Abstract: Improved techniques and systems for delivery and acquisition of digital assets are disclosed. The techniques and systems are especially suitable and useful for delivering digital assets (e.g., media assets) that are available for acquisition and electronic delivery from online stores to electronic devices. In accordance with one aspect, when a digital asset is acquired from an online store via an electronic device associated with a user, the digital asset can be arranged for delivery to a number of other of electronic devices also associated with the user. It will be appreciated that the digital asset can be delivered and acquired without requiring explicit user input or instruction in accordance with another aspect. Other aspects of the techniques and systems include customization of configuration and user interfaces that are provided to facilitate acquisition of digital assets in a more efficient manner.

Abstract: Improved techniques and systems for delivery and acquisition of digital assets are disclosed. The techniques and systems are especially suitable and useful for delivering digital assets (e.g., media assets) that are available for acquisition and electronic delivery from online stores to electronic devices. In accordance with one aspect, when a digital asset is acquired from an online store via an electronic device associated with a user, the digital asset can be arranged for delivery to a number of other of electronic devices also associated with the user. It will be appreciated that the digital asset can be delivered and acquired without requiring explicit user input or instruction in accordance with another aspect. Other aspects of the techniques and systems include customization of configuration and user interfaces that are provided to facilitate acquisition of digital assets in a more efficient manner.

Abstract: Improved techniques and systems for delivery and acquisition of digital assets are disclosed. The techniques and systems are especially suitable and useful for delivering digital assets (e.g., media assets) that are available for acquisition and electronic delivery from online stores to electronic devices. In accordance with one aspect, when a digital asset is acquired form an online store via an electronic device associated with a user, the digital asset can be arranged for delivery to a number of other of electronic devices also associated with the user. It will be appreciated that the digital asset can be delivered and acquired without requiring explicit user input or instruction in accordance with another aspect. Other aspects of the techniques and systems include customization of configuration and user interfaces that are provided to facilitate acquisition of digital assets in a more efficient manner.

Abstract: Improved techniques and systems for delivery and acquisition of digital assets are disclosed. The techniques and systems are especially suitable and useful for delivering digital assets (e.g., media assets) that are available for acquisition and electronic delivery from online stores to electronic devices. In accordance with one aspect, when a digital asset is acquired form an online store via an electronic device associated with a user, the digital asset can be arranged for delivery to a number of other of electronic devices also associated with the user. It will be appreciated that the digital asset can be delivered and acquired without requiring explicit user input or instruction in accordance with another aspect. Other aspects of the techniques and systems include customization of configuration and user interfaces that are provided to facilitate acquisition of digital assets in a more efficient manner.

Abstract: Improved techniques and systems for delivery and acquisition of digital assets are disclosed. The techniques and systems are especially suitable and useful for delivering digital assets (e.g., media assets) that are available for acquisition and electronic delivery from online stores to electronic devices. In accordance with one aspect, when a digital asset is acquired form an online store via an electronic device associated with a user, the digital asset can be arranged for delivery to a number of other of electronic devices also associated with the user. It will be appreciated that the digital asset can be delivered and acquired without requiring explicit user input or instruction in accordance with another aspect. Other aspects of the techniques and systems include customization of configuration and user interfaces that are provided to facilitate acquisition of digital assets in a more efficient manner.

Abstract: Improved techniques and systems for delivery and acquisition of digital assets are disclosed. The techniques and systems are especially suitable and useful for delivering digital assets (e.g., media assets) that are available for acquisition and electronic delivery from online stores to electronic devices. In accordance with one aspect, when a digital asset is acquired form an online store via an electronic device associated with a user, the digital asset can be arranged for delivery to a number of other of electronic devices also associated with the user. It will be appreciated that the digital asset can be delivered and acquired without requiring explicit user input or instruction in accordance with another aspect. Other aspects of the techniques and systems include customization of configuration and user interfaces that are provided to facilitate acquisition of digital assets in a more efficient manner.

Abstract: Improved techniques and systems for delivery and acquisition of digital assets are disclosed. The techniques and systems are especially suitable and useful for delivering digital assets (e.g., media assets) that are available for acquisition and electronic delivery from online stores to electronic devices. In accordance with one aspect, when a digital asset is acquired form an online store via an electronic device associated with a user, the digital asset can be arranged for delivery to a number of other of electronic devices also associated with the user. It will be appreciated that the digital asset can be delivered and acquired without requiring explicit user input or instruction in accordance with another aspect. Other aspects of the techniques and systems include customization of configuration and user interfaces that are provided to facilitate acquisition of digital assets in a more efficient manner.

Abstract: Improved techniques and systems for delivery and acquisition of digital assets are disclosed. The techniques and systems are especially suitable and useful for delivering digital assets (e.g., media assets) that are available for acquisition and electronic delivery from online stores to electronic devices. In accordance with one aspect, when a digital asset is acquired form an online store via an electronic device associated with a user, the digital asset can be arranged for delivery to a number of other of electronic devices also associated with the user. It will be appreciated that the digital asset can be delivered and acquired without requiring explicit user input or instruction in accordance with another aspect. Other aspects of the techniques and systems include customization of configuration and user interfaces that are provided to facilitate acquisition of digital assets in a more efficient manner.

Abstract: Improved techniques and systems for delivery and acquisition of digital assets are disclosed. The techniques and systems are especially suitable and useful for delivering digital assets (e.g., media assets) that are available for acquisition and electronic delivery from online stores to electronic devices. In accordance with one aspect, when a digital asset is acquired form an online store via an electronic device associated with a user, the digital asset can be arranged for delivery to a number of other of electronic devices also associated with the user. It will be appreciated that the digital asset can be delivered and acquired without requiring explicit user input or instruction in accordance with another aspect. Other aspects of the techniques and systems include customization of configuration and user interfaces that are provided to facilitate acquisition of digital assets in a more efficient manner.

Abstract: The technology relates to synchronizing user metadata across devices. The system maintains a collection of incremental metadata changes for a collection of media items, for each media item represented in the collection, storing a media item identifier and a value, wherein the value is an incremental user metadata change for a respective media item. Next, the system receives, from a client device, a request for a metadata sync, the request comprising a last metadata version update number indicative of a last metadata sync received by the client device. The system then sends, to the client device, a metadata update associated with a version update number subsequent to the last metadata version update number indicative of the last metadata sync received by the client device.

Abstract: The technology relates to synchronizing purchase information and metadata across devices. The system maintains a server listing of items purchased from an online store and associated with a user account, each item in the server listing of items being associated with a respective first hash value. Then, the system receives, from a client device, a client listing of items purchased from the online store representing a last known listing of items purchased from the online store and associated with the user account, each item in the client listing of items being associated with a respective second hash value. Next, the system determines a difference between the respective first hash value and the respective second hash value. Based on the difference, the system sends, to the client device, metadata identifying items present in the server listing of items that are not in the client listing of items.

Abstract: Improved techniques and systems for storage, delivery and acquisition of digital assets are disclosed. The techniques and systems are suitable and useful for storing, delivering and accessing digital assets (e.g., media assets) that have been acquired from online stores. The techniques and systems are also suitable and useful for storing, delivering and accessing digital assets that have been acquired from other than from online stores. Regardless, the digital assets become accessible from a network-based digital data repository (e.g., cloud data storage) via electronic devices (e.g., user devices) and thus usable by the electronic devices. The digital assets can include media assets and/or non-media assets.

Abstract: Improved techniques and systems for storage, delivery and acquisition of digital assets are disclosed. The techniques and systems are suitable and useful for storing, delivering and accessing digital assets (e.g., media assets) that have been acquired from online stores. The techniques and systems are also suitable and useful for storing, delivering and accessing digital assets that have been acquired from other than from online stores. Regardless, the digital assets become accessible from a network-based digital data repository (e.g., cloud data storage) via electronic devices (e.g., user devices) and thus usable by the electronic devices. The digital assets can include media assets and/or non-media assets.

Abstract: Improved techniques and systems for delivery and acquisition of digital assets are disclosed. The techniques and systems are especially suitable and useful for delivering digital assets (e.g., media assets) that are available for acquisition and electronic delivery from online stores to electronic devices. In accordance with one aspect, when a digital asset is acquired form an online store via an electronic device associated with a user, the digital asset can be arranged for delivery to a number of other of electronic devices also associated with the user. It will be appreciated that the digital asset can be delivered and acquired without requiring explicit user input or instruction in accordance with another aspect. Other aspects of the techniques and systems include customization of configuration and user interfaces that are provided to facilitate acquisition of digital assets in a more efficient manner.

Abstract: Separate executable agents each perform tasks on associated information that is changing over time, to produce current information, Inputs and outputs are delivered among agents to enable assembly of a body of aggregated and summarized management information, based on the current information, to be used to manage at least a portion of an enterprise.

Abstract: Separate executable agents each perform tasks on associated information that is changing over time, to produce current information, Inputs and outputs are delivered among agents to enable assembly of a body of aggregated and summarized management information, based on the current information, to be used to manage at least a portion of an enterprise.

Abstract: Regions of a source image (900) are encoded at different levels of image quality. A plurality of image quality levels are defined (1010). In addition, the source image (900) is divided into one or more regions (912, 914, 916) and one of the image quality levels is assigned to each region (1012). Next, the entire source image (900) is encoded, preferably with JPEG encoding, at the lowest image quality level Q.sub.1, assigned to the image (1016). Then, the encoded source image (900) is decoded by a matching decoding process into a reference frame (1018). If the next highest image quality level Q.sub.2 is lossy, then the reference frame and source image are scaled according to the image quality level Q.sub.2 (1020). Then, differences between the source image and the reference frame are determined for all lossy regions assigned an image quality level greater than or equal to the image quality level Q.sub.2, and stored in a differential frame (1024).

Abstract: An image scaling system that enlarges images during JPEG encoding (400) and reduces images during JPEG decoding (500). The image scaling system uses N-point forward and inverse one-dimensionial scaled discrete cosine transforms (DCTs), where N is selected from among 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. When encoding a source image (110) to an enlarged JPEG image (422), the system partitions the source image into N.times.N blocks. Each N.times.N block is transformed using the N-point scaled DCT (410). The system modifies quantization tables (418) to account for the scale of the transform and the increase in size of the image and quantizes (412) the blocks of N.times.N scaled cosine coefficients using the modified quantization tables. The resulting N.times.N blocks are enlarged (414) to 8.times.8 blocks by padding each block with coefficients having values of zero. When decoding a JPEG image (510) to a reduced output image (518), the system retrieves 8.times.8 blocks of quantized cosine coefficients from the JPEG image.