Method and system for media navigation

Abstract

A method and system for media navigation. A descriptor hierarchy may be accessed. The descriptor hierarchy may include at least one category list. One or more media descriptors may be accessed for a plurality of media items. The plurality of media items may be accessible from a plurality of sources. The one or more media descriptors may be mapped to the at least one category list. The navigation may be processed through a user interface to enable selection of the plurality of media items from the plurality of sources.

1 . A method comprising:
 accessing media descriptors for a plurality of media items, the media items provided by a plurality of different media sources;   accessing a media descriptor hierarchy, the media descriptor hierarchy comprising at least one unified category list;   mapping the media descriptors to the at least one unified category list; and   providing a user interface to display the at least one unified category list to allow a user to select at least one media item in the at least one unified category list.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of different media sources comprises at least two media sources selected from the group consisting of a satellite radio station, an FM radio station, an AM radio station, an HD radio station, an Internet radio station, a TV station, a Compact Disk (CD), a portable media player, a mobile phone, and a local media database, and an online media database. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the media items comprise digital audio tracks or digital video tracks. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3 , comprising displaying track names of media items that have media descriptors mapped to the at least one unified category list. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the media descriptor describes the media item and is a genre, an origin, a recording era, a composition era, an artist type, a tempo, a mood, a situation, a work type, a topic, personal historical context, a community historical context, and/or a timbre of the media item. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein each media descriptor is represented by a code. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each media descriptor comprises a weighting to indicate a relevance of the media descriptor relative to at least one other media descriptor. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the descriptor hierarchy defines a plurality of parent/child relationships of a plurality of unified category lists, and wherein at least one media descriptor is mapped to each unified category list. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the unified category list comprise one or more of Album, Edition, Release, SKU, Disc, Track, Recording, Movement and/or Composition of a media item. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a plurality of descriptor hierarchies are provided, each descriptor hierarchy corresponding to a region hierarchy, a demographic hierarchy, a psychographic hierarchy, genre hierarchy, an era hierarchy, an origin hierarchy, a navigation tree, an artist type hierarchy, an alternate recording hierarchy, and/or a mapping of the media items. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a plurality of unified category lists are provided, each unified category list corresponding to a region, a demographic, a psychographic, genre, an era hierarchy, an origin, a navigation tree, an artist type, and/or an alternate recording. 
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one unified category list comprises a plurality of levels, higher levels in the unified category list including fewer items than lower levels in the unified category list. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one media descriptor is embedded in a media item. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 1 , where accessing the media descriptors comprises:
 performing a digital signal processing (DSP) analysis on plurality of media items; and   accessing the descriptors for the plurality of media items based on the DSP analysis of the plurality of media items.   
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 1 , where accessing the media descriptors for media content comprises:
 obtaining a digital fingerprinting of each of the plurality of media items; and   accessing the media descriptors for the plurality of media items based on the digital fingerprinting.   
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user interface displays at least a portion of a navigation tree derived from the media descriptor hierarchy. 
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising displaying a portion of a unified category list on the user interface. 
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising providing a plurality of navigation trees selected from a region navigation tree, an application parameter navigation tree, a device parameter navigation tree, a user type navigation tree, and/or a third party the navigation tree. 
   
   
       19 . Apparatus comprising:
 memory to store instructions; and   at least one processor to execute the instructions to:
 access media descriptors for a plurality of media items, the media items provided by a plurality of different media sources; 
 access a media descriptor hierarchy, the media descriptor hierarchy comprising at least one unified category list; 
 map the media descriptors to the at least one unified category list; and 
 provide a user interface to display the at least one unified category list to allow a user to select at least one media item in the at least one unified category list. 
   
   
   
       20 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the plurality of different media sources comprises at least two media sources selected from the group consisting of a satellite radio station, an FM radio station, an AM radio station, an HD radio station, an Internet radio station, a TV station, a Compact Disk (CD), a portable media player, a mobile phone, and a local media database, and an online media database. 
   
   
       21 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , comprising local storage to store media items in the form of digital audio tracks or digital video tracks. 
   
   
       22 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the track names of media items are displayed that have media descriptors mapped to the at least one unified category list. 
   
   
       23 . A machine-readable medium embodying instructions which, when executed by the machine cause the machine to:
 access media descriptors for a plurality of media items, the media items provided by a plurality of different media sources;   access a media descriptor hierarchy, the media descriptor hierarchy comprising at least one unified category list;   map the media descriptors to the at least one unified category list; and   
     provide a user interface to display the at least one unified category list to allow a user to select at least one media item in the at least one unified category list.