US20060096142A1

US20060096142A1 - Picture frame device capable of playing and recording sounds

Info

Publication number: US20060096142A1
Application number: US11/261,769
Authority: US
Inventors: Shiang-Li Chen; Wei-Hsiang Liao
Original assignee: Lite On Technology Corp
Current assignee: Lite On Technology Corp
Priority date: 2004-11-05
Filing date: 2005-10-31
Publication date: 2006-05-11
Also published as: TWI280111B; JP2006135967A; TW200614953A

Abstract

A picture frame capable of playing sounds having a frame fixing a picture therein, a code reader disposed on the frame and reading a bar code on the picture by moving the code reader, a decoder coupled to the code reader and decoding the bar code into an audio file and a player coupled to the decoder and outputting the audio file. Alternatively, sounds are inputted to be recorded by a sound recorder. The inputted sounds from the sound recorder are transmitted to an encoder where audio information of the sounds is generated, which is next transmitted to a bar code generator. In the bar code generator, a two dimension bar code is generated. Then, the two-dimension bar code is stored in a bar code storage.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a picture frame device and particularly to a picture frame device capable of playing and recording sounds. 2. Related Art
In recent years, audio code image technology has matured up to a considerable extent. Through an algorithm technology similar to a particular two-dimension image encoding technology, sounds may be transformed into a bar code for being printed out or displayed on a displayer. As such, the sounds may be visually encoded and the audio information may be used in an extended range of applications.
Moreover, the current pictures have been gradually taken digitally and successive storing, editing and outputting operations of the digital pictures are also performed digitally. However, for conventional filming devices or picture frames, the taken pictures may not be performed or combined with sounds in a human way. Although audio code image technology has been easily used in filming devices nowadays, an application associated with the combination of picture and sound is still not available to meet users' requirements in terms of practical operation of the application and use of general-purpose pictures. For example, the combination of a picture and an audio code image should be capable of playing sounds, and the combination with respect to a general picture should be provided with an added value by using the audio code image technology.
Furthermore, there is still no picture frame device that may be used for the above applications with respect to current arrangements of pictures. Therefore, there is a need to provide a picture fame device, capable of playing and recording sounds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A picture frame device capable of playing sounds, comprising: a frame fixing a picture therein, a code reader disposed on the frame and reading a bar code on the picture by moving the code reader. A decoder coupled to the code reader and decoding the bar code into an audio file, and a player coupled to the decoder and outputting the audio file.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow illustration only and thus doesn't limit the present invention, wherein:
FIG. 1 depicts schematically an outline of a picture frame device capable of playing and recording sounds according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 depicts schematically a block diagram of the picture frame device capable of playing and recording sounds according to the present invention;
FIGS. 3A-3D depicts schematically the outlines of the picture frame device capable of playing and recording sounds according to embodiments of the present invention, respectively;
FIG. 4 depicts schematically a first embodiment of the structure of the code reader of the picture frame device capable of playing and recording sounds according to the present invention; and
FIG. 5 depicts schematically a second embodiment of the structure of the code reader of the picture frame device capable of playing and recording sounds according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In this invention, a picture frame device capable of playing and recording sounds is disclosed. Referring to FIG. 1, an outline of the picture frame device is depicted therein. To achieve the function of playing sound, the picture frame device comprises: a frame 10 fixing a picture 11 therein, the picture 11 comprising a bar code 20 including at least a set of audio information, a code reader 12 disposed on the frame 10 at a position associated with the bar code 20 and reading the audio information in the bar code 20 by moving the code reader 12. The code reader 12 further comprises a scan unit 13 and a bearing unit 14. Through the scan unit 13, the audio information in the bar code 20 is read. The bearing unit 14 is used to bear and connect pivotally to the scan unit 13 so that the scan unit 13 may move freely between two ends of the bearing unit 14, wherein the scan unit 13 may move manually or automatically. In case the scan unit 13 moves automatically, a sound playing key 15 is used to trigger the code reader 12. Upon triggered, the code reader 12 moves over the bar code 20 and the scan unit 13 scans on the bar code 20. After the scan operation is finished, a decoder 21 (described in detail in FIG. 2) decodes the scanned information into an audio file. Finally, the audio file may be played by a player 16 connected to the decoder 21 (also described in detail in FIG. 2).
In case the scan unit 13 moves manually, the scan unit 13 is moved by a user to scan the information carried in the bar code 20. After the bar code 20 is read, the above-mentioned decoding and playing operations are performed in the same manner.
On the other hand, to achieve the function of sound recording, a sound record key 17 is used to record sounds from the user. Through the provided sound recording function, the picture 11 may additionally be provided with a vocal description so that the picture 11 may be more completely and vividly recorded. The vocal description may be associated with, for example, information of location, time, context and the like. The sound recording function may perform recording sounds through a sound reception hole 18. Hereinafter, an embodiment of the sound recording provided in the invention will be described in connection with FIG. 2.
In a preferred embodiment, a record function key 19 is provided to select a plurality of record information and a liquid crystal display (LCD) is provided to display information state associated with the operation of the picture frame device.
Next, reference is made to FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, a block diagram of the picture frame device capable of playing and recording sounds is depicted. To achieve the function of sound playing, the picture frame device comprises: a frame 10 fixing a picture 11 therein, the fixing picture 11 further comprising a bar code 20 containing at least a set of audio information, wherein the bar code 20 is generated by encoding the audio information by two dimension audio code image encoding technology, a code reader 12 disposed on the frame 10 at a position associated with the bar code 20 and reading the audio information in the bar code 20 on the picture 11 by moving the code reader 12, a decoder 21 coupled to the code reader 12 and decoding the audio information through an inverse decoding operation by the two dimension audio code image encoding technology, wherein the audio file may be in the format of MP3, WAV, MIDI and the like, and a player 16 coupled to the decoder 21 and outputting the audio file. In this example, the audio information read above is stored in a record file (No.001) in a code storage 22.
Furthermore, to achieve the function of sound recording with respect to a general picture and a picture containing a bar code respectively, a first embodiment of the picture frame device comprises: a recorder 23 used to receive audio information, an encoder 24 coupled to the recorder 23 used to encode the audio information into an audio file, wherein the audio file may be in the format of, for example, MP3, WAV and MIDI, a bar code generator 25 coupled to the encoder 24 and used to encode the audio file into a bar code 20, wherein the bar code 20 is obtained by encoding the audio file by the two dimension audio code image encoding, a bar code storage 22 coupled to the bar code generator 25 and used to store the bar code 20 as a record file (No.002,) and a print unit 26 coupled to the bar code storage 22 and used to print the bar code 20 on the picture 11 and preferably printed on the back side thereof. When a user presses the record key 17, sounds are inputted via the sound reception hole 18 and recorded in the recorder 23. Next, the recorded sounds are transmitted into the encoder 24 where the recorded sounds are encoded and transformed into a two dimension bar code. Then, the two dimension bar code is stored in the bar code storage 22. In a particular embodiment, the two dimension bar code stored in the bar code storage 22 is printed on the picture 11 by a print unit 26. Alternatively, the user may select the desired audio information by the record key 19 and the play key 15 and play the audio information by a player 16.
To achieve the function of sound recording with respect to a picture containing a bar code, a second embodiment of the picture frame device comprises: a frame 10 fixing a picture 11 therein, the picture 11 further comprising a first bar code 201 containing at least a set of audio information, wherein the first bar code 201 is encoded by the two dimension audio code image encoding technology, a code reader 12 disposed on the frame 10 at a position associated with the first bar code 201 and reading the first bar code 201 by moving the code reader 12, a recorder 23 receiving audio information, an encoder 24 coupled to the recorder 23 and encoding the audio information into a second audio file in the format of, for example, MP3, WAV and MIDI, a bar code generator 25 coupled to the encoder 24 and used to encode the second audio file into a second bar code 202, wherein the bar code 202 is obtained by encoding the second audio file by the two dimension audio image encoding technology; a bar code storage 22 coupled to the code reader 12 and the bar code generator 25 and used to store the first and second bar codes 201, 202 as a record file (No.003) and a print unit 26 coupled to the bar code storage 22 and used to print the bar code 20. Through the record file (No.003), a relationship of mutual index between the first and second bar codes 201, 202 may be recorded and outputted by a print unit 26 or a display unit 27. In case the bar codes 201, 202 are not intended to be printed out, when the picture 11 is disposed into the picture frame device again, the second bar code 202 may be located through the index of the record file (NO.003) and fully outputted.
In above two embodiments, a record function key 19 may be provided to select a plurality of information. With the operation of the record key 17, functions of clearing, recording, playing, displaying or printing may be achieved. In addition, a liquid crystal display (LCD) 101 may be provided to display information status associated with the above operations of the picture frame device.
FIGS. 3A-3D depict the outlines of the picture frame device capable of playing and recording sounds according to embodiments of the present invention, respectively. As shown, each of the bar codes associated with the code reader may be positioned at the topside, bottom side, left side or right side of the picture. Alternatively, the bar codes may be at the topside, bottom side, left side or right side of the back of the picture.
FIG. 4 depicts a structure of the code reader of the picture frame device capable of playing and recording sounds according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the code reader 12 is moved manually where the scan unit 13 moves freely between two ends of the bearing unit 14 so that the reading of bar code 20 can be achieved. FIG. 5 depicts a structure of the code reader of the picture frame device capable of playing and recording sounds according to the second embodiment of present invention. In this embodiment, the code reader 12 is moved automatically where the scan unit 13 is triggered to move and scan through a sound playing key 15. To trigger the scan unit 13, a first gear 102 is provided on the bearing unit 14 and a second gear 103 is provided on the scan unit 13. The first gear 102 is meshed and connected electrically to the second gear 103 (the electrical connection is not shown) so that the second gear 103 is driven to rotate and the bar code 20 is read automatically.
While embodiments and applications of this invention have been shown and described, it would be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that more modifications than mentioned above are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A picture frame device capable of playing sounds, comprising:

a frame fixing a picture therein;

a code reader disposed on the frame and reading a bar code having audio information on the picture when the code reader is moved;

a decoder coupled to the code reader and decoding the bar code into a voice file; and

a player coupled to the decoder and outputting the voice file.

2. The picture frame device as recited in claim 1, wherein the read audio information is encoded in the bar code by two dimension audio code image technology.

3. The picture frame device as recited in claim 1, wherein the code reader further comprises:

a scan unit reading the bar code; and

a bearing unit bearing and connected pivotally to the scan unit so that the scan unit moves freely between two ends of the bearing unit.

4. The picture frame device as recited in claim 1, wherein the audio file is in the format selected from the group consisting of MP3, WAV and MIDI.

5. The picture frame device as recited in claim 1, wherein the bar code is located at one of the top side, bottom side, left side and right side of the back of the picture.

6. A picture frame device capable of recording sounds, comprising:

a frame fixing a picture therein;

a recorder inputting receiving an audio information;

an encoder coupled to the recorder and encoding the audio information into an audio file;

a bar code generator coupled to the encoder and converting the audio file into a bar code;

a bar code storage coupled to the bar code generator and storing the bar code into a record file; and

a print unit coupled to the bar code storage and printing the bar code, wherein the bar code is combined with the picture.

7. The picture frame device as recited in claim 6, wherein the audio file is encoded in the bar code by two dimension audio code image technology.

8. The picture frame device as recited in claim 6, wherein the audio file is in the format selected from the group consisting of MP3, WAV and MIDI.

9. The picture frame device as recited in claim 6, wherein the print unit prints the bar code on the back of the picture.

10. The picture frame device as recited in claim 6, further comprising a decoder coupled to the bar code storage and encoding the record file into an audio file.

11. The picture frame device as recited in claim 10, further comprising a player coupled to the decoder and outputting the audio file.

12. The picture frame device as recited in claim 6, wherein the bar code is located at one of the top side, bottom side, left side and right side of the back of the picture.

13. A picture frame device capable of recording sounds, comprising:

a frame fixing a picture therein;

a code reader disposed on the frame and reading a bar code on the picture; and

a bar code storage coupled to the code reader and storing the bar code into a record file.

14. The picture frame device as recited in claim 13, wherein the code reader further comprises:

a scan unit reading the bar code; and

a bearing unit bearing and connected pivotally to scan unit so that the scan unit moves freely between two ends of the bearing unit.

15. The picture frame device as recited in claim 13, further comprising a decoder coupled to the code reader and the bar code storage and decoding the record file into an audio file.

16. The picture frame device as recited in claim 15, further comprising a player coupled to the decoder and outputting the audio file.

17. The picture frame device as recited in claim 13, wherein the bar code is located at one of the top side, bottom side, left side and right side of the back of the picture.