Personal media devices with wireless communication

• US 8,718,620 B2
• Filed: 11/13/2006
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Rosenblatt, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah, Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sabouri, Mazda
• Application Number:
  US11/598,952
• Publication Number:
  US 20080113614A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,731 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 455/414.2, 455/414.3
• US Class Current: 455/414.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/61 for local area broadcast, e.g. instore broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for personal media devices having the ability to communicate wirelessly, and in particular, communicate wirelessly using a short-range communications protocol (e.g., Wi-Fi and Bluetooth). Such communication provides users of personal media devices with access to several Wi-Fi oriented applications. For example, in one embodiment a personal media device may wirelessly download subscription assets (e.g., podcast) as they become available. In another embodiment, content specific or local to a merchant may be provided to personal media devices that are in wireless communication with a wireless router affiliated with the merchant. For example, if the merchant is a restaurant, the merchant may provide a menu to the personal media device and the user may place an order on his or her media device by selecting items on the menu.

Claims

1. A method for downloading media assets of a subscribed group of media assets, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of interest in a subscription to a group of media assets;

establishing a communication link with a content source;

accessing the content source;

checking the content source to determine whether a media asset is available in the subscription of interest;

determining whether to download the media asset to a personal media device associated with a user based at least partially on whether the media asset has been previously accessed by a different device associated with the user and a user download preference of whether to download media assets that have been previously accessed by the user; and

in response to determining that the media asset is to be downloaded, downloading the media asset to the personal media device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the communication link with the content source comprises:

establishing a wireless link with a wireless router having access to a content source.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the group of media assets comprises at least one of episodes from a television series and programming from a podcast series.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to download the media asset to the personal media device comprises:

cross-checking against a database to determine if the media asset has already been downloaded by the different device, wherein the personal media device comprises the database.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to download the media asset to the personal media device comprises:

cross-checking against a database to determine whether a user has provided the user download preference, wherein the personal media device comprises the database.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prompting a user as to whether to download the media asset.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the downloading comprises:

wirelessly downloading the media asset using a short-range wireless path.

8. A system for wirelessly downloading media assets of a subscribed group of media assets, the system comprising a personal media device associated with a user, the system operative to:

receive an indication of interest in a subscription to a group of media assets, wherein the group of media assets comprises a series grouping;

determine whether a media asset is available in the subscription of interest;

determine whether to download the media asset to the personal media device based at least partially on whether the media asset has been previously accessed by a different device associated with the user and a user download preference of whether to download media assets that have been previously accessed by the user; and

in response to a determination that the media asset is to be downloaded, download the media asset to the personal media device.

9. The system of claim 8, the system operative to:

establish a wireless link between the personal media device and a wireless router having access to a content source;

access the content source; and

check the content source to determine whether the media asset is available.

10. The system of claim 8, the system operative to:

establish a wireless link between the personal media device and a computer that has access to a content source;

access the content source; and

check the content source to determine whether the media asset is available.

11. The system of claim 8, the system operative to:

cross-check against a database to determine if the media asset has already been downloaded by the different device, wherein the personal media device comprises the database.

12. The system of claim 8, the system operative to:

cross-check against a database to determine whether a user has provided the user download preference, wherein the personal media device comprises the database.

13. The system of claim 8, the system operative to:

prompt a user as to whether to download the media asset.

14. The system of claim 8, the system operative to:

wirelessly download the media asset using a short-range wireless path.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the series grouping comprises episodes of a television series.

16. The system of claim 8, wherein the series grouping comprises podcast assets of a podcast program.