Universal music apparatus for unifying access to multiple specialized music servers
First Claim
1. A universal music apparatus for unifying data accesses with multiple specialized music servers coupled to a network, said universal music apparatus comprising:
- a program engine configured to;
communicate via one or more communication protocols with any of said multiple specialized music servers, and access any of said multiple specialized music servers to acquire media data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computer readable medium, system, method and universal music apparatus are disclosed for unifying access over a network to multiple specialized music servers. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a universal music apparatus can include a universal discovery module to discover specialized music servers responsive to one or more discovery protocols, an object manager to determine music server processes for serving music files in accordance with one or more communication protocols, and a number of interfaces each being configured to exchange data with an associated music server process using one or more communication protocols that the universal music apparatus can implement. The generalized music server functions enable the universal music apparatus to communicate with any of the discovered music servers, which typically require music players to perform only the proprietary, unique functions of a specialized music server. In one embodiment, a universal music player provides for fast browsing of music libraries, among other things.
50 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A universal music apparatus for unifying data accesses with multiple specialized music servers coupled to a network, said universal music apparatus comprising:
a program engine configured to;
communicate via one or more communication protocols with any of said multiple specialized music servers, and access any of said multiple specialized music servers to acquire media data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A computer readable medium including executable instructions to unify data accesses at a universal music player that is coupled via a network to multiple specialized music servers, said computer readable medium comprising executable instructions to:
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discover one or more of at least two specialized music servers to form one or more discovered music servers, each being responsive to different discovery protocols;
identify different data access protocols for accessing data representing music, said different data access protocols being used by music server processes implemented at said one or more discovered music servers;
select one of said different data access protocols as a selected data access protocol; and
map a generalized music server function to executable instructions that are configured to implement a server-dependent function using said selected data access protocol, wherein said generalized music server function is configured to map to a plurality of sets of executable instructions, each set being operable to access said data for retrieval from one of said one or more discovered music servers. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification