Shuffling playback content based on multiple criteria

• US 8,762,423 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2012
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Naftolin, Jordan B., Abanami, Thamer A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jami, Hares
• Application Number:
  US13/462,519
• Publication Number:
  US 20120215331A1
• Time in Patent Office: 783 Days
• Field of Search: 707/790, 707/791, 707/800, 707/803, 707/999.3, 707/999.1, 715/716, 715/730
• US Class Current: 707/803
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4387 by the use of playlists

Abstract

Each of one or more songs in a song list is analyzed to determine whether the song satisfies a set of criteria at its current location. For each of the one or more songs that satisfies the set of criteria, the song is kept at its current location in the song list. For each of the one or more songs that does not satisfy the set of criteria, an attempt is made to select (e.g., randomly) another song in an unprocessed portion of the song list that satisfies the set of criteria. If a selected song satisfies the set of criteria then the song and the selected song are swapped. However, if greater than a threshold number of attempts to select a song that satisfies the set of criteria are made, then the song is kept at its current location in the song list.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable storage memories embodying computer-readable instructions, which, when executed, implement a method comprising:

obtaining musical preference information from a social network service for a user of the social network;

determining criteria for shuffling a song list based on the musical preference information obtained from the social network; and

generating a shuffled list of songs for the user by;

selecting a first song from a current location in the song list;

determining whether the first song satisfies the criteria that are based on the musical preference information; and

if the first song satisfies the criteria that are based on the musical preference information then keeping the first song in the current location in the song list; and

if the first song does not satisfy the criteria that are based on the musical preference information then,

attempting to find a second song in the song list that satisfies the criteria by randomly selecting the second song from the song list and checking whether the second song satisfies the criteria,

swapping the first song and the second song if the second song satisfies the criteria, and

if a number of attempts to randomly select a song that satisfies the criteria exceeds a threshold number of attempts without randomly selecting a song satisfying the criteria, then keeping the first song at its current location in the song list, the threshold number of attempts corresponding to at least one of a fixed number of songs or a number of songs relative to a number of songs in the song list.

2. The one or more computer-readable storage memories of claim 1, wherein the musical preference information is obtained from at least one of a profile that corresponds to the user on the social network or a profile that corresponds to a friend of the user on the social network.

3. The one or more computer-readable storage memories of claim 1, wherein the musical preference information corresponds to songs that are identified as being liked by the user.

4. The one or more computer-readable storage memories of claim 1, wherein the musical preference information corresponds to artists that are identified as being liked by the user.

5. The one or more computer-readable storage memories of claim 1, wherein the musical preference information corresponds to indications of songs that are identified as being liked by friends of the user on the social network.

6. The one or more computer-readable storage memories of claim 1, wherein the musical preference information corresponds to indications of artists that are identified as being liked by friends of the user on the social network.

7. The one or more computer-readable storage memories of claim 1, wherein the song list is initially shuffled to have a random ordering of songs.

8. The one or more computer-readable storage memories of claim 1, wherein the criteria further include a frequency at which songs that are identified as being liked by the user, and a frequency at which songs by artists that are identified as being liked by the user occur in the shuffled list of songs.

9. A method for generating a shuffle list in a device, the method comprising:

obtaining musical preference information for a user of the device from a social network service;

analyzing, by the device, each of one or more songs in a song list to determine whether the song satisfies a set of shuffling criteria at a current location in the song list to generate a shuffled list of songs for playback, the set of shuffling criteria includes criteria that are based on the musical preference information obtained for the user of the device from the social network service;

for each song that satisfies the set of shuffling criteria, keeping the song at the current location in the song list; and

for each song that does not satisfy the set of shuffling criteria, attempting to randomly select a song in a portion of the song list that satisfies the set of shuffling criteria, and;

if a randomly selected song satisfies the set of shuffling criteria then swapping a song that does not satisfy the set of shuffling criteria with the randomly selected song, and

if a number of attempts to randomly select a song that satisfies the set of shuffling criteria exceeds a threshold without a randomly selected song satisfying the set of shuffling criteria, then keeping a song that does not satisfy the set of shuffling criteria at the current location in the song list, the threshold number of attempts corresponding to at least one of a fixed number of songs or a number of songs relative to a number of songs in the song list.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

using, after keeping songs at their current locations or swapping songs with different songs, the song list as the shuffled list of songs for shuffle playback; and

playing back songs in the order of the shuffled list of songs.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the musical preference information is obtained from a profile that corresponds to the user of the device.

12. A method comprising:

obtaining musical preference information from a social network service for a user of the social network;

determining criteria for shuffling a song list based on the musical preference information obtained from the social network; and

generating a shuffled list of songs for the user by;

selecting a first song from a current location in the song list;

determining whether the first song satisfies the criteria that are based on the musical preference information; and

if the first song satisfies the criteria that are based on the musical preference information then keeping the first song in the current location in the song list; and

if the first song does not satisfy the criteria that are based on the musical preference information then,

attempting to find a second song in the song list that satisfies the criteria by randomly selecting the second song from the song list and checking whether the second song satisfies the criteria,

swapping the first song and the second song if the second song satisfies the criteria, and

if a number of attempts to randomly select a song that satisfies the criteria exceeds a threshold number of attempts without randomly selecting a song satisfying the criteria, then keeping the first song at its current location in the song list, the threshold number of attempts corresponding to at least one of a fixed number of songs or a number of songs relative to a number of songs in the song list.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the musical preference information is obtained from at least one of a profile that corresponds to the user on the social network or a profile that corresponds to a friend of the user on the social network.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the musical preference information corresponds to songs that are identified as being liked by the user.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the musical preference information corresponds to artists that are identified as being liked by the user.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the musical preference information corresponds to indications of songs that are identified as being liked by friends of the user on the social network.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the musical preference information corresponds to indications of artists that are identified as being liked by friends of the user on the social network.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the song list is initially shuffled to have a random ordering of songs.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the criteria further include a frequency at which songs that are identified as being liked by the user, and a frequency at which songs by artists that are identified as being liked by the user occur in the shuffled list of songs.