Dynamic information storage or retrieval – Condition indicating – monitoring – or testing – Including radiation storage or retrieval
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-06
2001-03-20
Huber, Paul W. (Department: 2651)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
Condition indicating, monitoring, or testing
Including radiation storage or retrieval
C369S124060
Reexamination Certificate
active
06205097
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to compact disc players and, more specifically, to a method of enhanced data compression rate for a compact disc player.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recorded media is now generally available in a newer format of a digitally encoded optical disc. An audio disc is commonly referred to as a compact disc (CD). Similarly, a player of a compact disc is referred to as a CD player. The CD player reproduces an audio signal from the digital data stored on the CD as is known in the art. Multi-disc CD players are capable of storing a plurality of CDs for selection and playback. The increasing popularity of CD players in recent years has expanded their use as an audio component on a vehicle, and in particular, a motor vehicle.
A disadvantage of a CD player is its susceptibility to shock. A shock or vibration can cause an optical pick-up in the CD player to skip over some of the data encoded on the CD, resulting in a transient interruption of the audio signal. For example, a motor vehicle experiences a wide range of driving conditions, including bumpy roads. The resulting vibration of the motor vehicle from a bump in the road can cause the CD player to skip. In the past, mechanical dampers have been added to the CD player to reduce its susceptibility to shock. Another technique is to first retrieve the data from the CD at a faster rate than normal and store it in a buffer memory. The position of the data is checked within the buffer memory to detect a skip and the skip is masked out. The data is retrieved out of the buffer memory at a typical play rate. While these methods have worked well in the past for occasional shocks or vibrations, they are not as effective, if road conditions are poor, since buffer memory space is limited and an overflow can occur. Thus, there is a need in the art for a method of enhanced data compression rate to improve audio CD performance under degraded road conditions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention is a method of enhanced data compression rate for a CD player. The method includes the steps of determining whether a skip is detected and setting a timer to a predetermined skip time-out period if a skip is detected. The method also includes the steps of determining whether another skip is detected during the skip time-out period, storing data from a compact disc at a predetermined compressed rate into a buffer memory if another skip is detected, and playing data at a playing rate from the buffer memory.
One advantage of the present invention is that a method of enhanced data compression rate for a CD player is provided that improves audio performance by allowing for continuous audio play even if multiple skips occur. Another advantage of the present invention is that the method modifies a data sampling rate to a compressed data sampling rate if a skip is detected. Still another advantage of the present invention is that the compressed data sampling rate increases the amount of data that can be stored within a buffer memory.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood after reading the subsequent description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3997913 (1976-12-01), Rittenbach
patent: 4053712 (1977-10-01), Reindl
patent: 4110560 (1978-08-01), Leary et al.
patent: 4603412 (1986-07-01), Yamazaki
patent: 4627090 (1986-12-01), Smith, III et al.
patent: 4805217 (1989-02-01), Morihiro et al.
patent: 4839923 (1989-06-01), Kotzin
patent: 4860272 (1989-08-01), Nishikawa et al.
patent: 4916742 (1990-04-01), Kolesmikov et al.
patent: 4944012 (1990-07-01), Morio et al.
patent: 5148417 (1992-09-01), Wong et al.
patent: 5157728 (1992-10-01), Schorman et al.
patent: 5187697 (1993-02-01), Muramatsu et al.
patent: 5357595 (1994-10-01), Sudoh et al.
patent: 5471442 (1995-11-01), Shimizume
patent: 5611018 (1997-03-01), Tanaka et al.
Dark Jay P.
Taljanovic Husein
Zeneli Ylldes
Huber Paul W.
Mollon Mark L.
Visteon Global Technologies Inc.
LandOfFree
Method of enhanced data compression rate for a CD player does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method of enhanced data compression rate for a CD player, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method of enhanced data compression rate for a CD player will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2435328