Patent ID: 7509593

Claim:
A method for enabling a user to discover, from within a content page, audio files that are not indicated or visually evident to a user who opens the content page, and to control play of the audio files that are associated with portions of the content page, comprising the steps of: (a) receiving a content page, the content page having a layout designed by a designer and including audio-related content and non-audio related content from the designer, wherein the audio-related content includes a plurality of content portions that the designer has associated with a respective audio file, and the non-audio related content including content portions which are not associated by the designer with a respective audio file, the audio-related content being positioned in locations which are unknown by the user as being associated with audio; (b) receiving information identifying the plurality of content portions making up the audio-related content, the information being provided by the designer; (c) displaying the content page, including all audio-related content and all non-audio related content; (d) determining a distance between a cursor on the displayed content page and each of the plurality of content portions of the audio-related content according to the layout of the designer; (e) ordering the plurality of content portions of the audio-related content according to distance from the cursor; (f) determining which audio files to play, which comprises, for each of the ordered content portions, and beginning with the content portion having the shortest distance; (i) determining whether the distance is less than a maximum distance set by the designer of the content page; (ii) determining whether a predefined maximum number of audio files, as set by the user in a user preference setting, are currently playing; and (iii) only when the distance is less than the maximum distance and the maximum number of audio files are not already being played, initiating play of the audio file of the corresponding ordered content portion; and (g) controlling the volume of sound heard when each initiated audio file is played, as a function of the distance, wherein the volume increases as the distance decreases and decreases as the distance increases.