Patent ID: 8112418

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for characterizing songs, wherein the method comprises: providing interactive environments that include games, having predetermined durations, in which training songs are played to groups of users and associated annotation items are dynamically received from the groups of users, wherein the annotation items include words that characterize the training songs, wherein at least an annotation item received from a given user in a given group of users includes an extrema in characterizing a given training song; wherein, in a given interactive environment, the given training song is played to users in the given group of users, the annotation items are dynamically received from the users, and the annotation items received from other users in the given group of users during a given game is provided to the given user; and wherein a score of the given user during the given game is based on attempts of the given user to match his provided annotation items to those of a majority of the given group of users within a time limit; using the computer, determining models that specify statistical relationships between the training songs and the received annotation items, wherein a given model specifies a probability that a given annotation item is associated with the given training song; aggregating the models into compound models that specify the statistical relationships between the training songs and the annotation items, wherein a given compound model identifies subsets of the training songs that are associated with the given annotation item; and determining the annotation items associated with additional songs based on the compound models, wherein the determining characterizes the additional songs, and wherein the annotation items associated with the additional songs were not previously determined in the interactive environments.