Digital media reproduction and licensing

• US 10,657,226 B2
• Filed: 02/19/2018
• Issued: 05/19/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Media Chain, LLC
• Original Assignee: Media Chain, LLC
• Inventors: Estes, Christopher A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Lynn D
• Assistant Examiner(s): McCoy, Richard A
• Application Number:
  US15/898,978
• Publication Number:
  US 20180307808A1
• Time in Patent Office: 820 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/487 using geographical or spatial information, e.g. location
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1015 to users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections

Abstract

Systems and methods for monetizing the reproduction of digital media content for the rights-holders of the digital media content. Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to determining whether a user of a media content item has a license to reproduce the media content item. In one embodiment, the media content item may be reproduced when the user is licensed. The user is prompted to select to acquire a license to reproduce the media content item or to decline the license to reproduce the media content item when the user is not licensed. Further embodiments determine whether a user may receive a license when the user wishes to acquire a license. In an embodiment, the user is declined a license when not approved for the license.

Claims

1. A system for determining a target demographic for media marketing, comprising:

a receiver configured to;

receive a request from an external device associated with a user requesting to stream a media content item and a second request from a second user to stream the media content item,

wherein the media content item includes media content item data included in a digital media file and the media content item data includes at least one identification characteristic that is unique to the media content item that is included in the media content item data when the media content item is initially recorded and not dependent on any encoding during any mastering of the media content item, and

receive one or more requests from a party other than the user or the second user;

at least one processor; and

a memory coupled with the processor, the memory including instructions that, when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

determine the at least one identification characteristic of the media content item data to identify the media content item based on a media fingerprint determination to determine a media fingerprint that uniquely identifies the media content item and includes the at least one identification characteristic,

wherein the at least one identification characteristic is a characteristic unique to the media content item data and the determination of the media fingerprint includes;

determine a plurality of times corresponding to the media content item data within the media content item,

determine for each time a set of words within the media content item data for audible rendering of the media content item uniquely corresponding to the each time based on word recognition,

determine for the each time a corresponding audio frequency of the media content item data,

determine for the each time a data point that includes

the each time,

the corresponding set of words,

and the corresponding audio frequency, and

determine the media fingerprint including each determined data point;

extract from a first user record first user data that includes first demographic data that is specific to the user and from the media record the media content item data that is specific to the media content item into a first statistics record identified by the media fingerprint, wherein the first statistics record summarizes the first user data and the media content item data identified by the media fingerprint associated with the request to stream the media content item;

extract from a second user record second user data that includes second demographic data that is specific to the second user and from the media record the media content item data that is specific to the media content item into a second statistics record identified by the media fingerprint, wherein the second statistics record summarizes the second user data and the media content item data identified by the media fingerprint associated with the second request to stream the media content item;

append, using the media fingerprint, the first statistics record and the second statistics record to a plurality of statistics record that correspond to and are identified by the media fingerprint to generate an updated plurality of statistics records in a database,

wherein the updated plurality of statistics records summarize the first user data and the second user data and the media content item data associated with the request and the second request to stream the media content item;

in response to the one or more requests from the party;

retrieve the updated plurality of statistics records from the database using the media fingerprint,

determine based on the retrieved plurality of statistics records the target demographic based on a first demographic corresponding to the first demographic data and a second demographic corresponding to the second demographic data and a plurality of additional demographic data corresponding to the plurality of statistics records, and

distribute the plurality of statistics records to the party, wherein the target demographic enables the party to target marketing of different media content items to a plurality of other users characterized by the target demographic.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

aggregate the media content item data specific to the media content item that the user is requesting to stream into a media record that is specific to the media content item that the user is requesting to stream;

distribute a plurality of media records from each request to stream the media content item to a copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner with the aggregated media content item data from each request to stream the media content item via the plurality of media records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to:

extract from the media record the media content item data that is specific to the media content item that the user is requesting to stream when the user at least one of streams and declines to stream the media content item;

aggregate the media content item data into the statistics record for the request to stream the media content item when the user at least one of streams and declines to stream the media content item, wherein the statistics record summarizes the user data and the media content item data associated with the request to stream the media content item; and

distribute the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner with the aggregated user data and the media content item data from each request to stream the media content item via the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor is further configured to:

evaluate the request from the user to stream the digital media content item to determine whether the user has acquired a license to stream the media content item; and

generate a license request to transmit to the external device associated with the user to offer the license to stream the digital media content item when the user does not have the license to stream the media content item.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the processor is further configured to:

after evaluation of the request from the user to stream the digital media content item, extracting from the request the user data that is specific to user that is attempting to stream the media content item when the user acquires the license;

aggregate the user data into a license record for the request when the user acquires the license, wherein the license record summarizes the user data associated with the request when the user acquires the license; and

distribute a plurality of license records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user acquires the license to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner with the aggregated user data from each request to stream the media content item when the user acquires the license via the plurality of license records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user acquires the license.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to:

after evaluation of the request, extracting from the request the user data that is specific to the user that is attempting to stream the media content item when the user declines the license;

aggregate the user data into the statistics record for the request when the user declines the license, wherein the statistics record summarizes the user data associated with the request when the user declines the license; and

distribute the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user declines the license to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner with the aggregated user data from each request to stream the media content item when the user declines the license via the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user declines the license.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to:

after evaluation of the request, extract from the request the user data that is specific to the user that is attempting to stream the media content item and the media content item data that is specific to the media content item that the user is attempting to stream when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license;

aggregate the user data and the media content item data into the statistics record for the request when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license, wherein the statistics record summarizes the user data and the media content item data associated with the request when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license;

distribute the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner the aggregated user data and the media content item data from each request to stream the media content item when the user at least one accepts the license and declines the license via the plurality statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the user data includes demographic data associated with the user that enables the copyright owner of the media content item to gauge a demographic that at least one of acquires and declines the license for the media content item of the copyright owner.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the user data includes geographic data associated with the user that enables the copyright owner of the media content item to gauge a geographic that at least one of acquires and declines the license for the media content item of the copyright owner.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the user data includes additional media content items that the user has previously requested to stream that enables the copyright owner of the media content item to gauge the additional media content items that the user has previously requested to stream that at least one of acquires and declines the license for the media content item.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the user data includes a quantity of times that the user has previously accessed the media content item and additional media content items that enables the copyright owner of the media content item to gauge the quantity of times that the user has previously accessed the media content item and additional media content items for the user that at least one of acquires and declines the license for the media content item.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

after the evaluation of the request, extract from the request the user data that is specific to the user that is attempting to stream the media content item and the media content item data that is specific to the media content item that the user is attempting to stream when the user at least one of acquires and declines to stream the media content item;

aggregate the user data and the media content item data into the statistics record for the request when the user at least one of acquires and declines to stream the media content item, wherein the statistics record summarizes the user data and the media content item data associated with the request when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license; and

distribute the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license to a third party online retailer that is providing the media content item to be streamed by the user to enable the third party retailer to target marketing of different media content items to the user based on the user data and the media content item data that is aggregated into each statistics record.

12. A method for determining a target demographic for media marketing, comprising:

receiving a request to stream a media content item from a user and a second request from a second user to stream the media content item, wherein the media content item includes media content item data included in a digital media file and the media content item data includes at least one identification characteristic that is unique to the media content item that is included in the media content item data when the media content item is initially recorded and not dependent on any encoding during any mastering of the media content item;

determining the at least one identification characteristic of the media content item data to identify the media content item based on a media fingerprint determination to determine a media fingerprint that uniquely identifies the media content item and includes the at least one identification characteristic,

wherein the at least one identification characteristic is a characteristic unique to the media content item data and the determination of the media fingerprint includes;

determining a plurality of times corresponding to the media content item data within the media content item;

determining for each time a set of words within the media content item data for audible rendering of the media content item uniquely corresponding to the each time based on word recognition;

determining for the each time a corresponding audio frequency of the media content item data;

determining for the each time a data point that includes

the each time,

the corresponding set of words,

and the corresponding audio frequency, and

determining the media fingerprint including each determined data point;

extracting from a first user record first user data that includes first demographic data that is specific to the user and from the media record the media content item data that is specific to the media content item into a first statistics record identified by the media fingerprint, wherein the first statistics record summarizes the first user data and the media content item data identified by the media fingerprint associated with the request to stream the media content item;

extracting from a second user record second user data that includes second demographic data that is specific to the second user and from the media record the media content item data that is specific to the media content item into a second statistics record identified by the media fingerprint, wherein the second statistics record summarizes the second user data and the media content item data identified by the media fingerprint associated with the second request to stream the media content item;

appending, using the media fingerprint, the first statistics record and the second statistics record to a plurality of statistics records that correspond to and are identified by the media fingerprint to generate an updated plurality of statistics records in a database, wherein the updated plurality of statistics records summarize the first user data and the second user data and the media content item data associated with the request and the second request to stream the media content item;

receiving one or more requests from a party other than the user or the second user;

in response to the one or more requests from the party, retrieving the updated plurality of statistics records from the database using the media fingerprint;

determining based on the retrieved plurality of statistics records the target demographic based on a first demographic corresponding to the first demographic data and a second demographic corresponding to the second demographic data and a plurality of additional demographic data corresponding to the plurality of statistics records; and

distribute the plurality of statistics records to the party, wherein the target demographic enables the party to target marketing for different media content items to a plurality of other users characterized by the target demographic.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

aggregating the media content item data specific to the media content item that the user is requesting to stream into a media record that is specific to the media content item that the user is requesting to stream; and

distributing a plurality of media records from each request to stream the media content item to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner with the aggregated media content item data from each request to stream the media content item via the plurality of media records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

extracting from the media record the media content item data that is specific to the media content item that the user is requesting to stream when the user at least one of streams and declines to stream the media content item;

aggregate the media content item data into the statistics record for the request to stream the media content item when the user at least one of streams and declines to stream the media content item, wherein the statistics record summarizes the user data and the media content item data associated with the request to stream the media content item; and

distribute the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner with the aggregated user data and the media content item data from each request to stream the media content item via the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to steam the media content item.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

evaluating the request from the user to stream the digital media content item to determine whether the user has acquired the license to stream the media content item; and

generating a license request to transmit to the user to offer the license to stream the digital media content item when the user does not have the license to stream the media content item.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

after evaluation of the request to stream the digital media content item, extracting from the request, the user data that is specific to the user that is attempting to stream the media content item when the user acquires the license;

aggregating the user data into a license record for the request when the user acquires the license, wherein the license record summarizes the user data associated with the request when the user acquires the license; and

distributing a plurality of license records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user acquires the license to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner with the aggregated user data from each request to stream the media content item when the user acquires the license via the plurality of license records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user acquires the license.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

after evaluation of the request, extracting from the request the user data that is specific to the user that is attempting to stream the media content item when the user declines the license;

aggregating the user data into the statistics record for the request when the user declines the license, wherein the statistics record summarizes the user data associated with the request when the user declines the license; and

distribute the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user declines the license to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner with the aggregated user data from each request to stream the media content item when the user declines the license via the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user declines the license.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

after evaluation of the request, extracting from the request the user data that is specific to the user that is attempting to stream the media content item and the media content item data that is specific to the media content item that the user is attempting to stream when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license;

aggregating the user data and the media content item data into the statistics record for the request when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license, wherein the statistics record summarizes the user data and the media content item data associated with the request when the user at least one of acquires the license and declines the license; and

distributing the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner the aggregated user data and the media content item data from each request to stream the media content item when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license via the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the user data includes demographic data associated with the user that enables the copyright owner of the media content item to gauge a demographic that at least one of acquires and declines the license for the media content item of the copyright owner.

24. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

after the evaluation of the request, extracting from the request the user data that is specific to the user that is attempting to stream the media content item and the media content item data that is specific to the media content item that the user is attempting to stream when the user at least one of acquires and declines to stream the media content item;

aggregating the user data and the media content item data into the statistics record for the request when the user at least one of acquires and declines to stream the media content item, wherein the statistics record summarizes the user data and the media content item data associated with the request when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license; and

distributing the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license to a third party online retailer that is providing the media content item to be streamed by the user to enable the third party retailer to target marketing of different media content items to the user based on the user data and the media content item data that is aggregated into each statistics record.

20. The method of 19, wherein the user data includes geographic data associated with the user that enables the copyright owner of the media content item to gauge a geographic that at least one of acquires and declines the license for the media content item of the copyright owner.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the user data includes additional media content items that the user has previously requested to stream that enables the copyright owner of the media content item to gauge the additional media content items that the user has previously requested to stream that at least one of acquires and declines the license for the media content item.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the user data includes a quantity of times that the user has previously accessed the media content item and additional media content items that enables the copyright owner of the media content item to gauge the quantity of times that the user has previously accessed the media content item and additional media content items that at least one of acquires and declines the license for the media content item.