Systems and Methods For Facilitating The Acquisition of Content

• US 20130090102A1
• Filed: 08/31/2012
• Published: 04/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Music Choice
• Original Assignee: Music Choice
• Inventors: ROSENBERG, Jeremy C., YURMAN, Ronald M., ELLIS, Robert A., BEHTA, Siamak
• Granted Patent: US 8,639,228 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42017 Customized ring-back tones
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods for acquiring content (e.g., a ring tone or a ring view) for a communication device.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A method for providing content to a communication device, comprising:

transmitting content to the communication device, the content comprising time-based audio data corresponding to an audio track;

transmitting to the communication device information identifying the audio track and information identifying a remote system, wherein the information identifying the audio track and the information identifying the remote system are transmitted with the content;

receiving at the remote system information comprising information indicating that a user of the communication device desires to acquire related content related to the transmitted content, but different than the transmitted content;

after receiving the information, selecting related content based, at least in part, on the received information, wherein the selected related content comprises audio data

transmitting the selected related content to the communication device, which in response to receiving the related content, stores the received related content in a storage unit of the communication device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the received information further comprises information identifying capabilities of the communication device and/or an identifier identifying a type of content.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the received information further comprises an identifier identifying a type of content.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of transmitting the content to the communication device comprises streaming the audio content to the communication device.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of transmitting the content to the communication device comprises multicasting the content to a plurality of communication devices such that each of the plurality of communication devices is operable to receive and play the transmitted content.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of transmitting the content to the communication device comprises unicasting the content to the communication device.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the received information includes information identifying the content.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein

the communication device is a mobile phone, and

the transmitted content is not a ring tone preview or a ring tone.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the selected related content is a ring tone.

11. A method for providing content to a user of a communication device, comprising:

transmitting, from a content server, to the communication device a stream comprising program data comprising time-based audio data and non-program data comprising a link; and

while the communication device is playing the program data, (i) receiving at the remote server a message comprising information indicating that a user of the communication device desires to acquire related content related to the program data, but different than the program data, and (ii) in response to receiving the message, transmitting to the communication device an object associated with the link, wherein the object is configured so that the user can use the object to obtain the related content, wherein the communication device is configured to display the object while playing the program data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the program data is transmitted to the communication device without a user of the communication device having to previously request the program data.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the program data is not a ring tone preview or a ring tone.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the link is a uniform resource locator or a uniform resource identifier.

15. A method for providing content to a user of a communication device, comprising:

transmitting, from a content server, to the communication device a stream comprising program data comprising time-based audio data and non-program data comprising time-based data related to the program data; and

while the communication device is playing the program data, (i) receiving at the remote server a message comprising information indicating that a user of the communication device desires to acquire related content related to the program data, but different than the program data, and (ii) after receiving the message transmitting to the communication device a reply message.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the reply message comprises a license that enables the communication device to play the related time-based data.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the reply message indicates that the related time-based data may be acquired.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the non-program data is protected by a digital rights management (DRM) scheme.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the non-program data and the program data are interleaved when received at the communication device.