Digital media reproduction and licensing

• US 10,885,154 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2019
• Issued: 01/05/2021
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Media Chain, LLC
• Original Assignee: Media Chain, LLC
• Inventors: Estes, Christopher A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Lynn D
• Assistant Examiner(s): McCoy, Richard A
• Application Number:
  US16/731,510
• Publication Number:
  US 20200134138A1
• Time in Patent Office: 371 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/487 using geographical or spatial information, e.g. location
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1015 to users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; 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 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections

Abstract

Systems and methods for monetizing the reproduction of digital media content for the rights-holders of the digital media content. Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to determining whether a user of a media content item has a license to reproduce the media content item. In one embodiment, the media content item may be reproduced when the user is licensed. The user is prompted to select to acquire a license to reproduce the media content item or to decline the license to reproduce the media content item when the user is not licensed. Further embodiments determine whether a user may receive a license when the user wishes to acquire a license. In an embodiment, the user is declined a license when not approved for the license.

Claims

1. A multimedia hardware device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled with the processor, the memory including instructions that, when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

generate a first request from a user to evaluate streaming a first media content item to the device;

identify the first media content item by determining a first media fingerprint that identifies a first unique characteristic inherently present in the first media content item captured during the recorded creation of the first media content item, and excluding information introduced to the first media content item extraneous to the recorded creation;

extract first user data specific to the user when the user accepts to stream the first media content item;

generate a second request from the user to evaluate streaming a second media content item to the device;

identify the second media content item by determining a second media fingerprint that identifies a second unique characteristic inherently present in the second media content item captured during the recorded creation of the second media content item, and excluding information introduced to the second media content item extraneous to the recorded creation;

extract second user data specific to the user when the user declines to stream the second media content item;

aggregate the extracted first user data into a first statistics record and the extracted second user data into a second statistics record, wherein the first statistics record summarizes the first user data and the second statistics record summarizes the second user data; and

transmit to a database the first and second statistics record with the identities of the first and second media content items determined by the first and second media fingerprints so that the summarized first and second user data is accessible to a third party online retailer for

retrieving the first and second statistics record with the identities of the first and second media content items determined by the first and second media fingerprints,

analyzing the retrieved first and second statistics record to determine a target demographic of the first and second media content items based on a demographic corresponding to the first and second user data, and

providing the third party online retainer the target demographic to market the media content item to a plurality of other users corresponding to the target demographic of the media content item.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the first media content item is a first version of an audiovisual work and the second media content item is a second version of the audiovisual work.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the first and second unique characteristics are the occurrence of various audio frequencies at particular points in time in the audiovisual work.

4. The device of claim 2, wherein the first version is a live version of the audiovisual work and the second version is a studio version of the audiovisual work.

5. The device of claim 2, wherein the first version is authorized for streaming to the user by a copyright owner of the audiovisual work and the second version is unauthorized for streaming to the user by the copyright owner of the audiovisual work.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the first media content item is a first version of a book in digital format and the second media content item is a second version of the book in digital format.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the first and second user data includes a geographic location of the user.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the first user data includes the number of times the user requested to evaluate streaming the first media content item, and the second user data includes the number of times the user requested to evaluate streaming the second media content item.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive a license to stream the first media content item from a licensing system when the request is granted by the licensing system; and

prevent streaming of the first media content item when the request is declined by the licensing system.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to stream the first media content item based on a plurality of streaming parameters included in the license that is received from the licensing system.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to

identify a first digital watermark included in a first media file of the first media content item, and

identify a second digital watermark included in a second media file of the second media content item.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the first digital watermark is metadata in the first media file, and the second digital watermark is metadata in the second media file.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to load a first digital media file for reproduction, wherein the digital media file include the first media content item.

14. The device of claim 1 further comprising a display, and the processor is further configured to generate a display query on the display asking the user whether the user would like to stream the first media content item.

15. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to collect and transmit user identification data that confirms the user'"'"'s identity.

16. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the first and second media fingerprints for confirmation of the first and second media content items with a digital media catalog database.

17. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to collect payment from the user to stream the first media content item.

18. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the first and second statistics record in real time.