Streaming media search and playback system for continuous playback of media resources through a network

• US 6,484,199 B2
• Filed: 03/22/2002
• Issued: 11/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Friskit
• Original Assignee: Friskit
• Inventors: Eyal, Aviv
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Krisna
• Application Number:
  US10/104,792
• Publication Number:
  US 20020116476A1
• Time in Patent Office: 242 Days
• Field of Search: 709/245, 709/231, 709/223, 707/10, 345/327
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4387 by the use of playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A search request is received over the network to play back media that satisfies one or more search criteria. A plurality of media resources are selected by comparing the search criteria to information associated with the media resources. A set of media resources is established based on the plurality of media resources Media resources that include the set of media resources are played back through the network on a network enabled device. In response to termination of playback of a given media resource, playback of another media resource is automatically initiated.

Claims

1. A method for playing back media from a network, the method comprising:

receiving a search request over the network to play back media that satisfies one or more search criteria;

selecting a plurality of media resources by comparing the one or more search criteria to information associated with the media resources;

wherein a set of media resources is established based on the plurality of media resources; and

causing media resources, including the set of media resources, to be played back on a network enabled device, wherein media resources in the set of media resources are played back through the network;

wherein causing media resources to be played back includes, in response to termination of playback of a given media resource, automatically initiating playback of another media resource, wherein the other media resource is in the set of media resources.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein causing media resources to be played back includes directly accessing at lease one media resource at each of a plurality of network sites.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a plurality of media resources includes selecting a plurality of addresses using the one or more search criteria, wherein each of the plurality of addresses identifies a network site in a plurality of network sites, and wherein causing media resources to be played back includes programmatically controlling the network enabled device to use the plurality of addresses to automatically access and sequentially play back at least some of the media resources in the set of media resources.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein controlling the network enabled device to use the plurality of addresses includes sequentially playing back the media resources provided by at least some of the plurality of network sites.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a search request includes receiving the search criteria corresponding to an artist name, and wherein selecting a plurality of media resources includes selecting at least one media resource by comparing the artist name to information associated with the media resources.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a search request includes receiving the search criteria corresponding to a musical category, and wherein selecting a plurality of media resources includes selecting at least one media resource by comparing the musical category to information associated with the media resources.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein causing media resources to be played back includes signaling a plurality of uniform resource locators to a media playback component residing on the network enabled device, each of the plurality of uniform resource locators being for accessing at least one of the media resources in the set of media resources on a corresponding network site.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein signaling a plurality of uniform resource locators includes signaling at least one of the plurality of uniform resource locators to a web browser component residing on the network enabled device to cause a network page to be displayed while the media playback component plays back the media resource that is accessible by that uniform resource locator on the network enabled device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises enabling a user to select one or more media resources from the plurality of media resources in order to establish a play-list and wherein upon the user selecting the one or more media resources for the play-list, the method further comprises loading an address associated with each of the one or more media resources selected for the play-list into the media playback component in a designated order, so that each media resource identified in the play-list is played back sequentially in the designated order.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a plurality of media resources includes selecting the plurality of media resources from one or more servers over the network.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a plurality of media resources includes using a plurality of identifiers to select the plurality of media resources, wherein each identifier in the plurality of identifiers identifies a corresponding media resource in the plurality of media resources.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of selecting the plurality of media resources includes selecting media resources that are each associated with a distinct address to locate that media resource on the network.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein causing media resources to be played back includes causing one or more media resources that originate from a plurality of network sites to be played back.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a plurality of media resources includes determining that one or more media resources in the plurality of media resources are available for playback.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein causing media resources to be played back includes signaling the media resources, including media resources in the set of media resources, from a corresponding network site to a media player on a network enabled device.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a search request over the network includes receiving the search request from the network enabled device.

6. The method of clam 1, wherein receiving a search request includes receiving the search criteria corresponding to a title of a network media resource, and wherein selecting a plurality of media resources includes selecting at least one media resource by comparing the title to information associated with the media resources.

18. A method for playing back media from a network, the method comprising:

receiving a search request from a network enabled device to play back media that satisfies one or more search criteria;

selecting a plurality of media resources by comparing the one or more search criteria to information associated with the media resources;

wherein a set of media resources is established based on the plurality of media resources; and

causing one or more media resources in the set of media resources to be at least partially played back sequentially and automatically on the network enabled device through the network;

wherein causing one or more media resources in the set of media resources to be at least partially played back includes determining whether a media resource in the set of media resources is available for playback before at least partially playing back that media resource.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein causing one or more media resources in the set of media resources to be at least partially played back includes, in response to termination of playback of a first given media resource in the set of media resources, automatically determining whether a second given media resource in the set of media resources is available for playback, and playing back the second given media resource by determining that the second given media resource is available for playback.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein causing one or more media resources in the set of media resources to be at least partially played back includes automatically initiating playback of a second given media resource in the set of media resources upon determining that a first given media resource in the set of media resources is unavailable.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein causing one or more media resources in the set of media resources to be at least partially played back includes automatically initiating playback of a second given media resource in the set of media resources in response to detecting occurrence of any one condition from a plurality of predetermined termination conditions.

22. A method for playing back media from a network, the method comprising:

sending a search request from a network enabled device over the network to play back media that satisfies one or more search criteria; and

playing back media resources on said network enabled device, including a set of media resources that are received over the network, wherein the media resources are selected, at least in part, based on a comparison between the one or more search criteria to information associated with the media resources;

wherein playing back media resources includes, in response to termination of playback of a given media resource, automatically initiating playback of another media resource in the set of media resources.

23. The method of claim 22, automatically initiating playback of another media resource includes automatically receiving instructions from another computer to cause playback of another media resource in the set of media resources.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein sending a search request from a network enabled device over the network to play back media that satisfies one or more search criteria includes sending a search request that includes the search criteria corresponding to an artist name.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein sending a search request from a network enabled device over the network to play back media that satisfies one or more search criteria includes sending a search request that includes the search criteria corresponding to a title of a media resource.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein sending a search request from a network enabled device over the network to play back media that satisfies one or more search criteria includes sending a search request that includes the search criteria corresponding to an artist name for a media resource.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein playing back media resources includes using a plurality of network addresses to access at least some of media resources in the set of media resources wherein each of the plurality of network addresses provides access to at least one of the media resources in the set.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein using a plurality of network addresses includes receiving the plurality of network addresses through a media playback component.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein using a plurality of network addresses includes using a plurality of uniform resource locators.

30. The method of claim 27, wberein using a plurality of network addresses includes using the plurality of network addresses to cause a media playback component on the network enabled device to sequentially access the media resources in the set.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising automatically using at least one of the network addresses associated with one or more of the media resources in the set of media resources with a browser in order to display a network page corresponding to one of the media resources in the set concurrently while playing back that corresponding media resource.

32. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

prior to playing back the set of media resources, arranging the set of media in a selected order, and

wherein playing back the set of media resources includes playing back the set of media resources in the selected order.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein arranging the set of media resources includes arranging the set of media resources for subsequent playback on another computer.

34. A machine-readable medium for playing back media from a network, the machine-readable medium including one or more modules which when executed by one or more processors, perform the steps of:

receiving a search request over the network from to play back media that satisfies one or more search criteria;

selecting a plurality of media resources by comparing the one or more search criteria to information associated with the media resources;

wherein a set of media resources is established based on the plurality of media resources; and

causing media resources, including the set of media resources, to be played back on a network enabled device, wherein media resources in the set of media resources are played back through the network;

wherein causing media resources to be played back includes, in response to termination of playback of a given media resource, automatically initiating playback of another media resource, wherein the other media resource is in the set of media resources.

35. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the step of causing media resources to be played back includes directly accessing at lease one media resource at each of a plurality of network sites.

36. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the step of selecting a plurality of media resources includes selecting a plurality of addresses using the one or more search criteria, wherein each of the plurality of addresses identifies a network site in a plurality of network sites, and wherein the step of causing media.resources to be played back includes programmatically controlling the network enabled device to use the plurality of addresses to automatically access and sequentially play back at least some of the media resources in the set of media resources.

37. The machine-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the step of controlling the network enabled device to use the plurality of addresses includes sequentially playing back the media provided by at least some of the plurality of sites.

38. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the step of receiving a search request includes receiving the search criteria corresponding to an artist name, and wherein the step of selecting a plurality of media resources includes selecting at least one media resource by comparing the artist name to information associated with the media resources.

39. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the step of receiving a search request includes receiving the search criteria corresponding to a title of a media resource, and wherein the step of selecting a plurality of media resources includes selecting at least one media resource by comparing the title to information associated with the media resources.

40. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the step of receiving a search request includes receiving the search criteria corresponding to a musical category, and wherein the step of selecting a plurality of media resources includes selecting at least one media resource by comparing the musical category to information associated with the media resources.

41. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the step of causing media resources to be played back includes the step of signaling a plurality of uniform resource locators to a media playback component residing on the network enabled device, each of the plurality of uniform resource locators being for accessing at least one of the media resources in the set of media resources on a corresponding network site.

42. The machine-readable medium of claim 41, wherein the step of signaling a plurality of uniform resource locators includes signaling at least one of the plurality of uniform resource locators to a web browser component residing on the network enabled device to cause a network page to be displayed while the media playback component plays back the media resource that is accessible by that uniform resource locator on the network enabled device.

43. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, further comprising one or more modules that, when executed, perform steps of enabling a user to select one or more media resources from the plurality of media resources in order to establish a play-list, and wherein upon the user selecting the one or more media resources for the play-list, the machine-readable medium includes one or more modules that, when executed, perform steps of loading an address associated with each of the one or more media resources selected for the play-list into the media playback component in a designated order, so that each media resource identified in the play-list is played back sequentially in the designated order.

44. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the step of selecting a plurality of media resources includes selecting the plurality of media resources from one or more servers over the network.

45. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the step of selecting a plurality of media resources includes using a plurality of identifiers to select the plurality of media resources, wherein each identifier in the plurality of identifiers identifies a corresponding media resource in the plurality of media resources.

46. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the step of selecting a plurality of media resources includes selecting media resources that are each associated with a distinct address to locate that media resource on the network.

47. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the step of causing media resources to be played back includes causing one or more media resources that originate from a plurality of network sites to be played back.

48. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the step of causing media resources to be played back includes signaling the media resources, including media resources in the set of media resources, from a corresponding network site to a media player on a network enabled device.

49. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the step of receiving a search request over the network includes receiving the search request from the network enabled device.

50. A machine-readable medium that includes one or modules, which when executed by one of more processors, perform the steps of:

sending a search request from a network enabled device over the network to play back media that satisfies one or more search criteria, and

playing back media resources on said network enabled device, including a set of media resources that are received over the network, wherein the media resources are selected, at least in part, based on a comparison between the one or more search criteria to information associated with the media resources;

wherein the step of playing back media resources includes, in response to termination of playback of a given media resource, automatically initiating playback of another media resource in the set of media resources.

51. The machine-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the step of automatically initiating playback of another media resource in the set includes automatically receiving instructions from another computer to cause playback of another media resource in the set of media resources.

52. The machine-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the step of sending a search request over the network to play back media that satisfies one or more search criteria includes sending a search request that includes the search criteria corresponding to an artist name.

53. The machine-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the step of sending a search request over the network to play back media that satisfies one or more search criteria includes sending a search request that includes the search criteria corresponding to a title of a media resource.

54. The machine-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the step of sending a search request over the network to play back media that satisfies one or more search criteria includes sending a search request that includes the search criteria corresponding to an artist name for a media resource.

55. The machine-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the step of playing back media resources includes using a plurality of network addresses to access at least some of media resources in the set of media resources, wherein each of the plurality of network addresses provides access to at least one of the media resources in the set.

56. The machine-readable medium of claim 55, wherein the step of using a plurality of network addresses includes receiving the plurality of network addresses on a media playback component.

57. The machine-readable medium of claim 55, wherein the step of using a plurality of network addresses includes using a plurality of uniform resource locators.

58. The machine-readable medium of claim 55, wherein the step of using a plurality of network addresses includes using the plurality of network addresses to cause a media playback component on the network enabled device to sequentially access the media resources in the set.

59. The machine-readable medium of claim 58, further comprising one or more modules that, when executed, perform steps of automatically using at least one of the network addresses associated with one or more of the media resources in the set with a browser in order to display a network page corresponding to one of the media resources in the set concurrently while playing back that corresponding media resource.

60. The machine-readable medium of claim 50, further comprising one or more modules that, when executed, perform steps of:

prior to playing back the set of media resources, arranging the set of media in a selected order; and

wherein the step of playing back the set of media resources includes playing back the set of media resources in the selected order.

61. The machine-readable medium of claim 60, wherein the step of arranging the set of media resources includes arranging the set of media resources for subsequent playback on another computer.