USOO9436962B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 9,436,962 B2 Boulter et al. (45) Date of Patent: *Sep. 6, 2016 (54) INTERNET RADIO AND BROADCAST (2013.01); G06F 17/30752 (2013.01); G06F METHOD PERSONALIZED BY GENRE 17/30761 (2013.01); G06F 17/30772 (71) Applicant: Pandora Media, Inc., Oakland, CA (2013.01); (US) (Continued) (72) Inventors: Jeffrey R. Boulter, Los Angeles, CA (58) Field of Classification Search (US); Todd M. Beaupre, Los Angeles, CPC .................... G06F 17/30017: G06F 17/30772 CA (US) See application file for complete search history. (73) Assignee: Pandora Media, Inc., Oakland, CA (56) References Cited (US) U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS (*) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 5,410,344 A 4/1995 Graves et al. U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days. 5,616,876 A * 4/1997 Cluts ................. GO6F 17,30749 348/E7.071 This patent is Subject to a terminal dis claimer. (Continued) (21) Appl. No.: 14/578,076 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS (22) Filed: Dec. 19, 2014 WO WO97/O2537 1, 1997 (65) Prior Publication Data OTHER PUBLICATIONS US 2015/0106321 A1 Apr. 16, 2015 European Extended Search Report in EPO application 11190849.7 Related U.S. Application Data mailed Apr. 4, 2014. (Continued) (63) Continuation of application No. 14/195.434, filed on Mar. 3, 2014, which is a continuation of application Primary Examiner — Jeong S Park No. 12/765,525, filed on Apr. 22, 2010, now Pat. No. 8,700,795, which is a continuation of application No. (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm — Beyer Law Group LLP 09/709,234, filed on Nov. 9, 2000, now Pat. No. (57) ABSTRACT 7,711,838. Data streams are generally selected according to user pref (60) Provisional application No. 60/164,846, filed on Nov. erences and transmitted to the user in general alignment with 10, 1999. expressed preferences of the user. Such data streams may be music, including music videos. Users may indicate their (51) Int. Cl. general or specific preferences with regards to Song, artists, G06F 5/16 (2006.01) or albums. Any other aspects or factors that might affect the G06O 30/06 (2012.01) user's preferences can be taken into account. A playlist is (Continued) created that combines all of these factors. The playlist then serves as the basis for feeding the data streams to the user. (52) U.S. Cl. Each user is able to express his or her own preferences and CPC ......... G06Q 30/0641 (2013.01); G06F 3/0482 receive music corresponding to those preferences on an (2013.01); G06F 3/04817 (2013.01); G06F on-going basis. 3/04842 (2013.01); G06F 3/04847 (2013.01); G06F 17/2235 (2013.01); G06F 17/30053 22 Claims, 37 Drawing Sheets - 00 LAUNCHcast 3 asjordan's LAUNCHcast Station Page Microsoft Internetexplorer six 48- LAUCHCAST LAUCHCAST PLAYER LAUNCHcast "' Eils Edit Wiswigo Bokmarks IKls slip HOME - ----104 108---sufferingo:30a2BE {Back-to-8s (RSSearch 3Favorites 3 History E.'s 2-32 SONGINFO 14 - Don't Let's start Address w L-102 -1 Rana ----WINDOWS 108 USER RATINGTOOL EVER-108 HOME WATCH a LISTEN i INTERACT READ is WIN MYLAUNCH PAGES ------- (DJS) Stations 40 ock Sigrdan s astorians 'RE:GATEWAY 1 LAUNCHEast station CSECEICO PTOR (SERVLET) SERVLET) asorgan's Inte askarian's Song Ratings --- asjordan's has rated 122 (HTTPREDIRECTFRM 102 18 songs, 33artists and 4 albums MEDIAGATEWAYTO LAUNCH.cs Levelanthusiast SOL MMSPROTOCOL) RATINGs PLAYLIST Sier83 haWested to asocar's station ACHE GENERATOR asorden's wishlists albums SO 100 (SERVLET) (SERVLET) WINDOWS MEDIA Last seen or LAUNCHast 1105,200 Average Song Rating:58 asgical is currently listening to 80 Don'te's Start 162 USERDATA soredata-166 They MightBs Giants inay Night Bagiaris DATABASE 18 ECEO E.C. E.C. Artists Playednastorian's Station 164-PLAYLISTS AUD AND WIDEASFFLELIBRARY US 9,436,962 B2 Page 2 (51) Int. Cl. 6,118,450 A 9, 2000 Proehl et al. G06F 7/30 (2006.01) 6, 192,340 B1* 2/2001 Abecassis ............ G1995 H04H 60/46 (2008.01) 6,226.672 B1 5/2001 DeMartin et all H04H 60/66 (2008.01) 6,248,946 B1 6/2001 Dwek H04N 2L/443 (2011.01) 6,314,094 B1 * 1 1/2001 Boys ...................... HO4H2O,72 H04N 2L/45 (2011.01) 6,370,513 B1 4, 2002 KO1 370,352 H04N 2L/454 (2011.01) - W OaWa H4N2L/466 (2011.01) 6,438,579 B1* 8/2002 Hosken ............. G09:13, H04N 2L/475 (2011.01) 6,546.421 B1 * 4/2003 Wynblatt .......... GO6F 17,30867 H04N 2L/482 (2011.01) 707/E17.109 H04N 2L/6 (2011.01) 6,557,042 B1 * 4/2003. He .................... GO6F 17/30017 H04N 2L/8 (2011.01) ck TO7 (999-001 G06N 5/02 (2006.01) 6,587,127 B1 7/2003 Leeke .................. Goog.g4? H04L 29/08 (2006.01) 6,662,231 B1 12/2003 Drosset et al. G06F 3/0482 (2013.01) 7,082,407 B1 7/2006 Bezos et al. G06F 3/0484 (2013.01) 7,711,838 B1* 5/2010 Boulter ............. GO6F 17,30761 TO9,231 G06F 3/048 (2013.01) ck G06F 7/22 (2006.01) 8,700,795 B2 * 4/2014 Boulter ............. G06F 1239; G06O 20/12 (2012.01) 2008/0285.552 A1 11/2008 Abdulla et al. HO4H 6O/82 (2008.01) 2015/0106451 A1 4/2015 Boulter et al. HO4L 29/06 (2006.01) 2015,0106727 A1* 4, 2015 Boulter ............. G06F 1297. HO4H2O/82 (2008.01) 2015, 0112830 A1* 4/2015 Boulter ............. GO6F 17,30761 HO4H 60/06 (2008.01) 705/26.7 HO4N 2 1/462 (2011.01) (52) U.S. Cl. OTHER PUBLICATIONS CPC ... G06F I 73086 (2013.01); G06F I 7.30902 Office Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/578,047, dated Mar. 12, 2015. (2013.01); gtoN 5/02 (2013.01); GoGo Office Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/578,057, dated Mar. 4, 2015. 2012 (2013:9). HH6046 (2030); office Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/577,957, dated Mar. 6, 2015. H04H 60/66 (2013.01). H04L 65/4084 Office Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/578,041, dated Mar 20, 2015. (2013.01). H04L 6702 (2013.01); H04L 6710 Office Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/578,015, dated May 4, 2015. (2013.01). H04L 6722 (2013.01). H04L 6742 Office Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/577,974, dated Mar 17, 2015. (2013.01); H04N 2 I/443 (2013.01); H04N Office Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/195.434, dated Jun. 25, 2015. 21/454 (2013.01); H04N 2 1/4532 (2013.01); Office Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/578,057, dated Jul 16, 2015. H04N 2 1/4668 (2013.01); H04N 21/4756 Office Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/578,041, dated Jul. 31, 2015. (2013.01); H04N 21/.4825 (2013.01); H04N Office Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/578,047, dated Jul. 28, 2015. 21/6125 (2013.01); H04N 21/6175 (2013.01); Office Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/578,089, dated Jul. 23, 2015. H04N 21/8113 (2013.01); H04H 20/82 Office Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/577,957, dated Jul. 15, 2015. (2013.01); H04H 60/06 (2013.01); H04H OfOffice Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/577.974, dated Aug. 19, 2015. 6082 (2013.01). H04L 65/4076 (2013.01). Noticece Actionof Allowance in U.S. inAppl. S.App. No. 14/578,015, No. 4/57sois, dated Oct. Dec. 28, 7, 2015.2015. H04N 2 1/4622 (2013.01) Notice of Allowance in U.S. Appl. No. 14/578,041, dated Jan. 22, 2016. (56) References Cited Notice of Allowance in U.S. Appl. No. 14/577.974, dated Jan. 29. 2016. U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS Final Office Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/195.434 dated Feb. 2, 2016. 5,675,743 A * 10/1997 Mavity .................. HO4N 21/23 348/E5.008 Office Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/578,057 dated Feb. 8, 2016. 5,734,720 A * 3/1998 Salganicoff .......... G06Q 20/383 Office Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/578,047 dated Feb. 16, 2016. 348/E7.056 Office Action in U.S. Appl. No. 14/577,957 dated Feb. 16, 2016. 5,931.901 A * 8/1999 Wolfe ................ G06Q 30/0601 Notice of Allowance in U.S. Appl. No. 14/195.434, dated Mar. 2, TO5/26.1 2016. 5,963,916 A 10/1999 Kaplan 6,088,455 A 7/2000 Logan et al. * cited by examiner U.S. Patent Sep. 6, 2016 Sheet 1 of 37 US 9,436,962 B2 U.S. Patent Sep. 6, 2016 Sheet 2 of 37 US 9,436,962 B2 CATEDCETHSOORIÕISTRUCTED U.S. Patent Sep. 6, 2016 Sheet 5 Of 37 US 9,436,962 B2 205 Y20 \ 69 al Q - Da Hi-Q - (s HitsMan (W) FANS Memories Fade 1 Tears For Fear HitsMan Corlette1 minature R Coo34. T Corlette1(R) Genre Modern Rock Crazy 1 Seal u 1980's M RECENTSONGS STATIONANAGER minature (WP InVisible Sun / The Police Voidsong () PLAY () Rotten Apple? Alice in Chains KravMason (W) Aquimini? Outkast STATION MANAGER Ratinds Y LAUNCHcast Top 10 November 8 CD DJS C RATING TITLE ARTIST 2 Genres 1 C Intergalctic The Beasty Boys s Stations 1 Special Garbage 2 O DD 3 Out Of My Head Fastball H 4. Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana C H Options CfO Share 6 Elderly Woman Behind The Counter..