Method and apparatus to facilitate online purchase of works using paid electronic previews

• US 7,801,824 B1
• Filed: 07/27/2004
• Issued: 09/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bezos, Jeffrey P, Bryar, Colin M, Manber, Udi
• Primary Examiner(s): Elisca; Pierre Eddy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kamal; Shahid
• Application Number:
  US10/900,035
• Time in Patent Office: 2,247 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/52, 705/51, 705/65, 705/75, 707/5, 707/104, 725/136
• US Class Current: 705/65
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/367 involving electronic purses or money safes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management

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.

Claims

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.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the viewer credit value increases when the amount of content delivered for presentation to the consumer increases.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the viewer credit value decreases when the amount of content delivered for presentation to the consumer increases.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the viewer credit value is determined according to an aggregated viewing behavior of a plurality of consumers to whom portions of viewable content are delivered.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the viewer credit value is determined for a particular consumer to whom the portion of viewable content is delivered based on the particular consumer'"'"'s past viewing behavior.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the particular consumer'"'"'s past viewing behavior includes whether the particular consumer has previously viewed other portions of content obtained from the same work.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the portion of viewable content selected by the consumer is promoted to the consumer by a party selling the work.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the consumer earns viewer credits for electronically viewing the promoted portion of viewable content.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising accruing, to the account associated with the consumer, viewer credits per portion of viewable content delivered for presentation to the consumer.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising transacting a purchase of the work by the consumer.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the purchased work is in a tangible format.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the purchased work is in an electronic format.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising:

tracking purchases of works by the consumer; and

crediting the account associated with the consumer with a fixed number of viewing credits when the purchases of works by the consumer exceed a predetermined threshold value.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the viewer credit value is assessed to the account associated with the consumer in real-time.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the amount of content in the selected portion of viewable content comprises at least one of a word, a phrase, a sentence, a page, and a chapter.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein delivering the selected portion of viewable content includes delivering the selected portion in an image-based format.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the image-based format includes at least one of an .html, .jpg, .gif, .pdf, and .tif format.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein delivering the selected portion of viewable content includes delivering the selected portion in a non-image-based format.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the non-image-based format includes a text-based document.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein the text-based document is a document in an electronically-editable format.

31. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content is obtained is a work of fiction.

32. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content is obtained is a work of non-fiction.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content is obtained is a work of fiction.

34. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content is obtained is a work of non-fiction.

35. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the viewer credit value changes when the aggregated viewing behavior of the plurality of consumers indicates that the selected portion of viewable content is in high demand.

36. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the viewer credit value charged to the consumer account for electronic viewing is waived.

37. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the earned viewer credits are applicable towards at least one of a future purchase and future electronic viewing.

38. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the accrued viewer credits are applicable toward a purchase of the work.

70. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said participating in a promotional incentive program includes viewing promotional content.

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:

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.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the viewer credit value increases when the amount of content delivered for presentation to the consumer increases.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the viewer credit value decreases when the amount of content delivered for presentation to the consumer increases.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, further comprising an instruction that causes the computing apparatus to aggregate a viewing behavior of a plurality of consumers to whom portions of viewable content are delivered.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the viewer credit value is determined for a particular consumer to whom the units portion of viewable content is delivered based on the particular consumer'"'"'s past viewing behavior.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the consumer'"'"'s past viewing behavior includes whether the consumer has previously viewed other portions of viewable content obtained from the same work.

27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, further comprising an instruction that causes the computing apparatus to receive a request from the consumer to view the selected portion of viewable content.

28. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, further comprising an instruction that causes the computing apparatus to accrue, to the account associated with the consumer, viewer credits per portion of viewable content delivered for presentation to the consumer.

29. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, further comprising an instruction that causes the computing apparatus to assess the viewer credit value to the consumer account.

30. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the amount of content comprises at least one of a word, a sentence, a page, and a chapter.

39. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the viewer credit value depends on at least one of the work from which the portion was obtained, the selected portion of viewable content, and at least one consumer to whom the portion is delivered.

40. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content is obtained is a work of fiction.

41. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content is obtained is a work of non-fiction.

42. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content is obtained is a work of fiction.

43. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content is obtained is a work of non-fiction.

44. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 24, further comprising an instruction that causes the computing apparatus to change the viewer credit value when the aggregated viewing behavior of the plurality of consumers indicates that the selected portion of viewable content is in high demand.

45. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 29, further comprising an instruction that causes the computing apparatus to assess the viewer credit value to the consumer account in real-time.

46. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 28, further comprising an instruction that causes the computing apparatus to apply the accrued viewer credits toward a purchase of the work.

71. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein said participating in a promotional incentive program includes viewing promotional content.

47. A computer system for pricing electronic viewing of works, comprising:

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.

48. The computer system of claim 47, wherein the viewer credit value determination component is further operable to increase the viewer credit value when the amount of content delivered for presentation to the consumer increases.

49. The computer system of claim 48, wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content is obtained is a work of fiction.

50. The computer system of claim 48, wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content is obtained is a work of non-fiction.

51. The computer system of claim 47, wherein the viewer credit value determination component is further operable to decrease the viewer credit value when the amount of content delivered for presentation to the consumer increases.

52. The computer system of claim 51, wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content is obtained is a work of fiction.

53. The computer system of claim 51, wherein the work from which the amount of content is obtained is a work of non-fiction.

54. The computer system of claim 47, wherein the viewer credit value determination component is further operable to determine the viewer credit value according to an aggregated viewing behavior of a plurality of consumers to whom portions of viewable content are delivered.

55. The computer system of claim 54, wherein the viewer credit value determination component is further operable to change the viewer credit value when the aggregated viewing behavior of the plurality of consumers indicates that the selected portion of viewable content is in high demand.

56. The computer system of claim 47, wherein the viewer credit value determination component is further operable to determine the viewer credit value for a particular consumer to whom the portion of viewable content is delivered based on the particular consumer'"'"'s past viewing behavior.

57. The computer system of claim 56, wherein the particular consumer'"'"'s past viewing behavior includes whether the particular consumer has previously viewed other portions of content obtained from the same work.

58. The computer system of claim 47, wherein the selected portion of viewable content is promoted to the consumer by a party selling the work.

59. The computer system of claim 58, wherein the viewer credit value determination component is further operable to waive the viewer credit value charged to the account associated with the consumer.

60. The computer system of claim 58, wherein the viewer credit value determination component is further operable to register viewer credits that a consumer earns for electronically viewing the promoted portion of content.

61. The computer system of claim 60, wherein the earned viewer credits are applicable towards at least one of a future purchase and future electronic viewing.

62. The computer system of claim 47, wherein the delivery component is further configured to deliver the selected portion of viewable content upon request by the consumer.

63. The computer system of claim 62, wherein the viewer credit value determination component is further operable to assess the viewer credit value to the account associated with the consumer.

64. The computer system of claim 47, wherein the viewer credit value determination component is further operable to register viewer credits accrued per portion of viewable content delivered for presentation to the consumer.

65. The computer system of claim 64, wherein the viewer credit value determination component is further operable to apply the accrued viewer credits toward a purchase of the work.

66. The computer system of claim 47, further comprising a purchase component operable to facilitate purchasing of the work.

67. The computer system of claim 47, wherein the viewer credit value determination component is further operable to assess the viewer credit value to the account associated with the consumer.

68. The computer system of claim 47, wherein the viewer credit value determination component is further operable to assess the viewer credit value to the consumer in real-time.

69. The computer system of claim 47, wherein the amount of content comprises at least one of a word, a phrase, a sentence, a page, and a chapter.

72. The computer system of claim 47, wherein said participating in a promotional incentive program includes viewing promotional content.