Systems and methods for facilitating the acquisition of content

• US 7,668,538 B2
• Filed: 06/15/2006
• Issued: 02/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Music Choice
• Original Assignee: Music Choice
• Inventors: Rosenberg, Jeremy C., Yurman, Ronald M., Behta, Siamak, Ellis, Robert A.
• Primary Examiner(s): RAMPURIA, SHARAD K
• Application Number:
  US11/452,994
• Publication Number:
  US 20060288082A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,349 Days
• Field of Search: 4554121-4122, 455/567, 455/414.1, 455/414.3, 455 301- 305, 705/14, 705/40, 705/1, 709203-206
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42017 Customized ring-back tones
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods for acquiring ring content (e.g., a ring tone or a ring view) for a mobile phone.

Claims

1. A method for acquiring ring content for a mobile phone, comprising:

receiving, at the mobile phone, transmitted content;

receiving at the mobile phone information identifying the content and information identifying a remote system, wherein the information identifying the content and the information identifying the remote system are transmitted with the content;

playing the received content for a user of the mobile phone;

while the phone is playing the content, enabling the user of the mobile phone to indicate that the user desires to acquire ring content corresponding to the transmitted content;

after the user indicates a desire to acquire the ring content, transmitting, from the mobile phone, a message to the identified remote system, wherein the remote system receives the message and, after receiving the message, selects ring content based, at least in part, on information included in the message and transmits the selected ring content to the mobile phone;

receiving the ring content at the mobile phone; and

storing the received ring content in a storage unit of the mobile phone.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the message comprises an identifier identifying the content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the message comprises an identifier identifying the mobile phone, information identifying the ring content capabilities of the mobile phone, and/or an identifier identifying a type of ring content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the content comprises digital music.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is streamed to the mobile phone.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is multicast to a plurality of mobile phones such that each of the plurality of mobile phones is operable to receive and play the content.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is unicast content.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the message transmitted to the remote system includes the information identifying the content.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of transmitting the message to a remote system comprises transmitting the message to the identified remote system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the message to the remote system comprises transmitting the message immediately in response to the user indicating the desire to acquire the ring content.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the message to the remote system comprises transmitting the message when the phone is finished playing the content.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the message to the remote system comprises transmitting the message at a future point in time after the phone is finished playing the content.

35. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is not a ring tone preview or a ring tone.

13. A method for acquiring ring content for a mobile phone, comprising:

receiving, at the mobile phone, a transmission comprising content and a pointer to a page;

playing the received content for a user of the mobile phone;

while the phone is playing the content, enabling the user to indicate that the user desires to acquire ring content corresponding to the content; and

if the user indicates a desire to acquire the ring content, then, after receiving the indication, automatically downloading to the mobile phone the page pointed to by the pointer and displaying the page to the user, wherein the page is configured so that the user can use the page to obtain the ring content.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the content is received at the mobile phone without the user having to previously request the content.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the content is not a ring tone preview or a ring tone.

36. The method of claim 14, wherein the program data is not a ring tone preview or a ring tone.

37. The method of claim 14, wherein the program data and non-program data is received at the mobile phone without the user having to previously request the program data.

16. A method for acquiring ring content for a mobile phone, comprising:

receiving, at the mobile phone, transmitted program data and non-program data;

playing, at the mobile phone, the received program data so that a user of the phone can consume the program data;

storing the received non-program data in a storage unit of the mobile phone;

while playing the received program data;

(a) informing the user of the phone, through an output device of the phone, that the non-program data is available to be acquired;

(b) enabling the user to indicate that the user would like to acquire the non-program data; and

(c) waiting for an indication from the user that indicates the user would like to acquire the non-program data.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the non-program data comprises ring content corresponding to the program data and/or a link to a product information page for the ring content.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the non-program data comprises the ring content and the method further comprises moving the ring content from the storage unit to a second storage unit after the indication is received.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first storage unit is volatile storage unit and the second storage unit is a non-volatile storage unit.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising transmitting, from the phone, a message to a remote system after the indication is received.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising receiving, at the phone, a reply message transmitted in response to the message transmitted to the remote system.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of receiving the reply message occurs prior to the step of moving the ring content.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the reply message comprises a license that enables the phone to play the ring content.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein the non-program data stored in the storage unit comprises the ring content, and the method further comprises configuring the phone or ring content so that the stored ring content can not be played by the phone.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

transmitting, from the phone, a message to a remote system after the indication is received;

receiving, at the phone, a reply message transmitted in response to the message transmitted to the remote system; and

, if the reply message indicates that the ring content may be acquired, configuring the phone or the stored ring content so that the phone can play the stored ring content.

26. The method of claim 17, wherein the non-program data stored in the storage unit comprises the ring content, which is protected by a digital rights management (DRM) scheme, and the method further comprises receiving a license after the indication is received, which license enables the phone to play the DRM protected ring content.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

transmitting, from the phone, a message to a remote system after the indication is received;

receiving, at the phone, a reply message transmitted in response to the message transmitted to the remote system, wherein the reply message includes the license.

28. The method of claim 17, wherein the non-program data comprises the link and the method further comprises using a browser executing in the phone to download the product information page to the phone.

29. The method of claim 16, further comprising separating the non-program data from the program data prior to storing the non-program data in the storage unit.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the non-program data and the program data are interleaved when received at the phone.

31. The method of claim 16, wherein prior to receiving the program data the method comprises:

receiving an indication that the user desires to consume unicast program data;

enabling the user to specify a type of program data or a profile;

receiving information identifying a type of program data or a profile;

transmitting a message, from the phone, to a remote system, wherein the message includes the received information and the remote system uses the information to select program data, and wherein the remote system transmits the selected program data to the phone.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the remote system transmits the non-program data with the selected program data.

33. The method of claim 16, further comprising deleting the non-program data from the storage unit if the indication is not received within a predetermined amount of time or prior to the occurrence of a predetermined event.

34. A mobile phone comprising a processor and a computer readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

a receiver for receiving (a) transmitted content, (b) information identifying the content, and (c) information identifying a remote system, wherein the information identifying the content, and the information identifying a remote system are transmitted with the content;

instructions for playing the received content for a user of the mobile phone;

instructions for enabling the user to indicate that the user desires to acquire ring content corresponding to the transmitted content while the phone is playing the content;

instructions for transmitting, from the mobile phone, a message to a remote system after the user indicates a desire to acquire the ring content, wherein the remote system receives the message and, after receiving the message, selects a ring tone or ring view based, at least in part, on information included in the message and transmits the selected ring content to the mobile phone;

instructions for receiving the ring content at the mobile phone; and

instructions for storing the received ring content in a storage unit of the mobile phone.

38. The mobile phone of claim 34, wherein the content is not a ring tone preview or a ring tone.