Method and system for pricing a programming event viewed by subscriber group

• US 8,015,583 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2000
• Issued: 09/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Day, Paul Reuben, Bates, Cary Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Trost, IV; William
• Assistant Examiner(s): SCHNURR, JOHN R
• Application Number:
  US09/749,106
• Publication Number:
  US 20020083456A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,905 Days
• Field of Search: 725 1- 8, 725 86- 87, 725/101, 725/104, 725/89, 725/97, 725/100, 725/105, 725/131, 705/14, 705/26, 705/400, 705/14.1, 705/14.13, 705/26.1
• US Class Current: 725/86
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25435 involving characteristics of content or additional data, e.g. video resolution or the amount of advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47211 for requesting pay-per-view content payment schemes payment architectures or payment protocols G06Q20/00, G07F
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17354 in an intermediate station common to a plurality of user terminals

Abstract

A method and apparatus for group billing purchasers of transmitted programming events is provided. In one embodiment, a subscriber group includes two or more individual subscribers who receive programming from a programming provider. The individual subscribers periodically elect to view a program provided via the program provider. The program is provided on a pay-per-view basis, meaning that the program provider requires a sum of money to be paid in order to view the program. The sum of money is determined according to the number of viewers in a single subscriber group. In one embodiment, the subscribers interact during a program via a network connection.

Claims

1. A method for determining a price of a program transmitted by a programming provider to subscribers, comprising:

receiving, via a network connection, a purchase order for a program from a subscriber belonging to a subscriber group defined by two or more subscribers, wherein each subscriber belonging to the subscriber group maintains an independent account with the programming provider whereby the subscriber pays the programming provider in order to receive paid for programming, wherein each subscriber belonging to the subscriber group may elect to purchase or not purchase the program, and wherein the programming provider maintains a plurality of subscriber groups, wherein each group includes a subset of subscribers and wherein members of each subscriber group are determined prior to an offer to purchase the program;

offering, to a first subscriber group of the plurality of subscriber groups, the program to purchase at a predetermined price;

determining a first price for the purchase order if the program has been purchased by a threshold number of subscribers belonging to the first subscriber group; and

determining a second price, higher than the first price, if the program has not been purchased by the threshold number of subscribers belonging to the first subscriber group, wherein the threshold number of subscribers belonging to the first subscriber group purchasing the program is all the subscribers of the first subscriber group.