TikTok parent company ByteDance (and its affiliates) are prolific inventors.
Bloomberg Law reported in March that the company has over 900 active patents in the US alone with 600 pending. And according to Insights Gate, ByteDance had over 9,000 patents globally as of October 2023, 7,553 of which are active.
MBW has reported extensively on the company’s music-related patents to date. In August 2022, for example, we broke the news that TikTok owned a patent in the US for a music service; a year later, TikTok launched its premium music streaming platform, now known as TikTok Music.
In March, we ran two reports investigating ByteDance and its mysterious affiliate Lemon Inc.’s research into AI music.
Today we can reveal one of ByteDance’s latest patent applications in the United States – which appears to describe an electronic device that can play music.
The application, filed in the US in December 2023 and spotted by MBW, is titled: “Method and device for music play”.
The filing seems to be a continuation of an application originally filed in 2022 in China for the same invention.
That application is also currently pending. The pending US version was published in April.
In the summary section of the document, which you can read in full here, ByteDance explains: “Users may play music through electronic devices” but “the music play mode of the conventional music apps [offer a] lack of flexibility, and therefore the play effect is unsatisfied” [sic].
ByteDance explains that “the first aspect” of its invention is a “method for music play” comprising a “target application for playing music” and an “interface” that includes an “operation control for enhancing a play effect of the music through at least one processing, the processing being used for representing music content in a way more than sound”.
The second aspect of the invention describes “an apparatus for music play”, which features an “interface including an operation control for enhancing a play effect of the music” and “for representing music content in a way more than sound.”
ByteDance describes the third aspect of the invention as an “electronic device comprising at least one processor and memory.”
The document describes a device and application that feature a flashing light source, a flashing screen, and vibration functions that are all impacted by changes in music playback.
ByteDance explains that “attributes” such vibration, as well as flashing frequency, brightness, and color of the light source and screen “may relate to the beat point in the music, a change point of a voice in the music, and a change point of an instrument sound in the music.”
“Attributes such as flashing frequency, brightness, and color of the light source may relate to the music, for example, the attributes may relate to the beat point in the music, a change point of a voice in the music, and a change point of an instrument sound in the music.”
Bytedance patent filing
The company adds in the filing: “The change point of the voice and/or the instrument sound may include a volume change point, a timbre change point, and a tone change point.”
These features, including flashing lights and vibration that correspond to the music, “can be fixed, or randomly set, or pre-set by a corresponding operation control”.
ByteDance says in the filing that the vibration feature is “performed according to the vibration intensity”, for example, “the larger the time interval, the smaller the vibration intensity.”
Meanwhile, “the smaller the time interval, the greater the vibration intensity.” (This sounds like the way a Playstation or X Box controller vibrates during gameplay.)
“In this way, the vibration effect may be more flexible and the experience of enjoying the music may be enhanced for the user,” the filing says.
The image (Figure 3) below shows an interface that includes the name of a track, lyrics, and an area for controlling the playback which appears to feature download, like, search, and share buttons.
Figure 4, meanwhile, shows more functions, including a sleep timer, ‘stealth settings’, a ‘favourites’ button and an “Exciting” mode button, which the filing explains “can enhance the play effect of the music” with flashing lights, a flashing screen and vibration, for example.
A smart device manufactured by ByteDance that can play music isn’t that far-fetched a concept.
In 2020, the company launched the educational-focused Dali smart lamp with a touch screen in China for parents to connect with their children remotely via a mobile app.
The diagram of ByteDance’s proposed invention above also appears to show a ‘Music for Children’ section. Music-enabled smart devices for children are big business right now.
Just last week, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife’s investment fund joined a $22 million funding round for kids audio platform Yoto.
As we mentioned at the start of this article, ByteDance subsidiary TikTok also has a US patent, which you can read here, for a “Method of enabling digital music content to be downloaded to and used on a portable wireless computing device”. TikTok also runs a Premium music service (and Spotify rival) in Indonesia, Brazil Australia, Mexico and Singapore.
Could ByteDance be planning to launch an iPod-like device loaded with TikTok Music that can display lyrics and a light show that plays in sync with the music?
Who knows. Watch this space…Music Business Worldwide