System and method for acquiring and adding data on the playing of elements or multimedia files

• US 20090083307A1
• Filed: 04/22/2005
• Published: 03/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Musicstrands Incorporated
• Inventors: Plaza I Cervera, Enric, Martin Cervera, Francisco Jose
• Granted Patent: US 7,840,570 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/437 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialisation, adaptation, distribution

Abstract

The invention relates to a system and method for acquiring and aggregating information relating to the reproduction of multimedia files or elements in a database, said data including information relating to the number of multimedia file or element reproductions. The inventive system comprises a plurality of digital devices which can access and reproduce multimedia files and an acquisition and storage device which communicates with each of the digital devices in order to receive data from each of the identification/characterisation programs, such that said identification/characterisation program can count the reproductions at least in a direct and/or weighted manner.

Claims

1. A system for acquiring and adding data on the playing of elements or multimedia files comprising:

a plurality of digital devices suitable for accessing or playing said multimedia files, each one of them having installed an identification-characterization program suitable for at east identifying and counting the number of complete or partial plays of each one of said files and which device they have been played in,

at least one acquiring and storing device, communicated with each one of said digital devices for at least receiving the data from each one of said identification-characterization programs,

said identification-characterization program being suitable for counting said plays at least in a direct and/or weighted manner taking into account a weight assigned to each digital device or user, said weight having been assigned according to the total number of files available in each digital device or available to each user.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein each one of said digital devices comprises a memory for recording the multimedia files to be played.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said digital devices is used by a user.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein said acquiring and storing device comprises a database with information referring to a plurality of users in the from of user profiles.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein said acquiring and storing device is suitable for adding said data from said identification-characterization programs to said database, associating the data with the corresponding profiles of the users using the digital devices in which the respective identification-characterization programs are arranged, which enables carrying out classifications or rankings.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein said digital devices are distributed in different local or geographical areas.

7. The system according to claim 1 or 5, wherein said multimedia files are grouped in a series of groups, and said identification-characterization program is suitable for counting the number of plays of each one of the files, taking into account the group or groups they belong to.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein said groups have been established according to at least one context related to the multimedia files, of those formed by at least:

time interval, musical or cinematographic genre of the multimedia file, geographical location, data of the user owning the device, author of the file, or a combination thereof, said context being identified by means of said identification-characterization program.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein said identification-characterization program is suitable for assigning a value to said weight directly proportional to said total number of files if said total number of files is less than a predetermined threshold value known by the program.

10. The system according to claim 8, wherein said identification-characterization program is suitable for assigning a value to said weight equal to that of said predetermined threshold if said total number of files is more than said predetermined threshold value known by the program.

11. A system according to claim 7, wherein said acquiring and storing system is suitable for carrying out said addition such that it enables carrying out said classifications or rankings taking into account said groups and/or said assigned weights.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein said multimedia files are at least one of the group formed by:

musical pieces, videos and elements that can be used by multimedia games.

19. The system according to claim 9, wherein said identification-characterization program is suitable for assigning a value to said weight equal to that of said predetermined threshold if said total number of files is more than said predetermined threshold value known by the program.

13. A method for acquiring and adding data on the playing of elements or multimedia files comprising:

a) accessing and playing said multimedia files by each one of a plurality of digital devices,

b) counting the number of plays of each one of said multimedia files in each digital device, at least in a direct and/or weighted manner assigning a value of weight or importance to each digital device or to each user according to the number of multimedia files available in each digital device or available to each user, and

c) sending at least the results of said counts to at least one remote acquiring and storing device communicated with each one of said devices.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein said step b) comprises carrying out a plurality of counts for a corresponding plurality of groups of multimedia files taking into account the group or groups they belong to.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein said method comprises operating said results of said counts with said assigned weight and sending the results to said acquiring and storing device.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein said method comprises carrying out said weighted count, alone or in combination with said groups, said weight assigned to each digital device or to each user.

17. The method according to claim 13, wherein said method comprises adding said results sent to said acquiring or storing device and associating them to a series of user profiles referring to the users using said digital devices.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein said method comprises carrying out several classifications or rankings with said sent and/or added results, taking into account said groups and/or said assigned weights.