Radio-station-recommendation system and method

• US 10,467,285 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2015
• Issued: 11/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Banvait, Harpreetsingh, Feldman, Casey Bryan, Jain, Jinesh J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bilodeau, David
• Application Number:
  US15/580,194
• Publication Number:
  US 20180165359A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,537 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/637 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialization, adaptation or distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/33 Arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/46 for recognising users' preferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/52 of users
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/251 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41422 located in transportation means, e.g. personal vehicle arrangements specially adapted for transportation systems in broadcast systems H04H20/62
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8113 comprising music, e.g. song in MP3 format
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

A method of recommending radio stations including the step of generating a plurality of driver models. Each driver model may correspond to a different driver and documents audio content listened to by that driver while driving. The plurality of driver models may be aggregated to generate a recommendation model correlating radio stations, audio content, and geographic regions. Thereafter, a request for recommendations may be received from a driver while the driver is in a familiar or unfamiliar geographic region. A driver model corresponding to the driver may be compared against other data contained within the recommendation model in order to identify one or more radio stations that present audio content within the geographic region that best matches the audio content documented within the driver model corresponding to the driver. The one or more radio stations may then be communicated to the driver.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating, by a computer system, multiple models corresponding to multiple drivers such that each model of the multiple models documents content heard by a different driver of the multiple drivers;

aggregating, by the computer system, the multiple models to form a recommendation model that identifies which radio stations play which audio content in which geographic regions;

receiving, by the computer system from a first driver of the multiple drivers, a request for recommendations;

leveraging, by the computer system in response to the receiving, the recommendation model to identify at least one radio station that presents content best matching content documented within a first model of the multiple models that corresponds to the first driver; and

responding, by the computer system, to the request with the at least one radio station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first driver has a base geographic region in which the first driver primarily drives; and

the receiving comprises receiving, by the computer system, the request from the first driver while the first driver is located outside of the base geographical region.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the computer system comprises:

an infotainment system installed in a vehicle driven by the first driver; and

at least one remote computer connected via a communication network to the infotainment system.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the generating comprises:

monitoring, by the infotainment system, the content listened to by the first driver while driving the vehicle; and

reporting, by the infotainment system to the at least one network computer, information characterizing the content listened to by the first driver while driving the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the content listened to by the first driver while driving the vehicle comprises local radio programming played through the infotainment system of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the content listened to by the first driver while driving the vehicle comprises content played from a mobile device through the infotainment system of the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the content listened to by the first driver while driving the vehicle comprises satellite radio programming played through the infotainment system of the vehicle.

8. A method comprising:

generating, by a computer system, a plurality of driver models, wherein at least one driver model of the plurality of driver models corresponds to each driver of a plurality of vehicle drivers and documents audio content listened to by the each driver while driving;

aggregating, by a component of the computer system, the plurality of driver models to generate a recommendation model correlating radio stations, audio content, and geographic regions;

the aggregating wherein the component is located remotely with respect to each driver of the plurality of vehicle drivers;

receiving, by the computer system from a first driver of the plurality of drivers while the first driver is in a first geographic region of the geographic regions, a request for recommendations;

comparing, by the computer system, a first driver model of the plurality of driver models with other data contained within the recommendation model, the first driver model corresponding to the first driver;

identifying, by the computer system based on the comparing, at least one radio station of the radio stations, wherein the at least one radio station presents audio content within the first geographic region that best matches the audio content documented within the first driver model; and

recommending, by the computer system, the at least one radio station to the first driver.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the each driver of the plurality of vehicle drivers drives most often in a base geographical region corresponding to the each driver.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one driver model documents audio content listened to by the each driver while driving in the base geographic region corresponding to the each driver.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first geographic region is different than the base geographic region corresponding to the first driver.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first geographic region is the base geographic region corresponding to a second driver of the plurality of vehicle drivers.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the recommendation model identifies which radio stations play which audio content in which geographic regions.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the recommendation model further identifies which radio stations play which audio content in which geographic regions at which times of the day.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the audio content documented in the generating comprises content played from a mobile device through an infotainment system of a vehicle.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein the audio content documented in the generating comprises satellite radio programming played through an infotainment system of a vehicle.

17. The method of claim 8, wherein the audio content documented in the generating comprises local radio programming played through an infotainment system of a vehicle.

18. The method of claim 8, wherein the computer system comprises:

an infotainment system installed in a vehicle driven by the first driver; and

at least one remote computer connected via a communication network to the infotainment system.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the generating comprises:

monitoring, by the infotainment system, the audio content listened to by the first driver while driving; and

reporting, by the infotainment system to the at least one network computer, information characterizing the audio content listened to by the first driver while driving.