Apple working on dynamic lyrics display for iPods and iPhones
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.
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.
Comments
That would be interesting for Karaoke....
would that be like moulinrouge.com?
Wahoo for drunken karaoke parties, courtesy of Apple
cool.
That would be interesting for Karaoke....
I can see it now. "Dude, how about you bust out your iKaraoke?"
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?
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles..._girl_cry.html
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?
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.
--
\tRobert Jen, Palm Application Developer and Trivia Author
\thttp://www.rjen.com -- Educational applications and games for Palm OS
\thttp://www.triviawhys.com -- Trivia that always tells you more!
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.
--
\tRobert Jen, Palm Application Developer and Trivia Author
\thttp://www.rjen.com -- Educational applications and games for Palm OS
\thttp://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.
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?
http://www.st.com/stonline/press/new...1998/p166d.htm
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 !!!