Claims
- 1. A method, comprising:
discovering a plurality of remote services in a network; creating a plurality of service elements that describe the respective plurality of remote services; and providing the plurality of service elements to an aggregator service.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating the plurality of service elements further comprises:
creating a plurality of remote service identifiers that identify the respective plurality of remote services.
- 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating the plurality of service elements further comprises:
creating a plurality of remote service types associated with the respective plurality of remote services.
- 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating the plurality of service elements further comprises:
creating a plurality of element identifiers t hat identify media content associated with the respective plurality of remote services.
- 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing the plurality of service elements to the aggregator service further comprises:
invoking a method provided by the aggregator service to add the plurality of service elements to a group.
- 6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
retrieving the plurality of service elements from the aggregator service.
- 7. A signal-bearing medium encoded with instructions that when executed on a processor comprise:
retrieving an aggregated group of service elements from an aggregator service; finding content data associated with the group of service elements; and displaying the content data.
- 8. The signal-bearing medium of claim 7, wherein the retrieving further comprises:
invoking a remote method in the aggregator service to retrieve the service elements.
- 9. The signal-bearing medium of claim 7, wherein the finding the content data further comprises:
retrieving a remote service identifier from one of the service elements; and invoking a remote service identified by the remote service identifier.
- 10. The signal-bearing medium of claim 9, wherein the finding the content data further comprises:
retrieving an element identifier from one of the service elements; and passing the element identifier to the remote service identified by the remote service identifier.
- 11. The signal-bearing medium of claim 7, wherein the finding the content data further comprises:
invoking a remote method identified by a remote service identifier and a remote service type in one of the service elements.
- 12. A signal-bearing medium encoded with a data structure to be accessed by a controller that executes on a processor, wherein the data structure comprises:
a remote service identifier that identifies a remote service; a remote service type that describes the remote service; and an element identifier that identifies remote content associated with the remote service, wherein the controller is to create the data structure from information retrieved from the remote service.
- 13. The signal-bearing medium of claim 12, wherein the controller is to invoke a method provided by an aggregator service to add the data structure to a group at a server.
- 14. The signal-bearing medium of claim 13, wherein a second controller is to retrieve the remote content using the aggregator service and the remote service.
- 15. The signal-bearing medium of claim 14, wherein the second controller is to play the remote content at a playback device.
- 16. A system comprising:
a first server comprising an aggregator service; and a client to discover a remote service and media content associated with the remote service, create a service element that identifies the service and the media content, and provide the service element to the aggregator service.
- 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the client is further to invoke a method of the aggregator service to add the service element to a group.
- 18. The system of claim 16, wherein the client is further to add a type of the remote service to the service element.
- 19. The system of claim 17, further comprising:
a second client to invoke a method of the aggregator service to retrieve the service element from the group.
- 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the second client is further to use the service element to access the remote service and invoke a method of the remote service to retrieve the media content.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is related to application Ser. No. __/___,___ filed, 2002, entitled “Cataloging Digital Radio Stations” (attorney docket 450.350US1) and to application Ser. No. __/___,___ filed, 2002, entitled “Cataloging Audio Content” (attorney docket 450.349US1).