DIGITAL MEDIA REPRODUCTION AND LICENSING

• US 20180307808A1
• Filed: 02/19/2018
• Published: 10/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Media Chain, LLC
• Original Assignee: Media Chain, LLC
• Inventors: Estes, Christopher A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,657,226 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/487 using geographical or spatial information, e.g. location
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1015 to users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; 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 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections

Abstract

Systems and methods for monetizing the reproduction of digital media content for the rights-holders of the digital media content. Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to determining whether a user of a media content item has a license to reproduce the media content item. In one embodiment, the media content item may be reproduced when the user is licensed. The user is prompted to select to acquire a license to reproduce the media content item or to decline the license to reproduce the media content item when the user is not licensed. Further embodiments determine whether a user may receive a license when the user wishes to acquire a license. In an embodiment, the user is declined a license when not approved for the license.

Claims

1-22. -22. (canceled)

23. A system for configuring a multimedia hardware device to generate an authorized reproduction of a media content item included in a digital media file, comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a request from an external device associated with a user requesting to stream a media content item, wherein the media content item includes media content item data included in a digital media file; and

at least one processor; and

a memory coupled with the processor, the memory including instructions that, when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

aggregate user data that is specific to the user that is requesting to stream the media content item into a user record that is specific to the user;

extract from the user record the user data that is specific to the user that is requesting to stream the media content item when the user at least one of streams and declines to stream the media content item;

aggregate the extracted user data into a statistics record for the request to stream the media content item, wherein the statistics record summarizes the user data associated with the request to stream the media content item; and

distribute a plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item to a party other than the user with the media content item to provide the aggregated user data from each request to stream the media content item via the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the processor is further configured to:

aggregate the media content item data specific to the media content item that the user is requesting to stream into a media record that is specific to the media content item that the user is requesting to stream;

distribute a plurality of media records from each request to stream the media content item to a copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner with the aggregated media content item data from each request to stream the media content item via the plurality of media records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the processor is further configured to:

extract from the media record the media content item data that is specific to the media content item that the user is requesting to stream when the user at least one of streams and declines to stream the media content item;

aggregate the media content item data into a statistics record for the request to stream the media content item when the user at least one of streams and declines to stream the media content item, wherein the statistics record summarizes the user data and the media content item data associated with the request to stream the media content item; and

distribute a plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner with the aggregated user data and the media content item data from each request to stream the media content item via the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the processor is further configured to:

evaluate the request from the user to stream the digital media content item to determine whether the user has acquired a license to stream the media content item; and

generate a license request to transmit to the external device associated with the user to offer the license to stream the digital media content item when the user does not have the license to stream the media content item.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the processor is further configured to:

after the evaluation of the license transaction, extracting from the license transaction the user data that is specific to user that is attempting to stream the media content item when the user acquires the license;

aggregate the user data into a license record for the request when the user acquires the license, wherein the license record summarizes the user data associated with the request when the user acquires the license; and

distribute a plurality of license records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user acquires the license to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner with the aggregated user data from each request to stream the media content item when the user acquires the license via the plurality of license records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user acquires the license.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the processor is further configured to:

after the evaluation of the license transaction, extracting from the license transaction the user data that is specific to the user that is attempting to stream the media content item when the user declines the license;

aggregate the user data into a statistics record for the request when the user declines the license, wherein the statistics record summarizes the user data associated with the request when the user declines the license; and

distribute a plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user declines the license to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner with the aggregated user data from each request to stream the media content item when the user declines the license via the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user declines the license.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the processor is further configured to:

after the evaluation of the license transaction, extract from the license transaction the user data that is specific to the user that is attempting to stream the media content item and the media content item data that is specific to the media content item that the user is attempting to stream when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license;

aggregate the user data and the media content item data into a statistics record for the request when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license, wherein the statistics record summarizes the user data and the media content item data associated with the request when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license;

distribute a plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner the aggregated user data and the media content item data from each request to stream the media content item when the user at least one accepts the license and declines the license via the plurality statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license.

30. The system of claim 23, wherein the user data includes demographic data associated with the user that enables the copyright owner of the media content item to gauge a demographic that at least one of acquires and declines the license for the media content item of the copyright owner.

31. The system of claim 23, wherein the user data includes geographic data associated with the user that enables the copyright owner of the media content item to gauge a geographic that at least one of acquires and declines the license for the media content item of the copyright owner.

32. The system of claim 23, wherein the user data includes additional media content items that the user has previously requested to stream that enables the copyright owner of the media content item to gauge the additional media content items that the user has previously requested to stream that at least one of acquires and declines the license for the media content item.

33. The system of claim 23, wherein the user data includes a quantity of times that the user has previously accessed the media content item and additional media content items that enables the copyright owner of the media content item to gauge the quantity of times that the user has previously accessed the media content item and additional media content items for the user that at least one of acquires and declines the license for the media content item.

34. A method for configuring a multimedia hardware device to generate an authorized reproduction of a media content item included in a digital media file, comprising:

receiving a request to stream a media content item, wherein the media content item includes media content item data included in a digital media file;

aggregating user data that is specific to a user that is requesting to stream the media content item into a user record that is specific to the user;

extracting from the user record the user data that is specific to the user when the user at least one of streams and declines the media content item;

aggregating the user data into a statistics record for the request to stream the media content item, wherein the statistics record summarizes the user data associated with the request to stream the media content item; and

distribute a plurality of statistics records aggregating from each request to stream the media content item to a party other than the user to provide the aggregated user data from each request to stream the media content item via the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

aggregating the media content item data specific to the media content item that the user is requesting to stream into a media record that is specific to the media content item that the user is requesting to stream; and

distributing a plurality of media records from each request to stream the media content item to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner with the aggregated media content item data from each request to stream the media content item via the plurality of media records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

extracting from the media record the media content item data that is specific to the media content item that the user is requesting to stream when the user at least one of streams and declines to stream the media content item;

aggregate the media content item data into a statistics record for the request to stream the media content item when the user at least one of streams and declines to stream the media content item, wherein the statistics record summarizes the user data and the media content item data associated with the request to stream the media content item; and

distribute a plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner with the aggregated user data and the media content item data from each request to stream the media content item via the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to steam the media content item.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

evaluating the request from the user to stream the digital media content item to determine whether the user has acquired the license to stream the media content item; and

generating a license request to transmit to the user to offer the license to stream the digital media content item when the user does not have the license to stream the media content item.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising:

after the evaluation of the license transaction, extracting from the license transaction, the user data that is specific to the user that is attempting to stream the media content item when the user acquires the license;

aggregating the user data into a license record for the request when the user acquires the license, wherein the license record summarizes the user data associated with the request when the user acquires the license; and

distributing a plurality of license records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user acquires the license to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner with the aggregated user data from each request to stream the media content item when the user acquires the license via the plurality of license records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user acquires the license.

39. The system of claim 38, further comprising:

after the evaluation of the license transaction, extracting from the license transaction the user data that is specific to the user that is attempting to stream the media content item when the user declines the license;

aggregating the user data into a statistics record for the request when the user declines the license, wherein the statistics record summarizes the user data associated with the request when the user declines the license; and

distribute a plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user declines the license to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner with the aggregated user data from each request to stream the media content item when the user declines the license via the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user declines the license.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

after the evaluation of the license transaction, extracting from the license transaction the user data that is specific to the user that is attempting to stream the media content item and the media content item data that is specific to the media content item that the user is attempting to stream when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license;

aggregating the user data and the media content item data into a statistics record for the request when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license, wherein the statistics record summarizes the user data and the media content item data associated with the request when the user at least one of acquires the license and declines the license; and

distributing a plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license to the copyright owner of the media content item to provide the copyright owner the aggregated user data and the media content item data from each request to stream the media content item when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license via the plurality of statistics records aggregated from each request to stream the media content item when the user at least one of acquires and declines the license.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the user data includes demographic data associated with the user that enables the copyright owner of the media content item to gauge a demographic that at least one of acquires and declines the license for the media content item of the copyright owner.

42. The method of 41, wherein the user data includes geographic data associated with the user that enables the copyright owner of the media content item to gauge a geographic that at least one of acquires and declines the license for the media content item of the copyright owner.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the user data includes additional media content items that the user has previously requested to stream that enables the copyright owner of the media content item to gauge the additional media content items that the user has previously requested to stream that at least one of acquires and declines the license for the media content item.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the user data includes a quantity of times that the user has previously accessed the media content item and additional media content items that enables the copyright owner of the media content item to gauge the quantity of times that the user has previously accessed the media content item and additional media content items that at least one of acquires and declines the license for the media content item.