Method and apparatus for providing dynamic pricing services for an interactive information distribution system
First Claim
1. In an interactive information distribution system containing service provider equipment and subscriber equipment that is interconnected by a communications network, a method of providing dynamic pricing for information that is supplied by the interactive information distribution system, the method comprising:
- storing, at provider equipment, data defining a plurality of subscription on demand (SOD) packages, each SOD package including a respective portion of available on-demand content;
storing, at said provider equipment, data indicative of any purchased SOD packages for each of a plurality of subscribers;
in response to a subscriber interaction indicative of a request for on-demand content included within a purchased SOD package of said subscriber, enabling on-demand delivery of said requested on-demand content to said requesting subscriber;
in response to a subscriber interaction indicative of a request for on-demand content not included within a purchased SOD package of said subscriber, enabling subscriber purchase of a personal SOD package including the requested on-demand content and other on-demand content of interest to the subscriber, said personal SOD package having a purchase price dynamically generated in response to on-demand content included within said personal SOD package by said subscriber.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for providing subscription-on-demand (SOD) services for a interactive information distribution system, where a consumer may subscribe to packages of on-demand programs for a single price and view the programs in the subscribed package at any time for no additional cost. The apparatus and method are embodied in a combination of software, which provides a so called navigator, and hardware, including a subscriber terminal that provides certain functionality for the navigator and service provider equipment that supports the functionality of the terminal. As such, graphical user interface functionality is distributed between the service provider equipment and subscriber equipment (subscriber terminal). Such distribution provides an enjoyable, real time interactive process for accessing SOD services that allows the subscriber to rapidly identify and access a subscription service. In addition, a non-subscriber of a particular service is quickly identified and provided the opportunity to, through the use of a graphical user interface, subscribe to the programming provided by the system.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. In an interactive information distribution system containing service provider equipment and subscriber equipment that is interconnected by a communications network, a method of providing dynamic pricing for information that is supplied by the interactive information distribution system, the method comprising:
-
storing, at provider equipment, data defining a plurality of subscription on demand (SOD) packages, each SOD package including a respective portion of available on-demand content; storing, at said provider equipment, data indicative of any purchased SOD packages for each of a plurality of subscribers; in response to a subscriber interaction indicative of a request for on-demand content included within a purchased SOD package of said subscriber, enabling on-demand delivery of said requested on-demand content to said requesting subscriber; in response to a subscriber interaction indicative of a request for on-demand content not included within a purchased SOD package of said subscriber, enabling subscriber purchase of a personal SOD package including the requested on-demand content and other on-demand content of interest to the subscriber, said personal SOD package having a purchase price dynamically generated in response to on-demand content included within said personal SOD package by said subscriber. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A method for providing on-demand services to subscribers in an interactive distribution system, comprising:
-
storing, at provider equipment, data defining a plurality of subscription on demand (SOD) packages, each SOD package including a respective portion of available on-demand content; storing, at said provider equipment, data indicative of any purchased SOD packages for each of a plurality of subscribers; in response to a subscriber interaction indicative of a request for on-demand content included within a purchased SOD package of said subscriber, enabling on-demand delivery of said requested on-demand content to said requesting subscriber; in response to a subscriber interaction indicative of a request for on-demand content not included within a purchased SOD package of said subscriber, enabling subscriber purchase of a personal SOD package including the requested on-demand content and other on-demand content of interest to the subscriber, said personal SOD package having a purchase price dynamically generated in response to on-demand content included within said personal SOD package by said subscriber. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
Specification