VIDEO ON DEMAND GIFTING

• US 20130212610A1
• Filed: 02/10/2012
• Published: 08/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Baskaran, Arjun, Hussain, Aarif Mohamed, Manda, Subramanyam, Virushabadoss, Kunthunathan, Mahaboobjan, Nazeer
• Granted Patent: US 9,807,438 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/23
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2542 for selling goods, e.g. TV shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• 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 21/4784 receiving rewards

Abstract

A system receives, from a first user device associated with a giver, a request for a video-on-demand (VOD) gift, wherein the request identifies a recipient and a VOD selection. The system creates a billing event corresponding to the VOD gift, for an account associated with the giver, and generates a coupon code for the VOD gift. The coupon code is associated with the identified recipient and the VOD selection. The system sends, to a second user device associated with the recipient, an indication of the VOD gift that includes the coupon code. The system receives, from a third user device associated with the recipient, the coupon code and provides, to the third user device, information to enable access to VOD content corresponding to the coupon code.

Claims

1. A method performed by one or more network devices, comprising:

receiving, from a first user device associated with a giver, a request for a video-on-demand (VOD) gift, wherein the request identifies a recipient and a VOD selection;

creating a billing event, corresponding to the VOD gift, for an account associated with the giver;

generating a coupon code for the VOD gift, wherein the coupon code is associated with the identified recipient and the VOD selection;

sending, to a second user device associated with the recipient, a first indication of the VOD gift that includes the coupon code, when the recipient is an in-franchise user;

sending, to the second user device associated with the recipient, a second indication of the VOD gift that includes the coupon code and a link to access the VOD gift, when the recipient is an out-of-franchise user;

receiving, from a third user device associated with the recipient, the coupon code; and

providing, to the third user device, information to enable access to VOD content corresponding to the coupon code.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, to the first user device, a user interface to solicit identification information for the recipient and the VOD selection.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the user interface includes access to one or more stored contacts associated with another account for the giver.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the user interface is a web page that is accessible via a public network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the VOD selection includes one of:

a particular VOD item,

a series of VOD content, or

a monetary credit toward a variety of VOD content.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the billing event includes one of:

an on-line payment transaction, or

a line item for an existing subscription account.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the first indication of the VOD gift or the second indication of the VOD gift includes sending one or more of:

a Short Message Service (SMS) message,

an instant message (IM),

a mobile IM (MIM), or

an email message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second user device and the third user device are the same device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, in a memory and based on the request for the VOD gift, the coupon code generated for the VOD gift, the recipient identification information, and the VOD selection; and

validating the coupon code received from the third user device based on the stored coupon code for the VOD gift.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the third user device, a request to access the VOD content based on the information to enable access to the VOD content; and

providing, to the third user device, the VOD content corresponding to the coupon code.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user device is a media client with a proprietary interface to a VOD provider network.

12. One or more network devices, comprising:

one or more memories to store a plurality of instructions; and

one or more processors configured to execute instructions in the one or more memories to;

provide, to a first user device associated with a giver, a first user interface for a video-on-demand (VOD) gift system, wherein the first user interface is configured to solicit contact information for a recipient and a VOD gift selection;

receive, from the first user device and via the first user interface, a request for a VOD gift, wherein the request includes the contact information for the recipient and the VOD gift selection;

create a billing event, corresponding to the VOD gift, for an account associated with the giver;

generate a coupon code for the VOD gift, wherein the coupon code is associated with the contact information for the recipient and the VOD gift selection;

send, to a second user device associated with the recipient and based on the contact information, a first indication of the VOD gift when the recipient is an in-franchise user, wherein the first indication includes the coupon code;

send, to the second user device associated with the recipient and based on the contact information, a second indication of the VOD gift when the recipient is an out-of-franchise user, wherein the second indication includes the coupon code and a link to access the VOD gift

provide, to a third user device, a second user interface to solicit the coupon code;

receive, from the third user device and via the second user interface, the coupon code; and

provide, to the third user device, information to enable the third user device to access VOD content corresponding to the coupon code.

13. The one or more network devices of claim 12, wherein the memory is further configured to store the coupon code generated for the VOD gift and the VOD gift selection, and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

validate the coupon code received from the third user device based on the stored coupon code generated for the VOD gift.

14. The one or more network devices of claim 12, wherein the first user device and the third user device include a set-top box, and wherein the second user device includes one or more of:

a cellular phone,

a laptop computer,

a tablet computer,

a personal computer,

a game console,

a personal communications system (PCS) terminal,

a media player,

a personal digital assistant (PDA), or

a smartphone.

15. The one or more network devices of claim 12, wherein the user interface includes access to one or more stored contacts associated with another account for the giver, and wherein the stored contacts may be selected by the giver to identify the recipient.

16. The one or more network devices of claim 12, wherein the information to enable the third user device to access VOD content corresponding to the coupon code includes:

a uniform resource locator (URL) to access the VOD content.

17. The one or more network devices of claim 12, wherein the VOD gift selection includes one of:

a particular VOD item,

a series of VOD content, or

a monetary credit toward a variety of VOD content.

18. A system, comprising:

a catalog device configured to provide a list of video-on-demand (VOD) content available for gifting;

an application device configured to;

provide, to a first user device associated with a giver, a user interface for a video-on-demand (VOD) gift system, wherein the user interface is configured to solicit contact information for a recipient and a VOD gift selection based on the list of VOD content, and

receive, from the first user device and via the user interface, a request for a VOD gift, wherein the request includes the contact information for the recipient and the VOD gift selection;

an order processing system configured to create a billing event, corresponding to the VOD gift, for an account associated with the giver; and

a coupon platform configured to;

generate a coupon code for the VOD gift, wherein the coupon code is associated with the contact information for the recipient and the VOD gift selection,

send, to a second user device associated with the recipient and based on the contact information, a first indication of the VOD gift when the recipient is an in-franchise user, wherein the first indication includes the coupon code,

send, to the second user device associated with the recipient and based on the contact information, a second indication of the VOD gift when the recipient is an out-of-franchise user, wherein the second indication includes the coupon code and a link to access the VOD gift

store the coupon code generated for the VOD gift and the VOD gift selection, and

validate a coupon code received from a recipient based on the stored coupon code generated for the VOD gift.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the application device is further configured to:

provide, to another user device associated with the recipient, a second user interface to solicit the coupon code;

receive, via the second user interface, the generated coupon code; and

provide, to the other user device, information to enable the other user device to access VOD content corresponding to the generated coupon code.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

a customer support system configured to interface with the catalog device, the application device, and the coupon platform to manage an exchange of the VOD gift selection associated with the generated coupon code.