Media asset management system

• US 8,321,288 B1
• Filed: 12/03/2007
• Issued: 11/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Syniverse ICX LLC
• Original Assignee: Syniverse ICX Corp. (Syniverse Corp.)
• Inventors: Rodriguez, John, Longneker, Patrick, Kirani, Shekhar
• Primary Examiner(s): ZURITA, JAMES H
• Application Number:
  US11/999,092
• Time in Patent Office: 1,821 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2408 Monitoring of the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. client requests monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• 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 21/2743 Video hosting of uploaded data from client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

An asset management system is described that tracks in real-time any metric that a carrier requires pertaining to media assets within a network. In addition to tracking per-asset information relating to usage and air time, the system tracks information pertaining to individual object types (e.g., document, digital image, audio file, streaming media, or the like) as well as specific objects themselves (e.g., individual documents, photos, and the like, on a per-file or named basis). This information can be tracked against the various users and their individual devices (used to access a network). In this manner, the system can provide metrics relating to not only data size and air time, but also metrics about object types (e.g., digital image type) and specific objects (e.g., specific file transferred) that have passed through the network. Based on these various metrics that the asset management system can track, the system generates reports that are transmitted back in real-time to carriers and their e-commerce partners for implementing the various pricing schemes required for supporting their business or revenue models.

Claims

1. A method for tracking transactions involving media assets on a data network, said data network being serviced by multiple service providers, the method comprising:

tracking transaction information that allows for billing of an e-commerce transaction involving a plurality of services provided by the multiple service providers, the transaction information comprising service provider information, revenue sharing information, and asset information, wherein the tracking of the transaction information includes,

tracking the service provider information, wherein the service provider information indicates which one of the multiple service providers performed a corresponding one of the plurality of services for a particular media asset,

tracking the revenue sharing information among the multiple service providers for servicing the plurality of services of the e-commerce transaction, the revenue sharing information includes an amount of revenue share of the e-commerce transaction for a carrier that was used to upload the particular media asset, and

in response to a particular media asset being uploaded to the media gateway associated with the data network, tracking the asset information, at a media gateway, wherein the asset information characterizes the particular media asset and the media gateway captures a plurality of media assets uploaded from a plurality of devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the asset information additionally uniquely identities the asset within the data network, information specifying characteristics of the asset, and information identifying a particular user who uploaded the asset.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said method further comprises:

generating a report indicating the one of the multiple service provider'"'"'s billing information in connection with providing services for the various media assets present on the data network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein asset information additionally uniquely identifies a particular device that the particular media asset was received from.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said transaction information further includes billing information that allows for billing of the services provided by the multiple service providers and additionally allows for tracking of expense sharing among the multiple service providers.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a request to engage for the e-commerce transaction is received from a first user other than a second user who uploaded the particular asset to the data network.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the tracking information further comprises input indicating that the particular media asset may be shared with other particular users on the data network and information associated with a request from one of the other particular users to engage one or more of said service providers to perform one or more services for the particular media asset, wherein tracking transaction information allowing billing of the other particular user who requested the services.

8. A tracking system for tracking transactions involving media assets on a data network, said data network being serviced by multiple service providers, the system comprising:

a media gateway to capture a plurality oh media assets uploaded from a plurality of devices; and

a tracking module to track transaction information that allows for billing of an e-commerce transaction involving a plurality of services provided by the multiple service providers, the transaction information comprising service provider information, revenue sharing information, and asset information, wherein the tracking module is configured to track the service provider information, wherein the service provider information indicates which one of the multiple service providers performed a corresponding one of the plurality of services for a particular media asset, to track the revenue sharing information among the multiple service providers for servicing the plurality of services of the e-commerce transaction, the revenue sharing information includes an amount of revenue share of the e-commerce transaction for a carrier that was used to upload the particular media asset, and to track the asset information in response to a particular media asset being uploaded to the media gateway, wherein the asset information characterizes the particular media asset.

9. The tracking system of claim 8, wherein the asset information additionally uniquely identifies the asset within the data network, information specifying characteristics of the asset, and information identifying a particular user who uploaded the asset.

10. The tracking system of claim 8, wherein said tracking system further comprises:

a report generation module to generate a report indicating the one of the multiple service provider'"'"'s billing information in connection with providing services for the various media assets present on the data network.

11. The tracking system of claim 8, wherein asset information additionally uniquely identities a particular device that the particular media asset was received from.

12. The tracking system of claim 8, wherein said transaction information further includes billing information that allows for billing of the requested services provided by the multiple service providers and additionally allows for tracking of expense sharing among the multiple service providers.

13. The tracking system of claim 8, wherein a request to engage for the e-commerce transaction is received from a first user other than a second user who uploaded the particular asset to the data network.

14. The tracking system of claim 13, wherein the trucking information further comprises input indicating that the particular media asset may be shared with other particular users on the data network and information associated with a request from one of the other particular users to engage one or more of said service providers to perform one or more services for the particular media asset, wherein tracking transaction information allowing billing of the other particular user who requested the services.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause one or more processing units to perform a method to track transactions involving media assets on a data network, said data network being serviced by multiple service providers, the method comprising:

tracking transaction information that allows for billing an e-commerce transaction involving a plurality of services provided by the multiple service providers, the transaction information comprising service provider information, revenue sharing information, and asset information, wherein the tracking of the transaction information includes,

tracking the service provider information, wherein the service provider information indicates which one of the multiple service providers performed a corresponding one of the plurality of services for a particular media asset,

tracking the revenue sharing information among the multiple service providers for servicing the plurality of services of the e-commerce transaction, the revenue sharing information includes an amount of revenue share of the e-commerce transaction for a carrier that was used to upload the particular media asset, and

in response to a particular media asset being uploaded to the media gateway associated with the data network, tracking the asset information, at a media gateway, wherein the asset information characterizes the particular media asset and the media gateway captures a plurality of media assets uploaded from a plurality of devices.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the asset information additionally uniquely identities the asset within the data network, information specifying characteristics of the asset, and information identifying a particular user who uploaded the asset.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein said method further comprises:

generating a report indicating the one of the multiple service provider'"'"'s billing information in connection with providing services for the various media assets present on the data network.