Like processing of owned and for-purchase media

• US 8,140,601 B2
• Filed: 04/14/2006
• Issued: 03/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Plastina, Daniel, Novak, Michael J., Olson, Kipley J., Nadalin, David M., Lu, Phillip, Kiilerich, Dennis A., Silverman, Andrew L., Tse, Michael M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Thai, Hanh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le, Michael
• Application Number:
  US11/279,873
• Publication Number:
  US 20070083556A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,167 Days
• Field of Search: 707/104.1, 707/821
• US Class Current: 707/821
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A method for managing a group of owned and for-purchase media items in response to a single user action. The method treats the owned media items and the for-purchase media items similarly with respect to the user'"'"'s interaction with them, facilitating a user paradigm-shift from thinking about two stores of media items to a single store of media items available for use. A media item grouping generic to both types of media items is provided, permitting sharing of media item collections between users having different access rights with respect to the media items.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for managing media items with a user computing device coupled to a data communication network, said computing device executing a media player application for rendering one or more of the media items to a user, said method comprising:

selecting, via the user computing device, at least one media item from a user-owned library associated with the user computing device, said user-owned library containing one or more media items owned by the user and having a first format;

placing the selected at least one media item from the user-owned library into a group basket;

selecting, via the user computing device, at least one remote media item from a remote media store containing one or more remote media items, said remote media items not owned by the user and having a second format different from the first format, said remote media items accessible by the user computing device via the network, said remote media store being separate from the user-owned library;

placing the selected at least one remote media item from a remote media store into the group basket; and

in response to a single action being performed, initiating generation of the selected media items in the group basket including at least one media item from the user-owned library and including at least one remote media item from the remote media store, wherein the initiated generation includes purchasing and downloading the selected at least one remote media item in the group basket to the user computing device without further user interaction, wherein the group of media items corresponds to the selected media item and wherein the generated group of media items corresponds to the selected remote media item, said single action including at least one of requesting that said generated group be played by a media player application, requesting that said generated group be synchronized by a media player application as a new playlist, and requesting that said group be persistently stored to a memory.

2. A computer-implemented method for providing services to a user related to a group of at least two media items, said media items being adapted for rendering to the user by a media player application, said media player application being executed by a user computing device coupled to a data communication network, said method comprising:

selecting via the user computing device at least one media item from a user-owned library associated with the user computing device, said user-owned library containing one or more media items owned by the user and having a first format, said selected media item being included in the group of at least two media items;

placing the selected at least one media item from the user-owned library into a group basket;

selecting via the user computing device at least one remote media item from a remote media store containing one or more remote media items, said remote media items not owned by the user and having a second format different from the first format, said remote media items accessible by the user computing device via the network, said remote media store being separate from the user-owned library, said selected remote media item being included in the group of at least two media items;

placing the selected at least one remote media item from a remote media store into the group basket;

applying instructions received from the user via the computing device to generate the group of at least two media items in the group basket, said instructions including at least one of requesting that said generated group be played by a media player application, requesting that said generated group be synchronized by a media player application as a new playlist, and requesting that said generated group be persistently stored to a memory, said received instructions being applied similarly to the media items collected from the user-owned library of media items and to the media items collected from the remote media store, wherein said generating includes purchasing and downloading the selected at least one remote media item in the group basket to the user computing device without further user interaction; and

providing a user interface on the computing device that displays the generated group including both the media items accessible from the user-owned library and the media items accessible from the remote media store in an integrated display, whereby the user interface provides to the user functional parity on the user computing device between media items accessible from the user-owned library and media items accessible from the remote media store within the user interface.

3. A computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said providing a user interface comprises providing a directory tree wherein one branch provides access to the user-owned library and another branch provides access to the remote media store.

4. A computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said providing a user interface comprises providing a display area for simultaneous display of media items stored in the user-owned library and media items accessible from the remote media store.

5. A computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 4 wherein said providing a user interface comprises providing an indicator in the display area corresponding to each media item for indicating whether the corresponding media item is either stored in the user-owned library or accessible from the remote media store.

6. A computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 5 wherein said providing an indicator in the display area indicating that media items are accessible from the remote media store further comprises providing a selection element in the display area associated only with each indicator for selectively purchasing the media items.

7. A computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said providing a user interface comprises providing a selection element adapted for persistently storing the media item group collected in the group basket.

8. A computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 7 wherein said providing a selection element adapted for persistently storing the media item group is further adapted for burning the media items collected in the group basket to at least one of a CD, a disc drive, a flash memory, a DVD, a USB drive, a portable media device, and a game console;

wherein said method of providing a user interface further comprises providing a display of the available memory space for stored media items on the at least one of the CD, the disc drive, the flash memory, the DVD, the USB drive, the portable media device, and the game console.

9. A computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 8 wherein said providing a user interface comprises providing a display of the memory space required for the media items collected in the group basket as a portion of the display of available memory space for stored media items on the at least one of the CD, the disc drive, the flash memory, the DVD, the USB drive, the portable media device, and the game console.

10. A computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said providing a user interface comprises providing an indicator in the group basket for each of the media items accessible from the remote media store indicating that such media items are available for purchase from the remote media store, and not from the user-owned library.

11. A computer-implemented method for providing services to a user related to a group of at least two media items, said media items being adapted for rendering to the user by a media player application, said media player application being executed by a user computing device coupled to a data communication network, said method comprising:

selecting, via the user computing device, at least one media item from a user-owned library associated with the user computing device, said user-owned library containing one or more media items owned by the user and having a first format, said selected media item being included in a group basket;

selecting, via the user computing device, a remote media item from a remote media store containing one or more remote media items, said remote media items not owned by the user and having a second format different from the first format, said remote media items accessible by the user computing device via the network, said remote media store being separate from the user-owned library, said selected remote media item being included in the group basket;

receiving, from the user via the user computing device, instructions to generate the group of at least two media items in the group basket, said instructions including at least one of requesting that said generated group be played by a media player application, requesting that said generated group be synchronized by a media player application as a new playlist, and requesting that said generated group be persistently stored to a memory;

generating the group of at least two media items based on the received instructions, said received instructions being applied similarly to the media items collected from the user-owned library of media items and to the media items collected from the remote media store, wherein said generating includes purchasing the remote media item in the group basket without further user interaction; and

providing a user interface on the computing device that displays the generated group of both the media items accessible from the user-owned library and the media items accessible from the remote media store in an integrated display, whereby the user interface provides to the user functional parity on the user computing device between media items accessible from the user-owned library and media items accessible from the remote media store within the user interface;

wherein said providing a user interface comprises providing an indicator in the display area corresponding to each media item for indicating whether the corresponding media item is either stored in the user-owned library or accessible from the remote media store.

13. A computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 11 wherein said providing a user interface comprises providing a display area for simultaneous display of media items stored in the user-owned library and media items accessible from the remote media store.

14. A computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 11 wherein said providing a user interface comprises providing a selection element adapted for persistently storing the media item group collected in the group basket.

15. A computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 14 wherein said providing a selection element adapted for persistently storing the media item group is further adapted for burning the media items collected in the group basket to at least one of a CD, a disc drive, a flash memory, a DVD, a USB drive, a portable media device, and a game console;

wherein said method of providing a user interface further comprises providing a display of the available memory space for stored media items on the at least one of the CD, the disc drive, the flash memory, the DVD, the USB drive, the portable media device, and the game console.

16. A computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 15 wherein said providing a user interface comprises providing a display of the memory space required for the media items collected in the group basket as a portion of the display of available memory space for stored media items on the at least one of the CD, the disc drive, the flash memory, the DVD, the USB drive, the portable media device, and the game console.

17. A computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 11 wherein said providing a user interface comprises providing a group basket adapted for collection of media items accessible from both the user-owned library and the remote media store and wherein said providing a user interface comprises providing an indicator in the group basket for each of the media items accessible from the remote media store indicating that such media items are available for purchase from the remote media store, and not from the user-owned library.

12. A computer-implemented method as set forth in claim wherein said providing a user interface comprises providing a directory tree wherein one branch provides access to the user-owned library and another branch provides access to the remote media store.