Subscriber management system
First Claim
1. A system for managing transactions associated with a first account and for posting a debit to a second account, said system comprising:
- a database for storing information related to the first account; and
a processor programmed to track credits posted to the first account based on the transactions associated with the first account, said processor programmed to check the total of said credits posted to the first account and programmed to determine an amount of time elapsed since a posting was made to the second account, said processor programmed to post a debit to the second account upon the first occurrence of one of a selected total of said credits posted to the first account and a selected interval of time elapsing since a posting was made to the second account.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is directed to a system and methods for creating and maintaining subscriber accounts to access digital media content. In one preferred embodiment, accounts and sub-accounts are created with access restrictions being selectively imposed among the accounts and sub-accounts. When the accounts are used to gain access to digital media content (e.g., video on demand), such restrictions may take the form of spending limits, viewing content, and viewing times. In another preferred embodiment, the spending of each account is tracked and a debit posted upon the first occurrence of either the account attaining a selected spending limit, or a selected interval of time elapsing. In another embodiment, account holders are grouped based on a shared characteristic. Targeted marketing is then presented to the group based on the shared characteristic.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A system for managing transactions associated with a first account and for posting a debit to a second account, said system comprising:
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a database for storing information related to the first account; and
a processor programmed to track credits posted to the first account based on the transactions associated with the first account, said processor programmed to check the total of said credits posted to the first account and programmed to determine an amount of time elapsed since a posting was made to the second account, said processor programmed to post a debit to the second account upon the first occurrence of one of a selected total of said credits posted to the first account and a selected interval of time elapsing since a posting was made to the second account. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A system for controlling access to digital media content by a viewer, the system comprising:
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a database for storing accounts and sub-accounts required to access the digital media content; and
a processor programmed to selectively restrict access to the digital media content by said accounts and said sub-accounts. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31)
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15. A system for managing accounts and organizing account holders into groups for targeted marketing, the system comprising:
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a database for storing a plurality of accounts used for accessing digital media content; and
a processor programmed to place each of the account holders into a group of account holders sharing at least one characteristic, said characteristic used to determine the content to deliver to the group of account holders.
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19. A method for creating an account for an account holder to view digital media content, the method comprising the steps of:
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creating a record for a primary account;
obtaining information about the account holder;
creating a sub-account linked to the primary account to permit a sub-account holder to view digital media content;
selecting a form of payment;
imposing restrictions to access the digital media content to at least one of the primary account and the sub-account; and
assigning an identifier to the primary account and the sub-account.
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28. A method for managing transactions associated with a first account and for posting a debit to a second account, the method comprising the steps of:
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tracking credits posted to the first account based on the transactions associated with the first account;
checking the total of the credits posted to the first account;
determining an amount of time elapsed since a posting was made to the second account; and
posting a debit to the second account upon the first occurrence one of a selected total of the credits posted to the first account and a selected interval of time elapsing since a posting was made to the second account.
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Specification