Systems and methods for expedited delivery of media content

• US 8,990,358 B2
• Filed: 02/05/2014
• Issued: 03/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kent Lovelace Jr
• Original Assignee: Kent Lovelace Jr
• Inventors: Sharp, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): BOUTAH, ALINA A
• Application Number:
  US14/173,635
• Publication Number:
  US 20140280773A1
• Time in Patent Office: 412 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.4, 705 1469- 1473, 709217-219, 709/231
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2547 Third Party Billing, e.g. billing of advertiser
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

The systems and methods disclosed herein are directed to making multimedia content available over a network to users on-demand. In one representative embodiment, a method of providing sponsored downloads of multimedia content to a user on-demand comprises receiving a request to sponsor one or more downloads of one or more multimedia files by one or more users. The request can originate from a sponsoring entity, and the one or more multimedia files can be available through a multimedia provider service. The method can further comprise receiving a request originating from a multimedia player to download a multimedia file from the multimedia provider service, and transmitting the multimedia file to the multimedia player. The multimedia file can be transmitted to the multimedia player with a commercial message from the sponsoring entity.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform a method of providing sponsored downloads of multimedia content to a device on-demand, the method comprising:

over a network,

receiving a request to sponsor one or more downloads of one or more multimedia files by one or more devices, the request originating from a sponsoring entity, the one or more multimedia files being available through a multimedia provider service;

receiving a request to download a multimedia file from the multimedia provider service, the request originating from a multimedia player;

transmitting the multimedia file to the multimedia player;

wherein

the multimedia file is transmitted to the multimedia player with a commercial message from the sponsoring entity,

wherein the one or more downloads further comprise a predetermined number of downloads and each transmission of a multimedia file sponsored by the sponsoring entity results in a corresponding reduction in a number of remaining sponsored downloads,

the multimedia provider service comprises one or more queues corresponding to the one or more multimedia files to store requests that exceed the number of remaining sponsored downloads, and

the request to download a multimedia file is stored in the one or more queues corresponding to the multimedia file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined number of downloads sponsored by the sponsoring entity corresponds to a fee paid by the sponsoring entity to the multimedia provider service.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more queues store one or more pending download requests, and the number of pending download requests can be made available to the sponsoring entity.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia provider service allows a second sponsoring entity to bid against the first sponsoring entity for the right to sponsor downloads of the one or more multimedia files.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the multimedia provider service is configured to stream the one or more multimedia files to the multimedia player; and

the multimedia player comprises a download button configured to display while the multimedia file is being streamed to the multimedia player.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the multimedia provider service is configured to transmit a copy of the multimedia file to the multimedia player in response to a download request sent by the multimedia player upon activation of the download button by a user, the multimedia file being stored locally on the multimedia player.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the commercial message is displayed to the device on a graphical user interface of the multimedia player.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the commercial message is played back on the multimedia player when the multimedia file is played back.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the sponsoring entity comprises one or more sponsoring entities, and the multimedia provider service is configured to allow for the selection of the sponsoring entity.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia provider service is configured to allow the sponsoring entity to manage one or more advertisement campaigns, the one or more advertisement campaigns having one or more commercial messages associated therewith.