Incremental updates of items
First Claim
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1. An item-providing system, comprising:
- an item delivery system comprising a processor configured to provide electronic books to a user device, wherein the item delivery system is configured to;
send an entry to the user device that provides an instruction to retrieve an electronic book from the item-providing system;
receive a request by the user device to obtain the electronic book;
determine whether to provide a delta form of the requested electronic book or a full form of the requested electronic book; and
provide, based on the determination, either the delta form of the requested electronic book or the full form of the requested electronic book to the user device, wherein the delta form of the requested electronic book comprises a difference between current content of the requested electronic book and prior content associated with the requested electronic book as maintained by the user device;
wherein the system being configured to determine whether to provide the delta form of the requested electronic book or the full form of the requested electronic book comprises the system being configured to determine a time lag of patching the delta file into the prior content associated with the requested electronic book as maintained by the user device and, wherein the system is configured to provide the full form of the requested electronic book to the user device in response to determining the time lag to be greater than a threshold.
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Abstract
An item-providing system supplies items to a user device for consumption at the user device via communication infrastructure. The device may correspond to a book reader device or other type of device. In one illustrative case, the item-providing system may provide items to the user device in incremental form or in full form. The item-providing system and user device implement a protocol for determining whether the content should be delivered in incremental form or full form.
329 Citations
19 Claims
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1. An item-providing system, comprising:
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an item delivery system comprising a processor configured to provide electronic books to a user device, wherein the item delivery system is configured to; send an entry to the user device that provides an instruction to retrieve an electronic book from the item-providing system; receive a request by the user device to obtain the electronic book; determine whether to provide a delta form of the requested electronic book or a full form of the requested electronic book; and provide, based on the determination, either the delta form of the requested electronic book or the full form of the requested electronic book to the user device, wherein the delta form of the requested electronic book comprises a difference between current content of the requested electronic book and prior content associated with the requested electronic book as maintained by the user device; wherein the system being configured to determine whether to provide the delta form of the requested electronic book or the full form of the requested electronic book comprises the system being configured to determine a time lag of patching the delta file into the prior content associated with the requested electronic book as maintained by the user device and, wherein the system is configured to provide the full form of the requested electronic book to the user device in response to determining the time lag to be greater than a threshold. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An item-providing system, comprising:
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an item delivery system comprising a processor configured to provide electronic books to a user device, wherein the item delivery system is configured to; provide a plurality of delta forms of an electronic book, wherein each delta form expresses a difference between current content associated with the electronic book and a particular version of prior content associated with the electronic book; send an entry to the user device that provides an instruction to retrieve the electronic book from the item-providing system; receive a request by the user device to obtain the electronic book; determine a version of prior content associated with the requested electronic book, as maintained by the user device; select a delta form from the plurality of delta forms associated with the determined version of prior content if the delta form exists; and provide the selected delta form to the user device; wherein the system being configured to determine whether to provide the delta form of the requested electronic book or the full form of the requested electronic book comprises the system being configured to determine whether the user device is plugged into a permanent power source and, wherein the system is configured to provide the full form of the requested electronic book to the user device in response to determining the user device is plugged into a permanent power source. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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13. A method for providing electronic books, comprising:
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sending an entry to a user device that provides an instruction to retrieve an electronic book; receiving a request from the user device to obtain the electronic book; providing either a delta form of the requested electronic book or a full form of the requested electronic book to the user device, wherein the delta form of the requested electronic book comprises a difference between current content of the requested electronic book and prior content associated with the requested electronic book as maintained by the user device, wherein a decision to provide either the delta form or the full form is based on a determination that it is more appropriate to send the delta form as opposed to the full form, or to send the full form as opposed to the delta form; wherein the determination comprises determining a battery level of the user device and, wherein the providing comprises providing the full form of the requested electronic book to the user device in response to determining the battery level being greater than a threshold. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. A method for providing electronic books, comprising:
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providing a plurality of delta forms of an electronic book, wherein each delta form expresses a difference between current content associated with the electronic book and a particular version of prior content associated with the electronic book; sending an entry to a user device that provides an instruction to retrieve the electronic book from the item-providing system; receiving a request from the user device to obtain the electronic book; determining a version of prior content associated with the requested electronic book, as maintained by the user device; selecting a delta form from the plurality of delta forms associated with the determined version of prior content if the delta form exists; determining a time lag of patching the delta form into the version of prior content associated with the requested electronic book as maintained by the user device; and providing the selected delta form to the user device in response to determining the time lag to be less than a threshold. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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Specification