The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 01, 2009
Filed:
Jul. 15, 2005
Method and apparatus for generating media playlists by defining paths through media similarity space
Paul B. Lamere, Nashua, NH (US);
Stephen J. Green, Wakefield, MA (US);
Paul B. Lamere, Nashua, NH (US);
Stephen J. Green, Wakefield, MA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A media playlist is generated from a set of two or more seed media selections as well as the desired number of selections in the playlist. The seed selections represent waypoints in 'media space'. A playlist is generated by finding a path of 'stepping stone' selections between the waypoints, with the constraints that no selection is presented more than once and the maximum distance between stepping stones is minimized. In one embodiment, an “endless” playlist by adding a final path from the last playlist selection back to a selection that is nearest the first selection, but has not been presented yet. In still another embodiment, a separate set of “avoid” selections is maintained. When generating the playlist, given a set of paths that meet the aforementioned path generation constraints, paths will be selected that maximize the distance from the set of “avoid” selections.