DIGITAL MEDIA INVENTORY CONTROL, DISTRIBUTION AND DESTRUCTION SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A digital media inventory control, distribution and destruction system, comprising:
- digital media creator means for receiving and storing digital media from a digital media source, for generating a plurality of portable copies of the digital media according to a communication signal transmitted over a network by a central database, each portable copy of the digital media including a digital watermark value;
digital media destroyer means for destroying selected ones of the generated portable copies of the digital media according to the communication signal; and
means for transmitting, to the central database, storage information on identification of the digital media stored by the digital media inventory control, distribution and destruction system, the digital watermark values contained in the generated portable copies, and digital watermark values associated with the destroyed portable copies.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The system (10) includes a digital media creator-destroyer apparatus (12) for receiving and storing digital media from a remote digital media source (20), for generating multiple transferable copies of the digital media, and for destroying unused copies of the digital media. The digital media creator-destroyer apparatus (12) is housed within a retail store (14) or similar outlet that displays transferable copies of digital media to end-user purchasers. The system (10) provides retailer control at a single store (14) level, regional or national (38) level of inventory, distribution and destruction of digital media, such as music, movies, video games, computer software, ring tones for cell phones, etc., stored on compact disks, digital video disks or other apparatus capable of storing and transferring digital media. Destroying unused copies eliminates cost inefficiencies of the retailer having to return unused copies.
35 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A digital media inventory control, distribution and destruction system, comprising:
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digital media creator means for receiving and storing digital media from a digital media source, for generating a plurality of portable copies of the digital media according to a communication signal transmitted over a network by a central database, each portable copy of the digital media including a digital watermark value; digital media destroyer means for destroying selected ones of the generated portable copies of the digital media according to the communication signal; and means for transmitting, to the central database, storage information on identification of the digital media stored by the digital media inventory control, distribution and destruction system, the digital watermark values contained in the generated portable copies, and digital watermark values associated with the destroyed portable copies. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An article of manufacture comprising a tangible computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
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receiving and storing digital media from a digital media source; generating a plurality of portable copies of the digital media according to a communication signal transmitted over a network by a central database, each portable copy of the digital media including a digital watermark value; destroying selected ones of the generated portable copies of the digital media according to the communication signal; and transmitting, to the central database, storage information on identification of the stored digital media, the digital watermark values contained in the generated portable copies, and digital watermark values associated with the destroyed portable copies. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method, comprising:
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transmitting sales information from a plurality of media generation and destruction devices over a network to a central location, the transmitted sales information delineating sales volume on an individual media title basis of inventory housed by the remote media generation and destruction devices; and in response to receiving back from the central location an inventory level request on at least one of the media generation and destruction devices, automatically generating new portable copies of media by copying media onto blank media and automatically destroying existing portable copies of media as needed to match an inventory housed by the receiving media generation and destruction device to the received inventory level request. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An article of manufacture comprising a tangible computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
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transmitting sales information from a media generation and destruction device over a network to a central location, the transmitted sales information delineating sales volume on an individual media title basis of inventory housed by the media generation and destruction device and to be aggregated by the central location with transmitted sales information from other media generation and destruction devices; and in response to receiving back at the media generation and destruction device a particular inventory level request from the central location, automatically generating new portable copies of media by copying media onto blank media and automatically destroying existing portable copies of media as needed to match the inventory housed by the receiving media generation and destruction device to the particular inventory level request. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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19. A media generation and destruction apparatus, comprising:
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a memory to store content; a communication interface to download inventory level information from a remote central database over a network; a burner component to generate portable copies of the content stored in the memory according to the inventory level information; a storage area to house the generated portable copies; a destruction component to remove selected ones of the portable copies housed in the storage area for destruction according to the inventory level information; and a tangible computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising; tracking a local inventory of the portable copies housed in the storage area; in response to receiving the inventory level information, comparing the downloaded inventory level information to the local inventory level; and in response to receiving the inventory level information, controlling the burner and destruction components to add or remove the portable copies to or from the storage area according to the comparison. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification