KR20080086418A - Method and system for creating and applying playlist - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and system for creating and applying a playlist.

To this end, the present invention creates and applies a playlist that the server system applies to the content and usage data provided from the user's client-side music and / or video library to determine to include recommended content in the playlist for the user. Provide a method and system.

According to the present invention, the user may be provided with the same playlist regardless of the location or the type of the client device, and may be provided with the recommended content considering the preference, location, etc. of another user.

Description

Method and System for Generation and Applying Playlists

The present invention relates to a method and system for creating and applying a playlist. More specifically, a method and system for generating a playlist including recommended content from a server system and providing the generated playlist to a client device playing music or video, such that the content is executed according to the provided playlist. It is about.

Users collect music, video, and other content through personal libraries that are implemented in a single or distributed fashion on various kinds of electronic devices. When the collected content is stored and executed on multiple devices, it is difficult for the user to set the order of the executed content on any one device to be consistent. In addition, mandatory use restrictions due to the strengthening of digital rights management have made this more difficult.

Accordingly, since information on content preferences, usage patterns, and general habits cannot be used, a user may not be provided with convenience such as a content recommendation method.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method and system for generating and applying a playlist that executes content according to a provided playlist when a client device generates a playlist including recommended content from a server system and provides the playlist to a client device. To provide.

To this end, the present invention creates and applies a playlist that the server system applies to the content and usage data provided from the user's client-side music and / or video library to determine to include recommended content in the playlist for the user. Provide a method.

In addition, the present invention provides a playlist generation and application system including logic for determining the inclusion of recommended content in a playlist for a user by applying content and usage data uploaded from a user's client-side music and / or video library. to provide.

According to the present invention, a user can be provided with the same playlist regardless of the location or the type of client device. In addition, the user may be provided with recommended content in consideration of other users' preferences and locations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. In the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present invention, and like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a part is said to "include" a certain component, it means that it can further include other components, without excluding other components unless specifically stated otherwise. In addition, the terms “… unit”, “… unit”, “module”, etc. described in the specification mean a unit that processes at least one function or operation, which may be implemented by hardware or software or a combination of hardware and software. have.

Logic refers to signals and / or information to affect the operation of the device. Examples of such logic include software, hardware, and firmware, and the hardware logic may include circuitry. In general, logic may consist of a combination of software, hardware and / or firmware.

Logic may be configured through one or more devices, or may be a combination of instructions, processing power, circuits, and the like in memory, which is a matter of course in the art. Therefore, even if logic is present, it may not always appear clearly and accurately in the drawings of devices and systems.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for creating and executing a content playlist.

Server system 108 includes one or more processors 112 and logic 115 for implementing techniques and methods in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. The server system 108 may include various components (eg, mass storage media, volatile memory, data buses, etc.), which are natural in the art and will not be described in detail herein. Equally, server system 108 may include one or more computer systems that are connected to the Internet or other networking system.

Client system 102 also includes one or more processors 113 and logic 116 to implement techniques and methods in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. Like server system 108, client system 102 may also include various components (e.g., mass storage media, volatile memory, data buses, etc.), which is obvious in the art. It will not be described in detail here. Client system 102 may include logic that may be connected to and communicate with server system 108 via the Internet or other networking system. In general, server system 108 is implemented such that it can communicate with multiple client systems 102 simultaneously.

The client system 102 also includes a mass storage medium, such as a hard drive 119, that stores all or a portion of a user's content library 129. The content library 129 may include audio data such as music tracks in the MP3 format. In addition, the content library 180 may include video data in the form of video content such as a video clip or a Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG). Such content is an example of one of the types of content that may be found in a user's content library 129.

The user's content library 129 may have various sources. For example, the content library 129 may include content of the hard drive 119, content of a portable media player (PMP) 118, and one or more CD / DVD devices 110. Content of the digital video recorder 104, and the like. The content library 129 may reference a user's library, client-side music and / or video library. Here, the client side is a term meaning that it is provided at the client device or output from the client device.

Content and usage data of the client-side music and / or video library may be uploaded from the client system 102 to the server system 108. At this time, uploading to the server system 108 by various mechanisms such as the Internet, private network, wireless network, cable network using a hybrid fiber coaxial network (HFCN) (hereinafter referred to as 'HFCN') 106. Can be performed. The server system 108 uses the metadata and usage data to determine the user's playlist and / or recommended content to be included in the user's playlist.

The contents of the playlist may be streamed from server system 108 or delivered from a local source to client system 102 such as hard drive 119, CD / DVD 110, PMP 118, and played back to the user. have. In general, the playlist includes content included in the content library 129 of the user and recommended content not included in the content library 129. The recommended content may be streamed from server system 108 to client system 120 while content provided from the user's content library 129 is run from a local source. In accordance with the setup and implementation methods in the present invention, server system 108 may stream all of the content reference details by playlist, even if some content is available from a local source.

Representative metadata includes author / acter / artist / publish information about the content. It also includes information such as thumbnails, album fields, artist images, and the like. Typical usage data includes the time the content was inserted into the content library, the number of times the content was executed, how much the content was actually executed, the timestamp played each time, the source of the content (e.g., download, extract, Purchases, etc.), user reviews of the media, content sharing information with other users, and content consumption patterns of other users. Here, the content consumption pattern of another user is not determined from upload information of a specific user, but may be determined through upload analysis by multiple users.

As another example, usage data may include information about how many times the content has been moved / downloaded to a mobile device, such as PMP 118, and a bit rate / codec used for coding, including alternate copies of the content. (codecs) Include information. Here, alternate copy means that the user copied the same media using different bit rates. In addition, the usage data may include information such as artist / author / acter information that the user prefers, information such as date / day / specific date of execution of content, content information skipped while playing in a playlist, playlist and / or content, and the like. Contains content information deleted from the library 129. In addition, the usage data may include content information of a playlist about what content is preferred, when it was played, when it was executed, when it was changed, and the like. The above is an example where metadata and usage data are not mutually exclusive.

As described below, the playlist may be implemented in a form that includes information of content included in the content library 129 and content information that is not included in the content library 129 but is associated or recommended in any form.

Thus, content or usage data included in the content library of client-side music and / or video is not included in the content library 129 of recommended content-user selected music and / or video by the server system 108. As a content, it may be determined by the user's playlist.

Recommended content not included in the user's content library 129 may be provided from the server system 108 to the client system 102 or another device that does not provide content / use data when executed in a playlist.

Since the content of the playlist is provided from the client system 102, a playlist form conforming to the radio station rules of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) may be required. Here, the radio station rules of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act include rules such as how often a particular music track is to be executed and how long time must elapse between executions of tracks linked in a particular manner. However, in some cases server system 108 may analyze the metadata and usage data and determine that certain content included in the user's content library 129 has been purchased. In such a case, the server system 108 may be regarded as the execution of the purchased content, and may be excluded from the radio station rule of the Digital Million Copyright Act or may be generously applied.

The playlist may be applied only to content that can be streamed from the server system 108 or an affiliated system. In such a case, the content library can be executed even in a very thin device that is insufficient to accommodate all content libraries such as a mobile terminal.

In addition, the playlist may be in a form that includes reference material for local content of the client system 102. At this time, the reference material is provided from the server system 108. Accordingly, a hybrid playlist may be mixed in which recommended content that was not included in the content library 129 and libraries of other local sources such as the CD / DVD 110 and the PMP 118 may be mixed.

The server system 108 may consider other factors when selecting recommended content to be added to the playlist. By way of example, server system 108 compares content / use data with data provided by a content owner or content creator to select recommended content that is not included in the user's content library 128. Using this, when the content owner / producer / sponsor's content is recommended, it provides specific rights and revenue.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a client device operating in the system of FIG.

The server system 108 streams the content to the client device 206 which does not host the user's content library 129 or is not associated with the content / use data. Here, an example of the client device 206 that receives the playlist may be a mobile terminal.

The client device 206 or other device includes logic 214 or components that can execute a stream to the server system 108 or store content locally for execution. The client device 206 includes a user interface (UI) for executing the stream, which is illustrated through FIG. 3.

As in the example of FIG. 2, the client device 206 includes one or more antennas 202, a display 216, wireless communication logic 214, a memory 204, a nonvolatile storage 222 and at least one digital signal. A wireless device that includes a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) 218 and other components. Such components will operate in concert with each other to perform the methods described herein.

In this case, the client device 206 is designed and operated as a communication device, but the server system 108 enables the stream of the library according to the provision of the recommended content not included in the user's content library 129. The device 206 may perform an efficient operation as a PMP for playing the user's content library 129.

3 is a block diagram illustrating a user interface of a client device in the system of FIG. 1.

The user interface is displayed on display 216 of the client device and is generated and operated by wireless communication logic 215 operating on the client device. The user interface includes a metadata panel 302 for metadata including album information, player information, track information, and the like, and an advertising panel 304 for advertising content.

When the server system forms the playlist 306, the ratio of content included in the library to content not included in the library may be determined by client control or setting of the slider. 311 is an example of such a slide controller.

The first slide controller 311 determines a playlist ratio of content from the user's content library 129 or other local sources and recommended content not included in the content library 129 and streamed from the server system 108. . Such a controller may be called a serendipity slider.

As in the case of the first slider controller 311, the proximity control for the suitability and similarity of the contents of the playlist 306 included in the content library, which are not included in the content library, may be performed by using the slider control. Is determined by. 312 is an example of a slide controller for performing such a setting.

In some cases, server system 108 may include reference content of advertising content in playlist 306. The client control can provide a decision as to how much advertising content to include in the user's playlist 306 and / or the advertising panel 302.

For example, the third slider controller 313 may provide a user with a determination of donation amount corresponding to the amount of advertisement content displayed in the playlist 306 and / or the advertisement panel 302.

The user may be tired of a particular song, or may not like a song recommended in a playlist.

The client-side controller 310, such as a thumb-up button, may allow the user to set approval or disapproval of specific content. In this case, the disapproval may be displayed by using the client-side controller 318 such as the same button or a thumb-down button.

If disapproval is displayed, the content may be deleted or set to be rarely recommended. Similarly, if an approval is indicated, the content may be run more often or may be prominently presented in a playlist of that user or another user.

Often a user determines a skip for a particular portion when the content is played in a playlist. A skip controller 309 may be provided for such skip selection.

The skip controller 309 may perform secondary mechanics of the controllers 308, 310 indicating approval / disapproval.

Skipping is complicated by the DMCA specification. When the skip controller 309 is executed, the content located next in the playlist does not proceed sequentially, but the content is skipped and executed as permitted by the DMCA radio station rule.

As an example, the system will set the execution direction of the content purchased by the user. If more than one allowed content is executed and skipped, the system will run the content in the playlist immediately following the skipped content in the original list, except for violating DMCA radio station rules.

In order to allow the skip operation to be performed smoothly and smoothly, the system may prioritize caching and / or content for a portion of the content (eg, setting the first 10 seconds of music on the current track as the destination of the authorized skip). Information (logos, album cover illustrations, metadata, etc.) can be provided. At this time, the priority caching and / or content information provided is set to allow skipping without violating DMCA radio station rules.

The use of one- or two-dimensional slider controllers, or the setting of control ratios and percentages, can be optimized by the user's playlist execution experience.

By way of example, a user may be provided with a UI control to perform ratio or percentage setting of various content types provided from server system 108. Here, as an example of a UI control that can be provided by the user, a control for setting a percentage or percentage of content related to one or more genres such as rock, classic, movie, and TV adventure, and a percentage or percentage of content related to one or more sub-genres Controls that allow you to set your preferences, controls that allow you to set the percentage or percentage of crush content based on one or more of your personal information (age, gender, etc.), contacts that affect your selection and / or content selection Controls to set the percentage or percentage of content recommended or recommended by friends, controls to set the percentage or percentage of content to create a mood, one or more ratings (total audience, parental audience, under 17) Control to set the percentage or percentage of the content according to impossibility There are controls to set the percentage or percentage of the role, religious or cultural content.

Various controls can be placed on the 'mixed board' that the user can optimize for content execution. Adjusting the control to increase the percentage or ratio of the playlist's content type has the effect of reducing the ratio for the other content types of the playlist or adjusting the ratio for other content types.

Sliders are just one way of expressing percentages and ratios for content types, and can be represented in other ways, such as Pie Charts or Bar Charts.

A user may want to express content classified into various categories or types, or content having characteristics associated with a plurality of categories or types through various methods. One of the methods of expressing such various characteristics is Venn Diagram.

As such, the user interface may include the ability to describe content types, ratios, percentages, and characteristics through methods such as pie charts, bar graphs, and / or venn diagrams.

In some cases, the server system 108 may reflect the location information of the user to determine the contents of the playlist. With this, the user can be provided with media execution based on location.

For example, the system may determine the content of the playlist using location information such as an office, entertainment venue or other facility where the user is currently located.

As an example, a playlist of a user may be formed based on what content is executed according to the building, facility, organization, social gathering, geographic location, etc. where the user is located. Coffee shops, restaurants, night clubs, bars and other social places are examples.

The system may use information of other users provided in the same region or a specific region.

4 is an exemplary view showing a playlist form according to a location and / or presence characteristic of a user.

There are 411-413 users in the particular region 402 shown in FIG. 4. At this time, the server system 108 may detect the location of the user 411 to 413 using the Wi-Fi terminal hot spot 409 or the like. In addition, server system 108 may implement one or more playlists tailored to the tastes of users 411-413 and / or specific regions 402.

The contents of the playlist may be streamed to a player 404 in a particular region 402 and distributed to other players 406 and 407, such as speakers or screens.

At this time, the content included in the playlist is selected based on metadata or usage data provided from one or more users 411 through 413 located in the specific region 402.

The contents of the playlist may be provided to a single user through headphones or through an audio / video output environment for a particular facility's customers, such as speakers, screens, or other public mechanisms.

The system may identify a user located in a specific region 402 by using a Global Positioning System (GPS), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or a credit card transaction method.

For example, a user of 411 through 413 may allow the system to generate recommended content for a playlist that is characterized at a location. If the user is allowed to generate the recommended content of the playlist, when the content is executed in the specific region 402, an attribute of the recommended user may be assigned.

As described above, the usage data includes information about how often a particular song is played, at what position, and when and / or date it is executed.

The usage data also includes setting information of the client device of the user. The setting information of the client device of the user includes one or more user operation information performed on the client device, such as web browsing, video watching, music listening, and the like.

Server system 108 may select one or more playlists that have been browsed, watched, or listened to by the user. Here, the playlist may include both a content library and a recommendation list.

Users, shows, events, themes, places, products or actions such as browsing, watching, listening, etc. may be relevant as examples for the selection of content. In another particular example, a server system constituting a playlist containing one or more pieces of content that has been played, recorded, or scheduled for future recording by a digital video recorder (DVR) ( 108).

In addition, the system may encourage content activation by providing the player / owner / sponsor with the possibility of the content being included in the playlist, and compensation for the increase in the position in the playlist.

Content selected as a playlist recommended by a third party and / or content selected as a playlist by one or more social networks, groups, organizations or human members to which the user belongs may be applied.

In certain cases, the system may use the content and / or usage data to determine statistical information and / or user preference information. The system may find this useful for product improvement and ad selection. As the system learns a lot of usage data over time, it can apply it to statistical and preference information.

Some of the various content execution methods may be better than methods using collection of metadata and usage data. Information about which content is streamed to the user's client devices 102, 206 can be used to actually upload the content from the content library 129 to the server system 108.

The user can receive the content execution experience from anywhere and can also receive the stream from a specific device that is not authorized as a 'legitimate playback' device for content protection.

For example, when uploaded content is protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM), server system 108 will emulate a 'legitimate playback' device that is authorized to own and execute the user's protected content. As long as the content can receive the stream from the server system 108, it can run on the device without the content owner's approval.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that a particular processor and / or system or the like that is effective can be configured by various devices. In addition, the execution method according to the published preferred device may be changed according to the development process.

For example, if it is determined that the execution method according to a particular device is the best in speed and accuracy, the execution method using the device will be selected by means of hardware and / or firmware; If the method of execution according to a particular device is determined to be the best in terms of flexibility, the method of execution using that device will be selected as its own software execution means; Some devices may be selected as execution means for some combination of hardware, software and / or firmware.

Therefore, it is possible to use several different devices to achieve the effects described herein. The arrangement and configuration of the device here may be selected according to considerations (speed, flexibility or predictability) for a particular device among various devices. No choice is inherently superior in use compared to other choices.

Implementation of such techniques may include hardware, software, and / or firmware, which are techniques that will be appreciated in the art.

In the foregoing detailed description, an apparatus and / or method have been variously implemented through use of a block diagram, a flowchart, or an example. The use or illustration of a block diagram, flowchart, or one or more operations and / or operations involve a block diagram, flowchart, or the like, which can be used in individual and / or collective means in a broad field of hardware, software, firmware or a combination thereof. It will be understood as the actions and / or actions in the examples.

Some of the foregoing may be discussed through application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs) or other integrated formats. May be implemented.

Some of the implementation methods described herein are those of the art that can be implemented externally. In addition, a circuit program designed by a computer program executed by one or more computer programs, a program executed by one or more processors, firmware, or any combination thereof, and used as code for software and / or firmware is used in standard integrated circuits. May be performed as follows. It can be recognized as one of the technical content in the relevant field including the content of such a content specification.

In addition, the contents described above may be distributed as various types of program products in the related field. In addition, it will be appreciated that an exemplary implementation method of the disclosed subject matter may be equally applicable, regardless of the signal type in which the distribution of media is actually performed.

In addition, the signal bearing medium may be a recordable type media such as a floppy disk, a hard disk drive, a CD-ROM, a digital tape, a computer memory, a transfer type media, a digital and analog communication link using an IP link based on a TDM or communication link. It is not limited to such.

In order to apply the devices and / or methods described in large scale systems, it will be appreciated that the use of the devices and / or methods of the described forms as a part is common in the art. That is, some of the described devices and / or processes may be integrated into the network through appropriate experimental quantities.

It was previously described to externally include or connect with other components. The depicted structure is just one example, and through various structures in actual implementation, what is described may form a structure that performs the same function.

The arrangement of the connections of the devices performing the same operation is indicated by the actual 'combination' to achieve the desired function. Therefore, two components combined to perform the same function can be considered to be combined. Likewise, the combination of any two components may be viewed as 'usable connection' or 'usable combination', in order to achieve a desired function between each other.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements of those skilled in the art using the basic concepts of the present invention defined in the following claims are also provided. It belongs to the scope of rights.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for creating and executing a content playlist.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a client device operating in the system of FIG.

3 is a block diagram illustrating a user interface of a client device in the system of FIG. 1.

4 is an exemplary view showing a playlist form according to a location and / or presence characteristic of a user.

Claims (20)

Determining, by the server system, applying the content and usage data provided from the user's client-side music and / or video library to include recommended content in the playlist for the user. The method of claim 1, Determine the recommended content for the playlist, wherein the recommended content is not content included by the client-side music and / or video library by applying content and usage data provided from the client-side music and / or video library The method further comprises the step. The method of claim 1, Determining recommended content; And Steps to create a playlist that meets the radio station rules of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) How to include more. The method of claim 1, And forming a client-side playlist that includes reference material of local content and reference material of content streamed from the server system. The method of claim 4, wherein Providing client-side control to determine a ratio in the client-side playlist of content provided from the user's library and recommended content not included in the user's library and streamed from the server. The method of claim 1, And determining, by the server system, content for the playlist by applying information about the location of the user. The method of claim 6, Determining content for the playlist based on the location of the user being a plurality of points. The method of claim 6, Playing the content provided from the playlist as ambient music and / or video at the location. The method of claim 1, Delivering the content defined by the playlist to the client from a local source for playback to the user; And Streaming the content from the server if the content cannot be delivered and played back from the local source to the client How to include more. The method of claim 1, Selecting at least one person, show, event, subject, place, product, or content of said playlist related to browsing activity, viewing activity or listening activity. The method of claim 1, Client-side control further comprising setting a ratio of content in the playlist, wherein the ratio of content present in the user's library and content not recommended in the user's library recommended by the server system. The ratio. The method of claim 11, Setting the proportion of content in the playlist by the client-side control further comprises performing a slider control of one or more dimensions. The method of claim 12, Uploading digital copyrighted content from the client device to the server, wherein the server is a host and emulates a device that plays protected content held by the user. Way. And logic to apply content and usage data uploaded from a user's client-side music and / or video library to include recommended content in a playlist for the user. The method of claim 14, And logic for determining the recommended content and forming a playlist that conforms to the radio station rules of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The method of claim 14, And logic for forming a client-side playlist that includes reference material of local content and reference material of content streamed from the server system. The method of claim 16, And logic to provide client-side control to determine a ratio in the client-side playlist of content provided from the user's library and recommended content not included in the user's library and streamed from the server. The method of claim 14, And determining logic for the playlist by applying information about the location of the user. The method of claim 14, If the content defined by the playlist is delivered from the local source to the client to play back to the user, if the content cannot be delivered from the local source to the client to play, further stream the content from the server Including system. The method of claim 14, And logic for selecting one or more people, shows, events, subjects, places, products, or contents of the playlist related to browsing activity, viewing activity, or listening activity.

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