Apple patents digital media reservation system

Time for another peek into the Apple patent catalog for some gool ol' speculation into that mysterious product pipeline which Steve Jobs called the "best I've ever seen in my life." This time, a patent titled "reservation of digital media items" filed waaay back in December 2004 (but only published this week on the USPTO website) has broken free. Like the filing for the audio interface seen yesterday, this patent again describes a system relying on the relative computing strength and fast network access of a PC / Mac working together with a second, portable wireless device. This time however, the "portable wireless device" is used to browse and then tag an item of interest from an "online media store" with the PC / Mac then being used to purchase or preview the tagged item at a later time. The patent specifically references eBooks and ring tones as some of the items of interest for download by a cellphone or wireless PDA. Now, If you're a believer then this is just further confirmation of that oft rumored and all but confirmed iPhone. Or perhaps it's just insight into an extension of that crippled Moto partnership. We don't know. However, these filings do give some insight into Apple's views on the continued importance of synchronization between future portable devices and the PC/Mac digital hub.

[Via c|net News]

[koffeekan @ May 5th 2006 7:42AM]

i can taste the apple revolution coming, and it is sweet.




sweet like apple juice.

[Gaffimantigone @ May 5th 2006 8:34AM]

Probably has something to do with a potential satellite radio partnership, where you hear a song, mark it, and then buy it on iTunes the next time you sync the device.

[StevenT @ May 5th 2006 9:24AM]

Just so we get the facts straight, Apple has not "patented" this, at least not yet. They have filed a patent application, which just published under USPTO guidelines. The application has to be examined, which could easily take one or more years, and if allowed by the patent office, will then become a patent.

[JCA @ May 5th 2006 9:28AM]

It is slightly possible that it means nothing you know. Maybe stop reading so much into this poop, unless you're hard up for news dear Engadget. All Ginormous technology companies highly encourage their engineers to come up with patentable material for WHATEVER, regardless if the company is in the market to do it or not.

Im going to issue a writ of - Engadget doesn't have sh*t to write about today!

There.....writ issued.

[TC @ May 5th 2006 9:32AM]

This sounds an awful lot like the Shazam service already in use in the UK - With shazam, you call up and point your mobile at the source of music you want to discover the details of, you get an automatic text back with song title and artist, and then (This is the bit which sounds similar) you can go to their website on your PC and view all the items you've 'tagged', and choose to either download the song or just a ringtone version.
It works really well, but I'm not sure if it's available in the US - so maybe Apple is going to bring it to the American market?

[Chris Robinson @ May 5th 2006 10:58AM]

If I didn't know any better, I'd call Apple a patent troll.

[Bob @ May 5th 2006 12:59PM]

Doesn't steve jobs always say that there is always "something great in the pipeline"? Don't we remember: year of the laptop, year of HDTV, upcoming amazing products..... dont get me wrong, I am a huge apple fan, but I held my breathe WAYYYYYYY too long for a G5 laptop (which never happened), etc.

I am happy that I now have a intelmac, but please steve, don't just tell us about new stuff in the pipeline, keep these new products coming!!! (macbook??? ;) Soon... please...)

[Galley @ May 6th 2006 9:05AM]

With my Samsung A900 I can actually purchase music wirelessly (from the Sprint Music Store), for download and playback on my phone. When I get home, I can download a PC-compatible file at no extra charge. So where is the innovation?