System and method for concurrently downloading digital content and recording to removable media

• US 7,836,146 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2006
• Issued: 11/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Novarc LLC
• Original Assignee: Novarc LLC
• Inventors: Sands, Alexander P. IV, Jordan, Marc D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee; John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hussain; Imad
• Application Number:
  US11/426,488
• Publication Number:
  US 20060294376A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,603 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 705/26, 725/91, 711/100, 711/167, 369/44.11, 369/44.31, 369/47.1, 369/47.11
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/552 for downloading to client devices, e.g. using OS version, hardware or software profile of the client device
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00086 Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy indicating unauthorised use of record carriers in general G11B23/28; scrambling for television signal recording H04N5/913; network architectures or network protocols for network security H04L63/00; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/10 Digital recording or reproducing
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/1062 Data buffering arrangements, e.g. recording or playback buffers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2537 Optical discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4184 providing storage capabilities, e.g. memory stick
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440218 by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 conversion of standards in analogue television systems H04N7/01
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309

Abstract

A method, system and program product to simultaneously download and burn digital media files via the Internet, including audio, video, video games and other digital content and data, onto removable storage media on personal computer burners. Large media files can be downloaded by pushing files or portions of files to computer memory and simultaneously downloading and burning files selected by a user. Once a file is burned to disc, it is then deleted from the computer'"'"'s memory. A lossless compression scheme is used for audio files to decrease file size, making the downloading process faster and requiring less hard drive space. Content files other than audio are downloaded and burned through the same one-step process, without using a lossless compression scheme. An alternative method delays the start of the burn process to ensure that the downloaded files are written continuously to the removable storage media.

Claims

1. A method for downloading a plurality of digital files over a computer network and writing the digital files to a removable storage media comprising the steps of:

compiling a list of digital files to download and transmitting the list to a plurality of servers hosting the digital files in a digital content database;

simultaneously downloading the digital files in the list from the plurality of servers to a memory on a client personal computer;

determining when the downloaded digital files should begin a continuous writing to the removable storage media, based at least in part on a data download speed for the client personal computer, a write speed for writing the downloaded digital files to the removable storage device, and an amount of data being written to the removable storage media, to prevent distortion between the digital files;

writing each downloaded digital file from memory to the removable storage media continuously while concurrently downloading additional digital files in the list from the plurality of servers; and

erasing each digital file from memory immediately after being written to the removable storage media.

2. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 1 wherein the plurality of digital files are lossless compressed audio files.

3. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 1 wherein the plurality of digital files are uncompressed video files.

4. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 2 further comprising the step of converting each downloaded file to an uncompressed format before writing the digital file to the removable storage media.

5. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 1 further comprising the step of compressing each digital file using a lossless audio compression codec.

6. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 1 further comprising the step of segmenting each digital file and transmitting each segment to the client personal computer.

7. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 6 further comprising assembling each segment received by the client personal computer into an original sequence.

8. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 1 wherein the digital content stored at each server is at least one of an audio file, a video file and a video game file.

9. The method for downloading and writing digital files of claim 1 wherein the step of determining when the downloaded digital files should begin a continuous writing to the removable storage media includes estimating a download time and a write time for each digital file in the list.

10. A computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files over a computer network and writing the digital files to a removable storage media, comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable code embedded therein, the computer readable medium comprising:

program instructions that compile a list of digital files to download and transmit the list to a plurality of servers hosting the digital files in a digital content database;

program instructions that simultaneously download the digital files in the list from the plurality of servers to a memory on a client personal computer;

program instructions that determine when the downloaded digital files should begin a continuous writing to the removable storage media, based at least in part on a data download speed for the client personal computer, a write speed for writing the downloaded digital files to the removable storage device, and an amount of data being written to the removable storage media, to prevent distortion between the digital files;

program instructions that write each downloaded digital file from memory to the removable storage media continuously while concurrently downloading additional digital files in the list from the plurality of servers; and

program instructions that erase each digital file from memory immediately after being written to the removable storage media.

11. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 10 wherein the plurality of digital files are lossless compressed audio files.

12. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 10 wherein the plurality of digital files are uncompressed video files.

13. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 11 further comprising program instructions that convert each downloaded file to an uncompressed format before writing the digital file to the removable storage media.

14. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 10 further comprising program instructions that compress each digital file using a lossless audio compression.

15. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 10 further comprising program instructions that segment each digital file and transmit each segment to the client personal computer.

16. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 15 further comprising program instructions that assemble each segment received by the client personal computer into an original sequence.

17. The computer program product for downloading a plurality of digital files of claim 10 wherein the program instructions that determine when the downloaded digital files should begin a continuous writing to the removable storage media include program instructions that estimate a download time and a write time for each digital file in the list.

18. A system for downloading a plurality of digital files over a computer network and writing the digital files to a removable storage media comprising:

a processor and a memory;

a component that compiles a list of digital files to download and transmits the list to a plurality of servers hosting the digital files in a digital content database;

a component that simultaneously downloads the digital files in the list from the plurality of servers to a memory on a client personal computer;

a component that determines when the downloaded digital files should begin a continuous writing to the removable storage media, based at least in part on a data download speed for the client personal computer, a write speed for writing the downloaded digital files to the removable storage device, and an amount of data being written to the removable storage media, to prevent distortion between the digital files;

a component that writes each downloaded digital file from memory to the removable storage media continuously while concurrently downloading additional digital files in the list from the plurality of servers; and

a component that erases each digital file from memory immediately after being written to the removable storage media.

19. The system for downloading and writing digital files of claim 18 wherein the downloaded digital files are audio files in a lossless compressed format and further comprising a component that converts each downloaded file to an uncompressed format before writing the digital file to the removable storage media.

20. The system for downloading and writing digital files of claim 18 further comprising a lossless audio compression codec for compressing each digital file before downloading the file to the client personal computer.

21. The system for downloading and writing digital files of claim 18 further comprising a component that segments each digital file and transmits each segment to the client personal computer.

22. The system for downloading and writing digital files of claim 18 further comprising a component that assembles each segment received by the client personal computer into an original sequence.

23. The system for downloading and writing digital files of claim 18 wherein the component that determines when the downloaded digital files should begin a continuous writing to the removable storage media includes a module for estimating a download time and a write time for each digital file in the list.