Personalized audio system and method

• US 8,463,870 B1
• Filed: 11/14/2011
• Issued: 06/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Music Choice
• Original Assignee: Music Choice
• Inventors: Rosenberg, Jeremy C., Yurman, Ronald M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Jungwon
• Application Number:
  US13/296,039
• Time in Patent Office: 575 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 709/231, 709/217, 709/250, 725/93, 725/45, 725/46, 846/22, 381/81, 700/94, 1/1
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/60 of audio data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/61 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/637 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialization, adaptation or distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/639 using playlists
• 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 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/105 User profile, i.e. data about the user, e.g. for user settings or user preferences
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/131 Library retrieval, i.e. searching a database or selecting a specific musical piece, segment, pattern, rule or parameter set
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/322 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/27 Arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/31 Arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/33 Arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/37 for identifying segments of broadcast information, e.g. scenes or extracting programme ID
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/46 for recognising users' preferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/47 for recognising genres
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/65 for using the result on users' side
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/74 : using programme related information, e.g. title, composer or interpreter
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 : Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 : for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 : User profiles
• 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 personalized audio system and method that overcomes many of the broadcast-type disadvantages associated with conventional radio stations.

Claims

1. A method for providing a customized media service to a user having a consumer device, comprising:

displaying on a display of the consumer device a one or more station names, wherein each of the one or more stations names identifies a station and at least one of the station names identifies a customized station created by the user;

after the user selects to listen to one of the identified stations, transmitting, from the consumer device, a first request to a server, which, in response to the first request, transmits a first recording to the consumer device;

receiving the first recording at the consumer device and storing the first recording in a storage unit of the consumer device;

playing the first recording in response to receiving the first recording;

after transmitting the first request and before the first recording finishes playing, transmitting automatically, from the consumer device, a second request to a server, which, in response to the second request, transmits a second recording to the consumer device;

receiving the second recording at the consumer device;

storing the second recording in the storage unit of the consumer device; and

after storing the second recording and immediately after the first recording finishes playing, playing automatically the second recording.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, from the consumer device and before the second recording finishes playing but after the first recording finished playing, a third request to a server, which, in response to the third request, transmits a third recording to the consumer device;

receiving the third recording at the consumer device;

storing the third recording in the storage unit of the consumer device; and

immediately after the second recording finishes playing, playing the third recording.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a next button on the display while the first recording is being played;

immediately in response to the user activating the next button, performing the steps of;

(a) stopping playing of the first recording, (b) deleting the first recording from the storage unit, and (c) playing the second recording.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

while playing the first recording, enabling the user to select to listen to a different station; and

in response to the user selecting to listen to a different station while the first recording is playing, deleting the first recording and the second recording from the storage unit.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first recording has a title, and wherein the method further comprises:

displaying the title of the first recording while the first recording is being played, but not displaying any title associated with the second recording until (a) such time as the second recording is played or (b) a point in time immediately prior to the playing of the second recording.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying on the display a selectable element for enabling the user to indicate that the user would like to create a station; and

displaying on the display a user interface that prompts the user to enter one or more artists or songs in response to the user selecting the selectable element.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of storing the second recording in the storage unit of the consumer device comprises storing the second recording such that the user does not have direct access to the second recording.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to transmitting the first request, transmitting to a server a request for a set of recording identifiers; and

receiving the set of recording identifiers from the server, each recording identifier in the set identifying a recoding, wherein

the set of identified recordings matches said identified station to which the user has selected to listen.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the set of recording identifiers includes a first recording identifier that identifies the first recording and a second recording identifier that identifies the second recording.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first request includes the first recording identifier or an identifier derived from the first recording identifier.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of transmitting the first request to the server is performed automatically by the consumer device as a result of the user selecting to listen to one of the identified stations.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of transmitting the first request to the server is performed automatically by the consumer device as a direct and immediate result of the user selecting to listen to one of the identified stations.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of transmitting the second request to the server is performed automatically by the consumer device as a result of the user selecting to listen to one of the identified stations.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

accessing the set of recording identifiers to retrieve the second recording identifier that identifies the second recording, wherein the accessing step;

(a) occurs prior to the step of transmitting the second request to the server and (b) is performed automatically by the consumer device as a result of the user selecting to listen to one of the identified stations.

15. A method for providing a customized media service to a user having a consumer device wherein the user has created one or more customized stations, comprising:

transmitting to the consumer device computer software, the computer software comprising;

a set of instructions that when executed by a processing system causes the processing system to display one or more stations names, wherein each of the one or more stations names identifies a station and at least one of the station names identifies a customized station created by the user;

a set of instructions that when executed by the processing system causes the processing system to transmit a first request to a server, which is configured to transmit a first recording to the processing system in response to receiving the first request, wherein the computer software is configured such that the second set of instructions is executed after the user selects a station identified by one of the station names;

a set of instructions that when executed by the processing system causes the processing system to play the first recording in response to the processing system receiving the first recording;

a set of instructions that when executed by the processing system causes the processing system to transmit a second request to a server after transmitting the first request but before the first recording finishes playing, which server is configured to transmit a second recording to the processing system in response to the second request;

a set of instructions that when executed by the processing system causes the processing system to store the second recording in a storage unit of the processing system as the second recording is being received from the server; and

a set of instructions that when executed by the processing system causes the processing system to play the second recording immediately after the first recording finishes playing;

receiving the first request;

in response to receiving the first request, transmitting the first recording to the processing system;

receiving the second request; and

in response to receiving the second request, transmitting the second recording to the processing system.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the computer software further comprises:

a set of instructions that when executed by the processing system causes the processing system to transmit, before the second recording finishes playing but after the first recording finished playing, a third request to a server, which is configured to transmit a third recording to the consumer device in response to the third request;

a set of instructions that when executed by the processing system causes the processing system to store the third recording in the storage unit of the consumer device; and

a set of instructions that when executed by the processing system causes the processing system to play the third recording immediately after the second recording finishes playing.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the computer software further comprises:

a set of instructions that when executed by the processing system causes the processing system to display a next button on the display while the first recording is being played;

a set of instructions that when executed by the processing system causes the processing system to perform the following actions immediately in response to the user activating the next button;

(a) stop playing of the first recording, (b) delete the first recording from the storage unit, and (c) play the second recording.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the computer software further comprises a set of instructions that when executed by the processing system causes the processing system to delete the first recording and the second recording from the storage unit in response to the user selecting to listen to another station while the first recording is playing.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein

the first recording has a title, and

the computer software further comprises a set of instructions that when executed by the processing system causes the processing system to display the title of the first recording while the first recording is being played, but not display any title associated with the second recording until (a) such time as the second recording is played or (b) a point in time immediately prior to the playing of the second recording.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the computer software further comprises:

a set of instructions that when executed by the processing system causes the processing system to display on the display a selectable element for enabling the user to indicate that the user would like to create a station; and

a set of instructions that when executed by the processing system causes the processing system to display on the display a user interface that prompts the user to enter one or more artists or songs in response to the user selecting the selectable element.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the set of instructions for storing the second recording in the storage unit of the consumer device comprises computer instructions for protecting the second recording so that the user does not have direct access to the second recording.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the computer software further comprises:

prior to transmitting the first request, transmitting to a server a request for a set of recording identifiers; and

receiving the set of recording identifiers from the server, each recording identifier in the set identifying a recoding, wherein

the set of identified recordings matches said identified station to which the user has selected to listen.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the set of recording identifiers includes a first recording identifier that identifies the first recording and a second recording identifier that identifies the second recording.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the first request includes the first recording identifier or an identifier derived from the first recording identifier.