Method and system for upgrading a previously purchased media asset

• US 8,984,442 B2
• Filed: 02/08/2008
• Issued: 03/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Pirnack, Tracy, Gautier, Patrice, Ameerally, Debra, Mitsuji, Hiro, Ward, Alan, Campbell, George, Lew, Darren, Gharabally, Sam, Cortes, Ricardo D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kujundzic, Dino
• Application Number:
  US12/028,521
• Publication Number:
  US 20080134032A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,594 Days
• Field of Search: 715/810, 715/764, 715811-814, 715/825, 705/1.1, 705/14.25, 705/26, 705/14.1, 705 1423- 25, 705/14.39, 705/14.66, 725/60
• US Class Current: 715/824
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions

Abstract

Systems, graphical user interfaces and methods for upgrading from one or more digital media assets to a set of digital media assets over a network are described. A potential purchaser can be notified of available upgrade opportunities that are available for purchase. The potential purchaser can elect to pursue an upgrade opportunity so as to purchase a set of digital media assets. Upon upgrading to the set of digital media assets, the digital media assets within the set of digital media assets are made available to the purchaser. According to one aspect, a graphical user interface facilitates presenting and requesting upgrade opportunities. According to another aspect, equivalency rules and/or eligibility rules can be used to control which sets of digital media assets are available for upgrade by respective potential purchasers.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a hardware processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

identifying a media asset purchased by a user;

determining that the media asset is equivalent to at least one media asset in a media asset bundle available for purchase as a collection from an online media store;

generating a media upgrade window for presentation at a display on a device associated with the user, the media upgrade window including at least (i) a media descriptive portion providing information concerning the media asset bundle available from the online media store, and (ii) a media item listing area providing a listing of media items in the media asset bundle, wherein the media item listing identifies the media asset as being previously acquired by the user and a remaining set of media assets in the media item listing as being available for purchase from the online store as part of the media asset bundle,

wherein the media descriptive portion further comprises an upgrade cost that defines a cost to purchase the collection from the online store, and the upgrade cost being determined for the collection by reducing a total cost of the collection at a bundle price by an individual cost of the media asset previously purchased by the user, wherein the bundle price is different than a combined cost of all of the media items in the media bundle; and

processing a royalty payment for the entire bundle and a royalty refund for the previously purchased media asset within the bundle.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the media bundle is an album, and wherein the media items within the media item listing are tracks, and wherein the media item listing displays at least name, duration, artist and album for such tracks.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the media bundle is an album, wherein the media items are audio tracks, and wherein the album is completed by purchasing the remaining portion of the audio tracks in the media item listing that are available to be acquired by upgrading to the media bundle.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said media descriptive portion comprises:

a number of the media items in the remaining portion; and

an upgrade cost, the upgrade cost being the cost to the user to upgrade to complete the media bundle.

5. The system as recited in claim 4, wherein said media descriptive portion further comprises:

a total number of the media items in the media bundle.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein a remaining portion of the media items in the media item listing are currently available to be acquired by purchasing an upgrade to complete the media bundle.

7. The system as recited in claim 6, wherein any one or more of the media items in the remaining portion of the media items in the media item listing are available to be acquired by individually purchasing the one or more media items.

8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said graphical user interface further comprises at least one upgrade request control to enable a user to request to upgrade to complete the media bundle.

9. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein the at least one upgrade request control is provided within said media descriptive portion.

10. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein the upgrade cost being the cost to the user to upgrade to complete the media bundle.

11. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said graphical user interface is produced by a media management application.

12. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the portion of the media items being visually distinguished are those of the media items within the media bundle that have been previously acquired from the on-line media store.

13. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said graphical user interface further comprises:

information on at least one alternative media bundle that is also available to be acquired by upgrading to the alternative media bundle.

14. The system as recited in claim 13, wherein a portion of the media items within the alternative media bundle have been previously acquired from an on-line media store.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable storage medium includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, result in operations further comprising:

receiving, via the media upgrade window, an upgrade selection requesting an upgrade purchase of the collection;

refunding a purchase amount to the user equivalent to the individual cost of the media asset in response to a determination that the user has previously purchased the media asset from the bundle of media assets in the collection; and

charging the user an entire cost of the collection in response to the upgrade selection.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable storage medium includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, result in operations further comprising:

sending a first notification to a server, the first notification reporting that a refund of the purchase amount of the media asset has been processed, wherein the server is associated with an owner of the collection; and

sending a second notification to the server, the second notification reporting that the entire cost of the collection has been charged to the user.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable storage medium includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, result in operations further comprising:

receiving a purchase of a second media asset in the bundle of media assets; and

presenting, via the media upgrade window, an updated cost of the collection comprising the total cost of the collection at a bundle price reduced by a combined cost of the media asset and the second media asset previously purchased by the user.

18. A system comprising:

a hardware processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

generating an upgrade availability window for presentation on a display device, the upgrade availability window being configured to present information for a plurality of media asset bundles that are currently available for purchase by a user, the media asset bundles that are currently available to the user are those media asset bundles for which the user previously acquired at least one media asset within each of the media asset bundles,

wherein each of the media asset bundles being presented in said upgrade availability window is a media asset bundle for which its media assets beyond those previously acquired can be currently purchased and acquired at a completion cost that is less than a cost for the media asset bundle when none of its media assets were previously acquired; and

processing a royalty payment for the entire bundle and a royalty refund for the previously purchased media asset within the bundle.

19. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the media asset bundles are available from an on-line media store, and wherein the at least one media asset within each of the media asset bundles was previously acquired by the user via the on-line media store.

20. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein at least one of the media asset bundles that are available to the user is a media asset bundle for which the user previously acquired at least one media asset that is substantially similar to a media asset within the media asset bundle.

21. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the completion cost for each of the media asset bundles being presented in said upgrade availability window is dependent on a previously incurred cost of the media assets within the media bundle that have been previously acquired.

22. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the information for each of the plurality of media asset bundles being presented in said upgrade availability window comprises:

descriptive text information that describes attributes of each of the media asset bundles that are available to the user;

a graphic that corresponds to each of the media asset bundles that are available to the user; and

a completion cost for each of the media asset bundles that are available to the user.

23. The system as recited in claim 22, wherein the attributes of the associated media asset bundle include at least title and artist for the associated media asset bundle.

24. The system as recited in claim 22, wherein the information for each of the plurality of media asset bundles being presented in said upgrade availability window further comprises:

an expiration date for the availability of the associated media asset bundle.

25. The system as recited in claim 22, wherein the completion cost is separately determined for each of the media asset bundles being presented in said upgrade availability window and is dependent on a purchase history associated with the user.

26. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the plurality of media asset bundles being presented in said upgrade availability window are displayed in a grid-like layout.

27. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein said upgrade availability window comprises:

a sort control that permits the user to order the manner of presenting of the media asset bundles within said upgrade availability window.

28. The system as recited in claim 27, wherein said sort control enables the user to select one of a plurality of sort criteria and to initiate a sort.

29. The system as recited in claim 28, wherein the plurality of sort criteria are presentable to the user as a list of selectable items.

30. The system as recited in claim 28, wherein the sort criteria includes one or more of expiration data, artist, price, purchase date and best-sellers.

31. A computer-implemented method for facilitating upgrade to a media bundle, said computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying, via a hardware processor, a previously purchased media item;

identifying, via the hardware processor, an initial media bundle that is associated with the previously purchased media item;

determining, at a computing device, one or more media bundles that are equivalent to or related to the initial media bundle based on one or more equivalency rules, the one or more equivalency rules are used to identify one or more other media bundles that are deemed equivalent to or related to the initial media bundle;

causing an upgrade opportunity regarding at least one of the one or more media bundles that are equivalent to or related to the initial media bundle to be presented, the upgrade opportunity including an upgrade cost comprising a media bundle price determined by reducing a total cost of the one or more media bundles at the media bundle price by an individual cost of the previously purchased media item, wherein the media bundle price is different than a combined cost of all of the media items in the one or more media bundles; and

processing a royalty payment for the entire bundle and a royalty refund for the previously purchased media item within the bundle.

32. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 31, wherein said computer-implemented method comprises:

limiting the upgrade opportunity to those of the one or more media bundles that satisfy one or more eligibility rules.

33. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 31, wherein the previously purchased media item being previously purchased by a user via an on-line media store.

34. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 31, wherein said causing of the upgrade opportunity to be presented is performed on a display device of the computing device utilized by the user.

35. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 31, wherein at least one of the equivalency rules is based on a predetermined time period since the previously purchased media item was purchased.

36. A computer-implemented method for facilitating upgrade to a media bundle, said computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying a previously purchased media item;

determining, at a computing device, a media bundle associated with the previously purchased media item, the media bundle including a plurality of media items, and the media bundle and the media items therein being currently available for acquisition; and

causing an upgrade opportunity regarding the media bundle to be presented, the upgrade opportunity enabling a purchase to complete the media bundle,

wherein the upgrade opportunity being presented include at least (i) descriptive text information that describes attributes for the media bundle, (ii) a graphic that corresponds to the media bundle, and (iii) a completion cost for the media bundle,

wherein the completion cost is the cost to a purchaser to complete the media bundle at a bundle price reduced by an individual price of the previously purchased media item, wherein the bundle price is different than a combined price of each media item in the media bundle; and

processing a royalty payment for the entire bundle and a royalty refund for the previously purchased media item within the bundle.

37. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 36, wherein said determining operates to determine the media bundle in which the previously purchased media item is one of the media items within the media bundle.

38. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 37, wherein said determining operates to determine a media bundle in which the previously purchased media item is deemed equivalent to one of the media items within the media bundle.

39. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 36, wherein said determining operates to determine a media bundle that is equivalent to the media bundle associated with the previously purchased media item.

40. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 39, wherein the determining is based on equivalency rules, and wherein said method further comprises:

causing an upgrade opportunity regarding the media bundle to be presented.

41. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 36, wherein the completion cost is for the media bundle is based on a number of the media items in the media bundle that the purchaser has not previously purchased.

42. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 36, wherein said determining operates to determine a media bundle that is related to the media bundle associated with the previously purchased media item.

43. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 36, wherein said determining operates to determine a media bundle that is a replacement for the media bundle associated with the previously purchased media item.

44. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 36, wherein said determining operates to determine a media bundle that is an enhanced version of the media bundle associated with the previously purchased media item.

45. A non-transitory computer readable medium including at least executable computer program code tangibly stored thereon for facilitating upgrade to a media bundle, said computer readable medium comprising:

computer program code for identifying a previously acquired media item;

computer program code for identifying an initial media bundle that was associated with the previously acquired media item at the time at which the previously purchased media item was acquired from an on-line media store;

computer program code for determining one or more media bundles that are equivalent to or related to the initial media bundle based on one or more equivalency rules, the one or more equivalency rules are used to determine the one or more media bundles that are deemed equivalent to or related to the initial media bundle;

computer program code for causing an upgrade opportunity regarding at least one of the one or more media bundles that are equivalent to or related to the initial media bundle to be presented, the upgrade opportunity being based on an upgrade cost comprising a total cost of the one or more media bundles at a bundle price reduced by an individual cost of the previously acquired media item, the bundle price being different than a combined cost of each media item in the one or more media bundles; and

processing a royalty payment for the entire bundle and a royalty refund for the previously purchased media item within the bundle.

46. A system comprising:

a hardware processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

generating a media upgrade window for presentation on a display device, the media upgrade window including at least (i) a media descriptive portion providing information concerning a media bundle available from an on-line media store, and (ii) a media item listing area providing a listing of a plurality of media items within the media bundle,

wherein a portion of the media items in the listing are visually distinguished from other of the media items in the media item listing, where the portion of the media items being visually distinguished are those of the media items within the media bundle that have been previously acquired prior to upgrading to the media bundle,

wherein a remaining portion of the media items in the media item listing are currently available to be acquired by upgrading to the media bundle,

wherein said media descriptive portion further presents an upgrade cost, the upgrade cost being the cost to the user to upgrade to complete the media bundle, and the upgrade cost being determined for the media bundle based on a number of the media items in the remaining portion of the media items, the upgrade cost comprising a total cost of the media bundle at a bundle price reduced by an individual cost of each previously-acquired media item in the media bundle, wherein the bundle price is different than a combination cost of each media item in the media bundle; and

processing a royalty payment for the entire bundle and a royalty refund for the previously purchased media item within the bundle.