored in the device. The displays on these devices are becoming more complex to allow the user to view content stored on the internal hard drive by list of album title, artist name, song title, genre, directory name and file name etc. The variety of complex functions the device performs also makes it necessary for the device to have a complex user interface. It is desirable to have an improved display and user interface scheme for better user experience. 
   In known audio players fast forward or fast rewind produces either no sound or distorted sound. The play time is typically shown during fast forward, but unless the user has memorised a time index for a song there is no way to tell if a desired position in a song is reached until the normal play speed is resumed. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   It is an object of the present invention to provide a personal audio player with an improved display and user interface scheme for better user experience. It is a further object of the current invention to provide a personal audio player that ameliorates one or more of the above problems or at least provides the public with a useful alternative. 
   There is disclosed herein a personal audio player comprising a housing, an audio output device in the housing, an audio player in the housing and coupled with the output device for storing and playing audio files, and a plurality of display panels located on the housing for presenting information to a user, wherein each display panel is controlled to have a presentation format different to other ones of the display panels. 
   Preferably, the display panels are located in a side by side arrangement. 
   Preferably, each display panel has a different physical size. 
   Preferably, each display panel presents different information. 
   Preferably, the player further includes a user interface for performing a plurality of different operations of the audio player and having a plurality of different illumination colors corresponding to the different operations of the audio player. 
   Preferably, information for the different operations of the audio player is displayed on different ones of the display panels. 
   Preferably, the user interface includes at least one LED light source. 
   Preferably, the player further includes a lyrics processor for outputting lyric text to one of the display panels in synchronisation with playing of a corresponding audio file. 
   Preferably, the presentation format of the display panel receiving the lyric text is a single line scrolling text presentation format. 
   Preferably, the lyrics processor includes a multiplexer for multiplexing an audio file and a lyric file into a single data stream. 
   Further aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following drawings and description. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic illustration of an audio player according to the invention, 
       FIG. 2  is a schematic illustration of a user interface button for the audio player, 
       FIGS. 3 to 5  are schematic illustrations of the user interface arrangement for the audio player, and 
       FIG. 6  is a schematic illustration of a lyric text processor function for the audio player. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   In  FIG. 1  there is depicted an audio player comprises a housing  1  enclosing a processor  2 , data storage memory  3  and an audio output jack  4 . Located on the housing  1  are a display area  5  and user interface area  9 . The audio output jack  4  is a ⅛″ (3.5 mm) mini stereo jack of known type for connection of conventional headphones (not shown). The data storage memory  3  is for storing audio and lyric data files as well as operating files for the processor  2 . The processor  2  includes an audio player function for reading and playing audio files. The audio player function is well known in the art and most commonly uses the MP3 audio format. The processor  2  also includes a lyrics processor function for outputting lyric text to a lyric display  8  in synchronisation with playing of a corresponding audio file. 
   The display area  5  comprises three different display panels  6 ,  7 ,  8  in a side by side arrangement for presenting information to a user. The display panels  6 ,  7 ,  8  are all of different size, type and aspect ratios. The processor  2  controls the presentation format of each display panel for presenting different information to the user. The presentation format of each display panel is different to that of the other display panels and the size and aspect ratio of the display is tailored for the intended presentation format. 
   As user tends to read lyrics in sequence a display large enough to show entire song lyrics is not necessary. Instead, a long rectangular display  8  suitable for a single line scrolling text presentation format is provided for display of lyric content. Lists are easiest read when presented in a column format and so a relatively narrow and tall display panel  6  is provide to display lists of items such as play lists or stored audio file information by artist, album, song or genre in a column format. The third and wider display  7  suitable for a multi-column multi-line presentation format is provided for presentation of general information. The third display  7  is used to show player settings, menu and time/date information and during playback display is used to show artist, album and song name of the currently playing audio file as well as equalizer setting, frequency spectrum and current play time. 
   The user interface area  9  includes a scroll wheel  10  and buttons  11 ,  12  for performing a plurality of different operations of the audio player.  FIG. 2  shows the simplified structure of a user interface button  11 . The scroll wheel  10  and buttons  11 ,  12  are made of semi-transparent material with light diffusing capability. The top portion of the button, say  11  projects through an opening in the housing  1 . The button is mounted on a PCB  15  above a switch contact  13  and a tri-color (green, red, blue) light emitting diode (LED) light source  14 . The button  11  will change color when the tri-color LED underneath it changes color. The LED  14  is controlled to change color to correspond to the current operation mode of audio player and whether the button  11  is functional during that operation mode. The button  11  shows green when it is enabled or used for a particular operation of the audio player, blue when it is disabled or meaningless in the current operation mode and red when the particular function that the button is currently assigned to is executing. 
     FIGS. 3 to 5  are schematic illustrations of the user interface arrangement for the audio player. When browsing the menu,  FIG. 3 , only the navigation buttons Up  28 , Down  30 , Left  31 , Right  29  and OK  32  are illuminated green showing that navigation is possible. The remaining playback buttons Play/Pause  24 , FRW  26 , FFW  27  and Stop  25  are illuminated orange showing that playback is not possible. When the user selects a album or song,  FIG. 4 , then the Play/pause button  24  will turned green while the FRW  26 , FFW  27  and Stop  25  buttons remain orange. When the player is playing a particular song or album,  FIG. 5 , the Play button  24  will turn red and the FRW  26 , FFW  27  and Stop  25  buttons will turn green. The buttons changes color to indicate the use mode to guide the user in navigating the unit. 
   In one embodiment of the invention the lyric text scrolling on display  8  is synchronized to the playing speed of the corresponding audio file during normal play and fast forward or fast rewind events. The fast forward and fast rewind events are controlled by the movement speed of the scroll wheel  10 . If the user spins the wheel faster the playback speed and lyric text will scroll faster and likewise if the user spins the wheel slower the playback speed and lyric text will scroll slower. With the synchronized lyric display the user can locate the designated position of the song easily. 
   Referring to  FIG. 6 , to control synchronisation at variable speeds the lyric processor combines a time stamped lyric file (e.g. SNC, LRC and Lyrics 3)  17  with the corresponding audio data file  18  to form an anchored data stream  19  in the internal memory. This is done by a multiplexer  16  that combines the audio file  18  and lyric file  17  into the single data stream  19 . The number of bytes in audio data  20  and number of bytes in lyric data  21  can be varied. For example, x 1  bytes of audio data  20  followed by y 1  bytes of lyric data  21 , and then x 2  more bytes of audio data  20  and so on. An anchor is used to mark the start of lyric data  22  in the data stream  19 . 
   The number of degrees the scroll wheel  10  is rotated in a unit of time is used to compute the difference from the current position in the data stream to the destination position in the data stream. This offset  23  is calculated as C×n×b: where C is a scaling constant, n is the number of degrees of rotated and b is the bit-rate per unit of time. The scaling constant is tailored for a particular scroll wheel type and the bit-rate is the bit-rate of the encoded song or average bit-rate if the song is encoded in variable bit-rate format. After the offset  23  is computed the lyric process will skip the computed number of bytes, scan for the next available anchor and display the lyric associated with the anchor. The calculation and skip forward are repeated while the scroll whelp is being moved to update the lyric text display. 
   It should be appreciated that modifications and alternations obvious to those skilled in the art are not to be considered as beyond the scope of the present invention.