PERFORMANCE METADATA FOR MEDIA

• US 20110016120A1
• Filed: 07/15/2009
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Rottler, Benjamin, Haughay, Allen P. JR.
• Granted Patent: US 8,898,170 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/734
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2071/0625 Emitting sound, noise or music
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/803 Motion sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/20 with means for remote communication, e.g. internet or the like
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2230/00 Measuring physiological parameters of the user
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0062 Monitoring athletic performances, e.g. for determining the work of a user on an exercise apparatus, the completed jogging or cycling distance
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/0622 Visual, audio or audio-visual systems for entertaining, instructing or motivating the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/639 using playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising

Abstract

Systems and methods for generating and using performance metadata associated with a media piece (e.g., music or video) are provided. An electronic device can monitor a user'"'"'s workout performance while playing a particular media piece. Workout performance may include the user'"'"'s rate of motion and/or one or more physiological metrics of the user. Based on the user'"'"'s workout performance, the electronic device can create new or modify existing performance metadata associated with the media piece. In some embodiments, the performance metadata based on a particular user'"'"'s workout performance in response to a media piece may be combined with collective performance metadata based on the workout performances of multiple users in response to the media piece. The combined performance metadata may then be stored as new collective metadata. Accordingly, the collective performance metadata can represent the average response to a media piece over multiple users.

Claims

1. A method for generating performance metadata, the method comprising:

providing a media piece;

monitoring a user'"'"'s workout performance while providing the media piece;

generating performance metadata associated with the media piece based on the user'"'"'s workout performance; and

combining the performance metadata with collective performance metadata that is associated with the media piece.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the media piece is a song.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring a user'"'"'s workout performance comprises:

monitoring a rate of motion.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring a user'"'"'s workout performance comprises:

monitoring a physiological metric of the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance metadata represents the effect of the media piece on the user'"'"'s workout performance.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance metadata represents the user'"'"'s workout performance relative to a target in an exercise plan.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance metadata represents the user'"'"'s workout performance during different segments of a media piece.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the collective performance metadata represents workout performances of multiple users.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

uploading information about a user'"'"'s workout performance to a server.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the generating is performed by the server; and

the combining is performed by the server.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the uploaded information comprises performance metadata; and

the combining is performed by the server.

12. An electronic device for generating performance metadata, the device comprising:

output circuitry operative to play back a media piece;

a sensing component operative to monitor a user'"'"'s workout performance;

control circuitry electrically coupled to the output circuitry and the sensing component and operative to;

generate performance metadata associated with the media piece based on the user'"'"'s workout performance; and

combine the performance metadata with collective performance metadata that is associated with the media piece.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is operative to combine, based at least partially on a characteristic of the user, the performance metadata with collective performance metadata that is associated with the media piece.

14. The device of claim 12, further comprising:

input circuitry electrically coupled to the control circuitry and operative to receive a user input related to a workout.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the received user input represents the quality of the workout.

16. The device of claim 14, wherein the received user input represents the effectiveness of the media piece.

17. The device of claim 14, wherein the control circuitry is operative to generate performance metadata based at least partially on the received user input.

18. The device of claim 14, wherein the control circuitry is operative to combine, based at least partially on the received user input, the performance metadata with collective performance metadata that is associated with the media piece.

19. The device of claim 12, further comprising:

communications circuitry electrically coupled to the control circuitry and operative to transmit the performance metadata to a server.

20. A method for selecting media pieces based on performance metadata, the method comprising:

receiving a user input specifying an exercise activity profile;

accessing performance metadata associated with a collection of media pieces;

arranging the collection of media pieces in an order so that the performance metadata of each piece corresponds to the specified exercise activity profile; and

providing the media pieces in the arranged order.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the accessing performance metadata comprises:

accessing performance metadata that represents a user'"'"'s workout performance during different segments of a media piece in the collection.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the arranging comprises:

specifying at least one segment of the media piece based on the performance metadata.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the accessing performance metadata comprises:

accessing collective performance metadata that represents workout performances of multiple users.

24. A server for maintaining collective performance metadata, the server comprising:

storage operative to store collective performance metadata based on workout performances of multiple users;

communications circuitry operative to receive performance metadata from a plurality of devices; and

control circuitry electrically coupled to the storage and the communications circuitry and operative to combine performance metadata received from one of the plurality of devices with collective performance metadata stored in the storage to generate updated collective performance metadata.

25. The server of claim 24, wherein:

the communications circuitry is operative to receive a user input from the one device; and

the control circuitry is operative to combine performance metadata received from the one device with collective performance metadata based at least partially on the received user input.

26. The server of claim 24, wherein:

the communications circuitry is operative to receive data representing a user characteristic from the one device; and

the control circuitry is operative to combine performance metadata received from the one device with collective performance metadata based at least partially on the received user characteristic.

27. The server of claim 24, wherein:

the storage is operative to store the updated collective performance metadata.

28. The server of claim 24, wherein:

the communications circuitry is operative to transmit the updated collective performance metadata to the plurality of devices.

29. A computer readable medium for an electronic device, the computer readable medium comprising:

a first instruction code for providing a media piece;

a second instruction code for monitoring a user'"'"'s workout performance while providing the media piece;

a third instruction code for generating performance metadata associated with the media piece based on the user'"'"'s workout performance; and

a fourth instruction code for combining the performance metadata with collective performance metadata associated with the media piece.

30. A method for generating collection performance metadata for a collection of media pieces comprising at least a first media piece and a second media piece, the method comprising:

providing the first media piece of the collection;

monitoring a first workout performance of a user while providing the first media piece;

generating first performance metadata associated with the first media piece based on the first workout performance;

providing the second media piece of the collection;

monitoring a second workout performance of the user while providing the second media piece;

generating second performance metadata associated with the second media piece based on the second workout performance; and

generating collection performance metadata based on the first performance metadata and the second performance metadata.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the collection performance metadata comprises an average of the first performance metadata and the second performance metadata.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the collection performance metadata comprises the first performance metadata and the second performance metadata.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the generating the collection performance metadata comprises generating the collection performance metadata based on the first performance metadata, the second performance metadata, and the context of the second media piece in the collection.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein the collection performance metadata represents the effectiveness of the second media piece based on the position of the second media piece with respect to the first media piece in the collection.

35. The method of claim 30, further comprising modifying the position of the second media piece with respect to the first media piece in the collection based on the collection performance metadata.

36. The method of claim 30, further comprising removing the second media piece from the collection based on the collection performance metadata.

37. The method of claim 30, further comprising associating the collection performance metadata with at least one of the first media piece, the second media piece, and the collection.

38. The method of claim 30, further comprising combining the collection performance metadata with collective collection performance metadata that is associated with the collection.

39. The method of claim 30, wherein the first media piece is a first song and wherein the second media piece is a second song.

40. The method of claim 30, wherein the collection is a playlist.

41. A method for selecting media pieces, the method comprising:

receiving an input specifying an exercise activity profile;

accessing first performance metadata associated only with a first media piece;

accessing first collection performance metadata associated with a first collection of media pieces comprising at least the first media piece and a second media piece arranged in a first order; and

arranging a second collection of media pieces in a second order based on the exercise activity profile, the first performance metadata, and the first collection performance metadata.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein:

the first media piece comprises a first media piece segment and a second media piece segment; and

the second order comprises at least a portion of the second media piece between the first media piece segment and the second media piece segment.

43. The method of claim 41, further comprising providing the second collection of media pieces in the second order.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the providing comprises crossfading between two media pieces of the second collection of media pieces in the second order.

45. The method of claim 43, wherein the providing comprises using a beat-matching algorithm to match the timing of two media pieces of the second collection of media pieces in the second order.

46. The method of claim 41, wherein:

the receiving comprises receiving the input from a particular user; and

at least one of the first performance metadata and the first collection performance metadata is based on a past workout performance of the particular user.

47. The method of claim 41, wherein:

the receiving comprises receiving the input from a particular user; and

at least one of the first performance metadata and the first collection performance metadata is based on past workout performances of multiple users.

48. An electronic device for generating collection performance metadata for a collection of media pieces comprising at least a first media piece and a second media piece, the electronic device comprising:

output circuitry operative to play back the first media piece and the second media piece;

a sensing component operative to;

monitor a first workout performance of a user during playback of the first media piece; and

monitor a second workout performance of the user during playback of the second media piece; and

control circuitry electrically coupled to the output circuitry and the sensing component, the control circuitry operative to;

generate first performance metadata associated with the first media piece based on the first workout performance;

generate second performance metadata associated with the second media piece based on the second workout performance; and

generate collection performance metadata based on the first performance metadata and the second performance metadata.

49. A computer readable medium for an electronic device, the computer readable medium comprising:

a first instruction code for providing a first media piece of a collection;

a second instruction code for monitoring a first workout performance of a user while providing the first media piece;

a third instruction code for generating first performance metadata associated with the first media piece based on the first workout performance;

a fourth instruction code for providing a second media piece of the collection;

a fifth instruction code for monitoring a second workout performance of the user while providing the second media piece;

a sixth instruction code for generating second performance metadata associated with the second media piece based on the second workout performance; and

a seventh instruction code for generating collection performance metadata based on the first performance metadata and the second performance metadata.