Dynamic Playlist for Mobile Computing Device

• US 20120290648A1
• Filed: 05/09/2011
• Published: 11/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Sharkey, Jeffrey A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,661,151 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4387 by the use of playlists
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72442 for playing music files
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds

Abstract

A method of managing electronic media items includes accessing first geographic information that indicates a first geographic location of a first device; accessing second geographic information that indicates a second geographic location of a second device; determining whether the first device and the second device are within a defined geographic proximity based on the first geographic location and the second geographic location; if the determination indicates that the first device and the second device are within the defined geographic proximity, generating at least one playlist of media items based on a set of media preferences shared between a first user of the first device and a second user of the second device; and sending the playlist to the first device such that the first user is able to select one or more of the media items on the playlist to be output by the first device.

Claims

1. A method of managing electronic media items, the method comprising:

accessing first geographic information that indicates a first geographic location of a first device;

accessing second geographic information that indicates a second geographic location of a second device;

determining whether the first device and the second device are within a defined geographic proximity based on the first geographic location and the second geographic location;

if the determination indicates that the first device and the second device are within the defined geographic proximity, generating at least one playlist of media items based on a set of media preferences shared between a first user of the first device and a second user of the second device; and

sending the playlist to the first device such that the first user is able to select one or more of the media items on the playlist to be output by the first device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing a first set of historical usage data for media items in a first media library associated with the first user;

accessing a second set of historical usage data for media items in a second media library associated with the second user; and

determining the set of media preferences shared between the first user and the second user based on the first set of historical usage data and the second set of historical usage data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the set of media preferences shared between the first user and the second user based on the first set of historical usage data and the second set of historical usage data comprises:

determining a first set of personal media preferences for the first user based on the first set of historical data;

determining a second set of personal media preferences for the second user based on the second set of historical data; and

determining media preferences shared between the first set of personal media preferences and the second set of personal media preferences.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the at least one playlist comprises:

accessing metadata for multiple media items in a media library associated with the first user;

for each of the multiple media items, determining a mutual interest score based on the accessed metadata and the set of media preferences shared between the first user and the second user;

selecting media items from the multiple media items that have a mutual interest score over a defined threshold; and

including the selected media items on the playlist.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the metadata indicates characteristics of content included in the multiple media items.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the at least one playlist comprises:

accessing a first set of historical usage data for media items in a first media library associated with the first user;

determining a first set of personal media preferences for the first user based on the first set of historical data;

accessing a second set of historical usage data for media items in a second media library associated with the second user;

determining a second set of personal media preferences for the second user based on the second set of historical data;

determining the set of media preferences shared between the first user and the second user by determining an overlap of the media preferences between the first set of personal media preferences and the second set of personal media preferences;

accessing metadata for multiple media items in a media library associated with the first user;

for each of the multiple media items, determining a mutual interest score based on the accessed metadata and the set of media preferences shared between the first user and the second user;

selecting media items from the multiple media items that have a mutual interest score that exceeds a defined threshold; and

including the selected media items on the playlist.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

generating the at least one playlist includes;

generating a first playlist based on the set of media preferences and a first media library associated with the first device, the first playlist including media items included in the first media library and not including media items not included in the first media library; and

generating a second playlist based on the set of media preferences and a second media library associated with the second device, the second playlist including media items included in the second media library and not including media items not included in the second media library; and

sending the playlist to the first device includes;

sending the first playlist to the first device such that the first user is able to select one or more of the media items on the first playlist to be output by the first device; and

sending the second playlist to the second device such that the second user is able to select one or more of the media items on the second playlist to be output by the second device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of media preferences include one or more indications of media items included in both a first media library associated with the first device and a second media library associated with the second device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of media preferences include characteristics of content included in media items that have been selected by the first user for output by the first device and media items that have been selected by the second user for output by the second device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the first geographic location in response to the first user manually reporting the first geographic location using an application on the first device.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the first geographic location in response to a location determination unit on the first device determining the first geographic location.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the location determination unit is a Global Positioning System unit.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first geographic location is received from an application on the first device that is configured to automatically access the first geographic location determined by the location determination unit.

14. A system for managing electronic media items, the system comprising:

a server system interface arranged to receive information that indicates geographic locations of devices for managing or playing electronic media files;

a proximity detector implemented on the server system and programmed to identify when two or more devices associated with electronic media items are geographically proximate to each other;

a mutual interest determiner on the server system arranged to determine media items in which users of the two or more devices are likely to be interested based on prior media-related selections by the users; and

a playlist generator on the server system arranged to provide to one of the devices, media items determined by the media interest determiner to be of likely interested to the users.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising a broadcast interface programmed to identify a destination identifier of one of the two or more devices, and to provide the media items provided by the playlist generator to the one device.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the proximity detector is programmed to compare longitude, latitude information received from each of the two or more devices in order to identify when the two or more devices are geographically proximate to each other.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the mutual interest determiner receives output form a media preference determiner that is programmed to (a) access a first set of historical usage data for media items in a first media library associated with a first user;

and (b) access a second set of historical usage data for media items in a second media library associated with a second user.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the mutual interest determiner is programmed to determine a set of media preferences shared between the first user and the second user based on the first set of historical usage data and the second set of historical usage data.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the playlist generator and mutual interest determiner are programmed to provide the media items by (a) accessing metadata for multiple media items in a media library associated with the first user;

(b) for each of the multiple media items, determining a mutual interest score based on the accessed metadata and the set of media preferences shared between the first user and the second user;

(c) selecting media items from the multiple media items that have a mutual interest score over a defined threshold; and

(d) including the selected media items on the playlist.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the proximity detector is programmed to determine relative proximity of devices based on venue names received from the two or more devices in response to users of the two or more devices manually checking in at venues that correspond to the venue names.

21. A method of managing electronic media items, the method comprising:

reporting, from a portable computing device to a server system, information that identifies a location of the portable computing device and a request to receive a dynamic playlist that includes information for users in the proximity of the portable computing device; and

receiving in response to the reporting information for playing a playlist of media items,

wherein the playlist of media items is generated using a set of media preferences shared between a user of the portable computing device and the users in the proximity of the portable computing device.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving input from the user of the portable computing device with respect to the playlist of media items and causing the media items to be played in the proximity of the portable computing device in response to the received input.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein causing the media items to be played comprises causing the media items to be played on the portable computing device.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein causing the media items to be played comprises causing the media items to be played on a third-party amplified music system.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein causing the media items to be played on the third-party amplified music system comprises causing the server system to stream the media items to the third-party amplified music system without passing through the portable computing device.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein reporting information that identifies a location of the portable computing device is performed in response to receiving a manual user check in that identifies a venue at which the user is located.