Content Provisioning and Revenue Disbursement

• US 20100325022A9
• Filed: 06/30/2009
• Published: 12/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Catch Media, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Catch Media, Inc.
• Inventors: Ben-Yaacov, Yaacov, Lieberman, Abraham, Ben-Yaacov, Boaz
• Granted Patent: US 8,644,969 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A method for provisioning content to users, including for each of a plurality of items of media content, maintaining information about one or more owners of the item of media content, and maintaining information about one or more providers of the item of media content, for each of a plurality of users, maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user and about player devices owned by the user, for each of a plurality of time periods, maintaining a history log of items of media content played by one or more of the plurality of users during the time period, receiving a request from a user to play a designated item of media content on a designated player device, during a current time period, identifying an appropriate provider of the designated item of media content, according to a location of the user and according to the designated player device, causing the identified provider of the designated item of media content to transmit the designated item of media content to the user'"'"'s designated player device, updating the history log for the current time period to reflect the user having played the designated item of media content, and calculating revenue disbursement among the owners of the plurality of items of media content, and the providers of the plurality of media content, for the current time period, based on the history log of the current time period. A system is also described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method for provisioning content to users, comprising:

for each of a plurality of items of media content;

maintaining information about one or more owners of the item of media content; and

maintaining information about one or more providers of the item of media content;

for each of a plurality of users;

maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user and about player devices owned by the user;

for each of a plurality of time periods;

maintaining a history log of items of media content played by one or more of the plurality of users during the time period;

receiving a request from a user to play a designated item of media content on a designated player device, during a current time period;

identifying an appropriate provider of the designated item of media content, according to a location of the user and according to the designated player device;

causing the identified provider of the designated item of media content to transmit the designated item of media content to the user'"'"'s designated player device;

updating the history log for the current time period to reflect the user having played the designated item of media content; and

calculating revenue disbursement among the owners of the plurality of items of media content, and the providers of the plurality of media content, for the current time period, based on the history log for the current time period.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining information about rights granted to each of the plurality of users for each of the plurality of items of media content; and

validating rights of the user to play the designated item of media content, in response to said receiving the request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying one or more media items associated with the designated item of media content, and wherein said calculating also calculates revenue disbursement among owners of the one or more associated items of media content.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the history log for each time period comprises breakdowns of numbers of items of media content played by each user during the time period, according to owners of the items of media content, providers of the items of media content, and owners of the associated items of media content.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising enabling the user to browse his acquired content.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of users are grouped into households, the method further comprising aggregating information about media content acquired by each user from a household of users.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user comprises recording purchases of items of media content by the user.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user comprises recording peer-to-peer downloading of items of media content by the user.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user comprises recording items of media content that the user rips to his computer from a physical medium.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user comprises recording purchases of content subscriptions by the user.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said recording purchases of content subscriptions by the user comprises recording purchases of subscriptions to content broadcast channels.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user comprises identifying associated items of media contact that may have contributed to the user'"'"'s decision to acquire the acquired media content.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the history log for each time period comprises breakdowns of numbers of items of media content played by each user during the time period, according to the owners of the items of media content and the providers of the items of media content.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the history log for each time period comprises breakdowns of time spent by each user playing items of media content during the time period, according to the owners of the items of media content and the providers of the items of media content.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the history log for each time period comprises breakdowns of the items of content acquired by each user, according to the owners of the items of media content and the providers of the items of media content.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein said identifying identifies an appropriate provider of the designated item of media content based on operating characteristics of the player device.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein said identifying identifies an appropriate provider of the designated item of media content based on connectivity of the player device.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein said identifying identifies an appropriate provider of the designated item of media content based on a location of the player device.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein said identifying identifies an appropriate provider of the designated item of media content based on pre-established rules with providers of the items of media content.

20. A content provisioning system, comprising:

a data manager for storing (i) for each of a plurality of items of media content, maintaining information about owners of the media content and providers of the media content, (ii) for each of a plurality of users, maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user and about player devices owned by the user, and (iii) for each of a plurality of time periods, maintaining a history log of items of media content played by one or more of the plurality of users during the time period;

a receiver for receiving a request from a user to play a designated item of media content on a designated player device, during a current time period;

a content provisioner coupled with said data manager (i) for identifying an appropriate provider of the designated piece of media content according to a location of the user and according to the designated player device, and (ii) for causing the identified provider of the designated item of media content to transmit the designated item of media content to the user'"'"'s designated player device; and

a disbursement manager coupled with said content provisioner and with said data manager (i) for updating the history log for the current time period to reflect the user having played the designated item of media content, and (ii) for calculating revenue disbursement among the owners of the plurality of items of media content, and the providers of the plurality of items of media content, for the current time period, based on the history log for the current time period.

21. The content provisioning system of claim 20, wherein said data manager also stores information about rights granted to each of the plurality of users for each of the plurality of items of media content, the system further comprising a rights manager for validating rights of the user to play the designated item of media content.

22. The content provisioning system of claim 20 wherein said content provisioner identifies one or more media items associated with the designated item of media content, and wherein said disbursement manager also calculates revenue disbursement among owners of the one or more associated items of media content.

23. The content provisioning system of claim 22 wherein the history log for each time period comprises breakdowns of numbers of items of media content played by each user during the time period, according to owners of the items of media content, providers of the items of media content, and owners of the associated items of media content.

24. The content provisioning system of claim 20 further comprising a content browser for enabling the user to browse his acquired content.

25. The content provisioning system of claim 20 wherein the plurality of users are grouped into households, and wherein said data manager aggregates information about items of media content acquired by each user from a household of users.

26. The content provisioning system of claim 20 wherein said data manager records purchases of items of media content by the user.

27. The content provisioning system of claim 20 wherein said data manager records peer-to-peer downloading of items of media content by the user.

28. The content provisioning system of claim 20 wherein said data manager records items of media content that the user rips to his computer from a physical medium.

29. The content provisioning system of claim 20 wherein said data manager records purchases of content subscriptions by the user.

30. The content provisioning system of claim 29 wherein said data manager records purchases of subscriptions to content broadcast channels.

31. The content provisioning system of claim 20 wherein said data manager identifies associated items of media contact that may have contributed to the user'"'"'s decision to acquire the acquired media content.

32. The content provisioning system of claim 20 wherein the history log for each time period comprises breakdowns of number of items of media content played by each user during the time period, according to the owners of the items of media content and the providers of the items of media content.

33. The content provisioning system of claim 20 wherein the history log for each time period comprises breakdowns of time spent by each user playing items of media content during the time period, according to the owners of the items of media content and the providers of the items of media content.

34. The content provisioning system of claim 20 wherein the history log for each time period comprises breakdowns of the items of content acquired by each user, according to the owners of the items of media content and the providers of the items of media content.

35. The content provisioning system of claim 20 wherein said content provisioner identifies an appropriate provider of the designated item of media content based on operating characteristics of the player device.

36. The content provisioning system of claim 20 wherein said content provisioner identifies an appropriate provider of the designated item of media content based on connectivity of the player device.

37. The content provisioning system of claim 20 wherein said content provisioner identifies an appropriate provider of the designated item of media content based on a location of the player device.

38. The content provisioning system of claim 20 wherein said content provisioner identifies an appropriate provider of the designated item of media content based on pre-established rules with providers of the items of media content.

39. A method for tracking usage of content, comprising:

tracking, for each of a plurality of consumers and for each of a plurality of content owners, each content owner owning a plurality of items of media content, the relative frequency of the number of items of media content owned by the content owner and played by the consumer during a specified time period, relative to the total number of times the consumer plays items of media content during the specified time period; and

generating a revenue report for each of the plurality of content owners with revenue allocation for the specified time period, based on the relative frequencies tracked by said tracking.

40. A content usage tracking system, comprising:

a tracking computer for tracking, for each of a plurality of consumers and for each of a plurality of content owners, each content owner owning a plurality of items of media content, the relative frequency of the number of items of media content owned by the content owner and played by the consumer during a specified time period, relative to the total number of times the consumer plays items of media content during the specified time period; and

a disbursement manager for deriving revenue allocation for each of the plurality of content owners for the specified time period, based on the relative frequencies tracked by said tracking computer.

41. A method for tracking usage of content, comprising:

tracking, for each of a plurality of consumers and for each of a plurality of content owners, each content owner owning a plurality of items of media content, the relative amount of time spent by the consumer during a specified time period playing items of media content owned by the content owner, relative to the amount of time spent by the consumer playing items of media content during the specified time period; and

generating a revenue report for each of the plurality of content owners with revenue allocation for the specified time period, based on the relative amounts of time tracked by said tracking.

42. A content usage tracking system, comprising:

a tracking computer for tracking, for each of a plurality of consumers and for each of a plurality of content owners, each content owner owning a plurality of items of media content, the relative amount of time spent by the consumer during a specified time period playing items of media content owned by the content owner, relative to the amount of time spent by the consumer playing items of media content during the specified time period; and

a disbursement manager for deriving revenue allocation for each of the plurality of content owners for the specified time period, based on the relative amounts of time tracked by said tracking computer.

43. A method for content provisioning, comprising:

identifying media content stored on at least one of a consumer'"'"'s media devices;

generating a content registry of the consumer'"'"'s media content identified by said identifying;

generating a device registry of the consumer'"'"'s media devices;

generating a list of media content IDs for identifying versions of media content at one or more content suppliers, corresponding to content listed within the content registry; and

for determining an appropriate source from which to transmit a designated version of media content to a designated media device from the device registry, in response to a request for media content issued by the consumer.

44. A content provisioning system, comprising:

a content identifier for identifying media content stored on at least one of a consumer'"'"'s media devices;

a registrar, coupled with said content identifier, for generating a content registry of the consumer'"'"'s media content identified by said content identifier, and a device registry of the consumer'"'"'s media devices;

a content mapper, coupled with said registrar, for generating a list of media content IDs for identifying versions of media content at one or more content sources, corresponding to media content listed within the content registry; and

a content router, coupled with said registrar and with said content mapper, for determining an appropriate source from which to transmit a designated version of media content to a designated media device from the device registry, in response to a request for media content issued by the consumer.

45. A method for provisioning content to users, comprising:

for each of a plurality of items of media content;

maintaining information about one or more owners of the item of media content; and

maintaining information about one or more providers of the item of media content;

for each of a plurality of users;

maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user and about player devices owned by the user;

for each of a plurality of time periods;

maintaining a history log of items of media content played by one or more of the plurality of users during the time period;

receiving a request from a user to play a designated item of media content that is resident locally on a designated player device, during a current time period;

updating the history log for the current time period to reflect the user having played the designated item of media content; and

calculating revenue disbursement among the owners of the plurality of items of media content, and the providers of the plurality of media content, for the current time period, based on the history log for the current time period.

46. A content provisioning system, comprising:

a data manager for storing (i) for each of a plurality of items of media content, maintaining information about owners of the media content and providers of the media content, (ii) for each of a plurality of users, maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user and about player devices owned by the user, and (iii) for each of a plurality of time periods, maintaining a history log of items of media content played by one or more of the plurality of users during the time period;

a receiver for receiving a request from a user to play a designated item of media content that is resident locally on a designated player device, during a current time period; and

a disbursement manager coupled with said data manager (i) for updating the history log for the current time period to reflect the user having played the designated item of media content, and (ii) for calculating revenue disbursement among the owners of the plurality of items of media content, and the providers of the plurality of items of media content, for the current time period, based on the history log for the current time period.