Personalized audio information delivery system

Claim 1

A method of delivering articles found in printed publications to an end-user in audible form, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at a collection site from an end-user a first selection criterion, wherein the first selection criterion identifies a printed publication of a plurality of printed publications for potential selection of at least one article therefrom; receiving at the collection site from the end-user a second selection criterion, wherein the second selection criterion identifies a category of a plurality of categories corresponding to articles potentially found in a printed publication of the plurality of printed publications; storing at the collection site the first and second selection criterion; receiving at the collection site data representative of a plurality of articles found in respective printed publications of the plurality of printed publications, wherein the data representative of the plurality of articles comprises computer readable textual data for each article; associating with each received article of the plurality of articles a first identifier, wherein the first identifier identifies the respective printed publication of the plurality of printed publications in which a respective received article is found; associating with each received article of the plurality of articles a second identifier, wherein the second identifier identifies a respective received article as belonging to a category of the plurality of categories; initiating automatically at the collection site after storing of the first and second selection criteria, the attempted selection of at least one received article from the plurality of articles received at the collection site having first and second identifiers which match the first and second criterion; upon detecting at the collection site at least one received article of the plurality of articles having first and second identifiers which match the first and second criterion, selecting said received article for transmission; transmitting from the collection site data representative of said selected article through a data channel to a local controller positioned at the end user's site; and converting at the end-user's site the data representative of said selected article into audio signals.

Claim 2

A method of delivering articles found in printed publications to an end-user in audible form, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at a collection site from an end-user a first selection criterion, wherein the first selection criterion identifies a printed publication of a plurality of printed publications for potential selection of at least one article therefrom; receiving at the collection site from the end-user a second selection criterion, wherein the second selection criterion identifies a category of a plurality of categories corresponding to articles potentially found in a printed publication of the plurality of printed publications; storing at the collection site the first and second selection criterion; receiving at the collection site data representative of a plurality of articles found in respective printed publications of the plurality of printed publications, wherein the data representative of the plurality of articles comprises computer readable textual data for each article; associating with each received article of the plurality of articles a first identifier, wherein the first identifier identifies the respective printed publication of the plurality of printed publications in which a respective received article is found; associating with each received article of the plurality of articles a second identifier, wherein the second identifier identifies a respective received article as belonging to a category of the plurality of categories; initiating automatically at the collection site after storing of the first and second selection criteria, the attempted selection of at least one received article from the plurality of articles received at the collection site having first and second identifiers which match the first and second criterion; upon detecting at the collection site at least one received article of the plurality of articles having first and second identifiers which match the first and second criterion, selecting said received article for transmission; transmitting from the collection site data representative of said selected article through a data channel to a local controller positioned at the end user's site; and converting at the end-user's site the data representative of said selected article into audio signals.

Claim 10

A method of providing information from a plurality of publications to an end-user for hands-free and eyes-free consumption, the method comprising the steps of: automatically establishing data communications periodically between a master controller and computer systems of a plurality of information providers; automatically downloading information from the computer systems of the plurality of information providers to the master controller, wherein the information comprises information selected from the group including published articles, news accounts, and stories from a plurality of media; storing the downloaded information at the master controller; automatically establishing data communications between the master controller and a local controller positioned at an end-user's site; automatically downloading from the master controller to the local controller the information in the form of computer-readable textual data; and converting the computer-readable textual data into audio signals representative of the information at the local controller.

Claim 11

A method of providing information from a plurality of publications to an end-user for hands-free and eyes-free consumption, the method comprising the steps of: automatically establishing data communications periodically between a master controller and computer systems of a plurality of information providers; automatically downloading information from the computer systems of the plurality of information providers to the master controller, wherein the information comprises information selected from the group including published articles, news accounts, and stories from a plurality of media; storing the downloaded information at the master controller; automatically establishing data communications between the master controller and a local controller positioned at an end-user's site; automatically downloading from the master controller to the local controller the information in the form of computer-readable textual data; and converting the computer-readable textual data into audio signals representative of the information at the local controller.

Claim 16

An apparatus for delivering published information to an end-user, said apparatus comprising: a master controller connectable to a plurality of information sources, wherein said master controller includes a storage device and master controller computer software residing in said storage device of said master controller, said master controller computer software being executable by said master controller for enabling said master controller to automatically and periodically establish communication with said plurality of information sources and to automatically download a plurality of information items from said plurality of information sources to said storage device of said master controller, wherein said plurality of information items comprise computer-readable textual data selected from the group including published articles, news accounts, and stories, and wherein said plurality of information items are deliverable to at least one end-user; a local controller connectable through a communication channel to said master controller and located at an end-user site, said local controller including a storage device and local controller computer software residing on said storage device of said local controller, said local controller computer software being cooperative with said master controller computer software and being executable by said local controller for enabling said local controller to automatically download from said master controller at least one information item from a plurality of information items in said storage device of said master controller based upon criteria provided by an end-user to one of said master controller and said local controller, wherein said local controller further includes a text-to-speech converter and said local controller software is further executable by said local controller for enabling said text-to-speech converter to convert a downloaded information item into audio signals representative of the information item.

Claim 17

An apparatus for delivering published information to an end-user, said apparatus comprising: a master controller connectable to a plurality of information sources, wherein said master controller includes a storage device and master controller computer software residing in said storage device of said master controller, said master controller computer software being executable by said master controller for enabling said master controller to automatically and periodically establish communication with said plurality of information sources and to automatically download a plurality of information items from said plurality of information sources to said storage device of said master controller, wherein said plurality of information items comprise computer-readable textual data selected from the group including published articles, news accounts, and stories, and wherein said plurality of information items are deliverable to at least one end-user; a local controller connectable through a communication channel to said master controller and located at an end-user site, said local controller including a storage device and local controller computer software residing on said storage device of said local controller, said local controller computer software being cooperative with said master controller computer software and being executable by said local controller for enabling said local controller to automatically download from said master controller at least one information item from a plurality of information items in said storage device of said master controller based upon criteria provided by an end-user to one of said master controller and said local controller, wherein said local controller further includes a text-to-speech converter and said local controller software is further executable by said local controller for enabling said text-to-speech converter to convert a downloaded information item into audio signals representative of the information item.