Apple working on dynamic lyrics display for iPods and iPhones

[AppleInsider]

iPod wielding teens and adults alike may soon find themselves singing along to their favorite tunes with pristine accuracy, thanks to synchronized music lyrics display technology under development by Apple Inc.

A patent request from the Cupertino-based iPod and iPhone maker published on Thursday describes software techniques for dynamically displaying text on a display screen of a portable media device alongside digital media content.

"The text being displayed is associated with and synchronized to the media content being presented. In one implementation, the dynamic nature of the text can scroll across the display screen of the portable media device," Apple wrote in the filing.

"In another implementation, a part of the text being displayed can be distinguishably displayed from other parts. The manner by which the part is distinguishably displayed can vary with implementation but can include highlighting the part through use of color, font, size, lines, dynamic effects (e.g., blinking), etc."

More specifically, the company said, the media content could be music and the text could be lyrics, whereby a portable media device can not only play music but also output synchronized lyrics.

For example, the filing states that when a song is played by a portable media device, lyrics associated with the song can be displayed on a display of the portable media device in a synchronized manner.

"From a user's perspective, the display of synchronized lyrics can be seamless and without the need for any preparatory action by the user," Apple explained. "The invention is particularly well suited for a portable media device that is small and hand-held."

Various lyric synchronization techniques are outlined in the March 2006 filing, including one method where the audio content and lyric content are stored in separate, distinct files and later synchronized in real time. Alternatively, both the lryics and audio content could be encoded and stored within a single media file.



The latter method, according to Apple, would include at least the acts of: "identifying an audio file for a media item to be played, the identified audio file including at least encoded audio content for the media item and encoded lyric codes for the media item; accessing lyrics pertaining to the media item; processing the identified audio file to extract and decode the encoded audio content and the encoded lyric codes; playing of the audio content that has been extracted and decoded from the identified audio file; displaying a portion of the lyrics such that the portion of the lyrics being displayed corresponds to that portion of the audio content being played; and distinguishably displaying, based on the lyric codes, a specific part of the portion of the lyrics being displayed from at least one other part of the lyrics being displayed."



In order to assure that the proper lyrics are synchronized and displayed properly, Apple's filing calls for the use of augmented lyrics files, which would be annotated in advance with precise timing intervals that Apple's iPod and iPhone software could then distinguish.

Back in April, the iPod maker was rumored to be in talks with digital media company Gracenote over the possibility of licensing authorized song lyrics for redistribution on its ubiquitous iTunes Store.



The move, which would follow a similar pact between Gracenote and Yahoo! Music, was said to be part of a larger industry-backed push to stifle proliferation of rogue websites that currently dominate online lyrics market, often offering inaccurate lyrics and never compensating artists for their work.

In a deal with music publishers last summer, Gracenote gained the rights to distribute lyrics from nearly 100 music publishers, including the top five: BMG Music Publishing, EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner/Chappell Music, and dozens of prominent independent publishers.

Apple's patent request for "Dynamic lyrics display for portable media devices" is credited to employees Ray Chang and Richard Atwell.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

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[josa92]

cool.
That would be interesting for Karaoke....

[JeffDM]

Has Apple been including the lyrics with their songs yet? I haven't seen them yet, I think that's because of the rights issues, the song writer's guild probably wants money for them. I think that's a bit odd because the band/label probably paid for the rights to sing the words, record them and sell the song, I don't think that they should get paid again for a text copy wrapped with the same song.

[kemcqueen]

"proliferation of rouge websites"

would that be like moulinrouge.com?

[pmjoe]

I don't suppose it is possible to file a class action suit against Apple on behalf of the people of the United States for wasting the Patent Office's time and resources on frivolous patent applications for THINGS THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN DONE. What a waste of our tax dollars. Get rid of stupid software patents.

[mariofreak85]

Now all they need to do is add this to the apple tv.....


Wahoo for drunken karaoke parties, courtesy of Apple

[kilraq]

My ears are already hurting.

[crees!]

Originally Posted by josa92

cool.
That would be interesting for Karaoke....

I can see it now. "Dude, how about you bust out your iKaraoke?"

[bikertwin]

Well, this is great news for the Deaf & hard of hearing communities.

Maybe it means subtitles and/or captions will come to iTunes/AppleTV videos soon, too.

Ever realize how absurd it is that TV shows (on live TV) and DVDs are all captioned, but virtually no legally downloadable video is captioned?

[Ireland]

New just in: Apple patents Karaoke.

[Marvin]

OMG they stole someone's idea:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles..._girl_cry.html

Originally Posted by Ireland

New just in: Apple patents Karaoke.

After they reinvent it.

I actually don't think this is meant for a portable Karaoke device because how can you sing with earphones in? Badly I guess would be the obvious answer but I don't see that many people listening to ipods and singing. Of course maybe they don't know the words.

I think it will be for other manufacturers to benefit in the form of a Karaoke dock with a big screen. I think those machines still use proprietary CDs don't they?

[rjen]

Apple's patent request for "Dynamic lyrics display for portable media devices" is credited to employees Ray Chang and Richard Atwell.

Well, if a PalmPilot can be considered a "portable media device", then BabyMelodyPilot for Palm OS predates this patent application by over four years (November 2001 release). I'm sure Apple's implementation will be a hundred times better, but it probably doesn't merit a broad patent.

--
Robert Jen, Palm Application Developer and Trivia Author
http://www.rjen.com -- Educational applications and games for Palm OS
http://www.triviawhys.com -- Trivia that always tells you more!

[addabox]

Originally Posted by rjen

Well, if a PalmPilot can be considered a "portable media device", then BabyMelodyPilot for Palm OS predates this patent application by over four years (November 2001 release). I'm sure Apple's implementation will be a hundred times better, but it probably doesn't merit a broad patent.

--
Robert Jen, Palm Application Developer and Trivia Author
http://www.rjen.com -- Educational applications and games for Palm OS
http://www.triviawhys.com -- Trivia that always tells you more!

Am I missing something? The app you linked to doesn't look much like what Apple is describing.

[tmedia1]

I suggested this feature years ago via the product feedback feature in iTunes. I wonder if I'll get credit for it?

[tundraboy]

Forty years ago I was singing along to a cartoon on tv as the bouncing ball bounces from word to word in time with the music soundtrack.

[Kolchak]

The real question is whether Apple can create some software that can effectively remove singers' vocals. Can't do decent karaoke without it.

[teedoff087]

For the LOVE OF GOD, it's not karaoke. You can always dream, though.

[rjen]

Originally Posted by addabox

Am I missing something? The app you linked to doesn't look much like what Apple is describing.

BabyMelodyPilot (henceforth BMP) includes a lot of irrelevant graphics, but BMP displays karaoke-style, dynamically-highlighted lyrics synchronized to the playing of music on a handheld device. The lyrics are embedded in the file that contains the music (one of the options Apple includes). The description, "dynamically displaying text on a display screen of a portable media device alongside digital media content", would appear to fit BMP just fine, or am I the one who's missing something?

[ClimbingTheLog]

Hello, USPTO? The 90's are calling:

http://www.st.com/stonline/press/new...1998/p166d.htm

[IHateRegistering]

Duh, about time!

Every MP3/Audio file has space for lyric content.

Click "Get Info" on any music file in iTunes and there is a tab, clear as day, called LYRICS, which has been blank for years unless you manually copied lyrics from one of the hundreds of crappy lyrics sites.

I don't know why this wasn't included when the iTMS initially opened... along with high quality .PDFs of ALL the album covers and inserts.

[jonnyboy]

let's hope we have an option to use the classic "bouncing ball" style!

[gooddog]

As a teacher, this is very interesting.

It may do more for education than many other offerings from Apple.

There is nothing better for learning to read ( and write ) than practice.

I see zillions of kids reading hip-hop lyrics at high speeds
where they might refuse to read anything else.

I hope it has options for "one word at a time" as well as "whole sentence" display.

Now, think of a karaoke option so that the kiddies have to read the words without hearing them .... awesome!

That some of it will be trashy content will not matter.
The trash is laready getting in aurally anyway.

But word attack skills matter a lot.

If Apple sneaks in some extra reading material, like bio information on the artists, even gossip, commentary, etc. that is displayed in good English, .... well ... hey .... !!!

I like this.
I like this a lot !!!

[davecotter]

kJams has had the ability to put karaoke on your iPod / iPhone for YEARS now. Apple will not be able to get this patent, and if they do it will be struck down by my prior art. sorry apple, you can't patent karaoke.