System, apparatus and method for discovery of music within a social network

• US 20080052371A1
• Filed: 08/28/2006
• Published: 02/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MySpace Incorporated (Capital V LLC)
• Original Assignee: Ilike Incorporated (Capital V LLC)
• Inventors: Partovi, Ali, Brown, Nathaniel Scott, Partovi, Firooz, Osheroff, Benjamin Botts, Zarakhovsky, Yevgeny, Partovi, Hadi
• Granted Patent: US 8,572,169 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A system, apparatus, and method to assist in the discovery of music or other content by members of a social network. The present invention permits network members to network together and share information about their music collections and listening habits with a processing platform and with each other. The processing platform processes music library content and playback related data to produce similarity and compatibility measures between artists (that is, an artist-to-artist measure) and between network members (that is, a network member-to-network member measure). By combining the content and playback related data with filtering mechanisms, recommendation techniques (which may be based on the calculated measures), and set membership concepts, the present invention provides network members of the network with tools to discover artists and/or songs that are likely to be of interest to them.

Claims

1. A social music network, comprising:

a plurality of client agents, each client agent associated with a respective network member and configured to communicate and exchange data with a processing platform, wherein each client agent is further configured to provide one or more types of data regarding the respective network member'"'"'s music library to the processing platform;

a processing platform, wherein the processing platform includes a data storage element that includes data regarding each respective member of the network and data regarding each respective member'"'"'s music library; and

a processing module configured to access data contained in the data storage element and process the data to produce an output, the output representing a music discovery tool to assist a member of the network to discover music of interest to that member.

2. The social music network of claim 1, wherein the data regarding each member'"'"'s music library provided to the processing platform further comprises data regarding the music library contents or music library contents usage.

3. The social music network of claim 2, wherein the data regarding the music library contents or music library contents usage further comprises at least one of the following:

an identifier of a music artist contained in the music library;

an identifier of a song contained in the music library;

a date at which a song or music artist was added to the library;

a playcount for a song or music artist contained in the music library;

a play date or time for a song or music artist contained in the library; and

information regarding music currently being played by a media player associated with the network member.

4. The social music network of claim 1, wherein the processing module is configured to process the provided data and generate a similarity measure between a first music artist and a second music artist.

5. The social music network of claim 1, wherein the processing module is configured to process the provided data and generate and display a similarity measure between a first network member or first group of network members and a second network member or second group of network members.

6. The social music network of claim 5, wherein the similarity measure is based on playcount and artist data.

7. The social music network of claim 1, wherein the processing module is configured to process the provided data to determine and display a relationship between a music library of a first network member or the music libraries of a first group of network members and a music library of a second network member or the music libraries of a second group of network members.

8. The social music network of claim 7, wherein the relationship between the music library of a first network member or the music libraries of a first group of network members and the music library of a second network member or the music libraries of a second group of network members is an indication of a difference between the music libraries.

9. The social music network of claim 7, wherein the processing module is further configured to filter the output to remove music content already in the music library of the first network member or the music libraries of the first group of network members or to remove music content already in the music library of the second network member or the music libraries of the second group of network members.

10. The social music network of claim 1, wherein the processing module is further configured to filter the output based on a similarity measure.

11. The social music network of claim 1, wherein the processing module is further configured to filter the output based on playcount data.

12. The social music network of claim 1, wherein the music discovery tool is a recommendation.

13. The social music network of claim 1, wherein the client agent is configured to generate a user interface to display the music discovery tool.

14. The social music network of claim 13, wherein the music discovery tool is an indication of the relative compatibility between the music interest of a first network member or first group of network members and the music interest of a second network member or second group of network members.

15. The social music network of claim 13, wherein the music discovery tool is an indication of music contained in the music library of a first network member or the music libraries of a first group of network members that is not contained in the music library of a second network member or is not contained in the music libraries of a second group of network members.

16. The social music network of claim 13, wherein the music discovery tool is an indication of music that is popular with a first network member or first group of network members that is not contained in the music library of a second network member or second group of network members.

17. The social music network of claim 13, wherein the music discovery tool is an indication of a song or artist that is common to the music libraries of a first network member or first group of network members and to a second network member or second group of network members.

18. The social music network of claim 13, wherein the music discovery tool is an indication of music that is similar to music contained in the music library of a first network member or group of network members but is not contained in the music library of the first network member or group of network members.

19. The social music network of claim 13, wherein the music discovery tool is an indication of a network member who is the first, newest, or biggest fan of a specific music artist.

20. The social music network of claim 12, further comprising a plurality of music recommendation inboxes, each associated with a respective network member, the inboxes configured to receive the recommendation.

21. The social music network of claim 1, wherein at least two of the plurality of client agents are configured to communicate with each other.

22. A social music network server, comprising:

a communications interface configured to receive data from a plurality of social music clients, wherein each social music client is associated with a respective network member and configured to provide one or more types of data regarding the respective network member'"'"'s music library to the server;

a data storage element, wherein the data storage element includes data regarding each respective member of the network and data regarding each respective network member'"'"'s music library; and

a processing module configured to access data contained in the data storage element and process the data to produce an output, the output representing a music discovery tool to assist a member of the network to discover music of interest to that member.

23. The social music network server of claim 22, wherein the data regarding each network member'"'"'s music library provided to the server further comprises data regarding the music library contents or music library contents usage.

24. The social music network server of claim 23, wherein the data regarding the music library contents or music library contents usage further comprises at least one of the following:

an identifier of a music artist contained in the music library;

an identifier of a song contained in the music library;

a date at which a song or music artist was added to the library;

a playcount for a song or music artist contained in the music library;

a play date or time for a song or music artist contained in the library; and

information regarding music currently being played by a media player associated with a network member.

25. The social music network server of claim 22, wherein the processing module is configured to process the provided data and generate a similarity measure between a first music artist and a second music artist.

26. The social music network server of claim 22, wherein the processing module is configured to process the provided data and generate and display a similarity measure between a first network member or first group of network members and a second network member or second group of network members.

27. The social music network server of claim 26, wherein the similarity measure is based on playcount and artist data.

28. The social music network server of claim 22, wherein the processing module is configured to process the provided data to determine and display a relationship between a music library of a first network member or the music libraries of a first group of network members and a music library of a second network member or the music libraries of a second group of network members.

29. The social music network server of claim 28, wherein the relationship between the music library of a first network member or the music libraries of a first group of network members and the music library of a second network member or the music libraries of a second group of network members is an indication of a difference between the music libraries.

30. The social music network server of claim 28, wherein the processing module is further configured to filter the output to remove music content already in the music library of the first network member or the music libraries of the first group of network members or to remove music content already in the music library of the second network member or the music libraries of the second group of network members.

31. The social music network server of claim 22, wherein the processing module is further configured to filter the output based on a similarity measure.

32. The social music network server of claim 22, wherein the processing module is further configured to filter the output based on playcount data.

33. The social music network server of claim 22, wherein the music discovery tool is an indication of the relative compatibility between the music interest of a first network member or first group of network members and the music interest of a second network member or second group of network members.

34. The social music network server of claim 22, wherein the music discovery tool is an indication of music contained in the music library of a first network member or the music libraries of a first group of network members that is not contained in the music library of a second network member or is not contained in the music libraries of a second group of network members.

35. The social music network server of claim 22, wherein the music discovery tool is an indication of music that is popular with a first network member or first group of network members that is not contained in the music library of a second network member or second group of network members.

36. The social music network server of claim 22, wherein the music discovery tool is an indication of a song or artist that is common to the music libraries of a first network member or first group of network members and to a second network member or second group of network members.

37. The social music network server of claim 22, wherein the music discovery tool is an indication of music that is similar to music contained in the music library of a first network member or group of network members but is not contained in the music library of the first network member or group of network members.

38. The social music network server of claim 22, wherein the music discovery tool is an indication of a network member who is the first, newest, or biggest fan of a specific music artist.

39. A method of generating a music discovery tool for a member of a social network, comprising:

determining data regarding the music library contents or music library contents usage of a plurality of members of the social network; and

processing the data to generate an output, wherein the output represents a music discovery tool to assist a member of the network to discover music of interest to that member, the music discovery tool further comprising at least one of the following

an indication of music contained in the music library of a first member that is not contained in the music library of a second member;

an indication of music that is popular with a first member that is not contained in the music library of a second member;

an indication of a song or artist that is common to the music libraries of a first member and a second member; and

an indication of music that is similar to music contained in the music library of a first member but is not contained in the music library of the first member.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the data regarding the music library contents or music library contents usage further comprises at least one of the following:

an identifier of a music artist contained in the music library;

an identifier of a song contained in the music library;

a date at which a song or music artist was added to the library;

a playcount for a song or music artist contained in the music library;

a play date or time for a song or music artist contained in the library; and

information regarding music currently being played by a media player associated with a member of the network.

41. The method of claim 39, wherein the output is a similarity measure between a first music artist and a second music artist.

42. The method of claim 39, wherein the output is a similarity measure between a first member and a second member.

43. The method of claim 39, wherein the output is a relationship between a music library of a first member and a music library of a second member.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the relationship between the music library of a first member and the music library of a second member is an indication of a difference between the two music libraries.

45. The method of claim 39, wherein the music discovery tool further comprises a recommendation, and the method further comprises providing the recommendation to a music recommendation inbox associated with the member or to a display of a media player associated with the member.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the recommendation includes information related to the member'"'"'s music interests.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the information further comprises at least one of the following

information regarding a ring-tone;

information regarding a concert; and

information regarding a video.

48. The method of claim 45, wherein the recommendation is generated in response to the data regarding music currently being played by the media player of the member of the network.

49. The method of claim 45, wherein the recommendation or an order of presentation of the recommendation is determined as a result of a bidding process.

50. The method of claim 39, wherein the first member is a group of members.

51. The method of claim 39, wherein the second member is a group of members.

52. A social music network client module, comprising:

a process to determine data regarding contents of a member'"'"'s music library and characteristics of a member'"'"'s usage of the music library contents;

a process to communicate the data to a processing module, the processing module configured to process the data received from a plurality of members to produce a music discovery tool to assist the member of the network to discover music of interest to that member; and

a process to display the music discovery tool to the member, wherein the music discovery tool further comprises at least one of the following

an indication of music contained in the music library of a first member that is not contained in the music library of a second member;

an indication of music that is popular with a first member that is not contained in the music library of a second member;

an indication of a song or artist that is common to the music libraries of a first member and a second member; and

an indication of music that is similar to music contained in the music library of a first member but is not contained in the music library of the first member.

53. The social music network client module of claim 52, wherein the data regarding the contents of the member'"'"'s music library and characteristics of the member'"'"'s usage of the music library further comprises at least one of the following:

an identifier of a music artist contained in the music library;

an identifier of a song contained in the music library;

a date at which a song or music artist was added to the library;

a playcount for a song or music artist contained in the music library;

a play date or time for a song or music artist contained in the library; and

information regarding music currently being played by a media player associated with the member of the network.

54. The social music network client module of claim 52, wherein the music discovery tool is a recommendation.

55. The social music network client module of claim 54, wherein the recommendation is generated in response to the information regarding music that the member is currently playing.

56. The social music network client module of claim 52, wherein the first member is a group of members.

57. The social music network client module of claim 52, wherein the second member is a group of members.