WO2001061445A2

WO2001061445A2 - Media player receiving entertainment content from several sources

Info

Publication number: WO2001061445A2
Application number: PCT/GB2001/000681
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tracy Currer
Original assignee: Psion Infomedia Limited
Priority date: 2000-02-18
Filing date: 2001-02-19
Publication date: 2001-08-23
Also published as: WO2001061445A3

Abstract

A media player, such as a DAB digital radio, includes a screen on which icons associated with each different digital radio service can be shown. The icons are automatically arranged according to content type in a two dimensional arrangement or cluster. Digital radio services covering (a) News, (b) Chart Music, (c) Pop Music, (d) Classical Music, (e) Jazz music, (f) Drama and (g) Sport will each have their own cluster. All sources of a given content type can therefore be quickly seen. For example, all jazz digital radio services can be quickly seen as they are grouped or clustered together in the 2-D arrangement; and all news digital radio services will be grouped together in a different cluster.

Description

MEDIA PLAYER RECEIVING ENTERTAINMENT CONTENT FROM

SEVERAL SOURCES

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a media player receiving entertainment content from several sources The term 'media player' used in this patent specification should be expansively construed to cover any kind of device which can provide entertainment to a user It therefore includes digital radios, multi media personal computers, digital TVs, internet radios, smart phones, communicators, wireless information devices and personal organisers It includes devices able to receive data from entertainment sources such as digital radio (e g DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasung) services), digital TV, the Internet, mobile radio such as GSM and UMTS, and also any other kind of communicauons system, such as Bluetooth

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

One of the problems facing the designers of media player user interfaces is how to allow the user to comprehend the internal status of the media payer For example, if the media player is a personal computer which can play music CDs or video DVDs, how is the user provided with the necessary control buttons that allow the user to play or fast forward etc^? Hτ „ does the user know the name of the track or film actually playing⁵ The convenuonal approach to media player user interface design (especially PC based media players) is to provide a 'direct manipulation' interface — namely an on-screen representauon of a familiar real world device, such as something that clearly looks like the control panels for a portable CD player, including play and fast forward buttons etc To acuvate the play function, the user moves an on-screen cursor over the image of the 'play' button and selects that button This is a famikar and effective metaphor, but suffers from the disadvantage that the inherent user interface kmitauons of the real world device are carried forward For example, advanced functionakty which cannot easib be navigated to using a real world device will similarly be difficult to navigate to using an e iva'ent metaphor on a PC screen.

Reference may be made to the navigation conventions and features used in Internet browsing, which have become widely entrenched in recent years Hence, for example, Web users take it for granted that they can readily re-trace their steps through a series of recently visited Web pages using the 'back' button on their Web browser toolbar Similarly, a record of all recently visited sites is usually kept on a browser in a 'bookmarks' list; the list can be accessed using a pop up window, the appropriate URL can be selected and the user immediately taken to that page. Users can in most web browsers organise bookmarked sites into folders Streamed music is now available from a number of different music web sites, so that the above navigation conventions and features are available on media players which are multi-media PCs For example, Real Player 7 for Internet Radio provides, in the 'Live Stations' listing, a number of folders, each labelled with a different music genre (e g jazz, rock etc ) and each folder containing hyperlinks to internet radio stations of the applicable genre The simple placing of a list of station names inside a folder and having a column of different music genre folders is therefore a conventional approach to organising information, familiar to PC users

Broadcast digital radio (as opposed to non-broadcast streaming radio as found currently on the Internet) offers a particularly complex set of user interface challenges On the one hand, analogue radio is associated with a user interface which is very limited in functionality analogue radio receivers may show the frequency of the radio station tuned to and perhaps its name User interaction is largely restricted to tuning into a desired station, or selecting a station pre-set, and then simply listening Broadcast digital radio offers the promise of far richer functionality For example, digital broadcasting systems frequently divide the signals transmitted into multiple components, including content (e g music) and a data stream related to the content In DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting), a stream of content is associated with Program Associated Data (PAD), the PAD can include an information stream designated as the Dynamic Label Segment or DLS stream The DLS can include information such as the name of the digital service and other information defined by the digital service (e.g. artist name etc.). This gives a far richer user experience and offers the potential for new kinds of functionality. The key challenge in enabling a user to take advantage of these new kinds of functionality (and hence the diversity of internal states which the media player can occupy, in a state model analogy) rests with the user interface designer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a media player, capable of receiving entertainment content from several sources, comprising:

(a) computing means for generating representations of several icons, each icon associated with a source of entertainment data of a given content type, the data being provided to the media player over a wireless or wired link; and a

(b) display operable to be controlled by the computing means to display the icons to indicate that the status of the media player is such that the source associated with each icon can be selected; characterised in that the display is operable to automatically show two or more icons representing the same content type clustered together in a two dimensional arrangement.

By automatically arranging the icons according to content type in a two dimensional arrangement or cluster, the user can conveniently have gathered together all entertainment sources of a given content type. For example, digital radio services covering (a) News, (b) Chart Music, (c) Pop Music, (d) Classical Music, (e) J azz music, (1) Drama and (g) Sport can each have their own cluster. All sources of a given content type can therefore be quickly seen. Hence, all jazz digital radio services can be quickly seen as they are grouped or clustered together in the 2-D arrangement; all news digital radio sendees will be grouped together in a different cluster. This approach also enables the user to rapidly navigate between different sources of the same content type (e.g. trying out all of the different jazz stations one after the other) and also to rapidly navigate from a cluster of stations of one content type to a different cluster of stations of a different content type. This is clearly very attractive for a user.

As noted earlier, prior art systems automatically show selectable icons representing entertainment sources (e.g. the names of internet radio stations or services) in a list arrangement, which is 1 -dimensional. The prior art (for example, the Apple Macintosh operating system) also teaches presenting the contents of a folder (which can include data of any type or origin) in both a 1 -dimensional list form, and also in a 2-D space, with all of the contents regularly arranged in a grid pattern. But the 2-D space is not organised by content type in any manner.

Organising icons by content type in a 2-D arrangement, as contemplated in this invention, offers numerous advantages over the prior art: (l) a 2-D arrangement is intrinsically more memorable than a 1-D list; the positions of different icons (which could be graphically attractive, or merely text with the name of the entertainment source) can readily be memorised, making it faster and easier to locate (for example) a specific radio service within a cluster and also to locate a required cluster. In a 1-D kst, a user in essence just has to read down the list until the desired radio service (or folder with a content type) is found. But with a 2-D arrangement, the user is also guided by his memory of the position of a radio service within a cluster and the relative positions of different clusters; and

(u) a 2-D arrangement with radio services clustered into their content types is easily understood by a novice user; it does not use the famikar PC st\ le folder metaphor, which is unattractive and off-putting to the non-computer literate.

The entertainment sources could be several (i.e. two or more) of the following: (a) a digital radio service, (b) an Internet radio station/server; and (c) a web server offering digital music downloads (this could be a web site for a particular band/artist or a general music site covering many different artists). Hence, the user can have automatical!} grouped in a single cluster all DAB radio stations playing jazz, together with all internet radio stations and music download sites related to jazz. In this way, he or she can far more conveniently survey what is available over different delivery channels and select the appropriate source The automation of the arrangement of icons can be achieved bv using data sent from the source of the entertainment which defines the content type

Preferably, a user can customise the arrangement by moving one or more icons into a desired arrangement By allowing the user to customise the actual arrangement, the user can far more rapidly gain familiarity and comfort with using the present media pla_} er Customisation can move beyond merely re-arranging icons to co\ er the addition of images and/or text to the display Hence, a user could add images of his oi her

ounte pop star

In a second aspect, there is provided a media player capable of receiving entertainment content from several sources comprising a computing means for processing signals from a number of different digital radio services, and a display operable to be controlled by the computing means to displa} the names of, and/or icons representative of, one oi more

ιousl\ selected radio services, to indicate that the status of the media player is such that each radio service associated with a name or icon can be selected, characterised in that the names or icons for a given radio service aie associated with one or more of the following kinds of additional information relating to that j ai αculai service, either currently or in the near future

(l) the name of a music track,

(u) the name of the artist performing the music track,

(in) a description of content,

(ι\) the name of the programme currcnth being broadcast Hence, in this aspect, the convc ntional web browser feature of being able to move directly to pages recently viewed is applied to t e digital radio service (e g DAB) context. But the name or icon of the previously selected station is enriched with additional information which can encourage a listener to return to a previously selected station The additional information relating to current or forthcoming programme content can be obtained from an EPG (electronic program guide) or from scanning the different stations in the background (e g. in a process which does not interfere with normal listening)

The names or icons may appeal as a hst in a pop up menu which can be selected by a user Preferably, a user can add names and/or icons of gr en ladio stations to the hst so that thev appear in the hst even if they have not been recenth selected

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which

Figure 1 is a screen shot of a media player (in this case a PC) showing radio service icons arranged according to multiplex (a multiplex is a grouping of

eral different digital radio services),

Figure 2 is a screen shot of a PC media pla\ er showing radio service icons arranged according to content in accordance with the first aspect of the piesent invention,

Figure 3 is a screen shot ot a PC media pla}er showing radio service icons arranged in a personaksed manner in accordance with the present invention,

Figures 4 and 5 are screen shots of a PC media player showing radio service icons being dragged to form a personaksed arrangement,

Figure 6 is a screen shot of a menu displayed on a PC media player showing recently visited radio services, Figure 7 is a screen shot of a menu displayed on a PC media player showing a search dialog box;

Figure 8 is a screen shot of a PC media player showing a DLS (Dynamic Label Segment).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention will described with reference to an embodiment from Psion Infomedia Limited of Great Britain. This embodiment is the Wavefinder® DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) system. The Wavefinder system is a DAB receiver which works in conjunction with a PC. Because of the very high qualm audio available using DAB (i.e. CD quality), high quality speakers (preferably including a sub-woofer) are typically used. The Wavefinder system includes a DAB antenna which is connected via a USB cable to the PC. The antenna itself includes a digital radio receiver which handles some or all of the DAB signal processing; the PC itself can also handle some aspects of signal processing. The PC is programmed with high level user interface softwaie, enabling the user to select different DAB services. The functionality offered by the DAB PC user interface application (the 'Wavefinder AppUcation') will be described more full\ in this section.

Referring to Figure 1, the Wavefinder Application runs on a Microsoft Windows operating system or an Apple Mac operating system. Figure 1 shows the Wavefinder Application running on a Windows desktop indicated at 1. A Wavefinder conti ol box is shown at 2; this includes various control buttons which will shorth be described Control box 2 is shown in this mode sitting on top of a 2 -D map 10 showing icons relating to the different DAB radio services which have been picked up by the Wavefindet antenna. A example of an icon is the square box at 12, underneath which sits the service label 'BBC Radio 2' at 13. Beneath this service label 13 is a category/content type name at 14; in this case it reads 'News'. This is a static PTy (programme type code). Each icon on the map 10 has therefore both a name 13 and a content type description 14. Both the name 13 and the content type description 14 aie broadcast as part of the DAB signal. In the Figure 1 viewing mode, all of the services are grouped according to the name of the multiplex provider. Hence, all of the BBC services are clustered round the words BBC at 15A. At 15B, the words Digital One indicate that the 4 services (branded as Capital, Classic, Talk Back and Jazz) are part of the Digital One multiplex. Control arrows (the down arrow of which is marked as 11B) enable the user to scroll around in this 2-D space.

Control box 2 includes a number of function buttons and displays. A reception level indicator is incorporated as a column of five 'kghts' at 8; the greater the signal strength, the more 'lights' are illuminated. Moving to the right across the control box 2, we have the following function buttons- Button 3, if selected causes map 10 to appear. As the user hovers its cursor over button 3, the words 'Open Map' appear in confirmation region 6. If the map is already open, then the words 'Close map' appear in this region 6 as the user hovers its cursor over button 3. Hence, contiol Box 2 does not have to be shown in conjunction with the map 10; that option is shown in Figure 8.

Button 4 is a ast Locations' button. Figure 6 shows the pop-up hst 60 which appears when button 4 is selected: this hst includes the five most recently listened to radio services, enabling the user to navigate quickly back to a service of interest by simply selecting the name of the service of interest. The top of the hst is the most recent. If the user has one or more of the services active, an icon 61/62 appears indicating if audio 61 or non-audio 62 data is associated with that service: icon 61 indicates that audio is being played and icon 62 that data is being shown. The text used in the hst is hve (i.e. bioadcast) text. Pop-up hst 60 automatically drops down from control box 2 if the control box is near the top of the screen, and sits above the control box 2 if the box 2 is near the bottom of the screen. Additional functionality can be added as follows: the pop-up list 60 could be extended and enriched so that information of potential interest to a user is displayed next to the station name Examples include the following information relating to a particular service/station, either currently or in the near future.

(l) the name of a music track,

(u) the name of the artist performing the music track; (in) a description of content;

(π) the name of the programme currently being broadcast. This kind of additional information can entice a user to return to the station, which is commercially very valuable for advertising backed, commercial radio Certain radio services may wish to enhance the nature of their presence in pop-up hst 60 and significant revenue may be generated from this radio services which have not even been recently hstened to could therefore be featured in the hst 60 Click-through rates (e g the numbers of users returning to a service after seeing the enriched pop-up hst entty foi that service) can also be measured, so that the efficacy of a presence in the pop up hst 60 can be measuied Pop-up hst 60 may include advertising messages to generate additional revenue

Returning to Figure 1, button 5 is a search button When this is selected, the pop up window shown in Figure 7 appears This allows the user to type in the name of a service it wishes to locate When the 'search' button 5 in Figure 7 is selected, the \ stem seaiches for the named service in a database of serv ice names already stoied on the PC, plays the audio output from the service once located and also re adjusts the map 10 to show the associated icon at the centre of the map

The system compaies the input name to the nearest name stored in a services database Hence, in Figure 7, only the letteis S ir' have been typed in, the remaining letters 'gin' aie automatically inserted, since the only match is foi a service called 'Virgin' If no match can be found, the user is returned to the previous map 10 Optionally, the search box can also enable the usei to scan for new services, when these aie located, the

efindei Application automatically enters their name into the services database for future scai clung

Search dialogs (not shown) can be used foi seaichmg foi am kind of text data which is eithei broadcast b^ the services or made Ά\ ailable on an electronic programme guide Hence, service providers could broadcast the artist name and the song title of currenth plac ed tracks, or tracks on their playkst, or tracks soon to be

time or elapsed time before playing) \ search engine can scan the DLS text data moving from service to service, or else that text data is stored in memor} on the pla\ eι and the search is performed

er the stoied data, which is regularl} updated

eithei pull or push mechanisms A user wishing to hear a favourite track or artist can then readily locate the appropriate service This can be particularly useful wheie a user wishes to record a track, since the W

efinder Application can be programmed to automatically search against defined criteria, tune into the ipphcable radio service and then record the track (or other defined item, such as an interview, opera etc.) when it is broadcast. Copyright protection schemes can be utilised to ensuι _ that only legitimate recording takes place. The user can also be presented, following the input of a search query and (typically) after the required item has been located with a message giving the option of purchasing one or more of the following:

(a) a downloadable version of one or more music tracks;

(b) merchandising relating to the artist or track;

(c) performance tickets for the artist.

Different radio services, recording artists or their music publishers /distributors may wish to pay so that they are more prominently featured on any hst of hits For example, a user could search for the recording artist 'Robbie Williams'. If several radio services were in fact at that time playing a Robbie Williams track, then one of the radio service providers may wish to pay extra to ensure that it's name is prioritised in a hst of services presented to the user so that the user can select the required service provider. Where the PC is connected to the Internet or there is some other kind of back-channel, it is possible for a service provider to be sent the track/artist search requests being made and to modify its playing schedule accordingly Again, granting access to that data has revenue earning potential

Returning to Figure 1, button 7 is a help button. This is the final button in the control box When a map 10 is opened, a map toolbox 21 including further buttons is animated to appear The map toolbox 21 contains objects directly relevant to the map 10 Button 16 is a scan button: selecting this button causes the Wavefinder Application to tune into each service and multiplex that is available to check for any new configurations in the multiplex set-up and for changes in the static PTy (Programme Type) code This scan function is programmed to happen automatically, so that button 16 is a back-up if there is a problem when the update information is sent. Button 17 is an options button: selecting this causes a pop-up hst to appear. It will be further described in relation to Figure 3. Buttons 18 allow three different zoom levels to be specified: level 1 includes icons at 8x8 pixels and cluster names in 12 point type; level 2 includes icons at 16x16 pixels and cluster names in 18 point type and level 3 includes icons at 32x32 pixels and cluster names in 18 point type. As zooming occurs, icons maintain their relative positions Map 10 can be scaled to 3 different sizes using buttons 20 A full screen view (not shown) occupies virtually all of the PC screen, the half view is shown in Figure 1

The view mode for the radio service icons themselves within map 10 is indicated at pop-up menu 19 The Figure 1 view mode is 'view by multiplex', since all services are grouped according to their multiplex Selecting pop-up menu 19 causes a hst of 3 options to appear in region 19 The items listed are 'multiplex', 'content' and 'new map'

Selecting the 'content' option results in the map 10A as shown in Figure 2 Whilst changing mode from 'multiplex' to 'content', the service icons are animated so that they appear to move to their new positions, allowing the user to more readιl\ understand the re organisation taking place The static PTy reference is used to group together all sen ices with the same PTy Hence, Figure 2 shows four different content clusters The first cluster is around the Programme Type label at 14A, which reads 'Classical' Two radio services with the 'Classical' static PTy reference, shown at 14B aie in this clustei The thiee othei content type groupings shown are 'News' at 14C, 'Chait Music' at 14D and 'Sport' at 14E The additional News sen ice icon for BBC Radio 4, not entirely in the map 10A, can be scrolled to using up arrow 11B Each cluster is a two dimensional arrangement of icons representing radio services, further all of the clusters together are in the two dimensional map 10A Scrolhng up in this way may levcal further clusters of diffeient kinds of content (e g Jazz) It is also possible to constiuct three-dimensional arrangements of stations and clusters

If a static PT^ reference changes whilst the user has the maj> 10 open in \ ιew b} content mode, then map 10A automatically re configuies itself to show the new icon position Programme type changes happen infrequently, (unlike dynamic codes)

The 'new map' function selectable from pop up menu 19 allows a user to create a map in which the\ can mo\ e radio sen ce icons anywhere on the map When this option is selected, the user is presented with a pop-up box allowing them to name the new map That name then appears in pop up hst 19 At Figure 3, the name

en to this personaksed map was 'my map', as shown at 19 Several useis have grouped their choices in this map 10B Vt 31, the word 'Mums' is surrounded b} several icons which relate to her choices At 30, an image of a pop star is shown This has been achιe\ ed using option button 17 When this button 17 is selected, a pop up hst with two options appears: 'Add text' and 'Add pictures'. 'Add Text' enables the user to add text that appears in the map 10 to name a personahsed group of icons (e.g. the word 'Mums'). This is done using a dialog box which appears when this option is selected. 'Add Picture' results in the standard Windows/Mac interface allowing a user to locate an image on the hard drive. The image is automatically subject to software image manipulation in order to blend in to the map 10B attractively. The user can drag icons (40, 50) to the desired location, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, where the BBC Radio 3 icon is shown being moved.

Referring now to Figure 8, a channel window 80 is shown This is the window which appears once a particular radio service has been selected Channel window 80 includes the name of the service, BBC Radio 5, at 81, the static PTy code at 82, and dynamic codes at 83. Various control buttons are included on the right hand side of the channel window 80. At 83 is a volume control button, which when selected causes a pop-up volume slider to appear. At 84 is a data button; if selected, this causes a related web page or shde show (i.e. JPEG sequence) to automatically open. A record button is provided at 85; clicking on this causes audio recording to hard disc to commence, clicking a second time causes recording to cease, at which time a standard Windows/Mac pop-up menu appears allowing the user to name and save the recorded file; this will normally be done by transcoding the incoming DAB data, in MPEG 1 layer II format, into the more widely used MP3 format Button 86 allows a user to save a browser or slide show image, initiated by selecting button 84 Channel window 80 sits on top of a DLS (Dynamic Label Segment) text window 87

DLS text is programme related data sent by the radio service provider It can include news information and information about a music track being played; it can also include data which can trigger a connection via a back channel or return path to an external entity. For example, it could include URLs 88 and other kinds of e-commerce links: it could include the URL 88 of a web site specifically related to the content actually being broadcast (as opposed to merely the commercial sponsor of the entire programme). Hence, it could be the URL of a fan site of the artist being played, or a music download site taking you directly into the possibly deep part of the site relating to the actual track or album by the artist being played The URL 88 is automatically recognised as a URL and underlined and placed into a different colour A user can readily then chck on the URL 88 (or otherwise select it) to automatically launch a browser and automatically proceed to the applicable web site or a deep portion of that web site.

In addition, text again relating to the specific content of the programme, such as 'Download this track!' can appear as well in DLS text window 87: these can be recognised as concealed URLs so that the words are underlined and in a different colour, like a conventional URL. Clicking on the words can again cause a web browser to open, such as a music download site, causing a user to be taken quickly and automatically to an order page of the site, with the details of the applicable album etc. already completed. All the user has to do is typically make a single ckck to agree to the purchase (assuming prior registration and the delivery of a cookie from the user's device to the music download site to enable that site to identify the user) and the transaction is completed; the user will be shipped the appkcable CD etc. in the usual manner. One variant of this is for the content specific text in the broadcast stream to be sent automatically to a search engine, which then automatically routes the user to the correct web page. For example, a DLS message "Artist: Miles Davis: Album: Kind of Blue - Buy the Album!" could be selected by a user; this in turn sends the "Artist: Miles Davis: Album: Kind of Blue - Buy the Album!" text to a search engine, which in turn causes the user's browser to automatically open at a music purchasing site, ideally also at the section relating to Miles Davis and the relevant album with the user having to simply click a single confirmatory 'Buy Now' button for the transaction to be competed. As above, the music site recognises the user as an existing customer by a cookie exchange.

Because buying CDs on impulse will be so much easier, this implementation will encourage much higher purchasing levels of music.

Other information can be recognised and acted upon in an appropriate manner: for example, if a postcode appears in some text, it may be useful for a map viewer appUcation to open automatically. An e-mail address in the broadcast stream could automatically, if selected by a user, cause an e-mail client appUcation to open up and auto-complete the recipients details. This could be a very effective way of getting user feedback; for example, a radio broadcast could carry text in the DLS inviting listeners to e-mail back if they Uke a specific artist. Other forms of automatically triggering a connection over a return path or back channel are- possible too; for example, a telephone number could, if selected, auto-dial out if a telephony appUction is available. Further, the broadcast content specific text (or data transmitted using some other information channel such as inter let/ GPRS/UMTS etc.) may be used to enable decryption or some other form of access control information to be dehvered to/used by the user to allow the user to access premium digital radio channels, a closed network DAB broadcast/specific frequency or confidential/subscription based internet based material. This approach may be used in any information download environment

Selecting the words 'Download this track¹' can cause the track to be automatically downloaded without further steps being required of the user (l e no web browser is visibly opened nor is a music web site visibly accessed) That may, as noted above, require a cookie of the user's credit card to be available to a remote music download site; alternatively, the recording can be made of the DAB signal This may require the user to wait until the service broadcasts the track again; the system can however be programmed to automatically record when that next happens and also to search other services for the required track. Services may wish to broadcast their playhst schedules so that recording can be efficiently handled Appropriate copyright protection mechanisms can be included so that appUcable copyright laws are not violated

DAB offers the promise of significantly enhancing the deUvery mechanism for music and for capturing the very substantial market for spontaneous music purchasing — i.e. when a user hears a track on his or her Wavefinder and immediately wishes to download or record a legitimate copy. The current system is far more convenient than logging onto a site with MP3 tracks, locating the required track and then having to go through an often laborious download process.

Claims

1 A media player, capable of receiving entertainment content from several sources, comprising:

(a) computing means for generating representations of several icons, each icon associated with a source of entertainment data of a given content type, the data being provided to the media player over a wireless or wired Unk, and a (b) display operable to be controlled by the computing means to display the icons to indicate that the status of the media player is such that the source associated with each icon can be selected, characterised in that the display is operable to automaticaUy show two or more icons representing the same content type clustered together in a two dimensional arrangement

2. The media player of Claim 1 where the source of entertainment is two or more of the following.

(a) a DAB radio broadcaster, (b) an Internet radio server,

(c) a web sender offering digital music downloads

3. The media player of Claim 1 or 2 in which the content types include one or more of the following- (a) News

(b) Chart Music

(c) Pop Music

(d) Classical Music

(e) Jazz music (f) Drama

(g) Sport

4. The media player of any preceding claim in which the computing means automatically generates the two-dimensional cluster of icons and positions them within a two-dimensional space or map.

5. The media player of Claim 4 in which the clusters or groups are also formed as 3 - dimensional arrangements.

6. The media player of any preceding claim in which a user can customise the arrangement by moving one or more icons into a desired arrangement.

7. The media player of Claim 6 in which the user can add images and/or text to the display

8. The media payer of any preceding claim in which the organisation by content type rehes upon a content type description transmitted or broadcast by the entertainment source