Providing third party content to media devices

• US 7,822,874 B2
• Filed: 04/06/2007
• Issued: 10/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Nichols, Timothy, Bucher, Timothy, Ross, Mark Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): BARQADLE, YASIN M
• Application Number:
  US11/697,631
• Publication Number:
  US 20080049782A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,299 Days
• Field of Search: 709/246, 709/203, 709217-232
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365

Abstract

A method and system for interfacing between a portable media device and one or more media content providers. The method may be practiced, for example, in a system including the portable media device that receives content from one or more media content providers. The method can include identifying a first data format employed by the portable media device and a second data format employed by a selected media content provider. A data stream is received from the selected media content provider. The data received from the selected media content provider can be modified to be compatible with the first data format. Alternately or additionally, the data stream can be filtered to eliminate content that is unnecessary for the portable media device. The method further includes communicating the formatted data to the portable media device.

Claims

1. In a system including a portable media device able to receive content from a plurality of media content providers, a method for interfacing between the portable media device and the plurality of media content providers, the method comprising:

receiving, at an interface service server, a request from the portable media device to communicate with a first media content provider selected from a plurality of media content providers, wherein the interface service communicates with the plurality of media content providers and the portable media device, the first media content provider comprising a satellite radio provider;

identifying a first data format employed by the portable media device, the first data format employing a first frequency for communicating data from the interface service server to the portable media device;

identifying a second data format employed by the selected media content provider, wherein the second data format is a satellite radio format that employs a second frequency different from the first frequency employed by the first data format;

receiving data from the selected media content provider, the data conforming to the second data format including being received over the second frequency;

transforming the data received from the selected media content provider from the second data format into a generic data format, wherein the generic data format is of a type of format that is different from the second data format employed by the selected media content provider;

transforming the generic data format into the first data format employed by the portable media device including encoding the generic data format at the first frequency, wherein the first data format is of a type of format that is different from the generic format; and

communicating, over the first frequency, the data that has been transformed from the generic data format to the first data format to the portable media device such that the portable media device, that would otherwise be incapable of receiving data from the satellite radio provider, receives the data from the satellite radio provider.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving second data from the portable media device, the second data conforming to the first data format;

modifying the second data from the portable media device to be compatible with the second data format; and

transmitting the modified second data to the selected media content provider.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the interface service server, a subsequent request from the portable media device to switch to communicate with a second media content provider selected from the plurality of media content providers, the second media content provider comprising an internet based radio provider;

identifying a third data format employed by the second media content provider, wherein the third data format is an IP format;

receiving data from the second media content provider, the data conforming to the third data format;

transforming the data received from the second media content provider from the third data format into the generic data format, wherein the generic data format is of a type of format that is different from the third data format employed by the second media content provider;

transforming the generic data format into the first data format employed by the portable media device; and

communicating the data that has been transformed from the generic data format to the first data format to the portable media device.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein modifying the data received from the selected media content provider further comprises filtering out particular data that are not needed by the portable media device.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein filtering out particular data that are not needed by the portable media device further comprises eliminating user interface layout information that is not needed by the portable media device.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein communicating the data over the first frequency comprises:

communicating the data via a wireless network, wherein the wireless network is one or more of an 802.11 network, a terrestrial network, or a cellular network.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein identifying a second data format employed by the selected media content provider further comprises:

receiving from the portable media device an instruction identifying the selected media content provider; and

identifying the second data format employed by the selected media content provider.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein receiving data from the selected media content provider includes receiving data from a global positioning system.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

identifying data formats of a plurality of unique portable media devices and unique media content providers; and

defining a modification algorithm for each identified data format.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein identification of the first data format employed by the portable media device is accomplished through the use of a mapping table accessible to an interface service.

11. In a service capable of communicating with one or more portable media devices and a plurality of media content providers, a method for interfacing between the one or more portable media devices and the plurality of media content providers, the method comprising:

receiving a request from the portable media device identifying a first media content provider from the plurality of media content providers, the first media content provider comprising a satellite radio provider;

receiving a first data stream that is of a first data format type from the first media content provider, wherein the first data format type is a satellite radio format type that employs a first frequency different from each frequency in a set of frequencies used by the portable media device for receiving data;

filtering the first data stream to eliminate content that is unnecessary for the portable media device;

altering the filtered first data stream that is of a first data format type to include content appropriate for the portable media device that was previously filtered out of the first data stream;

converting the first data stream that is of a first data format type into a generic data format, wherein the generic data format is of a type of format that is different from the first data format type employed by the first data stream;

converting the generic data format into a format compatible with the portable media device including encoding the generic data format at a second frequency selected from the set of frequencies used by the portable media device for receiving data, wherein the format that is compatible with the portable device is of a format type that is different from the generic format type;

communicating, at the second frequency, the filtered data stream that is of the format type compatible with the portable device to the portable media device;

receiving a subsequent request from the portable media device identifying a second media content provider from the plurality of media content providers;

receiving, from the second identified media content provider, a second data stream that is of a different format type than the first data stream;

converting the second data stream format to the generic data format;

converting the generic data format into the format that is compatible with the portable media device; and

communicating the second data stream that is of the format type compatible with the portable device to the portable media device.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a third data stream from the portable media device;

formatting the third data stream to create a fourth data stream that is customized for the first media content provider; and

communicating the fourth data stream to the first media content provider.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein filtering the first data stream is customizable for each of the media content providers and wherein formatting the third data stream is customizable for each of the media content providers.

14. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising:

identifying a first data format employed by the portable media device, wherein the third data stream conforms to the first data format;

identifying a second data format employed by the first identified media content provider; and

wherein formatting the third data stream to create a fourth data stream comprises modifying the third data stream such that the fourth data stream is compatible with the second data format.

15. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein filtering the first data stream to eliminate content that is unnecessary for the portable media device further comprises transforming a first format of the first data stream to a second format compatible with the portable media device.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein:

the second data stream received from the second media content provider comprises an HTML data stream; and

filtering the second data stream includes filtering the HTML data stream to eliminate data that are not needed by the portable media device.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the format that is compatible with the portable media device comprises an XML format.

18. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein:

the second data stream received from the second media content provider comprises an XML data stream; and

filtering the second data stream includes filtering the XML data stream to eliminate data that are not needed by the portable media device.

19. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the format that is compatible with the portable media device comprises a proprietary format.

20. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein filtering the first data stream includes eliminating user interface layout information that is not needed by the portable media device.

21. An interface service server for communicating data between one or more portable media devices and a plurality of media content providers, comprising:

a plurality of transceivers for transferring data between the service server and the one or more portable media devices and between the service server and the plurality of media content providers;

one or more memory modules for storing data received from the one or more portable media devices and the plurality of media content providers; and

a processor for executing computer executable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules to perform the following method;

receive, at an interface service server, a request from the portable media device to communicate with a first media content provider selected from a plurality of media content providers, wherein the interface service communicates with the plurality of media content providers and the portable media device, the first media content provider comprising a satellite radio provider;

identify a first data format employed by the portable media device, the first data format employing a first frequency for communicating data from the interface service server to the portable media device;

identify a second data format employed by the selected media content provider, wherein the second data format is a satellite radio format that employs a second frequency different from the first frequency employed by the first data format;

receive data from the selected media content provider, the data conforming to the second data format including being received over the second frequency;

transform the data received from the selected media content provider from the second data format into a generic data format, wherein the generic data format is of a type of format that is different from the second data format employed by the selected media content provider;

transform the generic data format into the first data format employed by the portable media device including encoding the generic data format at the first frequency, wherein the first data format is of a type of format that is different from the generic format; and

communicate, over the first frequency, the data that has been transformed from the generic data format to the first data format to the portable media device such that the portable media device, that would otherwise be incapable of receiving data from the satellite radio provider, receives the data from the satellite radio provider.