Thumbnail cache

Abstract

A thumbnail management system is provided for an intelligent TV. Thumbnails may accumulate over time and require removal from a data storage device. Thumbnails may expire based, in part, on the type of media they represent, such as broadcast programs, movies, pay-per-view, games, and user content, such as music and images. Thumbnails may also be removed upon removal of the referencing media file.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A method of operation of a thumbnail engine of an electronic device, comprising:
 accessing, by a processor associated with the electronic device, a thumbnail image in a storage, the thumbnail image being associated with a media file; and   upon the occurrence of a thumbnail expiration event, marking the thumbnail image for deletion; and   upon the occurrence of a delete event, the delete event being different from the thumbnail expiration event, and determining the thumbnail image is marked for deletion, deleting the thumbnail image from the storage.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising retrieving a stored thumbnail image by a thumbnail identifier. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , further comprising:
 receiving requests for the thumbnail image;   storing a timestamp of the receive request associated with the thumbnail image; and   returning the thumbnail image.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the expiration event occurs upon determining the amount of free space in the storage is below a threshold free space value. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the expiration event occurs upon determining the last access of the thumbnail image was prior to a threshold expiration value. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the expiration event further comprises determining that the time the thumbnail was last accessed prior to the time another thumbnail was accessed. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the expiration event further comprises determining the thumbnail image is associated with a media that has been deleted. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 associating the thumbnail image with a media type in accord with a category associated with the media; and   wherein marking the thumbnail image for deletion, further comprises, marking the thumbnail image for deletion upon determining the thumbnail image in accord with the media type.   
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the category associated with the media is at least one of text, audio, video frame, a plurality of video frames, live programming, media provider, media creator, still image and interactive content. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 scanning the media;   extracting a raw thumbnail image from the scanned media;   processing the raw thumbnail image; and   performing the creating of the thumbnail image from the processed raw thumbnail image.   
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein the processing of the raw thumbnail image comprises at least one of scaling, cropping and rotating. 
     
     
         32 . An electronic device, comprising:
 a storage;   a processor;   wherein the storage contains a thumbnail associated with the media file; and   wherein the processor automatically marks the thumbnail for deletion upon the determination of an expiration event being different from an expiration event; and   wherein the processor detects the occurrence of a delete event and, in response thereto, deletes the marked thumbnail.   
     
     
         33 . The device of  claim 32 , wherein the processor retrieves the thumbnail upon receiving a request associated with an identifier associated with the thumbnail. 
     
     
         34 . The device of  claim 32 , wherein the processor automatically marks the thumbnail for deletion upon the determination of an expiration event associated with a category of the media. 
     
     
         35 . The device of  claim 32 , wherein the processor automatically marks the thumbnail for deletion upon the determination that the associated media has been deleted. 
     
     
         36 . The device of  claim 32 , wherein the processor deletes the thumbnail upon determining that the thumbnail is marked for deletion and the free space in the storage is below a threshold. 
     
     
         37 . A non-transitory computer readable medium with instructions thereon to cause a computer to perform:
 creating a thumbnail image associated with a media;   storing a thumbnail image in a storage associated with the electronic device;   associating the thumbnail image with the media; and   upon the occurrence of a thumbnail expiration event marking the thumbnail image for deletion; and   upon the occurrence of a delete event different form the thumbnail expiration event, deleting the thumbnail image.   
     
     
         38 . The medium of  claim 37 , further comprising instructions to retrieve a stored thumbnail image by a thumbnail identifier. 
     
     
         39 . The medium of  claim 37 , further comprising instructions to:
 receive a request for the thumbnail image;   store a timestamp of the receive request associated with the thumbnail image; and   return the thumbnail image.   
     
     
         40 . The medium of  claim 37 , further comprising instructions to cause the deletion of the thumbnail image upon determining the thumbnail image is marked for deletion and an amount of free space in the storage is below a threshold free space value.