Systems and methods for facilitating the acquisition of content

• US 20060288082A1
• Filed: 06/15/2006
• Published: 12/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Music Choice
• Original Assignee: Music Choice
• Inventors: Yurman, Ronald M., Rosenberg, Jeremy C., Behta, Siamak, Ellis, Robert A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,668,538 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42017 Customized ring-back tones
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods for acquiring ring content (e.g., a ring tone or a ring view) for a mobile phone.

Claims

1. A method for acquiring ring content for a mobile phone, comprising:

receiving, at the mobile phone, transmitted content;

playing the received content for a user of the mobile phone;

while the phone is playing the content, enabling the user of to indicate that the user desires to acquire ring content corresponding to the content;

after the user indicates a desire to acquire the ring content, transmitting, from the mobile phone, a message to a remote system, wherein the remote system receives the message and, after receiving the message, selects a ring tone or ring view based, at least in part, on information included in message and transmits the selected ring content to the mobile phone;

receiving the ring content at the mobile phone; and

storing the received ring content in a storage unit of the mobile phone.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the message comprises an identifier identifying the content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the message comprises an identifier identifying the mobile phone, information identifying the ring content capabilities of the mobile phone, and/or an identifier identifying a type of ring content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the content comprises digital music.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is streamed to the mobile phone.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is multicast content.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is unicast content.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving at the mobile phone information identifying the content and information identifying a remote system.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the message transmitted to the remote system includes the information identifying the content.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of transmitting the message to a remote system comprises transmitting the message to the identified remote system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the message to a remote system comprises transmitting the message immediately in response to the user indicating the desire to acquire the ring content.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the message to a remote system comprises transmitting the message when the phone is finished playing the content.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the message to a remote system comprises transmitting the message at a future point in time after the phone is finished playing the content.

14. A method for acquiring ring content for a mobile phone, comprising:

receiving, at the mobile phone, transmitted content, wherein the content has a format;

capturing and storing at least a portion of the content in a storage unit of the mobile phone;

playing the received content for a user of the mobile phone;

while the phone is playing the content, enabling the user of to indicate that the user desires to acquire ring content corresponding to the content; and

if the user indicates a desire to acquire the ring content, then, after receiving the indication, moving at least a portion of the content stored in the storage unit to a ring content storage area and/or converting at least a portion of the content stored in the storage unit from the format to a second format and storing said converted content.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the storage unit is a volatile storage unit and the ring content storage area is located in a non-volatile storage unit.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of storing at least a portion of the content in the storage unit consists of storing not more than a predetermined amount of the content in the storage unit.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the content consists of time-based media and the predetermined amount is not more than 30 seconds of the time-based media.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the content consists of time-based media and the predetermined amount is more than 30 seconds of the time-based media.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising enabling the user to specify a specific portion of the stored content and receiving from the user information identifying a specific portion of the stored content.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising deleting the portion(s) of content that were not identified in response to receiving the information from the user.

21. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

in response to the user indicating a desire to acquire the ring content, transmitting a message to a remote system, wherein the message identifies the content, the mobile phone and/or the user;

receiving, at the mobile phone, a response to the message, wherein the response indicates whether the user is authorized to acquire the ring content; and

if the response indicates that the user is not authorized to acquire the ring content, then deleting the stored portion of the content from the storage unit; and

if the response indicates that the user is authorized to acquire the ring content, then performing said moving and/or converting step or steps.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the converting step is performed.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising moving the converted content to the ring content storage area.

24. A method for acquiring ring content for a mobile phone, comprising:

receiving, at the mobile phone, transmitted program data and non-program data;

playing, at the mobile phone, the received program data so that a user of the phone can consume the program data;

storing the received non-program data in a storage unit of the mobile phone;

while playing the received program data;

(a) informing the user of the phone, through an output device of the phone, that the non-program data is available to be acquired;

(b) enabling the -user to indicate that the user would like to acquire the non-program data; and

(c) waiting for an indication from the user that indicates the user would like to acquire the non-program data.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the non-program data comprises ring content corresponding to the program data and/or a link to a product information page for the ring content

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the non-program data comprises the ring content and the method further comprises moving the ring content from the storage unit to a second storage unit after the indication is received.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the first storage unit is volatile storage unit and the second storage unit is a non-volatile storage unit.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising transmitting, from the phone, a message to a remote system after the indication is received.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising receiving, at the phone, a reply message transmitted in response to the message transmitted to the remote system.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the step of receiving the reply message occurs prior to the step of moving the ring content.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the reply message comprises a license that enables the phone to play the ring content.

32. The method of claim 25, wherein the non-program data stored in the storage unit comprises the ring content, and the method further comprises configuring the phone or ring content so that the stored ring content can not be played by the phone.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

transmitting, from the phone, a message to a remote system after the indication is received;

receiving, at the phone, a reply message transmitted in response to the message transmitted to the remote system; and

, if the reply message indicates that the ring content may be acquired, configuring the phone or the stored ring content so that the phone can play the stored ring content.

34. The method of claim 25, wherein the non-program data stored in the storage unit comprises the ring content, which is protected by a digital rights management (DRM) scheme, and the method further comprises receiving a license after the indication is received, which license enables the phone to play the DRM protected ring content.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

transmitting, from the phone, a message to a remote system after the indication is received;

receiving, at the phone, a reply message transmitted in response to the message transmitted to the remote system, wherein the reply message includes the license.

36. The method of claim 25, wherein the non-program data comprises the link and the method further comprises using a browser executing in the phone to download the product information page to the phone.

37. The method of claim 24, further comprising separating the non-program data from the program data prior to storing the non-program data in the storage unit.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the non-program data and the program data are interleaved when received at the phone.

39. The method of claim 24, wherein prior to receiving the program data the method comprises:

receiving an indication that the user desires to consume unicast program data;

enabling the user to specify specific program data or, a type of program data, or a profile;

receiving information identifying specific program data, a type of program data, or a profile;

transmitting a message, from the phone, to a remote system, wherein the message includes the received information and the remote system uses the information to select program data, and wherein the remote system transmits the selected program data to the phone.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the remote system transmits the non-program data with the selected program data.

41. The method of claim 24, further comprising deleting the non-program data from the storage unit if the indication is not received within a predetermined amount of time or prior to the occurrence of a predetermined event.

42. A mobile phone comprising a processor and a computer readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving transmitted content;

instructions for playing the received content for a user of the mobile phone;

instructions for enabling the user of to indicate that the user desires to acquire ring content corresponding to the content while the phone is playing the content;

instructions for transmitting, from the mobile phone, a message to a remote system after the user indicates a desire to acquire the ring content, wherein the remote system receives the message and, after receiving the message, selects a ring tone or ring view based, at least in part, on information included in message and transmits the selected ring content to the mobile phone;

instructions for receiving the ring content at the mobile phone; and

instructions for storing the received ring content in a storage unit of the mobile phone.