Digital audio services to augment broadcast radio

• US 9,330,647 B1
• Filed: 06/21/2012
• Issued: 05/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Crump, Edward Dietz, Bay, Daniel C
• Primary Examiner(s): Ferguson, Keith
• Application Number:
  US13/529,723
• Time in Patent Office: 1,412 Days
• Field of Search: 455 301- 306, 4554141-4144, 455/445, 455419-421, 455/412.1, 455/412.2, 455/426.1, 455/426.2, 4554561-4567, 455/550.1, 455/500, 455/517, 725 62- 72
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/635 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0025 Automatic or semi-automatic music composition, e.g. producing random music, applying rules from music theory or modifying a musical piece automatically producing a series of tones G10H1/26
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/141 Library retrieval matching, i.e. any of the steps of matching an inputted segment or phrase with musical database contents, e.g. query by humming, singing or playing; the steps may include, e.g. musical analysis of the input, musical feature extraction, query formulation, or details of the retrieval process
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/151 Thumbnail, i.e. retrieving, playing or managing a short and musically relevant song preview from a library, e.g. the chorus
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/305 Internet or TCP/IP protocol use for any electrophonic musical instrument data or musical parameter transmission purposes

Abstract

A broadcast radio architecture includes an internet-enabled radio and a remote audio services system. The internet-enabled radio receives broadcast audio content and plays through a speaker, the audio content that is received. The internet-enabled radio receives a user command to replay, from the beginning, a song that is currently being played. In response to the user command, the internet-enabled radio transmits over a network to the audio services system, a snippet of the song that is currently being played. Using the snippet of the song, the audio services system identifies a song from which the snippet was likely recorded and transmits a data stream that includes the song, in its entirety, back to the internet-enabled radio. To provide additional value, the audio services system may also identify and transmit to the internet-enabled radio, additional content that is deemed likely of interest to users interested in the identified song.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

at a client radio device;

receiving broadcast audio content that includes a song;

playing the song from the broadcast audio content;

receiving a command from a user to replay the song from a beginning of the song;

storing a snippet of the song;

transmitting a replay request to a remote server, the replay request including the snippet of the song;

at the remote server;

receiving the replay request including the snippet of the song;

using the snippet of the song to identify the song;

determining additional content likely to be of interest to the user;

transmitting, to the client radio device, a data stream that includes the song and the additional content.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the additional content is determined based at least in part on one or more of:

(1) an attribute of the song;

(2) user demographic data;

(3) user preferences;

(4) song replay requests;

(5) user purchase data;

or

(6) a current location of the client radio device.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the additional content comprises one or more of:

(1) a recommendation to listen to another song that is indicated as being similar to the song;

(2) a recommendation to tune to a broadcast channel that broadcasts music that is indicated as being similar to the song;

(3) an advertisement;

(4) an offer to purchase a product associated with an artist of the song;

(5) an offer to purchase and download the song;

or

(6) an offer to purchase and download an album containing the song.

4. A method comprising:

receiving, from a remote device, a request to play, from a beginning, content that is at least one of currently being played or was previously played, the request including first data representing a snippet of the content;

based at least partly on the first data representing the snippet, identifying the content from which the snippet was recorded; and

transmitting second data representing at least one of a portion of the content or additional content that is associated with the content.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, further comprising:

based at least partly on identification of the content, determining additional information in which a user associated with the remote device is likely to be interested; and

transmitting the additional information to the remote device along with the second data.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein determining the additional information in which the user is likely to be interested comprises:

determining an attribute of the content; and

determining the additional information based at least in part on the attribute of the content.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the attribute of the content comprises one or more of:

(1) an artist;

(2) a genre;

(3) a mood;

or

(4) an album.

8. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein determining the additional information in which the user is likely to be interested comprises:

determining a user profile associated with the remote device; and

identifying the additional information based at least in part on the user profile.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein determining the user profile associated with the remote device comprises receiving user profile data from the remote device.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the request further includes the user profile data.

11. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the user profile comprises one or more of:

(1) user demographic data;

(2) user preferences;

(3) content replay requests;

or

(4) purchase data associated with the user.

12. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein determining the additional information in which the user is likely to be interested comprises:

determining a current location of the remote device; and

identifying the additional information based at least in part on the current location of the remote device.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein determining the current location of the remote device comprises receiving location information from the remote device using a global positioning system.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the request further includes the location information.

15. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the additional information comprises one or more of:

(1) a recommendation to listen to another content that is indicated as being similar to the content;

(2) a recommendation to tune to a broadcast channel that broadcasts other content that is indicated as being similar to the content;

(3) an advertisement;

(4) an offer to purchase a product associated with an artist of the content;

(5) an offer to purchase and download the content;

or

(6) an offer to purchase and download an album containing the content.

16. A device comprising:

an interface to receive broadcast audio content;

a speaker to output the broadcast audio content as the broadcast audio content is received;

a user interface to receive a command to replay, from a beginning, a song being output as part of the broadcast audio content;

an audio content buffer to store a snippet of the song; and

a network interface to;

transmit a request to replay the song, the request including the snippet; and

receive a data stream that includes the song.

17. The device as recited in claim 16, wherein the broadcast audio content is broadcast over a radio frequency and the interface to receive the broadcast audio content comprises a radio-frequency antenna and a tuner.

18. The device as recited in claim 16, wherein the user interface comprises a microphone and the command to replay the song is received as a voice command.

19. The device as recited in claim 16, wherein the user interface comprises a hardware button for inputting a replay command.

20. The device as recited in claim 16, wherein the user interface comprises a touch screen displaying a touch-selectable button.

21. The device as recited in claim 16, wherein at least one of the audio content buffer or a second audio content buffer is configured to continuously record the broadcast audio content as the broadcast audio content is received.

22. The device as recited in claim 16, wherein the audio content buffer is configured to begin recording the broadcast audio content in response to the user command being received.

23. The device as recited in claim 16, wherein the network interface comprises a wireless interface module to facilitate communication with a wireless network.

24. An audio services system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory accessible by the one or more processors;

a module stored in the memory and executable on the one or more processors to;

receive, from a remote device, a request to replay, from a beginning, content, the request including data representing a snippet of the content; and

based at least partly on the data representing the snippet, identify the content from which the snippet was recorded; and

a network interface to transmit a data stream including at least a portion of the content.

25. The audio services system as recited in claim 24, further comprising:

a related content identification module stored in the memory and executable on the one or more processors to determine, based at least in part on one or more attributes of the content, additional content that is likely to be of interest to a user associated with the remote device; and

wherein the data stream that includes the at least the portion of the content further includes the additional content.

26. One or more non-transitory computer readable media storing instructions that, when executed on one or more processors, perform operations comprising:

receiving broadcast audio content;

playing a song from the broadcast audio content;

receiving a request to replay from a beginning, the song being played, the request including a snippet of the song being played;

storing the snippet of the song being played;

analyzing the snippet to identify the song from which the snippet was recorded;

receiving a data stream that includes the song that was identified from the snippet; and

playing, from the beginning, the song from the data stream.

27. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media as recited in claim 26, wherein:

the receiving and playing the broadcast audio content, the receiving the request, the storing the snippet, the receiving the data stream, and the playing, from the beginning, the song are performed by a first device at a first location; and

the snippet is analyzed by a second device at a second location.

28. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media as recited in claim 26, further comprising:

determining additional information separate from the song; and

presenting the additional information in addition to playing the song.

29. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media as recited in claim 28, wherein the additional information includes at least one of recommendations, directions, offers to purchase, or advertisements.