Method of and personal computer for displaying content received from a content delivery server using a disk drive which includes a network address for the content delivery server and a server-contacting program
AssigneeWestern Digital Ventures, Inc.
InventorsMatthew W. Milne, Michael K. Eneboe, Scott T. Hughes, Vu V. Luu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A personal computer system displays digital content received from a content delivery server. The content delivery server provides the digital content as a result of being contacted by a server-contacting program stored on a disk drive in the computer and initiated by the drive firmware. The digital content can be any of a number of file types including AVI, MPEG, or MP3.
Claims19
A method of displaying content on a display device of a personal computer system connectable to a content delivery server, the personal computer system including a computing subsystem and a disk drive, the method comprising:
- selecting a network address for the content delivery server;
- selecting a server-contacting program;
- storing the network address and the server-contacting program in the disk drive;
- installing firmware in the disk drive to initiate execution of the server-contacting program after the disk drive is connected to the computing subsystem in the personal computer system, wherein execution of the server-contacting program includes using the network address for connecting the personal computer system to the content delivery server;
- and
- configuring the personal computer system to perform:
- sending user information to the content delivery server while the personal computer system is connected to the content delivery server;
- receiving content from the content delivery server;
- and
- displaying the content on the display device.
A personal computer system connectable to a content delivery server having a network address, the personal computer system comprising:
- a display generator;
- a computing subsystem;
- and
- a disk drive connectable to the computing subsystem, the disk drive comprising:
- a network address, and
- a server-contacting program;
- and
- a disk controller circuit in the disk drive that, upon the occurrence of a selected condition, determines to initiate execution of the server-contacting program after the disk drive is connected to the computing subsystem in the personal computer system, wherein execution of the server-contacting program includes using the network address for connecting the personal computer system to the content delivery server.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.