Collaborative event playlist systems and methods

• US 9,436,929 B2
• Filed: 01/24/2012
• Issued: 09/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Oliver, Michael R., Roberts, Brian F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Homayounmehr, Farid
• Assistant Examiner(s): SARKER, SANCHIT K
• Application Number:
  US13/356,834
• Publication Number:
  US 20130191454A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,687 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/639 using playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Exemplary collaborative event playlist systems and methods are disclosed herein. An exemplary system includes a moderator device located at an event premises, connected to a local area network at the event premises, and hosting a collaborative event playlist for playback at an event at the event premises. The system further includes a participant device located at the event premises, connected to the local area network at the event premises, and configured to communicate with the moderator device by way of the local area network to participate in populating the collaborative event playlist with a song to which the participant device has access rights. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a moderator device located at an event premises, connected to a local area network at the event premises, and hosting a collaborative event playlist for playback at an event at the event premises; and

a plurality of participant devices located at the event premises, connected to the local area network at the event premises, and configured to communicate with the moderator device by way of the local area network to participate in populating the collaborative event playlist with a plurality of songs to which at least one of the plurality of participant devices has access rights;

wherein the moderator device;

provides a user interface for display on a display screen of the moderator device;

receives, when the collaborative event playlist is created, a user input that is entered by way of the user interface by a moderator of the collaborative event playlist and that selects a first set of parameters for the collaborative event playlist, the first set of parameters specifying types of songs that are blacklisted from being added to the collaborative event playlist;

defines, based on data received from the plurality of participant devices that includes attributes of the plurality of songs to which the at least one of the plurality of participant devices has access rights, a second set of parameters for the collaborative event playlist, the second set of parameters indicative of a collective popularity of songs to which the plurality of participant devices have access rights;

populates, based on both the first set of parameters selected by the moderator and the second set of parameters that are indicative of the collective popularity of the songs, the collaborative event playlist with songs included in the plurality of songs;

sends, as the plurality of participant devices connected to the local area network changes when users of the plurality of participant devices come and go from the event premises during the live event, an invitation message to one or more of the plurality of participant devices to invite the one or more of the plurality of participant devices to participate in the collaborative event playlist;

determines, as the plurality of participant devices connected to the local area network changes when the users of the plurality of participant devices come and go from the event premises during the event and based on additional data received from the one or more of the plurality of participant devices, that a plurality of music libraries associated with the plurality of participant devices include at least a majority of songs associated with an additional set of parameters that is different from the first set of parameters;

automatically changes or overrides the first set of parameters for the collaborative event playlist based on the additional set of parameters; and

populates, based on the additional set of parameters, the collaborative event playlist with additional songs included in the plurality of songs that, before the automatically changing or overriding of the first set of parameters, were blacklisted and would not have been allowed, by the moderator device, to be added to the collaborative event playlist.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the moderator device and a participant device included in the plurality of participant devices are associated with different users attending the event at the event premises.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein:

the moderator device is operated by the moderator of the collaborative event playlist; and

the participant device is operated by a participant in the populating of the collaborative event playlist.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein:

the participant device has access to a personal music library of the participant; and

a song included in the plurality of songs is included in the personal music library of the participant.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the personal music library of the participant is stored at least one of by the participant device in local memory and by an online media content hosting server device accessible by the participant device by way of a wide area network.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the moderator device:

accesses and plays a song included in the plurality of songs at the event in accordance with the collaborative event playlist.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the moderator device leverages the access rights of a participant device included in the plurality of participant devices to access and play the song at the event in accordance with the collaborative event playlist.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the moderator device accesses the song by receiving information associated with the song from a participant device included in the plurality of participant devices by way of the local area network and using the information to request and receive a stream carrying data representative of the song from a media content server device by way of a wide area network.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the moderator device accesses the song by receiving a stream carrying the song from a participant device included in the plurality of participant devices by way of the local area network.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the moderator device accesses the song by obtaining a temporary copy of the entire song in advance of the moderator device initiating playback of the song at the event.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the event comprises a party;

the event premises comprises a physical premises at which the party is hosted;

the local area network comprises a Wi-Fi network; and

the plurality of participant devices comprise mobile devices of the users attending the party.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the moderator device:

notifies one or more participants of an addition of a song included in the plurality of songs to the collaborative event playlist;

receives one or more participant votes provided by the one or more participants and indicating whether to keep the song on the collaborative event playlist; and

selectively plays or does not play the song at the event in accordance with the collaborative event playlist based on the one or more participant votes.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the moderator device:

receives feedback about a song included in the plurality of songs from one or more participants; and

modifies one or more parameters included in the set of parameters or in the additional set of parameters for the collaborative event playlist based on the feedback.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein after the event ends the moderator device publishes information about the collaborative event playlist to a server device accessible by way of a wide area network.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the moderator device further sends together with the invitation message an invitation for the one or more of the plurality of participant devices to download and install a collaborative playlist application on the one or more of the plurality of participant devices.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the moderator device further determines a predefined participation level for the users associated with the one or more of the plurality of participant devices, the predefined participation level including the users associated with the one or more of the plurality of participant devices being authorized to participate in the collaborative event playlist as one of collaborative participants and non-collaborative participants.

17. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a collaborative playlist facility that directs the processor to;

host a collaborative event playlist for playback at an event at an event premises;

provide a user interface for display on a display screen of a moderator device;

receive, when the collaborative event playlist is created, a user input that is entered by way of the user interface by a moderator of the collaborative event playlist and that selects a first set of parameters for the collaborative event playlist, the user input provided by a moderator of the collaborative event playlist, and the first set of parameters specifying types of songs that are blacklisted from being added to the collaborative event playlist;

define, based on data received from a plurality of participant devices that includes attributes of a plurality of songs to which at least one of the plurality of participant devices has access rights, a second set of parameters for the collaborative event playlist, the second set of parameters indicative of a collective popularity of songs to which the plurality of participant devices have access rights;

populate, based on both the first set of parameters selected by the moderator and the second set of parameters that are indicative of the collective popularity of the songs, the collaborative event playlist with songs included in the plurality of songs;

leverage the access rights of a participant device included in the plurality of participant devices to access and play a song included in the plurality of songs at the event in accordance with the collaborative event playlist after the song is populated in the collaborative event playlist;

send, as the plurality of participant devices connected to a local area network changes when users of the plurality of participant devices come and go from the event premises during the live event, an invitation message to one or more of the plurality of participant devices to invite the one or more of the plurality of participant devices to participate in the collaborative event playlist;

determine, as the plurality of participant devices connected to the local area network at the event premises changes when the users of the plurality of participant devices come and go from the event premises during the event and based on additional data received from the one or more of the plurality of participant devices, that a plurality of music libraries associated with the plurality of participant devices include at least a majority of songs associated with an additional set of parameters that is different from the first set of parameters;

automatically change or override the first set of parameters for the collaborative event playlist based on the additional set of parameters; and

populate, based on the additional set of parameters, the collaborative event playlist with additional songs that, before the automatically changing or overriding of the first set of parameters, were blacklisted and would not have been allowed, by the moderator device, to be added to the collaborative event playlist.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the collaborative playlist facility directs the processor to access the song by requesting and receiving information associated with the song from the participant device by way of the local area network and using the information to request and receive a stream carrying data representative of the song from a media content server device by way of a wide area network.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the media content server device stores data representative of a personal music library of a user of the participant device, the personal music library containing the song.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the collaborative playlist facility directs the processor to access the song by requesting and receiving a stream carrying the song from the participant device by way of the local area network.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the participant device stores data representative of a personal music library of a user of the participant device, the personal music library containing the song.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the collaborative playlist facility directs the processor to access the song by obtaining a temporary copy of the entire song in advance of the collaborative playlist facility directing the processor to initiate playback of the song at the event.

23. A method comprising:

hosting, by a moderator device located at an event premises, a collaborative event playlist for playback at an event at the event premises;

providing, by the moderator device, a user interface for display on a display screen of the moderator device;

receiving, by the moderator device when the collaborative event playlist is created, a user input that is entered by way of the user interface by a moderator of the collaborative event playlist and that selects a first set of parameters for the collaborative event playlist, the first set of parameters specifying types of songs that are blacklisted from being added to the collaborative event playlist;

defining, by the moderator device based on data received from a plurality of participant devices that includes attributes of a plurality of songs to which at least one of the plurality of participant devices has access rights, a second set of parameters for the collaborative event playlist, the second set of parameters indicative of a collective popularity of songs to which the plurality of participant devices have access rights;

populating, by the moderator device based on both the first set of parameters selected by the moderator and the second set of parameters that are indicative of the collective popularity of the songs, the collaborative event playlist with one or more songs included in a plurality of songs to which a plurality of participant devices located at the event premises have access rights;

leveraging, by the moderator device, the access rights of a participant device included in the plurality of participant devices to access and play a song included in the one or more songs at the event in accordance with the collaborative event playlist;

sending, by the moderator device as the plurality of participant devices connected to a local area network changes when users of the plurality of participant devices come and go from the event premises during the live event, an invitation message to one or more of the plurality of participant devices to invite the one or more of the plurality of participant devices to participate in the collaborative event playlist;

determining, by the moderator device as the plurality of participant devices connected to the local area network at the event premises changes when the users of the plurality of participant devices come and go from the event premises during the event and based on additional data received from the one or more of the plurality of participant devices, that a plurality of music libraries associated with the plurality of participant devices include at least a majority of songs associated with an additional set of parameters that is different from the first set of parameters;

automatically changing or overriding, by the moderator device, the first set of parameters for the collaborative event playlist based on the additional set of parameters; and

populating, by the moderator device based on the additional set of parameters, the collaborative event playlist with one or more additional songs included in the plurality of songs that, before the automatically changing or overriding of the first set of parameters, were blacklisted and would not have been allowed, by the moderator device, to be added to the collaborative event playlist.

24. A method comprising:

hosting, by a moderator device located at an event premises, a collaborative event playlist for playback at an event at the event premises;

providing, by the moderator device, a user interface for display on a display screen of the moderator device;

receiving, by the moderator device when the collaborative event playlist is created, a user input that is entered by way of the user interface by a moderator of the collaborative event playlist and that selects a first set of parameters for the collaborative event playlist, the first set of parameters specifying types of songs that are blacklisted from being added to the collaborative event playlist;

defining, by the moderator device based on data received from a plurality of participant devices that includes attributes of a plurality of songs to which at least one of the plurality of participant devices has access rights, a second set of parameters for the collaborative event playlist, the second set of parameters indicative of a collective popularity of songs to which the plurality of participant devices have access rights;

analyzing, by the moderator device, a plurality of music libraries associated with a plurality of event attendees;

populating, by the moderator device based on the analyzing of the plurality of music libraries associated with the plurality of event attendees and on both the first set of parameters selected by the moderator and the second set of parameters that are indicative of the collective popularity of the songs, the collaborative event playlist with a song included in the plurality of music libraries;

accessing and playing the song at the event premises in accordance with the collaborative event playlist;

sending, by the moderator device as the plurality of participant devices connected to a local area network changes when the plurality of attendees that are associated with the plurality of participant devices come and go from the event premises during the live event, an invitation message to one or more of the plurality of participant devices to invite the one or more of the plurality of participant devices to participate in the collaborative event playlist;

determining, by the moderator device as the plurality of participant devices connected to the local area network changes when the plurality of attendees that are associated with the plurality of participant devices come and go from the event premises during the event and based on additional data received from the one or more of the plurality of participant devices, that the plurality of music libraries associated with the plurality of attendees include at least a majority of songs associated with an additional set of parameters that is different from the first set of parameters;

automatically changing or overriding, by the moderator device, the first set of parameters for the collaborative event playlist based on the additional set of parameters; and

populating, by the moderator device and based on the analyzing of the plurality of music libraries associated with the plurality of attendees and on the additional set of parameters, the collaborative event playlist with an additional song that is included in the plurality of music libraries and that, before the automatically changing or overriding of the first set of parameters, were blacklisted and would not have been allowed, by the moderator device, to be added to the collaborative event playlist.