Patent ID: 8271114

Claim:
A method of operating an accessory to communicate with a portable media device, the method comprising, by the accessory: establishing a first connection to a portable media device; during the first connection to the portable media device, obtaining and caching information, including media asset metadata, from a database stored in the portable media device; ending the first connection to the portable media device; establishing a second connection to the portable media device; and during the second connection to the portable media device: obtaining, from the portable media device, database synchronization information related to a most recent update of the database in the portable media device, wherein the database synchronization information is generated when the portable media device is connected to a host computer; determining, based on the database synchronization information, whether the most recent update of the database occurred after the first connection to the portable media device ended; and in the event that the most recent update of the database occurred after the first connection to the portable media device ended, invalidating at least a portion of the cached information.