USOO8046369B2
`
`(12) United States Patent
`(10) Patent No.:
`US 8,046,369 B2
`
`Martin et al.
`(45) Date of Patent:
`Oct. 25, 2011
`
`(75)
`
`(54) MEDIA ASSET RATING SYSTEM
`.
`.
`Inventors: Tlmothy Martin, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
`Jeffrey L- Robbln, L05 Altos, CA (US);
`David Heller, Los Altos, CA (US);
`‘
`Anne Jones’ Emerald Hflls’ CA (Us)
`.
`.
`(73) ASSlgneei Apple Inca 01136111110, CA (US)
`
`( * ) Notice:
`
`Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
`patent is extended or adjusted under 35
`U30 1540’) by 256 days‘
`
`(21) APP1~ N0: 11/8493995
`.
`F1led:
`(22)
`Sep. 4, 2007
`
`(65)
`
`Prior Publication Data
`
`EP
`
`5,504,852 A
`5,559,945 A
`5,561,604 A
`5,566,353 A
`5,583,993 A
`5,587,404 A
`5,616,876 A
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`5,666,530 A
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`5,714,971 A
`5
`a
`gagéaggg :
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`d
`( on “me )
`FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
`0917077
`5H999
`
`US 2009/0063543 A1
`
`Mar. 5, 2009
`
`(Continued)
`
`(51)
`
`Int- Cl-
`(2006.01)
`G06F 700/2006
`(52) US. Cl.
`....................................................... 707/748
`(58) Field of Classification Search ........................ None
`See application file for complete search history.
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
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`“Apple Announces lTuneS 2’” Press Release’ Apple Computer, Inc"
`OCt' 23’ 2001'
`
`(Continued)
`
`(56)
`
`References Cited
`
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`Primary Examiner 7 Charles Rones
`Assistant Examiner 7 Dinku Gebresenbet
`
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`1 14
`
`DIGITAL
`MEDIA
`MANAGER
`
`ABSTRACT
`(57)
`Improved techniques for assigning ratings to media assets are
`d1sclosed. A ratmg for a med1a asset collectlon can, for
`example, be determined by examining the ratings of all user-
`rated media assets in that media asset collection. Additionally
`or alternately, a rating for media assets in a group of media
`assets can, for example, be determined by examining the
`rating of the group ofmedia assets.
`
`13 Claims, 4 Drawing Sheets
`
`[100
`
`MEDIA
`STORE
`SERVER
`
`4102
`
`
`
`
`DATA
`
`
`MEDIA
`NETWORK
`
`ASSETS
`
`DATABASE
`
`
`
`CLIENT DEVICE
`(E \ID USER)
` MMA
`
`
`104
`
`108
`
`Apple Exhibit 4452
`Apple v. SightSound Technologies
`CBM2013-00023
`
`Page 00001
`
`Apple Exhibit 4452
`Apple v. SightSound Technologies
`CBM2013-00023
`Page 00001
`
`

`

`US 8,046,369 B2
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`,
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`,
`,
`.
`233%? 3 1%88‘5‘ Kim“ 1
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`383378831233 21
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`plates based on Image Analysis and Dueal Problem, Jan. 19, 2006,
`Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, pp. 1-10.
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`Torrone, Phillip, How-To: Getting Podcasts on a Portable Media
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`Compaq Computer Corp., Oct. 13, 2000, http://research.compaq.
`com/SRC/pjb/.
`Etchison, “Accelerated Discrete Adjustment of the Parameters of a
`Process”, IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, vol. 15, No. 5, Oct. 1,
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`Chakarova et al., “Digital Still CamerasiDownloading Images to a
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`wiki/Halfe-life, Feb. 22, 2009.
`
`* cited by examiner
`
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`US. Patent
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`Oct. 25, 2011
`
`Sheet 2 of4
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`US 8,046,369 B2
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`200 \
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`Rates Album
`?
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`User
`
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`Album
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`Rating to Album
`
`FIG. 2
`
`Page 00006
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`Page 00006
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`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Oct. 25, 2011
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`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Oct. 25, 2011
`
`Sheet 4 of4
`
`US 8,046,369 B2
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`

`

`1
`MEDIA ASSET RATING SYSTEM
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`1. Field of the Invention
`
`The present invention relates to media asset groups and,
`more particularly,
`to rating media asset groups or media
`assets therein.
`
`2. Description of the Related Art
`Currently, many media management applications, such as
`the iTunesTM application, produced by Apple Inc. of Cuper-
`tino, Calif., offer ways to rate media assets. For example,
`iTunesTM allows media assets to be rated on a scale of 1 to 5,
`with 5 being the highest rating.
`Media assets can include any and all kinds of digital media
`formats, such as audio files (e.g., MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis,
`etc.) or Video files (e.g., QuickTime®, AVI). Media assets
`collections can include any collection ofmedia assets, such as
`music albums, and music compilations.Another example of a
`media asset collection is known as a playlist, which can
`pertain to a group of audio tracks.
`However, current methods of rating media assets depend
`on intensive user input. Typically, a user must rate each indi-
`vidual media asset in his or her collection separately, which
`can be time-consuming, especially for large groups of media
`assets. Thus, there is a need for improved approaches to rate
`media assets.
`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`
`The invention pertains to improved techniques for rating
`media assets or media asset groups (i.e., collection of media
`assets). In one embodiment, ratings of media assets within a
`media asset group can be used to automatically determine a
`rating applied to the media asset group. For example, one or
`more ratings assigned to one or more songs on an album can
`be used to determine a rating for the entire album. In another
`embodiment, a rating of a media asset group can be used to
`automatically determine a rating for one or more ofthe media
`assets in the media asset group.
`The invention can be implemented in numerous ways,
`including as a method, system, device, or apparatus (includ-
`ing computer readable medium or graphical user interface).
`Several embodiments of the invention are discussed below.
`
`As a computer-implemented method for assigning ratings
`to media assets, one embodiment of the invention includes at
`least the act ofdetermining a rating for an unrated media asset
`collection based on the user-ratings of one or more user-rated
`media assets in the media asset collection.
`
`As a media management system, one embodiment of the
`invention includes at least a rating module. The rating module
`can, for example, be configured to (i) determine a rating for a
`user-unrated media asset collection based on prior user rat-
`ings of one or more of the media assets in the media asset
`collection; and (ii) determine a rating for one or more user-
`unrated media assets in a user-rated media asset collection
`
`based on the user-rating of the user-rated media asset collec-
`tion.
`
`As a computer-implemented method for assigning ratings
`to media assets, one embodiment of the invention includes at
`least: receiving a user collection rating for a collection includ-
`ing a plurality of tracks; and assigning the user collection
`rating to those of the tracks within the collection that have not
`been previously user-rated.
`As a computer readable medium including at least execut-
`able computer program code tangibly stored thereon for
`assigning ratings to media assets, one embodiment of the
`
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`US 8,046,369 B2
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`2
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`least: computer program code for
`invention includes at
`receiving a user collection rating for a collection including a
`plurality of tracks; computer program code for assigning the
`user collection rating to those of the tracks within the collec-
`tion that have not been previously user-rated; computer pro-
`gram code for receiving a user track rating associated with a
`particular one of the tracks; computer program code for
`assigning the user track rating to the particular one of the
`tracks; computer program code for determining whether the
`collection has been previously user-rated; computer program
`code for determining a computed track rating based on the
`tracks of the collection that have been previously rated by the
`user; and computer program code for assigning the computed
`track rating to the collection as a calculated collection rating
`if the collection is determined not to have been previously
`user-rated.
`
`Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become
`apparent from the following detailed description taken in
`conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illus-
`trate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`The invention will be readily understood by the following
`detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying
`drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate like
`structural elements, and in which:
`FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a media purchase system
`according to one embodiment of the invention.
`FIG. 2 is flow diagram of a media asset rating calculation
`process according to one embodiment of the invention
`FIG. 3 is an example of a series of media asset rating
`calculations according to one embodiment of the invention.
`FIG. 4 shows an exemplary computer system suitable for
`use with the invention.
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
`
`The invention pertains to improved techniques for rating
`media assets or media asset groups (i.e., collection of media
`assets). In one embodiment, ratings of media assets within a
`media asset group can be used to automatically determine a
`rating applied to the media asset group. For example, one or
`more ratings assigned to one or more songs on an album can
`be used to determine a rating for the entire album. In another
`embodiment, a rating of a media asset group can be used to
`automatically determine a rating for one or more ofthe media
`assets in the media asset group.
`Embodiments of the invention are discussed below with
`reference to FIGS. 1-4. However, those skilled in the art will
`readily appreciate that the detailed description given herein
`with respect to these figures is for explanatory purposes as the
`invention extends beyond these limited embodiments.
`FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a media purchase system 100
`according to one embodiment of the invention. The media
`purchase system 100 includes a media store server 102 that
`hosts an on-line media store. The media store server 102 can
`
`off-load commerce transactions and/or delivery ofpurchased
`digital media assets to other servers, if desired. As shown in
`FIG. 1, the media purchase system 100 includes one or more
`client devices 104 for use by end users. The client devices 104
`couple to a data network 106. Additionally, the media store
`server 102 also couples to the data network 106. In one
`implementation, the data network 106 can refer to one or
`more data networks,
`typically, high data-bandwidth net-
`works, namely, wired networks, such as the Internet, Ether-
`net, gigabit Ethernet, and fiber optic, as well as wireless
`
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`US 8,046,369 B2
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`3
`networks such as IEEE 802.11(a), (b) or (g) (WiFi), IEEE
`802.16 (WiMax), and Ultra-Wide Band (UWB).
`A computer program 108, typically a media management
`application (MMA) or other media player application runs on
`the client device 104. One example of a media management
`application is the iTunesTM application, produced by Apple
`Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. The client devices 104 are, in gen-
`eral, computing devices. As an example, the client devices
`104 can be specific or general-purpose personal computers or
`portable media players. One example of a portable media
`player suitable for use with the invention is the iPodTM, also
`produced by Apple Inc. The computer program 108 can be
`used by a consumer for a variety of purposes, including, but
`not limited to, browsing and/or purchasing media assets from
`the on-line media store provided by the media store server
`102, creating and sharing media asset groups (e.g., playlists),
`organizing media assets, presenting/playing media assets,
`and transferring media assets between client devices 104.
`The media purchase system 100 also includes a digital
`asset manager 114. The digital asset manager 114 is coupled
`to a media assets database 116. The media assets database 116
`
`stores media asset information including metadata relating to
`digital media assets available for purchase at the on-line
`media store. The metadata can pertain to individual media
`assets (digital media assets) or media asset groups (digital
`media asset groups). Media assets can include, but are not
`limited to, music, video, text, and/or graphics files. In the case
`of music, a media asset group can be a playlist for the music.
`The media store server 102 enables the user of a particular
`client device 104 to purchase media assets (e.g., songs, vid-
`eos, albums). Subsequently, the client device 104 can down-
`load the purchased media assets from the media store server
`102, or some other server, via the data network 106.As will be
`understood by those familiar with data networks, other net-
`work configurations are possible. Furthermore, while the
`media store server 102 and the digital asset manager 114 are
`shown as individual and separate devices, it will be under-
`stood by those familiar with the art that other configurations
`are possible. As one example, each device can be imple-
`mented such that it is distributed over multiple server com-
`puters.As another example, these various servers and/or man-
`agers can be implemented by a single physical server
`computer.
`FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a media asset rating calculation
`process 200 according to one embodiment of the invention.
`The media asset rating calculation process 200 can, for
`example, be used with a media management application, such
`as the computer program 108 (MMA) illustrated in FIG. 1.
`The media asset rating calculation process 200 refers specifi-
`cally to albums (e.g., music albums) and album tracks (e.g.,
`songs on an album). However, the invention is not limited to
`such media types. For example, the rating calculation process
`could apply to playlists or other collections of media assets in
`place of albums and could apply to videos or music videos in
`place of album tracks (audio tracks).
`The media asset rating calculation process 200 can be used
`to calculate ratings for unrated media assets if a user has
`entered a rating for any media asset collection to which the
`media assets belong. For example, if a user rates a music
`album, all unrated album tracks on that album can receive the
`same rating that the album received. Altemately, if a media
`asset collection is unrated, but individual media assets that
`belong to that media asset collection receive user ratings, then
`a media asset collection rating can be calculated for that
`media asset collection based on the average ratings of indi-
`vidual media assets in the media asset collection. For
`
`example, if a user rates album tracks on an album, the album
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`will receive a rating based on the average of the ratings of all
`the user-rated album tracks. Thus, in this embodiment, the
`ratings of media assets without user-ratings are not consid-
`ered in the calculation.
`
`In one embodiment of the invention, user-ratings are given
`priority over ratings calculated using the media asset calcu-
`lation process 200. According to this embodiment, user-rat-
`ings can be used to calculate ratings for unrated media assets,
`but calculated ratings are used to overwrite prior user-ratings.
`For example, if a music album has a user-rating (i.e., has been
`rated by a user), rating individual album tracks in the album
`will not affect the user album rating. Conversely, if any album
`tracks on an album have user-ratings, then rating the album
`will not affect any of the user album track ratings.
`The media asset rating calculation process 200 begins with
`a decision 201 which detects when an album has received a
`
`user-rating. When decision 201 detects that an album has
`received a user-rating, that user-rating is assigned 211 to that
`album and the media asset rating calculation process 200
`continues to decision 213. The decision 213 determines if any
`ofthe album tracks on the album lack user-ratings . Any album
`tracks without user ratings can then be assigned 215 the same
`user-rating that was assigned 211 to the album. If decision
`213 determines that none ofthe album tracks are unrated, then
`the media asset rating calculation process 200 returns to deci-
`sion 201 and subsequent blocks.
`On the other hand, if decision 201 does not detect that an
`album has received a user-rating, then a decision 203 can
`check if an album track has received a user-rating. If so, then
`the user-rating can be assigned 205 to the album track and the
`media asset rating calculation process 200 continues to deci-
`sion 207. Alternately, if the decision 203 determines that no
`album track has received a user rating, then media as set rating
`calculation process 200 returns to decision 201 and subse-
`quent blocks.
`Once the user album track rating has been assigned 205, the
`media asset rating calculation process 200 continues to deci-
`sion 207, which determines if the album has previously been
`assigned a user-rating. If not, then the album can be assigned
`209 a user album rating, which is calculated using any exist-
`ing user track ratings. In one embodiment ofthe invention, the
`user album rating is calculated by taking the mean (i.e., aver-
`age) of the ratings of all user-rated album tracks in t