US20100280835A1

Movatterモバイル変換

Info

Publication number: US20100280835A1
Application number: US12/573,969
Authority: US
Inventors: Alfredo C. Issa; Christopher M. Amidon; Gregory M. Evans
Original assignee: Lemi Tech LLC
Current assignee: Concert Technology Corp
Priority date: 2009-04-29
Filing date: 2009-10-06
Publication date: 2010-11-04
Also published as: US20130275614A1; US8977770B2; US7657337B1; US8463930B2; US20120066403A1

Abstract

This disclosure relates to enabling a potential participant to define preferences for a talk radio program. In one embodiment, via a radio client, a potential participant defines preferences for a talk radio program wherein the preferences include at least a topic of interest and a semantic relevance. In one embodiment, the participant preferences also include a time availability indicating when the potential participant is available to participate in the talk radio program. The radio client sends the preferences to a talk radio program service. When a talk radio program satisfying the preferences of the potential participant is scheduled or otherwise available, the talk radio program service notifies the potential participant. A topic of the talk radio program is semantically related to the topic of interest of the potential participant to at least a degree defined by the semantic relevance.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/173,624, filed Apr. 29, 2009, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to talk radio programming and more particularly relates to a enabling a potential listener to define a number of preferences such that the potential listener is notified when a talk radio program satisfying the preferences of the potential listener is scheduled or otherwise available.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

While providing advertisement based radio programs may appear to be lucrative, putting together many such small talk radio shows in terms of determining relevant topics, and coordinating and scheduling the necessary combination of guests, hosts, and advertisers, may be cost prohibitive for many terrestrial and Internet radio stations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This disclosure relates to enabling a potential participant to define preferences for a talk radio program. In one embodiment, a potential participant defines participant preferences for a talk radio program via a radio client, wherein the participant preferences include at least a topic of interest and a semantic relevance. In one embodiment, the participant preferences also include a time availability indicating when the potential participant is available to participate in the talk radio program. The radio client sends the preferences to a talk radio program service. When a talk radio program satisfying the participant preferences of the potential participant is scheduled or otherwise available, the talk radio program service notifies the potential participant. A topic of the talk radio program is semantically related to the topic of interest of the potential participant to at least a degree defined by the semantic relevance.

In one embodiment, if the potential participant chooses to participate in the talk radio program, one or more actions may be performed automatically on behalf of the potential participant. The one or more actions may include automatically adding the potential participant to a call queue for the talk radio program, automatically joining the potential participant to a chat room, automatically posting a comment from the potential participant to a chat room, automatically launching supplemental content related to the talk radio program, automatically inviting one or more friends of the potential participant to participate in the talk radio program, or automatically configuring a client device of the potential participant with one or more pre-defined settings.

In one embodiment, while participating in the talk radio program, the radio client of the potential participant may enable the potential participant to join one of a number of chat rooms automatically established by the talk radio program service. The chat rooms may include a general chat room for listeners of the talk radio program, one or more chat rooms for listeners of the talk radio program in different geographic areas, one or more chat rooms for listeners of the talk radio program having similar user profiles, and/or a chat room for listeners of different talk radio programs having the same or similar topics.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate the scope of the present invention and realize additional aspects thereof after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments in association with the accompanying drawing figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for providing dynamic talk radio programs according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of the talk radio program service ofFIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary graphical user interface enabling a potential participant to define a number of participant preferences according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates the operation of the talk radio program service to dynamically schedule a talk radio program according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a portion of an exemplary ontology;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of one of the radio clients ofFIG. 1 to process a notification of a talk radio program from the talk radio program service according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of one of the radio clients ofFIG. 1 to enable a potential participant to join a chat room during a talk radio program according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary graphical user interface enabling a potential participant to join a chat room during a talk radio program according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the server ofFIG. 1; and

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of one of the client devices ofFIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments set forth below represent the necessary information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention and illustrate the best mode of practicing the invention. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the invention and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure and the accompanying claims.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating asystem10 for scheduling a talk radio program. In general, thesystem10 provides dynamic talk radio program scheduling for Internet radio and/or terrestrial radio. A service is provided whereby potential listeners, potential guests, potential hosts, and/or potential advertisers are combined dynamically to schedule talk radio programs by leveraging resource parameters including topic and time availability preferences of the potential listeners, potential guests, potential hosts, and/or potential advertisers. Other resource parameters such as costs may also be utilized to determine the scheduling of a dynamic talk radio program.

Thesystem10 includes a talkradio program service12 implemented by aserver14 communicatively coupled to a number ofclient devices16 over anetwork18. Thenetwork18 may be any type of Wide Area Network (WAN), Local Area Network (LAN), or the like, or any combination thereof. Thenetwork18 may include wired components, wireless components, or both wired and wireless components. As an example, thenetwork18 may be a distributed public network such as the Internet.

Theserver14 is a physical server. Alternatively, theserver14 is a number of physical servers operating in a collaborative fashion for redundancy or load-sharing purposes. Theserver14 is connected to thenetwork18 via a wired or wireless network interface. Theserver14 includes aradio program process20, which is preferably implemented in software. In addition, theserver14 maintains aparticipant preference repository22 and aradio program repository24. Note that, although in this exemplary embodiment theradio program process20 is shown as a single component executing on asingle server14, theradio program process20 may be implemented as a number of components that may execute on any number of servers or computers.

Theclient devices16 are physical devices such as, for example, mobile smart phones, personal computers, or the like. Theclient devices16 are connected to thenetwork18 via wired or wireless communication interfaces. In this embodiment, theclient devices16 includeclient devices16a-1 through16a-N_aof a number of potential listeners26a-1 through26a-N_a, which are generally referred to herein asclient devices16aandpotential listeners26a. Thepotential listeners26aare users registered with the talkradio program service12 that desire to listen to talk radio programs. Theclient devices16 also includeclient devices16b-1 through16b-N_bof a number ofpotential hosts26b-1 through26b-N_b, which are generally referred to herein asclient devices16bandpotential hosts26b. Thepotential hosts26bare users registered with the talkradio program service12 that desire to host talk radio programs. Theclient devices16 also includeclient devices16c-1 through16c-N_cof a number ofpotential guests26c-1 through26c-N_c, which are generally referred to herein asclient devices16candpotential guests26c. Thepotential guests26care users registered with the talkradio program service12 that desire to be guests on talk radio programs. Lastly, theclient devices16 also includeclient devices16d-1 through16d-N_dof a number ofpotential advertisers26d-1 through26d-N_d, which are generally referred to herein asclient devices16dandpotential advertisers26d. Thepotential advertisers26dare users or entities that are registered with the talkradio program service12 that desire to advertise on talk radio programs. Note that thepotential listeners26a, thepotential hosts26b, thepotential guests26c, and thepotential advertisers26dare generally referred to herein as potential participants26.

Theclient devices16a-1 through16a-N_ainclude radio clients28a-1 through28a-N_a, theclient devices16b-1 through16b-N_bincluderadio clients28b-1 through28b-N_b, theclient devices16c-1 through16c-N_cincluderadio clients28c-1 through28c-N_c, and theclient devices16d-1 through16d-N_dincluderadio clients28d-1 through28d-N_d. The radio clients28a-1 through28a-N_a,28b-1 through28b-N_b,28c-1 through28c-N_c, and28d-1 through28d-N_dare generally referred to herein as

radio clients

28a,28b,28c, and28d, and more generally as radio clients28. The radio clients28 are preferably implemented in software. In one embodiment, the radio clients28 are web browsers. In another embodiment, the radio clients28 are custom software applications utilized in association with the talkradio program service12. Note that theclient devices16 may additionally include media players or media player plug-ins that operate to provide media playback capabilities for listening to talk radio programs. Alternatively, the radio clients28 may include a media playback feature that is used to provide playback of talk radio programs.

As discussed below in more detail, in operation, theradio program process20 obtains participant preferences from at least thepotential listeners26a. However, in some embodiments, theradio program process20 also obtains participant preferences from the potential hosts26b, thepotential guests26c, and/or thepotential advertisers26d. The participant preferences of thepotential listeners26a, the potential hosts26b, thepotential guests26c, and/or thepotential advertisers26dare stored in theparticipant preference repository22. According to the exemplary embodiment, theradio program process20 automatically aggregates different combinations of thepotential listeners26a, the potential hosts26b, thepotential guests26c, and/or thepotential advertisers26dbased on resource parameters, such as the participant preferences, to dynamically schedule talk radio programs.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of theradio service12, and more particularly theradio program process20, ofFIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. Theradio program process20 registers the potential participants26 of the talk radio program service12 (step100). In one embodiment, participant registration may be limited to thepotential listeners26a. However, in another embodiment, participant registration may further require at least one of the potential hosts26b, thepotential guests26c, and/or thepotential advertisers26d. In one embodiment, each of the potential participants26 may register with the talkradio program service12 by accessing a registration web page provided by theserver14 via a web browser, which may be the radio client28, on theclient device16 of the potential participant26. In another embodiment, the radio client28 is a custom application that enables registration.

Theradio program process20 receives participant preferences for each of the potential participants26 (step102). In the preferred embodiment that is the focus of this discussion, the participant preferences include a topic of interest, a semantic relevance for the topic of interest, and a time availability. However, the participant preferences may include one or more of the following: one or more topics of interest, one or more guests of interest, a semantic relevance preference for the one or more topics of interest and/or the one or more guests of interest, a time availability, a location availability, one or more hosts of interest, a notification preference, a one or more action preferences, or any combination thereof. Theradio program process20 stores the participant preferences for each of the potential participants26 in theparticipant preference repository22. Preferably, the potential participants26 provide their participant preferences to the talkradio program service12 via the radio clients28, which, as discussed above, may be web browsers or custom applications. Theradio program process20 may receive the participant preferences at the time of registration and/or after registration.

Theradio program process20 schedules a talk radio program for production based on the participant preferences (step104). In general, as discussed below in detail, theradio program process20 identifies a cluster ofpotential listeners26aand, in some embodiments, apotential host26b, one or morepotential guests26c, and/or one or morepotential advertisers26dhaving the same topic of interest or substantially similar topics of interest and having the same or sufficiently overlapping time availabilities as potential participants26 for a talk radio program. For example, the talk radio program may be scheduled when a predetermined number of thepotential listeners26ahave selected the same topic of interest or sufficiently similar topics of interest and are available during a particular period of time sufficient for the talk radio program. The predetermined number ofpotential listeners26amay depend on the type of talk radio program being scheduled. The predetermined number ofpotential listeners26amay be a highest number ofpotential listeners26aassociated with a particular topic or sufficiently similar topics during a particular time period. As another alternative, the predetermined number ofpotential listeners26amay also be specified with an actual number or range of numbers, e.g., 25 or more, for example.

Note that, when scheduling the talk radio program, theradio program process20 may also consider resource parameters in addition to participant preferences. In one embodiment, the additional resource parameters considered may include at least one of advertisement revenue generated from sponsorship by at least one of thepotential advertisers26dand costs of the talk radio program, including any desired fees for the potential host(s)26band the potential guest(s)26cto participate in the talk radio program.

As used herein, scheduling of the talk radio program may include specifying the topic assigned to the talk radio program and the potential participants26 of the talk radio program, and proposing one or more dates and times for conducting the talk radio program. In one embodiment, such elements selected for inclusion into the talk radio program may be stored in theradio program repository24.

After the talk radio program has been scheduled, theradio program process20 sends thepotential participants26 a notification of the scheduling of the talk radio program (step106). In one embodiment, not all of the potential participants26 of the talkradio program service12 are sent the notification, just the potential participants26 determined to be available to participate in the talk radio program. The content of the notification may be different for each type of potential participant26. For example, the notification sent to thepotential listeners26amay include information about the talk radio program and may invite thepotential listeners26ato tune-in. Only oncepotential listeners26atune-in to the talk radio program do they become actual listeners. The notification sent to the potential host(s)26band the potential guest(s)26cmay include not only the information about talk radio program, but also contact information of the people in charge at the radio program service hosting the talk radio program, talking points, potential listener demographic information, and the like.

It should be noted that while talk radio programs are scheduled by theradio program process20, the talk radio programs may be produced and distributed by the talkradio program service12 or one or more third-party radio services. Further, the talk radio programs may be delivered on one or more Internet radio stations and/or one or more terrestrial radio stations (e.g., AM radio station(s), FM radio station(s), HD radio station(s), or Satellite radio station(s)). In one embodiment, the scheduled talk radio programs may be streamed across the Internet during production and played by an electronic device in real-time (e.g., Internet radio streams or webcasts). In another embodiment, the talk radio programs may be recorded and stored as an audio file that is downloaded to the electronic device and played (e.g., podcasts) after production.

FIG. 3 isgraphical user interface30 enabling a potential participant26 to define his participant preferences according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thegraphical user interface30 is presented to the potential participant26 via the radio client28 at theclient device16 of the potential participant26. In one embodiment, thegraphical user interface30 is used to obtain participant preferences from thepotential listeners26a. In another embodiment, thegraphical user interface30 is used to obtain the participant preferences from thepotential listeners26aand one or more of the potential hosts26b, thepotential guests26c, and/or thepotential advertisers26d. Further, in one embodiment, the radio client28 is a web browser, and thegraphical user interface30 is a web page provided by theradio program process20. In another embodiment, the radio client28 is a custom application that operates to present thegraphical user interface30 to the potential participant26 and provide the resulting participant preferences to theradio program process20.

As illustrated, in this embodiment, thegraphical user interface30 includes atopic field32 that enables the potential participant26 to enter or otherwise select a topic of interest. The potential participant26 may be enabled to enter any arbitrary topic of interest or may be required to select the topic of interest from a pre-defined list of topics (e.g., select from a pull-down menu of pre-defined topics). Further, thegraphical user interface30 includes aremove button34 that enables the potential participant26 to remove a topic of interest and anadd button36 that enables the potential participant26 to add a topic of interest.

Thegraphical user interface30 also includes aguest field38 that enables the potential participant26 to enter a guest of interest. The potential participant26 may be enabled to enter any guest of interest or may be required to select the guest of interest from a pre-defined list of guests (e.g., select from a pull-down menu of pre-defined guests). Further, thegraphical user interface30 includes aremove button40 that enables the potential participant26 to remove a guest of interest and anadd button42 that enables the potential participant26 to add a guest of interest.

Thegraphical user interface30 also includes a semanticrelevance slider bar44 that enables the potential participant26 to enter a desired semantic relevance value by moving abar46. In one embodiment, the semantic relevance value is utilized for both the topic(s) of interest and the guest(s) of interest. In another embodiment, the semantic relevance value is utilized for the topic(s) of interest but not the guest(s) of interest. In yet another embodiment, separate semantic relevance values may be defined for each topic of interest or the topic(s) of interest in general and for each guest of interest or the guest(s) of interest in general.

Thegraphical user interface30 also includes atime availability field48 that enables the potential participant26 to define when the potential participant is available to participate in a talk radio program. The potential participant26 may be enabled to enter any arbitrary days and times or be required to select the time availability from a number of pre-defined lists of days and times (e.g., select from a pull-down menu of pre-defined days and times). Further, thegraphical user interface30 includes aremove button50 that enables the potential participant26 to remove a previously entered time availability and anadd button52 that enables the potential participant26 to add a time availability.

Thegraphical user interface30 also includes alocation availability field54 that enables the potential participant26 to enter location(s) at which the potential participant is available to participate in a talk radio program. Note that while the locations are illustrated in this example as “home” and “car,” the manner in which the location of the potential participant is determined is not the subject of this disclosure. Any suitable mechanism for determining the location of the potential participant26 may be used. The location availability is preferably utilized by theradio program process20 such that notifications for radio programs are only provided to the potential participants26 when they are located in locations defined by their corresponding location availabilities. Further, thegraphical user interface30 includes aremove button56 that enables the potential participant26 to remove a location and anadd button58 that enables the potential participant26 to add a location.

Thegraphical user interface30 also includes an auto-action field60 that enables the potential participant26 to enter or otherwise select an action to be automatically performed when the potential participant26 accepts a notification of a talk radio program and/or begins listening to the talk radio program (i.e., “tunes to” the talk radio program). In this example, the action is automatically adding the potential participant26 to a call queue for the talk radio program. The action entered by the potential participant26 is preferably one of a number of pre-defined actions. For example, the action may be selected by the potential participant26 from a pull-down menu. Further, thegraphical user interface30 includes aremove button62 that enables the potential participant26 to remove a previously selected action and anadd button64 that enables the potential participant26 to add an action.

Thegraphical user interface30 also includes ahost field66 that enables the potential participant26 to enter a host of interest. The potential participant26 may be enabled to enter any host of interest or be required to select the host of interest from a pre-defined list of hosts (e.g., select from a pull-down menu of pre-defined hosts). Further, thegraphical user interface30 includes aremove button68 that enables the potential participant26 to remove a host of interest and anadd button70 that enables the potential participant26 to add a host of interest.

Lastly, thegraphical user interface30 includes analert mode field72 that enables the potential participant26 to select one or more desired alert modes (i.e., one or more means by which the potential participant26 is to be notified of a talk radio program). The desired alert modes are also referred to herein as notification preferences. Note that the potential participant26 provides contact information enabling such notifications. This contact information may be provided either when defining the participant preferences or during registration. For example, the potential participant26 may be required to provide his mobile telephone number, his e-mail address, or the like. Further, thegraphical user interface30 includes aremove button74 that enables the potential participant26 to remove a previously entered alert mode and anadd button76 that enables the potential participant26 to add an alert mode.

It should be noted that the potential participant26 may be enabled to define multiple sets of participant preferences for different time periods. For example, thegraphical user interface30 may be used to define one set of participant preferences and anothergraphical user interface30′ may be used to define another set of participant preferences for different time periods such as, for instance, different days of the week and/or different times of the day.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of theradio program process20 to schedule a talk radio program utilizing the participant preferences ofFIG. 3 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. Note that, as with other flow charts discussed herein, the steps of the flow chart ofFIG. 4 may be arranged in a different order without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. First, theradio program process20 identifies a sufficient cluster ofpotential listeners26athat have the same topic of interest or sufficiently similar topics of interest and are available during a particular time period (step200). The cluster ofpotential listeners26aincludes at least a predetermined number ofpotential listeners26a. As discussed above, the predetermined number ofpotential listeners26amay be a pre-defined numerical value (e.g., at least 25 potential listeners). Alternatively, the predetermined number ofpotential listeners26amay be a highest number ofpotential listeners26afor any particular topic of interest or sufficiently related topics of interest during a particular time period.

Further, the semantic relevance values defined in the participant preferences of thepotential listeners26aare used to determine whether the topics of interests of thepotential listeners26aare “sufficiently similar.” More specifically, using the semantic relevance values of thepotential listeners26a, theradio program process20 identifies a cluster ofpotential listeners26ahaving topics of interest that are the same or semantically related to at least a degree defined by the semantic relevance values of thepotential listeners26a. Note that semantic relationships between topics are preferably defined by an ontology, taxonomy, or similar data structure either maintained by or accessible to theradio program process20.

For example, in one embodiment, the semantic relevance value defined in the participant preferences of apotential listener26amay be used to expand the topic(s) of interest of thepotential listener26a. For example, if thepotential listener26aexplicitly defined “Miami Hurricanes” as a topic of interest in his participant preferences and selected a moderate semantic relevance value, then other semantically related topics such as “Randy Shannon,” “ACC Football,” and the like may be considered as additional topics of interest for thepotential listener26a. In this manner, the topic of interest of thepotential listener26ahas been expanded as a function of the semantic relevance value defined by thepotential listener26a. Therefore,potential listeners26ahave topics of interest that are the same or sufficiently similar if thepotential listeners26ahave the same topics of interest when considering both the topics of interest explicitly defined in the participant preferences of thepotential listeners26aand additional topics of interest resulting from the expansion of the explicitly defined topics of interest as a function of the semantic relevance values defined by thepotential listeners26a.

Theradio program process20 also identifies one or morepotential advertisers26dfor the talk radio program (step206). When selecting the one or morepotential advertisers26d, theradio program process20 may consider participant preferences such as topics of interest and semantic relevance.Potential advertisers26dmay be notified of the opportunity to advertise on the talk radio program. The notifications may include an advertisement fee to be paid by thepotential advertisers26dwhich may be a function of fees to be paid to thepotential host26band/or the one or morepotential guests26cand enable thepotential advertisers26dto choose whether to advertise on the talk radio program. Note that, in an alternative embodiment, advertisements may be selected for the talk radio program at some later point in time. For example, in one exemplary alternative embodiment, advertisements may be selected for the talk radio program as the talk radio program is being produced using a late-binding advertisement selection and insertion process.

Lastly, theradio program process20 schedules the talk radio program with the cluster ofpotential listeners26aidentified instep200, thepotential host26bidentified instep202, the one ormore guests26cidentified instep204, and the one or morepotential advertisers26didentified in step206 (step208). Information defining the scheduled talk radio program may be stored in theradio program repository24. Further, as discussed above, the scheduled talk radio program may be produced by the talkradio program service12 or by a third-party radio service, which may be either an Internet radio station or a terrestrial radio station.

FIG. 5 illustrates a portion of anexemplary ontology78 that may be used by theradio program process20 to determine whether topics are sufficiently similar as a function of a potential participant's semantic relevance value according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As will be apparent to one having ordinary skill in the art upon reading this disclosure, other techniques may be used for determining semantic relevance and are considered within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. The use of an ontology, such as theontology78, is exemplary and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

For this example, assume that the potential participant26 has explicitly defined “Miami Hurricanes” as a topic of interest and that the semantic relevance value selected by the potential participant26 may be either “High,” “Medium,” or “Low.” If the semantic relevance value is “High,” then theradio program process20 considers only the explicitly defined topic of interest (Miami Hurricanes). If the semantic relevance value is “Medium,” then theradio program process20 considers both the explicitly defined topic of interest (Miami Hurricanes) and other topics directly related to the topic of interest in the ontology78 (Randy Shannon, ACC Football, and Larry Coker). Lastly, if the semantic value is “Low,” then theradio program process20 considers the explicitly defined topic of interest (Miami Hurricanes), topics directly related to the explicitly defined topic of interest in the ontology78 (Randy Shannon, ACC Football, and Larry Coker), and topics having two degrees of separation from the explicitly defined topic of interest in the ontology78 (Miami Dolphins, Dallas Cowboys, Virginia Tech, NC State, UNC, ESPNU, and UTSA). Note that the semantic relevance values of “High,” “Medium,” and “Low” are exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the semantic relevance values may be numbers in the range of and including 1 through 10.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of the radio client28 upon receipt of a notification of a scheduled talk radio program according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. This discussion focuses on receipt of a notification by aradio client28aof apotential listener26a. However, a similar process may be performed by the radio clients28 of the potential hosts26b, thepotential guests26c, and/or thepotential advertisers26d. First, theradio client28areceives a notification of a scheduled talk radio program from theradio program process20 of the talk radio program service12 (step300). The notification may indicate the topic of the scheduled talk radio program, the host of the talk radio program, the guest(s) to be on the scheduled talk radio program, a time at which the scheduled talk radio program will be available, or any combination thereof.

Theradio client28adetermines whether the notification is ignored or accepted (step302). Preferably, theradio client28amay determine whether the notification is ignored or accepted based on a corresponding input from thepotential listener26a. If the notification is ignored, theradio client28adetermines whether to delete the topic of interest of the talk radio program from the participant preferences of thepotential listener26a(step304). Preferably, theradio client28adetermines whether to delete the topic of interest from the participant preferences of thepotential listener26abased on a corresponding input from thepotential listener26aor based on a pre-configured preference of thepotential listener26a. For example, thepotential listener26amay define a preference stating that if notifications for talk radio programs having a particular topic are ignored a threshold number of times (e.g., three), then that topic is to be deleted as a topic of interest of thepotential listener26a. If the topic is to be deleted, theradio client28adeletes the topic of the talk radio program from the participant preferences of thepotential listener26a(step306). Note that if the topic of the talk radio program is not a topic of interest of thepotential listener26a, then steps304 and306 may be skipped. Alternatively, if the topic of the talk radio program is not a topic of interest of thepotential listener26a, the topic may be blocked such that notifications for talk radio programs having that topic are prevented or blocked from being sent to thepotential listener26ain the future. The topic may be blocked after being ignored once or being ignored a predetermined number of times (e.g., ignored three times). With respect to blocking the topic, the process may then end or proceed to step308 depending on the desired implementation.

Returning to step304, if the topic of interest is not to be deleted, theradio client28adetermines whether to expand the semantic relevance defined in the participant preferences of thepotential listener26a(step308). Again, this determination may be made based on a corresponding input from thepotential listener26aor a pre-configured preference of thepotential listener26a. If the semantic relevance is to be expanded, theradio client28aexpands the semantic relevance defined in the participant preferences of thepotential listener26a(step310). For example, the semantic relevance value may be changed from its current value to a lower semantic relevance value.

Returning to step308, if the semantic relevance is not to be expanded, theradio client28adetermines whether to restrict the semantic relevance defined in the participant preferences of thepotential listener26a(step312). Again, this determination may be made based on a corresponding input from thepotential listener26aor a pre-configured preference of thepotential listener26a. If the semantic relevance is to be restricted, theradio client28arestricts the semantic relevance defined in the participant preferences of thepotential listener26a(step314). For example, the semantic relevance value may be changed from its current value to a higher semantic relevance value. Whether proceeding from

step

306,310, or314, at this point, the process ends.

Returning to step302, if the notification is accepted, theradio client28adetermines whether an action is to be automatically performed (step316).

The action to be automatically performed, if any, is defined within the participant preferences of thepotential listener26a. Exemplary actions that may be automatically performed include, but are not limited to:

- automatically joining a call queue for the talk radio program,
- automatically joining a chat room established for the talk radio program in general,
- automatically joining a chat room established for listeners of the talk radio program in a geographic area in which thepotential listener26ais located,
- automatically joining a chat room established for listeners of the talk radio program having user profiles that are similar to a user profile of thepotential listener26a,
- automatically joining a chat room established for listeners of any talk radio program having the same topic or similar topic as the talk radio program,
- automatically posting a comment to a chat room,
- automatically launching supplemental content related to the talk radio program (e.g., website of one of the guest(s), website related to the topic of the talk radio program, or the like),
- automatically inviting one or more pre-defined friends of thepotential listener26ato listen to the talk radio program, or
- automatically configuring settings at theclient device16a(e.g., speakers, volume, screen layout, turn off iTunes, or the like).

If an action is to be performed, theradio client28aautomatically performs the action (step318). Note that any information needed to perform the action (e.g., telephone number or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connection information for call queue, chat room Uniform Resource Locator (URL), or the like) may be provided in the notification or otherwise obtained from theradio program process20. At this point, whether proceeding from

step

As discussed above, in one embodiment, theradio program process20 automatically establishes one or more chat rooms for listeners of talk radio programs. Theradio program process20 may establish the chat rooms using an internal chat room feature of theradio program process20, a separate chat room process executed by theserver14, or a third-party chat room service.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of theradio client28ato enable apotential listener26ato join a chat room automatically established by theradio program process20 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. More specifically, first, theradio client28areceives user input from thepotential listener26aselecting a chat room from a number of chat rooms automatically established by the radio program process20 (step400). Thepotential listener26ais enabled to select the chat room to join during participation in a talk radio program. The chat rooms automatically established by theradio program process20 may include, for example, a general chat room for listeners of the talk radio program, a number of chat rooms for listeners of the talk radio program for different geographic areas (e.g., zip codes, cities, regions, states, or the like), a number of chat rooms for listeners of the talk radio program having similar user profiles (e.g., similar demographics or the like), and/or a number of chat rooms for listeners of different talk radio programs having the same or similar topics. Once thepotential listener26aselects the desired chat room, theradio client28aoperates to join thepotential listener26ato the desired chat room (step402). Theradio client28amay enable thepotential listener26ato join the desired chat room using, for example, a known URL for the desired chat room.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplarygraphical user interface80 presented or rendered by theradio client28aof apotential listener26aparticipating in a talk radio program. As illustrated, via thegraphical user interface80, thepotential listener26ais enabled to join a chat room with other listeners of the talk radio program located within the same geographic area, which in this example is thezip code 27502, by selectingbutton82. Similarly, thepotential listener26ais enabled to join a chat room with other listeners of the talk radio program having similar user profiles (e.g., similar demographics or the like) by selectingbutton84. Thepotential listener26ais enabled to join a chat room with listeners of other talk radio programs having the same topic as the talk radio program that thepotential listener26ais listening to by selectingbutton86.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of theserver14 ofFIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated, theserver14 includes acontroller88 connected tomemory90, one or moresecondary storage devices92, and acommunication interface94 by abus96 or similar mechanism. Thecontroller88 is a microprocessor, digital Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), or the like. In this embodiment, thecontroller88 is a microprocessor, and theradio program process20 is implemented in software and stored in thememory90 for execution by thecontroller88. Further, in one embodiment, theparticipant preference repository22 and theradio program repository24 are stored in the one or moresecondary storage devices92. Thesecondary storage devices92 are digital data storage devices such as, for example, one or more hard disk drives. Thecommunication interface94 is a wired or wireless communication interface that communicatively couples theserver14 to the network18 (FIG. 1). For example, thecommunication interface94 may be an Ethernet interface, local wireless interface such as a wireless interface operating according to one of the suite of IEEE 802.11 standards, or the like.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of one of theclient devices16 ofFIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated, theclient device16 includes acontroller98 connected tomemory100, acommunication interface102, and one or moreuser interface components104 by abus106 or similar mechanism. Thecontroller98 is a microprocessor, digital ASIC, FPGA, or the like. In this embodiment, thecontroller98 is a microprocessor, and the radio client28 (FIG. 1) is implemented in software and stored in thememory100 for execution by thecontroller98. Thecommunication interface102 is a wired or wireless communication interface that communicatively couples theclient device16 to the network18 (FIG. 1). For example, thecommunication interface102 may be an Ethernet interface, local wireless interface such as a wireless interface operating according to one of the suite of IEEE 802.11 standards, a mobile communications interface such as a cellular telecommunications interface, or the like. The one or moreuser interface components104 include, for example, a touchscreen, a display, one or more user input components (e.g., a keypad), a speaker, or the like, or any combination thereof.

It should be noted that there is substantial opportunity for variation without departing from the spirit or scope of the concepts described herein. Specifically, while the radio client28 has been described herein with respect to the dynamic talk radio program scheduling feature of the talkradio program service12, the radio client28 may be used in other systems. For example, in one alternative embodiment, the talkradio program service12 may provide a number of radio stations with programming that is scheduled in a traditional manner (i.e., not using the dynamic scheduling described herein). However, the preferences of the potential participant26 of the radio client28 may nonetheless be compared to information describing scheduled talk radio programs in order to notify the potential participant26 of scheduled talk radio programs that satisfy the potential participant's preferences. As discussed above, the preferences may include a topic of interest, a time availability, a semantic relevance, a guest of interest, a host of interest, a location availability, or the like. Further, if the potential participant26 chooses to participate in the talk radio program, the potential participant26 may be enabled to join one of a number of chat rooms automatically established for or in relation to the talk radio program.

Also, while the discussion herein focuses on talk radio programs, the concepts described herein are applicable to other types of content. For example, the concepts described herein may be used to notify users of audio/video news programs (e.g., television news programs), audio/video talk shows, or the like, and may also be used to dynamically schedule such content.

Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the preferred embodiments of the present invention. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein and the claims that follow.