Processes for verifying, and accepting content postings from, creators of works represented in an electronic catalog

• US 7,778,926 B1
• Filed: 03/29/2006
• Issued: 08/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kraemer, Erin H., Grinchenko, Pavlo O., Hyman, Michael I., Schoenbaum, Ronald J., Bezos, Jeffrey P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hewitt, II; Calvin L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nigh; James D
• Application Number:
  US11/277,891
• Time in Patent Office: 1,602 Days
• Field of Search: 705/50
• US Class Current: 705/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products

Abstract

An electronic catalog system provides an interface for users to author and post content for viewing by others. Users who are verified as creators of works represented in the electronic catalog (e.g., authors of books) are additionally granted the capability to post content that is displayed on the catalog pages of such works with attribution to the works'"'"' creators. In one embodiment, the system is capable of verifying a user'"'"'s claim to be a creator of a particular work through automated communications with a third party verifier designated by the user. The third party verifier may, for example, be a publisher (in the case of books), a recording company (in the case of musical works), or a motion picture studio (in the case movies).

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing a browsable electronic catalog via a server system, said electronic catalog comprising representations of works created by creators;

providing, via the server system, a creator verification user interface;

receiving, at the server system, a creator verification request from a user with the creator verification user interface, said creator verification request identifying a work selected by the user from the electronic catalog, and identifying a third party verifier for verifying that the user is a creator of the selected work, said third party verifier designated by the user via the creator verification user interface;

in response to the creator verification request, sending, from the server system, a request for the third party verifier to verify that the user is a creator of the selected work;

receiving, at the server system, from the third party verifier, a reply indicating that the user is a creator of the selected work;

in response to the reply indicating that the user is a creator of the selected work, exposing to the user, via the server system, a content submission interface;

receiving content from the user via the content submission interface; and

in response to receiving the content, incorporating, by the server system, the content into a page of the electronic catalog together with a designation that the content is from a creator of the work, said page being associated with the work.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for the third party verifier to verify that the user is a creator of the selected work comprises a request for the third party verifier to verify an email address of the creator of the work.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for the third party verifier comprises a request for the third party verifier to supply an email address of the creator of the work.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein exposing the content submission interface to the user comprises modifying an account setting of an existing account of the user to grant access rights to the user to post content to the electronic catalog as a verified creator of the work.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for the third party verifier is sent in further response to an automated determination that the third party verifier designated by the user has been verified.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the method comprises receiving and processing the creator verification request by execution, on said server system, of program code of said creator verification user interface.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing on said page, in association with the content, a user option to subscribe to future postings from the creator of the work.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising, by said server system, automatically communicating the content to selected users of the electronic catalog based on stored preference information for said users.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the work is a book, and the method comprises the server system communicating with the third party verifier to verify that the user is an author of the book.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the work is a musical work, and the method comprises the server system communicating with the third party verifier to verify that the user is a musical artist that created the work.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the creator verification request identifies a plurality of works selected by said user, and specifies, for each such work, a third party verifier for verifying creatorship.

12. A server system comprising one or more computing devices and computer storage, said computer storage storing executable instructions that, when executed by the server system, cause the server system to perform the steps of:

providing a browsable electronic catalog, said electronic catalog comprising representations of works created by creators;

providing a creator verification user interface;

receiving a creator verification request from a user with the creator verification user interface, said creator verification request identifying a work selected by the user from the electronic catalog, and identifying a third party verifier for verifying that the user is a creator of the selected work, said third party verifier designated by the user via the creator verification user interface;

in response to the creator verification request, sending a request for the third party verifier to verify that the user is a creator of the selected work;

receiving, from the third party verifier, a reply indicating that the user is a creator of the selected work;

in response to the reply indicating that the user is a creator of the selected work, exposing to the user a content submission interface;

receiving content from the user via the content submission interface; and

in response to receiving the content, incorporating the content into a page of the electronic catalog together with a designation that the content is from a creator of the work, said page being associated with the work.

13. The server system of claim 12, wherein the request for the third party verifier to verify that the user is a creator of the selected work comprises a request for the third party verifier to verify an email address of the creator of the work.

14. The server system of claim 12, wherein the request for the third party verifier comprises a request for the third party verifier to supply an email address of the creator of the work.

15. The server system of claim 12, wherein the server system is programmed to expose the content submission interface to the user at least partly by modifying an account setting of an existing account of the user to grant access rights to the user to post content to the electronic catalog as a verified creator of the work.

16. The server system of claim 12, wherein the server system is programmed to send the request to the third party verifier in further response to an automated determination that the third party has been verified.

17. The server system of claim 12, wherein the creator verification user interface comprises code executed by the server system.

18. The server system of claim 12, wherein the server system is additionally programmed to provide, on said page, a user option to subscribe to future content postings from the creator of the work.

19. The server system of claim 12, wherein the server system is additionally programmed to automatically provide the content to selected users of the electronic catalog based on stored information regarding preferences of said users.

20. The server system of claim 12, wherein the work is a book, and the server system is programmed to communicate with the third party verifier to verify that the user is an author of the book.

21. The server system of claim 12, wherein the work is a musical work, and the server system is programmed to communicate with the third party verifier to verify that the user is a musical artist associated with the work.

22. The server system of claim 12, wherein the creator verification user interface enables the user to select multiple works for submission of a creator verification request, and to separately designate, for each selected work, a third party verifier for verifying that the user is a creator of the respective work.