1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to media playback and more specifically to adapting media playback to fill a calculated period of time.
2. Introduction
Media playback has become an important part of everyday life for many people. As media becomes more and more ubiquitous through technology, media playback may be abruptly cut short. For example, a person listening to sports scores on the radio while commuting to work may hear all the baseball scores, but miss half of the basketball highlights because the trip to work was 10 minutes too short. This is only one example of a myriad of situations where portions of media content are cut short and the listener is left with partial or incomplete information.
Another example of this problem is holding queues for reaching customer service or technical support. Often callers are forced to wait in a queue for the next available person when they call for computer help or with customer service questions, and background music is played while they wait. Media content, such as songs or news reports, is often cut short when the holding time is over, leaving the user hanging, and possible slightly irritated when their call is finally answered.
One approach in the art is to create and play back multiple, very short segments about various topics. One of the drawbacks of this approach is that listeners or viewers may dislike frequent topic changes or may desire more depth about a particular topic before moving on to another. Numerous short segments that are distilled to sound bites are not conducive to recalling critical information.
Another approach in the art is to record broadcast media for time-shifted consumption, like a digital video recorder (DVR). This approach allows the user to record or to pause media playback so no portions are missed, but it requires that the user return to the same location or at least a nearby location to finish listening to or viewing the content. Also, recording devices are typically limited to homes or other fixed locations. DVRs or their equivalent are not available on cell phones, radios, car stereos, or other mobile devices. A DVR doesn't apply in telephone holding times, either.
These and other shortcomings exist in current approaches of media playback and what is needed in the art is a mechanism to address these issues.