SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO SELECT MEDIA CONTENT

• US 20100131895A1
• Filed: 11/25/2008
• Published: 05/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wohlert, Randolph
• Granted Patent: US 8,527,877 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/811
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1059 End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/756 adapting media to device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

Systems and methods to select media content are provided. A method includes dynamically selecting content items for presentation via a media player based on user media selection settings. The user media selection settings specify a proportion of a first category of media content to be presented and a proportion of at least one second category of media content to be presented. The at least one second category includes a user defined category. First media content is associated with the first category based on an intrinsic property of the first media content and second media content is associated with the user defined category based on a property that is not intrinsic to the second media content. The method also includes generating an output stream presenting the dynamically selected content items.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

dynamically selecting content items for presentation via a media player based on user media selection settings, wherein the user media selection settings specify a proportion of a first category of media content to be presented and a proportion of at least one second category of media content to be presented, wherein the at least one second category includes a user defined category, wherein first media content is associated with the first category based on an intrinsic property of the first media content, and wherein second media content is associated with the user defined category based on a property that is not intrinsic to the second media content; and

generating an output stream presenting the dynamically selected content items.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the property that is not intrinsic to the second content includes a storage location of the second content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the property that is not intrinsic to the second content includes a universal resource identifier (URI) of the second content.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a user interface display including information representing the user media selection settings, wherein the proportion of the first category of media content and the proportion of at least one second category of media content to be presented are displayed using a plurality of adjustable bars, wherein each of the adjustable bars is associated with a different category of media content, and wherein a length of each of the plurality of bars indicates a percentage of the respective category of media content to be presented.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, when a selected media content item is not stored at a local memory, streaming the selected media content item from a remote memory via a network.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, when the selected media content item is stored at the local memory, accessing the selected media content item from the local memory.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein, when the selected media content item is not stored at the local memory, sending a first request for the selected media content item from the media player to a remote network element, wherein the request causes the remote network element to send a second request to a device associated with the local memory, wherein the second request causes the device to send the selected media content item to the remote network element, and wherein the remote network element sends the selected media content item to the media player.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving voting input from a plurality of users; and

determining the user media selection settings based on the voting input.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of users includes customers of a business, and wherein the user media selection settings are determined by analyzing the voting input to determine media preferences of customers that frequent the business during particular times and on particular days.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining first user media selection settings based on the analyzed voting input and associating the first user media selection settings with a first particular time and day; and

determining second user media selection settings based on the analyzed voting input and associating the second user media selection settings with a second particular time and day.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining a current time and day before dynamically selecting media content items.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

after dynamically selecting a content item for presentation based on the first user media selection settings, determining a current time and day; and

when the current time and day is associated with the second user media selection settings, selecting subsequent content items for presentation based on the second user media selection settings.

13. A system, comprising:

a media selection module to dynamically select media content items for presentation based on user media selection settings, wherein the user media selection settings specify a proportion of a first category of media content to be presented and a proportion of at least one second category of media content to be presented, wherein the at least one second category includes a user defined category, wherein first media content is associated with the first category based on an intrinsic property of the first media content, and wherein second media content is associated with the user defined category based on a property that is not intrinsic to the second media content; and

a media player to generate an output stream presenting the dynamically selected media content items.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising a graphical user interface (GUI) module to present a user interface display including a representation of the user media selection data using a plurality of adjustable display objects, wherein a first display object is associated with the first category of media content and at least one second display object is associated with the at least one second category of media content, and wherein a dimension of each of the plurality of display objects indicates the proportion of the respective category of media content to be dynamically selected.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the user interface display further comprises a list identifying previously presented media content items, wherein each of the identified previously presented media content items is presented in a color corresponding to a color of one of the plurality of adjustable display objects associated with the category of media content from which the identified previously presented media content item was selected.

16. The system of claim 14, further comprising a memory device interface to access the media content items selected by the media selection module, wherein the memory device interface accesses media content items that are available at a local memory from the local memory, and wherein the memory device interface accesses media content items that are not available at the local memory via a remote network element.

17. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising:

operational instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to dynamically select media content items for presentation based on user playlist settings, wherein the user playlist settings specify a proportion of a first category of media content to be presented and a proportion of at least one second category of media content to be presented, wherein the at least one second category includes a user defined category, wherein first media content is associated with the first category based on an intrinsic property of the first media content, and wherein second media content is associated with the user defined category based on a property that is not intrinsic to the second media content; and

operational instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to generate an output stream to present the dynamically selected media content items.