System and Method for Concurrently Downloading Digital Content and Recording to Removable Media

• US 20060294376A1
• Filed: 06/27/2006
• Published: 12/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Novarc LLC
• Original Assignee: Novarc LLC
• Inventors: Sands, Alexander P. IV, Jordan, Marc D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,836,146 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/168
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/552 for downloading to client devices, e.g. using OS version, hardware or software profile of the client device
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00086 Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy indicating unauthorised use of record carriers in general G11B23/28; scrambling for television signal recording H04N5/913; network architectures or network protocols for network security H04L63/00; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/10 Digital recording or reproducing
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/1062 Data buffering arrangements, e.g. recording or playback buffers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2537 Optical discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4184 providing storage capabilities, e.g. memory stick
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440218 by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 conversion of standards in analogue television systems H04N7/01
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309

Abstract

A method, system and program product to simultaneously download and burn digital media files via the Internet, including audio, video, video games and other digital content and data, onto removable storage media on personal computer burners. Large media files can be downloaded by pushing files or portions of files to computer memory and simultaneously downloading and burning files selected by a user. Once a file is burned to disc, it is then deleted from the computer'"'"'s memory. A lossless compression scheme is used for audio files to decrease file size, making the downloading process faster and requiring less hard drive space. Content files other than audio are downloaded and burned through the same one-step process, without using a lossless compression scheme. An alternative method delays the start of the burn process to ensure that the downloaded files are written continuously to the removable storage media.

Claims

1. A method for downloading a plurality of digital files over a computer network and writing the digital files to a removable storage media comprising the steps of:

compiling a list of digital files to download and transmitting the list to a server having the digital files stored in a digital content database;

sequentially downloading each digital file in the list to memory on a client device;

writing each downloaded digital file from memory to the removable storage media while concurrently downloading a next digital file in the list from the server;

erasing each digital file from memory immediately after being written to the removable storage media; and

repeating the sequential retrieval, concurrent writing and subsequent erasing of digital files until each digital file has been written to the removable storage media.

2. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 1 wherein the plurality of digital files are lossless compressed audio files.

3. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 1 wherein the plurality of digital files are uncompressed video files.

4. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 2 further comprising the step of reconverting each downloaded file to an uncompressed format before writing the digital file to the removable storage media.

5. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 1 further comprising the step of compressing each digital file using a lossless audio compression codec.

6. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 1 further comprising the step of segmenting each digital file and transmitting each segment to the client device.

7. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 6 further comprising assembling each segment received by the client device into an original sequence.

8. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 1 wherein the digital content stored at the server is at least one of an audio file, a video file and a video game file.

9. A method for downloading a plurality of digital files over a computer network and writing the digital files to a removable storage media comprising the steps of:

compiling a list of digital files to download and transmitting the list to a server having the digital files stored in a digital content database;

sequentially downloading each digital file in the list to memory on a client device;

determining when the downloaded digital files should begin a continuous writing to the removable storage media;

writing each downloaded digital file from memory to the removable storage media continuously and in sequential order while concurrently downloading a next digital file in the list from the server; and

erasing each digital file from memory immediately after being written to the removable storage media.

10. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 9 wherein the plurality of digital files are lossless compressed audio files.

11. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 9 wherein the plurality of digital files are uncompressed video files.

12. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 10 further comprising the step of reconverting each downloaded file to an uncompressed format before writing the digital file to the removable storage media.

13. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 9 further comprising the step of compressing each digital file using a lossless audio compression codec.

14. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 9 further comprising the step of segmenting each digital file and transmitting each segment to the client device.

15. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 14 further comprising assembling each segment received by the client device into an original sequence.

16. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 9 wherein the digital content stored at the server is at least one of an audio file, a video file and a video game file.

17. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 9 wherein the step of determining when the downloaded digital files should begin a continuous writing to the removable storage media includes estimating a download time and a write time for each digital file in the list.

18. A computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files over a computer network and writing the digital files to a removable storage media, comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable code embedded therein, the computer readable medium comprising:

program instructions that compile a list of digital files to download and transmit the list to a server having the digital files stored in a digital content database;

program instructions that sequentially download each digital file in the list to memory on a client device;

program instructions that write each downloaded digital file from memory to the removable storage media while concurrently downloading a next digital file in the list from the server; and

program instructions that erase each digital file from memory immediately after being written to the removable storage media.

19. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 18 wherein the plurality of digital files are lossless compressed audio files.

20. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 18 wherein the plurality of digital files are uncompressed video files.

21. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 19 further comprising program instructions that reconvert each downloaded file to an uncompressed format before writing the digital file to the removable storage media.

22. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 18 further comprising program instructions that compress each digital file using a lossless audio compression.

23. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 18 further comprising program instructions that segment each digital file and transmit each segment to the client device.

24. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 23 further comprising program instructions that assemble each segment received by the client device into an original sequence.

25. A computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files over a computer network and writing the digital files to a removable storage media, comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable code embedded therein, the computer readable medium comprising:

program instructions that compile a list of digital files to download and transmit the list to a server having the digital files stored in a digital content database;

program instructions that sequentially download each digital file in the list to memory on a client device;

program instructions that determine when the downloaded digital files should begin a continuous writing to the removable storage media;

program instructions that write each downloaded digital file from memory to the removable storage media continuously and in sequential order while concurrently downloading a next digital file in the list from the server; and

program instructions that erase each digital file from memory immediately after being written to the removable storage media.

26. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 25 wherein the plurality of digital files are lossless compressed audio files.

27. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 25 wherein the plurality of digital files are uncompressed video files.

28. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 26 further comprising program instructions that reconvert each downloaded file to an uncompressed format before writing the digital file to the removable storage media.

29. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 25 further comprising program instructions that compress each digital file using a lossless audio compression.

30. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 25 further comprising program instructions that segment each digital file and transmit each segment to the client device.

31. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 30 further comprising program instructions that assemble each segment received by the client device into an original sequence.

32. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 25 wherein the program instructions that determine when the downloaded digital files should begin a continuous writing to the removable storage media include program instructions that estimate a download time and a write time for each digital file in the list.

33. A system for downloading a plurality of digital files over a computer network and writing the digital files to a removable storage media on a client device, comprising:

a component that compiles a list of digital files to download and transmits the list to a server having the digital files stored in a digital content database;

a component that sequentially downloads each digital file in the list to memory on a client device;

a component that writes each downloaded digital file from memory to the removable storage media while concurrently downloading a next digital file in the list from the server; and

a component that erases each digital file from memory immediately after being written to the removable storage media.

34. The system for downloading and writing digital files of claim 33 further comprising a component for reconverting each downloaded file to an uncompressed format before writing the digital file to the removable storage media.

35. The system for downloading and writing digital files of claim 33 further comprising a lossless audio compression codec for compressing each digital file.

36. The system for downloading and writing digital files of claim 33 further comprising a component for segmenting each digital file and transmitting each segment to the client device.

37. The system for downloading and writing digital files of claim 36 further comprising a component for assembling each segment received by the client device into an original sequence.

38. A system for downloading a plurality of digital files over a computer network and writing the digital files to a removable storage media comprising:

a component that compiles a list of digital files to download and transmits the list to a server having the digital files stored in a digital content database;

a component that sequentially downloads each digital file in the list to memory on a client device;

a component that determines when the downloaded digital files should begin a continuous writing to the removable storage media;

a component that writes each downloaded digital file from memory to the removable storage media continuously and in sequential order while concurrently downloading a next digital file in the list from the server; and

a component that erases each digital file from memory immediately after being written to the removable storage media.

39. The system for downloading and writing digital files of claim 38 further comprising a component that reconverts each downloaded file to an uncompressed format before writing the digital file to the removable storage media.

40. The system for downloading and writing digital files of claim 38 further comprising a lossless audio compression codec for compressing each digital file.

41. The system for downloading and writing digital files of claim 38 further comprising a component that segments each digital file and transmits each segment to the client device.

42. The system for downloading and writing digital files of claim 38 further comprising a component that assembles each segment received by the client device into an original sequence.

43. The system for downloading and writing digital files of claim 38 wherein the component that determines when the downloaded digital files should begin a continuous writing to the removable storage media includes a module for estimating a download time and a write time for each digital file in the list.