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Abstract

An Interactive Audiovisual Control Mechanism (IACM) which, by exploiting recent advances in CD technology which permit rapid random access of discrete audio information (such as an individual sound or utterance), provides for the first time an interactive computer system in which large amounts of high quality audio and video are presented to the user simultaneously. In the preferred embodiment, this is accomplished via random access to both CD/ROM and VD devices, wherein individual visual frames of the VD are displayed on the system's display monitor for specified periods of time while discrete sounds and utterances from the CD/ROM are played through the system's speaker. Audio from the VD and computer's CPU may also be accessed at the same time, as well as computer graphic still images and animation (due to a well-known 'GENLOCK' device). A 'Control Bar' mechanism provides the user with a consistent user interface which insulates the user from the various sources of this audiovisual information, enabling the user to concentrate on the information itself, not the technology used to present that information. In conjunction with the Control Bar is a 'Shuffler' mechanism that provides the user with much of the system's appearance of intelligence. While the Control Bar enables the user to access the desired section of the author's material (by handling the corresponding random access retrieval of the appropriate audiovisual material from its various sources), the Shuffler controls which particular audio and/or visual components the system selects (from the entire domain of material provided by the author), based upon the user's 'performance level,' which is determined from the user's interaction with the system.

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First Claim