Abstract:
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for implementing a mobile digital radio playlist system. The playlist need not be maintained in a vehicle; preferably it is maintained on a user&#39;s equipment such as a computer, PDA, MP3 player or the like. The system enables a method of updating such a playlist conveniently, for example while traveling in a vehicle, by capturing indicia of a current song in a mobile digital radio receiver in response to a user capture input; transmitting the captured indicia from the digital radio receiver to a wireless telecommunication device; in the wireless telecommunication device, forwarding the captured indicia to a playlist server; and in the playlist server, forwarding the received indicia to the user&#39;s equipment to update the playlist.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority from co-pending U.S. provisional application No. 60/894,160 filed Mar. 9, 2007 and incorporated herein by this reference. 
     
    
     COPYRIGHT NOTICE 
       [0002]    © 2007-2008 Airbiquity Inc. A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 37 CFR §1.71(d). 
       TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0003]    This invention pertains to mobile digital radio and more specifically pertains to managing playlists of songs or other recorded digital media. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    Satellite radio has been deployed in some motor vehicles and terrestrial broadcast digital radio is expected to follow soon. The mobile satellite digital radio receiver typically is integrated with traditional audio components such as AM/FM analog radio, CD player, MP3, and the like in a vehicle entertainment system. In some cases, wireless telecommunications (cell phones) are being integrated with vehicle entertainment systems as well, for example for “hands-free” operation. All of this functionality packed into a single unit makes for a complex user interface. Many users have not yet learned even how to find a station among the hundreds of satellite digital radio stations already available. 
         [0005]    Sometimes, when a user hears a particular song over the satellite radio, they may wish to record that song for playback later. Commercial devices are known for this purpose, such as the “XM radio recorder”  10  in  FIG. 1 . The XM radio recorder, essentially a digital audio recorder, is commercially available and can be connected to a satellite radio receiver (as shown in  FIG. 1 ) for recording a song that is received over the satellite radio. Such a unit is relatively expensive, because it is proprietary, and it cannot be used for other purposes. 
         [0006]    The need remains for a better way to capture a song (or speech, discussion or other audio broadcast item) played over the satellite radio, or to at least capture metadata that describes such a song, and incorporate it into a playlist so that it can be replayed or otherwise accessed later at other locations. The driver or other occupant of a vehicle ought to be able to capture that information very easily and inexpensively. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The following description discloses preferred embodiments that are illustrative of improved methods and systems for managing playlists of songs including songs that are heard over a digital radio receiver, for example, in a motor vehicle. Additional aspects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a simplified block diagram illustrating one example of a mobile digital radio system with Blue-Tooth and or wired interfaces. 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is a simplified block diagram illustrating components of a cell phone. 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  is a communications flow diagram illustrating communications consistent with embodiments of the present invention among a satellite radio, a cell phone and a remote playlist portal system. 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  presents a simplified, system level diagram of a playlist management system in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0012]    In the following description, the selection and handling of a selected “song” and a “playlist” of songs are used as one example to illustrate principles of the invention in one application. It can also be applied to other examples of digital content, for example other audio speech, graphics or video material. For example, a certain newscast may be delivered over the radio, and the user may want to capture it for later listening at home. That media item, like a song, would fall well within the parameters of the present invention. 
         [0013]    In accordance with the present disclosure, the “XM radio recorder”  10  shown in  FIG. 1  becomes unnecessary. Instead, in one embodiment of the present invention, a satellite radio user interface is modified to provide a “capture” button  20 , which could be a dedicated button or software-configurable button in the user interface. When the user hears a song that he or she wants to capture, the user simply presses the button  20  on the satellite radio user interface. According to one embodiment, the music (audio content) of that song is not literally captured, but instead the name of the song and/or other metadata adequate to identify the song later, is captured, as further described herein. 
         [0014]    Some automobiles have a built-in blue-tooth system, such as that shown in  22  “car blue tooth built-in”. For example, an automobile might have a blue tooth system that provides a microphone  24  for connection to a cell phone for hands-free telephone calls. In one embodiment, the blue tooth transceiver  22  may be hard-wired to the satellite radio  12 . the term “hard wired” herein is not limited to a direct electrical connection. Rather, in some embodiments, a BT transceiver may be coupled to the radio via one or more in-vehicle networks or controllers. In an alternative embodiment, satellite radio  12  itself may have a blue tooth transceiver  28  built into the radio for a similar purpose. Either the separate BT receiver  22  or the radio BT receiver  28  can be used to communicate with a user&#39;s cell phone as described herein. 
         [0015]    In operation, when the user presses the capture button  20 , the blue tooth system (either the car system  22  or one integrated  28  in the satellite radio  12 ) initiates a message to the user&#39;s cell phone  200  in  FIG. 2 . The satellite radio preferably provides a transport layer software which utilizes the BT interface to deliver song information to the cell phone, and thence to the web portal or server over IBS, SMS, or packet data transport channels. In another embodiment, the metadata is send to a server via in-band or voice channel connection. The web portal ( 430  in  FIG. 4 ) and server  410  are further discussed below. 
         [0016]    A typical cell phone  200  is illustrated in a simplified block diagram form in  FIG. 2 . This cell phone includes a blue tooth transceiver  202 . In response to a predetermined activation signal over the wireless bluetooth channel, the cell phone (together with embedded software) will download metadata (see reference  40  in  FIG. 1 ) describing the current song from the satellite radio  12 , and then transmit that metadata to a server or web portal for later use by the user as further described below. The “current song” refers to a song currently playing, or last played, on the digital radio. 
         [0017]      FIG. 4  presents a simplified, system level diagram of a playlist management system in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. In the figure, an on-line vendor of music  402  (e.g. Amazon.com, iTunes, etc.) has a web site available to the public via the Internet  400 . Details of such connections, web sites, client-side web browsers, etc. are well known. Typically, a user can purchase and download desired music “on line” as indicated at reference  404 . This is done using any suitable home or office computer  406 , PC, laptop, PDA, etc. that has wired or wireless web access to the vendor  402 . The user machine  406  has a data storage  408  (disk drive, flash drive, network storage, etc.), where it stores acquired music, other media items, and associated metadata. For example, music metadata can include for each item one or more of the song (track number), artist, title, album, year, genre, length, coding, and digital rights management (DRM) elements. 
         [0018]    A web portal  430  consistent with the present disclosure also is accessible via the Internet  400 , for example using a web page interface. The web portal  430  is coupled to a server  410  which provides the user services as described herein. The server  410  can also be coupled via suitable interface (not shown) to the telecommunications network  412 , via landline (PSTN) and/or wireless connectivity to serve users via telecommunications. In particular, in a preferred embodiment, the user&#39;s cell phone  200  is used to communicate with the server  410  as further described with reference to  FIG. 3  below. The cell phone acts as a conduit between the mobile digital radio  12  of  FIG. 1  and the server  410 . As noted, it preferably employs IBS, SMS, or packet data transport channels. However, the same principles can be adapted to follow future technical advances in wireless data communications, so the standards and protocols mentioned here should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention. 
         [0019]    The server  410  is coupled to a data store  420  for storing user names and accounts, logins, passwords, and actual playlists. Playlists preferably can be named by the corresponding user, and the user-selected playlist names stored in the data store as well, in association with the user. In addition, the data store  420  includes a metadata buffer  422  for storing metadata describing music or other media items. The metadata buffer need not be physically on the same data store. Music data, including metadata, can be transmitted from the buffer  422  to the user&#39;s equipment  406 , for example via the server  410 , web portal  430  and the Internet  400 . 
         [0020]    Referring again to  FIG. 3 , it shows a flow diagram of the principal communications of one embodiment, in simplified form. As noted, beginning at time “A” the user presses the capture button on the satellite radio, and the cell phone, as it is already “on” (monitoring the BT channel), then receives a blue tooth (BT) capture signal, time “B”. (The time designations “A” through “M” in the figure are merely intended to convey a sequence of events, temporally from the top toward the bottom of the figure. The letters do not imply anything about duration of signals, delays, etc.) The satellite radio then communicates the current song metadata, time “C,” over the blue tooth channel to the cell phone. The cell phone then establishes a voice call, beginning at time “D,” over the voice channel of a digital wireless telecom network, to a web portal or other predetermined destination telephone number (e.g. server  410  in  FIG. 4 ). The call can be queued or repeated to time “E” if the line is busy. 
         [0021]    At time “F” the call is established between the cell phone and the playlist web portal system or server. The cell phone then goes through a log-in and password procedure with the web portal, at time “G” preferably using in-band signaling (“IBS”). In-band signaling refers to sending data over the voice channel of the wireless telecom network. This has advantages over digital data channels, as explained elsewhere. After a successful log-in, the cell phone software sends the captured metadata to the web portal at time “H”. Optionally, it may also send the location of the vehicle at the time the song is captured. Location data can be acquired either by using a GPS receiver ( 210  in  FIG. 2 ) on board the cell phone, or by acquiring it from a vehicle navigation system through a vehicle on-board network. After acknowledgement by the server of receipt of the data, the cell phone takes down the call. 
         [0022]    At the web portal or server, the metadata is added to the user&#39;s playlist ( 420 ) see time “J”. For example, this can default to a playlist associated with the user&#39;s vehicle. When the user returns to his home or office, see time “K,” or other location where he has access to the web portal system, or music management software such as i-Tunes, he can take steps to download the corresponding song based on the metadata that has now been added to his playlist. In one embodiment, the playlist update is transmitted to the user equipment as indicated at  440  in  FIG. 4 . In practice, the data in one case would traverse the Internet. The user can then execute the updated playlist at any time (“M”) to enjoy the song or other item first heard earlier via the satellite radio while traveling in the vehicle. 
         [0023]    It should be noted that, in preferred embodiments, no special equipment is required in the automobile, other than a software change to the satellite radio to implement downloading metadata as described. Further, in a motor vehicle that does not have a built-in blue tooth wireless system, that can be provided in the satellite radio. And, finally, the functionality of the cell phone of  FIG. 2 , as described herein, can be implemented through mere software changes to many known cell phones. Moreover, those software changes can be downloaded into the phone via a wireless call, or from another resource such as the web portal via the user equipment  406 . 
         [0024]    It will be obvious to those having skill in the art that many changes may be made to the details of the above-described embodiments without departing from the underlying principles of the invention. The scope of the present invention should, therefore, be determined only by the following claims.