Methods, systems, and computer program products for facilitating content-based selection of long-tail business models and billing

• US 20070294733A1
• Filed: 06/16/2006
• Published: 12/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Aaron, Jeffrey A., Anschutz, Thomas A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,185,435 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/87
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• 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 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Methods, systems and computer program products for delivering content to customers of a service provider are provided. Upon receiving a request for content from a customer of a service provider, a position of the requested content on a content demand curve is determined. A business model to be associated with the requested content is selected, wherein the business model defines how the requested content is to be delivered to the customer and how the customer is to be billed for the requested content. The requested content is delivered to the customer according to the selected business model and the customer is billed according to the selected business model.

Claims

1. A method of delivering content to customers of a service provider, comprising:

receiving a request for content from a customer;

determining a position of the requested content on a content demand curve;

selecting a business model to be associated with the requested content, wherein the business model defines how the requested content is to be delivered to the customer and how the customer and/or a third party is to be billed for the requested content; and

delivering the requested content to the customer according to the selected business model.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer request is generated in whole or in part via a set top box.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer request is generated in whole or in part via a web site.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein content comprises audio content, video content, text content, gaming content, interactive content, and/or application content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the content demand curve defines head of tail content and long tail content, wherein head of tail content is hosted by the service provider, and wherein long tail content is hosted by one or more third parties.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the requested content comprises long tail content, wherein delivering the requested content comprises obtaining the content from a third party, and wherein the selected business model defines how royalties are to be paid to the third party.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein long tail content comprises a plurality of discrete content groups, and wherein a business model is associated with each content group.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a business model to be associated with the requested content further comprises selecting a business model based upon information about the customer.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein selecting a business model based upon information about the customer comprises obtaining information about the customer.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein selecting a business model based upon information about the customer comprises retrieving stored information about the customer.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected business model defines bundling advertising with the requested content, and wherein delivering the requested content to the customer comprises delivering the requested content with bundled advertising.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected business model defines bundling other content with the requested content, and wherein delivering the requested content to the customer comprises delivering the requested content with bundled content.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected business model requires payment for the requested content, and wherein delivering the requested content to the customer comprises billing the customer for the requested content.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected business model requires a subscription for the requested content for a period of time, and wherein delivering the requested content to the customer comprises subscribing the customer for the period of time.

15. A computer program product for delivering content to customers of a service provide, comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code being configured to carry out the method of claim 1.

16. A system for delivering content to customers of a service provider, comprising:

a server that receives a request for content from a customer;

a content examiner that determines a position of the requested content on a content demand curve; and

a business model selector that selects a business model to be associated with the requested content, wherein the business model defines how the requested content is to be delivered to the customer and how the customer and/or a third party is to be billed for the requested content;

wherein the server is configured to deliver the requested content to the customer according to the selected business model.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a customer database that maintains information about customers of the service provider.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising a content database that maintains head of tail content.

19. The system of claim 16, further comprising a content retriever that retrieves requested long tail content from third parties.