Systems and methods to order a content item deliverable via a media service

• US 9,838,648 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2015
• Issued: 12/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: McCarthy, Mary, Irving, Glinda
• Primary Examiner(s): Lewis, Jonathan V
• Application Number:
  US14/644,454
• Publication Number:
  US 20150189341A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,000 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/123 Shopping for digital content
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/306 using TV related infrastructures external card used for payment with client device H04N21/4185
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3223 Realising banking transactions through M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/30 by a single channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/57 for mobile receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2225 Local VOD servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25 Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/251 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08
• 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 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41 Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47211 for requesting pay-per-view content payment schemes payment architectures or payment protocols G06Q20/00, G07F
• 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 21/6131 involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/65 : Transmission of management data between client and server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 : Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 : involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8186 : specially adapted to be executed by a peripheral of the client device, e.g. by a reprogrammable remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 : by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 : Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A mobile device includes a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory includes instructions that are executable by the processor to perform operations including receiving, via a first network associated with a wireless service, an offer for a content item that is deliverable via a multimedia service. The operations also include sending information indicating acceptance of the offer via the wireless service to a server associated with the multimedia service. Based on the information indicating acceptance of the offer, the server sends the content item to a device associated with the multimedia service account.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising instructions executable by the processor to perform operations including;

determining information related to a user that is associated with a multimedia service account of a multimedia service and that is associated with a wireless service account of a wireless service, wherein the information is related to characteristics of the user;

generating an offer for a content item that is deliverable via the multimedia service, the offer generated based on the characteristics of the user;

sending the offer to a mobile device via a first network associated with the wireless service, the mobile device associated with the wireless service account; and

upon acceptance of the offer, causing the content item to be sent to a device associated with the multimedia service account via a second network associated with the multimedia service by sending an order to equipment of the multimedia service via a third network, the order identifying the content item and including information identifying the multimedia service account.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the offer enables the mobile device to preview the content item.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further include, prior to sending the offer, determining that a particular program is being delivered to the device associated with the multimedia service account, and wherein the content item is selected based at least in part on the particular program.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless service account is not billed for transmissions via the first network that correspond to the offer and the wireless service account is not billed for transmissions via the first network that correspond to an indication of acceptance of the offer.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the content item includes a pay-per-view item, a video on demand item, an audio on demand item, or a premium multimedia service subscription.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the multimedia service comprises a cable multimedia service, a satellite multimedia service, an internet protocol multimedia service, or any combination thereof.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the content item is delivered as a collection of protocol packets to the device, and wherein the device is configured to assemble the collection of protocol packets into a video stream that includes the content item.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the offer is sent at a first time to the mobile device independently of whether multimedia content is being presented by the device at the first time.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the characteristics are determined by application of offer generation rules to viewing history of the user, current viewing information associated with the user, user preferences of the user, or combinations thereof.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein causing the content item to be sent to the device associated with the multimedia service account includes obtaining the content item from a remote source and sending the content item to the device.

11. A method comprising:

determining, at a server, information related to a user that is associated with a multimedia service account of a multimedia service and that is associated with a wireless service account of a wireless service, wherein the information is related to characteristics of the user;

generating, at the server, an offer for a content item that is deliverable via the multimedia service, the offer generated based on the characteristics of the user;

sending the offer from the server to a mobile device via a first network associated with the wireless service, the mobile device associated with the wireless service account; and

upon acceptance of the offer, causing the content item to be sent to a device associated with the multimedia service account via a second network associated with the multimedia service by sending an order from the server to equipment of the multimedia service via a third network, the order identifying the content item and including information identifying the multimedia service account.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining that a particular program is being delivered to the device associated with the multimedia service account prior to sending the offer, wherein the content item is selected based on the particular program.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the offer enables the mobile device to preview the content item.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the multimedia service comprises a cable multimedia service, a satellite multimedia service, an internet protocol multimedia service, or any combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the characteristics are determined by application of offer generation rules to viewing history of the user, current viewing information associated with the user, user preferences of the user, or combinations thereof.

16. A computer-readable storage device storing instructions executable by a processor to perform operations comprising:

determining information related to a user that is associated with a multimedia service account of a multimedia service and that is associated with a wireless service account of a wireless service, wherein the information is related to characteristics of the user;

generating an offer for a content item that is deliverable via the multimedia service, the offer generated based on the characteristics of the user;

sending the offer to a mobile device via a first network associated with the wireless service, the mobile device associated with the wireless service account; and

upon acceptance of the offer, causing the content item to be sent to a device associated with the multimedia service account via a second network associated with the multimedia service by sending an order to equipment of the multimedia service via a third network, the order identifying the content item and including information identifying the multimedia service account.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise determining that a particular program is being delivered to the device associated with the multimedia service account prior to sending the offer, and wherein the content item is selected based on the particular program.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the wireless service account is not billed for transmissions via the first network that correspond to the offer and the wireless service account is not billed for transmissions via the first network that correspond to an indication of acceptance of the offer.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the content item includes a pay-per-view item, a video on demand item, an audio on demand item, or a premium multimedia service subscription.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the offer includes a price of the content item, an option to preview the content item, or both.