System and method for generating a playlist from a mood gradient

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9830351-B2
Application number	US-201314072981-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 6, 2013
Priority date	Aug 31, 2007
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods for generating and playing a sequence of media objects based on a mood gradient are also disclosed. A mood gradient is a sequence of items, in which each item is media object having known characteristics or a representative set of characteristics of a media object, that is created or used by a user for a specific purpose. Given a mood gradient, one or more new media objects are selected for each item in the mood gradient based on the characteristics associated with that item. In this way, a sequence of new media objects is created but the sequence exhibits a similar variation in media object characteristics. The mood gradient may be presented to a user or created via a display illustrating a three-dimensional space in which each dimension corresponds to a different characteristic. The mood gradient may be represented as a path through the three-dimensional space and icons representing media objects are located within the three-dimensional space based on their characteristics.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a request for a playlist of songs, the request comprising a requested mood;
retrieving a defined mood gradient corresponding to the requested mood, the mood gradient comprising a sequence of target value sets corresponding to the requested mood, each target value set in the sequence including a plurality of values in which each value represents a different objective musical characteristic;
for each target value set in the mood gradient's sequence of target value sets, selecting a song based on the plurality of values in the target value set; and
generating the playlist of songs in accordance with the requested mood using the mood gradient's sequence of target value sets, the playlist containing each selected song, the songs included in the playlist being ordered in accordance with the sequence of target value sets in the mood gradient.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein retrieving a defined mood gradient further comprises:
identifying a user associated with the request; and
selecting the defined mood gradient based on the user associated with the request and the requested mood.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein retrieving a defined mood gradient further comprises:
selecting the defined mood gradient based on a mood gradient identifier contained in the request, the mood gradient identifier identifying the requested mood.

4. The method of claim 1 , the selecting a song further comprising:
for a target value set of the mood gradient:
retrieving a value set for each song of a plurality of songs, each song's value set being based on audio data of the song and comprising a plurality of values in which each value represents a different objective musical characteristic of the song;
comparing the target value set to each song's retrieved value set; and
selecting a song from the plurality of songs corresponding to the target value set based on the comparison.

5. The method of claim 4 , the selecting a song from the plurality of songs further comprising:
selecting the song having the song value set that most closely matches the target value set.

6. The method of claim 4 , the selecting a song from the plurality of songs further comprising:
identifying a set of similar songs having song value sets within a predetermined variation of the target value set; and
randomly selecting the song from the set of similar songs.

7. The method of claim 4 , the selecting a song from the plurality of songs further comprising:
identifying a set of similar songs having song value sets within a predetermined variation of the target value set;
filtering the set of similar songs based on one or more filter criteria; and
selecting the song from the filtered set of similar songs.

8. The method of claim wherein the request for a playlist is received from a first user and the mood gradient was created by a second user different from the first.

9. A system comprising:
at least one computing device, each computing device comprising a processor and a non-transitory storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor the stored program logic comprising:
receiving logic executed by the processor for receiving a request for a playlist of songs, the request comprising a requested mood;
retrieving logic executed by the processor for retrieving a defined mood gradient corresponding to the requested mood, the mood gradient comprising a sequence of target value sets corresponding to the requested mood, each target value set in the sequence comprising a plurality of values, each value of the plurality in the target value set representing a different objective musical characteristic;
selecting logic executed by the processor for selecting, for each target value set in the mood gradient's sequence of target value sets, a song based on the plurality of values in the target value set; and
generating logic executed by the processor for generating the playlist of songs in accordance with the requested mood using the mood gradient, the playlist comprising each selected song, songs selected for the playlist being ordered in accordance with the sequence of target value sets in the mood gradient.

10. The system of claim 9 , the retrieving logic executed by the processor for retrieving further comprising:
identifying logic executed by the processor for identifying a user associated with the request; and
selecting logic executed by the processor for selecting the defined mood gradient based on the user associated with the request and the requested mood.

11. The system of claim 9 , the retrieving logic executed by the processor for retrieving a defined mood gradient further comprising:
selecting logic executed by the processor for selecting the defined mood gradient based on a mood gradient identifier contained in the request, the mood gradient identifier identifying the requested mood.

12. The system of claim 9 , the selecting logic executed by the processor for selecting a song further comprising:
for a target value set of the mood gradient:
retrieving logic executed by the processor for retrieving a value set for each song of the plurality of songs, each song's value set being based on audio data of the song and comprising a plurality of values in which each value represents a different objective musical characteristic of the song;
comparing logic executed by the processor for comparing the target value set to each song's retrieved value set; and
selecting logic executed by the processor for selecting a song from the plurality of songs corresponding to the target value set based on the comparison.

13. The system of claim 12 , the selecting logic executed by the processor for selecting a song from the plurality of songs further comprising:
selecting the song having the song value set that most closely matches the target value set.

14. The system of claim 12 , the selecting logic executed by the processor for selecting a song from the plurality of songs further comprising:
identifying logic executed by the processor for identifying a set of similar songs having song value sets within a predetermined variation of the target value set; and
selecting logic executed by the processor for randomly selecting the song from the set of similar songs.

15. The system of claim 12 , the selecting logic executed by the processor for selecting a song from the plurality of songs further comprising:
identifying logic executed by the processor for identifying a set of similar songs having song value sets within a predetermined variation of the target value set:
filtering logic executed by the processor for filtering the set of similar songs based on one or more filter criteria; and
selecting logic executed by the processor for selecting the song from the filtered set of similar songs.

16. A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium for tangibly storing thereon computer readable instructions that when executed cause at least one processor to:
receive a request for a playlist of songs, the request comprising a requested mood;
retrieve a defined mood gradient corresponding to the requested mood, the mood gradient comprising a sequence of target value sets corresponding to the requested mood, each target value set in the sequence comprising a plurality of values, each value of the plurality in the target value set representing a different objective musical characteristic;
select, for each target value set in the mood gradient's sequence of target value sets, a song based on the plurality of values in the target value set; and

Assignees

• Excalibur Ip Llc
• Yahoo Inc

Inventors

• White William
• Slaney Malcolm

Classifications

• G06F3/0484

  for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range · CPC title

• G06F17/30749

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30743

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30772

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30758

  Physics · mapped topic