Server device, user interface appliance, and media processing network

1. A method of operation of a server device connected within a network of media processing devices, comprising:

initiating respective connections with multiple media processing devices;

initiating a connection with a display, printer or rendering appliance, or combinations thereof, which itself initiates one or more connections with one or more same and/or different media processing devices;

receiving and responding to a connection request from an initiating media processing device by providing a list of said connections between said initiating media processing device and said multiple media processing devices comprising responder media processing devices;

requesting and receiving device information from each connected device of the multiple media processing devices, said device information defining a user interface for each of said multiple media processing devices;

constructing a user interface based on said user interface information for controlling more than one of said multiple connected media processing devices including at least one of said different media processing devices connected to said display, printer, or rendering appliance, or combinations thereof, wherein said user interface comprises multiple user-executable objects indicating:

multiple functional media devices that are accessible via said server device and said user interface;

one or more data filters offered by one or more selected media devices;

one or more media types for processing; and

one or more selected data types of the one or more selected media devices;

connecting a chained series of peer-to-peer connections between said initiating processing device and said responder media processing devices via said server device comprising a same or different display, printer, or rendering appliance, or combinations thereof; and

requesting and receiving from the server device a list of media processing devices connected to a secondary server device;

requesting and receiving from the connected secondary server device information defining a user interface for said media processing devices connected to said secondary server device;

arranging network transport of a unit of digital media from a media source or storage device, or both, to at least one media filtering device or media conversion device, or both;

actuating a media filtering or conversion operation, or both, on said media filtering device or media conversion device, or both;

arranging network transport of a filtered or converted version, or both, of said unit of digital media from the at least one media filtering device or media conversion device, or both, to at least one same or different media display, print, or rendering device, or combinations thereof; and

actuating an associated display, print or rendering function, or combinations thereof.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least one of said connections comprises a peer-to-peer connection between said media processing device and said server device.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least one of said connections comprises a chained series of peer-to-peer connections between said media processing device and said server device via at least one secondary server device.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:

responding to a request from an initiating media processing device to provide said device information for each connected media processing device to said initiating media processing device.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said device information further defines media processing functionality.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5 , further comprising:

providing media processing functionality; and responding to a request from an initiating media processing device by providing device information defining said media processing functionality to said initiating media processing device.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein said device information defines control commands and input parameters for said media processing functionality and events provided by said media processing functionality, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving control commands and input parameters from said initiating media processing device;

providing said control commands and input parameters to said media processing functionality;

receiving events provided by said media processing functionality; and

providing said events to said initiating media processing device.

8. A method of operation of a graphical user interface appliance, comprising:

providing a connection to a server device;

receiving device information from the server device for multiple media processing devices connected to said server device, said device information defining a user interface for each respective media processing device;

receiving further device information from an image rendering appliance for at least one different media processing device connected to said image rendering appliance, said further device information defining a user interface for said at least one different media processing device;

constructing a user interface based on said user interface information for controlling more than one of said multiple connected media processing devices including at least one media processing device that is connected to said server device and said at least one different media processing device connected to said image rendering appliance, wherein said user interface comprises multiple user-executable objects indicating:

at least one image rendering appliance from which the at least one server device is accessible;

one or more data filters offered by the at least one server device;

one or more media types for processing; and

one or more devices containing a selected data type;

connecting a chained series of peer-to-peer connections between said at least one media processing device and said at least one different media processing device via said at least one server device and said image rendering appliance;

requesting and receiving from the image rendering appliance a list of media processing devices connected to the image rendering appliance;

requesting and receiving from the image rendering appliance information defining a user interface for said media processing devices connected to said image rendering appliance;

arranging network transport of a unit of digital media from a media source or storage device, or both, to at least one media filtering device or media conversion device, or both;

actuating a media filtering or conversion operation, or both, on said media filtering device or media conversion device, or both;

arranging network transport of a filtered or converted version, or both, of said unit of digital media from the at least one media filtering device or media conversion device, or both, to at least one media display, print, or rendering device, or combinations thereof and

actuating an associated display, print or rendering function, or combinations thereof.

9. A method as in claim 8 , further comprising:

receiving device information from the server device defining media processing functionality available via said server, said device information including control commands and input parameters for said media processing functionality and events provided by said media processing functionality;

providing control commands and input parameters to said server in response to user interaction with said user interface;

receiving events from said server provided by said media processing functionality; and updating said user interface according to said received events.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

indicating each server device to which said appliance is connected;

indicating media processing functionality available on each server device;

indicating each media processing device to which each server device is connected; and

indicating media stored on said media processing devices.

11. A method as in claim 10 , further comprising responding to user interaction to display respective indicators of media stored on a user selected media processing device.

12. A method as in claim 11 , further comprising responding to user interaction to request user selected media processing functionality of user selected media stored on a user selected media processing device.

13. A method as in claim 12 , wherein said media processing functionality comprises a user selected series of filtering operations.

14. One or more non-transitory processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied thereon, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of operation of a server device connected within a network of media processing devices, the method comprising:

initiating respective connections with multiple media processing devices;

initiating a connection with a display, printer or rendering appliance, or combinations thereof, which itself initiates one or more connections with one or more same and/or different media processing devices;

receiving and responding to a connection request from an initiating media processing device by providing a list of said connections between said initiating media processing device and said multiple media processing devices comprising responder media processing devices;

requesting and receiving device information from each connected device of the multiple media processing devices, said device information defining a user interface for each of said multiple media processing devices;

constructing a user interface based on said user interface information for controlling more than one of said multiple connected media processing devices including at least one of said different media processing devices connected to said display, printer, or rendering appliance, or combinations thereof, wherein said user interface comprises multiple user-executable objects indicating:

multiple functional media devices that are accessible via said server device and said user interface;

one or more data filters offered by one or more selected media devices;

one or more media types for processing; and

one or more selected data types of the one or more selected media devices;

connecting a chained series of peer-to-peer connections between said initiating processing device and said responder media processing devices via said server device comprising a same or different display, printer, or rendering appliance, or combinations thereof; and

requesting and receiving from the server device a list of media processing devices connected to a secondary server device;

requesting and receiving from the connected secondary server device information defining a user interface for said media processing devices connected to said secondary server device;

arranging network transport of a unit of digital media from a media source or storage device, or both, to at least one media filtering device or media conversion device, or both;

actuating a media filtering or conversion operation, or both, on said media filtering device or media conversion device, or both;

arranging network transport of a filtered or converted version, or both, of said unit of digital media from the at least one media filtering device or media conversion device, or both, to at least one same or different media display, print, or rendering device, or combinations thereof; and

actuating an associated display, print or rendering function, or combinations thereof.

15. The one or more storage devices of claim 14 , wherein at least one of said connections comprises a peer-to-peer connection between said media processing device and said server device.

16. The one or more storage devices of claim 14 , wherein at least one of said connections comprises a chained series of peer-to-peer connections between said media processing device and said server device via at least one secondary server device.

17. The one or more storage devices of claim 14 , the method further comprising:

requesting and receiving from a connected secondary server device a list of media processing devices connected to said secondary server device; and

requesting and receiving from said connected secondary server device information defining a user interface for said media processing devices connected to said secondary server device.

18. The one or more storage devices of claim 14 , the method further comprising responding to a request from an initiating media processing device to provide said device information for each connected media processing device to said initiating media processing device.

19. The one or more storage devices of claim 14 , wherein said device information further defines media processing functionality.

20. The one or more storage devices of claim 19 , the method further comprising:

providing media processing functionality; and

responding to a request from an initiating media processing device by providing device information defining said media processing functionality to said initiating media processing device.

21. The one or more storage devices of claim 20 , wherein said device information defines control commands and input parameters for said media processing functionality and events provided by said media processing functionality, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving control commands and input parameters from said initiating media processing device;

providing said control commands and input parameters to said media processing functionality;

receiving events provided by said media processing functionality; and

providing said events to said initiating media processing device.

22. One or more non-transitory processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied thereon, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of operation of a graphical user interface appliance, the method comprising:

providing a connection to a server device;

receiving device information from the server device for multiple media processing devices connected to said server device, said device information defining a user interface for each respective media processing device;

receiving further device information from an image rendering appliance for at least one different media processing device connected to said image rendering appliance, said further device information defining a user interface for said at least one different media processing device;

constructing a user interface based on said user interface information for controlling more than one of said multiple connected media processing devices including at least one media processing device that is connected to said server device and said at least one different media processing device connected to said image rendering appliance, wherein said user interface comprises multiple user-executable objects indicating:

at least one image rendering appliance from which the at least one server device is accessible;

one or more data filters offered by the at least one server device;

one or more media types for processing; and

one or more devices containing a selected data type;

connecting a chained series of peer-to-peer connections between said at least one media processing device and said at least one different media processing device via said at least one server device and said image rendering appliance;

requesting and receiving from the image rendering appliance a list of media processing devices connected to the image rendering appliance;

requesting and receiving from the image rendering appliance information defining a user interface for said media processing devices connected to said image rendering appliance;

arranging network transport of a unit of digital media from a media source or storage device, or both, to at least one media filtering device or media conversion device, or both;

actuating a media filtering or conversion operation, or both, on said media filtering device or media conversion device, or both;

arranging network transport of a filtered or converted version, or both, of said unit of digital media from the at least one media filtering device or media conversion device, or both, to at least one media display, print, or rendering device, or combinations thereof and

actuating an associated display, print or rendering function, or combinations thereof.

23. The one or more storage devices of claim 22 , the method further comprising:

receiving device information from the server device defining media processing functionality available via said server, said device information including control commands and input parameters for said media processing functionality and events provided by said media processing functionality;

providing control commands and input parameters to said server in response to user interaction with said user interface;

receiving events from said server provided by said media processing functionality; and

updating said user interface according to said received events.

24. The one or more storage devices of claim 23 , the method further comprising:

indicating each server device to which said appliance is connected;

indicating media processing functionality available on each server device;

indicating each media processing device to which each server device is connected; and indicating media stored on said media processing devices.

25. The one or more storage devices of claim 24 , the method further comprising responding to user interaction to display respective indicators of media stored on a user selected media processing device.

26. The one or more storage devices of claim 25 , the method further comprising responding to user interaction to request user selected media processing functionality of user selected media stored on a user selected media processing device.

27. The one or more storage devices of claim 26 , wherein said media processing functionality comprises a user selected series of filtering operations.

28. A networked control point appliance, comprising

a processor; and

one or more non-transitory processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied thereon, said processor readable code for programming the processor to operate the networked control point appliance, which further comprises:

(a) a user interface subsystem;

(b) a user input subsystem;

(c) a user interface configuration that is determined dynamically from a plurality of devices registered on the network; and

(d) a control point subsystem;

(e) wherein the user interface configuration includes a user interface component associated with each of the plurality of devices, and

(f) wherein said user interface configuration comprises multiple user-executable objects indicating at least one functional server device that is accessible via at least one control point subsystem;

(g) one or more data filters offered by the least one server;

(h) one or more media types for processing; and

(i) one or more selected data types of one or more of the plurality of devices registered on the network;

(j) wherein the plurality of devices comprises

(i) a media source or storage device or both;

(ii) a media display, print or rendering device, or combinations thereof; and

(iii) a media filtering device or media conversion device, or both; and

(k) wherein responsive to a first user selection of a unit of digital media on the media source or storage device, or both, a second user selection of at least one media filtering device or media conversion device, or both, and a third user selection of at least one media display, print or rendering device, or combinations thereof, said control point subsystem is configured to:

(1) arrange network transport of said unit of digital media from the media source or storage device, or both, to the at least one media filtering device or media conversion device, or both;

(2) actuate a media filtering or conversion operation, or both, on said media filtering device or media conversion device, or both;

(3) arrange network transport of a filtered or converted version, or both, of said unit of digital media from the at least one media filtering device or media conversion device, or both, to the at least one media display, print, or rendering device, or combinations thereof; and

(4) actuate an associated display, print or rendering function, or combinations thereof.

29. The appliance of claim 28 , wherein the user interface subsystem comprises a visual display screen and the user input subsystem comprises a touchscreen interface.

30. The appliance of claim 28 , wherein the second user selection includes selection of at least one media filtering operation on said at least one media filtering device.

31. The appliance of claim 28 , where the second user selection is followed by one or more additional selections of one or more media filters on said media filtering device.

32. The appliance of claim 28 , wherein the second user selection is followed by at least one selection of an additional media filtering device, and wherein the control point subsystem is further configured to:

(5) arrange network transport from the first media filtering device to the at least one additional media filtering device, and

(6) actuate the at least one selected media filter prior to arranging network transport of the filtered media stream to the at least one media display device.

33. The appliance of claim 32 , wherein the at least one selection of the additional media filtering device is followed by selection of at least one media filter on said additional media filtering device.

34. The appliance of claim 32 , wherein an order of application of two or more selected media filters is predetermined within said filtering device.

35. The appliance of claim 32 , wherein an order of application of two or more selected media filters comprises an order of selection by a user.