Media gifting devices and methods

• US 20100082448A1
• Filed: 09/30/2008
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Lin, Gloria, Rosenblatt, Michael, Hodge, Andrew, Nakajima, Taido Lantz, Mayo, Sean Anthony, Mikhak, Amir Mahmood
• Granted Patent: US 9,070,149 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/11 File system administration, e.g. details of archiving or snapshots file system backup G06F11/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1084 via third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1235 with control of digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

Various techniques are provided for the gifting between multiple electronic devices of media content provided by an online digital media provider. An offer and acceptance of a selected gift file is accomplished between a gifter device and a receiving giftee device using a near-field communication (NFC) connection. If a connection to the online provider is available, the gifter device may transmit a gift request by which the gifter'"'"'s account is charged for the gift file. Thereafter, a gift file created using DRM keys associated with the giftee'"'"'s account may be downloaded to the giftee device. If a network connection is unavailable, the giftee device may transfer a locked gift file and a corresponding gift license to the giftee device using a peer-to-peer connection. The giftee device may authenticate the license and unlock the gift file once a connection to the online provider is available.

Claims

1. A method for gifting one or more digital media files from a first device to a separate second device comprising:

transmitting a gift offer from the first device to gift the one or more digital media files to the second device;

receiving an acceptance of the gift offer from the second device; and

transmitting a gift request to a separate external server associated with an online digital media provider, the external server being configured to authorize the creation of a gift file corresponding to each of the one or more digital media files for transmission from the external server to the second device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the gift offer is transmitted and the acceptance is received using a communication interface on the first device configured to establish a communication path with a communication interface on the second device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the communication interfaces comprise near-field communication (NFC) interfaces, and wherein the communication path comprises an NFC path.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the gift request comprises at least an account belonging to a user of the first device and an account belonging to a user of the second device, the accounts being associated with the online digital media provider, and wherein the authorization to create the gift file corresponding to each of the one or more digital media files includes charging a payment to the account belonging to the user of the first device.

5. The method of claim 4, comprising, if the creation of the gift file corresponding to each of the one or more digital media files is authorized:

receiving on the first device a digital rights management (DRM) key associated with the account belonging to the user of the second device;

creating the gift file corresponding to each of the one or more digital media files using the DRM key; and

transmitting the gift file from the first device to the second device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more digital media files comprise at least one of a music file, a video file, an electronic book file, or an audio book file, or any combination thereof.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more digital media files comprise a plurality of digital media files defining a playlist on the first device.

8. The method of claim 7, comprising adding at least one personal component to the playlist, wherein adding the at least one personal component comprises the addition of a personal voice greeting or a personalized image, or any combination thereof.

9. A method for gifting a digital media file from a first device to a separate second device comprising:

transmitting a gift offer from the first device to gift the digital media file to the second device;

receiving an acceptance of the gift offer from the second device;

creating a locked gift file corresponding to the digital media file and generating a corresponding gift license on the first device; and

transmitting the locked gift file and the gift license from the first device to the second device, wherein the locked gift file may be played back on the second device if the gift license is authenticated with an online digital media provider.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the gift offer is transmitted and the acceptance is received using a first communication interface on the first device configured to establish a first communication path with a first communication interface on the second device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the communication interfaces are NFC interfaces, and wherein the first communication path is an NFC path.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the locked gift file is transmitted from the first device to the second device using a second communication interface on the first device, the second communication interface being configured to establish a second communication path with a second communication interface on the second device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the second communication path comprises an ad-hoc communication path, and wherein the second communication interfaces comprise at least one of a local area network interface (LAN), a wireless LAN interface, a personal area network (PAN) interface, or any combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the second communication path is established using a service discovery protocol.

15. A method for gifting one or more digital media files from a first device to a separate second device comprising:

determining one or more digital media files to be gifted from the first device to the second device;

generating an electronic gift certificate using the first device; and

transmitting the electronic gift certificate from the first device to the second device, the electronic gift certificate being redeemable by the second device with an online digital media provider to acquire the one or more gifted media files

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the electronic gift certificate comprises at least an identity of a user of the first device, an identity of a user of the second device, and an identity of each of the one or more digital media files.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the electronic gift certificate comprises an approval by the user of the first device to charge an account belonging to the user of the first device, the account being associated with the online digital media provider.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the electronic gift certificate is redeemable by the user of the second device to obtain the one or more digital media files.

19. An electronic device comprising:

a processor;

a first communication interface being configured to establish a first communication path with a communication interface on a separate device; and

a memory device communicatively coupled to the processor and configured to store an application executable by the processor, the application being configured to transmit an offer to gift one or more digital media files from the electronic device to the separate device, receive on the electronic device an acceptance of the offer from the separate device, and transmit a gift request from the electronic device to a separate external server associated with an online digital media provider, wherein the external server is configured to authorize the creation of a gift file corresponding to each of the one or more digital media files for transmission from the external server to the separate device.

20. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the offer is transmitted from the electronic device to the separate device and the acceptance is received on the electronic device from the separate device using the first communication interface on the electronic device.

21. The electronic device of claim 20, wherein the first communication interface comprises an NFC interface, and wherein the first communication path comprises an NFC path.

22. The electronic device of claim 20, comprising a second communication interface configured to establish a second communication path with a communication interface on the external sever, wherein the gift request is transmitted from the electronic device to the external server using the second communication interface.

23. The electronic device of claim 22, wherein the second communication interface comprises a local area network (LAN) interface, a wireless LAN interface, or a wide area network (WAN) interface, or any combination thereof.

24. The electronic device of claim 19, comprising a recording device or an imaging device, or both, wherein the recording device is configured to record a voice greeting that may be included with the gifted digital media file, and wherein the imaging device is configured to acquire an image that may be included with the gifted digital media file.

25. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein if the electronic device is unable to transmit the gift request to the external server, the application is configured to create a locked gift file including a gift license and transmit the locked gift file to the separate device, wherein the locked gift file may be unlocked by the separate device upon being authenticated by the online digital media provider.

26. The electronic device of claim 25, wherein the electronic device is configured to establish an ad-hoc connection with the separate device for transmitting the locked gift file.

27. An electronic device comprising:

a processor;

a communication interface being configured to establish a communication path with a communication interface on a separate external server, the server being associated with an online digital media provider;

a memory device communicatively coupled to the processor and configured to store an application executable by the processor, the application being configured determine one or more digital media files to be gifted from the electronic device to the separate device in response to one or more inputs from a user of the electronic device, generate an electronic gift certificate, and transmit the electronic gift certificate from the electronic device to a separate device, wherein the electronic gift certificate may be redeemed with the online digital media provider by a user of the separate device to acquire one or more digital media files.

28. The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the electronic gift certificate is transmitted from the electronic device to the separate device as a file attachment in an e-mail message.

29. The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the generated electronic gift certificate may be redeemed by a user of the second device to obtain the one or more digital media files.

30. A method for receiving one or more gifted digital media files on a first device from a separate second device comprising:

receiving on the first device a gift offer from the second device, the offer identifying the one or more digital media files to be gifted from the second device to the first device;

transmitting an acceptance of the gift offer from the first device to the second device; and

acquiring the one or more gifted digital media files.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the gift offer is received on the first device and the acceptance is transmitted to the second device using a first communication interface on the first device configured to establish a first communication path with a first communication interface on the second device.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the first communication interfaces comprise near-field communication (NFC) interfaces, and wherein the first communication path comprises an NFC path.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein acquiring the one or more gifted digital media files comprises:

establishing a connection between the first device and an external server associated with an online digital media provider; and

receiving the one or more digital media files on the first device using a second communication interface;

wherein the second communication interface is configured to establish a second communication path with a communication interface on the external server.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the second communication interface comprises at least one of a local area network interface (LAN) interface, a wireless LAN interface, or a wide area network (WAN) interface, or any combination thereof.

35. The method of claim 30, wherein acquiring the one or more gifted digital media files comprises:

establishing a connection with the second device, wherein the second device is configured to communicate with an external server associated with an online digital media provider to receive a digital rights management (DRM) key associated with an account belonging to a user of the first device and to create a gift file corresponding to each of the one or more digital media files using the received DRM key; and

receiving the created gift files on the first device using a second communication interface configured to establish an ad-hoc connection with a communication interface on the second device.