Tracking details of activation of licensable component of consumer electronic device

• US 8,543,513 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2011
• Issued: 09/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Shintani, Peter, Sadja, Aran London, Douillet, Ludovic Etienne
• Primary Examiner(s): Nigh, James D
• Application Number:
  US13/072,978
• Publication Number:
  US 20120124611A1
• Time in Patent Office: 911 Days
• Field of Search: 705/52, 705/59
• US Class Current: 705/59
• 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 21/125 by manipulating the program code, e.g. source code, compiled code, interpreted code, machine code
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/306 using TV related infrastructures external card used for payment with client device H04N21/4185
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/10 Tax strategies
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2541 Rights Management protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10; security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• 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 21/25816 involving client authentication restricting access to computer systems by authenticating users using a predetermined code G06F21/33; cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4347 Demultiplexing of several video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4382 Demodulation or channel decoding, e.g. QPSK demodulation analog front ends or means for connecting modulators, demodulators or transceivers to a transmission line H04L27/0002
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6547 comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/44 Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards H04N5/14 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/641 : Multi-purpose receivers, e.g. for auxiliary information H04N9/642 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/642 : Multi-standard receivers

Abstract

Instead of buying blanket licenses for all licensable components of its CE devices, a manufacturer enables users to activate licensable components on a device basis and then obtains the necessary licenses individually. Seldom used activation modes and seldom activated licensable components can be pruned from future devices, while widely activated licensable components can be automatically enabled by purchasing a blanket license for those components. Characteristics of license requests and the people making them can be used to focus marketing.

Claims

1. Method comprising:

receiving activation requests for licensable components in consumer electronics (CE) devices;

correlating, using a digital processor operatively communicating with a computer readable storage medium, the requests to request modes by which the requests were received to establish aggregated correlations;

correlating, using a digital processor operatively communicating with a computer readable storage medium, the requests to licensable components that were subjects of the requests to establish aggregated correlations;

using a digital processor operatively communicating with a computer readable storage medium and accessing the aggregated correlations, determining to prune at least one infrequently used request mode from CE devices; and

using the aggregated correlations, using a digital processor to determine to make at least one frequently activated licensable component a subject of an automatic standard license pool and removing the frequently activated licensable component from a list of licensable components that may be individually enabled or activated by individual users post-sale.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein modes of request include Internet requests and automatically generated requests.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising correlating the requests to individual characteristics of requestors making the requests to establish the aggregated correlations.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the individual characteristics include demographic information including age.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the individual characteristics include model numbers of requesting CE devices.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising correlating the requests to times and dates of the requests to establish the aggregated correlations.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising correlating the requests to geographic locations of requesting CE devices to establish the aggregated correlations.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising using demographics and/or geographic locations of requested licenses to tailor marketing efforts and content.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising using the aggregated correlations to determine to eliminate at least one seldom requested licensable component from future CE device products.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising using the aggregated correlations to determine to reorder a list of features related to licensable components and presented on CE devices.

11. Method comprising:

receiving activation requests for licensable components in consumer electronics (CE) devices;

correlating, using a digital processor operatively communicating with a computer readable storage medium, the requests to request modes by which the requests were received to establish aggregated correlations;

correlating the requests to licensable components that were subjects of the requests to establish aggregated correlations;

using the aggregated correlations, determining to execute at least one of;

pruning at least one infrequently used request mode from CE devices; and

making at least one frequently activated licensable component a subject of an automatic standard license pool and removing the frequently activated licensable component from a list of licensable components that may be individually enabled or activated by individual users post-sale.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein modes of request include Internet requests and automatically generated requests.

13. The method of claim 11, comprising correlating the requests to individual characteristics of requestors making the requests to establish the aggregated correlations.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the individual characteristics include demographic information including age.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the individual characteristics include model numbers of requesting CE devices.

16. The method of claim 11, comprising correlating the requests to times and dates of the requests to establish the aggregated correlations.

17. The method of claim 11, comprising correlating the requests to geographic locations of requesting CE devices to establish the aggregated correlations.