Rating system for streaming media playback system

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention include a rating system for media network resources. The rating system includes a database comprising a plurality of addresses to media network resources on a network. A network server module is coupleable to the plurality of terminals to access the database to signal one or more addresses from the database to the plurality of terminals. Further, a rating module is included to receive a rating input from each of the plurality of terminals, and then to associate the rating input with a selected address in the database.

1 . A rating system for rating media network resources on a network, the network being coupleable to a plurality of terminals, the rating system comprising: 
 a database comprising a plurality of addresses, each address locating a corresponding media network resource on the network;    a network server module coupleable to the plurality of terminals, the network server module being able to access the database to signal one or more addresses from the database to the plurality of terminals; and    a rating module coupleable to the plurality of terminals, the rating module being able to receive a rating input from each of the plurality of terminals, the rating module associating the rating input with a selected address in the database.    
   
   
       2 . The rating system of  claim 1 , wherein the database includes a rating associated with each of the plurality of addresses.  
   
   
       3 . The rating system of  claim 1 , wherein the rating module accesses the database and reconfigures the rating associated with the selected address in response to receiving the rating input for the selected address.  
   
   
       4 . The rating system of  claim 1 , wherein the database further includes one or more classes of information associated with each of the plurality of addresses.  
   
   
       5 . The rating system of  claim 1 , further comprising a play-list module, the play-list module selecting a combination of the plurality of addresses to form a play-list, the network server module accessing the play-list to signal the combination of addresses to one or more of the terminals.  
   
   
       6 . The rating system of  claim 5 , wherein the rating module receives the rating input from one or more of the terminals for each address that comprises the play-list signaled to that terminals.  
   
   
       7 . The rating system of  claim 5 , wherein the rating module receives a play-list rating input for the play-list from one or more of the terminals receiving the play-list.  
   
   
       8 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the play-list module selects the combination of addresses using the rating associated with each address in the database.  
   
   
       9 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the play-list module selects the combination of addresses using the rating of each address in the database that share a same class of information.  
   
   
       10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the same class of information is selected from a class group consisting of genre, sub-genre, title, and artist.  
   
   
       11 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the play-list module selects the combination of addresses using the rating of each address in the database that share two or more of the same classes of information, each same class of information being selected from a group consisting of genre, sub-genre, title, and artist.  
   
   
       12 . The rating system of  claim 1 , wherein the rating associated with each of the plurality of addresses is a ranking, including a maximum ranking and a minimum ranking.  
   
   
       13 . The rating system of  claim 12 , wherein the rating module receives the ranking from one of the terminals, accesses an existing ranking from the database, and uses an averaging formula to reconfigure the ranking in the database.  
   
   
       14 . The rating system of  claim 13 , wherein the averaging formula is a weighted average.  
   
   
       15 . The rating system of  claim 13 , wherein the averaging formula is a moving average.  
   
   
       16 . A rating system for rating media network resources on a network, the network being coupleable to a plurality of terminals, the rating system comprising: 
 a database comprising a plurality of addresses, each address locating a corresponding media network resource on the network, the database including one or more classes of information associated with each of the plurality of addresses;    a network server module coupleable to the plurality of terminals, the network server module communicating with each of the plurality of terminals to receive a search request, the network server module signaling the database to retrieve one or more addresses from the database in response to the search request, the retrieved addresses being associated with a class of information matching the search request; and    a rating module coupleable to the plurality of terminals, the rating module being able to receive a rating input from each of the plurality of terminals, the rating module associating the rating input with a selected address in the database.    
   
   
       17 . The rating system of  claim 16 , wherein the network module signals the database to retrieve one or more addresses from the database in response to the search request by matching a criteria in the search request with a parameter included with the one or more classes of information.  
   
   
       18 . The rating system of  claim 17 , wherein the one or more classes of information stored in the database with the plurality of addresses is a rating.  
   
   
       19 . The rating system of  claim 16 , wherein the search request also includes a rating standard that selects addresses in the database using a rating associated with each address.