General purpose metering mechanism for distribution of electronic information
First Claim
1. A system that distributes electronic information, comprising:
- an external device that transmits a unit of information which has a content data and a content title;
a plurality of client computers which receive said content title, said client computers each being operated by an end user which can request access to said content data; and
a metering server that receives said unit of information transmitted by said external device, transfers said content title to said plurality of client computers of end users, and transfers said content data to a client computer of an end user that requests said content data.
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Abstract
A computer network system that contains a metering mechanism which can meter the flow of electronic information to a client computer within a network. The information can be generated by a publisher and electronically distributed to a plurality of metering servers which each contain the metering mechanism. The metering servers each reside in a local area network that contains a number of client computers. The client computers each contain a graphical user interface that allows an end user to request consumption of the information. The metering mechanisms control the transfer of information into the client computers. Each unit of information has an associated cost type and cost value that are used to calculate a price for the information. When the end user request consumption of information, the metering mechanism determines whether the end user can consume the information. If the end user can access the information, the meter will transfer the information to the end user and charge the price of the information to an electronic account of the end user stored in a database of the metering server. The metering mechanism can periodically transfer the balance of the account, and the charges associated with the account to a billing database that resides in a regional server which automatically generates a bill for the end user.
643 Citations
47 Claims
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1. A system that distributes electronic information, comprising:
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an external device that transmits a unit of information which has a content data and a content title; a plurality of client computers which receive said content title, said client computers each being operated by an end user which can request access to said content data; and a metering server that receives said unit of information transmitted by said external device, transfers said content title to said plurality of client computers of end users, and transfers said content data to a client computer of an end user that requests said content data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system that distributes electronic information, comprising:
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a publisher/advertiser unit that generates and transmits a unit of information which has a content data and a content title; a plurality of client computers which receive said content title, said client computers each being operated by an end user which can request access to said content data; a metering server that receives said unit of information, transfers said content title to said plurality of client computers of said end users, and transfers said content data to said client computer of said end user that requests said content data; and a clearinghouse server which transfers said unit of information to said metering server. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A system that distributes electronic information, comprising:
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external device means for transmitting a unit of information which has a content data and a content title; a plurality of client computers which receive said content title, said client computers each being operated by an end user which can request access to said content data; and metering means for receiving said unit of information, transferring said content title to said plurality of client computers of said end users, and transferring said content data to said client computer of said end user that requests said content data. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A system that distributes electronic information, comprising:
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publisher/advertiser means for generating and transmitting a unit of information which has a content data and a content title; a plurality of client computers which receive said content title, said client computers each being operated by an end user which can request access to said content data; metering means for receiving said unit of information, transferring said content title to said plurality of client computers of said end users, and transferring said content data to said client computer of said end user that requests said content data; and clearinghouse means for transferring said unit of information from said publisher/advertiser means to said metering means. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A method for distributing electronic information, comprising the steps of:
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a) generating a unit of information that has a content data and a content title; b) transmitting said unit of information from a publisher/advertiser to a metering server; c) transmitting said content title to a plurality of client computers, each being operated by an end user; d) requesting said content data by an end user; and
,e) transmitting said content data to said client computer of said end user that requested said content data. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47)
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Specification