Patent Application
20180197158
This invention relates to the field of network based electronic music storage, searching, and selection for incorporation into playlists or purchase lists and more particularly when at least some such songs are stored not only with standard information (e.g. title, genre, and date information) but also with indications of applicability of such songs to a plurality of predefined purpose topics or playlist topics (e.g. to instill wakefulness, to help induce sleep, to help one focus, to help with mediation, to help inspire strength and courage, to help energize, to get one moving, to encourage exercise at a desired intensity level, and the like) and where each such playlist or purchase list will only include songs appropriate for the selected topic (unless specifically and intentionally overridden by the user) and songs and where each song is specifically selected by the user.
Numerous internet based music searching, selection, playing and/or purchasing methods and systems exist or have been proposed.
Amazon.com uses a system wherein title, keywords, artist name and the like can be entered and purchasable music options presented. In some cases, previews of individual songs may be heard prior to making a purchase. This system does not provide for the creation of playlists for users but only for the purchase of music.
Pandora.com uses a system wherein a user may type in keywords, song names, or artist names and then an indeterminate (at least to the user) playlist or radio station of music is played based on the search criteria. The user has some options to customize the playlist by skipping undesirable songs after they begin to play. The user also has some ability to vary the frequency of songs appearing by rating them. This system does not provide a playlist of songs where each song is specific to the user and does not provide playlists with specific functional purposes.
Youtube.com provides for the viewing of videos and/or listening to music embedded in such videos. Specific videos are found by entering search terms such as title, artist, keywords, etc. The system does provide for the saving of playlists by registered users. The users may locate songs of their specific choosing in these playlists. The system itself however does not create purposeful song lists from which the user can select songs of particular interest for inclusion into purposeful playlists. The creation of playlists is powerful but not particularly easy to use as a certain level of skill and knowledge is required and as the user is continuously presented with distracting material. The user then may have to view a large number of videos before finding exactly what he or she is looking for. When desired videos are found the user may still be faced with having to listen to advertisements or other information prior to listening to songs that they have selected. Such distractions are not conducive to the creation and use of purposeful playlists.
A need remains in the field for improved methods and systems for producing user specific playlists and more specifically user specific playlists where each song in a playlist is appropriate for a defined purpose and is specifically selected by the user as a song to which they want to listen. A similar need exists for creating purchase lists of songs.
It is an object of some embodiments of the invention to provide improved playlist generation methods and/or systems wherein the playlists only contain user selected songs and wherein each song in a given playlist shares a common functional purpose with each other song in the playlist.
It is an object of some embodiments of the invention to provide improved methods and systems for making music purchase selections wherein potential purchase lists are limited to songs appropriate for a user defined purpose and wherein final purchase lists are defined by users after listening to previews of at least a portion of the songs in the purchase lists.
It is an object of some embodiments of the invention to provide an internet based playlist generation or purchase list generation system. In some variations, playlists may be listened to only over the internet using a desired interface device (e.g. a personal computer, lap top, notepad, smart phone (Droid, IPhone, etc.), PDA, game system (e.g. Nintendo WII or other portable game system, Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation, television, etc. while in other variations songs may be downloaded to a user's computer or other music playing device (e.g. MP3 player, laptop, notepad, PDA, smart phone, iPad, iPod, MP3 player, etc.). In some variations functionality may be provided to determine which songs the user already owns thus allowing songs to be compiled into personalized purposeful playlists from songs already owned alone or in combination with songs that may need to be purchased.
It is an object of some embodiments of the invention to provide improved methods of playing playlists wherein songs may be simply played, playlists may be played at preselected times and for preselected durations, where playlists with different functional purposes may be played in predefined orders, where songs in playlists may be normalized to maximum volume levels or dynamic ranges, and/or the like.
Other objects and advantages of various embodiments and aspects of the invention will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon review of the teachings herein. The various aspects of the invention, set forth explicitly herein or otherwise ascertained from the teachings herein, may address any one of the above objects alone or in combination, or alternatively may address some other object of the invention ascertained from the teachings herein. It is not intended that any specific aspect of the invention (that is explicitly set forth below or that is ascertained from the teachings herein) necessarily address any of the objects set forth above let alone address all of these objects simultaneously, but some aspects may address one or more of these objects or even all of these objects simultaneously. It is not intended that all aspects of the invention be simultaneously met by any specific implementation or use of the invention but that each aspect, whether explicitly set forth or ascertained from the teachings herein as a whole, independently represent such an implementation or use (e.g. method of making, method of use, apparatus, or system) of a variation of the invention.
In a first aspect of the invention a method for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes: (a) accessing previously entered preferences from a survey of music preferences; (b) entering a desired playlist or purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (c) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality directly or indirectly identified with one or more playlist or purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable by the song's musical properties its lyrical properties, or other properties which have become associated with the song; (d) creating a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least two filtering functions wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist or purchase list songs with the desired playlist or purchase list topic and a second comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of potential songs in the song list with the user's musical preferences; (e) playing a preview of a first song in the master song list for the user and soliciting feedback from the user wherein the feedback options are selected from the group consisting of: (1) adding the song to the playlist or purchase list and (2) not adding the song to the playlist or purchase list; and (f) repeating the playing and selecting until the playlist or purchase list is complete.
In a second aspect of the invention a system for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes: (a) means for accessing previously entered preferences from a survey of music preferences; (b) means for entering a desired playlist or purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (c) means for accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality directly or indirectly identified with one or more playlist or purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable by the song's musical properties its lyrical properties, or other properties which have become associated with the song; (d) means for creating a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least two filtering functions wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist or purchase list songs with the desired playlist or purchase list topic and a second comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of potential songs in the song list with the user's musical preferences; (e) means for playing a preview of a first song in the master song list for the user and soliciting feedback from the user wherein the feedback options are selected from the group consisting of: (1) adding the song to the playlist or purchase list and (2) not adding the song to the playlist or purchase list; and (f) means for repeating the playing and selecting until the playlist or purchase list is complete.
In a third aspect of the invention a system for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes a visual display, one or more of a touch screen, a keyboard, a mouse or other pointing device, sound system and a program held in the memory of at least one computer and being executed by at least one programmed computer to (1) provide access to previously entered preferences from a survey of music preferences; (2) enter a desired playlist or purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (3) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality directly or indirectly identified with one or more playlist or purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable by the song's musical properties its lyrical properties, or other properties which have become associated with the song; (4) create a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least two filtering functions wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist or purchase list songs with the desired playlist or purchase list topic and a second comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of potential songs in the song list with the user's musical preferences; (5) play a preview of a first song in the master song list for the user and soliciting feedback from the user wherein the feedback options are selected from the group consisting of: (a) adding the song to the playlist or purchase list and (b) not adding the song to the playlist or purchase list; and (6) repeat the playing and selecting until the playlist or purchase list is complete.
In a fourth aspect of the invention a system for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes a visual display, one or more of a touch screen, a keyboard, a mouse or other pointing device, sound system and electronic circuitry configured to (1) provide access to previously entered preferences from a survey of music preferences; (2) enter a desired playlist or purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (3) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality directly or indirectly identified with one or more playlist or purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable by the song's musical properties its lyrical properties, or other properties which have become associated with the song; (4) create a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least two filtering functions wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist or purchase list songs with the desired playlist or purchase list topic and a second comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of potential songs in the song list with the user's musical preferences; (5) play a preview of a first song in the master song list for the user and soliciting feedback from the user wherein the feedback options are selected from the group consisting of: (a) adding the song to the playlist or purchase list and (b) not adding the song to the playlist or purchase list; and (6) repeat the playing and selecting until the playlist or purchase list is complete.
In a fifth aspect of the invention a method for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes: (a) entering a desired playlist or purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (b) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality directly or indirectly identified with one or more playlist or purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable by the song's musical properties its lyrical properties, or other properties which have become associated with the song; (c) creating a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least one filtering function wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist or purchase list songs with the desired playlist or purchase list topic;(d) playing a preview of a first song in the master song list for the user and soliciting feedback from the user wherein the feedback options are selected from the group consisting of: (1) adding the song to the playlist or purchase list and (2) not adding the song to the playlist or purchase list; and (e) repeating the playing and selecting until the playlist or purchase list is complete.
In a sixth aspect of the invention a system for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes: (a) means for entering a desired playlist or purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (b) means for accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality directly or indirectly identified with one or more playlist or purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable by the song's musical properties its lyrical properties, or other properties which have become associated with the song ; (c) means for creating a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least one filtering function wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist or purchase list songs with the desired playlist or purchase list; (d) means for playing a preview of a first song in the master song list for the user and soliciting feedback from the user wherein the feedback options are selected from the group consisting of: (1) adding the song to the playlist or purchase list and (2) not adding the song to the playlist or purchase list; and (e) means for repeating the playing and selecting until the playlist or purchase list is complete.
In a seventh aspect of the invention a system for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes a visual display, one or more of a touch screen, a keyboard, a mouse or other pointing device, sound system and a program held in the memory of at least one computer and being executed by at least one programmed computer to (1) enter a desired playlist or purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (2) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality directly or indirectly identified with one or more playlist or purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable by the song's musical properties its lyrical properties, or other properties which have become associated with the song; (3) create a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least one filtering function wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist or purchase list songs with the desired playlist or purchase list topic; (4) play a preview of a first song in the master song list for the user and soliciting feedback from the user wherein the feedback options are selected from the group consisting of: (a) adding the song to the playlist or purchase list and (b) not adding the song to the playlist or purchase list; and (5) repeat the playing and selecting until the playlist or purchase list is complete.
In an eighth aspect of the invention a system for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes a visual display, one or more of a touch screen, a keyboard, a mouse or other pointing device, sound system and electronic circuitry configured to (1) enter a desired playlist or purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (2) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality directly or indirectly identified with one or more playlist or purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable by the song's musical properties its lyrical properties, or other properties which have become associated with the song; (3) create a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least one filtering function wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist or purchase list songs with the desired playlist or purchase list topic; (4) play a preview of a first song in the master song list for the user and soliciting feedback from the user wherein the feedback options are selected from the group consisting of: (a) adding the song to the playlist or purchase list and (b) not adding the song to the playlist or purchase list; and (5) repeat the playing and selecting until the playlist or purchase list is complete.
In a ninth aspect of the invention a method for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes: (a) accessing previously entered preferences from a survey of music preferences; (b) entering a desired playlist or purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (c) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality directly or indirectly identified with one or more playlist or purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable by the song's musical properties its lyrical properties, or other properties which have become associated with the song ; (d) creating a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least two filtering functions wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist or purchase list songs with the desired playlist or purchase list topic and a second comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of potential songs in the song list with the user's musical preferences; (d) one-by-one choosing whether or not to add songs from the master song list and making a selection to the playlist or purchase list; and (e) repeating the choosing until the playlist or purchase list is complete.
In a tenth aspect of the invention a system for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes: (a) means for accessing previously entered preferences from a survey of music preferences; (b) means for entering a desired playlist or purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (c) means for accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality directly or indirectly identified with one or more playlist or purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable by the song's musical properties its lyrical properties, or other properties which have become associated with the song ; (d) means for creating a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least two filtering functions wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist or purchase list songs with the desired playlist or purchase list topic and a second comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of potential songs in the song list with the user's musical preferences; (e) means for choosing one-by-one whether or not to add songs from the master song list to the playlist or purchase list ; and (f) means for repeating the choosing until the playlist or purchase list is complete.
In an eleventh aspect of the invention a system for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes a visual display, one or more of a touch screen, a keyboard, a mouse or other pointing device, sound system and a program held in the memory of at least one computer and being executed by at least one programmed computer to (1) provide access to previously entered preferences from a survey of music preferences; (2) enter a desired playlist or purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (3) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality directly or indirectly identified with one or more playlist or purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable by the song's musical properties its lyrical properties, or other properties which have become associated with the song; (4) create a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least two filtering functions wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist or purchase list songs with the desired playlist or purchase list topic and a second comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of potential songs in the song list with the user's musical preferences; (5) choose one-by-one whether or not to add songs from the master song list to the playlist or purchase list t; and (6) repeat the choosing until the playlist or purchase list is complete.
In an twelfth first aspect of the invention a system for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes a visual display, one or more of a touch screen, a keyboard, a mouse or other pointing device, sound system and electronic circuitry configured to (1) provide access to previously entered preferences from a survey of music preferences; (2) enter a desired playlist or purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (3) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality directly or indirectly identified with one or more playlist or purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable by the song's musical properties its lyrical properties, or other properties which have become associated with the song; (4) create a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least two filtering functions wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist or purchase list songs with the desired playlist or purchase list topic and a second comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of potential songs in the song list with the user's musical preferences; (5) choose one-by-one whether or not to add songs from the master song list to the playlist or purchase list t; and (6) repeat choosing until the playlist or purchase list is complete.
In a thirteenth aspect of the invention a method for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes: (a) entering a desired playlist or purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (b) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality directly or indirectly identified with one or more playlist or purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable by the song's musical properties its lyrical properties, or other properties which have become associated with the song ; (c) creating a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least one filtering function wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist or purchase list songs with the desired playlist or purchase list topic; (d) one-by-one choosing whether or not to add songs from the master song list and making a selection to the playlist or purchase list; and (e) repeating the choosing until the playlist or purchase list is complete.
In a fourteenth aspect of the invention a system for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes: (a) means for entering a desired playlist or purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (b) means for accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality directly or indirectly identified with one or more playlist or purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable by the song's musical properties its lyrical properties, or other properties which have become associated with the song ; (c) means for creating a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least one filtering function wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist or purchase list songs with the desired playlist or purchase list; (d) means for one-by-one choosing whether or not to add songs from the master song list and making a selection to the playlist or purchase list; and (e) means for repeating the choosing until the playlist or purchase list is complete.
In a fifteenth aspect of the invention a system for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes a visual display, one or more of a touch screen, a keyboard, a mouse or other pointing device, sound system and a program held in the memory of at least one computer and being executed by at least one programmed computer to (1) enter a desired playlist or purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (2) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality directly or indirectly identified with one or more playlist or purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable by the song's musical properties its lyrical properties, or other properties which have become associated with the song; (3) create a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least one filtering function wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist or purchase list songs with the desired playlist or purchase list topic; (4) one-by-one choosing whether or not to add songs from the master song list and making a selection to the playlist or purchase list; and (5) repeat choosing until the playlist or purchase list is complete.
In a sixteenth aspect of the invention a system for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes a visual display, one or more of a touch screen, a keyboard, a mouse or other pointing device, sound system and electronic circuitry configured to (1) enter a desired playlist or purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (2) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality directly or indirectly identified with one or more playlist or purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable by the song's musical properties its lyrical properties, or other properties which have become associated with the song; (3) create a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least one filtering function wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist or purchase list songs with the desired playlist or purchase list topic; (4) one-by-one choosing whether or not to add songs from the master song list and making a selection to the playlist or purchase list; and (5) repeat the choosing until the playlist or purchase list is complete.
In a seventeenth aspect of the invention, a method for creating a personalized playlist of music or purchase list of music, includes: (a) logging into an existing user account; (b) accessing previously entered preferences from a survey of music preferences; (c) entering a desired playlist list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (d) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality identified, directly or indirectly, with one or more functional playlist topics (e.g. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable (e.g. by users that are members of a target culture) by the song's musical properties (e.g. beat and meter, dynamics, harmony, key, musical instruments or voice, pitch, rhythm, tempo, texture, timbre, and/or the like), lyrical properties (e.g. vocal message being conveyed), and/or other properties which have become associated with the song (e.g. cultural relevance and the like); (e) comparing the songs in the database to the functional playlist topic and producing a preliminary song list that is applicable to the topic wherein the songs in the preliminary song list are limited to only those that are appropriate to the topic or given weighting factors that are based on the level of appropriateness of the songs to the functional playlist topic; (f) using previously entered preferences, flagged songs and/or songs from artists in the preliminary song list that have been categorized by the user as a favorite to produce a flagged song list; (g) producing a secondary song list by comparing the songs in the flagged song list to a second category of preferences and either removing songs that are not preferred or providing weighting factors for the songs based on the level of preference of the songs relative to the second category of preferences; (h) producing a tertiary song list by comparing the songs in secondary song list to a third category of preferences and either removing songs that are not preferred or providing combined weighting factors for the songs based on weighting factors associated with the level of preference of the songs relative to the third category of preferences and any previously provided weighting factors; (i) producing a master song list for the functional playlist by removing songs or songs from particular artists if the user has previously indicated such songs should not be played; (j) playing a preview of a first song in the master song list for the user and soliciting feedback from the user wherein the feedback options are selected from the group consisting of: (1) adding the song to the playlist and (2) not adding the song to the playlist, and wherein the feedback options further consist of at least one additional feedback option selected from the group consisting of: (i) playing the preview again, (ii) playing an extended preview of the song, (ii) not adding the song to the playlist at this time but placing it on hold for potential inclusion in the playlist if no songs of more interest are previewed; (iv) not adding the song to the playlist but leaving the song available for consideration when creating other playlists, and (v) not adding the song to the playlist and never presenting the song again to this user; and (k)repeating the playing and selecting until the playlist is full.
A first group of variations of the seventeenth aspect of the invention and its first and second groups of variations includes one or more of (1) producing a plurality of playlists for the same user and wherein each of the plurality of playlists is directed to the same topic (i.e. has the same functional purpose) but contains at least one difference in song inclusion; (2) producing a plurality of playlists for the same user and wherein at least two of the playlists are for different topics (i.e. purposes); (3) producing a plurality of playlists for the same user and wherein the plurality includes more than two distinct topics (i.e. purposes); (4) producing a plurality of playlists for the same wherein the predefined topics comprise more than four distinct topics; (5) producing a plurality of playlists for the same user wherein the predefined topics comprise more than ten distinct topics; (6) functionality that provides a user with the ability to reorder songs in a given playlist after creation of the playlist (e.g. by dragging and dropping the songs into a desired order in the list, by moving the songs up or down past other songs in the list, or the like); (7) a display screen for use when creating a playlist that provides a plurality of the following: (a) a name of the topic of the playlist, (b) a title for the playlist, (c) a name of the current song being previewed, (d) a name of an artist that composed, is playing, or singing the current song; (e) the year of the current song, (f) a listing of the songs already selected for inclusion in the playlist, (g) a listing of the songs placed on hold, and (h) an indication of the current song number; (8) storing with a given created playlist not only the songs entered into the playlist but also information concerning the master song list, the songs already previewed from the master song list, and the songs placed on hold; (9) storing with a given playlist information about the user preferences and database that gave rise to the master song list; (10) a display that provides visual information to the user and provides an option for the user to listen to selected instructions and/or options; (11) operation (e) including taking a non-weighted intersection of the songs in the database with the desired playlist topic; (12) operation (e) including taking a weighted intersection of the songs in the database with the desired playlist topic by using weighting factors associated with applicability of each song to the desired playlist topic; (13) the comparing of at least one of steps (g) or (h) includes taking a non-weighted intersection of the songs in a current song list with songs having at least a minimum level for the user's preferences to produce a modified song list; (14) the comparing of at least one of steps (g) or (h) includes taking an intersection of the songs in a current song list with weighting factors for the user's preferences to produce a modified song list with weighted recommendations; (15) functionality for playing playlists; (16) the comparing of step (e) includes taking a weighted intersection of the songs in the database with the desired playlist topic by using weighting factors associated with applicability of each song to the desired playlist topic; (16) functionality for playing playlists wherein the functionality is selected from the group consisting of: (a) playing a selected playlist immediately, (b) playing a plurality of selected playlists in a selected order; (c) playing a selected playlist in a shuffled order; (d) playing a selected playlist in a default order; (e) playing one or more selected playlists at one or more predefined start times; (f) playing one or more selected playlists until a predefined stop time has been reached or predefined increment of time has passed; (g) setting a maximum volume level for all songs to be played during a given period; and (h) setting a range for the dynamic level of the songs to be played during a given period; (17) the playlist including multiple phases wherein at least two of the phases are characterized by different musical properties (e.g. beat and meter, dynamics, harmony, key, musical instruments or voice, pitch, rhythm, tempo, texture, timbre, and/or the like) or lyrical properties (e.g. vocal message being conveyed); (18) the different musical properties, lyrical properties, or other properties are limited to musical properties; (19) the different musical properties, lyrical properties, or other properties are include both musical properties and lyrical properties, (20) the different musical properties, lyrical properties, or other properties are include at least two of the musical properties, lyrical properties, and other properties, (21) the different musical properties, lyrical properties, or other properties are include all three of the musical properties, lyrical properties, and other properties.
A second group of variations of the seventeenth aspect of the invention includes all combinations of variations set forth in the first group so long as those combinations do not contradict one another or otherwise obviate all reason for making the combination in the first place.
A third group of variations of the seventeenth aspect and its first and second groups of variations includes changing the order of comparisons and/or other data processing steps utilized in obtaining the master song list.
A fourth group of variations of the seventeenth aspect and its first to third variations includes entering an initial number of songs to include in the playlist; and ranking the songs in the master song list according to one or more ranking categories and defining a preliminary order of preview presentation of the songs in the master song list; and determining when the playlist is full by comparing the number of songs in the playlist to the number of songs originally specified for inclusion.
In a eighteenth aspect of the invention, a method for creating a personalized playlist of music, includes: (a) logging into an existing user account; (b) accessing previously entered preferences from a survey of music preferences; (c) entering a desired playlist list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (d) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality identified with one or more playlist topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable (e.g. by users that are members of a target culture) by the song's musical properties (e.g. beat and meter, dynamics, harmony, key, musical instruments and voice, pitch, rhythm, tempo, texture, timbre, and/or the like), its lyrical properties (e.g. vocal message being conveyed), or other properties which have become associated with the song; (e) creating a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least two filtering functions wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist songs with the desired playlist topic and a second comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of potential songs in the song list with the user's musical preferences; (f) playing a preview of a first song in the master song list for the user and soliciting feedback from the user wherein the feedback options are selected from the group consisting of: (1) adding the song to the playlist and (2) not adding the song to the playlist; and (g) repeating the playing and selecting until the playlist is complete.
A first group of variations of the eighteenth aspect of the invention include, for example, one or more of (1) the feedback options consist of at least one additional feedback option selected from the group consisting of: (a) playing the preview again, (b) playing an extended preview of the song, (c) not adding the song to the playlist at this time but placing it on hold for potential inclusion in the playlist if no songs of more interest are previewed; (d) not adding the song to the playlist but leaving the song available for consideration when creating other playlists, and (e) not adding the song to the playlist and never presenting the song again to this user; (2) specifying the number of songs for inclusion in the playlist and determining when the playlist is full by comparing the number of songs placed in the playlist to the number of songs specified for inclusion; (3) the creating of the master song list further includes retaining songs that the user has entered as favorites (e.g. either as coming from to favorite artist or as a favorite song) regardless of other more general user preferences so long as the preferred songs are applicable to the desired playlist topic; (4) the creating of the master song list further includes retaining songs that the user has entered as favorites (e.g. either as coming from to favorite artist or as a favorite song) regardless of other more general user preferences but before such a favorite song is included in the playlist, the user is provided with a warning or notice that the favorite song does not have appropriate musical properties or lyrical properties for inclusion in the playlist, if such be the case, and the user is allowed to insert the song anyway; (5) the user being provided with an option to insert any song into a playlist, whether or not it meets the musical properties or lyrical properties associated with the playlist but prior to allowing such insertion the user is prompted with a warning or notice if the musical properties or lyrical properties of the song are inappropriate at which time the user may reject the song for inclusion or accept it for inclusion; (6) the producing of the master song list further includes performing at least one additional weighted or non-weighted intersection of potential songs in the song list with at least one additional category of the user's musical preferences; (7) the songs in the master song list are ranked according to one or more ranking categories prior to presentation of previews of the songs in the master song list to the user; (8) the playlist includes multiple phases and wherein at least two of the phases are characterized by different musical properties (e.g. beat and meter, dynamics, harmony, key, musical instruments or voice, pitch, rhythm, tempo, texture, timbre, and/or the like) or lyrical properties (e.g. vocal message being conveyed); (9) the different musical properties, lyrical properties, or other properties are limited to musical properties; (10) the different musical properties, lyrical properties, or other properties include both musical properties and lyrical properties; and (11)) the different musical properties, lyrical properties, or other properties include all three.
In a nineteenth aspect of the invention, a method for creating a personalized playlist of music, includes: (a) logging into an existing user account; (b) accessing previously entered preferences from a survey of music preferences; (c) entering a desired playlist topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (d) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song identified by a plurality of its musical properties, lyrical properties, or other properties, which are selected from the group consisting of (1) mode (e.g. major or minor), (2) pitch (e.g. high, low, varying), (3) tempo (slow, fast, varying, beats per minute), (4) volume (e.g. soft or loud), (5) dynamics (e.g. changes in volume, rapidly, slowly, etc.), (6) sound (e.g. pleasant, harsh, consonant, dissonant), (7) rhythm (e.g. regular or smooth, irregular or rough), (8) harmony (e.g. simple, major, consonant, complex, dissonant), (9) melody (e.g. melodic direction, pitch contour, and melodic motion), (10) tonality (e.g. tonal-atonal-chromatic), (11) timbre (e.g. number of harmonics}, (12) articulation (e.g. staccato-legato), (13) amplitude envelope (e.g. round or harp), (14) musical form (complexity, repetition, new ideas, disruption, etc.), (15) interaction between these features; (16) lyrical subject matter of the song, (17) positive or negative movement of the lyrical subject matter; (18) cultural relevance of the lyrical subject matter of the song; and (19) age or generational relevance of the lyrical subject matter of the song; (e) creating a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least two filtering functions wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential playlist songs based on one or more musical features of the songs or lyrical features of the songs with the appropriateness of those features for purposeful use in the desired playlist topic and a second comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of potential songs in the song list with the user's musical preferences; (f) playing a preview of a first song in the master song list for the user and soliciting feedback from the user wherein the feedback options are selected from the group consisting of: (1) adding the song to the playlist and (2) not adding the song to the playlist; and (g) repeating the playing and selecting until the playlist is complete.
A first group of variations of the nineteenth aspect of the invention include, for example, one or more of (1) the feedback options consist of at least one additional feedback option selected from the group consisting of: (a) playing the preview again, (b) playing an extended preview of the song, (c) not adding the song to the playlist at this time but placing it on hold for potential inclusion in the playlist if no songs of more interest are previewed; (d) not adding the song to the playlist but leaving the song available for consideration when creating other playlists, and (e) not adding the song to the playlist and never presenting the song again to this user; (2) specifying the number of songs for inclusion in the playlist and determining when the playlist is full by comparing the number of songs placed in the playlist to the number of songs specified for inclusion; (3) the creating of the master song list further comprising retaining songs that the user has entered as favorites (e.g. either as coming from ta favorite artist or as a favorite song) regardless of other more general user preferences so long as the preferred songs are applicable to the desired playlist topic; (4) the creating of the master song list further comprises retaining songs that the user has entered as favorites (e.g. either as coming from ta favorite artist or as a favorite song) regardless of other more general user preferences but before such a favorite song is included in the playlist, the user is provided with a warning or notice that the favorite song does not have appropriate musical properties or lyrical properties for inclusion in the playlist, if such be the case, and the user is allowed to insert the song anyway; (5) the user is provided with an option to insert any song into a playlist, whether or not it meets the musical properties or lyrical properties associated with the playlist but prior to allowing such insertion the user is prompted with a warning or notice if the musical properties or lyrical properties of the song are inappropriate at which time the user may reject the song for inclusion or accept it for inclusion; (6) the producing of the master song list further comprises performing at least one additional weighted or non-weighted intersection of potential songs in the song list with at least one additional category of the user's musical preferences; (7) the song in the master song list are ranked according to one or more ranking categories prior to presentation of previews of the songs in the master song list to the user; (8) the playlist comprises multiple phases and wherein at least two of the phases are characterized by different musical properties (e.g. beat and meter, dynamics, harmony, key, musical instruments or voice, pitch, rhythm, tempo, texture, timbre, and/or the like) or lyrical properties (e.g. vocal message being conveyed); (9) the different musical properties or lyrical properties are limited to musical properties; (10) the different musical properties or lyrical properties include both musical properties and lyrical properties; (11) at least two of the musical or lyrical properties of the songs are used; (12) at least four of the musical or lyrical properties of the songs are used; and (13) at least six of the musical or lyrical properties of the songs are used.
In a twentieth aspect of the invention a method for creating a personalized purposeful purchase list of music, includes: (a) logging into an existing user account; (b) accessing previously entered preferences from a survey of music preferences; (c) entering a desired purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (d) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song of said plurality identified with one or more purchase list topics (i.e. purposes) for which the song is considered applicable (e.g. by users that are members of a target culture) by the song's musical properties (e.g. beat and meter, dynamics, harmony, key, musical instruments and voice, pitch, rhythm, tempo, texture, timbre, and/or the like), its lyrical properties (e.g. vocal message being conveyed), or other properties; (e) creating a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least two filtering functions wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential purchase list songs with the desired purchase list topic and a second comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of potential songs in the song list with the user's musical preferences; (f) playing a preview of a first song in the master song list for the user and soliciting feedback from the user wherein the feedback options are selected from the group consisting of: (1) adding the song to the purchase list and (2) not adding the song to the purchase list; and (g) repeating the playing and selecting until the purchase list is complete.
A first group of variations of the twentieth aspect of the invention include, for example, one or more of (1) the feedback options consist of at least one additional feedback option selected from the group consisting of: (a) playing the preview again, (b) playing an extended preview of the song, (c) not adding the song to the purchase list at this time but placing it on hold for potential inclusion in the purchase list if no songs of more interest are previewed; (d) not adding the song to the purchase list but leaving the song available for consideration when creating other purchase lists, and (e) not adding the song to the purchase list and never presenting the song again to this user; (2) specifying the number of songs for inclusion in the purchase list and determining when the purchase list is full by comparing the number of songs placed in the purchase list to the number of songs specified for inclusion; (3) the creating of the master song list further comprising retaining songs that the user has entered as favorites (e.g. either as coming from ta favorite artist or as a favorite song) regardless of other more general user preferences so long as the preferred songs are applicable to the desired purchase list topic; (4) the creating of the master song list further comprises retaining songs that the user has entered as favorites (e.g. either as coming from ta favorite artist or as a favorite song) regardless of other more general user preferences but before such a favorite song is included in the purchase list, the user is provided with a warning or notice that the favorite song does not have appropriate musical properties or lyrical properties for inclusion in the purchase list, if such be the case, and the user is allowed to insert the song anyway: (5) the user is provided with an option to insert any song into a purchase list, whether or not it meets the musical properties or lyrical properties associated with the purchase list but prior to allowing such insertion the user is prompted with a warning or notice if the musical properties or lyrical properties of the song are inappropriate at which time the user may reject the song for inclusion or accept it for inclusion; (6) the producing of the master song list further comprises performing at least one additional weighted or non-weighted intersection of potential songs in the song list with at least one additional category of the user's musical preferences; (7) the songs in the master song list are ranked according to one or more ranking categories prior to presentation of previews of the songs in the master song list to the user; (8) the purchase list comprises multiple phases and wherein at least two of the phases are characterized by different musical properties (e.g. beat and meter, dynamics, harmony, key, musical instruments or voice, pitch, rhythm, tempo, texture, timbre, and/or the like) or lyrical properties (e.g. vocal message being conveyed); (9) the different musical properties or lyrical properties are limited to musical properties; (10) the different musical properties or lyrical properties include both musical properties and lyrical properties; (11) steps or operations to purchase the music in the purchase list; (12) steps or operations to purchase the music in the purchase list and wherein a user's account or songs located on one or more of the user's device are reviewed to determine whether or not the user already owns one or more of the songs on the purchase list and if so, the already owned songs may optionally be repurchased or copied from the user's already owned data into a common purchase list with the other songs on the song list thus providing the user with a complete purchase list while potentially only purchasing a portion of the songs on the purchase list; and (13) steps or operations to purchase the music in the purchase list and wherein the purchase of the songs on the purchase list comprises the payment of a purchase list fee and a per song fee.
In a twenty-first aspect of the invention, a method for creating a personalized purchase list of purposeful music, includes (a) logging into an existing user account; (b) accessing previously entered preferences from a survey of music preferences; (c) entering a desired purchase list topic selected from a predefined group of functional topics; (d) accessing song information stored in a database wherein the database includes a plurality of songs with each song identified by a plurality of its musical properties, lyrical properties, or other properties, which are selected from the group consisting of (1) mode (e.g. major or minor), (2) pitch (e.g. high, low, varying), (3) tempo (slow, fast, varying, beats per minute), (4) volume (e.g. soft or loud), (5) dynamics (e.g. changes in volume, rapidly, slowly, etc.), (6) sound (e.g. pleasant, harsh, consonant, dissonant), (7) rhythm (e.g. regular or smooth, irregular or rough), (8) harmony (e.g. simple, major, consonant, complex, dissonant), (9) melody (e.g. melodic direction, pitch contour, and melodic motion), (10) tonality (e.g. tonal-atonal-chromatic), (11) timbre (e.g. number of harmonics}, (12) articulation (e.g. staccato-legato), (13) amplitude envelope (e.g. round or harp), (14) musical form (complexity, repetition, new ideas, disruption, etc.), (15) interaction between these features; (16) lyrical subject matter of the song, (17) positive or negative movement of the lyrical subject matter; (18) cultural relevance of the lyrical subject matter of the song; and (19) age or generational relevance of the lyrical subject matter of the song; (e) creating a master song list by comparing an initial list of songs with at least two filtering functions wherein one filtering function comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of the potential purchase list songs based on one or more musical features of the songs or lyrical features of the songs with the appropriateness of those features for purposeful use in the desired purchase list topic and a second comprises performing a weighted or non-weighted intersection of potential songs in the song list with the user's musical preferences;(f) playing a preview of a first song in the master song list for the user and soliciting feedback from the user wherein the feedback options are selected from the group consisting of: (1) adding the song to the purchase list and (2) not adding the song to the purchase list; and (g) repeating the playing and selecting until the purchase list is complete.
A first group of variations of the twenty-first aspect of the invention include, for example, one or more of (1) the feedback options consist of at least one additional feedback option selected from the group consisting of: (a) playing the preview again, (b) playing an extended preview of the song, (c) not adding the song to the purchase list at this time but placing it on hold for potential inclusion in the purchase list if no songs of more interest are previewed; (d) not adding the song to the purchase list but leaving the song available for consideration when creating other purchase lists, and (e) not adding the song to the purchase list and never presenting the song again to this user; (2) specifying the number of songs for inclusion in the purchase list and determining when the purchase list is full by comparing the number of songs placed in the purchase list to the number of songs specified for inclusion; (3) the creating of the master song list further includes retaining songs that the user has entered as favorites (e.g. either as coming from ta favorite artist or as a favorite song) regardless of other more general user preferences so long as the preferred songs are applicable to the desired purchase list topic; (4) the creating of the master song list further comprises retaining songs that the user has entered as favorites (e.g. either as coming from ta favorite artist or as a favorite song) regardless of other more general user preferences but before such a favorite song is included in the purchase list, the user is provided with a warning or notice that the favorite song does not have appropriate musical properties or lyrical properties for inclusion in the purchase list, if such be the case, and the user is allowed to insert the song anyway; (5) the user being provided with an option to insert any song into a purchase list, whether or not it meets the musical properties or lyrical properties associated with the purchase list but prior to allowing such insertion the user is prompted with a warning or notice if the musical properties or lyrical properties of the song are inappropriate at which time the user may reject the song for inclusion or accept it for inclusion; (6) the producing of the master song list further comprises performing at least one additional weighted or non-weighted intersection of potential songs in the song list with at least one additional category of the user's musical preferences; (7) the songs in the master song list are ranked according to one or more ranking categories prior to presentation of previews of the songs in the master song list to the user; (8) .the purchase list comprises multiple phases and wherein at least two of the phases are characterized by different musical properties (e.g. beat and meter, dynamics, harmony, key, musical instruments or voice, pitch, rhythm, tempo, texture, timbre, and/or the like) or lyrical properties (e.g. vocal message being conveyed); (9) the different musical properties, lyrical properties, or other properties are limited to musical properties; (10) the different musical properties, lyrical properties, or other properties include both musical properties and lyrical properties; (11) the different musical properties, lyrical properties, or other properties include all three; (12) steps or operations to purchase the music in the purchase list; (13) steps or operations to purchase the music in the purchase list and wherein a user's account or songs located on one or more of the user's devices are reviewed to determine whether or not the user already owns one or more of the songs on the purchase list and if so, the already owned songs may optionally be repurchased or copied from the user's already owned data into a common purchase list with the other songs on the song list thus providing the user with a complete purchase list while potentially only purchasing a portion of the songs on the purchase list; (14)) steps or operations to purchase the music in the purchase list wherein the purchase of the songs on the purchase list comprises the payment of a purchase list fee and a per song fee; (15) at least two of the musical or lyrical properties of the songs are used; (16) at least four of the musical or lyrical properties of the songs are used; and (17) at least six of the musical or lyrical properties of the songs are used.
Twenty-second to twenty-sixth aspects of the invention include system or apparatus counterparts to the thirteenth to seventeenth aspects of the invention, respectively wherein system or apparatus counterparts are defined by means plus function elements
Twenty-seventh to thirty-first aspects of the invention , respectively, define system or apparatus counterparts to the thirteenth to seventh aspects of the invention wherein the elements are not defined using means plus function elements but are defined by structural elements that are configured or programmed to provide required functionality and functional relationships.
Thirty-second to thirty-sixth aspects of the invention, respectively, define system or apparatus counterparts to the thirteenth to seventh aspects of the invention wherein the elements are not defined using means plus function elements but are defined by structural elements in the form of electrical circuitry that is configured to provide to provide required functionality and functional relationships.
Further variations of the aspects of the invention are possible. For example, a variation set forth in association with one aspect of the invention may act as a variation of another aspect of the invention or even a variation of a variation of another aspect of the invention so long as the added variation does not completely eliminate the function of the original aspect, the original variation of the aspect, or variations of the aspect.
Further aspects of the invention will be understood by those of skill in the art upon reviewing the teachings herein. These other aspects of the invention may provide various combinations of the aspects presented above as well as provide other configurations, structures, functional relationships, processes, alternative ordering of steps from the example processes set forth herein, and uses that have not been specifically set forth above.
1D provide block diagrams representing basic features of four embodiments of the invention wherein the music lists generated may be for playlists or for purchase lists.
As used herein the term “song” is intended to have broader meaning than it may normally be given. As used herein song means any musical work or piece whether it be chanting, a cappella singing, singing with accompanying instrumental music, instrumental music without singing (e.g. orchestral pieces, marching band, piano, guitar, rhythmic percussion), sounds of nature (e.g. rain, wind, running water, ocean waves), animal sounds (e.g. sounds from a whale or bird), classical, modern, or the like. When used herein, if it is intended that a narrower meaning apply, the term song will be accompanied by one or more appropriate adjectives (e.g. vocal song—a song comprising human vocalization; instrumental song—song comprising instrumental sounds; and an instrumental-only song or a non-vocal song—a song with instrumental sounds but without vocal accompaniment). Song as used herein may refer to an entire musical work or piece or it may refer to a portion of that work or piece that is of interest in a given circumstance.
Embodiments of present invention provide unique methods and systems for a user to enjoyably and rapidly create purposeful and fully personalized playlists or lists of songs to be purchased. For some purposeful topics, a user may benefit from a simple list of songs that have musical and/or lyrical content that is appropriate for that purpose wherein each song that is in the playlist is selected (e.g. previewed and selected) by the user for inclusion in the list. For other purposes, or for a more enhanced effect, a user may benefit from a playlist that includes musical and/or lyrical content that include transitions within the playlist one or more times (e.g. wherein the user previews and selects the specific songs to be included in each transitional level).
For example, an exercise playlist may, in some circumstances, benefit from a warm up phase that includes moving but not overly energetic pieces of music, followed by a workout phase that includes music with a rhythm or other musical properties appropriate for a steady, or varying, and appropriately energetic pace, which in turn may be followed by a cool down phase of music with a progressively decreasing pace. In some embodiments transitional phases may be added or deleted as appropriate or even adjusted during the playing of the playlist. In some embodiments, during playing of the playlist, feedback from the user might be used to adjust the upcoming music selections. Such feedback may be in the form of user provided selections (e.g. pause the playlist, cut the playlist short, extend the playlist, extend or shorten the current playlist or upcoming playlist level) or in the form of bio-metric data read from one or more sensors monitoring the user (e.g. pulse rate, breathing rate, oxygen level, blood pressure, etc.). In some embodiments only one transition may be used while in other embodiments two, three, or more transitions may be included in particular playlists for particular topics. Another example of a playlist that might include transitions is a mood enhancing playlist (one intended to move a user from a depressed or sad state to a happier or more hopeful state) that starts with one or more songs that tend to match an initial mood of the user (e.g. have musical or lyrical properties) and then transition through one or more levels or phases to songs having more upbeat, energetic, joyful, or hopeful musical and/or lyrical properties. In some implementations, a user could create multiple playlists that each start with music having different levels of relative melancholy and then transition through one or more phases to a desired level of musical elevation (e.g. energy, joy, etc.). When a user wants some up-lifting, the playlist with the appropriate starting level may be selected depending on the user's mood at that time. Transitions may also be used with other playlist topics as appropriate, e.g. a relaxation playlist may start with some tension and then progress to music with a desired and calming set of musical properties, a memory playlist may start with youthful music and work up to music related to later periods of life, and alternative memory playlist may start from a later period of life and progress to earlier periods of life. In all embodiments, a user selects the playlist topic but in some implementations a user might have multiple transitional variations from which to choose while in other variations more advanced users may select their own transitional effects for a given playlist. In some implementations, a user may have the option of changing subsequent elements or phases of a playlist while it is being played.
When playing playlists, the duration of playing may be set in a variety of manners, e.g. from start to finish, for a specified duration which may be shorter or longer the complete playlist length, for a specified duration for each of the different phases of the playlist, for the entire lengths of a plurality of playlists to be played in a desired order, or for a set period of time for each of a plurality of desired playlists. Playlists may be started upon a user's command or based on a schedule (e.g. like an alarm clock or reminder feature on a phone or computer). In some variations, users may start a playlist but have the ability to end the playing of it early by skipping intermediate songs but playing one or more ending songs or by playing the intermediate songs but skipping one or more ending songs.
With some songs, musical properties may change and such changes may be beneficial for some playlist topics while for other topics such changes may be inappropriate and thus, for some topics, songs may be divided into smaller sections wherein the smaller sections will become parts of specific playlists without the whole song becoming part of the playlists.
In some alternative embodiments, additional information may be used in creating playlists, in playing playlists, and/or in setting the duration of different play list phases. For example, pulse rate may be monitored, blood pressure may be monitored, brainwave information may be monitored, tremor rate monitored, or any other of a number of physiological parameters monitored. Such monitoring may be useful in the process of playing songs and adjusting play duration or play order to maintain a desired physiological response (e.g. pulse rate within a target range) or mental state (within a desired range). Such monitoring may be useful in the initial process of previewing songs where feedback or recommendations to a user may be provided or even decisions about which songs or which types of songs may be most effective such that preview order may be varied to more quickly provide the user with appropriate playlist songs. Such monitoring, for example, may be provided by optical, inductive, capacitive, resistive sensing, or the like, and may be provided with or without physical contact, using wired or wireless transmission to a control unit.
In some embodiments, playlists may be made to include voice recordings made by the user or by others wherein the voice recording may provide messages, encouragement, affirmations, goal reminders, and the like that may help the user achieve goals that he or she is seeking. Such recordings may include instruction sets that the user is to follow to help the user achieve a desired state of being or receptiveness to suggestions. Such recording may be most useful in combination with relaxing, calming, sleep, or awake up playlists but they can be used with any playlists so long as the message is appropriate for the purpose. In some embodiments, the messages played may be keyed to physiological or mental states that are currently being monitored.
According to various embodiments of the invention, numerous playlist topics are possible and include, for example:
(1) Exercise:
(2) Mood Enhancement
(3) Focus & Concentration
(4) Dance
(5) Relaxation or Peacefulness
(6) Wake Up
(7) Energizing
(8) Strength and Courage
(9) Pain Relief
(10) Memory Enhancement
Numerous other purposeful playlists are possible and may be single phase or multiphase in nature, they may be limited to music to be listened to, they may include music to be sung, they may include music to move to, they may include non-musical elements such as affirmations, goals, etc. More information about playlist topics, purposes, and relevant music for different purposes may be ascertained from various sources including “The Tao of Music: Sound Psychology” by John M. Ortiz, PH.D, published by Samuel Weiser, York Beach Me. This referenced book is incorporated herein by reference as if set forth in full herein. Characterization of songs for each topic or topic phase that will be included in any specific database implementation of the various embodiments of the invention are well within the capability of the art and may be made qualified psychologists, music therapists or other music professionals. Additional information about music, musical properties, and the like can be found in various books, recordings, etc. For example more information may be found in a course by The Great Courses Company, entitled “Understanding the Fundamentals of Music”, by Robert Greenberg, copyright 2007 by the Teaching Company or in the book “How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond” by John Powel, published by Little Brown Company, New York, N.Y., copyright 2010. A mood based classification system is proposed and evaluated by Owen Craigie Meyers in a paper entitled “A Mood-Based Music Classification and Exploration System” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Media Arts and Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology June 2007. Each of these referenced works is incorporated herein by reference as if set forth in full.
According to Meyers: The following definitions/descriptions are given to musical features:
In various embodiments, a database of songs is provided wherein the songs or song fragments in the database are categorized by one or more identifying attributes such as their artists, the song names, etc. They are also preferably characterized by their periods, their genres (maybe more than one for any given song), and their musical applicability to each of a variety of potential playlist topics and topic phases. In the database some songs may also have lyrics and/or karaoke-type word highlighting to aid a listener in singing along with the songs when they are watching a user display. Some songs may include album information, version information, live performance, or studio performance information, etc. Some songs may include language translation or transliteration information to aid a user in making specific music requests. Some songs may also include cultural identification information, sensitive or explicit content or language indications, and the like. Any of these characterizations may be used in combinations with a user's preferences when creating one or more master song lists that will be used for selection or preview possibilities when creating a playlist or purchase list based on a specified topic (e.g. one master song list for a standard playlist and multiple master song lists for playlists with one or more transitions). In some embodiments, multiple phases of a multiphase playlist may utilize songs of similar musical characteristics and as such a portion of the phases (e.g. two of the three or more phases) may be created using a single master song list.
In some embodiments, the database associates with each song its perceived relevance or lack of relevance for each of a variety of topics or phases of topics. In some embodiments, these designations or relevancy determinations may be made by psychologists, music therapists, other music professionals, analysis of opinion based survey information or physiological response based survey information. In some embodiments designations and or relevancy determinations may be made by automatic computer based analysis and processing. In other embodiments, instead of associating topic relevance with each song, musical or lyrical features of each song may be determined (e.g. by a professional, by analysis of survey results, or by automatic computer processing) and stored in one part of the database while another part associates playlist topic or playlist topic phase information with musical or lyrical features that are most appropriate to the topic, neutral to the topic, and/or contrary to the topic. In either event, upon selection of the topic, correlations can be made between songs in the database and the topic to generate preview lists that are limited to songs having appropriate musical and/or lyrical features for effective use in a playlist or purchase list should they be of interest to the user.
The automatic computer processing to provide designations or relevancy determinations or to extract musical or lyrical features of songs may occur in a variety of ways. Examples of such methods are discussed in (1) “Automatic Music Classification with jMIR”, by Cory McKay, January 2010, a thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy”; (2) “Automatic Classification of Musical Mood by Content-Based Analysis”, by Cyril Laurier, 2011, a dissertation submitted to the Department of Information and Communication Technologies of Universitat Pompeu Fabra; (3) “Automatic Mood Classification for Music”, by P. W. M. Kanters, June, 2009, HAIT Master Thesis Series nr 09-001, Tilburg Centre for Creative Computing, Tilburg University, The Netherlands; (4) “Improving Music Mood Classification Using Lyrics, Audio, and Social Tags, by Xiao Hu, 2010, a dissertation for degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and (5) the paper by Craigie Meyers referenced above. Each of these referenced papers is incorporated herein by reference as if set forth herein in full.
During creation of some playlists or purchase lists, a specific user may provide, and the system (i.e. a single apparatus, combination of networked apparatus, or a combination of co-functioning machine parts) may utilize, the user's current general musical preferences, the user's musical preferences at different times of his or her life, or default musical preferences associated with his or her age, gender, or other personal attribute which has been entered into the user's profile in the system; however, during creation of other playlists, the user may set up general preferences for other family members or friends, make playlist topic selections, and then run through the preview and selection process so that another person may benefit from the resulting playlist or purchase list. This may provide a way of making customized gifts or may be used to provide benefits to those that may no longer be able to provide such benefits to themselves (e.g. people suffering from memory loss, senility, depression, or the like. Such efforts may be shared with others by sending CDs containing playlist songs, downloading playlist songs to portable electronic devices, or by simply forwarding playlist access information to the intended recipient, etc.
Block 121 calls for the creation of a master song list for a given purposeful topic based at least in part on the correlations set forth directly or indirectly in the database.
Block 131 calls for the providing a user with functionality to select songs from the Master Song List that the user would like to include in a personalized purposeful playlist or purchase list that he or she is creating. In some alternative embodiments, a less personalized playlist may be obtained by the system (i.e. algorithms in the system) simply selecting a number of songs from the master song list for inclusion in the playlist or purchase list. It is anticipated that such system selected playlists or purchase lists will be less personal and thus potentially less effective for desired purpose (at least for some individuals). In some variations, the user may select a portion (e.g. a plurality but not all) of the songs to be included in the playlist while the system will select some songs for inclusion to complete the playlist or purchase list. Such variations may have the disadvantage of being less personalized but may have the advantage of introducing the user to new songs for which an interest may be developed as well as the advantage of leading to faster purposeful playlist or purchase list generation.
Block 151 calls for providing a user with access to the personalized purposeful playlist or purchase list that he or she has created or which has been created for him or her. This providing may be in the form of providing access to the music over the internet or over another network connection, providing for the purchase and downloading of the music, creating and shipping CDs, memory cards or music storage media to the user.
Each of these blocks may represent one or more elements of an apparatus or system that provides or enables playlist or purchase list generation; however, on the other hand each of these elements may provide one or more steps or operations undertaken during a method involving in the generation of playlists or purchase lists. In variations of the embodiments of this group additional elements or operations may be added as will be clear from the teachings set forth in this specification as a whole.
Block 211 provides for functionality that allows a user to specify (e.g. input to the system) general music preferences (e.g. the user generally likes baroque music but generally doesn't like hard rock) and possibly some specific preferences (e.g. favorite artist(s) or artists to avoid) that may be used by the system to provide music selections that are initially more focused on the user tastes.
Block 226 calls for the creation of a master preview list for a given purposeful topic based at least in part on the correlations set forth in the database and any general or specific user specified preferences. The songs in the master preview list not only meet the musical, lyrical, and/or other attributes required or desired for the purposeful topic but also are correlated to the user's general preferences such that the songs that the user will select from for inclusion in a playlist or purchase list will be of a reduced number and of higher overall interest to the user. This can lead to a system that provides a more rapid, enjoyable and effective playlist or purchase list generation process.
Block 231, like block 131 of
Block 251, like block 151 of
Similar variations and alternatives to those noted for blocks 131 and 231 apply to blocks 336 and 436. Similar variations and alternatives to those noted for blocks 151 and 251 apply to blocks 251 and 451. Similar variations and alternatives noted in association with the overall systems or methods of
In view of the teachings herein, many further embodiments, alternative method and systems will be apparent to those of skill in the art. As such, it is not intended that the invention be limited to the particular illustrative embodiments, alternatives, and uses described above but instead that it be solely limited by the claims presented hereafter.
This application is related to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/732,359 filed Dec. 2, 2012 and to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/770,991 filed Feb. 28, 2013. These referenced applications are incorporated herein by reference as if set forth in full.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61732359 | Dec 2012 | US | |
| 61770991 | Feb 2013 | US |
