Cell Phone Based Sound Production

Abstract

A cell phone based sound producing device is a sound producing device that takes advantage of the likelihood that a user is already carrying a cell phone and does not need to also carry an electronic sound producing device. Another advantage is that cell phones are designed to communicate across a communications network. As such, the cell phone based sound producing device can download sounds from a server, store them, and play them. Electronic payment systems for ring tones that are played on a cell phone already exist. These electronic payment systems can be adapted to payment for sound producing device modules and for sounds. Recovery information can be used to restore modules and sounds that are lost due to cell phone breakage or upgrades.

1 . A system comprising:
 a cell phone comprising an input device, a display, a cellular radio, an internal speaker and a non-volatile memory wherein a plurality of stored sounds are stored in the non-volatile memory;   a presentation displayed on the display and offering a plurality of available sounds wherein the available sounds comprise at least one of the stored sounds and at least one of a plurality of served sounds, and wherein a user chooses a selected sound from amongst the available sounds;   a sound retrieval module that automatically obtains the selected sound from a server when the selected sound is not one of the stored sounds and wherein the sound retrieval module stores the selected sound in the non-volatile memory such that the selected sound becomes one of the stored sounds;   recovery information for recovering lost sounds wherein certain of the stored sounds are lost to thereby become lost sounds;   a sound producing module that accesses the stored sounds to thereby play the stored sounds on at least one speaker wherein the internal speaker is one of the at least one speaker.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising an external speaker that is one of the at least one speaker and wherein the sound producing module plays the at least one stored sound on the external speaker. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a payment module wherein the payment module to tenders a payment to a payment processor to thereby obtain access to the served sound. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a remote actuator wherein the remote actuator sends a remote actuation signal to the cell phone and wherein the cell phone reacts to the actuation signal by playing the selected sound. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the cell phone further comprises a pitch shifting module. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the cell phone further comprises a tempo shifting module. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 an external speaker that is one of the at least one speaker and wherein the sound producing module plays the at least one stored sound on the external speaker; 
 a payment module wherein the payment module to tenders a payment to a payment processor to thereby obtain access to the served sound; 
 a remote actuator wherein the remote actuator sends a remote actuation signal to the cell phone and wherein the cell phone reacts to the actuation signal by playing the selected sound; 
 a pitch shifting module; 
 a tempo shifting module; and 
 a timing module that produces a timed actuation signal wherein the cell phone responds to the timed actuation signal by playing the selected sound. 
 
     
     
         8 . A system comprising:
 an electronic sound producing device comprising an input device, a display, and a non-volatile memory;   a communications module that the electronic device uses to communicate with a server that serves a served sound;   a non-volatile memory storing a plurality of stored sounds;   a presentation displayed on the display and offering a plurality of available sounds to a user wherein the available sounds comprise at least one of the stored sounds and at least one of the served sounds, and wherein a user chooses a selected sound;   a sound retrieval module that obtains the served sound and stores the served sound in the non-volatile memory as an additional stored sound;   recovery information for recovering the stored sounds; and   a sound producing module that accesses the at least one stored sound and plays the at least one stored sound on at least one speaker.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the selected sound is one of the served sounds, and wherein a sound retrieval module automatically obtains the selected sound from the server. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8  further comprising a payment module wherein the payment module to tenders a payment to a payment processor to thereby obtain access to the served sound. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8  further comprising a timing module that produces a timed actuation signal wherein the electronic sound producing device responds to the timed actuation signal by playing the selected sound. 
     
     
         12 . A system comprising:
 a server that offers a plurality of served sounds to the user of a cell phone wherein the user selects one of the served sounds to be a selected sound, wherein the cell phone automatically retrieves the selected sound from the server and stores the selected sound as a stored sound in a non-volatile memory; and   recovery information for recovering lost sounds for the user wherein the user has lost certain of the stored sounds that thereby become lost sounds.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12  further comprising a backup server that the user contacts to thereby recover the stored sound. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 12  further comprising a backup server that stores the recovery information. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 12  further comprising a payment processing module and a fulfillment module wherein the cell phone is allowed to obtain the selected sound from the fulfillment module only after a corresponding payment to the payment module. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 12  further comprising permission information that restricts the playing of a stored sound unless the stored sound was obtained from a specific provider. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 12  further comprising permission information that restricts the playing of a sound obtained from the server to a particular cell phone. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 12  further comprising a password that unlocks a sound for playing on a cell phone. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 12  further comprising:
 a backup server that stores the recovery information and that the user contacts to thereby recover the stored sound; 
 a payment processing module and a fulfillment module wherein the cell phone is allowed to obtain the selected sound from the fulfillment module only after a corresponding payment to the payment module. 
 permission information that prevents the playing of the stored sounds to only those stored sounds obtained from a specific provider and allowing the stored sounds to be played only on a particular cell phone; 
 a password that unlocks at least one of the stored sounds for playing. 
 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19  further comprising:
 the cell phone; 
 an input device, a display, a cellular radio, an internal speaker and a non-volatile memory wherein the cell phone comprises the input device, the display, the cellular radio, the internal speaker and the non-volatile memory; 
 a plurality of stored sounds stored in the non-volatile memory; 
 a presentation displayed on the display and offering a plurality of available sounds wherein the available sounds comprise at least one of the stored sounds and at least one of the served sounds, and wherein the user chooses a selected sound from amongst the available sounds; 
 a sound retrieval module that automatically obtains the selected sound from the server when the selected sound is not one of the stored sounds wherein the sound retrieval module stores the selected sound in the non-volatile memory such that the selected sound becomes one of the stored sounds, and wherein the cell phone further comprises the sound retrieval module; 
 a sound producing module that accesses the stored sounds to thereby play the stored sounds on at least one speaker of a plurality of speakers comprising the internal speaker and an external speaker and wherein the cell phone further comprises the sound retrieval module; 
 a payment module wherein the payment module to tenders a payment to the payment processing module and wherein the cell phone further comprises the payment module; 
 a remote actuator wherein the remote actuator sends a remote actuation signal to the cell phone and wherein the cell phone reacts to the actuation signal by playing the selected sound; 
 a pitch shifting module and a tempo shifting module wherein the cell phone further comprises the pitch shifting module and the tempo shifting module; and 
 a timing module that produces a timed actuation signal wherein the cell phone responds to the timed actuation signal by playing the selected sound, and wherein the cell phone further comprises the timing module.