Systems and methods for accessing and controlling media stored remotely

Abstract

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a server that stores a set of media files. The server is configured to send an authentication code to a first communication device in response to a request from the first communication device to access the set of media files such that the first communication device can present the authentication code to a user. The server is configured to associate an identifier of a second communication device with the first communication device such that a user of the second communication device can authorize access to the set of media files from the first communication device by sending the authentication code to the server using the second communication device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code to be executed by a processor of a server, the code comprising code representing instructions to:
 send a signal representing an authentication code to a first communication device such that the authentication code is presented by the first communication device, the first communication device associated with a user;   receive a signal representing the authentication code from a second communication device associated with the user, the authentication code not being associated with a user account; and   send a signal to cause content to be presented to the user via the first communication device in response to receiving the signal representing the authentication code from the second communication device such that the content is presented without receiving any signal from the first communication device or the second communication device containing an indication of the user account.   
     
     
         2 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , the code further comprising code representing instructions to:
 receive a request for the data from the second communication device; and   transfer the data to the first communication device based on the association and the request for the data.   
     
     
         3 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein at least a portion of the data is stored on the second communication device. 
     
     
         4 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein the data is at least one media file stored in a media database accessible by the server. 
     
     
         5 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein the code representing instructions to transfer the data to the first communication device based on the association includes code representing instructions to stream media to the first communication device. 
     
     
         6 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein the code representing instructions to transfer the data to the first communication device includes code representing instructions to stream media to the first communication device, the code further comprising code representing instructions to:
 receive, from the second communication device, an indication to control the media streamed to the first communication device; and   control the media streamed to the first communication device in response to the indication.   
     
     
         7 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein the code representing instructions to receive the request for the data includes code representing instructions to receive the request for data from the second communication device without the data being received by the first communication device. 
     
     
         8 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the authentication code is configured to be presented by the first communication device as a barcode configured to be scanned by the second communication device. 
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , the code further comprising code representing instructions to:
 provide, to the second communication device an indication of data available for transfer to the first communication device.   
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the code representing instructions to send the signal representing the authentication code includes code representing instructions to send the signal representing the authentication code from the processor to the first communication device and not via the second communication device. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the signal representing the authentication code is received from the second communication device in response to the signal representing the authentication code being sent to the first communication device. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the signal representing the authentication code received from the second communication device is devoid of a user-defined authentication code. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the second communication device is configured to control the presentation of content on the first communication device. 
     
     
         14 . An apparatus comprising:
 a server configured to send a signal representing an authentication code to a compute device, the authentication code not being associated with a user account;   the server configured to receive, from a mobile communication device, a signal representing the authentication code and an identifier associated with the mobile communication device, the server not storing an association between the mobile communication device and the user account before receiving the signal representing the authentication code, the server configured to define an association between the compute device and the mobile communication device based on receiving the identifier and the signal representing the authentication code received from the mobile communication device, the server configured to define the association between the compute device and the mobile communication device without receiving a signal containing an indication of the user account from the mobile communication device prior to the server defining the association; and   the server configured to transfer data to the compute device based the association, the data not transferred via the mobile communication device.   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the server is operatively coupled to a media database, the server operable to transfer media from the media database to the compute device. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the server is configured to send, to the mobile communication device, a signal representing data available for transfer to the compute device. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the data is associated with streaming media, the server is configured to receive, from the mobile communication device, an instruction to pause the streaming media, the server configured to pause the transfer of streaming media to the compute device based on the instruction. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the signal representing the authentication code sent to the first communication device is not sent to the first communication device via the second communication device. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the server is configured to transfer data to the compute device based on a request received from the mobile communication device.