UPDATING PLAYLISTS USING PUSH AND PULL

• US 20190312944A1
• Filed: 04/15/2019
• Published: 10/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Shenoy, Arvind S., Mustafi, Priyo, Irvine, Paul C., Chalasani, Venkat Kranthi, Alsina, Thomas, Jorgensen, Cody D.
• Granted Patent: US 10,911,555 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements

Abstract

Some implementations allow users to create and share data including playlists. Such playlists may be subscribed to by other users. Changes to such playlists, such as updates by the curator of the playlist, must be propagated to subscribers in a timely manner while efficiently utilizing resources. Some implementations allow updates to be propagated using a push notification to cause client devices to request the update (push). Alternatively, updates may be made when the client devices of the subscribers next accesses the system (pull). An aggregator system may be used to make decisions on which users to send push notifications, and which users to wait to pull updates on their own. Additionally, the aggregator may determine that certain playlist updates should be distributed using push notifications. The aggregator may determine that only certain playlist subscribers should receive push notifications regarding playlist updates.

Claims

1. A tangible, non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising machine-readable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to:

maintain a playlist that describes a collection of media items;

receive subscriber data that associates the playlist with a plurality of subscribers to the playlist;

receive playlist change data that describes one or more changes made to the playlist;

identify a subset of the plurality of subscribers based on subscriber scores of the subscribers and a subscriber score threshold, wherein a subset quantity of the subset is less than a total quantity of the plurality of subscribers to the playlist that have a respective subscriber score that meets the subscriber score threshold; and

send a playlist update push notification to one or more client devices associated with the subset of the plurality of subscribers while refraining from sending the playlist update push notification to the subscribers not associated with the subset, wherein the playlist update push notification comprises an indication that the one or more changes have been made to the playlist.

2. The tangible, non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the machine-readable instructions cause the machine to refrain from sending the playlist update push notification to the one or more client devices associated with the subset until a push notification score associated with the playlist meets a push notification threshold value.

3. The tangible, non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein a subscriber score of a respective subscriber is based at least in part on a frequency that the respective subscriber has played the playlist.

4. The tangible, non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein a subscriber score of a respective subscriber is based at least in part on a time of day that the subscriber has played the playlist.

5. The tangible, non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein a subscriber score of a respective subscriber is based at least in part on a location associated with the respective subscriber.

6. The tangible, non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein a subscriber score of a respective subscriber is based at least in part on a location of a client device associated with the respective subscriber that has accessed the playlist.

7. The tangible, non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein a subscriber score of a respective subscriber is based at least in part on a permission that the respective subscriber may edit the playlist.

8. The tangible, non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the subscriber score threshold comprises a dynamically changing threshold that changes based on a measurement of communication activity of a communication system that communicatively couples the machine with the one or more client devices.

9. The tangible, non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the subscriber score threshold comprises a dynamically changing threshold that changes based on an anticipated level of communication activity of a communication system that communicatively couples the machine with the one or more client devices.

10. A method comprising:

maintaining a playlist that describes a collection of media items, wherein the playlist is associated with a plurality of subscribers to the playlist;

receiving playlist change data that describes one or more changes made to the playlist

generating a playlist score of the playlist based on playlist criteria from a shared playlist service, wherein the playlist criteria comprise a frequency the playlist is changed, a quantity of the plurality of subscribers to the playlist, or a promotion of the playlist, or any combination thereof;

sending a playlist update push notification to one or more client devices associated with one or more subscribers of the plurality of subscribers when the playlist score meets a playlist score threshold, wherein the playlist update push notification comprises an indication that the one or more changes have been made to the playlist; and

refraining from sending the playlist update push notification when the playlist score does not meet the playlist score threshold.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the playlist score is based on the frequency the playlist is changed.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein frequent changes to the playlist are configured to adjust the playlist score toward meeting the playlist score threshold.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the playlist score is based on the quantity of the plurality of subscribers to the playlist, wherein an increase of the quantity of the plurality of subscribers is configured to adjust the playlist score toward meeting the playlist score threshold.

14. The method of claim 10, comprising:

generating subscriber scores for each subscriber of the plurality of subscribers, wherein respective subscriber scores are based on a play frequency that a respective subscriber has played the playlist;

identifying a subset of the plurality of subscribers whose respective subscriber scores meet a subscriber score threshold, wherein the subset is less than the plurality of subscribers to the playlist; and

sending the playlist update push notification to one or more client devices associated with the subset of the plurality of subscribers, while refraining from sending the playlist update push notification to one or more client devices outside of the subset of the plurality of subscribers.

15. The method of claim 10, comprising:

determining a level of communication activity on a communication system that communicatively couples a server maintaining the playlist with the one or more client devices; and

wherein sending the playlist update push notification comprises;

sending the playlist update push notifications to a first subset of the one or more client devices based on determining that the level of communication activity exceeds a first threshold, wherein the first subset of the one or more client devices are associated with a first subscriber subset of the plurality of subscribers; and

sending the playlist update push notifications to a second subset of the one or more client devices based on determining that the level of communication activity exceeds a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is greater than the first threshold, and a second quantity of the one or more client devices of the second subset is less than a first quantity of the one or more client devices of the first subset.

16. A system comprising a processor, configured to:

receive playlist data that describes a collection of media items associated with a playlist;

receive playlist subscriber data that associates the playlist with a plurality of subscribers to the playlist;

receive playlist change data that describes a change made to the playlist;

generate a subscriber score for each respective subscriber of the plurality of subscribers based on the playlist subscriber data for the respective subscriber;

send a playlist update push notification to a client device associated with the respective subscriber when the subscriber score meets a subscriber score threshold, wherein the playlist update push notification comprises an indication that the change has been made to the playlist; and

refrain from sending the playlist update push notification to the client device when the subscriber score does not meet the subscriber score threshold.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the playlist subscriber data comprises a current location of the respective subscriber.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the playlist subscriber data comprises a play history of the respective subscriber.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to:

determine a level of communication activity on a communication system that communicatively couples a server maintaining the playlist with the client device; and

send the playlist update push notification to the client device associated with the respective subscriber when the determined level of communication activity meets a communication threshold.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the playlist subscriber data comprises a permission that the respective subscriber may edit the playlist.