System And Method For Providing Media Content Selections

Abstract

A system and method using events to traverse a content selection path for the purpose of providing media content selections are provided. In general, events are defined based on one or more stimulus such as, but not limited to, a chronological-based stimulus, a location-based stimulus, a user-based stimulus, a third-party stimulus, or a weather-based stimulus. Each of the events is used to trigger one or more associated content selection paths. A content selection path generally defines a set of media content and a manner of stepping through the defined set of media content. In operation, when an event is detected, the associated content selection path is triggered to step to an other step in the content selection path, thereby identifying the media content selections. Then, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the media content selections are obtained from a remote subscription-based service.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 detecting an occurrence of an event associated with a content selection path defining a set of media content and includes a plurality of steps, each of the steps identifying ones of the set of media content; and   traversing the content selection path in response to the occurrence of the event to an other step of the plurality of steps in the content selection path to identify media content selections from the set of media content.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising obtaining the media content selections from a subscription-based service. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising obtaining the media content selections from an associated user device during a synchronization process. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  further comprising defining the content selection path such that the set of media content is limited to media content in a user media collection hosted by the associated user device. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising defining the content selection path such that the set of media content defined by the content selection path is limited to locally stored media content and the media content selections are selections from the locally stored media content. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the event is defined based on at least one stimulus, and detecting the occurrence of the event comprises detecting the at least one stimulus. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  further comprising defining the event based on the at least one stimulus, the at least one stimulus selected from a group consisting of: a chronological-based stimulus, a location-based stimulus, a user-based stimulus, a network-based stimulus, a third-party stimulus, and a weather-based stimulus. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein a plurality of content selection paths including the content selection path are associated with the event, and the method further comprises:
 for each one of the plurality of content selection paths, traversing the one of the plurality of content selection paths in response to the occurrence of the event to an other step of a plurality of steps in the one of the plurality of content selection paths to identify initial media content selections; and 
 combining the initial media content selections from each of the plurality of content selection paths to provide final media content selections. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein combining the initial media content selections from each of the plurality of content selection paths comprises filtering the initial media content selections from each of the plurality of content selection paths based on at least one criterion. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8  wherein combining the initial media content selections from each of the plurality of content selection paths comprises filtering the initial media selections from each of the plurality of content selection paths to remove duplicate selections. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein each of the plurality of steps in the content selection path comprises at least one of a plurality of Billboard charts over a defined period of time, and traversing the content selection path comprises traversing the content selection path to the other step in the content selection path such that the at least one of the plurality of Billboard charts corresponding to the next step identifies the media content selections. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein each of the plurality of steps in the content selection path identifies at least one of a plurality of music albums, and traversing the content selection path comprises traversing the content selection path to the other step in the content selection path such that the at least one of the plurality of albums identified by the next step corresponds to the media content selections. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein each of the plurality of steps in the content selection path comprises at least one of a plurality of defined lists of media content, and traversing the content selection path comprises traversing the content selection path to the other step in the content selection path such that the at least one of the plurality of defined lists of media content identifies the media content selections. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising defining the event and the content selection path such that the event triggers the content selection path.