EMBEDDED MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS

• US 20090070184A1
• Filed: 08/08/2006
• Published: 03/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Concert Technology Corporation
• Original Assignee: Concert Technology Corporation
• Inventors: Svendsen, Hugh
• Granted Patent: US 8,090,606 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities

Abstract

A system and method for embedding recommendations on a portable media player are provided. In general, recommendations for media presentations stored or to be stored on the portable media player are generated by a recommendation engine hosted by an external system such as, for example, a user'"'"'s personal computer or a network server. In one embodiment, the media presentations are songs, and the recommendations include a number of recommended songs for each song stored or to be stored on the portable media player. The recommendations may be limited to the media presentations stored on the portable media player or otherwise accessible to the portable media player. After the recommendations are generated, the recommendations are stored, or embedded, on the portable media player. Thereafter, the portable media player may use the recommendations to facilitate playback of media content on the portable media player.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving recommendations for each of a plurality of media presentations stored on a portable media player, wherein for each one of the plurality of media presentations, the recommendations identify at least one of the others of the plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player recommended for the one of the plurality of media presentations;

storing the recommendations in a storage unit of the portable media player; and

facilitating playback of the plurality of media presentations on the portable media player based on the recommendations.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the recommendations comprises receiving the recommendations as one of a group consisting of:

an application file and a light-weight database.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the recommendations comprises receiving a plurality of media files corresponding to the plurality of media presentations wherein the recommendations are stored as metadata within the plurality of media files, and storing the recommendations comprises storing the plurality of media files in the storage unit.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating the recommendations at a user system associated with the portable media player; and

providing the recommendations to the portable media player during a synchronization process when the portable media player is communicatively coupled to the user system.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating recommendations at a user system for each media presentation in a media collection stored by the user system including the plurality of media presentations; and

providing the plurality of media presentations and the recommendations for each media presentation in the media collection including the recommendations for each of the plurality of media presentations to the portable media player during a synchronization process when the portable media player is communicatively coupled to the user system.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating recommendations at a user system for each media presentation in a media collection stored by the user system, the media collection comprising the plurality of media presentations;

identifying the plurality of media presentations to store on the portable media player;

filtering the recommendations for each media presentation in the media collection to provide the recommendations for each of the plurality of media presentations; and

providing the plurality of media presentations and the recommendations for each of the plurality of media presentations to the portable media player during a synchronization process when the portable media player is communicatively coupled to the user system.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing information identifying the plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player to a remote recommendation engine;

generating the recommendations for each of the plurality of media presentations at the remote recommendation engine; and

providing the recommendations to the portable media player.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating the recommendations at a networked server;

providing the recommendations to a user system associated with the portable media player; and

providing the recommendations to the portable media player during a synchronization process when the portable media player is communicatively coupled to the user system.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating recommendations at a networked server for each media presentation in a media collection stored on a user system associated with the portable media player, the media collection comprising the plurality of media presentations;

providing the recommendations for each media presentation in the media collection to the user system; and

providing the plurality of media presentations and the recommendations for each media presentation in the media collection to the portable media player during a synchronization process when the portable media player is communicatively coupled to the user system.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the recommendations for each media presentation are limited to other media presentations in the media collection.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the recommendations for each media presentation comprise recommendations identifying other media presentations in the media collection and recommendations identifying media presentations accessible from a network service.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating recommendations at a networked server for each media presentation in a media collection stored on a user system associated with the portable media player, the media collection comprising the plurality of media presentations;

providing the recommendations for each of media presentation in the media collection to the user system;

identifying the plurality of media presentations to store on the portable media player;

filtering the recommendations for each media presentation in the media collection to provide the recommendations for each of the plurality of media presentations; and

providing the plurality of media presentations and the recommendations for each of the plurality of media presentations to the portable media player during a synchronization process when the portable media player is communicatively coupled to the user system.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating the recommendations at a networked server;

providing the recommendations to the portable media player via a network communicatively coupling the networked server and the portable media player.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the recommendations are limited to the plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein for each of the plurality of media presentations, the recommendations comprise recommendations identifying others of the plurality of media presentations and recommendations identifying media presentations accessible from a network service.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the recommendations are limited to the plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the recommendations are limited to media presentations in a media collection of a user associated with the portable media player stored on an associated user system.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein for each one of the plurality of media presentations, the recommendations further identify at least one recommended media presentation accessible by the portable media player from a network service provider.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the recommendations further comprise Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) providing access to the at least one recommended media presentation.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the recommendations further identify at least one preview of a recommended media presentation accessible by the portable media player.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein facilitating playback of the plurality of media presentations on the portable media player based on the recommendations comprises:

playing a select one of the plurality of media presentations; and

playing at least one media presentation identified by the recommendations for the select one of the plurality of media presentations.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein playing the at least one media presentation identified by the recommendations for the select one of the plurality of the media presentations comprises obtaining the at least one media presentation from a network service.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein playing the at least one media presentation identified by the recommendations for the select one of the plurality of the media presentations comprises:

obtaining a preview of at least one media presentation from a network service; and

playing the preview of the at least one media presentation.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein facilitating playback of the plurality of media presentations on the portable media player based on the recommendations comprises:

playing a select one of the plurality of media presentations; and

playing at least one media presentation identified by the recommendations directly or indirectly associated with the select one of the plurality of media presentations.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein facilitating playback of the plurality of media presentations on the portable media player based on the recommendations comprises:

playing a select one of the plurality of media presentations; and

playing a user defined number (N) of media presentations selected from a plurality of media presentations identified by the recommendations directly or indirectly associated with the select one of the plurality of media presentations.

26. The method of claim 1 wherein facilitating playback of the plurality of media presentations on the portable media player based on the recommendations comprises:

playing a select one of the plurality of media presentations; and

playing a number of media presentations selected from a plurality of media presentations identified by a user defined number of levels of the recommendations directly and indirectly associated with the select one of the plurality of media presentations.

27. The method of claim 1 wherein facilitating playback of the plurality of media presentations on the portable media player based on the recommendations comprises:

enabling a user of the portable media player to browse the recommendations;

receiving a selection of at least one media presentation identified by the recommendations from the user; and

playing the at least one media presentation.

28. A method comprising:

receiving recommendations for each of a plurality of media presentations stored on a portable media player, wherein for each one of the plurality of media presentations, the recommendations identify at least one recommended media presentation accessible from a network service recommended for the one of the plurality of media presentations;

storing the recommendations in a storage unit of the portable media player; and

facilitating playback of the plurality of media presentations and the recommended media presentations on the portable media player.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein receiving the recommendations comprises receiving the recommendations as one of a group consisting of:

an application file and a light-weight database.

30. The method of claim 28 wherein receiving the recommendations comprises receiving a plurality of media files corresponding to the plurality of media presentations wherein the recommendations are stored as metadata within the plurality of media files, and storing the recommendations comprises storing the plurality of media files in the storage unit.

31. The method of claim 28 further comprising:

generating the recommendations at a networked server;

providing the recommendations to a user system associated with the portable media player; and

providing the recommendations to the portable media player during a synchronization process when the portable media player is communicatively coupled to the user system.

32. The method of claim 28 further comprising:

generating the recommendations at a networked server; and

providing the recommendations to the portable media player via a network communicatively coupling the networked server and the portable media player.

33. The method of claim 28 wherein facilitating playback of the plurality of media presentations on the portable media player based on the recommendations comprises:

playing a select one of the plurality of media presentations; and

playing at least one media presentation identified by the recommendations for the select one of the plurality of media presentations.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein playing the at least one media presentation identified by the recommendations for the select one of the plurality of the media presentations comprises obtaining the at least one media presentation from the network service.

35. The method of claim 33 wherein playing the at least one media presentation identified by the recommendations for the select one of the plurality of the media presentations comprises:

obtaining a preview of at least one media presentation from the network service; and

playing the preview of the at least one media presentation.

36. A portable media player comprising:

a communication interface; and

a control system associated with the communication interface and adapted to;

receive recommendations for each of a plurality of media presentations stored on a portable media player, wherein for each one of the plurality of media presentations, the recommendations identify at least one of the others of the plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player recommended for the one of the plurality of media presentations;

store the recommendations in a storage unit of the portable media player; and

facilitate playback of the plurality of media presentations on the portable media player based on the recommendations.

37. A portable media player comprising:

a communication interface; and

a control system associated with the communication interface and adapted to;

receive recommendations for each of a plurality of media presentations stored on a portable media player, wherein for each one of the plurality of media presentations, the recommendations identify at least one recommended media presentation accessible from a network service recommended for the one of the plurality of media presentations;

store the recommendations in a storage unit of the portable media player; and

facilitate playback of the plurality of media presentations and the recommended media presentations on the portable media player.