Jukebox menu navigation system

Abstract

A plurality of jukeboxes each having a display, input component, audio output, and controller are connected over a network. The controller is configured to play music data sets selected by a user and to store local affinity data uploadable to the network. The controller is further configured to store network popularity and affinity data received from the network. The controller causes the display to present menus and screens based on the data received from the network. The controller is also configured to perform searches over multiple identification categories and store collections of music data sets based on multiple identification categories.

1 . A jukebox device configured to play music data sets, each music data set having a plurality of identification values corresponding to a respective plurality of identification categories, the jukebox device comprising:
 (a) a display;   (b) an input component;   (c) an audio output; and   (d) a controller configured to:
 (i) receive from the input component a string of characters; 
 (ii) search simultaneously across the plurality of identification categories for identification values containing the string of characters, 
 (iii) cause the display to present, for each of the plurality of identification categories, the identification values containing the string of characters in an order according to network popularity data received from a network to which the jukebox device is connected, the network popularity data including popularity values for at least a portion of the plurality of identification values in at least one of identification categories, the popularity values being determined from a number of times each music data set is selected for play. 
   
     
     
         2 . The jukebox device of  claim 1 , wherein the display is a touchscreen video display. 
     
     
         3 . The jukebox device of  claim 1 , wherein the input component is at least one component selected from the group consisting of a touchscreen input from the display, a pushbutton, a track-ball, a touchpad, a mouse, a joy-stick, a foot-pedal, a voice recognition system, a keypad, and a keyboard. 
     
     
         4 . The jukebox device of  claim 1 , wherein the string of characters is a word, a phrase, or a fragment thereof. 
     
     
         5 . The jukebox device of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of identification categories includes at least one of an album title, an artist name, a song title, or a genre of music. 
     
     
         6 . (canceled) 
     
     
         7 . A jukebox network system having a plurality of jukebox devices connected over a network, each of the jukebox devices comprising:
 (a) a display;   (b) an input component;   (c) an audio output; and   (d) a controller configured to:
 (i) store local affinity data uploadable to the network, the local affinity data including identification of music data sets selected from a plurality of music data sets during a common credit session, 
 (ii) store network affinity data generated and received from the network, the network affinity data including pairs of music data sets having high affinity values determined from the local affinity data received by the network from the plurality of jukebox devices, 
 (iii) retrieve for play a first music data set selected by a user upon establishment of one or more credits, and 
 (iv) cause the display to present an option to select and play at least one second music data set selected from the network affinity data. 
   
     
     
         8 . The jukebox network system of  claim 7 , wherein the network notifies the plurality of jukebox devices of the availability of newly generated network affinity data. 
     
     
         9 . The jukebox network system of  claim 8 , wherein at least one of the plurality of jukebox devices requests to download at least a portion of the network affinity data from the controller upon receipt of the notification. 
     
     
         10 . The jukebox network system of  claim 7 , wherein the controller is configured to request to download at least a portion of the network affinity data upon selection of the first music data set. 
     
     
         11 . The jukebox network system of  claim 7 , wherein the local affinity data includes the number of times that two or more music data sets were selected for play during the common credit session. 
     
     
         12 . The jukebox network system of  claim 7 , wherein the local affinity data is uploaded to the network at predetermined periodic intervals. 
     
     
         13 . A jukebox network system having a plurality of jukebox devices connected over a network, each of the jukebox devices comprising:
 (a) a display;   (b) an input component;   (c) an audio output; and   (d) a controller configured to:
 (i) retrieve for play at least one music data set selected by a user from a plurality of music data sets upon establishment of one or more credits, each music data set having a plurality of identification values corresponding to a respective plurality of identification categories, 
 (ii) store local play data, the local play data being uploadable to the network and including a number of times each music data set is selected for play on each jukebox device, 
 (iii) store network popularity data received from the network, the network popularity data including popularity values for at least a portion of the plurality of identification values in at least one of identification categories, the popularity values being determined from the local play data received by the network from the plurality of jukebox devices, and 
 (iv) cause the display, for a user-selected one of the plurality of identification values in at least one user-selected identification category, to present corresponding identification values in another of the identification categories in a predetermined configuration based on the respective popularity values of the corresponding identification values. 
   
     
     
         14 . The jukebox network system of  claim 13 , wherein the network sends network popularity data to each of the plurality of jukebox devices either at predetermined periodic intervals or upon receipt of a request for network popularity data by the jukebox device. 
     
     
         15 . The jukebox network system of  claim 13 , wherein the network popularity data includes the number of times a particular music data set was selected for play during a predetermined time period. 
     
     
         16 . The jukebox network system of  claim 13 , wherein a jukebox device requests network popularity data from the network for all of the identification categories. 
     
     
         17 . The jukebox network system of  claim 13 , wherein the user-selected identification value is an artist and the corresponding identification values are songs of the artist. 
     
     
         18 . The jukebox network system of  claim 13 , wherein the user-selected identification value is an album and the corresponding identification values are songs on the album. 
     
     
         19 . The jukebox network system of  claim 13 , wherein the predetermined configuration of the corresponding identification values is a listing of the corresponding identification values in order from corresponding identification values having the highest popularity values to corresponding identification values having the lowest popularity values. 
     
     
         20 . The jukebox network system of  claim 13 , wherein the predetermined configuration of the corresponding identification values is an ordering of the corresponding identification values with at least one of the corresponding identification values being emphasized.