Multi-input playlist selection

• US 9,355,174 B2
• Filed: 02/05/2013
• Issued: 05/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iHeartMedia Management Services, Inc. (iHeartMedia, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: iHeartMedia Management Services, Inc. (iHeartMedia, Inc.)
• Inventors: Moss, Michael, Calamera, Pablo M., Sult, Ryan R., Hamre, Lasse, Radley, Steven F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Spieler, William
• Application Number:
  US13/759,540
• Publication Number:
  US 20140074846A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,211 Days
• Field of Search: 707/722, 707/723
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• 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: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets

Abstract

A computer-implemented process comprises identifying, by a computer server system, a base topic for a personalized media stream for a user of a computer system; identifying, with the computer server system, a plurality of media items associated with the base topic using a plurality of different and independent categories of media categorization data, wherein each of the categories of media categorization data is assigned a weighting; building a collection of candidate media items from the identified plurality of media items; ordering the collection of candidate media items to form a personalized media stream; and providing the ordered collection of candidate media items for playing to the user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented process, comprising:

identifying, by a computer server system, a base topic of a personalized media stream;

identifying, with the computer server system, a first media item associated with the base topic based on first data from a first source, wherein the first data is assigned a first weighting of the first source, and wherein the first weighting of the first source is based on a first plurality of factors, wherein the first plurality of factors comprises an identified level of familiarity associated with the base topic and an identified level of popularity in another personalized media stream;

identifying, with the computer server system, a second media item associated with the base topic based on second data from a second source, wherein the second data is assigned a second weighting of the second source, and wherein the second weighting of the second source is based on a second plurality of factors;

building a collection of candidate media items that includes the first and second media items;

ordering the collection of candidate media items to form the personalized media stream, wherein ordering the collection includes ordering the first media item within the collection based on the first weighting and ordering the second media item within the collection based on the second weighting; and

communicating the personalized media stream to a client device for playback.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein the base topic comprises a song title, an artist, a genre, or a mood.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of factors further comprises a level of influence by a particular type of media categorization data associated with the first data and an identified integrity of the first source.

4. The process of claim 3, wherein the identified integrity of the first source is based on a correlation between particular categories associated with the first data.

5. The process of claim 1, further comprising identifying that the collection of candidate media items is deficient and applying a media selection override to identify a second plurality of candidate media items.

6. The process of claim 1, wherein the first source and the second source are associated with different types of media categorization data, the media categorization data including at least two of broadcast radio spin counts, acoustic analysis data, data derived from analysis of web pages, commercially-sourced media meta data, or data that indicates public user interaction with media-related entities.

7. The process of claim 1, wherein ordering the collection of candidate media items comprises changing an initial order of the collection of candidate media items to place the candidate media items into regulatory or licensing compliance.

8. The process of claim 1, wherein ordering the collection of candidate media items comprises sorting the candidate media items by a determined popularity.

9. The process of claim 8, wherein the popularity is determined using broadcast radio spin counts.

10. The process of claim 1, wherein ordering the collection of candidate media items comprises biasing a play order according to artist similarity to the base topic.

11. The process of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of factors comprises a market characteristic associated with the first data.

12. A computer-readable storage device having instructions encoded therein that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

identifying, by a computer server system, a base topic of a personalized media stream;

identifying, with the computer server system, a first media item associated with the base topic based on first data from a first source, wherein the first data is assigned a first weighting of the first source, and wherein the first weighting of the first source is based on a first plurality of factors, wherein the first plurality of factors comprises an identified level of familiarity associated with the base topic and an identified level of popularity in another personalized media stream;

identifying, with the computer server system, a second media item associated with the base topic based on second data from a second source, wherein the second data is assigned a second weighting of the second source, and wherein the second weighting of the second source is based on a second plurality of factors;

building a collection of candidate media items that includes the first and second media items;

ordering the collection of candidate media items to form the personalized media stream, wherein ordering the collection includes ordering the first media item within the collection based on the first weighting and ordering the second media item within the collection based on the second weighting; and

communicating the personalized media stream to a client device for playback.

13. The computer-readable storage device of claim 12, wherein the base topic comprises a song title, an artist, a genre, or a mood.

14. The computer-readable storage device of claim 12, wherein the first plurality of factors further comprises an identified integrity of the first source.

15. The computer-readable storage device of claim 12, further comprising identifying that the collection of candidate media items is deficient and applying a media selection override to identify a second plurality of candidate media items.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 12, wherein the first source and the second source are associated with different types of media categorization data, the media categorization data including at least two of broadcast radio spin counts, acoustic analysis data, data derived from analysis of web pages, commercially-sourced media meta data, or data that indicates public user interaction with media-related entities.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 12, wherein ordering the collection of candidate media items comprises changing an initial order of the collection of candidate media items to place the candidate media items into regulatory or licensing compliance.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 12, wherein ordering the collection of candidate media items comprises sorting the candidate media items by a determined popularity.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the popularity is determined using broadcast radio station spin counts.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 12, wherein ordering the collection of candidate media items comprises biasing a play order according to artist similarity to the base topic.