Method and system for managing playlists

• US 9,396,193 B2
• Filed: 05/07/2012
• Issued: 07/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Excalibur IP, LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Inventors: Ott, Edward Stanley IV
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEEMA, AZAM M
• Application Number:
  US13/465,823
• Publication Number:
  US 20120271893A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,534 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/435 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4387 by the use of playlists

Abstract

The present invention relates to a computerized method and systems for managing feeds so that a user'"'"'s playlists may be automatically updated in accordance with a user'"'"'s desired media preferences.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device on a network, a first subscription request to add a feed to a playlist of a user, the feed comprising a plurality of episodes, said first subscription request resulting in creation of a subscription for the feed;

querying, via the computing device, network storage storing said feed to determine availability of the episodes for inclusion in said subscription;

obtaining, via the computing device based on said query, first information relating to a first episode of the plurality of episodes of the feed, said first information comprising descriptive information related to the first episode, said obtaining comprising tagging the first episode with a keyword that describes the descriptive information comprised within the first information and is generated in association with a categorical designation of the feed;

concomitantly associating, via the computing device, the first information with the playlist of the user upon obtaining the first information, said association occurring at a location on the network; and

causing, via the computing device, communication of at least one of the episodes of the feed, said communication enabling said user to access said feed and download the at least one communicated episode.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining second information relating to a second one of the episodes of the feed;

associating the second information with the playlist of the user.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

automatically disassociating the first information from the playlist.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the automatically disassociating step is concomitant to the obtaining second information step.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

automatically populating a portion of the playlist with at least a portion of the first information in response to the associating step.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

automatically removing the at least a portion of the first information from the playlist in response to the associating the second information step.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the automatically disassociating step comprises:

comparing data associated the first one of the episodes to episode removal criteria; and

completing the automatically removing step when the data are in accordance with the episode removal criteria.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the data are one or more of episode creation date data, episode download date data, episode access date data, episode review data, episode author data, episode character data, episode distributor data, episode volume data, episode number data, episode file size data and feed data.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the data comprises the number of episodes of the media episodes associated with a portion of the playlist.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

indicating that the first one of the episodes is available for review.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the indicating step comprises:

sending an e-mail to the user.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the indicating step comprises:

displaying a message on a graphical user interface.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the displaying step occurs concomitant to activation of software associated with the playlist.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the displaying step occurs after the obtaining first information step.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to the associating step, defining a user-selected portion of the playlist for receiving ones of the episodes.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the associating step comprises:

automatically associating at least a portion of the first information with the user-selected portion of the playlist.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing comprises:

streaming the first one of the episodes to the user.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after the accessing, automatically removing the first information from the playlist.

19. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium tangibly encoded with computer-executable instructions, which when executed by a computing device, perform a method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device on a network, a first subscription request to add a feed to a playlist of a user, the feed comprising a plurality of episodes, said first subscription request resulting in creation of a subscription for the feed;

querying, via the computing device, network storage storing said feed to determine availability of the episodes for inclusion in said subscription;

obtaining, via the computing device based on said query, first information relating to a first episode of the plurality of episodes of the feed, said first information comprising descriptive information related to the first episode, said obtaining comprising tagging the first episode with a keyword that describes the descriptive information comprised within the first information and is generated in association with a categorical designation of the feed;

concomitantly associating, via the computing device, the first information with the playlist of the user upon obtaining the first information, said association occurring at a location on the network; and

causing, via the computing device, communication of at least one of the episodes of the feed, said communication enabling said user to access said feed and download the at least one communicated episode.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, further comprising:

obtaining second information relating to a second one of the episodes of the feed;

associating the second information with the playlist of the user; and

after the associating step, automatically disassociating the first information from the playlist.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the automatically disassociating step is concomitant to the obtaining second information step.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, further comprising:

automatically populating a portion of the playlist with at least a portion of the first information in response to the associating step.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, further comprising:

automatically removing the at least a portion of the first information from the playlist in response to the associating the second information step.

24. A system comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic comprising;

logic executed by the processor for receiving, on a network, a first subscription request to add a feed to a playlist of a user, the feed comprising a plurality of episodes, said first subscription request resulting in creation of a subscription for the feed;

logic executed by the processor for querying, via the computing device, network storage storing said feed to determine availability of the episodes for inclusion in said subscription;

logic executed by the processor for obtaining, via the computing device based on said query, first information relating to a first episode of the plurality of episodes of the feed, said first information comprising descriptive information related to the first episode, said obtaining comprising tagging the first episode with a keyword that describes the descriptive information comprised within the first information and is generated in association with a categorical designation of the feed;

logic executed by the processor for concomitantly associating the first information with the playlist of the user upon obtaining the first information, said association occurring at a location on the network; and

logic executed by the processor for causing communication of at least one of the episodes of the feed, said communication enabling said user to access said feed and download the at least one communicated episode.