Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Google Inc.

Other

Micorsoft Corpration

Dennis A Kiilerich

Andrew L Silverman

Kipley J Olson

Joshuah Vincent

Michael John Novak

Anton Volkov

Sergey Nazarov

Ori Gershony

Ricardo Escutia

Gang Ji

Madhuvan Gupta

Pranav Khaitan

Timothy Seeds Milligan

Sushant Prakash

Hila Shemer

David Citron

Daniel F Plastina

Jeff West

David M Nadalin

Kevin P Larkin

Jordan Naftolin

Kok Wai Chan

Adrian Dragomir

Vlad Sadovsky

Phillip Feng Lu

Mark Sievert Larsen

Kjersten Hayter

Lingeshwaran Palaniappan

Renata Van Diest

Michael M Tse

A system and method for identifying an entity from a message exchange thread and generating a suggestion that is directed to the entity, such as a suggestion for a user to take an action on the entity. A suggestion application receives at least one electronic message from a message exchange thread, identifies an entity that can be actionable from the electronic message, determines contextual indicators of the entity, determines whether the entity is actionable based on the contextual indicators, and responsive to the entity being actionable, provides a suggestion that is directed to the entity to a participant(s) of the message exchange thread.

Automatic suggestions for message exchange threads

Arrangements are provided which use a host computer to configure a wireless portable device's network connection parameters. The radio on the portable device may be used to help locate nearby accessible wireless networks. Once a synchronization relationship between the portable device and a media library on a host computer is established, periodically updated content, such as podcasts, may be discovered and subscribed to using software on the host computer, and the content synchronized with the host computer. A portable device may manage episodic content, such as podcasts, using the device's own wireless connection, and may further send such content to other portable devices. A central user profile may be set up on a web server to synchronize multiple wireless or wired devices.

Wireless synchronization of media content and subscription content

Arrangements are provided which improve the efficiency of the synchronization process. The same ensure that synchronizations of large quantities of content can be completed with a minimum of delay. One method prioritizes the various tasks that are to be performed prior to synchronization. Another method initiates dependent tasks while parsing a synchronization tasks list. Yet another method allows modification of an in-process synchronization operation to allow new synchronization tasks to be accomplished within the context of the same process, negating the need to restart synchronization.

Arrangement for synchronizing media files with portable devices

An arrangement for packaging and transferring files such as content items and metadata in synchronization operations. Files are packaged in a concatenated fashion in order to optimize usage of the transfer channel, while maintaining an ability to keep track of how many files have been transferred. Metadata associated with the files may be sent in a single package in advance of sending the files. The metadata may be compressed using both a custom mechanism that takes into account predictable commonalities inherent in metadata for multimedia files, as well as standard compression techniques.

Packaging and bulk transfer of files and metadata for synchronization

A synchronization system includes a first account assigned a first unique identifier. Access to the first account is contingent on validation of a shared access credential. The synchronization system also includes a second account assigned a second unique identifier. Access to the second account is contingent on validation of the shared access credential. The synchronization system further includes a library of account operations. One or more account operations are configured to utilize the first unique identifier when addressing the first account, and one or more account operations are configured to utilize the second unique identifier when addressing the second account.

Unique account identification

A method for managing a group of owned and for-purchase media items in response to a single user action. The method treats the owned media items and the for-purchase media items similarly with respect to the user's interaction with them, facilitating a user paradigm-shift from thinking about two stores of media items to a single store of media items available for use. A media item grouping generic to both types of media items is provided, permitting sharing of media item collections between users having different access rights with respect to the media items.

Like processing of owned and for-purchase media

A media player for use with any file format is provided. The system receives a file and provides it to a plug-in to generate a corresponding file having a native file format if the file is not already in a native file format. The system stores both the original file and the converted file, or the original file if no converted file is generated. When synchronizing media content to a media device, the system provides the file having a file format corresponding to a file format preferred by the media device.

Media file conversion using plug-ins

A system for providing a firmware upgrade to a portable media device by comparing a version number of the firmware on the portable media device to the version number of an available firmware upgrade. The available firmware upgrade is provided by the manufacturer of the portable media device or some other trusted source and compiled in a firmware database. The firmware database is accessed when the portable media device is connected to the personal computing device. Additionally, a digital signature may be associated with a certified version of the media device firmware and used by a multimedia management application to verify the functionality of the portable media device.

Providing firmware updates to portable media devices

Described herein are one or more implementations for transferring formatted digital media content ('formatted-media-content') from a source device (e.g., a desktop computer) to a target media-playback device (e.g., a MP3 player). The formatted-media-content may need to be converted from a source format to a target format before it is transferred. An implementation seeks permission from a source-format-agent associated with the source format of the formatted-media-content, to perform a format-conversion ('transcoding').

Sanctioned transcoding of digital-media content

A transcode architecture determines if a media source file needs to be transcoded for playback on a target playback device, and if so, the proper format needed for transcoding the source file. A transcode architecture includes a transcode manager, a transcode matrix, a transcode engine and a cache for storing transcoded media files. A media library stores media source files and device capabilities information. The transcode manager controls a transcode process in which the transcode matrix generates a profile for a media source file and accesses device capabilities that indicate playback capabilities for a target playback device. The transcode matrix compares parameters of the source profile with the device capabilities to decide whether the source file must be transcoded to enable playback of the file on the target playback device, and if so, the proper format needed for transcoding the source file.

Transcode matrix

Growing community of inventors

Kirkland, WA, United States of America

Dennis A Kiilerich