Patent Abstract:
A method and apparatus to manage files of a portable device such as an mp3 player, a mobile phone, or a game console, the method comprising copying files to be played from a source server and storing the files in a file system on a folder-by-folder basis; determining the presence of files which have been changed in the portable device by checking the file system when the files are completely copied; and creating a playlist of the files, folder-by-folder, according to file path information of the file system when there are the changed files.

Full Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No.-2006-57630, filed on Jun. 26, 2006, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     Aspects of the present invention relate to a file management system for a portable device, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus to manage a file that automatically creates a playlist in a portable device such as an mp3 player, a mobile phone or a game console. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Generally, users need to view a playlist in order to use media in portable devices, such as mp3 players, mobile phones, or game consoles. In most portable devices, media that a user desires to play is managed using folders. However, since a file management method in portable devices utilizes a multimedia transfer protocol (MTP), the existing function of using folders is removed from the portable devices. Therefore, the conventional portable devices adopting the MTP need to additionally incorporate a playlist. 
       FIG. 1  is a flowchart of a method of creating a playlist in the conventional portable device. Referring to  FIG. 1 , the portable device is first connected to a personal computer (PC) (operation  110 ). Second, the Windows Media Player 10 program is opened in the PC (operation  120 ). Then, a playlist is created using the Windows Media Player 10 program (operation  130 ).  FIG. 2A  shows an example of creating a playlist using the Windows Media Player 10 program. 
     Next, the playlist created using the Windows Media Player 10 program is synchronized with media in the portable device (operation  140 ).  FIG. 2B  shows an example of synchronizing files in the playlist with the media in the portable device using the Windows Media Player 10 program. Finally the portable device is disconnected from the PC (operation  150 ). 
     As described above, when using the conventional portable device, users are inconvenienced in having to create a playlist using a specific program, such as the Windows Media Player 10 program. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Aspects of the present invention provide a method and apparatus to automatically create a playlist, folder-by-folder. 
     According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of managing files of a portable device, the method comprising: copying files to be played from a source server and storing the files in a file system on a folder-by-folder basis; determining the presence of files which have been changed in the portable device by checking the file system when the files are completely copied; and creating a playlist of the files, folder-by-folder, according to file path information of the file system when there are added files. 
     According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus to manage files of a portable device, the apparatus comprising: a memory unit to store file information and playlist information on a folder-by-folder basis; an interface port unit to interface with a source server; and a control unit to copy files to be played on a folder-by-folder basis from the source server connected by the interface port unit, to store the files in a file system of the memory unit, to determine whether files which have been changed in the portable device are present with reference to a section of the file system where the files are stored, to analyze path information of the changed files, and to register the path information in the memory unit as a playlist on a folder-by-folder basis. 
     Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a flowchart of a method of creating files in the conventional portable device; 
         FIG. 2A  shows an example of creating a playlist using the Windows Media Player 10 program; 
         FIG. 2B  shows an example of synchronizing files in a playlist with the media in a portable device using the Windows Media Player 10 program; 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a portable device adopting a file management method according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram of a control unit illustrated in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart of a method of managing files of a portable device according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIGS. 6A and 6B  are Windows screens explaining the file management method illustrated in  FIG. 5 ; 
         FIG. 6C  illustrates directories after a user copies files folder-by-folder; and 
         FIGS. 6D and 6E  illustrate a file table and a playlist table map, respectively. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures. 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a portable device  300  adopting a file management method according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, the portable device  300  is connected to a personal computer (PC)  370 , and is disconnected from the PC  370  when a playlist is created. A user creates and/or stores desired music files, folder-by-folder, in the PC  370 , and the PC  370  acts as a source server to provide the files to the portable device  300 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the portable device  300  includes a control unit  310 , a memory unit  320 , a display unit  330 , a user input unit  340 , a universal serial bus (USB) port unit  350 , and a digital-analog converter (DAC) unit  360 . 
     The memory unit  320  stores programs to control general operations of the portable device  300  and a program to control the automatic creation of a playlist according to an embodiment of the present invention, and temporarily stores data produced in the course of executing the programs. Specifically, the memory unit  320  includes a file table to store information on files in a unit of a folder, which has been copied from the PC  370 , and a playlist table to store file list information. 
     The user input unit  340  includes keys to allow the user to input numeral and character information, and functional keys to set various functions. However, it is understood that according to other aspects, the user input unit  340  includes other devices and methods to receive inputs from the user, such as a rotatable dial and/or a touch screen. 
     The display unit  330  displays user interface information output from the control unit  310 . 
     The DAC unit  360  converts audio data, which has been decoded in the control unit  310 , into analog audio signals and outputs the analog audio signals to speakers, earphones, and/or an external device. 
     The USB port  350  complies with the interface standard to connect the portable device  300  to the PC  370 . It is understood that according to other aspects, connection devices and methods other than USB are used, such as a Bluetooth unit to connect to the PC via a Bluetooth connection or an infrared unit to connect to the PC via an infrared connection. 
     The control unit  310  controls general operations of the portable device and/or decodes audio and/or video data stored in the memory  320 . Specifically, the control unit  310  copies files that are to be played, folder-by-folder, while connected to the PC  370  through the USB port  350 , determines if there are added or deleted files by checking a file system through, for example, a file allocation table (FAT) when the files are completely copied, and creates a playlist of the files copied folder-by-folder according to a change in the file system. 
       FIG. 4  is a block diagram of the control unit  310  illustrated in  FIG. 3 . Referring to  FIG. 4 , the control unit  310  includes a folder configuration unit  410 , a file detecting unit  420 , and a list creating unit  430 . 
     The folder configuration unit  410  copies the files that are to be played from the PC  370  through the USB port  350 , folder-by-folder, and stores the files in the file system corresponding to the FAT. According to an aspect, information on the files copied in the file system includes an index number, a file path, a physical memory start address, a file size, and table new/old information. 
     The file detecting unit  420  determines whether there are added or deleted files by checking for changes in the file system. 
     When the file detecting unit  420  determines that there is an added file, the list creating unit  430  analyzes path information of the file, creates a playlist title, and stores information on the added or deleted file (such as an index number, a file name, and a playlist title) in a playlist table. 
       FIG. 5  is a flowchart of a method of managing files of a portable device  300  according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, the portable device  300  is connected to a PC  370  (operation  510 ). The portable device  300  sets a check flag to 0 in a file system (operation  520 ). Then, the portable device  300  transmits a unique ID value to the PC  370  according to the media transport protocol (MTP) standard (operation  530 ). For example, if ID values of files used in the portable device  300  are 1, 2, 3, and 4, an ID value transferred to the PC  370  is 5. This ID value becomes the standard to set the index number of a file inside the PC  370 . For instance, the PC  370  sets indices of files as 5, 6, 7, and so on. 
     At the same time, a “portable device/media” folder is created in a screen of the PC  370  connected to the portable device  300 . The user creates folders including files that he or she desires to be played using a searching program on the PC  370 . Next, the user searches folders in the portable device  300  using the searching program, such as the Windows searching program illustrated in  FIG. 6A . Then, the user copies the playlist folder-by-folder from the PC  370  to a media folder of the portable device  300 , as illustrated in  FIG. 6B . 
     Afterwards, the portable device  300  checks if the files are copied to the portable device  300  using a write enable signal (operation  540 ). Then, the check flag is set by checking the file system (operation  542 ). 
     When the files are input from the PC  370  to the portable device  300  on a folder-by-folder basis, the files are copied to a buffer memory of the portable device  300  (operation  544 ). Referring to  FIG. 6B , in the Windows screen, an “up-to-date-song” folder is copied to the media folder of the portable device. The directories illustrated in  FIG. 6B  can be displayed as a tree-like structure including folders and dependent files. 
     Then, the files are copied from the buffer memory to a storage unit in the portable device (operation  546 ). The storage unit may be, for example, NAND flash memory, NOR flash memory, or a hard disk drive. 
     The portable device  300  then stores information on the copied files in, for example, a FAT on a record-by-record basis (operation  548 ).  FIG. 6D  shows an example of the FAT storing the file information according to an embodiment of the present invention. An index number, a file path, a physical memory start address, a file size, a file name, and table new/old information of each file in the “up to date song” folder is stored in the FAT. For example, referring to  FIGS. 6C and 6D , in the case of “1.mp3”, an index number is “1”, a file path is “root/media/up-to-date-song”, a physical memory start address is “20”, a file size is 20 bytes, and table new/old information is “new”. The table new/old information indicates if the file is registered from the file table to the playlist table. 
     When all files to be copied are completely copied, the portable device  300  confirms if the disconnection from the PC  370  is complete (operation  550 ). When confirming the disconnection from the PC  370 , the portable device  300  detects if there are added files which must be registered in the playlist table by checking the file system (operation  560 ). For example, when the check flag of the file system is set to 1, the portable device  300  determines that added files are present. 
     With reference to the table new/old information in the FAT, the portable device  300  counts the number of added files (operation  562 ). For example, if the number of files which have not been registered from the file table to the playlist table is five (that is, the number of files that have a table new/old information entry of “new”), the number of the added files is five. Then, file information of a first file, stored on a record-by-record basis in the FAT corresponding to the file system, is read (operation  572 ). 
     File path information of the first file is analyzed, and the last file directory or folder in the file path information of each record-by-record based file is registered in the table as a playlist title (operation  574 ). For example, the file path of a file (1.mp3) corresponding to an index number 1 is “root/media/up-to-date-song.” Therefore, the playlist title is “up-to-date-song,” which corresponds to the last folder in the file path. Then, the index number, the file name, and the playlist title of the file are stored in the playlist table, and a playlist table registering of the next added file is performed in the same manner (operation  576 ). 
     The operations  572  through  576  are repeated until the file number count becomes “0” (that is, all of the added files are registered in the playlist table). Finally, in the playlist table, file information is stored as illustrated in  FIG. 6E . That is, referring to  FIG. 6E , the playlist table includes an index number, a file name, and a playlist title of each file. 
     Aspects of the present invention can be written as computer programs and can be implemented in general-use digital computers that execute the programs using a computer-readable recording media. Examples of the computer-readable recording media include magnetic storage media (e.g., ROM, floppy disks, hard disks, etc.), optical recording media (e.g., CD-ROMs, or DVDs), and storage media such as a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave including a compression source code segment and an encryption source code segment (e.g., transmission through the Internet). The computer-readable recording medium can also be distributed over network-coupled computer systems so that the computer-readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion. 
     According to an aspect of the present invention, a portable device  300  (such as an mp3 player or a mobile phone) creates a playlist automatically on a folder-by-folder basis without a user having to additionally create a playlist, thereby enabling the user to manage files conveniently. 
     Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6