US20140222516A1 - Content provisioning and revenue disbursement - Google Patents

Abstract

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

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
• The present application is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/495,766, filed Jun. 30, 2009, entitled “Content Provisioning and Revenue Disbursement,” which is a continuation-in-part of assignee's pending U.S. application Ser. No. 11/607,163, filed on Dec. 1, 2006, entitled “Media Management and Tracking,” which is a continuation-in-part of assignee's pending U.S. application Ser. No. 11/261,687, filed on Oct. 28, 2005, entitled “Method and System for Tracking and Managing Rights for Digital Music,” which is a continuation-in-part of assignee's pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/893,473, filed on Jul. 16, 2004, entitled “Method and System for Managing Rights for Digital Music,” which is a continuation-in-part of assignee's pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/329,581, filed on Apr. 21, 2004, entitled “Portable Music Plover and Transmitter,” which is a continuation-in-part of assignee's U.S. application Ser. No. 10/336,443, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,191,193, filed on Jan. 2, 2003, entitled “Automatic Digital Music Library Builder.”
FIELD
• Embodiments of the present invention relate to provisioning and tracking of media content, and to revenue disbursement to content owners, content distributors, and parties involved in content provisioning.
BACKGROUND
• Traditionally, content such as music and movies was packaged in physical media such as records and cassette tapes. Consumers were accustomed to convenience in enjoying content they purchased; they were able to access their content any time of day and were able to take their content with them wherever they travelled. Content was typically organized on shelves and accessed like books. With the advent of computers and digital content, content was packaged in storage media such as CDs, player devices and computer disks. CDs were organized on shelves and content stored in player devices and computer disks was organized as files and folders.
• More recently with the advent of content streaming, consumers are now having content played to them as live broadcasts from content servers. The shift in paradigm from physically packaged content to content that is not stored on a consumer device, but instead streamed for playing, has been largely perceived by consumers as limiting. Despite the advantage of having access to enormous collections of content stored on content servers, consumers still prefer to have something physical in hand with content stored thereon, be it a CD or a player device or a computer.
• Consumer preference to have content physically in hand is a carryover from the tradition of the home being a consumer's central archive, where he enjoys his music and from where he takes the music of his choice with him when he is away from the home. In order to attract a consumer to the idea of remote content servers being his archive, in addition to or instead of his home, compelling new services must be offered that surpass the traditional services.
SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION
• Embodiments of the present invention concern a global content service that provisions content to consumers, provides access to their content wherever the consumers are located, organizes their content, enforces rights management to content, tracks content usage, and disburses revenue to content providers, content distributors, content aggregators and other vendors in the purchase and supply chains. Content, as used herein, includes inter alia music, video, books and games.
• In a broad perspective, embodiments of the present invention generate a data structure that serves as a registry, whereby details of each piece of content acquired by a consumer from any of a plurality of sources is recorded, and content acquired by members of a common household is aggregated. In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, consumers are associated with households even when consumer and household data is obtained from disparate sources that may not provide identical data. Additionally, content subscriptions acquired by the consumer and the consumer's family are also recorded in the registry. Content and content subscriptions may be acquired at distributer stores, at kiosks, on-line via Internet e-commerce web sites, via cable and satellite stations, via peer-to-peer file sharing applications, and wirelessly over the air. Content may also be acquired from recorder devices. In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, content is registered even if the content metadata is obtained from different sources that may not be identical.
• Similarly, each player and recorder device purchased by the consumer is recorded in the registry. Player devices, as used herein, include inter alia home entertainment systems, mobile phones, portable player devices, and automobile decks. Recorder devices, as used herein, include inter alia home entertainment systems, computers, audio recorders, video recorders and digital television recorders. As such, the registry registers all content available to the consumer and to the consumer's family members, and registers all content players and recorders owned by the consumer and by the consumer's family members.
• On the supply side, for each piece of content recorded in the registry, a list of content aggregators that supply the piece of content is indicated. As such, the data structure identifies all sources from which the consumer and his family members can access the content for which they have rights.
• Embodiments of the present invention enable the consumer to access his content from his home and from many locations away from his home, including inter alia automobiles and other vehicles, hotels and resorts, and offices. In one embodiment of the present invention, a mobile consumer, who is away from home, accesses and navigates his content and his content playlists, using his cellular telephone, and selects content to be played. The selected content is streamed to an embedded player in the consumer's cellular telephone upon demand, from one or more content servers.
• In general, for each piece of content requested by the consumer to be played on a specific player device, an appropriate supply source is identified, based on the player device, based on the consumer's location, based on the requested content, and based on rules defined for the requested content regarding specific supply sources; and the content is delivered to the consumer from the supply source. Embodiments of the present invention ensure that the content is delivered to the consumer in a format and at a bandwidth compatible with the specific player device, the player device software, and the player device Internet connection. Embodiments of the present invention also enforce rights management by authenticating each consumer vis a vis the content that he currently has rights to.
• On the disbursement side, embodiments of the present invention track the consumer's usage of content, and generate a log of content usage for purposes of revenue disbursement. At the end of each payment period, fees paid by the consumer, fees paid by advertisers, and other fees paid into the service are allocated among various content owners, distributors, aggregators and other stakeholders in the purchase and supply chains, based on the usage log, and accounting reports are generated for each stakeholder.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, content associations are identified, whereby a first piece of content is a trigger for purchase of a second piece of content. For example, a consumer playing a movie on his set-top cable box may decide to purchase a soundtrack for the movie. The movie is thus associated with the soundtrack. In turn, revenue generated by the soundtrack is shared with stakeholders for the movie.
• Embodiments of the present invention may also be used advantageously for tracking usage and for merchandising. A first consumer, for example, who purchases a piece of content, may wish to share the content with friends. The content is shared from person to person along a sharing chain of friends, one friend sharing with the next friend. The content may be shared using digital copies of the content, or the content may be shared virtually. The shared copies may be trial copies, which can only be accessed in limited ways. Some or all of the friends along the chain may eventually purchase their own copy of the content, converting it from a trial copy to an owned copy. Using an embodiment of the present invention, when such a friend purchases a license to convert a shared trial copy of the content into an owned copy, information as to the original source of purchase as well as the friend's usage is tracked. This information can be used, inter alia, to allot a portion of the payment received from the friend to the original source of purchase, and to aggregate usage and purchase statistics.
• There is thus provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method for provisioning content to users, including for each of a plurality of items of media content, maintaining information about one or more owners of the item of media content, and maintaining information about one or more providers of the item of media content, for each of a plurality of users, maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user and about player devices owned by the user, for each of a plurality of time periods, maintaining a history log of items of media content played by one or more of the plurality of users during the time period, receiving a request from a user to play a designated item of media content on a designated player device, during a current time period, identifying an appropriate provider of the designated item of media content, according to a location of the user and according to the designated player device, causing the identified provider of the designated item of media content to transmit the designated item of media content to the user's designated player device, updating the history log for the current time period to reflect the user having played the designated item of media content, and calculating revenue disbursement among the owners of the plurality of items of media content, and the providers of the plurality of media content, for the current time period, based on the history log of the current time period.
• There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a content provisioning system, including a data manager for storing (i) for each of a plurality of items of media content, information about owners of the media content and providers of the media content; (ii) for each of a plurality of users, information about items of media content acquired by the user and about player devices owned by the user; and (iii) for each of a plurality of time periods, a history log of items of media content played by one or more of the plurality of users during the time period; a receiver for receiving a request from a user to play a designated item of media content on a designated player device, during a current time period; a content provisioner coupled with the data manager (i) for identifying an appropriate provider of the designated piece of media content according to a location of the user and according to the designated player device, and (ii) for causing the identified provider of the designated item of media content to transmit the designated item of media content to the user's designated player device; and a disbursement manager coupled with the content provisioner and with the data manager (i) for updating the history log for the current time period to reflect the user having played the designated item of media content, and (ii) for calculating revenue disbursement among the owners of the plurality of items of media content, and the providers of the plurality of items of media content, for the current time period, based on the history log for the current time period.
• There is further provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method for tracking usage of content, including tracking, for each of a plurality of consumers and for each of a plurality of content owners, each content owner owning a plurality of items of media content, the relative frequency of the number of items of media content owned by the content owner and played be the consumer during a specified time period, relative to the total number of times the consumer plays items of media content during the specified time period, and generating a revenue report for each of the plurality of content owners with revenue allocation for the specified time period, based on the relative frequencies tracked by the tracking.
• There is yet further provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a content usage tracking system, including a tracking computer for tracking, for each of a plurality of consumers and for each of a plurality of content owners, each content owner owning a plurality of items of media content, the relative frequency of the number of items of media content owned by the content owner and played by the consumer during a specified time period, relative to the total number of times the consumer plays items of media content during the specified time period, and a disbursement manager for deriving revenue allocation for each of the plurality of content owners for the specified time period, based on the relative frequencies tracked by the tracking computer.
• There is moreover provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method for tracking usage of content, including tracking, for each of a plurality of consumers and for each of a plurality of content owners, each content owner owning a plurality of items of media content, the relative amount of time spent by the consumer during a specified time period playing items of media content owned by the content owner, relative to the amount of time spent by the consumer playing items of media content during the specified time period, and generating a revenue report for each of the plurality of content owners with revenue allocation for the specified time period, based on the relative amounts of time tracked by the tracking.
• There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a content usage tracking system, including a tracking computer for tracking, for each of a plurality of consumers and for each of a plurality of content owners, each content owner owning a plurality of items of media content, the relative amount of time spent by the consumer during a specified time period playing items of media content owned by the content owner, relative to the amount of time spent by the consumer playing items of media content during the specified time period, and a disbursement manager for deriving revenue allocation for each of the plurality of content owners for the specified time period, based on the relative amounts of time tracked by the tracking computer.
• There is further provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method for content provisioning, including identifying media content stored on at least one of a consumer's media devices, generating a content registry of the consumer's media content identified by the identifying, generating a device registry of the consumer's media devices, generating a list of media content IDs for identifying versions of media content at one or more content suppliers, corresponding to content listed within the content registry, and for determining an appropriate source from which to transmit a designated version of media content to a designated media device from the device registry, in response to a request for media content issued by the consumer.
• There is yet further provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a content provisioning system, including a content identifier for identifying media content stored on at least one of a consumer's media devices, a registrar, coupled with the content identifier, for generating a content registry of the consumer's media content identified by the content identifier, and a device registry of the consumer's media devices, a content mapper, coupled with the registrar, for generating a list of media content IDs for identifying versions of media content at one or more content sources, corresponding to media content listed within the content registry, and a content router, coupled with the registrar and with the content mapper, for determining an appropriate source from which to transmit a designated version of media content to a designated media device from the device registry, in response to a request for media content issued by the consumer.
• There is moreover provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method for provisioning content to users, including for each of a plurality of items of media content: maintaining information about one or more owners of the item of media content, and maintaining information about one or more providers of the item of media content; for each of a plurality of users: maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user and about player devices owned by the user; for each of a plurality of time periods: maintaining a history log of items of media content played by one or more of the plurality of users during the time period; receiving a request from a user to play a designated item of media content that is resident locally on a designated player device, during a current time period; updating the history log for the current time period to reflect the user having played the designated item of media content; and calculating revenue disbursement among the owners of the plurality of items of media content, and the providers of the plurality of media content, for the current time period, based on the history log for the current time period.
• There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a content provisioning system, including a data manager for storing (i) for each of a plurality of items of media content, maintaining information about owners of the media content and providers of the media content, (ii) for each of a plurality of users, maintaining information about items of media content acquired by the user and about player devices owned by the user, and (iii) for each of a plurality of time periods, maintaining a history log of items of media content played by one or more of the plurality of users during the time period; a receiver for receiving a request from a user to play a designated item of media content that is resident locally on a designated player device, during a current time period; and a disbursement manager coupled with the data manager (i) for updating the history log for the current time period to reflect the user having played the designated item of media content, and (ii) for calculating revenue disbursement among the owners of the plurality of items of media content, and the providers of the plurality of items of media content, for the current time period, based on the history log for the current time period.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• Embodiments of the present invention are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements, and in which:
• FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of eleven components of a content provisioning and revenue disbursement system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention:
• FIG. 2 is a simplified flowchart of a process for content identification, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 3 is a simplified flowchart of a process for mapping consumer data to a consumer namespace, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating namespace mapping for a consumer, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 5 is a simplified flowchart for a process of mapping content data to a content namespace, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 6 is a simplified flowchart of a process of registering devices and content to a consumer, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIGS. 7A and 7B are diagrams illustrating a system that registers consumer music and video content, respectively, originating from CDs and other physical media, and consumer music and video content, respectively, downloaded via the Internet and over the air, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrams illustrating registration of a household's music and videos, respectively, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating registration of household player devices, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 10 is a simplified flowchart for a process of content routing and media playback, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating music and video content routing from a multitude of content providers to a multitude of player devices, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 12, which is a simplified flowchart of a process of registering a consumer's inventory, retrieval and display of inventory on a player device, and playback of media on a player device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 13 is a simplified flowchart of a process of tracking consumer acquisition of media, playback of media, and associations between media items, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 14 is a simplified flowchart of a process of associating items of media with one another, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 15 is a simplified flowchart of a process of validating and enforcing consumer rights to media, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 16 is a simplified block diagram of a content provisioning and subscription revenue disbursement system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 17A is a diagram illustrating subscription revenue sharing between content owners, content distributors, service providers and registrants, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 17B is an illustration of an accounting report for distributing the share allocated inFIG. 17A to the content owners, among a plurality of content owners, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 18 is a summary diagram of vendors in the content purchase and supply chain, integrated within a content licensing service, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIGS. 19A and 19B are simplified illustrations of a first consumer use case of acquiring content, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIGS. 20A and 20B are simplified illustrations of a second consumer use case of acquiring content, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIGS. 21A,21B and21C are simplified illustrations of a third consumer use case of acquiring content, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 22 is a simplified high-level architecture diagram of a content provisioning and revenue disbursement system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 23 is a simplified architecture diagram of an SDK that is provided with the system ofFIG. 22, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 24 is a simplified architecture diagram of a web services layer for the system of AG.22, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 25 is a simplified architecture diagram of engine and database layers for the system ofFIG. 22, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and
• FIG. 26 is a simplified architecture diagram of a back end node for the system ofFIG. 22, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
• Embodiments of the present invention provide an end-to-end media content provisioning system that enables a consumer to access his entire content collections and subscriptions, at any location where he may be. From the consumer's perspective, he has access to a virtual replica of his content archive, his content broadcast stations, and his content playlists, at his home, in his car, in his hotel room, and wherever he travels. His content archive is presented to him in an organized way for browsing and for access via any of a plurality of player devices, including inter alia his home entertainment systems, his media players, his cell phones, his automobile deck, a rented automobile deck, and a hotel in-room entertainment system.
• The following definitions are employed throughout the specification.
• CONTENT—digital media including inter alia music, video, books and games.
  CONTENT MAPPING—determining for a designated piece of content and for a designated content media format, one or more IDs for uniquely identifying the designated piece of content.
  CONTENT ROUTING—determining an appropriate source from which to transmit designated content to a player device.
  MEDIA SERVER—a computer server that archives and provisions media.
  NAMESPACE—a range of identifiers that are associated uniquely with items, where items may be inter alia media content, player devices, consumers and households.
  PLAYER DEVICE—a media player including inter alia home entertainment systems, mobile phones, portable media players, software applications such as PC applications, and automobile decks.
  PLAYLIST—a sequence of pieces of content for playing on a player device.
  RECORDER DEVICE—a media recorder, including inter alia home entertainment systems, computers, audio recorders, video recorders and digital television recorders.
  REGISTRY—a central data store where users' inventories are listed.
  TRACKING SERVER—a computer server that tracks content-related events, including inter alia playbacks and purchases.
• Consumers typically build themselves personal libraries of digital content, which are stored on memory units such as hard disk drives and removable memory cards. Digital content may be acquired through the Internet via subscription services and a la carte purchases, via peer-to-peer exchanges, and by converting songs from a compact disc (CD) and importing them into a content library.
• Licenses for digital content may be acquired through several channels, including, inter alia,
• (i) content purchased at a retail outlet store;
• (ii) content purchased via the Internet from an online retailer;
• (iii) content recorded onto a recorder device from broadcast, off-the-air;
• (iv) content purchased through a recorder device from a licensing authority; and
• (v) content purchased through a player device from a media kiosk.
• Content for preview may be licensed from these same channels.
• Digital content typically includes media data and auxiliary data, referred to as metadata, used to index the content within the consumer's library. For example, within MP3 audio files metadata is accessed through an ID3 tag, WMA audio files embed metadata within the files, and both file types can embed metadata within the filenames themselves. By indexing his content, a consumer can browse his library, search his library to find and access individual content therein, remove content and create playlists. Generally, player devices provide a user interface through which consumers view content metadata.
• Reference is made toFIG. 1, which is a simplified block diagram of nine components of a content provisioning andrevenue disbursement system100, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The components shown inFIG. 1 may be implemented in one or more server computers, in one or more client computers, or in both one or more server computers and one or more cooperating client computers. Operation of each component is described in detail hereinbelow. For ease of reference, the following table summarizes the Figures and the components ofFIG. 1 that they relate to.

• TABLE I
  Summary of Figures and components that they relate to

  	Component	FIG.(S)
  	Content Scanner 110	FIG. 2
  	Content Identifier 120	FIG. 2
  	Namespace Mapper 130	FIGS. 3-5
  	Registrar 140	FIGS. 6-9
  	Content Router 150	FIGS. 10 and 11
  	Inventory Manager 160	FIG. 12
  	Content Tracker 170	FIGS. 13 and 14
  	Rights Manager 180	FIG. 15
  	Disbursement Manager 190	FIGS. 16-18

Content Scanner110
• Shown inFIG. 1 is acontent scanner110, which locates applicable media on a consumer's devices, including the consumer's content archive, playlists and content subscriptions.Content scanner110 is generally implemented on a home PC.
• Content scanner110 scans the consumer's PCs to generate a list of IDs of content resident thereon.Content scanner110 also scans the consumer's PCs for media archives, such as iTunes® databases, Windows Media Player databases, Napster® databases and other such player databases, and for media playlists.Content scanner110 also scans the consumer's PCs for podcasts that the consumer subscribes to and Internet radio station preferences.
• Content scanner110 sends scanned content information tocontent identifier120, to identify or validate the identity of the scanned content.Content scanner110 may send content metadata, or an excerpt of content, or content fingerprints, tocontent identifier120.
• With each content ID,content scanner110 also determines a content status, including inter alia digital rights management data for the content, and time constraints for the content.Content scanner110 verifies that digital rights managed content have valid licenses.
• Content scanner110 may additionally transmit content to a data store, referred to as a “digital locker”, which acts as a remote backup of the consumer's content.
Content Identifier120
• Shown inFIG. 1 is acontent identifier120, which identifies an aggregate of a consumer's entire content archive and content broadcast subscriptions.Content identifier120 is generally implemented on a server computer. Aftercontent scanner110 scans a consumer's PC to identify his media libraries, playlists and subscriptions,content scanner110 sends the results tocontent identifier120.Content identifier120 identifies or validates identities of the scanned content.Content identifier120 identifies content using a variety of methods, including inter alia lookup of content metadata in a reference database of metadata, and matching of a digital fingerprint of the media with a reference database of fingerprints.
• Reference is made toFIG. 2, which is a simplified flowchart of a process for content identification, as performed bycontent identifier120, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart ofFIG. 2 is divided into two columns. The left column indicates steps performed by a content scanner, such ascontent scanner110, and the right column indicates steps performed by a content identifier, such as content identified120.
• Atstep210 the content scanner scans a consumer's PC for media content that is stored therein, as described hereinabove. Atstep220 the content scanner sends metadata and fingerprints for the media scanned atstep210 to the content identifier. Atstep230 the content identifier selects a lookup method to identify the media, based on the data provided by the content scanner. Atstep240 the content identifier identifies some or all of the media. Atstep250 the content identifier sends the results of its identification atstep240 to the content scanner. Atstep250 the content scanner uploads content that the content identifier was unable to identify to the digital locker. Atstep270 the content scanner registers the content viaregistrar140, as described in detail hereinbelow with reference toFIG. 6
Namespace Mapper150
• Shown inFIG. 1 is anamespace mapper130.Namespace mapper130 is generally implemented on a server computer. A “namespace” is a range of identifiers that are associated uniquely with items, where items may be, inter alia, media content, player devices, consumers and households. In general, data obtained from multiple sources may not adhere to the same naming convention, and may further be inconsistent. “Namespace mapping” determines, for a designated item, one or more IDs for uniquely identifying the designated item.
• In accordance with embodiments of the present invention,namespace mapper130 aggregates information from multiple data sources, including, inter alia, information about media content, information about player devices, information about consumers, and information about companies and other stakeholders in the content purchase and supply chains. In order to disambiguate the information obtained from the Multiple sources,namespace mapper130 uniquely identifies data elements from the multiple sources, and associates them correctly within a centralized registry.
• Namespace mapper130 normalizes content data by mapping content to the reference data store of content used bycontent identifier120. Thus content received from multiple sources with different and possibly incorrect metadata is assigned consistent and correct metadata.
• Namespace mapper130 performs namespace mapping in order to compare information obtained from two or more sources, and determine whether or not the information refers to the same entity. For example, a consumer, John W. Smith, may be identified by attributes including, inter alia, his name, address and cell phone number in a mobile carrier database. John purchases a CD from Best Buy, and because he is a member of Best Buy's rewards program, his purchase information is recorded in Best Buy's database. However, in the Best Buy database, John's name is listed as “John Smith”, without the middle initial, and his address is different than the address in the mobile carrier database. As such, when the consumer attributes provided by the two data sources are compared,namespace mapper130 finds that:
• Name—the names do not exactly match: John W. Smith vs. John Smith;
  Address—the addresses do not match: and
  Cell Phone Number—the phone numbers match.
• Namespace mapper130 assigns weights to each attribute (Name, Address, Cell Phone Number), and combines the degrees of match according to the weights in order to determine whether or not the two sets of attributes correspond to the same person. Because a cell phone number is generally unique to an individual, this attribute is assigned a high weight; and since an address may not be unique to an individual, this attribute is assigned a lower weight. As such, based on the similarity of the two names, on the discrepant addresses, and on the identical cell phone numbers,namespace mapper130 concludes that the two sets of attributes do in fact correspond to the same person. Thus the CD purchased by John at Best Buy is registered with John W. Smith's acquired content, as described hereinbelow.
• Reference is made to3, which is a simplified flowchart of a process for mapping consumer data to a consumer namespace, as performed bynamespace mapper130, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart ofFIG. 3 is divided into two columns. The left column indicates steps performed by a data source, and the right column indicates steps performed by a namespace mapper, such asnamespace mapper130.
• At step310 a mobile carrier provides consumer information tosystem100. The example shown inFIG. 3 relates to the above John Smith example. The carrier's information includes the name spelled as “John W. Smith”, the address “1 Elm Street, Anywhere, OK”, and the phone number “212-555-1234”. Atstep320 the namespace mapper checks if this customer is already known tosystem100. If not, then the namespace mapper stores the customer data as a new customer record in a data store.
• At step330 a retailer, such as Best Buy, provides consumer information tosystem100. The consumer information differs from the information provided by the mobile carrier atstep310 in the spelling of the consumer's name, and in the address. Atstep340 the namespace mapper checks if this customer is already known tosystem100 and compares the consumer information to information stored in the data store. Atstep350, based on similarities in name and telephone number as indicated above, the namespace mapper concludes that the retailer's customer information corresponds to the mobile carrier's customer information. As such, the namespace mapper does not add a new customer record to the data store, but instead maps the retailer's customer information to the already existing record with the mobile carrier's customer information.
• Reference is made toFIG. 4, which is a diagram illustrating namespace mapping for a consumer, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Shown inFIG. 4 is information about a consumer, Jonathan Samuels, arriving from four sources of information; namely, a mobile carrier database, a Best Buy rewards program database, an online store database, and a consumer home computer file directory. The mobile carrier database provides identifying information about Jonathan Samuels, such as his name, address and cell phone number. The Best Buy database provides identifying information about content that Jonathan Samuels purchases at a Best Buy retail store. The online store database provides information about content that Jonathan Samuels purchases online. The home computer file directory provides information about content that Jonathan Samuels has stored on his home computer. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the four sources are integrated in order to register all of Jonathan Samuels content.
• Reference is made toFIG. 5, which is a simplified flowchart for a process of mapping content data to a content namespace, as performed bynamespace mapper130, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart ofFIG. 5 is divided into two columns. The left column indicates steps performed by a data source, and the right column indicates steps performed by a namespace mapper, such asnamespace mapper130.
• At step510 a first data source, for example, a metadata aggregator, provides information about media content. In the example shown inFIG. 5, the information includes a song “Wooden Ships”, an artist “Crosby Stills and Nash”, and an album “So Far”. Atstep520 the namespace mapper checks if the media information is already stored in a data store. For the case at hand, the data store has an already existing record with a song “Wooden Ships”, an artist “Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young”, and an album “So Far”. Based on similarities in 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 the already existing record in the data store.
• Similarly, at step530 a second data source, for example, the on-line Napster® content source, provides information about media content. The information differs from the information provided by the metadata aggregator atstep510 in that the artist name is “Crosby Stills Nash & Young”, and differs from the already existing record in the data store in that the artist is punctuated “Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young”. Atstep540 the namespace mapper concludes that the content matches the similar content found in the data store, and identifies the content information received from Napster as corresponding to the already existing record in the data store. Atstep550 the namespace mapper has mapped both the content information received from the metadata aggregator and the content information received from Napster to the same already existing record in the data store.
Registrar140
• Shown inFIG. 1 is aregistrar140, which registers a consumer's content, services and devices with a central data store. For each item of content registered,registrar140 generates a content status, including inter alia digital rights management data for the content.Registrar140 is generally implemented on a server computer.
• Registrar140 registers, to a consumer, media that was scanned bycontent scanner100 and identified bycontent identifier120. Additionally,registrar140 registers, to the consumer, media that was not identified bycontent identifier120, but that was instead communicated toregistrar140 by a third party such as inter alia a media store. Additionally,registrar140 registers, to a consumer, media subscriptions and media services purchased from a third party such as, inter alia, a content subscription service. Additionally,registrar140 registers player and recorder devices owned by the consumer.
• Reference is made toFIG. 6, which is a simplified flowchart of a process of registering devices and content to a consumer, as performed byregistrar140, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart ofFIG. 6 is divided into four columns. The leftmost column indicates steps performed by third parties; the second-from-left column indicates steps performed by a content scanner, such ascontent scanner110; the second-from-right column indicates steps performed by a content identifier, such ascontent identifier120; and the rightmost column indicates steps performed by a registrar, such asregistrar140. Moreover, steps605-630 relate to registration of consumer devices, and steps635-675 relate to registration of consumer content.
• At step605 a cellular operator provides information about a consumer and his handset. Atstep610 the registrar invokesnamespace mapper130 to map the consumer information to its data store, as described hereinabove with reference toFIG. 3. Atstep615 the registrar registers the handset device as being owned by the consumer.
• At step620 a cable TV operator provides information about a consumer and his set top box. Atstep625 the registrar invokesnamespace mapper130 to map the consumer information to its data store, as described hereinabove with reference toFIG. 3. Atstep630 the registrar registers the set top box device as being owned by the consumer.
• Atstep635 the content scanner scans the consumer's PC for media content. Atstep640 the content scanner sends the results of the scanned media content to the content identifier. Atstep645 the content identifier identifies the media. Atstep650 the content identifier sends the media identifiers, the consumer information and the PC information to the registrar. Atstep655 the registrar registers the identified scanned content as being owned by the consumer.
• At step660 a media retailer sends consumer and media data for a retail media sale, to the registrar. Atstep665 the registrar invokesnamespace mapper130 to map the consumer information to its data store, as described hereinabove with reference toFIG. 3. Atstep670 the registrar invokesnamespace mapper130 to map the media data to its data store, as described hereinabove with reference toFIG. 5. Atstep675 the registrar registers the media as being owned by the consumer.
• Reference is made toFIGS. 7A and 7B, which are respective diagrams illustrating a system that registers consumer content and services for music and video, respectively, originating from CDs and other physical media, downloaded via the Internet and over the air, downloaded via peer to peer networks, subscribed to via subscription services, and recorded on recorder devices, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• A consumer may register his entire household, which includes multiple consumer names, cell phone IDs, PC IDs, and other player device IDs. Reference is made toFIGS. 8A and 8B, which are diagrams illustrating registries of a household's music and videos, respectively, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. For music, FIG. SA shows registration of the Samuels' songs, CDs and playlists into a registry for the Samuels household. For video,FIG. 8B shows registration of the Samuels' DVDs, DirecTV digital video recordings (DVRs), and cable and satellite subscriptions into the registry for their household.
• Reference is made toFIG. 9, which is a diagram illustrating a registry of household player devices, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 9 shows a registry of the Samuels' household set top boxes, cell phones and automobile decks.
Content Router150
• Shown inFIG. 1 is acontent router150.Content router150 is generally implemented on a server computer. “Content routing” refers to determining an appropriate source from which to transmit designated content to a player device.Content router150 maintains a data store of sources of content and of information regarding the content provided by the sources, including, inter alia, (i) media metadata, which may have previously been mapped into a standard namespace usingnamespace mapper130, (ii) delivery bit-rate(s) that the content source is capable of providing, (iii) media format(s) or codec(s) that the content source is capable of providing, (iv) media container formats that the content source is capable of providing, (v) DRM types that the content source is capable of providing, and (vi) geographical regions that the content source serves.
• When playback of media is requested,content router150 dynamically evaluates the data in its data store vis a vis the playback requirement, and vis a vis capabilities of the playback device, and selects the most appropriate source of content for this particular instance.
• In an embodiment of the present invention, playback of media is performed from a copy of the content stored locally on the player device. Such local copy may have been stored on the player device by the user independently of the present invention, or may have been cached on the player device during an earlier playback from a source of content identified bycounter router150.
• Reference is made toFIG. 10, which is a simplified flowchart for a process of content routing and media playback, as performed bycontent router150, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart ofFIG. 10 includes four columns. The leftmost column indicates steps performed by a consumer device, such as a media player; the second-from-left column indicates steps performed by an inventory manager, such asinventory manager160; the second-from-right column indicates steps performed by a content router, such ascontent router150; and the rightmost column indicates steps performed by a content distributor.
• Atstep1005 the device requests media content for playback. Atstep1010 the inventory manager invokes a rights manager, such asrights manager180, to validate the request. If the rights manager validates the request, then atstep1015 the inventory manager requests the content router to provide a content route for obtaining the requested content. Atstep1020 the content router determines an appropriate content distributor, for providing the requested content to the requesting device, based on multiple parameters including, inter alia, content format, transmission bit-rate, content container, transmission protocol and content digital rights management (DRM).
• Atstep1025 the content router requests a handle to the requested content from the appropriate distributor as determined atstep1020. Atstep1030 the content distributor generates the content handle, and atstep1035 the content distributor returns the content handle to the content router. In turn, atstep1040 the content router forwards the content handle to the inventory manager and, atstep1045, the inventory manager provides the content handle to the device.
• Atstep1050 the device uses the content handle to request content from the content distributor. Atstep1055 the content distributor delivers the content to the device. Finally, atstep1060 the device receives the content, originally requested atstep1005, from the content distributor, and plays the received content.
• Reference is made toFIG. 11, which is a diagram illustrating music and video content routing from a multitude of content providers to a multitude of player devices, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown inFIG. 11, different player devices may require different content formats, and may require different digital rights management technologies.
Inventory Manager1-60
• Shown inFIG. 1 is aninventory manager160, which maintains information regarding consumers' media inventories, including, inter alia, music, videos, playlists, podcasts and content subscriptions.Inventory manager160 is generally implemented on a server computer. In an embodiment of the present invention, consumer inventory may have been previously generated bycontent scanner110,content identifier120 andregistrar140.Inventory manager160 provides a consumer's inventory to the consumer's player devices, when requested by the consumer.
• Reference is made toFIG. 12, which is a simplified flowchart of a process of registering a consumer's inventory, retrieval and display of inventory on a player device, and playback of media on a player device, as performed byinventory manager160, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart ofFIG. 12 is divided into five columns. The leftmost column indicates steps performed by an exemplary consumer device such as a cell phone; the second-from-left column indicates steps performed by a content scanner, such ascontent scanner110; the middle column indicates steps performed by a content identifier, such ascontent identifier120; the second-from-right column indicates steps performed by a registrar, such asregistrar140; and the rightmost column indicates steps performed by an inventory manager, such asinventory manager150.
• Atsteps1205 and1210 the cell phone is registered with the registrar, as described hereinabove with reference toFIG. 6. Atstep1215 the content scanner scans the consumer's PC for media content. Atstep1220 the content identifier identifies the scanned media content. Atstep1225 the registrar registers the identified scanned media content to the consumer, and a record identifying the content as being registered to the consumer is created in an inventory data store.
• Atstep1230 the cell phone requests from the inventory manager an inventory summary of media registered to the consumer. Atstep1235 the inventory manager invokes a rights manager, such asrights manager180, to validate the consumer's account. If the rights manager validates the consumer's account, then atstep1240 the inventory manager retrieves the consumer's inventory summary information from the data store. Atstep1245 the inventory manager returns the user's inventory summary information to the cell phone.
• Atstep1250 the cell phone displays the inventory summary information to the consumer. At step1755 the consumer selects media to be played, from the media listed in the inventory summary information. Atstep1260 the inventory manager invokes the rights manager to validate the consumer's rights to the selected media. If the rights manager validates the media, then atstep1265 the inventory manager invokes the content router to provide the media to the player device, as described hereinabove with reference toFIG. 10. Finally, atstep1270 the cell phone plays the media that was requested atstep1255.
• Consumer media inventory may be cached on a player device, obviating the need forinventory manager160 to provide it at every instance. When the inventory is cached on a player device,inventory manager160 maintains versioning information regarding the cached inventory and the current state of the consumer's inventory. This allows inventory manager to provide an updated view of the consumer's inventory to the player device so that the player device can update its cached inventory.
Content Tracker170
• Shown inFIG. 1 is acontent tracker170, which tracks acquisition and playing of content by a consumer.Content tracker170 is generally implemented on a server computer.
• Content tracker170 maintains, in a data store, an acquisition log that tracks content acquisition events for consumers. Data stored in the acquisition log includes inter alia the identity of the consumer, the identity of the content, the identity of the content store or other service which provided the content, and the data and time of the acquisition.
• Additionally,content tracker170 maintains, in the data store, a playback log that tracks content playback events for consumers. Data stored in the playback log includes inter alia the identity of the consumer, the identity of the content, the identity of the device on which the content was played, the length of time the content was played, and the date and time of the playback.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention,content tracker170 tracks sharing of content and tracks when a shared content item is subsequently purchased.
• A consumer may request fromsystem100 that a content item registered to him be shared with another consumer.Registrar140 registers the content to the recipient and indicates that the recipient has a trial license for the content.Content tracker170 records the share in its acquisition log.
• When the recipient's trial license for the content expires, the recipient may be offered to purchase the content. Such purchase, if effectuated, then causesregistrar140 to register the content as being owned by the recipient, and causescontent tracker170 to record the purchase event, and to associate the share with the subsequent purchase.
• Content tracker170 also associates shares with subsequent purchases in a case where there are multiple shares of a content item culminating in a purchase. For example, if consumer A shares a content item with consumer B, and consumer B shares the same content item with consumer C, and consumer C subsequently purchases the item, then contacttracker170 associates customer C's purchase with consumer A's original share.
• Content tracker170 facilitates superdistribution of content.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention,content tracker170 tracks when a first piece of content, referred to herein as “associated media”, triggers a user to purchase a second piece of content.
• “Associated media” refers to content that contributes to a user's purchase of other content. For example, a user may watch a movie, and decide to purchase a song from the movie, or the entire soundtrack. The song and the soundtrack are “associated with” the movie, andcontent tracker170 tracks this association. When a media item, such as the above mentioned song, is played by the user,content tracker170 maintains in its data store both the media player and the identity of the media, such as the above mentioned movie, which was associated with the played media.
• Music and video may be associated with movies, TSV shows, games, and live events such as concerts and other performances.
• Reference is made toFIG. 13, which is a simplified flowchart of a process of tracking consumer acquisition of media, playback of media, and associations between media items, as performed bycontent tracker170, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart ofFIG. 13 is divided into five columns. The leftmost column indicates steps performed by third parties; the second-from-left column indicates steps performed by a player device; the middle column indicates steps performed by a registrar, such asregistrar140; the second-from-right column indicates steps performed by an inventory manager, such asinventory manager160; and the rightmost column indicates steps performed by a content tracker, such ascontent tracker170.
• Atstep1305 the player device requests media content, designated as media item X, for playback, from the inventory manager. Atstep1310 the inventory manager invokes a rights manager, such asrights manager130, to validate the consumer's rights to media item X, and invokes a content router, such ascontent router150, to provide the requested media item X to the player device, as described hereinabove with reference toFIG. 10. Atstep1315 the inventory manager reports the consumer's playback of media item X to the content tracker. Atstep1320 the content tracker logs the playback of media item X in a tracking log.
• The consumer then purchases a song, designated as song Y and related to media item X, from a media retailer. Atstep1325 the media retailer reports consumer and media data for the retail media sale of song Y, to the registrar. Atstep1330 the registrar invokesnamespace mapper130 to map the consumer and the media information, as described hereinabove with reference toFIGS. 3 and 5. Atstep1335 the registrar registers song Y as being owned by the consumer, as described hereinabove with reference toFIG. 6.
• Atstep1340 the registrar reports the consumer's purchase of song Y to the content tracker. Atstep1345 the content tracker logs acquisition of song Y in the tracking log. Atstep1350 the registrar invokes the namespace mapper to detect a relationship between song Y and media item X, which was provided to the consumer atstep1310. Atstep1355 the registrar reports the related media to the content tracker. Atstep1360 the content tracker logs the association between song Y and media item X.
• Atstep1355 the player device requests playback of song Y, from the inventory manager. Atstep1370 the inventory manager invokes the rights manager to validate the consumers rights to the requested song, and invokes the content router to provide the requested song Y to the player device, as described hereinabove with reference toFIG. 10. Atstep1375 the inventory manager reports playback of song Y to the content tracker. Atstep1380 the content tracker logs the playback of song Y, and the association of song Y with media item X.
• Reference is made toFIG. 14, which is a simplified flowchart of a process of associating items of media with one another, as performed bycontent tracker170, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart ofFIG. 14 is divided into five columns. The leftmost column indicates steps performed by d player device; the second-from-left column indicates steps performed by a namespace mapper, such asnamespace mapper130; the middle column indicates steps performed by a media retailer; the second-from-right column indicates steps performed by a registrar, such asregistrar140; and the rightmost column indicates steps performed by a content tracker, such ascontent tracker170.
• At step1405 a consumer plays a movie on his set top box. Atstep1410 the set top box requests associated media from the namespace mapper. Atstep1415 the namespace mapper finds media associated with the movie, including inter alia songs from the movie and games relating to the movie characters. The namespace mapper may identify associated media based on various types of data, including, inter alia, (i) information, provided by cable providers and by electronic programming guide providers, identifying music associated with scheduled programs, (ii) information provided in data streamed from cable providers or other content providers, and (iii) information provided by game developers identifying media in or associated with a game.
• Atstep1420 the namespace mapper returns to the player device a list of the associated media found atstep1415. Atstep1425 the set top box presents the consumer with opportunities to purchase the associated media. Atstep1430 the consumer proceeds to purchase a song, included in the associated media, from a media retailer.
• Atstep1435 the media retailer executes the purchase and delivers the purchased song to the consumer. Atstep1440 the media retailer sends the purchase information to the registrar. Atstep1445 the registrar registers the song as being owned by the consumer, as described hereinabove with reference toFIG. 6. Atstep1450 the content tracker logs acquisition of the song.
• Atstep1455 the registrar requests from the namespace mapper media associated with the purchased song. Atstep1460 the namespace mapper returns to the registrar a list of media associated with the purchased song, including the original movie played by the consumer atstep1405. Atstep1465 the registrar reports the original movie as being associated with the purchased song. Atstep1470 the content tracker logs the association between the purchased song and the original movie. In turn,disbursement manager190 allocates a portion of the revenue generated by the user's purchase of the song to rights holders for the original movie, such as studios, directors, writers, and distributors of the original movie.
• Generally,registrar140 recognizes when associated content triggers purchase of new content by:
• • receiving information from a player device regarding content the user is playing, or has recently played, prior to purchasing his new content;
  • receiving information from ticketing agencies regarding movie tickets, or tickets for other such events, that the user purchased, where attendance at the movie or other event was temporally or spatially proximate to the purchase of the content;
  • receiving information from retail stores regarding content the user has purchased, prior to purchasing his new content; and
  • receiving location-based information, from the user's cell-phone or GPS device, regarding where the user was located prior to purchasing his new content, where such location may have been a theater or other entertainment venue.
• Embodiments of the present invention have application to usage tracking for purposes of revenue sharing or for purposes of logging usage history. Embodiments of the present invention are advantageous for tracking the following information for content:
• • (a) if recorded, when it was recorded and from which provider;
  • (b) if purchased directly, the fulfiller of the purchase;
  • (c) if purchased, other content, if any, that is associated with the purchased content and may have contributed to the consumer's decision to make the purchase;
  • (d) if shared, the consumer who originally owned the copy, the original fulfiller, and the sharing chain of users;
  • (e) play information for the current owner, whether played on the owner's recorder device or on the owner's player device or on other devices; and
  • (f) if upgraded from a trial version, the fulfiller of the original purchase by the original owner and the fulfiller of the purchase from the trial version.
Rights Manager180
• Shown inFIG. 1 is arights manager180, which enforces digital rights management.Rights manager180 is generally implemented on a server computer.
• Rights manager130 maintains a data store of consumer accounts. When a consumer attempts to accesssystem100,rights manager130 consults the data store to validate whether or not the consumer's account has the right to access the system, and grants or denies access accordingly.
• Additionally,rights manager180 utilizes a data store of consumers' rights to access given content items.
• Rights manager180 may grant full access for a consumer to a given content item, may deny access, and may provide limited access. Limited access includes, inter alia, the right to access content for a specific time period, during a specific date range, for a limited number of plays, or in specific geographical locations. Limited access may be used to support trial content.
• When a user requests to play a designated piece of content on a designated player device, the request is transmitted torights manager130, which confirms that the user has a currently valid license to the requested content. If the user does not have a currently valid license to the requested content, the play request is denied. In one embodiment of the present invention, if the user had a limited license for the requested content which is no longer valid,system100 enables the user to purchase a valid license.
• Rights manager180 may obtain information regarding a consumer's rights to a designated item of content fromcontent scanner110, wherebycontent scanner110 finds content on a user's PC that is wrapped in a DRM wrapper, parses the DRM wrapper to determine the usage rules governing the content, and transmits the usage rules toregistrar140.Registrar140 in turn stores the rules in a data store where they are enforced byrights manager180.
• Rights manager180 may also obtain information regarding a consumer's rights to a designated item of content from a third party such as inter alia a media store or a media subscription service. When a consumer purchases content or a content subscription from a store, the store may transmit toregistrar140 information about the consumer, the purchase, and the usage rules applicable to the designated user and the designated content.Registrar140 stores the results in a data store where they are enforced byrights manager180.
• Reference is made toFIG. 15, which is a simplified flowchart of a process of validating and enforcing consumer rights to media, as performed byrights manager180, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart ofFIG. 15 is divided into three columns. The left column indicates steps performed by a consumer's player device; the middle column indicates steps performed by an inventory manager, such asinventory manger160; and the right column indicates steps performed by a rights manager, such asrights manager180.
• Atstep1505 the player device requests a summary of its inventory from the inventory manager. Atstep1510 the inventory manager requests the rights manager to validate the consumer's account. Atstep1515 the rights manager validates the status of the consumer's account by consulting a consumer account data store. If the consumer's account is valid, then atstep1520 the rights manager returns an account authorization to the inventory manager. Atstep1525 the inventory manager retrieves the consumer's inventory information, as described hereinabove with reference toFIG. 12, and sends it to the player device.
• Atstep1530 the player device displays to the consumer his summary inventory information. Atstep1535 the player device requests, from the inventory manager, media from the inventory for playback. Atstep1540 the inventory manager requests the rights manager to validate the consumer's rights to the requested media. Atstep1545 the rights manager validates the consumer's rights by consulting a media inventory and rights data store. If the rights manager validates the consumers rights to the requested media, then atstep1550 the rights manager returns a media authorization to the inventory manager. Atstep1555 the inventory manager requests a route to the media fromcontent router150, as described hereinabove with reference toFIG. 10.
Disbursement Manager190
• Shown inFIG. 1 is adisbursement manager190, which allocates revenue to various vendors in the content purchase and supply chains.Disbursement manager190 is generally implemented on a server computer. Reference is made toFIG. 16, which is a simplified block diagram of arevenue disbursement system1600, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Shown inFIG. 16 is adata manager1610, which manages four data stores. The first data store,1620, stores records of content, content owners, and content providers. The second data store,1630, stores records of users and their acquired content. The third data store,1640, stores a content usage history log according to user and time period. The fourth data store,1645, stores records of revenues generated from various sources, including inter alia (i) from media purchase, (ii) from media subscriptions, (iii) from media access services, and (iv) from advertising. The data indata stores1620,1630,1640 and1645 is inter-related by reference links such as foreign keys.
• Also shown inFIG. 16 is auser content browser1650, such as a player device, which enables a user to interactively browse, organize and access his content and his playlists.
• Also shown inFIG. 16 is arights manager1660, such asrights manager180. Ifrights manager1660 verifies that the user has a currently valid license to the requested content, then acontent provisioner1670, such ascontent router150, identifies one or more sources that can supply the requested content to the user in a format compatible with the user's player device.
• Atracking server1680, such ascontent tracker170, records a history log regarding the user's playing of content, and adisbursement manager1690, such asdisbursement manager190, uses the history log to disburse subscription revenue received from the user to content owners and content provisioners, and other stakeholders in the purchase and delivery chains.
• Embodiments of the present invention enable revenue disbursement among various partners in content purchase and supply chains, including inter alia (i) content owners, (ii) service providers, (iii) content distributors, (iv) registrants, (v) enablers, and (vi) other vendors that enable operation of embodiments of the present invention.
• Content owners are entities that hold intellectual property rights to content. These rights include, inter alia, publishing rights, rights to sound recordings, rights to video recordings and distribution rights. Content owners may be, inter alia, music labels, music publishers, collecting societies, movie studios and movie production companies.
• Service providers are often mobile operators. Service providers generally maintain customer relationships, and are responsible for billing and collection. Mobile operator service providers also provide delivery of content over their wireless networks to cellular devices.
• Content distributors are generally responsible for aggregating acquired content and delivering the content to consumers' player devices. Delivery is via download or streaming, either over the Internet or over a mobile operator's communication channels. Content managers may also maintain advertising media for ad-supported content or services. In some instances, a mobile operator may provide its own content, in which case the mobile operator serves as both an operator and a content manager. In other instances, content may reside with a plurality of content managers. Embodiments of the present invention support integration and revenue disbursement in all instances.
• Registrants are generally responsible for registering consumer ownership of media withregistrar140. Registrants may be inter alia developers ofcontent scanner110, and media retail stores. Regarding developers ofcontent scanner110, whencontent scanner110 runs on a consumer's PC and sends information about the media on the PC tocontent identifier120,registrar140 maintains a record indicating that the developer ofcontent scanner110 is the registrant for the subject media and for the subject consumer. Regarding media retail stores, when a store sells a media item to a consumer, the store notifiesregistrar140 of the sale, andregistrar140 maintains a record indicating that the media retailer is the registrant for the subject media and for the subject customer. In both cases,disbursement manager190 utilizes this information for allocating revenue to appropriate members of the content supply chain.
• Enablers are generally responsible for causing a device or software application to be compatible with an embodiment of the present invention. Enablers include, inter alia, (i) manufacturers of mobile handsets who provide built-in capability to utilize an embodiment of the present invention with the handset, (ii) independent developers of software for mobile handsets who provide such capability, and (iii) manufacturers of player devices or recorder devices, or developers of software for player devices or recorder devices who provide such capability.
• Other vendors that enable operation of embodiments of the present invention are generally responsible inter alia for maintaining lists of consumers' content, for controlling access to consumers' content based on rights management and criteria such as consumer subscription levels, for providing technology enabling identification of consumers' content, and for tracking content distribution and consumer usage. In some instances, the other vendors that enable operation of embodiments of the present invention may also handle customer relationships, customer billing and collection, and serve as clearinghouses. Again, embodiments of the present invention support integration and revenue disbursement in all instances.
• Reference is made toFIG. 17A, which is a diagram illustrating subscription revenue disbursement between content owners, content distributors, service providers, registrants, enablers and other partners, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Shown inFIG. 17A is a revenue sharing formula that allocates 25% of a consumer's subscription revenue to music labels, 10% to music publishers, 35% to service providers, 2% to registrants, 10% to content distributors, 1% to enablers, and 17% to other partners.
• Reference is made toFIG. 17B, which is an illustration of an accounting report for distributing the percentages allocated inFIG. 17A to the content owners, among a plurality of content owners, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Shown in the accounting report are revenue portions for service providers (35% off the top), enablers (1% off the top), registrants (2% off the top), music labels (25% off the top), content distributors (10% off the top), and publishers (10% off the top), based on a subscription fee of $5. The 25% allocated to music labels is further distributed along eight labels; namely, 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 the consumer from each label. Thus, as indicated inaccounting report1710, of 72 pieces of content played by the consumer during the time period Nov. 1, 2007-Dec. 1, 2007, 35 pieces are from the Interscope label. Accordingly, Interscope is allocated 35/72 of the 25% revenue; i.e., 35/72 of $1.25, which is $0.603.
• If the consumer plays an addition piece of content from the Interscope label, then report1710 is dynamically modified to report1720, wherein the allocation to Interscope is dynamically adjusted upwards to 36/73 of the 25% revenue, which is $0.616. Similarly, the allocations of the 25% to the other labels are adjusted downwards, as indicated inreport1720.
• Tracking server1680 generally determines relative frequencies f₁, f₂, . . . f_nwith which a consumer uses content owned by label number k, during a specified time period, relative to the consumer's total usage of content, for each of n content labels k=1, 2, n. Revenue to the n content labels for the specified time period is then allocated based on the relative frequencies. In one embodiment of the present invention, f_kis the number of pieces of content owned by label k and played by the consumer during the specified time period, relative to the total number of pieces of content played by the consumer during the specified time period. E.g., the relative frequencies indicated inreport1720 for the eight content labels are 3/73, 2/73, 4/73, 4/73, 15/73, 36/73, 2/73 and 7/73. These relative frequencies are the multipliers for allocating $1.25 of the subscription revenue earmarked for the labels, among the eight labels.
• In another embodiment of the present invention, f_kis the time spent by the consumer playing content owned by label k during the specified time period, relative to the total time spent by the consumer playing content during the specified time period.
• In another embodiment of the present invention, f_kis the number of the consumer's content items attributed to label k at the time of report generation, relative to the consumer's total inventory of content. This allocation may be applicable when there were no play events during a particular reporting period.
• Use of trackingserver1680 supports a wide variety of revenue allocation models including, inter alia,
• sliding scale percentages, such as
• • percentages that scale with volume,
  • percentages that scale with content plays, and
  • percentages that scale with numbers of registered users;
• pre-established minimum amounts;
• pro-rata splits;
• off-the-top allocations; and
• breakdown of leftover revenues, such as
• • across the board breakdown,
  • breakdown pro-rated by actual revenue breakdown for the period, and
  • breakdown across members of a particular group.
• Reference is made toFIG. 18, which is a summary diagram of vendors in the content purchase and supply chain, integrated within a content licensing service, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Shown inFIG. 18 are content labels, content studios, content distributors, content retailers and service providers, all integrated within a content licensing service. Each of the vendors shown inFIG. 18 is eligible to receive a portion of consumer subscription revenue.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention,disbursement manager190 allocates portions of revenue generated from a piece of content to rights holders for media “associated” with the purchased content, as defined hereinabove with reference tocontent tracker170. Thus if a user watches a movie, and decides to purchase a song from the movie, or the entire soundtrack, thendisbursement manager190 allocates a portion of revenue from the song or the soundtrack to rights holders of the movie. Furthermore, when the user subsequently plays the song or soundtrack,disbursement manager190 allocates a portion of the revenues associated with the playing of the song or soundtrack to the rights holders of the movie.
• It is noted that when a user purchases content,disbursement manager190 only allocates revenue to associated content rights holders in situations where the associated content is a trigger for purchase of the purchased content, as described hereinabove with reference tocontent tracker170. In situations where the associated content is not such a trigger, then the revenue is not shared among the associated content rights holders.
Use Cases
• Reference is made toFIGS. 19A and 19B, which are simplified illustrations of a consumer use case of acquiring content in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown inFIG. 19A, aconsumer1910 downloads a trial version of content onto hisplayer device1920 from aMcMusic kiosk1930 located within a McDonald'sstore1940.Consumer1910 has limited rights to play the content for a one-week trial period. Subsequently, as shown inFIG. 19B,consumer1910 decides to purchase the content for $1.00 from a store via wireless communication. As a result of the purchase,consumer1910 is granted full rights to the song.
• Also shown inFIG. 19B is apie chart1950 illustrating how the $1.00 of revenue for the content is allocated between the content owner, the wireless provider, McDonald's, and the owner of an embodiment of the present invention.
• Reference is made toFIGS. 20A and 20B, which are simplified illustrations of a second consumer use case of acquiring content in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown inFIG. 20A, a consumer downloads a trial version of content onto hisplayer device2020 from a Starbuck'sSounds kiosk2050 located within a Starbuck'sstore2040.Consumer2010 has limited rights to play the content for a one-week trial period. Subsequently, as shown inFIG. 20B,consumer2010 decides to purchase the content for $1.00 from aMcMusic kiosk2050 located within a McDonald'sstore2050. As a result of the purchase,consumer2010 is granted full rights to the content.
• Also shown inFIG. 20B is apie chart2070 illustrating how the $1.00 of revenue for the content is allocated between the content owner, Starbuck's, McDonald's, and the owner of an embodiment of the present invention.
• Reference is made toFIGS. 21A,21B and21C, which are simplified illustrations of a third consumer use case of acquiring content in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown inFIG. 21A, aconsumer2110 records content from a DirectTV broadcast media station onto herrecorder device2120, while enjoying home entertainment on hertelevision2130.Consumer2110 copies the content from herrecorder device2120 onto herplayer device2140.
• Subsequently, as shown inFIG. 21B,consumer2110 meets a friend, namelyconsumer2150, who expresses interest in the content.Consumer2110 instructs the player software to share the content withconsumer2150. The player software sends a message to the tracking server indicating that the content should be shared withconsumer2150. The tracking server usesrights manager180 to validate that the content may be shared and, if so, updates the inventory ofconsumer2150 to include the shared content. The shared content is generally provided toconsumer2150 onto hisplayer device2160 with a trial license, wherebyconsumer2150 only has limited rights to play the content for, for example, a one week trial period.
• Subsequently, as shown inFIG. 21C,consumer2150 decides to purchase the content, which he does for $1.00 via amedia kiosk2170 located in aBest Buy store2180. After purchasing the content,consumer2150 is granted full rights to the content.
• Also shown inFIG. 21C is apie chart2190, indicating allocation of the $1.00 purchase price for the content between the content owner, DirectTV, Best Buy and the owner of the present invention.
System Architecture
• Reference is made toFIG. 22, which is a simplified high-level architecture diagram of a content provisioning andrevenue disbursement system2200, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.System2200 is divided into client side components, shown on the left, and server side components, shown on the right The server-side components include aweb services layer2210, anengine layer2220, and adatabase layer2230. The client-side components includeclient applications2241 and2242.
• Client application2241 communicates withrevenue disbursement system2200 via an SDK, described further hereinbelow.Client application2242 communicates withweb services layer2210 directly.
• Client applications2241 and2242 may include inter alia mobile phones, content management applications, set top boxes or other player or recorder devices, as described hereinabove.
• Web services layer2210 handles communication withsystem2200. In one embodiment of the present invention, a software development kit (SDK) is provided, in order to abstract the web services communication and other aspects of integration.Engine layer2220 implements business logic forsystem2200, including business logic for modules120-190 ofFIG. 1.Database layer2230 maintains one or more data stores forsystem2200, including the data stores for modules120-190 ofFIG. 1.
• Reference is made toFIG. 23, which is a simplified architecture diagram of anSDK2300 that is provided with thesystem2200, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.SDK2300 includes an application programming interface (API)2310 which interfaces with applications that integrate the SDK.
• API2310 provides applications with access to features ofsystem2200, includinginter alia authentication2311,inventory navigation2312, playback ofcontent2313, reporting2314,media management2315,device management2315,inventory management2317 andaccount management2311.
• SDK2300 also includes aweb services interface2320, which provides a communication layer betweenSDK2300 and the server side ofsystem2200.
• SDK2300 may include alocal cache2330 of a consumer's inventory, allowingSDK2300 to provide the consumer with access to his content inventory without requiring communication with server components.Local inventory cache2330 is accessed via an inventorycache management component2331.SDK2300 may also operate withoutlocal inventory cache2330, in whichcase API2310 communicates with web services interface2320 via atranslation layer2340.
• Reference is made toFIG. 24, which is a simplified architecture diagram of aweb services layer2400 ofsystem2200, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.Web services layer2400 provides two types of services; namely,binary web services2410 and highlevel web services2420.
• Binary web services2410 are provided for low-level client applications and devices, which may be limited in computational capability and/or memory capacity. Such client devices generally provide a lightweight binary interface protocol. Such client devices may include inter alia low-end cellular phones or embedded devices. Binary web services are generally accessed viaSDK2300 and not directly from client applications.
• Highlevel web services2420 provide an interface for more advanced applications and devices, such as PC applications and smartphones. High level web services are generally accessible from client applications, fromSDK2300 and from backend systems of companies working withsystem2200, such as content distributors, registrants and other partners.
• Messages frombinary web services2410 are parsed by amessage parser2430, and translated into high level web services by amessage translator2440. The translated messages are in turn parsed bymessage parser2450, and passed to asemantic analyzer2460, which determines message validity and provides the messages toengine2220.
• Messages from highlevel web services2420 do not require binary message parsing, and are provided directly tomessage parser2450 which, in turn, passes them tosemantic layer2460.
• Reference is made toFIG. 25, which is a simplified architecture diagram of anengine layer2500 and adatabase layer2550 ofsystem2200, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• Engine layer2500 may contain multipleback end nodes2510. Each suchback end node2510 services a specific subset of consumers or devices that communicate withsystem2200. The allocation of consumers and devices between differentback end nodes2510 may be inter alia geographic or service based.
• Database layer2550 contains a node-specific database2552 and a masterback end database2554. Each instance of a node-specific database2552 contains data associated with and maintained by a single instance of aback end node2510. Such data may include inter alia consumer media data for the consumers serviced by the database's specificback end node2510.
• Masterback end database2554 exists in only one instance forsystem2200, and contains data that is common across allback end nodes2510.
• Engine layer2500 also includes masterback end2520, which serves to synchronizeback end nodes2510 with masterback end database2554.
• It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the breakdown ofengine2500 intoback end nodes2510 and masterback end2520 is one of several mechanisms that enablesystem2200 to achieve massively scalability.
• Each instance of aback end node2510 includes aweb services layer2512, abusiness logic layer2514, and anode synchronization manager2516.
• Web services layer2512 receives communications fromweb services2210,Business logic layer2514 implements core business logic ofsystem2200.
• Node synchronization manager2516 provides data to masterback end2520. Masterback end2520 propagates data to masterback end database2554, and then to other instances of nodespecific database2552.
• It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that segmentingdatabase layer2550 intonon-specific databases2552 and masterback end database2554, is one of severalmechanisms enabling system2200 to be massively scalable.
• Reference is made toFIG. 26, which is a simplified architecture diagram of aback end node2600 ofsystem2200, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.Back end node2600 is an instance ofback end node2510.
• Back end node2600 receives requests from partners and player devices, as described hereinabove. Partners include inter alia owners of media content, and providers of media content. Player devices include inter alia mobile phones, portable media players and automobile decks.Back end node2600 uses a message dispatcher2610 to forward messages to a set ofengine modules2620, such modules implementing the core business logic ofengine2500.
• Back end node2600 also contains a node-specific database2630, corresponding to node-specific database2552, and anode synchronization manager2640, corresponding tonode synchronization manager2516.
• Message dispatcher2610 manages incoming requests and routes them to their appropriate destinations. The destinations may be internal tosystem2200, such asengine modules2620, or external tosystem2200, such as content owners and content distributors.
• Engine modules2620 implement core functionality ofsystem2200. An engine module generally exists for each of the server components shown inFIG. 1. Additional modules may exist to provide additional functionality, or to provide support functionality for the components ofFIG. 1.
• Engine modules2620 are broken up intodata aggregation modules2622,routing modules2624 andmanager modules2626. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that this breakdown is artificial, and is made herein for the sake of clarity in understanding roles of the different modules.Data aggregation modules2622 include inter aliacontent tracker170.Routing modules2624 include inter aliacontent router150.Manager modules2626 include inter aliarights manager180 anddisbursement manager190.
• Eachengine module2620 maintains its relevant data store in node-specific database2630. Node-specific database2630 is synchronized with masterback end database2554 vianode synchronization manager2640, as described hereinabove.
• In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to the specific exemplary embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

Claims (5)

1-39. (canceled)

40. A content usage tracking system, comprising:

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

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

41. (canceled)

42. A content usage tracking system, comprising:

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

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

43-46. (canceled)

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