Automatic personal playlist generation with implicit user feedback

• US 20050098023A1
• Filed: 11/06/2003
• Published: 05/12/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Pyhalammi, Seppo, Toivonen, Hannu
• Granted Patent: US 7,345,232 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 84/615
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0058 Transmission between separate instruments or between individual components of a musical system G10H1/0083 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2230/015 PDA [personal digital assistant] or palmtop computing devices used for musical purposes, e.g. portable music players, tablet computers, e-readers or smart phones in which mobile telephony functions need not be used touch-screen interfaces G10H2220/096
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/125 Library distribution, i.e. distributing musical pieces from a central or master library
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/305 Internet or TCP/IP protocol use for any electrophonic musical instrument data or musical parameter transmission purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals

Abstract

Music selection systems and methods are disclosed. An adaptive set of songs is selected based on implicit feedback from a user. A random set of songs is also selected. A playlist selection module creates a playlist that includes songs from the adaptive set and the random set in a ratio determined by a surprise factor provided by a user. The playlist may also begin with a sure set of songs that are known to be enjoyed by the user.

Claims

1. A method of generating an audio playlist from a music library, the method comprising:

(a) assigning individual weights to a plurality of songs based on activities of a user in relation to the songs; and

(b) selecting a plurality of songs from the music library, wherein the probability of each song being selected corresponds to the weight assigned to the song.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) comprises favoring songs that have been imported by the user over songs that have been recorded automatically.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) comprises favoring songs repeated by a user over songs that have not been repeated by the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) comprises favoring songs that have not been skipped by the user over songs that have been skipped by the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) comprises favoring recently recorded songs over less recently recorded songs.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) comprises favoring songs that have not been replayed recently over songs that have been replayed recently.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) comprises:

(i) favoring songs that have been recorded by the user over songs that have been recorded automatically;

(ii) favoring songs repeated by a user over songs that have not been repeated by the user;

(iii) favoring songs that have not been skipped by the user over songs that have been skipped by the user;

(iv) favoring recently recorded songs over less recently recorded songs; and

(v) favoring songs that have not been replayed recently over songs that have been replayed recently.

8. The method of claim 1, further including assigning preferred songs to the beginning of the playlist.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the preferred songs comprise songs imported by the user.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the preferred songs further comprise songs that have not been skipped by the user.

11. The method of claim 1, further including:

(c) selecting a random group of songs from the music library;

(d) generating a playlist that includes songs selected in (b) and songs selected in (c) with a ratio that corresponds to a surprise parameter.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the surprise parameter is selected by the user.

13. The method of claim 1, further including reordering the songs after all of the songs have been played.

14. The method of claim 1, further including (c) downloading the plurality of songs from the music library.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein (c) comprises downloading the plurality of songs from a website.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein (c) comprises downloading the plurality of songs from a computer to an audio player coupled to the computer.

17. A computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions for causing a music device to perform the steps comprising:

(a) assigning individual weights to a plurality of songs based on activities of a user in relation to the songs; and

(b) selecting a plurality of songs from the music library, wherein the probability of each song being selected corresponds to the weight assigned to the song.

18. A mobile music device comprising:

a playlist generation module configured to generate an audio playlist by;

assigning individual weights to a plurality of songs based on activities of a user in relation to the songs, and

selecting a plurality of songs from a music library, wherein the probability of each song being selected corresponds to the weight assigned to the song.

19. The mobile music device of claim 18, further including a short-range transceiver.

20. The mobile music device of claim 19, wherein the short-range transceiver uses the Bluetooth protocol.

21. The mobile music device of claim 18, further including a time module that tracks the current time.

22. The mobile music device of claim 18, further including a calendar module that tracks the current date.

23. A system for providing music to a user, the system comprising:

a computer device that includes a playlist generation module configured to generate an audio playlist by;

assigning individual weights to a plurality of songs based on activities of a user in relation to the songs,

selecting a plurality of songs from a music library, wherein the probability of each song being selected corresponds to the weight assigned to the song; and

a mobile music device that receives from the computer device songs selected by the playlist generation module.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the mobile music device includes a short-range transceiver for communicating with the computer device to receive the selected songs.

25. A system for providing music to a user, the system comprising:

a mobile music device that includes a playlist generation module configured to generate an audio playlist by;

assigning individual weights to a plurality of songs based on activities of a user in relation to the songs,

selecting a plurality of songs from a music library, wherein the probability of each song being selected corresponds to the weight assigned to the song; and

a computer device that includes a music reproduction module and that receives the audio playlist from the mobile music device.

26. A method of generating a media playlist from a library including a plurality of media pieces, the method comprising:

(a) assigning individual weights to each of the plurality of media pieces stored in the library based on activities of a user in relation to the media pieces; and

(b) selecting a set of media pieces from the library for generating the media playlist, wherein the probability of each media piece being selected to said media playlist corresponds to the weight assigned to the media piece.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the individual weights to each of the plurality of media pieces includes a random weight corresponding to a surprise factor that is adjustable by the user.