ONLINE PLAYBACK SYSTEM WITH COMMUNITY BIAS

Abstract

A method for entertaining individuals according to a community having similar tastes. Information derived from user accounts form the basis of a community and collateral preferences allow other subscribing individuals to enjoy the benefit of wider-ranging tastes according to the preferences expressed by the other members of the community. Additionally, assuming that individuals sharing one preference in common may be likely to share others, the present method allows those who choose to listen to the “fan station” the ability to enjoy similar music or other data streams according to preferences expressed by the fan community as a whole.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/164,846 filed on Nov. 10, 1999 for an Internet Radio and Broadcast Method which application is incorporated herein by this reference thereto. This patent application is related to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/217,594 filed Jul. 11, 2000 for Online Playback System With Community Bias, and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/709,234 filed Nov. 9, 2000 for Internet Radio And Broadcast Method, which applications are incorporated herein by this reference thereto.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to database generation and data stream transmission, and more particularly to biased data stream transmission method according to a community of subscribers or fans enjoying similar tastes.

2. Description of the Related Art

In an online environment, the demand for digital entertainment is limited by statute in the United States of America under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA, Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, Public Law 105-304). Legitimate providers of online entertainment must adhere to the DMCA and pay license fees for the copyrighted works broadcast over the Internet or other online environment. Otherwise, such providers are liable for copyright infringement.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) addresses protections for copyrighted works transmitted online. The DMCA entitles websites that stream music to a statutory license to perform copyrighted sound recordings as long as they meet certain requirements. Compliance with these requirements by, among other ways: not streaming over a three-hour period, more than three songs or more than two in a row from the same recording, or four songs or more than three in a row from the same recording artist or anthology; and by transmitting songs in a noninteractive format by, for example, not allowing users to specifically create or request programming on demand or to hear programming at designated times. Additionally, compliance with the DMCA requires that advance song or artist playlists not be published.

In an online environment, the content provider may “narrowcast” the data feed to a single individual and still comply with the DMCA even though thousands of individual narrowcast transmissions are made simultaneously. For example, so long as each individual narrowcast does not violate the DMCA, compliance with the DMCA is maintained.

“Narrowcasting” is a term that may be new in the art. As a contrast to “broadcasting” where information is broadcast on a wide basis and generally available to anyone with a tuned receiver, “narrowcasting” arises from the individually addressable data packets used in TCP/IP protocol. The packets are addressed to individual computers and include almost all forms of data transmission over the Internet. Consequently, when broadcasting occurs on the Internet, it is generally composed of a bundle of narrowcast packets as each one must be individually addressed to the computers of the audience. This is true even though several computers are receiving the same content at the same time. Each computer must be individually addressed even though the packets are identical. When demand is high for Internet content such as a live performance or transmission, bandwidth may not be sufficient for all who request transmission.

Due to the nature of Internet communications and TCP/IP protocol, narrowcasting is one of the basic and easy ways in which to transmit information packets. Multicasting may also be used (See Bob Quinn, Killer Network Apps That Aren't Network Killers, Dr. Dobb's Journal October 1997), but has drawbacks due to technical obstacles in effecting a multicast on the open Internet. Other protocols (such as FTP) also exist.

Under the LAUNCHcast™ system (the subject of the 09/709,234 patent application indicated above), each subscriber may “tune” his or her narrowcast by expressing preferences that are recorded and preserved in an account associated with the user/subscriber.

The LAUNCHcast™ system provides a means by which DMCA compliance can be maintained while biasing narrowcast transmissions according to audience/individual preferences. By soliciting, receiving, and recording an individual's preferences regarding (for example) a music data stream, LAUNCH Media, Inc. provides digital audio feed to a subscriber that both complies with the DMCA as well as catering to the individual's musical tastes. If the musical tastes of the individual are limited, additional music may be used to fill in “airtime” or “nettime” that cannot be filled with the individual's favorite songs as such transmission would violate the DMCA. Conversely, an individual with broad tastes could have very few works transmitted in the data stream that fall outside of the individual's tastes.

Very often, people who enjoy one type of music or artist also enjoy other types of music or artists so that an appearance of association between the two occur without an obvious causal link. For example, individuals who enjoy music by Barry Manilow might also enjoy the music of Neil Sedaka in a high percentage that may exceed random statistical occurrence. Consequently, when accompanied by a rating system or engine, individuals who enjoy Barry Manilow might welcome music by Neil Sedaka although they may have never heard music by Neil Sedaka before.

The present invention allows enhancement of narrowcast transmission for the listener's or consumer's enjoyment while maintaining compliance with the DMCA. By associating communities of listeners/consumers around specific artists or genres, subscribers or listeners of an online data stream entertainment service are provided with a more focused and enjoyable experience as the data stream is catered to their preference by using a community bias based upon those who enjoy such artists, an individual artist, genres, or an individual genre.

Note should be taken that the method described herein pertains not only to audio data streams, but any sort of data stream where preferences may be present, including video and multimedia. As entertainment data streams are particularly susceptible to strong personal preferences, the present invention resolves a need for providing dynamic accommodation of expressed preferences in a community of subscribers or listeners while complying with applicable copyright law.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides for a biased data stream that is biased according to those who prefer data streams of particular types. Using the example above, a community enjoying Barry Manilow could be used to bias a data stream towards both songs by Barry Manilow and those songs that the members of the Barry Manilow community enjoy. Consequently, through the use of preferences expressed by feedback of each individual member of the Barry Manilow community, a Barry Manilow-based radio station or data stream set emerges. Narrowcasting based upon such a biased data stream may then be subject to DMCA constraints so that no one narrowcast transmission violates the DMCA, yet the data stream transmission is biased according preferences expressed by the Barry Manilow community as a whole.

The biasing of such a data stream becomes more robust and more reliable with greater numbers of members and when such members express a large number of preferences regarding the type of music they enjoy.

Note should be taken that the term “music” as used herein is used as a shorthand for any data stream subject to taste or preference. Music data streams form a basic analogy from which all other data streams may be comparably likened, unless otherwise indicated. Additionally, the use of Barry Manilow as an artist of preference is arbitrary and could be substituted by current, modern, or classical artists such as Melissa Etheridge, Karen Carpenter, Rosemary Clooney, Phil Harris, Hank Williams, Led Zeppelin, Luciano Pavarotti, or Spike Jones.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide more entertaining online data feeds.

It is another object of the present to provide more entertaining data streams by providing a biased data stream according to a listener's/consumer's preferences.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a more entertaining data stream by biasing a data stream according to a community expressing preferences for significant components of the data stream, such as an artist or genre.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a community biased music data stream according to a community expressing preferences for music carried by said data stream, such as an artist or genre.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from a review of the following specification and accompanying drawings.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from a review of the following specification and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary page for an artist, in this case Tori Amos.

FIG. 2 shows a similar exemplary artist page with the Fan Station option highlighted.

FIG. 3 is an isolated view of the Fan Station option shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 shows an alternative exemplary page for an artist, in this case Tori Amos.

FIG. 6 shows a similar alternative exemplary artist page with the Fan Station option highlighted.

FIG. 7 is an isolated view of the alternative Fan Station option shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic view of steps taken in the present invention

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of presently-preferred embodiments of the invention and is not intended to represent the only forms in which the present invention may be constructed and/or utilized. The description sets forth the functions and the sequence of steps for constructing and operating the invention in connection with the illustrated embodiments. However, it is to be understood that the same or equivalent functions and sequences may be accomplished by different embodiments that are also intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the invention.

The present invention resides in the establishment of a community based upon shared musical tastes. Upon receiving and recording a statistically significant number of preferences and feedback regarding songs, those who prefer an artist may be distinguished from other users who may form a background against which fans of such an artist are distinguished.

Using as an example the contemporary artist Tori Amos, FIGS. 1-8 show alternative commercial presentations of the present invention. As for almost all artists in its library, LAUNCH Media maintains home pages for artists from which users/subscribers may select links to additional information, including the purchase of works by the artist. As an option on the home page, interested individuals may select to hear an audio stream based upon the preferences of users who like that artist, in this case, who like Tori Amos.

By selecting the “listen” or “watch” links in the Fan Station section of the Tori Amos home page (FIGS. 3 and 4 and FIGS. 7 and 8), individuals can receive data streams biased according to a community that likes Tori Amos. As the Tori Amos community may tend to share other musical tastes, the data stream that results from the Fan Station link selection may also entertain the individual so selecting the link as that individual's tastes may correspond to the tastes of the Tori Amos community as a whole just as it did with the artist Tori Amos.

In order to determine a community's preferences, only those individuals in the subscriber database who are “fans” of the artist are used to determine the community's preferences. The term “fan” may be arbitrarily defined as those individual subscribers who rate Tori Amos as a 70 or more on a scale of 100 with 0 being a least favorite artist and 100 being a most favorite artist. The choice is arbitrary but needs to reflect a bias sufficient to entertain, or even delight, those who choose to listen to the community channel.

Upon determining the community of interest (Tori Amos fans, for example), collateral data regarding other preferences are gathered from those same individuals who are designated fans of Tori Amos. For example, in one embodiment, for each member of the community, all other rated artists besides Tori Amos are inspected. Those artists who also scored 70 or higher are noted and temporarily stored in a database. After all of the member accounts of the community have been polled, those artists who are present in 70% of the accounts may be chosen as artists whose music will also be transmitted as secondary musical selections in narrowcast to those who choose the Tori Amos Fan Station.

In an alternative embodiment, the collateral artists may be chosen according to popularity with no floor threshold (of 70% as in the embodiment above, or otherwise). In another alternative embodiment, songs rated by the community may take precedent over artist ratings such that individual songs are selected for narrowcast transmission from community preferences as opposed to portfolios of songs according to different artists (again according to community preferences).

In this way, a community may be defined and its preferences determined. Of course, other data streams subject to preference or taste may be substituted for the music/audio data stream as set forth in the example above, including video, multimedia, or otherwise.

The present invention is shown diagrammatically in FIG. 9. As shown in FIG. 9, the present invention 900 provides steps for achieving the community bias system in order to provide data streams consistent with such community preferences. The online playback system with community bias 900 of the present invention begins first with establishing a statistically-significant database 910. This database may be a database comprised of all users of a system such as LAUNCHcast™ or the like. Such a statistically-significant database has entries with artistic preferences of the individual subscribers. Such preferences may include artists and songs preferred and not preferred (liked and disliked), as well as albums that the subscribers or recipients prefer or do not prefer.

The entire subscriber community generally defines the artistic or preferential “space” in which the present invention operates. Using such a geometrical point of view, certain sub-areas of the artistic database may then be the subject of the community preference system 900 set forth herein. In order to achieve the present invention, certain delimitations must be made as to what defines a community, and the preferences expressed by the subscriber/recipient serve in this capacity.

Statistical significance is a relative term. The goal of the present invention is to provide entertainment or other desired data streams to the recipients. Here, the data streams are songs or music videos. However, other data streams subject to subscriber databases where preferences are expressed for the content or type of data stream may also put to good use the present invention and are within the scope of the present invention and of the claims set forth herein. Statistical significance arises in the form of certain threshold criteria by which certain preferences are deliminated and/or distinguished from others. Generally, those who listen to country music may not want to also listen to heavy metal music. Those who would prefer rap may also like to listen to hip-hop music. Those who enjoy classical music may not enjoy swing or polka music. Depending upon the available databases of both subscribers and data streams, certain subgenres may be available such as all-Mozart or all-Beethoven community channels.

While feedback may be obtained from the recipients of the community-biased data streams, generally the present invention uses the rule of thumb of approximately “70” as the rating threshold by which a person is considered to be a “fan” of the artist or the like. The “70” rating could be interpreted as indicating that the artist is in the top one-third (⅓) of the individual's preferred artists. By dwelling in this top ⅓ area, a community may be defined, although the exact numerical criteria may depend upon the range of the “space” available for use in the present invention, as well as the number of subscribers and data streams. Generally, the broader and more numerous the original and primary database of subscribers and datastreams, the higher and more exclusive the threshold rating may be.

Upon establishing a statistically-significantly database 910, certain criteria must be established for determining a community's bias 920. Upon choosing that threshold, the statistically-significant database 910 is then filtered, sorted, or evaluated, to determine what trends are present with respect to fan or subscriber preferences. As mentioned above, the rating of an artist of approximately above 70 on a scale of 0-100 is considered to be a relevant and significant threshold. The use of artists to define a genre or a consistent theme with respect to music generally arises from the fact that artists tend to write the same kind of music or the same type of music much in the same way as Vivaldi and Mozart had their own separate and distinct styles.

Upon determining the trends in the fan community 920, a selection of individual stream elements may be made 930. Such stream elements are generally in conformance with two criteria: the community bias trends established in step 920, as well as any applicable copyright law. In the United States, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) generally controls such on-line transmissions of copyright works such as sound recordings and audio-visual works.

The stream selection step 930 may be achieved in two modes of transmission. One mode would be a narrowcast mode where different individual streams are transmitted to different recipients who have chosen and are currently listening to a community fan station. Alternatively, one transmission stream could be distributed simultaneously to all current listeners of the fan station/community channel. Both of these transmission methods are in compliance with the DMCA and provide alternative means by which the present invention 900 may be realized.

When an individual hears a song on a community channel that he or she (“he”) would like to rate, the rating tool may be made available to him via the player tool. The rating so made by the individual is then recorded in his or her preferential settings as a subscriber to the database 910. The user's ratings may indirectly affect the data stream selection 930 as it may form part of the database used to determine the community and the stream selected for the corresponding channel. The user must be a fan of the artist, for example, to effect that artist's community channel.

Once the stream selection process 930 has been performed, the stream is then broadcast to the recipient(s)/subscriber(s) 940. The recipients then enjoy the receipt of the data streams and may be exposed to new music according to their own expressed preference indicated by subscribing to the fan station. Consequently, an individual who likes country music and chooses a Hank Williams community channel may be exposed to music by Porter Wagner which he or she may also like. The same is similarly true for contemporary musical style such as rap and hip-hop, as well as musical styles developed in the past, currently under development, or to be developed in the future.

In order to maintain the relevance of the community channel/fan station, the trend determining step 920, stream selection step 930 may be re-engaged after a certain period of time ranging from one week to several months 950. This allows for those who enjoy a certain type of music to benefit from currently-popular related styles and to allow the stream selection process 930 to be updated to reflect current tastes.

While the present invention has emphasized entertainment in the form of data streams relating to songs, sound recordings, and audio visual work such as music videos, the present invention is also applicable to data stream transmission systems that must comply with a regulatory scheme (such as the DMCA) in view of express preferences for content and/or type (such as the music individual persons like and dislike). Certain automated processes may benefit from the present invention, as machine-implemented processes may operate under a wide variety of conditions and benefit from the transmission of data streams such as information- and/or content-dependent data streams dependent upon a wide variety of factors, including geographic location, climate, other environmental conditions, or otherwise. For example, the data streams may be sets of suggested instructions for artificially-intelligent systems operating under situations requiring problem-solving abilities.

The source code listing sets forth with particularity certain software methods by which one embodiment of the present invention may be achieved. The listing is believed to provide a full and complete disclosure of one embodiment of the present invention.

While the present invention has been described with regards to particular embodiments, it is recognized that additional variations of the present invention may be devised without departing from the inventive concept.

Text Listing of Source Code

The following copyrighted source code provides a realizable embodiment of the present invention and is presented by way of example and not by limitation. Other source code and compilations thereof may implement the present invention without duplicating the following source code.

Claims

1-6. (canceled)

7. A method comprising:

determining a member community, members of the community are determined to have at least one data stream content preference in common; and

defining a different individual data stream for each user of a plurality of users, said defining comprising, for each individual data stream, selecting content for inclusion in the individual data stream in accordance with data stream content preferences of the determined member community.

8. The method of claim 7, said determining a member community further comprising:

determining the members of the community by flltering data stream content preferences of a user base comprising users that have associated data stream content preferences.

9. The method of claim 8, such that the content selected for inclusion in the individual data stream comprises at least one data stream element of a plurality of data stream elements, the plurality of data stream elements having associated data stream content preferences including ratings, each rating being associated with a user of the user base and a data stream element, said filtering data stream preferences to determine the members of the community further comprising:

filtering the user base using the ratings and a user base filtering threshold to determine the member community, the members of the member community being users of the user base determined to have a common data stream element that has an associated rating for each determined user that satisfies the user base filtering threshold.

10. The method of claim 7, such that content selected for inclusion in the individual data stream comprises at least one data stream element of a plurality of data stream elements, the plurality of data stream elements having associated data stream content preferences including ratings, each rating being associated with a user of a user base and a data stream element, the method further comprising:

determining a set of data stream elements of the plurality by filtering the plurality of data streams using the ratings associated with users of the user base determined to be members of the member community and a content filtering threshold, each data stream element of the determined set having an associated member user rating that satisfies the content filtering threshold,

such that said selecting content for inclusion in the individual data stream selecting content from the set of data stream elements for inclusion in the individual data stream.

11. The method of claim 7, such that content selected for inclusion in the individual data stream comprises at least one data stream element of a plurality of data stream elements, the plurality of data stream elements having associated data stream content preferences including ratings of a plurality of artists, each artist being associated at least one data stream element of the plurality of data stream elements and each rating being associated with an artist and a user of a user base, the method further comprising:

determining a set of artists of the plurality of artists by filtering the plurality of artists using the artist ratings associated with the users of the user base determined to be members of the member community and a content filter threshold, each artist of the determined set having an associated member user rating that satisfies the content filtering threshold; and

determining a set of data stream elements of the plurality of data stream elements, each of the data stream elements of the set of data stream elements being associated with an artist of the determined set of artists,

such that said selecting content for inclusion in the individual data stream selecting content from the set of data stream elements for inclusion in the individual data stream.

12. The method of claim 7, such that a user of the plurality has associated data stream content preferences, for the user, said selecting content for inclusion in an individual data stream further comprising:

selecting content for inclusion in the individual data stream in accordance with data stream content preferences of the determined member community and the user's associated data stream content preferences.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

repeating said determining a member community and defining a different individual data stream for each user of a plurality of users to reflect changes in data stream content preferences of a user base from which the member community is determined.

14. The method of claim 7, said selecting content for inclusion in an individual data stream further comprising:

selecting content for inclusion in the individual data stream in accordance with sound recording performance restrictions.

15. A system comprising:

at least one server configured for: determining a member community, members of the community are determined to have at least one data stream content preference in common, and defining a different individual data stream for each user of a plurality of users, said defining comprising, for each individual data stream, selecting content for inclusion in the individual data stream in accordance with data stream content preferences of the determined member community.

16. The system of claim 15, said at least one server configured for determining a member community further configured for:

determining the members of the community by filtering data stream content preferences of a user base comprising users that have associated data stream content preferences.

17. The system of claim 16, such that the content selected for inclusion in the individual data stream comprises at least one data stream element of a plurality of data stream elements, the plurality of data stream elements having associated data stream content preferences including ratings, each rating being associated with a user of the user base and a data stream element, said at least one server configured for filtering data stream preferences to determine the members of the community further configured for:

filtering the user base using the ratings and a user base filtering threshold to determine the member community, the members of the member community being users of the user base determined to have a common data stream element that has an associated rating for each determined user that satisfies the user base Filtering threshold.

18. The system of claim 15, such that content selected for inclusion in the individual data stream comprises at least one data stream element of a plurality of data stream elements, the plurality of data stream elements having associated data stream content preferences including ratings, each rating being associated with a user of a user base and a data stream element, said at least one server further configured for:

determining a set of data stream elements of the plurality by filtering the plurality of data streams using the ratings associated with users of the user base determined to be members of the member community and a content filtering threshold, each data stream element of the determined set having an associated member user rating that satisfies the content filtering threshold,

such that said selecting content for inclusion in the individual data stream selecting content from the set of data stream elements for inclusion in the individual data stream.

19. The system of claim 15, such that content selected for inclusion in the individual data stream comprises at least one data stream element of a plurality of data stream elements, the plurality of data stream elements having associated data stream content preferences including ratings of a plurality of artists, each artist being associated at least one data stream element of the plurality of data stream elements and each rating being associated with an artist and a user of a user base, said at least one server further configured for:

determining a set of artists of the plurality of artists by filtering the plurality of artists using the artist ratings associated with the users of the user base determined to be members of the member community and a content filter threshold each artist of the determined set having an associated member user rating that satisfies the content filtering threshold, and

determining a set of data stream elements of the plurality of data stream elements, each of the data stream elements of the set of data stream elements being associated with an artist of the determined set of artists,

such that said selecting content for inclusion in the individual data stream selecting content from the set of data stream elements for inclusion in the individual data stream.

20. The system of claim 15, such that a user of the plurality has associated data stream content preferences, for the user, said at least one server configured for selecting content for inclusion in an individual data stream further configured for:

selecting content for inclusion in the individual data stream in accordance with data stream content preferences of the determined member community and the user's associated data stream content preferences.

21. The system of claim 15, said at least one server further configured for:

repeating said determining a member community and defining a different individual data stream for each user of a plurality of users to reflect changes in data stream content preferences of a user base from which the member community is determined.

22. The system of claim 15, said at least one server configured for selecting content for inclusion in an individual data stream further configured for:

selecting content for inclusion in the individual data stream in accordance with sound recording performance restrictions.

23. A system comprising:

a server that executes program code to provide: a ratings system maintaining data stream content preferences comprising ratings that include at least one of a plurality of data stream element ratings and artist ratings, each rating associated with a user of a user base; a member community determiner, members of the community are determined to have at least one rating in common; an individual data stream definer, said definer defining a different individual data stream for each of a plurality of users of the user base, for each individual data steam, said definer selecting content for inclusion in the individual data stream in accordance with the ratings of said members of the community maintained by said ratings system.

24. The system of claim 23, the rating comprising an artist rating, each member of the member community rating the artist at least equal to a user base filtering threshold.

25. The system of claim 23, the rating comprising data stream element rating, each member of the member community rating the data stream element at least equal to a user base filtering threshold.