MAAA
`
`30B2
`
`US0080511
`
`a2) United States Patent
`Logan etal.
`
`(10) Patent No.:
`(45) Date of Patent:
`
`US 8,051,130 B2
`Nov. 1, 2011
`
`(54) METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR
`CREATING, COMBINING, DISTRIBUTING
`AND REPRODUCING PROGRAM CONTENT
`FOR GROUPS OF PARTICIPATING USERS
`
`(76)
`
`Inventors: James D. Logan, Candia, NH (US);
`Mark Palmer, Northboro, MA (US);
`Charles G. Call, West Yarmouth, MA
`(US)
`
`(*) Notice:
`
`Subject to any disclaimer, the termofthis
`patent is extended or adjusted under 35
`U.S.C. 154(b) by 1236 days.
`
`(21) Appl. No.: 11/708,692
`
`(56)
`
`References Cited
`
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`7,124,164 BL* 10/2006 Chemtob ou... 709/204
`7,702,728 B2*
`4/2010 Zaner etal. ............... 709/205
`2003/0056220 Al*
`3/2003 Thornton etal.
`.............. 725/62
`2003/0212804 AL*
`11/2003 Hashemi .............
`vee FO9/228
`2005/0125843 Al*
`6/2005 Okezie etal. ...0..0.... 725/133
`2005/0239486 AL*
`10/2005 D’Avello etal.
`.....0... 455/519
`2005/0262542 Al* 11/2005 DeWeeseet al.
`............. 725/106
`2007/0124737 AL™ 5/2007 Wensley et al. ....00.... 719/314
`* cited by examiner
`
`
`
`Primary Examiner
`(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm
`
`David Lazaro
`Charles G. Call
`
`
`
`(22) Filed:—Feb. 20, 2007
`(57)
`ABSTRACT
`
`(65)
`
`Prior Publication Data
`US 2009/0019374 Al
`Jan. 15, 2009
`
`Related U.S. Application Data
`
`(60) Provisional application No. 60/774,993, filed on Feb.
`18, 2006.
`
`(51)
`
`Int. Cl.
`(2006.01)
`GO06F15/16
`(UES HGsnscsacscnusnnnnmasaccwns 709/204; 709/203
`(323:
`(58) Field of Classification Search .................. 709/203,
`709/204—206
`See application file for complete searchhistory.
`
`A communications system for simulcasting audio or audio-
`visual programcontent to a plurality ofparticipating system
`users Via a communication network. Each user operates an
`access device that reproduces the received program content
`for the user and also accepts spoken comments fromthe user
`concurrently with or immediately following the reproduction
`ofthe program content. The spoken comments are transmit-
`ted to at least selected ones of the other users so that the
`
`selected users can engage ina conversation about the program
`contentasit is simulcast.
`
`26 Claims, 2 Drawing Sheets
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`EX1019
`Roku V. Media Chain
`U.S. Patent No. 10,489,560
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`EX1019
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`U.S. Patent No. 10,489,560
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`US 8,051,130 B2
`
`1
`METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR
`CREATING, COMBINING, DISTRIBUTING
`AND REPRODUCING PROGRAM CONTENT
`FOR GROUPS OF PARTICIPATING USERS
`
`CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED
`APPLICATIONS
`
`This application is a non-provisional of, and claims the
`benefit of the filing date of, U.S. Provisional Patent Applica-
`tion Ser. No. 60/774,993filed on Feb. 18, 2006.
`‘Thepresent invention makes use of methods and apparatus
`described in the following related U.S. Patents and a Patent
`Application Publication, the disclosures of which are incor-
`porated herein by reference:
`U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,216 issued to James D. Loganetal. on
`Mar. 24, 1998 entitled “Audio Message Exchange Sys-
`tem;”
`USS. Pat. No. 5,721,827 issued to James D. Loganet al. on
`Feb. 24, 1998 entitled “System for Electrically Distrib-
`uting Personalized Information:”
`U.S. Pat. No. 6,199,076 issued to James D. Loganetal. on
`Mar. 6, 2001 entitled “Audio ProgramPlayerincluding a
`Dynamic Program Selection Controller;”
`U.S. Pat. No. 6,816,577 issued to James D. Logan on Nov.
`9, 2004 entitled “Cellular Telephone with Audio
`Recording Subsystem;”
`U.S. Pat. No. 6,788,766 issued to James D. Logan on Sep.
`7, 2004 entitled “Methods and apparatus for providing
`location dependent cellular
`telephone communica-
`tions,” and
`U.S. Pat. No. 7,769,364 issued to James D. Logan et al. on
`Aug. 3, 2010, entitled “On demand voice mail recording
`system.”
`
`FIELD OF THE INVENTION
`
`This invention relates to electronic media creation, deliv-
`ery and playback systems.
`
`BACKGROUNDOFTHE INVENTION
`
`There are several emerging trends in the media industry
`that influence and facilitate the development of the present
`invention, including the following:
`Content Creation: A radical democratization of the media
`creation process is underway, dueto the distribution oppor-
`tunities offered by the Internet and advances in content cre-
`ation technology such as low-cost camcorders and music
`production systems. An aspiring entertainer can acquire a
`large audience withouta label signing by using popular social
`networksites like MySpace®.
`Content Licensing: The market for licensing of content
`such as music is becoming more robustand efficient. There
`are now services such as iTunes® where users can purchase
`single songs, subscriptionservices such as Rhapsody®where
`users can have access to any song wheneverdesired so long as
`a monthly fee is paid, and Internet Radio where anybody can
`host a stream so long as certain playlist rules are followed and
`certain royalties are paid.
`Collaborative Filtering: Withlisteners now having access
`to any songat any time, the challenge then becomesdeciding
`whatto listen to. People increasingly choose whatto listen
`based on shared tastes and suggestions fromfriends. By 2010,
`it is estimated that 25% ofonline music store transactions will
`be driven directly by consumer-to-consumer taste sharing
`applications, such as playlist publishing and rankingtools.
`
`2
`Thus people are relying on other people to decide whatto play
`and what new music to explore.
`Infrastructure and Hardware: Cell phone networks are
`being upgraded to 3G and other higher bandwidthplatforms,
`and handsets are being augmented with the capability to
`receive streamed media content. Cell bandwidth is becoming
`cheaperandfaster, and services such as Push to Talk are being
`more popular. Push to talk is now able to allow calls to 90
`people simultaneously.
`
`SUMMARYOF THE INVENTION
`
`The following summary provides a simplified introduction
`to some aspects of the invention as a prelude to the more
`detailed description that is presented later, but is not intended
`to define or delineate the scope of the invention.
`In its preferred embodiment, the present inventiontakes the
`form ofa system, here called the “Open Channel System,” for
`delivering programcontent to, and for concurrently enabling
`communication between, a plurality of participating users.
`The Open Channel System employs a first communications
`pathway for simultaneously sending the program contentto a
`plurality of different program receivers, here called “Open
`Channel Receivers,” each of which is operated by one of the
`participating users. The system employs a second, bidirec-
`tional communications pathway, which may be implemented
`by the sameora different communicationsfacility, for cou-
`pling the members of a group of the participating users during
`or immediately after the transmission of the program content
`to establish a spoken conversation between the members of
`the group. A supervisory controller operable by a managing
`user, here called the “DJ” or “Disk Jockey,” is used to select
`and transmit the program content to the participating users
`and tograntaccess to the useof the bidirectional communi-
`cations pathway to the participants in the spoken conversa-
`tion.
`
`The DJ mayselect at least some ofthe programcontent in
`response to requests or preference indications received from
`at least someof said participating users, and may grant access
`to the bidirectional communications pathway in response to
`access requests received fromparticipating users.
`The program content simulcast to the participating users
`maybe specified by a playlist file containing anordered list of
`program segments. The system may incorporate an editor
`used by the DJ, or others, for modifying the playlist to vary the
`designated program segments or the order in which those
`segments are simulcast. The supervisory controller may
`inhibit the operation of the bidirectional pathway whenat
`least a portion ofat least some of said program segments is
`being transmitted.
`Individual members of the group participating in the con-
`versation may control
`the relative volume at which the
`received program content is played back relative to the vol-
`umeat which the conversation is played, and may “mute” the
`transmission of spoken comments fromthat individual mem-
`ber. Individual members may also establish private connec-
`tions with one or more other participating users,
`The Open Channel System may simulcast video as well as
`audio content
`to participating users, and may exchange
`images or video clips betweenusers as well as spoken com-
`mentsvia the bidirectional “conversation” channel. The Open
`Channel System may employ a websiteor the like for estab-
`lishing subscription agreements which specify the terms upon
`which the system will be used by subscribing participating
`users, and/or the Open Channel System may be used to
`supplementthe services offered by existing subscriber-based
`content delivery services, such as Video on Demandservices
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`US 8,051,130 B2
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`offered by cable companies, IPTV services, and online pro-
`gramming offered to subscribers via the Internet. The Open
`Channel Systemmay further deliver advertising program seg-
`ments to participating users.
`The present invention contemplates combining the point-
`to-point, fixed-duration connections nowtypically provided
`by wireline, cellular and Internet telephone connections with
`new modes of“constant contact” or “constant operation”.
`The illustrative embodimentof the inventiondescribed below
`provides users with connectivity to both programcontent and
`social communication through a facility called an “Open
`Channel”that allows one or more participating users tolisten
`to, and add to, an audio program content stream at the same
`time the stream is being listened to. An Open Channelpro-
`vides bidirectional communications capabilities that are sim1-
`lar toa conference call, except that a music streamprovided to
`participating listeners in as highfidelity as possible is trans-
`mitted or “simulcast” to all participants most ofthe time the
`Open Channel is active. Telephones and other communica-
`tions devices whichare used to receive and reproduce content
`via an Open Channelare referred as Open Channel Receivers
`(OCRs),
`including cellular, VoIP, WiFi and wireline tele-
`phones, personal computers, PDAs, music players, cable “set
`top boxes,” and radio and television broadcast receivers.
`The specific preferred embodimentof the invention to be
`described, a systemhere called “the Open Channel System,”
`provides a new form of audio entertainment, which may be
`termed “Social Listening.” that combines music or video
`streaming with a conference-call connection technology.It
`envisions small groupsof listeners sharing a common audio
`connectionto a program source overa cellular network, VoIP
`Internet connections, or the public switched telephone net-
`work. The Open Channel System allows friends, or even
`strangers,to listen to or view a commonprogramstreamat the
`same time. In addition, bidirectional communications con-
`nections are established via the Open Channel that allows
`someorall of the participating listeners to talk to one another
`under controlled conditions before, during, and after the time
`a song or other program material plays.
`is
`In the preferred embodiment,
`the program content
`defined by one or more editable playlists that may be authored
`or personalized to a group’s tastes, and may beinteractively
`modified as they are played. In one embodiment, the Open
`Channel System may be viewed as providing a newradio
`format, where mostofthelisteners are cell phone users who
`are participating in a conference call as they listen to music
`played by a “DJ” (disk jockey) who is typically one of the
`people participating in the conference call. Unlike conven-
`tional radio stations, the audio content provided by the Open
`Channel System through a selected Open Channel provides
`an ephemeral group listening, and the music or other audio
`content presented may be repeated in subsequent time periods
`to other groupsof listeners.
`The Open Channel System offers significant advantages
`not provided by conventional media. First, the Open Channel
`Systemoffers a new wayto find music orother contentthatis
`likely to match a given listener’s taste in a world that is
`over-flowing with choices. Secondly, the Open Channel Sys-
`temoffers a new, more interesting way tolisten to or watch
`programcontent, one thatis less sterile and predictable than
`listening to straight playlists of songs as one does when lis-
`tening on an music player suchas aniPod® or toa CD,Today,
`over 75%of music listening in cars occurs using the radio
`rather than listening to CDs. This is because radio bringslife
`to an otherwise pure music medium by the introduction of
`randomnessin the musical selections played, a DJ’s voice and
`even advertising. The popularity of “talk radio” has also
`shownthe appeal oflistening to strangers converse about any
`number of topics, the popularity of cell phones is proof of
`peoples’ propensity to chat endlessly. The Open Channel
`
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`System combines these random music selections with human
`conversation and makes it conveniently available to cell
`phoneusers.
`The Open Channel Systemoffers a form of social listening,
`where one listener may knowwhoelse is listening at any
`momentin time.It is also participatory, and social, in that the
`specific content played can be a function ofgroup inputs. In
`this regard, it is similar to playing music on a jukebox ina
`public forumor at a party. In these environs, multiple partici-
`pants can play their favorite songs, jockey for positionin the
`queue, and interact and talk with peers—all while everybody
`listens to the same music.
`The Open Channel System goes beyond other music shar-
`ing forums, such as those found on the popular Internet web
`site MySpace®),in that not only can users share their playlists,
`but they canlet others listentotheir playlists at the same time
`the creator of the playlist is listening to it. Feedback and
`commentary can be synchronous with the playing music.
`Friends can listen to the group playlists while commenting
`over the music and influencing the selections dynamically.
`The framework ofsocial listening which the Open Channel
`System provides may also support other types of program-
`ming content types, such as newscasts, podcasts, talk radio
`sessions, or RSS text reader feeds rendered to speech. While
`the predominate focus ofthe preferred embodimentdescribed
`below evolves around audio, and particularly music, it should
`be understood that in cases where bandwidth and display
`capabilities permit, accompanying images or full-motion
`video, in particular from music video recordings, can also be
`delivered. Accordingly, although users ofthe system will be
`frequently referred to as “listeners,” it should be understood
`that these users may also be “viewers” of content delivered
`throughthe “Open Channel.” Ina systemthat supports visual
`displays, the visual component presented to all participants
`(still images or full motion video) may be the visual compo-
`nent of the simulcast program content segments as those
`segments are transmitted, and may be an imagerepresentative
`of the individual speaker(e.g. a photographor anavatar, ora
`full motion “videophone”picture), switching the image to
`that person who is speaking while “conference call” type
`conversations are going forward between programsegments.
`It should also be understoodthat, although the embodiment
`described indetail below can be accessed and used by cellular
`or WiFi phoneusers, the instrumentalities that may be used to
`provide the communications capabilities that implement an
`“Open Channel” may be provided by a variety of communi-
`cations networks, some ofwhich may be used in combination
`to transfer the program contentto listeners, to provide bidi-
`rectional communications between listeners, and to transfer
`the control commands between participating listeners and
`system administrators and the programdelivery mechanisms
`which provide desired systemfunctions.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`In the detailed description which follows, frequent refer-
`ence will be madeto the attached drawings, in which:
`FIGS. Land 2 are functional block diagrams illustrating the
`organization and function ofthe principle building blocks of
`an embodimentofthe invention
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION
`
`Overview
`The Open Channel System makes an Open Channel (Open
`Channel) available to a group of participating users who
`receive content from the Open Channelvia different commu-
`nication facilities, as illustrated in FIG. 1. In this illustrative
`example, one or more cellular telephone networks is illus-
`trated by the network seen at 115 in FIG. 1 whichserves the
`
`

`

`US 8,051,130 B2
`
`5
`six participants seen at 117, At the same time, the public
`switched telephone network 118 is used to connect the three
`participating users 121 to the Open Channel, and four addi-
`tional participating users seen at 123 are connected to the
`Open Channelvia the Internet 125.
`Each of the 13 participating users seen in FIG. 1 is con-
`nected via one or more communication pathways which may
`be implemented in a variety of ways to an Open Channel
`controller 130. The controller 130 transmits an audio (and
`possibly a video) content stream to each participant. The
`content stream typically consists of the combination of a
`sequence of program segments which may be mixed with
`spoken comments (and possibly image content) received
`from participating users and retransmitted to other partici-
`pants who are monitoring the Open Channel. The communi-
`cation links connecting the individual participants to the
`Open Channel controller 130 are bidirectional, thus permit-
`ting each participant to not only monitor the audio stream
`being sent from the Open Channel controller 130, but also
`permitting at least selected participating users to transmit
`spoken comments, other content, and control commands to
`the controller 130.
`In the discussion that follows, participating users may
`assumedifferent roles. All of themhavethe ability to monitor
`the audio, image or video content transmitted from the Open
`Channel Controller, and these users will
`frequently be
`referred to in this description as “listeners” with the under-
`standing that listeners may also be viewing content as well.
`Someofthese participants may perform other functions: they
`may create an Open Channel and define its characteristics:
`they may author or modify playlists and create or identify the
`program segments specified in these playlists: they may per-
`form the functions of a DJ (disk jockey), supervising the
`operation of an active Open Channel, and they may performa
`variety of control functions whichaffect the manner in which
`they participate aslisteners when connected to an Open Chan-
`nel.
`The Open Channel controller 130 performs numerous
`functions which will be described in more detail below,
`including: establishing a communication connection with
`eachparticipant: controlling access to an Open Channel by
`persons who ask to be connected; providing a control inter-
`face, such as spoken or displayed prompts and menuoptions,
`and accepting a variety of commands and requests from par-
`licipating users and potential users: providing an interface
`that allows users and others to create Open Channels and to
`define their characteristics and access privileges: providing
`aninterface that allows users and others to author, edit and
`store playlists; performing enrollment and accounting func-
`tions for newsubscribers and monitoring usage by existing
`subscribers; accepting express preference information from
`participating users, and/or creating preference data based on
`the use of the system by individual participants; creating and
`storing metadata which describes individual program seg-
`ments and individual playlists to facilitate matching of pro-
`gramand playlist content with the knownor probable prefer-
`ences ofusers and sets ofusers; establishing “buddylists” and
`other relationships betweendifferent users to promotesocial-
`ization; and numerousother functions to be described in more
`detail in the description that follows.
`The sequence of program segments whichare transmitted
`in the audio stream to participatingusers is preferably (but not
`necessarily) defined and controlled by a selected playlist
`which can beselected from a library of available stored play-
`lists seen at 140 whose use may be limited in ways defined by
`the playlist author or editor. Eachplaylist is implemented by
`an editable file of metadata which identifies program seg-
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`ments (for example, by theirfile name in a content store seen
`at 150, or by a URLwhichidentifies a content resource which
`can be accessed via the Internet. A playlist controller seenat
`160 reads a selected playlist from the playlist library 140 to
`identify the content files whichare to be fetched and routed to
`the participating users as part of the output content stream. As
`described below, the content store 150 may include songs,
`recorded talk, video clips, and the like uploaded by anindi-
`vidual user in advance of an Open Channelsessionor placed
`in the library for use by playlist authors or extemporaneous
`use by a DJ during a live session. Playlists may identify
`programsegments in the store 150 or at accessible locations
`onthe Internet.
`Playlists in the library 140 are typically created in advance
`for use by one or more Open Channels. As described in more
`detail later, a playlist may be created or modified by a partici-
`pating user, or by a different author or editor, and placed ina
`playlist library. In addition, for any given Open Channel
`session, a DJ (disk jockey) seen at 165 supervises the entry of
`participants into the session and exercises supervisory control
`overthe session. The DJ may be one ofthe participating users,
`a person employed by the system operator, or an automated
`system, or a combination ofthese entities.The DJ 165 has the
`ability to edit or modify the playlist associated with asession.
`For example, the DJ may change the order in which program
`segments ontheselected playlist are directed into the output
`stream, may add new segmentstotheplaylist, or delete exist-
`ing segments. Frequently, the DJ mayperform these functions
`at the requestofindividual participants, or may do so to better
`accommodate the knownpreferences of the persons who
`formthe set of participants currently connected to the Open
`Channel. Modified playlists may be stored in the library 140,
`retaining the previous version for separate use.
`In its preferred embodiment, the functions performed by
`the Open Channel Controller 150, the data stores 150 and 170,
`and the playlist controller 160 and the playlist library 140 are
`implemented at one or more central locations and accessed on
`aclient-server basis by the Open Channel Receivers operated
`by participating users. The features and functions of the sys-
`tem can however be performed ona distributed basis by the
`Open Channel Receiver themselves. For example, an Open
`Channel may be created and hosted by one Open Channel
`Receiver whichstores the playlist and eitherlocally stores the
`content of the program segments, or accesses them from an
`available sourceprior to transmitting them ina content stream
`to other participating users. In such an arrangement, the
`operator ofthe originating Open Channel Receiver would
`operate as the DJ, but could seamlessly pass that function to
`another participating Open Channel Receiver which could
`then share music and playlists that the transferee phone was
`storing or accessed, Ina distributed system, one or more ofthe
`Open Channel Receiver’s may be implemented by WiFi
`equipped music players that communicate with other players
`via the Internet, via a local wireless network or by direct
`computer-to-computer wireless links. When music is being
`shared betweenparticipants whoare near to one another,it is
`desirable to closely synchronize the playback so that the
`participants can experience the shared rhythm of the music.
`Mechanisms
`for achieving close
`synchronization are
`described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0286546
`entitled “Synchronized media streaming between distributed
`peers” filed by Arianna Bassoli et. al.
`The creation and management of Open Channels as well as
`other administrative functions may be performed from a
`remote web browserseenat 190 connected to the Open Chan-
`nel Controller via an Internet Web interface.
`It should be
`understood that the Open Channel Controller may be imple-
`
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`US 8,051,130 B2
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`mented by a plurality ofdifferent servers, including a web
`server, a file server, a database server, and the like, as well as
`a variety of different communications interfaces to telephone
`networksandthe Internet. These instrumentalities may reside
`on a single computer or on a several different computers in
`distributed locations,
`FIG, 2 ofthe drawingsillustrates the relationship between
`program segments, playlists, an individual] “Open Channel”
`(Open Channel), and the audio stream that is reproduced for
`and individual participants.
`At any given time, the Open Channel System may make
`available multiple, concurrently operating Open Channels,
`some of which may be active and others inactive. Each Open
`Channel is associated with a selected one of multiple avail-
`able playlists from the playlist library 140 seen in FIG, 1. As
`seen in FIG, 2, the Open Channel 210is “active:” thatis, it is
`currently generating an audio stream which can be monitored
`by a set of participants 215 who are connected to the Open
`Channel 210. Oneofthe participants that is connected to the
`J
`active Open Channel 210is seen at 220 in FIG. 2. The Open 2
`Channel 210 delivers a sequence of program segmentsillus-
`trated at 230, each ofwhichis identified in an editable ordered
`list contained in the selected playlist 240in the playlist library
`indicated at 242. The active Open Channel 210 establishes a
`playback position withinthe playlist 240, the playback posi-
`tion being a combination ofthe particular segment in the
`listed group 230, and a playback position (offset) within that
`selected segment. Thus, as illustrated by the connections 241
`and 243, at any given time the audio stream routed to the
`participant 220 via the outbound link 250 is “playing” the
`content from the current segment specified in by the playlist
`240. Suitable mechanismsfor structuring playlists and con-
`trolling the playback froma playlist of content segments are
`described in more detail in the above-noted U.S. Pat. No.
`6,199,076 issued to James D. Logan et al. on Mar. 6, 2001
`entitled “Audio Program Player including a Dynamic Pro-
`gramSelection Controller.” the disclosure of whichis incor-
`porated herein by reference.
`‘The Active Open Channel 210 provides three separate out-
`bound information bearing communications links that are
`connected, possibly over different communications facilities,
`to the receiving Open Channel Receiver operated by each
`participant. As illustrated in FIG. 2, an outbound link 262
`transmits the content being played under the control ofthe
`playlist 240 to the content receiver 250 in the Open Channel
`Receiver 265 operated by participant 220. The outboundlink
`266 carries comments and other content supplied from other
`participants asselected by the switch bank 242. The receiver
`250 preferably includes separate volume controls that allow
`the volumefor the contentreceived via link 262 to be adjusted
`independently of the volume ofthe link 266 carrying the
`conversation between active participants. Different people
`could use different ratios of voice vs. music loudness.
`The control switch 290 may be opened by the participant
`220 to separately and completely silence any comments from
`other participants, possibly so that the content from playlist
`240 received via link 262 can be enjoyed without unwanted
`interference. Whenthe listener talks (into a microphone not
`shown), and is not wearing headphones, the volume of both
`the playlist content and conversations from others may be
`automatically reduced to eliminate echo and feedback effects.
`Speaker-Microphone combinations,
`such as Logitech®
`speakerphones incorporating the RightSound™technology
`have been developed for applications such as VoIP telephony
`and conferencing using a PC. These devices include echo
`cancellation processing that permits the use of speakers and a
`microphone without the need of a headset. Voice recognition
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`may be used to identify a phrase that may be spoken to
`activate the listener’s microphoneto inject a comment while
`at the same time reducing the volumeof the received audio to
`help insure that a participating listener does not introduce
`echoeffects and feedback into the conversation channel.
`In a playback system with multiple speakers, including
`stereo or multi-channel surround sound systems, the different
`sources could be played back throughdifferent speakers giv-
`ing each channel a spatial separation that would be conducive
`to keeping the various sound sources clear in the listener's
`head. Different people could be assigned different audio
`channels if available, thus allowing multiple voice signals to
`be separated as well.
`On request, a listener may establish a private conversation
`with one or more other participants, excluding the others. ‘To
`accomplish this, the requesting listener employs a menu to
`select the others who are to be included, transmits the selec-
`tion via the control interface 269 to the Open Channel Con-
`troller, whichthen sends a notification messageto the persons
`whoare asked to join the private conversation. As soon as one
`of those requested consents, the Open Channel Controller
`establishes connections between the requesting listener and
`each of the consenting participants.
`Furthermore, in a playback system with multiple speakers,
`the different sources could be played back throughdifferent
`speakers giving each channel a spatial separation that would
`be conducive to keepingthe various soundsourcesclear in the
`listener's head. Different people could be assigned different
`audio channels, as well, if there were enough, thus allowing
`multiple voice signals to be separated as well. In addition,
`outbound control commands are exchanged via the bidirec-
`tional control data link 268 betweenthe control interface 269
`in the Open Channel Receiver 265 and the Open Channel
`Controller 270. The control link 268 may, for example, be
`provided by a WAP Web Internet connection that permits the
`user to select and transmit menued commandsto the Open
`Channel Controller 270 to perform a variety ofoperations.
`Notethat control link 268is typically available tothe partici-
`pant even when not connected to a specific Active Open
`Channel, and mayin fact be used toselect and connect to an
`available channellisted by the menusystem.
`Theparticipant 220, when connectedto and listening to the
`active Open Channel 210, may transmit content, such as
`spoken comments, via the response transmitter 260, a muting
`switch 272 operated by the participant, and thenvia an avail-
`able return communications pathway 275 and a further con-
`trol switch 278 in the switch bank 242 to an input port of the
`Active Channel 210. The participant 220 can openthe muting
`switch 272 to prevent spoken comments from being broadcast
`to the other participants via the Active Open Channel 210.
`The DJ or others supervising the operation of the Active
`Channel 210 may open and close the switch 278 in switch
`bank 242 to control when spoken commentsor other content
`fromthe participant 220is transmitted via the combined input
`line 279 to link 266 via the Active Open Channel 210. For
`example, the DJ mayelect to open all ofthe switches in switch
`bank 242 when nothing but the content designated by the
`playlist 240 is to be transmitted via the Active Open Channel
`210. The switch bank