(12) Unlted States Patent (10) Patent N0.: US 7,702,279 B2
Contents
1. 112 Media server WN 100 Portable multimedia player 102 05 7 702 279 2 Page 2 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Express Remote URM 17A product information datasheet Keyspan http www keyspan com products usb urm15t down loaded Sep 25 2005 pp 1 2 Keyspan Express Remote Supports Apple s Airport Express Press Release Keyspan Nov 10 2004 Keyspan DMR Software v1 3 for Mac OS X User Manual rev 04 09 01A1 Keyspan Keyspan Express Remote Product Fact Sheet Keyspan Nov 2004 Communication pursuant to Article 94 3 EPC for European Patent Application No 06845481 8 dated Oct 31 2008 cited by examiner U S Patent Apr 20 2010 Sheet 1 of 7 US 7 702 279 B2 unit 106 1 Stereo system 110 wo ea 114 N lt 1 vA FIG 1 Media server 104 Portable multimedia player 102 100 U S Patent Apr 20 2010 Sheet 2 of 7 SPEAKER 214 WIRELESS NETWORK INTERFACE 226 USER CODEC INPUT 212 208 PROCESSOR 202 224 216 206 220 222 Fig 2 US 7 702 279 2 200 DISPLAY 210 218 BUS INTERFACE FILE SYSTEM STORAGE DISK 204 U S Patent Apr 20 2010 Sheet 3 of 7 US 7 72. Method and Apparatus for Configuring a Wireless Device Through Reverse Advertising application Ser No 10 102 321 filed Mar 19 2002 2 Method and Apparatus for Supporting Duplicate Suppression When Issuing Multicast DNS Queries Using DNS_Format Message Packets appli cation Ser No 10 102 174 filed Mar 19 2002 and 3 Method and Apparatus for Implemented a Sleep Proxy for Services on a Network application Ser No 60 496 842 filed Aug 20 2003 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 To facilitate communications between the personal com puter 104 and the media unit 106 such as to provide media sharing functionality the wireless network interface 114 for the media unit 106 will advertise over the network that it supports audio streaming to the media unit 106 As required for standard Bonjour operation the wireless network inter face 114 will publish the availability of a service the name of the device providing the service the network address of the device and one or more configuration parameters that are related to the service The registration of this service adver tises particular audio capabilities of the system e g 44 1 kHz sample rate 16 bit sample size and 2 channel stereo samples The registration of the service might also include security encryption compression and other capabilities and or parameters that are necessary for communicating with the device In alt
3. Bluetooth standard In one embodiment the media player 200 is a portable computing device dedicated to processing media such as audio For example the media player 200 can be a music player e g MP3 player a game player a remote controller a portable communication device and the like These devices are generally battery operated and highly portable so as to allow a user to listen to music play games or video record video or take pictures communicate with others and or con trol other devices In one implementation the media player 200 is a handheld device that is sized for placement into a pocket or hand of the user By being handheld the media player 200 is relatively small and easily handled and utilized by its user By being pocket sized the user does not have to directly carry the device and therefore the device can be taken almost anywhere the user travels e g the user is not limited by carrying a large bulky and often heavy device as in a portable computer Furthermore the device may be operated by the users hands no reference surface such as a desktop is needed The multimedia player 102 can be used to remotely access and or control the personal computer 104 to effect any num ber of changes in the music being streamed to and played by the media unit 106 namely the stereo system 110 Such changes include selecting different songs playlists changing volume bass treble etc each at the discretion of the user of
4. the portable multimedia player performs the operations of wirelessly transmitting a media file request from the portable multimedia player to the personal computer and wherein in response to the media file request the personal computer performs the operation of wirelessly receiving at the personal computer a multi media file indication from the portable multimedia player determining if a control command is to be sent to the remote media unit to control a function of the remote media unit identifying a multimedia file stored on the personal com puter using the received multimedia file indication accessing the identified multimedia file wirelessly sending the identified multimedia file from the personal computer to the remote media and wirelessly sending the control command to the remote media unit if it is determined that the control com is to be sent to the remote media unit whereby the remote media unit is able to playback the appro priate media file in accordance with the at least one control command 16 A method as recited in claim 15 wherein said method further comprises wirelessly instructing the remote media unit to play the identified multimedia file 17 method as recited in claim 15 wherein said method further comprises providing to the multimedia player metadata pertaining to a plurality of multimedia files residing on the personal computer 18 A method as recited in claim 17 where
5. URM I5T product information datasheet Keyspan _http www keyspan com products usb urm15t down loaded Sep 25 2005 pp 1 2 51 Int Cl HO4H 7 00 2006 01 Continued 52 455 3 06 455 3 03 455 3 04 7 455 420 725 86 725 61 Primary Examiner Tan Trinh 58 Field of Classification Search 455 3 06 455 509 517 556 1 575 1 3 03 3 04 420 ABSTRACT 345 73 716 722 725 37 135 81 31 61 A portable multimedia player is used to wirelessly access and eas 725 86 control media server that is streaming digital media by way See application file for complete search history of a wireless interface to a media unit such as a stereo speak 56 References Cited ers in the case of streaming digital audio In one embodiment U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 845 282 A 6 192 340 1 6 914 551 B2 7 230 563 B2 7 231 516 7 574 177 B2 12 1998 2 2001 7 2005 6 2007 6 2007 8 2009 Alley et al Abecassis 704 270 Vidal Vidal Sparrell et 713 156 Tupman et al 112 the portable multimedia player is wirelessly synchronized to a selected one s of a number of digital media files stored on the media server in sucha way that digital media file metadata song title author etc associated with the selected digital media file s only is transferred from the media server to be stored in the portable media player 21 Claims 7 Drawing Sheets
6. corresponding to the digital mul timedia files stored in the media server 11 A portable digital multimedia player as recited in claim 10 further comprising a file system coupled to the main bus for storing the catalog of digital multimedia file meta data received from the media server 12 A portable digital multimedia player as recited in claim 11 wherein the portable digital multimedia player remote controller unit is an MP3 player 5 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 16 13 portable digital multimedia player as recited in claim 9 wherein the media server is a computing device that includes a personal computer 14 A portable digital multimedia player as recited in claim 9 wherein the media unit is a home audio system 15 A method of providing wireless remote control of a remote media unit through use of a portable multimedia player and a personal computer comprising receiving a signal to operate the portable multimedia player in a first mode or a second mode wherein when operated in the first mode the portable mul timedia player performs the operations of displaying a list of digital media files on a display of the portable multimedia player the digital media files stored on the portable multimedia player receiving a selection signal to play a digital media file and playing the selected digital media file on the portable multimedia player wherein when operated in the second mode
7. on a personal computer using these various entertainment devices For example a wireless network interface e g 802 11g based Airport Express wireless network interface manufactured by Apple Computer Inc of Cupertino Calif communicates wirelessly with other devices and to serve as a wireless base station or as a repeater to increase the range of a pre existing wireless network The network interface available on the personal computer can be used to link to any entertainment device such as a stereo system television or home theatre system This would allow for example streaming of multimedia data from a personal computer connected to the network interface wired or wireless to an entertainment device connected to the mul timedia interface Unfortunately however in order to control certain aspects of the playback of the multimedia data such as changing a song an entire playlist or even controlling volume a listener wishing to make such changes must be in physical contact with the personal computer in which the multimedia data being played is stored For example if a listener is in a living room listening to music being streamed to a living room based stereo by a computer wirelessly linked thereto located in an upstairs den changing the song being played would require the listener to physically walk to the upstairs den where the computer was located and select the desired song One approach used to solve the problem of remo
8. that pertains to a microprocessor or controller for con trolling the overall operation of the media player 200 The media player 200 stores media data pertaining to media assets in a file system 204 and a cache 206 The file system 204 is typically a storage disk or a plurality of disks The file system 204 typically provides high capacity storage capability for the media player 200 However since the access time to the file system 204 is relatively slow the media player 200 can also include cache 206 The cache 206 is for example Random Access Memory RAM provided by semiconductor memory The relative access time to the cache 206 is substan tially shorter than for the file system 204 However the cache 206 does not have the large storage capacity of the file system 204 Further the file system 204 when active consumes more power than does the cache 206 The power consumption is particularly important when the media player 200 is a portable media player that is powered by a battery not shown The media player 200 also includes a RAM 220 and a Read Only Memory ROM 222 The ROM 222 can store programs utilities or processes to be executed in a non volatile manner The RAM 220 provides volatile data storage such as for the cache 206 The media player 200 also includes a user input device 208 that allows a user of the media player 200 to interact with the media player 200 For example the user input device 208 can take a variety
9. the IEEE 802 11b or 802 11g standards Other wireless network standards could also be used either in alternative to the identified standards or in addition to the identified stan dards Such other network standards could include the IEEE 802 11 standard or the Bluetooth standard An antenna required for wireless networking is typically included within the housing of the wireless network interface 114 Such an antenna may take a variety of forms such as an antenna printed on a standard PCB printed circuit board Such anten nas are well known to those skilled in the art The wireless network supported by the wireless network interface 114 can enable wireless communications between the media server 104 and the media unit 106 In such case the media server 104 also includes or couples to a wireless net work interface 116 such that the media server 104 and the media unit 106 can communicate over the local wireless network via the wireless network interfaces 114 and 116 Furthermore the portable multimedia player 102 can com municate with the media server 104 in a wireless manner over US 7 702 279 2 5 the same wireless network as used between the media server 104 and the media unit 106 or another wireless network When the media unit 106 described herein is used to play multimedia content from the media server 104 hereafter personal computer the media unit 106 is plugged into a wall outlet for power The wireless network inter
10. the multimedia player 102 FIG 3 illustrates a representative multimedia player 300 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention that is suit able for use as the multimedia player 102 illustrated in FIG 1 having a number of input buttons 302 Such input buttons 302 take the form of a rotatable dial 302 1 in the form of a wheel capable of rotation in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction having at its center an depressable input button 302 2 arranged to receive a user input event such as a press event Other input buttons 302 include input buttons 302 3 through 302 6 each available to receive user supplied input action It should be noted that each of the above described buttons can be programmed or otherwise configured singly or in any combination to perform a particular function or suite of functions For example if so desired the rotatable dial 302 1 US 7 702 279 B2 11 can be configured to associate a scroll forward function with clockwise rotation of the dial 302 1 and a scroll back func tion with a counterclockwise rotation or vice versa In another situation a user can configure the dial 302 1 to scroll forward with a clockwise rotation in combination with a user supplied input event in the form of a press of the depressable button 302 2 to scroll forward in discrete steps for example as opposed to a continuous scroll action In this way a user can program any of the buttons 302 singly or in any combi nati
11. 0 2010 Sheet 6 of 7 US 7 702 279 B2 2 roe Media unit 106 112 Stereo system 110 i rs 1 yo 7 114 1 Ng 1 1 Media server eee 104 Requested media file 504 FIG 5B Media file request 602 Portable multimedia player 100 U S Patent 600 Apr 20 2010 Sheet 7 of 7 US 7 702 279 B2 READ MEDIA PLAYER INFORMATION FROM THE MEDIA DATABASE ON 602 THE MEDIA PLAYER COMPARE THE PLAYER MEDIA INFORMATION WITH HOST MEDIA INFORMATION FROM THE MEDIA DATABASE ON THE HOST COMPUTER 604 DETERMINE WHICH MEDIA ITEMS TO COPY BASED ON THE COMPARISON INFORMATION 606 COPY THE DETERMINED MEDIA ITEMS AND UPDATE THE _ APPROPRIATE MEDIA DATABASE S FIG 6 US 7 702 279 B2 1 PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYER AS A LOW POWER REMOTE CONTROL AND METHOD THEREOF BACKGROUND Due to the increasing capacity and capability of personal computers it has become popular to use a personal computer as a repository for multimedia content such as songs movies etc Particularly with music the increased popularity of stor ing multimedia data in the form of digital audio files having various formats such as MP3 AAC and AIFF on a personal computer has resulted in a variety of products and services For example music players e g MP3 player such a
12. 02 279 B2 FIG 3 U S Patent Apr 20 2010 Sheet 4 of 7 Media player generates and forwards a multimedia metadata request to the media server In response to the multimedia metadata request the media server locates the requested metadata associated with the media file s stored on the media server Media server provides a multimedia metadata response back to the multimedia player Display plurality of multimedia metadata by multimedia player Receive user selection of at least one of the displayed multimedia metadata In response to the user selection the media player generates and forwards a multimedia file request to the media server Media server locates and retrieves an appropriate media file based on the descriptive information provided in the media file request Wireless transfer media file from the media server to a media unit for play US 7 702 279 B2 402 404 406 408 410 412 400 414 416 FIG 4 U S Patent Apr 20 2010 Sheet 5 of 7 US 7 702 279 B2 gt Media unit 106 112 Stereo system 110 1 2 7 2 114 SAL Media server 104 109 FIG 5A 108 116 Metadata request 502 Requested metadata 504 Portable multimedia player 102 100 U S Patent Apr 2
13. 06 using its private key by which it can be authenticated by the media software using the appropriate public key Similarly data sent from the media software to the media unit 106 may be encrypted using a public key so that only amedia unit 106 using the corresponding private key can decrypt the data The media software and the media unit 106 may determine which of their respective pluralities of keys to use based on the exchange of a key index telling them which of their respective keys to use without the necessity of trans mitting entire keys It is preferable that authentication ofa media unit 106 occur upon initial establishment of a connection to the media soft ware Upon successful authentication the media software running on personal computer 104 will open a network con nection to the media unit s audio channel and begin sending data In this embodiment the media data is pushed from the media software to media unit 106 rather than being pulled by the media unit 106 from the media software The media data received by the media unit 106 can be played by the media unit 106 namely played by the stereo system 110 The media unit 106 receives this audio data buffers some portion of the data and begins playing back the audio data once the buffer has reached a predetermined capacity For example the media unit 106 may have a total of 8 seconds of buffering but may begin playback when 2 seconds of audio data have been receiv
14. 15 3 A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising displaying a top level menu having a number of user select able items by the digital media player selecting a particular one of the user selectable items and generating the signal based upon the selected item 4 A method as recited in claim 3 wherein the selected item is associated with a particular one of the digital media files 5 A method as recited in claim 4 wherein the signal includes digital media file metadata uniquely associated with the particular one of the digital media files 6 A method as recited in claim 5 wherein the digital media file metadata includes a digital media file title 7 A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the media server is a computing device that includes a personal computer 8 A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the media unit is a home audio system 9 A portable digital multimedia player arranged to store multimedia media file metadata used to wirelessly control a remote media server which interacts with a remote media unit comprising a wireless network interface a display device arranged to display a user interface having a number of user selectable items and a processor unit configured to operate the portable digital multimedia player in a first mode or a second mode wherein when the portable digital multimedia player is in the first mode in response to a user section of a multi media file stored on the portable digital mu
15. 4 and prior versions presently available from http Awww rtsp org and which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety Additionally although TCP trans mission control protocol is preferably used because of its robustness UDP user datagram protocol may also be used particularly in applications where the overhead associated with TCP would be undesirable In either case the data packets can use RTP real time protocol headers and will include both sequence numbers and time stamp information However when TCP is used this sequence and time stamp information is not required for detecting missing packets or reordering packets because TCP automatically provides guaranteed packet delivery and cor rect sequencing However the timing and sequence informa tion is useful for feedback from the media unit 106 to the media control software For example the media unit 106 may periodically provide information about where it is in the playback of the media stream This may be accomplished by the media unit 106 transmitting over the control channel an indication of the packet currently being played back Alternatively the media unit 106 may indicate the packet just received as well as the status of the device s buffers This information is useful to the media software for multiple purposes For example if the media software determines that the buffers on the media unit 106 are low additional data may be transmitted to the device
16. As illustrated by FIG 5B once a particular media item has been selected a multimedia file request 602 is generated at the media player 102 consistent with the metadata corresponding to the selected media item The multimedia file request 602 is then forwarded to the personal computer 104 It should be noted that the media file request 602 need only include descriptive information e g metadata necessary to uniquely identify the selected song by the personal computer 104 At no time is the song data itself transferred from the media player 102 to the personal computer 104 thereby avoiding any copyright infringement based upon protected content Indeed it may be that the multimedia player 102 does not include the song data In addition since the media file request 602 represents a small data transfer on the order of a few kilobytes the amount of power required for the genera tion and forwarding of the media file request 602 from the multimedia player 102 to the personal computer 104 is sub stantially reduced over that which would be required to send the full media file In this way a user can effectively provide remote control of the media unit e g the stereo system 110 by way of the personal computer 104 without adversely affecting battery life of the multimedia player 102 Once the personal computer 104 has received the media file request 602 an appropriate media file 604 is retrieved from the personal computer 104 based on the de
17. US007702279B2 az United States Patent 10 Patent No US 7 702 279 B2 Ko et al 45 Date of Patent Apr 20 2010 54 PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYER AS A LOW 2002 0042282 1 4 2002 Haupt 455 509 POWER REMOTE CONTROL AND METHOD 2004 0078812 1 4 2004 Calvert 725 46 2004 0090984 1 5 2004 Saint Hilaire et al 370 463 2004 0133914 1 7 2004 Smith etal 725 86 75 p 2004 0183756 1 9 2004 Freitas etal 345 73 75 Inventors US 2005 0042983 1 2 2005 Borgward 455 3 06 2005 0273790 Al 12 2005 Kearney et al US 2006 0085821 9 4 2006 Simmons et al 725 61 2006 0194612 1 8 2006 Chen 455 556 1 73 Assignee Apple Inc Cupertino CA US 2007 0015457 Al 1 2007 Krampf et al 2008 0163049 Al 7 2008 Krampf Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS U S C 154 b by 807 days wo 02 065732 8 2002 21 Appl No 11 314 291 OTHER PUBLICATIONS 1 4 International Search Report amp Written Opinion PCT US2006 22 Filed Dec 20 2005 047825 U S Appl 11 245 937 filed Oct 7 2005 65 Prior Publication Data Salling Clicker 2 2 1 User Manual Sailing Software AB 2005 US 2007 0169115 Al Jul 19 2007 Remote for iTunes
18. articular embodi ment it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to the described embodiment To the contrary it is intended to cover alternatives modifications and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims According to one embodiment a battery operated portable multimedia player is used to wirelessly access and or control a media server The media server can be implemented by a variety of computing devices As an example the media server can be implemented by a personal computer In response to such wireless access and or control the media server can operate to stream digital media by way of a wire less interface to a media unit e g a home audio system such as a stereo in the case of streaming digital audio In one embodiment the portable multimedia player wire lessly communicates with the media server so as to receive a media catalog of available media items on the media server Here the media catalog is a listing of the available media items e g digital media files stored on the media server In one embodiment the media catalog contains media item metadata song title author etc In this embodiment the digital media items e g digital media files themselves need not be transferred to the portable media player As a result only a relatively small amount of data is required to be trans ferred to the portable multimedia pla
19. ation etc or navigation such as next 5 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 previous play stop etc In such cases a control signal alone can be sent since the associated media item is already known by the media server Once received by the media server e g personal com puter the media server can then inform the media unit of the control operation requested by the user via the portable mul timedia player For example if the control operation is a new selected media item to be played the current media item being played by the media unit is discontinued and transfer of media data pertaining to the new selected media item begins such that the new selected media item can be played In this way the user can indirectly remotely control the output of the media unit using a battery powered portable multimedia player in a power efficient manner In yet another embodiment a portable digital media player such as an iPod is bound to a personal computer in such a way that the digital media player wirelessly controls the com puter It should be noted that the binding of the personal computer and the digital media player includes synchronizing the digital content stored in the digital media player with the media items stored in the computer over a connector such as a USB 2 0 or FireWire cable In this way the requirement of additional user interface on the digital media player for choosing connecting to and auth
20. ation etc that corresponds to the requested song and is typically much smaller in size than the associated media file Once the metadata has been identified the media server can provide a multimedia metadata response 406 back to the multimedia player for storage thereon In this case the song title author or other identifying indicia is returned to the multimedia player where it is stored for later retrieval Once the appropriate metadata e g catalog of available media items is stored on the multimedia player the multi media player displays the available metadata or portions thereof 408 At this point a user has the option of selecting any of the media items associated with the displayed metadata 410 For example the user can select a new song to be played Once a particular media item has been selected a multimedia file request is generated at the media player consistent with the metadata corresponding to the selected media item and is then forwarded to the media server 412 It should be noted that the media file request need only include descriptive infor mation e g metadata necessary to uniquely identify the selected song by the media server At no time is the song data itself transferred from the media player to the media server thereby avoiding any copyright infringement based upon pro tected content Indeed it may be that the multimedia player does not include the song data In addition since the media file request repre
21. bodiment the media application be the iTunes software for music management and playback produced by Apple Computer Inc Using the media applica tion the media unit 106 may be selected as a destination for media playback The personal computer 104 can be pro grammed such that the audio content of a media file to be played will be sent to the media unit 106 while system sounds e g beeps alerts etc will continue to be presented at the personal computer 104 Communications between the personal computer 104 and the media unit 106 over a wireless network e g wireless network 100 is initiated through a discovery process One example of such a discovery process uses Bonjour which is technology that enables automatic discovery of computers devices and services on IP networks Also known as Zero Configuration Networking Bonjour uses standard IP proto cols to allow devices to automatically find each other without the need for a user to enter IP addresses or configure DNS servers Various aspects of Bonjour are generally known to those skilled in the art and are disclosed in the white paper entitled Bonjour dated October 2003 and published by Apple Computer Inc which is hereby incorporated by ref erence in its entirety Additional implementation details may be found in the following co pending patent applications commonly owned with the present application which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety 1
22. cod ers for multiple formats This also reduces the hardware per formance requirements of media unit 106 Yet another advan tage of performing decoding on the personal computer 104 is that various effects may be applied to the audio stream for example cross fading between tracks volume control equal ization and or other audio effects Many of these effects US 7 702 279 B2 9 would be difficult or impossible to apply if the media unit 106 were to apply them for example because of computational resources required one embodiment the decoded audio data is compressed by personal computer 104 before transmission to media unit 106 This compression is often accomplished using a lossless compression algorithm to provide maximum audio fidelity One suitable compressor is the Apple Lossless Encoder which is available in conjunction with Apple s iTunes soft ware The media unit 106 does require a decoder for the compression codec used It is also desirable that the data stream sent from personal computer 104 to the media unit 106 be encrypted One suitable form of encryption is AES using a pre defined key determined as described above FIG 2 shows a schematic functional block diagram of a portable media player 200 according to one embodiment of the invention The media player 200 is for example suitable for use as the battery powered portable multimedia player 102 shown in FIG 1 The media player 200 includes a processor 202
23. dia database on a media player Next the player information is compared 604 with first media file information from a media database on a host computer e g personal computer Such comparison pro duces comparison information concerning differences between the player information and the host information Next the synchronization processing 600 determines 606 one or more media items to copy between the host computer and the media player based on the comparison information For example media items e g audio files for songs can be compared using media metadata such as song title album name and or artist name which pertain to characteristics or attributes of the media items Thereafter the determined one or more media items are copied 608 and the appropriate metadata are updated to the corresponding media database Following the operation 608 the synchronization processing 600 is complete and ends According to one embodiment the comparison of player media information and host media information is performed using media attributes of the various media items Namely a media item on the media player can be deemed the same media item as resident on the host computer if its media attributes sufficiently match Examples of media attributes include title album track artist composer and genre These attributes are particular to a particular media item In addition other media attributes can pertain to quality characteristics of the media ite
24. ed Additionally it is also possible for the buffer to have a varying capacity determined for example by network traf fic or reliability conditions In a preferred embodiment the audio channel is separate from a control channel For reasons explained below it is advantageous to have the data channel separate from the control channel However a single channel could be used for data and control information One advantage to using separate control and data channels is improved response to user commands As noted above the media unit 106 includes buffering of data which compen sates for network delays latency etc If control commands are included in the data stream these commands would not be reached until the media unit 106 plays through the buffer meaning there would be a delay of up to several seconds before implementing the user command This is obviously undesirable and thus a separate channel for control data provides an enhanced user experience 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 The packets sent over the data channel in this example the audio data are preferably TCP packets in the general form specified by the real time streaming protocol RTSP stan dard RTSP is a standard communication protocol known to those skilled in the art Therefore implementation details of such a system are not discussed here although they may be found in Real Time Streaming Protocol Specification dated Feb 16 200
25. edia file indication from the mul timedia player identifying a multimedia file stored on the personal computer using the received multimedia file indica tion accessing the identified multimedia file and wirelessly sending the identified multimedia file from the personal com puter to the remote media unit BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 shows a representative wireless media network and a wireless battery powered portable multimedia player in accordance with an embodiment of the invention FIG 2 shows a schematic functional block diagram of a portable media player according to one embodiment of the invention FIG 3 illustrates a representative multimedia player in accordance with an embodiment of the invention US 7 702 279 B2 3 FIG 4 shows flow diagram of remotely accessing a media server in order to effect a change to a streamed digital media file according to one embodiment of the invention FIGS 5A 5B shows how the multimedia player can be used to remotely access the personal computer to effect any number of changes in the music being streamed to and played by the stereo FIG 6 that is a flow diagram of synchronization processing according to one embodiment of the invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION Reference will now be made in detail to a particular embodiment of the invention an example of which is illus trated in the accompanying drawings While the invention will be described in conjunction with the p
26. enticating with the com puter is eliminated Therefore in this way only an additional user interface having a top level menu remote control as an example is needed to control the computer which when selected automatically connects and authenticates the com puter bound to the portable digital media player FIG 1 shows wireless media system 100 that includes a battery powered portable multimedia player 102 a media server 104 and a media unit 106 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention As configured the media server 104 includes a local storage medium 108 that can take any appropriate form such as a hard disk drive flash memory etc arranged to store multimedia content 109 that can include digitized music e g songs short video files or full length video files e g movies For the sake of this discussion the media server 104 is taken to be a personal computer arranged to store a number of digital audio files e g song files in the local storage medium 108 configured as a hard drive In the described embodiment the media server 104 is wirelessly coupled to the media unit 106 that in this case takes the form of a stereo system 110 having a number of speakers 112 In the described embodiment the stereo system 110 includes a wireless network interface 114 The wireless network inter face 114 supports a wireless network The wireless network can take the form of for example a WiFi interface accord ing to
27. ernative embodiments additional services may be designed to specify a variety of parameters relating to one or more multimedia input or output devices attached to the media unit 106 Devices that might have particular applica bility ina home network environment include speakers video display terminals cameras microphones etc The automatic discovery aspects of devices within the net work permit its use in architecting easily configured home networks according to a user s preferences and designs For example a user with large library of music on a computer in one room ofa house can create a wireless multimedia network for his entire home simply by deploying a few of the disclosed wireless network interfaces throughout his home For example he can put one near the stereo in the living room and one by the television in the bedroom By connecting the appropriate multimedia interface he can serve audio video or other content to these devices with a simple selection at his personal computer For example he may direct the living room stereo to play his favorite album and he may direct the bedroom television to show a home movie This extensible architecture allows a user to configure relationships between sources and destinations of media data without regard or need for buying all components from the same vendor or other such considerations that might otherwise be required to per mit interoperability of disparate devices on a wireless n
28. et work Once the wireless network interface 114 is discovered on the wireless network the media software running on personal computer 104 e g iTunes will recognize the associated stereo system 110 as a destination for audio data and will automatically provide the particular device e g stereo sys tem 110 as a selectable destination within the user interface When the user selects a particular device from those avail able a variety of authentication and security exchanges can take place For example if password protection is provided as a security feature the user may be prompted for a password required to use the media unit 106 1 stereo system 110 for audio file playback Additionally if the user attempts to select a device that is already in use for example by another user the media unit 106 1 wireless network interface 114 will send a message indicating that it is busy through the user interface Once a connection is established between a media source e g personal computer 104 and the wireless network inter face 114 media data corresponding to one or more media items e g songs can be transmitted from the personal com puter 104 to the wireless network interface 114 The trans mission can pertain to a file transfer of the media data media file or streaming of the media data The connection remains open so long as media data is being transmitted Once media data is no longer being transmitted for e
29. face 114 acts as a wireless base station for the wireless network thus enabling the personal computer 104 to communicate with the media unit 106 The wireless network interface 114 is also con nected to the stereo system 110 to enable playback of audio files stored on the computer 104 by the stereo system 110 The connection between the wireless network interface 114 and the stereo system 110 may be by way of a digital fiber optic cable that would connect to a digital audio input port on the stereo system 110 As briefly described above the wireless network interface 114 has the ability to receive multimedia information from the personal computer 104 over a wireless network connec tion and output this media information to an entertainment device e g the stereo system 110 Although it is contem plated that audio video audio video and or other forms of multimedia may be used with the media system described herein one exemplary embodiment relates to the sharing of audio data stored on a personal computer with an entertain ment device such as a stereo system To provide relatively simple and user friendly interface to the media output features of media unit 106 it is advanta geous to provide access to the media unit 106 from a media application running on the personal computer 104 which is also preferably the application normally used to create manipulate or otherwise access the particular type of media file In one exemplary em
30. igured to stream digital media data to a media unit is described The method is performed by binding the portable multimedia player and the media server wirelessly transmitting a signal from the multimedia player to the media server and stream ing the digital media data from the media server to a media unit by way of a wireless interface using the received signal In another embodiment a portable digital multimedia player remote controller unit arranged to store multimedia media file metadata used to wirelessly control a remote media server is described The remote controller unit includes a wireless network interface a display device arranged to dis play a user interface having a number of user selectable items and a processor unit that in response to a user selection of one of the user selectable items generates a signal that is wire lessly sent by the wireless network interface to the remote media server the signal including multimedia file meta data identifying a multimedia file stored on the media server that in turn responds to the signals by accessing the identified multimedia file and once accessed wirelessly sends the iden tified multimedia file to a remote media unit In yet another embodiment a method of providing wireless remote control of a remote media unit through use of a por table multimedia player and a personal computer is described The method is carried out by wirelessly receiving at the personal computer a multim
31. in faster than real time to insure that the device s buffers do not become completely empty This information may also be used by the media software for synchronizing visual effects displayed on a monitor display of the personal computer 104 or other device with the sound being output from the media unit 106 1 the stereo system 110 Visual effects to be synchronized with the audio playback may take a variety of forms including various artistic visualizations which provide visual effects that are synchronized with the beats of the music Another use for the packet sequence and time stamp infor mation relates to the case in which the media unit 106 receives an instruction to stop playback and discard all data received up to that point In such a case buffering by the media unit 106 requires that the packets to be discarded be identified which is most readily accomplished using the sequence and timestamp information The data payload of the RTP packets contains the audio information to be played back by the media unit 106 Ina preferred embodiment media files may be stored on personal computer 104 in one or more formats including for example MP3 Motion Picture Expert s Group Layer 3 AAC Ad vanced Audio Coding a k a MPEG 4 audio WMA Win dows Media Audio etc The media software running on the personal computer 104 decodes these various audio formats eliminating the need for the media unit 106 to include de
32. in said providing is performed by wirelessly sending the metadata to the mul timedia player 19 A method as recited in claim 18 wherein said providing does not also provide the multimedia files to the multimedia player 20 method as recited in claim 17 wherein the metadata for each of the multimedia files including at least descriptive information and a unique multimedia file indication 21 A method as recited in claim 17 wherein the metadata is a catalog of information associated with the multimedia files UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO 7 702 279 2 Page 1 of 1 APPLICATION NO 11 314291 DATED April 20 2010 INVENTOR S Steve Ko et al It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below In column 16 line 26 in Claim 15 delete operation of and insert operations of therefor In column 16 line 37 in Claim 15 delete media and and insert media unit and therefor Signed and Sealed this David J Kappos Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
33. l manner based upon a selected number and type of groupings appropriate to the available media assets For example in the case where the media player 200 is an MP3 type media player the available media assets take the form of MP3 files each of which cor responds to a digitally encoded song or other audio rendition stored at least in part in the file system 204 The available media assets or in this case songs can be grouped in any manner deemed appropriate In one arrangement the songs can be arranged hierarchically as a list of music genres at a first level a list of artists associated with each genre at a second level a list of albums for each artist listed in the second level at a third level while at a fourth level a list of songs for each album listed in the third level and so on The media player 200 also includes a wireless network interface 226 arranged to wirelessly transmit any selected data from the media player 200 to any appropriately config ured receiver unit e g the wireless network interface 114 over a wireless network In the embodiment shown in FIG 1 the wireless network interface 226 that takes the form of for example a WiFi interface according to the IEEE 802 11b or 802 11g standards Other wireless network standards could also be used either in alternative to the identified standards or in addition to the identified standards Such other network standards could include the IEEE 802 11 standard or the
34. ltimedia player the selected multimedia file is played by the portable digital multimedia player wherein when the portable digital multimedia player is in the second mode in response to a user selection of one of the user selectable items generates a signal that is wire lessly sent by the wireless network interface to the media server the signal including multimedia file meta data identifying a multimedia file stored on the media server wherein the remote media server receives the signal sent by the wireless network interface and responds to the signal by accessing the identified multimedia file and once accessed wirelessly sends the identified multimedia file to the remote media unit and wherein the media server determines if a control command is to be forwarded to the remote media unit to control a function of the remote media unit and wirelessly for warding the control command from the media server to the remote media unit if it is determined that the control command is to be forwarded to the remote media unit whereby the remote media unit is able to playback the appropriate media file in accordance with the at least one control command 10 portable digital multimedia player as recited in claim 9 further comprising a main bus and a bus interface connected to the main bus arranged to connect the main bus to a data link that provides a data path for wired transmission of a catalog of digital mul timedia file meta data
35. m Examples of such media attributes include bit rate sample rate equalization setting volume adjustment start stop and total time as well as associated preference file s Hence in one embodiment if the above identified media attributes pertaining to a media item on the media player all match those same media attributes pertaining to a media item on the host computer then the two media items stored on different devices can be deemed the same even though still further attributes or characteristics may cause these media items to not be exact duplications of one another For example if modification dates associated with respective files storing the media items were different this difference in modification date would not trigger the copying of such media items from the host computer to the media player when the above identified media attributes match However if the programmable button preference files do not match then only the programmable button preference files are updated 5 35 40 45 65 14 Hence the intelligence of the synchronization processing allows the amount of data transfer to be properly managed such that it is relatively low or minimized Although the synchronization processing 700 makes use of media data bases at the host computer and the media player in another embodiment the needed host media information and the player media information can be gathered from the media items themselves In one impleme
36. ntation such media infor mation can be acquired from metadata provided with the media items However by providing the media databases synchronization is able to be performed more efficiently and quickly While the invention has been disclosed with respect to a limited number of embodiments numerous modifications and variations will be appreciated by those skilled in the art For example for this disclosure the term computer does not necessarily mean any particular kind of device combina tion of hardware and or software nor should it be considered restricted to either a multi purpose or single purpose device Additionally although the invention has been described par ticularly with respect to the output or distribution of multi media information it should be understood that the inventive concepts disclosed herein are also generally applicable to the input or collection of such information It is intended that all such variations and modifications fall with in the scope of the following claims The invention claimed is 1 A method of using a portable multimedia player arranged to store digital media files to wirelessly access and or control a media server configured to stream digital media data to a media unit comprising configuring the portable multimedia player to operate the portable multimedia player in a first mode or a second mode wherein when in the first mode the portable multimedia player performs the operati
37. of forms suchas a button keypad dial etc Still further the media player 200 includes a display 210 screen display that can be controlled by the processor 202 to display information to the user A data bus 224 can facilitate data transfer between at least the file system 204 the cache 206 and the processor 202 The media player 200 also includes a bus interface 216 that couples to a data link 218 The data link 218 allows the media player 200 to couple to a host computer over a wired connection In one embodiment the media player 200 serves to store plurality of media assets e g songs in the file system 204 When a user desires to have the media player 200 play a particular media item a list of available media assets is dis played on the display 210 Then using the user input device 208 a user can select one of the available media assets The processor 202 upon receiving a selection of a particular media item supplies the media data e g audio file for the particular media item to a coder decoder CODEC 212 The CODEC 212 then produces analog output signals for a speaker 214 The speaker 214 can be a speaker internal to the media player 200 or external to the media player 200 For example headphones or earphones that connect to the media player 200 would be considered an external speaker 40 45 50 55 65 10 For example a particular embodiment the available media assets are arranged in a hierarchica
38. on to perform any function Although the multimedia player 300 makes use of the dial 302 1 and various input buttons 302 2 through 302 6 in another embodiment the dial 302 1 can be replaced by a touch pad preferably a touch pad supporting circular inputs Also the buttons 302 2 through 302 6 can be provided else where For example if a touch pad is used the buttons 302 2 through 302 6 can be associated with portion of the touch pad dispersed about and beyond the outer periphery of the touch pad or provided underneath the touch pad FIG 4 shows a flow diagram of remotely accessing a media server in order to effect a change to a streamed digital media file according to one embodiment of the invention The pro cess 400 begins by the multimedia player generating a mul timedia metadata request that is then forwarded to the media server 402 In response to the multimedia metadata request the media server locates the requested metadata associated with the media file s 404 stored on the media server Typi cally the multimedia metadata request is a request for a catalog of all media items available on the media server The catalog is typically predetermined and stored on the media server However if not the catalog can be generated when requested The catalog requested need not be for all the media items available on the media server In any event for a given media item e g song the metadata can include song title author track dur
39. ons of displaying list of digital media files on a display of the portable multimedia player the digital media files being stored on the portable multimedia player receiving a selection signal to play a digital media file and playing the selected digital media file on the portable multimedia player wherein when in the second mode the portable multimedia player performs the operations of binding the portable multimedia player and the media server and wirelessly transmitting a media file request from the multimedia player to the media server and wherein in response to the media file request the media server performs the operations of wirelessly forwarding the appropriate media file from the media server to a media unit based on the media file request determining if a control command 15 to be forwarded to the media unit to control a function of the media unit and wirelessly forwarding the control command from the media server to the media unit if it is determined that the control command is to be forwarded to the media unit whereby the media unit is able to playback the appro priate media file in accordance with the at least one control command 2 A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the binding the portable multimedia player and the media server comprises synchronizing the digital media player and the media server over a wired connector that includes a IEEE 1394 compliant type connector US 7 702 279 B2
40. puter 104 locates the requested metadata associated with the media file s 106 e g audio tracks stored on the personal computer 104 Typically the multimedia metadata request 502 is a request for a catalog of all media items available on the personal computer 104 The catalog is typically predeter mined and stored on the personal computer 104 However if not the catalog can be generated when requested The catalog requested need not be for all the media items available on the personal computer 104 In any event for a given media item e g song the metadata can include song title author track duration etc that corresponds to the requested song and is typically much smaller in size than the associated media file Once the metadata has been identified the personal computer 104 can provide a multimedia metadata response 504 back to the multimedia player 102 for storage thereon In this case the song title author or other identifying indicia is returned to the multimedia player 102 where it is stored for later retrieval Once the appropriate metadata e g catalog of available media items is stored on the multimedia player 102 a user has the option of selecting any of the media items associated with the stored metadata to be remotely played For example the user can select a new song to be played using the GUI 310 that can display at least a portion of the stored metadata that was previously received from the personal computer 104
41. s the iPod multimedia device and media management applica tions such as iTunes software which as produced by Apple Computer Inc of Cupertino Calif are popular products With the ability to store large numbers and types of digital audio files in such portable music players services such as iTunes Music Store provided by Apple Computer Inc of Cupertino Calif have been developed that allow consumers to purchase music and other digital multimedia data in a form suitable for storage and playback using portable music players and personal computers In so doing many consum ers use their personal computer as a primary vehicle for obtaining storing and accessing multimedia data Although the quality of multimedia playback by computers has improved dramatically in the last several years these systems still lag behind typical entertainment devices e g stereos televisions projection systems etc in terms of per formance fidelity and usability for the typical consumer Therefore in order to utilize the higher quality playback systems it has become common to install home network systems whereby an individual s personal computer is linked either wirelessly or wired to a home entertainment system forming in the process a media system The media system integrates several interfaces and feature sets into an integrated platform In this way the individual is able to listen view or otherwise access this multimedia data stored
42. scriptive informa tion provided in the media file request 602 In one embodi ment the appropriate media file 604 is retrieved from the hard US 7 702 279 B2 13 drive 108 and wirelessly forwarded by way of the wireless network interface 116 across the wireless network to the stereo system 110 via the wireless network interface 114 In some cases the media file being wirelessly forwarded is accompanied by an associated control command to control the stereo system 110 such as to change the volume treble bass etc In some cases the multimedia player 102 will periodically wirelessly synchronize to the personal computer 104 The synchronization can be manually or automatically initiated The synchronization can synchronize metadata as well as media data between the multimedia player 102 and the per sonal computer 104 Often the synchronization only pro vides a subset of the available metadata and media items from the personal computer 104 to the multimedia player 102 which has less storage capacity FIG 6 shows a flow diagram of synchronization process ing 600 according to one embodiment of the invention The synchronization processing 600 is for example performed by the personal computer 104 illustrated in FIG 1 More specifically the synchronization processing 600 is performed by a media management application e g iTunes software The synchronization processing 600 initially reads 602 player media information from a me
43. sents a small data transfer on the order of a few kilobytes the amount of power required for the genera tion and forwarding of the media file request from the multi media player to the media server is substantially reduced over that which would be required to send the full media file In this way a user can effectively provide remote control of the media unit e g the stereo system by way of the media server without adversely affecting battery life of the multimedia player 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 Once the media server has received the media request an appropriate media file is retrieved from the media server and wirelessly forwarded by way of the wireless network interface across the wireless network to a media unit such as the stereo 110 In some cases the media file being wirelessly forwarded is accompanied by an associated control command to control the stereo system such as to change the volume treble bass etc FIGS 5A 5B graphically illustrate a data flow between the multimedia player 102 the media server 104 and the media unit 106 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention Once a user has interacted with the multimedia player 102 to for example select a new song to be played the multimedia player 102 generates a multimedia metadata request 502 that is then forwarded to the personal computer 104 In response to the multimedia metadata request 502 the personal com
44. te access and control is provided by a zone based system exemplified by Sonos Digital Music System manufactured by Sonos Inc 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 of Santa Barbara Calif that utilizes distributed units Sonos Zone Players and controller unit Sonos Controller Unfortunately these units require sub stantial investment in equipment in order to provide the req uisite zone based remote access and control For example Sonos Digital Music System requires a user to purchase or otherwise acquire a controller as well as one or more zone players depending upon the area Therefore what is desired is a system that leverages exist ing devices such as an iPod AirPort Express a Mac running iTunes to provide the remote access and control that would otherwise require the purchase of specialized equipment such as zone controller units and zone players SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A portable multimedia player such as the iPod manu factured by Apple Computer Inc of Cupertino Calif is used to wirelessly access and control a media server such as a personal computer running iTunes software that is streaming digital media by way of a wireless interface to a media unit such as a stereo speakers in the case of streaming digital audio In one embodiment a method of using a portable multimedia player arranged to store digital media files to wirelessly access and or control a media server conf
45. xample at the end of US 7 702 279 2 7 playback of a song or album the connection enters idle state While in this idle state the media source can begin successfully transmitting data at any time as the connection has not been closed Thus it would not be necessary to rene gotiate or otherwise reestablish the connection However while the media source has a connection in this idle state it can also accept an attempt to establish a con nection with another media source If such an attempt occurs the connection with the first media source will be closed and anew connection will be established Preferably in such case the first source will also be notified that its connection has been terminated Additionally for digital rights management purposes it may be desirable to determine that the media unit 106 is authorized to receive an audio data stream and or that the communications link between the personal computer 104 and the media unit 106 is secure e g encrypted Typically this requires some form of authentication and is preferably based on a public key private key system In one embodiment each media unit 106 may be provided with a plurality of private keys embedded in read only memory ROM The media software is then provided with a corresponding plurality of public keys This allows identification data transmitted from the media unit 106 to the media software to be digitally signed by the media unit 1
46. yer thereby saving valu able battery resources In addition by not transferring the digital media items themselves potential copyright infringe ment issues can be avoided When a user wishes to access and or control the media server in order to effectuate a change in the media item data being streamed to the media unit e g changing a song being played as an example the user selects a new media item e g song to be played by interacting with the portable multime dia player In one implementation the portable multimedia player can display a plurality of user selectable items that correspond to different digital media items e g song files The user of the portable multimedia player can select one of the user selectable items to specify a media item to be played Once selected the portable multimedia player wirelessly informs the media server of the specified media item to be played In one example the portable multimedia player trans mits only some or all of the metadata corresponding to the new media item along with a control signal indicating for example that a media item currently being played is to be replaced by the new media item associated with the control signal In another implementation the portable multimedia player can display a user interface that enables the user to control how a media item is to be played For example the control provided can alter change or provide play characteristic such as volume equaliz
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