Method of and content delivery server for delivering content to a personal computer having a disk drive which includes a network address for the content delivery server and a server-contacting program

• US 6,983,316 B1
• Filed: 07/18/2000
• Issued: 01/03/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Western Digital Technologies Incorporated (Western Digital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Western Digital Ventures Incorporated (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: Milne, Matthew W., Eneboe, Michael K., Hughes, Scott T., Luu, Vu V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Dustin
• Application Number:
  US09/618,766
• Time in Patent Office: 1,995 Days
• Field of Search: 709/102, 709/229, 717/170, 713/2, 713/201
• US Class Current: 709/221
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A content delivery server delivers digital content to a personal computer having a disk drive which stores a network address and server-contacting program for establishing a connection between the content delivery server and the personal computer. The content delivery system provides a variety of digital content including AVI, MPEG and MP3 format files to the personal computer and periodically refreshes the content according to user preferences.

Claims

1. A method of delivering content from a content delivery server to a personal computer system that includes a computing subsystem and a disk drive, the method comprising:

selecting a network address for the content delivery server;

selecting a server-contacting program;

storing the network address and the server-contacting program in the disk drive;

installing disk drive executable code in a disk controller circuit in the disk drive to initiate execution of the server-contacting program after the disk drive is connected to the computing subsystem in the personal computer system, wherein execution of the server-contacting program includes using the network address for connecting the personal computer system to the content delivery server; and

configuring the content delivery server, the configuring comprising;

receiving user information from the personal computer system while the personal computer system is connected to the content delivery server; and

delivering content to the personal computer system in response to the user information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the disk drive includes a protected area; and

the network address and the server-contacting program are stored in the protected area.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the disk drive executable code resides in a disk controller circuit.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the disk drive executable code delays initiating execution of the server-contacting program until a predetermined period has lapsed.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the personal computer system displays the content during a boot sequence.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the content is periodically changed according to a presentation schedule.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the disk drive executable code delays initiating execution of the server-contacting program until the disk drive executable code determines that a selected number of monitored events exceeds a threshold.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the monitored events includes the number of boot-ups in the computing subsystem.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is selected from the group comprising:

a content display program, a game, an entertainment program, a utility program, entertainment data, advertisement data, and music data.

10. A content delivery server for delivering content to a personal computer system that includes a computing subsystem and a disk drive, the content delivery server comprising:

means for communicating with a personal computer system, wherein the personal computer system comprises;

a disk drive comprising;

a network address for identifying the content delivery server; and

a server contacting program;

a disk controller circuit for, upon the occurrence of a selected condition that is determined by the disk controller circuit, initiating execution of the server-contacting program after the disk drive is connected to the computing subsystem in the personal computer system, wherein execution of the server-contacting program includes using the network address for connecting the personal computer system to the content delivery server;

means for receiving user information from the personal computer system while the personal computer system is connected to the content delivery server;

means for maintaining a database including the user information associated with the disk drive in the personal computer system; and

means for delivering content to the personal computer system in response to the user information.

11. The content delivery server of claim 10, wherein the disk controller circuit automatically initiates the execution of the server-contacting program when the disk drive is connected to the computing subsystem in the personal computer system.

12. The content delivery server of claim 10, wherein the disk controller circuit delays initiating execution of the server-contacting program until a predetermined period has lapsed.

13. The content delivery server of claim 10, wherein the firmware delays initiating execution of the server-contacting program until the firmware determines that a selected number of monitored events exceeds a threshold.

14. The content delivery server of claim 13, wherein the monitored events includes the number of boot-ups in the computing subsystem.

15. The content delivery server of claim 10, wherein the personal computer system displays the content during a boot sequence.

16. The content delivery server of claim 15, wherein the content is periodically changed based upon a presentation schedule.

17. The content delivery server of claim 15, wherein the content is selected from the group comprising:

a content display program, a game, an entertainment program, a utility program, entertainment data, advertisement data, and music data.