Token-based content subscription

• US 8,286,229 B2
• Filed: 05/24/2006
• Issued: 10/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bodin, William K., Jaramillo, David, Redman, Jesse W., Thorson, Derral C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Arani, Taghi
• Assistant Examiner(s): HERZOG, MADHURI R
• Application Number:
  US11/420,017
• Publication Number:
  US 20070277233A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,330 Days
• Field of Search: 726 2- 10, 726 16- 21, 726 26- 30, 709/203, 709217-219, 709223-232, 707/2, 707/100, 705/51, 705 64- 66, 705 76- 78, 713155-159, 713168-172
• US Class Current: 726/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for token-based content subscription. Embodiments include receiving a request for content subscription; receiving from a user a subscription token; and delivering content to a device associated with the subscription token.

Claims

1. A method for token-based content subscription, the method comprising:

receiving, by a content provider a request for content subscription;

receiving, by the content provider, a subscription token, the subscription token provided to a user by a content subscription service and including security information and content delivery information, the content delivery information including a preferred period for the content subscription, a frequency for the content subscription, a preferred sorting order for the content, and further including content presentation parameters that indicate a preference for presentation of subscription content to a device associated with the subscription token; and

delivering, by the content provider, the content to the device associated with the subscription token, including;

extracting from the subscription token the security information;

extracting from the subscription token the content delivery information; and

delivering the content to the device in accordance with the content delivery information and the security information, including periodically pushing content to the device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

establishing a user account; and

issuing to a user a subscription token associated with the user account.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein establishing the user account further comprises:

receiving user security information; and

receiving content delivery information for the user.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein issuing to the user a subscription token associated with the user account further comprises embedding within the subscription token content delivery information.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein delivering content to a device associated with the subscription token further comprises:

presenting the subscription token to the issuer;

receiving in response to presenting the subscription token the content delivery information; and

delivering content to a device in accordance with the content delivery information.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the content is RSS content delivered in an RSS feed;

and

wherein the content presentation parameters specify at least one preference for presentation of the subscription content selected from a group consisting of a preferred number of RSS items to include in the RSS feed, a preferred period of delivery for the RSS feed, a preferred method of sorting the RSS items in the RSS feed, and a preference for whether or not to deliver images as part of the RSS feed.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscription token is provided to the content provider from a content subscription service based on information from the user.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscription token is provided to the content provider from the user, the subscription token having been created by a content subscription service based on information from the user;

and

wherein the frequency is either a delivery frequency specifying a rate at which the content will be delivered from the content provider or a synchronization frequency specifying a rate at which the content will be synchronized with the content of the content provider.

6. A system for token-based content subscription, the system comprising:

a computer processor;

a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions capable of;

receiving, by a content provider a request for content subscription;

receiving, by the content provider, a subscription token, the subscription token provided to a user by a content subscription service and including security information and content delivery information, the content delivery information including a preferred period for the content subscription, a frequency for the content subscription, a preferred sorting order for the content, and further including content presentation parameters that indicate a preference for presentation of subscription content to a device associated with the subscription token; and

delivering, by the content provider, the content to the device associated with the subscription token, including;

extracting from the subscription token the security information;

extracting from the subscription token the content delivery information; and

delivering the content to the device in accordance with the content delivery information and the security information, including periodically pushing content to the device.

7. The system of claim 6 further comprising:

another computer processor;

another computer memory operatively coupled to the another computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions capable of

establishing a user account; and

issuing to a user a subscription token associated with the user account.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein computer program instructions capable of establishing the user account further comprise computer program instructions capable of:

receiving user security information; and

receiving content delivery information for the user.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein computer program instructions capable of issuing to the user a subscription token associated with the user account further comprise computer program instructions capable of embedding within the subscription token content delivery information.

10. The system of claim 6 wherein computer program instructions capable of delivering content to a device associated with the subscription token further comprise computer program instructions capable of:

presenting the subscription token to the issuer;

receiving in response to presenting the subscription token the content delivery information; and

delivering content to a device in accordance with the content delivery information.

17. The system of claim 6 wherein the content is RSS content delivered in an RSS feed;

and

wherein the content presentation parameters specify at least one preference for presentation of the subscription content selected from a group consisting of a preferred number of RSS items to include in the RSS feed, a preferred period of delivery for the RSS feed, a preferred method of sorting the RSS items in the RSS feed, and a preference for whether or not to deliver images as part of the RSS feed.

21. The system of claim 6, wherein the subscription token is provided to the content provider from a content subscription service based on information from the user.

22. The system of claim 6, wherein the subscription token is provided to the content provider from the user, the subscription token having been created by a content subscription service based on information from the user;

and

wherein the frequency is either a delivery frequency specifying a rate at which the content will be delivered from the content provider or a synchronization frequency specifying a rate at which the content will be synchronized with the content of the content provider.

11. A computer program product for token-based content subscription, the computer program product embodied on a non-transmission computer-readable recording medium, the computer program product comprising:

computer program instructions for receiving, by a content provider, a request for content subscription;

computer program instructions for receiving, by the content provider, a subscription token, the subscription token provided to a user by a content subscription service and including security information and content delivery information, the content delivery information including a preferred period for the content subscription, a frequency for the content subscription, a preferred sorting order for the content, and further including content presentation parameters that indicate a preference for presentation of subscription content to a device associated with the subscription token; and

computer program instructions for delivering, by the content provider, the content to a device associated with the subscription token, including;

computer program instructions for extracting from the subscription token the security information;

computer program instructions for extracting from the subscription token the content delivery information; and

computer program instructions for delivering the content to the device in accordance with the content delivery information and the security information, including periodically pushing content to the device.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 further comprising:

computer program instructions for establishing a user account; and

computer program instructions for issuing to the user a subscription token associated with the user account.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein computer program instructions for establishing the user account further comprise:

computer program instructions for receiving user security information; and

computer program instructions for receiving content delivery information for the user.

14. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein computer program instructions for issuing to a user a subscription token associated with the user account further comprise computer program instructions for embedding within the subscription token content delivery information.

15. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein computer program instructions for delivering content to a device associated with the subscription token further comprise:

computer program instructions for presenting the subscription token to the issuer;

computer program instructions for receiving in response to presenting the subscription token the content delivery information; and

computer program instructions for delivering content to a device in accordance with the content delivery information.

18. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein the content is RSS content delivered in an RSS feed;

and

wherein the content presentation parameters specify at least one preference for presentation of the subscription content selected from a group consisting of a preferred number of RSS items to include in the RSS feed, a preferred period of delivery for the RSS feed, a preferred method of sorting the RSS items in the RSS feed, and a preference for whether or not to deliver images as part of the RSS feed.

23. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the subscription token is provided to the content provider from a content subscription service based on information from the user.

24. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the subscription token is provided to the content provider from the user, the subscription token having been created by a content subscription service based on information from the user;

and

wherein the frequency is either a delivery frequency specifying a rate at which the content will be delivered from the content provider or a synchronization frequency specifying a rate at which the content will be synchronized with the content of the content provider.