System, apparatus, and method for managing preloaded digital files for preview on a digital media playback apparatus

• US 20070206247A1
• Filed: 03/01/2006
• Published: 09/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Intouch Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intouch Group, Inc.
• Inventors: Kaplan, Joshua
• Application Number:
  US11/365,545
• Publication Number:
  US 20070206247A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/527
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 Rental transactions; Leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0044 for image preview or review, e.g. to help the user position a sheet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8355 involving usage data, e.g. number of copies or viewings allowed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3246 of data relating to permitted access or usage, e.g. level of access or usage parameters for digital rights management [DRM] related to still images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A portable digital media playback apparatus is disclosed. The device comes preloaded with a large number of digital media files for preview. After preview, the files are tagged with information that indicate that the user wishes to purchase the digital media file or purchase certain digital rights associated with the digital media file, such as for example, rental to play the media three times. When the portable device is synched back up with a library of digital media files available for purchase or rental, the files designated for purchase are downloaded to the portable device and files designated to be deleted are deleted from the portable device. In one embodiment, a user profile is created and includes a record of user events relating to the digital media files previewed or deleted or selected for purchase. The user profile is then provided to the content provider to compare it with the characteristics of additional digital media files available for preview. The content provider adopts a set of criteria for matches and with this policy or business rule creates a list of additional digital media files that are compatible with the user and which will be pushed down to the portable device the next time that the user synchs up. The user profile information from multiple users can be aggregated and stripped of the personal information to deliver valuable market research data to participants in the digital media marketplace.

Claims

1. A portable digital media playback apparatus having a large number of preloaded digital media files for preview by a user, the apparatus comprising:

(A) an operating system for operating the portable digital media playback apparatus, the operating system comprising executable software code for

(1) tagging at least one preloaded digital media file with information that identifies that file as a file for purchase or rental by the user;

(2) communicating the information concerning the tagged file to a computer separate from the portable digital media playback apparatus; and

(3) deleting digital media files from the portable digital media playback apparatus when a delete command is received from the separate computer for a particular digital media file;

(B) a communication port allowing the portable digital media playback apparatus to communicate with the separate computer;

(C) a data storage device preloaded at the time of purchase with at least about 128 KB of digital media files for preview by the user, the digital media files having limited usage rights; and

,

(D) a user interface associated with the portable digital media playback apparatus operating system to direct the operating system to tag one or more digital media files with information that identifies that file as a file for purchase or rental by the user.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the preloaded digital media files comprise at least about 75% of the storage capacity of the portable digital media playback apparatus data storage device.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the preloaded digital media files comprise at least about 50% of the storage capacity of the portable digital media playback apparatus data storage device.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the preloaded digital media files comprise at least about 25% of the storage capacity of the portable digital media playback apparatus data storage device.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising,

a user interface allowing the user to rate the digital medial file;

and

a ratings file associated with the portable digital media playback apparatus operating system for storing the ratings information for a particular digital media file.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the operating system provides a rating system having a numerical value from 1 to 5.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the portable digital media playback apparatus operating system includes digital rights management instructions that manage the usage rights of the preloaded digital media files and deletes untagged preloaded digital media files according to the corresponding usage right of that preloaded digital media file.

8. A method for providing and managing large numbers of digital media files on a portable digital media playback apparatus for preview and purchase or rental by a user, for use in conjunction with a computer separate from the potable digital media playback apparatus, the method comprising:

(A) providing a portable digital media playback apparatus having an operating system including executable code (1) for tagging at least one of the digital media files with information that identifies that file as a file for purchase or rental;

(2) communicating information concerning the tagged file to the computer separate from the portable digital media playback apparatus; and

(3) for deleting digital media files from the portable digital media player apparatus when a delete command is received from the separate computer directed to a particular digital media file,

a communication port allowing the portable digital media playback apparatus to communicate with the separate computer, and,

a data storage device;

(B) providing on the portable digital media player apparatus storage device at the time of purchase at least about 128 KB of digital media files for preview by the user, the files having limited usage rights;

(C) providing a user interface associated with the portable digital media playback apparatus operating system to tag one or more digital media files with information that identifies that file as a file for purchase or rental by the user; and

,

(D) in response to the information that identifies that file as a file for purchase or rental, providing on the portable digital media playback device a digital media file that possesses the appropriate digital rights corresponding to the tagged file information.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of deleting untagged digital media files from the storage device of the portable digital media playback apparatus in response to a delete command issued by the separate computer.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising the step of transmitting from the separate computer and storing in the storage device of the portable digital media playback apparatus new digital media files for preview by the user.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein the preloaded digital media files comprise at least about 75% of the storage capacity of the portable digital media playback apparatus data storage device.

12. The method according to claim 8, wherein the preloaded digital media files comprise at least about 50% of the storage capacity of the portable digital media playback apparatus data storage device.

13. The method according to claim 8, wherein the preloaded digital media files comprise at least about 25% of the storage capacity of the portable digital media playback apparatus data storage device.

14. The method according to claim 8 further comprising the step of rating the preloaded digital media file after preview by the user,

wherein the portable digital media playback apparatus further includes a user interface that enables the user to rate the preloaded digital medial file, and includes a ratings file associated with the portable digital media playback apparatus operating system for storing the ratings information for a particular preloaded digital media file.

15. The method according to claim 14 further comprising the steps of

(1) transferring ratings information from the portable digital media playback apparatus ratings file to the separate computer;

and

(2) using the separate computer, sending the ratings file to a web site.

16. The method according to claim 14 wherein a numerical value from 1 to 5 is provided for the rating step.

17. A portable digital media playback apparatus preloaded with a large number of digital media files at the time of purchase comprising:

storage media for storing preloaded digital media files for preview by a user;

a large number of preloaded digital media files stored in said storage media and available for preview by the user;

first executable software code for deleting at least one preloaded digital media file from the portable digital media playback apparatus storage media when a delete command is received;

second executable software code for tagging at least one preloaded digital media file with information that identifies the file as a file for purchase or rental by the user;

a first user interface allowing the user to issue delete commands to the first executable software code to delete preloaded digital media files from said storage media

a second user interface allowing the user, through operation of the second executable software code, to tag at least one preloaded digital media file with information that identifies that file as a file for purchase or rental by the user

a communications port between the portable digital media playback apparatus and the separate computer; and

,

third executable software code for allowing the portable digital media playback apparatus to issue a request to the separate computer for the appropriate digital rights for the at least one digital media file corresponding to the information that identified the file as a file for purchase or rental.

18. In a system comprising a portable digital media playback apparatus loaded with a large number of digital media files for preview by a user of the portable digital media playback apparatus, a separate computer and a content provider server, a method for delivering recommended digital media files for preview on the portable digital media playback apparatus, the method comprising:

(a) on the portable digital media playback apparatus, creating a user profile based upon user interactions with the digital media files for preview loaded on the portable digital media playback apparatus;

(b) transmitting the user profile from the portable digital media playback apparatus to the separate computer through a communications port on the portable digital media playback apparatus;

(c) transmitting the user profile from the separate computer to the content provider server;

(d) at said content-provider server, comparing characteristics of digital media files available for preview with the user profile;

(e) transmitting from the content provider server to the separate computer a plurality of digital media files, with limited usage rights, for preview that match at least one aspect of the user profile; and

,

(f) transmitting from the separate computer the plurality of plurality of digital media files, with limited usage rights, for preview that match at least one aspect of the user profile to the portable digital media playback apparatus.

19. The method according to claim 18 wherein the user profile also contains demographic information about the user.

20. The method according to claim 18 wherein the user profile contains rating information entered by the user comprising the user'"'"'s rating of the digital media files that the user has already previewed.