Creative wins patent for MP3 player interface

Creative Technology said on Tuesday it has been awarded a patent for a user interface found in its portable media players and in competing devices, such as Apple's iPod.

The digital entertainment company said that on 9 August it received US Patent No. 6,928,433, described as "automatic hierarchical categorisation of music by metadata". Creative applied for the patent -- which it has dubbed the 'Zen Patent', named after its Zen range of music players -- on 5 January 2001.

According to a Creative press release, the interface "enables selection of at least one track in a portable media player as a user sequentially navigates through a hierarchy using three or more successive screens on the display of the player". For example, when a person selects the name of an artist, the player than displays a list of albums for that artist. Selecting the album name then brings up a list of the album's tracks.

Creative first started using the interface in its Nomad Jukebox MP3 player, which began shipping in September 2000, according to the press release. Apple did not announce its iPod until more than a year later.

Apple filed for a patent on a "user interface in a multimedia player" in late 2002 but, according to Creative's press release, that application was recently rejected.

Apple could not immediately be reached for comment.

Hoping to cut into Apple's market share, Creative recently released a new version of its Zen player that boasts a colour screen and a built-in FM radio player. Further, the Zen player, unlike its iPod rival, can play video.

Additionally, several months ago Creative dropped prices on its digital music players.