Patent ID: 8086575

Claim:
A method for managing media in a networked media system comprising a source device, at least one playback device, and a transcoder device, the method comprising: receiving, at the playback device, source-device state information from the source device, the source-device state information specifying a first network protocol and a content service supported by the source device configured to store digital media files in a plurality of formats, the content service configured to provide other network devices access to digital media files stored on the source device, the playback device configured to playback digital media files in a first of the plurality of formats; receiving, at the playback device, transcoder-device state information from the transcoder device, the transcoder-device state information specifying a second network protocol and a conversion service supported by the transcoder device, the conversion service for conversion of digital media files, the first and second network protocols being different network protocols; determining whether the conversion service of the transcoder device converts digital media files in at least one of the plurality of formats to the first format; in response to a determination that the conversion service of the transcoder device converts digital media files in at least one of the plurality of formats to the first format, aggregating, at the playback device, a list of digital media files stored on the source device, wherein the aggregated list includes only digital media files that can be provided to the playback device in the first format; sending, from the playback device to the source device, a first request invoking the content service on the source device for accessing a first digital media file included in the list of digital media files, the first digital media file being stored on the source device, the first request being translated to the first network protocol by the playback device; sending, from the playback device to the transcoder device, a second request invoking the conversion service on the transcoder device for converting the first digital media file to the first format, the second request being translated to the second network protocol by the playback device; and playing back, at the playback device, the first digital media file converted to the first format, wherein the source device, the playback device, and the transcoder device comprise separate network devices coupled through a network.