Providing user-supplied items to a user device

• US 8,656,040 B1
• Filed: 06/14/2007
• Issued: 02/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bajaj, Girish Bansilal, Rykov, Michael V., Slezak, James C., Zagorie, Aviram, Moore, Richard, Cheung, Kevin R., Fruchterman, Thomas M. J., Goodwin, Robert L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jean, Frantz
• Application Number:
  US11/763,390
• Time in Patent Office: 2,441 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/203, 379/88.22, 370/312, 370/432, 715/751, 715/752, 345/169, 382/312, 382/313, 434/317
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/325 Power saving in peripheral device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/31 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/109 by using specially-adapted hardware at the client
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1235 with control of digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70

Abstract

An item-providing system supplies items to a user device for consumption at the user device via communication infrastructure. The device may correspond to a book reader device or other type of device. In one illustrative case, the item-providing system delivers user-supplied items to the user device based on a protocol.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for providing an item, comprising:

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

receiving an item in a first format from a user;

converting the item to produce a processed item in a second format;

determining a mode of electronic delivery of a plurality of modes of electronic delivery, for use in delivering the processed item to the user, a first mode of electronic delivery of the plurality of modes of electronic delivery comprising;

adding an entry to a list of entries associated with a user device operated by the user, wherein the entry is accessible by the user device to instruct the user device to obtain the media content file in the second format; and

when the determined mode of electronic delivery is the first mode of electronic delivery, sending the processed item to the user via the first mode of electronic delivery.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the item from the user via an electronic message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the electronic message is an Email message, and wherein the item is associated with the Email message as an attachment.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the receiving comprises receiving plural items from the user via the electronic message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing comprises converting the item to a desired format for consumption by a user device associated with the user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing comprises scaling the item for receipt by a user device associated with the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing comprises rotating the item for receipt by a user device associated with the user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing comprises partitioning the item into multiple pages for receipt by a user device associated with the user.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the user an error message if there is at least a partial failure in processing the item.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the mode of electronic delivery comprises determining whether the user requests the item to be delivered via the first mode or via a second mode, wherein the first mode uses wireless communication and the second mode does not use wireless communication.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the mode of electronic delivery comprises determining a target address to which the user forwarded the item, wherein a first target address is associated with the first mode, and a second target address is associated with a second mode.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the mode of electronic delivery comprises interpreting instruction information forwarded in an electronic message, along with the item.

13. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

if the determining of the mode of electronic delivery ascertains that the processed item is to be delivered by the first mode of electronic delivery, the entry instructs the user device to obtain the processed item via wireless communication.

14. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

if the determining of the mode of electronic delivery ascertains that the processed item is to be delivered by non-wireless communication, sending the processed item to the user in an electronic message by a second mode of electronic delivery.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the electronic message is an Email message.

16. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

if the determining of the mode of electronic delivery ascertains that the processed item is to be delivered by non-wireless communication using a second mode of electronic delivery, posting the processed item to a site, wherein the user is enabled to download the item from the site via non-wireless communication.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising charging a first fee for using the first mode of electronic delivery for the processed item and charging a second fee for using a second mode of electronic delivery for the processed item, the second fee being less than the first fee.

18. One or more machine-readable memory containing machine-readable instructions for implementing the method of claim 1.

19. One or more computing devices, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory to store computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, perform the method of claim 1.

20. A computer-implemented method for providing an item, comprising:

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

receiving, by the one or more computer systems, a media content item from a user;

processing the media content item to produce a processed content item in an electronic book format; and

adding, by the one or more computer systems, an entry to a to-do list associated with a user device operated by the user, wherein the entry instructs the user device to obtain the processed item in the electronic book format via wireless communication.

21. One or more machine-readable memory containing machine-readable instructions for implementing the method of claim 20.

22. One or more computing devices, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory to store computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, perform the method of claim 20.

23. A computer-implemented method for providing a processed document, comprising:

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

receiving a document in a first format from a user;

processing the document to produce a processed document, wherein the processing formats the document into a second format that is compatible with an electronic book reader device;

determining a mode for use in delivering the processed item to the user; and

sending the processed document to the user via the determined mode, wherein the user is enabled to consume the processed document in an electronic book format with an electronic book reader device; and

charging a first fee for using a first mode of delivery for the processed item and charging a second fee for using a second mode of delivery for the processed item, the second fee being different from the first fee, the first mode of electronic delivery comprising adding an entry to a list of entries associated with a user device operated by the user, wherein the entry is accessible by the user device to instruct the user device to obtain the processed item in the second format.

24. One or more machine-readable memory containing machine-readable instructions for implementing the method of claim 23.

25. One or more computing devices, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory to store computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, perform the method of claim 23.

26. A system for providing an item, comprising:

a processor and memory;

a content store stored in the memory; and

a content reception system executable on the processor configured to;

receive a media content file in a first format from a user via an electronic message addressed to a receiving address associated with the content reception system;

select a second format for the media content based in part on the receiving address;

process the media content file to produce the media content file in the second format;

store the media content file in the second format in the content store; and

add an entry to a list of entries associated with a user device operated by the user, wherein the entry is accessible by the user device to instruct the user device to obtain the media content file in the second format.

27. A system for processing an item, comprising:

a processor and memory;

logic stored in the memory to receive an item in a first format from a user;

logic stored in the memory to process the item to produce a processed item in a second format;

logic stored in the memory to determine a mode of electronic delivery of a plurality of modes of electronic delivery, for use in delivering the processed item to the user, a first mode of electronic delivery of the plurality of modes of electronic delivery comprising;

adding an entry to a list of entries associated with a user device operated by the user, wherein the entry is accessible by the user device to instruct the user device to obtain the processed item in the second format; and

logic stored in the memory to send the processed item to the user via the first mode of electronic delivery.

28. One or more computer-readable memory storing instructions that when executed, configure a processor to perform acts comprising:

receiving a message from a user, the message including an electronic item in a first format, a destination address which enabled the receiving of the message from the user, and a source address that identifies the user;

converting the electronic item to produce a processed item in a second format when the destination address matches at least one of a plurality of permitted destination addresses; and

providing the user access to the processed electronic item in the second format, the providing the user with access to the process electronic item comprising adding add an entry to a list of entries associated with a user device operated by the user, wherein the entry is accessible by the user device to instruct the user device to obtain the processed in the second format.

29. The one or more computer-readable memory of claim 28,

wherein providing the user access includes:

providing the processed electronic item wirelessly to an electronic book reader device if the message from the user was addressed to a first destination address; and

providing the processed electronic item via a non-wireless route if the message from the user was addressed to a second destination address, wherein the first destination address and the second destination address are different.