PERSONAL REMOTE STORAGE FOR PURCHASED ELECTRONIC CONTENT ITEMS

• US 20120158547A1
• Filed: 12/17/2010
• Published: 06/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Velummylum, Piragash, Wood, James H., Smith, Korwin J., Emery, Christopher G., Ma, Wenlin, Dickey, Lucas B., Olson, Johanna S., Carr, William D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,111,305 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/123 Shopping for digital content
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/10 Usage protection of distributed data files
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/00 Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism healthcare informatics G16H
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• 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 21/2743 Video hosting of uploaded data from client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47211 for requesting pay-per-view content payment schemes payment architectures or payment protocols G06Q20/00, G07F

Abstract

Architectures and techniques are described to provide personal remote storage space for electronic content items acquired (e.g., purchased) by a user of a client device. In some cases, as part of a transaction to acquire the electronic content item, an individual may receive an option that is selectable to indicate a preference to send electronic content items acquired by the individual to a personal remote storage space of the individual. When the option to store the electronic content item in the personal remote storage space is not selected by the individual, the electronic content item may be provided directly to a designated computing device of the individual.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

under control of one or more computing systems configured with specific executable instructions,

conducting a transaction with a user of a client device requesting to acquire an electronic content item;

determining whether the electronic content item is to be stored in a personal remote storage space of the user;

storing the electronic content item in the personal remote storage space of the user when the electronic content item is to be stored in the personal remote storage space of the user;

receiving an instruction to send the electronic content item to the client device;

determining whether the client device is executing a downloader application in response to receiving the instruction;

sending access information to the client device when the client device is executing the downloader application, the access information including an identifier indicating a storage location of the electronic content item in the personal remote storage space of the user;

receiving a request from the downloader application of the client device for the electronic content item, the request including the identifier; and

providing the electronic content item to the client device at least partly in response to receiving the request.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the electronic content item is to be stored in the personal remote storage space of the user includes receiving an indication that the user has selected an option to store electronic content items purchased from the content provider at the personal remote storage space.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the option is provided to the user during the transaction to acquire the electronic content item.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the option is provided on a page served to the client device confirming the acquisition of the electronic content item.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the electronic content item is to be stored in the personal remote storage space of the user includes accessing preferences of the user included in an account of the user with the content provider.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising sending the electronic content item to the client device when the client device is not executing the downloader application.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising receiving a request from the client device to install the downloader application on the client device.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a copy of the electronic content item is sent to each of a plurality of remote personal storage spaces.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of remote personal storage spaces is associated with a different individual.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the electronic content item includes video content, image content, audio content, software content, game content, or a combination thereof.

11. A computer-readable storage media storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed, instruct a processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a client device, a request to acquire an electronic content item;

conducting a financial transaction corresponding to the request to acquire the electronic content item with a user of the client device;

providing an option to the user of the client device to save the electronic content item to a personal remote storage space of the user as part of the financial transaction; and

causing the electronic content item to be stored in the personal remote storage space of the user in response to receiving an indication that the option has been selected.

12. The computer readable storage media of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise sending the electronic content item to the client device in response to determining that the option has not been selected

13. The computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise providing instructions to the client device that are executable to provide a representation of the personal remote storage space of the individual as a drive accessible via the client device and the representation is selectable to view contents of the personal remote storage space.

14. The computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the instructions are compatible with an operating system of the client device.

15. The computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein the electronic content item is offered by a particular merchant and the personal remote storage space is provided by a third-party service provider.

16. The computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a request to consume the electronic content item; and

launching a media service to consume the electronic content item.

17. The computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the request to consume the electronic content item includes a request from the client device to download the electronic content item from the personal remote storage space or a request from the client device to stream the electronic content item from the personal remote storage space.

18. The computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the media service retrieves a remote storage uniform resource locator (URL) indicating a storage location of the electronic content item in the personal remote storage space and utilizes the remote storage URL to access the electronic content item at least partly in response to the request.

19. The computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise providing the electronic content item to multiple client devices of the user from the personal remote storage space.

20. The computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a request from a downloader application of the client device to download the electronic content item; and

sending the electronic content item to the client device at least partially in response to the request.

21. A computing system comprising:

a remote storage data store including personal remote storage space for one or more individuals;

a processor; and

memory accessible by the processor, the memory storing;

a content provider module executable by the processor to;

receive an electronic content item from a content provider data store in response to a determination that the electronic content item is to be stored in a respective personal remote storage space of a particular individual, wherein the determination occurs during a transaction to acquire the electronic content item; and

store the electronic content item in the respective personal remote storage space of the particular individual; and

an item download module executable by the processor to;

receive an instruction to send the electronic content item to a client device of the particular individual; and

provide the electronic content item to the client device from the respective personal remote storage space of the particular individual.

22. The computing system of claim 21, wherein the instruction to send the electronic content item to the client device of the particular individual is received from a downloader application of client device, a content provider server, or a media service.

23. The computing system of claim 21, wherein the memory further stores a streaming module executable by the processor to:

receive a request to stream the electronic content item; and

stream the electronic content item to the client device via a media service.

24. The computing system of claim 21, wherein the electronic content item was purchased by the particular individual from a site of a merchant.

25. The computing system of claim 21, wherein receiving the electronic content item from the content provider data store indicates selection of an option to store electronic content items acquired by the particular individual in the respective personal remote storage space.

26. The computing system of claim 25, wherein the selection of the option sets a default preference of the particular individual to automatically store the electronic content items acquired by the particular individual in the respective personal remote storage space.

27. The computing system of claim 21, wherein a link associated with an additional electronic content item is stored in the respective personal remote storage space, the link including instructions to access the additional electronic content item from the content provider data store.

28. The computing system of claim 21, wherein the item download module is further executable by the processor to:

determine whether the client device is executing a downloader application;

send access information to the client device when the client device is executing the downloader application, the access information including a remote storage identifier indicating a storage location of the electronic content item in the respective personal remote storage space of the particular individual; and

receive a request from the client device to download the electronic content item, the request including the remote storage identifier.

29. A client device comprising:

a processor; and

memory accessible by the processor, the memory storing;

a first application executable by the processor to;

access a site of a content provider; and

acquire an electronic content item from the content provider via the site; and

a second application executable by the processor to;

receive access information from a remote storage server after the electronic content item has been acquired;

send a request to the remote storage server to obtain the electronic content item from a personal remote storage space of the user of the client device, the request including at least a portion of the access information; and

receive the electronic content item from the personal remote storage space of the user.

30. The client device of claim 29, wherein the second application is a downloader application that is executable by the processor to send a request to download an additional electronic content item from the content provider.

31. The client device of claim 29, wherein the second application is a downloader application that is executable by the processor to store the electronic content item in the memory and launch a media player application of the client device to play the electronic content item stored in the memory.

32. The client device of claim 29, wherein the second application is a downloader application that is executable by the processor to send a request to a media service to stream the electronic content item from the personal remote storage space.

33. The client device of claim 29, further comprising an operating system executable by the processor to:

receive a request from the remote storage server to provide an indication whether the second application is executing on the client device; and

send an indication to the remote storage server that the second application is executing on the client device.

34. The client device of claim 29, wherein the access information includes a remote storage uniform resource locator (URL) indicating a storage location of the electronic content item in the personal remote storage space of the user of the client device.