Patent Application of

Thomas D. Myers Jr.

for

TITLE: GRAPHIC USER INTERFACE THAT IS USABLE AS

A COMMERCIAL DIGITAL JUKEBOX INTERFACE

 

 

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

 

Not Applicable.

 

BACKGROUND?FIELD OF INVENTION

 

???? This invention relates generally to a graphic user interface and more particular to a graphic user interface for use with a computer system that has a plurality of digitally encoded audio compact discs (CDs), a touch screen, a sound card, connection to a bill acceptor, and a connection to an external amplifier/speaker system.? The effect of this arrangement of computer system components is to produce a system that is similar in function to a commercial CD jukebox commonly found in places such as bars, restaurants and pool halls.? These computer system components will henceforth be referred to as the digital jukebox computer system.

 

BACKGROUND?DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART

 

???? While commercial CD jukeboxes have been available for quite some time, these jukeboxes include only a limited number of CDs, typically 100, a limited interface for browsing these CDs and an extremely limited interface for viewing statistical information, such as the most popular songs.? In addition, these jukeboxes are often incapable of offering a search feature and do not make a distinction of the types of music, or genres, contained within them.

 

???? The browsing interface of a CD jukebox can be roughly characterized as follows:? a clear front holds a series of movable flaps, onto which are affixed one or more renditions of CD cover art, a label denoting the artist for the CD, a unique number for the CD, usually a 2 digit numeric number for a total of 100 unique numbers, and a listing of digital jukebox song titles, or tracks, for the CD, with each track being labeled with a 2 digit number as well.? Located near to the enclosure are buttons for manipulating the viewable content of the CDs contained within the enclosure.? These buttons are often labeled with a left-arrow and right-arrow, or previous page and next page.? In either case, the purpose of one button is to cause the flaps to move such that a user is scrolling back to view CDs labeled sequentially lower than the currently viewable CDs, and the purpose of the other button is to cause the opposite effect such that a user is scrolling forward to view CDs labeled sequentially higher than the currently viewable CDs.? Because the means by which CDs are displayed in the enclosure is sequential in nature, a user has to view every CD contained on every flap, or page, from the starting page to the desired page.? In the worst case, if a user wants to view a CD that is on the last page in the enclosure, yet the enclosure is currently showing the first page of CDs, then a user has to view the entire contents of the jukebox in order to reach the desired page.? It is apparent that this limited interface for browsing CDs has been insufficient for allowing a user to avoid the scenario where all CDs have to be viewed in order to one desired CD is made visible.? The insufficient interface poses an increasing problem as the number of CDs that may be stored in a CD jukebox increases.? Thus, if a user wishes to play a digital jukebox song from a particular CD, it may be very difficult or time consuming for a user to select that particular CD out of the plurality of CDs in the player, as the plurality of CDs in the player increases.

 

???? The interface for selecting songs can be roughly characterized as follows:? a bill acceptor for inserting money, a one line LED display, buttons for digits 0-9, a button for canceling a selection, a button for entering a selection and a button for flashing a series of selections on the LED display that are the most requested songs.? The LED display usually displays the selection being made and the number of selections remaining.? A selection is typically a four-digit number.? The first two digits represent the number for the CD, usually from 00 to 99, and the second two digits represent the track number of the digital jukebox song as it is located on that CD, usually from 01 to the number of tracks on that CD.? For example, 0101, would represent track 01 from the CD numbered 01.?

???? Two factors limit the plurality of CDs in a CD jukebox to one hundred:? One is the fact that the typical CD jukebox can only physically accommodate one hundred CDs.? The other is the fact that the selection interface for a typical CD jukebox limits a user to 100 distinct choices because of the choice to use only two digits for numbering CDs.

???? In addition, two factors limit the statistical information that can be conveyed to a user regarding the most requested songs:? One is the fact that the browsing interface is static.? That is, the paper labels with the digital jukebox song tracks printed out on paper next to them are incapable of being updated in a manner to show which songs are being requested the most, or even which songs are currently selected to be played, but haven?t been played yet.? Two, is the fact that the only dynamic mechanism available to a user is the one line LED display, that is only capable of displaying a small number of characters.? When flashing the most requested songs, only the four digit selection number is given.? This one line LED display is not designed to convey information such as artist name, CD title, digital jukebox song name, track number, genre of music or other information over and above the number of the selection.

 

???? Furthermore, CD jukeboxes are not capable of providing a search mechanism for a user.? If a user wants to find a particular song, they must start at the beginning and browse through every digital jukebox song on every CD throughout the entire plurality of CDs contained in the jukebox.? Thus, not only are current CD jukeboxes deficient with respect to search capability, as the plurality of CDs increases, it may be very difficult or time consuming for a user to perform a manual search for a particular digital jukebox song.

 

OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES

 

???? Accordingly, it is the object of the invention to provide an improved graphic user interface for use with a digital jukebox computer system? which can render digitally encoded CDs in the file format known as Motion Picture Experts Group Level 1 Audio Level-3 (MP3).

 

???? Another object of the invention is to provide an improved graphic user interface for use with a digital jukebox computer system which allows for the non-sequential browsing of the plurality of digitally encoded CDs.

 

???? A further object of the invention is to provide an improved graphic user interface for use with a digital jukebox computer system which allows for the identification of digitally encoded CDs, by relative location on the digital jukebox computer system?s hard drive, into different categories, or genres, so as to facilitate the non-sequential browsing of the plurality of digitally encoded CDs.

 

???? An additional object of the invention is to provide an improved graphic user interface for use with a digital jukebox computer system which allows a user to quickly make a digital jukebox song selection by use of a touch screen that registers a touch over the digital jukebox song title as a request to make that song?s unique selection number appear in the interface as the choice a user wishes to make.

 

???? Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved graphic user interface for use with a digital jukebox computer system which displays the cover art for a particular CD next to a listing of the songs that are associated with that particular CD.

 

???? Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved graphic user interface for use with a digital jukebox computer system which analyzes the age and play frequency of a particular digital jukebox song and displays this information to a user in the form of usage icons next to the digital jukebox song title in the interface.

 

???? Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved graphic user interface for use with a digital jukebox computer system which analyzes the age and play frequency of a set of particular songs that are associated with a digitally encoded CD and displays this information to a user in the form of lists of absolute highest number of plays regardless of age, CDs with the highest ratio of plays per day and a list of the newest CDs in the system.

 

???? Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved graphic user interface for use with a digital jukebox computer system which displays a list of the most recently played songs that have been played during the duration of the operation of a digital jukebox computer system.

 

???? Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved graphic user interface for use with a digital jukebox computer system which allows a user to perform an exhaustive search of the plurality of digitally encoded CDs in the system? for a particular text string that is contained in a song?s title, author, associated CD title or by any of these fields of information.

 

???? Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved graphic user interface for use with a digital jukebox computer system which allows for the display of an on-screen keyboard interface that facilitates the entering of textual information by a user to the system.

 

???? Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved graphic user interface for use with a digital jukebox computer system which is capable of displaying a screen that groups digitally encoded CDs by their relative location on the system?s hard drive into different genres of music, which can be selected by a user via a list of those genres that are displayed in a list on-screen.

 

???? Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved graphic user interface for use with a digital jukebox computer system which allows a user to touch a button on-screen that shows the information about the currently playing song, as well as information about the other songs associated with the same CD as the currently playing song, in addition to the cover art for said CD.

 

???? Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved graphic user interface for use with a digital jukebox computer system which displays information about the currently playing digital jukebox song such as selection number, artist name, digital jukebox song title and genre, information about the number of digitally encoded CDs in the system, information about the number of selection remaining for a user, information about the selection that is currently being made by a user, and information about the range of CD numbers that is currently visible to a user.

 

???? A still further object of the invention is to provide a mechanism by which the digital jukebox computer system can exchange meaningful communication with a bill acceptor such that the system can be notified when a user inserts valid U.S. paper currency into the bill acceptor, invalid counterfeit currency into the bill acceptor, or when error conditions occur with the bill acceptor such as whether or not the bill acceptor is jammed or whether or not the bill stacker attached to the bill acceptor is full.

 

???? A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved graphic user interface for use with a digital jukebox which allows for the display of a logon screen and selectively grants either administrative-mode access or owner-mode access based upon one of two user ID and password combinations.

 

???? A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved graphic user interface for use with a digital jukebox which allows a user that has entered a correct administrative-mode user ID and password combination at the logon screen, functions to allow that user to manipulate a digital jukebox song queue, or a list of songs that have been selected to be played, functions to allow that user to store playlists under various names in order to save the contents of the song queue and to allow that user to load playlists under various names in order to displace the contents of the digital jukebox song queue, a function to allow that user to manipulate the volume of the audio signal that is being sent to the external amplifier/speaker system, the ability to browse a table with information on the amount of money that has been accepted by the bill acceptor, and the ability to see a field that shows the play time remaining for the currently playing digital jukebox song.

 

???? A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved graphic user interface for use with a digital jukebox which allows a user that has entered a correct owner-mode user ID and password combination at the logon screen, a function to allow that user to selectively delete from the system?s hard drive either individual songs or groupings of songs, a function to allow that user to selectively add or remove either individual songs or groupings of songs to or from the digital jukebox song queue, a function to allow that user to reset the play history of either individual songs or groupings of songs, a function to allow that user expand or collapse the tree view of the contents of the system that is displayed to that user, a function to bring up a list of duplication song titles that exist in the system, a function to allow that user to determine a minimum number of songs that are to exist in the digital jukebox song queue, selecting songs at random that haven?t been played since the last time the usage history has been reset, in the event that the number of songs selected by users is not greater than this minimum number, a function to allow that user to specify whether or not to play a randomly selected digital jukebox song at a user-defined time interval, if a song is not already being played, a function to allow that user to specify whether or not queued songs should have a special icon representing the queued state to users that are accessing the non-privileged screens of the digital jukebox system?s graphic user interface, and functions to allow that user to manually increment or decrement the number of credits, or number of digital jukebox song selections that can be made by non-privileged users and a function to allow that user to add new content to the system by initiating a scan of the system?s hard disk that searches for encoded CDs that have been copied to the system since the last time this function has been invoked.

 

???? Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification and the drawings.

 

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

 

???? Generally speaking, in accordance with the invention, an improved graphic user interface for use with a computer system, and more particularly for use with a digital jukebox computer system that is equipped with a touch-screen, a bill acceptor, a sound card, a connection to an external amplifier/speaker system, and a plurality of digitally encoded CDs, in the MP3 format, is provided.? Such computer systems to which the improved graphic user interface may be applied are described herein by reference.? The improved graphic user interface of the invention can be divided can be divided into two panels:? a control panel, and a user panel.? The control panel is located at the bottom of the screen and is always visible.? The user panel is located at the top of the screen and alternates between: a main panel, a search panel, a most popular panel, a genre panel, a logon panel, and an administrative panel.?

 

???? The improved graphic user interface of the invention interacts with a bill acceptor that allows a user to enter U.S. currency in order to obtain a configurable amount of credits that can be used by a user to select songs that are stored on the digital jukebox computer system that are to be played over the external amplifier/speaker system in the order with which they are requested by a user.

 

???? The improved graphic user interface of the invention is designed to vaguely resemble the look and feel of mechanical CD jukeboxes in that stored CDs are displayed as distinct units that contain a unique three digit number, the name of the artist, the CD title, CD cover art, a listing of songs, and an arbitrarily assigned genre.? Additionally, the graphic user interface is also designed to vaguely resemble the look and feel of mechanical CD jukeboxes in that there is a control panel that contains buttons for scrolling back and forth through the list of stored CDs, and buttons for allowing a user to make numerical selections such that those requested songs are played in the order with which they are requested.

 

???? The graphic user interface of the invention additionally allows a user to search for particular text either by artist, CD title, digital jukebox song name, or by any of these criteria.?

 

?? ??The graphic user interface of the invention additionally allows a user to view statistical information for songs, such as the top 50 most played songs, top 100 most played songs, all played songs, or recently played songs.? The graphic user interface also allows a user to view statistical information for CDs, such as the top 50 most played CDs, the top 100 most played CDs, all played CDs, or the newest CDs that have been added to the system.? Furthermore, except for the case of viewing the most recently played songs, either of these views can be sorted using absolute play frequency or by a power ranking that involves calculating a ratio of plays per day of existence in the system.? That is, a digital jukebox song or CD that has a lower total number of plays, but a higher play per day ratio, will have a higher power ranking than a different digital jukebox song or CD that has a higher total number of plays, but with a lower play per day ratio.

 

???? The graphic user interface of the invention additionally allows a user the opportunity to view a list of all the genres of music that exist in the system at once, and to automatically skip to the display of the CDs for a particular genre by selecting that particular genre from the list.

 

???? When viewing the main user panel, the control panel of the graphic user interface also provides a user scroll buttons for displaying the first ?page? of CDs that exist for the first genre of music, the last page of CDs that exist for the last genre of music, the first page of CDs that exist for the previous or next genres of music compared to the genre of music for the currently visible CDs where applicable, and the page that contains the CD for the currently playing song.? In addition, there is a ?Back? button, which works the same way as a web browser, in that a list of previously viewed pages or screens is stored and can be re-displayed if a user wishes to.

 

???? The graphic user interface of the invention accumulates statistical information regarding the age and play frequency of at least one encoded CD, and retains this information in order to facilitate the display of the most popular songs and CDs in the system to a user.? Additionally, this information is used in rendering a usage icon next to each digital jukebox song title in a CD panel such that songs satisfying one of 4 levels of play frequency will display an icon indicating to a user the level of popularity for a particular digital jukebox song.? Also, this information is used to render the color of the border of the CD panel such that CDs whose age is under a configurable threshold will have a red border, whereas all other CDs will have a white border.

 

???? In accordance with the invention, there will exist a password protected screen, or the administrator panel, where either a administrator-level or owner-level user can perform functions pertaining to the configuration of the system, modification of the dynamic digital jukebox song queue, and the addition or removal of encoded CDs.? Furthermore, this administrator panel will display a history of important transactions that have occurred such as bill acceptor events or digital jukebox song selections or digital jukebox song plays.? Also, this administrator panel will display a table of dollar amounts accepted by the system on a month to month basis.

 

???? The invention accordingly comprises the several steps in the relation of one or more such steps with respect to each of the others, and the apparatus embodying features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of parts which are adapted to effect such steps, all as exemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

 

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

 

???? For a more complete understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:

 

???? FIG. 1 is a block diagram representation of the relationship between an improved graphic user interface constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, and various other interacting features;

 

???? FIG. 2A is a logical representation depicting the relationship between each of the features of the graphic user interface of the invention.

 

???? FIG. 2B, which continues FIG. 2A, is a logical representation depicting the relationship between each of the features of the graphic user interface of the invention.

 

???? FIG. 3 is a representation of the display of a CD and related information, for the CDs in a user?s digital jukebox computer system, as provided by the improved graphic user interface of the invention;

 

???? FIG. 4 is a representation of a home screen displayed by the improved graphic user interface of the invention;

 

???? FIG. 5 is a representation of a search screen displayed by the improved graphic user interface of the invention;

 

???? FIG. 6 is a representation of a popular screen displayed by the improved graphic user interface of the invention;

 

???? FIG. 7 is a representation of a genre screen displayed by the improved graphic user interface of the invention;

 

???? FIG. 8 is a representation of a logon screen displayed by the improved graphic user interface of the invention;

 

???? FIG. 9 is a representation of an admin screen displayed by the improved graphic user interface of the invention;

 

???? FIG. 10 is a representation of a confirmation dialog displayed by the improved graphic user interface of the invention.

 

???? FIG. 11 is a screen capture representation of a home screen displayed by the improved graphic user interface of the invention;

 

???? FIG. 12 is a screen capture representation of a search screen displayed by the improved graphic user interface of the invention;

?

???? FIG. 13 is a screen capture representation of a popular screen displayed by the improved graphic user interface of the invention;

 

???? FIG. 14 is a screen capture representation of a genre screen displayed by the improved graphic user interface of the invention;

 

???? FIG. 15 is a screen capture representation of a logon screen displayed by the improved graphic user interface of the invention;

 

???? FIG. 16 is a screen capture representation of an admin screen displayed by the improved graphic user interface of the invention;

 

???? FIG. 17 is a screen capture representation of a confirmation dialog displayed by the improved graphic user interface of the invention;

 

???? FIG. 18 is a screen capture representation of a disk directory viewer, showing the directories used for the improved graphic user interface of the invention on the system drive;

 

???? FIG. 19 is a screen capture representation of a disk directory viewer, showing an example CD layout expected by the improved graphic user interface of the invention.

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

 

???? Reference is first made to FIG. 1, which depicts a block diagram of the relationship between an improved graphic user interface constructed in accordance with the invention, a digital jukebox computer system, and additional devices.? Specifically, a digital jukebox computer system 110 is a personal computer system that runs improved graphic user interface 120 as a Java application.? APPENDIX A contains the source code, images, and relevant information needed to construct graphic user interface 120 from scratch.? Electrical wiring bus 125, which is internal to digital jukebox computer system 110, is connected to a plurality of devices, such as hard drive with encoded CDs 130, touch screen 140, bill acceptor 150, sound card 160, external amplifier 170, and external speakers 180.

 

???? Each of these further connected elements shown in FIG. 1 will be described in further depth below.

 

???? FIG. 2A depicts the logical relationship between the various features and screens of the graphic user interface constructed in accordance with the invention.? The structure of FIG. 2A will now be described, making reference to various other figures, as the features and screens that they depict are encountered.? As is shown in FIG. 2A, available on all screens is a control panel 300.? The control panel allows a user to navigate the contents of the CD library, determine which screen to display, and enter a selection number in order to request a digital jukebox song to be played.? Also included are text fields that display information such as the selection being made, and the number of selections remaining.? The number of selections available is initially zero.? A user increases the number of selections available by entering any combination of U.S. $1, $2, $5, $10, or $20 dollar bills.? The number of selections, or credits, per bill is determined by a configuration file, which is given in APPENDIX B.

 

???? In order to allow a user to make selections, the various screens of the graphic user interface of the invention may display information about a particular CD as a CD panel 270, such that as shown in FIG. 3.? CD panel 270 is comprised of label 271, genre 272, cover art 273, instruction image 274, and digital jukebox song listbox 275.? If the text that is contained within digital jukebox song listbox 275 is sufficiently wide enough, then horizontal scrollbar 276 is displayed.? If horizontal scrollbar 276 is being displayed and there are more than thirteen songs in the listbox, then vertical scrollbar 277 is displayed.? Otherwise, if horizontal scrollbar 276 is not being displayed, then vertical scrollbar 277 will be displayed when there are more than fourteen songs in the listbox.? Both scrollbars can be used to manipulate the viewable display area of the listbox.? If a particular digital jukebox song that is displayed in the listbox has been played a particular number of times, then an appropriate digital jukebox song play frequency icon 280 is displayed next to that digital jukebox song.? This icon is used to signify to a user how many times that particular digital jukebox song has been played.? For example, an icon with three bars is used to denote that that digital jukebox song has been played more times than a digital jukebox song that has either no icon displayed or an icon with only one or two lines.? For a particular CD, label 271 is comprised of a unique three-digit number, the artist name, and CD title.? In the song listbox, between the digital jukebox song frequency icon and the name of the song, is a unique two-digit number associated with that song, and usually matches the track number as found on the physical audio CD.? As depicted in instruction image 274, a user uses the three digit number from the label and the 2 digit number associated with a particular song, in order to form a five-digit number that uniquely identifies a particular digital jukebox song throughout the CD library.? A user can use a credit to select a particular digital jukebox song to play by either entering this number into the control panel directly, by selecting the digital jukebox song with and then processing the selection in the control panel, or by double-clicking on the digital jukebox song in order to automatically have that selection number entered by the system.

 

???? Accordingly, home screen 400 is first encountered, such that as shown in FIG. 4.? Home screen 400 is comprised of northwest CD panel 410 in the upper left hand corner, a northeast CD panel in the upper right hand corner, a southwest CD panel 430 in the lower right hand corner, a southeast CD panel 440 in the lower left hand corner, and control panel 300 at the bottom.?

 

???? The control panel allows a user to navigate the contents of the CD library by the following scroll/navigation button elements:? back 311, show current 312, top 313, previous genre 314, previous 315, next 316, next genre 317, and bottom 318.? Back 311 allows a user to backtrack their actions and causes the last screen or screen state to be displayed again on the screen.? If there are no previous screens or screen states to be displayed, then the back button may be disabled.? Show current 312 allows a user to view the CD that contains the currently playing digital jukebox song to be displayed in the northwest CD panel 410.? If there isn?t a digital jukebox song that is currently playing, or if the home screen is not currently being displayed, then the show current button may be disabled.? Top 313 allows a user to view the first CD in the CD library in the northwest CD panel.? If the first CD in the CD library is already being displayed in the northwest CD panel, then the top button may be disabled.? Previous genre 314 allows a user to view the first CD in the CD library where the genre of music associated with that CD is in the previous genre, with respect to the list of genres for the system, as determined by the content of the CD library.? If the first CD of the first genre of the list of genres for the system is currently being displayed in the northwest CD panel, then the previous genre button may be disabled.? Previous 315 allows a user to view the CDs immediately preceding the currently visible CDs in the CD library.? If the CD panel that is currently being displayed in the northwest CD panel is labeled ?004? or higher, then the four previous CDs in the CD library will be displayed.? Otherwise, the display will the same as that of the top 313 button, in that the first four CDs in the system will be displayed, with the first CD in the CD library being displayed in the northwest CD panel.? If the first CD in the CD library is already being displayed in the northwest CD panel, then the previous button may be disabled.? Next 316 allows a user to view the CDs immediately following the currently visible CDs in the CD library.? If the CD panel that is currently being displayed in the northwest CD panel is labeled to be numerically four less than the last CD in the CD library, or greater, then the four next CDs in the CD library will be displayed.? Otherwise, the remaining CDs in the CD library will be displayed, with the last CD being visible on the screen.? If the last CD is already visible on the screen, then the next may be disabled.? Next genre 317 allows a user to view the first CD in the CD library where the genre of music associated with that CD is in the next genre, with respect to the list of genres for the system, as determined by the content of the CD library.? If the first CD of the last genre from the list of genres for the system is currently being displayed on screen, then the next genre button may be disabled.? Bottom 318 allows a user to view the last CD in the CD library.? If the last CD in the CD library is already being displayed on screen, then the bottom button may be disabled.

 

???? As is further shown in FIG. 2A, the control panel allows a user to determine which screen to display by the following screen button elements:? search 321, popular 322, genre 323, and logon 324.? Search 321 allows a user to view search screen 500, such that as shown in FIG. 5.? When viewing the search screen, search button 321 is disabled.? Popular 322 allows a user to view popular screen 600, such that as shown in FIG. 6.? When viewing the popular screen, popular button 322 is disabled.? Genre 323 allows a user to view genre screen 700, such that as shown in FIG. 7.? When viewing the genre screen, genre button 323 is disabled.??? Logon 324 allows a user to view logon screen 800, such that as shown in FIG. 8.? When viewing the logon screen, logon button 324 is disabled.? Since logon screen 800 is only intended for a privileged audience, logon button 324 is rendered invisible on the control panel.? Its location is in the lower right-hand corner of the screen and its outline is shown in either FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7, FIG. 8, FIG. 9, or FIG. 10.

 

???? In addition, when viewing either search screen 321, popular screen 322, or genre screen 323, the scroll/navigation button elements back 311, show current 312, top 313, previous genre 314, previous 315, next 316, next genre 317, and bottom 318 are disabled.? That is, the scroll/navigation buttons in the control panel are only used with home screen 400. Search screen 500, popular screen 600, genre screen 700, and logon screen 800 will be described in further depth below.

 

???? As is further shown in FIG. 2A, the control panel also contains the following labeled text field elements: current digital jukebox song 351, total CDs 352, selections remaining 353, selection being made 354, and visible CDs 355.

 

???? The improved graphic user interface starts with a default of zero credits.? This number is displayed in selections remaining 353 text field.? When the number of credits increases or decreases, it is reflected in selections remaining 353 text field.? A user may increase the number of credits by entering U.S. currency into bill acceptor 150.? A user may decrease the number of credits by entering selections, or in other words, five-digit numbers that uniquely identify a particular digital jukebox song from the CD library.?

 

???? The control panel allows a user to enter a selection by the following selection button elements:? one 331, two 332, three 333, four 334, five 335, cancel 336, six 337, seven 338, eight 339, nine 340, zero 341, and enter 342.? When one 331 is pressed, the character ?1? is added to selection being made 354.? When two 332 is pressed, the character ?2? is added to selection being made 354. When three 333 is pressed, the character ?3? is added to selection being made 354. When four 334 is pressed, the character ?4? is added to selection being made 354. When five 335 is pressed, the character ?5? is added to selection being made 354. When six 337 is pressed, the character ?6? is added to selection being made 354. When seven 338 is pressed, the character ?7? is added to selection being made 354. When eight 339 is pressed, the character ?8? is added to selection being made 354. When nine 340 is pressed, the character ?9? is added to selection being made 354. When zero 341 is pressed, the character ?0? is added to selection being made 354.? When the number of characters in the selection being made text field is equal to five, then the numbered buttons 331, 332, 333, 334, 335, 337, 338, 339, 340, and 341 are disabled and enter 342 is enabled.? When enter 342 is pressed, confirmation dialog 1000, such that as shown in FIG. 10, may be displayed on screen.? If a user answers in the affirmative, and a song exists in the CD library that corresponds to the five-digit number entered in selection being made 354, then that particular digital jukebox song is added to a digital jukebox song queue.? If no other songs exist in the digital jukebox song queue and no digital jukebox song is currently playing, then that particular digital jukebox song will be played immediately.? When this happens, then current digital jukebox song 351 is updated to contain text in the form of: ?XXXXX ? Artist-Song Name (YYY)?, where XXXXX is the five-digit number that identifies the digital jukebox song and YYY is the genre of music associated with that digital jukebox song.? In addition, after successfully entering a selection, a user may notice that selections remaining 353 is decremented by one.? When the number of characters in the selection being made text field is blank, then cancel 336 is disabled.? Otherwise, it is enabled, and when pressed, causes selection being made 354 to be cleared and the numbered buttons to be re-enabled.

 

???? In addition, total CDs 352 displays the number of CDs in the CD library.? Since the CD labeling starts with ?000?, the last CD in the CD library will be one less than this number.? Visible CDs 355 displays the range of CD labels that are currently visible on the screen.? For example, if home screen 400 is being displayed and the CD in the northwest CD panel is labeled ?000? and the CD in southeast CD panel is labeled ?003?, then visible CDs 355 will display: ?000 ? 003?.?

 

???? As stated before, home screen 400 is first encountered.? While this screen is displayed, the area above the always-displayed control panel contains four CD panels. At this screen, a user is allowed to use the scroll/navigation buttons to jump to any arbitrary location in the CD library so that the appropriate CD panels are displayed.?? A user is also allowed to enter selections.? In addition, a user may view: search screen 500 by clicking on search 321, popular screen 600 by clicking on popular 322, genre screen 700 by clicking on genre 323, and logon screen 800 by clicking on logon 324.

 

???? FIG. 5 depicts the display of search screen 500.? Search screen 500 contains keyboard panel 575 in the top center.? Action buttons go 555, clear 556, and close 557 are all located next to keyboard panel 575 on the left.? ?Search by? buttons artist 558, digital jukebox song 559, title 560, and all 561 are all located next to keyboard panel 575 on the right.? Search text field 562 is located below the action buttons.? Search scroll buttons up 563 and down 564 are located below the search text field in the center of the screen.? Search results table 565 is located below the search text field to the left of the search scroll buttons.? Search CD panel 566 is located to the right of the search scroll buttons.

 

???? Keyboard panel 575 implements a ?soft? keyboard in that there exists a number of buttons with labels resembling a physical keyboard and whose relative locations match those of a physical keyboard as well.? For the sake of brevity, the enumeration of these buttons, as shown in FIG. 2B, and the relative locations of these buttons, as shown in FIG. 5, should suffice to describe them adequately.? Therefore, when a button from keyboard panel 575 is clicked, the label of that button is added to search text field 562.? For example, if search text field 562 contains the text ?depech?, and a user clicks on keyboard panel button e 518, then the character ?e? will be added to search text field 562.? Thus, the text field will then contain the text ?depeche?.

 

???? Before describing search functionality, it is necessary to state that each digital jukebox song entry in the CD library has the following information associated with it:? genre, artist, CD title, and digital jukebox song name.

 

???? When action button go 555 is clicked, the text in search text field 562 is used to submit a query to the improved graphic user interface of the invention.? If? ?search by? button artist 558 is toggled, or rendered in a mutually exclusive way from the other search by buttons, then the query will only search in the CD library for the given text that appears in the artist portion of a digital jukebox song entry.? Conversely, if ?search by? digital jukebox song 559 is toggled, then only the digital jukebox song name portion of a song entry is searched by the query.? If ?search by? title 560 is toggled, then only the CD title portion of a digital jukebox song entry is searched by the query.? If ?search by? all 561 is toggled, then all portions of a digital jukebox song entry are searched by the query.? The results of the query, or search, is tabulated and displayed in search results table 565.? Each entry in search results table 565 contains information associated with a digital jukebox song entry that had the search text in the proper portion of its entry.? There are two columns for each entry in search results table 565.? CD number 565-A is located in the first column.? The unique three-digit number of the CD that contains a particular digital jukebox song is displayed in CD number 565-A.? Song information 565-B is located in the second column.? The artist portion of the song entry is given, and is followed by the track number and digital jukebox song name.? If the query results in zero songs matching the criteria specified by the text in search text field 562 and the toggled ?search by? button, then search results table is empty, and search scroll buttons up 563 and down 564 are disabled and the space occupied by search CD panel 566 is left blank.? Otherwise, the results are displayed in search results table 565, with the first entry being highlighted and the CD panel associated with that entry being displayed as search CD panel 566.? If more than ten digital jukebox song entries are returned, then a vertical scroll bar is displayed to allow the user to traverse the table.? Search scroll button up 563 is disabled when the first digital jukebox song entry is highlighted or the table is empty.? Search scroll button down 564 is disabled when the last digital jukebox song entry is highlighted or the table is empty.? If there is only one digital jukebox song entry, then both will be disabled.? A user is allowed to click on down 564 to cause the entry in the table after the currently highlighted entry to be highlighted.? In addition, a user is allowed to click on up 563 to cause the entry before the currently highlighted entry to be highlighted.? The table only allows for one entry to be highlighted at a time.? When a different entry is highlighted, either through the use of the search scroll buttons, or by clicking on the entry directly, the appropriate CD panel is displayed in search CD panel 566.? Also, the corresponding digital jukebox song in digital jukebox song listbox 275 of the CD panel is highlighted.? As for any CD panel in the improved graphic user interface of the invention, if there are more than zero credits available to a user, then the effect of highlighting a digital jukebox song in a CD panel is to cause the unique five-digit number associated with that particular digital jukebox song to be automatically displayed in selection text field 354.

 

In addition to allowing searches for text, search screen 500 also allows a user to clear the contents of search text field 562, search results table 565, and search CD panel 566, by clicking on clear 556.? A user may also click on close 557, after which home screen 400 is re-displayed, search 321 on the control panel is re-enabled, and the scroll/navigation buttons of the control panel are re-enabled.

 

???? FIG. 6 depicts the display of popular screen 600.? Popular screen 600 is comprised of song/CD table 601 at the top, view buttons song 602 and CD 603 at the left below popular table 601, ranking buttons normal 604 and power 605 to the right of the view buttons, display buttons top 50 606, top 100 607, all 608, and new/recent 609 to the right of the ranking buttons, popular scroll buttons up 610 and down 611 to the right of the display buttons, popular CD panel 612 to the right of the popular scroll buttons, and the button close popular 613 below the view buttons.

 

???? It is necessary to define what is meant by ?view?, ?ranking?, and ?display? in order to describe buttons 602 to 609.? ?View? has two states: digital jukebox song or CD.? When in ?song view? mode, only individual digital jukebox song entries are listed in table 601.? When in ?CD view? mode, only collective CD entries in are listed in table 601.? ?Ranking? has two states: normal or power.? When in ?normal ranking? mode, entries contained in table 601 are ordered such that entries at the top have an absolute higher play frequency than entries below them.? When in ?power ranking? mode, entries contained in table 601 are ordered such that entries at the top have a higher play-per-day ratio than entries below them.? Display has four states:? top 50, top 100, all, or new/recent.? When in ?top 50? mode, there is a maximum of fifty entries contained in table 601.? When in ?top 100? mode, there is a maximum of one hundred entries contained in table 601.? When in ?all? mode, all songs/CDs that have been requested at least once are displayed in table 601. When in ?all/recent? mode, the most recently played songs are listed in table 601 when in digital jukebox song view mode, otherwise, in CD view mode, the newest CDs that have been added to the CD library are listed in table 601.? Therefore, when button digital jukebox song 602 is clicked on, the table display is changed to song view mode.? When button CD 603 is clicked on, the table display is changed to CD view mode.? When button normal 604 is clicked on, the table display is changed to normal ranking mode.? When button power 605 is set, the table display is changed to power ranking mode.? When button top50 606 is clicked on, the table display is changed to top 50 mode.? When button top 100 607 is clicked on, the table display is changed to top 100 mode.? When button all 608 is clicked on, the table display is changed to all mode.? When button new/recent 609 is clicked on and the table display is in digital jukebox song view mode, then button new/recent 609 is labeled ?recent?, button power 605 is disabled, and the entries in table 601 are ordered such that the most recently played songs are listed at the top.? Otherwise, when button new/recent 609 is clicked on and the table display is in CD view mode, then button new/recent 609 is labeled ?new?, and the entries in table 601 are ordered such that the most recently added CDs to the CD library are listed at the top.? The threshold for determining if a particular CD is ?new? or not, is determined by newCDAgeThreshold XXXX as shown in APPENDIX B.

 

???? In summary of these display modes, the content of table 601 is determined by fifteen allowable combinations of the view, ranking, and display states.? The display state is transitioned when a user clicks on one of the buttons that correspond to these display states.? Thus, these fifteen combinations are:

 

1.)      Top 50 songs, with normal ranking

2.)      Top 100 songs, with normal ranking

3.)      All songs, with normal ranking

4.)      Most recently played songs

5.)      Top 50 songs, with power ranking

6.)      Top 100 songs, with power ranking

7.)      All songs, with power ranking

8.)      Top 50 CDs, with normal ranking

9.)      Top 100 CDs, with normal ranking

10.)   All CDs, with normal ranking

11.)   Newest CDs, with normal ranking

12.)   Top 50 CDs, with power ranking

13.)   Top 100 CDs, with power ranking

14.)   All CDs, with power ranking

15.)   Newest CDs, with power ranking

 

???? Popular scroll buttons up 610 and down 611 work in a fashion similar to that of search scroll buttons up 563 and down 564.? Unless table 601 is displaying the most recently played songs and a digital jukebox song hasn?t been played yet, it has a single entry highlighted.? The CD panel associated with this highlighted entry is displayed as popular CD panel 612.? If the highlighted entry is at the top of the table, then up 610 is disabled.? If the highlighted entry is at the bottom of the table, then down 611 is disabled.? Otherwise, when up 610 is clicked on, the next entry in the table is highlighted and the associated CD panel for that particular song/CD is displayed as popular panel 612.? In addition, if in digital jukebox song view mode, the entry for that particular digital jukebox song is highlighted in the CD panel.

 

???? Furthermore, for popular screen 600, when a user clicks on button popular close 613, home screen 400 is re-displayed, popular 322 on the control panel is re-enabled, and the scroll/navigation buttons of the control panel are re-enabled.

 

???? FIG. 7 depicts the display of genre screen 700.? Genre screen 700 is comprised of genre listbox 701 at the left, genre scroll buttons up 702 and down 703 to the right of genre listbox 701, genre north CD panel 704 in the upper right-hand corner, genre south CD panel 705 in the lower left-hand corner, and button genre close 706 below genre listbox 701.

 

???? Genre listbox 701 contains a list of genres for the CDs that exist in the CD library.? This list is determined by how the CDs are arranged on hard drive 130, as shown in APPENDIX C.? If the number of genres is greater than what can be displayed in listbox 701, then vertical scrollbar 277 is displayed.? When a user first encounters genre screen 700, the genre corresponding to the genre that is shown in northwest CD panel 410 of home screen 400, is highlighted.? Furthermore, genre north CD panel 704 displays the same CD panel as shown in northwest CD panel 410 of home screen 400.? If there is another CD in the CD library that follows the CD shown in genre north CD panel 704 and is in the same genre, then the corresponding CD panel is displayed as genre south CD panel 705.? Otherwise, the CD panel corresponding to the first CD in that genre is displayed.? If there is only one CD for that genre, then genre south CD panel 705 is not displayed.?

 

???? Table 701 allows only one genre to be highlighted at any point in time.? A user is allowed to change this highlighted entry in two ways:? the first is by returning to home screen 400, scrolling through the appropriate CD panels, then returning to genre screen 700.? The second way a user is allowed to change this highlighted entry is by clicking on a different genre directly in listbox 701.?

 

???? Clicking on genre scroll button up 702 allows a user to view the previous two CD panels for the given genre, relative to the CD panels already being displayed.? If there aren?t any more previous CD panels to be displayed, then the last two CD panels for that genre are displayed.? Clicking on genre scroll button down 703 allows a user to view the next two CD panels for the given genre, relative to the CD panels already being displayed.? If there is only one more CD panel for the given genre to be displayed, then it is shown in genre north CD panel 704 and genre south CD panel 705 is not displayed.? If there aren?t anymore further CD panels to be displayed, then the first two CD panels for that genre are displayed.

 

???? Furthermore, for genre screen 700, when a user clicks on button genre close 706, home screen 400 is re-displayed, genre 323 on the control panel is re-enabled, and the scroll/navigation buttons of the control panel are re-enabled.

 

???? FIG. 8 depicts the display of logon screen 800.? Logon screen 800 is comprised of keyboard panel 575 in the top center.? Text field user ID 801 is displayed below keyboard panel 575.? Text field password 802 is displayed below user ID 801.? Buttons logon 803, cancel 804, and change password 805 are located one after another in a row below password 802.

 

???? The behavior of keyboard panel 575 is the same as it is in search screen 500, except that the character ?pressed? by a user is put into user ID 801.? When the length of this text reaches six characters, any further characters are put into password 802 in masked form, that is, the identity of the actual characters are hidden, and the pound sign character, ?#?, is displayed instead.? When the length of the password field reaches eight characters, both logon 803 and change password 805 buttons are enabled.

 

???? When improved graphic user interface 120 is first run, there are two default user ID and password combinations.? The first is ?ADMIN? and ?PASSWORD?, respectively.? The second is ?OWNER? and ?PASSWORD?, respectively.? If a, presumably, privileged user knows how to enter the logon screen in the first place and knows either user ID and password combination, then that user can proceed by clicking on logon 803.? The password ?PASSWORD? itself, is not allowable, otherwise the purpose of this screen would be comprised.? When this password is encountered, the user is prompted to change it to something that presumably, only he or she would know.? After this occurs, admin screen 900 is displayed, such that as shown in FIG. 9.? A user that enters the correct password for either ?ADMIN? or ?OWNER? is said to be a privileged user.? If that user enters the correct password for ?OWNER? is said to have owner-level access.? Otherwise, a user who knows neither is said to be non-privileged.

 

???? A privileged user is allowed to change the password for the user ID and password combination that they have knowledge of, by clicking on change password 805 once the correct user ID and password have been entered.

 

???? In the event that any type of user accidentally clicks on the invisible logon 324, which is the area beside selection being made 354 on the control panel, then that user can exit logon screen 800 by clicking on cancel 804.? If the logon screen is displayed for more than two minutes, then any action is canceled and the screen is automatically exited.

 

???? An additional mechanism for entering the admin screen is via pressing the ?Esc? key on the physical keyboard that is connected to the digital jukebox computer system 110.? The rationale is that any user that has access to the physical keyboard is inherently a privileged user, as it is intended for the computer system to be housed in a locked enclosure, in which the only input a user normally has with the system is via the touch screen interface and bill acceptor.

 

???? FIG. 9 depicts the display of admin screen 900.? Admin screen 900 is comprised of the following elements:

(a)     delete 901, at upper left-hand corner of the screen

(b)     add to queue 902, below delete 901

(c)     remove from queue 903, below add to queue 902

(d)     reset statistics 904, below remove from queue 903

(e)     expand tree 905, below from reset statistics 904

(f)      collapse tree 906, below expand tree 905

(g)     show duplicates 907, below collapse tree 906

(h)     player volume 908, below show duplicates 907

(i)       minimum queue size 909, below player volume 908

(j)       show queued 910, immediately to the right of minimum queue size 909

(k)     random play interval 911, below minimum queue size 909

(l)       play random songs 912, immediately to the right of random play interval 911

(m)    acceptor statistics 913, to the right of elements 909-912 and near the center of the screen

(n)     show confirmations 914, below acceptor statistics 913

(o)     digital jukebox tree 915, immediately to the right of elements 901-908, and extending to the center of the screen

(p)     song queue 916, immediately to the right of digital jukebox tree 915

(q)     play next 917, at the upper right-hand corner of the screen

(r)      pause current 918, below play next 917

(s)     play now 919, below pause current 918

(t)      move up 920, below pause current 919

(u)     move down 921, below move up 920

(v)     remove 922, below move down 921

(w)    remove all 923, below remove 922

(x)      increment 924, below remove all 923

(y)     decrement 925, below increment 924

(z)      scan for songs 926, below decrement 925

(aa)  load playlist 927, below scan for songs 926

(bb) save playlist 928, below load playlist 927

(cc)  log file history 929, to the left of elements 926-928

(dd) time remaining 930, below log file history 929 and to the immediate left of save playlist 928

???? Button elements 901-907 operate on digital jukebox tree 915, which displays the contents of the CD library in the form of a tree structure.? This tree matches that of the actual file system tree structure on hard drive 130.? When a user selects an entry in digital jukebox tree 915, the following can occur:

(a)     A privileged user with owner-level access may click on delete 901 in order to delete the selected entry, and any sub-entries that it may contain, from hard drive 130.?

(b)     A privileged user may click on add to queue 902 in order to add any songs that the selected entry, and any sub-entries that it may contain, to the digital jukebox song queue.? That is, if the selected entry is the name of an artist for example, all songs for all CDs that that artist has in the CD library are added to the digital jukebox song queue.

(c)     ?A privileged user may click on remove from queue 903 in order to remove any songs that may exist in the digital jukebox song queue that are from the selected entry, and any sub-entries that it may contain.? That is, if the selected entry is the name of a genre, then all songs that are part of a CD whose genre is the same as the selected entry, are removed from the digital jukebox song queue.

(d)     A privileged user may click on reset statistics 904 in order to change the play count of any songs that the selected entry, and any sub-entries that it may contain, to zero.? Performing this action will remove any songs or CDs from one or more of the table displays for popular screen 600.? Furthermore, for songs that are reset, will no longer display a play frequency icon until they are requested again.

 

???? A privileged user may click on expand tree 905, regardless of whether a selection has been made in digital jukebox tree 915, in order to show the tree in its default, fully expanded state, as the tree must be expanded in order for the improved graphic user interface of the invention to operate properly.? When the tree is fully expanded, all nodes are shown such that the leaf entries, or digital jukebox song entries, are visible.

 

???? A privileged user may click on collapse tree 906, regardless of whether a selection has been made in digital jukebox tree 915, in order to hide all the digital jukebox song entries, leaving only the nodes corresponding to genres, artists, and cd titles visible.? The purpose of this action is to allow a user to traverse the contents of the tree quickly.

 

???? A privileged user with owner-level access may click on show duplicates 907 in order to bring up a dialog window (now shown) that shows all of the duplicate digital jukebox song entries that exist in the CD library.? On this dialog window, a user can select one of the two duplicates, then press a ?delete? button in order to remove the duplicate digital jukebox song from hard drive 130.? The purpose of this action is to allow a user to free up space on hard drive 130 by removing duplicate songs.

 

???? Elements 908-912 and 913 are related to the user-friendly aspects for the configuration of the improved graphic user interface of the invention.? Some of these elements employ a custom control called a spin button.? A spin button is a control that has a read-only text field and two arrow buttons next to it. one atop another.? The top button is of an arrow pointing up and when clicked on, increments the numerical value that is displayed in the entry field.? Similarly, when the bottom button, which displays an arrow pointing down, is clicked on, the value in the entry field is decremented.? The range of values varies with each control.? Thus the elements of admin screen 900 related to configuration are:

(a)     player volume 908 is a spin button that allows a privileged user to control the gain, or volume, of the player that sends its output to sound card 160. A user may choose a value for the volume to be from zero to one-hundred inclusive.

(b)     minimum queue size 909 is a spin button that allows a privileged user to control how many songs are in the digital jukebox song queue at a minimum.? That is, if no patrons are requesting songs, a user with access to admin screen 900 can use this settings to effectively turn on continuous random play.? Changing the minimum queue size allows a user to see which songs are queued up, so as to give him/her a chance to remove that digital jukebox song if they wish.

(c)     show queued 910 is a check box that allows a privileged user to configure whether or not a different icon, appearing as a ?Q?, is displayed n the place of the normal play frequency icon 280 of CD panel 270, as shown in FIG. 3, for those songs that are queued to be played.? The default setting is to not show which songs are queued to the non-privileged user browsing through the various screens.

(d)     random play interval 911 is a spin button that allows a privileged user to configure, in minutes, how often a random digital jukebox song is played by the invention when there aren?t any songs being played currently.? That is, if a digital jukebox song is already being played when this time interval is up, then a random digital jukebox song is not added to the digital jukebox song queue, and the timer starts at zero again.? The range of values for this interval is twenty minutes to one-hundred eighty minutes.

(e)     play random songs 912 is a checkbox that allows a privileged user to configure whether or not to play a random digital jukebox song at the time interval specified by random play interval 911.? When this check box is not set, random play interval 911 is made to display invisibly.

(f)      show confirmations 914 is a check box that allows a privileged user to configure whether or not to display confirmation dialog 1000 when a normal user selects a digital jukebox song to be played using either home screen 400, search screen 500, popular screen 600, or genre screen 700.? Not having this set, allows songs to be automatically added to the digital jukebox song queue from these screens either by double-clicking on the digital jukebox song entry in listbox 275 of CD panel 270, or by single-clicking on the digital jukebox song entry or entering the selection number manually on the control panel, and then clicking on enter 342 of the control panel.? The default setting for the invention is to show this confirmation dialog, as there is advertising images that are displayed.

 

???? Acceptor statistics 913 is a table that allows a privileged user to view the history, month-to-month, of the dollar amount collected by bill acceptor 150 since the inception of the improved graphic user interface of the invention running on digital jukebox computer system 110.? The first column of the table, month/year 913-A, shows the month and year of the entry in the form of a 3-digit abbreviation for the month and the 4-digit numerical year.? For example, a typical entry for column one might look like: ?Jun2001?.? The second column of the table, amount 913-B, shows the dollar amount collected by the bill acceptor.? For example, a typical entry for column two might look like: ?$525?.? The way a single line of this table would be interpreted using this example is that $525 was collected for the month of June, 2001.

 

???? Song queue 916 is a list box that corresponds to the queue that exists for songs that are going to be played.? These songs are added either explicitly by a non-privileged user using a credit, a privileged user using add to queue 902, or randomly by the improved graphic user interface of the invention.? Buttons 917-928 all operate in some fashion on digital jukebox song queue 916.? Note that digital jukebox song queue 916 is dynamic, whereas digital jukebox tree 915 is essentially static.? Another difference between the two is that any songs that exist in digital jukebox song queue 916 are a subset of the songs that exist in digital jukebox tree 915.

 

???? A privileged user is allowed to click on play next 917 at any time.? When this happens, the currently playing digital jukebox song is immediately stopped and the next digital jukebox song in the queue is played next, if one exists.? If there isn?t a currently playing song, then it necessarily implies that there will also be no further entries in digital jukebox song queue 916.? In this case, clicking on play next 917 will cause nothing to happen.

 

?? ??A privileged user is allowed to click on pause current 918 at any time.? When this happens, the currently playing song is paused indefinitely.? A user must click on pause current 918 once more in order to resume playing the currently paused digital jukebox song.? If there isn?t a currently playing song, then nothing happens when pause current 918 is clicked on.

 

???? If a song entry is highlighted in digital jukebox song queue 916, and a privileged user clicks on play now 919, then the highlighted digital jukebox song is immediately played, regardless of its position in the queue and whether or not another digital jukebox song is currently playing.? If?

there isn?t a highlighted digital jukebox song entry in digital jukebox song queue 916, then nothing happens when pause current 918 is clicked on.

 

???? If a song entry is highlighted in digital jukebox song queue 916, and a privileged user clicks on move up 920, then the highlighted digital jukebox song is moved up one place in the queue.? That is, if the highlighted digital jukebox song is the third entry in digital jukebox song queue 916, then it switches location with the second entry.? If there isn?t a highlighted digital jukebox song entry in digital jukebox song queue 916, then nothing happens when move up 920 is clicked on.

 

???? If a song entry is highlighted in digital jukebox song queue 916, and a privileged user clicks on move down 921, then the highlighted digital jukebox song is moved down one place in the queue. ?That is, if the highlighted digital jukebox song is the third entry in digital jukebox song queue 916, then it switches location with the fourth entry.? If there isn?t a highlighted digital jukebox song entry in digital jukebox song queue 916, then nothing happens when move down 921 is clicked on.

 

???? If a song entry is highlighted in digital jukebox song queue 916, and a privileged user clicks on remove 922, then the highlighted digital jukebox song is removed from the queue.? That is, that instance of the highlighted song will not be played.? If there are other instances of the same song, then they remained unchanged in the song queue.? If there isn?t a highlighted song entry in digital jukebox song queue 916, then nothing happens when remove 922 is clicked on.

 

???? A privileged user is allowed to click on remove all 913 at any time.? When this happens, all entries from the digital jukebox song queue are removed. If there is a digital jukebox song that is currently playing, then that digital jukebox song will continue playing.? If there aren?t any entries in digital jukebox song queue 916, then nothing happens when remove all 923 is clicked on.

 

???? A privileged user with owner-level access is allowed to click on increment 924 at any time.? When this happens, the number of credits that is available to a non-privileged user increases by one.? This action has the effect of not requiring a privileged user to insert money into the bill acceptor in order to select songs to play.

????

???? A privileged user with owner-level access is allowed to click on decrement 925 at any time.? When this happens, the number of credits that is available to a non-privileged user decreases by one.?

 

???? A privileged user with owner-level access is allowed to click on scan for songs 926 at any time.? When this happens, any digital jukebox song that is currently playing is paused, then the improved graphic user interface of the invention performs a scan of any hard drives, specified by the ?ScanPaths? configuration parameter that is specified in APPENDIX B, for any new encoded CDs that are in the proper format, as specified in APPENDIX C, that have been added to hard drive 130 since the last time scan for songs 926 was clicked on.? While this is occurring, a progress dialog box appears on-screen (not shown), giving the user a measure of how long this operation may take.

 

???? A privileged user may click on load playlist 927 in order to load a file from disk that is in a format recognized by the improved graphic user interface of the invention as a play list.? A playlist is a list of songs that can be added to digital jukebox song queue 916.? This operation has the effect of allowing a privileged user to add a pre-defined list of songs to the digital jukebox song queue in order to quickly insert songs into digital jukebox song queue 916.

 

???? A privileged user may click on save playlist 928 in order to save the contents of digital jukebox song queue 916 to a file on disk that later be loaded using load playlist 927.is in a format recognized by the improved graphic user interface of the invention as a play list.

 

???? A privileged user is allowed to view log file history 929, a text area that contains milestone information such as configuration parameters and events such as: when a user inserts money into bill acceptor 150, when a user makes a digital jukebox song selection, and when a digital jukebox song is taken from the digital jukebox song queue and played.

 

???? A privileged user is allowed to view time remaining 930, a text field which shows how much time is remaining for the currently playing digital jukebox song.? The format for this field is MM:SS, where MM is the minutes portion and SS is the seconds portion of the time remaining.? If there isn?t a currently playing song, then this field is blank.

 

???? FIG. 10 depicts the display of confirmation dialog 1000, which is comprised of banner ad image 1001 in the top center, selected digital jukebox song 1002 in the center below banner ad image 1001, button yes 1003 below selected digital jukebox song 1002 and offset to the left-center, and button no 1004 to the right of yes 1003.

 

???? Banner ad image 1001 displays a series of images that are kept in the ?bannerads? directory that is a part of the file structure for the improved graphic user interface of the invention.? Images that are to be displayed do not have to have any special names, they just need to be at most 470 pixels wide and 200 pixels high and in the graphics format known as ?GIF?.? Selected digital jukebox song 1002 contains the name of the digital jukebox song that is selected by a user to play.? Yes 1003 is a button, that when clicked, serves as a confirmation that the user does indeed wish to hear the digital jukebox song displayed in selected digital jukebox song 1002.? For this case, the dialog is dismissed, the song is added to digital jukebox song queue 916, and the number of credits is decremented by one.? Otherwise, if the user clicks on no 1004, then this is interpreted as the user not wanting to hear the song displayed in selected digital jukebox song 1002.? For this case, the dialog is dismissed, the song is not added to digital jukebox song queue 916, and the number of credits remain the same.? In either case, the user has viewed banner ad image 1001, which can be any image, such as external advertising or in-house promotions.? The number of viewings for each image is stored in the file named: ?BannerAdShowCount.properties?, which is in the same directory on disk as the improved graphic user interface of the invention.? The information stored in this file may be used as feedback in which to assist a user in determining how many times each image has been displayed.

 

???? FIG. 11 shows a screen capture representation of home screen 400 at a 50% reduction.? The state of the application at this point is as follows:

(a)     The four visible CDs are: CD number 638, Social Distortion?s ?Prison Bound? with 10 tracks available in northwest CD panel 410, CD number 639, Social Distortion?s ?Social Distortion? with 10 tracks available in southwest CD panel 420, CD number 640, Social Distortion?s ?Somewhere Between Heaven And Hell? with 11 tracks available in northeast CD panel 430, and Sound Garden?s ?Badmotorfinger? with 12 tracks available in southeast CD panel 440.? This is shown in visible CDs 355.

(b)     The four visible CDs are of the ?Rock? genre.

(c)     The first track of CD number 638, whose unique 5-digit number is 63801, has been played at least once, and is showing image 1 for digital jukebox song play frequency icon 280, as are 63803, 63901, 63902, 63906, 63910, 64001, 64004, and 64102.

(d)     Songs 63905, 64003, and 64101 have been played more than the above songs and are showing image 2 for digital jukebox song play frequency icon 280.

(e)     Song 64008 has been played more than any other song that is visible on the screen and is showing image 3 for digital jukebox song play frequency icon 280.

(f)      Song 63905, Social Distortion?s ?Ring Of Fire? is the currently playing song, as is shown in current digital jukebox song 351.

(g)     All the scrolling buttons are enabled and allow for navigation as labeled on the buttons.

(h)     The screen buttons are enabled and allow for viewing the search screen, popular screen, or the genre screen.? If the user clicks in the lower left-hand corner of the control panel, then the logon screen would be displayed.

(i)       ?There are 823 CDs in the CD library, as shown in total CDs 352.

(j)       There are 3 credits, as shown in selections remaining 353.

(k)     Since selection being made 354 is blank, the numbered selection buttons are enabled, the enter button is disabled, and the cancel button is disabled.

 

???? FIG. 12 shows a screen capture representation of search screen 500 at a 50% reduction.? The state of the application at this point is as follows:

(a)     A user has performed a search on the text ?Foo Fighters?, as shown in search text field 562 and search results 565.

(b)     The first digital jukebox song displayed in search results 565 is ?Foo Fighters-01-This Is A Call?, which is from CD number 586, as is shown in search CD panel 566.

(c)     The CD shown in search CD panel 566, is considered to be a ?new? CD by virtue of the fact that it has a red border.

(d)     The search was done on a ?by artist? basis, as shown in search by button field artist 558.

(e)     A user is able to scroll down the search results 565 table, but not up.

(f)      A user is not able to use the scrolling buttons on the control panel.?

(g)     A user is able to switch to the popular screen, genre screen, by clicking on the respective buttons.

(h)     A user is able to return to the home screen by clicking on close 557.

???? FIG. 13 shows a screen capture representation of search screen 600 at a 50% reduction.? The state of the application at this point is as follows:

(a)     The listing in table 601 shows the top 50, normally ranked songs, as digital jukebox song 602, normal 604, and top 50 606 are in the set state.

(b)     The most popular normally ranked digital jukebox song is ?You Sexy Thing? by Hot Chocolate.

(c)     ?You Sexy Thing? by Hot Chocolate is from the CD numbered 211 and labeled ?Boogie Wonderland ? Disc 1? and is a compilation CD as defined in APPENDIX C, is of the ?Disco? genre, and is shown in popular CD panel 612.

(d)     The top 10 normally ranked songs are visible in table 601.? The table can be scrolled down using either down 611 or the vertical scrollbar shown in table 601.

(e)     A user is able to return to the home screen by clicking on close 613.

 

???? FIG. 14 shows a screen capture representation of genre screen 700 at a 50% reduction.? The state of the application at this point is as follows:

(a)     There are 18 genres listed in genre listbox 701.

(b)     The currently highlighted genre is ?Rock? and the currently visible ?Rock? CDs are the CDs numbered 638, Social Distortion?s ?Prison Bound? and 639, Social Distortion?s ?Social Distortion?, displayed in genre north CD panel 704 and genre south CD panel 705.

(c)     A user may scroll through the previous or next CDs in the ?Rock? genre by clicking on up 702 and down 703, respectively.

(d)     A user is able to return to the home screen by clicking on close 706.

 

???? FIG. 15 shows a screen capture representation of logon screen 800 at a 50% reduction.? The state of the application at this point is as follows:

(a)     A user has entered the user ID ?ADMIN? in the userid 801 text field.

(b)     A user has entered an eight-digit password in the password 802 text field.

(c)     A user may enter admin screen 900 by clicking on logon 803, if and only if, the entered password is the same as that which is encrypted into the file ?AdminPwd.ctl?, using the MD5 encryption algorithm.

(d)     A user may change the password by clicking on change password 805, if and only if, the entered password is the same as that which is encrypted in the above file.

(e)     A user is able to return to the home screen by clicking on cancel 804.

 

???? FIG. 16 shows a screen capture representation of admin screen 900 at a 50% reduction.? The state of the application at this point is as follows:

(a)     A privileged user may view the contents of song queue 916, in which the next song queued to play is ?King Of Fools?, by Social Distortion.

(b)     A privileged user may modify the contents of song queue 916, by clicking on the appropriate buttons, as described previously.

(c)     A privileged user may modify the configuration of the improved graphic user interface of the invention by manipulating player volume 908, minimum queue size 909, show queued 910, random play interval 911, play random songs 912, and show confirmations 914.

(d)     A privileged user may view the monthly amounts of money taken in by bill acceptor 150 by viewing acceptor statistics 913.

(e)     A privileged user that doesn?t have owner-level access will not be able to access delete 901, show duplicates 907, increment 924, decrement 925, and scan for songs 926.

(f)      A privileged user may view the time remaining for the currently playing song, which is displayed in time remaining 930.

(g)     A privileged user may view the contents of the log file, ?MP3Jukeboxx.log?, which is displayed in log file history 929.

(h)     A privileged user is able to return to the home screen by clicking on logon screen 324, which is not displayed as a normal button, but is located to the right of selection being made 354 in the lower left-hand corner of the control panel.

 

???? FIG. 17 shows a screen capture representation of confirmation dialog 1000 at a 50% reduction.? The state of the application at this point is as follows:

(a)     A user has just clicked on enter 342, and has selected to play ?The Fly? by U2, as is shown in selected digital jukebox song 1002.

(b)     An image is displayed in banner ad image 1001.

(c)     A user may commit the selection by clicking on yes 1003, whereby the number of credits, as shown in selections remaining 353, will be decremented by one.

(d)     A user may cancel the selection by clicking on no 1004, whereby the number of credits will remain the same, as shown in selections remaining 353.

 

 

??

 

 

????

 

 

CONCLUSION, RAMIFICATIONS, AND SCOPE

 

 

 

 

 

CLAIMS:

????

???? What is claimed is:

1.? A graphic user interface for use with a computer system, comprising:

means for determining the identity of at least one of a plurality of encoded audio compact discs (CDs) stored on said computer system;

means for accumulating statistical information regarding at least the identity, age, and playback frequency of said at least one of said plurality of encoded CDs;

means for communicating with a bill acceptor regarding at least the denomination of any valid currency accepted, detection of a jammed bill, the detection of a full currency stacker, detection of a general failure, and detection of a rejected bill of said bill acceptor ;

means for rendering an audio stream suitable for connection to an external amplifier or supplying the name of a file which contains a digitally encoded digital jukebox song and automatically triggering the playing of said digital jukebox song by another player stored on said computer system;

wherein said graphic user interface allows a user to view and manipulate said encoded CDs and select songs from said encoded CDs to be played or supplied to said player.

 

The graphic user interface of claim 1, wherein said

 

 

ABSTRACT:

???? This invention relates generally to a graphic user interface and more particular to a graphic user interface for use with a computer system that has a plurality of digitally encoded audio compact discs (CDs), a touch screen, a sound card, connection to a bill acceptor, and a connection to an external amplifier/speaker system.? The effect of this arrangement of computer system components is to produce a system that is similar in function to a commercial CD jukebox commonly found in places such as bars, restaurants and pool halls.? These computer system components will henceforth be referred to as the digital jukebox computer system.

 

 

?

 

APPENDIX A

 

???? Digital jukebox computer system 110 may be comprised of a personal computer system that has the following software installed:? Sun Microsystem?s Java^TM 2 Platform, Standard Edition v 1.3.0 or greater for running the improved graphic user interface 120, Sun Microsystem?s Java^TM Communications API v 2.0 or greater for interfacing with bill acceptor 150, and Sun Microsystem?s Java^TM Media Framework API v 2.0 or greater for reading digital jukebox song files in the MP3 format from hard drive with encoded CDs 130 and rendering them into an appropriate audio stream for sound card 160.? Optionally, digital jukebox computer system 110 may also be comprised of Nullsoft?s Winamp software MP3 player and various Winamp plugins to improve sound quality in order to read song files in the MP3 format from hard drive with encoded CDs 130 and render them into an appropriate audio stream for sound card 160.?

 

???? Improved graphic user interface 120 constructed in accordance with the invention, is a Java application comprised of the following binary files that are executed by the Java Virtual Machine that runs on digital jukebox computer system 110:

???? 1. CDPanel$1.class

???? 2. CDPanel$2.class

???? 3. CDPanel$3.class

???? 4. CDPanel.class

???? 5. ConfirmationDialog.class

???? 6. DupeSongFinder$SongEntry.class

???? 7. DupeSongFinder.class

???? 8. Exec$StreamHandler.class

???? 9. Exec.class

???? 10. FileChooserFilter.class

???? 11. FileChooserView.class

???? 12. GBAMgr$GBAMessage.class

???? 13. GBAMgr.class

???? 14. JmfMgr.class

???? 15. KeyboardPanel.class

???? 16. LogonDialog.class

???? 17. Md5File.class

???? 18. MP3Jukeboxx$1.class

???? 19. MP3Jukeboxx$2.class

???? 20. MP3Jukeboxx$3.class

???? 21. MP3Jukeboxx$4.class

???? 22. MP3Jukeboxx$5.class

???? 23. MP3Jfsukeboxx$6.class

???? 24. MP3Jukeboxx$7.class

???? 25. MP3Jukeboxx$8.class

???? 26. MP3Jukeboxx$9.class

???? 27. MP3Jukeboxx.class

???? 28. MyListRenderer.class

???? 29. MyRenderer.class

???? 30. PlayerMgr.class

???? 31. ProgressFrame$CubbyHole.class

???? 32. ProgressFrame.class

???? 33. SpinButton.class

???? 34. TomArrowButton.class

???? 35. TomScrollBar.class

???? 36. TomScrollBarUI$ArrowButtonListener.class

???? 37. TomScrollBarUI$ModelListener.class

???? 38. TomScrollBarUI$PropertyChangeHandler.class

???? 39. TomScrollBarUI$ScrollListener.class

???? 40. TomScrollBarUI$SharedActionScroller.class

???? 41. TomScrollBarUI$TrackListener.class

???? 42. TomScrollBarUI.class

???? 43. TreeMgr$PlayListEntry.class

???? 44. TreeMgr.class

???? 45. WinampFilter.class

???? 46. WinAmpMgr.class

 

In order to create these binary files, it is necessary to compile the following Java programming language source files that are listed as follows:

???? 1. CDPanel.java

???? 2. ConfirmationDialog.java

???? 3. CustomFileView.java

???? 4. DupeSongFinder.java

???? 5. Exec.java

???? 6. FileChooserFilter.java

???? 7. FileChooserView.java

???? 8. GBAMgr.java

???? 9. JmfMgr.java

???? 10. KeyboardPanel.java

???? 11. LogonDialog.java

???? 12. Md5File.java

???? 13. MP3Jukeboxx.java

???? 14. MyListRenderer.java

???? 15. MyRenderer.java

???? 16. PlayerMgr.java

???? 17. ProgressFrame.java

???? 18. SpinButton.java

???? 19. TomArrowButton.java

???? 20. TomScrollBar.java

???? 21. TomScrollBarUI.java

???? 22. TreeMgr.java

???? 23. WinampFilter.java

???? 24. WinAmpMgr.java

 

???? The source files that comprise the graphic user interface of the invention may be placed into any directory on the personal computer, although this directory name may be ?kiosk?.? The command needed to initialize the CLASSPATH environment variable needed to use the java compiler and subsequently run the graphic user interface of the invention on Windows based operating systems is:

??SET CLASSPATH=.;c:\jmf2.1.1\lib\sound.jar;c:\jmf2.1.1\lib\jmf.jar;c:\jdk1.3\lib\comm.jar;?.

 

???? The command needed to initialize the PATH environment variable needed to use the java compiler and subsequently run the graphic user interface of the invention on Windows based operating systems is:

?SET PATH=c:\bin;c:\jdk1.3\bin;c:\jdk1.3\jre\bin;%PATH%?

 

???? The command for compiling the source files on Windows based operating systems is:

?javac MP3Jukeboxx.java?.?

 

???? The command for running the source files on Windows based operating systems is:

?start "JukeANator" /REALTIME java MP3Jukeboxx?.?

 

???? The file structure for the improved graphic user of the interface is shown in FIG. 18.? The java class files shown above may be placed in the directory, ?C:\kiosk?.? There are three subdirectories underneath this directory:? ?bannerads?, ?images?, and ?plugins?.? Banner advertising images, which are in the .GIF format and are the standard 468x60 pixel size, may be placed in the ?bannerads? sub-directory so that they may be displayed in banner ad image 1001 on confirmation dialog 1000 when a user selects a song to play.

 

???? The graphics images for the improved graphic user interface of the invention are placed in the ?images? sub-directory.? They are enumerated alphabetically, along with what element they correspond to on the improved graphic user interface of the invention, as follows:??

 

?

ADDALL.GIF:? Used to display add to queue 902

 

ADDTO.GIF:? Used to display scan for songs 926

 

ALL.GIF:? Used to display all 608 in a non-set state

 

ALLDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display all 608 in a set state

 

ALLPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display all 608 in a pressed state

 

BACK.GIF:? Used to display back 311 in a normal state

 

BACKDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display back 311 in a disabled state

 

BACKPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display back 311 in a pressed state

 

?BLANK.GIF:? Used to display a blank image for digital jukebox tree 915

 

BTM.GIF:? Used to display bottom 318 in a normal state

 

BTMDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display bottom 318 in a disabled state

 

BTMPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display bottom 318 in a pressed state

 

BYALLDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display all 571 in a set state

 

BYALLENABLED.GIF:? Used to display all 571 in a non-set state

 

BYALLPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display all 571 in a pressed state

 

BYARTISTDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display artist 558 in a set state

 

BYARTISTENABLED.GIF:? Used to display artist 558 in a non-set state

 

BYARTISTPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display artist 558 in a pressed state

 

BYSONGDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display digital jukebox song 559 in a set state

 

BYSONGENABLED.GIF:? Used to display digital jukebox song 559 in a non-set state

 

BYSONGPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display digital jukebox song 559 in a pressed state

 

 

BYTITLEDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display title 560 in a set state

 

BYTITLEENABLED.GIF:? Used to display title 560 in a non-set state

 

BYTITLEPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display title 560 in a pressed state.

 

CANCEL.GIF:? Used to display cancel 336 in a normal state

 

CANCELDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display cancel 336 in a disabled state

 

CANCELPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display cancel 336 in a pressed state

 

CDVIEW.GIF:? Used to display CD 603 in a non-set state

 

CDVIEWDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display CD 603 in a set state

 

CDVIEWPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display CD 603 in a pressed state

 

CLEAR.GIF:? Used to display clear 556 in a normal state

 

 

CLEARDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display clear 556 in a disabled state

 

CLEARPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display clear 556 in a pressed state?

 

CLOSE.GIF:? Used to display close 557, close popular 613, or close genre 706, in a normal state

 

CLOSEDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display close 557, close popular 613, or close genre 706, in a disabled state

 

CLOSEPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display close 557, close popular 613, or close genre 706, in a pressed state

 

COLLAPSE.GIF:? Used to display collapse tree 906

 

DECBUTTON.GIF:? Used to display a down arrow for spin buttons player volume 908, minimum queue size 909, and random play interval 911, in a normal state

?

DECBUTTONDISABLED:? Used to display a down arrow for spin buttons player volume 908, minimum queue size 909, and random play interval 911, in a disabled state

 

DECBUTTONPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display a down arrow for spin buttons player volume 908, minimum queue size 909, and random play interval 911, in a pressed state

 

DECREMENT.GIF:? Used to display decrement 925

 

DELETEALL.GIF:? Used to display delete 901

DISPLAY.GIF:? Used to label the display for buttons top 50 606, top 100 607, all 608, and recent/new 609

 

EIGHT.GIF:? Used to display eight 339 in a normal state

 

EIGHTDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display eight 339 in a disabled state

 

EIGHTPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display eight 339 in a pressed state

 

ENTER.GIF:? Used to display enter 342 in a normal state

 

ENTERDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display enter 342 in a disabled state

 

ENTERPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display enter 342 in a pressed state

 

EXPAND.GIF:? Used to display expand tree 905

 

FIVE.GIF:? Used to display five 335 in a normal state

 

FIVEDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display five 335 in a disabled state

 

FIVEPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display five 335 in a pressed state

 

FOLDER.GIF:? Used to display a directory entry in jukebox tree 915

 

FOUR.GIF:? Used to display four 334 in a normal state

 

FOURDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display four 334 in a disabled state

 

FOURPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display four 334 in a pressed state

 

GENRE.GIF:? Used to display genre 323 in a normal state

 

GENREDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display genre 323 in a disabled state

 

GENREPAGEDN.GIF:? Used to display genre page down 703 in a normal state

 

GENREPAGEDNDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display genre page down 703 in a disabled state

 

GENREPAGEDNPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display genre page down 703 in a pressed state

 

GENREPAGEUP.GIF:? Used to display genre page down 702 in a normal state

 

GENREPAGEUPDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display genre page down 702 in a disabled state

 

GENREPAGEUPPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display genre page down 702 in a pressed state

 

GENREPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display genre 323 in a pressed state

 

GO.GIF:? Used to display go! 555 in a normal state

 

GODISABLED.GIF:? Used to display go! 555 in a disabled state

 

GOPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display go! 555 in a pressed state

 

INCBUTTON.GIF:? Used to display a up arrow for spin buttons player volume 908, minimum queue size 909, and random play interval 911, in a normal state

 

INCBUTTONDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display a up arrow for spin buttons player volume 908, minimum queue size 909, and random play interval 911, in a disabled state

 

INCBUTTON.GIFPRESSED:? Used to display a up arrow for spin buttons player volume 908, minimum queue size 909, and random play interval 911, in a pressed state

 

INCREMENT.GIF:? Used to display increment 924

 

INSTRUCT.GIF:? Used to display instruction image 274

 

LEVEL_0.GIF:? Used to display image 0 for play frequency icon 280 when digital jukebox song entry is not selected

 

LEVEL_0_SELECTED.GIF:? Used to display image 0 for play frequency icon 280 when digital jukebox song entry is selected

 

LEVEL_1.GIF:? Used to display image 1 for play frequency icon 280 when digital jukebox song entry is not selected

 

LEVEL_1_SELECTED.GIF:? Used to display image 1 for play frequency icon 280 when digital jukebox song entry is selected

 

LEVEL_2.GIF:? Used to display image 2 for play frequency icon 280 when digital jukebox song entry is not selected

 

LEVEL_2_SELECTED.GIF:? Used to display image 2 for play frequency icon 280 when digital jukebox song entry is selected

 

LEVEL_3.GIF:? Used to display image 3 for play frequency icon 280 when digital jukebox song entry is not selected

 

LEVEL_3_SELECTED.GIF:? Used to display image 3 for play frequency icon 280 when digital jukebox song entry is selected

 

LOADPL.GIF:? Used to display load playlist 927

 

 

MOVEDOWN.GIF:? Used to display move down 921

 

MOVEUP.GIF:? Used to display move up 920

 

NEW.GIF:? Used to display recent/new 609 when table 601 is in digital jukebox song view mode and in a non-set state

 

NEWDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display recent/new 609 when table 601 is in digital jukebox song view mode and in set state

 

NEWPRESSED.GIF:?? Used to display recent/new 609 when table 601 is in digital jukebox song view mode and in a pressed state

 

NEXTGENRE.GIF:? Used to display next genre 317 in a normal state

 

NEXTGENREDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display next genre 317 in a disabled state

 

NEXTGENREPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display next genre 317 in a pressed state

 

NEXTPAGE.GIF:? Used to display next 316 in a normal state

 

 

NEXTPAGEDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display next 316 in a disabled state

 

NEXTPAGEPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display next 316 in a pressed state

 

NINE.GIF:? Used to display nine 340 in a normal state

 

NINEDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display nine 340 in a disabled state

 

NINEPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display nine 340 in a pressed state

 

NO.GIF:? Used to display no 1004 in a normal state

 

NODISABLED.GIF:? Used to display no 1004 in a disabled state

 

NOPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display no 1004 in a normal state

 

NORMAL.GIF:? Used to display normal 604 in a non-set state

 

 

NORMALDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display normal 604 in a set state

 

NORMALPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display normal 604 in a pressed state

 

ONE.GIF:? Used to display one 331 in a normal state

 

ONEDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display one 331 in a disabled state

 

ONEPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display one 331 in a pressed state

 

PAUSE.GIF:? Used to display pause current 918

 

PLAYED.GIF:? Used in digital jukebox tree 915 to indicate that a digital jukebox song has been randomly played at least once

 

PLAYING.GIF:? Used in digital jukebox tree 915 to indicate that a digital jukebox song is the currently playing song

 

PLAYNEXT.GIF:? Used to display play next 917

 

PLAYNOW.GIF:? Used to display play now 919

 

PLICON.GIF:? Used in file dialogs for load playlist 927 and save playlist 928 to indicate that a particular file has the correct extension to be a playlist file.

 

POPULAR.GIF:? Used to display popular 323 in a normal state

 

POPULARDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display popular 323 in a disabled state

 

POPULARPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display popular 323 in a pressed state

 

POWER.GIF:? Used to display power 605 in a non-set state

 

POWERDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display power 605 in a set state

 

POWERPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display power 605 in a pressed state

???????

PREVGENRE.GIF:? Used to display previous genre 314 in a normal state

 

PREVGENREDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display previous genre 314 in a disabled state

 

PREVGENREPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display previous genre 314 in a pressed state

 

PREVPAGE.GIF:? Used to display previous 315 in a normal state

 

PREVPAGEDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display previous 315 in a disabled state

 

PREVPAGEPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display previous 315 in a pressed state

 

QUEUED.GIF:? Used to display image for play frequency icon 280 when digital jukebox song entry is in digital jukebox song queue 916, is not selected in digital jukebox song listbox 275, and show queued 910 is in a checked, or true, state

 

QUEUED_SELECTED.GIF:? Used to display image for play frequency icon 280 when digital jukebox song entry is in digital jukebox song queue 916, is selected in digital jukebox song listbox 275, and show queued 910 is in a checked, or true, state

 

RANKING.GIF:? Used to label the display for buttons normal 604 and power 605

 

RECENT.GIF:? Used to display recent/new 609 when table 601 is in CD view mode and in a non-set state

 

RECENTDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display recent/new 609 when table 601 is in CD view mode and in a set state

 

RECENTPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display recent/new 609 when table 601 is in CD view mode and in a pressed state

 

REMOVE.GIF:? Used to display remove 922

 

REMOVEALL.GIF:? Used to display remove all 923

 

REMOVENODE.GIF:? Used to display remove from queue 903

 

RESETALL.GIF:? Used to display reset statistics 904

 

SAVEPL.GIF:? Used to display save playlist 928

 

SEARCH.GIF:? Used to display search 321 in a normal state

 

SEARCHDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display search 321 in a disabled state

 

SEARCHPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display search 321 in a pressed state

 

SEVEN.GIF:? Used to display seven 338 in a normal state

 

SEVENDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display seven 338 in a disabled state

 

SEVENPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display seven 338 in a pressed state

 

SHOWCURRENT.GIF:? Used to display show current 312 in a normal state

 

SHOWCURRENTDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display show current 312 in a disabled state

 

SHOWCURRENTPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display show current 312 in a pressed state

 

SHOWDUPES.GIF:? Used to display show duplicates 907

 

SIX.GIF:? Used to display six 337 in a normal state

 

SIXDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display six 337 in a disabled state

 

SIXPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display six 337 in a pressed state

 

SONGVIEW.GIF:? Used to display digital jukebox song 602 in a non-set state

 

SONGVIEWDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display digital jukebox song 602 in a set state

 

SONGVIEWPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display digital jukebox song 602 in a pressed state

 

THREE.GIF:? Used to display three 333 in a normal state

 

THREE.GIF:? Used to display three 333 in a normal state

 

THREE.GIF:? Used to display three 333 in a normal state

 

TOP.GIF:? Used to display top 313 in a normal state

 

TOP100.GIF:? Used to display top 100 607 in a non-set state

 

TOP100DISABLED.GIF:? Used to display top 100 607 in a set state

 

TOP100PRESSED.GIF: ?Used to display top 100 607 in a pressed state

 

TOP50.GIF:? Used to display top 50 606 in a non-set state

 

TOP50DISABLED.GIF:? Used to display top 50 606 in a set state

 

TOP50PRESSED.GIF:? Used to display top 50 606 in a pressed state

 

TOPDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display top 313 in a disabled state

 

TOPPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display top 313 in a pressed state

 

TWO.GIF:? Used to display two 332 in a normal state

 

TWO.GIF:? Used to display two 332 in a normal state

 

TWO.GIF:? Used to display two 332 in a normal state

 

VIEW.GIF:? Used to label the display for buttons digital jukebox song 602 and CD 603?

 

YES.GIF:? Used to display yes 1003 in a normal state

 

YESDISABLED.GIF:? Used to display yes 1003 in a disabled state

 

YESPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display yes 1003 in a pressed state

 

ZERO.GIF:? Used to display zero 341 in a normal state

 

 

ZERODISABLED.GIF:? Used to display zero 341 in a disabled state

 

ZEROPRESSED.GIF:? Used to display zero 341 in a pressed state

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

APPENDIX B

 

???? The file, ?MP3Jukeboxx.properties?, is located in the same directory where the program files for the improved graphic user interface of the invention are located.? The contents of this file contain the configuration parameters for the improved graphic user interface of the invention, and may consist of something similar to the following:

 

Line #

-----------------------------------------

?1 #Juke-A-Nator Configuration File

?2 #Mon Jun 11 20:18:27 EDT 2001

?3 NumberToQueue=0

?4 BannerAdIndex=6

?5 NewCDAgeThreshold=90

?6 NewCDVectorSize=100

?7 NewSongVectorSize=50

?8 ShowQueued=true

?9 ShowConfirmation=true

10 Credits=9

11 RandomPlayInterval=30

12 RandomPlay=false

13 PlayerVolume=75

14 SongPlayer=winamp

15 CreditsPer=3

16 BonusFactor_1=1

17 BonusFactor_2=3

18 BonusFactor_3=5

19 BonusFactor_4=7

20 Level_2=6

21 Level_1=3

22 Level_0=0

23 FlipToRandom=true

24 ScanPaths=D,E

 

???? Lines 1 and 2 are comment lines.? They serve no purpose other than to describe the file to a human reader.? Line 1 refers to the file as being the configuration file for the improved graphic user interface of the invention.? Line 2 refers to the time-stamp when the file was last saved.

 

???? ?NumberToQueue? on line 3 determines what value to use for the minimum queue size 909 spin button on admin screen 900.? The initial value for this parameter is 0.? The range for this parameter is from 0 to 25.

 

???? ?BannerAdIndex? on line 4 determines the index of the banner ad image to use upon startup.? The purpose of this parameter is to ensure that lower-indexed banner ads are not shown more often than higher indexed banner ads.? The initial value for this parameter is 0.? The range for this parameter varies from 0 to the number of files that exist in the ?bannerads? directory.

 

???? ?NewCDAgeThreshold? on line 5 determines the age threshold, in days, for what is treated as a new CD by the improved graphic user interface of the invention.? The CD panels for new CDs are painted with a red border, instead of a white border.? The initial value for this parameter is 30.? The suggested range for this parameter is from 0 to 180.

 

???? ?NewCDVectorSize? on line 6 determines the size of the list of newest CDs for popular screen 600.? Specifically, this parameter determines the size of table 601, when buttons CD 603 and new/recent 609 are set.? If the number of CDs in the CD library that are considered new by NewCDAgeThreshold is less than the value of this parameter, then the list of new CDs for table 601 will be this number. The initial value for this parameter is 50.? The suggested range for this parameter is from 0 to 150.

 

???? ?NewSongVectorSize? on line 7 determines the size of the list of most recently played songs for popular screen 600.? Specifically, this parameter determines the size of table 601, when buttons digital jukebox song 602 and new/recent 609 are set.? The initial value for this parameter is 50.? The suggested range for this parameter is from 0 to 150.

 

???? ?ShowQueued? on line 8 determines whether or not the show queued 910 check box on admin screen 900 is checked or not.? When in a checked state, the value for show queued 910 is true, false otherwise.? The initial value of this configuration parameter is true.? It can only be true or false.? Anything other than true will be considered to be false.

 

???? ?ShowConfirmation? on line 9 determines whether or not the show confirmations 914 check box on admin screen 900 is checked or not.? When in a checked state, the value for show confirmations 914 is true, false otherwise.? The initial value for this configuration parameter is true.? It can only be true or false.? Anything other than true will be considered to be false.

 

???? ?Credits? on line 10 determines the value to use on startup for selections remaining 353 on control panel 300.? The purpose of this parameter is to remember the number of credits previously existing during the last execution of improved graphic user interface of the invention.? Typically though, this value will be 0.? The initial value for this parameter is 0.? The range for this parameter is from 0 to 2³².

 

???? ?RandomPlayInterval? on line 11 determines what value to use for the random play interval 911 spin button on admin screen 900.? The initial value for this parameter is 20. The range for this parameter is from 20 to 120.

 

???? ?RandomPlay? on line 12 determines whether or not the play random songs 912 check box on admin screen 900 is checked or not.? When in a checked state, the value for show play random songs 912 is true, false otherwise.? The initial value for this configuration parameter is true.? It can only be true or false.? Anything other than true will be considered to be false.

 

???? ?PlayerVolume? on line 13 determines what value to use for the player volume 908 spin button on admin screen 900.? The initial value for this parameter is 75. The range for this parameter is from 0 to 100.

 

???? ?SongPlayer? on line 14 determines which MP3 player will be used in order to create an audio stream for sound card 160 in digital jukebox computer system 110.? There are two choices:? ?winamp? or ?JMF?.? Winamp, is a licensed product from Nullsoft, Inc.? JMF, or Java Media Framework is a code framework from Sun Microsystems that facilitates the development of multimedia Java applications.? The improved graphic user interface of the invention has a built-in MP3 player that uses JMF.? The initial value however, for this configuration parameter is ?winamp?, because on Windows-based systems, the CPU resource requirements and audio quality are somewhat better with winamp.

 

???? ?CreditsPer? on line 15 determines the number of credits that is that is added to selections remaining 353 on control panel 300 each time a user enters a $1 bill to bill acceptor 150 of digital jukebox computer system 110.? The initial value for this parameter is 4.? The suggested range is from 1 to 5.

 

???? ?BonusFactor_1? on line 16 determines the number of bonus credits to be added to selections remaining 353 on control panel 300 each time a user enters a $2 bill to bill acceptor 150 of digital jukebox computer system 110.? That is, in addition to the credits that is to be added for entering the $2 bill in the first place.? For example, if the value of BonusFactor_1 is 1, CreditsPer is 4, and the number of credits is initially 0, then when a user enters a $2 bill into the acceptor, then there will be 2 x 4 + 1, or? 9, credits afterwards.? The purpose of this parameter is to encourage a user to enter more money at any one time, as that user gets more credits per dollar, when they enter more.? The initial value of this parameter is 1. ?The suggested range of this parameter is from 0 to 5.

 

???? ?BonusFactor_2? on line 17 determines the number of bonus credits to be added to selections remaining 353 on control panel 300 each time a user enters a $5 bill to bill acceptor 150 of digital jukebox computer system 110.? That is, in addition to the credits that is to be added for entering the $5 bill in the first place.? The initial value of this parameter is 3.? The suggested range of this parameter is from 0 to 10.

 

???? ?BonusFactor_3? on line 18 determines the number of bonus credits to be added to selections remaining 353 on control panel 300 each time a user enters a $10 bill to bill acceptor 150 of digital jukebox computer system 110.? That is, in addition to the credits that is to be added for entering the $10 bill in the first place.? The initial value of this parameter is 5.? The suggested range of this parameter is from 0 to 15.

 

???? ?BonusFactor_4? on line 19 determines the number of bonus credits to be added to selections remaining 353 on control panel 300 each time a user enters a $20 bill to bill acceptor 150 of digital jukebox computer system 110.? That is, in addition to the credits that is to be added for entering the $20 bill in the first place.? The initial value of this parameter is 7.? The suggested range of this parameter is from 0 to 15.

 

?? ?Level_2? on line 20, ?Level_1? on line 21, and ?Level_0? on line 22, are all related in that they determine which play frequency image to display next to a digital jukebox song entry in the digital jukebox song listbox of a given CD panel.? The initial value of Level_2 is 6.? The initial value of Level_1 is 3.? The initial value of Level_1 is 0.? The suggested range of values for these parameters are from 0 to 500, yet with the condition that Level_0 is less than Level_1 and Level_1 is less than Level_2.

 

???? If the play frequency of a digital jukebox song is greater than, or equal to, the value of Level_2, then image 3 will be displayed next to the digital jukebox song entry.? Image 3 may consist of 3 bars to indicate a very highly played digital jukebox song.?

 

???? If the play frequency of a digital jukebox song is greater than, or equal to, the value of Level_1 and less than the value of Level_2, then image 2 will be displayed next to the song entry.? Image 2 may consist of 2 bars to indicate a highly played digital jukebox song.?

 

???? If the play frequency of a digital jukebox song is greater than the value of Level_0 and less than the value of Level_1, then image 1 will be displayed next to the digital jukebox song entry.? Image 1 may consist of 1 bar to indicate a song that is played with normal-frequency.?

 

???? If the play frequency of a digital jukebox song is equal to the value of Level_0, then image 0 will be displayed next to the digital jukebox song entry.? Image 0 may consist of a blank image to indicate a digital jukebox song that is either has seldom played, or never been played at all.

 

???? ?FlipToRandom? on line 23 determines whether or not a flag is set that causes a random page of CD panels is displayed on home screen 400 when the improved graphic user interface of the invention is started.? The purpose of this parameter is to display a variety of initial screens, instead of the first four CD panels that are found in the CD library.? When this flag is set to true, a random page will be displayed on home screen 400.? Otherwise, when set to false, the first four CD panels are displayed. The initial value for this configuration parameter is true.? It can only be true or false.? Anything other than true will be considered to be false.

 

???? ?ScanPaths? on line 24 determines the list of hard drives from digital jukebox computer system 110, that is considered to be hard drive with encoded CDs 130.? That is, the improved graphic user interface of the system will only search through the drives listed for ScanPaths when a privileged user with owner-level access clicks on scan for songs 926 on admin screen 900.? The initial value for this parameter is D.? Any further drives to be scanned are added at the end of this parameter, separated by a comma.? For example, to scan in drives D, E, and F, the value of this parameter is ?D,E,F?.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

APPENDIX C

 

??? ?In order for the improved graphic user interface of the invention to operate in an intuitive manner for a user as described above, hard drive with encoded CDs 130 should be constructed and laid out in a manner as described below:

 

Step 1: Purchase Audio CD

???? A user may purchase, or already have in their possession, an audio CD suitable for inclusion into hard drive 130.

 

Step 2: Convert Audio CD to Digitally Encoded Form

???? With the audio CD, there are different options with which to convert the audio tracks into the MP3 format. Not only are there different commercial products such as RealJukebox, there are many freeware/shareware MP3 ?rippers? available from the internet that can be used to convert an audio CD into digitally encoded form, namely, using the MP3 format.

 

???? The bitrate, or bits of information per second, at which these audio tracks are converted may vary. "CD Quality" is defined as a minimum of 128Kbps. The higher the bitrate, the better the music quality will be, although the improvements are subjective to the individual listener the user may opt for the minimal 128Kbps bitrate in order to maximize the amount of encoded CDs that can be stored on hard drive 130.

 

Step 3: Name the Encoded Audio Tracks

???? The naming convention that should be used for the proper operation of the improved graphic user interface of the invention is:

Artist-xx-Song Name.mp3

?where:

???? a. Artist is the name of the recording artist of the CD.

???? b. xx is the track number of the digital jukebox song as it is found on the

???? CD from which it was "ripped" from.

???? c. Song Name is the name of the digital jukebox song as described in the

???? CD liner notes.

???? d. .mp3 is the file extension denoting that this file is in the

???? MP3 format.

???? e. The artist and track number are separated by the ?-?

???? character.

???? f. The track number and digital jukebox song name are separated by the ?-???

???? character.

 

Step 4: Creation of Digital CD Cover Art

???? In addition to encoding the audio tracks of a particular audio CD, the cover art may be represented as a digitally encoded image file, specifically a 250 by 250 pixel JPEG image, using the name ?cover.jpg?.? As with MP3 converters, there are different ways to accomplish this task. One way is to use a digital scanner, while another is to download and re-size the image from internet web-sites such as Amazon.? The compression factor, which affects image quality, can be configured to suit the taste of the user.

 

Step 5: Create Appropriate Directory on Hard Drive

???? The encoded CD, which consists of a set of a set of encoded songs and cover art, as described above, is then placed into a directory onto the hard drive using another naming/directory structure convention.? First, it is necessary for the user to subjectively define which ?genre? of music that this encoded CD can be categorized under.? Given this, the following textually represented tree structure shows the relationship between this genre and the encoded audio CD:

 

D:\

? |

? Genre One\

? |?????? |

? |?????? Compilations\

? |?????? |??? ????|

? |?????? |??????? CD Title One?

? |?????? |??????? .

? |?????? |??????? .

? |?????? |??????? .

? |?????? |??????? CD Title n

? |?????? |

? |?????? Artist One\

? |?????? |??????? |

? |?????? |??????? CD Title One

? |?????? |??????? .

? |?????? |?? ?????.

? |?????? |??????? .

? |?????? |??????? CD Title n

? .?????? .?

? .?????? .

? .?????? .

? |?????? Artist n\

? |??????????????? |

? |??????????????? CD Title One

? |??????????????? .

? |??????????????? .

? |??????????????? .

? |??????????????? CD Title n

? |

? Genre n\

? |?????? |

? |?????? Compilations\

? |?????? |??????? |

? |?????? |??????? CD Title One

? |?????? |??????? .

? |?????? |??????? .

? |?????? |??????? .

? |?????? |??????? CD Title n

? |?????? |

? |?????? Artist One\

? |?????? |??????? |

? |?????? |??????? CD Title One

? |?????? |??????? .

? |?????? |??????? .

? |?????? |??????? .

? |?????? |??????? CD Title n

? |?????? .

? |?????? .

? |?????? .

? |?????? Artist n\

? |??????????????? |

? |??????????????? CD Title One

? |??????????????? .

? |??????????????? .

? |??????????????? .

? |??????????????? CD Title n

? |???????

? Soundtracks\

???????????? |

???????????? CD Title One

???????????? .

???????????? .

???????????? .

???????????? CD Title n

 

???? As shown above for a hard drive known as ?D:?, the following rules of thumb for creating a directory structure is as follows:

???? 1. For each ?genre? of music, a new directory is created from the root directory of the hard drive that is to store the encoded CD that are considered to be of that genre of music.?

 

???? 2. For each artist classified under a particular genre, a new directory from that genre?s directory, is created.? In addition, for each genre, a new directory is created called ?Compilations? that is used to hold CDs for which there is no singular artist responsible for all of the music on the CD.? In addition, if there is a ?Soundtracks? genre that is created from the root directory, there is no need to create artist directories as this genre is specifically recognized by the improved graphic user interface of the invention as a special genre in that it is inherently comprised of compilation CDs.?

???? 3. For each encoded CD that is performed by a particular artist, then a new directory is created in that artist?s directory with the name of the CD title.? In addition, if a particular encoded CD is either a compilation of a particular genre, then a new directory with the name of the CD title is created in the ?Compilations? directory.? If the CD title is considered to be part of the ?Soundtracks? genre, then a new directory with the name of the CD title is created in the ?Soundtracks? directory.

???? An example of this CD layout and naming convention is shown in FIG. 19.