I wouldn’t read too much into it right now, but keep an eye out for it...A patent granted to Microsoft this week hints at the invention of new technology for personalizing searches for online media, particularly music titles. The patent, granted July 5, is for a method that can train people to analyze media and apply “fundamental properties” that can be matched to computerized analysis such as DSP (digital signal processing).

Such technology might be used to personalize an e-commerce user’s search for online music on MSN.com, or may be integrated into a highly intelligent search engine that can identify similar music according to how a song actually sounds, according to this story.