Automatic hierarchical categorization of music by metadata

Abstract

A method, performed by software executing on the processor of a portable music playback device, that automatically files tracks according to hierarchical structure of categories to organize tracks in a logical order. A user interface is utilized to change the hierarchy, view track names, and select tracks for playback or other operations. The user interface uses an overlapping hierarchy of categories. A song title can be accessed in multiple different ways by starting with different categories. A preferred embodiment of the invention uses the top-level categories “Albums”, “Artists”, “Genres” (or styles), and “Play Lists”. Within the Albums category are names of different albums of songs stored in the device. Within each album are the album tracks, or songs, associated with that album. Navigation is performed by presenting a sequence of display screens for each level of the hierarchy.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method of receiving inputs to play one or more music tracks stored in a portable media player having a display, the stored tracks having associated metadata of first, second and third types, and wherein said metadata is stored in a hierarchy in a computer readable media of the portable media player, wherein each level of a plurality of levels of the hierarchy corresponds to a respective type of the metadata, comprising the steps of:
 in response to a first user input, displaying categories in the first level of the stored hierarchy;   in response to a second user input selecting a first category, displaying sub-categories within the second level of the stored hierarchy; and   in response to a third user input selecting a first sub-category, displaying tracks in the third level of the stored hierarchy.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein at least one of the stored tracks is included within more than one of the categories. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising the step of in response to a fourth user input, playing at least one of the displayed tracks. 
     
     
         5 . A method of accessing music tracks stored in a portable media player having a display, comprising the steps of:
 establishing a hierarchical tree structure defining a plurality of categories of tracks in a first level, a plurality of sub-categories of tracks in a second level, and a plurality of tracks in a third level, the hierarchical tree structure stored in memory in the portable media player;   displaying a list of categories in a first screen on the display;   receiving a first user input selecting one of the displayed categories;   accessing through the tree structure the sub-categories belonging to the selected category;   displaying the accessed sub-categories in a second screen on the display;   receiving a second user input selecting one of the displayed sub-categories;   accessing through the tree structure the tracks belonging to the selected sub-category;   displaying the accessed tracks belonging to the selected sub-category;   receiving a third user input; and   playing one or more of the displayed tracks in response to the third user input.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the list of categories comprises at least artist, album and user. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein receipt of the first user input results in an automatic transition from the first screen to the second screen. 
     
     
         8 . A portable media player, comprising:
 a computer readable medium comprising a plurality of stored musical tracks having associated metadata;   a processor;   a computer readable medium having data stored therein that defines a hierarchical organization of the plurality of stored musical tracks, the hierarchical organization organizing said tracks in reference to a plurality of categories and a plurality of sub-categories, and wherein each of said tracks appears in one or more categories, and further appears in at least one sub-category;   a computer-readable medium containing instructions that when executed by the processor of the portable media player, perform operations comprising,
 providing a user interface to facilitate access to tracks of said plurality of musical tracks through use of the stored hierarchical organization, including,
 displaying a list of the categories of the stored hierarchical organization; 
 receiving a first user input selecting one of the listed categories; 
 displaying a list of the stored sub-categories of the stored hierarchical organization that belong to the selected category; 
 receiving a second user input selecting one of the sub-categories; 
 displaying the tracks of the selected sub-category; 
 receiving a third user input; and 
 playing one or more of the displayed tracks in response to the third user input. 
 
   
     
     
         9 . The portable media player of  claim 8 , wherein at least one track is associated with multiple sub-categories. 
     
     
         10 . The portable media player of  claim 8 , wherein at least one track is associated with multiple categories. 
     
     
         11 . A method of controlling a portable media player including a display and a computer readable medium comprising a plurality of stored musical tracks having associated metadata, comprising the steps of:
 storing a multi-level tree structure in memory of the portable media player, the stored hierarchical tree structure defining a plurality of categories of the stored tracks, wherein each track of said plurality of tracks is assigned to at least one category in response to the metadata associated with that track;   displaying a list of the categories of the stored multi-level tree structure in a first display screen;   receiving a first user input selecting one of the displayed categories;   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the stored information belonging to the selected category comprises at least one track; and wherein the step of accessing through the multi-level tree structure the stored information belonging to the selected category comprises displaying the tracks belonging to the selected category. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the stored information belonging to the selected category comprises at least one sub-category, and wherein the step of accessing through the multi-level tree structure the stored information belonging to the selected category comprises:
 displaying the sub-categories belonging to the selected category in a second display screen;   receiving a second user input selecting one of the displayed sub-categories; and
 displaying the tracks belonging to the selected sub-category in a third screen.