Abstract:
A “virtual bookshelf” for users of a digital rights management system. The invention lists the purchased material and/or material that the consumer has a right to use. The invention automatically backs up the consumer&#39;s material when it is downloaded; provides for the retrieval and/or synchronization of the material on a computer or other device; provides for the rights-based sharing of the material; and the ability to recommend or transfer the material to a third party with or without financial consideration.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention pertains to the storage, use and sale of material and more particularly to the online storage, use and sale of material. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   In the past, literary and dramatic, musical, motion picture and photographic works were fixed in tangible forms commonly known as books. Musical works were recorded on records, tapes or compact disks, and motion pictures were recorded on film, tape or disk. Photographs were printed on paper, which may have been bound into books. The literary works, dramatic works, musical works, motion pictures, and photographs were tangible items that could be seen with the naked human eye and stored in book shelves. When the possessor of any one of the above items wanted to use one of the items, the possessor would go to the book shelf and retrieve the item. 
   In today&#39;s society, with the proliferation of personal computers and the ability to easily connect to the internet, people have the ability to download literary works, dramatic works, musical works, motion pictures, and photographs from an internet site to their computer. In some instances, the consumer owns one copy of the downloaded material and in other instances, the consumer may only have certain specified rights to use the downloaded material, i.e., for their own use, to use the downloaded material a specified number of times, etc. 
   A consumer usually had the right to make archival copies of the downloaded material. However, a consumer usually was unable or unwilling to make archival copies, since the copies usually required a large amount of backup memory space and/or were a hassle to make. If archival copies of the downloaded material were not made and the consumer&#39;s computer files were corrupted or the consumer&#39;s computer crashed, the consumer may not have been able to retrieve the downloaded material, because the provider web site of the downloaded material was no longer available, or the content comprising the downloaded material was no longer available. 
   Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems have been developed to control a user&#39;s accesses to the items stored in the system. Current DRM systems do not archive downloaded material purchased by the consumer. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a “virtual bookshelf” for users of a DRM system. The present invention lists the purchased material and/or material that the consumer has a right to use. The invention automatically backs up the consumer&#39;s material when it is downloaded; provides for the retrieval and/or synchronization of the material on a computer or other device; provides for the rights-based sharing of the material; and the ability to recommend or transfer the material to a third party with or without financial consideration. The automatic archiving of material is advantageous over conventional media inasmuch as the archival copy is always available, i.e., VHS tapes may break rendering the tape useless and destroying what is on the tape. 
   A consumer is able to create a ‘virtual bookshelf’ of the purchased material and/or material that the consumer has a right to use that parallels bookshelves in the real world. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a drawing of a consumer computer acquiring rights to material; 
       FIGS. 2A–2C  is a flow chart showing the automatic backup of material when the material is loaded or downloaded into a computer; 
       FIG. 3  is a chart listing the titles  29  contained in virtual bookshelf  30  for computer  11  or computer  16 ; 
       FIG. 4  is a menu listing options that the operator of computers  11  and/or  16  have to the material; 
       FIG. 5  is a drawing of consumer computer  11  transferring rights to material to transferring consumer computer  16 ; and 
       FIG. 6  is a flow chart describing the transfer of material. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   Referring now to the drawings in detail, and more particularly to  FIG. 1 , the reference character  11  represents a consumer&#39;s computer. Computer  11  may obtain material by loading disk  12  in computer  11  and/or by downloading material from web site  13 . The act of loading disk  12  and/or downloading material from web site  13  will cause an audit record to be entered into clearinghouse server  14 . The record produced by server  14  will be more fully described in the description of  FIG. 5 . If the material downloaded from web site  13  is not already stored in archive  15  of server  14 , server  14  attempts to retrieve the downloaded material from web site  13 . If server  14  is unable to obtain the down loaded material from web site  13 , server  14  will attempt to obtain the material from consumer computer  11 . Server  14  will store the material in archive  15 . 
     FIGS. 2A–2C  is a flow chart showing the automatic backup of material when the material is loaded or downloaded into computer  11 . The consumer selects a secure file to be opened in step  100 . The secure file may be delivered to computer  11  via any media, i.e., networks, diskettes, CDs, memory devices, etc. Upon opening the secured file in step  110 , previously installed software in computer  11 , in the form of a browser plug in or other associated application is activated by the opening application, i.e., a browser, the operating system, or any other application including media rendering programs. In step  120 , digital rights management software conducts the purchase process which grants the user the rights to render the material and an audit record that indicates the above transaction to be created and written to cache in step  160 . The digital rights management software may be obtained from Intertrust Technologies Corporation of 4750 Patrick Henry Drive, Santa Clara, Calif. 9504. 
   The DRM software in step  130  determines whether or not computer  11  is connected to the internet. If consumer computer  11  is not connected to the internet at the time of purchase, i.e., purchasing material from a CD offline, the digital management software will wait until a connection to the internet is achieved in step  140 . Once computer  11  is linked to the internet, the audit record or is transmitted to clearinghouse server  14  in step  160 . In step  162  server  14  will process the audit record. In step  165  server  14  processes any requests for material stored on computer  11  to be transferred to sever  14  and synchronized with the stored files in archive  15 . After the processing is complete the program ends. 
     FIG. 2B  describes the process performed by server  14  in block  162  ( FIG. 5A ). In step  170 , clearinghouse server  14  receives and records the audit record. In step  180  the audit record is written in a database. In step  190 , the reception of the audit record causes server  14  to activate an asynchronous computer routine that reads the record and searches the database of previously stored material to find a match. Step  210  determines whether or not the material has already been stored in archive  15 , i.e. another consumer has purchased the material and the material has previously been stored in server  14 , etc. Material which has been previously stored in archive  15  or the material which has been preloaded by a content provider in anticipation of future purchases is retained in the form secured by the DRM system. If the material has been previously stored in server  14 , the next step will be step  215 . Step  215  will update the virtual bookshelf  30  database record for computer  11  to point to the previously stored copy of the material. The virtual bookshelf  30  database will then be updated in step  220 . The program will end at this point. If step  210  determines that the material has not been previously stored in server  14 , the next step will be step  211 . 
   Step  211  determines whether or not the material may be retrieved from a provider of material, which could be content provider web site  13 . If step  211  determines that the material may not be retrieved from a provider of material, the next step will be step  240 . Step  240  will determine whether or not computer  11  is online. If step  240  determines that computer  11  is online, the next step will be step  250 . Step  250  will retrieve the material from computer  11  and store the material in archive  15  ( FIG. 1 ). The next step will be step  215 , where the virtual bookshelf  30  database will be updated. If step  240  determines that computer  11  is not online, the next step will be step  260  ( FIG. 2C ). Step  260  will create a transfer record and stage in outbound queue on server  14 . The next step may be step  270 , where computer  11  is connected to the internet. In step  280 , the transfer record is processed, and the material is transferred from computer  11  to archive  15 . At this point, step  162  will be exited. 
   If step  211  determines that the material may be retrieved from a material provider, the next step will be step  230 . Step  230  will retrieve the material and store the material in archive  15  ( FIG. 1 ). The virtual bookshelf  30  database will then be updated in step  215 . Server  14  may make available the material stored in archive  15  by displaying an index of the material in virtual bookshelf  30 . 
     FIG. 3  is a chart listing the titles  29  contained in virtual bookshelf  30  for computer  11 . The date and/or author of the title is listed in column  31 , and the type of the material, i.e., music, video, book, article, software, photograph, etc. is listed in column  32 . Column  33  indicates the rights that the owner of computer  11  has to the material. For instance, the owner of computer  11  may own the material; have the right to make a specified number of copies of the material; have to pay for each viewing of the material; have borrowed the material from someone or something; or may have loaned the material to someone or something. The user of computer  11  may view the entire contents of virtual bookshelf  30  on the display of computer  11  or view specific categories of virtual bookshelf  30 , i.e., music, videos, books, articles, software, photographs, etc at a particular time. 
   Virtual bookshelf  30  represents all material to which the owner of computer  11  has rights, regardless of where the material is stored. 
   A user of computer  11  may click on search  44 , which will cause a dialogue box (not shown) to be displayed allowing the user to specify the search criteria. After the search criteria has been specified, search  44  will search the list of owned material in bookshelf  30  and, when found, a description of the material will be appropriately rendered (displayed or played) or retrieved from the archive and rendered 
   A user of computer  11  may click on options  34  and view display menu  35  ( FIG. 4 ). By highlighting the selected material in virtual bookshelf  30  and clicking on spaces  36  and  41 , the user of computer  11  may obtain or refresh a local copy of the highlighted material. By highlighting the selected material in virtual bookshelf  30  and clicking on spaces  37  and  41 , the user of computer  11  may download a local copy of the highlighted material to a portable device. By highlighting the selected material in virtual bookshelf  30  and clicking on spaces  38  and  41 , the user of computer  11  may transfer the highlighted material to a third party. By highlighting the selected material in virtual bookshelf  30  and clicking on spaces  39  and  41 , the user of computer  11  may recommend the highlighted material to a friend. When the material is recommended by the owner of computer  11  to another computer in the system, i.e., the owner of computer  16 , the owner of computer  11  retains all rights to the material. The owner of computer  16  must secure rights to the material in order to use the material. By highlighting the selected material in virtual bookshelf  30  and clicking on spaces  38  and  41  the user of computer  11  may make the highlighted material available to a friend and relinquish their rights to the material. When space  42  is clicked the previous command is cancelled. By highlighting the selected material in virtual bookshelf  30  and clicking on spaces  40  and  41  the owner of computer  11  relinquishes rights to the material and transfers the ownership of all rights to the material to the purchaser of the material, i.e., the owner of computer  16 . 
     FIG. 5  is a drawing of consumer computer  11  transferring rights to material to transferring consumer computer  16 . When the owner of computer  11  decides to transfer the rights he/she has to selected material, the rights to the selected material that the owner wants to transfer are transferred from computer  11  to clearinghouse server  14 . Server  14  will hold the rights in escrow and post the selected material for sale, gift, loan or transfer. When the owner of transferring consumer computer  16  discovers and selects the material selected for sale or transfer on server  14 , funds if needed are transferred from the transferring consumer account of computer  16  to the consumer account of computer  11 . Consumer accounts  16  are stored in server  14 . The rights to access the material are transferred from server  14  to computer  16 . The virtual bookshelf  30  entry for computer  11  ( FIG. 5 ) is updated to mark the transaction, i.e., sold, gift, loaned, etc. The virtual bookshelf  30  entry for computer  16  is also updated to mark the above transaction. Computer  16  downloads the transferred material from archive  15 . Computer  11  or computer  16  may be a personal computer, personal data assistant, digital music player, cellular telephone or any device that may render digital material. 
     FIG. 6  is a flow chart describing the transfer of material. In step  300 , consumer computer  11  elects to sell or transfer material. In step  310 , the rights that computer  11  has to the material are transferred from consumer computer  11  current rights data base  315  which is located in computer  11  to the stored rights data base  317  which is located in server  14 . In step  318 , the consumer computer  11  virtual bookshelf  30  entry is annotated “for sale” or “for transfer”. The aforementioned annotation is entered in the virtual bookshelf  30  database in step  220 . In step  320 , the material indicated for sale and/or transfer is posted to a web server. Then in step  330 , a purchaser or recipient, i.e., the owner of computer  16  buys or is given the rights that consumer computer  11  is willing to transfer to the material. 
   At the conclusion of step  330  the next step will be step  340 . In step  340 , the rights to the material that consumer computer  11  is going to transfer will be transferred from the stored rights database  317  on server  14  to the consumer protected data base  335  on computer  16 . In step  350  transferring consumer computer  16  virtual bookshelf  30  in data base  220  will be updated to point to the material hereinbefore transferred. In step  360  the consumer computer  11  virtual bookshelf  30  in data base  220  will be updated to indicate that the above material was transferred. At this point the program ends. 
   The material transferred from computer  11  to computer  16  may be all of the rights to the material that the owner of computer  11  has or a portion of the rights that the owner of computer  11  has to the material. For instance, the owner of computer  11  may grant the user of computer  16  the right to use the material a specified number of times, according to the rights that the owner of computer  11  has to the material or to use the material for a specified time period. 
   The above specification describes a new and improved virtual bookshelf for users of a digital rights management system. It is realized that the above description may indicate to those skilled in the art additional ways in which the principles of this invention may be used without departing from the spirit. Therefore, it is intended that this invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.