Method for the assured and enduring archival of intellectual property

• US 7,194,490 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2001
• Issued: 03/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Christopher Zee
• Original Assignee: Christopher Zee
• Inventors: Zee, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Cottingham; John R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lu; Kuen S.
• Application Number:
  US09/864,038
• Publication Number:
  US 20020178015A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,128 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/3, 707/5, 707/10, 707/100, 707/204, 705/29, 705/32, 705/1, 705/22, 705/28, 705/35
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

A technical and commercial method of managing information is provided including an endowment fund associated with each of the plurality of information or intellectual property (IP) to be archived. The endowment fund assures the maintenance and storage of the archived IP. Further, the endowment fund is managed separately from the user fees to ensure its enduring integrity and long term viability, with the user fees being applicable to user'"'"'s access to the IP through an electronic communications network. Endowment funds for archived IP can be pooled for increased permanence. User'"'"'s access to the archived IP can be managed including assignment of an access level and a cost for access. Users can access and amend a value-added access file associated with, yet separate from, the archived IP.

Claims

1. A technical and commercial method of managing information comprising the steps of:

operating an information storage and retrieval archival system containing plural archived intellectual property (IP);

receiving IP for archival in the information storage and retrieval archival system;

collecting an archival fee for each archived IP accepted for archival;

enabling a user fee based access to the archived IP in the information storage and retrieval archival system by users through an electronic communications network;

establishing a separate endowment fund for each archived IP from the archival fee collected for that archived IP; and

managing the endowment fund separately from the operations of the information storage and retrieval archival system,

wherein each endowment fund generates enduring funding for the maintenance and operation of the information storage and retrieval archival system to assure continued availability of the corresponding archived IP regardless whether there is user fee based access thereto.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the method comprises the further step of interconnecting for operation:

a main server, a mirror server, an operational backup system, a disaster recovery system, connection to the Internet and thereby to at least one of;

main frame computers, personal computers, personal digital assistants, web TV sets, WAP cell phones, and dedicated Internet connections.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the indexing step comprises assembling information taken from an aspects list of:

intellectual property type, country of publication, author name, assignee, revenue sharing ratio, bank account, keywords, abstract, excerpts, ISBN number, ISSN number, publication date, volume number, issue number, page number, file format, file size, language rating, and violence rating.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving instructions for access step comprises at least one of the further steps of:

reviewing a list of archived IP retrieved, selecting specific intellectual property to access, selecting a level of access, paying an access fee, and receiving the selected intellectual property.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving instructions for access step includes at least one of the further steps of:

determining if the user is a member, signing the user as member, accepting agreement, paying membership fee, downloading access software, receiving open credit balance, reviewing fee schedule, selecting level of access, and paying further search and retrieval fees.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the receiving instructions for access step includes at least one of the further steps of:

determining if the user has been granted permission, by the owner of the archived IP, to access to the selected IP; and

verifying the identity of the user using at least one of user id, password, computer id, CPU id, secondary password, smart cards, encoded credit cards and biometric identification systems.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of establishing a Permanent IP Identification Address (PIPA) for identifying the address of the archived IP in a Permanent IP Domain (PIPD).

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the funding of the endowment fund step further comprises the steps of:

managing the PIPD by operator-managers; and

separately managing the endowment trust from the management of the PIPD.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the steps of:

augmenting the endowment fund for the archived IP with donations, grants or operating surplus.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising the steps of:

pooling endowment funds for a plurality of archived IP for increased permanence including increased liquidity and reduced risk.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising the steps of:

establishing one or more access files separate from the archived IP, each access file associated with a user;

enabling access to an access file by a user wherein each access file comprises the PIPA for the archived IP, an identity of the user, and value-added information by the user.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the steps of:

accessing a user'"'"'s access file by the accessing user;

combining the value-added information and the archived IP into a combined product; and

presenting the combined product to the accessing user.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising the steps of:

accessing a first user'"'"'s first access file by a second user for forming a second access file;

combining value-added information of the first and second access files and the archived IP of the into a combined product; and

presenting the combined product to the second accessing user.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein a user accesses archived IP further comprising the steps of:

opening an access file; and

obtaining a presentation of the combined product Including at least the PIPA for the archived IP and the permanently archived IP associated therewith.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising the steps of:

initiating the creation of an access file by a user by the entry of information associated with the archived IP; and

once the archived IP is identified, the PIPA for the archived IP, an identity of the user, and value-added information by the user can be added to the access file.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein a user accesses archived IP further comprising the steps of:

searching a plurality of access files to ascertain if archived IP is stored for retrieval; and

if so

opening the access filed associated with the archived IP for obtaining a presentation of the combined product including at least the PIPA for the archived IP and the permanently archived IP associated therewith.

17. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of backing up the access file on the storage and retrieval archival system operated in the PIPD.

18. The method of claim 7 wherein the amount of archived information for review by a user is minimized and wherein:

IP owners fund an endowment fund for the archived IP; and

thus only IP selected and funded by IP owners are archived in the PIPD.

19. The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of establishing an index tag for each archived IP and comprising at least a PIPA for the archived IP, the index tags being useful for indexing purposes.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the funding of the endowment fund step further comprises the steps of:

assessing an archival fee associated with archived IP sufficient to fund the endowment fund for the archived IP; and

receiving the archival fee from an IP owner of the archived IP.

21. A technical and commercial method of managing information comprising the steps of:

operating an information storage and retrieval archival system containing plural archived intellectual property (IP);

receiving IP for archival in the information storage and retrieval archival system;

collecting an archival fee for each archived IP accepted for archival;

enabling a user fee based access to the archived IP in the information storage and retrieval archival system by users through an electronic communications network; and

establishing a separate endowment fund for each archived IP from the archival fee collected for that archived IP;

wherein each endowment fund generates enduring funding for the maintenance and operation of the information storage and retrieval archival system to assure continued availability of the corresponding archived IP regardless whether there is user fee based access thereto.