Offering items identified in a media stream

• US 8,627,379 B2
• Filed: 01/07/2010
• Issued: 01/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kokenos, Danae M., Tavis, Matthew T., Schermerhorn, Charles Porter
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): NEWLIN, TIMOTHY R
• Application Number:
  US12/683,737
• Publication Number:
  US 20110167456A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,461 Days
• Field of Search: 725 32- 36, 725/60
• US Class Current: 725/60
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• 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 21/47815 Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

Disclosed herein are techniques to enable users to purchase or receive information regarding items identified in a stream output by a content output device, regardless of whether the users are previously associated with the content output device or a device that monitors the stream. With these techniques, for instance, a user watching a video stream displayed on a television may see an advertisement for an item offered for purchase. In response, the user may choose to initiate a purchase of the item from an item offering service, to add the item to a shopping cart of the user at the item offering service, or to receive information regarding the item from the item offering service.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

one or more memory devices to store instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause a computing device to;

receive, from a device over a first communication channel, an identifier of a first user and an identifier of a first item within a stream output by a content output device coupled to the device;

send, over a second communication channel that is different than the first communication channel, a message to the first user regarding the first item;

receive, from the device coupled to the content output device and over the first communication channel, an identifier of a second, different user and an identifier of a second item within the stream output by the content output device;

generate a message to the second user regarding the second item; and

send, over a third communication channel that is at least different than the first communication channel and independent of the device coupled to the content output device, the message to the second user regarding the second item.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the message sent to the first user comprises a request to approve a purchase of the first item identified in the stream being output by the content output device.

3. The system as recited in claim 2, wherein the one or more memory devices store instructions that, when executed, further cause the computing device to:

receive, from the first user, an approval of the purchase of the first item; and

at least partly in response to receiving the approval, complete the purchase and initiate fulfillment of the first item.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the message sent to the first user comprises information regarding the first item identified in the stream being output by the content output device.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the message sent to the first user comprises an indication that the first item has been added to a shopping cart associated with the first user.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein to send the message to the first user over the second communication channel, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the computing device to send an email to the first user, send a short messaging service (SMS) text message to the first user, send a multimedia messaging service (MMS) text message to the first user, or send a message to an account associated with the first user and accessible to the first user over a public network.

7. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more memory devices store instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the computing device to:

at least partly in response to receiving the identifier of the first user;

map the identifier of the first user to an account of the first user at an entity offering the first item; and

determine a preference of the first user stored in the account of the first user at the entity;

wherein the second communication channel used to send the message is identified based at least in part on the preference of the first user.

8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more memory devices store instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the computing device to:

receive, from the device, a request message including the identifier of the first user;

determine a type of request of the request message, wherein the request message includes a request from the first user to receive information regarding the first item, and wherein the request is free of payment information; and

generate a response to the request message, the response including information regarding the first item, and the response based at least in part on the type of the request;

send, to the first user over the second communication channel, the response to the request message.

9. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more memory devices store instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the computing device to:

determine a communication channel preference for the first user;

wherein the third communication channel is based at least in part on the communication channel preference for the first user.

10. A method comprising:

under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions;

receiving, from a device coupled to a content output device and over a first communication channel, an identifier of a first user and an identifier of a first item identified in a stream output by the content output device;

sending, over a second communication channel that is different than the first communication channel, a message to the first user regarding the first item;

receiving, from the device coupled to the content output device and over the first communication channel, an identifier of a second, different user and an identifier of a second item identified in the stream output by the content output device; and

sending, over a third communication channel that is at least different than the first communication channel and independent of the device coupled to the content output device, a message to the second user regarding the second item.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the content output device comprises a personal computing device, a television or a radio.

12. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the device coupled to the content output device monitors the stream being output by the content output device to identify the first and second items within the stream.

13. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the stream comprises a video stream, wherein the device coupled to the content output device comprises a set-top box or a game console, and wherein the device receives the video stream and provides the video stream to the content output device for display.

14. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the device coupled to the content output device is integral with the content output device.

15. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the second communication channel is the same as the third communication channel.

16. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the message sent to the first user comprises a request to approve a purchase of the first item identified in the stream being output by the content output device.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, further comprising:

receiving, from the first user, an approval of the purchase of the first item; and

at least partly in response to the receiving of the approval, completing the purchase and initiating fulfillment of the first item.

18. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the message sent to the first user comprises information regarding the first item identified in the stream being output by the content output device.

19. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the message sent to the first user comprises an indication that the first item has been added to a shopping cart associated with the first user.

20. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the sending of the message to the first user over the second communication channel comprises sending an email to the first user, sending a short messaging service (SMS) text message to the first user, sending a multimedia messaging service (MMS) text message to the first user, or sending a message to an account associated with the first user and accessible to the first user over a public network.

21. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein an entity that offers the first item receives the identifier of the first user, and further comprising:

at least partly in response to the receiving of the identifier of the first user;

mapping the identifier of the first user to an account of the first user at the entity; and

determining a preference of the first user stored in the account of the first user at the entity;

and wherein the second communication channel used to send the message is identified based at least in part on the determined preference of the first user.

24. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the one or more processors to further perform acts comprising:

determining a communication channel preference for the first user; and

wherein the third communication channel is based at least in part on the communication channel preference for the first user.

22. One or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

receiving, from a device coupled to a content output device and over a first communication channel, an identifier of a first user and an identifier of a first item within a stream output by the content output device;

sending, over a second communication channel that is different than the first communication channel, a message to the first user regarding the first item;

receiving, from the device coupled to the content output device and over the first communication channel, an identifier of a second user and an identifier of a second item within the stream output by the content output device, wherein the second user is different than the first user;

generating a message to the second user regarding the second item; and

sending, over a third communication channel that is at least different than the first communication channel and independent of the device coupled to the content output device, the message to the second user regarding the second item.

23. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 22, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the one or more processors to further perform acts comprising:

receiving, from the device, a request message including the identifier of the first user;

determining a type of request of the request message, wherein the request message includes a request from the first user to receive information regarding the item, and wherein the request is free of payment information;

sending, over the second communication channel, a response to the first user, wherein the response is based at least in part on the type of request.

25. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 23, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the one or more processors to further perform acts further comprising:

receiving, over a communication channel that is different from the first communication channel, a confirmation message that includes a confirmation of a request to purchase the item, wherein the request message includes the request to purchase the item.

26. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 23, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the one or more processors to further perform acts further comprising:

validating authenticity of the request message.

27. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 23, wherein the response message includes an indication that the first item has been added to a shopping cart associated with the user.

28. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 23, wherein the content output device comprises a personal computing device, a television or a radio.