Sound sequences with transitions and playlists

• US 20080190267A1
• Filed: 02/08/2007
• Published: 08/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kaleidescape Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Kaleidescape Incorporated
• Inventors: Kesteloot, Lawrence, Watson, Stephen, Pearl, Elliott, Epperson, Ian, Rechsteiner, Paul, Young, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 7,888,582 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 84/609
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0041 in coded form
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/125 Medley, i.e. linking parts of different musical pieces in one single piece, e.g. sound collage, DJ mix
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/351 Environmental parameters, e.g. temperature, ambient light, atmospheric pressure, humidity, used as input for musical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/085 Mood, i.e. generation, detection or selection of a particular emotional content or atmosphere in a musical piece
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/091 Info, i.e. juxtaposition of unrelated auxiliary information or commercial messages with or between music files metadata G10H2240/075
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/131 Library retrieval, i.e. searching a database or selecting a specific musical piece, segment, pattern, rule or parameter set
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 7/008 Means for controlling the transition from one tone waveform to another

Abstract

A home theater system includes construction, presentation, and commerce in, songs. Presentation includes at least one of: metadata about songs or sounds, a function capable of transitioning from one song to a next song, and user preferences; and can determine in what manner to transition from one song to a next song. Construction of songs includes either factors above, or at least one of: a function or a user extension capable of selecting a next song, and an element capable of determining whether the song is perceptually random. A user interface is capable of searching playlists and selecting them for presentation, representing each playlist with a substantially unique pictorial representation, distinguishing in presentation between those playlists licensed to the user and those that are not, and capable of substantially immediate purchase of playlist licenses either individually or in bulk and either automatically or with minimal intervention.

Claims

1. A method, including steps of

determining a first song and a second song, for which a transition is possible between that first song and that second song;

determining, in response to a first set of data, including information relating to one or more of those songs, whether to perform a transition function between those songs; and

determining, in response to a second set of data, including information relating to one or more possible transitions, a selectable particular transition to be performed between those songs.

2. A method as in claim 1, including steps of

generating a presentable sequence, including at least a portion of each of those songs, and that selectable particular transition.

3. A method as in claim 1, including steps of

in response to information regarding a particular first song being followed by a particular second song,

steps of presenting that particular first song, that particular second song, and a transition in between.

4. A method as in claim 1, wherein

at least some of those possible transitions include audio effects;

and

at least some of those possible transitions include visual effects.

5. A method as in claim 1, wherein

a set of metadata about those songs is responsive to one or more of:

a set of acoustic properties, a set of album and box set information, a set of eras, a set of genres, a set of moods, a set of instrumentation, a set of singers, a set of track numbering, a set of writers, associated with one or more of those songs.

6. A method, including steps of

receiving at least a portion of a first song, for which one or more transitions are possible to at least a portion of a second song;

determining at least some metadata associated with that first song; and

concluding whether or not to apply a transition function to that first song in response to that metadata.

7. A method as in claim 6, including steps of

presenting that first song.

8. A method as in claim 6, including steps of

receiving at least a portion of a second song, for which one or more transitions are possible from at least a portion of that first song;

determining an interaction between that first song and that second song.

9. A method as in claim 8, including steps of

in response to a result of those steps of determining an interaction, determining a particular transition applicable to that first song and that second song;

performing that particular transition; and

presenting at least a portion of that first song and that second song in response to that transition.

10. A method as in claim 8, wherein

those steps of determining an interaction include steps of

accessing a first set of data associated with transitions applicable to that first song and that second song, and

accessing a second set of data associated with a set of user preferences.

11. A method as in claim 8, wherein

those steps of determining an interaction include steps of

determining whether to apply a transition between that first song and that second song.

12. A method as in claim 6, wherein

at least two of those steps of receiving, determining, and concluding are performed concurrently.

13. A method as in claim 6, wherein

at least one of those steps of receiving, determining, and concluding is performed in real time with presenting at least one of that first song and that second song.

14. A method as in claim 6, wherein

a set of metadata about those songs is responsive to one or more of:

a set of acoustic properties, a set of album and box set information, a set of eras, a set of genres, a set of moods, a set of instrumentation, a set of singers, a set of track numbering, a set of writers, associated with one or more of those songs.

15. A method as in claim 6, wherein

those steps of concluding are responsive to

at least a portion of that first set of data and that second set of data.

16. A method as in claim 6, wherein

those steps of determining at least some metadata include steps of

accessing a first set of data associated with that first song, and

accessing a second set of data associated with a set of user preferences.

17. A method, including steps of

from a pool of possible songs to select, generating a list of songs;

wherein

that list is responsive to a measure of smoothness of the set of transitions between adjacent songs.

18. A method as in claim 17, including steps of

responsive to one or more song criteria,

selecting one or more next songs to append to that list.

19. A method as in claim 18, including steps of

generating one or more alternative lists of songs;

evaluating those alternative lists of songs with respect to one or more list criteria;

selecting one or more preferred lists of songs in response to those one or more list criteria;

responsive to those steps of selecting one or more preferred lists, determining whether to generate any more alternative lists of songs; and

selecting a preferred one or more of those alternative lists of songs.

20. A method as in claim 17, wherein

that list is responsive to a measure of correlation between at least one user preference for songs and one or more of:

a time of day, a measure of local weather.

21. A method as in claim 17, wherein

that list is responsive to a measure of dispersion of songs in that list;

and

that measure of dispersion is responsive to at least one of;

sonic information about songs, metadata about songs, at least one user preference about songs.

22. A method as in claim 17, wherein

that list is responsive to a measure of concentration of songs in that list;

and

that measure of concentration is responsive to at least one of;

sonic information about songs, metadata about songs, at least one user preference about songs.

23. A method as in claim 22, wherein

metadata about those songs is responsive to one or more of:

genre, singers, times written or recorded.

24. A method as in claim 22, wherein

sonic information about those songs is responsive to one or more of:

beat, pitch, tempo.

25. A method, including steps of

presenting one or more descriptions of playlists;

receiving input regarding one or more playlists to consider;

in response to a result of those steps of receiving input, presenting additional detail associated with those one or more playlists to consider, that additional detail including information associated with which songs are in those playlists and information associated with which songs are a user does or does not have rights to use;

receiving input regarding one or more items to purchase; and

performing a commercial transaction to purchase those items.

26. A method as in claim 25, wherein those items to purchase include intangible rights.

27. A method as in claim 25, including steps of

determining a depiction for those one or more playlists.

28. A method as in claim 27, including steps of

arranging those depictions in response to one or more depiction criteria.

29. A method as in claim 28, wherein

those depiction criteria include one or more of:

a factory-default set of criteria used for presentation, a filter, a most recent set of criteria used for presentation, a set of express user preferences, a set of implied user preferences.

30. A method as in claim 27, wherein

at least one depiction includes a picture descriptive of a nature of a particular playlist.

31. A method as in claim 27, wherein

at least one depiction includes a representation of an artist associated with a particular playlist.

32. A method as in claim 25, including steps of

in response to a result of those steps of receiving input,

rearranging those depictions.

33. Apparatus, including

means for determining a first song and a second song, for which a transition is possible between that first song and that second song;

means for determining, in response to a first set of data, including information relating to one or more of those songs, whether to perform a transition function between those songs; and

means for determining, in response to a second set of data, including information relating to one or more possible transitions, a selectable particular transition to be performed between those songs.

34. Apparatus as in claim 33, including

means for generating a presentable sequence, including at least a portion of each of those songs, and that selectable particular transition.

35. Apparatus as in claim 33, including

means for presenting that particular first song, that particular second song, and a transition in between, in response to information regarding a particular first song being followed by a particular second song.

36. Apparatus as in claim 33, wherein

at least some of those possible transitions include audio effects;

and

at least some of those possible transitions include visual effects.

37. Apparatus as in claim 33, wherein

a set of metadata about those songs is responsive to one or more of:

a set of acoustic properties, a set of album and box set information, a set of eras, a set of genres, a set of moods, a set of instrumentation, a set of singers, a set of track numbering, a set of writers, associated with one or more of those songs.

38. Apparatus, including

means for receiving at least a portion of a first song, for which one or more transitions are possible to at least a portion of a second song;

means for determining at least some metadata associated with that first song; and

means for concluding whether or not to apply a transition function to that first song in response to that metadata.

39. Apparatus as in claim 38, including

means for presenting that first song.

40. Apparatus as in claim 38, including

means for receiving at least a portion of a second song, for which one or more transitions are possible from at least a portion of that first song;

means for determining an interaction between that first song and that second song.

41. Apparatus as in claim 40, including

means for determining a particular transition applicable to that first song and that second song, in response to those means for determining an interaction;

means for performing that particular transition; and

means for presenting at least a portion of that first song and that second song in response to that transition.

42. Apparatus as in claim 40, wherein

those means for determining an interaction include

means for accessing a first set of data associated with transitions applicable to that first song and that second song, and

means for accessing a second set of data associated with a set of user preferences.

43. Apparatus as in claim 40, wherein

those means for determining an interaction include

means for determining whether to apply a transition between that first song and that second song.

44. Apparatus as in claim 38, wherein

at least two of those means for receiving, determining, and concluding operate concurrently.

45. Apparatus as in claim 38, wherein

at least one of those means for receiving, determining, and concluding operates in real time with means for presenting at least one of that first song and that second song.

46. Apparatus as in claim 38, wherein

a set of metadata about those songs is responsive to one or more of:

a set of acoustic properties, a set of album and box set information, a set of eras, a set of genres, a set of moods, a set of instrumentation, a set of singers, a set of track numbering, a set of writers, associated with one or more of those songs.

47. Apparatus as in claim 38, wherein

those means for concluding are responsive to

at least a portion of that first set of data and that second set of data.

48. Apparatus as in claim 38, wherein

those means for determining at least some metadata include

means for accessing a first set of data associated with that first song, and

means for accessing a second set of data associated with a set of user preferences.

49. Apparatus, including

means for generating a list of songs from a pool of possible songs to select;

wherein

that list is responsive to a measure of smoothness of the set of transitions between adjacent songs.

50. Apparatus as in claim 49, including

means for selecting one or more next songs to append to that list, responsive to one or more song criteria and from a pool of possible songs to select.

51. Apparatus as in claim 50, including

means for generating one or more alternative lists of songs;

means for evaluating those alternative lists of songs with respect to one or more list criteria;

means for selecting one or more preferred lists of songs in response to those one or more list criteria;

means for determining whether to generate any more alternative lists of songs, responsive to those means for selecting one or more preferred lists; and

means for selecting a preferred one or more of those alternative lists of songs.

52. Apparatus as in claim 49, wherein

that list is responsive to a measure of correlation between at least one user preference for songs and one or more of:

a time of day, a measure of local weather.

53. Apparatus as in claim 49, wherein

that list is responsive to a measure of dispersion of songs in that list;

and

that measure of dispersion is responsive to at least one of;

sonic information about songs, metadata about songs, at least one user preference about songs.

54. Apparatus as in claim 49, wherein

that list is responsive to a measure of concentration of songs in that list;

and

that measure of concentration is responsive to at least one of;

sonic information about songs, metadata about songs, at least one user preference about songs.

55. Apparatus as in claim 54, wherein

metadata about those songs is responsive to one or more of:

genre, singers, times written or recorded.

56. Apparatus as in claim 54, wherein

sonic information about those songs is responsive to one or more of:

beat, pitch, tempo.

57. Apparatus, including

means for presenting one or more descriptions of playlists;

means for receiving input regarding one or more playlists to consider;

means for presenting additional detail associated with those one or more playlists to consider in response to a result of those steps of receiving input, that additional detail including information associated with which songs are in those playlists and information associated with which songs are a user does or does not have rights to use;

means for receiving input regarding one or more items to purchase; and

means for performing a commercial transaction to purchase those items.

58. Apparatus as in claim 57, wherein those items to purchase include intangible rights.

59. Apparatus as in claim 57, including

means for determining a depiction for those one or more playlists.

60. Apparatus as in claim 59, including

means for arranging those depictions in response to one or more depiction criteria.

61. Apparatus as in claim 60, wherein

those depiction criteria include one or more of:

a factory-default set of criteria used for presentation, a filter, a most recent set of criteria used for presentation, a set of express user preferences, a set of implied user preferences.

62. Apparatus as in claim 59, wherein

at least one depiction includes a picture descriptive of a nature of a particular playlist.

63. Apparatus as in claim 59, wherein

at least one depiction includes a representation of an artist associated with a particular playlist.

64. Apparatus as in claim 57, including

means for rearranging those depictions in response to a result of those steps of receiving input.

65. A physical medium, including instructions interpretable by a computing device, the instructions including

instructions for determining a first song and a second song, for which a transition is possible between that first song and that second song;

instructions for determining, in response to a first set of data, including information relating to one or more of those songs, whether to perform a transition function between those songs; and

instructions for determining, in response to a second set of data, including information relating to one or more possible transitions, a selectable particular transition to be performed between those songs.

66. A physical medium as in claim 65, including

instructions for generating a presentable sequence, including at least a portion of each of those songs, and that selectable particular transition.

67. A physical medium as in claim 65, including

instructions for steps of presenting that particular first song, that particular second song, and a transition in between, in response to information regarding a particular first song being followed by a particular second song.

68. A physical medium as in claim 65, wherein

at least some of those possible transitions include audio effects;

and

at least some of those possible transitions include visual effects.

69. A physical medium as in claim 65, wherein

a set of metadata about those songs is responsive to one or more of:

a set of acoustic properties, a set of album and box set information, a set of eras, a set of genres, a set of moods, a set of instrumentation, a set of singers, a set of track numbering, a set of writers, associated with one or more of those songs.

70. A physical medium, including instructions interpretable by a computing device, the instructions including

instructions for receiving at least a portion of a first song, for which one or more transitions are possible to at least a portion of a second song;

instructions for determining at least some metadata associated with that first song; and

instructions for concluding whether or not to apply a transition function to that first song in response to that metadata.

71. A physical medium as in claim 70, including

instructions for presenting that first song.

72. A physical medium as in claim 70, including

instructions for receiving at least a portion of a second song, for which one or more transitions are possible from at least a portion of that first song;

instructions for determining an interaction between that first song and that second song.

73. A physical medium as in claim 72, including

instructions for determining a particular transition applicable to that first song and that second song in response to a result of those steps of determining an interaction;

instructions for performing that particular transition; and

instructions for presenting at least a portion of that first song and that second song in response to that transition.

74. A physical medium as in claim 72, wherein

those instructions for determining an interaction include

instructions for accessing a first set of data associated with transitions applicable to that first song and that second song, and

instructions for accessing a second set of data associated with a set of user preferences.

75. A physical medium as in claim 72, wherein

those instructions for determining an interaction include

instructions for determining whether to apply a transition between that first song and that second song.

76. A physical medium as in claim 70, wherein

at least two of those sets of instructions for receiving, instructions for determining, and instructions for concluding are interpretable to be performed concurrently.

77. A physical medium as in claim 70, wherein

at least one of those sets of instructions for receiving, instructions for determining, and instructions for concluding are interpretable to be performed in real time with instructions for presenting at least one of that first song and that second song.

78. A physical medium as in claim 70, wherein

a set of metadata about those songs is responsive to one or more of:

a set of acoustic properties, a set of album and box set information, a set of eras, a set of genres, a set of moods, a set of instrumentation, a set of singers, a set of track numbering, a set of writers, associated with one or more of those songs.

79. A physical medium as in claim 70, wherein

those instructions for concluding are responsive to

at least a portion of that first set of data and that second set of data.

80. A physical medium as in claim 70, wherein

those instructions for determining at least some metadata include

instructions for accessing a first set of data associated with that first song, and

instructions for accessing a second set of data associated with a set of user preferences.

81. A physical medium, including instructions interpretable by a computing device, the instructions including

instructions for generating a list of songs from a pool of possible songs to select;

wherein

that list is responsive to a measure of smoothness of the set of transitions between adjacent songs.

82. A physical medium as in claim 81, including

instructions for selecting one or more next songs to append to that list, responsive to one or more song criteria.

83. A physical medium as in claim 82, including

instructions for generating one or more alternative lists of songs;

instructions for evaluating those alternative lists of songs with respect to one or more list criteria;

instructions for selecting one or more preferred lists of songs in response to those one or more list criteria;

instructions for determining whether to generate any more alternative lists of songs, responsive to those steps of selecting one or more preferred lists; and

instructions for selecting a preferred one or more of those alternative lists of songs.

84. A physical medium as in claim 81, wherein

that list is responsive to a measure of correlation between at least one user preference for songs and one or more of:

a time of day, a measure of local weather.

85. A physical medium as in claim 81, wherein

that list is responsive to a measure of dispersion of songs in that list;

and

that measure of dispersion is responsive to at least one of;

sonic information about songs, metadata about songs, at least one user preference about songs.

86. A physical medium as in claim 81, wherein

that list is responsive to a measure of concentration of songs in that list;

and

that measure of concentration is responsive to at least one of;

sonic information about songs, metadata about songs, at least one user preference about songs.

87. A physical medium as in claim 86, wherein

metadata about those songs is responsive to one or more of:

genre, singers, times written or recorded.

88. A physical medium as in claim 86, wherein

sonic information about those songs is responsive to one or more of:

beat, pitch, tempo.

89. A physical medium, including instructions interpretable by a computing device, the instructions including

instructions for presenting one or more descriptions of playlists;

instructions for receiving input regarding one or more playlists to consider;

instructions for presenting additional detail associated with those one or more playlists to consider, that additional detail including information associated with which songs are in those playlists and information associated with which songs are a user does or does not have rights to use, in response to those instructions for receiving input;

instructions for receiving input regarding one or more items to purchase; and

instructions for performing a commercial transaction to purchase those items.

90. A physical medium as in claim 89, wherein those items to purchase include intangible rights.

91. A physical medium as in claim 89, including

instructions for determining a depiction for those one or more playlists.

92. A physical medium as in claim 91, including

instructions for arranging those depictions in response to one or more depiction criteria.

93. A physical medium as in claim 92, wherein

those depiction criteria include one or more of:

a factory-default set of criteria used for presentation, a filter, a most recent set of criteria used for presentation, a set of express user preferences, a set of implied user preferences.

94. A physical medium as in claim 91, wherein

at least one depiction includes a picture descriptive of a nature of a particular playlist.

95. A physical medium as in claim 91, wherein

at least one depiction includes a representation of an artist associated with a particular playlist.

96. A physical medium as in claim 89, including

instructions for rearranging those depictions in response to a result of those steps of receiving input.

97. Apparatus, including

a digital medium including a first song and a second song, for which a transition is possible between that first song and that second song;

a first database including a first function relating to one or more of those songs, that first function indicating whether to perform a transition function between those songs; and

a second database including one or more transition functions to possibly be performed between those songs.

98. Apparatus as in claim 97, including

a digital medium including a presentable sequence, including at least a portion of each of those songs, and an output of one or more of those transition functions.

99. Apparatus as in claim 97, wherein

at least some of those transition functions include audio effects;

and

at least some of those transition functions include visual effects.

100. Apparatus as in claim 97, wherein

a set of metadata about those songs is responsive to one or more of:

a set of acoustic properties, a set of album and box set information, a set of eras, a set of genres, a set of moods, a set of instrumentation, a set of singers, a set of track numbering, a set of writers, associated with one or more of those songs.

101. Apparatus, including

a digital medium including at least a portion of a first song, for which one or more transition functions can be applied to at least a portion of a second song;

at least some metadata associated with that first song; and

a first function relating to one or more of those songs, that first function indicating whether to perform a transition function to that first song in response to that metadata.

102. Apparatus as in claim 101, including

a digital medium including at least a portion of a second song, for which one or more transition functions are possible from at least a portion of that first song;

a particular transition function to be performed between that first song and that second song.

103. Apparatus as in claim 101, including

a particular transition function to be performed between that first song and that second song;

and

a digital medium including a result of performing that particular transition function.

104. Apparatus as in claim 101, including

a set of metadata about those songs, responsive to one or more of:

a set of acoustic properties, a set of album and box set information, a set of eras, a set of genres, a set of moods, a set of instrumentation, a set of singers, a set of track numbering, a set of writers, associated with one or more of those songs.

112. Apparatus as in claim 104, including

a digital medium including a depiction for those one or more playlists.

114. Apparatus as in claim 112, wherein

those depiction criteria include one or more of:

a factory-default set of criteria used for presentation, a filter, a most recent set of criteria used for presentation, a set of express user preferences, a set of implied user preferences.

105. Apparatus, including

a digital medium including a list of songs generated from a pool of possible songs to select;

wherein

that list is responsive to a measure of smoothness of the set of transitions between adjacent songs.

106. Apparatus as in claim 105, including

a selection function applicable to that list, an output of which includes one or more next songs to append to that list responsive to one or more song criteria.

107. Apparatus as in claim 105, wherein

that list is responsive to a measure of correlation between at least one user preference for songs and one or more of:

a time of day, a measure of local weather.

108. Apparatus as in claim 105, wherein

that list is responsive to a measure of dispersion of songs in that list;

and

that measure of dispersion is responsive to at least one of;

sonic information about songs, metadata about songs, at least one user preference about songs.

109. Apparatus as in claim 105, wherein

that list is responsive to a measure of concentration of songs in that list;

and

that measure of concentration is responsive to at least one of;

sonic information about songs, metadata about songs, at least one user preference about songs.

110. Apparatus as in claim 108, including

a set of metadata about those songs, responsive to one or more of:

genre, singers, times written or recorded.

111. Apparatus as in claim 108, including

sonic information about those songs, responsive to one or more of:

beat, pitch, tempo.

113. Apparatus as in claim 111, wherein

those depictions are arranged in response to one or more depiction criteria.

115. Apparatus as in claim 111, wherein

at least one depiction includes a picture descriptive of a nature of a particular playlist.

116. Apparatus as in claim 111, wherein

at least one depiction includes a representation of an artist associated with a particular playlist.