Media asset rating system

• US 8,046,369 B2
• Filed: 09/04/2007
• Issued: 10/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Martin, Timothy, Robbin, Jeffrey L., Heller, David, Jones, Anne
• Primary Examiner(s): Rones; Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): GEBRESENBET, DINKU W
• Application Number:
  US11/849,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20090063543A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,512 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/64 Browsing; Visualisation therefor generation of a list or set of audio data G06F16/638
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/68 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/686 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, title or artist information, time, location or usage information, user ratings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/78 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: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Improved techniques for assigning ratings to media assets are disclosed. A rating for a media asset collection can, for example, be determined by examining the ratings of all user-rated media assets in that media asset collection. Additionally or alternately, a rating for media assets in a group of media assets can, for example, be determined by examining the rating of the group of media assets.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for assigning ratings to media assets, said method comprising:

obtaining at least one user-rating of one or more user-rated media assets in the media asset collection;

calculating a first rating for an unrated media asset collection based on the at least one user-rating of two or more user-rated media assets in the media asset collection, wherein the rating for the unrated media asset collection is calculated by taking an average user-rating of the two or more user-rated media assets in the unrated media asset collection;

assigning the first rating to the unrated media asset collection;

determining whether there is one or more unrated media assets in the media asset collection;

assigning a second rating to the one or more unrated media assets in the media asset collection, wherein the second rating that is assigned to each of the one or more unrated media assets in the media asset collection is equal to the first rating of the unrated media asset collection;

determining whether the at least one user-rating of the one or more user-rated media assets in the media asset collection has changed;

recalculating the first rating for the previously unrated media asset collection based on the at least one user-rating of the one or more user-rated media assets in the media asset collection that has changed; and

assigning the recalculated rating to the unrated media asset collection.

6. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user rating for the unrated media asset collection that was rated using the calculated first rating; and

assigning the received user rating to the unrated media asset collection.

7. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 6, further comprising:

determining whether there is one or more unrated media assets in the media asset collection;

recalculating a rating for the one or more unrated media assets based on the received user rating; and

assigning the recalculated rating to the one or more unrated media assets in the media asset collection,

wherein the recalculated rating that is assigned to each of the one or more unrated media assets in the media asset collection is equal to the received user rating.

8. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 7, wherein the recalculated rating that is assigned to each of the one or more unrated media assets in the media asset collection is equal to the received user rating.

11. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein the media asset collection is an album and the media assets are songs.

2. A media management system, comprising:

a media store server including a rating module that is configured to;

determine a calculated rating for a user-unrated media asset collection based on prior user ratings of two or more of the media assets in the media asset collection, wherein the calculated rating for the user-unrated media asset collection is calculated by taking an average user-rating of the two or more user-rated media assets in the user-unrated media asset collection;

determine whether there is one or more user-unrated media assets in the media asset collection;

determine a calculated rating for the one or more user-unrated media assets in the media asset collection based on the calculated rating of the user-unrated media asset collection, wherein the calculated rating for the one or more user-unrated media assets is equal to the calculated rating of the user-unrated media asset collection;

determine whether at least one of the prior user-ratings of the one or more user-rated media assets in the media asset collection has changed; and

recalculate the rating for the previously user-unrated media asset collection based on at least the at least one of the prior user-ratings of the one or more user-rated media assets in the media asset collection that has changed.

3. The media management system as recited in claim 2, wherein said rating module is further configured to:

assign the determined calculated rating or the recalculated rating to the one or more user-unrated media assets in the media asset collection to the one or more user-unrated media assets in the media asset collection; and

assign the determined calculated rating or the recalculated rating to the user-unrated media asset collection to the media asset collection.

9. The media management system as recited in claim 3, wherein the media store server is further configured to:

receive a user rating for the user-unrated media asset collection that was rated using the calculated rating or the recalculated rating; and

assign the received user rating to the user-unrated media asset collection that was rated using the calculated rating or the recalculated rating.

10. The media management system as recited in claim 9, wherein the media store server is further configured to:

determine whether there is one or more user-unrated media assets in the media asset collection;

calculate an asset rating for the one or more user-unrated media assets based on the received user rating; and

assign the asset rating to the one or more user-unrated media assets in the media asset collection.

12. The media management system as recited in claim 2, wherein the media asset collection is an album and the media assets are songs.

4. A computer readable storage medium including at least executable computer program code stored thereon for assigning ratings to media assets, said computer readable medium comprising:

computer program code for receiving a user collection rating for a collection including a plurality of tracks;

computer program code for assigning the user collection rating to those of the tracks within the collection that have not been previously user-rated;

computer program code for receiving a user track rating associated with a particular one of the tracks;

computer program code for determining whether the particular one of the tracks has been previously user-rated or assigned the user collection rating;

computer program code for assigning the user track rating to the particular one of the tracks when determined to have been previously assigned the user collection rating;

computer program code for determining whether the collection has been previously user-rated;

computer program code for determining a computed track rating based on the tracks of the collection that have been previously rated by the user;

computer program code for assigning the computed track rating to the collection as a calculated collection rating if the collection is determined not to have been previously user-rated;

computer program code for determining whether the at least one user-rating of one or more of the tracks in the collection has changed;

computer program code for re-determining the computed track rating based on the tracks of the collection that have been previously rated by the user when determined that the at least one user-rating of one or more of the tracks in the collection has changed; and

computer program code for assigning the re-determined computed track rating to the collection.

5. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 4, wherein the computed track rating is an average track rating.

13. The computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 4, wherein the collection is an album and the tracks are songs.