AGGREGATING AND SHARING TRUST-OWNED MEDIA

• US 20080154626A1
• Filed: 12/19/2007
• Published: 06/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cheng, Lili, Flake, Gary W., Gounares, Alexander, Hemmen, Jeffrey R.
• Application Number:
  US11/960,419
• Publication Number:
  US 20080154626A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Aggregating ownership of certain types of intellectual property and providing withdrawal privileges based at least in part on individual contribution to the common ownership is described herein. Particularly, electronic media can be received, parsed, aggregated with other media, and stored as a superset of media. The superset can be owned commonly by those who submitted media to the trust based in part on a number, type, value, and/or demand, or the like, of submitted media. Further, participants can withdraw media items from the trust based in part on submission of media to the trust. Accordingly, individuals can aggregate collections of digital media and share such media in a manner that complies with DRM restrictions and intellectual property rights of associated entities.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates sharing of electronic media, comprising:

a receiver component that receives a set of electronic media associated with a first entity;

an aggregation component that stores the set of electronic media with other sets of electronic media, received from additional entities associated with such other sets, as a superset of media; and

a media allocation component that provides the first entity access to a subset of the superset of media as a function of a concurrent participation factor of the first entity.

2. The system of claim 1, the media allocation component further comprises an input parsing component that at least one of:

categorizes media provided to the receiver component by the first entity, and assigns an input participation factor to the first entity;

or

provides a backup, recovery or data transfer service for media provided to the receiver component and associated with the first entity.

3. The system of claim 1, the media allocation component further comprises a media usage component that generates a media expenditure factor for the first entity, the media expenditure factor is a dynamic characteristic based on a number or type of media items of the superset accessed by the first entity, or a frequency or duration of access to the media items, or a combination thereof.

4. The system of claim 1, the media allocation component further comprises a participation compiler that determines the concurrent participation factor based at least in part on an input participation factor and a media expenditure factor of the first entity.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a distribution component that outputs possession of a hardcopy or provides an electronic copy, or both, of a media element of the subset to the first entity based on a request for such media element and a comparison of the concurrent participation factor with a predetermined threshold participation factor associated with the media element.

6. The system of claim 5, the distribution component includes a remote communication network that transmits the electronic copy of the media element to a communication device of the first entity that is coupled to the network, or a hardware distribution entity that outputs the hardcopy of the media element for delivery to the first entity for possession, or both.

7. The system of claim 5, outputting possession of the hardcopy is conditioned on an agreement by the first entity to return the hardcopy to the distribution component within a predetermined period of time.

8. The system of claim 5, further comprising a client application made available to the communication device of the first entity, the client application is configured to at least one of:

interface with the communication network to receive the electronic copy;

store a version of the electronic copy at the communication device;

encrypt or hash the stored version to mitigate access to associated source code;

playback media content of the electronic copy;

or

delete a locally stored version of the electronic copy upon expiration of a predetermined period of access, or a combination thereof.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a review compilation component that:

receives a relative ranking or a description, or both, from the first entity pertaining to a media element of the set of electronic media; and

aggregates the relative ranking or description with other rankings or descriptions of such media element to form a dynamic review of the media element.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a context component that provides the dynamic review to an entity that browses the media element by searching the superset.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising an entity recommendation component that provides a recommendation to the first entity of at least one media element of the superset based at least in part upon:

a genre or type of media contained within the set of electronic media;

a ranking or description of a media element provided by the first entity;

a prior access to media within the superset, or

an access history of another entity that has provided or received media to/from the superset, or a combination thereof.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an advertisement interface that receives an electronic advertisement from an external entity;

an electronic integration component that couples the electronic advertisement with at least one media file of the superset, the media file is selected based on data mined from the superset of media; and

a pricing component that charges the external entity based on dissemination of the electronic advertisement to the first entity with the at least one media file.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising at least one of:

a subscription component that receives payment from the first entity for a term-based subscription to media within the superset, or for an item-by-item fee to access the media within the superset; and

a filtering component that removes or disables the electronic advertisement from a version of the at least one media file distributed to the first entity if the item-by-item fee is paid for the at least one media file or if payment for the term-based subscription is current.

14. A method of providing shared electronic media, comprising:

receiving a set of electronic media from a first participant;

aggregating the set of electronic media with additional media to form a superset of media;

providing the first participant with access to a subset of the superset of media based on an access level defined at least in part by contents of the set of electronic media.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

parsing the set of electronic media to identify a number, type, genre, quality, or participant demand, or a combination thereof, of media files contained within the set of electronic media; and

updating the access level at least in part based on the parsed media files of the set of electronic media.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

defining a number of media files in the subset, or a duration or frequency of access to such media files of the subset, based at least in part on the access level; and

updating the access level based at least in part upon;

number, type or demand of such media files distributed to the first participant;

receipt of the media files from the first participant;

duration of use of the media files;

frequency of use of the media files;

or

return quality of the media files, or a combination thereof.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising distributing a hardcopy or an electronic copy to the first participant of a media file contained within the subset, based on a request for the media file and a comparison of a current value of the access level and a predetermined value associated with the media file.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising employing an electronic communication network to transmit the electronic copy, or employing a distribution entity to deliver the hardcopy, to the first participant.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising at least one of:

receiving one or more participant ratings or descriptions of a media element within the superset and collating a user recommendation from the ratings or descriptions;

determining a user profile based at least in part on a genre or type of media contained within the set of electronic media and recommending additional media to the first participant consistent with the user profile; and

recommending the media element to the first participant based on the user recommendation or a correlation between the user profile and a genre or type of the medial element, or both.

20. A system that facilitates sharing of electronic media, comprising:

means for receiving a set of electronic media associated with a first entity;

means for storing and aggregating the set of electronic media with other sets of electronic media into a superset of media; and

means for allocating the first entity access to a subset of the superset of media as a function of a concurrent participation factor of the first entity, the concurrent participation factor is based at least in part on;

a number, type or genre of media elements of the set of electronic media;

access history of the first entity to stored media elements of the superset;

or

return history of the first entity regarding accessed media elements, or a combination thereof.