Visibility of media contents of UPnP media servers and initiating rendering via file system user interface

• US 20040243700A1
• Filed: 05/29/2003
• Published: 12/02/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Weast, John C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,308,489 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2812 describing content present in a home automation network, e.g. audio video content retrieval from the Internet G06F16/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances

Abstract

A computing device is equipped with file system services and media related services that automatically make visible to a user of the computing device, through an user interface of the file system, availability of media contents, on discovery of the availability of the media contents from one or more UPNP media servers. In various embodiments, the file system services and the media related services are further equipped to cause a selected one of the media contents to be rendered by an appropriate one of UPNP media renders, in response to a request to “render” the selected one of the media contents. In other embodiments, the file system services and the media related services may also facilitate removal of discovered media contents as well as addition of media contents to a media server.

Claims

1. In a networked computing device of a network domain, an automated method of operation comprising:

discovering first media contents available from a UPNP media server of the network domain; and

in response to said discovery, automatically creating first corresponding entries in a file system of the networked computing device for the first media contents available from the first UPNP media server, to enable the availability of the first media contents be visible to a user of the networked computing device through an user interface of the file system of the networked computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said automatic creating of first corresponding entries in a file system comprises creating for at least some of the first media contents corresponding pseudo media files in the file system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said automatic creating of first corresponding entries in a file system further comprises storing for the at least some of the first media contents, meta data describing the at least some of the first media contents as properties of the corresponding pseudo media files.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said automatic creating of first corresponding entries in a file system comprises storing for at least some of the first media contents, meta data describing at least some of the first media contents as properties of the corresponding entries.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises

receiving through the user interface of the file system, a request to display meta data describing a selected one of the first media contents in a form of a file system request to display descriptive information of the corresponding entry of the selected one of the first media contents;

and

in response, displaying the requested meta data describing the selected one of the first media contents.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises discovering presence of the first UPNP media server in the network domain.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first UPNP media server resides in the networked computing device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises

discovering second media contents available from a second UPNP media server of the network domain, the second UPNP media server being separate and distinct from the first UPNP media server;

and

in response to said discovery of said second media contents being available from the second UPNP media server, automatically creating second corresponding entries in the file system of the networked computing device for the second media contents available from the second UPNP media server, to enable the availability of the second media contents be visible to the user of the networked computing device, in conjunction with the first media content, through the same user interface of the file system of the networked computing device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises

discovering at least some of the first media contents being available from a second UPNP media server of the network domain, the second UPNP media server being separate and distinct from the first UPNP media server;

and

in response to said discovery of said first media contents being available from the second UPNP media server, updating said first corresponding entries to denote the at least some of the first media contents as being also available from the second UPNP media server.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises

receiving through the user interface of the file system, a request to render a selected one of the first media contents in a form of a request to launch the corresponding entry of the selected one of the first media contents;

and

in response, causing the selected one of the first media contents to be made available from the first UPNP media server to a UPNP media renderer of the network domain to render.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises

receiving a file system entry deletion request for a selected one of the first corresponding entries;

and

in response, deleting the selected one of the first corresponding entries from the file system, to make the corresponding media content unavailable for selection, notwithstanding its availability from the UPNP media server.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises

receiving a file system entry addition request to add a corresponding entry of a media content to the first corresponding entries of the media contents available from the UPNP media server;

and

in response, causing the media content which corresponding entry is to be added to be added to and available from the UPNP media server.

13. In a networked computing device of a network domain, an automated method of operation comprising:

receiving through an user interface of a file system of the networked computing device, a request to render a media content, in form of a file system request to launch an entry of the file system, the entry being corresponding to the media content, but not the media content itself, and the entry having been created to make visible to a user of the networked computing device, availability of the media content; and

in response, causing the media content to be made available from a UPNP media server of the network domain to a UPNP media renderer of the network domain to render.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the file system request to launch the entry comprises a base file system request to open the entry.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein said receiving comprises

receiving through the user interface of the file system, the request to launch the entry;

and

determining the entry against which the launch is requested, is a corresponding entry of the media content, created in the file system to make visible the availability of the media content.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises in response to said request, determining the UPNP media server being a provider of the media content.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises in response to said request, facilitating selection of the UPNP media server.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises in response to said request, causing the UPNP media renderer to receive the media content from the UPNP media server, and render the media content.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises in response to said request, determining the UPNP media renderer being an appropriate renderer of the media content.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises in response to said request, facilitating selection of the UPNP media renderer.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises

facilitating the user in issuing one or more control instructions to control said rendering of the media content;

and

in response, causing at least a selected one of the UPNP media server and the UPNP media renderer to control rendering of the media content as instructed by the user.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the UPNP media server resides on the networked computing device.

23. A computing device comprising

storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions designed to provide

(a) file system services of a file system, and

(b) media related services including a media content management service that automatically makes visible through a user interface of the file system, availability of first media contents, on discovery of the availability of the first media contents from a first UPNP media server;

and

at least one processor coupled to the storage medium to execute the programming instructions.

24. The computing device of claim 23, wherein said media content management service is designed to automatically cause entries corresponding to the first media contents be created in the file system to make visible the availability of the first media contents.

25. The computing device of claim 24, wherein said media content management service is designed to automatically cause entries corresponding to the first media contents to be created in the file system by causing corresponding pseudo media files to be created in the file system for at least some of the first media contents.

26. The computing device of claim 25, wherein said media content management service is further designed to include with said causation of automatic creation of corresponding pseudo media files for the at least some of the first media contents, causation of creation of meta data describing the at least some of the first media contents as properties of the corresponding pseudo media files.

27. The computing device of claim 24, wherein said media content management service is designed to include with said causation of automatic creation of corresponding entries, causation of storage of meta data describing the at least some of the first media contents as properties of the corresponding entries.

28. The computing device of claim 23, wherein the file system services include a display service designed to facilitate and service generic requests to display properties of entries of the file system, as well as media content tailored requests to display meta data of the first media contents.

29. The computing device of claim 23, wherein said computing device is part of a network domain, and said media content management service is further designed to discover presence of said first UPNP media server in the network domain.

30. The computing device of claim 23, wherein the first programming instructions further implement the first UPNP media server.

31. The computing device of claim 23, wherein said media content management service is further designed to automatically cause second entries corresponding to second media contents be created in the file system, to make visible the availability of the second media contents, on discovery of the second media contents being available from a second UPNP media server.

32. The computing device of claim 23, wherein said media content management service is further designed to automatically cause applicable ones of the first entries to be updated to reflect the availability of the corresponding m, to make visible the availability of the second media contents, on discovery of the second media contents being available from a second UPNP media server.

33. The computing device of claim 23, wherein the file system services and the media content management service are further designed to facilitate a user of the computing device in requesting rendering of a selected one of the first media contents, via an user interface of the file system, and in response, causing the selected one of the first media contents be made available from the first UPNP media server to a UPNP media renderer to render.

34. The computing device of claim 33, wherein the computing device is a selected one of a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a palm sized computing device, a pocket personal computer, and a personal digital assistant.

35. The computing device of claim 23, wherein the file system services and the media content management service are further designed to enable a user to delete a selected one of the first corresponding entries using a file system entry deletion request;

in response, the file system services and the media content management service cause the selected one of the first corresponding entries to be deleted from the file system, to make the corresponding media content unavailable for selection, notwithstanding its availability from the UPNP media server.

36. The computing device of claim 23, wherein the file system services and the media content management service are further designed to enable a user to add a media content to the UPNP media server, by adding a corresponding entry of the media content to the first corresponding entries of the media contents available from the UPNP media server.

37. A computing device comprising

storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions designed to provide

(a) file system services of a file system including a launch service to facilitate a user of the computing device in requesting launching of an entry of the file system, and

(b) media related services including a media content management service that cooperates with the launch service, to cause a media content corresponding to an entry requested to be launched, to be provided from a UPNP media server to a UPNP media renderer to render;

and

at least one processor coupled to the storage medium to execute the programming instructions.

38. The computing device of claim 37, wherein the launch service comprises a generic open service to selectively open entries of the file system.

39. The computing device of claim 37, wherein said launch service is equipped to determine whether the entry requested to be launched, is a corresponding entry of the media content, created in the file system to make visible the availability of the media content.

40. The computing device of claim 37, wherein said media content management service is equipped to determine the UPNP media server being a provider of the media content.

41. The computing device of claim 37, wherein said media content management service is equipped to facilitate selection of the UPNP media server.

42. The computing device of claim 37, wherein said media content management service is equipped to cause the UPNP media renderer to receive the media content from the UPNP media server, and render the media content.

43. The computing device of claim 37, wherein said media content management service is equipped to determine the UPNP media renderer being an appropriate renderer of the media content.

44. The computing device of claim 37, wherein said media content management service is equipped to facilitate selection of the UPNP media renderer.

45. The computing device of claim 37, wherein said media content management service is equipped to cause the UPNP media server to provide to media content to the UPNP media renderer.

46. The computing device of claim 37, wherein said media content management service is equipped to cause the UPNP media renderer to receive the media content provided by the UPNP media server.

47. The computing device of claim 37, wherein said media content management service is equipped to

facilitate the user in issuing one or more control instructions to control said rendering of the media content;

and

in response, cause at least a selected one of the UPNP media server and the UPNP media renderer to control rendering of the media content as instructed by the user.

48. The computing device of claim 37, wherein said first programming instructions further implement the UPNP media server.

49. The computing device of claim 37, wherein the computing device is a selected of a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a palm sized computing device, a pocket personal computer, and a personal digital assistant.

50. An article of manufacture comprising:

a recordable medium; and

a plurality of programming instructions recorded thereon, the programming instructions are designed to implement for a computing device

(a) file system services of a file system, and

(b) media related services including a media content management service that automatically makes visible through a user interface of the file system, availability of first media contents, on discovery of the availability of the first media contents from a first UPNP media server.

51. The article of claim 50, wherein the media content management service is further designed to make visible through the same user interface of the file system, availability of second media contents, on discovering the second media contents being available from a second UPNP media server, the first and second UPNP media servers being separate and distinct from each other.