Playlist of multiple objects across multiple providers

A system includes a device such as a television or multimedia player that has access to content residing at various storage sites and multimedia content providers. For example, the device has access to locally stored content, remotely stored content, music content that resides at music service providers such as Rhapsody and video content from multiple providers such as YouTube, NetFlix, Amazon, VuDu, etc. The user is provided with tools to create a playlist of content where the content includes, for example, one or more videos from local storage and remote services such as YouTube, NetFlix, Amazon, VuDu, etc.

FIELD

This invention relates to the field of content reproduction devices and more particularly to a system for providing a combined playlist for a device such as a television.

BACKGROUND

With increases in quantities of content of which one owns or has access, the task of managing individual works becomes increasingly difficult. Up until a few years ago, only a few individuals had or had access to sufficient content to require tools to manage the content.

Soon after Edison invented recorded music using the gramophone to record sound on a cylinder, the rare few that owned a player had at most a few recordings or content. The development of the disk record in the early 1900s enabled mass production of music content, leading to individuals having dozens of music disks. In the early days, the disks were one-sided or two-sided spinning at 78 revolutions per minute and having one song on each side. It wasn't until the 40s that long-play disks began, revolving at 45 RPM or 33 RPM and delivering either two songs (one per side) from a small-format 45 RPM standard (singles) or a collection of around a dozen songs on a larger format (album) revolving at 33⅓ RPM. During this period, it was not uncommon for a person or family to own many dozen singles or albums. Management of this amount of content was easily performed by storing the content in boxes or on shelves.

In the mid-20thcentury, the video age began with the introduction of television. Movies, news, advertisements, cartoons, etc. were recorded on analog video tape and distributed to viewers over the air using a broadcast system. An early effort was made by RCA to provide content such as movies to individual homes using a video disk technology called videodisc, laserdisc or Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED) in 1964, but never became very popular due to size of the media and costs. Still, owners of such systems often had less than 100 movies at a cost of around $100 per movie. By the time RCA finally swung into production of CED players and content, it was too late because of the introduction of Betamax and VHS videocassette formats. These new cassette video tape systems had advantages over CED that included lower cost, smaller size and they enabled recording of content from the broadcast channels. Soon, people found themselves with hundreds of video cassettes, some with pre-recorded content and some that they recorded from television broadcasts. To organize these cassettes, furniture was developed that enabled the owners to store and view the titles of 50-100 video cassettes at a time.

During this same time period, alternate formats were developed for music as well, providing the audiophile with abilities to record music at home and, later, listen to recordings in their automobile or while out of the home. Home reel-to-reel tape players/recorders were available in the early 1950s, allowing mostly musicians to record their works at home. Smaller, lower cost systems came on the market and there was a small, ill-fated attempt to provide pre-recorded content on reel-to-reel format. Problems with exposed tape such as breakage and the required splicing, head cleaning, rewind time, etc, led to the eventual demise of this format.

To address the portability needs of, for example, automobiles, a new ¼″ tape format was developed using a continuous loop of tape in which the tape was pulled from the hub of the reel and replaced on the outer layer of the reel. This format, called 8-track tapes, was popular in the late 1960s, mostly for automotive use with a few players being integrated into home audio systems. The audio quality of this format was initially good, but the tapes often jammed or eventually wore due to being pulled from the hub during playback. Still, many owners built collections of many dozens of “albums” on 8-track tapes, keeping them in boxes or furniture in which the titles were easily viewed.

Soon, a new format to tape called cassettes supplanted the 8-track market. The cassette tapes were smaller, having ⅛″ tape instead of ¼″ for 8-track cassettes, but had 4 tracks of audio instead of 8 tracks, two tracks for playing in one direction, and then the cassette was reversed to play the other two tracks. Again, many owners built collections of many dozens of “albums” on cassette tapes, keeping them in boxes or furniture in which the titles were easily viewed.

In the early 1980s, a new format and technology emerged that would soon push aside vinyl records and all forms of tape. In 1983, the Compact Disc was made available to consumers. Unlike the prior media, the compact disc was digital (the analog music was encoded into digital values) and the CD had many advantages including sound quality, small size, easy handling, viable for portable and automotive use, resistance to heat (e.g. automotive) and lower in cost. The CD soon became the primary standard for music and vinyl records sales soon tanked. Now, because of low costs, smaller format and multiple uses (home and automobile), people found themselves with hundreds of CDs. Still, organization was by furniture or CD jackets.

In a similar way, the video cassette soon gave way to Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) and later, Blu-ray using the same size format as CD audio, providing high-definition video. People soon found themselves with hundreds of video discs, organizing in the same way as CDs were organized in jackets and furniture.

Soon after the introduction of the personal computer, many companies added sound reproduction to such systems. Initially, the sound reproduction was used as a notice or to create sound effects with video games, but it didn't take long for computer experts to find ways to store digitized music on hard drives of a computer. Likewise, as DVDs became prevalent, using some of the same compression techniques to store a full-length movie on a DVD disc, people found ways to store video on computer hard drives as well. In the early days, computer systems had 5-20 megabytes of hard disk storage storing only a few songs and/or movies, but as capacity grew and compression increased, these numbers grew quickly. By the early 2000s, it became common for a single user to have over 1000 individual songs or dozens of movies stored on a hard drive of their computer. By 2009, the typical computer system had around 500 gigabytes of storage (GB) capable of storing around 100 movies or 150,000 songs.

The digital content era brought about new content distribution models and new forms of content players. People started moving content from their CDs to hard drives of their computers. Content players were developed to reproduce digital content on-the-go (e.g. portable music players like IPOD). Digital content became available to home systems, automotive systems, televisions, etc. Music and video was made available over computer networks (e.g. the Internet) and people started getting content, one song or one video at a time, downloaded to their computers or devices through the Internet.

Additionally, services such as Napster and Netflix evolved to contain huge libraries of content and, after paying a monthly subscription fee, a subscriber has access to all content in these libraries until they unsubscribe.

Now, a typical media player has sufficient storage to hold thousands of songs and some home systems have storage sufficient to store many hundreds of movies. Access to services such as Napster and Netflix further increased the number of titles available to each user. This leads to organizational and management complexity. One can no longer look at titles on the edge of a CD jewel case or the side of a VHS cassette to find a song or movie that they the wish to listen or view. Being bits stored on a disk, the user no longer handles the content and no longer sees the media. There is no packaging and no printed labels. Now, the user must access the content through digital libraries and lists.

Organization tool were provided by software, an example of this is Mircrosoft's Media Player, providing lists of, for example, all songs stored on the user's computer and the ability to search for a song by title, writer, performer, etc. Many media players also provide organization tools, often with very limited user interface devices such as a small display and limited keyboard.

Often, users need a way to organize their content for various reasons. For one, at times, the user is in the mood for a certain type of music or music by a certain artist. For another, the user finds that it is easier to find content that is organized in a certain fashion such as by their own category, etc. Users have found that playlists are an important way to organize content. Many of these organization tools include the ability of creating playlists. In general, a playlist is a list of pointers to the individual content and is used to play a subset of the content available, to copy a subset of content to, for example, another device, to help locate a particular content, etc.

In the past, the playlist contained a list of pointers to songs which may all be in a folder or subdirectory on a storage device or contained on different local storage devices. Some newer devices have software supporting the DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance), allowing a first device to access multimedia content residing on multiple storage devices. When content is spread across different systems and services, the existing playlists are not capable of finding and tracking the desired content.

What is needed is a playlist that combines content that resides at various storage sites and multimedia content providers.

SUMMARY

A device such as a television or multimedia player has access to content residing at various storage sites and multimedia content providers. For example, the device has access to locally stored content, remotely stored content, music content that resides at music service providers such as Rhapsody and video content from multiple providers such as YouTube, NetFlix, Amazon, VuDu, etc. The user is provided with tools to create a playlist of content where the content includes, for example, one or more videos from local storage, YouTube, NetFlix, Amazon, VuDu, etc.

In one embodiment, a system for organizing content in a playlist is disclosed including an interface to a network and content available from one or more access locations. At least one of the access locations is remotely connected to the system. There is a way to identify each of the content and a way to associate an access location with each of the content.

In another embodiment, a method of organizing content available to a device is disclosed. The device has a display and the method includes (a) capturing identification of content and storing the identification information in a playlist. A (b) current content is set to a first content of the content and (c) local storage is searched for the current content. (d) If the current content is found, the location of the current content is associated with the identification of the current content in the playlist. (e) If the current content is not found, storage and devices connected locally to the device is searched for the current content and if the current content is found, the location of the current content is associated with the identification of the current content in the playlist. (f) If the current content is again not found, services connected to the device through a wide-area network are searched for the current content and if the current content is found, the service is associated with the identification of the current content in the playlist. (g) If the current content is still not found, the playlist is marked as such. (h) If there is a next content in the plurality of content, the current content is set to a next content of the plurality of content and repeat steps c-h.

In another embodiment, a device is disclosed including a processor with a display operably interfaced to the processor and an interface to a network. Software running on the processor accepts a plurality of content identifiers and finds content related to each of the content identifiers. At least one of the content is found on a remote device that is accessible to the device through the network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the presently preferred embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Throughout the following detailed description, the same reference numerals refer to the same elements in all figures. Although the following explanation use a typical television as an example, many other devices that have access to content are included here within including, but not limited to, media players (e.g. MP3 players, video players, etc), computer systems, media console systems, Blu-ray disk players, etc.

Referring toFIG. 1, a view of a playlist10of the prior art will be described. In the playlist of the prior art, several songs12appear in the playlist along with links14to the location where the songs12are stored. For example, the first entry is the song, “If I Fell” and it is stored locally on a drive referred to as, “D:” in a subdirectory “harddays night” of a directory “Beatles” as shown in the links14. In this example, all of the content is stored locally on a local drive referred to as, “D:” in various subdirectories.

In general, the user or a software application creates a hierarchy of subdirectories (also known as folders) containing other subdirectories and/or songs. There is no requirement to have subdirectories as playlists function equal as well if all of the content is stored in one directory or the drive root without using subdirectories.

Referring toFIGS. 2-3, views showing exemplary playlists20/30are shown. There are many ways to portray a playlist on a device having a display (for example, a television5as inFIG. 6or media player50as inFIG. 7), and the playlists20/30described here within are use one example, wherein many other arrangements, formatting, highlighting, addressing mechanisms are anticipated, all of which are included here within.

In the exemplary user interface shown inFIG. 2, portrays a typical playlist10. Several songs12appear in the playlist10along with links to the location where the songs12are stored. The list of songs12is the same as shown as inFIG. 1, but the location where the songs are retrieved for reproduction is different. For example, the first entry is the song, “If I Fell” and it is stored locally on a drive referred to as, “D:” in a subdirectory “harddays night” of a subdirectory “Beatles” as inFIG. 1. Likewise, the fifth song, “Michelle” is stored locally on a drive referred to as, “D:” in a subdirectory “rubber soul” of a subdirectory “Beatles”. In this example, two songs12, “Help” and “Let it Be”, are located at (accessed from) a music service, Rhapsody18; and one song12, “A Day in the Life”, is located at a music service, Napster19. In this example, when the user accesses the playlist, for example to listen to the songs12, the first and fifth song12is accessed from local storage, the second and third song12from Rhapsody18and the fourth song12from Napster19.

In the exemplary user interface shown inFIG. 5, there is a typical playlist30as inFIG. 3, but the locations of the content is now filled in. Several songs12appear in the playlist along with links to the location where the songs12are stored. The same list of songs12is shown as inFIG. 1, but the location where the songs are retrieved for reproduction is different. In this example, the first entry is the song, “If I Fell” was found locally on a drive referred to as, “D:” in a subdirectory “harddays night” of a subdirectory “Beatles” as inFIG. 1. The second song12, “Help” was located at a music service, Napster34and the third song12, “Let it Be”, was located at a music service, Rhapsody36. The fourth song12, “A Day in the Life”, was located on a local drive, “D:” in the subdirectory “sgt pepper” of the directory “Beatles”16. The fifth song, “Michelle” was located remotely on a drive referred to as, “X:” in a subdirectory “rubber soul” of a subdirectory “Beatles”, shown as38. In this example, when the user accesses the playlist, for example to listen to the songs12, the first and fourth song12is accessed from local storage, the second song12is accessed from Napster34, the third song12from Rhapsody36and the fifth song12from a connected storage device such as a jump drive8, network attached storage4or computer system2/6as shown inFIGS. 6 and 7.

Referring toFIG. 4, a content search list40is described. The content search list40contains a list of locations in which various contents are to be located. In this example, the list40has list names42such as Rhapsody, Napster, etc, in a first column. The next column44has addresses for the services or storage and the last column has an indication of what type of content46is located at the address44. For example, Rhapsody has all types of content while Napster and the local storage X: has music and Youtube has video. This simplified table40is populated through a user interface as known in the industry and it is anticipated that other features and/or columns are present such as scrolling, add/delete, test, etc. In some embodiments, the list is accessed sequentially. For example, when the playlist system searches to find the second song12, “Help” (seeFIG. 3), the system first checks Rhapsody (type=all), then Napster (type=music) and then X:\music (type=music). Youtube is skipped because the type is “video” and “Help” is a song. Other orders of searching are anticipated to minimize costs to the user. For example, local storage is searched first (e.g. D:), then content located on a local area network (e.g. X:) then the service providers (e.g. Napster). It is also anticipated that, in some embodiments, costs are associated with each entry. For example, local content is assumed to be already purchased and, therefore, the cost is zero while content from Napster may be more expensive than content from Rhapsody, so the cost for Rhapsody is 1, and the cost for Napster is 2. Therefore, the local content is searched first, then the next more expensive (Rhapsody), then the next (Napster), etc. In some embodiments, the actual cost of the content is used to determine where the content is obtained. Some services provide content on a unit cost basis such as $1.00 to download a song or $14.00 to download a particular movie. Since some songs/movies cost more or less, each site is checked to determine if the desired content is available and, if so, the price is determined, then after all sites are checked, it is determined which site has the lowest price and the content is obtained from that site.

It is anticipated that, in the preferred embodiment, logon credentials and/or credit card information is captured and stored for each site, enabling automatic purchase of needed content. In other embodiments, each time a purchase needs to be made, a purchase interface is presented informing the user of the cost to buy the individual content and requesting confirmation and, in some embodiments, purchasing credentials and/or credit card information.

In the exemplary user interface shown inFIG. 5, there is a typical playlist30as inFIG. 3, but the locations of the content is now filled in. Several songs12appear in the playlist along with links to the location where the songs12are stored. The same list of songs12is shown as inFIG. 1, but the location where the songs are retrieved for reproduction is different. In this example, the first entry is the song, “If I Fell” was found locally on a drive referred to as, “D:” in a subdirectory “harddays night” of a subdirectory “Beatles” as inFIG. 1. The second song12, “Help” was located at a music service, Napster34and the third song12, “Let it Be”, was located at a music service, Rhapsody36. The fourth song12, “A Day in the Life”, was located on a local drive, “D:” in the subdirectory “sgt pepper” of the directory “Beatles”16. The fifth song, “Michelle” was located remotely on a drive referred to as, “X:” in a subdirectory “rubber soul” of a subdirectory “Beatles”. In this example, when the user accesses the playlist, for example to listen to the songs12, the first and fourth song12is accessed from local storage, the second song12is accessed from Napster34, the third song12from Rhapsody36and the fifth song12from a connected storage device such as a jump drive8, network attached storage4or computer system2/6as shown inFIGS. 6 and 7.

Referring toFIG. 6, a block diagram of a typical television5system interfaced to various devices2/4/6/8and/or services82/92is described. The television5is shown with a wireless remote control111(e.g. infrared or radio frequency) and, in this example, is connected to a network3, for example an Ethernet local area network3, through any known network interface. This is an example of one network and the type of network is not limited and includes, for example, Ethernet (e.g. 802.3), WiFi (e.g 802.11), wireless adapters/routers, routers, bridges, phone lines networks, cable networks, fiber optic networks, etc. In some examples, computers2/6are connected to the network3through similar networking infrastructures. In this example, a network attached storage device4is also interfaced to the network3.

As shown, one or more servers84/94are also operatively connected to the television5through the network3, a modem98and wide area network80(e.g. Internet) as known in the industry. There are many known and unknown configurations and topologies for operatively connecting a television5to devices2/4/5/6/8and remote systems82/92, all of such are anticipated and included here within.

Some devices are directly connected to the television5as depicted by two USB jump drives8connected directly to USB ports of the television5. Any known device is anticipated to be directly connected to the television5through any known connection (e.g. USB, Firewire), including, but not limited to, backup storage devices, USB jump drives8, DVD drives, Bluetooth Drives, etc.

The provider servers84/94, for example, provide services as described above such as Netflix, Pandora, and Amazon. This is a simplified view of systems82/92that include one or more servers84/94and storage86/96for storing, for example content.

In these examples, content is available locally (internal storage of the television5), available on directly connected devices (e.g. attached storage8), on a local area network3(e.g. on network attached storage4and computers2/6) and/or remotely on drives86/96connected to servers84/94. All such content is available for inclusion and linking to a playlist.

Referring toFIG. 7, a block diagram of a typical media player system50interfaced to various devices2/4/6/8and/or services82/92is described. In this example, the media player system50is connected to a network3, for example an Ethernet local area network3, through any known network interface. This is an example of one network and the type of network is not limited and includes, for example, Ethernet (e.g. 802.3), WiFi (e.g 802.11), wireless adapters/routers, routers, bridges, phone lines networks, cable networks, fiber optic networks, etc. In some examples, computers2/6are connected to the network3through similar networking infrastructures. In this example, a network attached storage device4is also interfaced to the network3.

As shown, one or more servers84/94are also operatively connected to the media player system50through the network3, a modem98and wide area network80(e.g. Internet) as known in the industry. There are many known and unknown configurations and topologies for operatively connecting a media player system50to devices2/4/5/6/9and remote systems82/92, all of such are anticipated and included here within.

Some devices are directly connected to the media player system50as depicted by a memory card9connected directly to a port of the media player system50. Any known device is anticipated to be directly connected to the media player system50through any known connection (e.g. USB, Firewire), including, but not limited to, backup storage devices, USB jump drives8, memory cards9, DVD drives, Bluetooth Drives, etc.

The provider servers84/94, for example, provide services as described above such as Netflix, Pandora, and Amazon. This is a simplified view of systems82/92that include one or more servers84/94and storage86/96for storing, for example content.

In these examples, content is available locally (internal storage of the media player system50), available on directly connected devices (e.g. attached storage9), on a local area network3(e.g. on network attached storage4and computers2/6) and/or remotely on drives86/96connected to servers84/94. All such content is available for inclusion and linking to a playlist.

Referring toFIG. 8, a flow chart of a typical device system will be described. This exemplary flow depicts a typical program operating on a processor within the device such as the television5or media player system50. In this, a selection is made200to determine if the playlist is a local playlist or a mixed playlist. If the selection200is local, local content is listed/searched270and until done274, the content requested is found279and added to the list282.

If the selection200is mixed, then a description of the content is obtained204such as a song title, movie title, etc. Next, in the preferred embodiment, locally accessible storage is checked208since it makes sense to use content already owned by the user. The locally accessible storage includes, for example, storage local to the device5/50, storage directly connected to the device5/50such as a jump drive8, network attached storage4and storage attached to networked computers2/6. If the content is found locally212, it is added to the playlist214and the search continues.

If the content is not found locally212, an initial cost is assigned218(e.g. High) to the lowest cost and the current provider is set222to the first provider in the list. The current provider is checked at226to see if the content is available230. If the content is available230, the cost is determined and compared234to the lowest cost and if the cost is lower234than the lowest cost, the provider is remembered and the cost is set to the cost from the provider238. In either case, the current provider is set242to the next provider and if there are more providers246, the previous steps repeated for the next provider. If there are no more providers246and the cost remains the initial high value250, then that content on the list is marked at254as unavailable and the next entry on the list is checked. If there are no more providers246and the cost has been set250, then if the cost is acceptable258, a purchase is made and the content is added to the playlist262. Otherwise, the entry in the playlist is marked266as being too expensive. In this example, the user has set a maximum price to pay for certain content such as $1.05 for a song, etc.