Gesture-Controlled Audio Player Grouping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing audio systems lack a user-friendly method for dynamically managing and coordinating audio playback across multiple networked audio players in different zones, requiring complex menu navigation and multiple steps to form or edit groups for synchronized or separate audio content.
Innovation Solution
A touch-sensitive display interface that detects gesture inputs to associate with arrangements for audio playback, allowing users to form, edit, or dissolve groups of networked audio players with a single gesture, such as drag, squeeze, or splay, for synchronous or individual audio content playback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional menu navigation is used to manage audio player groups, then system control is achieved, but user operation complexity increases and interaction efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical menu navigation with gesture-based control on a touch-sensitive display. Users can form, edit, and dissolve audio player groups through intuitive gestures (drag, squeeze, splay) rather than navigating through multiple menu layers, significantly reducing operation time and complexity while maintaining full system control functionality
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically detects gestures and executes corresponding group management actions without requiring users to manually configure settings or navigate through configuration menus. The touch-sensitive display directly translates gestures into playback arrangement changes, enabling users to manage audio groups independently and efficiently
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple audio players are distributed across different zones, then audio coverage and system versatility improve, but coordination and synchronization between players become more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The touch-sensitive display interface provides universal control capabilities for managing audio players across multiple zones. The same gesture interface handles both single-zone and multi-zone scenarios, allowing users to create synchronized groups across different physical locations without requiring zone-specific control mechanisms, thereby maintaining system versatility while simplifying coordination
Solution Approach 2:
The controller acts as an intermediary between the touch-sensitive display and the distributed audio players. It receives gesture inputs, processes the desired playback arrangements, and coordinates the synchronized playback across multiple networked players in different zones, abstracting away the coordination complexity from the user while maintaining versatile multi-zone functionality
Data Source
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AI summary
A selectively coordinated audio playback system is disclosed. The audio playback system includes multiple audio players serving, receiving and rendering audio content audio content. A controller is in communication with the audio players and controls the audio content provided on each audio player. The controller includes a touchscreen user interface to receive user inputs and is configured to selectively coordinate the audio content from the multiple audio players according to gestures detected via the touchscreen interface.