Personal media devices with wireless communication
Systems and methods are provided for personal media devices having the ability to communicate wirelessly, and in particular, communicate wirelessly using a short-range communications protocol (e.g., Wi-Fi and Bluetooth). Such communication provides users of personal media devices with access to several Wi-Fi oriented applications. For example, in one embodiment a personal media device may wirelessly download subscription assets (e.g., podcast) as they become available. In another embodiment, content specific or local to a merchant may be provided to personal media devices that are in wireless communication with a wireless router affiliated with the merchant. For example, if the merchant is a restaurant, the merchant may provide a menu to the personal media device and the user may place an order on his or her media device by selecting items on the menu.
1. A method for downloading media assets of a subscribed group of media assets, the method comprising:
receiving an indication of interest in a subscription to a group of media assets;
establishing a communication link with a content source;
accessing the content source;
checking the content source to determine whether a media asset is available in the subscription of interest;
determining whether to download the media asset to a personal media device associated with a user based at least partially on whether the media asset has been previously accessed by a different device associated with the user and a user download preference of whether to download media assets that have been previously accessed by the user; and
in response to determining that the media asset is to be downloaded, downloading the media asset to the personal media device.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein establishing the communication link with the content source comprises:
establishing a wireless link with a wireless router having access to a content source.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the group of media assets comprises at least one of episodes from a television series and programming from a podcast series.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether to download the media asset to the personal media device comprises:
cross-checking against a database to determine if the media asset has already been downloaded by the different device, wherein the personal media device comprises the database.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether to download the media asset to the personal media device comprises:
cross-checking against a database to determine whether a user has provided the user download preference, wherein the personal media device comprises the database.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
prompting a user as to whether to download the media asset.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the downloading comprises:
wirelessly downloading the media asset using a short-range wireless path.
8. A system for wirelessly downloading media assets of a subscribed group of media assets, the system comprising a personal media device associated with a user, the system operative to:
receive an indication of interest in a subscription to a group of media assets, wherein the group of media assets comprises a series grouping;
determine whether a media asset is available in the subscription of interest;
determine whether to download the media asset to the personal media device based at least partially on whether the media asset has been previously accessed by a different device associated with the user and a user download preference of whether to download media assets that have been previously accessed by the user; and
in response to a determination that the media asset is to be downloaded, download the media asset to the personal media device.
9. The system of claim 8 , the system operative to:
establish a wireless link between the personal media device and a wireless router having access to a content source;
access the content source; and
check the content source to determine whether the media asset is available.
10. The system of claim 8 , the system operative to:
establish a wireless link between the personal media device and a computer that has access to a content source;
access the content source; and
check the content source to determine whether the media asset is available.
11. The system of claim 8 , the system operative to:
cross-check against a database to determine if the media asset has already been downloaded by the different device, wherein the personal media device comprises the database.
12. The system of claim 8 , the system operative to:
cross-check against a database to determine whether a user has provided the user download preference, wherein the personal media device comprises the database.
13. The system of claim 8 , the system operative to:
prompt a user as to whether to download the media asset.
14. The system of claim 8 , the system operative to:
wirelessly download the media asset using a short-range wireless path.
15. The system of claim 8 , wherein the series grouping comprises episodes of a television series.
16. The system of claim 8 , wherein the series grouping comprises podcast assets of a podcast program.