Patent Grant
7593950
The present invention relates to the field of processing digital media content. In particular, this invention relates to an improved system and method for transferring premium metadata for media content between media devices.
Due to recent advances in technology, computer users are now able to enjoy many features that provide an improved user experience, such as playing various media and multimedia content on their personal or laptop computers. For example, most computers today are able to play compact discs (CDs) so users can listen to their favorite musical artists while working on their computers. Many computers are also equipped with digital versatile disc (DVD) drives enabling users to watch movies.
In some multimedia environments, a computer has access to a computer-readable medium storing compressed media files. Common media file types include Moving Picture Experts Group audio layer-3 (MP3) files and WINDOWS MEDIA® technologies audio (WMA) and video (WMV) files. The computer typically organizes the media files into playlists when the compressed media files are played on the computer. The files may be organized according to metadata or other property data associated with the media content. Metadata for a digital media file such as an audio file usually includes general information pertaining to the media file itself. This information is typically stored within the file. For example, an audio file may have metadata tags for the song title, song artist, album title, and a rating. In another example, in the case of audio media files, the files may be organized by album, artist, genre, date, or some user-specified selection and ordering of metadata. A user navigates through this organization using menus and graphical displays to render the desired media files.
Often, users transfer media content from a personal computer to a variety of other devices including another personal computers or portable consumer electronic media devices (e.g., MP3 players). Many of these portable media devices are beginning to have color displays that can display a rich user interface for interacting with the media on the device. Because premium metadata such as album art is an important part of the media experience on the desktop, it is important to seamlessly integrate album art on such portable media devices in order to provide a complementary experience to the desktop. However, copyright restrictions regarding the use of such premium metadata should be respected.
Accordingly, a system for transferring premium metadata associated media files while respecting the copyright restrictions with respect to such premium metadata is desired to address one or more of these and other disadvantages.
The invention meets the above needs and overcomes one or more deficiencies in the prior art by providing improved user experience when transferring premium metadata associated with various media files from a computer to a portable media device. More specifically, the invention provides a system that provides improved management of metadata by enhancing copyright protection and a user's experience when transferring a media file from a client computer to a portable media device. The present invention also permits the user to purchase premium metadata or physical goods such as audio CD's associated with a particular media file by automatically connecting to a web site authorized to sell the desired audio CD when a buy flag is detected on the portable media device.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, a computer-readable medium includes computer executable instructions for transferring graphical information from a computer to a portable media device. A user interface is provided for identifying a track to be transferred to the portable media device. Retrieving instructions retrieve graphical information corresponding to the identified track. Determining instructions determine whether an album object is stored in the portable media device. The album object stores property data corresponding to the identified track and the retrieved graphical information. Creating instructions create a new album object when the determining indicates that an existing album object is not stored in the portable media device. Transferring instructions transfer the new album object and identified track to the portable media device when the determining indicates that the album object is not stored in the portable media device.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for transferring graphical information from a computer to a portable media device. The method includes presenting a user interface for identifying a media file to be transferred to the remote computer. The media file has a metadata field that includes property data. The method also includes retrieving graphical information corresponding to the identified media file. The method also includes determining whether an album object is stored in the remote computer. The album object stores property data corresponding to the identified media file and the retrieved graphical information. The method further includes creating the album object when the determining indicates that the album object is not stored in the remote computer. The method further includes transferring the created album object and identified media file to the portable media device when the determining indicates that the album object is not stored in the remote computer.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a computer-readable media having a searchable data structure is provided. The data structure includes a first field for storing data representing graphical information associated with an album. The data structure also includes a second field for storing data representing one or more tracks associated with the album. The graphical information included in the first field is associated with each of the one or more tracks stored in the second field.
Alternatively, the invention may comprise various other methods and apparatuses.
Other features will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawings.
Referring now to the drawings,
In the examples herein, the media content of digital media file 106 refers to a single song track or a collection of tracks such as found on an audio CD. It is to be appreciated and understood that the media content can be embodied on any suitable media, including digital files downloaded to the client computer's memory, and that the specific examples described herein are given to further understanding of the inventive principles. The media content can include, without limitation, specially encoded media content in the form of, for example, an encoded media file 106 such as media content encoded in Microsoft® Windows Media™ format using the Microsoft® Windows Media™ Player program.
The system 101 allows improved management of metadata by enhancing copyright protection and user experience when transferring a media file 106 from the client computer 102 to a remote computing device such as a portable media device 116. More specifically, the present invention permits a user to purchase premium metadata or physical goods such as audio CD's associated with a particular media file by enabling a “buy now” flag while or after viewing album art on a display of the portable media device 116 during play back of the media file on the portable media device 116.
Referring briefly to FIG 1B, a screen shot illustrates a display 117 of an exemplary portable media device 116 configured to display album art and other metadata. In this instance, metadata such as the artist name “10,000 Maniacs,” album title “In My Tribe,”track number “01,” track title “What's the Matter Here?,” and album art, as indicated by reference character 118, can be viewed on the display 117 of the portable media device 116. By using navigation tools (not shown) on the portable media device 116, the user can displace (i.e., slide over) the album art to view an options menu 119 on the display 117. The options menu 119 includes various options such as shuffle play, repeat play, equalizer, and purchase. (See
As will be explained in greater detail in reference to
As described in more detail below in reference to
Referring next to
Referring next to
Accordingly, the album object can store information for either a partial or complete album. The header 214 includes plurality of premium metadata fields 218 that each store premium property data for a particular category of premium metadata. For example, premium property data defines the graphical information (e.g., album art) associated with the tracks on a particular album. In addition, as described in more detail in reference to
Referring next to
The MPA 302 executes in response to the notification from the media device manager application 312 and identifies all media files 304 on the computer 310 it can process, and transfers the identified files to the media library 306. If the MPA 302 is running when the user copies audio files from a CD, the Internet, or other source, the audio files are automatically directed to the media library 304 for storage. The MPA 302 is responsive to the notification from the device manager 312 to display media files 304 in the media library 306 via the UI 308, and allows the user to view and edit the stored metadata, and/or to designate one or more media files to transfer to the detected portable device 116.
Referring now to
Referring back to
The first authentication instructions 312 determine if the portable media device 116 supports Digital Rights Management (DRM) such as Windows Media Digital Rights Management 10 for Portable Devices (WMDRM10-PD), code-named “Janus,” offered by Microsoft, Inc. For example, the first authentication instructions 312 query the memory (not shown) of the portable device 116 to determine if it has a valid DRM certificate. If the device 116 does not have a valid DRM certificate, an otherwise unprotected media file 304 will be transferred to the portable media device 116. However, premium metadata such as album art will not be transferred to portable media device 116.
If the first authentication instructions 312 determine the portable media device 116 supports DRM, second authentication instructions 314 are executed by the MPA 302 to determine if the portable media device 116 is capable of displaying album art. For example, the second authentication instructions 314 include instructions for querying data stored in the memory (not shown) of a portable media device 116 to retrieve a value of the capability property. Generally, the value of the capability property is assigned by the manufacturer of the portable device 116 and indicates whether or not the device is capable of displaying premium property data such as album art. For instance, if the portable media device 116 is capable of displaying album art on the display of the portable media device 116, the manufacturer assigns a value to the capability property that indicates the portable media device 116 is configured to display album art. Alternatively, if the portable media device 116 is incapable of displaying album art on the display of the portable media device 116, a value is assigned to the capability property that indicates the portable media device 116 is not configured to display album art. If the retrieved capability property value indicates the portable media device 116 is configured to display album art, the portable media device 116 is authenticated for the transfer of album art. On the other hand, if the retrieved capability property value indicates the portable media device is not configured to display album art, the portable device is not authenticated for the transfer of album art. Accordingly, even if the device has a valid DRM certificate, the device 119 may not be capable or desire to receive transmission of album art.
Notably, although the authentication process is described above as occurring after the user identifies media files and/or data to transfer from the computer 310 to the portable media device 116, it is contemplated that authentication may occur when the device is first detected by the media device manager application 311. For example, when the media device manager application 311 detects a portable media device 116 connected to the client computer 310, the MPA 302 executes the first authentication instructions 312 to determine whether the device has a valid DRM certificate, and executes second authentication instructions 314 to identify the value of a capability property stored on the portable media device 116.
The media player application 302 executes transferring instructions 316 to transfer the appropriate data to the portable media device 116 based on the results of the authentication process described above. If the portable media device 116 is determined not to have a valid DRM certificate or not to have the capability to display album art (i.e., fails either the first or second levels of authentication), transferring instructions 316 only transfer the selected media file 304 and basic property data such as album title, artist, performer, genre, description of content. On the other hand, if the portable media device 116 is completely authenticated (i.e., satisfies first and second levels of authentication), the MPA 302 executes transferring instructions 316 to initiate the synchronization process and transfer a copy of the requested media file 304 and appropriate property data such as album art to the portable media device 116. In this case, the transferring instructions 316 include instructions for querying the media files 304 on the portable media device 116 to determine if an album object corresponding to the retrieved album art is stored on the portable media device 116. In one embodiment, the MPA 302 queries the memory of portable media device 116 to identify a unique identification code (UID) that matches a UID stored in the memory (e.g., library 306) of the MPA 302. The UID is a unique code generated by the portable media device 116. If matching UIDs are not identified, the MPA 302 executes creating instructions 318 to create an empty album object and requests the portable media device 116 to generate a corresponding UID. As described above in reference to
In one embodiment, the album object is created by the portable media device 116 and stored in a particular folder hierarchy which is calculated by an algorithm as a function of metadata associated with the track. For example, a music track will be stored in a folder hierarchy in the following form:
Accordingly, the determination of whether an album object already exists when transferring subsequent media files 304 can be managed by searching for the appropriately named “.alb” object in the directory, in which it is expected to be stored, by running the same algorithm each time. If the album object already exists, then the new media files 304 are added to the album objects by adding references to the UID(s) generated by the portable media device 116 for each new track or tracks. Thus, the existence of the album object can either be determined by locating it using a previously generated UID stored within the MPA's media library, or by running a deterministic algorithm such as described above.
If transferring instructions 316 determine if an album object designating the album art for the media file being transferred already exists on the portable media device 116, then the transferring instructions 316 transfer the media file 304 to portable media device 116 without album art data. That is, because metadata associated with the media file 304 being transferred and the metadata associated with the album object identify the same album, there is no need to transfer album art to the portable media device 116. For example, since both the media file 304 and the album object include album name property data, the MPA 302 queries album object data stored on the portable media device 116 to determine if the album name property data included in the media file being transferred matches album name property data included in any of the album art object data stored on the portable media device 116. If there is a match, a reference to the UID and the new media file is added to the existing album object.
In another embodiment, rather than comparing the album name property data of the media file 304 and the album object to determine if the album object exist on the portable media device, the MPA 302 queries album object data stored on the portable media device 116 to determine if a UID of an album object stored on in the memory of the MPA a matches a UID of an album object stored in the memory of the portable media device 116. As a result, matching problems that occur, for example, when the album name or artist name is edited on the desktop computer's media library between synchronizations can be avoided since the UID cannot be changed by the user.
In one preferred embodiment, the transfer instructions 314 further include instructions for comparing property data of media files 304 stored on the client computer 310 to property data of media files 304 stored on the portable media device 116 to determine if there have been any changes or updates to media files 304 previously transferred to the portable media device 116. For example, the transferring instructions 316 compares values of property data such as a rating of a particular media file or a play count of a particular media file as stored on the portable media device 116 to corresponding vales of such property data stored on the client computer 310 to determine if the property data has changed since the portable media device 116 was last synchronized with the client computer 310. The rating of the album refers to a rating assigned by the user to a particular media file on the portable media device 116. The play count represents the number of times the particular media file has been played on the portable media device 116 since it was last synced with the MPA 302. The MPA 302 processes any changes to such data to the local media library 306 to insure the media library 306 has the user's current preferences. The transferring instructions 316 further compare media files stored on the portable media device 116 to the media files 304 stored on the client computer 310 to determine if media files have been added to or deleted from the portable media device 116 since the portable media device 116 was last synced with the client computer 310.
The transferring instructions 316 further include instructions for determining a value of a buy property. The buy property value indicates whether or not the user desires to purchase an audio CD corresponding to a transferred media file and/or premium property data and is assigned by the user of the portable media device 116. For instance, a DRM requirement for transferring album art requires the portable media device 116 to display a buy experience to the user. For example, a “Buy” button is displayed along with the album art on the display of the portable media device 116. If the user of the portable media device 116 selects or clicks the “Buy” button, a buy value is assigned to the buy property to indicate that the user desires to purchase the audio CD. The transferring instructions query data stored in the memory of the portable media device 116 media to detect buy properties having a buy value. If a buy value is detected, the MPA 302 communicates with the server 118 via the Internet 120 to display a web page (not shown) that allows the user to purchase the corresponding audio CD.
Referring now to
Referring now to
The computer 130 typically has at least some form of computer readable media. Computer readable media, which include both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media, may be any available medium that may be accessed by computer 130. By way of example and not limitation, computer readable media comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. For example, computer storage media include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to store the desired information and that may be accessed by computer 130. Communication media typically embody computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and include any information delivery media. Those skilled in the art are familiar with the modulated data signal, which has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. Wired media, such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media, such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media, are examples of communication media. Combinations of any of the above are also included within the scope of computer readable media.
The system memory 134 includes computer storage media in the form of removable and/or non-removable, volatile and/or nonvolatile memory. In the illustrated embodiment, system memory 134 includes read only memory (ROM) 138 and random access memory (RAM) 140. A basic input/output system 142 (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computer 130, such as during start-up, is typically stored in ROM 138. RAM 140 typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presently being operated on by processing unit 132. By way of example, and not limitation,
The computer 130 may also include other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. For example,
The drives or other mass storage devices and their associated computer storage media discussed above and illustrated in
A user may enter commands and information into computer 130 through input devices or user interface selection devices such as a keyboard 180 and a pointing device 182 (e.g., a mouse, trackball, pen, or touch pad). Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are connected to processing unit 132 through a user input interface 184 that is coupled to system bus 136, but may be connected by other interface and bus structures, such as a parallel port, game port, or a Universal Serial Bus (USB). A monitor 188 or other type of display device is also connected to system bus 136 via an interface, such as a video interface 190. In addition to the monitor 188, computers often include other peripheral output devices (not shown) such as a printer and speakers, which may be connected through an output peripheral interface (not shown).
The computer 130 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 194. The remote computer 194 may be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to computer 130. The logical connections depicted in
When used in a local area networking environment, computer 130 is connected to the LAN 196 through a network interface or adapter 186. When used in a wide area networking environment, computer 130 typically includes a modem 178 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN 198, such as the Internet. The modem 178, which may be internal or external, is connected to system bus 136 via the user input interface 184, or other appropriate mechanism. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to computer 130, or portions thereof, may be stored in a remote memory storage device (not shown). By way of example, and not limitation,
Generally, the data processors of computer 130 are programmed by means of instructions stored at different times in the various computer-readable storage media of the computer. Programs and operating systems are typically distributed, for example, on floppy disks or CD-ROMs. From there, they are installed or loaded into the secondary memory of a computer. At execution, they are loaded at least partially into the computer's primary electronic memory. The invention described herein includes these and other various types of computer-readable storage media when such media contain instructions or programs for implementing the steps described below in conjunction with a microprocessor or other data processor. The invention also includes the computer itself when programmed according to the methods and techniques described herein.
For purposes of illustration, programs and other executable program components, such as the operating system, are illustrated herein as discrete blocks. It is recognized, however, that such programs and components reside at various times in different storage components of the computer, and are executed by the data processor(s) of the computer.
Although described in connection with an exemplary computing system environment, including computer 130, the invention is operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations. The computing system environment is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the invention. Moreover, the computing system environment should not be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of components illustrated in the exemplary operating environment. Examples of well known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with the invention include, but are not limited to, personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, mobile telephones, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like.
The invention may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally, program modules include, but are not limited to, routines, programs, objects, components, and data structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote computer storage media including memory storage devices.
An interface in the context of a software architecture includes a software module, component, code portion, or other sequence of computer-executable instructions. The interface includes, for example, a first module accessing a second module to perform computing tasks on behalf of the first module. The first and second modules include, in one example, application programming interfaces (APIs) such as provided by operating systems, component object model (COM) interfaces (e.g., for peer-to-peer application communication), and extensible markup language metadata interchange format (XMI) interfaces (e.g., for communication between web services).
The interface may be a tightly coupled, synchronous implementation such as in Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE), COM, or distributed COM (DCOM) examples. Alternatively or in addition, the interface may be a loosely coupled, asynchronous implementation such as in a web service (e.g., using the simple object access protocol). In general, the interface includes any combination of the following characteristics: tightly coupled, loosely coupled, synchronous, and asynchronous. Further, the interface may conform to a standard protocol, a proprietary protocol, or any combination of standard and proprietary protocols.
The interfaces described herein may all be part of a single interface or may be implemented as separate interfaces or any combination therein. The interfaces may execute locally or remotely to provide functionality. Further, the interfaces may include additional or less functionality than illustrated or described herein.
In operation, computer 130 executes computer-executable instructions such as those illustrated in
The order of execution or performance of the methods illustrated and described herein is not essential, unless otherwise specified. That is, elements of the methods may be performed in any order, unless otherwise specified, and that the methods may include more or less elements than those disclosed herein. For example, it is contemplated that executing or performing a particular element before, contemporaneously with, or after another element is within the scope of the invention.
When introducing elements of the present invention or the embodiment(s) thereof, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements.
In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.
As various changes could be made in the above constructions and methods without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5726898 | Jacobs | Mar 1998 | A |
| 5796967 | Filepp et al. | Aug 1998 | A |
| 6226618 | Downs et al. | May 2001 | B1 |
| 6560651 | Katz et al. | May 2003 | B2 |
| 20020157002 | Messerges et al. | Oct 2002 | A1 |
| 20030079038 | Robbin et al. | Apr 2003 | A1 |
| 20040045027 | Takamura et al. | Mar 2004 | A1 |
| 20040225519 | Martin | Nov 2004 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20060230038 A1 | Oct 2006 | US |
