User interface for establishing a filtering engine

• US 20070016599A1
• Filed: 07/15/2005
• Published: 01/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Novak, Michael, Plastina, Daniel, Cain, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 7,580,932 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/031 Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals
• 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

A method for establishing a filtering engine for generating an ordered list of one or more media items selected from a library of media items. A user can select multiple filters and assign a weight to the filters according to the importance of each filter. In response, the playlist engine will generate a playlist of media items according to the weighted filters. A user interface includes elements for selecting and weighting filters for generating such a playlist.

Claims

1. A method for establishing a filtering engine for generating an ordered list of one or more media items selected from a library of media items, said method comprising:

selecting a first filter from a list of filters;

adding said first filter to an active filter listing;

selecting a second filter from said list of filters;

adding said second filter to said active filter listing; and

ranking said first filter and said second filter according to the relative importance of each filter.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising assigning a weight to each filter according to its rank.

3. The method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said assigning of weights to each filter comprises looking up predetermined values for said weights in a weight table.

4. The method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said assigning of weights to each filter occurs according to the following equation:

$\mathrm{Weight}=\frac{\mathrm{Total}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{Number}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{of}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{Filters}-\mathrm{Filter}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{Rank}+1}{\mathrm{Total}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{Number}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{of}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{Filters}}\times <br><br>100$

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising prompting a user to assign a weight to each selected filter.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said selecting a first filter, said selecting a second filter, and said ranking the selected filters are undertaken by a user.

7. The method as set forth in claim 6 further comprising receiving an execution signal from a user via a user interface associated with the filtering engine to display the ordered list.

8. The method as set forth in claim 6 further comprising displaying a slider bar for each selected filter, said slider bar being movable by the user to assign a different weight to each selected filter.

9. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising altering a user interface in response to the received ranking to indicate the selected ranking.

10. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising removing said selected first filter and said selected second filter from the list of filters.

11. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising storing the ordered list generated by said filtering engine.

12. A user interface for establishing a filtering engine for generating an ordered list of one or more media items selected from a library of media items, said user interface comprising:

a filter list display of filters;

an active filter list display for displaying selected filters;

a selection element for selecting a first filter from said filter list;

an adding element for adding said first filter to said active filter list display;

a selection element for selecting a second filter from said filter list;

an adding element for adding said second filter to said active filter list display; and

a weighing element for weighing each active filter according to its relative importance.

13. The user interface as set forth in claim 12 wherein said weighing element comprises an ordering element for ordering said first filter and said second filter of said active filter list display according to the relative importance of each filter, said ordering of said first and second filters establishing a weight for each filter.

14. The user interface of claim 12 wherein said weighting element comprises an individual weighting element associated with each active filter.

15. The user interface of claim 14 wherein each of said individual weighting elements comprises a slider bar adapted for movement to assign a different weight to each selected filter.

16. The user interface of claim 12 further comprising a three-state shuffle selection element alternately providing a shuffle off, a mathematical shuffle, and an intelligent shuffle selection, said intelligent shuffle corresponding to the ordered list of one or more media items.

17. A user interface for establishing a filtering engine for generating an ordered list of one or more media items selected from a library of media items, said user interface comprising:

a filter list display of filters;

a selection element associated with each filter for selecting one or more of said filters;

a selection complete element associated with said filter list for indicating that filter selection is complete;

an active filter list display for displaying the selected filters; and

a weighing element for weighing each active filter of the active filter list for adjusting the contribution of each filter in the generation of the ordered list.

18. The user interface as set forth in claim 17 wherein said weighing element comprises an ordering element for ordering said first filter and said second filter of said active filter list display according to the relative importance of each filter, said ordering of said first and second filters establishing a weight for each filter.

19. The user interface of claim 17 wherein said weighting element comprises an individual weighting element associated with each active filter.

20. The user interface of claim 19 wherein each of said individual weighting elements comprises a slider bar adapted for movement to assign a different weight to each selected filter.