I was searching what Atul might be up to and found this ( interesting commentary doni).

Doni @ Nov 9th 2006 1:43PM

Zune Patent Infringement? Taken from another blog:

I am sorry to say just a little disappointed with this forum. Are we not at a Zune development blog? I post a significant issue that strikes at the heart of Zune development and no one seems interested. Here’s another interesting piece I found, I would be interested if someone who is familiar with development of Zune to comment, the could be big news if picked up by a enterprising journalist.

Getting back to E.digital, Atul Anandpura was their CEO in 2005. If you review the application link below you will find several instances where claimed inventive technology is oddly exactly the same as the Zune’s new capabilities with regard to digital media transfer, storage, encryption, and real time clock management thru wireless 802.11.

Examples follow:

“A real time clock operatively connected to the multimedia device can be used to determine the length of time that a digital media file is stored on the digital storage medium.”

“A digital media storage system as in claim 1, further comprising a real time clock operatively connected to the media processor, the real time clock configured to enable the media processor to disable specific digital media files stored on the digital storage medium after a predetermined amount of time.”

“A digital media storage system as in claim 13, wherein one or more specific digital media files are deleted from the digital storage medium after the predetermined amount of time has passed.”

“A method as in claim 15, wherein the step of using a real time clock further comprising the step of using a real time clock operatively connected to the multimedia device, wherein the media processor is configured to disable access to specific digital media files after they have been stored on the digital storage medium for a predetermined amount of time.”

“In another embodiment, digital media files from the media source can be transmitted wirelessly to the multimedia device. A wireless format such as the IEEE 802.11 wi-fi specification can be used. Other wireless formats such as Bluetooth, Zigbee, or Ultrawideband, as described in the IEEE 802.15 specification, can also be used to wirelessly transmit digital media files to the multimedia device. The wireless format can include encryption to enable the transmission to be secure such that the digital media files cannot be easily intercepted by unintended users.”

“In the present invention, a predetermined file format can be used to store the digital media content. The predetermined file format can be configured to be incompatible with the file for mats used by major computer operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, Unix, and Apple's operating system. The predetermined file format can allow digital media content to be saved on the digital storage medium 114 without allowing easy access to the digital storage medium by external devices controlled by these operating systems. Since the predetermined file format is not compatible with the storage format used by these operating systems, the digital media files stored on the digital storage medium can be substantially secure.” (Research E.digital’s MicroOS and Forth language history)

“This assurance can encourage more digital media content providers to allow their products to be transmitted digitally, thus providing a new market for providers to sell their content.” (Zune’s social network, and the hook for the media industry)

“The media processor can be configured to disable specific media content stored on the digital storage medium according to the predetermined amount of time. For example, a media content provider may allow a song to be downloaded for one week. One week after the song has been downloaded the media processor can either disable the song from being played, or optionally delete the song from the digital storage medium. In another embodiment, a media content provider can allow a media file to be downloaded and played a predetermined number of times. The media content provider may allow a media file to be downloaded and played for a predetermined time or for a set number of times when a proper authentication code is not received from the multimedia device. If a propel authentication code is received, the media file may be allowed to be played for a longer duration, or even indefinitely.”

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=Anandpura.IN.&OS=IN/Anandpura&RS=IN/Anandpura

Those skilled in the art, please enjoy.