Cadence-based playlists management system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9563700-B2
Application number	US-201514883298-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 14, 2015
Priority date	May 19, 2015
Publication date	Feb 7, 2017
Grant date	Feb 7, 2017

Abstract

A system for supporting a user's repetitive motion activity operates to manage cadence-based playlists identifying one or more media content items having a tempo corresponding to a user's cadence. The cadence-based playlists can be categorized by different tempi or tempo ranges that cover all likely cadences during the user's activities. A media-playback device is provided to acquire a user's cadence and retrieve a cadence-based playlist associated with a tempo or a tempo range corresponding to the cadence.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of automatically playing back one or more media content items to support a repetitive motion activity, the method comprising:
generating, using at least one computing device, a plurality of cadence-based playlists for a predetermined range of cadence values by:
creating the plurality of cadence-based playlists, the plurality of cadence-based playlists associated with subsets of the predetermined range of cadence values, respectively;
identifying tempi of media content items;
associating the media content items with the plurality of cadence-based playlists, respectively, based on the tempi of the media content items, each cadence-based playlist including one or more of the media content items with the tempi of the one or more of the media content items corresponding to the subset of the predetermined range of cadence values of that playlist; and
storing the plurality of cadence-based playlists;

after generating the plurality of cadence-based playlists, acquiring, using a media-playback device, a user's cadence associated with the repetitive motion activity;
sending a request based on the user's cadence from the media-playback device to the at least one computing device to cause the at least one computing device to select one of the plurality of cadence-based playlists, the selected playlist being associated with a subset of the predetermined range of cadence values within which the acquired user's cadence falls;
retrieving from the at least one computing device data usable to initiate playback of media content items associated with the selected one of the plurality of cadence-based playlists, using the media-playback device; and
playing back the selected one of the plurality of cadence-based playlists on the media-playback device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein acquiring a user's cadence includes obtaining a user selection of a tempo, the tempo defining the user's cadence.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, using the media-playback device, a tempo corresponding to the cadence,
wherein retrieving a playlist associated with the cadence includes retrieving a playlist associated with the tempo.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a user selection of playlist characteristics,
wherein retrieving a playlist associated with the tempo includes retrieving a playlist associated with the playlist characteristics.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the playlist characteristics include at least one of genre, theme, and era of a playlist.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether the cadence has changed to a second cadence beyond a threshold;
if the cadence has changed to the second cadence beyond the threshold, retrieving a second playlist associated with the second cadence; and
playing back the second playlist.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
if the cadence has not changed beyond the threshold, continuing to play back the playlist.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the cadence is below a predetermined level; and
stopping play back of the playlist.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining that the cadence is equal to, or above, the predetermined level; and
playing back a playlist associated with the cadence.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether the tempo is manually locked; and
if the tempo is manually locked, playing back the playlist associated with the tempo regardless of change in the cadence.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating a plurality of cadence-based playlists further includes:
identifying the predetermined range of cadence values;
dividing the predetermined range of cadence values to the subsets; and
associating one or more of the plurality of cadence-based playlists with each of the sub sets.

12. A method of generating cadence-based playlists to support a repetitive motion activity, the method comprising:
creating a plurality of cadence-based playlists, the plurality of cadence-based playlists associated with subsets of a predetermined range of cadence values, respectively;
identifying tempi of the media content items;
associating the media content items with the plurality of cadence-based playlists, respectively, based on the tempi of the media content items, each cadence-based playlist including one or more of the media content items with the tempi of the one or more of the media content items corresponding to the subset of the predetermined range of cadence values of that playlist;
storing the plurality of cadence-based playlists;
after storing the plurality of cadence-based playlists, receiving a request from a media-playback device based on a cadence associated with the repetitive motion activity;
selecting one of the plurality of cadence-based playlists based on the request, the selected playlist being associated with a subset of the predetermined range of cadence values within which the cadence associated with the repetitive motion activity falls; and
sending data usable to initiate playback of media content items associated with the selected cadence-based playlist.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the cadence-based playlists are associated with one or more playlist characteristics.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the playlist characteristics include at least one of genre, theme, and era of a playlist.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the tempo ranges are defined at predetermined intervals.

16. A computer-readable storage medium comprising software instructions that, when executed, cause one or more computing devices to:
generate a plurality of cadence-based playlists for a predetermined range of cadence values by:
creating the plurality of cadence-based playlists, the plurality of cadence-based playlists associated with subsets of the predetermined range of cadence values, respectively;
identifying tempi of media content items;
associating the media content items with the plurality of cadence-based playlists, respectively, based on the tempi of the media content items, each cadence-based playlist including one or more of the media content items with the tempi of the one or more of the media content items corresponding to the subset of the predetermined range of cadence values of that playlist; and
storing the plurality of cadence-based playlists;

after generating the plurality of cadence-based playlists, acquire a user's cadence associated with a repetitive motion activity;
send a request to select one of the plurality of cadence-based playlists based on the user's cadence, the selected playlist being associated with a subset of the predetermined range of cadence values within which the acquired user's cadence falls;
retrieve data usable to initiate playback of media content items associated with the selected one of the plurality of cadence-based playlists; and
play back the selected one of the plurality of cadence-based playlists.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the software instructions further causes the one or more computing devices to:
obtain a user selection of a tempo to define the user's cadence.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the software instructions further causes the one or more computing devices to:
receive a user selection of playlist characteristics;
wherein the playlist associated with the cadence is associated with the selected playlist characteristics.

19. T

Assignees

• Spotify Ab

Inventors

• Garmark Sten
• Dziuk Dariusz
• Smith Owen
• Olofsson Lars Christian
• Toumpelis Nikolaos

Classifications

• G06F16/639

  using playlists · CPC title

• G06F16/683 Primary

  using metadata automatically derived from the content · CPC title

• G05B15/02

  electric · CPC title

• G06F16/9535

  Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation · CPC title

• G06F3/165

  Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path · CPC title