hi guys, im designing a small-ish system(i think) but im a bit unsure about how to go about it and would like peoples opinions.
I would like to have 3 lcd display screen & units. each unit has 1 lcd screen and inputs that a user can make.
the lcd screen will have an interactive list that you can browse like on an ipod.. for example.... u can scroll down through artist, genre, song, then if u select one and click on it, eg if u select artist, it will open a new submenu of artists displayed in alphabetical order. then you select an artist and it takes you to another submenu where it shows all that artists' songs.
so basically each unit will hold a list of songs together with possible extra information for each song, ie, file size, artist, year of release etc which will be displayed on the lcd as the selector lies over the selection.
you can select a song and add it to your "selection list". note that it doesnt play any songs, it is merely a list of songs displayed as text/graphics on the lcd. once u are happy with the songs you have, you transmit the list to another lcd screen and unit (by RF or along wire) located in a stockroom where a person will see your selection of songs. that person will collect the albums or single's of the artists / songs that u have selected.. and dispense them out of the stockroom to where you are through a little window thing (dont worry about that part though
). (a BIT similar to the system in argos where u can check if an item is in stock)
i said at the beginning that there are 3 lcd screens and units, this means that 3 users can send their requests at the same time, which means, the song list/ interactive databse will displayed on 3 different lcd's to 3 different people simultaneously.
now my questions are these...
question 1
how do i go about creating the list of songs graphically/textually and the information for each song in the format of like how the menu appears on the ipod where u can scroll down and up and click to select etc. i am using graphics lcd screens.
question 2
each user will need to be able to view the music list database simultaneously... is it possible for me to store the information of the music database on each INDIVIDUAL lcd and unit which each user will be using? so music database x3, 1 on each unit that each user can browse. or, is it better for me to have a central "mother" unit, which has the database and each user on each "child unit" with the lcd screen can all access that one database and view its contents simultaneously and then make their selections and send their requests?
the database also has to be able to be edited so im thinking if the database is stored on each unit individually, a mother unit can "send out" an rf signal which each unit will recieve and update its database. or if i do it the other way, u only have to update the "mother unit" as each child unit is accessing that. what do you think?
there will be approximately different 200 songs and it will not exceed +/- 25 of that.
remember the only information stored are the names of the songs/artists, in addition to info on how to DISPLAY that info on the graphics lcd screens as text and possibly very simple monotone graphics (for the selection *ipod menu style thing*).
also remember these selections from each user will be transmitted as data to another lcd scren where the information will be displayed to a stockroom guy. if 3 users on 3 units are accessing one unit(mother central unit) containing the database im guessing if i choose to add more units/users later on it will slow the system down. if i store the list on each individual unit im guessing it will be faster, more reliable but will take more memory but at the end of the day it is only information on the artists/ songs and how to display that data . no actual songs and theres not going to be more than 225 songs.
the graphics lcd screens are monotone. these are the displays im using
**broken link removed**
i was hoping that i could program all of this on a PIC with the addition of using some eeprom or flash IF i need more memory seeing as the amount of information held is relatively small (only 200 songs) but a friend told me this is a database design and that it wouldnt be possible on a PIC and that i would have to program it in C or something but to be honest i didnt really understand what he was trying to explain and dont think he knows enough about the subject. i want to keep the hardware design as small as possible with hopefuilly no use of a PC to store the "database" in a pc program.
any help to point me in the right direction will be really appreciated
thanks
I would like to have 3 lcd display screen & units. each unit has 1 lcd screen and inputs that a user can make.
the lcd screen will have an interactive list that you can browse like on an ipod.. for example.... u can scroll down through artist, genre, song, then if u select one and click on it, eg if u select artist, it will open a new submenu of artists displayed in alphabetical order. then you select an artist and it takes you to another submenu where it shows all that artists' songs.
so basically each unit will hold a list of songs together with possible extra information for each song, ie, file size, artist, year of release etc which will be displayed on the lcd as the selector lies over the selection.
you can select a song and add it to your "selection list". note that it doesnt play any songs, it is merely a list of songs displayed as text/graphics on the lcd. once u are happy with the songs you have, you transmit the list to another lcd screen and unit (by RF or along wire) located in a stockroom where a person will see your selection of songs. that person will collect the albums or single's of the artists / songs that u have selected.. and dispense them out of the stockroom to where you are through a little window thing (dont worry about that part though
). (a BIT similar to the system in argos where u can check if an item is in stock)i said at the beginning that there are 3 lcd screens and units, this means that 3 users can send their requests at the same time, which means, the song list/ interactive databse will displayed on 3 different lcd's to 3 different people simultaneously.
now my questions are these...
question 1
how do i go about creating the list of songs graphically/textually and the information for each song in the format of like how the menu appears on the ipod where u can scroll down and up and click to select etc. i am using graphics lcd screens.
question 2
each user will need to be able to view the music list database simultaneously... is it possible for me to store the information of the music database on each INDIVIDUAL lcd and unit which each user will be using? so music database x3, 1 on each unit that each user can browse. or, is it better for me to have a central "mother" unit, which has the database and each user on each "child unit" with the lcd screen can all access that one database and view its contents simultaneously and then make their selections and send their requests?
the database also has to be able to be edited so im thinking if the database is stored on each unit individually, a mother unit can "send out" an rf signal which each unit will recieve and update its database. or if i do it the other way, u only have to update the "mother unit" as each child unit is accessing that. what do you think?
there will be approximately different 200 songs and it will not exceed +/- 25 of that.
remember the only information stored are the names of the songs/artists, in addition to info on how to DISPLAY that info on the graphics lcd screens as text and possibly very simple monotone graphics (for the selection *ipod menu style thing*).
also remember these selections from each user will be transmitted as data to another lcd scren where the information will be displayed to a stockroom guy. if 3 users on 3 units are accessing one unit(mother central unit) containing the database im guessing if i choose to add more units/users later on it will slow the system down. if i store the list on each individual unit im guessing it will be faster, more reliable but will take more memory but at the end of the day it is only information on the artists/ songs and how to display that data . no actual songs and theres not going to be more than 225 songs.
the graphics lcd screens are monotone. these are the displays im using
**broken link removed**
i was hoping that i could program all of this on a PIC with the addition of using some eeprom or flash IF i need more memory seeing as the amount of information held is relatively small (only 200 songs) but a friend told me this is a database design and that it wouldnt be possible on a PIC and that i would have to program it in C or something but to be honest i didnt really understand what he was trying to explain and dont think he knows enough about the subject. i want to keep the hardware design as small as possible with hopefuilly no use of a PC to store the "database" in a pc program.
any help to point me in the right direction will be really appreciated
thanks
