Collaborative rejection of media for physical establishments

• US 8,745,104 B1
• Filed: 02/10/2012
• Issued: 06/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Rosenberg, Louis B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jami, Hares
• Application Number:
  US13/370,501
• Time in Patent Office: 844 Days
• Field of Search: 707/828, 455/446
• US Class Current: 707/828
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4387 by the use of playlists
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements

Abstract

A system, computer implemented method, and computer readable storage medium is provided which enables customers of an establishment to collaboratively reject a media file that is currently playing and/or pending to be played within that establishment by entering data into a personal wireless portable computing device on their person, for example a cellular telephone. Upon entering a rejection request, and where necessary an establishment identifier, a message is sent over a wireless link to a media server which performs a series of logical tests to determine if the media file is actually terminated prior to full completion of play. In this way, a plurality of separate customers may use their portable computing devices to collaboratively reject specific musical media file selections that are currently playing or currently pending for play within a particular physical establishment.

Claims

1. A collaborative media selection system for physical establishments comprising:

a media server coupled to a network comprising;

a processor; and

a computer readable storage medium operatively coupled to the processor comprising;

a playlist queue comprising an index of retrievable media files pending for play within an establishment, the index including a unique media identifier for each media file pending for play within the establishment;

a plurality of the unique media identifiers each having at least one unique customer identifier of a selecting customer associated therewith; and

,

a set of logical instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

receive a plurality of customer generated rejection messages over the network, each of the rejection messages including a unique media identifier of a media file pending for play within the establishment and a unique customer identifier of a rejecting customer;

determine, for each of a plurality of unique media identifiers in the playlist queue, if a threshold number of rejections have been received to reject the media file associated with the media file identifier from the playlist queue;

remove each unique media file identifier from the playlist queue for which at least the threshold number of rejections has been determined to have been received; and

,

defer removal of each unique media file identifier from the playlist queue for which the threshold number of rejections has not been determined to have been received; and

a database storing a plurality of customer account records, each of the customer account records having a unique customer identifier indexed thereto, wherein each of the customer account records further comprises a status level indicating a premium status or a standard status.

2. The system according to claim 1 wherein each of the received customer generated rejection messages is sent from a portable computing device over a wireless network.

3. The system according to claim 1 further comprising:

logical instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to charge a rejection fee to the customer account record of each rejecting customer of a removed media file identifier.

4. The system according to claim 1 further comprising:

logical instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to credit back a selection fee to the customer account record of each selecting customer of a removed media file identifier.

5. The system according to claim 4 wherein the charge is conveyed through a reverse billing process that adds a fee to a customer'"'"'s telecommunication bill.

6. The system according to claim 1 wherein a customer having the premium status is afforded superior media file rejection privileges to those of a customer having the standard status.

7. The system according to claim 1 wherein a customer having premium status may reject a media file requested by a customer having standard status but not visa versa.

8. The system according to claim 1 wherein the set of logical instructions further includes instructions which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to ignore a received rejection message if the media file identifier specified by the rejection message was selected by a customer having the premium status.

9. The system according to claim 1 wherein the set of logical instructions further includes instructions which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to ignore a received media file rejection message if the rejection message was sent by a customer having a status level less than a selecting customer.

10. The system according to claim 1 wherein the set of logical instructions further includes instructions which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to charge a selection fee to the customer account record of each selecting customer of a media file which has completed play within the establishment.

11. The system according to claim 1 wherein each of the rejection messages comprise an SMS formatted text message.

12. The system according to claim 1 wherein the set of logical instructions further includes instructions which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to maintain rejection history statistics for each of a plurality of unique media file identifiers;

the rejection history statistics including at least one of a number, a rate, a frequency, or a percentage of times that the media file associated with the unique media identifier has been removed from a playlist queue prior to its full play within an establishment as a result of received customer generated rejection messages.

13. The system according to claim 1 wherein the set of logical instructions further includes instructions which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to maintain rejection history statistics of each of a plurality of customers, the statistics for each customer including at least one of a number, a rate, a frequency, or a percentage of media file selections made by that customer that did not play to completion within an establishment as a result of received customer generated rejection messages.

14. A collaborative media selection system for physical establishments comprising:

a media server coupled to a network comprising;

a processor; and

a computer readable storage medium operatively coupled to the processor comprising;

a playlist queue comprising an index of retrievable media files pending for play within an establishment, the index including a unique media identifier for each media file pending for play within the establishment;

a plurality of the unique media identifiers each having at least one unique customer identifier of a selecting customer associated therewith; and

,

a set of logical instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

receive a plurality of customer generated rejection messages over the network, each of the rejection messages including a unique media identifier of a media file pending for play within the establishment and a unique customer identifier of a rejecting customer;

determine, for each of a plurality of unique media identifiers in the playlist queue, if a threshold number of rejections have been received to reject the media file associated with the media file identifier from the playlist queue;

remove each unique media file identifier from the playlist queue for which at least the threshold number of rejections has been determined to have been received; and

,

defer removal of each unique media file identifier from the playlist queue for which the threshold number of rejections has not been determined to have been received;

wherein each of the received customer generated rejection messages is sent from a portable computing device over a wireless network and wherein the set of logical instructions further includes instructions which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to send a termination message to the portable computing device of each selecting customer whose media file selection was removed from the playlist queue;

the termination message including indicia that the customer'"'"'s selection was rejected for play.

15. The system according to claim 14 wherein the termination message further includes indicia of the number of rejections received for the customer'"'"'s selection.

16. The system according to claim 14 wherein the set of logical instructions further includes instructions which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to maintain rejection history statistics for each of a plurality of unique media file identifiers;

the rejection history statistics including at least one of a number, a rate, a frequency, or a percentage of times that the media file associated with the unique media identifier has been removed from a playlist queue prior to its full play within an establishment as a result of received customer generated rejection messages.

17. The system according to claim 14 wherein the set of logical instructions further includes instructions which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to maintain rejection history statistics of each of a plurality of customers, the statistics for each customer including at least one of a number, a rate, a frequency, or a percentage of media file selections made by that customer that did not play to completion within an establishment as a result of received customer generated rejection messages.

18. A collaborative media selection system for physical establishments comprising:

a media server coupled to a network comprising;

a processor; and

a computer readable storage medium operatively coupled to the processor comprising;

a playlist queue comprising an index of retrievable media files pending for play within an establishment, the index including a unique media identifier for each media file pending for play within the establishment;

a plurality of the unique media identifiers each having at least one unique customer identifier of a selecting customer associated therewith; and

,

a set of logical instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

receive a plurality of customer generated rejection messages over the network, each of the rejection messages including a unique media identifier of a media file pending for play within the establishment and a unique customer identifier of a rejecting customer;

determine, for each of a plurality of unique media identifiers in the playlist queue, if a threshold number of rejections have been received to reject the media file associated with the media file identifier from the playlist queue;

remove each unique media file identifier from the playlist queue for which at least the threshold number of rejections has been determined to have been received; and

,

defer removal of each unique media file identifier from the playlist queue for which the threshold number of rejections has not been determined to have been received, wherein the computer readable storage medium has retrievably stored therein, at least one unique media playlist queue for each of a plurality of separate physical establishments, each of said media playlist queues being associated with a unique establishment identifier for a physical establishment to which it relates and wherein each customer generated rejection message includes a unique establishment identifier of a particular physical establishment to which the rejection message relates.

19. The system according to claim 18 further comprising:

logical instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to charge a rejection fee to the customer account record of each rejecting customer of a removed media file identifier.

20. The system according to claim 18 further comprising:

logical instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to credit back a selection fee to the customer account record of each selecting customer of a removed media file identifier.

21. The system according to claim 18 wherein the set of logical instructions further includes instructions which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to maintain rejection history statistics for each of a plurality of unique media file identifiers;

the rejection history statistics including at least one of a number, a rate, a frequency, or a percentage of times that the media file associated with the unique media identifier has been removed from a playlist queue prior to its full play within an establishment as a result of received customer generated rejection messages.

22. The system according to claim 18 wherein the set of logical instructions further includes instructions which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to maintain rejection history statistics of each of a plurality of customers, the statistics for each customer including at least one of a number, a rate, a frequency, or a percentage of media file selections made by that customer that did not play to completion within an establishment as a result of received customer generated rejection messages.