SYSTEM DISPLAYING RECEIVED CONTENT ON A PORTABLE WIRELESS MEDIA DEVICE

• US 20080305738A1
• Filed: 03/10/2008
• Published: 12/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC (Western Digital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: MusicGremlin, Inc. (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: Price, Harold E., Axelrod, Jonathan N., KHEDOURI, Robert K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,160,495 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/3.06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4387 by the use of playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/635 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/639 using playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/64 Browsing; Visualisation therefor generation of a list or set of audio data G06F16/638
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/686 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, title or artist information, time, location or usage information, user ratings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2223 being a public access point, e.g. for downloading to or uploading from clients arrangements specially adapted to plural spots in a confined site in broadcast systems H04H20/63
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A portable wireless communications subscriber audio and/or video player apparatus and system and method for selecting, requesting, downloading, and playing audio and/or video data content files from an Internet-based database server. The wireless link is preferably implemented in accordance with the WiFi protocol, which allows connectivity to the Internet by being in proximity with a local base station or WiFi hotspot (i.e., publicly available local wireless access hub connected to the Internet). The portable wireless communications subscriber audio and/or video player apparatus and system preferably include a security means for monitoring and blocking unauthorized use of the player apparatus and system. The player apparatus further preferably has the capability to communicate with other neighboring player apparatus for the purpose of exchanging content data files, playlists and personal messages.

Claims

1. A method of synchronizing content on a media storage connected to a network and a plurality of portable devices, each device being associated with a user-defined preference and being connected to the same network comprising:

connecting one of the portable devices to a network; and

synchronizing content based on changes on said media storage and the respective user-defined preference.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the network-connected device is a portable wireless device that connects to the Internet using Wi-Fi protocol and said network is a Wi-Fi network.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said media storage and controller are connected to a local network and the portable device communicates over said local network, wherein the local network is connected to the Internet and the synchronization can occur based on preferences stored on one of a second server connected to the Internet or a second remote device connected to the Internet.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein a PC comprises said media storage and controller.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising a local server including said media storage and said controller.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the content is one of audio, video, text, images.

7. A method for sharing content between a plurality of wireless media devices connected to the network using a WiFi-based communication protocol, each device having a user interface, comprising:

establishing a connection between at least two such devices using the ad hoc mode of Wi-Fi;

displaying an identifier of at least one of said devices on the user interface of at least one other of said devices; and

permitting a user of one of said devices to select a content item and transmit such content item to said other user device via the ad hoc Wi-Fi connection.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein a user of one device is presented with the name of the current playing song of another device.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein a user is presented with a listing of content that is stored on an identified device.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein digital rights management technology is used to limit the free sharing of content.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said limit permits certain users to play content a maximum of three times.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein a user can stream content from another device.

13. The method of claim 7 wherein multiple users can be seen and interact simultaneously.

14. The method of claim 7 wherein the media type is one of audio, video, text, images.

15. The method of claim 7 wherein the receiving user receives a sample of the media.

16. The method of claim 7 wherein one user chooses to send a content item to at least one other user to initiate a transfer.

17. The method of claim 7 wherein one user chooses to obtain a content item from at least one other user to initiate a transfer.

18. A method of displaying content received on a portable wireless media-playing device having a user interface, the method comprising:

creating an item in the user interface to which a user can navigate in order to view content stored locally on the device;

sorting such content in a sequence related to the chronological order of when each such item was received on the device.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the content comprises one of audio and video content and users can select an item of content for playback on the device by selecting it from said sorted listing.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein said device includes a touch-screen user interface.