System and method for providing a personalized media service

• US 7,325,043 B1
• Filed: 01/09/2003
• Issued: 01/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Music Choice
• Original Assignee: Music Choice
• Inventors: Bergan, Richard T. Jr., Rosenberg, Jeremy C., Del Beccaro, David J., Farber, Stuart H., Yurman, Ronald M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang; Jungwon
• Application Number:
  US10/339,425
• Time in Patent Office: 1,846 Days
• Field of Search: 715/765, 715/747, 709/218, 709/213, 709/217, 709/219, 709/231, 705/14, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A system and method for providing a personalized media service. In one aspect, the system includes an on-demand system, a plurality of subscriber devices, and a network to which the on-demand system and the subscriber devices are coupled so that the on-demand system and the subscriber devices can communicate with each other. The on-demand system enables a user to create one or more personalized media channels by enabling the user to specify his/her media preferences for each channel. The on-demand system includes a media server for streaming media to the plurality of subscriber devices. The media is preferably implemented using a video-on-demand server.

Claims

1. A system for providing a personalized media service comprising:

a storage system operable to store (1) a plurality of works, (2) for each said stored work, meta information associated with the work, wherein the meta information includes information identifying the title of the work, information identifying the name of a product that includes the work, and/or art work associated with the work, and (3) a plurality of channel profiles; and

a media server that is operable to transmit one or more works simultaneously and address, in the case of more than one work, each of the two or more works to different devices, wherein

the media server is further operable to;

receive from the user'"'"'s device a first request that includes a user identifier and/or device identifier, wherein the user identifier and/or device identifier is associated with one or more personalized channels created by a user associated with the user identifier and/or a user of the device, wherein each of the personalized channels has a profile stored in the storage system that defines the profile of the personalized channel;

after receiving the first request, use the user identifier and/or device identifier to determine the personalized channels associated with the user and/or device identifier, and, for each channel associated with the user and/or device identifier, transmit to the user'"'"'s device a name associated with the channel, wherein the device is configured to display the channel names, enable the user to select one of the named channels and transmit, in response to the user selecting one of the named channels and to the media server, a second request that includes an identifier identifying the selected channel;

receive from the user'"'"'s device the second request;

in response to receiving the second request, transmit to the user'"'"'s device (1) a plurality of works, wherein the plurality of works substantially match the profile of the selected personalized channel, and (2) for each said transmitted work, at least some of the meta information associated with the work, and wherein

the user'"'"'s device is configured to (1) receive and play the transmitted works, and (2) for each work that is played, (a) display, while the work is being played, at least some of the received meta information associated with the work, and (b) enable the user of the device to indicate that the user likes said work while the work is being played,

for each of said plurality of works transmitted to the device, the user'"'"'s device does not provide the user with information about the artist(s) who created the work until (a) such time as the work is played by the device or (b) a point in time immediately prior to the playing of the work by the device, and

the system is configured such that the user can not directly control which works are transmitted by the media server in response to the second request.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the storage system is housed in a single location.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the storage system is housed in a plurality of locations.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein at least some of the plurality of works are stored in a part of the storage system accessible directly or indirectly by the device.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the part of the storage system is within the device.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein at least some of the plurality of works are owned by the user.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of works is selected from a media group of audio works, musical works, video works and music video works which are accessible from the media server.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said works are audio works.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a playlist generator, wherein the media server is configured to provide to the playlist generator an identifier identifying the user selected personalized channel prior to transmitting the plurality of works and after receiving the second request, wherein the playlist generator is configured to create a playlist that matches the profile of the selected personalized channel in response to receiving the identifier from the media server.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the playlist generated by the playlist generator falls within a statutory compulsory license provision.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the media server comprises a video-on-demand server.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the video-on-demand server is located within a broadband service provider'"'"'s technical facility.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a profile management system that enables a user to modify the channel profiles associated with the user'"'"'s user identifier.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the profile management system comprises one or more user interfaces that enable the user to name each of the personalized channels associated with the user'"'"'s user identifier.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the profile management system comprises one or more user interfaces that enable the user to assign a percentage to each of selected work characteristics, wherein the assigned percentages determines a mix of works for the channel, and wherein the profile management system stores the user'"'"'s assigned percentages in a profile associated with the named personalized channel.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the profile management system further comprises a user interface that displays to the user a list of work sub-types for each of the work characteristics selected by the user and enables the user to rate each of the listed work sub-types, wherein the profile management system stores the user'"'"'s work sub-type ratings in the profile associated with the named personalized channel.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the profile management system further comprises a user interface that enables the user to input a list of one or more artists, wherein the profile management system stores the user'"'"'s list of artist in a profile associated with a personalized channel.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the user interface further enables the user to select one or more music types.

19. The system of claim 1, further comprising a screen generator that is operable to generate user interface screens.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein, for each of said plurality of works transmitted to the device, the media server is configured to provide an identifier that identifies the work to the screen generator, which, in response, is configured to create a user interface screen and provide the user interface screen to the media server, which is configured to transmit the user interface screen to the user'"'"'s device.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the user interface screen is based, at least in part, on the selected work.

22. The system of claim 19 wherein the user interface screens have visual media assets.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the screen generator is operable to place the visual media assets on the user interface screens.

24. The system of claim 22 wherein the visual media assets are stored in the storage system.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the screen generator is operable to collect and assemble the visual media assets for one of the user interface screens from portions of the storage system.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein the device comprises a cable-TV decoder.

27. The system of claim 1, wherein the device comprises a personal computing device.

28. The system of claim 1, wherein the device comprises a wireless communications device.

29. The system of claim 1, further comprising a broadband distribution network, wherein the works are transmitted to the devices via the distribution network.

30. The system of claim 1, wherein the media server is configured to access a playlist associated with the selected personalized channel in response to receiving the second request and prior to transmitting the plurality of works to the user'"'"'s device, wherein each of the transmitted plurality of works is included in the playlist.

31. A method for providing a personalized media service, comprising:

enabling a user to create a plurality of personalized channels;

receiving from the user'"'"'s subscriber device a first request that includes a user identifier and/or device identifier, wherein the user identifier and/or device identifier is associated with said plurality of personalized channels created by the user, wherein each of the personalized channels is associated with information stored in a storage system that defines the profile of the personalized channel;

after receiving the first request, using the user identifier and/or device identifier to determine the personalized channels associated with the user and/or device identifier;

for each channel associated with the user and/or device identifier, transmitting to the user'"'"'s device a name associated with the channel;

displaying the channel names on a display of the user device;

enabling the user to select one of the named channels;

transmitting, in response to the user selecting one of the named channels, a second request that includes an identifier identifying the selected channel;

receiving the second request;

in response to receiving the second request, transmitting to the user'"'"'s device a plurality of selected works, wherein the plurality of selected works substantially match the profile of the selected personalized channel;

receiving at the user device a transmitted work and playing the received work;

while the works is being played, enabling the user of the device to indicate that the user likes the work, wherein

for each of said plurality of works transmitted to the user'"'"'s device, the user'"'"'s device does not provide the user with information about the artist(s) who created the work until (a) such time as the work is played by the device or (b) a point in time immediately prior to the playing of the work by the device, and

the system is configured such that the user can not directly control which works are transmitted in response to the second request.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising the step of providing an identifier that identifies the personalized channel to a playlist generator after receiving the second request, which playlist generator then selects said works based, at least in part, on the information associated with the personalized channel.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the works are transmitted by a media server that is operable to transmit a plurality of streams simultaneously and address each of the plurality of streams to a different device.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein an identifier corresponding to each selected work is included in a playlist and the method further comprises accessing the playlist in response to receiving the second request.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein, after accessing the playlist associated with the channel, the method includes the steps of:

selecting a work from the playlist;

providing an identifier that identifies the selected work to a screen generator, which then selects a visual asset; and

transmitting the selected visual asset to the user'"'"'s device, which displays the visual asset.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the visual asset is an image representing the cover of an album on which the selected work appears.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein the media server transmits the works by streaming the works to the user'"'"'s device.

38. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of enabling the user to create a plurality of personalized channels comprises:

enabling the user to input the names of one or more artists.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the step of enabling the user to create a plurality of personalized channels further comprises:

enabling the user to identify one or more types of music;

displaying to the user a list of music styles for each of the types of music identified by the user; and

enabling the user to rate each of the listed music styles.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the step of enabling the user to create a plurality of personalized channels further comprises:

displaying to the user a list of artists for each of the types of music selected by the user; and

enabling the user to rate each of the listed artists.

41. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of selecting the one or more works is performed after the step of receiving the second request.

42. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of selecting the one or more works comprises selecting two or more works and creating a playlist that includes the selected two or more works, and said creating step is performed before the step of receiving the second request.