Method for producing playlists for personalized music stations and for transmitting songs on such playlists

• US 6,933,433 B1
• Filed: 11/08/2000
• Issued: 08/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MTVN Online Partner I, LLC
• Original Assignee: Viacom Incorporated (ViacomCBS Incorporated)
• Inventors: Beeram, Ranga Reddy, Porteus, Bradford Evan, Manning, Damian Franken
• Primary Examiner(s): DONELS, JEFFREY
• Application Number:
  US09/709,114
• Time in Patent Office: 1,749 Days
• Field of Search: 846/00, 846/09, 846/15
• US Class Current: 84/615
• 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 16/635 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• 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

Abstract

A method of producing a playlist of music for a personal music station comprising the steps of assigning a artist block rating to each of a plurality of predefined artist blocks, using the artist block rating to produce an artist rating for each artist in the artist block, generating a list of artists, wherein the number of times each artist appears in the list is related to the artist rating for each artist, randomly selecting artists form the list of artists, producing a prioritized list of songs for each of the randomly selected artists, and selecting songs from the prioritized list of songs for inclusion in a playlist. The playlist can be subsequently edited to create a playlist having a less than a first predetermined number of songs by each of the artists for broadcast within a predetermined time period and having less than a second predetermined number of adjacent songs by each of the artists. A method of distributing songs on a personal music station using the playlist is also included.

Claims

1. A method of producing a playlist of music for a personalized music station, the method comprising the step of:

assigning an artist block rating to at least one of a plurality of predefined artist blocks, each artist block comprising a grouping of a plurality of artists related in some way;

using the artist block rating to produce an artist rating for each artist in the artist block;

generating a first list of artists from the artist block, wherein the number of times each artist appears in the first list is related to the artist rating for each artist;

randomly selecting artists from the first list of artists;

producing a prioritized list of songs for each of the randomly selected artists; and

selecting songs from the prioritized list of songs for inclusion in a master playlist.

2. A method of producing a playlist of music for a personalized music station according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

editing said master playlist to create a second playlist having less than a first predetermined number of songs by each of said artists and having less than a second predetermined number of adjacent songs by each of said artists.

3. A method of producing a playlist of music for a personalized music station according to claim 1, wherein the step of using the artist block rating to produce an artist rating for each artist in the artist blocks, comprises the steps of:

assigning a preliminary rating to each artist categorized within each of the artist blocks; and

adjusting the preliminary rating for each artist categorized within each of the artist blocks in response to the artist block rating for each of the artist blocks.

4. A method of producing a playlist of music for a personalized music station according to claim 2, wherein the step of editing said list of songs comprises the steps of:

selecting a first occurrence of each artist in the master list;

selecting a second occurrence of each artist in the master list; and

generating a new list including the first and second occurrences of each artist.

5. A method of producing a playlist of music for a personalized music station according to claim 1, wherein the steps of randomly selecting artists from the list of artists;

producing a prioritized list of songs for each of the randomly selected artists; and

selecting songs from the prioritized list of songs for inclusion in a master playlist, are repeated following a transmission of a last song on the playlist.

6. A method of producing a playlist of music for a personalized music station according to claim 1, wherein the list created in the step of generating a list of artists from at least one of the artist blocks includes multiple occurrences of at least some of the artists, wherein the number of occurrences is representative of the artist rating.

7. A method of producing a playlist of music for a personalized music station according to claim 1, wherein the step of generating the first list of artists comprises the steps of:

producing a master list of the artists, the master list including multiple occurrences of said artists, wherein the number of occurrences is proportional to the artist rating;

assigning a random number to each artist in the master list of artists; and

using the random number to select artists for the first list of artists.

8. A method of producing a playlist of music for a personalized music station according to claim 1, wherein the step of producing a prioritized list of songs comprises the steps of:

assigning a song rating to each of the songs;

producing a master list of the songs, the master list including multiple occurrences of said songs, wherein the number of occurrences is proportional to the song rating;

assigning a random number to each song in the master list; and

using the random number to select songs for the prioritized list.

9. A method of producing a playlist of music for a personalized music station according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

adding additional artists to the list of artists; and

assigning a rating to the additional artists.

10. A method of producing a playlist of music for a personalized music station according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

adjusting the artist rating for selected ones of the artists to produce an adjusted artist rating; and

using the adjust artist rating in the step of generating a list of artists.

11. A method of distributing songs on a personalized music station, the method comprising the step of:

receiving user artist block ratings for each of a plurality of predefined artist blocks;

using the artist blocks rating to produce an artist rating for each artist in the artist blocks, each artist block comprising a grouping of a plurality of artists related in some way;

generating a first list of artists from at least one of the artist blocks, wherein the number of times each artist appears in the first list is related to the artist rating for each artist;

randomly selecting artists from the first list of artists;

producing a prioritized list of songs for each of the randomly selected artists;

selecting songs from the prioritized list of songs for inclusion in a master playlist; and

transmitting songs to the user over a communications network in accordance with the playlist.

12. A method of distributing songs on a personalized music station according to claim 11, further comprising the step of:

editing the master playlist to create a second playlist having less than a first predetermined number of songs by each of the artists and having less than a second predetermined number of adjacent songs by each of the artists.

13. A method of distributing songs on a personalized music station according to claim 11, wherein the step of using the artist block rating to produce an artist rating for each artist in the artist blocks comprises the steps of:

assigning a preliminary rating to each artist categorized within each of the artist blocks; and

adjusting the preliminary rating for each artist categorized within each of said artist block in response to the artist block rating for each of the artist blocks.

14. A method of distributing songs on a personalized music station according to claim 12, wherein the step of editing said list of songs comprises the steps of:

selecting a first occurrence of each artist in the master list;

selecting a second occurrence of each artist in the master list; and

generating a new list including the first and second occurrences of each artist.

15. A method of distributing songs on a personalized music station according to claim 11, wherein the steps of randomly selecting artists from the list of artists;

producing a prioritized list of songs for each of the randomly selected artists; and

selecting songs from the prioritized list of songs for inclusion in a master playlist, are repeated following a transmission of a last song on the playlist.

16. A method of distributing songs on a personalized music station according to claim 11, wherein the first list created in the step of generating a list of artists classified within at least one of the artist blocks includes multiple occurrences of at least some of the artists, wherein the number of occurrences is representative of the artist rating.

17. A method of distributing songs on a personalized music station according to claim 11, wherein the step of generating a first list of artists comprises the steps of:

producing a master list of the artists, the master list including multiple occurrences of said artists, wherein the number of occurrences is representative of the artist rating;

assigning a random number to each artist in the master list of artists; and

using the random number to select songs for the list of artists.

18. A method of distributing songs on a personalized music station according to claim 11, wherein the step of producing a prioritized list of songs comprises the steps of:

assigning a song rating to each of the songs;

producing a master list of the songs, the master list including multiple occurrences of said songs, wherein the number of occurrences is representative of the song rating;

assigning a random number to each song in the master list; and

using the random number to select songs for the prioritized list.

19. A method of distributing songs on a personalized music station according to claim 11, further comprising the step of:

adding additional artists to the first list of artists; and

assigning a rating to the additional artists.

20. A method of distributing songs on a personalized music station according to claim 11, further comprising the step of:

adjusting the artist rating for selected ones of the artists to produce an adjusted artist rating; and

using the adjust artist rating in the step of generating the first list of artists.