Patent ID: 7127454

Claim:
A data marking search system, comprising: at least one server computer configured for communicating over a data network; at least one user database comprising user information and associated user playlists which are configured for access by said server; said user playlists containing information about music clips which have been broadcast; wherein said music clip information is associated with corresponding data marks as received from a data marking device; at least one broadcast playlist database configured for access by said server and for retaining broadcast playlists containing information about music clips which were broadcast by participating radio stations and which correspond to music clip data marks; wherein each said broadcast playlist contains information about the music clips which have been broadcast including clip name and the artist and/or album; network interface of said server configured for communicating with a plurality of user terminals each coupled to the data network to transmit a search request corresponding to a marked data, or information about the marked data, wherein said marked data indicates a time and which represents content that is broadcasted at said time and wherein said search request is independent of a frequency corresponding to said content that is broadcasted; and programming executable on said server computer for, accessing said user database on storage units each corresponding to a respective one of said plurality of user terminals in response to said search request received from one said user terminal, searching other user playlists within said user database in response to said search request and locating data marks or associated music clip information that fulfills the conditions of said search, and transmitting a result, including data marks or associated music clip information broadcast over one or more radio stations, corresponding to said search request to one said user terminal.