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

• US 7,358,434 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2005
• Issued: 04/15/2008
• 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:
  US11/096,684
• Publication Number:
  US 20050198075A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,110 Days
• Field of Search: 369/30.07, 369/30.08, 715/733, 715/789, 715/811, 715/8, 846/15, 707/104.1
• 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. A method comprising:

monitoring a user'"'"'s media content experience, as the user is experiencing media content via a media-playing application, wherein experiencing comprises at least listening to the media content;

producing metadata associated with the user'"'"'s media content experience;

associating 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; and

using the metadata to automatically personalize one or more playlists to reflect the user'"'"'s media content experience.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of producing is performed for each media content that the user experiences.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of monitoring is performed by monitoring the user'"'"'s media-playing experience.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of producing is performed locally on a user'"'"'s computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of monitoring is performed by monitoring the user'"'"'s music-playing experience.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the act of producing is performed for each song that a user plays.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of monitoring is performed relative to media content that is locally stored on a computing device and locally played on the computing device.

8. A system comprising:

a database;

media content in the database that is playable by a media-playing application;

metadata from one or more users associated with the media content in the database, wherein the metadata can comprise part of a piece of content that includes the media content itself, the metadata being associated with a user'"'"'s media-playing experience, the metadata having been acquired by monitoring a user'"'"'s media content experience as the user experienced the media content via a media-playing application, wherein experienced comprises at least listening to the media content; and

means for using the metadata to automatically personalize one or more playlists associated with one or more of the users.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the media content comprises music content.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the media content and the associated metadata comprise individual entries in the database.

11. The system of claim 8 further comprising means for updating the metadata associated with the media content responsive to a user experiencing the media content.

12. A method comprising:

defining a plurality of time periods for the purpose of monitoring a user'"'"'s media playing experience;

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 user'"'"'s media-playing experience comprises at least listening to media content;

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

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

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the time periods comprise individual days.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the time periods comprise times of the day.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the time periods comprise times of the week.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the time periods comprise one or more or:

individual days, times of the day, and times of the week.

17. The method of claim 12, 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.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the act of monitoring is performed by monitoring the user'"'"'s music-playing experience.