Method And System For Providing An Audio Element Cache In A Customized Personal Radio Broadcast

Abstract

Playing preselected content by a processor-based communications device includes maintaining a user profile associated with a user device including information relating to a preference of a user associated with the profile, maintaining a user listening history identifying at least a portion of Internet radio broadcast elements previously transmitted and a time at which each broadcast element was previously played by the device, in response to the device logging in and without input from the device, automatically cache a plurality of Internet radio broadcast elements sufficient to be played for a pre-determined time period and comprising a plurality of song broadcast elements and advertising broadcast elements, each based on at least one of the user profile and the user listening history, and a personalized broadcast element that includes a reference to a name of the user associated with the device, and transmitting the cached broadcast elements to the device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of operating a server to provide a customized broadcast comprising:
 maintaining a user profile associated with a user device, the user profile including information relating to a preference of a user associated with the user profile;   maintaining a user listening history comprising a list identifying at least a portion of a plurality of Internet radio broadcast elements previously transmitted to the user device and a time at which each Internet radio broadcast element of the at least a portion of the plurality of Internet radio broadcast elements was previously played by the user device;   in response to the user device logging in, and without input from the user device, automatically caching a plurality of Internet radio broadcast elements sufficient to be played for a predetermined time period and comprising a plurality of song broadcast elements and a plurality of advertising broadcast elements, each of the elements based on at least one of the user profile and the user listening history, and a personalized broadcast element that includes a reference to a name of the user associated with the user device; and   transmitting the cached plurality of broadcast elements to the user device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein caching the plurality of Internet radio broadcast elements comprises caching a predetermined number of song broadcast elements and a predetermined number of advertisement broadcast elements. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the predetermined number of song broadcast elements is at least one hundred song broadcast elements that relate to the user profile. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the predetermined time period is at least one hour. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the predetermined time period is at most one hour. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein caching the plurality of Internet radio broadcast elements further comprises caching at least one of introductions for the broadcast song elements, outroductions for the broadcast song elements, news reports, and disc jockey audio elements. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising transmitting time critical information to the user device comprising at least one of stock quotes, weather information, and traffic information. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 without selection from the user device, automatically selecting an alert broadcast element selected from a group consisting of a weather alert broadcast element, a traffic alert broadcast element, and a stock price alert broadcast element based on the user profile; 
 halting transmission of one of the plurality of broadcast elements to the user device prior to completion of the transmission of the one of the plurality of broadcast elements; and 
 transmitting the alert broadcast element to the user device while the transmission of the one of the plurality of broadcast elements is halted. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the advertisement broadcast elements comprises advertisements based on demographics in the user profile. 
     
     
         10 . A server for providing a customized broadcast comprising:
 a network interface for communicating with a network; and   memory; and   a processor in communication with the memory and the network interface and adapted to:
 maintain a user profile associated with a user device, the user profile including information relating to a preference of a user associated with the user profile; 
 maintain a user listening history comprising a list identifying at least a portion of a plurality of Internet radio broadcast elements previously transmitted to the user device and a time at which each Internet radio broadcast element of the at least a portion of the plurality of Internet radio broadcast elements was previously played by the user device; 
 in response to the user device logging in and without input from the user device, automatically cache a plurality of Internet radio broadcast elements sufficient to be played for a predetermined time period and comprising a plurality of song broadcast elements and a plurality of advertising broadcast elements, each of the elements based on at least one of the user profile and the user listening history, and a personalized broadcast element that includes a reference to a name of the user associated with the user device; and 
 transmit the cached plurality of broadcast elements to the user device. 
   
     
     
         11 . The server of  claim 10  wherein to cache the plurality of Internet radio broadcast elements, the processor is adapted to cache a predetermined number of song broadcast elements and a predetermined number of advertisement broadcast elements. 
     
     
         12 . The server of  claim 11  wherein the predetermined number of song broadcast elements is at least one hundred song broadcast elements that relate to the user profile. 
     
     
         13 . The server of  claim 10  wherein the predetermined time period is at least one hour. 
     
     
         14 . The server of  claim 10  wherein the predetermined time period is at most one hour. 
     
     
         15 . The server of  claim 10  wherein to cache the plurality of Internet radio broadcast elements, the processor is further adapted to cache at least one of introductions for the broadcast song elements, outroductions for the broadcast song elements, news reports, and disc jockey audio elements. 
     
     
         16 . The server of  claim 10  wherein the processor is further adapted to transmit time critical information to the user device comprising at least one of stock quotes, weather information, and traffic information. 
     
     
         17 . The server of  claim 10  wherein the server is further adapted to:
 without selection from the user device, automatically select an alert broadcast element selected from a group consisting of a weather alert broadcast element, a traffic alert broadcast element, and a stock price alert broadcast element based on the user profile; 
 halt transmission of one of the plurality of broadcast elements to the user device prior to completion of the transmission of the one of the plurality of broadcast elements; and 
 transmit the alert broadcast element to the user device while the transmission of the one of the plurality of broadcast elements is halted. 
 
     
     
         18 . The server of  claim 10  wherein the advertisement broadcast elements comprises advertisements based on demographics in the user profile. 
     
     
         19 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with software for instructing a processor to:
 maintain a user profile associated with a user device, the user profile including information relating to a preference of a user associated with the user profile;   maintain a user listening history comprising a list identifying at least a portion of a plurality of Internet radio broadcast elements previously transmitted to the user device and a time at which each Internet radio broadcast element of the at least a portion of the plurality of Internet radio broadcast elements was previously played by the user device;   in response to the user device logging in and without selection from the user device, automatically cache a plurality of Internet radio broadcast elements sufficient to be played for a predetermined time period and comprising a plurality of song broadcast elements and a plurality of advertising broadcast elements, each element based on at least one of the user profile and the user listening history, and a personalized broadcast element that includes a reference to a name of the user associated with the user device; and   transmit the cached plurality of broadcast elements to the user device.   
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 19  wherein to cache the plurality of Internet radio broadcast elements, the processor is adapted to cache a pre-determined number of song broadcast elements and a predetermined number of advertisement broadcast elements. 
     
     
         21 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 19  wherein to cache a plurality of Internet radio broadcast elements, the processor is further adapted to cache at least one of introductions for the broadcast song elements, outroductions for the broadcast song elements, news reports, and disc jockey audio elements. 
     
     
         22 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 19  wherein the processor is further adapted to:
 without selection from the user device, automatically select an alert broadcast element selected from a group consisting of a weather alert broadcast element, a traffic alert broadcast element, and a stock price alert broadcast element based on the user profile; 
 halt transmission of one of the plurality of broadcast elements to the user device prior to completion of the transmission of the one of the plurality of broadcast elements; and 
 transmit the alert broadcast element to the user device while the transmission of the one of the plurality of broadcast elements is halted.