Ordering items of playable content or other works
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A computer-implemented method for enabling a customer to sample items of playable content prior to potential purchase, comprising:
- receiving, via a network and from a terminal disposed in a retail site, input selection information indicative of an item to be sampled by a customer, the item including playable content;
determining a base price associated with the item;
accessing a pricing model for the item of playable content that depends on a current usage of the network;
computing a price characteristic of the item of playable content based on the base price and the pricing model;
transmitting the price characteristic over the network to the terminal for display to the customer; and
transmitting a sample of the item over the network to the terminal,wherein determining a base price associated with the item further comprises interrogating a content database for a database record associated with the content, andwherein the database record further comprises an artist name field, a record label field, an album title field, a track title field, a release date field, a genre field, a catalog number field, a mood classification field, an average age field, a predominant sex field, a related item list field, the base price field, a delivery period field, an art clip field, a sound sample field, a written notes field, and a written reviews field.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Self-service terminals for sampling items of playable content. The terminal includes input means for inputting selection information, and reproduction means for replaying parts of selected items. The terminal may also include means for ordering and payment information, and may be located in high density retail sites.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for enabling a customer to sample items of playable content prior to potential purchase, comprising:
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receiving, via a network and from a terminal disposed in a retail site, input selection information indicative of an item to be sampled by a customer, the item including playable content; determining a base price associated with the item; accessing a pricing model for the item of playable content that depends on a current usage of the network; computing a price characteristic of the item of playable content based on the base price and the pricing model; transmitting the price characteristic over the network to the terminal for display to the customer; and transmitting a sample of the item over the network to the terminal, wherein determining a base price associated with the item further comprises interrogating a content database for a database record associated with the content, and wherein the database record further comprises an artist name field, a record label field, an album title field, a track title field, a release date field, a genre field, a catalog number field, a mood classification field, an average age field, a predominant sex field, a related item list field, the base price field, a delivery period field, an art clip field, a sound sample field, a written notes field, and a written reviews field. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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10. A device for enabling a customer to sample items of playable content prior to potential purchase, comprising:
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an interface configured to; receive, via a network and from a terminal disposed in a retail site, input selection information indicative of an item to be sampled by a customer, the item including playable content, transmit a price characteristic over the network to the terminal for display to the customer, and transmit a sample of the item over the network to the terminal; and a processor configured to; determine a base price associated with the item, access a pricing model for the item of playable content that depends on a current usage of the network, and compute the price characteristic of the item of playable content based on the base price and the pricing model, wherein determining a base price associated with the item further comprises interrogating a content database for a database record associated with the content, and wherein the database record further comprises an artist name field, a record label field, an album title field, a track title field, a release date field, a genre field, a catalog number field, a mood classification field, an average age field, a predominant sex field, a related item list field, the base price field, a delivery period field, an art clip field, a sound sample field, a written notes field, and a written reviews field.
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11. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a machine-readable medium, for enabling a customer to sample items of playable content prior to potential purchase, the computer program product comprising instructions that, when read by a machine, operated to cause a data processing apparatus to:
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receive, via a network and from a terminal disposed in a retail site, input selection information indicative of an item to be sampled by a customer, the item including playable content; determine a base price associated with the item; access a pricing model for the item of playable content that depends on a current usage of the network; compute a price characteristic of the item based on the base price and the pricing model; transmit the price characteristic over the network to the terminal for display to the customer; and transmit a sample of the item over the network to the terminal, wherein determining a base price associated with the item further comprises interrogating a content database for a database record associated with the content, and wherein the database record further comprises an artist name field, a record label field, an album title field, a track title field, a release date field, a genre field, a catalog number field, a mood classification field, an average age field, a predominant sex field, a related item list field, the base price field, a delivery period field, an art clip field, a sound sample field, a written notes field, and a written reviews field.
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12. A computer-implemented method for enabling a customer to sample items of playable content prior to potential purchase, comprising:
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receiving, via a network and from a free-standing, self-service kiosk disposed in a retail site, input selection information indicative of an item to be sampled by a customer, the item including playable music content; determining a base price associated with the item by interrogating a content database for a database record associated with the playable music content, wherein the database record further comprises an artist name field, a record label field, an album title field, a track title field, a release date field, a genre field, a catalog number field, a mood classification field, an average age field, a predominant sex field, a related item list field, the base price field, a delivery period field, an art clip field, a sound sample field, a written notes field, and a written reviews field; accessing a pricing model that depends on a usage of the network; computing a price characteristic of the item based on the base price and the pricing model, further comprising; computing a first price if the usage of the network is at an off-peak network load; and computing a second price if the usage of the network is at a peak network load, wherein the first price is lower than the second price of the off-peak network load is lower than the peak network load; transmitting the price characteristic over the network to the kiosk for display to the customer; and transmitting a sample of the item over the network to the kiosk by downloading the playable music content to an MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3) player at the terminal.
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Specification