Media system for the selective playing of media clips based upon user feedback

• US 6,738,078 B1
• Filed: 06/30/2000
• Issued: 05/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: D4 Media, Inc.
• Original Assignee: D4 Media, Inc.
• Inventors: Duncombe, Jefferson D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cao (Kevin)
• Application Number:
  US09/609,476
• Time in Patent Office: 1,418 Days
• Field of Search: 345/761, 345/762, 345/763, 345/716, 345/723, 707/500.1, 707/501.1
• US Class Current: 715/761
• 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 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/70 of video data

Abstract

A media system for the selective playing of media clips based upon feedback collected from a user includes a storage device electronically storing at least one media file and a media organization file. The media organization file includes at least two media selection parameters, each of the at least two media selection parameters having a number of media descriptions, and a database that associates each of a number of media clips with at least one of the media descriptions. The media system further includes an interface program for receiving at least two desired media descriptions from the user, a goal seeking engine for selecting a number of suitable media clips from the media clips based upon the at least two desired media descriptions, and a media player for playing the suitable media clips. Once the suitable media clips have been played, the media system uses a question program interface having a plurality of questions for accepting feedback from the user. The feedback is inputted into the goal seeking engine for reselecting the suitable media clips based upon the feedback of the user.

Claims

1. A media system for playing media based upon feedback from a user, the media system comprising:

a means for storing;

at least one media file;

the at least one media file having a plurality of media clips,

a defining means for defining at least one topic, at least one complexity rating, and at least one order rating;

a database means for associating each of the plurality of media clips with one of the at least one topic, one of the at least one complexity rating, and one of the at least one order rating;

a means for receiving a desired topic and a desired complexity;

a goal seeking engine for selecting from the plurality of media clips a plurality of suitable media clips wherein the one of the at least one topic associated with each of the selected suitable media clips matches the desired topic, the one of the at least one complexity rating associated with each of the selected suitable media clips matches the desired complexity, and the one of the at least one order rating associated with each of the selected suitable media clips do not match indicating that the selected suitable media clips are not duplicates;

a means for playing the plurality of suitable media clips for the user;

a means for soliciting feedback of the user;

a means for accepting feedback of the user; and

a means for reselecting the plurality of suitable media clips from the feedback.

2. The media system of claim 1 wherein the means for reselecting the plurality of suitable media clips operates by regenerating the at least two desired media descriptions from the feedback, and inputting the at least two desired media descriptions into the goal seeking engine.

3. The media system of claim 1 further comprising a means for transmitting the feedback to a central computer.

4. The media system of claim 1 wherein the means for soliciting feedback and the means for accepting feedback are provided by a question program interface having a plurality of questions, each of the plurality of questions being associated with at least one of the plurality of media clips.

5. The media system of claim 4 wherein the means for reselecting the plurality of suitable media clips is a table in the database means that associates each of the plurality of questions with the at least two desired media descriptions.

6. The media system of claim 4 wherein the means for reselecting the plurality of suitable media clips is a table in the database means that associates each of the plurality of questions with at least one of the plurality of media clips.

7. A media system comprising:

a means for storing;

at least one media file;

a media organization file;

the at least one media file having a plurality of media clips,

the media organization file having a defining means for defining at least one topic, at least one complexity rating, at least one order rating, and a length of time;

the media organization file further having a database means for associating each of the plurality of media clips with one of the at least one topics, one of the at least one complexity ratings, one of the at least one order ratings, and the length of time;

a means for receiving a desired media description into the media player system, the at least two media descriptions including a desired topic, a desired complexity, and a desired play length;

a goal seeking engine for performing the following steps;

a) selecting from the plurality of media clips only those media clips that are associated with the at least one topic that matches the desired topic;

b) selecting from those media clips that are associated with the at least one topic only those media clips that are associated with the at least one complexity rating that matches the desired complexity;

c) selecting, from those media clips that are associated with both the at least one topic that matches the desired topic and the at least one complexity rating that matches the desired complexity, a plurality of suitable media clips which are not duplicates, based on the at least one order rating, and the sum of whose length of times are approximately equal to the desired play length; and

d) ordering the plurality of suitable media clips based on the at least one order rating;

a means for playing the plurality of suitable media clips;

a means for soliciting feedback;

a means for accepting feedback of the user; and

a means for reselecting the plurality of suitable media clips from the feedback.

8. The media system of claim 7 wherein the means for reselecting the plurality of suitable media clips operates by regenerating at least two media descriptions from the feedback, and inputting the at least two media descriptions into the goal seeking engine.

9. The media system of claim 7 further comprising a means for transmitting the feedback to a central computer.

10. The media system of claim 7 wherein the means for soliciting feedback and the means for accepting feedback are provided by a question program interface having a plurality of questions, each of the plurality of questions being associated with at least one of the plurality of media clips.

11. The media system of claim 10 wherein the means for reselecting the plurality of suitable media clips is a table in the database means that associates each of the plurality of questions with at least two desired media descriptions.

12. The media system of claim 10 wherein the means for reselecting the plurality of suitable media clips is a table in the database means that associates each of the plurality of questions with at least one of the plurality of media clips.