Movie rental and notification system
First Claim
1. An automated movie rental and notification system, comprising:
- a computer having a central processing unit (CPU) and connected to a wide area computer network;
a movie database connected to said CPU and containing a hold list, a reservation list, and a plurality of movie records associated with movies available for rental, each movie record having at least a present inventory status data field;
means connected to said CPU for receiving a rental request from a user, said rental request including a selected movie, a selected reservation mode, a selected reservation time, and user contact information;
means in said CPU for accessing a movie record from said movie database corresponding to said selected movie;
means in said CPU for determining from said present inventory data field of said accessed movie record if said selected movie is presently available or will be available by said selected reservation time;
means in said CPU for appending said rental request to said hold list if said reservation mode is indicative of a hold mode;
means in said CPU for appending said rental request to said reservation list if said reservation mode is indicative of a reserve mode and said selected movie will be available by said selected reservation time;
a message database having a plurality of predetermined messages therein, each message being indicative of the availability of a particular movie associated with a corresponding movie database record;
an automated telephone dialer and message playback unit connected to said CPU;
means in said CPU for successively selecting a next hold mode rental request from said hold list if said selected movie is presently available and directing said automated dialer to initiate a coupling with a downstream telephone according to respective user information of said next hold mode rental request until a predetermined response is received from a corresponding downstream telephone, said CPU directing a message from said message database corresponding to said next hold mode rental request to said playback unit for playback to said corresponding downstream telephone upon a successful coupling therewith; and
means in said CPU for selecting a reserve mode rental request from said reservation list at a predetermined time prior to said selected reservation time of said reserve mode rental request and directing said automated dialer to initiate a coupling with a downstream telephone according to corresponding user information of said selected reserve mode rental request, said CPU directing a message from said message database corresponding to said next reserve mode rental request to said playback unit for playback to said downstream telephone upon coupling therewith.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An automated movie rental and notification system includes a computer having a movie database containing hold and reservation lists and movie records. The system receives rental requests, each request including a selected movie title, reservation mode, reservation time, and submitter contact information. If the reservation mode is a hold mode, the request is added to the hold list. If the mode is a reserve mode and the selected title will be available by the selected reservation time, then the request is added to the reserve list. When the movie title is available, submitters of the hold list requests associated with that title are successively contacted using respective submitter information to inform the submitter of availability until a positive response is returned from a submitter. Requests on the reserve list are selected for contact a predetermined amount of time before the selected reservation time.
50 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An automated movie rental and notification system, comprising:
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a computer having a central processing unit (CPU) and connected to a wide area computer network;
a movie database connected to said CPU and containing a hold list, a reservation list, and a plurality of movie records associated with movies available for rental, each movie record having at least a present inventory status data field;
means connected to said CPU for receiving a rental request from a user, said rental request including a selected movie, a selected reservation mode, a selected reservation time, and user contact information;
means in said CPU for accessing a movie record from said movie database corresponding to said selected movie;
means in said CPU for determining from said present inventory data field of said accessed movie record if said selected movie is presently available or will be available by said selected reservation time;
means in said CPU for appending said rental request to said hold list if said reservation mode is indicative of a hold mode;
means in said CPU for appending said rental request to said reservation list if said reservation mode is indicative of a reserve mode and said selected movie will be available by said selected reservation time;
a message database having a plurality of predetermined messages therein, each message being indicative of the availability of a particular movie associated with a corresponding movie database record;
an automated telephone dialer and message playback unit connected to said CPU;
means in said CPU for successively selecting a next hold mode rental request from said hold list if said selected movie is presently available and directing said automated dialer to initiate a coupling with a downstream telephone according to respective user information of said next hold mode rental request until a predetermined response is received from a corresponding downstream telephone, said CPU directing a message from said message database corresponding to said next hold mode rental request to said playback unit for playback to said corresponding downstream telephone upon a successful coupling therewith; and
means in said CPU for selecting a reserve mode rental request from said reservation list at a predetermined time prior to said selected reservation time of said reserve mode rental request and directing said automated dialer to initiate a coupling with a downstream telephone according to corresponding user information of said selected reserve mode rental request, said CPU directing a message from said message database corresponding to said next reserve mode rental request to said playback unit for playback to said downstream telephone upon coupling therewith. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An automated movie rental and notification system, comprising:
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providing a movie database containing a hold list, a reservation list, and a plurality of movie records associated with movie titles available for rental, each movie record having at least a present inventory status data field;
placing said movie database in a computer available for access by a plurality of users on a wide area computer network;
receiving a rental request from a user, said rental request including a selected movie title, a selected reservation mode, a selected reservation time, and user contact information;
appending said rental request to said hold list if said reservation mode is indicative of a hold mode;
determining from said present inventory data field of a respective movie database record corresponding to said selected movie title if said selected movie title is presently available;
if said selected movie title is presently available, selecting from said hold list a subset of rental requests according to said selected movie title, said subset of rental requests providing phone number data to an automated dialer for sequentially initiating communications with corresponding downstream telephones;
playing a message from a playback module upon establishing a communication with a respective downstream telephone that is indicative of a present availability of said selected movie title; and
continuing to initiate said consecutive communications until a first predetermined response is received from a particular downstream telephone associated with a corresponding rental request. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An automated movie rental and notification system, comprising:
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(a) providing a movie database containing a hold list, a reservation list, and a plurality of movie records associated with movie titles available for rental, each movie record having at least a present inventory status data field;
(b) placing said movie database in a computer available for access by a plurality of users on a wide area computer network;
(c) receiving a rental request from a submitter over said wide area network, said rental request including a selected movie title, a selected reservation mode, a selected reservation time, and submitter contact information;
(d) appending said rental request to said hold list if said reservation mode is indicative of a hold mode;
(e) determining from said present inventory data field of a respective movie database record corresponding to said selected movie title if said selected movie title is presently available;
(f) if said selected movie title is presently available, selecting from said hold list a subset of rental requests according to said selected movie title;
(g) contacting a respective submitter from a next rental request of said subset of rental requests according to respective submitter contact information, said contacting including delivering a message indicative of an availability of said selected movie title; and
(h) repeating step (g) until a first predetermined response is received from said respective submitter. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification