Personal area network having media player and mobile device controlling the same

Abstract

A system and method are provided for controlling content played by a number of media devices. In general, the system includes a mobile device and the number of media devices. The mobile device includes a wireless communication interface for communicating with the media devices, a media database, and a control system including a media client. When the mobile device enters a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) associated with a media device, the media client obtains information describing the content residing at the media device and stores the information in the media database at the mobile device. Thereafter, when the mobile device is within the WPAN associated with the media device, the media database is used to select content to be played at the media device.

1 . A method of operation of a mobile device via a wireless communication interface comprising:
 sending a passkey via the wireless communication interface to a media device to complete a validation process;   sending a request via the wireless communication interface to the media device to obtain metadata that describes content on the media devices; and   receiving the metadata via the communication interface from the media device, wherein the metadata contains last played time-stamps for the content.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the media device sends a request via the wireless communication interface to the media device to play content. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the content was selected by a user of the mobile device. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication interface is connected to a wireless local area network (WLAN). 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the media device is a digital video recorder (DVR). 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the media client is implemented in software. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the media device consists of one or more of a media server, a media player, a media database, and a content database. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the mobile device receives a server name associated with the media server. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication interface is connected to a wireless personal area network (WPAN).