Abstract:
The invention relates to a method of managing media files received under different transmission modes and related media playback apparatus thereof. The method includes receiving a media file; retrieving media information from the media file regardless of what transmission mode is used when the media file is received; and modifying a media information record corresponding to the media file according to the retrieved media information.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to a data accessing mechanism, and more particularly, to a method of managing media files received under different transmission modes for improving media file management efficiency and related media playback apparatus thereof. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0004]    As the electronic industry progresses through time, the advancement of portable electronic products has also increased significantly. In general, early digital recorders only offered functions such as sound recording and playback, whereas digital recorders today offer more advanced functions such as FM broadcast receiving, MP3 playback, and language learning programs. One of the most popular functions of digital recorders today is the MP3 playback mode. In order to play an MP3 file, users must utilize a software application to download the MP3 file from a computer to a memory block of a media playback apparatus, such as a digital recorder, where the commonly used software application loads the MP3 file by a mass storage class (MSC) mode or a media transfer protocol (MTP) developed by Microsoft. Additionally, tags carrying information such as the title of the song, the name of the artist and the album, and the style of the song are loaded into the media playback apparatus while the MP3 file is being loaded. However, while media playback apparatuses used on the market today are operating under one transmission mode, they are unable to recognize the tags and the stored information utilizing the other mode. Consequently, the media playback apparatuses are unable to simultaneously manage the files downloaded via two different transmission modes, and in order to manage the files more conveniently, users must use only a single transmission mode or software application to download the songs. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    It is therefore one of the objectives of the present invention to provide a method for managing media files received under different transmission modes and related playback apparatus thereof to solve the above-mentioned problems. 
         [0006]    According to one aspect of the present invention, a method of managing media files is disclosed, in which the media files are received under different transmission modes. The method includes: receiving a media file; retrieving media information from the media file regardless of what transmission mode is used when the media file is received; and modifying a media information record corresponding to the media file according to the retrieved media information. 
         [0007]    According to another aspect of the present invention, a media playback apparatus is disclosed, in which the media playback apparatus is able to manage media files received under different transmission modes. The media playback apparatus includes a transmission interface, a database, and a control unit. Preferably, the transmission interface is utilized to receive a media file, the database is coupled to the transmission interface for storing at least a media information record corresponding to the media file, and the control unit is coupled to the transmission interface and the database for retrieving a media information from the media file regardless of what transmission mode is used when the media file is received and modifying the media information record according to the retrieved media information. 
         [0008]    The present invention utilizes a database to manage media files received under different transmission modes and manage media information of each media file into different categories. Consequently, the media playback apparatus of the embodiment of the present invention is able to access media files received under any type of transmission mode. 
         [0009]    These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram showing a media playback apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a diagram showing an internal data structure of a database shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart showing operation of the media playback apparatus shown in  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]    Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a block diagram showing a media playback apparatus  100  according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the media playback apparatus  100  includes a transmission interface  102 , a memory block  104 , a database  106 , a control unit  108 , a playlist generator  112 , a media information scanner  114 , and a playback unit  116 . Preferably, users are able to select the transmission mode manually or utilize the system&#39;s auto-selection scheme to automatically select a transmission mode, such as MSC mode, MTP mode, or other modes while using the media playback apparatus  100  to download media files. 
         [0014]    In this embodiment of the present invention, after connecting the media playback apparatus  100  to a computer, a software application, such as Windows media player is used to download the media files and playlist information stored in the computer to the media playback apparatus  100  through the transmission interface  102 . The control unit  108  functions to write the media files received by the transmission interface  102  to the memory block  104 . After the media files are written into the memory block  104 , the control unit  108  will read the tags within the stored media files according to the transmission mode and write the tags in a corresponding field of the database  106  for generating media information records. For example, if the media files were MP3 files, the tags within the media files may contain information such as the title of the song, the name of the artists and the albums, and the style of the songs. Hence, four corresponding fields will be created in the database  106  to store the information from the tags. The database  106  may be implemented by a memory block independent from the memory block  104 , in which the memory block corresponding to the database  106  and the memory block  104  can be located in two independent blocks of the same memory or in two separate memories. 
         [0015]    Please refer to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is a diagram showing an internal data structure of the database  106  shown in  FIG. 1 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the database  106  includes a field, such as the “media information quantity” field that keeps a record of the total number of media information records contained within the database  106 . The database  106  also includes a plurality of media information records  202  and  204 , in which each of the media information records includes an identification number serving as the primary key, a media file storage location indicating the storage location of the media files corresponding to the media information record, and a characteristics table listing the characteristics of the media files. Each characteristics table further includes a plurality of fields for storing the number of characteristics (i.e., the “characteristic quantity” shown in  FIG. 2 ) and the content of each characteristic (i.e., the content of the tags described above). 
         [0016]    Referring back to  FIG. 1 , the playlist generator  112  is then able to generate a plurality of playlists according to the aforementioned characteristics. For instance, the playlist generator  112  is able to store MP3 files of the same style in a playlist, or MP3 files corresponding to an artist to another playlist. Users are then able to select a favorite playlist and play the MP3 files sequentially according to the selected playlist. Subsequently, the playback unit  116  will read the playlist selected by the user to play the media files stored in the memory block  104 . Preferably, the playlist generator  112  can be implemented by a hardware device independent from the control unit  108  or a separate program module, such as a software program. For example, if the playlist generator  112  is implemented using a program module, the control unit  108  can generate a plurality of playlists through executing the program module. Ultimately, the media playback apparatus  100  is able to provide a broader selection of playlists for users after downloading the media files and playlist information from an electronic device. 
         [0017]    Since users are able to utilize a direct file transfer means to write the media files into the memory block  104  without going through any of the software applications, the media information scanner  114  is thus utilized periodically (or under the circumstances when a new connection to a computer is established or when the memory block  104  is updated), to scan the media files stored in the memory block  104  for verifying whether all of the media files include corresponding media information stored in the database  106 . If the result demonstrates that a media file does not include corresponding media information stored in the database  106 , the media information scanner  114  will drive the control unit  108  to retrieve at least a tag from the media file, and write the tag into a corresponding field of the database  106  for generating corresponding media information. Preferably, the media information scanner  114  can be implemented by a hardware device independent from the control unit  108  or a program module (i.e., a software application). For example, if the media information scanner  114  is implemented using a program module, the control unit  108  can scan the media files through executing the program module. 
         [0018]    It should be noted that the media playback apparatus  100  not only can utilize the software applications of a personal computer to download media files, but also can utilize the MSC mode to access media files stored in other small-sized electronic devices, such as a USB personal disk. For instance, the media playback apparatus  100  will utilize the MSC mode to read and download media files stored in a USB personal disk when the USB personal disk is connected to the media playback apparatus  100 . After the media files are downloaded, the media information scanner  114  will scan the media files stored in the memory block  104  and update the database  106  using the corresponding media information. 
         [0019]    Please refer to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  is a flow chart showing operation of the media playback apparatus  100  shown in  FIG. 1 . According to the present embodiment, the method of managing media files received under different transmission modes includes the following steps:
   Step  302 : Start.   Step  304 : Determine whether the media playback apparatus  100  is connected to any electronic device. If “yes” then perform step  306 ; otherwise, return to step  304 .   Step  306 : Determine the transmission mode used by the media playback apparatus  100 .   Step  308 : Download the media files into the media playback apparatus  100  according to the transmission mode utilized.   Step  310 : Generate a media information record corresponding to each media file in the database  106 .   Step  312 : Generate at least a playlist according to the media information record stored in the database  106  and then return to step  304 .   Step  314 : Scan all of the media files within the media playback apparatus  100 .   Step  316 : Determine whether all of the media files include a corresponding media information record. If “yes” then perform step  312 ; otherwise, go to step  310 .   
 
         [0028]    As shown in the flow chart of  FIG. 3 , when the media playback apparatus  100  is connected to any electronic device, such as a personal computer or a portable storage device, the transmission mode being utilized is determined, in which the transmission mode can be selected by the users manually, assigned by the system, or selected by the media playback apparatus  100  according to whichever mode is supported by the electronic device. Next, the media playback apparatus  100  will download the media files stored in the electronic device and generate a media information record in the database  106  according to the media information of the media files. Next, at least a playlist is generated according to the media information record for the users. However, when the media information scanner  114  of the media playback apparatus  100  is enabled, the media information scanner  114  will scan all of the stored media files to ensure that each media file includes a corresponding media information record. If one of the media files has no corresponding media information record, the media information scanner  114  will drive the media playback apparatus  100  to generate a media information record for the particular media file and update the content in the database  106 . 
         [0029]    Additionally, the media playback apparatus  100  will download the media files and playlist information stored in the electronic device to provide a broader selection of playlists for the users. 
         [0030]    In contrast to the prior art, the present invention utilizes a database to manage the tag information of media files for managing media files received under different transmission modes, and utilizes a playlist generator to generate a plurality of playlists for the users. Ultimately, the media playback apparatus of the embodiment of the present invention is able to examine or playback all of the media files received under any type of transmission mode. 
         [0031]    Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.