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Electronic device and method for selecting content items

Electronic device and method for selecting content items description/claims

The invention relates to an electronic device for selecting content items, a music player or a device for transferring songs to a music memory or music player, for example.

The invention further relates to a method of selecting content items.

The invention also relates to software enabling a programmable device to perform a method of selecting content items.

An electronic device for reproducing a human perceptual signal is known from WO 2004/072767. WO 2004/072767 describes an audio reproduction device which adapts the tempo of an audio signal such that the tempo of the adapted audio signal lies within a predefined accepted deviation from a selected tempo. The selected tempo can be based on a heart rate of a person, a pace of a person and/or a user-specified tempo. A piece of audio may be selected from an audio source manually by a user or automatically by the audio reproduction device itself (based on the selected tempo). A drawback of the known audio reproduction device is that the piece of audio that is selected is often not optimal for the physical activity that the user is performing, especially if the user had to transfer pieces of audio to a music (player) memory in advance of the physical activity and the memory has a relatively small size.

It is a first object of the invention to provide an electronic device of the kind described in the opening paragraph, which provides a better selection of content items for reproduction during a physical activity.

It is a second object of the invention to provide a method of the kind described in the opening paragraph, which provides a better selection of content items for reproduction during a physical activity.

The first object is according to the invention realized in that the electronic device comprises electronic circuitry operative to select a subset of content items from a collection of content items in dependency of feedback gathered during a previous physical activity of a person, the subset being smaller than the collection of content items and the feedback comprising information regarding the previous physical activity. By using feedback that comprises information regarding the previous physical activity of the person in the content selection step, content items can be selected whose reproduction results in the most beneficial performance of the person. The characteristics of the content items whose reproduction results in the most beneficial performance of the person are part of the feedback or can be derived from the feedback. Even if it were possible for a user to manually select the appropriate content items, this would require a significant amount of effort. The invention is especially advantageous if the user has to transfer a subset of content items to a music (player) memory in advance of the physical activity.

The content item may comprise audio, video, light and/or tactile feedback, for example. The electronic device may be, for example, a PC for transferring the subset of content items to a memory or a portable reproduction device, the portable reproduction device itself (e.g. a mobile phone) or a stationary reproduction device (possibly integrated into a fitness device). The collection may be a private collection or a public collection (e.g. a collection of a content provider). The electronic device may be used in health clubs, at home or outdoors, for example. The subset of content items may be stored locally or remotely (e.g. at a content or service provider).

The feedback may comprise a physical state of the person during the previous physical activity. This is especially useful if the person has to achieve a target pace, but the content item is synchronized with the physical state of the person (e.g. heart rate). The physical state may comprise, for example, the heart rate of the person. The physical state may be, for example, an average of the person's physical state during a plurality of exercises, an average of the person's physical state during each exercise, or an average of the person's physical state during each of a plurality of time periods.

The feedback may comprise a pace of the person during the previous physical activity. This is especially useful if the person has to achieve a target physical state (e.g. heart rate), but the content item is synchronized with the pace of the person. The pace may comprise, for example, rotations per minute for bicycling or steps per minute for jogging. The pace may be, for example, an average of the person's pace during a plurality of exercises, an average of the person's pace during each exercise or an average of the person's pace during each of a plurality of time periods.

The feedback may comprise a pace associated with a physical state of the person during the previous physical activity. This is especially useful if a tempo of an audio output signal depends on both the pace and the physical state of the person. The fitness of the person and thus the physical state of the person while achieving a certain pace is dynamic: it usually depends on the amount of recent physical activity of the person.

The feedback may comprise information identifying which ones of the subset of content items have been skipped during a certain type of physical exercise. Although a certain content item may seem appropriate for a certain type of physical exercise based on its tempo or a user's general preferences, it may turn out not to be suitable for the certain type of physical exercise and in fact deteriorate the performance of the person. This certain content item should not be selected for this certain type of exercise and perhaps not even be transferred to a music (player) memory.

The feedback may comprise information identifying an influence of one or more of the subset of content items on a physical state of the person. Some content items may have an unexpected beneficial effect on the physical state, i.e. performance, of the person. These content items should preferably be selected.

The feedback may comprise a length of a certain type of physical exercise. A certain type of exercise may need to be prolonged because the target for this exercise has not yet been achieved or may be voluntarily prolonged because the person enjoys the certain type of exercise. The exact length of the exercises is important information for selecting the appropriate amount of content items for each exercise if the user has to transfer a subset of content items to a music (player) memory in advance of the physical activity and the memory is relatively small.

The second object is according to the invention realized in that the method comprises the step of selecting a subset of content items from a collection of content items in dependency of feedback gathered during a previous physical activity of a person, the subset being smaller than the collection of content items and the feedback comprising information regarding the previous physical activity.

These and other aspects of the electronic device and method of the invention will be further elucidated and described with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows an example of workout scheme that is used in an embodiment of the method of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an embodiment of the method of the invention; and

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the electronic device of the invention.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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