Abstract:
Disclosed herein are methods of searching for songs in a database by listeners and providing those songs by network transmission accompanied by messages from the listeners. Also disclosed herein are server and client systems for interactive multimedia broadcasting over a network, and methods of using the same. Detailed information on various example embodiments of the inventions are provided in the Detailed Description below, and the inventions are defined by the appended claims.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/396,306, filed Mar. 25, 2003 which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/422,159, filed Oct. 22, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,103, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONS  
       [0002]     The broadcasting of audio and video by means of the Internet is a fairly recent development. When a listener logs onto a particular web site, audio files, usually songs, are played. The selections of which audio files are to be played are controlled by the owner or operator of the web site.  
         [0003]     In the past, in conjunction with conventional radio, a desirable procedure was to get the listeners involved in conjunction with the broadcasting station. Generally, this type of procedure increased the number of listeners, and of course the greater number of listeners the more successful a radio station. One way to get the listeners involved is to have the radio station accept requests for particular songs or to hear certain audio files, such as a comedy routine. Generally, within conventional radio stations, requests are taken by telephone. It would be desirable to somehow incorporate in conjunction with an Internet radio station a technique for the Internet radio station to accept requests and dedications from listeners.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONS  
       [0004]     The inventions disclosed and claimed herein relate to methods of searching for songs in a database by listeners and providing those songs by network transmission accompanied by messages from the listeners. Also disclosed are systems and methods that relate to the transmission of multimedia files and streams over networks and more particularly relate to systems that are capable of receiving the requests of users and providing multimedia files and streams over networks to computing devices in accordance with those user requests. Some systems in accordance with the invention permit users to make requests from their Internet Browsers or other client applications accessing the Internet and hear them over the Internet. In the past there haven&#39;t been Internet applications that allow for users to make real time requests for music or select audio songs, have them played back in an orderly fashion while allowing for the optional use of typed dedications to be spoken back over the audio stream. Detailed information on various example embodiments of the inventions are provided in the Detailed Description below, and the inventions are defined by the appended claims. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0005]      FIG. 1  shows a block diagram of the method of Internet radio broadcasting including listener requests and dedications of the present invention.  
         [0006]      FIG. 2  shows a representation of a search screen that is to be displayed on a listener computer screen that allows for searching for a particular audio and/or video file.  
         [0007]      FIG. 3  is a representation of a search results screen which is to be displayed on the listener computer screen and includes one section for the audio and/or video files available for final selection and another section for the optional input of a dedication.  
         [0008]      FIG. 4  is a representation of an accepted screen, which is to be displayed on the listener computer screen.  
         [0009]      FIG. 5  depicts an audio and/or multimedia system that may provide transmission of content to users and receive requests from listeners.  
         [0010]      FIG. 6  depicts a multimedia system similar to  FIG. 5  also including a program storage device. 
     
    
       [0011]     Reference will now be made in detail to some embodiments of the inventions, example of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.  
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0012]     One embodiment of the present invention relates to a method of Internet radio broadcasting including listener requests and dedications which comprises the following steps after a listener logs onto an Internet radio station. That embodiment then displays a search screen on the computer screen of the listener, which allows the listener to search for a particular audio and/or video. The listener then selects by the search screen a selected audio and/or video. The next step involves displaying on the computer screen of the listener a search results screen which displays one or more audio and/or videos which correspond to the audio and/or video search information inputted by the listener. The listener then selects a particular audio and/or video file in the search results screen. Also displayed on the search results screen is a dedication section allowing the listener to input a dedication to be spoken prior to the selected audio and/or video file. The listener inputs his/her dedication into this section. He/she may either type this dedication or upload his/her own voice. Then displayed on the computer screen is an accepted screen that informs the listener when the selected file is to be broadcasted with the accompanying dedication, if the dedication was made by the listener.  
         [0013]     An alternate embodiment of the present invention is produced by modifying the previous embodiment by the audio and/or video file comprising a song. Another embodiment of the present invention is produced by broadcasting the dedication by using a text-to-speech engine. A further embodiment of the present invention is produced by the audio and/or video file comprising a song.  
         [0014]     The invention encompasses an Internet technology and application technology to allow users of the Internet not only to search for musical artists or other audio and/or video files and select audio and/or video files for the Internet site to play back via streaming media, but also to type in dedications and statements from their browsers or other client applications connected to the Internet and have those statements broadcasted over the same stream via a text-to-voice speech engine just prior to playing the user&#39;s selected audio and/or video choice.  
         [0015]     In one particular system of the invention, Radio is broadcasted over the Internet as is represented by box  10  in  FIG. 1 . The radio that is broadcasted by box  10  is broadcasted over the Internet to any computer that wants to log onto the web site for the radio Internet broadcast  10 . The radio Internet broadcast  10  may be restricted to a particular regional geographical area or it may be countrywide or it may even be worldwide. A listener computer, which has a computer screen  12 , can be logged onto the radio Internet broadcast  10 . The listener computer can then make an initial request  14  by means of a search screen  16 , which is shown in  FIG. 2 . Once an initial request has been input, this initial request is communicated back to the radio Internet broadcast  10 . The listener will then have displayed a search results screen  18  also by means of the computer screen  12 . This search results screen  18  is shown in  FIG. 3 . The final selection  15  is made by means of the search results screen  18 . The search results screen  18  also has the option of creating a dedication  20 . This dedication  20  is transmitted from the listener computer screen  12  to a text-to-speech engine  22  or upload of the user&#39;s voice file. The text-to-speech engine  22  or uploaded voice file is then coordinated with the radio broadcast  10  so upon playing of the final selection  15 , the dedication  20  which has also been received by the radio Internet broadcast  10  will be played just prior to the final selection  15 . This is done by taking the text that was input by the listener and reproducing it into computer generated spoken words by the text-to-speech engine  22 , uploaded voice file, or spoken words by a live disc jockey. After the final selection  15  and the dedication  20  has been received by the radio Internet broadcast  10  and the text-to-speech engine  22 , respectively, an accepted screen  24 ,  FIG. 4 , is shown on the listener computer screen  12 . The associated dedication can then be emailed, for example, to the person it was dedicated to.  
         [0016]     The radio Internet broadcast  10  has a library of audio and/or video files. Generally, these audio and/or video files will comprise of songs. However, other types of audio and/or video files could comprise comedic routines, dissertations, and so forth. The radio Internet broadcast  10  is programmed to play certain audio and/or video files in sequence. If there has not been an initial request  14 , then that particular sequence will be followed. However, once a final selection  15  has been made, the final selection  15  will be given priority, that is, it will be played immediately following the currently playing audio and/or video file. If more than one selection that has been requested, as from multiple listeners, then each one of the final selections  15  will be played with the earliest accepted selection being played first (first in, first out basis).  
         [0017]     Requests are audio and/or video files that are requested, such as songs. Dedications are the typed in or uploaded voice files that accompany requests. The dedication  20  is to be made by the listener typing on the listener&#39;s computer. The typing of the dedication  20  will be displayed in box  26  of the search results screen  18 . The search results screen  18  will also display criteria that fit the initial request  14  in box  28  and allow for a final selection  15  to be submitted  32  with or without an accompanying dedication  20 . For example, the listener may select a particular audio and/or video file. That audio and/or video file may be produced by ten different artists. The same audio and/or video file with the ten different artists will be displayed in box  28 . The listener then has the option of selecting a specific artist and to highlight that section, and then by clicking the submit icon  32  the final selection  15  is transmitted to the radio Internet broadcast  10 . After the dedication  20  has been typed in box  26 , the listener is to click the submit icon  32  which will then cause the typed words of the dedication  20  to be transmitted to the text-to-speech engine  22 . The text-to-speech engine  22 , uploaded voice file, or spoken words by a live disc jockey will then be broadcasted with the final selection  15  which has been transmitted to the radio Internet broadcast  10  so that when the final selection  15  is played, the dedication  20  in speech form, will be transmitted prior to broadcasting of the final selection  15 .  
         [0018]     The search screen  16  includes an artist selection block  34 . The search screen  16  also includes audio and/or video file input block  36 . If the listener makes a selection within the artist block  34  and inputs particular audio and/or video search criteria in block  36 , then more than likely there will only be a single selection that will be reproduced within the block  28 . However, if the listener only inputs a particular audio and/or video search criteria in block  36  and does not make an artist selection, then more than likely there will be multiple selections that will be reproduced in the block  28  from which the listener may select one. The same will also be true if the listener only selects a particular artist from block  34  but does not input any particular audio and/or video search criteria within block  36 . The search will be initiated upon the listener pressing the submit  35  icon.  
         [0019]     The accepted screen  24  will display information about when your particular selection will be displayed. It will tell you if there are audio and/or video files that are ahead of you, and how many of these audio and/or video files are to be played prior to your audio and/or video file being played. The accepted screen  24  also includes a search again icon  38  and a home page icon  40 . Pressing of the home page icon  40  will bring the listener back to the first or home page of the web site. Pressing of the search again icon  38  will bring screen  16  up on the computer screen. When the listener makes a selection, the Internet site that contains the radio Internet broadcast  10  then searches a database, comprising of a programming interface for database access. This programming interface is based on the call-level interface specification from X/open and ISO/IE for database application programming interfacing and uses a structured query language as its database access language.  
         [0020]     It is to be understood that most any device with Internet access could be used, whether it&#39;s a portable computer, desktop unit, or handheld device. The computer may or may not include a monitor, but of course, all computers do include a display screen. It is within the display screen that there will be displayed the screens  16 ,  18 , and  24 .  
         [0021]     When the radio Internet broadcast  10  finds a song or other audio and/or video file in the request queue, it checks to see if there is any text dedication announcement or any other type of typed in statement stored with this audio and/or video file. If there is, then the radio Internet broadcast  10  calls on the text-to-speech engine  22 , updated voice file, or spoken words by a live disc jockey to verbally reproduce the dedication entered by the listener and then plays the selected audio and/or video file. Of course, the text will be verbally broadcast prior to the playing of the particular audio and/or video file. If there isn&#39;t any dedication  20 , then just the final selection  15  audio and/or video file will be played. All audio and/or video files are broadcasted by the radio Internet broadcast  10  over the Internet by way of streaming audio and/or video, which means that it is continuous.  
         [0022]     It will be apparent from the discussion above that a system of the invention that performs methods of the invention may be constructed as illustrated in  FIG. 5 . A server group  500  contains one or more servers having network hardware and software for communication to a network. Server group is accessibly connected to a storage device  504  whereon a library of files  506  containing digitally encoded audio and/or video information. Memory  502  accessible to server group  500  is used to store and maintain information related to requests received from a network connected to the server.  
         [0023]      FIG. 6  depicts a server system also apparent from the above discussion. A server group  600  contains one or more servers having network hardware and software for communication to a network. Server group is accessibly connected to a storage device  604  whereon a library of files  606  containing digitally encoded audio and/or video information. Server group is also accessibly connected to a program storage device  608  whereon is stored software necessary to distribute or broadcast files or streams of content contained in the library of files  606 . Memory  602  accessible to server group  600  is used to store and maintain information related to requests received from a network connected to the server.  
         [0024]     While the present devices and methods have been described and illustrated in conjunction with a number of specific configurations, those skilled in the art will appreciate that variations and modifications may be made without departing from the principles herein illustrated, described, and claimed. The present invention, as defined by the appended claims, may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The configurations described herein are to be considered in all respects as only illustrative, and not restrictive. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.