Software function adding method

• US 6,336,028 B1
• Filed: 08/28/2000
• Issued: 01/01/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Matsushima, Hideki, Kozuka, Masayuki, Okamoto, Ryuichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheng, Joe H.
• Application Number:
  US09/649,029
• Time in Patent Office: 491 Days
• Field of Search: 434/118, 434/307-R-3, 434/318, 434/319, 434/365, 84/3, 844/61, 844/62, 348/14.01, 348/14.02, 348/170, 348/552, 348/561, 348/565, 345/723, 345/810, 369/47.12, 380/251, 386/46, 386/68, 386/83, 386/99, 386/109, 705/26, 705/27, 710/68, 713/181, 725/5, 725/8, 725/14, 725/28-30, 725/35, 725/45, 725/46, 725/62
• US Class Current: 434/319
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a system in which it is possible to pre-warn the consumer who is trying to purchase contents that cannot be written on the PD that the contents cannot be written on the PD. Based on the PD writability information, the PD writability detector determines whether the contents distributed by the distribution system notified by the distribution system detector can be written on the PD. If it is determined that the contents cannot be written, the PD writability detector requests the controller to warn the consumer.

Claims

1. A contents playing software for playing contents and writing contents on an internal or external recording medium of portable contents playing devices, said contents playing software comprising:

a contents management/playing portion having one or more managing/playing contents means;

a contents writing portion having one or more contents writing means for writing the contents on the internal or external recording medium of the portable contents playing devices; and

a basic function portion for controlling said contents management/playing portion, said contents writing portion, and an entirety of said contents playing software,

said contents managing/playing means each managing and playing the contents distributed by a specific distribution system,

said contents writing means each writing the contents on an internal or external recording medium of a specific portable contents playing device,

said contents managing/playing means being capable of having transferring means for transferring the contents to said contents writing means,

said contents writing means receiving the contents only from said contents management/playing means that has said transferring means for transferring the contents, said contents writing means writing the contents thus received on the internal or external recording medium of the portable contents playing devices;

said basic function portion including

distribution system detecting means for detecting the distribution system of the contents which a user of said contents playing software is trying to obtain, and

contents management/playing means-adding means for adding said contents management/playing means to said contents management/playing portion;

said contents management/playing means-adding means including contents management/playing means-automatic adding means for obtaining from an external source said contents management/playing means for the distribution system detected by said distribution system detection means and automatically adding said contents management/playing means if said contents managing/playing portion does not have said contents management/playing means,

said contents management/playing means-adding means further including portable contents playing device designation information that indicates portable contents playing devices whose internal or external recording medium said contents playing software writes the contents in, and

contents transferability information that includes information indicating distribution systems whose contents management/playing means has said transferring means that transfers the contents to said contents writing means of the portable contents playing devices indicated in said portable contents playing device designation information,

said contents management/playing means-adding means determining, based on said contents transferability information, whether said contents management/playing means for the distribution system detected by said distribution system detection means has said contents transferring means, and if said contents management/playing means does not have said contents transferring means, said contents management/playing means-adding means warning to the user of the contents playing software that the contents he is trying to obtain cannot be written on the internal or external recording medium of the portable contents playing devices indicated in said portable contents playing device designation information, and stopping an execution of an automatic adding function of said contents managing/playing means or confirming with the user of said contents playing software whether or not to execute the automatic adding function of said contents managing/playing means.

2. The contents playing software in accordance with claim 1, wherein

said contents transferability information is updated as appropriate and is placed in a designated external server; and

said contents management/playing means-adding means communicates with the designated server at a proper time, obtains said contents transferability information if there is said contents transferability information on the designated server that is newer than said contents transferability information that said contents management/playing means-adding means has, and updates said contents transferability information that said contents management/playing means-adding means has.

3. The contents playing software in accordance with claim 2, wherein

said basic function portion has timing setting means for allowing the user of the contents playing software to freely set the timing at which said contents management/playing means-adding means communicates with the designated server.

4. The contents playing software in accordance with claim 3, wherein

said contents management/playing means-adding means identifies, at the time of updating said contents transferability information that said contents management/playing means-adding means has, a distribution system whose contents management/playing means has newly obtained said contents transferring means, and notifies the user of the contents playing software that the contents distributed by the distribution system thus identified can newly be written on the internal or external recording medium of the portable contents playing devices indicated in said portable contents playing device designation information.

5. The contents playing software in accordance with claim 4, wherein

said contents management/playing means-adding means identifies, at the time of updating the contents transferability information that said contents management/playing means-adding means has, a distribution system whose contents management/playing means has newly obtained said contents transferring means, and executes said automatic adding function of said contents managing/playing means, thereby adding said contents management/playing means thus identified to said contents management/playing portion.

6. The contents playing software in accordance with claim 2, wherein

said contents management/playing means-adding means identifies, at the time of updating said contents transferability information that said contents management/playing means-adding means has, a distribution system whose contents management/playing means has newly obtained said contents transferring means, and notifies the user of the contents playing software that the contents distributed by the distribution system thus identified can newly be written on the internal or external recording medium of the portable contents playing devices indicated in said portable contents playing device designation information.

7. The contents playing software in accordance with claim 6, wherein

said contents management/playing means-adding means identifies, at the time of updating the contents transferability information that said contents management/playing means-adding means has, a distribution system whose contents management/playing means has newly obtained said contents transferring means, and executes said automatic adding function of said contents managing/playing means, thereby adding said contents management/playing means thus identified to said contents management/playing portion.