System and method for creating dynamic playlists

• US 6,526,411 B1
• Filed: 11/15/2000
• Issued: 02/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term
• 

• Current Assignee: Cedar Lane Technologies Inc.
• Original Assignee: Relatable LLC
• Inventors: Ward, Sean
• Primary Examiner(s): Metjahic, Safet
• Assistant Examiner(s): AL HASHEMI, SANA A
• Application Number:
  US09/712,261
• Time in Patent Office: 832 Days
• Field of Search: 707/104.1, 707/102
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/637 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialization, adaptation or distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/639 using playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/68 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/686 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, title or artist information, time, location or usage information, user ratings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/735 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7867 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, title and artist information, manually generated time, location and usage information, user ratings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

Method and system provided for creating a dynamic playlist including meta-data having potential association with a respective content item configured to be played on a content player, and having dynamic addition of subtraction of playlist items. The system maintains a database of linkages between elements associated with content items as well as weighted linkages between elements and respective properties. The system is a hybrid content based and collaborative filtering system, wherein the insertion of a new item into the database results in the new item sharing preference weights and number of preferences associated with items pre-existing in the database. Thus, an initial input query list of items potentially results in the return of many content, called a “dynamic playlist”, has a high correlation with the user'"'"'s preference or with whatever other basis was used to frame the input list, and individual content items on the dynamic playlist may not have been previously experienced by the user.

Claims

1. A dynamic playlist computer system for creating a dynamic playlist comprising:

a storage component configured to store an elements table and a pairs table;

a first component configured to accept at least one meta-category, said at least one meta-category being a set of at least one criterion, said at least one criterion having a potential association with a content item;

a second component configured to retrieve from at least one content provider a result set of meta-data fitting any said at least one criterion, wherein said result set enables acquisition of content items associated with said meta-data;

a third component configured to insert the result set to said dynamic playlist; and

a fourth component configured to seed a next meta-category, if any, with the result set.

2. The dynamic playlist client system set forth in claim 1 further comprising a fifth component configured to reorder the dynamic playlist after insertion of the at least one content item into the dynamic playlist.

3. The dynamic playlist client system set forth in claim 1 further comprising a sixth component configured to reorder the dynamic playlist after insertion of the at least one content item into the dynamic playlist.

4. The dynamic playlist client system set forth in claim 3 further comprising a component for culling the at least one content item, whereby at least one of the at least one content item is removed.

5. The dynamic playlist client system set forth in claim 1 further comprising a sort server configured to perform collaborative filtering and paring sort calculations, said sort server being connected to said client component over the communications interface.

6. A method for creating a dynamic playlist, the dynamic playlist including meta-data having association with a respective content item configured to be played on a content player, the method comprising the steps of:

accepting at least one meta-category, said at least one meta-category being a set of at least one criterion, said at least one criterion having a potential association with a content item;

retrieving from at least one content provider a result set of meta-data fitting any said at least one criterion, wherein said result set enables acquisition of content items associated with said meta-data;

inserting the result set to said dynamic playlist; and

seeding a next meta-category, if any, with the result set and repeating said retrieving, inserting and seeding steps until all meta-categories have been processed.

7. The method for creating a dynamic playlist set forth in claim 6 wherein, the method further comprises applying a reordering algorithm to the result set to obtain the dynamic playlist.

8. The method for creating a dynamic playlist set forth in claim 7 wherein said reordering algorithm is selected from a group of algorithms including a ranking algorithm, a random element removal algorithm and a retention of top N most popular elements algorithm.

9. The method for creating a dynamic playlist set forth in claim 6 further comprising the step of applying an ordering algorithm to the dynamic playlist.

10. The method for creating a dynamic playlist set forth in claim 6 wherein said ordering algorithm is a random reordering algorithm.

11. The method for creating a dynamic playlist set forth in claim 6 wherein said at least one content provider is a provider selected from a group of providers including a local music collection, a central content server, and a peer-to-peer computer system.

12. A method for creating a dynamic playlist, the dynamic playlist including meta-data having association with a respective content item configured to be played on a content player, the method comprising the steps of:

accepting at least one meta-category, said at least one meta-category being a set of at least one criterion, said at least one criterion having a potential association with a content item;

retrieving from at least one content provider a result set of meta-data fitting any said at least one criterion, wherein said result set enables acquisition of content items associated with said meta-data;

calculating a filtered result set by application of a collaborative filtering query algorithm to the result set;

inserting said filtered result set to said dynamic playlist; and

seeding a next meta-category, if any, with the result set and repeating said retrieving, calculating, inserting and seeding steps until all meta-categories have been processed.

13. The method for creating a dynamic playlist set forth in claim 12 wherein the collaborative filtering query algorithm includes user play pattern data, said user play pattern including at least one manual intervention detected during playing of contents associated with the dynamic playlist.

14. The method for creating a dynamic playlist set forth in claim 12 wherein said at least one content provider is a provider selected from a group of providers including a local music collection, a central content server, and a peer-to-peer computer system.

15. The method for creating a dynamic playlist as set forth in claim 14 wherein the collaborative filtering query algorithm includes rating data, said rating data being indicative of preference and distaste for selected content items.

16. The method for creating a dynamic playlist set forth in claim 15 wherein, the method further comprises the step of applying a first reordering algorithm to the filtered result set.

17. The method for creating a dynamic playlist set forth in claim 16 wherein said first reordering algorithm is selected from a group of algorithms including a ranking algorithm, a random element removal algorithm, a retention of top N most popular elements algorithm, and a pairing sort algorithm.

18. The method for creating a dynamic playlist set forth in claim 17 further comprising the step of applying an second reordering algorithm to the dynamic playlist.

19. The method for creating a dynamic playlist set forth in claim 18 wherein said second reordering algorithm is a random reordering algorithm.

20. The method for creating a dynamic playlist set forth in claim 19 wherein each instance of said meta-data comprises an element and said pairing sort algorithm comprises the steps of:

selecting a first and second element from the playlist;

determining if both elements are in an elements table and inserting whichever element is missing into the elements table;

incrementing a weight between the first element and the second element; and

determining that another element remains in the playlist and if present, identifying said first element as said second element and said another element as said second element, and repeating said determining, incrementing and inserting steps until no elements remain in the playlist.

21. The method for creating a dynamic playlist set forth in claim 20 wherein said at least one meta-category is at least one user profile having associated elements, the method further comprising the steps of:

selecting a seed user profile;

comparing the seed user profile against all available profiles;

ranking all compared profiles by similarity to the selected seed profile;

clustering the most similar profiles with the seed profile;

counting the frequency of all elements in the clustered profiles;

building a hash profile of the most frequent items to represent each respective cluster;

placing the respective hash profile in a hash table;

removing the seed and clustered profiles from the profile list;

identifying a next user profile, if available, as the seed user profile; and

continuing said comparing through identifying steps until no profiles are available.

22. A method for creating a dynamic playlist, the dynamic playlist including meta-data having association with a respective content item configured to be played on a content player, the method comprising the steps of:

accepting at least one meta-category, said at least one meta-category being a set of at least one criterion, said at least one criterion having a potential association with a content item;

retrieving from at least one content provider a result set of meta-data fitting any said at least one criterion, wherein said result set enables acquisition of content items associated with said meta-data, said at least one content provider being a provider selected from a group of providers including a local music collection, a central content server, and a peer-to-peer computer system;

calculating a filtered result set by application of a collaborative filtering query algorithm to the result set;

applying a reordering algorithm to the filtered result set, said reordering algorithm being selected from a group of algorithms including a ranking algorithm, a random element removal algorithm, a retention of top N most popular elements algorithm, and a pairing sort algorithm;

inserting said filtered result set to said dynamic playlist; and

seeding a next meta-category, if any, with the result set and repeating said retrieving, calculating, inserting and seeding steps until all meta-categories have been processed.

23. The method for creating a dynamic playlist set forth in claim 22 wherein each instance of said meta-data comprises an element and said pairing sort algorithm comprises the steps of:

selecting a first and second element from the playlist;

determining if both elements are in an elements table and inserting whichever element is missing into the elements table;

incrementing a weight between the first element and the second element; and

determining that another element remains in the playlist and if present, identifying said first element as said second element and said another element as said second element, and repeating said determining, incrementing and inserting steps until no elements remain in the playlist.

24. The method for creating a dynamic playlist set forth in claim 23 wherein said at least one meta-category is at least one user profile having associated elements, the method further comprising the steps of:

selecting a seed user profile;

comparing the seed user profile against all available profiles;

ranking all compared profiles by similarity to the selected seed profile;

clustering the most similar profiles with the seed profile;

counting the frequency of all elements in the clustered profiles;

building a hash profile of the most frequent items to represent each respective cluster;

placing the respective hash profile in a hash table;

removing the seed and clustered profiles from the profile list;

identifying a next user profile, if available, as the seed user profile; and

continuing said comparing through identifying steps until no profiles are available.