SPONSORED CONTENT CREATION AND DISTRIBUTION

• US 20080208692A1
• Filed: 02/26/2008
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Cadence Media Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cadence Media Incorporated
• Inventors: Chebot, Alan B., Garaventi, James H.
• Application Number:
  US12/037,594
• Publication Number:
  US 20080208692A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1235 with control of digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0014 for vending, access and use of specific services not covered anywhere else in G07F17/00 meter-controlled dispensing of liquid, gas or electricity G07F15/00

Abstract

Users create custom media presentations by combining licensed content and sponsored content as selected by the user.

Claims

1. A method for providing electronic media content to users, the method comprising:

presenting a plurality of licensed media content files to a user, each of the media content files being attributed to a content licensor;

presenting a plurality of sponsored media files to a user, each of the sponsored media files being attributed to a sponsor;

receiving, from the user, a request to combine one or more of the licensed media content files with one or more of the sponsored media files; and

combining the one or more requested licensed media content files and the one or more requested sponsored media files, thus creating a user-specified media presentation.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of licensed media content files comprises one or more of audio files, video files and any combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the content licensor comprises one or more of a record company, artist, and any combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the licensed media content files and sponsored content files are presented to the user over an electronic network.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising modifying the one or more requested licensed media content files or sponsored content files prior to the combination step.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the modification of the one or more requested licensed media content files or sponsored media files is based at least in part on attributes of the one or more requested sponsored content files.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining whether the combination of the one or more requested licensed media content files with the one or more requested sponsored content files violates content restriction policies.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the content restriction policies are supplied, at least in part, by one or more of the content licensor and the sponsor to which the one or more requested licensed media content files and one or more requested sponsor media files are attributed.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising facilitating payment of licensing fees from the sponsor with which the one or more requested sponsored media files are attributed to the content licensor with which the one or more requested licensed media content files are attributed.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising presenting the user-specified media presentation to the user.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting the user-specified media presentation to a client device.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing the user-specified media presentation on a content server.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising providing a content identifier to the user, the content identifier facilitating the identification and retrieval of the user-specified media presentation from the content server.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising receiving a retrieval request comprising the content identifier, and, in response to receiving the retrieval request, providing the user-specified media presentation.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the retrieval request is received from the user.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the retrieval request is received from a requester other than the user.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the retrieval request and the provision of the user-specified media presentation are received from and provided to different users respectively.

18. The method of claim 14 further comprising monitoring retrieval requests and responses thereto, thus tracking one or more of a number of requests, a number of responses, users submitting requests, and requesters to which the user-specified media presentation is provided.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising facilitating payment of licensing fees from the sponsor to which the one or more requested sponsor content files is attributed to the content licensor to which the one or more of the requested licensed media content files is attributed based on the results of results of the monitoring step.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the monitoring of the receipt of retrieval requests and the responses thereto further comprises determining if the received request and associated response thereto comply with one or more distribution restriction policies.

21. A method for providing free advertising-sponsored music downloads to consumers, the method comprising:

receiving, from a consumer, a request to combine a music file supplied by a first entity with a video advertisement file attributed to a second entity, both the music file and the video advertisement file being selected by the user;

determining one or more attributes of the music file and one or more attributes of the video advertisement file;

modifying one or more of the music file and the video advertisement file based at least in part on the one or more attributes of the music file and the video advertisement file;

combining the music file and the video advertisement file, thus creating a user-specified media presentation; and

facilitating the payment of licensing fees from the second entity to the first entity.

22. A system for providing electronic media content to users, the system comprising:

a content server for receiving a plurality of media content files, a first subset of the licensed media content files being attributed to a content licensor and a second subset of the media content files being attributed to a sponsor;

a client communication server for receiving, from a first client device, a request to combine media content files from the first subset with media content from the second subset;

a mixing module for combining the requested media content files, thus creating a user-specified media presentation; and

a payment module for determining a payment from the sponsor to the content licensor.

23. The system of claim 22 further comprising a database server for storing the media content files and the user-specified media presentation.

24. The system of claim 22 wherein the client communication server further receives requests to provide the user-specified media presentation to one or more of the client device and other client devices.

25. The system of claim 24 further comprising a licensing server for determining whether the received requests comply with one or more distribution restriction policies.