Generating and distributing playlists with related music and stories

• US 10,261,963 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2016
• Issued: 04/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gracenote, Inc. (RR Donnelley & Sons Company)
• Original Assignee: Gracenote, Inc. (RR Donnelley & Sons Company)
• Inventors: Sharma, Rishabh, Cremer, Markus
• Primary Examiner(s): Hwa, Shyue Jiunn
• Application Number:
  US15/043,059
• Publication Number:
  US 20170193101A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,159 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/635 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/639 using playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44213 Monitoring of end-user related data arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18

Abstract

An embodiment may involve, based on a profile associated with a client device, selecting an audio file containing music. Based on an attribute of the audio file containing the music, an audio file containing a story may be selected. A playlist for the client device may be generated, where the playlist includes (i) a reference to the audio file containing the music, and (ii) a reference to the audio file containing the story. A server device may transmit the playlist to the client device over a wide area network. Reception of the playlist at the client device may cause an audio player application to retrieve and play out each of the audio file containing the music and the audio file containing the story.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

based on a profile associated with a client device, selecting, by a server device, an audio file containing music, wherein the client device and the server device are in communication with one another by way of a wide-area network, wherein the client device includes an audio player application, wherein the profile associated with the client device indicates a preferred language, and wherein the audio file containing the music is selected because at least some singing therein is in the preferred language;

identifying, by the server device, an attribute associated with the audio file containing the music, wherein the attribute is a keyword from lyrics associated with the music;

selecting, by the server device, a text file containing the keyword;

converting, by an automatic text-to-speech system, the text file containing the keyword to an audio file containing a story;

automatically generating, by the server device, a playlist for the client device, wherein the playlist sequentially includes (i) a reference to the audio file containing the music, and (ii) a reference to the audio file containing the story; and

transmitting, by the server device over the wide;

area network, the playlist to the client device, wherein reception of the playlist at the client device causes the audio player application to sequentially retrieve and play out each of the audio file containing the music and the audio file containing the story.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio player application retrieves each of the audio file containing the music and the audio file containing the story from the server device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference to the audio file containing the music is ordered in the playlist before the reference to the audio file containing the story, and wherein the audio player application retrieves and plays out at least some of the audio file containing the music before retrieving and playing out the audio file containing the story.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference to the audio file containing the music is ordered in the playlist after the reference to the audio file containing the story, and wherein the audio player application retrieves and plays out at least some of the audio file containing the music after retrieving and playing out the audio file containing the story.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute is also associated with a particular geographical region, and wherein the audio file containing the story is selected based on the audio file containing the story being associated with the particular geographical region.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile associated with the client device contains an indication of a location of the client device, and wherein the audio file containing the music is selected because the attribute is also related to the location of the client device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile associated with the client device contains an indication of a location of the client device, and wherein the audio file containing the music is selected based on an artist associated with the music performing within a pre-defined distance of the location of the client device within an upcoming time period.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute also indicates that at least some of a singing portion of the music is in the preferred language, and wherein the audio file containing the story is selected based on at least part of the story being in the preferred language.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio file containing the story is also selected based on the audio file containing the story being available from a third-party media server affiliated with the server device.

10. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory computer-readable medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by one or more processors of a server device, cause the server device to perform operations comprising:

based on a profile associated with a client device, selecting an audio file containing music, wherein the client device and the server device are in communication with one another by way of a wide-area network, wherein the client device includes an audio player application, wherein the profile associated with the client device indicates a preferred language, and wherein the audio file containing the music is selected because at least some singing therein is in the preferred language;

identifying an attribute associated with the audio file containing the music, wherein the attribute is a keyword from lyrics associated with the music;

selecting a text file containing the keyword;

converting, by an automatic text-to-speech system, the text file containing the keyword to an audio file containing a story;

automatically generating a playlist for the client device, wherein the playlist sequentially includes (i) a reference to the audio file containing the music, and (ii) a reference to the audio file containing the story; and

transmitting, over the wide;

area network, the playlist to the client device, wherein reception of the playlist at the client device causes the audio player application to sequentially retrieve and play out each of the audio file containing the music and the audio file containing the story.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the attribute is also associated with a particular geographical region, and wherein the audio file containing the story is selected based on the audio file containing the story being associated with the particular geographical region.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the profile associated with the client device contains an indication of a location of the client device, and wherein the audio file containing the music is selected because the attribute is also related to the location of the client device.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the profile associated with the client device contains an indication of a location of the client device, and wherein the audio file containing the music is selected based on an artist associated with the music performing within a pre-defined distance of the location of the client device within an upcoming time period.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the attribute also indicates that at least some of a singing portion of the music is in the preferred language, and wherein the audio file containing the story is selected based on at least part of the story being in the preferred language.

15. A computing device comprising:

a processor;

memory; and

program instructions, stored in the memory, that upon execution by the processor cause the computing device to perform operations comprising;

based on a profile associated with a client device, selecting an audio file containing music, wherein the client device and the computing device are in communication with one another by way of a wide-area network, wherein the client device includes an audio player application, wherein the profile associated with the client device indicates a preferred language, and wherein the audio file containing the music is selected because at least some singing therein is in the preferred language;

identifying an attribute associated with the audio file containing the music, wherein the attribute is a keyword from lyrics associated with the music;

selecting a text file containing the keyword;

converting, by an automatic text-to-speech system, the text file containing the keyword to an audio file containing a story;

automatically generating a playlist for the client device, wherein the playlist sequentially includes (i) a reference to the audio file containing the music, and (ii) a reference to the audio file containing the story; and

transmitting, over the wide-area network, the playlist to the client device, wherein reception of the playlist at the client device causes the audio player application to sequentially retrieve and play out each of the audio file containing the music and the audio file containing the story.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the reference to the audio file containing the music is ordered in the playlist before the reference to the audio file containing the story, and wherein the audio player application retrieves and plays out at least some of the audio file containing the music before retrieving and playing out the audio file containing the story.

17. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the reference to the audio file containing the music is ordered in the playlist after the reference to the audio file containing the story, and wherein the audio player application retrieves and plays out at least some of the audio file containing the music after retrieving and playing out the audio file containing the story.

18. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the attribute is also associated with a particular geographical region, and wherein the audio file containing the story is selected based on the audio file containing the story being associated with the particular geographical region.

19. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the profile associated with the client device contains an indication of a location of the client device, and wherein the audio file containing the music is selected because the attribute is also related to the location of the client device.

20. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the profile associated with the client device contains an indication of a location of the client device, and wherein the audio file containing the music is selected based on an artist associated with the music performing within a pre-defined distance of the location of the client device within an upcoming time period.