US 6,192,340 · Granted 2001-02-20

The Patent That Dreamed Up Spotify Before Streaming Existed

Imagine a music player that interrupts your favorite songs to read you news headlines, sports scores, or weather updates—customized to what you actually care about. This patent describes exactly that: a system that weaves together your personal music library with real-time information, all automatically scheduled and played back to you.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a system that lets users tell an information provider what news, sports, or data they're interested in, then receives relevant updates and automatically mixes them into their music playback. What's protected here is the specific method of receiving those informational items, arranging them in a sequence alongside songs, and playing them back—including using a voice synthesizer to read the information aloud. The system also tracks when you actually listen to an information item and can award credits for verified listening.

Why it matters

Filed in 1999 and granted in 2001, this patent anticipated the era of personalized, on-demand audio experiences by more than a decade. It imagined a world where entertainment and information wouldn't be separate streams but interleaved based on user preference—a core concept that would later define podcasts, news briefings in music apps, and voice-driven AI assistants. The patent shows an inventor thinking about audio as a medium for delivering customized information, not just entertainment.

Real-world use

Think of a morning commute where your Spotify plays a song, then a text-to-speech voice reads you the day's weather and your team's score before the next track begins, all without you touching anything.

Original USPTO abstract

An apparatus capable of, and a method of, playing audio, the apparatus comprising communicating, processing, and playing means for, and the method comprising the steps of: communicating a user's information preferences to an information provider; receiving, from the information provider, informational items that are responsive to the user's information references; interleaving and sequencing, for the user, a playing of the received informational items with a playing of a plurality of musical items included in an audio library of the user; and playing, for the user and responsive to the interleaving and sequencing, the received informational items within a playing of the plurality of musical items; and wherein the playing comprises a voice synthesizing of an at least one of informational item; wherein the playing is responsive to a schedule preferences of the user; wherein a verified apparent listening of a playing of an informational item is associated with a credit; and/or wherein a user's reception of a communication unrelated to the informational items is integrated within a playing of musical items.

Patent details

Publication number: US 6,192,340
Filing date: 1999-10-19
Grant date: 2001-02-20
Assignee: Max Abecassis
Inventor(s): ABECASSIS MAX
CPC class: H04M1/72403

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