Apparatus and method for authoring and maintaining a library of content and targeting content to a playback device

• US 7,765,308 B2
• Filed: 05/29/2001
• Issued: 07/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Audible Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Audible Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jun, Benjamin Che-Ming, Brenneman, Scott A., Pai, Samuel Hong-Yen, Katz, Donald R., Mott, Timothy, Lau, Edwin J.
• Primary Examiner(s): STRANGE, AARON N
• Application Number:
  US09/867,505
• Publication Number:
  US 20020107941A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,346 Days
• Field of Search: 715/513, 709/213, 709/214, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 705/51, 705/52, 705/56
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1235 with control of digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3552 Downloading or loading of personalisation data
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/16 for devices exhibiting advertisements, announcements, pictures or the like
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00086 Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy indicating unauthorised use of record carriers in general G11B23/28; scrambling for television signal recording H04N5/913; network architectures or network protocols for network security H04L63/00; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00195 using a device identifier associated with the player or recorder, e.g. serial numbers of playback apparatuses or MAC addresses
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00695 said measures preventing that data are read from the recording medium
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for commerce, e.g. marketing, shopping, billing, auctions or e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/12 Applying verification of the received information cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for data integrity or data verification H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 : Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 : involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 : Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 : Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A computer network based digital information library system employing authentication and encryption protocols for the secure transfer of digital information library programs to a client computer system and a mobile digital information playback device removably connectable to the client computer system. The present invention is a computer network based library and information delivery system for accessing and obtaining selected digital information files. The library and information delivery system comprises: 1) a library server having a plurality of digital information files; 2) a client computer system coupled to the library server over a network; and 3) a mobile device removably connectable to the client computer system, the client computer system including logic for requesting a download of a selected one or more of the digital information files from the library server, the client computer system further including logic for downloading the selected one or more of the digital information files to the mobile device.

Claims

1. A computer based library and information delivery system for generating and maintaining a plurality of digital information files for delivery over a public network, said library and information delivery system comprising:

an authoring system including programming logic for receiving raw digitized data, logic for transforming said raw digitized data into said plurality of digital information files, and logic for generating information indicative of various characteristics of content of said digital information files; and

a library server comprising computer hardware, wherein computer hardware in the library server is coupled to said authoring system which includes logic for maintaining said plurality of digital information files, logic for maintaining a correspondence between said plurality of digital information files and information indicative of a player ID, and logic for encrypting said plurality of digital information files using information indicative of a player ID, said digital information files including said information indicative of various characteristics of content of said digital information files and authorized for access by a user on a mobile device based on a corresponding player ID.

2. The computer based library and information delivery system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said plurality of digital information files includes audio files, spoken audio files, visual image files, text files, video files, multimedia files, programming code files, configuration information files, or any combination thereof.

3. The computer based library and information delivery system as claimed in claim 1 wherein logic for transforming said raw digitized data into said plurality of digital information files further include logic for compressing, scrambling, and segmenting said digital information files.

4. The computer based library and information delivery system as claimed in claim 3 wherein said logic for scrambling said digital information files further includes logic for generating a descrambling map for descrambling said scrambled digital information files.

5. The computer based library and information delivery system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said logic for maintaining said plurality of digital information files further includes logic for incorporating said information indicative of various characteristics of content of said digital information files and portions of content of said digital information files into said digital information files.

6. The computer based library and information delivery system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said logic for maintaining said plurality of digital information files further includes logic for receiving requests for access to said digital information files and portions of content of said digital information files and logic for authorizing access to and managing delivery of said digital information files and portions of content of said digital information files in response to said requests for access.

7. The computer based library and information delivery system as claimed in claim 1 wherein logic for maintaining said plurality of digital information files further includes logic for collecting and storing usage statistics based on access history of said digital information files.

8. The computer based library and information delivery system as claimed in claim 1 further including an authorization server coupled to said library server for authorizing access to said plurality of digital information files.

9. The computer based library and information delivery system as claimed in claim 8 wherein said library server and said authorization server run on different computer systems.

10. The computer based library and information delivery system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said library server is a software process running on several computer systems.

11. The computer based library and information delivery system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said library server and said authoring system run on different computer systems.

12. The computer based library and information delivery system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said digital information files are targeted using a player group ID.

13. The computer based library and information delivery system as claimed in claim 1 further including authentication logic for authenticating access to said library server, said authentication logic including logic for performing a point-to-point authentication protocol.

14. The computer based library and information delivery system as claimed in claim 1 further including said authentication logic for authenticating access to said library server, said authentication logic including logic for performing a digital signature authentication protocol.

15. The computer based library and information delivery system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said digital information files includes files with primarily textual content.

16. A computer based library and information delivery system for maintaining a plurality of digital information files for delivery over a public network, said library and information delivery system comprising:

a library server coupled to a network, said library server comprising computer hardware, wherein computer hardware in the library server includes logic configured for maintaining a plurality of digital information files, logic for maintaining a correspondence between said plurality of digital information files and information indicative of a player ID, said plurality of digital information files being encrypted using the information indicative of a player ID, and logic for maintaining information indicative of various characteristics of content of said digital information files, said digital information files being authorized for access by a user on a mobile device based on a corresponding player ID.

17. A computer based library and information delivery system for maintaining a plurality of digital information files for delivery over a public network, said library and information delivery system comprising:

a library server coupled to a network, said library server including logic for maintaining a plurality of digital information files, logic for encrypting said plurality of digital information files using information indicative of a player ID, and logic for maintaining information indicative of various characteristics of content of said digital information files;

said digital information files being authorized for access by a user on a mobile device based on a corresponding player ID; and

a CDROM generating device for generating a CDROM having at least one of the plurality of digital information files and at least a portion of said information indicative of various characteristics of content of said digital information files.