Patent ID: 6754346
Filing Date: 2004-06-22
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A method for tracing the distribution of physical digital media and reporting feedback to a content provider regarding whether the profile of the use of the physical digital media corresponds to a known profile, comprising the steps of:providing a host computer with a database of user profile records;enveloping digital content within packaging software, the packaging software providing an interface for accessing said digital content; recording the enveloped digital content and a content identifier on the physical digital media, the content identifier identifying at least one of a type of said digital content and the content provider; distributing the digital media to a user; mounting and executing the digital media on the user's computer; the packaging software gathering identifying data identifying the user's profile from the user's computer to facilitate determining whether the user's profile corresponds to a known profile and encoding the identifying data into a key; the packaging software searching for an active network connection and transmitting the key to the host computer if an active network connection is located; wherein communications between the host and the user's computer are uni-directional, flowing from the user's computer to the host; receiving the key on the host computer and decoding the key into identifying data, performing pattern matching to analyze matches between the identifying data and the database of user profile records; reporting information to the content provider identifying user profile record(s) which at least partially match the identifying data.