Patent Publication Number: US-2011066701-A1

Title: Client-server bidirectional synchronization via browser plug in for an xm radio system

Description:
This application incorporates herein by reference patent application Ser. No. __/___,___, (Sony IPD 50R4746), filed concurrently herewith, by Hilt, et al, entitled BIDIRECTIONAL REMOTE COMMUNICATION VIA BROWSER PLUG-IN. 
    
    
     COPYRIGHT NOTICE 
     A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to communication between a client application and a remote device in a network environment having security restrictions, and more particularly, to a system for providing information sent with digital audio signals from an auxiliary source to a radio receiver, particularly, a vehicle radio receiver. 
     The invention further relates to a system method and computer program which allows bidirectional device communication through and around fire walls when a dedicated communication port is utilized. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     XM radio receivers will deliver up to 100 channels of crystal-clear, digital-quality music, news and information to users in their homes, cars and other listening environments. However, allowing a user to retrieve desired information by searching through a database can prove to be confusing and problematic. For example, how does the user insure that the music or information he was listening to is correctly determined from the data stored in the database? Also, the access to and completeness of the data should allow the user to easily browse and search for the information that is needed. 
     Over the years, however, the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) have grown and their utilization has increased from a simple method of communication into a medium for storage, interactive accessing of information, and enablement of remote device control. The Internet and the WWW have captured the public&#39;s imagination as the so called “Information Super Highway”. Accessing information through the web has been used by the metaphorical term “surfing the web”. 
     However, the Internet is not a single network, nor does it have any single owner or controller. Rather, the Internet is a network of networks, both public and private, connected to each other. The resulting network utilizes security measures, such as fire walls, to prevent the spread of computer viruses, as well as the unauthorized access to account files and data. Given the proliferation of Internet viruses and web hackers, the utilization of security restrictions, such as fire walls, and other security measures in public and private networks remains in place and in the foreseeable future will necessarily continue to grow. 
     The WWW facilitates users interactive access to information, storage and remote control of devices by letting users or clients jump from one server or network to another, simply by selection of a word, picture, or program. In fact, when exploring the web today, a user navigates the web through the utilization of a “web browser”. There are many number of browsers presently in existence. Common examples of browsers include, Netscape&#39;s “Navigator”, Microsoft&#39;s “Explorer”, Mosiac&#39;s browser, and IBM&#39;s “Web Explorer”. A web browser allows a client access to servers and networks located throughout the world for storage, information, and remote device control. The information is provided to a client by the remote server by sending files or data packets to the requesting clients computer. However, with the use of fire walls and other security measures, the files or data packets sent by a remote server to a client&#39;s computer are blocked and not allowed access. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the foregoing, an XM radio system is provided which allows for book-marking of music, news and information and further allows for the searching of an internet database by utilization of bookmarks. browser plug-in is provided for true bidirectional communication, information transfer and relay and remote device control. 
     In particular, the XM radio system utilizes a browser plug-in for bidirectional communication. In one embodiment, the browser plug-in is included on a client computer, and has a communication relationship with an application connected to any and every device which is connected to the client computer. Also, the browser plug-in allows for bidirectional communication with a remote server via the internet. A method of one embodiment includes supplying the browser plug-in to any computing device having network capabilities, communicatively connecting an XM radio receiver to the client computer, uploading unresolved bookmarks to the client computer and utilizing the browser plug-in to upload/download the unresolved bookmarks from the client computer to the server and to download resolved bookmarks from the server to the browser via the browser plug-in. In a further embodiment, the browser plug-in may be located on the XM radio receiver itself, given that the receiver has network capabilities. 
     These and other features and advantages of the invention will be understood upon the consideration of the following detailed description of the invention and accompanying drawings. The features of the invention believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself however, both as to organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may be best understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       The following detailed description, given by way of example, and not intended to limit the present invention solely thereto, will best be understood in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates one embodiment in which an XM radio receiver is communicatively connected to a client computer and the client computer is communicatively connected to, and navigates around a fire wall, a server via the Internet; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of  FIG. 1 , which shows the browser plug-in operating in true bidirectional capacity in the software environment; and 
         FIG. 3  is flow diagram of  FIG. 2  which shows one embodiment of the communication steps between the client computer and a server via the browser plug-in. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an XM radio bidirectional communications system  100 . XM radio bidirectional communications system  100  includes an XM radio receiver  102 , which is communicatively connected to a first computing device  104 . XM radio bidirectional communications system  100  also includes a second computing device  106 , which is communicatively connected to first computing device  104  via the Internet  108 . A fire wall  110  is a computer program installed on first computing device  104  which comprises protocols for the interaction of first computing device  104  and second computing device  106 . Fire wall  110  is a security measure which prevents computer viruses and hackers from access to the computer files on first computing device  104  and information stored within XM radio receiver  102 . 
     In one embodiment, XM radio receiver  102  may be configured to communicatively connected to first computing device  104  by utilizing a USB port. In an alternative embodiment, the interface protocol defined in IEEE 1394 may be used. As another alternative embodiment, RS-232C may be used as an interface for communication. However, the communication is not limited to wire communication, and communication between XM radio receiver  102  and first computing device  104  may be performed wirelessly using, for example but not limited to, radio frequency carriers such as 802.11B or BLUETOOTH, and/or infrared ray signals using an interface protocol based on IRDA (Infrared Data Association). 
     In operation, XM radio receiver  102  receives a broadcast which contains service information. The service information further contains product ID or bookmarks. The service information contains sixteen (16) bytes of data which comprises the artist name, song name, and some other possible identifier information. The bookmarks are numeric data which uniquely identifies the song or broadcast. 
     When listening to XM radio receiver  102  and hearing music, news, or other information that a user would like further information on, depressing a bookmark button  112  records some portion of the service information which contains the bookmark and/or a first set of data. 
       FIG. 2  further illustrates the elements of XM radio bidirectional communications system  100  by way of a block diagram. In one embodiment, first computing device  104  is a client computer comprising a browser  114 . A browser plug-in  116  and a client application program  118  are supplied to client computer  104 . Browser plug-in  116  is communicatively connected to client application program  118 . Browser plug-in  116  is also communicatively connected to browser  114 . In an alternative embodiment, browser plug-in  116 , as well browser  114  and client application program  118  could have easily been installed on XM radio receiver  102 . Second computing device  106  also includes a network computer program  120  communicatively connected to a server application program  122 . In one embodiment, second computing device  106  is a server which is communicatively connected to computer  104  via data communication between network computer program  120  and browser plug-in  116  via interact connection  108 . 
     In operation, the connection of XM radio receiver  102  triggers the launch of client application program  118  which in turn triggers the launch of browser plug-in  116 . Browser plug-in  116  launches browser  114  and directs browser  114  to establish electronic communication with server  106  via internet connection  108 . Client application program  118  supplies browser plug-in  116  with the uniform resource locator (URL) of server  106 . Client application  118  then uploads unresolved bookmarks from said XM radio receiver  102  to server  106  via browser plug-in  116  and internet connection  108 . Server  106  then processes the unresolved bookmarks and arrives at the resolved bookmarks. Server  106  then utilizes browser plug-in  116  to direct browser  114  to the resolved bookmarks at a particular interne address utilizing URLs supplied to browser  114  by server  106 . The utilization of these URLs supplied to browser  114  by server  106 , via browser plug-in  116 , mimics the control of browser  114  by a user and thus prevents the triggering of firewall  110  (see  FIG. 1 ). In this way, server  106  downloads the resolved bookmarks to computer  104  without triggering firewall  110 . 
       FIG. 3  illustrates one embodiment of the communication steps  200  between computer  104  and server  106  via browser plug-in  116 . Computer  104  comprises a user  202 , client application  118 , browser plug-in  116 , and browser  114 . The unresolved bookmarks are uploaded to server  106  by way of uploading step  204 . The unresolved bookmarks are incomplete and/or contain unresolved data. Server  106  resolves the unresolved bookmarks by providing complete and/or resolved bookmarks and writes a file with the resolved bookmarks by way of resolution step  206 . In one embodiment, browser  114  is a Netscape browser. Server  106  then transmits the resolved bookmarks as a formatted HTML page to browser  114  and displays the account of user  202  by transmission step  208 , 
     Browser  114  then communicates to browser plug-in  116  to begin the download process of the resolved bookmarks by way of step  210 . Browser plug-in  116  then communicates to client application  118 . Client application  118  then sends an acknowledgment back to browser plug-in  116  by step  212  acknowledging the beginning of the download process of the resolved bookmarks. Browser  114  then transmits a URL to browser plug-in  116 . The URL was transmitted from server  106  to browser plug-in  116  via the formatted HTML page transmitted in step  208 . Browser plug-in  116  thus utilizes the URL to direct browser  114  to an internet address where the resolved bookmarks are filed, stored, and ready to be downloaded by way of request step  216 . The resolved bookmark file is thus sent to computer  104  and an instruction is sent to browser plug-in  116  by download step  218 . Browser plug-in  116  then transmits a message to client application  118  which acknowledges the sending of the resolved bookmark file to complete the download process by download completion step  220 . Client application  118  thus updates the locally stored bookmarks with the resolved bookmarks and displays this data to user  202  by step  222 . Browser plug-in  116  thus has access to all the files and data on computer  104 , and when connected via the Internet  108  to server  106 , allows for bidirectional communication which does not trigger firewall  110 . 
     Various other modifications and alterations in the structure and method of operation of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Although the invention has been described in connection with specified preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the invention as claimed should not be unduly limited to such specific embodiments. It is intended that the following claims describe the scope of the present invention and that the structures and methods within the scope of these claims and their equivalents be covered thereby.