System and method for analyzing and matching digital media libraries

• US 8,694,531 B1
• Filed: 10/16/2009
• Issued: 04/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stearns S. Merrell
• Original Assignee: Stearns S. Merrell
• Inventors: Stearns, S. Merrell
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Greta
• Application Number:
  US12/580,594
• Time in Patent Office: 1,635 Days
• Field of Search: 707/732, 707/733, 707/734, 707/748, 707/749, 707/758, 707/767, 707/771, 707/7.32, 707/7.33, 707/7.34, 707/7.48, 707/7.49, 705/7.11, 705/7.29, 705/7.32, 705/7.34, 705/7.37
• US Class Current: 707/767
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/635 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles

Abstract

A system and method matches individuals based on the content of their media libraries. The system has a media content processor that extracts information from a media file, and creates one or more media records. The system further includes a matching engine that compares the media records associated with different people, and determines the similarities between the media libraries of the different people. The matching engine may generate a match score for each pair of media records. The system also includes a presentation engine that provides an indication of the degree of match between the media file of one person and the media files of others.

Claims

1. A method for comparing digital media files to find persons who share similar interests, the method comprising:

storing, in a digital memory, a plurality of data sets, where the data sets contain information descriptive of a plurality of digital media files that are acquired by respective users, the descriptive information

automatically created by media player applications of the respective users and

including, for at least some of the plurality of digital media files, a genre descriptor, an artist descriptor, an album descriptor, and a title descriptor;

storing, in the digital memory, a plurality of user profile records, where each user profile record contains personal identifying characteristics of one of the respective users;

receiving a search criteria from a first user;

searching, by a processor coupled to the digital memory, the plurality of user profile records based on the received search criteria to identify a set of user profile records whose personal identifying characteristics match the received search criteria;

comparing, by the processor, a first data set containing information descriptive of a first plurality of digital media files acquired by the first user with a second data set containing information descriptive of a second plurality of digital media files acquired by a second user whose user profile record was identified as matching the received search criteria;

generating a genre score that represents a degree of similarity between the genre descriptors;

generating an artist score that represents a degree of similarity between the artist descriptors;

generating an album score that represents a degree of similarity between the album descriptors;

generating a title score that represents a degree of similarity between the title descriptors;

generating an overall score for the first and second users based on an amount of descriptive information that is common between the first and second data sets, wherein the generated overall score for the first and second users represents a degree of similarity between the plurality of media files acquired by the first user and the plurality of media files acquired by the second user; and

transmitting, by a network interface coupled to the processor, the generated overall score for the first and second users to the first user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the descriptive information includes one or more song titles, one or more artist names, one or more album names, and one or more music genres.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving the descriptive information from the respective users; and

converting, by the processor, the descriptive information received from each user into one of the data sets having a predefined structure.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the descriptive information includes one or more movie titles, one or more actor names, and one or more movie genres.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the user profile information includes contact information, the method further comprising:

transmitting, by the network interface, the contact information of the second user to the first user.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the generated overall score and the contact information are transmitted in a format for display by a web browser application.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the received search criteria includes at least one of a sex, an age, and a location.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying to the first user, on a display, the generated overall score and an identifier associated with the second user.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein a plurality of ratings are assigned to at least some of the plurality of digital media files of the respective users, the method further comprising:

applying at least one algorithm to generate the overall score, the at least one algorithm configured to account for the plurality of ratings assigned to at least some of the plurality of digital media files.

19. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

presenting at least one of the generated genre, artist, album, and title scores to the first user.

8. A method for generating media recommendations, the method comprising:

storing, in a digital memory, a plurality of data sets, where the plurality of data sets contain information descriptive of a plurality of digital media files that are acquired by respective users, the descriptive information

automatically created by media player applications of the respective users and

including, for at least some of the plurality of digital media files, a genre descriptor, an artist descriptor, an album descriptor, and a title descriptor;

comparing, by a processor coupled to the digital memory, a first data set containing information descriptive of a first plurality of digital media files acquired by a first user with a group of data sets containing information descriptive of a plurality of digital media files acquired by other users;

generating a genre score that represents a degree of similarity between the genre descriptors;

generating an artist score that represents a degree of similarity between the artist descriptors;

generating an album score that represents a degree of similarity between the album descriptors;

generating a title score that represents a degree of similarity between the title descriptors;

generating a plurality of overall scores for the first and the other users based on an amount of descriptive information that is common between the first data set associated with the first user and each data set of the group of data sets associated with each other user, wherein each overall score represents a degree of similarity between the plurality of media files acquired by the first user and the plurality of media files acquired by each other user;

searching a plurality of user profile records that include personal identifying characteristics of the respective users to identify one or more of the plurality of user profile records whose personal identifying characteristics match a received criteria;

identifying at least one data set associated with one of the other users whose generated overall score exceeds a threshold degree of commonality with the first data set;

for at least one genre that is common between the first data set and the at least one other data set, identifying one or more media titles from the at least one data set that do not exist in the first data set;

transmitting, by a network interface coupled to the processor, the identified media titles from the at least one data set that do not exist in the first data set to the first user; and

transmitting to the first user an indication of the one or more of the plurality of user profile records whose personal identifying characteristics match the received criteria.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the genres are musical genres and the media titles are song titles.

17. The method of claim 8 further comprising displaying to the first user, on a display, each of the generated overall scores, a user name of an other user associated with each of the generated overall scores, and a member link associated with each of the user names.

10. A server comprising:

at least one network interface card configured to transmit and receive messages across a communication network,

a memory configured with a database of media records and user profile records, where the media records store information descriptive of media libraries that are associated with respective users, and each user profile record stores personal identifying characteristics associated with one of the respective users;

a processor, and

at least one bus interconnecting the at least one network interface card, the memory, and the processor, wherein

the processor is configured to;

receive search criteria from a first user,

search at least some of the user profile records to identify a set of user profile records that match the received search criteria,

compare a first media record of a first user with a second media record of a second user whose user profile record matched the received search criteria,

in response to the comparison, identify descriptive information that is common between the first media record of the first user and the second media record of the second user, wherein the descriptive information includes a genre descriptor, an artist descriptor, an album descriptor, and a title descriptor,

generate a genre score that represents a degree of similarity between the genre descriptors,

generate an artist score that represents a degree of similarity between the artist descriptors,

generate an album score that represents a degree of similarity between the album descriptors,

generate a title score that represents a degree of similarity between the title descriptors,

generate an overall score for the first and second users based on an amount of the descriptive information that is common between the first media record of the first user and the second media record of the second user, wherein the generated overall score for the first and second users represents a degree of similarity between the media library of the first user and the media library of the second user whose user profile record matched the received search criteria, and

cooperate with the at least one network interface card to transmit the generated overall score for the first and second users to the first user.

11. The server of claim 10 wherein a category of descriptive information stored in the media records includes one or more of an artist name, a song title, an album title, and a musical genre.

12. The server of claim 11 wherein

the processor is further configured to apply at least one algorithm to generate the overall score, and

the at least one algorithm includes a first weighting for the musical genre and a second weighting for the artist name.

13. The server of claim 10 wherein the received search criteria include one or more of a sex, an age, and a location.

14. The server of claim 10 wherein at least one of the user profile records and the media records are stored remotely to the server.

15. The server of claim 10 wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive the descriptive information from the respective users; and

convert the descriptive information received from each user into one of the media records, wherein the media records have a common structure.