Patent Publication Number: US-2003233509-A1

Title: MP3 player and method for operating the same

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] The present invention relates to MP3 players and methods for operating the same, and more particularly, to a MP3 player installed in a computer to share a hard disk with the computer, and a method for operating the MP3 player.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002] As a music file compressed as a small-sized MP3 (MPEG Audio Layer-3) file can be easily transmitted through a network, and still produces a fair music quality after the MP3 file is decompressed and executed, MP3 files are getting more widely used in network transmission.  
       [0003] MP3 files (MP3 songs) are usually acquired by downloading from free sites or pay sites on the network. After the MP3 files are downloaded to a hard disk of a computer, they can be executed by a multimedia computer, or by a portable MP3 player after the MP3 files are transferred from the hard disk to the portable MP3 player. Alternatively, the MP3 files can be recorded to a compact disc (CD) and then executed by a CD player.  
       [0004] Typically, MP3 songs are played by a central processing unit (CPU) that decompresses the MP3 files with software. However, such a song-playing method increases loading for the CPU, and also consumes power of a similar amount as to run normal application programs. This is therefore considered to be power-consuming for use with a portable computer such as a notebook computer.  
       [0005] By recording MP3 files to the CD and playing MP3 songs through the use of the CD player, such a method requires a professional CD recorder and a special CD player, as well as a time-consuming recording process, making it cost-ineffective to implement.  
       [0006] As for playing MP3 songs with the portable MP3 player, a flash memory for storing MP3 files in the MP3 player is quite expensive and commonly provided with 32 Mb capacity that can hold only six to eight songs (one song is sized about 3 to 5 Mb). Besides, it is inefficient to transfer the MP3 files from the hard disk to the flash memory of the MP3 player, especially for updating stored songs with new songs being constantly added.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007] An objective of the present invention is to provide a MP3 player and method for operating the same, whereby songs stored in MP3 files can be power-effectively played through the use of the MP3 player.  
       [0008] A further objective of the invention is to provide a MP3 player and method for operating the same, allowing equipment costs to be desirably reduced.  
       [0009] Another objective of the invention is to provide a MP3 player and method for operating the same, making MP3 songs efficiently played without complex manipulation.  
       [0010] In accordance with the above and other objectives, the invention proposes a MP3 player installed in a computer that contains a central processing unit (CPU), a hard disk, and a sound output device. The MP3 player comprises: a command input device for inputting a MP3_ON command; a power control device for controlling power of the MP3 player, wherein the power control device outputs a MP3_ON signal upon receiving the MP3_ON command inputted by the command input device; a bus switch device for switching connection of the hard disk from a bus of the computer to a player control device, when the bus switch device receives the MP3_ON signal outputted from the power control device; and the player control device for retrieving and processing MP3 files stored in the hard disk, allowing the processed MP3 files to be outputted to the sound output device of the computer.  
       [0011] As the above MP3 player directly reads MP3 files from the hard disk of the computer, songs stored in the MP3 files can be more efficiently played, without having to conventionally transfer MP3 files from a computer hard disk to a MP3 player or record MP3 files to a compact disc (CD). Moreover, the hard disk of the computer would provide large capacity for storing MP3 files, thereby saving costs for an expensive flash memory used in the prior art. In addition, compared to the prior art of using a computer CPU for playing MP3 songs, the MP3 player proposed in the invention can more power-effectively operate for song playing. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0012] The present invention can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, with reference made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
     [0013]FIG. 1 is a block structural diagram of a MP3 player according to a first embodiment of the invention;  
     [0014]FIG. 2 is a block structural diagram of a MP3 player according to a second embodiment of the invention; and  
     [0015]FIG. 3 is a block structural diagram of a MP3 player according to a third embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
     [0016] First Preferred Embodiment  
     [0017]FIG. 1 illustrates a MP3 player according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the MP3 player (as encircled by a dotted line F) is installed in a computer having a hard disk  100 , an amplifier  102 , a speaker  104 , earphones  106 , and an IDE (Integrated Device Electronics) bus  108 , and so on.  
     [0018] The MP3 player comprises: a bus switch  10  connected to the IDE bus  108  that is associated with the hard disk  100 ; a MP3 controller  14  connected to the bus switch  10  via a bus  12 ; a MP3 decoder  16  and a digital analog converter (DAC)  18  connected in between the MP3 controller  14  and the amplifier  102 ; a read-only memory (ROM)  20  connected to the MP3 controller  14 ; a power control chip  22  connected to the MP3 controller  14 ; a power switch  24  connected to the power control chip  22 ; and a plurality of command input keys  26  connected in between the MP3 controller  14  and the power control chip  22 .  
     [0019] This embodiment is exemplified with, but not limited to, the IDE bus and IDE hard disk; it is understood that, devices of other specifications such as SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) bus and SCSI hard disk are also suitably adopted in the invention.  
     [0020] Although a playing status of the MP3 player can be directed displayed on a computer monitor (not shown), for the sake of reduce power consumption, a liquid crystal display module (LCM)  28  is preferably provided between MP3 controller  14  and power control chip  22  so as to display the playing status of the MP3 player; this LCM  28  can be a LCM for displaying battery power in a notebook computer.  
     [0021] The command input keys  26  comprise three keys S 1 , S 2 , S 3  for inputting commands of MP3_ON/MP3_OFF, PREVIOUS TRACK, NEXT TRACK, respectively. The three keys S 1 , S 2 , S 3  may be keys provided on a computer keyboard (not shown) or newly added to the computer keyboard. It should be understood that, the number of command input keys  26  is not limited to three, but can be flexibly varied depending on practical requirements.  
     [0022] When a user inputs a MP3_ON command via key S 1  of the command input keys  26 , the power control chip  22  receives the MP3_ON command and immediately outputs a MP3_ON signal to the power switch  24 . The power switch  24  connected to a power source (not shown) then supply power such as voltages of +3V, +5V, +3V_MP3, +5V_MP3 to internal devices of the MP3 player, and the hard disk  100  and amplifier  102  of the computer. This arrangement is beneficial of effectively reducing power consumption, as compared to playing MP3 songs through the use of a CPU (central processing unit) of a computer (especially a notebook computer) in the prior art.  
     [0023] Moreover, a common computer is normally provided a power control device that functions the same as the above power control chip  22  and power switch  24 . Therefore, the MP3 player proposed in the invention can be adapted to share in the computer&#39;s power control device, without essentially using the power control chip  22  and power switch  24 , thereby reducing fabrication costs of the MP3 player. Furthermore, when sharing in the computer&#39;s power control device, as the MP3 player is provided with its own MP3 controller, MP3 decoder and bus switch that is operationally associated with a hard disk of the computer, therefore MP3 music can be easily played through the use of the MP3 player even if the computer is in a power saving or standby mode; this advantage rather reduces power consumption as compared to the prior art.  
     [0024] The MP3_ON signal outputted from the power control chip  22  to the power switch  24 , is also directed to the bus switch  10 , whereby the bus switch  10  is urged to switch connection of the hard disk  100  to the MP3 controller  14  via the bus  12 , such that the MP3 controller  14  is capable of reading data stored in the hard disk  100 .  
     [0025] The MP3 controller  14  is operated by a control program stored in the read-only memory (ROM)  20 . The MP3 controller  14  is adapted to read index data of MP3 music files from the hard disk  100 , and display the index data on the LCM  28  or a computer monitor. Then, the user can select desirable MP3 songs from the displayed index data by operating key S 1  “MP3_ON/MP3_OFF”, key S 2  “PREVIOUS TRACK” and/or key S 3  “NEXT TRACK”.  
     [0026] Once the MP3 songs are selected by the user, MP3 files corresponding to the selected MP3 songs would be retrieved from the hard disk  100  by the MP3 controller  14 , and transmitted to the MP3 decoder  16  for being decoded into digital signals. Then, the digital signals are converted to analog signals by the DAC  18 , and outputted through the amplifier  102  to the speaker  104  or earphones  106 . Preferably, the index data and MP3 files can be stored in a predetermined region in the hard disk  100 , so as to simplify the file retrieval process performed by the MP3 controller  14 , and to reduce requirements in processing speed of the MP3 controller  14  and memory capacity of the ROM  20 , thereby helping decrease fabrication costs of the MP3 player.  
     [0027] As described above, the power control chip  22 , power switch  24 , command input keys  26  and LCM  28  used in the MP3 player may all be shared with the computer; therefore, the MP3 player can be even simplified to a structure encircled by a dotted line f in FIG. 1. Furthermore, the bus switch  10 , MP3 controller  14 , MP3 decoder  16 , DAC  18  and ROM  20  encompassed by the dotted line f may be commercially-available standardized products, or alternatively integrated to form a single integrated circuit (IC).  
     [0028] Second Preferred Embodiment  
     [0029]FIG. 2 illustrates a MP3 player according to a second embodiment of the invention. The MP3 player of the second embodiment is specifically applied to a portable computer such as a notebook computer. This second embodiment is similar in structure to the first embodiment except that, as shown in FIG. 2, a bus switch  30  is provided on a memory card bus  112  that is directed to a PCMCIA connector  110  in the notebook computer with a PCMCIA interface, wherein the bus switch  30  is also connected via the bus  12  to the MP3 controller  14 .  
     [0030] Therefore, by switching effect provided from the bus switch  30 , the MP3 controller  14  is adapted to be capable of reading MP3 files stored in CF (compact flash) memory card  116  of a PCMCIA adapter  114 . It should be understood that, besides the CF memory card  116 , other memory cards e.g. smart media card are also suitably adopted herein.  
     [0031] Third Preferred Embodiment  
     [0032]FIG. 3 illustrates a MP3 player according to a third embodiment of the invention. This third embodiment is a combination of the first and second embodiments in a manner that, the MP3 player of this embodiment is capable of executing MP3 files stored in a hard disk or memory card of a computer, to be thereby specifically applied to a portable computer such as a notebook computer.  
     [0033] As shown in FIG. 3, for the MP3 controller  114  of the MP3 player being operating to read MP3 files from the hard disk  100  or CF memory card  116 , the command input keys  26  are provided with an additional key S 4  that determines an option for the MP3 controller  114  to function with the hard disk  100  or the CF memory card  116 , in terms of the MP3_ON signal being at a high or low threshold. In other words, if the bus switch  10  is set to operate at the high threshold, and the bus switch  30  is set to operate at the low threshold, the MP3_ON signal is at the high threshold when the hard disk  100  is chosen via the key S 4 ; alternatively, the MP3_ON signal is at the low threshold when the CF memory card  116  is of the choice.  
     [0034] Similarly, it should be understood that, besides the CF memory card  116 , other memory cards e.g. smart media card are also suitably adopted herein.  
     [0035] Method for Operating MP3 Player  
     [0036] A method for operating the above MP3 player with reference to the first embodiment (FIG. 1), comprises the following steps.  
     [0037] The first step is to install the MP3 player in a computer having a CPU (central processing unit, not shown), a hard disk  100  and a sound output device (e.g. amplifier  102 , speaker  104  or earphones  106 ), wherein the MP3 player comprises a command input device (command input keys  26 ), a bus switch device (bus switch  10 ), and a player control device (MP3 controller  14  etc).  
     [0038] The next step is to store MP3 files in the hard disk  100  of the computer.  
     [0039] Then, a MP3_ON command is inputted by the command input device.  
     [0040] After that, connection of the hard disk  100  is switched from a bus  108  of the computer to the player control device by the bus switch device, when the bus switch device receives the MP3_ON command inputted by the command input device.  
     [0041] Finally, the MP3 files stored in the hard disk  100  are retrieved and processed by the player control device, allowing the processed MP3 files to be outputted to the sound output device of computer.  
     [0042] It should be understood that, the above operating method is also applied to the MP3 player according to the second and third embodiments of the invention.  
     [0043] In conclusion, the above-described MP3 player according to the invention provides the following advantages in comparison with the prior art.  
     [0044] First, the MP3 player independently has a MP3 controller, decoder and bus switch that is operationally associated with a hard disk of a computer; therefore, for executing MP3 files or playing MP3 songs, it only needs to supply power to the MP3 controller, decoder, and the hard disk and amplifier of the computer, thereby significantly reducing power consumption as compared to the prior art of using a CPU for MP3-song playing.  
     [0045] Further by the above power saving advantage, the MP3 player according to the invention is well applicable to a portable computer such as a notebook computer in no concern of quick use-up of battery power thereof. And, such a notebook computer beneficial for use as a portable MP3 player without having to purchase an additional separate MP3 player, thereby saving equipment costs.  
     [0046] As the MP3 player shares in the hard disk of the computer, compared to the prior art of using an expensive flash memory with limited capacity, the MP3 player is beneficial of saving equipment costs and allows more MP3 songs to be stored in the cheap hard disk capacity up to decades of gigabytes (Gb).  
     [0047] MP3 files are usually downloaded from a network (e.g. Internet) to the hard disk; in comparison with transferring the downloaded MP3 files to a flash memory of a conventional MP3 player or recording the downloaded MP3 files into a compact disc (CD), the MP3 player according to the invention is therefore more advantageous of directly executing the MP3 files downloaded to the hard disk.  
     [0048] Moreover, the MP3 player according to the invention can share in the hard disk, keys, amplifier, speaker, power control device of the computer; this thereby greatly reduces fabrication costs of the MP3 player. And, the MP3 player has its own MP3 controller and decoder, and thus is capable of playing MP3 songs even if the computer is in a power saving or standby mode.  
     [0049] In addition, with MP3 files and index data thereof being stored in a pre-determined region of the hard disk, this simplifies a data/file retrieval process performed by the MP3 controller of the MP3 player, and reduces requirements in process speed of the MP3 controller and memory capacity of a read-only memory (ROM) of the MP3 player, making overall fabrication costs desirably decreased.  
     [0050] The invention has been described using exemplary preferred embodiments. However, it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements. The scope of the claims, therefore, should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.