Method and apparatus for offering digital content for sale over a communications network
First Claim
1. A method of offering digital content for sale over a communication network, comprising:
- receiving from a plurality of registered content providers (110) sales information about content which the content providers intend to offer for sale, providing, through a service provider (100) and an electronic payment system, controlled user access to the content for sale over the communications network under conditions defined by the sales information from the content provider, detecting and storing purchase data about content purchased by a user, and distributing sales revenues among the plurality of content providers based on the purchase data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Content in digital form like pictures, music files, videos, software etc. from a plurality of content providers (110) is sold to a plurality of users (130) over a communication network like the internet. The content provider submits to a service provider (100) information about the content to be sold and the service provider provides controlled user access to the content for sale under the conditions defined by the information submitted by the content provider. Purchase data about sold items are stored and the user authentification and payment process for all content providers is carried out centrally through a payment system (120) thus offering low transaction costs.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. A method of offering digital content for sale over a communication network, comprising:
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receiving from a plurality of registered content providers (110) sales information about content which the content providers intend to offer for sale, providing, through a service provider (100) and an electronic payment system, controlled user access to the content for sale over the communications network under conditions defined by the sales information from the content provider, detecting and storing purchase data about content purchased by a user, and distributing sales revenues among the plurality of content providers based on the purchase data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 34)
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22. A computer system for offering content for sale over a computer network comprising:
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a content provider interface (101) for receiving from a plurality of registered content providers (110) sales information about a content which the content providers intend to offer for sale, a storage unit (104) for storing the received content for sale, a user interface (102), for provinding, through an electronic payment system (120) controled user access to the stored content for sale over the communications network under conditions defined by the sales information from the conent provider, a further storage unit (104) for storing purchase data about content purchased by a user, and a processing unit (107) for distributing the sales revenues among the plurality of content providers based on the purchase data. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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35. A computer program product comprising executable code for:
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receiving from a plurality of registered content providers (110) sales information about content which the content providers intend to offer for sale, providing, through a service provider (100) and an electronic payment system (120), controlled user access to the content for sale over the communications network under conditions defined by the sales information from the content provider, detecting and storing purchase data about content purchased by a user, and distributing sales revenues among the plurality of content providers based on the purchase data.
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Specification