Content Provisioning and Revenue Disbursement
First Claim
1. A method for provisioning content to users, comprising:
- for each of a plurality of items of media content;
maintaining information about one or more owners of the item of media content; and
maintaining information about one or more providers of the item of media content;
for each of a plurality of users;
maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user and about player devices owned by the user;
for each of a plurality of time periods;
maintaining a history log of items of media content played by one or more of the plurality of users during the time period;
receiving a request from a user to play a designated item of media content on a designated player device, during a current time period;
identifying an appropriate provider of the designated item of media content, according to a location of the user and according to the designated player device;
causing the identified provider of the designated item of media content to transmit the designated item of media content to the user'"'"'s designated player device;
updating the history log for the current time period to reflect the user having played the designated item of media content; and
calculating revenue disbursement among the owners of the plurality of items of media content, and the providers of the plurality of media content, for the current time period, based on the history log for the current time period.
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Abstract
A method for provisioning content to users, including for each of a plurality of items of media content, maintaining information about one or more owners of the item of media content, and maintaining information about one or more providers of the item of media content, for each of a plurality of users, maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user and about player devices owned by the user, for each of a plurality of time periods, maintaining a history log of items of media content played by one or more of the plurality of users during the time period, receiving a request from a user to play a designated item of media content on a designated player device, during a current time period, identifying an appropriate provider of the designated item of media content, according to a location of the user and according to the designated player device, causing the identified provider of the designated item of media content to transmit the designated item of media content to the user'"'"'s designated player device, updating the history log for the current time period to reflect the user having played the designated item of media content, and calculating revenue disbursement among the owners of the plurality of items of media content, and the providers of the plurality of media content, for the current time period, based on the history log of the current time period. A system is also described and claimed.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1. A method for provisioning content to users, comprising:
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for each of a plurality of items of media content; maintaining information about one or more owners of the item of media content; and maintaining information about one or more providers of the item of media content; for each of a plurality of users; maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user and about player devices owned by the user; for each of a plurality of time periods; maintaining a history log of items of media content played by one or more of the plurality of users during the time period; receiving a request from a user to play a designated item of media content on a designated player device, during a current time period; identifying an appropriate provider of the designated item of media content, according to a location of the user and according to the designated player device; causing the identified provider of the designated item of media content to transmit the designated item of media content to the user'"'"'s designated player device; updating the history log for the current time period to reflect the user having played the designated item of media content; and calculating revenue disbursement among the owners of the plurality of items of media content, and the providers of the plurality of media content, for the current time period, based on the history log for the current time period. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A content provisioning system, comprising:
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a data manager for storing (i) for each of a plurality of items of media content, maintaining information about owners of the media content and providers of the media content, (ii) for each of a plurality of users, maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user and about player devices owned by the user, and (iii) for each of a plurality of time periods, maintaining a history log of items of media content played by one or more of the plurality of users during the time period; a receiver for receiving a request from a user to play a designated item of media content on a designated player device, during a current time period; a content provisioner coupled with said data manager (i) for identifying an appropriate provider of the designated piece of media content according to a location of the user and according to the designated player device, and (ii) for causing the identified provider of the designated item of media content to transmit the designated item of media content to the user'"'"'s designated player device; and a disbursement manager coupled with said content provisioner and with said data manager (i) for updating the history log for the current time period to reflect the user having played the designated item of media content, and (ii) for calculating revenue disbursement among the owners of the plurality of items of media content, and the providers of the plurality of items of media content, for the current time period, based on the history log for the current time period. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A method for tracking usage of content, comprising:
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tracking, for each of a plurality of consumers and for each of a plurality of content owners, each content owner owning a plurality of items of media content, the relative frequency of the number of items of media content owned by the content owner and played by the consumer during a specified time period, relative to the total number of times the consumer plays items of media content during the specified time period; and generating a revenue report for each of the plurality of content owners with revenue allocation for the specified time period, based on the relative frequencies tracked by said tracking.
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40. A content usage tracking system, comprising:
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a tracking computer for tracking, for each of a plurality of consumers and for each of a plurality of content owners, each content owner owning a plurality of items of media content, the relative frequency of the number of items of media content owned by the content owner and played by the consumer during a specified time period, relative to the total number of times the consumer plays items of media content during the specified time period; and a disbursement manager for deriving revenue allocation for each of the plurality of content owners for the specified time period, based on the relative frequencies tracked by said tracking computer.
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41. A method for tracking usage of content, comprising:
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tracking, for each of a plurality of consumers and for each of a plurality of content owners, each content owner owning a plurality of items of media content, the relative amount of time spent by the consumer during a specified time period playing items of media content owned by the content owner, relative to the amount of time spent by the consumer playing items of media content during the specified time period; and generating a revenue report for each of the plurality of content owners with revenue allocation for the specified time period, based on the relative amounts of time tracked by said tracking.
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42. A content usage tracking system, comprising:
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a tracking computer for tracking, for each of a plurality of consumers and for each of a plurality of content owners, each content owner owning a plurality of items of media content, the relative amount of time spent by the consumer during a specified time period playing items of media content owned by the content owner, relative to the amount of time spent by the consumer playing items of media content during the specified time period; and a disbursement manager for deriving revenue allocation for each of the plurality of content owners for the specified time period, based on the relative amounts of time tracked by said tracking computer.
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43. A method for content provisioning, comprising:
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identifying media content stored on at least one of a consumer'"'"'s media devices; generating a content registry of the consumer'"'"'s media content identified by said identifying; generating a device registry of the consumer'"'"'s media devices; generating a list of media content IDs for identifying versions of media content at one or more content suppliers, corresponding to content listed within the content registry; and for determining an appropriate source from which to transmit a designated version of media content to a designated media device from the device registry, in response to a request for media content issued by the consumer.
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44. A content provisioning system, comprising:
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a content identifier for identifying media content stored on at least one of a consumer'"'"'s media devices; a registrar, coupled with said content identifier, for generating a content registry of the consumer'"'"'s media content identified by said content identifier, and a device registry of the consumer'"'"'s media devices; a content mapper, coupled with said registrar, for generating a list of media content IDs for identifying versions of media content at one or more content sources, corresponding to media content listed within the content registry; and a content router, coupled with said registrar and with said content mapper, for determining an appropriate source from which to transmit a designated version of media content to a designated media device from the device registry, in response to a request for media content issued by the consumer.
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45. A method for provisioning content to users, comprising:
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for each of a plurality of items of media content; maintaining information about one or more owners of the item of media content; and maintaining information about one or more providers of the item of media content; for each of a plurality of users; maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user and about player devices owned by the user; for each of a plurality of time periods; maintaining a history log of items of media content played by one or more of the plurality of users during the time period; receiving a request from a user to play a designated item of media content that is resident locally on a designated player device, during a current time period; updating the history log for the current time period to reflect the user having played the designated item of media content; and calculating revenue disbursement among the owners of the plurality of items of media content, and the providers of the plurality of media content, for the current time period, based on the history log for the current time period.
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46. A content provisioning system, comprising:
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a data manager for storing (i) for each of a plurality of items of media content, maintaining information about owners of the media content and providers of the media content, (ii) for each of a plurality of users, maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user and about player devices owned by the user, and (iii) for each of a plurality of time periods, maintaining a history log of items of media content played by one or more of the plurality of users during the time period; a receiver for receiving a request from a user to play a designated item of media content that is resident locally on a designated player device, during a current time period; and a disbursement manager coupled with said data manager (i) for updating the history log for the current time period to reflect the user having played the designated item of media content, and (ii) for calculating revenue disbursement among the owners of the plurality of items of media content, and the providers of the plurality of items of media content, for the current time period, based on the history log for the current time period.
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Specification