Impulse pay per view system and method
First Claim
1. A method for implementing telephone-based purchase requests by a subscriber, said subscriber having a telephone unit served by a telephone company central office, said telephone company central office using a computer which, in response to a telephone call from the subscriber, provides a calling line data message which includes an origination telephone number for the calling subscriber and destination telephone number data entered by the calling subscriber via his telephone unit to indicate said purchase request, comprising the steps of:
- electronically receiving a calling line data message from the telephone company central office;
applying first information representing the origination telephone number of the subscriber directly to a system controller at an operator station, said system controller having access to authorization information editable by a billing system concerning the eligibility of the subscriber for said purchase request;
determining from said first information and said authorization information whether the subscriber making the request is eligible to make the purchase; and
if said determining step indicates that the subscriber is eligible for said purchase, then executing the request and indicating the transaction to a billing system.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An IPPV technique is provided for a cable system having one-way addressable converters. Each of several central offices in a metropolitan area will provide ANI information representing the cable subscriber'"'"'s phone number and a code representing the cable event to be viewed or cancelled. The data is sent asynchronously to a respective telephone communication unit located at the central office. This telephone communication unit (TCU) does some buffering, eliminates unnecessary data, and sends data synchronously to a telepone communication controller (TCC) located at the cable headend station. The TCC will acknowledge the data. There will be several TCCs located at the cable headend station corresponding to the several central offices who may give telephone service to the cable operator'"'"'s subscribers. All of these TCCs at the headend station are coupled through a multiplexer to a system controller. Each TCC provides intermediate processing which converts the subscriber'"'"'s telephone number into binary. The multiplexer provides buffering, flow control, and arbitration among various TCCs. The multiplexer adapts to data flow conditions. The system controller receives data from each subscriber, locates a corresponding home terminal unit address, examines the password and other information, and maps the two digit program identification which was entered by the subscriber into an authorization code. It then authorizes the home terminal units in accordance with the IPPV requests by transmitting the subscriber'"'"'s cable address and a new authorization code in the vertical blanking interval, generates the commercial transaction, and downloads the transaction to a billing system.
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Citations
63 Claims
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1. A method for implementing telephone-based purchase requests by a subscriber, said subscriber having a telephone unit served by a telephone company central office, said telephone company central office using a computer which, in response to a telephone call from the subscriber, provides a calling line data message which includes an origination telephone number for the calling subscriber and destination telephone number data entered by the calling subscriber via his telephone unit to indicate said purchase request, comprising the steps of:
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electronically receiving a calling line data message from the telephone company central office; applying first information representing the origination telephone number of the subscriber directly to a system controller at an operator station, said system controller having access to authorization information editable by a billing system concerning the eligibility of the subscriber for said purchase request; determining from said first information and said authorization information whether the subscriber making the request is eligible to make the purchase; and if said determining step indicates that the subscriber is eligible for said purchase, then executing the request and indicating the transaction to a billing system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 47, 48, 49, 50, 61, 63)
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5. A method of implementing telephone-based pay per view requests by subscribers to view pay per view events, each of said subscribers having an addressable access terminal unit, each subscriber having a telephone unit, said telephone units being served by telephone company central offices, each of said telephone company central offices using a computer which, in response to a telephone call from a calling subscriber, provides a calling line data message which includes an origination telephone number for the calling subscriber and destination telephone number data entered by the calling subscriber via his telephone unit to indicate a pay per view request, comprising the steps of:
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electronically receiving a plurality of calling line data messages from respective calling subscribers at plural telephone company offices; electronically transmitting at least the origination telephone number portion and the destination telephone number data portion of each of the calling line data messages to a headend station; electronically receiving said origination telephone number portion and said destination telephone number data portion of each of said calling line data messages at said headend station and applying said telephone number portions directly to a system controller; locating, using said system controller, stored data indicating whether said calling subscribers are eligible to view the requested pay per view events, at least a portion of said stored data having been responsive to input from a billing system, said locating step occurring at said headend station and employing said telephone number portions; and addressing and updating data stored in the calling subscriber'"'"' access terminal units if said stored data indicates that said calling subscribers are eligible to view the requested pay per view events. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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19. A method for executing a telephone-based pay per view ("PPV") request to view an event in a system having a headend station and numerous subscribers remotely located from said headend station, said subscribers having telephone units served by plural telephone company central offices and having one-way addressable access terminal units, comprising the steps of:
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receiving calling line data messages from Automatic Number Identification ("ANI") computers coupled to the plural telephone company central offices, each of said calling line data messages including an origination telephone number for a respective calling subscriber making a PPV request and a destination telephone number entered by the calling subscriber via his telephone unit to indicate a PPV request, said receiving step occurring at each of said telephone company central offices in real time; stripping unnecessary data received from said ANI computers and buffering the resulting data at units associated with respective central offices;
thenseparately communicating said resulting data from each of said units to corresponding communication controllers located at the headend station; converting the format of data received by said communication controllers and temporarily storing converted data thereat; communicating said converted data from said communication controllers directly to a system controller at the headend station at a high transfer rate, said system controller having stored data therein for said subscribers, said stored data having been responsive to input from a billing system; locating said stored data for said calling subscribers by using said origination telephone numbers and determining whether said stored data indicates that said calling subscribers can view said PPV event; and communicating address codes and authorization codes to said addressable access terminal units. - View Dependent Claims (20, 55)
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21. A system for executing a telephone-based per pay per view (PPV) request, the system having a headend station and numerous subscribers remotely located from the headend station, said subscribers having telephone units served by a telephone company central office and having one-way addressable access terminal units, comprising:
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a receiving circuit coupled to an Automatic Number Identification (ANI) computer at the telephone company central office for receiving message data representing a request from a calling subscriber, said data including the calling subscriber'"'"'s telephone number and data representing an event as to which a transaction is requested by the calling subscriber; a communication link between said receiving circuit and the headend station; a system controller located at the headend station for electronically mapping the telephone number portion PG,74 of said message data into subscriber data stored in said system controller, said subscriber data including eligibility data indicating whether the calling subscriber is eligible to receive the event; a billing system coupled to said system controller, said billing system being able to alter said eligibility data; a coupling circuit coupling said message data directly to said system controller, said system controller determining from said eligibility data and said message data whether the calling subscriber is eligible to view said event and if so, then authorizing said addressable access terminal units to be addressed; and an encoding circuit responsively coupled to said system controller for communicating with the access terminal units associated with said calling subscriber. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 56)
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27. A system for executing telephone-based pay per view (PPV) requests to view an event, the system having a headend station and numerous cable subscribers remotely located from said headend station, said subscribers having telephone units served by plural telephone company central offices, each subscriber having at least one one-way addressable access terminal unit, comprising:
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plural circuits for receiving data representing calling subscriber requests, including the calling subscriber telephone numbers, from Automatic Number Indentification (ANI) computers assocated with the telephone company central offices; plural communication links each arranged for coupling a respective one of said circuits for receiving to said headend station; a system controller at said headend station; a coupling circuit at said headend station for coupling said calling subscriber telephone numbers to said system controller;
said system controller being operable to map said subscriber telephone numbers into subscriber data, said subscriber data including eligibility data indicating whether the calling subscribers are eligible to receive the requested event;a billing system coupled to said system controller, said billing system being able to alter said eligibility data;
said system controller determining from said eligibility data whether the calling subscribers are eligible to view the requested event; andan encoding circuit responsively coupled to said system controller for communicating authorization codes to the access terminal units of the calling subscribers. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 62)
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44. A system for executing telephone-based pay per view (PPV) requests from subscribers to view a PPV event, the system having a headend station and numerous subscribers remotely located from the headend station, said subscribers having telephone units served by a telephone company central office and having one-way addressable access terminal units comprising:
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a plurality of communication units each located at a respective telephone company central office and each communicating with a respective ANI computer for receiving calling line message data therefrom including the telephone number of each subscriber calling said telephone company central office with a request to view said PPV event and a destination telephone number which indicates said PPV event; a plurality of communication controllers located at said cable headend station, each corresponding to a respective communication unit; a plurality of first communication links for coupling each of said communication units to its corresponding communication controller; a second communication link coupled to all of said communication controllers for receiving data therefrom, including the telephone numbers of said subscribers who have called to request said event; a system controller directly coupled to said second communication link for receiving data therefrom and for mapping said telephone numbers into respective blocks of stored data each of which includes, for the respective subscriber, the subscriber'"'"'s access terminal unit address and eligibility data indicative of whether the calling subscriber may view said PPV event, said blocks of data being stored in said system controller; an encoding circuit responsively coupled to said system controller for communicating data to the access terminal units of those subscribers whose said eligibility data indicates that they are entitled to view said PPV event; a billing system coupled to said system controller for updating said eligibility data; each of said communication units including a logic means responsive to the receipt of data from the corresponding ANI computer for stripping therefrom unnecessary data, each of said communication units including a storage device, said logic means being operable to store data remaining after said stripping in said storage device; each of said communication controllers including logic means and a storage device, said logic means being operative for causing data received at said communication controller via the corresponding first communication link to be stored temporarily in said storage device and for converting the format of data into binary form. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46)
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57. A method for implementing telephone-based pay per view ("PPV") requests by subscribers to view a PPV event, each said subscriber having a telephone unit served by a telephone company central office and having an addressable access terminal unit, said telephone company central office using apparatus which, in response to a telephone call from the subscriber, provides a corresponding calling line data message which includes the origination telephone number for calling subscriber and the destination telephone number data entered by the calling subscriber via the subscriber'"'"'s telephone unit to indicate the PPV request, comprising the steps of:
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electronically receiving calling line data messages from the telephone company central office in a first data format; stripping unnecessary data from said each calling line data message to provide a plurality of compressed data measages each of which includes the origination telephone number and said destination number of a calling subscriber; temporarily storing said plurality of said compressed data messages; transmitting said plurality of compressed data messages via a communication link to a headend office; receiving said plurality of compressed data messages at a communication controller at said headend station; converting the format of the portions of said compressed data messages which include the origination telephone numbers received by said communication controllers into binary format, including finding a first binary number in a look-up table for a first portion of an origination telephone number, converting a second portion of said origination telephone number into a second binary number, and converting a third portion of said origination telephone number into a binary format;
said communication controller also converting said destination telephone number into a binary format; andcommunicating said binary numbers directly to a system controller, said system controller locating, from each said origination telephone number, a data block for the corresponding calling subscriber, said data block including a flag which indicates whether said calling subscriber may receive said PPV event;
said data block flags being editable by a billing system;
said system controller updating the addressable access terminal unit of a said calling subscriber if the corresponding said flag indicates that said calling subscriber is eligible to view said PPV event. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60)
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Specification