Method and apparatus to facilitate online purchase of works using paid electronic previews
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A computer-implemented method for pricing electronic viewing of works, the method comprising:
- under control of instructions executed by at least one processor of a computer system;
crediting an account associated with a consumer with viewer credits obtained by the consumer for participating in a promotional incentive program implemented by the computer system;
receiving a consumer selection of a portion of viewable content in a work from a library comprising a plurality of works for purchase;
determining a viewer credit value associated with the selected portion of viewable content, wherein the viewer credit value is determined based on an amount of content in the selected portion of viewable content and a type of the work from which the portion of viewable content was selected;
determining whether the viewer credits in the account associated with the consumer have sufficient value that equals or exceeds the determined viewer credit value;
when the value of the viewer credits in the account equals or exceeds the determined viewer credit value, delivering the selected portion of viewable content for presentation to the consumer prior to a purchase of the work, by the consumer, from which the portion was selected, wherein the selected portion is delivered in exchange for the determined viewer credit value charged to the account associated with the consumer; and
notifying the consumer when the account associated with the consumer has viewer credits of a value that is less than the determined viewer credit value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system is described to facilitate variable pricing for electronically viewing content online. Consumers pay different amounts to view portions of electronically viewable content obtained from a tangible work, where the amount paid is based on a characteristic of the work (e.g., the genre or publisher), the consumer'"'"'s past viewing behavior or purchases, including the portions of content (e.g., the number of pages or chapters) previously viewed from the same or other work, or the number or amount of purchases made of other works or products, or the aggregated viewing behavior or purchases of a number of consumers.
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Citations
72 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for pricing electronic viewing of works, the method comprising:
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under control of instructions executed by at least one processor of a computer system; crediting an account associated with a consumer with viewer credits obtained by the consumer for participating in a promotional incentive program implemented by the computer system; receiving a consumer selection of a portion of viewable content in a work from a library comprising a plurality of works for purchase; determining a viewer credit value associated with the selected portion of viewable content, wherein the viewer credit value is determined based on an amount of content in the selected portion of viewable content and a type of the work from which the portion of viewable content was selected; determining whether the viewer credits in the account associated with the consumer have sufficient value that equals or exceeds the determined viewer credit value; when the value of the viewer credits in the account equals or exceeds the determined viewer credit value, delivering the selected portion of viewable content for presentation to the consumer prior to a purchase of the work, by the consumer, from which the portion was selected, wherein the selected portion is delivered in exchange for the determined viewer credit value charged to the account associated with the consumer; and notifying the consumer when the account associated with the consumer has viewer credits of a value that is less than the determined viewer credit value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 70)
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21. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon to facilitate pricing of electronic viewing of works, wherein the instructions, when executed by a computing apparatus, cause the computing apparatus to:
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credit an account associated with a consumer with viewer credits obtained by the consumer for participating in a promotional incentive program; receive a consumer-selection of a portion of viewable content in a work from a library comprising a plurality of works for purchase; determine a viewer credit value associated with the selected portion of viewable content, wherein the viewer credit value is determined based on an amount of content in the selected portion of viewable content and a type of the work from which the portion of viewable content was selected; determine whether the viewer credits in the account associated with the consumer have sufficient value that equals or exceeds the determined viewer credit value; when the value of viewer credits in the account equals or exceeds the determined viewer credit value, deliver the selected portion of viewable content for presentation to the consumer prior to a purchase of the work from which the portion was selected, wherein the selected portion is delivered in exchange for the determined viewer credit value charged to the account associated with the consumer; and notify the consumer when the account associated with the consumer has viewer credits of a value that is less than the determined viewer credit value. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 71)
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47. A computer system for pricing electronic viewing of works, comprising:
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a consumer account component operable on a computer device to credit an account associated with a consumer with viewer credits obtained by the consumer for participating in a promotional incentive program implemented by the computer system; an identifying component operable on a computer device to receive a consumer selection of a portion of viewable content, wherein the portion is selected from a work in a library comprising a plurality of works for purchase; a viewer credit value determination component operable on a computer device to determine a viewer credit value associated with the selected portion of viewable content, wherein the viewer credit value is determined based on an amount of content selected by a consumer and a type of the work from which the portion of viewable content was selected; a comparison component operable on a computer device to determine whether the viewer credits in the account associated with the consumer have sufficient value that equals or exceeds the determined viewer credit value; a delivery component operable on a computer device, when the comparison component determines that the viewer credits in the account have sufficient value to deliver the selected portion of viewable content for presentation to the consumer prior to a purchase of the work from which the portion was selected by the consumer in exchange for the determined viewer credit value charged to the account associated with the consumer; and a notification component operable on a computer device to notify the consumer when the account associated with the consumer has viewer credits of a value that is less than the determined viewer credit value. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 72)
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Specification