System and Method for Managing Distribution of Media Files

• US 20070038771A1
• Filed: 06/06/2006
• Published: 02/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm Atheros Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm Connected Experiences, Inc. (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Julia, Luc, Courreges, Emmanuel, Delamare, Laurent, Nerriec, Yohan
• Granted Patent: US 8,738,693 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2895 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data provider application, e.g. reverse proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00137 Transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00148 Storage information retrieval G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00164 at a remote location
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00188 Printing, e.g. prints or reprints H04N1/0019, H04N1/00196 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2166 for mass storage, e.g. in document filing systems information retrieval G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/268 Signal distribution or switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/28 Mobile studios
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor

Abstract

A system, method and technique are provided for managing distribution of digital images and other media. A host computer may store a library of media files, including digital images, such as those captured by a digital camera of a user. One or more applications may run on the host computer, or on an Internet service that communicates with the host computer, in order to enable management, sharing and distribution of images stored on the host computer. A remote device may be operated by the user or guest to cause remotely viewed images that reside on the host computer to be transferred to a print service or other third-party service with a corresponding network location.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for managing distribution of digital images, the method comprising:

receiving a request to view a set of stored images on a host computer, the request being received from over the Internet from a device other than the host computer;

providing image data that corresponds to each image in the set to the device over the Internet;

enabling a user of the device to select one or more actions to be performed for any of the one or more images in the set that are selected by the user; and

causing the specified one or more actions to be performed in response to the user selecting the one or more actions for any selected images in the set;

wherein the one or more specified actions include sending the selected images to a particular location over the Internet that is external to the device and a network location of the host computer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the specified one or more actions to be performed includes directing the host computer to transfer the selected images in the set to a service that renders the images.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the service is a print service, and wherein causing the specified one or more actions to be performed includes causing the selected images to be sent to the print service.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising performing one or more programmatic operations to complete a transaction with the print service for the selected images.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein performing one or more programmatic operations to complete a print transaction includes using transactional data belonging to a user of the host system.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein performing one or more programmatic operations to complete a print transaction includes using transactional data belonging to a user of the device, wherein the user of the device is different than a user of the host system.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein causing the selected images to be sent to the print service is performed without uploading the selected images to an intermediary server where the selected images are viewable to the user of either of the device or the host system.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein enabling the host computer to transfer the selected images in the set to a service that renders the images includes enabling the host computer to complete a transaction with the service programmatically on behalf of the user of the device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the user of the device is not a user of the host computer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein enabling a user of the device to select one or more actions to be performed for any of the one or more images in the set includes:

generating a selectable user-interface feature on the device; and

associating the one or more actions to the selectable user-interface feature prior to generating the selectable user-interface feature, so that selection of the selectable user-interface feature on the remote device signifies an intent of the user of the remote device to have performance of the one or more actions at least initiated on the host computer.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the selectable user-interface feature is a selectable icon.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein generating image data includes generating data for viewing reduced representations of each image in the set.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is received on a server, and wherein the method further comprises accessing the set of images from the host computer over the network.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein accessing the set of images includes identifying at least one of the device or a user of the device in order to determine whether the request to view the set of stored images is authorized by a user of the host system.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request to view a set of stored images includes receiving the request from a roaming device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the roaming device transmits the request over a cellular communication network, and wherein providing the image data includes causing the image data to be sent over the cellular communication network of the roaming device.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein causing the image data to be sent over the cellular communication network includes reducing the image data for at least one of a bandwidth of the cellular communication network and a display of the roaming device.

18. A system for managing distribution of digital images that are stored on a host machine of an end user, the host machine having (i) at least one of a local port or a network port, and (ii) one or more memory components that are configured to persistently store the digital images, including a set of images that are either received over the local port or downloaded from a network site using the network port, and wherein the system comprises:

a media manager module that is configured to programmatically respond to a request from a remote end user to view images by;

accessing the one or more memory components;

generating image data corresponding to one or more images from the set to a location of the remote user; and

causing the image data to be transmitted to a location or a device of the end user to enable the remote end user to view one or more renditions of the one or more images from the set.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the request is generated from a roaming device of the remote end user, and wherein the media manager module is configured to cause the image data to be transmitted to the roaming device.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the media manager module resides at least in part on the host machine.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the media manager module resides at least in part on an Internet service site that is accessible to the remote user, and wherein the media manager module accesses the host machine to perform operations for generating the image data and causing transmission of the image data.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the media manager module resides on both the host machine, and at an Internet service site that is accessible to the remote user.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the host includes a data structure on which an access control list specified by the end user is provided, and wherein the media manager module is configured to determine an identifier of the remote end user, and check the access control list to determine whether the remote end user has permission to receive the image data.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein the access control list identifies a plurality of guest users, and wherein the media manager module is configured to cause the transmission of the image data to anyone of the plurality of guest users.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein the media manager module configures the image data to be renderable using a browser of the remote end user.

26. The system of claim 18, wherein the media manager module is configured to:

receive one or more instructions from the remote end user to perform an action that is to be performed on any of the images in the set;

perform the action on one or more images in the set.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the action corresponds to sending one or more copies of select images in the set to a network location that is different than a network location of the remote end user and the end user of the host machine.

28. A system for managing distribution of digital images, the system comprising:

a memory medium to store a library of images captured with a digital camera;

one or more processors operating at a given network location, the one or more processors being configured to;

process a request from a network location that is external to the given network location;

identify at least one of a device or a user operating the device, making the request;

identify a set of one or more images contained in the image library that is specified as being viewable by the user or device making the request;

transmit image data corresponding to the set of one or more images to the device from which the request was made;

act responsively to instructions originating from the device by sending a select set of one or more images to a particular network location, as specified by the instructions.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

communicate the instructions to the device so that the instructions are selectable by the user of the device.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the one or more processors are configured to communicate the instructions by providing a selectable user-interface feature to be displayed on the device.