Method and apparatus for assisting with playback of remotely stored media files

摘要

A software based system for facilitating streaming of media files to a device over a wide area network (WAN) includes an agent process, an authentication process, a client services process and a client process. The agent process catalogs local media files and advises the authentication process of it's availability on the WAN and the address at which it may be contacted. The client process contacts the client services process to obtain, after authenticating with it, the WAN address of the agent process and contacts the agent process to receive information or meta-data describing the media files available for streaming. The client process obtains information for forming a URI or playlist, that it then passes to a media player to request the stream over the WAN. Alternately, the client process may direct the agent process to pass the URL to another client process on, for example, the same local area network.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
determining, at a first portable computing device, whether one or more second portable computing devices are available on a local area network; communicating a request between the first portable computing device and the one or more second portable computing devices for one or more identifiers for respective media content available to be shared via the one or more second portable computing devices within the local area network; obtaining a user input at the first portable computing device to select media content corresponding to one or more of the identifiers for the respective media content available to be shared via the one or more second portable computing devices within the local area network; communicating an indication of the user input between the first portable computing device and the one or more second portable computing devices at least in part in response to the user input; and obtaining the selected media content from the one or more second portable computing device at the first portable computing device for consumption by a user.