Patent Application
20080301186
The present invention relates to a system and method for processing a received media item recommendation message comprising recommender presence information and, optionally, a media item annotation.
In recent years, there has been an enormous increase in the amount of digital media available online. Services, such as Apple's iTunes® for example, enable users to legally purchase and download music. Other services, such as Yahoo!® Music Unlimited and RealNetwork's Rhapsody®, provide access to millions of songs for a monthly subscription fee. YouTube® provides users access to video media. As a result, media items have become much more accessible to consumers worldwide. Due to the large amount of the accessible digital media, recommendation technologies are emerging as an important enabler to assist users in identifying and navigating large databases of available media. Recommendations are useful to help users identify and select media items of interest for usage and/or play.
Recommendations may be programmatically-generated by a company based on the user's predefined preferences and/or profiles. Recommendations also may be provided by other users. Particularly, the users may be peers on a social network. The social network provides for the exchange of media item recommendations among the users. As such, the user on the social network may be both a recommender user of media items to other users and a recipient user of media item recommendations from other users. In this manner, the user may receive a media item recommendation from another user and transmit a media item recommendation to other users.
Typically, the users on the social network have some type of relationship. For example, the users may be friends, acquaintances, or members of a defined group or community. Because of these relationships, the users may have similar traits, profiles, likes and dislikes, and/or media item preferences. Therefore, the social networks provide an opportunity to develop and strengthen the interaction between the users not only with respect to the media items, but also with respect to the users personally. The development and strengthening of the user interaction promotes the continued use of the social network for media item recommendations and the acquisition and playing of the media items recommended.
Promoting the use of the social network could be better accomplished if the media item recommendation included additional information of the recommender incorporated into the media item recommendation. The additional information may provide personal information of the recommender and/or information about the recipient, the media item, or the artist. In addition, if the recipient had the flexibility to display the personal information at the times and on the devices as desired by the recipient, it would increase the recipient's enjoyment, education, and entertainment.
However, current media item recommendation applications do not allow the recommender to include personal information in a media item recommendation or the recipient to display the personal information at times and on devices as desired by the recipient. Accordingly, a need exists for a media item recommendation system and method that allows a recipient to receive a media item recommendation that includes personal information and to display the personal information at times and on devices as desired.
The present invention is a system and method for processing a received media item recommendation message. A recipient receives the media item recommendation message which includes a media item identifier of a media item and presence information of a recommender of the media item in association with the media item identifier. The presence information may be in the form of metadata. The recipient may render the presence information and/or store or download the presence information to a media item playlist, to another device, or to a storage medium for subsequent rendering. The media item recommendation message also may include a media item annotation. The media item annotation may also be in the form of metadata and may be rendered and/or stored or downloaded to a media item playlist, to another device, or to a storage medium for subsequent rendering.
The media item identifier may be any unique identifier for that media item and, in addition to identifying the media item, may be used to access the media item for rendering. The presence information of the recommender may be any recommender-specific information, for example a unique identifier and/or a unique, novel, and/or creative tag presentation in audio, visual, and/or textual format, which signifies and associates with the recommender. The media item annotation may be any additional information which the recommender desires to incorporate into the media item recommendation message. The media item annotation may be personal messages and/or may be media item-related. The media item annotation may be in audio, visual, and/or textual format, and may be, for example, a personal message or picture, a critical review of the media item, and/or an image of the artist.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate the scope of the present invention and realize additional aspects thereof after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments in association with the accompanying drawing figures.
The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.
The embodiments set forth below represent the necessary information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention and illustrate the best mode of practicing the invention. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the invention and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure and the accompanying claims.
The present application is related to commonly assigned U.S. patent applications Ser. No. ______ , filed Jun. 1, 2007, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROPAGATING A MEDIA ITEM RECOMMENDATION MESSAGE COMPRISING RECOMMENDER PRESENCE INFORMATION”; Ser. No. ______ , filed Jun. 1, 2007, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD OF GENERATING A MEDIA ITEM RECOMMENDATION MESSAGE WITH RECOMMENDER PRESENCE INFORMATION”; and Ser. No. ______ , filed Jun. 1, 2007, entitled “ENHANCED MEDIA ITEM PLAYLIST COMPRISING PRESENCE INFORMATION,” which are hereby incorporated herein in their entirety.
The present invention is a system and method for processing a received media item recommendation message. The recipient receives the media item recommendation message which includes a media item identifier of a media item and presence information of a recommender of the media item in association with the media item identifier. The presence information may be in the form of metadata. The recipient may render the presence information and/or store or download the presence information to a media item playlist, to another device, or to a storage medium for subsequent rendering. The media item recommendation message also may include a media item annotation. The media item annotation may also be in the form of metadata and may be rendered and/or stored or downloaded to a media item playlist, to another device, or to a storage medium for subsequent rendering.
The media item identifier may be any unique identifier for that media item and, in addition to identifying the media item, may be used to access the media item for rendering. The presence information of the recommender may be any recommender-specific information, for example a unique identifier and/or a unique, novel, and/or creative tag presentation in audio, visual, and/or textual format, which signifies and associates with the recommender. The media item annotation may be any additional information which the recommender desires to incorporate into the media item recommendation message. The media item annotation may be personal messages and/or may be media item-related. The media item annotation may be in audio, visual, and/or textual format, and may be, for example, a personal message or picture, a critical review of the media item, and/or an image of the artist.
The user on the media item recommendation system may be the recommender and/or the recipient. For purposes of the present invention, when describing a user that is transmitting a media item recommendation message, the term “recommender” will be used, and when describing a user that is receiving a media item recommendation message, the term “recipient” will be used. Additionally, when the terms “transmit” and “send,” and variations thereof, are used herein, it should be understood that those terms refer to the same action and, therefore, have the same meaning.
In this example, the central/proxy server 12 operates in a user-server relationship with users. However, it should be noted that the present invention may be implemented in a peer-to-peer configuration where features of the central/proxy server 12 are provided by a “super” peer device. The central/proxy server 12, in whatever form provided, provides media-based services to the user. Note that the central/proxy server 12 also may be implemented as a number of servers operating in a collaborative fashion. An example of a media item recommendation system that may be implemented in a user-server or peer-to-peer configuration is described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/484,130, entitled “P2P NETWORK FOR PROVIDING REAL TIME MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS,” filed Jul. 11, 2006, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The media item recommendation system 10 also includes a number of user devices 20A-20N which may communicate with the central/proxy server 12 and each other via the network 18. Also note that while three user devices 20A, 20B, 20N are illustrated, the present invention may be used with any number of two or more user devices 20. The user devices 20 may be any type of computing device that is capable of performing communications over the network 18 to reach the central/proxy server 12 and other user devices 20. Each of the user devices 20 may also include a user interface which may include components such as a display, speakers, a user input device, and the like. Examples of user devices 20 include, but are not limited to, home computers; computers at work; laptop computers; wireless portable media player (PMP) devices; hand-held computer devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDA) with remote communication capabilities; and the like.
Each user who desires to access and receive the services of the central/proxy server 12 first establishes a user account 14 with the central/proxy server 12. This allows the user device 20 to receive and download a media item recommendation client application 22, which provides a customized software interface to the central/proxy server 12. After the media item recommendation client application 22 is downloaded onto a user device 20, the media item recommendation client application 22 executes on the user device 20.
The user device 20 may also contain a recommendation engine 24. The recommendation engine 24 is a program, algorithm, or control mechanism that handles sending and/or receiving media item recommendation messages over the network 18. The recommendation engine 24 may also score media items based on user preferences for the different media categories, for example, user, genre, artist, title, album, lyrics, date of release, or the like, and then filter recommendations from the other user devices 20 based on such preferences.
The user device 20 also typically contains a media item playlist 26 and a media item player 28. The media item playlist 26 may include information concerning media items and/or media item recommendation messages, including, for example, the titles of media items and/or the media item recommendation messages, the artists, the score, and other information concerning the media items. The media item player 28 allows the user to use or play back any media item desired. Examples of media item players 28 include but are not limited to Apple® iTunes®, Apple® iPOD®, and the like. The media items selected for use and/or play include those stored locally at the user device 20 in a user's media item collection 30, and/or any media item accessed from the central/proxy server 12, another user device 20, subscription service(s) 32, and/or any other system accessible by or coupled to the network 18.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, presence information 34 may be provided by the user to the media item recommendation system 10. Initially, the user, using the user device 20, develops and provides the presence information 34. The presence information 34 may be any personal, unique, novel, and/or creative tag presentation, or other identifying information of the user. The user device 20 stores the presence information 34 and transmits the presence information 34 to the central/proxy server 12 whenever the user device 20 logs in to the media item recommendation system 10 by attaching the presence information 34 to the log in instruction. The central/proxy server 12 receives the presence information 34, and transmits the presence information 34 to other user devices 20 that are also logged in to the media item recommendation system 10. Additionally, the central/proxy server 12 may store the presence information 34 in the user account 14.
The user device 20, and in particular the recommendation engine 24, generates a media item recommendation message 36 and transmits the media item recommendation message 36 to the central/proxy server 12. The media item recommendation message 36 includes a media item identifier 38 (
The user device 20 can be both a recommender of the media item recommendation message 36 and a recipient of the media item recommendation message 36. In other words, a user device 20 may act as a recommender by generating and transmitting a media item recommendation message 36, and a recipient by receiving a media item recommendation message 36 generated by the recommender.
Although for purposes of ease of explanation of the present invention,
When the user desires to log in to the media item recommendation system 10, the user device 20 attaches the presence information 34 recorded by the user device 20 to a log in instruction (step 206). The user device 20 logs in to the media item recommendation system 10 by sending the log in instruction with the presence information 34 to the central/proxy server 12 (step 208). Alternatively, the user device 20 may send the log in instruction directly to the other user devices 20 on the media item recommendation system 10. The user device 20 may also receive the presence information 34 of other user devices 20 logged in to the media item recommendation system 10 (step 210). The user device 20 receives the presence information 34 of the other user devices 20 as part of a log-in notice transmitted from the central/proxy server 12 or directly from the other user devices 20.
The media item (1) recommendation message 36A includes the presence information 34A and a media item (1) annotation 40A. As discussed above, the presence information 34A may be any personal, unique, novel, and/or creative tag presentation or other information the recommender desires to include with the media item recommendation message and may comprise an audio component 42A, an image component 44A, and a text component 46A. The audio component 42A may be any type of audio content, or audio tag line, whether originally developed by the recommender and provided to the user device 20A or imported by the recommender into the user device 20A from the media item recommendation system 10 or an external source. The image component 44A may be any still or graphic image, for example, a picture of the recommender. The text component 46A may be any textual message, or text tag line that the recommender desires to include in the media item (1) recommendation message 36A. The recommender for example, may provide personal information as to his or her preferences or profile as the text component 46A. The above examples of the presence information 34A should in no manner be understood as limiting the particular type of message and/or content of the presence information 34.
Similarly, the media item annotation 40A may comprise an audio component 48A, an image component 50A, and/or a text component 52A. The media item annotation 40A may contain the same type of information as the presence information 34A and may be directed more towards other personal information or content, the media item, and/or the artist. For example, the audio component 48A may be a summary portion of the recommender's favorite song and/or the media item being recommended; the image component 50A may be a picture of the recipient, friends, the artist or an album cover and/or CD jewel case insert; and the text component 52A may be a personal message, album liner notes, inserts from a CD jewel case, published reviews or other commentaries pertaining to the media item, the artist and/or other similar media items or works of the artist. The above examples of media item annotations 40A should in no manner be understood as limiting the particular type of message and/or content of the media item annotation 40.
The media item (1) recommendation message 36A also may be implemented in Extensible Markup Language (XML). The presence information 34A and the media item annotation 40A may be in metadata form. The metadata may be embedded in the XML message as data payload or, alternatively, may be pointed to by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). Additionally, the URL may be in the form of a hyperlink to the central/proxy server 12, for example.
The presence information 34 includes the audio component 42 in the form of a summary or snippet of the song “Bust A Move.” A picture of the recommender is incorporated in the presence information 34 as the image component 44. A quote provided by the recommender is incorporated as the text component 46 of the presence information 34.
The media item annotation 40 incorporates a voice recording of the recommender as the audio component 48. The voice recording provides an introductory salutation to the recipient and to introduce the image component 50. A picture of the recipient with her friends taken at an event is incorporated as the image component 50. The text component 52 provides a textual description of the image component 50.
The media item recommendation client application 22 may cause the user device 20 to automatically generate the media item recommendation message 36 when certain actions occur (step 306). One such action may be the playing of the media item on the user device 20. In such a case, the user device 20 generates the media item recommendation message 36 by including the media item identifier 38 and incorporating the presence information 34. Optionally, the user device 20 may also include the media item annotation 40 such that the media item recommendation message 36 comprises the media item identifier 38, the presence information 34 of the recommender, and the media item annotation 40, if developed and included by the recommender. The presence information 34 and, optionally, the media item annotation 40 are included in the media item recommendation message 36 in association with the media item identifier 38. In other words, the media item recommendation message 36 provides a structure for associating the presence information 34 and the media item annotation 40 with the media item identifier 38. In this manner, the presence information 34 and/or the media item annotation 40 are renderable and storable, individually, and/or in association with the media item identifier 38, and, therefore, the media item. The user device 20 then transmits the media item recommendation message 36 addressed to the recipients by sending the media item recommendation message 36 to the central/proxy server 12 or directly to the user devices 20 of the recipients of the media item recommendation message 36 (step 308). Although not shown in
The recommender's presence information 34, the media item annotation 40, and the media item may be organized on the media item playlist 26 in such a manner that the presence information 34, the media item annotation 40, and/or the media item are associated with the media item identifier 38. As such, the media item playlist 26 provides an “enhanced” playlist. The user may select when and how to render the media item, the presence information 34, and the media item recommendation 40. The user may render, and, therefore, play the media item, display the presence information 34, and display the media item annotation 40, by selecting the media item identifier. Alternatively, the user may display the presence information 34, or display the media item annotation 40 by individually selecting the presence information 34 or the media item annotation 40, respectively. The media item playlist 26 also may be transferred to a storage medium, for example, a CD, and/or transferred to a separate portable device, for example, an MP3 player and/or a cell phone. For purposes of describing the present invention,
The recipient may elect to process the media item recommendation message 36 by rendering the media item that is the subject of the media item recommendation message 36, which may also render the media item annotation 40 (step 404). Rendering the media item causes the media item player 28 in the user device 20 of the recipient to play the media item and may cause the user device 20 to play the media item annotation 40 (step 406). Additionally, the user device 20 may render, and, therefore, play the presence information 34. To play the media item, the user device 20 may access the media item from the media item collection 30. If the media item is not in the media item collection 30, the user device 20 may access it from the central/proxy server 12, if the media item is stored in the central/proxy server 12. If the media item is not stored in the media item collection 30 or in the central/proxy server 12, the user device 20 may elect to acquire the media item from the subscription service 32 or another external source.
Alternatively, instead of rendering the media item upon receipt of the media item recommendation message 36, the recipient may elect to process the media item recommendation message 36 by storing the media item recommendation message on the media item playlist 26 for rendering later. In such a case, the media item identifier 38 is stored on the media item playlist 26 (step 408). The user device 20 of the recipient downloads the recommender's presence information 34 and the media item annotation 40 to the media item playlist 26 in such a manner as the recommender's presence information 34 and the media item annotation 40 may be associated with the media item identifier 38, and, thereby, the media item (step 410).
When the recipient desires to play the media item, the recipient selects the media item from the media item playlist 26. The user device 20 renders the media item, and the recommender's presence information 34 and the media item annotation 40, that were stored on the media item playlist 26 (step 412). The media item player 28 in the user device 20 plays the recommender's presence information 34, the media item annotation 40 and the media item (step 414).
When the media item recommendation message 36 is received and/or when the media item is rendered the audio 42 (
As discussed above with respect to
Additionally, the recipient may elect to transfer the media item, the presence information 34 and/or the media item annotation 40 to a different physical storage media such as, for example, a CD. Optionally, the recipient may elect to download the media item and/or the media item playlist 26 with the presence information 34 and/or the media item annotation 40 to a separate portable device such as, for example, an MP3 player or a cell phone.
The user account 14A may have a record as to whether that user device 20A is able to communicate with the media item recommendation system 10 by on-line status 54A. The central/proxy server 12 may refer to the on-line status 54A to determine if the log-in notice with the presence information 34 and/or the media item recommendation message 36 may be transmitted to the user device 20A. The user account 14A may also record the presence information 34A and the media item annotation 40A transmitted by the user device 20A.
The user account 14A may also contain a friends list 56A and group list 58A. The friends list 56A is a list of the other users registered on the media item recommendation system 10 from whom the user desires to receive media item recommendation messages 36. The user may not want to receive media item recommendation messages 36 from all of the subscribers to the media item recommendation client application 22. The group list 58A may be used by the user to group the friends recorded in the friends list 56A into different groups to further control the transmission and receipt of the media item recommendation message 36 from another user. For example, although user ‘B’ and user ‘C’ may be on the friends list 56A, they may be in two separate groups in the group list 58A. The user may desire to receive the media item recommendation message 36 from a friend in a certain group only if it is a certain genre, for example.
The user account 14A also records the user's play history 60A. The user's play history 60A is a time-stamped record of each media item played by the user. The user account 14A also may contain information regarding the user's particular media preferences 62A. The user's media preferences 62A may relate to the different likes and dislikes of the user based on certain identified media categories. The media categories, for example, may be genre, artist, date of release of the media item, and other information. Also, the user account 14A may have a record of the user's media item collection 30A, profile 64A information provided by the user, and any subscriptions 66A the user may have with subscription service(s) 32. Additionally, the preferences 62A, media item collection 30A, play history 60A, and other information provided by the user at the time of registering with the media item recommendation client application 22 may be used to further develop and update the profile 64A of the user. Additionally, the profile 64A may include a statistical compilation of the aforementioned information.
Additionally, the recommender's presence information 34A and the media item annotation 40A for the media item (1) recommendation message 36A may be recorded and stored. The media item score 76 also may be recorded. The media item score 76 may be based on the number of media item recommendation messages 36 for the media item (1) adjusted appropriately for multiple recommendations from the same recommender as may be recorded by the total 72A for the recommender. The recommendation database 16 may also record the total number 74 of recipients that received the media item (1) recommendation message.
The central/proxy server 12 may receive the media item recommendation message 36 from the user device 20 of the logged in user (step 512). The central/proxy server 12 may store and keep a record of the media item recommendation message 36 in the recommendation database 16 (step 514). Storing the media item recommendation message 36 includes storing the presence information 34 and/or the media item annotation 40. Alternatively, the presence information 34 and/or the media item annotation 40 may be stored separately from the media item recommendation message 36. The central/proxy server 12 reviews the friends list 56 and group list 58 of the user accounts 14 to determine to which recipient user(s) to transmit the media item recommendation message 36 (step 516). The central/proxy server 12 transmits the media item recommendation message 36 to the appropriate user devices 20 of the recipients (step 518) and records the transmission in the recommendation database 16 (step 520).
The user devices 20B, 20N play the presence information 34A included in the media item (1) recommendation message 36A (steps 612 and 614). The user of the user device 20N elects to not play the media item but, instead to store the media item (1) recommendation on the media item playlist 26N for rendering at a subsequent time. The user device 20N stores the media item (1) identifier 38 on the media item playlist 26N and downloads the presence information 34A and the media item annotation 40A, if present, to the media item playlist 26N to store the presence information 34A and the media item annotation 40A on the media item playlist 26N (step 616). The user of the user device 20B elects to play the media item (1) and the user device 20B renders the media item (1) and the media item annotation 40A, if present (step 618). The presence information 34A may also be rendered when the user device 20B renders the media item (1). The media item player 28B plays the media item (1), and may play the presence information 34A and the media item annotation 40A (not shown). Optionally, the user of the user device 20B may elect not to play the presence information 34A and/or the media item annotation 40A when rendering the media item (1).
Referring to
The user device 20B transmits the media item (1) recommendation message 36B to the central/proxy server 12 (step 624). The central/proxy server 12 receives the media item (1) recommendation message 36A, stores the media item (1) recommendation message 36B in the recommendation database 16 (step 626) and reviews the friends list 56 and the group list 58 in the user accounts 14 to determine to which of the user devices 20 to transmit the media item (1) recommendation message 36B (step 628). The central/proxy server 12 determines that the user devices 20A, 20N may appropriately receive the media item (1) recommendation message 36B and sends the media item (1) recommendation message 36B to the user device 20A (step 630) and the user device 20N (step 632).
The user devices 20A, 20N play the presence information 34B included in the media item (1) recommendation message 36B (steps 634 and 636). Because the user of the user device 20A was the initial recommender of the media item (1), the user of the user device 20A elects to not play the media item (1) but instead stores the media item (1) recommendation on the media item playlist 26A for rendering at a subsequent time. The user device 20A stores the media item (1) identifier 38 on the media item playlist 26A and downloads the presence information 34B and the media item annotation 40B, if present, to the media item playlist 26A (step 638).
The media item (1) recommendation message 36B is a subsequent recommendation of the media item (1) received by the user of the user device 20N. As such, the media item (1) identifier 38 is already stored on the media item playlist 26N. The user device 20N updates the media item playlist 26N. The update to the media item playlist 26N may include an update of the score for media item (1) based on the subsequent recommendation. The user device 20N also downloads the presence information 34B and the media item (1) annotation 40B to the media item playlist 26N to store the presence information 34B and the media item annotation 40B on the media item playlist 26N (step 640). The user of the user device 20N may decide to play the media item (1). The user device 20N renders the media item (1) and the media item (1) annotation 40B from the media item playlist 26N (step 642). Optionally, when rendering the media item (1), the user of user device 20N may elect to also render the presence information 34A, the presence information 34B, and/or the media item (1) annotation 40A, which may continue to be stored on the media item playlist 26N. In addition, the user of the user device 20N may render and/or play the presence information 34A, the presence information 34B, the media item annotation 40A, and/or the media item annotation 40B on the user device 20N without rendering the media item (1).
Referring to
The user of the user device 20N may adapt the presence information 34A and/or the presence information 34B by replacing the presence information 34A and/or the presence information 34B with the presence information 34N, and/or incorporating the presence information 34N with presence information 34A and/or the presence information 34 B into the media item (1) recommendation message 36N. Alternatively, the user of the user device 20N may elect to not include the presence information 34N in the media item (1) recommendation message 36N. In any such case, the user of the user device 20N may elect to retain as received or modify the presence information 34A and/or presence information 34B in the media item (1) recommendation message 36N.
The user device 20N transmits the media item (1) recommendation message 36N to the central/proxy server 12 (step 648). The central/proxy server 12 receives the media item (1) recommendation message 36N, stores the media item (1) recommendation message 36N in the recommendation database 16 (step 650) and reviews the friends list 56 and the group list 58 in the user accounts 14 to determine to which of the user devices 20 to transmit the media item (1) recommendation message 36N (step 652). The central/proxy server 12 determines that the user devices 20A, 20B may appropriately receive the media item (1) recommendation message 36N and sends the media item (1) recommendation message 36N to the user device 20A (step 654) and the user device 20B (step 656).
The user devices 20A, 20B play the presence information 34N included in the media item (1) recommendation message 36N (steps 658 and 660). Because the media item (1) recommendation message 36N is a subsequent recommendation of the media item (1) received by the users of the user devices 20A, 20B, the media item (1) identifier 38 is already stored on the media item playlists 26A, 26B. The user devices 20A, 20B update the media item playlists 26A, 26B. The update to the media item playlists 26A, 26B may include an update of the score for the media item (1) based on the subsequent recommendations. The user devices 20A, 20B download the presence information 34N and the media item annotation 40N, if present, to the media item playlists 26A, 26B to store the presence information 34N and the media item annotation 40N on the media item playlists 26A, 26B (steps 662 and 664).
Instead of playing the media item (1), the user of the user device 20A elects to store the media item (1) to a storage medium, for example, by burning a CD of the media item (1) with the media item (1) annotation 40N (step 666). Optionally, the user of the user device 20A may elect to burn the CD of the media item (1) and include the media item (1) annotation 40A and/or 40B, or any combination of the media item (1) annotations 40A, 40B, 40N. The presence information 34A, 34B, 34C may also be burned to the CD with the media item (1). As such, the user of the user device 20A may transfer all or a portion of the media item playlist 26A to a storage medium such as a CD. The user of the user device 20A may play the media item (1), the presence information 34, and the media item (1) annotations 40 at any time by playing the CD.
The user of the user device 20B may elect to download the media item (1), the presence information 34N, and the media item (1) annotation 40N to a separate portable device for playing at a subsequent time (step 668). Optionally, the user of the user device 20B also may elect to download the presence information 34A, 34B and the media item (1) annotation 40A and/or 40B, or any combination thereof. Also, the user of the user device 20B may download to the separate portable device all or a portion of the media item playlist 26B. The user of the user device 20B may play the media item (1), any of the presence information 34, and the media item (1) annotations 40 without having to be connected to the media item recommendation system 10.
The media item (1) recommendation message 36B also includes presence information 34A. The incorporation of presence information 34A in the media item (1) recommendation message 36B indicates that the media item (1) recommendation message 36 was previously sent from the user device 20A (
Additionally, the presence information 34A is shown as an exemplary URL instead of one or more of the audio component 42A, image component 44A, and text component 46A being embedded in the media item (1) recommendation message 36B. The presence information 34A in the media item (1) recommendation message 36B includes a unique identifier in the form of “presinfo34A,” which is included in the URL. A user identifier in the form of “usera” is also included in the URL. The URL may be used to access the presence information 34A in the user account for the user of the user device 20A in the central/proxy server 12. Additionally, the URL may be in the form of a hyperlink. Although not shown in
The GUI 78 also comprises a render presence information section 88 to allow the user of the user device 20 to provide direction as to when to render the presence information of others. Selectors in the form of radio buttons 90, 92, 94, and 96 allow the user of the user device 20 to select when the user device 20 may render the presence information 34. The user of the user device 20 may direct that the presence information 34 of others be rendered “When Friends Log In” 90, “When Friends Log Out” 92, “When Media Item Recommendation Message Is Received From Friend” 94, or “When Rendering Media Item From Media Item Playlist” 96.
The GUI 78 may also comprise a presence information setting section 98 to allow the user to set the components of the presence information 34. The GUI 78 may include selectors which may comprise an audio component selector 100, an image component selector 102, and a text component selector 104. The user's presence information 34 may be set using the audio component selector 100, the image component selector 102, and the text component selector 104. The audio component selector 100 allows the user of the user device 20 to provide original audio content and/or import audio from an external source. The image component selector 102 allows the user of the user device 20 to provide any still image or graphic such as, for example, a picture of the user. The text component selector 104 allows the user of the user device 20 to provide any textual message such as, for example a personal greeting.
The GUI 106 also allows the user of the user device 20 to direct that the user's presence information 34 be included in place of the media item annotation 40 when no media item annotation 40 is included with the media item recommendation message 36 by actuating selector 120.
The GUI 106 may also include an annotation setting section 120 to allow the user of the user device 20 to set the components of the media item annotation 40. The GUI 106 may include selectors which may comprise an audio component selector 122, an image component selector 124, and a text component selector 126. The media item annotation 40 may be set using the audio component selector 122, the image component selector 124, and the text component selector 126. The audio component selector 122 allows the user of the user device 20 to provide audio content such as, for example, a portion of the media item. The image component selector 124 allows the user of the user device 20 to provide any still image or graphic such as, for example, a picture of the artist. The text component selector 126 allows the user of the user device 20 to provide any textual message such as, for example, critical reviews of the media item.
The audio component 42A of the presence information 34A may contain one or more announcement tracks 128 (1), 128 (2), and 128 (M). Although for purposes of discussing the present invention,
Each announcement track 128A may have different characteristics associated with it. The presence information 34A, therefore, may have different characteristics. These characteristics may be, for example, tempo, genre, artist, and album. The characteristics may be set by the user of the user device 20A and/or may be programmatically determined from the users profile including his or her media item collection 30 and play history.
The comparison performed by the media item analysis system 138B may include measuring and matching the characteristics of the media items. The media item analysis system 138B may be a program, algorithm, or control mechanism that analyzes and compares the characteristics. In addition to analyzing and comparing the characteristics, the media item analysis system 138B may include the ability to adjust the tempo or beats per minute (BPM) of the media item 132 by applying beat matching techniques. Beat matching techniques provide the ability to modify the media item using certain techniques including, but not limited to, time-stretching effects and alignment so that the announcement track 128A and media item play together in a more seamless fashion.
Using the media item analysis system 138B, the user device 20B compares the metadata 136 of the currently playing media item 132 on the user device 20B with the metadata 130A of the announcement tracks 128A included in the presence information 34A (step 706). Based on the comparison, the user device 20B selects the “best fit” announcement track 128A (step 708). The user device 20B plays the “best fit” announcement track 128A from the presence information 34A (step 710).
If one of the announcement tracks 128A of the presence information 34A does not identically match the currently playing media item 132 on the user device 20B, the media item analysis system 138B may adjust the tempo of the announcement track 128A that is the closest match to the currently playing media item 132 using beat-matching techniques. In this manner, the BPM of the announcement track 128A is adjusted to match the BPM of the currently playing media item 132.
The functionality of the present invention can be embodied in any computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with a computer-related system or method. In the context of the present invention, a computer-readable medium is an electronic, magnetic, optical, semiconductor, or other device or means that can transmit, contain, or store a computer program, instructions or data for use by or in connection with a computer-related system or method.
Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the preferred embodiments of the present invention. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein and the claims that follow.
The present application is related to commonly assigned U.S. patent applications Ser. No. ______ , filed Jun. 1, 2007, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROPAGATING A MEDIA ITEM RECOMMENDATION MESSAGE COMPRISING RECOMMENDER PRESENCE INFORMATION”; Ser. No. ______ , filed Jun. 1, 2007, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD OF GENERATING A MEDIA ITEM RECOMMENDATION MESSAGE WITH RECOMMENDER PRESENCE INFORMATION”; and Ser. No. ______ , filed Jun. 1, 2007, entitled “ENHANCED MEDIA ITEM PLAYLIST COMPRISING PRESENCE INFORMATION,” which are hereby incorporated herein in their entirety.
