Off-line economies for digital media

• US 20070136608A1
• Filed: 12/06/2005
• Published: 06/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Jain, Kamal, Kirovski, Darko
• Granted Patent: US 7,818,811 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/193
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/06 Private payment circuits, e.g. involving electronic currency used among participants of a common payment scheme
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1235 with control of digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/223 based on the use of peer-to-peer networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/322 Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for an off-line economy for digital media. In one implementation, exemplary media devices of buyer and seller participate in the off-line economy by performing secure off-line transfers of digital media content between themselves. The media devices store proof of the off-line sales transactions, so that a percentage of the sale price can be applied to a copyright owner and a percentage of the sale price can be applied to the seller as an incentive. Even resale of pirated media content benefits the copyright holder. The off-line economy opens an effective and inexpensive distribution channel for copyright holders and allows buyers to obtain media content anywhere, at any time, from any participant in the off-line economy without connecting to the Internet. The off-line economy allows copyright holders and media sellers to optimize pricing by market probing.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

performing a secure off-line transfer of a digital media content from a first media playback device of a first user to a second media playback device of a second user for a price via an off-line transaction;

securely storing a proof of the off-line transaction;

providing a first percentage of the price to an owner of a copyright of the digital media content based on the stored proof; and

providing a second percentage of the price to the first user based on the stored proof.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the off-line transaction comprises a cryptographically secure sales transaction protocol.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the off-line transaction comprises using a cryptographically secure sales transaction protocol, including:

sending a cryptographically secure purchase request from the second media playback device to the first media playback device;

sending a cryptographically secure transaction receipt from the first media playback device to the second media playback device; and

sending a receipt acknowledgement from the second media playback device to the first media playback device.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the purchase request includes purchase information selected from the group of data consisting of date, time, location, license, and price.

5. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the second media playback device verifies the transaction receipt using a public key of the first media playback device.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein prior to the off-line transaction the first and second media playback devices:

authenticate each other by exchanging certificates;

create a session key;

establish a data encryption and a data compression capability; and

establish a session identifier.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the off-line transaction comprises at least part of a transaction selected from the group of transactions consisting of:

a coupon redemption transaction, a gift certificate transaction, a rewards program transaction, a multi-tier sales transaction, a script transaction, a bartering transaction, a loan payback transaction, a cross-licensing transaction, a sales promotion transaction, a loss-leader transaction, a charitable fundraising transaction, a market-basket transaction, a subscription transaction, an auction transaction, a trade-for-fee transaction, a multi-party transaction, and a multi-item discount transaction.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising reselling. the digital media content from the second user to subsequent users, including:

transferring the digital media content from the second media playback device to a subsequent media playback device for a subsequent price via a subsequent off-line transaction;

providing a first percentage of the subsequent price to the owner of the copyright of the digital media content; and

providing a second percentage of the subsequent price to the second user.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein providing the first and second percentages of the price to the owner of the copyright and to the first user, respectively, includes sending a notification of the off-line transaction to a service provider, wherein the service provider debits an amount of the price from an account of the second user, provides the first percentage of the amount to the copyright owner, and provides the second percentage of the amount to the first user.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein either the first media playback device or the second media playback device sends the notification of the off-line transaction to the service provider, wherein regardless of whether the first or second media playback device notifies the service provider, the service provider debits the amount of the price from the account of the second user and provides the first percentage of the amount to the copyright owner and the second percentage of the amount to the first user.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising sending a preview of the digital media content prior to the off-line transaction from the first media playback device to the second media playback device, wherein the preview verifies an identity and a quality of the digital media content.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising sending a preview of the digital media content prior to the off-line transaction from the first media playback device to the second media playback device, wherein the preview presents a sample of the digital media content but does not identify a title or an author associated with the digital media content.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising selling an advertisement of the digital media content to the second user via the off-line transaction, wherein the advertisement is used by the second user to resell the digital media content to subsequent buyers of the digital media content and to resell the advertisement to subsequent buyers of the advertisement.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the digital media content comprises pirated media content;

and further comprising;

applying the advertisement to the pirated media content;

and reselling the pirated media content via subsequent off-line transactions to increase a revenue to the copyright holder.

15. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising establishing:

a first price for a completed download of the digital media content from the first to the second media devices using an amount of bandwidth;

a second price for a transaction receipt giving permission to download the digital media content at some future time; and

wherein the second user sends to the first user an acknowledgment for a completed download of the digital media content, the acknowledgement enabling the first user to claim the first price for the transaction.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising negatively affecting a buyer reputation of the second user when the second user does not acknowledge obtaining the completed download of the digital media content.

17. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising negatively affecting a seller reputation of the first user when the first user transfers an incorrect or a low quality version of the digital media content to the second media playback device.

18. A media player, comprising:

a storage medium for storing digital media content;

a communication engine for communicating off-line with a second media player; and

an off-line media distribution engine for negotiating prices and securely buying and selling a media content off-line, wherein a first percentage of each sale price is applied to a copyright holder associated with the media content being sold and a second percentage of each sale price is applied to the seller of the media content.

19. The media player as recited in claim 18, further comprising an authenticator to provide secure communication and secure transactions between the media player and the second media player.

20. The media player as recited in claim 18, wherein the off-line media distribution engine includes a transaction engine:

to perform secure off-line negotiation of prices for media contents to be bought and sold;

to perform secure off-line sending and receiving of purchase requests for media contents;

to perform secure off-line sending and receiving of transaction receipts for media contents bought and sold; and

to perform secure off-line acknowledgement of received receipts;

wherein a buyer possessing a receipt for an off-line purchase of the media content can immediately download the media content from the seller or from a service provider, and a seller possessing an acknowledgment of a receipt received by the buyer can immediately be credited with the second percentage of the sale price.

21. A system, comprising:

off-line means for securely transferring a digital media content from a seller'"'"'s media player to a buyer'"'"'s media player for a price via an off-line transaction;

means for securely storing the off-line transaction;

means for providing, from the stored off-line transaction, a first percentage of the price to an owner of a copyright of the digital media content; and

means for providing, from the stored off-line transaction, a second percentage of the price to the seller.

22. The system as recited in claim 21, further comprising means for optimizing the price via market probing of multiple of the off-line transactions.