Methods and systems for per persona processing media content-associated metadata

• US 7,256,341 B2
• Filed: 10/05/2004
• Issued: 08/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Alkove, James M., Debique, Kirt A., Plastina, Daniel, Colville, Scott, Mazhar, Khurshed
• Primary Examiner(s): DONELS, JEFFREY
• Application Number:
  US10/959,014
• Publication Number:
  US 20050050079A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,043 Days
• Field of Search: 369/30.07, 369/30.08, 715/733, 715/789, 715/8, 715/811, 846/15
• US Class Current: 84/615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/437 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialisation, adaptation, distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4387 by the use of playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0058 Transmission between separate instruments or between individual components of a musical system G10H1/0083 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2230/015 PDA [personal digital assistant] or palmtop computing devices used for musical purposes, e.g. portable music players, tablet computers, e-readers or smart phones in which mobile telephony functions need not be used
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/251 Mobile telephone transmission, i.e. transmitting, accessing or controlling music data wirelessly via a wireless or mobile telephone receiver, analogue or digital, e.g. DECT, GSM, UMTS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4825 using a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlists
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8106 involving special audio data, e.g. different tracks for different languages
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Various systems and methods described above permit a user'"'"'s content experience (e.g. music playing experience) to be monitored and for metadata describing this experience to be collected. This metadata can be dynamically updated as a user experiences media content and then used to impart to the user a personalized experience that is tailored to that specific user. A user'"'"'s metadata can, in some instances, provided across a wide variety of computing devices on which the user may experience the media content, thus standardizing the user'"'"'s personalized media experience. In addition, intelligent or “smart” playlists can be provided which, in some instances, can be dynamically and automatically updated to reflect current user experiences, thus providing a highly personalized and enjoyable content experience.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause the devices to;

monitor a user'"'"'s media-playing experience, the media-playing experience being provided by a media-playing application that is configured to play media content on a computing device;

produce metadata associated with the user'"'"'s media-playing experience; and

associate produced metadata with media content experienced by the user by providing the metadata into a file that contains the media content experienced by the user.

2. The computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the one or more computing devices to monitor a user'"'"'s music-playing experience.

3. The computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the one or more computing devices to monitor a user'"'"'s music-playing experience for each song that a user plays.

4. A computing device embodying the computer-readable media of claim 1.

5. A software application comprising instructions embodied on a computer readable medium, the instructions being executable by a computing device and being configured to:

monitor a user'"'"'s media-playing experience, the media-playing experience being provided by a media-playing application that is configured to play media content on a computing device;

produce metadata associated with the user'"'"'s media-playing experience; and

associate produced metadata with media content experienced by the user by providing the metadata into a file that contains the media content experienced by the user.

6. The software application of claim 5, wherein the application monitors the user'"'"'s music-playing experience.

7. The software application of claim 5, wherein the application monitors the user'"'"'s music-playing experience for each song, and produces and associates metadata for each song.

8. A method comprising:

monitoring a user'"'"'s media-playing experience by monitoring one or more parameters associated with the user'"'"'s experience, the parameters comprising at least a last played time associated with when a particular piece of content was played by the user, wherein the act of monitoring is performed by a first device on which the user can experience the media content and further comprising updating metadata on at least a second device that can be used by the user to experience the media content by providing metadata from the first device to at least the second device;

producing metadata associated with the monitored parameter(s); and

associating produced metadata with media content experienced by the user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more parameters comprise one or more of the following parameters:

an update time associated with when one or more other parameters are updated;

a user rating for allowing a user to rate content;

an effective rating that provides a rating for content that the user has not actually rated;

a service rating for providing a third party rating on content;

a playcount total comprising the total number of times a particular piece of content has been played; and

one or more custom parameters that can be programmed by the user.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the act of monitoring is performed by monitoring the user'"'"'s music-playing experience.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the act of monitoring is performed by monitoring the user'"'"'s music-playing experience; and

the act of producing is performed for each song that a user plays.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the act of monitoring is performed by a media-playing application configured to play media that the user can experience.

13. A method comprising:

defining a plurality of time periods;

monitoring a user'"'"'s media-playing experience by monitoring one or more parameters associated with the user'"'"'s media-playing experience during the defined time periods, wherein the act of monitoring is performed by a first device on which the user can experience the media content and further comprising updating metadata on at least a second device that can be used by the user to experience the media content by providing metadata from the first device to at least the second device;

producing metadata associated with the monitored parameter(s); and

associating produced metadata with media content experienced by the user, wherein said produced metadata can comprise part of a piece of content that includes the media content itself.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the parameters comprise one or more of:

a last played time associated with when a particular piece of content was played by the user;

an update time associated with when one or more other parameters are updated;

a user rating for allowing a user to rate content;

an effective rating that provides a rating for content that the user has not actually rated;

a service rating for providing a third party rating on content;

a playcount total comprising the total number of times a particular piece of content has been played; and

one or more custom parameters that can be programmed by the user.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the act of monitoring is performed by monitoring the user'"'"'s music-playing experience.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the act of monitoring is performed by monitoring the user'"'"'s music-playing experience for each song that a user plays.

17. A method comprising:

defining a plurality of time periods;

monitoring multiple users'"'"' media-playing experiences by monitoring one or more parameters associated with individual user'"'"'s experience during the defined time periods, wherein the act of monitoring is performed by a first device on which one or more users can experience the media content and further comprising updating metadata on at least a second device that can be used by the one or more users to experience the media content by providing metadata from the first device to at least the second device;

producing, for individual users, metadata associated with the monitored parameter(s); and

associating, for individual users, produced metadata with media content experienced by the respective users, wherein said produced metadata can comprise part of a piece of content that includes the media content itself.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the parameters comprise, for each user, one or more of:

a last played time associated with when a particular piece of content was played by the user;

an update time associated with when one or more other parameters are updated;

a user rating for allowing a user to rate content;

an effective rating that provides a rating for content that the user has not actually rated;

a service rating for providing a third party rating on content;

a playcount total comprising the total number of times a particular piece of content has been played; and

one or more custom parameters that can be programmed by the user.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the act of monitoring is performed by monitoring the users'"'"' music-playing experience.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the:

act of monitoring is performed by monitoring the users'"'"' music-playing experience; and

the act of producing is performed for each song that a user plays.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the act of monitoring is performed by a media-playing application configured to play media that one or more users can experience.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the act of monitoring is performed by a computing device on which one or more users can experience the media.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the act of monitoring is performed relative to media that is locally stored on a computing device and locally played on the computing device.

24. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by one or more computing devices, implement the method of claim 17.

25. A computing device embodying the computer-readable media of claim 17.

26. A software application configured to implement the method of claim 17.

27. A method comprising:

monitoring multiple users'"'"' media-playing experiences using a first device on which one or more users can experience the media;

producing metadata associated with the users'"'"' media-playing experiences;

associating produced metadata with media content experienced by the users, wherein said produced metadata can comprise part of a piece of content that includes the media content itself;

maintaining, for individual users, at least the metadata in a database on the first device;

updating metadata on at least a second device that can be used by one or more user to experience the media by providing metadata from the first device to at least the second device.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the act of monitoring is performed by monitoring the users'"'"' music-playing experiences.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein:

the act of monitoring is performed by monitoring the users'"'"' music-playing experiences; and

the act of producing is performed for each song that a user plays.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the act of monitoring is performed by a media-playing application configured to play media that one or more users can experience.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the act of monitoring is performed by a computing device on which one or more users can experience the media.

32. The method of claim 27, wherein the act of monitoring is performed relative to media that is locally stored on a computing device and locally played on the computing device.

33. The method of claim 27, wherein the act of updating is performed by using, at least in part, a third party.

34. The method of claim 27, wherein the act of updating is performed by providing both the metadata and its associated media content to at least the second device.

35. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by one or more computing devices, implement the method of claim 27.

36. A computing device embodying the computer-readable media of claim 35.

37. A software application configured to implement the method of claim 27.