1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to the provision of content services, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for using content services in personal computers (PCs) or mobile devices, and a method and apparatus for providing content services.
2. Description of the Related Art
Online content distribution services based on a rich syndication system (RSS, also referred to as Really Simple Syndication), such as podcasting, allow users to subscribe to their own desired channels and then automatically receive content (e.g., pictures, music, moving pictures, and news) without needing to visit a site every time. Hence, online content distribution services enable users to obtain content easily from a plurality of information providers at one time. Personal computers (PCs) are generally used to subscribe to a channel and to download content provided by the channel using a dedicated program, since PCs can access networks easily, can provide a high-level user interface (UI), and are convenient for channel searching, subscriptions, and content download.
However, since PCs are not easily portable, content downloaded to PCs are often re-downloaded to a mobile device, such as a portable media player, so that the content can be played on the move by the mobile device. Although mobile devices are not able to access a network in many cases and generally do not have a convenient UI, channel content downloaded to PCs are usually re-downloaded to mobile devices via a universal serial bus (USB) because of the good portability of the mobile devices.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional channel service system. A user manages a channel subscription list using a PC 120 and downloads new content from subscribed channels via corresponding channel servers 130. The user stores the downloaded content in a mobile deice 110 and enjoys the content through the mobile device 110. The channel subscription list includes access information about the channel servers 130, which are content providing servers, and is stored in the PC 120 of each user. Hence, when the user has no PC 120, the user is unable to update the content in the mobile device 110.
In other words, when re-downloading content from a PC to a portable media player, information about the channel subscription of a user and content is dependent on a specific application program of the PC. Thus, when using this method, the user cannot update content when using another PC or a mobile device.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds