Abstract: The disclosure deals with the management of data in the memory of a digital media playback device. Specifically this invention deals with the mechanisms to allow memory to be treated as a uniform resource, regardless of the physical implementation of the data storage in the playback device. Manage the memory on a digital media player as logical partitions, not just physical partitions between different types of memory. This will treat the entire memory space as a uniform piece of memory, regardless of whether the memory is internal memory with battery backup, Flash memory that behaves like a logical disk, rotating media that is read/write (typically magnetic disk or CD-RW or DVD-RW) or rotating media that is read only.

Abstract: This disclosure deals with the management of data in the memory of a digital media playback device. Specifically this dislcosure deals with the mechanisms to allow memory to be treated as a partitioned resource, regardless of the physical implementation of the data storage in the playback device. Manage the memory on a digital media player as logical partitions, not just physical partitions between different types of memory. This will treat the entire memory space as a uniform piece of memory, regardless of whether the memory is internal memory with battery backup, Flash memory that behaves like a logical disk, rotating media that is read/write (typically magnetic disk or CD-RW or DVD-RW) or rotating media that is read only. Overlaid on this uniform memory model is a partitioned memory model that divides the memory into logical devices that are used to constrain the size of the memory used for various (logical) types of digital media.

Abstract: This disclosure deals with the management of recording programs from Radio Frequency transmissions converting such transmissions into alternative formats and managing the ‘freshness’ of content which is placed in the memory of a portable digital media playback device. Specifically this disclosure deals with the mechanisms to automate the memory management functions in a variety of ways that allow for two-way communication about content usage in the portable device.

Abstract: Methods and systems for searching a database that includes a plurality of records. Each record includes one or more tokens. The one or more tokens include one or more letters, numbers, or symbols. The system includes a user interface that when activated by a user generates at least one of a query symbol or a string of query symbols. A processing device compares the generated query symbol or string of query symbols to the stored records. An output device presents the record or records having tokens that match the generated query symbol or a string of query symbols based on the comparison. The user interface includes two or more input keys. Each input key is associated with a query symbol and the number of input keys is less than the number of distinct letters, characters, and symbols.

Abstract: Systems and methods for securely performing digital commerce. A user device provides a first key and a random number to a server over a first network, encrypts the random number and a user identifier using the first key, and sends the encrypted information to the server via a second network. The server generates an encryption of the random number, the user identifier, and a second key using the first key. The user device receives, decrypts and stores the second key. If the user device wants digital content, the server encrypts the digital content using a digital content key and encrypts the digital content key using the second key. The user device receive the encrypted contents, decrypts the digital content key using the second key and decrypts the digital content using the decrypted digital content key. Digital content can be passed to other user devices.