Systems and methods for optimizing the broadcast of multimedia

• US 9,854,286 B1
• Filed: 04/08/2008
• Issued: 12/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snap One LLC (Snap One Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Control4 Corporation (Snap One Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Howard, Michael L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn, Nathan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kurien, Christine
• Application Number:
  US12/099,703
• Time in Patent Office: 3,549 Days
• Field of Search: 725 34, 725 44, 725 69
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38

Abstract

A method for optimizing the broadcast of multimedia is described. Multimedia is broadcast to at least one multimedia user device. User information is received from the at least one multimedia user device. The user information relates to user behavior from the at least one multimedia user device. The user information is processed to select future multimedia to broadcast. The future multimedia is broadcast.

Claims

1. A method for optimized broadcasting, comprising:

broadcasting multimedia to a first multimedia user device and a second multimedia user device from a multimedia broadcast system;

receiving user information by the multimedia broadcast system from the first multimedia user device and the second multimedia user device, wherein the user information received at the multimedia broadcast system from the first multimedia user device comprises an indication that a user skipped over a first multimedia file while using the first multimedia user device, wherein the multimedia broadcast system stores information identifying multimedia files that the user has not yet viewed or listened to, wherein the user information received at the multimedia broadcast system further comprises multimedia purchasing behavior for the user while using the second multimedia user device, wherein the second multimedia user device transmits to the multimedia broadcast system an indication that the user chose not to purchase a second multimedia file that has been broadcast to the second multimedia user device;

processing the user information to select future multimedia to broadcast that will optimize multimedia sales; and

broadcasting the future multimedia based on a broadcast restriction that restricts the broadcast of the future multimedia based on how recently the future multimedia was broadcast to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia sales comprise sales that are initiated at one of the multimedia user devices.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia comprises audio.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia comprises video.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia purchasing behavior indicates whether a purchase was initiated at the second multimedia user device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia is broadcast using radio broadcasts.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia is broadcast using Internet radio broadcasts.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia is broadcast using Internet TV.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia is broadcast using RSS feeds.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast restriction limits the broadcasting of the future multimedia based on at least one of a time-of-day restriction, a previous hour restriction, a previous day restriction and a previous week restriction.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the multimedia comprises audio files.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the multimedia user devices receives commands from a multimedia user device remote control via a wireless connection according to Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.4 standard.

10. A system that is configured to optimize broadcasting, the system comprising:

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor;

a multimedia database in electronic communication with the processor;

instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable to;

broadcast multimedia to a first multimedia user device and a second multimedia user device;

receive user information by the system from the first multimedia user device and the second multimedia user device, wherein the user information received at the system from the first multimedia user device comprises an indication that a user skipped over a first multimedia file while using the first multimedia user device, wherein the multimedia broadcast system stores information identifying multimedia files that the user has not yet viewed or listened to, wherein the user information received at the multimedia broadcast system further comprises multimedia purchasing behavior for the user while using the second multimedia user device, wherein the second multimedia user device transmits to the multimedia broadcast system an indication that the user chose not to purchase a second multimedia file that has been broadcast to the second multimedia user device;

process the user information to select future multimedia to broadcast that will optimize multimedia sales; and

broadcast the future multimedia based on a broadcast restriction that restricts the broadcast of the future multimedia based on how recently the future multimedia was broadcast to the user.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the multimedia sales comprise sales that are initiated at one of the multimedia user devices.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the multimedia comprises audio.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the multimedia comprises video.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the multimedia purchasing behavior indicates whether a purchase was initiated at the second multimedia user device.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the multimedia is broadcast using radio broadcasts.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the multimedia is broadcast using Internet radio broadcasts.

17. A system that is configured to determine audio selections to broadcast in order to optimize sales, the system comprising:

an audio broadcast system comprising;

an audio database;

a data collection and processing component that is programmed to collect user information and determine the audio selections to broadcast in order to optimize sales based on the user information, wherein the user information received at the audio broadcast system from the first multimedia user device comprises an indication that a user skipped over a first multimedia file while using the first multimedia user device, wherein the multimedia broadcast system stores information identifying multimedia files that the user has not yet viewed or listened to, wherein the user information received at the multimedia broadcast system further comprises multimedia purchasing behavior for the user while using the second multimedia user device, wherein the second multimedia user device transmits to the multimedia broadcast system an indication that the user chose not to purchase a second multimedia file that has been broadcast to the second multimedia user device, and wherein the data collection and processing component of the audio broadcast system receives the user information; and

an audio server that broadcasts the audio selections based on a broadcast restriction that restricts the broadcast of the audio selections based on how recently the audio selections were broadcast to the user;

a plurality of multimedia user devices that comprises at least the first multimedia user device and the second multimedia user device, wherein each multimedia user device comprises;

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor; and

instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable to;

play audio on the multimedia user device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein each multimedia user device further comprises a purchase input in electronic communication with the processor.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions are further executable to send device user information to the audio broadcast system from the multimedia user device.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein:

the audio database comprises a first audio file and a second audio file;

the collected user information comprises an indication that the first audio file is more popular than the second audio file; and

the data collection and processing component assigns a higher weight to the first audio file than to the second audio file based on the indication that the first audio file is more popular than the second audio file.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one of the multimedia user devices receives commands from a multimedia user device remote control via infrared, wherein the multimedia user device remote control comprises a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen that displays the following metadata:

title, artist and price of a multimedia file being played.