System, method and computer program product for collaborative broadcast media

• US 7,562,117 B2
• Filed: 09/19/2006
• Issued: 07/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Outland Research LLC
• Inventors: Rosenberg, Louis B.
• Primary Examiner(s): JEAN GILLES, JUDE
• Application Number:
  US11/533,037
• Publication Number:
  US 20060288074A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,029 Days
• Field of Search: 709204-206, 709/219, 709/231, 709/246
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/252 Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44245 Monitoring the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. its availability, bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4756 for rating content, e.g. scoring a recommended movie
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4882 for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895
• 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: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A system, method and computer program product for collaborative media selection among a media provider and a collaborative group of media players, where each individual media player is in processing communications with the media provider. Enables a media broadcaster to perform a procedure which involves (a) sending one or more media suggestions to a plurality of media playing devices that are being used by a plurality of participating users, (b) receiving from each of the plurality of participating users via their media playing devices a response indicating acceptances or rejection for the suggested media item, (c) tallying the responses and determining if the media suggestion is collaboratively accepted by the group of collaborating users, and (d) broadcasting media content for real-time play to the plurality of media playing devices if the media suggestion is collaboratively accepted. Otherwise, sending an alternative suggested media item. The present invention further includes a variety of prioritization methods wherein participating users may have non-equally impact upon in the collaborative decision making process.

Claims

1. A system for collaborative media selection among a media provider and a collaborative group of media players, each individual media player being in processing communications with the media provider and associated with a user, the system comprising:

a media provider including;

a processor;

a datastore functionally coupled to the processor having retrievably stored therein, a plurality of media files;

each of the plurality of media files having retrievably associated therewith, identifying indicia descriptive of its associated media file;

a media suggestion application including instructions executable by the processor to;

identify a suggested media file from the plurality of media files for impending broadcast play to the collaborative group of media players;

retrieve from the datastore, the identifying indicia associated with the suggested media file;

contemporaneously send the identifying indicia associated with the suggested media file to the collaborative group of media players in general concurrence with a broadcast play of a current media file;

receive a plurality of separate user feedback responses associated with the suggested media file, the plurality of separate user feedback responses being received from a plurality of media players included in the collaborative group of media players; and

,

determine from the received plurality of separate user feedback responses if collaborative acceptance has been obtained for the suggested media file; and

,

if collaborative acceptance has been obtained, broadcast play the suggested media file to the collaborative group of media players such that the suggested media file plays generally following a completion of play of the current media file;

or,

if collaborative acceptance has been not been obtained, suggesting a different media file for impending broadcast play.

2. The system according to claim 1 wherein each of the collaborative group of media players comprising;

a microprocessor;

a collaborative feedback application including instructions executable by the microprocessor to;

output an identifying representation of the suggested media file to the user associated with the media player;

determine a separate user feedback response regarding the user'"'"'s preference for the suggested media file in dependence on the user'"'"'s interaction with the media player;

send the separate user feedback response to the media provider; and

,

play the suggested media file for which collaborative acceptance has been determined.

3. The system according to claim 2 wherein the separate user feedback response is determined based upon the user expressing either an acceptance or a rejection of the suggested media file through an explicit interaction with the media player.

4. The system according to claim 2 wherein the collaborative feedback application further includes instructions executable by the microprocessor to provide a default separate user feedback response if the user fails to express either an acceptance or a rejection of the suggested media file through an explicit interaction with the media player within an allotted period of time.

5. The system according to claim 1 wherein the identifying indicia is one of;

a unique identifier, a title, a graphical representation of an album cover, an artist name, a group name, a date, a genre, a playing time, and a trademark.

6. The system according to claim 1 wherein the media provider is a server in which the collaborative group of media players are clients.

7. The system according to claim 1 wherein the identifying indicia is sent to the collaborative group of media players generally simultaneously from the media provider.

8. The system according to claim 1 wherein the broadcast play is accomplished using a streaming media process.

9. The system according to claim 1 wherein identifying the media file for suggestion from the plurality of media files is performed at least in part using a random selection process.

10. The system according to claim 1 wherein identifying the media file for suggestion from the plurality of media files is performed at least in part using a weighted random selection process.

11. The system according to claim 1 wherein identifying the media file for suggestion from the plurality of media files is performed at least in part using retrievably stored user preference data for each user associated with at least a portion of the plurality of media players included in the collaborative group of media players.

12. The system according to claim 1 wherein collaborative acceptance of the suggested media file is determined at least in part upon a majority of the plurality of separate user feedback responses received by the media provider being affirmative.

13. The system according to claim 1 wherein collaborative acceptance of the suggested media file is determined at least in part on exceeding a preestablished threshold number or proportion of affirmative responses being received among the plurality of separate user feedback responses received by the media provider.

14. The system according to claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of the separate user feedback responses is given non-equal weighting with respect to the other plurality of separate user feedback responses received by the media provider for determination of the collaborative acceptance.

15. The system according to claim 14 wherein the non-equal weightings are dependent at least in part upon non-equal priority levels assigned to one or more particular users associated with the individual media players.

16. The system according to claim 1 wherein the collaborative feedback application further includes instructions executable by the microprocessor to alert its associated user to receipt of the identifying indicia sent from the media provider.

17. The system according to claim 16 wherein the alert is one of;

an audible alert, a visual alert, a tactile alert and any combination thereof.

18. The system according to claim 1 wherein identifying a media file for suggestion is based at least in part upon a human operator'"'"'s input.

19. The system according to claim 1 wherein the suggested media file is broadcast played to the collaborative group of media players such that broadcast play of the suggested media file begins immediately following the broadcast play of the current media file.

20. A method for collaborative media selection among a media provider and a collaborative group of media players, each individual media player being in processing communications with the media provider and associated with a user, the method comprising a media suggestion application including instructions executable by a media provider processor for;

identifying a suggested media file among a plurality of retrievably stored media files for impending broadcast play to the collaborative group of media players;

retrieving identifying indicia associated with the suggested media file;

contemporaneously sending the identifying indicia associated with the suggested media file to the collaborative group of media players in general concurrence with a broadcast play of a current media file;

receiving a plurality of separate user feedback responses associated with the suggested media file, the plurality of separate user feedback responses being received from a plurality of media players included in the collaborative group of media players; and

,

determining from the received plurality of separate user feedback responses if collaborative acceptance has been obtained for the suggested media file; and

,

if collaborative acceptance has been obtained, broadcast playing the suggested media file to the collaborative group of media players such that the suggested media file plays generally following a completion of play of the current media file;

or,

if collaborative acceptance has been not been obtained, suggesting a different media file for impending broadcast play.

21. The method according to claim 20 further comprising a collaborative feedback application including instructions executable by a media player microprocessor for;

outputting an identifying representation of the suggested media file to the user associated with each individual media player;

determining a separate user feedback response regarding the user'"'"'s preference for the suggested media file in dependence on the user'"'"'s interaction with the media player;

sending the separate user feedback response to the media provider; and

,

playing the suggested media file for which collaborative acceptance has been determined.

22. The method according to claim 21 wherein the separate user feedback response is determined based upon the user expressing either an acceptance or a rejection of the suggested media file through an explicit interaction with the media player.

23. The method according to claim 22 wherein the collaborative feedback application further includes instructions executable by the microprocessor for providing a default separate user feedback response if the user fails to express either an acceptance or a rejection of the suggested media file through an explicit interaction with the media player within an allotted period of time.

24. The method according to claim 20 wherein the collaborative feedback application further includes instructions executable by the microprocessor for alerting the user of a receipt of the identifying indicia sent from the media provider.

25. The method according to claim 20 wherein collaborative acceptance of the suggested media file is determined at least in part on one of;

a majority of the plurality of separate user feedback responses being affirmative responses, the affirmative responses exceeding a predetermined proportion of feedback responses, and the affirmative feedback responses cumulatively exceeding a predetermined threshold.

26. The method according to claim 20 wherein collaborative acceptance of the suggested media file is determined at least in part on a weighted tally of the plurality of separate user feedback responses.

27. The method according to claim 20 wherein at least one of the plurality of separate user feedback responses is given non-equal weightings with respect to other of the plurality of separate user feedback responses in the determination of the collaborative acceptance.

28. The method according to claim 27 wherein the non-equal weightings are dependent at least in part upon non-equal priority levels associated with one or more particular users associated with each of the individual media players.

29. A computer program product embodied in a tangible form comprising instructions executable by a media provider processor to;

identify a suggested media file among a plurality of media files for impending broadcast play to a collaborative group of media player processors in processing communications with the media provider processor;

the plurality of media files being retrievably stored in a datastore coupled to media provider processor and each media file having associated therewith, a retrievably stored identifying indicia;

retrieve the identifying indicia associated with the suggested media file;

contemporaneously send the identifying indicia associated with the suggested media file to the collaborative group of media players in general concurrence with a broadcast play of a current media file;

receive a plurality of separate user feedback responses associated with the suggested media file, the plurality of separate user feedback responses being received from a plurality of media players included in the collaborative group of media player processors; and

,

determine from the received plurality of separate user feedback responses if collaborative acceptance has been obtained for the suggested media file; and

,

if collaborative acceptance has been obtained, broadcast play the suggested media file to the collaborative group of media players such that it plays after the completion of play of the current media file;

or,

if collaborative acceptance has been not been obtained, suggest a different media file for impending broadcast play.

30. The computer program product according to claim 29 further comprising instructions embodied in a tangible form executable by each of the collaborative group of individual media player processors to;

output an identifying representation of the suggested media file to a user associated with each individual media player;

determine a separate user feedback response regarding the user'"'"'s preference for the suggested media file in dependence on the user'"'"'s interaction with the media player;

send the separate user feedback response to the media provider processor; and

,

play the suggested media file for which collaborative acceptance has been determined.

31. The computer program product according to claim 29 further comprising instructions embodied in a tangible form executable by the media provider processor to determine collaborative acceptance of the suggested media file based at least in part upon a majority or weighted tally of affirmative responses included in the plurality of separate user feedback responses received by the media provider processor.

32. The computer program product according to claim 29 wherein the tangible form is one of;

logical media, optical media and magnetic media.