US20120071996A1 - Embedded media recommendations - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method for embedding recommendations on a portable media player are provided. In general, recommendations for media presentations stored or to be stored on the portable media player are generated by a recommendation engine hosted by an external system such as, for example, a user's personal computer or a network server. In one embodiment, the media presentations are songs, and the recommendations include a number of recommended songs for each song stored or to be stored on the portable media player. The recommendations may be limited to the media presentations stored on the portable media player or otherwise accessible to the portable media player. After the recommendations are generated, the recommendations are stored, or embedded, on the portable media player. Thereafter, the portable media player may use the recommendations to facilitate playback of media content on the portable media player.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS
• This patent application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/463,148, filed Aug. 8, 2006, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
• The present invention relates to generating media recommendations such as music recommendations, and more particularly relates to embedding media recommendations on a portable media player.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
• Recommendation technologies are emerging as an important enabler in helping users identify and navigate their music collections. However, implementing recommendation systems can be expensive in terms of computing resources, and the best recommendation systems rely on a mix of content analysis and social networks to obtain optimal results. As such, resource-constrained devices, such as portable media players, are unable to enjoy the benefits of recommendation technology. Thus, there is a need for a system and method for generating recommendations for a portable media player and then storing, or embedding, the recommendations on the portable media player in such a manner that the recommendations can be accessed at run time with minimal computing resources.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
• The present invention provides a system and method for embedding recommendations on a portable media player. In general, recommendations for media presentations stored or to be stored on the portable media player are generated by a recommendation engine hosted by an external system such as, for example, a user's personal computer or a network server. In one embodiment, the media presentations are songs, and the recommendations include a number of recommended songs for each song stored or to be stored on the portable media player. The recommendations may be limited to the media presentations stored on the portable media player or otherwise accessible to the portable media player. After the recommendations are generated, the recommendations are stored, or embedded, on the portable media player. In one embodiment, the recommendations are stored in an application file or light-weight database stored on the portable media player. In another embodiment, the recommendations are stored as metadata within corresponding media files stored on the portable media player. Thereafter, the portable media player may use the recommendations to facilitate playback of media content on the portable media player.
• More specifically, in one embodiment, a user system such as a personal computer hosts a media collection of a user associated with the user system and the portable media player. The recommendation engine is hosted by the user system and operates to generate recommendations for each media presentation in the user's media collection. Thereafter, when media presentations are transferred to the portable media player during a synchronization process, the recommendations, or a filtered version thereof, are also transferred to the portable media player. The recommendations may be filtered such that the recommendations transferred to the portable media player are limited to the media presentations stored on the portable media player and, optionally, to media presentations accessible to the portable media player via a network service.
• In another embodiment, a user system such as a personal computer hosts a media collection of a user associated with the user system and the portable media player. The recommendation engine is hosted by a server communicatively coupled to the user system via a network. The recommendation engine generates recommendations and provides the recommendations to the user system. Thereafter, when media presentations are transferred to the portable media player during a synchronization process, the recommendations, or a filtered version thereof, are also transferred to the portable media player. The recommendations may be filtered such that the recommendations transferred to the portable media player are limited to the media presentations stored on the portable media player and, optionally, to media presentations accessible to the portable media player via a network service.
• In yet another embodiment, the portable media player has network access to a server hosting the recommendation engine. The recommendation engine generates recommendations and provides the recommendations to the portable media player. The recommendations may be limited to the media presentations stored on the portable media player, to media presentations available via a network service, or to both media presentations stored on the portable media player and media presentations available via a network service.
• 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 embedding recommendations on a portable media player according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of the system ofFIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of the recommendation scheme of the present invention;
• FIG. 4 illustrates a system for embedding recommendations on a portable media player according to a second embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 5 illustrates the operation of the system ofFIG. 4 according to one embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 6 illustrates a system for embedding recommendations on a portable media player according to a third embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 7 illustrates the operation of the system ofFIG. 6 according to one embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 8 illustrates a system for embedding recommendations on a portable media player according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 9 illustrates the operation of the system ofFIG. 8 according to one embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the user system ofFIGS. 1 and 2;
• FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of theuser system12′ ofFIGS. 4-7;
• FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of thePMP14 ofFIGS. 1,2,4, and5;
• FIG. 13 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of thePMP14′ ofFIGS. 6-9; and
• FIG. 14 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of theserver28 ofFIGS. 4-9.
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.
• The present invention relates to a system and method for embedding recommendations on a portable media player. In general, recommendations for media presentations stored or to be stored on the portable media player are generated by a recommendation engine hosted by an external system such as, for example, a user's personal computer or a network server. In one embodiment, the media presentations are songs, and the recommendations include a number of recommended songs for each song stored or to be stored on the portable media player. The recommendations may be limited to the media presentations stored on the portable media player or otherwise accessible to the portable media player. After the recommendations are generated, the recommendations are stored, or embedded, on the portable media player. Thereafter, the portable media player may use the recommendations to facilitate playback of media content on the portable media player.
• While the following discussion focuses on digital music, the present invention is not limited thereto. The present invention is equally applicable to other types of media content, such as video content, as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon reading this disclosure. Examples of video content are movies, television programs, and like.
• FIG. 1 illustrates asystem10 for embedding recommendations on a portable media player according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, thesystem10 includes auser system12 and a portable media player (PMP)14, where theuser system12 andPMP14 are communicatively coupled during a synchronization process, as described below. Theuser system12 may be, for example, a personal computer. Theuser system12 includes arecommendation engine16, amusic collection18, andrecommendations20. Therecommendation engine16 may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. Themusic collection18 includes a number of digital song files stored in one or more digital storage units within or associated with theuser system12. In operation, therecommendation engine16 operates to generate therecommendations20 for each song in themusic collection18. More specifically, for each particular song, therecommendation engine16 generatesrecommendations20 identifying other songs that are similar to that song. In this embodiment, the recommended songs are limited to other songs in themusic collection18. However, as discussed below, the present invention is not limited thereto.
• Therecommendations20 include information identifying a number of recommended songs for each song in themusic collection18. The information identifying the recommended songs may be any information capable of identifying the recommended songs such as, for example, Globally Unique Identifiers (GUIDs), titles of the songs, or the like. Therecommendations20 may be stored in an application file, light-weight database, or the like. Note that while the following discussion focuses on an application file, it is to be understood that a light-weight database or the like may be used instead. Alternatively, for each particular song, therecommendations20 for that song may be stored as metadata within the song file.
• ThePMP14 may be a portable media player such as, for example, a Motion Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) Layer 3 (MP3) player, an Apple iPod portable media player, a MusicGremlin portable media player, or the like. ThePMP14 includes amedia playback function22,songs24, andrecommendations26. Themedia playback function22 may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software and operates to provide playback of thesongs24 stored on thePMP14. Thesongs24 are stored in one or more digital storage units within thePMP14. The digital storage units may be, for example, hard-disc drives, internal memory, removable memory cards, optical storage devices, or the like. Thesongs24 may be songs transferred to thePMP14 from theuser system12 during a synchronization process. Additionally, as discussed below, thesongs24 may include songs obtained from a subscription-based music service or an e-commerce service via a network. Therecommendations26 include information identifying recommended songs for each of the songs stored on thePMP14. As discussed below, therecommendations26 are either therecommendations20 generated by therecommendation engine16 or a filtered version thereof. Again, therecommendations26 may be stored as an application file, light-weight database, or the like. Alternatively, for each of thesongs24, therecommendations26 for the song may be stored as metadata within the corresponding song file.
• FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of thesystem10 ofFIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. First, therecommendation engine16 of theuser system12 generates recommendations for the songs in the user's music collection18 (step100). In this embodiment, the recommendations are limited to other songs in themusic collection18, and therecommendation engine16 generates recommendations for each of the songs in themusic collection18 prior to the selection of songs to transfer to thePMP14. The recommendations may thereafter be updated when, for example, new songs are added to themusic collection18.
• Therecommendation engine16 may identify other songs from themusic collection18 to recommend for each song using any known music recommendation scheme. For example, therecommendation engine16 may consider metadata such as, but not limited to, genre, artist, album, release date and/or song attributes such as, but not limited to, beats-per-minute and the like. Exemplary music recommendation schemes are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/471,797, entitled HISTORICAL MEDIA RECOMMENDATION SERVICE, filed Jun. 21, 2006 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0107821, entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MUSIC RECOMMENDATION, published Jun. 10, 2004, both of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
• Theuser system12 then provides select songs from themusic collection18 and therecommendations20, or a filtered version of therecommendations20, to thePMP14 during a synchronization process (step102). Once received by thePMP14, the select songs and recommendations are stored by thePMP14 as thesongs24 andrecommendations26. The select songs provided to thePMP14 are preferably selected by the user of theuser system12 for transfer to thePMP14.
• As discussed above, therecommendations20 for the songs in themusic collection18 may be stored in an application file or stored as metadata within the song files. If therecommendations20 for the songs in themusic collection18 are stored in an application file, theuser system12 may provide the application file including therecommendations20 for all of the songs in themusic collection18 to thePMP14 to be stored as therecommendations26 on thePMP14. Thereafter, thePMP14 may ignore the recommendations for songs not transferred to or already stored on thePMP14. Further, for songs that are stored on or to be transferred to thePMP14, thePMP14 may further ignore recommendations identifying songs that are not stored on thePMP14.
• Alternatively, theuser system12 may filter therecommendations20 in the application file prior to transfer to thePMP14 to provide therecommendations26 for thePMP14. Therecommendations20 may be filtered in order to limit therecommendations26 to thesongs24 stored on thePMP14. More specifically, therecommendations20 may be filtered to remove therecommendations20 for songs not transferred to, to be transferred to, or already stored on thePMP14. For songs that are transferred to, to be transferred to, or already stored on thePMP14, theuser system12 may further filter therecommendations20 to remove recommendations identifying songs that are not transferred to, to be transferred to, or already stored on thePMP14.
• In order to filter therecommendations20, theuser system12 may wait for all select songs to be transferred, or at least selected for transfer, to thePMP14. At that point, theuser system12 may filter therecommendations20 in the application file. For example, if a first song in themusic collection18 is not transferred to, to be transferred to, or already stored on thePMP14, theuser system12 may filter therecommendations20 in the application file to remove the recommendations for the first song from the application file. Further, if the first song is a recommended song for a second song that is transferred or to be transferred to thePMP14, theuser system12 may filter therecommendations20 in the application file to remove the first song from the list of recommended songs for the second song. The filtered recommendations may then be transferred to thePMP14.
• In a similar fashion, if therecommendations20 are stored as metadata within the song files, the select songs, or more specifically the corresponding song files, are transferred to thePMP14. Thereafter, thePMP14 may ignore recommendations identifying songs that are not stored on thePMP14. Alternatively, before transferring the select songs andrecommendations20 to thePMP14, theuser system12 may wait for all select songs to be identified. Then, before transferring the select songs to thePMP14, theuser system12 may filter therecommendations20 for the select songs to remove recommendations identifying songs that are not also to be transferred to thePMP14 or are already stored on thePMP14 from the metadata of the song files. The filtered recommendations are provided to thePMP14 and stored as, or as part of, therecommendations26. As a result, the recommendations stored in the metadata of the select song files are filtered before transferring the songs and recommendations to thePMP14 such that therecommendations26 on thePMP14 are limited to thesongs24 stored on thePMP14.
• At this point, synchronization is complete, and thePMP14 may be decoupled from theuser system12. While thePMP14 is decoupled from theuser system12, thePMP14 may use therecommendations26 to facilitate playback of the songs24 (step104). More specifically, in one embodiment, the user of thePMP14 may select songs to play in traditional fashion. For example, the user may select one or more of thesongs24 for playback, generate a play list identifying a number of thesongs24 for playback, select a previously defined playlist, instruct thePMP14 to randomly select or automatically “shuffle” thesongs24 or a group of thesongs24, or the like. In addition, the user may instruct thePMP14 to play a number of therecommendations26 associated with each of the selected songs for playback. This is referred to herein as a “play by recommendation” mode of operation.
• In another embodiment, thePMP14 may be instructed or configured to operate in a “more like this” mode. In this mode, a seed song is selected, and thePMP14 plays one or more recommendations associated with the seed song. In a third embodiment, thePMP14 enables the user to browse, or navigate, therecommendations26 to select songs for playback.
• FIG. 3 illustrates playback of a playlist and recommendations according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Before discussing exemplary playback scenarios, it may be beneficial to briefly discuss the illustrated recommendation scheme. In this example, the playlist includes SONG A and SONG H. SONG B-SONG G are recommended songs for SONG A and may be stored either in an application file or as metadata within the song file for SONG A. SONG B and SONG D-SONG G may be referred to herein as direct, or level 1, recommendations for SONG A. Each of the songs SONG B-SONG G has associated recommendations, which may be referred to as indirect, or level 2, recommendations for SONG A. For example, SONG C is a recommended song for SONG B and is an indirect, or level 2, recommendation for SONG A. The chain of recommended songs continues indefinitely, as denoted by the ellipses. In a similar fashion, SONG H, which is the second song in the playlist, has an associated series of direct and indirect recommendations, shown as SONG I-SONG M.
• As a first exemplary playback scenario, thePMP14 operates in the play by recommendation mode, and either user defined preferences or a default setting of thePMP14 define a number of recommendations for play for each song in the playlist and the number of recommendation levels to traverse. In this example, the number of recommendations to play for each song is unlimited and the number of recommendation levels to traverse is two. ThePMP14 first plays SONG A. Next, thePMP14 proceeds to the direct or level 1 recommendations for SONG A and plays SONG B. Then, since thePMP14 is to traverse two recommendation levels, thePMP14 may play SONG C and the other level 2 recommendations associated with SONG B. Next, thePMP14 may play SONG D and the associated level 2 recommendations, then SONG E and the associated level 2 recommendations, then SONG F and the associated level 2 recommendations, and then SONG G and the associated level 2 recommendations. ThePMP14 may then proceed to play the next song in the playlist, SONG H, and the associated level 1 and level 2 recommendations. The process may continue until thePMP14 reaches the end of the playlist.
• Rather than sequentially stepping through the level 1 and level 2 recommendations, thePMP14 may operate to randomly select or shuffle the level 1 recommendations, the level 2 recommendations, or both the level 1 and level 2 recommendations.
• As a second exemplary playback scenario, thePMP14 operates in the play by recommendation mode, the number of recommendations to play for each song is limited to three songs, and the number of recommendation levels to traverse is two. ThePMP14 first plays SONG A. Next, thePMP14 selects three songs from the level 1 and level 2 recommendations associated with SONG A. ThePMP14 may select the three songs randomly or based on user preferences. For example, the user may prefer level 1 recommendations. As such, thePMP14 may select the three songs from the level 1 recommendations for SONG A. Next, thePMP14 proceeds to play the next song in the playlist, SONG H, and then three of the associated level 1 and level 2 recommendations. The process continues until thePMP14 reaches the end of the playlist.
• Rather than selecting initial songs using a playlist, thePMP14 may be configured to operate in a shuffle mode where thePMP14 randomly selects songs to play from a playlist, from a group of thesongs24 stored on thePMP14, or from all of thesongs24 stored on thePMP14. Once a song is selected by thePMP14, thePMP14 may play the selected song and one or more of the direct and indirect recommendations associated with the song in a manner similar to that described above.
• ThePMP14 may alternatively operate in the more like this mode, where the user of thePMP14 may select a seed song and instruct thePMP14 to play other songs that are like the seed song. In response, thePMP14 may play one or more of the direct and indirect recommendations associated with the seed song in a manner similar to that described above.
• In any of the modes of operation described above, there may be a user defined or default “no repeat window.” The no repeat window is a defined period of time during which no song may be repeated. For example, the no repeat window may be defined as a number of songs that must be played before a song may be repeated or by an amount of time that must pass before a song may be repeated. The no repeat window may be desirable since the same song may be recommended for any number of other songs.
• FIG. 4 illustrates thesystem10 according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, thesystem10 includes aserver28 communicatively coupled touser system12′ via anetwork30, wherein theserver28, rather than theuser system12′, hosts arecommendation engine32. In addition, theserver28 may optionally host aservice34. Theservice34 may alternatively be hosted by a separate server. Therecommendation engine32 may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware, and operates to generate therecommendations20 for a number of songs in themusic collection18 stored on theuser system12′. In one embodiment, therecommendations20 are limited to other songs in themusic collection18. In another embodiment, therecommendations20 may include songs from themusic collection18, songs available via theservice34, or a combination thereof. If therecommendations20 include both songs from themusic collection18 and songs available via theservice34 that are not in themusic collection18, the user may define preferences limiting the number of recommended songs that are not in themusic collection18.
• Theservice34 may be, for example, a subscription based music service providing access to songs for a subscription fee or an e-commerce service enabling purchase and download of songs. Exemplary subscription based music services include Yahoo! Music Unlimited and RealNetwork's Rhapsody, which each provide access to millions of songs for a monthly subscription fee. Exemplary e-commerce services enabling purchase and download of songs include Apple's iTunes and Napster.
• FIG. 5 illustrates the operation of thesystem10 ofFIG. 4 according to one embodiment of the present invention. First, theuser system12′ provides information identifying one or more songs for which recommendations are desired to the server28 (step200). Theserver28 may optionally verify the identity of the songs. Therecommendation engine32 at theserver28 then generates therecommendations20 for each of the identified songs (step202). As discussed above, therecommendations20 may be generated using any known recommendation scheme. If therecommendations20 are limited to songs in themusic collection18 or if therecommendations20 include songs in themusic collection18 and songs not in themusic collection18, theuser system12′ may additionally provide information identifying all of the songs in themusic collection18 to theserver28. Alternatively, if the songs in themusic collection18 were obtained via theservice34, theserver28 may obtain information identifying the songs in themusic collection18 from a database associated with theservice34, where the database includes information identifying each song downloaded to theuser system12′.
• Theserver28 then provides therecommendations20, or more specifically information identifying the recommended songs for each song identified instep200, to theuser system12′ (step204). The information identifying the recommended songs may be, for example, Globally Unique Identifiers (GUIDs), titles of the songs, or the like. In addition, for recommended songs available via theservice34, therecommendations20 may include Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) that may be used to obtain the songs from theservice34. Theuser system12′ stores therecommendations20 either in an application file or as metadata within the corresponding song files.
• Optionally, for recommended songs that are not stored in themusic collection18, theservice34 may provide the recommended songs, or previews of the recommended songs, to theuser system12′ (step206). Theservice34 may provide the recommended songs or previews to theuser system12′ automatically in response to instructions from therecommendation engine32 or in response to a request from theuser system12′.
• Thereafter, select songs and therecommendations20, or a filtered version of therecommendations20, are provided to thePMP14 during a synchronization process (step206). Note that songs for previews that were obtained from theservice34 instep206 may automatically be transferred to thePMP14 when the associated songs for which they are recommended are transferred to thePMP14 or transferred to thePMP14 only when selected by the user. As discussed above, the recommendations provided to thePMP14 may optionally be filtered before transferring the recommendations to thePMP14 to limit the recommendations to songs or previews stored, or to be stored, on thePMP14. At this point, synchronization is complete, and thePMP14 uses the recommendations to facilitate playback, as described above (step210).
• Note that previews may be treated like any other recommended song. However, the user of thePMP14 may mark desired previews such that the corresponding songs are subsequently obtained from theservice34. For example, see U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/403,499, entitled PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYER ENABLED TO OBTAIN PREVIEWS OF MEDIA CONTENT, filed Apr. 13, 2006; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/403,598, entitled USER SYSTEM PROVIDING PREVIEWS TO AN ASSOCIATED PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYER, filed Apr. 13, 2006; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/403,597, entitled CENTRAL SYSTEM PROVIDING PREVIEWS TO A PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYER, filed Apr. 13, 2006, all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
• FIG. 6 illustrates thesystem10 according to a third embodiment of the present invention, where thesystem10 is similar to that illustrated inFIG. 5. In this embodiment, thePMP14′ has access to theservice34 via anetwork36. While illustrated separately, thenetwork36 may be interconnected to or part of thenetwork30. ThePMP14′ preferably has access to thenetwork36 via a local wireless communication interface or a cellular communication interface. An exemplary local wireless communication interface is a communication interface operating according to one of the suite of IEEE 802.11 standards, the Bluetooth standard, or the like. An exemplary cellular communication interface is a communication interface operating according to the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) standard, the Third Generation (3G) Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) standard, or the like.
• FIG. 7 illustrates the operation of thesystem10 ofFIG. 6 according to one embodiment of the present invention. First, theuser system12′ provides information identifying one or more songs for which recommendations are desired to the recommendation engine32 (step300). Therecommendation engine32 at theserver28 then generates therecommendations20 for each of the identified songs (step302). As discussed above, therecommendations20 may be generated using any known recommendation scheme. In this embodiment, therecommendations20 preferably include songs available to thePMP14′ via theservice34 and, optionally, songs from themusic collection18. The user may define a percentage, or proportion, of therecommendations20 that are to be songs in themusic collection18. However, therecommendations20 may alternatively be limited to the songs in themusic collection18.
• If therecommendations20 are limited to songs in themusic collection18 or if therecommendations20 include both songs in themusic collection18 and songs not in themusic collection18, theuser system12′ may additionally provide information identifying all of the songs in themusic collection18 to therecommendation engine32. Alternatively, if the songs in themusic collection18 were obtained via theservice34, therecommendation engine32 may obtain information identifying the songs in themusic collection18 from a database associated with theservice34, where the database includes information identifying each song downloaded to theuser system12′.
• Therecommendation engine32 then provides therecommendations20, or more specifically, information identifying the recommended songs for each song identified instep300, to theuser system12′ (step304). The information identifying the recommended songs may be, for example, GUIDs, titles of the songs, or the like. In addition, for recommended songs available via theservice34, therecommendations20 may include URLs that may be used to obtain the songs from theservice34. Theuser system12′ stores therecommendations20 either in an application file or as metadata within the corresponding song files. Thereafter, select songs and associated recommendations are provided to thePMP14 during a synchronization process, as described above (step306).
• Once synchronization is complete, thePMP14 may use the recommendations to facilitate playback, as described above (step308). During playback of songs on thePMP14′, if thePMP14′ desires to play one of the recommended songs that is not stored on thePMP14′ but is available via theservice34, thePMP14′ may obtain the song or a preview of the song from theservice34 via the network36 (steps310-312). For previews, if the user desires to obtain the full song, thePMP14′ may download the full song from theservice34. The user may be required to purchase the song prior to downloading the full song.
• FIG. 8 illustrates thesystem10 according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, thePMP14′ directly obtains therecommendations26 from theserver28.FIG. 9 illustrates the operation of thesystem10 ofFIG. 8 according to one embodiment of the present invention. First, thePMP14′ provides information identifying one or more songs for which recommendations are desired to the recommendation engine32 (step400). Therecommendation engine32 at theserver28 then generates therecommendations26 for each of the identified songs (step402). As discussed above, therecommendations26 may be generated using any known recommendation scheme. In this embodiment, therecommendations26 preferably include songs available to thePMP14′ via theservice34 and, optionally, songs already stored on thePMP14′. The user may define a percentage, or proportion, of therecommendations26 that are to be songs already stored on thePMP14′. Alternatively, therecommendations26 may alternatively be limited to thesongs24 already stored on thePMP14′.
• If therecommendations26 include songs already stored on thePMP14′ or if therecommendations26 are limited to thesongs24 already stored on thePMP14′, thePMP14′ may additionally provide information identifying all of thesongs24 stored on thePMP14′ to therecommendation engine32. Alternatively, if thesongs24 stored on thePMP14′ were obtained via theservice34, therecommendation engine32 may obtain information identifying thesongs24 stored on thePMP14′ from a database associated with theservice34, where the database includes information identifying each song downloaded to thePMP14′.
• Therecommendation engine32 then provides therecommendations26, or more specifically, information identifying the recommended songs for each song identified instep400, toPMP14′ (step404). The information identifying the recommended songs may be, for example, GUIDs, titles of the songs, or the like. In addition, for recommended songs available via theservice34, therecommendations20 may include URLs that may be used to obtain the songs from theservice34. ThePMP14′ stores therecommendations26 either in an application file or as metadata within the corresponding song files. At this point, thePMP14′ uses therecommendations26 to facilitate playback, as described above (step406). During playback of songs on thePMP14′, if thePMP14′ desires to play one of the recommended songs that is not stored on thePMP14′ but is available via theservice34, thePMP14′ may obtain the song or a preview of the song from theservice34 via the network36 (steps408-410). For previews, if the user desires to obtain the full song, thePMP14′ may download the full song from theservice34. The user may be required to purchase the song prior to downloading the full song.
• FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of theuser system12 ofFIGS. 1 and 2. In general, theuser system12 includes acontrol system38 having associatedmemory40. In this example, therecommendation engine16 is at least partially implemented in software and stored in thememory40. Theuser system12 also includes astorage unit42, or alternatively one or more storage units, operating to store themusic collection18 andrecommendations20. Thestorage unit42 may be any digital storage unit such as, for example, a hard-disc drive, a network drive associated with theuser system12, memory, an optical storage device, or the like. Theuser system12 also includes acommunication interface44. Thecommunication interface44 includes an interface for communicating with thePMP14 during synchronization. For example, thecommunication interface44 may include either a wired interface or a local wireless interface for communicating with thePMP14. Theuser system12 also includes auser interface46, which may include components such as, for example, a display, one or more user input devices, speakers, and the like.
• FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of theuser system12′ ofFIGS. 4-7. In general, theuser system12′ includes acontrol system48 having associatedmemory50. Thememory50 operates to store software instructing theuser system12′ to operate according to the present invention. Theuser system12′ also includes astorage unit52, or alternatively one or more storage units, operating to store themusic collection18 andrecommendations20. Thestorage unit52 may be any digital storage unit such as, for example, a hard-disc drive, a network drive associated with theuser system12′, memory, an optical storage device, or the like. Theuser system12′ also includes acommunication interface54. Thecommunication interface54 includes an interface for communicating with thePMP14 during synchronization. For example, thecommunication interface54 may include either a wired interface or a local wireless interface for communicating with thePMP14. In addition, thecommunication interface54 includes a network interface communicatively coupling theuser system12′ to the network30 (FIGS. 4,6). Theuser system12′ also includes a user interface56, which may include components such as, for example, a display, one or more user input devices, speakers, and the like.
• FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of thePMP14 ofFIGS. 1,2,4, and5. In general, thePMP14 includes acontrol system58. In this example, thecontrol system58 includes themedia playback function22, which may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of hardware and software. ThePMP14 also includes astorage unit60, or one or more storage units, operating to store thesongs24 andrecommendations26. Thestorage unit60 may be internal memory, a removable memory card, a hard-disc drive, an optical storage device, or the like. ThePMP14 also includes acommunication interface62. Thecommunication interface62 includes an interface for communicating with theuser system12,12′ during synchronization. For example, thecommunication interface62 may include either a wired interface or a local wireless interface for communicating with theuser system12,12′. ThePMP14 also includes auser interface64, which may include components such as, for example, a display; one or more user input devices, buttons, or keys; speakers; audio output ports or jacks; and the like.
• FIG. 13 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of thePMP14′ ofFIGS. 6-9. In general, thePMP14′ includes acontrol system66. In this example, thecontrol system66 includes themedia playback function22, which may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of hardware and software. ThePMP14′ also includes astorage unit68, or one or more storage units, operating to store thesongs24 andrecommendations26. Thestorage unit68 may be internal memory, a removable memory card, a hard-disc drive, an optical storage device, or the like. ThePMP14′ also includes acommunication interface70. Thecommunication interface70 may include an interface for communicating with theuser system12,12′ during synchronization. For example, thecommunication interface70 may include either a wired interface or a local wireless interface for communicating with theuser system12,12′. Thecommunication interface70 also includes a network interface to the network36 (FIGS. 6 and 8). The network interface is preferably either a local wireless communication interface or a cellular network interface. ThePMP14′ also includes a user interface72, which may include components such as, for example, a display; one or more user input devices, buttons, or keys; speakers; audio output ports or jacks; and the like.
• FIG. 14 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of theserver28 ofFIGS. 4-9. Theserver28 generally includes acontrol system74. In this example, therecommendation engine32 andservice34 are implemented as part of thecontrol system74 and may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. Theserver28 also includes one ormore storage units76 and acommunication interface78. Thecommunication interface78 communicatively couples theserver28 to thenetworks30 and36. Theserver28 may also include auser interface80, which may include components such as, for example, a display, one or more user input devices, and the like.
• The present invention provides substantial opportunity for variation without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. For example, while the discussion herein focuses on digital music, the present invention is not limited thereto. The present invention is equally applicable to other types of media content, such as video content, as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon reading this disclosure. Examples of video content are movies, television programs, and like.
• As a second example, while the discussion above focuses on generating recommendations for songs identified by either theuser system12,12′ or thePMP14′, the present invention is not limited thereto. More specifically, a service, such as theservice34, may provide a subscription based service or an e-commerce service wherein recommendations for songs are provided upon initial download or purchase from theservice34. Thus, for example, when a user requests a particular song from the subscription basedservice34, recommendations for the song may be provided in addition to the song either separately or as metadata within the song file. The recommendations may be generated by therecommendation engine16, which may be hosted by the same server or a third-party server, prior to or in response to receiving the request for the song. Again, the recommendations may or may not be limited to songs already in the user'smusic collection18.
• As a third example, while the discussion ofFIGS. 1-7 focus on generating recommendations prior to selecting songs for transfer to thePMP14,14′, the present invention is not limited thereto. More specifically, recommendations may be obtained or generated only for those songs selected to be transferred or transferred to thePMP14,14′ after the songs are selected to be transferred to transferred to thePMP14,14′.
• As a fourth example, the discussion ofFIGS. 1-7 above focuses on generating recommendations for songs in themusic collection18 of theuser system12,12′. However, there are situations where songs stored on thePMP14,14′ are not included in themusic collection18. This may particularly be the case where thePMP14′ obtains music directly from theservice34. In this situation, theuser system12,12′ may obtain information identifying the songs already stored on thePMP14′ during a synchronization process and either generate or obtain recommendations for those songs in addition to or instead of generating or obtaining recommendations for one or more songs from themusic collection18 of theusers system12,12′.
• 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.

Claims (31)

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operation of a portable media player, comprising:

receiving, by the portable media player, recommendations for each of a plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player, wherein for each one of the plurality of media presentations, the recommendations identify at least one of others of the plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player recommended for the one of the plurality of media presentations;

storing, by the portable media player, the recommendations in a storage unit of the portable media player; and

facilitating, by the portable media player, playback of the plurality of media presentations on the portable media player based on the recommendations;

wherein facilitating playback of the plurality of media presentations on the portable media player based on the recommendations comprises:

playing a select one of the plurality of media presentations; and

playing a number of media presentations from a subset of the plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player that are identified by a user-defined number of levels of the recommendations directly and indirectly associated with the select one of the plurality of media presentations.

2. The method ofclaim 1 wherein receiving the recommendations comprises receiving the recommendations as one of a group consisting of: an application file and a light-weight database.

3. The method ofclaim 1 wherein receiving the recommendations comprises receiving a plurality of media files corresponding to the plurality of media presentations wherein the recommendations are stored as metadata within the plurality of media files, and storing the recommendations comprises storing the plurality of media files in the storage unit.

4. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the recommendations are generated at a user system associated with the portable media player and receiving the recommendations comprises receiving the recommendations from the user system during a synchronization process when the portable media player is communicatively coupled to the user system.

5. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising:

providing information identifying the plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player to a remote recommendation engine such that the recommendations for each of the plurality of media presentations are generated at the remote recommendation engine;

wherein receiving the recommendations comprises receiving the recommendations from the remote recommendation engine.

6. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the recommendations are generated at a networked server and provided from the networked server to a user system associated with the portable media player, and receiving the recommendations comprises receiving the recommendations from the user system during a synchronization process when the portable media player is communicatively coupled to the user system.

7. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the recommendations are generated at a networked server, and receiving the recommendations comprises receiving the recommendations from the networked server via a network communicatively coupling the networked server and the portable media player.

8. The method ofclaim 7 wherein the recommendations are limited to the plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player.

9. The method ofclaim 7 wherein for each of the plurality of media presentations, the recommendations comprise recommendations identifying others of the plurality of media presentations and recommendations identifying media presentations accessible from a network service.

10. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the recommendations are limited to the plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player.

11. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the recommendations are limited to media presentations in a media collection of a user associated with the portable media player stored on an associated user system.

12. The method ofclaim 1 wherein for each one of the plurality of media presentations, the recommendations further identify at least one recommended media presentation accessible by the portable media player from a network service provider.

13. The method ofclaim 12 wherein the recommendations further comprise Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) providing access to the at least one recommended media presentation.

14. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the recommendations further identify at least one preview of a recommended media presentation accessible by the portable media player.

15. The method ofclaim 1 wherein playing the number of media presentations comprises, for each level of the recommendations directly or indirectly associated with the select one of the plurality of media presentations in the user-defined number of levels, playing a number of media presentations identified by at most a user-defined maximum number of recommendations from that level of the recommendations directly or indirectly associated with the select one of the plurality of media presentations.

16. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player are one of a group consisting of: all media presentations stored on the portable media player and less than all media presentations stored on the portable media player.

17. A method of operation of a portable media player, comprising:

receiving, by the portable media player, recommendations for each of a plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player, wherein for each one of the plurality of media presentations, the recommendations identify at least one recommended media presentation accessible from a network service recommended for the one of the plurality of media presentations;

storing, by the portable media player, the recommendations in a storage unit of the portable media player; and

facilitating, by the portable media player, playback of the plurality of media presentations and the recommended media presentations identified by the recommendations on the portable media player.

18. The method ofclaim 17 wherein receiving the recommendations comprises receiving the recommendations as one of a group consisting of: an application file and a light-weight database.

19. The method ofclaim 17 wherein receiving the recommendations comprises receiving a plurality of media files corresponding to the plurality of media presentations wherein the recommendations are stored as metadata within the plurality of media files, and storing the recommendations comprises storing the plurality of media files in the storage unit.

20. The method ofclaim 17 wherein the recommendations are generated at a networked server and provided to a user system associated with the portable media player, and receiving the recommendations comprises receiving the recommendations from the networked server during a synchronization process when the portable media player is communicatively coupled to the user system.

21. The method ofclaim 17 wherein the recommendations are generated at a networked server, and receiving the recommendations comprises receiving the recommendations from the networked server via a network communicatively coupling the networked server and the portable media player.

22. The method ofclaim 17 wherein facilitating playback of the plurality of media presentations on the portable media player based on the recommendations comprises:

playing a select one of the plurality of media presentations; and

playing at least one media presentation identified by the recommendations for the select one of the plurality of media presentations.

23. The method ofclaim 22 wherein playing the at least one media presentation identified by the recommendations for the select one of the plurality of media presentations comprises obtaining the at least one media presentation from the network service.

24. The method ofclaim 22 wherein playing the at least one media presentation identified by the recommendations for the select one of the plurality of media presentations comprises:

obtaining a preview of at least one media presentation from the network service; and

playing the preview of the at least one media presentation.

25. The method ofclaim 17 wherein the plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player are one of a group consisting of: all media presentations stored on the portable media player and less than all media presentations stored on the portable media player.

26. A portable media player comprising:

a communication interface; and

a control system associated with the communication interface and adapted to:

receive recommendations for each of a plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player, wherein for each one of the plurality of media presentations, the recommendations identify at least one of others of the plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player recommended for the one of the plurality of media presentations;

store the recommendations in a storage unit of the portable media player; and

facilitate playback of the plurality of media presentations on the portable media player based on the recommendations;

wherein in order to facilitate playback of the plurality of media presentations on the portable media player based on the recommendations, the control system is further adapted to:

play a select one of the plurality of media presentations; and

play a number of media presentations from a subset of the plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player that are identified by a user-defined number of levels of the recommendations directly and indirectly associated with the select one of the plurality of media presentations.

27. The portable media player ofclaim 26 wherein the plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player are one of a group consisting of: all media presentations stored on the portable media player and less than all media presentations stored on the portable media player.

28. A portable media player comprising:

a communication interface; and

a control system associated with the communication interface and adapted to:

receive recommendations for each of a plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player, wherein for each one of the plurality of media presentations, the recommendations identify at least one recommended media presentation accessible from a network service recommended for the one of the plurality of media presentations;

store the recommendations in a storage unit of the portable media player; and

facilitate playback of the plurality of media presentations and the recommended media presentations identified by the recommendations on the portable media player.

29. The portable media player ofclaim 28 wherein in order to facilitate playback of the plurality of media presentations on the portable media player based on the recommendations, the control system is further adapted to:

play a select one of the plurality of media presentations; and

play a plurality of media presentations accessible from the network service that are identified by a user-defined number of levels of the recommendations directly and indirectly associated with the select one of the plurality of media presentations.

30. The portable media player ofclaim 29 wherein in order to play the plurality of media presentations, the control system is further adapted to, for each level of the recommendations directly or indirectly associated with the select one of the plurality of media presentations in the user-defined number of levels, play a number of media presentations identified by at most a user-defined maximum number of recommendations from that level of the recommendations directly or indirectly associated with the select one of the plurality of media presentations.

31. The portable media player ofclaim 28 wherein the plurality of media presentations stored on the portable media player are one of a group consisting of: all media presentations stored on the portable media player and less than all media presentations stored on the portable media player.

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