Providing A Radio Station At A User Device Using Previously Obtained DRM Locked Content

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for providing a radio station for playback at a user device using previously obtained Digital Rights Management (DRM) locked content for the radio station. In one embodiment, a radio station application provides the radio station and DRM locked content to be used by the radio station are downloaded to a mobile user device. The DRM locked content includes a number of DRM locked songs that is used for the radio station. Thereafter, a playlist for the radio station is obtained or generated, where the playlist for the radio station includes at least a subset of the DRM locked content provided to the user device for the radio station. Playback of the playlist for the radio station is then provided at the mobile device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A mobile device comprising components including:
 at least one communication interface; and   a controller associated with the at least one communication interface and adapted to:
 download Digital Rights Management (DRM) locked content for a radio station via the least one communication interface, the DRM locked content comprising plurality of DRM locked songs to be used by a radio station application to provide the radio station; 
 receive a playlist for the radio station customized based on a current location of the mobile device, the playlist comprising a plurality of songs including at least a subset of the plurality of DRM locked songs; and 
 provide playback of the playlist. 
   wherein at least one of the components includes at least one electronic hardware component.   
     
     
         2 . The mobile device of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is further adapted to:
 report playback of the plurality of songs for royalty tracking.   
     
     
         3 . The mobile device of  claim 1 , wherein the songs provided to the device are watermarked for radio use only. 
     
     
         4 . The mobile device of  claim 1 , wherein the radio station application provides the radio station which is tied to a vendor. 
     
     
         5 . The mobile device of  claim 1 , wherein the radio station application scans the mobile device to generate a content profile, wherein the content profile includes information identifying songs in the DRM locked content, songs in the owned music content, and songs that may be received by the mobile device from remote sources. 
     
     
         6 . The mobile device of  claim 1 , wherein the radio station application generates a recently played profile based on a play history maintained by a media player application. 
     
     
         7 . The mobile device of  claim 1 , wherein the radio station application is configured to request a vendor profile from a remote source. 
     
     
         8 . The mobile device of  claim 1  wherein the DRM locked content further comprises a plurality of DRM locked audio advertisements and the playlist for the radio station further comprises one or more of the DRM locked advertisements. 
     
     
         9 . The mobile device of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is further adapted to:
 enable the purchasing of products advertised by the one or more audio advertisements.   
     
     
         10 . The mobile device of  claim 1  wherein the DRM locked songs are a high quality version of the songs. 
     
     
         11 . A mobile device comprising components including:
 at least one communication interface; and   a controller associated with the at least one communication interface and adapted to:
 download Digital Rights Management (DRM) locked content for a radio station via the least one communication interface, the DRM locked content comprising plurality of DRM locked songs to be used by a radio station application to provide the radio station; 
 generate a playlist for the radio station, the playlist comprising a plurality of songs including at least a subset of the plurality of DRM locked songs and wherein the playlist is customized based on the a location of the mobile device; and 
 provide playback of the playlist, 
   wherein at least one of the components includes at least one electronic hardware component.   
     
     
         12 . The mobile device of  claim 11  wherein the radio station application is adapted to send a request to a remote source for a playlist strategy and receive a playlist strategy from the remote source which includes at least one rule for generating a customized playlist. 
     
     
         13 . The mobile device of  claim 11 , wherein the request includes: i) a local user profile; ii) a user content profile; and iii) a recently played profile. 
     
     
         14 . The mobile device of  claim 11  wherein the playlist is further customized based on an activity of the mobile device. 
     
     
         15 . The mobile device of  claim 11 , wherein the playlist is customized to give priority to songs or advertisements related to the location of the mobile device. 
     
     
         16 . The mobile device of  claim 11 , wherein the playlist is customized to give priority to advertisements related to the location of the mobile device. 
     
     
         17 . The mobile device of  claim 11 , wherein the playlist is organized so that recently played songs are not repeated for a predetermined amount of time. 
     
     
         18 . The mobile device of  claim 11 , wherein the playlist is customized based on a device profile. 
     
     
         19 . The mobile device of  claim 11 , wherein the playlist is customized based on a purchase history. 
     
     
         20 . The mobile device of  claim 11 , wherein the playlist is customized based on recent songs played by the mobile device. 
     
     
         21 . The mobile device of  claim 11 , wherein the playlist further comprises supplemental content. 
     
     
         22 . The mobile device of  claim 21  wherein the supplemental content comprises one or more audio advertisements. 
     
     
         23 . The mobile device of  claim 22 , wherein the one or more audio advertisements are subject to rules regarding a non-advertisement to advertisement ratio. 
     
     
         24 . The mobile device of  claim 22 , wherein the one or more audio advertisements are selected based on a plurality of profile information. 
     
     
         25 . The mobile device of  claim 21  wherein the supplemental content comprises one or more visual advertisements. 
     
     
         26 . A system comprising system components including:
 a mobile device comprising:
 at least one communication interface operably in communication with other system components; and 
 a controller associated with the at least one communication interface and adapted to:
 download Digital Rights Management (DRM) locked content for a radio station from a vendor service via the least one communication interface, the DRM locked content comprising plurality of DRM locked songs to be used by a radio station application to provide the radio station; 
 request a playlist for the radio station, the playlist comprising a plurality of songs including at least a subset of the plurality of DRM locked songs; 
 receive the playlist for the radio station customized based on a current location of the mobile device; and 
 provide playback of the playlist; 
 
   a device for providing the vendor service comprising:
 at least one device communication interface operably in communication with other system components; and 
 a device controller associated with the at least one device communication interface and adapted to enable downloading of the DRM locked content; and 
   a radio station device for providing a radio station service, the radio station device comprising:
 at least one radio station communication interface operably in communication with other system components; and 
 a radio station service controller associated with the at least one radio station communication interface and adapted to:
 generate the playlist for the radio station in response to receiving a request for the playlist; and 
 send the playlist to the mobile device, 
 
   wherein at least one of the system components includes at least one electronic hardware component.   
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein in generating the playlist for the radio station, the radio station service controller is adapted to further customize the playlist for the radio station based on an activity of the mobile device. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein in generating the playlist for the radio station, the radio station service controller is adapted to further customize the playlist for the radio station to give priority to songs or advertisements related to the location of the mobile device. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein in generating the playlist for the radio station, the radio station service controller is adapted to further customize the playlist for the radio station to give priority to advertisements related to the location of the mobile device. 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein in generating the playlist for the radio station, the radio station service controller is adapted to organize the playlist for the radio station so that recently played songs are not repeated for a predetermined amount of time. 
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein in generating the playlist for the radio station, the radio station service controller is adapted to further customize the playlist for the radio station based on a device profile. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein in generating the playlist for the radio station, the radio station service controller is adapted to further customize the playlist for the radio station based on a purchase history. 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein in generating the playlist for the radio station, the radio station service controller is adapted to further customize the playlist for the radio station based on recent songs played by the mobile device. 
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein in generating the playlist for the radio station, the radio station service controller is adapted to include supplemental content in the playlist. 
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 34  wherein the supplemental content comprises one or more audio advertisements. 
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein the one or more audio advertisements are subject to rules regarding a non-advertisement to advertisement ratio. 
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein the one or more audio advertisements are selected based on a plurality of profile information. 
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 34  wherein the supplemental content comprises one or more visual advertisements. 
     
     
         39 . The system of  claim 26  wherein in generating the playlist for the radio station, the radio station service controller is adapted to generate the playlist for the radio station based on one or more rules for the radio station. 
     
     
         40 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the controller is further adapted to report playback of the plurality of songs for royalty tracking to the radio station service and the radio station service is further adapted to determine royalties and effect payment of the royalties.