Digital coupons for pay televisions
First Claim
1. A transmitting end apparatus of a subscriber television network, comprising:
- a programming services data function for providing programming services;
a digital coupon information function for providing digital coupon information; and
a controller;
wherein;
said controller is responsive to said programming services function for transmitting the programming services to a plurality of subscriber terminals of the network via a communication channel;
said programming services are adapted to be recovered by said subscriber terminals;
said controller is responsive to said digital coupon information function for delivering the digital coupon information to said terminals via said communication channel;
said digital coupon information defines preconditions for enabling said terminals to obtain credits when recovering the programming services; and
said digital coupon information enables the terminals to maintain a running credit balance according to credits obtained and credits redeemed.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Digital coupons are selectively transmitted in a communication network to subscriber terminals for promotional purposes. Subscribers automatically receive coupon credits when they meet the preconditions of the digital coupons. Free or reduced price pay-per-view (PPV) programming in particular may be provided when a subscriber purchases a given number of PPV programs at a regular price. The terminals maintain a running balance of available coupon credits and inform the subscriber via a user interface of the available balance. Subscribers can be rewarded for viewing commercial messages by awarding coupons which can be immediately redeemed for PPV programs. With an optional report back capability, terminal usage pattern data can be retrieved and analyzed by program service providers to determine the effectiveness of the promotions and to gather additional demographic and individual data. The integrity of the scheme is assured with encryption techniques.
747 Citations
51 Claims
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1. A transmitting end apparatus of a subscriber television network, comprising:
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a programming services data function for providing programming services; a digital coupon information function for providing digital coupon information; and a controller;
wherein;said controller is responsive to said programming services function for transmitting the programming services to a plurality of subscriber terminals of the network via a communication channel; said programming services are adapted to be recovered by said subscriber terminals; said controller is responsive to said digital coupon information function for delivering the digital coupon information to said terminals via said communication channel; said digital coupon information defines preconditions for enabling said terminals to obtain credits when recovering the programming services; and said digital coupon information enables the terminals to maintain a running credit balance according to credits obtained and credits redeemed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A transmitting end method for a subscriber television network, comprising the steps of:
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providing programming services and digital coupon information at the transmitting end; and transmitting the programming services and the digital coupon information from the transmitting end to a plurality of subscriber terminals of the network via a communication channel;
wherein;the programming services are adapted to be recovered by the subscriber terminals; the digital coupon information defines preconditions for enabling the terminals to obtain credits when recovering the programming services; and the digital coupon information enables the terminals to maintain a running credit balance according to credits obtained and credits redeemed. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A subscriber terminal in a subscriber television network, comprising:
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means for recovering programming services and digital coupon information from a transmitting end of the network via a communication channel; means for processing said digital coupon information to determine preconditions thereof for enabling the terminal to obtain credits when recovering the programming services; and means for maintaining a running credit balance according to credits obtained and credits redeemed. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A data processing method for a terminal in a subscriber television network, comprising the steps of:
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recovering programming services and digital coupon information from a transmitting end of the network via a communication channel; processing said digital coupon information to determine preconditions thereof for enabling the terminal to obtain credits when recovering the programming services; and maintaining a running credit balance according to credits obtained and credits redeemed. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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Specification