Method and apparatus for improved information transactions

• US 8,311,946 B1
• Filed: 02/04/2000
• Issued: 11/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ebrary Com
• Original Assignee: Ebrary
• Inventors: Warnock, Christopher, Abrams, Ken, Holzgrafe, Rick
• Primary Examiner(s): Kramer, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): LE, NANCY LOAN T
• Application Number:
  US09/498,944
• Time in Patent Office: 4,666 Days
• Field of Search: 705 51- 56, 705/57, 705/58, 705/59, 713/200, 713/193, 713/201, 713/185
• US Class Current: 705/52
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/123 Shopping for digital content
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A mechanism gives users meaningful access to information while protecting the interests of publishers and creators of information including text, graphics, photos, executable files, data tables, audio, video, and three dimensional data and allows a user to review a document while connected to a network but prevents the user from downloading, printing, or copying the document unless a fee is paid. The user is allowed to review documents at a first cost basis, but only provides other access to documents, such as copying, printing, or downloading on a second cost basis. The user is also allowed to purchase a selectable portion of a document at a price based on the amount of material selected where that amount of material can include a portion of a document, an entire document, or an anthology of components of multiple documents.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for user access to document content using a logic client device comprising:

delivering, by a document server, to a user of said client logic device a first user viewable version of the actual contents of a specific document residing at said document server on a first cost basis;

protecting, by a security server, said first user-viewable version to prevent the user from performing a standard operation on said version, said standard operation consisting of any of copying, printing, or saving;

calculating, by a transaction server, a charge to permit the user to perform a requested standard operation on a user-selected portion of said specific document on a second cost basis; and

delivering, by said document server, to said user a second version of the actual contents of said specific document residing at said document server comprising said user-selected portion of said specific document, wherein a user requested standard operation is completed in coordination with said document server upon payment of the calculated charge.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein calculating the charge further comprises:

calculating the charge on the basis of the granularity of the user-selected portion including whole and partial pages.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein calculating the charge further comprises:

calculating the charge based in part on the standard operation requested.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein calculating the charge further comprises:

calculating said charge in part on a network address from which said user accesses said server.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

presenting the calculated cost to the user; and

receiving user authorization for payment of the calculated charge.

6. The method according to claim 5 further comprising:

checking a user'"'"'s default options and providing authorization according to said default options.

7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether a user wants multiple copies of said document; and

calculating a charge for said multiple copies of said document.

8. The method according to claim 7 wherein completing the requested standard operation further comprises:

providing a certificate allowing authorized reproduction of a number of copies.

9. The method according to claim 1 wherein user-selected portion may include an anthology from multiple documents.

10. The invention of claim 1, wherein delivering the first user-viewable version further comprises:

delivering document contents to the user in an encrypted format.

11. The invention of claim 10, further comprising:

using client-side software for permitting the user to view the encrypted format of the first version.

12. The invention of claim 1, wherein delivering the first user viewable version further comprises:

delivering document content at a resolution sufficient for viewing but not for satisfactory completion of the requested standard operation.

13. The invention of claim 12 wherein delivering the second version further comprises:

delivering document content in a higher resolution on which satisfactory completion of the requested standard operation may be performed.

14. The invention of claim 12 wherein delivering the second version further comprises:

delivering document content in a form not directly accessible by the user.

15. The invention of claim 1, wherein delivering the first version further comprises:

delivering document content in a form viewable by the user only upon authorization from a third party.

16. The invention of claim 15 wherein delivering document content in a form viewable by the user only upon authorization from a third party further comprises:

delivering authorization for viewing by the user only as the document content is being delivered from the server.

17. The method according to claim 15 wherein delivering the first user-viewable version further comprises:

delivering a full-text searchable version of said document content, and displaying documents opened for browsing to portions containing search terms which are highlighted.

18. The invention of claim 15 wherein delivering the first user-viewable version further comprises:

delivering images of a page of the document content one at a time to the user for viewing.

19. The invention of claim 16, wherein delivering the second version further comprises:

delivering the entire user selected document content to the user at one time.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein delivering the second version further comprises:

delivering text in a first structure and graphics in a different structure.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein calculating the charge further comprises:

calculating the charge on the bases of the user-selected portion including text and on the basis of the user selected portion including graphics.

39. The method according to claim 1, wherein any and all versions of said specific document delivered to said user are delivered by said document server.

22. A computer-implemented method for purchasing information from a server, comprising:

delivering, by a document server, to a user of said client logic device user-requested pages of a specific document in a first user-viewable version;

protecting, by a security server, said first user-viewable version to permit said user viewing the actual contents of said pages of said specific document and selecting by said user, but not printing, copying, or saving by the user;

calculating, by a transaction server, a charge to permit a requested standard operation to be performed on a user-selected portion of said specific document; and

delivering, by said document server, to said user a second version of the actual contents of said specific document, said second version consisting of the user-selected portion of said specific document, said delivering step being performed in coordination with said security server upon authorization of payment of the calculated charge, said second version comprising a version on which the standard operation is performed.

23. The method according to claim 22 wherein calculating the charge further comprises:

calculating the charge on the basis of the number of full and partial pages in the user-selected portion.

24. The method according to claim 22 wherein calculating the charge further comprises:

calculating the charge on the basis of the type of standard operation to be performed.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein delivering the user-requested pages of said specific document further comprises:

serving low resolution images of full pages of information.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein delivering the user-selected portion further comprises:

delivering text within the user-selected portion of the low resolution images in the form of text on which the standard operation may be performed.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein delivering the user-selected portion further comprises:

delivering images within the user-selected portion of the low resolution images in the form of high resolution images on which the standard operation may be performed upon authorization of the charges.

28. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

encrypting the user-requested pages of said specific document before delivering them to the user; and

requiring authorization from a third party before permitting viewing and selecting of user-requested pages by the user.

29. The method of claim 28 further comprising:

encrypting the user-selected portion before delivering the user-selected portion to the user; and

requiring authorization from the third party before the standard operation may be performed.

30. The method of claim 25 wherein delivering the user-selected portion further comprises:

delivering images within the user-selected portion of the low resolution images in the form of high resolution images on which the standard operation may be performed upon authorization of the charges.

31. The method of claim 22, wherein delivering the user-requested pages further comprises:

delivering the user-requested pages of said specific document in a low resolution format sufficient for permitting viewing and selecting by a user but not sufficient for acceptable printing, copying, or saving by the user.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein delivering the user-selected portion further comprises:

delivering the user-requested portion in a high resolution format sufficient for acceptable printing, copying and/or saving by the user.

33. The method of claim 22, wherein delivering user-requested pages of said specific document further comprises:

delivering user-requested text in the form of low resolution images of pages of text suitable for viewing and selecting.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein delivering the user-selected portion further comprises:

delivering user-selected text suitable for performing the standard operation is performed.

35. The method claim 22, wherein delivering user-requested pages of said specific document further comprises:

delivering user-requested page images in the form of low resolution images suitable for viewing and selecting.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein delivering the user-selected portion further comprises:

delivering user-selected images in the form of high resolution images suitable for performing the standard operation.

37. The method of claim 22, wherein delivering user-requested pages of said specific document further comprises:

delivering user-requested text and images in the form of low resolution images of pages of text and images suitable for viewing and selecting.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein delivering the user-selected portion further comprises:

delivering the user-selected text in the form of text suitable for said standard operation; and

delivering images in the form of high resolution images suitable for performing the standard operation.