PROCESSES FOR VERIFYING CREATORS OF WORKS REPRESENTED IN AN ELECTRONIC CATALOG

• US 20100274732A1
• Filed: 07/02/2010
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Erin H. Kraemer, Jeffrey P. Bezos, Michael I. Hyman, Pavlo O. Grinchenko, Ronald J. Schoenbaum
• Original Assignee: Erin H. Kraemer, Jeffrey P. Bezos, Michael I. Hyman, Pavlo O. Grinchenko, Ronald J. Schoenbaum
• Inventors: Schoenbaum, Ronald J., Bezos, Jeffrey P., Kraemer, Erin H., Grinchenko, Pavlo O., Hyman, Michael I.
• Granted Patent: US 8,140,436 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/317
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products

Abstract

An electronic catalog system provides an interface for users to author and post content for viewing by other users. Users who are verified as creators of works represented in the electronic catalog (e.g., authors of books) are additionally given the option to post content that is displayed on the catalog pages of such works with attribution to the works'"'"' creators. In one embodiment, the system is capable of verifying a user'"'"'s claim to be a creator of a particular work through automated communications with a third party verifier designated by the user. The third party verifier may, for example, be a publisher (in the case of books), a recording company (in the case of musical works), or a motion picture studio (in the case movies).

Claims

1. An electronic catalog system, comprising:

a server system;

a browsable electronic catalog that is accessible to users via the server system, said electronic catalog comprising representations of works created by creators; and

a creator verification user interface accessible via the server system, the creator verification user interface providing functionality for a user to search the electronic catalog for a work, to select the work, to designate a third party verifier for verifying that the user is a creator of the selected work, and to submit a creator verification request in connection with the selected work;

said server system operative to process the creator verification request, as submitted by the user with the creator verification user interface, by at least sending, to the designated third party verifier, a message requesting the designated third party verifier to verify that the user is a creator of the selected work;

said server system responsive to the designated third party verifier verifying, in connection with said creator verification request, that the user is a creator of the work by updating an account of said user to reflect that the user is verified as a creator of the work.

2. The electronic catalog system of claim 1, wherein the server system is additionally responsive to said verification by the designated third party verifier by exposing to the user a content submission interface that enables the user to post content to the electronic catalog as a verified creator of the work.

3. The electronic catalog system of claim 2, wherein the server system is further responsive to receiving a submission of content from the user via the content submission interface by incorporating the submitted content into a page of the electronic catalog together with a designation that the content is from a creator of the work, said page being associated with the work.

4. The electronic catalog system of claim 3, wherein the server system is operative to provide an option, via said page, for users to subscribe to future content postings of the creator of the work.

5. The electronic catalog system of claim 1, wherein the server system is operative to send said message to the designated third party verifier in response to determining that the designated third party verifier has been verified.

6. The electronic catalog system of claim 1, wherein the server system is operative to process a creator verification request that designates an unverified third party verifier by initiating a manual verification of the unverified third party verifier.

7. The electronic catalog system of claim 1, wherein the message additionally requests the designated third party verifier to verify or specify an email address of the creator of the work.

8. The electronic catalog system of claim 1, wherein the message additionally requests the designated third party verifier to confirm or specify a creatorship role of the user in connection with the work.

9. The electronic catalog system of claim 1, wherein the message includes a plurality of response options that are selectable by the third party verifier.

10. The electronic catalog system of claim 1, wherein the message comprises a secure link that is selectable by the third party verifier to access a web form for verifying the user as a creator of the work.

11. An automated method of verifying work creatorship claims by users, the method comprising:

providing network-based access to an electronic catalog that comprises representations of works created by creators;

receiving a verification request submitted by a user via a creator verification user interface, said creator verification request identifying a work selected by the user from the electronic catalog, and identifying a third party verifier designated by the user;

processing the creator verification request at least partly by automatically sending a request for the designated third party verifier to verify that the user is a creator of the work;

receiving, in connection with the creator verification request, a reply from the third party verifier, said reply verifying that the user is a creator of the work; and

in response to the reply, updating an account of the user to reflect that the user is verified as a creator of the work;

wherein the method is performed in its entirety automatically by one or more computers.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising, once the user is verified as a creator of the work, automatically exposing to the user a content submission interface that enables the user to post content to the electronic catalog as a verified creator of the work.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving a submission of content from the user via the content submission interface, and automatically incorporating the submitted content into a page of the electronic catalog together with an indication that the content is from a creator of the work, said page being associated with the work.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing an option, via said page, for users to subscribe to future content postings of the creator of the work.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the method comprises sending the request to the designated third party verifier in response to determining that the designated third party verifier is verified.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein processing the creator verification request additionally comprises requesting the designated third party verifier to confirm or specify an email address of the creator of the work.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein processing the creator verification request additionally comprises requesting the designated third party verifier to confirm or specify a creatorship role of the user in connection with the work.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein processing the creator verification request comprises sending a secure link to an email address of the designated third party verifier, the secure link being selectable by the third party verifier to access a web form for verifying the user as a creator of the work.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the creator verification request specifies a plurality of works selected from the electronic catalog by the user, and separately specifies, for each such work, a third party verifier for verifying the user'"'"'s creatorship of the respective work.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the work is a book title, and the third party verifier is a publisher of the book title.

21. Physical computer storage that stores executable code that directs a computing system to perform an automated method of verifying work creatorship claims by users, the method comprising:

providing network-based access to an electronic catalog that comprises representations of works created by creators;

receiving a verification request submitted by a user via a creator verification user interface, said creator verification request identifying a work selected by the user from the electronic catalog, and identifying a third party verifier designated by the user;

processing the creator verification request at least partly by automatically sending a request for the designated third party verifier to verify that the user is a creator of the work;

receiving, in connection with the creator verification request, a reply from the third party verifier, said reply verifying that the user is a creator of the work; and

in response to the reply, updating an account of the user to reflect that the user is verified as a creator of the work.