Source: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8490099.html
Timestamp: 2019-05-22 17:44:57
Document Index: 403150731

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 10', 'art 3', 'art 404', 'art 403', 'art 403', 'art 403', 'art 404', 'art 403', 'art 404', 'art 403', 'art 404']

Method and system for controlling a scheduling order per daypart category in a music scheduling system - Clear Channel Management Services, Inc.
United States Patent 8490099
Attwell, Nigel (Goldens Bridge, NY, US)
12/914000
Clear Channel Management Services, Inc. (San Antonio, TX, US)
369/6, 369/7, 718/101, 725/32, 725/33, 725/34, 725/35, 725/146, D14/131, D14/155, D14/157, D14/173, D14/175, D14/188, D14/265, D14/496, D20/18
G06F9/46; H04B1/20; H04H60/27; H04N7/10; H04N7/16
Download PDF 8490099 PDF help
20120089730 MODIFYING COMMAND SEQUENCES 2012-04-12 Bodi et al. 709/224
20090240721 METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ELECTRONICALLY SCHEDULING PLAYBACK OF MEDIA CONTENTS 2009-09-24 Giacalone, Jr. 707/101
20090175591 MULTIMEDIA SCHEDULER 2009-07-09 Gondhalekar et al.
20090129402 Method and System For Scheduling Multimedia Shows 2009-05-21 Moller et al.
7412532 Multimedia scheduler 2008-08-12 Gondhalekar et al.
20020023274 Method and system for electronically distributing, displaying and controlling advertising and other communicative media 2002-02-21 Giacalone, Jr. 725/146
1. A method for controlling a scheduling order, said method comprising: designating a scheduling order for the delivery and playback of multimedia content based on the position of particular time slots within a daypart region within said scheduling order, by executing a program instruction in a data processing apparatus, wherein the daypart region comprises a block of consecutive time slots; and configuring said scheduling order using a daypart scheduling technique of said multimedia content to optimize rotation of said multimedia content in different playback categories for the eventual airplay of said multimedia content, by executing a program instruction in a data processing apparatus, wherein optimizing rotation of said multimedia content prevents scheduling of the same multimedia content adjacent to itself within a time slot and within the same time slot of adjacent broadcast days.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising: selecting said multimedia content for scheduling by executing a program instruction in a data processing apparatus; and specifying a daypart category for scheduling of said multimedia content by executing a program instruction in a data processing apparatus.
9. A system for controlling a scheduling order, said system comprising: a processor; a data bus coupled to said processor; and a computer-usable medium embodying computer code, said computer-usable medium being coupled to said data bus, said computer program code comprising instructions executable by said processor and configured for: designating a scheduling order for the delivery and playback of multimedia content based on the position of particular time slots within a daypart region within said scheduling order, wherein the daypart region is a block of consecutive time slots; and configuring said scheduling order using a daypart scheduling technique of said multimedia content to optimize rotation of said multimedia content in different playback categories for the eventual airplay of said multimedia content, wherein optimizing rotation of said multimedia content prevents scheduling of the same multimedia content adjacent to itself within a time slot and within the same time slot of adjacent broadcast days.
FIG. 4a illustrates an example of a graphically displayed table for a slotted by daypart scheduling technique, in accordance with the disclosed embodiments;
FIG. 4b illustrates an example of a graphically displayed table for a slotted by daypart scheduling technique, in accordance with the disclosed embodiments;
FIG. 4c illustrates an example of a graphically displayed table for a slotted by daypart scheduling technique, in accordance with the disclosed embodiments;
FIG. 4d illustrates an example of a graphically displayed table for a slotted by daypart scheduling technique, in accordance with the disclosed embodiments; and
FIG. 4a illustrates an example of a graphically displayed table for a slotted by daypart scheduling technique 400, in accordance with the disclosed embodiments. A broadcast day consists of twenty-four contiguous hours, normally beginning at midnight, but can conceivably begin at any arbitrary hour of the day. The broadcast day can be logically divided into segments, known as dayparts. A daypart is a block of consecutive hours, ranging in length from one hour up to twenty-four hours. For example, dayparts are typically four or five hours long 401. The broadcast day will consist of approximately, for example, five different dayparts, but any number and combination of daypart sizes are allowed 401, 402, as long as the broadcast day is filled with scheduled multimedia. It is understood that any number of dayparts with varying length can be assigned throughout a programming day.
FIG. 4b further illustrates an example of a graphically displayed table for a slotted by daypart scheduling technique 400, in accordance with the disclosed embodiments. Category A 405 has five songs assigned in the daypart 10A-2P 403 which occupies the 10 am thru 2 pm hours, and daypart 3P-5P 404 which occupies the 3 pm thru 5 pm hours. The schedule requires that a single Category A 405 song be scheduled in each of the hours between 10 am and 2 pm, inclusively. During the 3P-5P daypart 404, there are no alternate categories assigned, thus allowing all of the 5 songs in Category A 405 to be considered. During the 10A-2P daypart 403, however, 3 of the 5 songs normally assigned to Category A 405 have been re-assigned to a different category, resulting in only 2 songs remaining in Category A 405 during the 10A-2P daypart 403. This smaller set of songs assigned to Category A 405 in the 10A-2P daypart 403 will have a higher rotation than the larger set of songs assigned to Category A 405 in the 3P-5P daypart 404. Songs are represented as 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, hence song 1 plays in every alternate hour of the 10A-2P daypart 403 and also in every 5th hour of the 3P-5P daypart 404.
FIG. 4b further illustrates both the horizontal and vertical rotations, with two songs available in the 10A-2P daypart 403 and five songs available in the 3P-5P daypart 404. The transition position of the 3P-5P daypart falls in the 3P hour 407. Because the Slotted by Daypart scheduling technique works by selecting songs via a simple rotation, whereby filling a schedule position for a particular category is achieved by selecting the next available song assigned to that category in a given daypart, it is possible to create undesirable conditions. For example, when a song is scheduled in one particular daypart, it may be scheduled adjacent to the same song in an adjacent daypart, as shown in the 2P/3P 406, 407 transition on Monday 408 and Tuesday 409 in FIG. 4b.
The adjacency conflict of songs 1 and 2 on Monday 408 and Tuesday 409 is resolved 415 by selecting the next due song in 3P 407 that has no adjacency conflict. As illustrated in FIG. 4c, resolving 415 this conflict creates another adjacency conflict 411 of songs 1 and 2 in the 2P/3P transition on Saturday 412 and Sunday 413.
As illustrated in FIG. 4d, the adjacency conflict on Saturday 412 and Sunday 413 is resolved 414 by selecting the next due song in 3P which has no adjacency conflict. The net result of the protection given to the transition period in 3P is that the vertical scheduling order will not always be the same as the horizontal scheduling order. Horizontal rotations are always optimal in a single broadcast day, as well as over multiple days, because of the disclosed embodiment's continued attempts to schedule the next due song in the transition hour. Therefore, the overall rotations of songs in this hour will even out. Multiple categories can also be scheduled in this manner. Each category will have its own transition period in the 3P hour, at which vertical and horizontal rotations are protected against adjacent song plays.
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