Method and system for configurable automatic media selection

• US 20050240661A1
• Filed: 04/27/2004
• Published: 10/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Robbin, Jeffrey L., Heller, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,827,259 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/435 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4387 by the use of playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D

Abstract

Techniques for repeatedly selecting and presenting media items at a media device are disclosed. In one embodiment, media items are automatically (or dynamically) selected from a media source (e.g., list of media items) and then presented at a media device. As a result, the selected media items can be continuously selected and presented in an automated manner. In one embodiment, the automatic selection of the media items can be performed in accordance with at least one criterion. The at least one criterion can be user-specified and/or rules-based. In one embodiment, a display screen can display information pertaining to recently presented media items, media item being presented, and upcoming media items to be presented.

Claims

1. A method for playing media items on a media player, said method comprising:

(a) identifying a source for media items available to be played;

(b) obtaining at least one criterion for use in selection of media items from the source;

(c) determining the media items to be played from the source based on the at least one criterion; and

(d) playing the determined media items on the media player.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one criterion is an indication of how to bias said determining (c) of the media items from the source.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one criterion is a user-selected criterion.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one criterion causes those of the media items with higher user ratings to be more likely chosen by said determining (c).

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the media items are songs.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said method operates to repeat said determining (c) and said playing (d) so as to continuously play media items.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said method comprises:

(e) displaying, on a display of the media player, a list of media items, the list including the determined media item, a plurality of recently played media items, and a plurality of upcoming media items.

8. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein the at least one criterion is an indication of how to bias said determining (c) of the media items from the source.

9. A method as recited in claim 7,

wherein the at least one criterion is a user-selected criterion,

wherein the at least one criterion causes those of the media items with higher user ratings to be more likely chosen by said determining (c),

wherein the media items are songs, and

wherein said method operates to repeat said determining (c) and said playing (d) so as to continuously play media items.

10. An automatic media presentation method for presenting media items on a media device, said method comprising:

(a) identifying a source for media items available to be played;

(b) determining a media item from the source based on at least one criterion;

(c) presenting the determined media item on the media device; and

(d) repeating said determining (b) and said presenting (c) so as to automatically and continuously present media items on the media device.

11. An automatic media presentation method as recited in claim 10, wherein the media device is a media player.

12. An automatic media presentation method as recited in claim 10, wherein the media items are songs, and wherein said presenting (c) plays the songs.

13. An automatic media presentation method as recited in claim 10, wherein the media items are images, and wherein said presenting (c) displays the images.

14. An automatic media presentation method as recited in claim 10, wherein said determining (b) comprises:

associating weighting values to the media items within the source; and

randomly selecting the media item from the source giving effect to the weighting values.

15. An automatic media presentation method as recited in claim 14, wherein the media device is a media player.

16. An automatic media presentation method as recited in claim 15, wherein the media items are songs, and wherein said presenting (c) plays the songs.

17. An automatic media presentation method as recited in claim 15, wherein the media items are images, and wherein said presenting (c) displays the images.

18. An automatic media presentation method as recited in claim 10, wherein said determining (b) comprises:

(b1) obtaining a first user criterion and a first importance value;

(b2) determining a first set of the media items from the source that satisfy the first user criterion;

(b3) obtaining a second user criterion and a second importance value;

(b4) determining a second set of the media items from the source that satisfy the second user criterion;

(b5) randomly selecting one of the first set and the second set based on the first importance value and the second importance value; and

(b6) randomly selecting one of the media items on the selected one of the first set and the second set.

19. An automatic media presentation method as recited in claim 18, wherein said selecting (b5) comprises:

determining a relative importance from the first importance value and the second importance value; and

randomly selecting one of the first set and the second set biased in accordance with the relative importance.

20. An automatic media presentation method as recited in claim 19, wherein the media device is a media player, and wherein the media items are audio or image files, and wherein said presenting (c) plays the audio files or displays the image files.

21. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein said presenting (d) comprises:

(d1) displaying information pertaining to the determined media item on a display of the media device; and

(d2) playing the media item on the media device.

22. A method as recited in claim 21, wherein said method further comprises identifying at least one display preference, and

wherein said displaying (d1) is performed in accordance with the least one display preference.

23. A method as recited in claim 22, wherein the at least one display preference specifies at least one of a number of recently played media items and a number of upcoming media items.

24. A method as recited in claim 23, wherein said displaying (d1) simultaneously displays, on the display, information on each of the number of recently played media items as well as information on each of the number of upcoming media items.

25. A graphical user interface for a media player, said graphical user interface comprising:

a media source indication that visibly indicates a media source; and

a list of information pertaining to at least a media item being played by the media player, a plurality of recently played media items, and a plurality of upcoming media items to be played.

26. A graphical user interface as recited in claim 25, wherein the information in said list including at least a plurality of name, time, artist, album and genre.

27. A graphical user interface as recited in claim 25, wherein said graphic user interface further comprises:

a media source selector that enables a user of the media player to select one of a plurality of media sources to be the media source.

28. A graphical user interface as recited in claim 25, wherein said graphic user interface further comprises:

a user control that enables the user to bias playing of media items from the media source based on a criterion.

29. A graphical user interface as recited in claim 28, wherein said graphic user interface further comprises:

a media window selector that enables the user to control at least one attribute of a media display window.

30. A graphical user interface as recited in claim 29, wherein the attribute pertains to at least one of a number of recently played media items and a number of upcoming media items.

31. A graphical user interface as recited in claim 25, wherein said graphic user interface further comprises:

a user control that enables the user to bias playing of media items from the media source so that higher rated media items are played more often.

32. A graphical user interface as recited in claim 31, wherein said media source indication is provided in a first region of a display window on a display of the media player, wherein the said list of information is provided in a second region of the display window, and wherein said user control is provided in a third region of the display window.

33. A graphical user interface as recited in claim 25, wherein said graphic user interface further comprises:

a user control that enables the user to impose a relative importance to the media items so that playing of media items from the media source are randomly chosen but influenced by the relative importance such that more important media items are more likely chosen.

34. A graphical user interface as recited in claim 33, wherein the relative importance is determined by user rating imposed on the media items.

35. A computer readable medium including at least computer program code for presenting media items on a media device, said computer readable medium comprising:

computer program code for identifying a source for media items available to be played;

computer program code for determining a media item from the source based on at least one criterion;

computer program code for presenting the determined media item on the media device; and

computer program code for repeating said computer program code for determining and said computer program code for presenting so as to automatically and continuously present media items on the media device.

36. A computer readable medium including at least computer program code for presenting media items on a media device, said computer readable medium comprising:

computer program code for randomly selecting a media item from a plurality of available media items in accordance with at least one criterion; and

computer program code for presenting the selected media item on the media device.

37. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 36, wherein the at least one criterion is predetermined by a user of the media device.

38. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 36, wherein the at least one criterion includes at least one user-configured rule.

39. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 38, wherein the at least one user-configured rule is based on at least one media attribute associate with the plurality of available media items.

40. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 36, wherein the at least one criterion influences the random selection of certain of the media items within the plurality of available media items.

41. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 36, wherein the at least one criterion is based on at least one media attribute associated with the plurality of available media items.

42. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 40, wherein the at least one criterion includes or uses at least one importance indication.

43. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 36, wherein the at least one criterion includes a range for the at least one criterion.

44. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 36, wherein said computer readable medium further comprises:

computer program code for repeating said computer program code for selecting and said computer program code for presenting so as to automatically and continuously present media items on the media device.

45. A method of automatically selecting media items from a source library for presentation using a media player, said method comprising:

receiving a user selection of at least one criterion to be used in selecting media items from the library;

determining a media item for presentation using the at least one criterion; and

presenting the determined media item using the media player.

46. A method as recited in claim 45, wherein said determining includes at least selecting randomly from the media items in the library that satisfy the at least one criterion.

47. A method as recited in claim 45, wherein the at least one criterion causes media items that satisfy the at least one criterion to be more likely determined by said determining.

48. A method as recited in claim 45, further comprising:

(d) receiving a user selection of said the library.

49. A method as recited in claim 45, where said at least one criterion includes one or more of the following:

media item artist, media item play length, media item genre, media item name, media item composer, and media item date.

50. A method as recited in claim 45, where said at least one criterion includes one or more of the following:

media item play count, a user-selected media item rating, and media item date.

51. A method as recited in claim 45, where said at least one criterion includes a weighting to be applied to the media items in said determining.

52. A method of configuring criteria for selecting media items to be presented using a media player, said method comprising:

receiving a user selection of at least one criterion to be used for selecting media items from a source library;

receiving a user selection of a range of values for said at least one criterion;

determining a media item for presentation using the at least one criterion and the range of values; and

presenting the determined media item using the media player.

53. A method as recited in claim 52, wherein said method further comprises:

receiving a weighing factor to be applied in selecting media items for which the at least at least one criterion falls within the range of values.

54. A method of configuring criteria for selecting media items to be presented using a media player, said method comprising:

receiving at least one user-configured rule to be used for selecting media items from a source of media items;

determining a media item for presentation using the at least one user-configured rule; and

presenting the determined media item using the media player.

55. A method as recited in claim 54, wherein the user-configured rule is applied against attributes of the media items during said determining.

56. A method as recited in claim 54, wherein the user-configured rule includes a range of values for the user-configured rule.

57. A method as recited in claim 54, wherein the user-configured rules includes or uses an importance indication.

58. A method as recited in claim 54, wherein the user-configured rules includes a range.

59. A method as recited in claim 54, wherein said method operates to repeat said determining and said presenting so as to continuously present media items.

60. A computer readable medium including at least computer program code for selecting media items to be presented on a media device, said computer readable medium comprising:

computer program code for providing a random play mode for the media device;

computer program code for configuring the random play mode to influence selection of particular media items to be presented by the media device; and

computer program code for operating the media device is the configured random play mode wherein the media items to be played on the media device are randomly chosen in accordance with a configuration of the configured random play mode.