Virtual jukebox

Abstract

A collection management system, or virtual jukebox, is provided for a collection of recordings that is independent of the physical media upon which the material is recorded. The system forms a part of a network that includes storage media and playback devices, and provides an easy to use system for collection cataloging, archiving, and retrieval. In a preferred embodiment, a collection management system resides on a consumer electronic (CE) device, or a personal or home computer (PC), and the collection includes recordings that are stored on one or more hard drives associated with the CE device or the PC. The collection management system includes a user interface that facilitates the retrieval of recordings for playback from one or more storage devices, based on an individual selection of genre, author, and so on. By storing the recordings on a hard disc drive or other mass storage device with an associated disk operating system, immediate access is available to each recording on the drive, and additional drives can be added to the system as new material is added to the collection.

I claim:  
     
         1 . A content processing device comprising: 
 a receiver that receives content data from a content source,    a processor, operably coupled to the receiver, that processes the content data and produces therefrom archive content,    a storage device, operably coupled to the processor, that accumulates the respective archive content at a respective location,    a cataloger, operably coupled to the receiver and the storage device, that associates the location corresponding to the archive content to an identifier of the content data, and    a retriever, operably coupled to the storage device, that facilitates a selection of at least one of the archive content and the content data, based on information associated with the identifier of the content data.    
     
     
         2 . The content processing device of  claim 1 , wherein the content data comprises audio information.  
     
     
         3 . The content processing device of  claim 1 , wherein the retriever includes means for transforming the archive content into a form suitable for rendering by a rendering device.  
     
     
         4 . The content processing device of  claim 1 , wherein the content source is a recording medium, and the receiver includes 
 a playback device that receives the content data by accessing information that is stored on the recording medium.    
     
     
         5 . The content processing device of  claim 4 , wherein the playback device also renders the content data in an audible form while the processor is processing the content data to form the archive content.  
     
     
         6 . The content processing device of  claim 1 , wherein the content source is at least one of: a playback device, a storage device, and an Internet site.  
     
     
         7 . The content processing device of  claim 1 , wherein the archive content comprises at least one of a Philips DCC compression and an MPEG compression.  
     
     
         8 . The content processing device of  claim 1 , wherein 
 the storage device is also configured to store the content data, for subsequent processing by the processor to produce the archive content.    
     
     
         9 . The content processing device of  claim 1 , wherein 
 the cataloger associates one or more information items to the identifier, and    the retriever facilitates the selection based also on the one or more information items.    
     
     
         10 . The content processing device of  claim 1 , wherein the retriever includes 
 a graphic user interface that facilitates the selection.    
     
     
         11 . A collection management system comprising: 
 a cataloger that associates a locator and at least one information item to each recording of a collection of recordings,    a user interface that facilitates a user selection of a selected recording from the collection of recordings, based on the at least one information item associated with the selected recording,    a retriever that determines the locator associated with the selected recording, and accesses recorded content at a storage device, based on the locator.    
     
     
         12 . The collection management system of  claim 11 , wherein 
 the user interface is a graphic user interface, and the at least one information item is rendered to the user in a graphic form that facilitates the user selection.    
     
     
         13 . The collection management system of  claim 12 , wherein the graphic user interface is programmable.  
     
     
         14 . The collection management system of  claim 12 , wherein 
 upon selection of the selected recording, the graphic user interface presents ancillary information related to the selected recording.    
     
     
         15 . The collection management system of  claim 12 , wherein 
 the graphic user interface includes an image corresponding to each recording of the collection of recordings, and    the selection of the selected file is facilitated by a rendering of the image corresponding to the selected recording by the graphic user interface.    
     
     
         16 . The collection management system of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one information item is provided by an Internet site.  
     
     
         17 . The collection management system of  claim 11 , further including: 
 a processor that processes at least one recording of the collection of recordings to produce an archive content to facilitate a storage of the archive content, and    wherein    the retriever processes the archive content corresponding to the at least one recording to produce therefrom a corresponding content that is suitable for rendering by a rendering device.    
     
     
         18 . The collection management system of  claim 17 , further including 
 an archive device that stores the archive content, and    wherein    the retriever receives the archive content corresponding to the selected recording from the archive device.    
     
     
         19 . The collection management system of  claim 18 , wherein the archive device is at least one of a disk drive device, a DVD recorder, a CD recorder, and a semiconductor memory device.  
     
     
         20 . A method of archiving content data, comprising 
 receiving the content and a content identifier,    rendering the content data in at least one of an audio form and a visual form.    processing the content data to produce archive content,    accumulating the archive content at a respective storage location in an archive storage device, and    cataloging the content data by associating the storage location to the content identifier.    
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising: 
 determining whether the content data has been previously catalogued, based on the content identifier, and    cataloging the content data only if the content data has not been previously catalogued.