WO2002041211A1

WO2002041211A1 - Method for dertermining grade of song through internet popularity vote tournament and selling the song based on the determined grade

Info

Publication number: WO2002041211A1
Application number: PCT/KR2001/001966
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hee-Wan Park
Original assignee: Park Hee Wan
Priority date: 2000-11-20
Filing date: 2001-11-16
Publication date: 2002-05-23
Also published as: AU2002223142A1; KR20010008273A

Abstract

Popularity grade of a song or music is determined through an Internet popularity vote tournament whereby multiple pairs of songs are subjected to popularity vote through the Internet to thereby decide a plurality of first stage winner songs. The first stage winner songs will then be grouped and compete in pair, thus deciding a group of half-reduced second stage winner songs. The second stage winner songs are again half-reduced into third stage winner songs through the pair-by-pair Internet popularity vote. Such popularity vote will be repeatedly carried out until a most popular song is decided. During and after the popularity vote, one or more of the voted songs may be on-line sold to a voter who wants to purchase the same. The higher the ranking of the voted songs, the greater the sales price thereof.

Description

METHOD FOR DETERMINING GRADE OF SONG

THROUGH INTERNET POPULARITY VOTE TOURNAMENT

AND SELLING THE SONG BASED ON THE DETERMINED GRADE

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a method for evaluating a song on the Internet, and, more particularly, to a method for determining a ^' ranking of a song by a popularity vote tournament through the Internet and selling the song based on the determined ranking of the song.

Background Art

• There have been known various ways whereby one can introduce and sell a new song to the public. First, as a conventional way, there is a method for introducing and selling a song by way of producing a record of the song and introducing it to people. After a recording company makes a new record, the song in the record is introduced to people via radios or TVs and persons who would like to listen to the song buys the record. However, this introduction and sale method of the record has some problems as follows. First, a singer who wants to have his/her own record should usually prepare several songs for a single record, i.e., the singer can't produce the record until he/she prepares several songs. That is, because the record can't be produced with only one song, even if the song is very expected, the song can't directly enter the market. Second, at a user's view point, even when the user likes only one song, he/she should buy a record to listen to the song. That is, although the user may buy the song at a lower price, there is waste because the record should be bought as a one. Finally, it is difficult to manage the record as a medium for the song. Generally, when a number of singers produce many records, respectively, it is very difficult to manage the whole records. As described above, introduction and sale of the song through the record has a risk since the record is produced when nobody knows how many peoples would buy the record. Consequently, a buyer pays for the record including the risk.

Digital compression techniques for an audio signal and the Internet have changed the conventional song introduction and sale through the record. That is, an audio signal for a song is generated and the audio signal is compressed using a compression technique so as to introduce and sell the song through the Internet. Since the song is generated as an audio signal and introduced and sold through the Internet before the record is produced, the song can be introduced and sold one by one, compared with the conventional record. However, in the song introduction and sale through the Internet, there is no way to effectively evaluate the introduced song. Currently, the song evaluation is determined by judgment such as the number of downloading by network users for the songs that are arranged in the order of alphabet or date. This currently used judgment has proven inefficient and unreasonable to determine the price of a specific song.

Disclosure of the Invention It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for determining a ranking of a song by a popularity vote tournament through the Internet and selling the song based on the determined ranking of the song.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for introduction, evaluation and sale of a plurality of songs through user's vote tournament at an Internet web site, comprising the steps of: (a) generating and storing a match table of the tournament by pairing the plurality of the songs; (b) when a user visits the web site, requesting the user to make selection between two songs of a given pair in the match table of the tournament; (c) repeating the step (b) until a vote count becomes a predetermined number, determining a winner song out of the two songs that will advance to an upper match depending on the vote result as the vote count reaches the predetermined number, determining pairs of winner songs to compete in the upper match, and determining the price for sale of the winner songs that have advanced to the upper match; (d) storing the winner songs that have advanced to the upper match, the pairs of songs to compete in the upper match, and the price for sale of the winner songs determined at the step (c) ; and (e) repeatedly carrying out the steps (b) through (d) until a final winner song is determined out of the songs named in the match table.

The inventive method further comprises providing a purchase window whenever the user wishes to buy one or more of the winner songs determined in the vote tournament, determining whether the user selects a song through the purchase window, notifying the user of the price of the song selected for purchase and determining whether the user makes settlement for purchase of the selected song, and providing the selected song to the user when the settlement is made.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The above and other objects and features of the instant invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of Internet environment in which the present invention is employed;

Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the method for determining a ranking of a song in a tournament and selling the song based on the ranking of the song in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 3 shows an example of a screen for a vote window which will be provided when a user visits the web site in which the present invention is employed; and Fig. 4 depicts an example of the price for sale of songs determined by a tournament method in accordance with the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying out the Invention Referring first to Fig. 1, there is illustrated a schematic diagram of Internet environment in which a method for determining a ranking of a song in a tournament and selling the song based on the ranking of the song according to the present invention is employed. As shown, a song ranking determination and sale server 100 is connected to a database 110 that stores entry songs, their rankings and prices. The server 100 is also connected to song grader or purchaser PCs 130, 140 through the Internet. It is preferable to use a dedicated line in the connection between the song ranking determination and sale server 100 and the Internet 120, or between the grader or purchaser PCs 130, 140 and the Internet 120 to ensure stable and rapid communication. Here, the term "Internet" may be a wired network or a wireless network. For the wireless network, the grader or purchaser PCs 130, 140 as a member through which the user can access the Internet will be a wireless communication terminal such as a handheld phone and a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) . Nowadays, since the server system that can be connected to the Internet is well known, detailed description therefor will be omitted for the sake of simplicity.

In carrying out the present invention, the database 110 for the entry songs and their rankings and prices is adapted to store initially inputted data and updated data. For example, detailed information for all of the entry songs in the tournament (including audio data for used in a streaming service that is provided for user's grading of the songs, and music compression data for sale) , tournament advance status of all of the entry songs in the tournament, predetermined prices depending on the tournament advance, and information and result for the tournaments that have been gone through. In an embodiment of the present invention, the song ranking determination and sale server 100 and the database 110 are described separately but they may be implemented in a single computer.

Referring now to Fig. 2, a method will be described for determining a ranking of a song in a tournament through the Internet popularity vote and selling the song based on the ranking of the song in accordance with the present invention, which is executed at the song ranking determination and sale server 100.

First of all, the song ranking determination and sale server 100 that carries out the method of the present invention determines whether a user makes an access (log-in) to a tournament web site at the step S200. Then, at the step S202, the server 100 determines whether the user who have got access to the server wants to make a vote or a purchase. If the user selects the vote, the server 100 displays two competing songs to be subjected to the vote depending on the match table of the tournament that^' is currently run, at the step S204. The match table may be prepared by an operator of the server 100. As shown in Fig. 3 as an example, a window for the vote 300 displays the currently run match and two candidate songs to be subjected to the vote. When the user selects one of the two competing songs, the streaming service for the selected song enables the user to listen to the selected song. As shown in a window 310 in Fig. 3, a song grading window may be provided to effectively select the song. By grading for each item provided in the song grading window, a new song can be evaluated effectively. Upon completing grading of the song, the streaming service for the other song is automatically provided and the grading window is also provided so that the user can evaluate the other song as described above. When completing evaluation of the two songs, vote result for the two songs are provided to the user, for example, through a display window 330.

When the user completes the vote as described above, it is determined whether the number of a current vote count is larger than a predetermined number at the step S208. If not, the process proceeds to the step S204. Otherwise, the song that will advance to a next upper match is determined depending on the accumulated vote result and the price for sale of that song is determined at the step S210. The higher the match level is, the higher the price for sale becomes. For example, as shown in Fig. 4, the price may be determined as 1000 won (Korean bill unit) for the final winner song, 800 won for the semi-final winner songs, 600 won for the quarter- final winner songs, 400 won for the best eight winner songs and 200 won for the best sixteen winner songs, and so on.

A winner song advanced to the upper match, a next competing pair of songs, and sale price that are determined at the step S210 are stored at the DB 110. Then, at step S214, it is determined whether a competing song exists or not. If exists, the process proceeds to the step S204. Otherwise, the process is ended.

On the other hand, if the user selects the purchase of a song at the step S202 set forth above, a purchase window is provided to the user at the step S216. When the user selects a song to purchase in the purchase window or retrieves the song at the step S220, it is determined whether the user makes payment of the song purchase fees at step S220. The payment may be preferably made, for example, by an electro- commerce payment solution or an electronic card. Since the payment method and solution are well known in the art, there would be no need to provide detailed description therefor.

In the event that the user is determined to have made the payment at the step S220, the server will allow the user to download the selected song at the step S222, after which the process is ended.

Industrial Applicability As described hereinabove, according to the song ranking determination tournament of the present invention, entry songs of which rankings are to be determined are grouped in pair. As the user gains access to the network or web site, a process for selecting preferred one of the paired songs is progressed. Through this process, one half of the entry songs are dropped out while the other half are allowed to advance to the upper matches. In this way, the number of the entry songs is reduced from 64 to 32, 16, 8, 4 and 2, until the most popular song is determined in a final match. All of the voters who listen to the songs serve as judges, thus assuring accurate and reasonable popularity evaluation.

Furthermore, the inventive method makes it possible to hold many different kinds of on-line music tournaments depending on the genres, singer levels, gender of singers, languages, areas or countries. The match can be fairly carried out by limiting the number of voters for each match of the tournament.

The song ranking determination by vote tournament can be performed by use of any language through the Internet, thereby making it possible to hold a music world cup over the word people. And, other interesting game than set forth above would be executable by use of the inventive method.

In closing, the method of the present invention help reasonably evaluate a song by determining the ranking of the song in an Internet vote tournament. Moreover, the inventive method assures that a user can purchase his/her preferred song at a reasonably determined price.

While the present invention has been shown and described with respect to the particular embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for introduction, evaluation and sale of a plurality of songs through user's vote tournament at an Internet web site, comprising the steps of:

(a) generating and storing a match table of the tournament by pairing the plurality of the songs;

(b) when a user visits the web site, requesting the user to make selection between two songs of a given pair in the match table of the tournament;

(c) repeating the step (b) until a vote count becomes a predetermined number, determining a winner song out of the two songs that will advance to an upper match depending on the vote result as the vote count reaches the predetermined number, determining pairs of winner songs to compete in the upper match, and determining the price for sale of the winner songs that have advanced to the upper match;

(d) storing the winner songs that have advanced to the upper match, the pairs of songs to compete in the upper match, and the price for sale of the winner. songs determined at the step (c) ; and

(e) repeatedly carrying out the steps (b) through (d) until a final winner song is determined out of the songs named in the match table.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising: providing a purchase window whenever the user wishes to buy one or more of the winner songs determined in the vote tournament; determining whether the user selects a song through the purchase window; notifying the user of the price of the song selected for purchase and determining whether the user makes settlement for purchase of the selected song; and providing the selected song to the user when the settlement is made.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the step (b) includes the step of providing a vote window for facilitating selection of a song by the user.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the price of a song becomes greater as the song advances to the upper match in the vote tournament.