Content player method and server with user profile

• US 6,587,127 B1
• Filed: 11/24/1998
• Issued: 07/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mackintosh, Gregory B., Stojakovic, Edward, Leeke, Steven D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cabeca, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): BAUTISTA, XIOMARA L
• Application Number:
  US09/198,732
• Time in Patent Office: 1,680 Days
• Field of Search: 345/700, 345/716, 345/733, 345/742, 345/744, 345/745, 345/747, 345/762, 345/764, 345/765, 345/866, 345/961, 345/962, 345/978, 707/500.1
• US Class Current: 715/765
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/123 Shopping for digital content
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/82 using signals not modulated onto a carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/46 for recognising users' preferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/47 for recognising genres
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method of operation of a server (102) interacting with users (104, 106) to provide personalized content to each of the users. Personalized content is sent to a first user by communicating first audio or other content associated with a broadcast to a first user location. Second content is selected and a first signal is communicated to the first user location dependent on the user profile. The second content can include second audio content selected in dependence upon the first user profile, in which case playback of the second audio content is synchronized with respect to playback of the first audio content.

Claims

1. A method of operation for a server that interacts with a plurality of client apparatuses to provide personalized content to each client apparatus, the method comprising the steps of:

communicating a first media content and control data associated with the first media content from the server to a particular client apparatus of the plurality of client apparatuses, wherein the control data indicates at least one insertion point of the first media content;

retrieving a user profile associated with the particular client apparatus;

selecting a second media content based on the user profile; and

communicating the second media content and a control signal associated with the second media content from the server to the particular client apparatus, wherein the control signal instructs the particular client apparatus to insert the second media content at the at least one insertion point of the first media content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast is communicated via wireless communication to at least one wireless receiver and via wireline communication to the particular client apparatus.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one wireless receiver and the particular client apparatus receive the first media content, but only the particular client apparatus may receive the second media content.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of retrieving the user profile from a second server separate from the server.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of retrieving the second media content from a second server separate from the server.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing at least one of the second media content and an address of the second media content in a queue of the particular client apparatus.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

detecting the at least one insertion point based on the control signal; and

in response to detecting the at least one insertion point, presenting the second media content at the at the particular client apparatus instead of any content of the first media content at the at least one insertion point.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first media content includes at least one of an audio content, an image content, and a video content.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first media content, the control data, and the control signal are communicated to the particular client apparatus via an electronic network including at least one of an Internet, an intranet, and an extranet.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the control signal synchronizes playback of the second media content with playback of the first media content.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the second media content includes at least one image selected based on the user profile.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the second media content includes at least one image selected based on the first media content.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one image is one of either a content-specific image and a broadcaster-specific image.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the second media content includes at least one of an advertising content and a programming content.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of generating the user profile before the step of accessing the broadcast intended for communication to the plurality of client apparatuses.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the user profile is updated by monitoring operational activity of the particular client apparatus.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the user profile is updated by monitoring operational activity of a particular group of client apparatuses.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the user profile includes at least two of:

transaction information, demographic information, psychographic information, geographic information, sonagraphic information, and listening behavior information.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the step of communicating the first media content and the control data to a particular client apparatus includes the step of communication the first media content and the control data to a second client apparatus;

the step of retrieving a user profile associated with the particular client apparatus includes the step of retrieving a second user profile associated with the second client apparatus;

the step of selecting a second media content based on the user profile includes the step of selecting a third media content based on the second user profile, wherein the third media content is different from the second media content; and

the step of communicating the second media content and a control signal associated with the second media content to the particular client apparatus includes the step of communicating the third media content and a second control signal associated with the third media content to the second client apparatus, wherein the second control signal instructs the second client apparatus to insert the third media content at the at least one insertion point of the first media content.

20. A method of operation for a server that interacts with a plurality of client apparatuses to provide personalized content to each client apparatus, the method comprising the steps of:

communicating a first media content and control data associated with the first media content from the server to a particular client apparatus of the plurality of client apparatuses, wherein the control data indicates a schedule of insertion times;

retrieving a user profile associated with the particular client apparatus;

selecting a second media content based on the user profile; and

communicating the second media content from the server to the particular client apparatus, wherein the particular client apparatus maintains a time clock to determine when to insert the second media content into the first media content based on the control data.