Patent ID: 8204910

Claim:
A method for managing presence data for a first and second media device comprising: sending an announcement message from the second media device to the first media device, the announcement message including: a second device profile including a second media device unique identifier, a second device media characteristic, wherein a device media characteristic comprises at least one of: media file metadata, media device current activity, statistical information associated with media files on the device, or metadata of a media file currently being played on the device, and a second media device presence preference, wherein a media device presence preference limits presence visibility of a media device to an external device according to one of: data associated with the external device, or a media characteristic of the external device; receiving an acknowledgement message from the first media device at the second media device, the acknowledgment message including a first device profile including a first media device unique identifier, a first device media characteristic, a first media device presence preference, and a status; determining a first media device characteristic from the acknowledgement message; comparing the first media device unique identifier to entries on a second media device blocked list; comparing the first media device characteristic to a second media device presence preference; transmitting a media data file from the second media device to the first media device when the status in the acknowledgment message indicates that the second media device unique identifier does not match one of the entries on the first media device blocked list, and when the second media device characteristic matches the first media device presence preference, wherein the matching includes one or more of: a media data file metadata within a library of the second media device matching the media data file metadata of the presence preference of the first media device, the metadata including one or more of a title, an artist, an album, and a genre, a media device activity including the second media device actively communicating with another media device having a unique identifier matching an entry of a friends or trusted list of the first media device presence preference, and the media data file metadata of a media data file currently playing on the second media device matching the media data file metadata of the presence preference of the first media device.