Media item selection

• US 7,840,289 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2004
• Issued: 11/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Buil, Vincentius Paulus, Geurts, Lucas Jacobus Franciscus
• Primary Examiner(s): Ni; Suhan
• Assistant Examiner(s): McCord; Paul
• Application Number:
  US10/569,722
• Publication Number:
  US 20060224259A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,283 Days
• Field of Search: 700/94
• US Class Current: 700/94
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/41 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/435 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• 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: G11B 19/022 Control panels
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/329 on a disc [VTOC]

Abstract

Creating a playlist of media items for a desired perceiving experience requires many actions for searching and selecting media items that fit the desired perceiving experience. The invention provides an alternative for creating a perceiving experience without the use of a playlist. To this end, the invention provides a method (1) for selecting a media item from a plurality of media items, each of the plurality of media items being linked to at least one out of a plurality of content related attribute-value pairs, the method (1) comprising the steps of defining (10) for at least one attribute of said plurality of attribute-value pairs at least two desired probabilities of selecting a media item having a predetermined value for said at least one attribute, resulting in a desired probability distribution (22) of at least two predetermined values for which a desired probability has been defined, selecting (14) an actual value from said at least two predetermined values in accordance with said desired probability distribution (22), and selecting (16) one of said plurality of media items having an attribute-value pair corresponding to said actual value and the attribute linked to said actual value. The invention further provides a system (1) and a media player (5) for selecting a media item.

Claims

1. A method for selecting a media item from a plurality of media items, each of the plurality of media items being linked to at least one of a plurality of content related attribute-value pairs, the method comprising:

receiving, at a media selecting device, a user input for an attribute of the plurality of attribute-value pairs that sets at least two probabilities of selecting predetermined values of the attribute to user-specified values, resulting in a probability distribution of selection of values of the attribute;

selecting, by the selecting device, a selected value of the attribute in accordance with the probability distribution; and

selecting, by the selecting device, the media item from among a plurality of media items having an attribute-value pair corresponding to the selected value of the attribute,

wherein receiving user input to set the at least two values of probability includes defining and displaying a pie-chart having at least two pie-parts corresponding to the at least two predetermined values, the pie-parts having proportions in dependence on the at least two user-specified probabilities.

2. The method of claim 1, including:

receiving user input to define at least two values of probability for another attribute, resulting in an other probability distribution of selection of values of the other attribute, and

selecting a selected value of the other attribute in accordance with the other probability distribution;

wherein selecting the media item includes selecting the media item from among a plurality of media items having attribute-value pairs corresponding to the selected values of the two attributes.

3. The method of claim 1, including:

receiving user input to define at least two values of probability for an other attribute, resulting in an other probability distributions of selection of values of the other attribute; and

combining the two probability distributions into a combined probability distribution;

wherein selecting the selected value of the attribute includes selecting the selected value of the attribute and selecting another selected value of the other attribute in accordance with the combined probability distribution; and

selecting the media item includes selecting the media item from among a plurality of media items having attribute-value pairs corresponding to the selected values.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the selected value includes:

spinning the pie-chart;

slowing down the pie-chart until the pie-chart stops at a random position;

selecting the selected value corresponding to a pie-part of the pie-chart in dependence on the position where the pie-chart stopped.

5. A system for selecting a media item from a plurality of media items, each of the plurality of media items being linked to at least one out of a plurality of content related attribute-value pairs, the system comprising:

means for receiving a user input for setting, for at least one attribute of the plurality of attribute-value pairs, values of at least two probabilities of selecting predetermined values for the at least one attribute to user-specified values, resulting in a probability distribution of selection of values of the attribute;

means for selecting an actual value from the at least two predetermined values in accordance with the probability distribution;

means for selecting the media item from among a plurality of media items having an attribute-value pair corresponding to the actual value of the attribute;

means for defining a pie-chart having at least two pie-parts corresponding to the at least two predetermined values, the pie-parts having proportions in dependence on the at least two user-specified probabilities; and

means for displaying the pie-chart.

6. The system of claim 5, the system including:

means for spinning the pie-chart;

means for slowing down the pie-chart until the pie-chart stops at a random position; and

means for selecting the actual value corresponding to a pie-part of the pie-chart in dependence on the position where the pie-chart stopped.

7. The system of claim 6, including means for selecting a moment in time to start the slowing down of the pie chart.

8. The system of claim 6, including means for adjusting a speed of the slowing down the pie-chart.

9. The system of claim 6, including means for holding the pie-chart at a current position for selecting from among a plurality of media items having an attribute-value pair corresponding to a previous selected actual value of the attribute.

16. The system of claim 5, including a media player that is configured to render the select media item.

17. The system of claim 5, including a display that is configured to illustrate one or more operations of the selector.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the display is configured to display a pie-chart corresponding to the selection probabilities, and selecting by the selector is illustrated via a spinning of the pie-chart.

10. A system comprising:

a communication channel that is configured to receive a plurality of media items, an input device that is configured to facilitate setting values of selection probability associated with members of at least one attribute set associated with the plurality of media items to user-specified values of a first user, a selector that is configured to select a media item from the plurality of media items based on the defined values of selection probability wherein the input device is configured to facilitate defining other values of selection probability by one or more other users, and the selector is configured to select the media item based on a composite of the values and the other values of selection probability and a display that is configured to display a pie-chart corresponding to the selection probabilities and selecting by the selector is illustrated via the spinning of the pie-chart.

11. The system of claim 10, including a media player that is configured to render the select media item.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the values of selection probability correspond to values at a first time, the other values of selection probability correspond to values at a second time, and the composite of the values is dependent on a selection time relative to the first and second times.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein segments of the pie chart are sized in proportion to the selection probabilities.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein one or more segments of the pie chart correspond to a probability associated with a combination of members of different attribute sets.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the system is configured to receive user input to define at least two further values of selection probability associated with the members, resulting in a further selection probability associated with the members defined for a later moment in time, and the selector is configured to select at least another media item based on an adapted probability that is between the select probability and the further selection probability.