Content provisioning and revenue disbursement

CONTENT PROVISIONING AND REVENUE DISBURSEMENT}

<u>Cross-reference to related applications</u>

This application is a continuation-in-part of US Application No. 10/336,443 (currently registered Patent No. 7,191,193) "Automatic Digital Music Library Builder" filed on January 02, 2003, filed on April 21, 2004 continuation-in-part of US Application Serial No. 10/893,473 "Portable Music Player and Transmitter," and continuation-in-part applicant of US Application Serial No. 10/893,473, "Method and System for Managing Rights for Digital Music," filed on Jun. 16, 2004. , a continuation-in-part of U.S. Application Serial No. 11/261,687, "Method and System for Tracking and Managing Rights for Digital Music," filed October 28, 2005; This is a continuation-in-part of Applicant's December 1, 2006, U.S. Application Serial No. 11/607,163, "Media Management and Tracking."

<u>technical field</u>

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the provisioning and tracking of media content, rather than paying revenue to content owners, content distributors, and those involved in content provisioning.

Traditionally, content such as music or music has been packaged in physical media (eg, records and cassette tapes). Consumers have become accustomed to the convenience of enjoying the content they purchase, allowing them to access their content at any time of the day and take their content with them wherever they go. Traditionally, contents were displayed and accessed on shelves, like books. With the advent of computers and digital content, content has been packaged into storage media (eg, CDs, playback devices, and computer disks). CDs were displayed on shelves, and the contents stored on playback devices and computer disks were organized as files and folders.

More recently, content streaming has emerged, allowing consumers to play content live from content servers. The paradigm shift from content with physical packaging to content that is not stored on consumer devices but instead streamed for playback has been largely recognized, albeit on a limited basis, by consumers. Despite the benefits of accessing a vast collection of content stored on content servers, consumers still prefer to have a physical object (CD, playback device, computer) on which the content is stored.

Consumer preference for physically having content stems from the practice of the home being the consumer's central repository where the consumer enjoys his music and picks up music when he leaves the house. In addition to or on behalf of the home, to be attracted to the idea of a remote content server being its own repository, a compelling new service must be provided that goes beyond traditional services.

<p>Embodiments of the present invention provision content to consumers and provide access to their content wherever the consumer is located, perform rights management on content, track content usage, content providers, For content distributors, content aggregators, and global content services that pay for their purchases and other vendors in the supply chain. As used herein, content includes music, videos, books, games, and the like.</p><p>In general, embodiments of the present invention create a data structure that functions as a registry, whereby details of each content obtained by a consumer from a plurality of sources are recorded and obtained by members of a common household. contents are aggregated. In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, a consumer is associated with a household even when the consumer and household data are obtained from disparate sources that may not provide the same data. In addition, content subscriptions obtained by consumers and their families are also recorded in the registry. Content and content subscriptions can be obtained wirelessly, through cable and satellite stations, through peer-to-peer file sharing applications, on-line through Internet e-commerce websites, at distributor stores, at kiosks, and over the air. . Content may also be obtained from a recording device. According to embodiments of the present invention, content is registered even when content metadata is obtained from different sources, which may not be the same.</p><p>Likewise, each playback device and recording device purchased by the consumer is recorded in the registry. As used herein, player devices include home entertainment systems, mobile phones, portable playback devices, and car decks. As used herein, recording devices include home entertainment systems, computers, audio recorders, video recorders, digital television recorders, and the like. Thus, the registry registers all content available to the consumer and family members of the consumer, and registers all content players and recorders owned by the consumer and family members of the consumer.</p><p>On the supply side, for each content recorded in the registry, a list of content aggregators supplying the content is indicated. The data structure thus identifies all sources of content to which the consumer and members of the consumer's family have the right to access them.</p><p>Embodiments of the present invention allow consumers to access their content from their home and many places away from home (eg, cars and other vehicles, hotels and resorts, offices, etc.). In one embodiment of the present invention, a mobile consumer away from home uses his/her cell phone to access and navigate his/her content and content playlists, and select content to be played. Selected content is streamed on demand from one or more content servers to a player embedded in the consumer's cell phone.</p><p>In general, for each content requested by a consumer to be played on a particular playback device, based on the playback device, based on the location of the consumer, based on the requested content, and for the requested content for a particular supply source Based on the defined rules, an appropriate supply source is identified and content is delivered from the supply source to the consumer. Embodiments of the present invention ensure that content is delivered to consumers in a format and bandwidth compatible with the specific playback device, playback device software, and playback device Internet connection. In addition, the embodiment of the present invention performs rights management by authenticating each consumer with respect to the content currently having rights.</p><p>On the payment side, embodiments of the present invention track a consumer's content usage and create a log of content usage. At the end of each payment cycle, fees paid by consumers, fees paid by advertisers, and fees paid for other services, based on usage logs, are determined by the various content owners, distributors, aggregators, and It is assigned between purchasing and other stakeholders in the supply chain, and an accounting report is generated for each stakeholder.</p><p>In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, related content for which a first content triggers a purchase of a second content is identified. For example, a consumer playing a movie on their set-top cable box may decide to purchase the movie's soundtrack. Thus, the film is associated with the soundtrack. The revenue generated by the soundtrack is then shared with stakeholders in the film.</p><p>Embodiments of the present invention may also be used for usability tracking and merchandising. For example, a first consumer who purchases content may want to share the content with friends. Content is shared between people along a friend sharing chain where one friend shares with the next. Content may be shared using a digital copy of the content or shared virtually. The shared copy may be a trial version that can only be accessed in a limited way, and some or all of the friends along the sharing chain may eventually purchase their own content and convert from trial version to proprietary version. Using one embodiment of the present invention, when a friend purchases a license to convert a shared trial version of content into an owned version, information about the friend's usability as well as the original purchase source is tracked. This information can be used to allocate some of the payouts collected from friends to the original purchase source, and to aggregate usage and purchase statistics.</p><p>Accordingly, according to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of provisioning content to a user, the method comprising: for each of a plurality of media content items: maintaining information about one or more owners of the media content item; A method comprising: maintaining information about one or more providers of content items; For each time period of: maintaining a history log of media content items played by one or more of the plurality of users during a period of time; receiving, according to the location of the user, and according to the designated playback device, identifying an appropriate provider of the designated media content item; transmitting to a device; updating a history log for a current time period to reflect a user who has played a specified media content item; for a current time period, based on the history log for the current time period; , calculating a revenue payment between owners of the plurality of media content items and providers of the plurality of media content. </p><p>According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is further provided a content provisioning system, wherein the system (i) maintains, for each of a plurality of media content items, information about an owner of the media content and a provider of the media content, ( ii) for each of the plurality of users, maintaining information about media content items obtained by the user and playback devices owned by the user, and (iii) for each of the plurality of time periods, one of the plurality of users during the time period. a data manager for maintaining a history log of media content items played by the above; (i) identify the appropriate provider of the Designated Media Content based on the User's location and based on the Designated Playback Device; (ii) a content provisioner that allows an identified provider of a designated media content item to transmit a designated media content item to a user's designated playback device, and is connected to the content provisioner and the data manager; (i) updating the history log for the current time period to reflect the user who played the specified media content item, (ii) for the current time period, based on the history log for the current time period, a plurality of media and a payment manager that calculates a revenue payment between owners of the content item and providers of the plurality of media content items. </p><p>According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is further provided a method for tracking content usage, the method comprising: for each of a plurality of consumers and each of a plurality of content owners owning a plurality of media content items, a specific period of time tracking the relative frequency of a number of media content items owned by a content owner and played by a consumer during a specified period of time relative to the total number of times the consumer plays the media content item during the period; generating, based on the relative frequency, a revenue report for each of the plurality of content owners having a revenue allocation for a particular time period. </p><p>In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, there is further provided a content usage tracking system, wherein for each of a plurality of consumers and each of a plurality of content owners owning a plurality of media content items, the consumer can use the media during a specified period of time. a tracking computer for tracking a relative frequency of a number of media content items owned by a content owner and played by a consumer over a specified period of time, relative to the total number of times the content item is played, the relative frequency being tracked by the tracking computer; based on a payment manager for deriving a revenue allocation for each of the plurality of content owners for a particular time period. </p><p>According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is further provided a method for tracking content usage, the method comprising: for each of a plurality of consumers and each of a plurality of content owners owning a plurality of media content items, during a specified period of time tracking a relative amount of time that a consumer spends playing a media content item owned by a content owner during a specified period of time compared to the amount of time a consumer spends playing the media content item; generating, based on the amount of time, a revenue report for each of the plurality of content owners having a revenue allocation for a particular time period. </p><p>In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, there is further provided a content usage tracking system, wherein for each of a plurality of consumers and each of a plurality of content owners owning a plurality of media content items, the consumer can use the media during a specified period of time. a tracking computer that tracks a relative amount of time spent playing a media content item owned by a content owner over a specified period of time as compared to the amount of time spent playing the content item; based on the payment manager for deriving a revenue allocation for each of the plurality of content owners for a particular period of time. </p><p>According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is further provided a method for provisioning content, the method comprising the steps of: identifying media content stored on one or more of the consumer's media devices, said identifying content of the consumer's media content creating a registry; creating a device registry of a consumer's media device; and generating, in response to content listed in the content registry, a list of media content IDs to identify versions of media content at one or more content providers. and determining, from the device registry, an appropriate source to send the designated version of the media content to the designated media device in response to the media content request generated by the consumer. </p><p>According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is further provided a content provisioning system, the system being associated with a content identifier for identifying media content stored on one or more of a consumer's media devices, the content identifier, and the content a registrar for creating a content registry of the consumer's media content identified by the identifier and a device registry of the consumer's media device, coupled to the registrar, in response to content listed in the content registry, at one or more content providers a content mapper for generating a list of media content IDs for identifying versions of media content, the content mapper coupled with the registrar and the content mapper, in response to a media content request generated by a consumer; and a content router for determining, from the device registry, an appropriate source to send a specified version of the media content to the device. </p><p>According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is further provided a method for provisioning content to a user, the method comprising: for each of a plurality of media content items: maintaining information about one or more owners of the media content item; maintaining information about one or more providers of content items; for each of a plurality of users: maintaining information about media content items obtained by the user and playback devices owned by the user; For each: maintaining a history log of media content items played by one or more of the plurality of users during a period of time; for the current time period, based on the history log for the current time period, comprising: receiving from calculating a revenue payment between owners of the media content item of , and providers of the plurality of media content. </p><p>According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is further provided a content provisioning system, the system comprising: (i) for each of a plurality of media content items, maintaining information about an owner of the media content and a provider of the media content; ii) for each of the plurality of users, maintaining information about media content items acquired by the user and information on playback devices owned by the user, and (iii) for each of the plurality of time periods, a plurality of a data manager for maintaining a history log of media content items played by one or more of the users; a receiver, connected to the data manager, (i) updating the history log for the current time period to reflect that the user has played a specified media content item; (ii) based on the history log for the current time period; and a payment manager for calculating, for a current period of time, a revenue payment between an owner of the plurality of media content items and a provider of the plurality of media content items. </p>

1 is a simplified block diagram of eleven components of a content provisioning and revenue payment system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a simplified flowchart of a process for content identification, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a simplified flow diagram of a process for mapping consumer data into a consumer namespace, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a diagram illustrating a namespace mapping for a consumer, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a simplified flowchart of a process for mapping content data into a content namespace, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a simplified flow diagram of a process for registering content to a device and to a consumer, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 7A and 7B show a system for registering consumer music and video content from CDs and other physical media, and a system for registering consumer music and video content downloaded over the Internet or over the air, respectively; it is one drawing 8A and 8B are diagrams illustrating registration of music and video of furniture, respectively, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 9 is a diagram illustrating registration of a household reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a simplified flowchart of the process of content routing and media playback, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 11 is a diagram illustrating music and video content routed from a plurality of content providers to a plurality of playback devices, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 12 is a simplified flowchart of a process for registering a consumer's inventory, retrieving and displaying inventory on a playback device, and playing media on a playback device, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. 13 is a simplified flow diagram of a processor for tracking a consumer's media acquisition, playback of media, and associations between media items, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 14 is a simplified flowchart of a process for associating media items with each other, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 15 is a simplified flow diagram of a process for validating and enforcing consumer rights to media, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 16 is a simplified block diagram of a content provisioning and subscription revenue payment system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 17A illustrates subscription revenue sharing among content owners, content distributors, service providers, and subscribers, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 17B is a diagram illustrating an accounting report for distributing the stake allocated in FIG. 17A among a plurality of content owners to content owners, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. 18 is a schematic diagram of a content purchase and vendor in a supply chain integrated within a content right-of-use service, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 19A and 19B are simplified illustrations of a first consumer application for obtaining content, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 20A and 20B are simplified illustrations of a second consumer application for obtaining content, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 21A, 21B and 21C are simplified illustrations of a third consumer use case for obtaining content, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. 22 is a simplified high-level architectural diagram of a content provisioning and revenue payment system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 23 is a simplified architectural diagram of an SDK provided with the system of FIG. 22, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Figure 24 is a simplified architectural diagram of the web services layer of the system of Figure 22, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 25 is a simplified architectural diagram of the engine and database layers for the system of FIG. 22, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 26 is a simplified architectural diagram of a back end node for the system of Figure 22, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Embodiments of the present invention provide an end to end media content provisioning system that allows consumers to access their entire content collection and subscriptions from anywhere they may be. From the consumer's point of view, the consumer accesses virtual copies of his content archives, content broadcasters, and content playlists in his home, car, hotel room, and anywhere else on the go. a consumer's content repository in a manner configured to browse and access via any of a plurality of playback devices (eg, home entertainment systems, media players, cell phones, automobile decks, rented vehicle decks, and hotel room entertainment systems); is provided to consumers.

The following definitions are used throughout this specification.

contentDigital media such as music, video, books, and games.

content mappingdetermining, for a given content and a given content media format, one or more IDs to uniquely identify the given content.

content routing - Determining the appropriate source to send the specified content to the playback device.

media server - A computer server that stores and provisions media.

NamespaceVarious identifiers uniquely associated with an Item, where the Item can be media content, player device, consumer, home, and the like.

player devicemedia player, including home entertainment systems, mobile phones, portable media players, software applications such as PC applications, and car decks.

playlist - a sequence of content to be played on a player device.

recorder devicemedia recorders, including home entertainment systems, computers, audio recorders, video recorders, and digital television recorders, and the like.

registry - A central data store where a user's inventory is listed.

tracking server - A computer server that tracks content-related events, including playbacks and purchases.

Typically, consumers build their own personal libraries of digital content, which libraries are stored in memory units (eg, hard disk drives and removable memory cards). Convert songs from compact discs (CDs) and import them into your content library (via subscription service and la carte), via peer-to-peer exchange ( import), digital content can be acquired over the Internet.

A license for digital content may be obtained through a plurality of channels, and examples of the channels include:

(i) Purchasing content from retail outlets

(ii) purchase of content from online retailers via the Internet;

(iii) Recording content from a broadcasting station to a recording device when not in the air;

(iv) Purchase of content through a recording device from the licensee

(v) purchase content from media kiosks via playback devices;

there is

Digital content typically includes media data and ancillary data (referred to as metadata) used to index the content in a consumer's library. For example, MP3 audio file metadata is accessed via ID3 tags, WMA audio files embed metadata within themselves, and both file types can embed metadata within filenames. By indexing a consumer's content, the consumer can browse their library, search to find their library, access individual content within the library, remove content, and create playlists. In general, a playback device provides a user interface, through which the user views content metadata.

1, a simplified block diagram of nine components of a content provisioning and revenue payment system 100 is shown, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The components shown in FIG. 1 may be implemented in one or more server computers, or one or more client computers, or both one or more server computers and one or more client computers. The operation of each component is described in detail below. For convenience of reference, in the table that follows, the figures and the components of FIG. 1 related to the figures are summarized.

<tables num="1"><table><tgroup cols="2"><colspec colnum="1" align="center" colname="col1" colwidth="4347" /><colspec colnum="2" align="center" colname="col2" colwidth="4272" /><tbody><row><entry align="center" namest="col1" nameend="col2">Table 1: Summary of drawings and components to which the drawings relate</entry></row><row><entry align="center" colname="col1">Component</entry><entry align="center" colname="col2">drawing</entry></row><row><entry align="left" colname="col1"></entry><entry align="left" colname="col2"></entry></row><row><entry align="left" colname="col1">content scanner 110</entry><entry align="left" colname="col2">Figure 2</entry></row><row><entry align="left" colname="col1">Content Identifier 120</entry><entry align="left" colname="col2">Figure 2</entry></row><row><entry align="left" colname="col1">Namespace Mapper 130</entry><entry align="left" colname="col2">Fig. 3-5</entry></row><row><entry align="left" colname="col1">Register 140</entry><entry align="left" colname="col2">Fig. 6-9</entry></row><row><entry align="left" colname="col1">content router 150</entry><entry align="left" colname="col2">10 and 11</entry></row><row><entry align="left" colname="col1">Inventory Manager 160</entry><entry align="left" colname="col2">Fig. 12</entry></row><row><entry align="left" colname="col1">Content Tracker 170</entry><entry align="left" colname="col2">13 and 14</entry></row><row><entry align="left" colname="col1">Rights Manager 180 </entry><entry align="left" colname="col2">Fig. 15</entry></row><row><entry align="left" colname="col1">Payment Manager 190</entry><entry align="left" colname="col2">Fig. 16-18</entry></row></tbody></tgroup></table></tables>

content scanner 100

1 shows a content scanner 110 that finds appropriate media on a consumer's device, such as the consumer's content repository, playlists, and content subscriptions. The content scanner 110 is generally implemented in a home PC.

The content scanner 110 may scan the consumer's PC and generate a list of IDs of the content in the consumer's PC. The content scanner 110 also scans the consumer's PC for media playlists and for media archives, such as the iTunes database, Windows media player database, Napster database, and other such databases. The content scanner 110 also scans the consumer's PC for podcasts to which the consumer subscribes, and Internet radio station preferences.

The content scanner 110 may transmit the scanned content information to the content identifier 120 to identify or verify the identity of the scanned content. The content scanner 110 may transmit content metadata, or an abstract of the content, or a content fingerprint to the content identifier 120 .

Also, with each content ID, the content scanner 110 determines the content status, including digital rights management data for the content, and time constraints for the content. The content scanner 110 verifies that the content for which digital rights are managed has a valid license.

The content scanner 110 may further send the content to a data store referred to as a "digital locker" that functions as a remote backup device for the consumer's content.

<b>content identifier (120)</b>

A content identifier 120 that identifies a consumer's entire content repository and aggregation of content broadcast subscriptions is shown in FIG. 1 . The content identifier 120 is typically implemented in a server computer. After the content scanner 110 scans the consumer's PC to identify the consumer's media library, playlists, and subscriptions, the content scanner 110 sends the results to the content identifier 120 . The content identifier 120 identifies or verifies the identity of the scanned content. Content identifier 120 identifies content using a variety of methods, such as looking up content metadata in a reference database of metadata and matching a digital fingerprint of the media with a reference database of fingerprints. etc.

2, there is a simplified flowchart of a content identification process performed by a content identifier 120 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart of FIG. 2 is divided into two columns. A left column indicates steps performed by a content scanner (eg, content scanner 110 ), and a right column indicates steps performed by a content identifier (eg, content identifier 120 ).

In step 210, as previously mentioned, the content scanner scans the consumer's PC for media content stored on the PC. In step 220, the content scanner transmits the metadata and fingerprint for the media scanned in step 210 to the content identifier. In step 230, the identifier selects a lookup method to identify the media based on the data provided by the content scanner. In step 240, the content identifier identifies some or all of the media. In step 250, the content identifier transmits its identification result in step 240 to the content scanner. In step 260 the content scanner uploads the content that the content identifier could not identify to a digital locker. In step 270 the content scanner registers the content via the register 140 , which will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 6 .

<b>namespace </b><b>mapper</b><b>(</b><b>Namespace</b><b></b><b>Mapper</b><b>, 130)</b>

A namespace mapper 130 is shown in FIG. 1 . Namespace mapper 130 is typically implemented on a server computer. A "namespace" is a type of identifier that is uniquely associated with an Item, where the Item is media content, playback device, consumer, and household. In general, data obtained from multiple sources do not follow the same naming convention, and may also be inconsistent. "Namespace mapping" determines, for a given item, one or more IDs to uniquely identify the given item.

According to embodiments of the present invention, namespace mapper 130 provides information from multiple data sources (eg, information about media content, information about playback devices, information about consumers, companies in content purchases and supply chains). and information on other interested parties). To disambiguate information obtained from multiple sources, namespace mapper 130 uniquely identifies data elements from multiple sources and correctly associates them within a central registry.

The namespace mapper 130 normalizes the content data by mapping the content to a reference data store of the content used by the content identifier 120 . Thus, consistent and correct metadata is assigned to content received from multiple sources with different and possibly incorrect metadata.

The namespace mapper 130 may perform namespace mapping to compare information obtained from two or more sources, and may determine whether the information refers to the same entity. For example, the consumer, John, W. Smith may be identified by attributes such as name, address, and phone number in the mobile operator database. Because John purchases a CD from Best Buy and is a member of Best Buy's rewards program, John's purchase information is recorded in Best Buy's database. However, in the Best Buy database, John's name is listed as "John Smith" without a middle initial, and John's address is different from the address in the mobile operator's database. Thus, when consumer attributes provided by two data sources are compared, namespace mapper 130 finds:

Names -- Names not exactly an exact match: John W. Smith vs. John Smith,

address -- addresses do not match,

Mobile phone number - phone numbers match.

The namespace mapper 130 assigns a weight to each attribute (name, address, mobile phone number), and combines the matching degrees according to the weights to determine whether two sets of attributes correspond to one and the same person. can Because mobile phone numbers are typically unique to an individual, this attribute is assigned a higher weight, and since addresses may not be unique to an individual, this attribute is assigned a lower weight. Thus, based on the similarity of the two names, the different addresses, and the matching mobile phone numbers, the namespace mapper 130 concludes that, in fact, the two sets of attributes correspond to one and the same person. Accordingly, the CD purchased by John at Best Buy is registered as John W. Smith's acquired content, which will be described in detail below.

Referring to Figure 3, there is a simplified flow diagram of a process for mapping consumer data into a consumer namespace, performed by namespace mapper 130, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart of FIG. 3 is divided into two columns. The left column represents steps performed by the data source, and the right column represents steps performed by the namespace mapper (eg, namespace mapper 130 ).

At step 310 , a mobile carrier provides consumer information to the system 100 . The example shown in FIG. 3 is for the John Smith example above. Business information includes a full name spelled "John W. Smith", an address "1 Elm Street, Anywhere, OK", and a phone number "212-555-1234". In step 320 the namespace mapper checks whether this consumer is already known to the system 100 . If not known, the namespace mapper stores the consumer data as a new consumer record in the data store.

At step 330 , a retailer (eg, Best Buy) provides consumer information to system 100 . The consumer information is different from the spelling and addressing information of the consumer's name provided by the mobile operator in step 310 . In step 340 the namespace mapper checks whether this consumer is already known to the system 100 and compares the consumer information to information stored in the data store. At step 350, as noted above, based on the similarity of the name and phone number, the namespace mapper concludes that the retail store's consumer information corresponds to the mobile operator's consumer information. Thus, the namespace mapper does not add new consumer records to the data store, but rather maps the retail store's consumer information to an existing record with the mobile operator's consumer information.

4 is a diagram illustrating a namespace mapping for a consumer, according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4 , information is shown for a consumer, Jonathan Samuels, from four information sources (ie, a mobile operator database, a Best Buy rewards program database, an online store database, and a consumer home computer file directory). The mobile operator database provides identifying information about Jonathan Samuels, such as name, address, and phone number.

The Best Buy database provides identification information for content that Jonathan Samuels purchased from Best Buy retailers. The online store database provides information about the content Jonathan Samuels purchased online. The Home Computer Files Directory provides information about the content Jonathan Samuels has stored on his home computer. According to an embodiment of the present invention, four sources are integrated, so that all Jonathan Samuels contents can be registered.

Referring to FIG. 5, a simplified flowchart of a process of mapping content data into a content namespace, performed by namespace mapper 130, is shown, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart of FIG. 5 is divided into two columns. The left column represents steps performed by the data source, and the right column represents steps performed by the namespace mapper (eg, namespace mapper 130 ).

In step 510, a first data source, for example, a metadata aggregator, provides information about the media content. In the example of Figure 5, the information includes the song "Wooden Ships", the singer "Crosby Stills and Nash", and the album "So Far". In step 520, the namespace mapper checks whether the media information is already stored in the data store. In a similar case, the data store already has existing records with the song "Wooden Ships", the singer "Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young", and the album "So Far". Based on the similarity of the information, the namespace mapper concludes that the content matches similar content found in the data store, and identifies the content information received from the metadata aggregator as corresponding to an existing record in the data store. .

Similarly, at step 530, a second data source (eg, an on-line Napster content source) provides information about the media content. The information differs from the information provided by the metadata aggregator in step 510 in that the singer name is "Crosby Stills Nash &amp; It is different in that it is punctuated with "and Young". In step 540, the namespace mapper concludes that the content matches similar content found in the data store, and identifies the content information received from Napster as corresponding to an existing record in the data store. In step 550, the namespace mapper has mapped both the content information received from the metadata aggregator and the content information received from Napster to one and the same existing record in the data store.

<b>Register(140)</b>

1, a registrar 140 is shown for registering a consumer's content, services, and devices with a central data repository. For each item of registered content, the registrar 140 creates a content state including digital rights management data and the like for the content. The registrar 140 is typically implemented on a server computer.

The registrar 140 registers with the consumer the media scanned by the content scanner 100 and identified by the content identifier 120 . In addition, the registrar 140 registers with the consumer media that is not identified by the content identifier 120 but has been delivered to the registrar 140 by a third party (eg, a media repository, etc.). In addition, the registrar 140 registers, with the consumer, media subscriptions and media services purchased from a third party (eg, a content subscription service, etc.). In addition, the registrar 140 registers playback and recording devices owned by the consumer.

6, a simplified flowchart of a process for registering a device and content with a consumer, performed by the registrar 140, is shown in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart of FIG. 6 is divided into four columns. The leftmost column represents steps performed by a third party, the second column from the left represents steps performed by a content scanner (eg, content scanner 110 ), and the second column from the right represents a content identifier (eg, content scanner 110 ). the steps performed by the content identifier 120 ), and the rightmost column represents the steps performed by the registrar (eg, the registrar 140 ). In addition, steps 605 - 630 are for registration of consumer devices, and steps 635 - 675 are for registration of consumer content.

In step 605, a cellular operator provides information about the consumer and his handset. As described above with reference to FIG. 3 , in step 610 the registrar calls the namespace mapper 130 to map consumer information to its data store. In step 615 the registrar registers the handset device as owned by the consumer.

In step 620, the cable TV operator provides information about the consumer and his set top box. As previously described with reference to FIG. 3 , in step 625 the registrar may call the namespace mapper 130 to map the consumer shopping cart to its data store. In step 630, the registrar registers the set top box device as being owned by the consumer.

In step 635 the content scanner scans the consumer's PC for media content. In step 640, the content scanner transmits the result of the scanned media content to the content identifier. In step 645 the content identifier identifies the media. In step 650 the content identifier sends the media identifier, consumer information, and PC information to the registrar. In step 655, the registrar registers the identified scanned content as being owned by the consumer.

At step 660 , the media retailer transmits media data for consumer and retail media sales to the registrar. At step 665 , as described above with reference to FIG. 3 , the registrar may call the namespace mapper 130 to map the consumer information to its data store. At step 670 , the registrar may call the namespace mapper 130 to map the media data to its data store, as previously described with reference to FIG. 5 . In step 675 the registrar registers the media as owned by the consumer.

7A and 7B, from CDs and other physical media, downloaded over the Internet and over the air, downloaded over a peer-to-peer network, or subscribed to a subscription service, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Alternatively, each diagram is shown illustrating a system for registering consumer content and services for recorded music and video, respectively, on a recording device.

A consumer may register his or her entire household including multiple consumer names, cell phone IDs, PC IDs, and other playback device IDs. 8A and 8B, there is shown a diagram illustrating the registration of house music and video, respectively, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In the case of music, FIG. 8A shows the registration of Samuel's songs, CDs, and playlists with the registry for Samuel's house. For video, Figure 8B shows the registration of Samuel's DVD, DirecTV Digital Video Recording (DVR), and cable and satellite subscriptions with the registry for Samuel's house.

In Fig. 9, there is shown a diagram illustrating a registry of a house play apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 9 shows the registry of Samuel's house set-top box, cell phone and car deck.

<b>content router 150</b>

In Fig. 1, a content router 150 is shown. The content router 150 is typically implemented in a server computer. "Content routing"refers to determining the appropriate source for sending specified content to a playback device. The content router 150 maintains a data store of sources of content and information related to the content provided by the sources, for example (i) previously mapped to a standard namespace using the namespace mapper 130 . the media metadata that may be present; (ii) the bit-rate delivery that the content source may provide; (iii) the media format or code that the content source may provide; and (iv) the media container format that the content source may provide. , (v) the types of DRM that the content source can provide, and (vi) the geographic area served by the content source.

When playback of media is requested, the content router 150 dynamically evaluates the data in the data store with respect to playback requirements and with respect to the capabilities of the playback device, and selects the most appropriate content source for the particular case. .

In one embodiment of the present invention, playback of media is performed from a copy of the content stored locally on the playback device. Such a local copy may have been stored on the playback device by the user independent of the present invention, or may have been cached on the playback device during a previous playback from a content source identified by content router 150 .

10, a simplified flowchart of a content routing and media playback process performed by a content router 150 is shown, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart of FIG. 10 includes four columns. The leftmost column represents steps performed by a consumer device, such as a media player, the second column from the left represents steps performed by an inventory manager (eg, inventory manager 160 ), and the second column from the right represents steps performed by an inventory manager (eg, inventory manager 160 ). Steps performed by a content router (eg, content router 150) are shown, and the rightmost column represents steps performed by a content distributor.

In step 1005, the device requests media content for playback. At step 1010 the inventory manager calls the rights manager (eg, the rights manager 180 ) to verify the request. If the rights manager verifies the request, the inventory manager requests a content route to obtain the requested content from the content router in step 1015 . In step 1020, the content router provides the requested content to the requesting device based on a plurality of parameters (eg, content format, transmission bit rate, content container, transmission protocol, and content digital rights management (DRM), etc.) determine the appropriate content distributor for

In step 1025, the content router requests a handle on the content from the appropriate distributor determined in step 1020. In step 1030, the content distributor issues the content handling rights, and in step 1035 the content distributor returns the content handling rights to the content router. Then, in step 1040, the content router forwards the content handling rights to the inventory manager, and in step 1045 the inventory manager provides the content handling rights to the device.

At step 1050 , the device uses the content rights to request content from the content distributor. In step 1055, the content distributor delivers the content to the device. Finally, in step 1060, the device receives the content originally requested in step 1005 from the content distributor, and plays the received content.

11, a diagram is shown illustrating music and video content routed from a plurality of content providers to a plurality of playback devices, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. 11 , different playback devices may require different content formats and may require different digital rights management techniques.

<b>Inventory</b><b> Manager (160)</b>

1, an inventory manager 160 is shown that maintains information about a consumer's media inventory, such as, for example, music, videos, playlists, podcasts, and content subscriptions. The inventory manager 160 is typically implemented on a server computer. In one embodiment of the present invention, the consumer inventory may have been previously generated by the content scanner 110 , the content identifier 120 , and the registrar 140 . The inventory manager 160 provides the consumer's inventory to the consumer's playback device when requested by the consumer.

12, a simplified flow diagram of a consumer's registration of inventory, retrieval of inventory at a replay device, and display process performed by an inventory manager 160 is shown in FIG. 12 , in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. have. The flowchart of FIG. 12 is divided into five columns. The leftmost column represents steps performed by an exemplary consumer device (eg, a mobile phone), the second column from the left represents steps performed by a content scanner (eg, content scanner 110 ), and the middle column represents steps performed by a content scanner (eg, content scanner 110 ). Represents steps performed by a content identifier (eg, content identifier 120 ), the second column from the right indicates steps performed by a registrar (eg, registrar 140 ), and the rightmost column represents steps performed by an inventory manager (eg, registrar 140 ) , the steps performed by the inventory manager 160).

At steps 1205 and 1210 , the mobile phone is registered with the registrar, as described above with reference to FIG. 6 . At step 1215, a content scanner scans the consumer's PC for media content. At step 1220, a content identifier identifies the scanned media content. In step 1225 the registrar registers the identified scanned media content with the consumer, and a record is created in the inventory data store identifying the content as registered with the consumer.

In step 1230 the mobile phone requests, from the inventory manager, an inventory summary of the media registered to the consumer. At step 1235 , the inventory manager calls a rights manager, such as rights manager 180 , to verify the consumer's account. If the rights manager has verified the consumer's account, in step 1240 the inventory manager retrieves the consumer's inventory summary information from the data store. In step 1245, the inventory manager returns the user's inventory summary information to the mobile phone.

In step 1250, the mobile phone displays inventory summary information to the consumer. In step 1255, the consumer selects the media to be played from among the media in the list of inventory summary information. At step 1260 , the inventory manager may call the rights manager to verify the consumer's rights to the selected media. When the rights manager verifies the media, as described above with reference to FIG. 10 , the inventory manager may call the content router in step 1265 to provide the media to the playback device. Finally, in step 1270 , the mobile phone plays the requested media in step 1255 .

Consumer media inventory may be cached on the playback device, eliminating the need for inventory manager 160 to provide it every time. When the inventory is cached on the playback device, the inventory manager 160 maintains versioning information for the cached inventory and the current state of the consumer inventory. This allows the inventory manager to provide an updated view of the consumer's inventory to the playback device so that the playback device can update its cached inventory.

<b>Content Tracker (170)</b>

1, a content tracker 170 is shown that tracks the acquisition and playback of content by a consumer. Content tracker 170 is typically implemented on a server computer.

Content tracker 170 maintains, in a data store, an acquisition log that tracks content acquisition events for consumers. The data stored in the acquisition log includes the identity of the consumer, the identity of the content, the identity of the content store or other service that provided the content, and the date and time of acquisition.

In addition, the content tracker 170 maintains, in a data store, a playback log that tracks content playback events for the consumer. The data stored in the playback log includes the identity of the consumer, the identity of the content, the identity of the device from which the content is played, the length of time of the content being played, and the playback date and time, and the like.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a content tracker 170 tracks the sharing of content, followed by when a shared content item is purchased.

A consumer may request, in system 100 , that a content item registered to him be shared with other consumers. The registrar 140 registers the content to the recipient, indicating that the recipient has a trial license for the content. The content tracker 170 records the share in its acquisition log.

When the recipient's right to experience the content expires, the recipient may be offered to obtain the content. When this purchase takes effect, the registrar 140 registers the content as owned by the recipient, the content tracker 170 records the purchase event, and can associate the share with the next purchase.

In addition, when a plurality of shares of a content item exist in one purchase, the content tracker 170 associates the next purchase with the share. For example, if consumer A shares a content item with consumer B, consumer B shares the content item with consumer C, and consumer C purchases the item, content tracker 170 may Link consumer A's original share.

Content tracker 170 facilitates superdistribution of content.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, content tracker 170 tracks when a first piece of content (referred to herein as "associated media") of content triggers the user to purchase a second piece of content.

"Associated media" refers to content that contributes to a user's purchase of another content. For example, a user may watch a movie and decide to purchase a single song or an entire soundtrack from the movie. Songs and soundtracks are "associated" with movies, and content tracker 170 tracks these associations. When a media item, such as the aforementioned song, is played by the user, the content tracker 170 stores in its data store the identity of the media player and the media, such as the identity of the aforementioned movie associated with the media being played. to maintain

Music and video may be associated with movies, TV shows, games, and live events (eg, concerts and other performances).

13, a simplified flowchart of a process performed by content tracker 170 for tracking a consumer's media acquisition, media playback, and association between media items is shown in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart of FIG. 13 is divided into five columns. The leftmost column represents steps performed by a third party, the second column from the left represents steps performed by the playback device, and the center column represents steps performed by a registrar (eg, registrar 140) , the second column from the right represents steps performed by an inventory manager (eg, inventory manager 160 ), and the rightmost column represents steps performed by a content tracker (eg, content tracker 170 ).

In step 1305, the playback device makes a request from the inventory manager to play the media content designated as media item X. At step 1310 , as described above with reference to FIG. 10 , the inventory manager calls a rights manager (eg, rights manager 180 ) to verify the consumer's rights to media item X, and a content router (eg, , to call the content router 150) to provide the requested media item X to the playback device. At step 1315 the inventory manager reports the consumer's playback of media item X to the content tracker. At step 1320, the content tracker logs-records the playback of media item X in the tracking log.

Thereafter, the consumer purchases a song related to media item X, designated song Y, at the media retailer. At step 1325, the media retailer reports consumer and media data for retail media sales of song Y to the registrar. At step 1330 , as described above with reference to FIGS. 3 and 5 , the registrar may call the namespace mapper 130 to map consumers and media information. In step 1335, the registrar registers song Y as owned by the consumer, as previously described above with reference to FIG. 6 .

At step 1340 the registrar reports the consumer's purchase of song Y to the content tracker. At step 1345 the content tracker logs-records song Y acquisitions in the tracking log. At step 1350 , the registrar may call the namespace mapper to detect the relationship between the song Y and media item X provided to the consumer at step 1310 . In step 1355 the registrar reports the relevant media to the content tracker. At step 1360 the content tracker logs-records the association between song Y and media item X.

In step 1365, the playback device requests playback of song Y from the inventory manager. In step 1370 , as mentioned above with reference to FIG. 10 , the inventory manager may call the rights manager to verify the consumer's rights to the requested song, and call the content router to call the requested song Y can be provided as a playback device. In step 1375 the inventory manager reports the playback of song Y to the content tracker. At step 1380, the content tracker logs-records the playback of song Y and the association of song Y with media item X.

14, a simplified flowchart of a process for associating media items with each other is shown, performed by content tracker 170, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart of FIG. 14 is divided into five columns. The leftmost column represents steps performed by the playback device, the second column from the left represents steps performed by the namespace mapper (eg, namespace mapper 130), and the center column represents steps performed by the media retailer. Steps are shown, the second column from the right represents steps performed by the registrar (registrar 140 ), and the rightmost column represents steps performed by a content tracker (eg, content tracker 170 ).

At step 1405, the consumer plays the movie on his set top box. In step 1410 the set top box requests the associated media from the namespace mapper. In step 1410, the namespace mapper finds media associated with the movie (eg, songs from the movie, games related to movie characters, etc.). Namespace Mapper may use various types of data, such as (i) information identifying music associated with scheduled programs, provided by cable operators and electronic program guide providers; (ii) from cable operators or other content providers; The associated media may be identified based on information provided in the streamed data, and (iii) information identifying the media in the game or media associated with the game, provided by the game developer.

At step 1420 , the namespace mapper returns to the playback device the list of associated media found at step 1415 . In step 1425 the set top box provides the consumer with an opportunity to purchase the associated media. At step 1430 the consumer begins to purchase the song included in the associated media from the media retailer.

At step 1435 , the media retailer executes the purchase and delivers the purchased song to the consumer. At step 1440 , the media retailer transmits purchase information to the registrar. At step 1445, as described above with reference to FIG. 6, the registrar registers the song as owned by the consumer. At step 1450, the content tracker logs-records the acquisition of the song.

In step 1455 the registrar requests the media associated with the purchased song from the namespace mapper. At step 1460 the namespace mapper returns to the registrar a list of media associated with the purchased song, including the original movie played by the consumer at step 1405 . At step 1465, the registrar reports that the original movie is associated with the purchased song. At step 1470 the content tracker logs-records the association between the purchased song and the original movie. Payment manager 190 then allocates a portion of the revenue generated by the user's purchase of songs to rights holders for the original movie, such as the studio, director, writer, and distributor of the original movie.

In general, the registrar 140 recognizes when the associated content triggers the purchase of new content by receiving:

? Before purchasing new content, receive information from the playback device regarding the content the user is playing or recently played;

? to receive information from a ticketing agency relating to a movie ticket purchased by a user or a ticket to any other such event when attendance at a movie or other event is temporally or spatially close to the purchase of the content;

? Before purchasing new content, receive information about the content you have purchased from a retailer; and

? receive, from the user's cell phone or GPS device, location-based information relating to where the user is located before the user purchases new content (where such location may be a movie theater or other entertainment theater);

Embodiments of the present invention are applied to usage tracking for the purpose of revenue sharing or log-recording of usage details. An embodiment of the present invention preferably tracks the following information for content:

(a) if recorded, when it is recorded, and who is the provider;

(b) if purchased directly, the fulfiller of the purchase;

(c) if purchased, any other content associated with the purchased content that could contribute to the consumer's purchase decision, if any;

(d) if shared, the shared chain of consumers, original performers, and users in possession of the original copy;

(e) playback information about the current owner, whether playing on the owner's recording device, or on the owner's playback device or any other device; and

(f) the performing entity of the original purchase by the original owner, if upgrading from the trial version, the performing entity of the purchase from the trial version.

<b>Rights Manager (180)</b>

In Figure 1, a rights manager 180 is shown that implements digital rights management. Rights manager 180 is typically implemented on a server computer.

A rights manager 180 maintains a data store of consumer accounts.

When a consumer attempts to access system 100, rights manager 180 checks the data store to verify whether the consumer's account has rights to access the system, and grants or denies access accordingly. .

In addition, rights manager 180 uses a data store of consumer rights to access specific content items.

Rights manager 180 may allow a consumer full access to a particular content item, deny access, or provide limited access. Restricted access includes the right to access content for a certain period of time, or for a certain range of data, or for a limited number of playbacks, or within a certain geographic location, or the like. Restricted access may be used to support experiential content.

When the user requests to play a specified portion of the content on the designated playback device, a request is sent to the rights manager 180, which confirms that the user has a current valid license for the requested content. If the user does not currently have a valid license for the requested content, the playback request is rejected. In one embodiment of the present invention, if the user has a limited license that is no longer valid for the requested content, the system 100 allows the user to purchase a valid license.

The rights manager 180 may obtain information about the consumer's rights to the specified content item from the content scanner 110 , so that the content scanner 110 is wrapped in a DRM wrapper on the user's PC. , and parses the DRM wrapper to determine a usage rule for controlling the content, and transmits the usage rule to the register 140 . The registrar 140 then stores the rules in a data store, where the rules are implemented by the rights manager 180 .

Rights manager 180 may also obtain information about a consumer's rights to a specified content item from a third party (eg, a media store or media subscription service). When a consumer purchases content, or a content subscription, from the store, the store may send information to the registrar 140 about the consumer, the purchase, and usage rules applicable to the named user and the named content. The registrar 140 stores the results in a data store, where the results are implemented by the rights manager 180 .

15, a simplified flowchart of a process for verifying and enforcing consumer rights performed by consumer rights holder 180 is shown in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart of FIG. 15 is divided into three columns. The left column represents steps performed by the consumer's playback device, the central column represents steps performed by the inventory manager (eg, inventory manager 160 ), and the right column represents steps performed by the rights manager (eg, rights manager 180 ) ) represents the steps performed by

In step 1505, the playback device requests a summary of its inventory from the inventory manager. In step 1510, the inventory manager requests the rights manager to verify the consumer's account. In step 1515 the rights manager may verify the status of the consumer's account by consulting the consumer account data store. If the consumer's account is valid, at step 1520 the rights manager replies to the inventory manager with account authorization. In step 1525 , as described above with reference to FIG. 12 , the inventory manager retrieves the consumer's inventory information and transmits it to the playback device.

In step 1530 the playback device displays its summary inventory information to the consumer. In step 1535 , the playback device requests media in the inventory for playback from the inventory manager. At step 1540, the inventory manager requests the rights manager to verify consumer rights to the requested media. In step 1545, the rights manager verifies the consumer's rights by examining the media inventory and rights data repository. If the rights manager has verified the consumer's rights to the requested media, then in step 1550 the rights manager replies to the inventory manager with a media authorization. At step 1555 , the inventory manager requests a route to the media from the content router 150 , as described above with reference to FIG. 10 .

<b>payment</b><b> Manager (190)</b>

In Figure 1, a payment manager 190 is shown that allocates revenue to various vendors in the content purchase and supply chain.

Payment manager 190 is typically implemented on a server computer.

In Figure 16, a simplified block diagram of a revenue payment system 1600 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is shown. In Fig. 16, a data manager 1610 that manages four data stores is shown. A first data store 1620 stores records of content, content owners, and content providers. A second data store 1630 stores records of users and their acquired content. The third data store 1640 stores content usage history logs according to users and time periods. The fourth data store 1654 includes revenue generated from various sources (eg, (i) revenue generated from media purchases, (ii) revenue generated from media subscriptions, (iii) revenue generated from media access services, and (iv) revenue generated from media access services) ) store a record of revenue generated from advertising). Data in data stores 1620 , 1630 , 1640 , and 1645 are correlated with reference links, such as foreign keys.

16, a user content browser 1650, such as a playback device, is shown that allows a user to interactively browse, organize, and access their content and their playlists.

In FIG. 16 , a rights manager 1660 is shown, such as rights manager 180 . When the rights manager 1660 verifies that the user has a currently valid license for the requested content, the content provisioner 1670 (eg, the content router 150 ) plays the requested content by the user. Identifies one or more sources that can be supplied to the user in a format compatible with the device.

A tracking server 1680 , such as a content tracker 170 , records a history log related to a user's content playback, and a payment manager 1690 , such as a payment manager 190 , uses the history log to generate subscription revenue received from the user. to content owners and content provisioners, and other interested parties in the purchase and delivery chain.

According to embodiments of the present invention, various partners in the content purchasing and supply chain (e.g., (i) content owners, (ii) service providers, (iii) content distributors, (iv) registrars, (v) enablers) , (vi) other vendors that enable the operation of embodiments of the present invention, etc.).

<u>content owner</u>is the entity that holds the intellectual property rights for the content. These intellectual property rights include copyrights, recording rights, recording rights, and distribution rights. Content owners may be music labels, music publishers, copyright associations, film studios, and film production companies, and the like.

commonly, <u>service provider</u>is a mobile operator. Typically, service providers maintain customer relationships and are responsible for billing and collection. In addition, service providers, which are mobile operators, provide content delivery to mobile devices through their wireless networks.

Generally <u>content distributor</u>collects the acquired content and delivers the content to the consumer's playback device. Delivery is via download or streaming using the Internet or a communication channel of a mobile operator. The content manager may also maintain advertising media for ad-supported content or services. In some examples, the mobile operator may provide its own content, in which case the mobile operator functions as both the operator and the content manager. In still other cases, the content may belong to multiple content managers. Embodiments of the present invention support integration and payment of revenue in all cases.

Generally, <u>registrant(</u><u>registrant</u><u>)</u>registers consumer ownership of the media with the registrar 140 . The registrant may be a developer of the content scanner 110 , a media retail outlet, and the like. For the developer of the content scanner 110 , when the content scanner 110 runs on the consumer's PC and sends information about the media on the PC to the content identifier 120 , the registrar 140 is the content scanner 110 's developer. Maintains a record indicating that the developer is a registrant for that media and its consumers. In the context of a media retailer, when the store sells a media item to a consumer, the store notifies a registrar 140 of the sale, which maintains a record indicating that the media retailer is a registrant for that media and its consumer. manage In either case, payment manager 190 uses this information to allocate revenue to appropriate members of the content supply chain.

Generally <u>aid(</u><u>enabler</u><u>)</u>By this, a device or software application may be compatible with an embodiment of the present invention. The facilitator is (i) a manufacturer of a mobile handset that provides built-in capabilities for using an embodiment of the present invention with the handset, (ii) an independent developer of software for a mobile handset that provides such capability, and (iii) playback manufacturers of devices or recording devices, or developers of software that provide such capabilities for playback devices or recording devices, and the like.

In general, to enable operation of embodiments of the present invention <u>other vendors</u>It provides techniques for maintaining a list of the consumer's content, controlling access to the consumer's content based on rights management and criteria (eg, consumer subscription level), and enabling identification of the consumer's content; Responsible for tracking distribution and consumer usage, etc. In some instances, other vendors that enable the operation of embodiments of the present invention may also handle customer relationships, customer billing and collections, and may function as a clearinghouse. Again, embodiments of the present invention support organization and payment of revenue in all cases.

17A, there is shown a diagram illustrating subscription revenue payments between content owners, content distributors, service providers, registrants, helpers and other partners, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 17A, 25% of a consumer's subscription revenue is allocated to music labels, 10% is allocated to music publishers, 35% is allocated to service providers, 2% is allocated to subscribers, and 10% is allocated to content distributors. The revenue-sharing formula is shown, allocating 1% to helpers, and 17% to other partners.

17B shows an accounting report for distributing the percentage assigned in FIG. 17A to a content owner among a plurality of content owners, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In the above accounting report, service providers (35% of gross income), facilitators (1% of gross income), registrants (2% of total income), music labels (25% of gross income), based on a subscription fee of $5, , the revenue ratios for content distributors (10% of total revenue), and publishers (10% of total revenue) are shown. The 25% allocated to music labels is further distributed among eight labels (ie Arista Records, Atlantic Records Group, Columbia Records, BMG Heritage Records, EMI, Interscope Records, Legacy Recordings, and Warner Music Group). The inter-label distribution of revenue is based on the relative number of pieces of content played by consumers at each label. Thus, as shown in the accounting report 1710, of the 72 pieces of content played by consumers during the time period of Nov. 01, 2007 - Dec. 01, 2007, 35 are of the Interscope label. Thus, 35/72 of the 25% return is allocated to Interscope (ie 35/72 of $1.25, or $0.608).

If the consumer plays an additional piece of content from the Interscope label, the report 1710 is dynamically modified to become the report 1720, where the allocation to Interscope is 36/73 of the 25% revenue (i.e., the report 1720). , dynamically upwards to $0.616). Likewise, as indicated in report 1720, the 25% allocation of all other labels is adjusted downward.

Tracking server 1680, for each of the n content labels k=1, 2, ..., n, determines the consumer's total content usage, relative to the consumer's use of the content owned by the label number k during a specified period of time. frequency <img file="KR20120052932A_D0001.tif" />It is common to determine Thereafter, revenues to the n content labels over a particular time period are allocated based on their relative frequencies. In one embodiment of the present invention,<img file="KR20120052932A_D0002.tif" />is the number of pieces of content played by a consumer during a particular time period, owned by label k, relative to the total number of pieces of content played by the consumer during that particular time period. For example, the relative frequencies for the eight content labels shown in report 1720 are 3/73, 2/73, 4/73, 4/73, 15/73, 36/73, 2/73, and 7/73. These relative frequencies are multiplied by the $1.25 allotment of subscription revenue priced for labels among the eight labels.

In another embodiment of the present invention, <img file="KR20120052932A_D0003.tif" />is the time spent by the consumer playing content owned by label k during the particular time period, relative to the total time spent by the consumer playing the content during the particular time period.

In another embodiment of the present invention, <img file="KR20120052932A_D0004.tif" />is the number of the consumer's content items of label k relative to the consumer's total content inventory. This assignment may be applied when there is no play event during a specific reporting period.

Using tracking server 1680 supports a variety of revenue allocation models, including those listed below:

? A sliding scale percentage, such as a percentage percentage proportional to the volume, a percentage percentage proportional to content playback, and a percentage percentage proportional to the number of registered users

? pre-established minimum amount

? Pro-rata split

? off-the-top allocation, and

? Breakdown of residual revenue, such as segmentation among directors, segmentation proportional to segmentation of actual revenue during a cycle, and segmentation among members of a particular group.

18 , a schematic diagram of a content purchasing and seller in a supply chain integrated with a content licensing service is shown, according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 18, a content label, a content studio, a content distributor, a content retailer and a service provider are shown all integrated within a content licensing service. Each of the vendors shown in FIG. 18 are eligible to receive a portion of the consumer subscription revenue.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, as defined above with reference to content tracker 170, payment manager 190 may collect a portion of the revenue generated on one side of the content for media "associated" with the purchased content. assigned to the right holder. Thus, when a user watches a movie and decides to purchase a song in the movie, or the entire soundtrack, payment manager 190 allocates a portion of the revenue of the song or soundtrack to the rights holders of the movie. In addition, when the user later plays the song or soundtrack, the payment manager 190 allocates a portion of the revenue associated with the playback of the song or soundtrack to the rights holders of the movie.

As previously described with reference to content tracker 170, when a user purchases content, payment manager 190 allocates revenue to the associated content rights holder only if the relevant content motivated the purchase of the purchased content. If the relevant content is not this motive, the revenue is not divided among the content rights holders.

<b>use case</b>

19A and 19B, there is a simplified illustration of a consumer application for obtaining content in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 19A , a consumer 1910 downloads a trial version of the content to his playback device 1920 from a McMusic kiosk 1930 located within a McDonald store 1940 . The consumer 1910 has a limited right to play content during the one-week trial period. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 19B , the consumer 1910 decides to purchase the content, via wireless communication, from the store for $1.00. As a result of the purchase, consumer 1910 has full rights to the song.

Also shown in FIG. 19B is a pie chart 1950 showing how a revenue of $1.00 for content is allocated among content owners, wireless operators, McDonalds, and owners in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

20A and 20B, there is a simplified illustration of a second consumer application for obtaining content in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 20A , a consumer downloads a trial version of the content to their playback device 2020 from Starbucks' sound kiosk 2030 located within a Starbucks store 2040 . The consumer 2010 has a limited right to play content during the one-week trial period. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 20B , the consumer 2010 decides to purchase content for $1.00 from the McMusic kiosk 2050 located within the McDonald store 2060 . As a result of this purchase, the consumer 2010 has full rights to the content.

Also shown in FIG. 20B is a pie chart 2070 showing how a revenue of $1.00 for content is allocated among the content owner, Starbucks, McDonald, and the owner of one embodiment of the present invention.

21A, 21B, and 21C, there is a simplified illustration of a third consumer application for obtaining content in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 21A , consumer 2110 records content from a DirectTV broadcast media station to his recording device 2120 while enjoying home entertainment on his television 2130 . Consumer 2110 copies the content from his recording device 2120 to his playback device 2140 .

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 21B , consumer 2110 meets a friend (consumer 2150 ) expressing interest in the content. Consumer 2110 instructs the player software to share content with consumer 2150 . The player software sends a message to the tracking server indicating that the content should be shared with the consumer 2150 . The tracking server can use the rights manager 180 to verify that the content can be shared, and if so, updates the consumer 2150's inventory to include the shared content. The shared content is generally provided to the consumer 2150 with a trial license, whereby the consumer 2150 only has a limited right to play the content for a trial period of, for example, one week.

Later, as shown in FIG. 21C , a consumer 2150 decides to purchase content for $1.00 through a media kiosk 2170 located in a Best Buy store 2180 . After purchasing the content, the consumer 2150 has full rights to the content.

Also shown in FIG. 21C is a pie chart 2190 showing the allocation of a $1.00 purchase price between the content owner, DirectTV, Best Buy, and the owner of the present invention.

<b>system architecture</b>

22, a simplified high-level architecture of a content provisioning and revenue payment system 2200 is shown, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. System 2200 is divided into client-side components appearing on the left and server-side components appearing on the right. The server-side components include a web service layer 2210 , an engine layer 2220 , and a database layer 2230 . Client-side components include client applications 2241 and 2242 .

The client application 2241 communicates with the revenue payment system 2200 via the SDK, which is further described below. The client application 2242 communicates directly with the web services layer 2210 .

Client applications 2241 and 2242 may include, as described above, a mobile phone, content management application, set top box, or other player or recording device, or the like.

The web services layer 2210 handles communication with the system 2200 . In one embodiment of the present invention, a software development kit (SDK) is provided to abstract web services communication and other forms of integration. Engine layer 2220 implements business logic for system 2200 , such as for modules 120 - 190 of FIG. 1 . Database layer 2230 maintains one or more data stores for system 2200 , such as data stores for modules 120 - 190 of FIG. 1 .

23, a simplified architecture of an SDK 2300 provided with a system 2200 is shown, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. SDK 2300 includes an application programming interface (API) 2310 that interfaces with applications that integrate the SDK.

The API 2310 provides the application with the features of the system 2200 (eg, the authentication unit 2311 , the inventory search unit 2312 , the content player 2313 , the report unit 2311 , the media management unit 2315 , the device management unit 2316 , inventory management unit 2317 , and account management unit 2318 , etc.).

The SDK 2300 also includes a web service interface 2320 that provides a communication layer between the SDK 2300 and the server side of the system 2200 .

SDK 2300 may include a local cache 2330 of a consumer's inventory, so that SDK 2300 may provide consumers with access to a consumer's inventory of content without requiring communication with server components. have. The local inventory cache 2330 is accessed through the inventory cache management component 2331 . SDK 2300 may also operate without a local inventory cache 2330 , in which case API 2310 communicates with web service interface 2320 via a translation layer 2340 .

24, a simplified architectural diagram of a web services layer 2400 of a system 2200 is shown, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The web service layer 2400 provides two types of services (ie, a binary web service 2410 and a high-level web service 2420).

Binary web services 2410 are provided for low-level client applications and devices that may have limited computational capability and/or memory capacity. These client devices typically provide a lightweight binary interface protocol. Such client devices may include low-end cellular phones, embedded devices, and the like. Binary web services are typically accessed through the SDK 2300, not from a client application.

High level web services 2420 provide interfaces to more advanced applications and devices, such as PC applications and smartphones. High-level web services are typically accessible from client applications, SDK 2300 , and a company's backend systems that operate with system 2200 (eg, content distributors, registrars, and other partners).

A message from the binary web service 2410 is parsed by a message parser 2430 and converted into a high level web service by a message translator 2440 . Thereafter, the converted message is parsed by the message parser 2450 and delivered to a semantic analyzer 2460 . The semantic analyzer 2460 determines message validity and provides the message to the engine 2220 .

Messages from the high level web service 2420 do not require binary message parsing and are provided directly to the message parser 2450 , which then passes the message to the semantic layer 2460 . do.

25, there is a simplified architecture of an engine layer 2500 and a database layer 2550 of a system 2200, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

The engine layer 2500 may include a plurality of backend nodes 2510 . Each of these backend nodes 2510 serves a particular subset of consumers or devices that communicate with the system 2200 . Allocating consumers and devices among different backend nodes 2510 may be done on a geographic basis, on a service basis, or the like.

The database layer 2550 includes a node-specific database 2552 and a master backend database 2554 . Each instance of node-specific database 2552 contains data associated and maintained by one instance of backend node 2510 . Such data may include consumer media data for consumers served by a particular backend node 2510 in a database, and the like.

Master backend database 2554 exists as only one instance for system 2200 and contains data common among all backend nodes 2510 .

The engine layer 2500 also includes a master backend 2520 , which functions to synchronize the backend node 2510 with the master backend database 2554 .

Those skilled in the art will understand that dividing the engine 2500 into a backend node 2510 and a master backend 2520 is one of several mechanisms that allow the system 2200 to achieve massive scalability.

Each instance of the backend node 2510 includes a web services layer 2512 , a business logic layer 2514 , and a node synchronization manager 2516 .

The web services layer 2512 receives communications from the web services 2210 . The business logic layer 2514 implements the core business logic of the system 2200 .

The node synchronization manager 2516 provides data to the master backend 2520 . The master backend 2520 propagates the data to the master backend database 2554 , and then to other instances of the node specific database 2552 .

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that partitioning the database tier 2550 into a non-specific database 2552 and a master backend database 2554 is one of several mechanisms that allow the system 220 to scale to a large extent. .

In FIG. 26 , there is a simplified architectural diagram of a backend node 2600 of a system 2200 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Backend node 2600 is an example of backend node 2510 .

As previously described, backend node 2600 receives requests from partners and playback devices. Partners include owners of media content, providers of media content, and the like. Playback devices include mobile phones, portable media players, and car decks. The backend node 2600 uses a message dispatcher 2610 to send a message to a set of engine modules 2620 , which implement the core business logic of the engine 2500 .

Backend node 2600 also includes a node-specific database 2630 corresponding to node-specific database 2552 , and node synchronization manager 2640 corresponding to node synchronization manager 2516 .

Message dispatcher 2610 manages incoming requests and routes them to their appropriate destinations. Destinations may be internal to system 2200 (eg, engine module 2620) or external (eg, content owners and content distributors).

The engine module 2620 implements the core functionality of the system 2200 . An engine module is typically present for each of the server components shown in FIG. 1 . Additional modules may exist to provide additional functionality or support for the functionality of the components of FIG. 1 .

The engine module 2620 is divided into a data aggregation module 2622 , a routing module 2624 , and a manager module 2626 . For those skilled in the art, this division is artificial and is intended to provide a clear understanding of the role of the different modules herein. The data aggregation module 2622 includes a content tracker 170 and the like. Routing module 2624 includes content router 150 and the like. The manager module 2626 includes a rights manager 180 , a payment manager 190 , and the like.

Each engine module 2620 maintains its own associated data store in a node-specific database 2630 . As previously described, via node synchronization manager 2640 , node-specific database 2630 is synchronized with master backend database 2554 .

Heretofore, the present invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments. However, it will be apparent that various modifications and variations may be applied to the specific exemplary embodiments within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the present specification and drawings are to be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting.