Ornament

Abstract

An ornament includes a housing, at least one display panel and at least one audio output device. The ornament further includes an electronic memory device for storing images and other media files, including audio files, and a data transfer interface for transferring images and other media files, such as audio files, from an outside data source to the electronic memory device. The ornament also includes a user interface for selecting images to be displayed on the display panel and/or sounds to be produced by the audio output device.

1 . A holiday ornament comprising:
 a housing generally defining a shape of the ornament;   a display panel attached with respect to the housing such that at least a portion of the display panel is visible, the display panel displaying at least one electronic image thereon;   an electronic memory device in operative communication with the display panel, the electronic memory device storing at least one of the at least one electronic image and at least one electronic audio file;   a data transfer interface in operative communication with the electronic memory device, the electronic memory device receiving at least one of the at least one image and the at least one electronic audio file from an outside data source through the data transfer interface;   an audio output device, the at least one electronic audio file playable through the audio output device.   
   
   
       2 . The holiday ornament of  claim 1  wherein the display panel is a digital display panel. 
   
   
       3 . The holiday ornament of  claim 1  wherein the display panel is at least one of a Low Temperature Poly Silicon panel, a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT LCD) panel, a plasma display panel (PDP), a field emission display (FED) panel, a surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) panel, a touch screen display panel, a cathode ray tube (CRT) display panel and an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display panel. 
   
   
       4 . The holiday ornament of  claim 1  wherein the data transfer interface is a data transfer port connectable to the outside data source for uploading therethrough at least one of the at least one image and the at least one electronic audio file from the outside data source into the electronic memory device. 
   
   
       5 . The holiday ornament of  claim 1  wherein the data transfer interface is at least one of a Universal Serial Bus (USB), a wireless Universal Serial Bus (USB), IEEE 1394 and Wi-Fi. 
   
   
       6 . The holiday ornament of  claim 1  further comprising a power supply. 
   
   
       7 . The holiday ornament of  claim 6  wherein the power supply is an internal power supply. 
   
   
       8 . The holiday ornament of  claim 6  wherein the power supply is an external power supply. 
   
   
       9 . The holiday ornament of  claim 1  wherein the at least one image is at least one of a JPEG, a BMP, a PNG, a GIF, a MPEG, a DivX™, a XviD, an Adobe Flash™, a Flash LITE™ image. 
   
   
       10 . The holiday ornament of  claim 1  wherein the electronic memory device is a flash memory device. 
   
   
       11 . The holiday ornament of  claim 1  wherein the display panel has one of a concave curvature and a convex curvature. 
   
   
       12 . A holiday ornament for displaying on a holiday display, the ornament comprising:
 a housing forming at least a portion of a surface of the ornament;   a display panel at least partially positioned within the housing, the display panel forming a portion of the surface of the ornament, at least one electronic image displayable on the display panel;   an electronic memory device in operative communication with the display panel and an audio output device, the at least one image storable in the electronic memory device and selectively displayable on the display panel, at least one electronic audio file storable in the electronic memory device;   an audio output device at least partially positioned within the housing, the at least one electronic audio file playable through the audio output device upon selection;   a data transfer interface connectable to an outside data source, the at least one image and the at least one electronic audio file transferable from the outside data source into the electronic memory device through the data transfer interface; and   at least one user input interface in operative communication with at lest one of the display panel, the electronic memory device and the audio output device, the at least one user input interface operable to selectively display the at least one image on the display panel and to selectively play the at least one electronic audio file through the audio output device.   
   
   
       13 . The holiday ornament of  claim 12  wherein the electronic audio file is at least one of an MP3, an AAC, a WAV, an audio file incorporating DRM technology, an Ogg, a Vorbis, a Theora, a Speex, a FLAC, an ATRAC and a MOD. 
   
   
       14 . The holiday ornament of  claim 12  further comprising a stand attached to the housing, the stand supporting the ornament in an upright position when the ornament is placed on a surface. 
   
   
       15 . The holiday ornament of  claim 12  wherein the image is at least one of a still image a moving image and an animated image. 
   
   
       16 . The holiday ornament of  claim 12  wherein the image is at least one of a photograph, a text, a letter, a number, a picture, a video, a movie, a film, an animation, a computer animation, a cartoon, an animated cartoon, a manually and/or digitally created artwork, a computer animated film, a computer graphics, an electronic computer animation, an interactive media and a computer generated imagery. 
   
   
       17 . The holiday ornament of  claim 12  comprising a plurality of display panels. 
   
   
       18 . The holiday ornament of  claim 12  wherein multiple images are displayable on the display panel simultaneously. 
   
   
       19 . A Christmas tree ornament comprising:
 a generally spherical housing, the housing including an aperture having a periphery;   a display panel at least partially positioned within the housing such that at least a portion of the display panel corresponds to the aperture, at least one electronic image displayable on the display panel;   an electronic memory device in operative communication with the display panel, the at least one image storable in the electronic memory device and selectively displayable on the display panel; the electronic memory device storing at least one electronic audio file;   an audio output device in operative communication with the electronic memory device, the at least one electronic audio file stored in the electronic memory device selectively playable through the audio output device;   a data transfer port connectable to an outside data source, the at least one image and the at least one audio file transferable from the outside data source into the electronic memory device through the data transfer port;   at least one user input interface in operative communication with at lest one of the display panel, the audio output device and the electronic memory device, the at least one user interface operable to selectively display the at least one image on the display panel; and   a hanger at a top of the housing, the hanger removably attachable to the holiday display.   
   
   
       20 . The Christmas tree ornament of  claim 19  wherein the user interface is operable to preselect a time to autoactivate at lest one of the display panel and the audio output device.