RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of priority from and is related to commonly-owned U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/945,677 filed Jun. 22, 2007. The disclosure of the foregoing application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, including any appendices or attachments thereof, for all purposes.

FIELD OF PRESENT INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of portable media player devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to venue or event recommendations for a user of a portable media player device.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

Portable media player devices are increasing in popularity. A portable media player device is a transportable device that plays one or more media file types, including text, audio, video, graphics, interactive, and other media file types. For purposes of this disclosure, a portable media player device does not include a general purpose laptop or tablet computer, nor any computing device attached or installed on a mobile vehicle (such as a dash mounted radio or DVD player in an automobile) but rather includes only a handheld device (also referred to as palm-sized device) for the purpose of displaying and/or playing media files. The hardware and/or software components embodied in the device for the displaying and playing of media files are collectively referred to as a media player. Examples of portable media player devices include the ipod available from Apple Computer of Cupertino, Calif.; the Zune available from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.; the ibizaâ„¢ RhapsodyÂ® from Varia Mobil of Seattle, Wash., and other like devices.

Media may be stored on a portable media player device (e.g., by downloading media such as music to the portable media player device), accessed via a portable media player device from a network site (e.g., by streaming from a network site), or acquired by a user via a portable media player device in one or more ways (e.g., by the purchase and installation of a flash memory card containing media). With the advance of storage technology, the amount of media that can be stored in a portable media player device has grown exponentially. Couple that with the advance of telecommunications and networking technology, the number of sites offering media and other media-rich environments to provide new and/or replacement media content for portable media player devices have also grown exponentially. As a result, portable media player devices are increasingly â€œconnectedâ€ , and users almost never travel (leave home) without their personal portable media player devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a representative environment in which an embodiment of the invention is implemented;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates an internal component view of a portable media player device in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary server apparatus, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which show, by way of illustration, specific exemplary embodiments by which the invention may be practiced. Each embodiment is described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.

Various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations. In turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the present invention, however, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in the order of presentation.

Furthermore, reference throughout this specification to â€œone embodimentâ€ or â€œan embodimentâ€ means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, the appearances of the phrases â€œin one embodimentâ€ or â€œin an embodimentâ€ in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

A method and system for providing venue and/or event recommendations for a user of a portable media player device, thereby further increasing the user experience of the user of the portable media player device, is described. In various embodiments, the venue and/or event recommendations are for venues and/or events of potential interest to the user at locations proximally located to an inferred current location of the user, based at least in part on an inferred entertainment interest of the user. In various embodiments, the current location of the user is inferred based at least in part on current and/or recent geographic locations of the portable media player device, and the entertainment interest is inferred based at least in part on the media files or content stored in and/or accessed using the portable media player device. In various embodiments, the recommendations are provided to the users' portable media player devices.

Thus, in various embodiments, a user of a portable media player device having media of a particular genre stored on or accessed using the portable media player device may receive a recommendation for a venue or event that is related to that particular genre and is proximally located to the inferred current location of the user of the portable media player device. For example, a server may generate a recommendation for a nearby concert by an alternative rock band for a user of a portable media player device that has inferred interest in alterative rock, inferred based at least in part on media of an alternative rock or like genre stored on and/or accessed via his portable media player device. A recommendation may also be generated based in part upon interest inferred based at least in part image media stored in and/or accessed via the portable media player device. For example, images of a modern or related art painting stored in and/or accessed via the portable media player device may infer a particular interest in art and influence the server to generate a recommendation for a Pablo Picasso modern art exhibit presently at a modern art museum or gallery proximally located to the inferred current location of the user of the portable media player device.

Recommended venues or events may include a wide variety of proximally located venues or events of interest to a user. In various embodiments, a proximally located venue may include a place of worship or a place of historic or cultural significance proximally located to the portable media player device. A proximally held event may include a cultural, community or political event that might occur at one of the aforementioned venues or at another location. In these embodiments, the recommendation for the proximally located event or venue may be based upon a subject preference of the user determined by podcast media stored in and/or accessed via the portable media player device. For example, a user traveling in France with his portable media player device may have Baroque art podcasts stored on or accessed using his or her portable media player device. In an embodiment, when the user as e.g. inferred by the locations of the portable media player device are within a proximal location of a Baroque era church, the server may generate a recommendation for visiting the church. In various embodiments, the server may also provide the user with directions and details related to visiting the church. In other embodiments, the server may generate recommendations for proximally located events such as a political rally or speech that are consistent with political podcasts stored on or accessed using the portable media player device.

Note that in other embodiments, the server may generate not only recommendations for events or venues but also information and/or media recommendations proximally associated with a current location of a user of the portable media player device. For example, if media stored on or accessed using the portable media player device suggests that the user is a fan of Jazz music, the server may generate and provide information about Jazz artists who began their careers in the current city the user is in. Alternatively or additionally the server may also generate and provide a recommendation for one or more podcasts, books (audio or print), and/or websites about the jazz artists for the user of the portable media player device. As another example, when the user travels to a new state with the portable media player device, the server may generate and directly push information about the state such as the state history, the state government, the state flower and/or state song to the portable media player device.

Referring now to FIG. 1 which illustrates a representative environment 100 in which an embodiment of the invention may be implemented. In the embodiment shown, a portable media player device 10 having stored therein a number of media files (â€œmediaâ€ ) is associated with a user. Additionally, computer 50 may be associated with portable media player device 10 and may or may not be located in proximity of portable media player device 10. In the illustrated embodiment, a server 20 may infer a current location of the user by determining a current location of the portable media player device 10 as well as receive and transmit information to and from portable media player device 10 (or other communication medium) via a wireless access point 30 and network 40. Other communication medium may include SMS or MMS messaging, email, facsimile, paging message and/or phone calls. Network 40 may include for example a Wide Area Network (WAN), Local Area Network (LAN) (e.g. Ethernet), an intranet, internet, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) as well as a wired or wireless communications network (e.g. WiFi), or combination thereof. In the representative environment 100, the server 20 may receive a current location or successively receive a series of current locations of a portable media player device 10 as well as media or information about media stored on or accessed using portable media player device 10, and in response, server 20 may transmit one or more recommendations for a venue or event, or information of interest to the user, e.g. to portable media player device 10, to be described more fully below.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart 200 that illustrates a method of generating by a server a recommendation for a venue or event of interest proximally located to (or information about) a current location of a user of the portable media player device in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. In the embodiments shown, a recommendation (or information) is generated and provided based at least in part on an inferred current location of the user, and inferred entertainment interest of the user. In various embodiments, the current location of the user is inferred based at least in part on the user's portable media player device's actual geographic location (otherwise referred to as the current location of a portable media player device) and the user's entertainment interest is inferred based at least in part on media and/or information about the media stored in and/or accessed using the portable media player device. The recommendation for the venue or event (or information) of interest may then be communicated to user, e.g. to the portable media player device, or alternatively to another communication medium, such as SMS/MMS message, email, facsimile, paging and/or voice call.

The method begins at a block 204 where, in an embodiment, a server such as server 20 of FIG. 1 infers a current location of the user. The inference may include receiving or determining a current location (or successively receiving a series of locations) of a portable media player device associated with the user. Note that in various embodiments, the server can determine the current location of the portable media player device by using various methods. The server may estimate the current location of the portable media player device based on a location of a wireless access point through which the portable media player device establishes a network connection to the server. Or, the server may estimate the current location of the portable media player device based upon the results of triangulating signals from various signal towers or based upon the server's communication with other portable media player devices having known current locations. The server might also receive the current location of the portable media player device from a global positioning system (GPS) module located within the portable media player device.

In other embodiments, the current location may be manually entered by the user into the portable media player device or other communication devices (such as a mobile phone) for transmission to the server. For example, the user may enter a code of an airport where she recently landed or a name of a city in which she is currently visiting (for business or pleasure). The server may also allow the user to enter one or more preferred geographic locations for which the user would like to receive a recommendation or information. For example, the user may know that she will be traveling with the portable media player device to Denver the following week and may therefore desire to receive recommendations for events or venues in (or information about) the Denver area.

Returning to the method illustrated in flow chart 200, after the server infers a current location of the user in block 204, the server may infer an entertainment interest of the user at the next blocks 206/207. The inference may include retrieving media or information about media stored on and/or accessed using the user's portable media player device at a next block 206. This media or information about media stored on or accessed using the portable media player device may be retrieved by the server by various methods such as for example via network 40 and wireless access point 30 as described in conjunction with FIG. 1. Information about media stored on or accessed using the portable media player device may also be retrieved from storage within the server itself. For example, in various embodiments, the server may have such information stored at the server (or in other storage accessible to the server) as a result of previous syncing of media between the portable media player device and the server or as a result of previous browsing of media on the server by the user of the portable media player device. The information may be gathered and retrieved in real time, or continuously over a usage period.

At a next block 207, the server may determine one or more media preferences or interest for the user based in part upon the media and/or information about the media stored on or accessed using the portable media player device. In various embodiments, the server can analyze the media and the information about the media stored on or accessed using the portable media player device to identify user preferences for particular genres of media. Thus, in various embodiments, the server may analyze e.g. the meta data associated with a wide variety of media stored on or accessed using the portable media player device such as music, podcasts, books or audiobooks, video, photos or other images for various trends that can be translated into user preferences for a particular genre of music, film, video or art. The meta data may include data about the media title, media type, artist, subject matter, and so forth. For example, the server may determine that the user has a preference for a jazz music genre if the portable media player device stores or has been used to access a substantial amount of music by famous jazz artists such as Ella Fitzgerald or Louis Armstrong. What constitutes a substantial amount may be evolved dynamically overtime based on feedback on the relevance, success or usefulness of the recommendation and/or information provided to the user or a group of users. The server may also determine that the user has a preference for film genres related to science fiction if a significant number of science fiction movies such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Star Wars are stored as video media in or accessed using the portable media player device.

After one or more media preferences have been determined at block 207, the process then moves to a block 208. At block 208, the server may make a recommendation for a venue or event (or provide information) based at least in part on the inferred current location of the user and the determined media preference of the user of the portable media player device. In various embodiments, the server may generate the recommended venues/events (or information) using collaborative filtering, or other recommendation techniques that can take into account the media stored in or accessed using the user's portable media player device, other information about the user's media preferences, and venues or events proximally located (or that will occur in a proximate location) to the current location of the user of the portable media player device. In generating a recommendation for a venue or event (or information), the server may access databases or information from various sources or service providers, e.g., a ticket sales and distribution company or an local online entertainment city guide. For example, the server may compare a user's preference for a particular genre of music to a database that includes citywide events or venues that are hosting or typically host bands which play music of that particular genre. The server may collect the venue and/or event information in real time or the server may gather the information periodically.

Thus, the server may transmit a recommendation (or information) to a user, e.g. his portable music player device having jazz music stored on or accessed using the portable music player device for a club that plays live jazz or blues within a convenient walking or driving distance to the current location of the user and the portable media player device. The server may also transmit a recommendation (or information) to a user, e.g. his portable music player device having gospel music stored on or accessed using the portable music player device for a church known for gospel music within a convenient walking or driving distance to the current location of the user and the portable media player device. The server may also transmit another recommendation for a theatrical or cinematography event such as a nearby science fiction film festival to the user determined to have user preferences for a science fiction film genre.

After the server generates the recommendation (or information), the process moves to block 210 where the server may communicate the recommendation to the user by transmitting the recommendation (or information) to e.g. the portable media player device. In various embodiments, as alluded earlier, this may include transmitting the recommendation (or information) by sending either a short message service (SMS) message, an email message, a pager message or a facsimile message to the user or by placing a call to the user. In various embodiments, directions to the event, venue or other location of interest from the current location of the portable media player device can also be sent to the portable media player device (not shown). The process may end at a block 212.

Note that method 200 may be repeated. For example, if the user so desires, automatic recommendations (or information) may be pushed to the user on a periodic basis, or when the portable media player device detects that the user has changed a current geographic location. For example, a user arriving in Miami may find that the user's portable media player device has automatically received various recommended events or venues occurring in (or information about) Miami when the user arrives at the Miami airport.

Note also that in various embodiments, the server may perform the operations of method 200 in a different order than as presented in FIG. 2. For example, the server may infer user preferences at the time media is added to the portable media player device. The media and/or information about the media as well as inferred media preferences may remain relatively static until a later time when the server infers a proximal location of the portable media player device. Thus, in some embodiments, the operations of blocks 206 and 207 or variations thereof, may be performed prior to the operation of block 204.

In various embodiments, a user of the portable media player device may be a subscriber of the service provided by the server. In various embodiments, the cost of the service may be borne by the recommended venue and/or organizers of the events of interest, or combination thereof.

FIG. 3 illustrates an internal component view of an example handheld portable media player device 300 in an embodiment of the invention. In the embodiment shown, a handheld portable media player device 300 includes a processor 308 coupled to user interfaces 302, storage medium 304 and transmitter/receiver (TX/RX) 306 (â€œtransceiverâ€ ). The storage medium 304 includes instructions implementing a media player 305. In alternate embodiments, all or portions of the media player may be implemented in hardware, e.g. hardware components dedicated to encoding/decoding, compression/decompression, encryption/decryption, digital rights management, signal filtering or other processing. The transceiver 306 may be a radiofrequency (RF) transceiver that in various embodiments may support WiFi, WiMax or other wireless local area network access. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver may support EDGE (Enhanced Data GSM Environment) or G3 communication protocols In an embodiment, portable media player device 300 is configured to selectively play media and optionally, to provide a server with a current location of the portable media player device 300 via transceiver 306. The portable media player device 300 may be configured to receive in response, a recommendation for a venue or event of interest proximally located to (or information about) the current location of a portable media player device 300. The recommendation (or information) may be generated by the server based at least in part on an inferred current location of the user, and inferred entertainment interest of user, based e.g. on media stored in storage medium 304, and/or accessed using the portable media player device 300. In various embodiments, the user interfaces 302 may include a display, touch pad, touch screen and other input/output (I/O) devices or the like (not shown). In the embodiment, a display or touch screen of user interfaces 302 may be adapted to display the received recommendation.

Finally, FIG. 4 illustrates an internal view of an example computing device 400, suitable for use as server 20, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. In an embodiment, computing device 400 includes a storage medium 410 for storing a plurality of programming instructions and a processor 402 for executing the plurality of programming instructions to enable the computing device 400 to generate a recommendation for a venue or an event of interest to be held at a venue proximally located to (or information about) an inferred current location of a user of a portable media player device. The venue or event of interest (or information) may be communicated to the user via communication interfaces 411. In various embodiments, communication interfaces 411 may include network interface cards, modems and so forth. In various embodiments, communication interfaces 411 may be configured to support a wire lined base local area networking protocol, e.g. Ethernet, or wireless communication protocol such as WiFi, GSM, EDGE, 3G.

Element 408 may include various elements such as but not limited to general purpose input/output (I/O) devices, mass storage or other suitable devices to facilitate the generation and transmission of the recommendation or information to the portable media player device. Note that the processor 402, storage medium 410, communication interfaces 411 and other 408 may be coupled to each other via system bus 412, which represents one or more buses. In the case of multiple buses, they are bridged by one or more bus bridges (not shown). In alternate embodiments, other elements may be added, as well as having one or more of the illustrated elements omitted, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Thus, it can be seen from the above description, methods and apparatuses for generating by a server, a recommendation for a venue or event of interest proximally located to (or information about) an inferred current location of a user of a portable media player device are described. As a result, a user of a portable media player device has an even more enriched experience from using portable media player device. As mentioned earlier, while the present invention has been described in terms of the above-illustrated embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described. The present invention can be practiced with modification and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Thus, the description is to be regarded as illustrative instead of restrictive on the present invention.