DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR PORTABLE MEDIA DEVICES AND OTHER DISPLAY DEVICES

• US 20100161090A1
• Filed: 12/21/2009
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TAU Cygnus LLC
• Original Assignee: TAU Cygnus LLC
• Inventors: Smolinski, Greg, Parker, Ron
• Granted Patent: US 8,572,025 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/94
• 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

Abstract

The present invention includes a method of navigation/manipulation and display of media or data residing on a media player type device or other limited display system. The method includes a non-hierarchical intelligent associative reorganization of the media player database as stored on the media device. The method implements a technique to display the database entries that promotes the application of associative connections by the user to the database entries during the navigation of the database. Therefore, the selection of media objects or data entries that make up a play list as it is generated by the user is constructed using associative connections while the user traverses the non-hierarchical presentation of the database. The present invention also includes a remote control data management system that includes a docking station and a remote control unit that maintain and manipulate metadata in one or more databases even after a media player has been disconnected.

Claims

1. A method of maintaining a database of metadata using a remote control data management system comprising a docking station and a remote control unit wirelessly connected to the docking station, comprising:

a) connecting a media player to a docking station;

b) downloading metadata about a plurality of media entries from the media player into the docking station;

c) storing the downloaded metadata in a device separate from the media player; and

d) creating at least one database from the metadata in the remote control data management system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the device separate from the media player is selected from the group consisting of the docking station and the remote control unit.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata includes playlists.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of editing the database created in step d), wherein this step is performed in a device separate from the media player.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of editing the database comprises at least one of the substeps selected from the group consisting of:

a) adding a media entry to a playlist;

b) deleting a media entry from the playlist;

c) reordering a playlist;

d) creating a playlist;

e) naming a playlist;

f) changing a name of a playlist; and

g) any combination of a) through f).

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of retaining the metadata after the media player is disconnected from the docking station.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of commanding the media player to play a file.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing downloaded metadata from at least two media players.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of maintaining a unique identifier for each media player that has been connected to the docking station.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of notifying a user if a playlist contains media not on a connected media player.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of purchasing and downloading the media not on the connected media player.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the media entries comprise digital media files.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the media entries comprise a plurality of songs.

14. A method of displaying data extracted from a computer-readable database stored on a computer-readable storage medium, comprising the steps of:

a) selecting a first media file as a first focus media file for sorting a plurality of media files;

b) selecting a selection attribute from a plurality of attributes of the first focused media file;

c) organizing the media files based on the selection attribute of the first focused media file; and

d) displaying on a display device at least one attribute of the first focused media file centered in a list ordered by the values of the selection attribute in each of the media files.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

e) choosing a different attribute to be the selection attribute; and

f) repeating steps c) and d).

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the media files comprise digital media files.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the media files each comprise a song.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the selection attribute is selected from the group consisting of album, artist, song name, album name, year released, genre, length of song, composer, lyrics and record label.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of:

e) selecting a second media file as a second focus media file for sorting the media files.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

f) selecting a selection attribute of the second media file;

g) reorganizing the media files based on the selection attribute of the second focused media file; and

h) displaying at least one attribute of the second focused media file centered in a list ordered by the values of the selection attribute of the second media file in each of the media files.

21. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of filtering out a plurality of media files based on at least one attribute of the first focus media file.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the media files are organized alphanumerically by the selection attribute.

23. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of scrolling through the list, while maintaining a focus on the file located at a center of the display.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the scrolling step uses an alphanumeric window shown on the display to navigate through the media files sorted alphanumerically by the selection attribute.

25. The method of claim 14, wherein the method is performed using a remote control data management system comprising a docking station and a remote control unit wirelessly connected to the docking station.

26. A method of displaying data extracted from a computer-readable database stored on a computer-readable storage medium, using a processor to perform at least a portion of one or more of the following steps:

a) selecting a first media file as a first focus media file for sorting a plurality of media files;

b) selecting a selection attribute from a plurality of attributes of the first focused media file;

c) organizing the media files based on the selection attribute of the first focused media file; and

d) displaying on a display device at least one attribute of the first focused media file centered in a list ordered by the values of the selection attribute in each of the media files.