Patent Publication Number: US-2009234725-A1

Title: Digital content and hard-goods exchange system

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to online digital media downloads. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for low cost and legal distribution of digital media to online consumers. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The Internet is radically changing the way music, movies, and other forms of digital media, are created and distributed. Where once the electronic production of the digital media meant stamping the information onto a compact disc (CD) medium and selling the CDs at music stores, the Internet, or World Wide Web as it is commonly known, treats digital media much like other information being exchanged electronically, such as electronic mail, text, newspapers, journals, books, and the like. Like the traditional media, digital media is a series of binary bits, and may thus be transmitted and be accessible to “surfers” of the Web in similar fashion. 
     Though slow to react initially, the music and movie industries are acknowledging this paradigm shift. Record companies, for example, are providing web sites from which customers may download music (for a fee), obtain additional information about artists and albums, and procure other value-added features that nurture the connection between the artist and the music enthusiast. 
     Piracy is a paramount concern to the music and movie industries. The ability to easily make lossless copies of digital media, the once availability of free music download sites (which have since been shut down), and a general disdain for intellectual property rights has made it difficult to persuade people to pay very much for digital media. Such is particularly the case for young people, a big market for the music industry. Obviously, the music companies and movie industries, and the artists they represent, expect to be paid for the investments they have made in providing the digital media to a mass audience. 
     Attempts to satisfy both the digital media industries and the consumers of the digital media include web sites offering free and low-cost media downloads coupled with advertising. Typically, the advertisers are charged to advertise on the web site, with the proceeds used to pay royalties to the artists whose media are downloaded by the consumers. Or, the downloaded media content includes advertising that the consumer must watch before viewing the desired content. There are numerous examples on the Internet in which the downloadable media is bundled with the advertisement. 
     The opportunities for electronic commerce on the Internet are virtually without limit. The distribution of music, movies, and other digital media over a computer-implemented global network such as the Internet is a well-suited application of ecommerce, whereby consumers may easily and quickly find and purchase digital content, whether individual tracks or entire albums of music, as well as movies. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A system and method for performing a digital content and hard-goods exchange, also known as a media download system and method, is disclosed. The media download system includes a digital media database, such as music or movies, the database being stored on a non-volatile medium, such as a hard disk drive. The digital content of the database is owned by a rightholder, such as a musician or producer. A retailer, sponsor, or a combination thereof, who pays a royalty to each rightholder, further supplies a coupon to a winning customer (selected consumer), the coupon being redeemable at a retail establishment. A customer accesses a web page on a network, such as the World Wide Web, selects the digital content from the database, and downloads the content to a computer, without paying a fee. The winning customer may redeem the coupon at a retail establishment, which may be a traditional, brick-and-mortar store or a retail web site. The coupons may be demographically diverse, issued according to the media being downloaded, and may conform to other selectable criteria. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a digital content and hard-goods exchange system, according to some embodiments. 
         FIG. 2  is a depiction of the customer perspective in the system of  FIG. 1 , according to some embodiments. 
         FIG. 3  is a depiction of the relationship between the retailer/sponsor and the copyrightholder, according to some embodiments. 
         FIG. 4  is a depiction of the mechanism used by the system of  FIG. 1  for distributing coupons to customers, according to some embodiments. 
         FIG. 5  is a flow diagram of the method used by the system of  FIG. 1 , according to some embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a digital content and hard-goods exchange system  100 , also known herein as a media download system  100 , according to some embodiments. The media download system  100  includes a system administrator  32 , a consumer  80  (which also may be referred to herein as a customer  80 ), a rightsholders&#39; administrator  70 , and a retailer/sponsor  30 . (Although single entities are depicted for simplicity, it is envisioned that the media download system  100  includes several administrators  70 , retailers/sponsors  30 , and consumers  80 .) Using the media download system  100 , the consumer  80  is able to obtain free, or at least low cost legal downloads of digital media, such as music or movies. 
     The system administrator  32  includes a digital media database  50 , a communications portal  36 , and a consumer select/retail match mechanism  34 . The communications portal  36  may be part of the system administration, or distinct, as indicated in  FIG. 1 , such as where the communications portal is maintained by a third party. The digital media database  50  includes digital content  60 , or digital media. The digital media  60  may be any of a variety of media, such as audio, video, and a combination of the two. Examples of digital media  60  include music (including a single song or a collection of songs, such as an album), audio books, movies, television programs, radio broadcasts, and the like. The digital content  60  may also be software or other fungible commodities that are available in digital form. The database  50  may be a server, a desktop or laptop computer, or other processor-based system having non-volatile media storage capability, such as a SCSI (small computer systems interface) hard disk drive. The database  50  is accessible to the consumer  80  by way of the communications portal  36 . 
     The communications portal  36  is part of a global network computing system  54 , which may be an Internet-based network, a proprietary wide-area network (WAN), a local-area network (LAN), and so on. In some embodiments, the global network computing system is the World Wide Web. The communications portal  36  is a mechanism by which the consumer  80  accesses the digital media database  50 . The communications portal  36 , for example, may be a graphical user interface (GUI), such as a web page on the World Wide Web or other network. 
     The communications portal  36  further includes a choosing mechanism  38 , which enables the consumer  80  to select digital content  60  from the digital media database  50 . Accordingly, the choosing mechanism  38  may includes graphical icons of the digital media  60 , a tabulated listing of the digital media, other indicia of the content of the digital media database  50 . Software programmers and web designers of ordinary skill in the art recognize a number of possible implementations of the choosing mechanism  38 , for communicating available selections of digital media  60  to the consumer  80 . 
     The media download system  100  also includes the rightsholders&#39; administrator  70 , which operates as an agent for the rightsholders  40 . The rightsholders  40  are the owners of the copyright to the digital media  60 , and may include artists, musicians, producers, and the like. (The rightsholders  40  may also include licensees of the original copyrightholder.) The rightsholders&#39; administrator  70  may include a traditional agent for rightsholders, such as those for the music industry, ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), EMI, and those for the movie industry, Warner, Universal, Sony BMG, to name a few. 
     Each digital medium  60  may be subject to restrictions of a license by a rightsholder, such as a copyrightholder of a musical piece. Typically, the license specifies that the rightholder is to be paid a royalty for the content, whether the content is sold, played on the air, downloaded, and so on. The rightsholders&#39; administrator  70  ensures that the rightsholders  40  obtain royalties in accordance with the terms of license agreements signed by the rightsholders and their representatives. It is the rightsholders&#39; administrator  70 , and not the rightsholders  40 , who makes the artists&#39; work product (music, video, etc.) available to the public for consumption. 
     The media download system  100  also includes a retailer/sponsor  30 , which may be a retailer, a sponsor, or both. The retailer/sponsor  30  pays royalties  42  to the rightsholders  40 . The retailer/sponsor  30  also supplies coupons  90  to one or more of the consumers  80 , known herein as a selected consumer  82  or winning customer. The selected consumer  82  may be determined in a variety of ways. The consumer may be selected at random, may represent a percentage of customers in a given time period, may represent a percentage of media downloads in a given time period, and so on. The issuance of a coupon  90  to the selected consumer  82  is intended to lure the customers  80  toward another transaction, a subsequent engagement with the retailer/supplier  30 . 
       FIG. 2  is a depiction of the perspective of the consumer  80  in using the media download system  100 . The consumer  80  accesses the communications portal  36 , depicted as a web page on a computer screen, where the web page  36  is offering free, bulk, or low cost downloads of digital media from his computer  44 . The computer  44  is connected to the global network computing system  54 . The web page  36  presents the choosing mechanism  38  (not shown), such as a graphical presentation (e.g., icons) of the available digital content  60  stored in the digital media database  50 . After accessing the web page  36 , the consumer  80  selects the desired digital content  60 , such as an audio music file  60 A. (Although a compact disc is depicted in  FIG. 2 , the digital content  60  to be downloaded is likely one of several downloadable audio formats, see below.) Unbeknownst to the consumer  80 , the system administrator  32  initiates operations to cause the music to be downloaded to the computer  44 . This consumer  80  gets lucky, as he is one of the winning customers  82 , a selected consumer who receives a coupon  90 . 
     The retailer/sponsor  30  hopes that the consumer or consumer  80  will bring the coupon  90  to the store. The coupon  90  enables the consumer  80  to exchange the coupon for some hard-goods of the retailer  30 . As used herein, hard-goods are distinguishable from the digital media to be downloaded. Hard-goods may, however, include audio content, such as music CDs, or video content, such as digital video discs (DVDs). Of course, there is no guarantee of this subsequent transaction between the consumer  80  and the retailer  30  taking place. Preferably, the coupon  90  has a value that is adequate to lure the consumer  80  to the store of the retailer/sponsor  30 . (The store may be a physical structure of the traditional type, a brick-and-mortar retail store, or the store may be an online retailer.) The retailer/sponsor  30  is hoping that, in addition to bringing the coupon  90  to the store, the customer will also bring a little extra cash  20 . 
     The retailer/sponsor  30  may be a company associated with the digital media  60  being downloaded. Thus, for example, where the consumer  80  downloads a Disney™ DVD, the retailer/sponsor  30  may be The Disney Store™, which may issue coupons  90  for The Disney Store™. Or, the relationship between the digital media and the retailer/sponsor  30  may be less related or have no relationship at all. 
     There are many web sites that offer free or inexpensive content with advertising. Sometimes, the advertising is scattered all over the web page. In other cases, the advertising is bundled with the desired content. Proceeds from the advertising are used to pay for the content. Whether the customer absorbs the advertising is difficult to ascertain. The benefit to the advertiser who paid for the content is tenuous. Prospective customers may even be turned off by the quantity of advertising banners, the “captive audience” manner in which the customer is forced to view the advertisement before the content, and other characteristics of the advertisement that the customer may regard as a nuisance. 
     By contrast, in the media download system  100 , the retailer/sponsor  30  is able to specifically identify whether the coupons  90  are being used by the consumers  80 . Each coupon  90  may have a unique identifier, such as an EAN (European Article Number) code, a UPC (Universal Product Code), or other indicia. The identifier may be tracked by the retailer  30 , who may ascertain not only how many coupons were cashed and for what amount, but further obtains information about the consumer  80 , such as the spending habits of the consumer, for example, how much additional money was spent. The coupons also inform the retailer about the music, video, or other digital media that was downloaded by the customer, which can further enhance the relationship between the retailer/sponsor  30  and the consumer  80 . 
       FIG. 3  is a depiction of the relationship between the retailer/sponsor and the copyrightholder  40 , according to some embodiments. The retailer/sponsor  30  pays royalties  42  to the copyrightholder  40 , shown as a musician. This motivates the rightholder  40  to submit his digital media works, shown as music CDs  60 A (the digital media could also be .mp3 or .wma files, as two examples), to be stored in the database  50 , so that more royalties  42  will be paid. 
     The digital media may be available in one or several forms. In some embodiments, the digital media is not protected using digital rights management, or DRM. The digital media may be in one of the known formats or may be available in a form not yet known, as long as the media may be transmitted across a network. Known digital formats include, but are not limited to mp4, mpeg, mpeg4, avc, wmv, avi, divx, aac, aiff, ac3, ogg, avi, mpg, mp3, mp4, asf, mov, 3gp, amr, flv, flic, swf, rm, and rmvb. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 1 , the retailer/sponsor  30  is shown submitting coupons  90  to the system administrator  32 , for presentment to the selected consumer  82  and submitting royalties  42  to the rightholder  40  of the digital media  60 . In some embodiments, the royalty  42  is paid to the rightholder  40  when the consumer  80  selects the digital media  60  for download (e.g., a piece license). In other embodiments, the royalty  42  is paid to the rightholder  40  when the digital media  60  is uploaded to the digital media database  50 , in which a certain number of downloads of the digital media is presumed (e.g., a blanket license). 
     The consumer select/retail match mechanism  34  determines how the coupons  90  are distributed to selected consumers  82 .  FIG. 4  is a depiction of the mechanism used by the media download system  100  for ensuring that a desired number of coupons reach customers, according to some embodiments. The consumer select/retail match mechanism  34  includes a coupon issuance algorithm  82  and a fairness algorithm  88 . Both operate as a filter between the digital media database  50  and the consumer  80 . The coupon issuance algorithm  82  issues coupons to a selection of customers  80  according to preset criteria. Thus, for example, the coupon issuance algorithm  82  may issue a predetermined number of coupons  90  per day. Or, the number of coupons issued by the coupon issuance algorithm  82  may be based on the number of customers  90  who access the web site (a percentage, for example), the number of digital media instances  60  downloaded by customers (a percentage). Or, the coupon issuance algorithm  82  may increase the likelihood of winning a coupon for repeat customers, as another example. 
     The coupon issuance algorithm  82  may thus operate using parameters  86  that may be changed by an administrator of the media download system  100 . For example, a percentage parameter may be adjusted, such as if the retailer/sponsor  30  wants more customers  80  to redeem the coupons  90  as part of a promotional event, or for other reasons. A region parameter may be specific to a region, allowing the media download system  100  to be adaptable to different consumer markets, such as different countries. An IP address parameter may indicate specific geographic regions. Additional parameters may be defined and thereafter may be updated, so as to maximize the flexibility of the consumer select/retail match mechanism  34 . 
     In addition to having the coupon issuance algorithm  82 , the consumer select/retail match mechanism  34  further includes the fairness algorithm  88 , to ensure “fairness” of the system, in some embodiments. Thus, to avoid “stealth” operations, in which a single consumer  80  accesses the web site multiple times, an identification, or ID, is associated with every consumer  80 . The ID may be an email address, an internet protocol, or IP, name or address of the consumer, bulk- or discount member number, or may conform to some future identification, recognition, or verification mechanism. The ID may be printed on the coupon itself or stored by the fairness algorithm  88  for a predetermined time period, say twenty-four hours. When the consumer  80  accesses the web site, the fairness algorithm  88  checks the ID, so as to prevent customers  80  from accessing the web site more than once over the time period. When the vendor is a brick-and-mortar establishment and the coupon includes the ID printed thereon, an employee of the vendor may visually confirm that the person presenting the coupon is indeed the person to whom the coupon was issued. 
     The fairness algorithm  88  is also intended to eliminate automatically generated login or similar methods, in which software, rather than individual persons, are used to access a web site. For maximum flexibility, the fairness algorithm  88  may also use parameters  86 . The consumer select/retail match mechanism  34  may be implemented using software, hardware, or a combination of the two. 
     In some embodiments, the consumer  80  submits identifying information, such as name and electronic mail (email) address, each time the web site  46  is entered, for example, and responds to an activation email before being given the right to access using a user name and password. The consumer  80  may revisit the web site  36  again and again, as long as the visits are in compliance with the fairness algorithm  88 . Thus, for example, where the web site  36  allows a consumer  80  to download music once a day, then the consumer  80  will be allowed access to the digital media database  50  once per day. 
     Once the consumer  80  enters the communications portal  36 , the client may access the digital content  60  of the digital media database  50 . The digital content  60  may include movies, songs, spotlights on particular artists, software, etc. In some embodiments, the digital content  60  includes an associated preview function. So, for example, an audio file, such as a featured song may include the capability for the consumer  80  to listen, or sample, to the music prior to performing the download operation. Similarly, software to be downloaded may include screen shots that may be previewed by the consumer  80 . 
     When the consumer  80  is selected by the consumer select/retail match mechanism  34  to receive a coupon  90 , known as a selected consumer  82 , the consumer is prompted for contact information, namely, an address to where the coupon may be sent. The coupon  90  is sent to the consumer  80  using traditional postal services. In an alternative embodiment, the coupon  90  may be viewable on the web page  46  for printing by the customer. An identifying mark, such as an EAN code, a UPC, or the like, may be added to the online-viewable coupon, enabling the vendor at the retailer/sponsor  30  store to properly validate the coupon. As another option, the consumer  80  may be prompted to supply an email address, such that the consumer select/retail match mechanism  34  sends the coupon  90  by way of electronic mail. Or, the coupon  90  may be presented on the web page immediately, to be printed by the consumer  80 . 
       FIG. 5  is a flow diagram depicting operations  200  performed by the media download system  100 , according to some embodiments. The download process  200  begins when the consumer  80  accesses the communications portal  36  (block  202 ). The portal  36  may be operated by the system administrator  32  under the direction of the retailers/sponsor  30 , by the rightsholders&#39; administrator  70 , or may be independent. The consumer  80  may enter the portal  36  using a computer  44  ( FIG. 2 ), a hand-held device, a cellphone, a mobile-player with Internet access, or using some other means to access the portal  36 . In some embodiments, the portal  36  is a web page having an associated uniform resource locator (URL). 
     The consumer  80  is identified by the consumer select/retail match mechanism  34 , such as by requesting and obtaining an email address and password of the consumer  80  (block  204 ). If the consumer  80  has already visited within the allowed time period (block  206 ), additional website accesses are not possible, and the operations cease. The fairness algorithm  88 , described above, arbitrates whether the consumer  80  is granted access or simply whether the consumer  80  may be eligible to win another coupon. (Such may optionally be presented via a popup window upon a further visit.) In some embodiments, the time period is twenty-four hours. A message may be displayed on the web page  36 , indicating the prohibition to the customer, with an invitation to revisit the site at a later time. 
     If, instead, the consumer  80  is identified as not having visited the site within the predetermined time period, the customer is invited to select a desired digital media  60  for download (block  208 ). If the customer ends up being one of the customers selected by the coupon issuance algorithm  82  (block  210 ), the customer is prompted to provide a mailing address (block  212 ), so that a coupon  90  may be mailed to him (block  214 ). (If the mailing address is the same as a previous winner, a disqualification window may open.) In some embodiments, the mechanism  34  enables the consumer  80  to bypass the coupon issuance process. Once the customer has provided his contact information, the music is downloaded to the computer  44  of the consumer  80  (block  216 ). 
     The media download system  100  is advantageous over the prior art in several ways. For one, coupons are attractive to many consumers. The coupons  90  may be custom-provided such that, for example, coupons for certain retail establishments are made available when a certain type of music is downloaded, with the coupons varying for punk, country, rock, jazz, classical, and so on. There may also be a segmentation of coupons, in which a more valuable coupon is available for every 100, 1000, or 10,000 smaller-valued coupons issued. The coupons  90  may also be demographically smart. That is, coupons may be country-specific, region-specific, IP-address specific, and not simply one-size-fits-all coupons. The objective of the retailer/sponsor  30  is to get as many customers  80  to use the coupons  90  in their brick-and-mortar establishments or at their online web sites, and, hopefully, engender goodwill with the customers. 
     Further, coupons may be attractive to the customer in ways that advertising is not. A consumer may opt to avoid a digital media offer that requires her to view a commercial, for example. Relative to advertising, coupons are a low-pressure incentive that will motivate some customers (those that clip coupons regularly, for example), but will not put off other customers (who may simply ignore the coupon mailed to them). In contrast to advertisements, the coupon  90  may attract many more consumers  80  to a retail establishment, which will motivate the retailer/sponsor  30  to continue to support the system  100  by continuing to pay royalties  42 , and by encouraging more artists to provide their digital content  60  to the database  50 . 
     Multiple variations and modifications are possible in the embodiments of the invention described here. Although certain illustrative embodiments of the invention have been shown and described here, a wide range of modifications, changes, and substitutions is contemplated in the foregoing disclosure. In some instances, some features of the present invention may be employed without a corresponding use of the other features. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the foregoing description be construed broadly and understood as being given by way of illustration and example only, the spirit and scope of the invention being limited only by the appended claims.