Method and software for enabling portable media players to select on demand media from the internet and to download the media directly to the players
First Claim
1. A portable on demand media apparatus comprising:
- a portable media player that contains catching software, wherein the catching software manages and subscribes to one or a plurality of on demand media channels, and a Internet access device connected to the portable media player that runs the catching software; and
the one or plurality of on demand media files are downloaded directly to the portable media player based on the one or plurality of on demand media channels that a user has subscribed to.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a novel method for selecting and receiving on demand media from the Internet and downloading the on demand media directly to a portable media player. The present invention provides a novel media catching software stored in the portable media player. When the portable media player is connected to a personal computer, the personal computer runs the catching program directly from the portable media player without having to install the program on the computer. The catching program manages the user'"'"'s selection of on demand media sources on the Internet. Additionally, the catching program causes a computer providing Internet access to download on demand media directly to the portable media player without the need of an intermediate step of storing on demand media to the computer or the need for file synchronization between the computer and the player. The present invention simplifies the media receiving process, allowing the portable media player connected to a computer having Internet access to download on demand media directly to the player.
51 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A portable on demand media apparatus comprising:
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a portable media player that contains catching software, wherein the catching software manages and subscribes to one or a plurality of on demand media channels, and a Internet access device connected to the portable media player that runs the catching software; and
the one or plurality of on demand media files are downloaded directly to the portable media player based on the one or plurality of on demand media channels that a user has subscribed to. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for retrieving on demand media for a portable device comprising:
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a portable media player that contains catching software, wherein the catching software manages and subscribes to one or a plurality of on demand media channels, and the catching software runs on a Internet access device connected to the portable media player; and
the one or plurality of on demand media files are downloaded directly to the portable media player based on the one or plurality of on demand media channels that a user has subscribed to. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method for receiving on demand media comprising the steps:
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a user subscribing to a new media channel by entering a reference;
storing a subscription in a subscription file after the reference is validated on a portable media player;
loading media channel references from the subscription file to a personal computer;
loading media channel description files from the Internet and searching the media channel description files for on demand media references;
temporarily storing references to new on demand media files;
sorting the references to new on demand media files by publication dates and sizes;
removing duplicates of the reference to new on demand media files;
downloading on demand media files based on the remaining references to new on demand media files from the Internet;
storing the on demand media files to the portable media player; and
after the on demand media file is successfully stored, the reference to the new on demand media file is stored in the history file.
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26. A method for retrieving on demand media for a portable media player comprising:
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a portable media player with catching software installed;
the catching software installed on the portable media player is started as an application on a Internet access device; and
the catching software causes the Internet access device to retrieve on demand media from the Internet and store the media directly to the portable media player. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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28. A portable on demand media apparatus comprising:
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a portable media player means with catching software installed; and
a software execution means connected to the portable media player connected to the Internet, wherein the software execution means retrieves on demand media from the Internet and stores the media directly to the portable media player.
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Specification