What is claimed is:
1. An electronic control unit for automatically activating a parking brake in a motor vehicle startable without a mechanical key, wherein said electronic control unit automatically activates the parking brake in dependence on at least one specified operating parameter of the motor vehicle, said operating parameter for the automatic activation of the parking brake being a shutting-off of an internal combustion engine of the motor vehicle.
2. The electronic control unit according to claim 1, wherein said electronic control unit includes means for arbitrarily preventing an automatic activation of the parking brake, said means being arbitrarily triggerable by a user of the motor vehicle.
3. The electronic control unit according to claim 2, wherein said means for arbitrarily preventing comprises a key button, connected with said electronic control unit, said key button being directly manually actuatable in the form of an OFF switch for arbitrarily preventing the automatic activation of the parking brake.
4. The electronic control unit according to claim 2, further comprising:
an electronic authorization verification device having a wireless code transmission operatively arranged in the motor vehicle to start the motor vehicle; and
wherein said means for arbitrarily preventing comprises a holding shaft in which the authorization verification device is inserted for triggering arbitrarily the prevention of the automatic activation of the parking brake.
5. The electronic control unit according to claim 3, further comprising:
an electronic authorization verification device having a wireless code transmission operatively arranged in the motor vehicle to start the motor vehicle; and
wherein said means for arbitrarily preventing comprises a holding shaft in which the authorization verification device is inserted for triggering arbitrarily the prevention of the automatic activation of the parking brake.
6. A method for automatically activating a parking brake in a motor vehicle startable without a mechanical key, the method comprising the acts of:
determining an operating mode in which an internal combustion engine of the motor vehicle is being shut-off; and
automatically activating the parking brake in dependence on the determined operating mode, said parking brake being automatically activated when the internal combustion engine is being shut-off.
7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising the act of preventing arbitrarily an automatic activation of the parking brake.
8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said act of preventing arbitrarily the automatic activation of the parking brake comprises the act of directly manually actuating an OFF switch in the form of a key button for triggering arbitrarily the prevention of the automatic activation of the parking brake.
9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the act of preventing arbitrarily the automatic activation of the parking brake comprises the act of inserting an authorization verification device having a wireless code transmission into a holding shaft in the motor vehicle, said inserting act triggering arbitrarily the prevention of the automatic activation of the parking brake.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of adjusting the playback of audio information, comprising:
playing a set of audio tracks;
retrieving a set of composition rules;
receiving user activity information from at least one sensor configured to detect movements of a user and determining a user activity level from the user activity information;
determining a target song intensity corresponding to the user activity level; and
controlling the set of audio tracks to achieve the target song intensity.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein controlling the set of audio tracks includes muting and unmuting one or more audio tracks in the set of audio tracks.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein controlling the set of audio tracks includes controlling the relative volume of one or more audio tracks in the set of audio tracks.
4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the set of composition rules are used to determine the timing at which one or more audio tracks from the set of audio tracks are muted and unmuted.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein each audio track in the set of audio tracks corresponds to a different instrument.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor is associated with an article of footwear worn by the user.
7. A method of adjusting the playback of audio information, comprising:
playing a song, the song comprising a plurality of song segments that are sequential in time and the song further comprising a set of audio tracks that may be played simultaneously;
retrieving a set of composition rules;
receiving user activity information from at least one sensor configured to detect movements of a user;
determining a user activity level from the user activity information while a first song segment is being played;
finding a second song segment with a song state that matches the user activity level; and
using the composition rules to compose a musical transition from the first song segment to the second song segment.
8. The method according to claim 7, wherein using the composition rules to compose the musical transition includes adjusting the entrance and exit of one or more audio tracks from the set of audio tracks during the musical transition.
9. The method according to claim 7, wherein using the composition rules to compose the musical transition includes selecting a transition pattern.
10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the transition pattern is an attack pattern.
11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the transition pattern is a decay pattern.
12. The method according to claim 7, wherein the song state corresponds to an intensity of the song.
13. The method according to claim 7, wherein the set of composition rules includes a set of user preferences that can be set by the user.
14. The method according to claim 7, wherein the set of composition rules includes at least one rule determining when two audio tracks from the set of audio tracks can be played together.
15. The method according to claim 7, wherein the musical transition includes at least one segment from the plurality of song segments.
16. The method according to claim 15, wherein composing the musical transition includes adjusting the composition of audio tracks from the set of audio tracks in the at least one segment.
17. A method of adjusting the playback of audio information, comprising:
playing a song, the song comprising a plurality of song segments that are sequential in time;
receiving user activity information from at least one sensor configured to detect movements of a user;
determining a user activity level from the user activity information while a first song segment is being played;
finding a second segment of the song with a song state that matches the user activity level;
retrieving a universal transition segment, wherein the universal transition segment can be played in sequence with any of the plurality of song segments without creating abrupt musical transitions;
playing the universal transition segment after the first song segment; and
playing the second song segment after the universal transition segment in order to create a transition between the first segment and the second segment.
18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the universal transition segment is generated by analyzing the plurality of song segments.
19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the universal transition segment is configured for use with multiple different songs.
20. The method according to claim 17, wherein the universal transition segment is one of a plurality of universal transition segments, and wherein the method includes retrieving and using two or more universal transition segments from the plurality of universal transition segments.