Systems and Methods to Order A Content Item Deliverable Via A Television Service

• US 20110023073A1
• Filed: 07/22/2009
• Published: 01/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Irving, Glinda, McCarthy, Mary
• Granted Patent: US 9,137,494 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/98
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/123 Shopping for digital content
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/306 using TV related infrastructures external card used for payment with client device H04N21/4185
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3223 Realising banking transactions through M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/30 by a single channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/57 for mobile receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2225 Local VOD servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25 Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/251 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41 Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47211 for requesting pay-per-view content payment schemes payment architectures or payment protocols G06Q20/00, G07F
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47815 Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/65 : Transmission of management data between client and server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 : Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 : involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8186 : specially adapted to be executed by a peripheral of the client device, e.g. by a reprogrammable remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 : by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 : Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Methods and systems of ordering a content item that is deliverable via a television service are disclosed. In one embodiment, ordering a content item that is deliverable via a television service can include sending an offer message to a mobile device, the offer message including an offer of a content item that is deliverable via a television service. In one embodiment, ordering the content item that is deliverable via the television service can include receiving an acceptance message that indicates an acceptance of the offer.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a computer processor;

computer memory coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory comprising;

an order processing module configured to receive an order for a content item that is deliverable via a television service associated with a user, wherein the order is issued in response to an acceptance by the user of an offer for the content item, the offer communicated via an offer message sent to a mobile device associated with the user; and

a content delivery module configured to initiate delivery of the content item via the television service.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer memory further comprises an offer generation module configured to generate the offer message sent to the mobile device, the offer generation module further configured to identify one or more users that have an associated wireless service and an associated television service.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the wireless service and the television service are provided by a common vendor.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein identifying the one or more users that have the associated wireless service and the associated television service includes searching a data source that includes customer information regarding wireless service users and television service users to identify wireless service accounts and television service accounts that include a common user.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the order is placed in response to an acceptance message originating from the mobile device associated with the user, and wherein the user is not billed for the acceptance message or for the offer message.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the content item includes a Pay-per-view (PPV) item, a Video On Demand (VOD) item, an Audio Video On Demand (AVOD) item, or a premium television service subscription.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the offer message is sent to the user based on one or more offer generation rules that include at least one offer generation rule based on a viewing history of the user, current viewing information of the user, or user preferences of the user.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the television service associated with the user is a cable television service, a satellite television service, an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service, or any combination thereof.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the television service is an IPTV service and the content item is delivered as a collection of Internet Protocol (IP) packets to a set-top box configured to assemble the collection of IP packets into a video stream that includes the content item.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the television service is an IPTV service and the IPTV service is configured to receive the order message originated by the mobile device and process the order message in a similar manner as orders generated from a set-top box.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the television service is an IPTV service and the content delivery module is configured to acquire the content item via an acquisition tier of the IPTV service.

12. A method comprising:

sending an offer message to a mobile device, the offer message including an offer of a content item that is deliverable via a television service; and

receiving an acceptance message that indicates an acceptance of the offer.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the offer message and the acceptance message are each a Short Message Service (SMS) message, a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) message, a Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) message, or an Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) message.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the offer message includes at least one of a price for the content item, a broadcast date for the content item, a multimedia preview of the content item, a description of the content item, a time period during which the content item is deliverable, or a rating of the content item.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising registering a mobile device for receipt of offer messages when the mobile device is initialized, upon receipt of a registration request from the mobile device, or upon receipt of a registration request from a set-top box.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising placing an order for the content item by sending a request to the television service that identifies the content item requested, a television account that the content item is to be delivered to, and a mobile account that has initiated the request.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising sending a confirmation message to the mobile device, the confirmation message indicating that the order for the content item has been placed, the confirmation message including information identifying the content item and the mobile device that originated the order.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising sending at least one reminder message to the mobile device prior to a broadcast date of the content item, the reminder message including information identifying the content item and the broadcast date of the content item.

19. A method comprising:

receiving an order for a content item, wherein the content item is deliverable via a television service, wherein the order is issued in response to an acceptance of an offer for the content item, and wherein the offer was communicated via an offer message sent to a mobile device; and

providing the content item via the television service.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein receiving the order for the content item further comprises receiving an order message that identifies the content item requested and a television account that the content item is to be delivered to, wherein the order message is generated in response to an acceptance message originating from the mobile device.