U.S. patent application number 12/568670 was filed with the patent office on 2011-03-31 for rules-based user preferences for stream switching in an internet radio player.
Invention is credited to Richard D. Wooden.
Application Number | 20110078323 12/568670 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 43781543 |
Filed Date | 2011-03-31 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110078323 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wooden; Richard D. |
March 31, 2011 |
RULES-BASED USER PREFERENCES FOR STREAM SWITCHING IN AN INTERNET
RADIO PLAYER
Abstract
An internet radio player provides more personalized streaming
audio content by assigning play amounts to different stream
sources, and then playing streams from the different sources at a
playback device for play times corresponding to the respective play
amounts. The play time for a given stream is calculated as a
user-defined percentage for the associated stream source multiplied
by an expected listening period. The different stream sources can
include different musical genres, news, sports, weather, or
traffic. Play amounts are automatically adjusted based on user
selection of the currently-playing stream source for increased or
decreased play. A particular stream can also be played at a
predetermined clock time, and the streams can further be ordered
for play according to user preference. The present invention
accordingly provides a richer listening experience than that
attained by listening to a single internet radio stream, even if
the single stream already reflects a user's preferences.
Inventors: |
Wooden; Richard D.;
(Ogallala, NE) |
Family ID: |
43781543 |
Appl. No.: |
12/568670 |
Filed: |
September 29, 2009 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
709/231 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N 21/6125 20130101;
H04N 21/8106 20130101; H04L 67/325 20130101; H04N 7/163 20130101;
H04N 21/458 20130101; H04L 65/4092 20130101; H04L 65/602 20130101;
H04L 67/306 20130101; H04N 21/4622 20130101; H04N 21/4755
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
709/231 |
International
Class: |
G06F 15/16 20060101
G06F015/16 |
Claims
1. A method of personalizing streaming media content, comprising:
assigning respective play amounts to a plurality of different
stream sources connected to a network; and successively playing a
plurality of streams from the different stream sources at a
playback device, wherein the plurality of streams are played for
play times which generally correspond to the respective play
amounts.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the streaming media content is
audio content, the playback device includes an audio output device,
and said playing reproduces audible output at the audio output
device.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically
adjusting the play amounts based on a user selection of one of the
stream sources for increased or decreased play.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the different stream sources
include at least two different musical genres.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the play time for a given stream
is calculated as a user-defined percentage for the stream source
associated with the given steam multiplied by an expected listening
period.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the streams is
played at a predetermined clock time.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the streams are ordered for play
according to a user preference.
8. A playback device comprising: one or more processors which
process program instructions; a network device connected to said
one or more processors for communication with a network; a memory
device connected to said one or more processors; a media output
device connected to said one or more processors; and program
instructions residing in said memory device for personalizing
streaming media content by assigning respective play amounts to a
plurality of different stream sources connected to the network, and
successively playing a plurality of streams from the different
stream sources at the media output device, wherein the plurality of
streams are played for play times which generally correspond to the
respective play amounts.
9. The playback device of claim 8 wherein the streaming media
content is audio content, and the media output device is an audio
output device.
10. The playback device of claim 8 wherein said program
instructions further automatically adjust the play amounts based on
a user selection of one of the stream sources for increased or
decreased play.
11. The playback device of claim 8 wherein the different stream
sources include at least two different musical genres.
12. The playback device of claim 8 wherein said program
instructions calculate the play time for a given stream as a
user-defined percentage for the stream source associated with the
given steam multiplied by an expected listening period.
13. The playback device of claim 8 wherein at least one of the
streams is played at a predetermined clock time.
14. The playback device of claim 8 wherein the streams are ordered
for play according to a user preference.
15. A digital program product comprising: a machine-readable
storage medium; and program instructions residing in said medium
for personalizing streaming media content by assigning respective
play amounts to a plurality of different stream sources connected
to a network, and successively playing a plurality of streams from
the different stream sources at a media output device, wherein the
plurality of streams are played for play times which generally
correspond to the respective play amounts.
16. The digital program product of claim 15 wherein the streaming
media content is audio content, and the media output device is an
audio output device.
17. The digital program product of claim 15 wherein said program
instructions further automatically adjust the play amounts based on
a user selection of one of the stream sources for increased or
decreased play.
18. The digital program product of claim 15 wherein the different
stream sources include at least two different musical genres.
19. The digital program product of claim 15 wherein said program
instructions calculate the play time for a given stream as a
user-defined percentage for the stream source associated with the
given steam multiplied by an expected listening period.
20. The digital program product of claim 15 wherein at least one of
the streams is played at a predetermined clock time.
21. The digital program product of claim 15 wherein the streams are
ordered for play according to a user preference.
22. A method of customizing streaming audio content, comprising:
providing an audio receiver with a plurality of audio selections,
the plurality of audio selections having individually-selectable,
network-based audio sources; receiving listener selections of more
than one of the individually-selectable, network-based audio
sources for the audio receiver; associating the listener selections
with network addresses that correspond to the
individually-selectable, network-based audio sources; receiving a
listener exposure metric, indicating a rule-based exposure
parameter selected by the listener; and successively switching the
audio receiver to the individually-selectable, network-based audio
sources in response to the listener selections and the listener
exposure metric to provide a customized audio stream to the audio
receiver.
23. The method of claim 22 wherein the listener exposure metric is
received real-time during playing of audio content from one of the
individually-selectable, network-based audio sources by the audio
receiver.
24. The method of claim 22 wherein the rule-based exposure
parameter is a duration that an audio selection is played by the
audio receiver.
25. The method of claim 22 wherein the individually-selectable,
network-based audio sources include at least two sources having
different radio station formats.
26. The method of claim 22 wherein the plurality of audio
selections include at least two different audio selections from the
group consisting of: music, sports, news, weather, traffic, and
focused advertising.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention generally relates to the electronic
transfer of consumer media, and more particularly to a system and
method for providing internet users with a set of preferences for
streaming audio media in order to enhance their listening
experiences.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] Contemporary methods of listening to music often involve use
of the Internet to obtain access to digital audio media. One way of
listening to music which involves use of the Internet is
downloading an audio file to a computer, phone, portable media
player, etc., using a standard communications protocol such as file
transfer protocol (FTP). When the audio file is downloaded, the
file is essentially copied from its source (a remote server) to a
local device which can then store the audio file. This means that a
device such as a personal computer would have a digital copy of the
audio file. With this audio file, a listener can do many things,
such as listen to the audio file when desired, copy the file to
another device or location, or mix the audio file with another
sound track. Once a listener has obtained a copy of an audio file,
they do not require a connection to the Internet in order to listen
to the audio file since it can be accessed directly from the local
device onto which it was initially downloaded.
[0005] An alternative to downloading audio (or video) content from
the Internet is to stream the content from the Internet. When audio
content is streamed over the Internet, a listener has real-time
access to the audio reproduction, but access is much more limited
when compared to downloading audio files. Streamed audio data is
transferred using a different protocol than those used for regular
file downloads like FTP, so that listeners are not able to obtain
an actual copy of the audio file. For example, the real time
streaming protocol (RTSP) is commonly used to establish and control
media sessions between client-server end points. Clients can issue
simple commands such as play and pause to facilitate real-time
control of the playback of media files from the server. This
listening alternative has several significant differences from
downloading audio files. The most notable difference is that, since
a listener does not have an actual copy of the audio file, the
listener cannot transfer the file to other devices (e.g., portable
or hand-held devices). This limitation is specifically designed to
reduce the pirating of music. Also, if a listener does not have
access to the Internet then he or she has no way of streaming a
given audio file, and a low-speed or unreliable connection will
result in poor reproduction quality.
[0006] Internet media sources which provide streaming of audio data
over the Internet include internet radio stations. An internet
radio station can for example stream the same content as a
traditional (terrestrial) radio station, or can stream setlists
pre-programmed by human programmers with or without a disc jockey.
Internet radio stations are similar to terrestrial radio stations
in that they broadcast songs over a communications medium. However,
internet radio stations are often more personalized than
terrestrial radio stations. For example, some internet radio
stations allow listeners to provide input or feedback such as
selecting a particular genre, artist or format. These stations then
apply a simple matching algorithm to the listener feedback to
create a sequence for their streaming media. The internet music
service Pandora provides more advanced streaming internet radio
stations that are generally enabled by the user based on a seed
artist or song. A recommendation engine then uses rules to match
other content that the user may like to the seed selection based on
characteristics assigned to each song by a Pandora professional.
Another variant of this service includes Last.fm, where the
internet radio station's program is based on aggregations of its
users' listening habits. These preferences result in streams that
the user can select from after assigning seeds for each stream and
then refining the selections by use of a "more of this" feature or
"less of this" feature for each song played.
[0007] The foregoing internet radio stations may be considered
non-interactive forms of personalized internet streaming. An
interactive service is one which allows a listener to receive a
stream where the listener has the power to dictate the songs being
played, such as typical listener-supported internet radio stations
which allow the audience to select specific songs to be included in
a station's playlist. Conversely, a broadcast-type transmission in
which only the station makes the musical selections is
non-interactive. Thus, Pandora and Last.fm are non-interactive
because the broadcaster is making the music selections, although
the listener is indirectly influencing the songs being played. The
interactive or non-interactive nature of a stream can affect
royalties or other fees that are required for transmission and
performance of the streamed content.
[0008] Several of these avenues for various listening experiences
are illustrated in the generalized process of FIG. 1 for an
internet radio end user listening to streaming internet radio
content. The listener can provide basic feedback to one or more
internet radio stations which create a first media sequence (10).
The listener can also select a seed song or artist to allow one or
more additional internet radio stations to program a second media
sequence using a recommendation engine (12). One or more other
radio stations provide a third media sequence produced by human
programmers without input or feedback from the listeners (14).
These media sequences are available to the listener over the
Internet as a plurality of internet radio streaming media content
(16). An internet radio player software application running on a
computer or hand-held device presents the various internet radio
station choices for selection by the listener (18). The listener
then selects a single station based on personal preference, such as
music genre, artist, station call sign, etc. (20). The player
application accordingly sets up a streaming connection with the
chosen "Content A" internet radio streaming media (22), and outputs
the selected stream to the audio system for the listening enjoyment
of the user (24).
[0009] There are several disadvantages to the internet radio
station platforms mentioned above. Those internet radio stations
which have only pre-programmed playlists lack the ability for any
personalization or customizing. If a listener is listening to a
song on a pre-programmed playlist, there is no way for the listener
to indicate their like or dislike for that song, so the playlist is
unable to adapt to a user preference. Pre-programmed playlists may
also consistently play certain songs from a genre or subgenre which
the listener actively dislikes. Those internet radio stations with
playlists that are personalized based on a specific genre, artist,
format, etc., are still somewhat restricting to listeners because
oftentimes, although a listener might greatly like one specific
song by a specific artist, they might not like other songs by that
same artist or other versions (covers) of the song. Similarly, if a
listener likes a specific artist from a specific genre, they might
not like all artists of that same genre. Those internet radio
stations with personalized playlists based on a recommendation
engine (similar to Pandora) offer more adaptability and
personalization than the previously mentioned internet radio
stations. However, recommendation engines have limitations too.
Oftentimes the algorithms which govern recommendation engines do
not agree with user preferences. For example, the recommendation
engine must determine exactly what aspect of a song is being
referred to whenever the user indicates the "more of this"
preference for the song. The recommendation engine's interpretation
of what "more of this" means could be very far off from what a
given user actually intends. The various characteristics associated
with the songs that are used by the recommendation engine also
depend on subjective judgments by the station professionals.
[0010] In light of the foregoing, it would be desirable to devise
an improved method of presenting streaming content from the
Internet, particularly music, which enables a user to craft an even
more customized listening experience. It would be further
advantageous if the method could afford listeners more variety and
options when it comes to choosing which internet radio stations to
listen to.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] The foregoing objects are achieved in a method of
personalizing streaming media content, by assigning respective play
amounts to a plurality of different stream sources connected to a
network, and successively playing a plurality of streams from the
different stream sources at a playback device in communication with
the network, wherein the plurality of streams are played for play
times which generally correspond to the respective play amounts.
The streaming media content can be audio content, in which case the
playback device includes an audio output device, e.g., speakers. In
the illustrative implementation, the play time for a given stream
is calculated as a user-defined percentage for the stream source
associated with the given steam multiplied by an expected listening
period. The different stream sources can include different musical
genres, as well as news, sports, weather, or traffic.
[0012] The play amounts can be automatically adjusted based on a
user selection of one of the stream sources for increased or
decreased play. A particular stream can also be played at a
predetermined clock time, and the streams can further be ordered
for play according to a user preference.
[0013] The above as well as additional objectives, features, and
advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the
following detailed written description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] The present invention may be better understood, and its
numerous objects, features, and advantages made apparent to those
skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings.
[0015] FIG. 1 is a chart illustrating the logical flow for a
conventional process in which a user selects an internet radio
station for listening;
[0016] FIG. 2 is a hub-and-spoke diagram of a streaming media
system with the Internet at the center acting as a communications
medium through which multiple users can access streaming internet
radio stations having different content (music genres, sports,
etc.) based on their preferences in accordance with one
implementation of the present invention;
[0017] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a computer system programmed to
present streaming internet radio station media in accordance with
one embodiment of the present invention; and
[0018] FIG. 4 is a chart illustrating the logical flow for an
internet radio station presentation process in which a user assigns
preferences to access a variety of different internet radio streams
in accordance with one implementation of the present invention.
[0019] The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings
indicates similar or identical items.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)
[0020] With reference now to the figures, and in particular with
reference to FIG. 2, there is depicted one embodiment 30 of a
streaming media system contemplated by the present invention.
Streaming media system 30 is generally comprised of the Internet
32, streaming internet radio stations 34a, 34b, 34c, 34d which
provide a plurality of audio selections, and playback devices 36a,
36b, 36c, 36d which include audio receivers for different listeners
A-D. While the present invention is particularly suited for
internet radio transmissions, it can alternatively be used with any
other communications medium besides the Internet, including private
networks such as cellular networks, local area networks (LANs),
wide area networks (WANs), or wireless local area networks (WLANs)
which provide different streaming stations or channels to multiple
listeners. The illustration of only four streaming internet radio
stations 34a, 34b, 34c, 34d is exemplary as there could be any
number of streaming internet stations. Similarly, the illustration
of only four playback devices 36a, 36b, 36c, 36d should not be
construed in a limiting sense.
[0021] Internet radio stations 34a, 34b, 34c, 34d can provide
individually-selectable streaming audio content. In this
embodiment, internet radio station 34a plays rock music, internet
radio station 34b plays country music, internet radio station 34c
plays hip-hop music, and internet radio station 34d provides sports
information in an audio form. These stations can employ any of the
personalization techniques described above in the Background
section. For example, rock station 34a may stream a playlist
programmed by a basic matching algorithm using an artist selection
by the listener, country station 34b may stream a playlist selected
according to a recommendation engine responsive to a seed song
chosen by the listener, and hip-hop station 34c may stream a
pre-programmed playlist that is independent of any listener
feedback or input. Internet radio stations 34a, 34b, 34c, 34d can
transmit their streams using any convenient protocols, such as the
real time streaming protocol (RTSP).
[0022] Playback devices 36a, 36b, 36c, 36d can include hardware and
software for connecting to network 32 or an intermediary agent,
software and an audio system (one or more speakers) for receiving
the streams from the network-based audio sources according to their
protocols and reproducing audible output from the radio station
streams, and a user interface which allows the listener to assign
preference settings for streaming content as described further
below. The playback devices may be personal computer systems such
as that described in conjunction with FIG. 3, or may alternatively
be special-purpose digital electronic devices such as "smart"
phones or other wireless handheld devices (e.g., an IPhone.RTM. or
Blackberry.RTM.). The playback devices are assigned some type of
network identifiers such as media access control (MAC) addresses to
facilitate direct communication with the streaming audio
sources.
[0023] In the illustrative embodiment each playback device 36a,
36b, 36c, 36d can execute a streaming internet radio station
playback application which includes the aforementioned user
interface and audio reproduction software. A given listener
manually enters an internet address or uniform resource locator
(URL) for any desired internet radio station, or imports network
addresses from an external file. The listener can customize the
listening experience by defining preference settings for each
selected internet radio station. In the preferred implementation
the preference settings are numbers representing a percentage of
total play time. Respective play amounts are then assigned to the
different listener selections based on these percentages, and the
different streams are successively played for play times which
generally correspond to the respective play amounts.
[0024] For example, Listener A can control playback device 36a to
define a 50% play time for rock station 34a and a 50% play time for
hip-hop station 34c to create the total listening experience. Using
an expected listening period of one hour, the playback application
can enable the stream from rock station 34a for thirty minutes and
then enable the stream from hip-hop station 34c for another thirty
minutes, continuing to switch between these two streams every
thirty minutes for as long as the internet radio player application
is running to meet the expected percent play time for each internet
radio stream. Listener B can control playback device 36b to define
a 40% play time for rock station 34a and a 60% play time for
country station 34b. Listener C can control playback device 36c to
define a 60% play time for rock station 34a, a 30% play time for
country station 34b, and a 10% play time for sports station 34d.
Listener D only likes hip-hop music and so can control playback
device 36c to define a 100% play time for hip-hop station 34c.
[0025] The number of internet radio stations and their play
percentages are merely representative, and the user can select any
number of internet radio streams and any percent of time for
playback of a given stream, limited only by the number of stations
available and the granularity allowed by the preferences in the
specific internet radio player. The play times can alternatively be
entered by the user as absolute values (e.g., minutes), rather than
percentages. The invention is also not limited to musical streams,
and could by way of example and without limitation also encompass
news, weather, and traffic stations or focused advertising streams.
Alternatively, selected streams could all be the same musical genre
but include different radio station formats. The streams could
additionally be video rather than audio, or multimedia, as well as
text-only streams for the hearing-impaired. If a playback device is
able to store the streaming data for later playback, e.g., in a
local cache, these stored streams can be reproduced in accordance
with the player-defined schedule.
[0026] Any of the listeners can refine the percent play for each
stream by activating features of the user interface in real-time to
invoke the rule-based exposure parameter selected by the listener,
for example, duration. Buttons labeled "more of this stream" or
"less of this stream" can be activated while a song is playing. If
the "more of this stream" button is selected then the internet
radio player automatically adjusts the play time for the
currently-playing stream, for example incrementing the percentage
by a preset value (e.g., 5%), and the percentages for other
selected radio stations are appropriately adjusted (e.g., by
reducing the percentages pro-rata with rounding of percentages to
whole numbers). If the "less of this stream" button is selected
then the internet radio player similarly adjusts the play time for
that stream downward while increasing the other selected streams'
play times.
[0027] A player constructed in accordance with the present
invention may advantageously allow the user to adjust the expected
listening period and thereby more accurately accommodate the
intended proportions of streaming content. The player may have an
added feature allowing the user to set a preferred order of the
streams. The player may also assign different output volumes for
the different selected streams.
[0028] Actual play times of musical content from each stream might
be less than desired due to the insertion of commercials, disc
jockey banter, etc., so the play times might only generally
correspond to the respective play amounts. More intelligent players
could further attempt to switch between streams at a break point in
the current stream, e.g., waiting until after the end of a song,
which can be determined by white space (no audio transmission for a
short predefined period) or from signals encoded in the streaming
transmission. A player can also be programmed to enable a stream to
be scheduled, within its percentage constraint, at a specific time
or times during the day such as the top-of-hour, every 15 or 30
minutes, etc. For example, Listener C has programmed playback
device 36c to play sports station 34d beginning at 15 minutes after
the hour.
[0029] The present invention accordingly provides a richer
listening experience than that attained by just listening to any
single internet radio stream, even if the single stream already
reflects a user's preferences. However, the degree of
personalization should not be considered interactive since the
stream switching control is all client-side. All radio station
features such as commercials or promotions are still being enabled,
within the percent constraints, without listener intervention.
Nevertheless, other implementations could allow for varying levels
of interactivity, such as allowing the user to enable a "more of
this" or "less of this" feature or similar listener exposure
metrics for specific content within a stream; for example a user
may choose to have "more of this" type of commercial (for cars,
restaurants, travel etc.) or "less of this" type of commercial.
[0030] With further reference to FIG. 3, there is depicted one
embodiment 36 of a computer system in which the present invention
may be implemented to provide preferential stream switching.
Computer system 36 is a symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) system
having a plurality of processors 42a, 42b connected to a system bus
44. System bus 44 is further connected to a combined memory
controller/host bridge (MC/HB) 46 which provides an interface to
system memory 48. System memory 48 may be a local memory device or
alternatively may include a plurality of distributed memory
devices, preferably dynamic random-access memory (DRAM). There may
be additional structures in the memory hierarchy which are not
depicted, such as on-board (L1) and second-level (L2) or
third-level (L3) caches.
[0031] MC/HB 46 also has an interface to peripheral component
interconnect (PCI) Express links 50a, 50b, 50c. Each PCI Express
(PCIe) link 50a, 50b is connected to a respective PCIe adaptor 52a,
52b, and each PCIe adaptor 52a, 52b is connected to a respective
input/output (I/O) device 54a, 54b. MC/HB 46 may additionally have
an interface to an I/O bus 56 which is connected to a switch (I/O
fabric) 58. Switch 58 provides a fan-out for the I/O bus to a
plurality of PCI links 50d, 50e, 50f. These PCI links are connected
to more PCIe adaptors 52c, 52d, 52e which in turn support more I/O
devices 54c, 54d, 54e. The I/O devices may include, without
limitation, a keyboard, a graphical pointing device (mouse), a
microphone, a display device, speakers, a permanent storage device
(hard disk drive) or an array of such storage devices, an optical
disk drive, and a network card for connection to the Internet. Each
PCIe adaptor provides an interface between the PCI link and the
respective I/O device. MC/HB 46 provides a low latency path through
which processors 42a, 42b may access PCI devices mapped anywhere
within bus memory or I/O address spaces. MC/HB 46 further provides
a high bandwidth path to allow the PCI devices to access memory 48.
Switch 58 may provide peer-to-peer communications between different
endpoints and this data traffic does not need to be forwarded to
MC/HB 46 if it does not involve cache-coherent memory transfers.
Switch 58 is shown as a separate logical component but it could be
integrated into MC/HB 46.
[0032] In this embodiment, PCI link 50c connects MC/HB 46 to a
service processor interface 60 to allow communications between I/O
device 54a and a service processor 62. Service processor 62 is
connected to processors 42a, 42b via a JTAG interface 64, and uses
an attention line 66 which interrupts the operation of processors
42a, 42b. Service processor 62 may have its own local memory 68,
and is connected to read-only memory (ROM) 70 which stores various
program instructions for system startup. Service processor 62 may
also have access to a hardware operator panel 72 to provide system
status and diagnostic information.
[0033] In alternative embodiments computer system 36 may include
modifications of these hardware components or their
interconnections, or additional components, so the depicted example
should not be construed as implying any architectural limitations
with respect to the present invention.
[0034] When computer system 36 is initially powered up, service
processor 62 uses JTAG interface 64 to interrogate the system
(host) processors 42a, 42b and MC/HB 46. After completing the
interrogation, service processor 62 acquires an inventory and
topology for computer system 36. Service processor 62 then executes
various tests such as built-in-self-tests (BISTs), basic assurance
tests (BATs), and memory tests on the components of computer system
36. Any error information for failures detected during the testing
is reported by service processor 62 to operator panel 72. If a
valid configuration of system resources is still possible after
taking out any components found to be faulty during the testing
then computer system 36 is allowed to proceed. Executable code is
loaded into memory 48 and service processor 62 releases host
processors 42a, 42b for execution of the program code, e.g., an
operating system (OS) which is used to launch applications and in
particular the internet radio player application of the present
invention, the output of which may be sent to an audio device of
the system (an I/O device 54). While host processors 42a, 42b are
executing program code, service processor 62 may enter a mode of
monitoring and reporting any operating parameters or errors, such
as the cooling fan speed and operation, thermal sensors, power
supply regulators, and recoverable and non-recoverable errors
reported by any of processors 42a, 42b, memory 48, and MC/HB 46.
Service processor 62 may take further action based on the type of
errors or defined thresholds.
[0035] While the illustrative implementation provides program
instructions embodying the present invention on a disk drive of
computer system 36, those skilled in the art will appreciate that
the invention can be embodied in a digital program product
utilizing other machine-readable or storage media. The program
instructions may be written in the C++ programming language for an
AIX environment or in other programming languages suitable for
other operating system platforms. Computer system 36 carries out
program instructions for an internet radio player that uses novel
preference techniques to switch between multiple media streams.
Accordingly, a program embodying the invention may include
conventional aspects of various internet radio players, and these
details will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon
reference to this disclosure.
[0036] The present invention may be further understood with
reference to the chart of FIG. 4 illustrating the logical flow for
one implementation of a user-customized streaming experience. The
listener can provide basic feedback to one or more internet radio
stations which create a first media sequence (80). The listener can
also select a seed song or artist to allow one or more additional
internet radio stations to program a second media sequence using a
recommendation engine (82). One or more other radio stations
provide a third media sequence produced by human programmers
without input or feedback from the listeners (84). These media
sequences are available to the listener over the Internet as a
plurality of internet radio streaming media content (86). The
internet radio player software application running on computer
system 36 can present the various internet radio station choices
for selection by the listener (88). The listener then selects a
plurality of stations based on personal preference, such as music
genre, artist, station call sign, etc., to create a desired variety
of media streams (90). For each selected station a play time
percentage is assigned. In this example internet radio streaming
media content A is chosen for X-percent of the time (92), internet
radio streaming media content B is chosen for Y-percent of the time
(94), and internet radio streaming media content C is chosen for
Z-percent of the time (96). The number of streams the listener
chooses is arbitrary, as well as the percentage listening times for
each stream. If the sum of the percentages does not add to 100%,
the player can either query the user for corrected percentages or
automatically adjust the percentages using the appropriate
multiplicative factor.
[0037] Separately from the user preferences defined in boxes 92, 94
and 96, there are additional user settings and stream provider
rules which govern the internet radio player output (98). These
settings and rules can for example define the minimum play time per
stream or order of streams (100). The settings and rules can also
be used to establish rules for stream play and options for
intermixing streams (102). Using these settings and rules, the
internet radio player output to the audio system can be sequenced
as a single stream with switching between the internet radio
streaming media content A, B, and C based on the percent play time
for each respective stream (104). One realization of this process
for an expected listening period of 30 minutes with 20% assigned to
internet radio streaming media content A, 50% assigned to internet
radio streaming media content B, and 30% assigned to internet radio
streaming media content C, would lead to stream A playing for 6
minutes (106), stream C playing for 15 minutes (108), and stream B
playing for 9 minutes (110). The final result is the listener
hearing the single sequenced stream via the audio system (112).
[0038] Although the invention has been described with reference to
specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed
in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed
embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments of the invention,
will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference
to the description of the invention. For example, while the
invention has been described in the context of internet radio
stations, it could be used with other types of media content such
as webcasts, podcasts, simulcasts or pre-recorded programs.
Furthermore, while the exemplary embodiments provide the stream
switching locally, the invention contemplates the use of a remote
computer system (essentially similar to computer system 36) as a
proxy server which can receive the listener selections and
preferences, and can then perform the switching to provide a
single, uninterrupted stream to the playback device. It is
therefore contemplated that such modifications can be made without
departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention as
defined in the appended claims.
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