US 20080201376A1 (19) United States (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2008/0201376 A1 KHEDOURI et al. (43) Pub. Date: Aug. 21, 2008 (54) METHOD FOR SHARING CONTENT WITH Publication Classi?cation SEVERAL DEVICES (51) Int- Cl (75) Inventors: Robert K. KHEDOURI, Roslyn, G06F 17/30 (200601) 32$?’ (52) us. Cl. ............................ .. 707/1041; 707/E17.009 Price, Bethel Park, PA (U S) (57) ABSTRACT Correspondence Address: _ _ _ _ _ GOTTLIEB RACKMAN & REISMAN PC A portable W1reless commumcatlons subscriber audio and/or 270 MADISON AVENUE 8TH FLOOR video player apparatus and system and method for selecting, NEW YORK, NY 10016_6601 requesting, downloading, and playing audio and/or video data content ?les from an lntemet-based database server. The (73) Assignee; MusicGremlin, Inc_ Wireless link is preferably implemented in accordance With the WiFi protocol, Which alloWs connectivity to the lntemet (21) Appl, No ,; 12/041,903 by being in proximity With a local base station or WiFi hotspot (i.e., publicly available local Wireless access hub connected to (22) Filed: Mar. 4, 2008 the Internet). The portable Wireless communications sub scriber audio and/or video player apparatus and system pref Related US Application Data erably include a security means for monitoring and blocking (62) Division of application No. 10/953,746, ?led on Sep. unauthorized use of the player apparatus and S.y.SteIn' The 29 2 00 4 player apparatus further preferably has the capabihty to com ’ ' municate With other neighboring player apparatus for the (60) Provisional application No. 60/507,110, ?led on Oct. purpose of eXChanging COnIenI data ?les, playlists and per 1, 2003. sonal messages. /—_’\ AUDlO CONTENT DATABASES [SUBSCRFBER AND USAGE DATABASES}\302 4304 1 £06 307 ENCRYPHONL UPLOAD {AUTHENEEIQAEQN fWEEsEE APPLICATIONS 3 03/ ENGINE I MANAGER 3 SERVER iANDf-‘RONTENDDATA i i /{ SECURE NETWORK GATEWAY USING 88!. Few“ 305 l WEBSiTEiNTERFACE FRONT-END SOFTWARE AND USER | 308 I \ PUBUC OR PRWATE iNTERNET CONNECTEON AND OPTlONAL WFi LOCAL ACCESS HUB {5.5, LOCAL BASE STATSON RECEWERFI'RANSCEIVER} ,. i J10 A : i X l PQWEEE PORTABLE . OTHER 5 DESKTOPGR‘ / AUDXODEVJCEST““ AUDIODEWCESL‘W* COMPATZBLE ; LAPTOP ! 3“ #1 J / #2 AUDIO DEVICES? " COMPUTER “3-H 3*?2 313 314 t Patent Application Publication Aug. 21, 2008 Sheet 1 0f 17 US 2008/0201376 A1 ‘ \ / \m §NPUT \ 1 m RX TX “6 DEvscE W 100 108// COMMMODULE :D Mme / ENCRYPT. CH‘? 109 UNST 105/ CLOCK VDLADLEMEMORY (SDRAM) DATA 103 / PROCESSiNG V V 112 VDLADLE MEMORY up (FLASH) HARD 104 DRA/E \102 113 Uwwa RECHARGABLE TL I // BATTERY ROM "14 SOFTWARE MODULES HEAD PHONE JACK \ 115/ 107 106 COMPUTER CONTROLLER \101 FIG. '1 Patent Application Publication Aug. 21, 2008 Sheet 2 0f 17 US 2008/0201376 A1 FIG‘ 2 Patent Application Publication Aug. 21, 2008 Sheet 4 0f 17 US 2008/0201376 A1 w.-,..................... :H\Immwmnoww.$255k ..................... \ \522%\maymu2%H2% QZEEEQWQ‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘,.N % ?mqmomwm?owmamQ73 G?“m5w aU$5“?H i _ z"W.......................\vmmoz?wz H‘EM/E52“ / $32$223555mmg@253 m2252\mom 22WWNew,m§mzazm069 .3yzu/ m WMM925528 5m5“mMwwwé?g hMn méogmzHxH35H? mgBMWMwwwé?ém Ma?m28%Q5£2 moi:m Patent Application Publication Aug. 21, 2008 Sheet 5 0f 17 US 2008/0201376 A1 mom. _ @mégg . $>§ . amxwazm wmwéqgm / Patent Application Publication Aug. 21, 2008 Sheet 6 0f 17 US 2008/0201376 A1 W Patent Application Publication Aug. 21, 2008 Sheet 7 0f 17 US 2008/0201376 A1 702 DEViCE A DE VICE B O 703 DEWCE C EVICE F "JACK‘S PLAYER" : PRNACY HON" MODE DEVICE G DEViCE H F16. 7 Patent Application Publication Aug. 21, 2008 Sheet 8 0f 17 US 2008/0201376 A1 892 CE) \/ Search / W WWW M M H ' s01 ,, , 9 ' * A?man Brothers?he [3 AlémanfGreg F: Almand Marc Alannah Myles-~\..,803 (HI) Alan Msnkin Aim Bi’?d Aivamzz Jsrje Alganquin, The Alkaiine Trip ~m> \ Aitemaiivess The \7 Featured: Coidpiay sortby artist back Patent Application Publication Aug. 21, 2008 Sheet 9 0f 17 US 2008/0201376 Al (D Search Ailman Bmthem, The?ww ( Statesbero Blues A‘ degsica r: Midnight Rid? Haschie Csschie C) a One Way Out spokgn Whipping Past ‘mm 4 True Fine Ius Grat Train Rebbeyy Fragiée Tender Heart Q ard Times Plenty V I Featured: Coidpiay sari by track bask U Patent Application Publication Aug. 21, 2008 Sheet 10 0f 17 US 2008/0201376 A1 100% ® / Search 5 Aiiman Bmthers, The “W19 Jessica W W Legendary Hits :93“ ‘i’ music M1002 ' 1903 Gwmhsts / W ( 39f: qQn paw I‘g Fmra WSpoken K ‘Ja n, 1v luv ward J getalbum new H Free “W? L H otherversions® @ FIG.1O Patent Application Publication Aug. 21, 2008 Sheet 11 0f 17 US 2008/0201376 A1 @ MusicGremlin Hsme fm/record ' “\~1102 \ FMSEC \ accsunt V UH D JohnWhyRoam GeorgiaMaya? For Squares _ , “HOT Patent Application Publication Aug. 21, 2008 Sheet 12 0f 17 US 2008/0201376 A1 @ Search WM Gremlésts 1202 i‘ ‘ what’s new: Madonna, Ooldpiay Patent Application Publication Aug. 21, 2008 Sheet 13 0f 17 US 2008/0201376 A1 Q) my music home ' H my “ L393 A songs " my piay?sts my Gremiists J C V’) Oplay Oedit Ohm @ ® @ FEG. 13 Patent Application Publication Aug. 21, 2008 Sheet 14 0f 17 US 2008/0201376 A1 Search MusécGremiin pics n r Aitama?ve mckmm r 13$ aw i . W850 Thzs Week m the 0mm F: W‘ Hettest pep Gremlisfg Aembic w?rkaut (1:) GUM? potéight Modern rack Country Charts Featured: 1 V 1 LatinDeep in | v _ _ Patent Application Publication Aug. 21, 2008 Sheet 15 0f 17 US 2008/0201376 A1 @ my music: W Current Grem?st Ewmé Subsc?ptions /1501 ' ' " Aiteriixative? rack (20V A gangs Jogging mix (5) ’“ Beach mix (25) lamgsts Hottest pop (15) (5:) WE my, Madam sack ( 19) my Gremiists I try Jimmy V J Buffet‘s I 7 Tap Ten Patent Application Publication Aug. 21, 2008 Sheet 16 0f 17 US 2008/0201376 A1 @ my music Aitemaiive Rack 119% last update 6/1O/O3mW16m (I) Va 1 modify Gremiist é back j] Patent Application Publication Aug. 21, 2008 Sheet 17 0f 17 US 2008/0201376 A1 G) Search Gremiist mm Aiiemative Rack new M mzzsic Timing: Wwdy QMNWWOZ Gremusts Length: 20 songs kW ‘701 spakenWm SUbSCHDQ. };1 US 2008/0201376 A1 Aug. 21, 2008 METHOD FOR SHARING CONTENT WITH [0007] Such DMPs originally tended to rely on the use of SEVERAL DEVICES ?ash memory, such as compact ?ash or secure digital, for the storage of audio content, and Were capable of holding a maxi CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED mum of approximately 0.5 to l gigabyte of memory. More APPLICATIONS recently, so-called “portable jukeboxes” have been intro duced that can hold an estimated 10,000 songs or more of [0001] This application claims priority to provisional appli musical entertainment by including a miniature hard disk cation Ser. No. 60/507,110 ?led Oct. 1, 2003, and incorpo recorder in the housing of the device, Which can have 40 rated herein by reference. gigabytes or more of capacity. Portable video players With even greater hard disk capacity have also been developed. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0008] In general, conventional DMPs are capable of [0002] a. Field of Invention alloWing their users to (1) transfer compressed media ?les [0003] The present invention relates to the ?eld of digital from a computer to the device through the use of associated audio and video player devices that are preferably portable transfer management softWare installed on the computer and and receive content either from a secure sub scription-based or a physical connection to the computer, such as a USB cable; “a-la-carte” content delivery service or from other participant (2) store such compressed media ?les in non-destructive devices, and more particularly to a portable player apparatus memory; (3) decode for playback any of a variety of com that is in Wireless communications With an Intemet-based ?le pression algorithms; (4) convert a compressed or uncom server and laterally to a peer player apparatus. The present pressed digital ?le to an analog format, potentially also pro invention also relates to a system and method for delivery and cessing the signal to enhance the resulting sound and images; management of such content to such devices. (5) process and amplify the resulting analog signal; and (6) [0004] b. Description of the Prior Art produce high-?delity sound and video for the user, Which may [0005] The development of compressed digital audio and be played, paused, fast-forwarded, reWound, skipped or video formats, such as the Motion Picture Experts Groupi replayed instantly and on-demand. Also, typically in the case Layer 3 (MP3) audio compression standard, MPEG 21, of audio DMPs (e.g., the Rio Karma), the devices feature a Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), ATRAC, WMA, FLAC, relatively small digital display WindoW that provides infor Ogg-Vorbis and others enabled the groWth in popularity of mation regarding the audio content stored on the device, such recording, storing, transferring, and playing back digital as the title and artist, and enables vieWing (and in some cases audio and video data on computers, including personal desk modifying) the sequence of the audio tracks that are currently top and laptop computers. In particular, compressed digital stored on the device. audio and video formats enabled more e?icient storage and [0009] Disadvantageously, hoWever, data transfer and transmission of high-quality audio and video content by advanced sorting and sequencing of selections are dif?cult or reducing the amount of digital data that needed to be stored impossible for a user to accomplish unless the DMP is con and transmitted, resulting in data ?les that could be smaller nected to the computer, Which does not alloW the user to than 1/1oth of the original uncompressed digital ?le Without obtain neW content or to make other desirable modi?cations unacceptably degrading the quality of the output.