SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCESSING AND MANAGING MOBILE DEVICE METADATA

• US 20140188878A1
• Filed: 03/04/2014
• Published: 07/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Qurio Holdings Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Qurio Holdings Incorporated
• Inventors: Issa, Alfredo C., Walsh, Richard J., Amidon, Christopher M.
• Application Number:
  US14/196,506
• Publication Number:
  US 20140188878A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/736
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

A system and method are provided for accessing information describing content residing on agent devices. The system includes a central node and agent devices communicatively coupled by a network. The central node obtains content information describing content stored at the agent devices and optionally the locations of the agent devices from the agent devices. The content information and optionally the locations of the agent devices are stored in a database associated with the central node. The central node enables requesting nodes such as the agent devices to access the database. For example, the agent devices may communicate with the central node to obtain the content information for a known agent device or to query the database to find agent devices having content information and optionally locations that satisfy specified criteria. Alternatively, the central node may provide alerts to the agent devices when other agent devices matching specified criteria are available.

Claims

1. A central node comprising:

a) a communication interface adapted to communicatively couple the central node to a network; and

b) a control system associated with the communication interface and adapted to;

i) obtain content information describing digital media content items digitally stored by a plurality of agent devices;

ii) store the content information from the plurality of agent devices in a database;

iii) receive a request from one of a plurality of requesting nodes including the plurality of agent devices for the content information for one of the plurality of agent devices where the request comprises an identifier of the one of the plurality of agent devices; and

iv) provide at least a subset of the content information for the one of the plurality of agent devices to the one of the plurality of requesting nodes in response to the request.

2. The central node of claim 1, wherein the identifier was obtained by the one of the plurality of requesting nodes from the database at the central node.

3. The central node of claim 1, wherein the identifier was obtained by the one of the plurality of requesting nodes from the one of the plurality of agent devices when the one of the plurality of agent devices was within a local wireless coverage area of the one of the plurality of requesting nodes.

4. The central node of claim 1, wherein the digital media content items comprise digital video items.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for instructing a processor of an agent device to:

identify a second agent device having content information;

send a request to a central node for the content information for the second agent device where the request comprises an identifier of the second agent device that was obtained by the agent device; and

receive at least a subset of the content information for the second agent device from the central node.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the instructions further instruct the processor to receive information identifying at least a subset of the content information for the second agent device.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the agent device plays back content based on the content information at the second agent device.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the content information relates to digital media content items.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the digital media content items comprise digital images.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the digital media content items comprise digital music items.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the digital media content items comprise digital video items.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the content information comprises playlists.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the content information comprises information that identifies digital media content items currently being played by the second agent device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the instructions further instruct the processor to:

receive the content information from the second agent device via a broadcast message; and

filter the broadcast message.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the broadcast message is filtered based on a topic.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the broadcast message is filtered based on a description of the second agent device.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the instructions further instruct the processor to:

compare the content information of the second agent device with content information associated with the agent device; and

determine a compatibility score based on the comparison.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the agent device obtains the identifier when the second agent device is within a local wireless coverage area of the agent device.

19. A system comprising:

an agent device; and

a central node, wherein the central node comprises;

a communication interface adapted to communicatively couple the central node to a network; and

a control system associated with the communication interface and adapted to;

obtain content information describing digital media content items digitally stored by the agent device;

store the content information from the agent device in a database;

receive a request from a requesting node for the content information for the agent device where the request comprises an identifier of the agent device; and

provide at least a subset of the content information for the agent device to the requesting node in response to the request, such that the requesting node plays back content associated with the content information.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the identifier was obtained by the requesting node from the database at the central node.

21. The central node of claim 19 wherein the identifier was obtained by the requesting node from the agent device when the agent device was within a local wireless coverage area of the requesting node.

22. The central node of claim 19 wherein the digital media content items comprise digital video items.