DVD-enabling dongle for a console-based gaming system

Abstract

A peripheral dongle for a console-based gaming system facilitates DVD movie playback. The dongle has a connector that plugs into a USB game port in the console. The dongle stores playback code that enables DVD movie playback. When connected to the game console, the dongle passes the playback code over the USB connection to the game console, where it is executed to adopt the gaming system for DVD playback. The dongle also has an IR (infrared) receiver to receive and decode commands entered via a remote control.

1 . A console-based gaming system, comprising: 
 a game console having an optical disk drive to read optical disks and at least one game controller slot to mate with a compatible connector on a game controller; and    a dongle separate from, but operably couplable to the game controller slot of the game console, the dongle storing DVD playback code that can be downloaded to the game console to enable DVD playback when the dongle is operably coupled to the game console.    
   
   
       2 . A console-based gaming system as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the game console comprises a hard disk drive.  
   
   
       3 . A console-based gaming system as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the dongle comprises an infrared (IR) receiver to receive IR signals.  
   
   
       4 . A console-based gaming system as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the dongle comprises: 
 a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface;    a memory to store the DVD playback code; and    a microcontroller unit coupled to access the DVD playback code in the memory and output the DVD playback code through the USB interface.    
   
   
       5 . A console-based gaming system, comprising: 
 a game console; and    a peripheral device separate from, but operably couplable to the game console, the peripheral device storing code that can be downloaded to the game console when the peripheral device is operably coupled to the game console to enable enhanced functionality of the game console, the enhanced functionality being exploited at least in part by use of the peripheral device after the code is executed on the game console.    
   
   
       6 . A console-based gaming system as recited in  claim 5 , wherein the peripheral device comprises an infrared receiver and the code comprises DVD playback code.  
   
   
       7 . A console-based gaming system as recited in  claim 5 , wherein the peripheral device comprises: 
 a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface;    a memory to store the code; and    a microcontroller unit coupled to access the code in the memory and output the code through the USB interface.    
   
   
       8 . A console-based gaming system as recited in  claim 5 , wherein: 
 the game console comprises at least one game controller slot to mate with a compatible connector on a game controller; and    the peripheral device is configured to be attachable to the game controller slot.    
   
   
       9 . A dongle for a console-based gaming system, the gaming system having one or more game controller slots into which game controllers may be connected, the dongle comprising: 
 a body;    a connector member extending from the body and compatibly formed for insertion into a game controller slot of the gaming system; and    circuitry housed within the body to store code and to download the code to the gaming system when the connector member is inserted into the game controller slot.    
   
   
       10 . A dongle as recited in  claim 9 , wherein the code comprises DVD playback code.  
   
   
       11 . A dongle as recited in  claim 9 , further comprising: 
 an infrared (IR) lens exposed on the body; and    the circuitry comprising an IR receiver/decoder to receive and decode IR signals captured by the IR lens.    
   
   
       12 . A dongle as recited in  claim 9 , wherein the IR lens is exposed on a first side of the body, and the connector member extends from a second side of the body opposite to the first side.  
   
   
       13 . A dongle as recited in  claim 9 , wherein the circuitry comprises: 
 a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface;    a memory to store the code; and    a microcontroller unit coupled to access the code in the memory and output the code through the USB interface.    
   
   
       14 . A method for enabling DVD playback on a console-based gaming system, comprising: 
 detecting when a peripheral is operably coupled to the console-based gaming system, the peripheral storing DVD playback code;    downloading the DVD playback code stored on the peripheral to the console-based gaming system;    executing the DVD playback code at the console-based gaming system; and    receiving instructions, via the peripheral, to control DVD operation on the console-based gaming system after the DVD playback code is executed.    
   
   
       15 . A method as recited in  claim 14 , further comprising authenticating the peripheral.  
   
   
       16 . A method as recited in  claim 14 , wherein the downloading comprising transferring the DVD playback code using a Universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol.  
   
   
       17 . A method as recited in  claim 14 , wherein the downloading is performed using synchronous data transfer.  
   
   
       18 . A method as recited in  claim 14 , wherein the downloading is performed using asynchronous data transfer.  
   
   
       19 . One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform the method as recited in  claim 14.