Latest Apple Patent Seeks to Expand Tagging Technology

Apple’s patent filings are one of the major driving forces behind the unstoppable Apple rumors.  While most patents never see the light of day, Apple’s latest patent is likely to be incorporated in the upcoming models of company’s portable media devices. The US Patent & Trademark Office recently published an application titled “Tagging Media Assets, Locations, and Advertisements.”

The invention (US Patent # 20080183757) seeks to expand tagging technology into the mainstream use.

Apple already supports HD Radio tagging feature and users can stream video from their iPods directly into their TVs, as well as tag HD Radio Stations. For example, this can be accomplished with Polk Audio’s I-Sonic Entertainment System 2 (I-Sonic ES2). This system accepts all iPod models with an integrated iPod dock on the top and a universal adapter hidden beneath a sliding door. S-Video and composite video outputs allow you to connect any television or video monitor to the I-Sonic ES2 for viewing video content stored on your iPod. This system is fully compatible with Apple’s implementation of the HD Radio tagging feature. Whenever users listen to HD Radio and hear a song they like, they can simply hit the “TAG” button on the front of the I-Sonic ES2 to capture the song’s information on their iPod. Then the next time they sync their iPod, user can download tagged songs via the Apple iTunes music store.

Apple’s latest patent filing seeks to expand this ‘tagging’ feature with targeted location based advertisements, while at the same time incorporating this type of technology into the mainstream use by allowing iPod and iPhone users to take advantage of the tagging feature when listening to the radio, watching videos, or even renting movies on their portable media devices.

In its patent filing, Apple described the invention as: “An accessory communicates with a PMD [portable media device] to store tags associated with broadcasts in a file maintained in a storage medium of the accessory. In one embodiment, the accessory sends a command to the PMD to create or open a tag file that resides on the PMD. Once opened, the tag file is held open by the PMD until the accessory closes it (or disconnects), allowing multiple tags to be written to one file. Each time the user requests a new tag, the accessory generates a tag containing information descriptive of the broadcast material (e.g., song title, artist, radio station identifier, time of tagging, etc.) and writes the tag to the tag file using a write command to the PMD.”

Furthermore, the portable media device can be coupled to an accessory that is capable of receiving broadcasts (see example here). A tag associated with the data tag may be used to perform a number of different actions by a number of different systems. For example, a tag may be used to obtain additional information, advertisements, or access to (e.g., purchase, receive for free, etc.) media content. The media device may also use the tag to obtain additional information, advertisements, or access to (e.g., purchase, receive for free, etc.) non-media information.