Generation of media station previews using a secondary tuner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11360466-B2
Application number	US-201916729947-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2019
Priority date	Jan 4, 2019
Publication date	Jun 14, 2022
Grant date	Jun 14, 2022

Abstract

In one aspect, an example method includes (i) while a media playback device of a vehicle is playing back content received on a first channel, generating, by the media playback device, a query fingerprint using second content received on a second channel; (ii) sending, by the media playback device, the query fingerprint to a server that maintains a reference database containing a plurality of reference fingerprints; (iii) receiving, by the media playback device from the server, identifying information corresponding to a reference fingerprint of the plurality of reference fingerprints that matches the query fingerprint; and (iv) while the media playback device is playing back the first content received on the first channel, providing, by the media playback device for display, at least a portion of the identifying information.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
while a media playback device is playing back first content received on a first channel and broadcast by a first radio station, generating, by the media playback device, query fingerprints corresponding to a batch of second channels, wherein the query fingerprints corresponding to the batch of second channels include a first query fingerprint generated using second content received on a second channel and broadcast by a second radio station and a second query fingerprint generated using third content received on a third channel and broadcast by a third radio station;
sending, by the media playback device, a preview request to a server that maintains a reference database containing a plurality of reference fingerprints, wherein the preview request includes the query fingerprints corresponding to the batch of second channels;
receiving, by the media playback device from the server, first identifying information corresponding to a first reference fingerprint of the plurality of reference fingerprints that matches the first query fingerprint and second identifying information corresponding to a second reference fingerprint of the plurality of reference fingerprints that matches the second query fingerprint; and
while the media playback device is playing back the first content received on the first channel, providing, by the media playback device for display, at least a portion of the first identifying information and at least a portion of the second identifying information.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first content received on the first channel is audio content.

3. The method of claim 1 :
wherein the first content is received using a first tuner of the media playback device, and
wherein the method further comprises receiving the second content using a second tuner of the media playback device.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising selecting, by the media playback device, the batch of second channels from among a plurality of channels.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising scanning for available channels using the second tuner so as to determine the plurality of channels.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of channels are channels that are programmed as presets of the media playback device.

7. The method of claim 4 :
wherein the first channel is associated with a first genre, and
wherein the batch of second channels is selected based on the batch of second channels being associated with the first genre.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the query fingerprints comprises:
determining, using a classifier, that the second content comprises music rather than speech; and
generating the second query fingerprint based on the determining that the second content comprises music rather than speech.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first identifying information comprises a media unique identifier.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first identifying information comprises a track title, album title, and artist name.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first identifying information comprises a program identifier.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first identifying information comprises a link to an image.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the at least a portion of the first identifying information for display comprises providing the at least a portion of the first identifying information for display on a user interface of the media playback device.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the at least a portion of the first identifying information for display comprises providing the at least a portion of the first identifying information for display in association with an identifier of the second channel, and wherein providing the at least a portion of the second identifying information for display comprises providing the at least a portion of the second identifying information for display in association with an identifier of the third channel.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the media playback device is a media playback device of a vehicle.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the media playback device from the server, an advertisement corresponding to the first reference fingerprint; and
providing, by the media playback device for display, the advertisement.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon program instructions that upon execution by a processor, cause performance of a set of acts comprising:
while a media playback device is playing back first content received on a first channel and broadcast by a first radio station, generating query fingerprints corresponding to a batch of second channels, wherein the query fingerprints corresponding to the batch of second channels include a first query fingerprint generated using second content received on a second channel and broadcast by a second radio station and a second query fingerprint generated using third content received on a third channel and broadcast by a third radio station;
sending a preview request to a server that maintains a reference database containing a plurality of reference fingerprints, wherein the preview request includes the query fingerprints corresponding to the batch of second channels;
receiving, from the server, first identifying information corresponding to a first reference fingerprint of the plurality of reference fingerprints that matches the first query fingerprint and second identifying information corresponding to a second reference fingerprint of the plurality of reference fingerprints that matches the second query fingerprint; and
while the media playback device is playing back the first content received on the first channel, providing at least a portion of the first identifying information and at least a portion of the second identifying information for display.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 :
wherein the first content is received using a first tuner of the media playback device, and
wherein the set of acts further comprises receiving the second content using a second tuner of the media playback device.

19. A computing system configured for performing a set of acts comprising:
while a media playback device is playing back first content received on a first channel and broadcast by a first radio station, generating query fingerprints corresponding to a batch of second channels, wherein the query fingerprints corresponding to the batch of second channels include a first query fingerprint generated using second content received on a second channel and broadcast by a second radio station and a second query fingerprint generated using third content received on a third channel and broadcast by a third radio station;
sending a preview request to a server that maintains a reference database containing a plurality of reference fingerprints, wherein the preview request includes the query fingerprints corresponding to the batch of second channels;
receiving, from the server, first identifying information corresponding to a first reference fingerprint of the plurality of reference fingerprints that matches the first query fingerprint and second identifying information corresponding to a second reference fingerprint of the plurality of reference fingerprints that matches the second query fingerprint; and
while the media playback device is playing back the first content received on the first channel, providing at least a portion of the first

Assignees

• Gracenote Inc

Inventors

• Qin John M
• Jeyachandran Suresh
• Fasching Damon P

Classifications

• H04H2201/90

  characterised by the use of signatures · CPC title

• H04N21/44209

  Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network (arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896) · CPC title

• G05B19/42 Primary

  Recording and playback systems, i.e. in which the program is recorded from a cycle of operations, e.g. the cycle of operations being manually controlled, after which this record is played back on the same machine · CPC title

• H04N5/50

  Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control · CPC title

• H04N21/482

  End-user interface for programme selection · CPC title