Patent Publication Number: US-2022237671-A1

Title: Methods and systems for referrer-based payment system selection for internet-based merchants

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This disclosure pertains to methods and systems useable by merchants for selecting payment systems for use with internet-based transactions. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The exceedingly large amount of content on the internet can only be exploited by normal users by means of internet-based search services. These systems in general generate an index of a part of the content of the internet and allow users to search this index for keywords or combinations thereof. The index is often generated using so-called search bats or spiders, i.e., software programs that cause internet-connected computers to load, analyze and index web-content. Various ways exist for internet-based merchants or content providers to influence the operation of search bots for loading relevant content, skipping content that content owners do not want to be indexed, and to ensure a fair distribution of the search resources between merchants. In particular, merchants can flag content that is not to be indexed or searchable. 
     Similarly, means exist for merchants to make content available to search bots that is actually not available for users without payment of a fee. These merchants often implement a pay-wall before the content can be accessed by a user that is referred to such content by an internet-based search service. In such instances, the search hots for the search service may access the full content, but users have to pay before they can access such content. However, such an arrangement creates problems of many users being annoyed if internet search results refer them to content that they actually cannot see or use, unless they accept to register to the pay service and accept the respective purchase amount to be paid immediately. The article of the online magazine “SearchEngine Land”, available at http://searchengineland.com/time-for-google-to-rank-paid-news-content-better-220918, and hereby incorporated herein in its entirety, describes this problem in greater detail and various conventional techniques that attempt to overcome this problem. 
     One technique described in this article is for merchants to allow indexing of generally payed-for content and then allow users to access such content for free for one or a limited number of content items, when such user is referred to such content from a particular internet search service. This technique is based on the hope of the merchants that users will be subsequently interested in accessing more content from the same merchants and will be willing to pay a fee for accessing such further content. This technique is further described in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 9,043,942, which is incorporated herein in its entirety. 
     However, the disadvantages of this and similar techniques include that (a) despite the hopes of the merchants, users may not accept having to pay for its further content, and (b) a reduction in potential income for merchants occurs due to lost revenue for the free access by users to content referred to by respective search engines. Moreover, in order to build or maintain its popularity with users and in order to avoid annoying such users confronted with paywalls, an internet-based search service provider may pressure merchants to offer free access to content for users that are referred by such search service provider. 
     Such disadvantages are compounded for both merchants and users due to operations of conventional payment systems. Specifically, internet-based merchants often request a new user to register with their name and email address. During the shopping process, the postal address for shipping non-digital goods and credit card information is requested before a purchase is finally accepted by merchants. For digital content such as e-books, articles, images, audio or video, the process is very much the same without the shipping postal address. Alternatives to providing a credit card are various other types of bank accounts. Another alternative is to transfer money to the merchants via, for example, a virtual currency, such as bitcoin. 
     Other existing payment systems offer a payment service to internee-based merchants and users which have benefits over the above-described registration methods. Some services include registration only at the payment service, such as the service offered by PayPal Holdings, Inc. These services require only an email address to be provided to the merchants. The merchants then requests settlement of a bill from the payment service and based on the mail address and the customer&#39;s registration, the payment service communicates with the customer and finalizes the purchase. These and other payment service require as prerequisite that not only an agreement to pay before the purchase is finalized, but in many systems payment must be received for the purchase to be is finalized. For digital content this means, the credit card is debited or the payment service transfers the purchase amount to the Internet-based merchants before the digital content is transmitted to the customer. 
     Accordingly, known techniques fail to provide a means that serves both the interests of the merchants and the users. For merchants, their interest is to request and receive payment for providing access to valuable content from users who are referred to such content by referrer services, such as internet-based search services, and for users, their interest is to be provided easy access to referred content, i.e., without the hassle of registration or login, or making payment before access is granted to such content. 
     SUMMARY 
     By way of example, aspects of the present disclosure solve the above-described problems created by conventional internet shopping platforms and payment systems. Specifically, the present disclosure is directed to a content provider computer server that, in response to receiving request information from a referred user device for access to specific digital content subject to a fee, the server; (a) selects a particular payment system based on referrer information included in request information, (b) transmits to the selected payment system information indicative of the requested digital content and a request for approval of the user device for the corresponding fee for the digital content, (c) facilitating communication between the selected payment system and the user device, and (d) based on receiving from the selected payment system an approval signal, transmitting the requested specific digital content to the user device. The computer-implemented method described in this disclosure advantageously exploits the ability of referring entities to include information in a referring website link, i.e., URL address, which indicates the source of the referral. 
     The methods of the present disclosure are particularly advantageous when used with easy-access payment systems, e.g., payment systems that do not require identification of the user, registration or login to the payment system or content provider computer by a user associated with the user device. Such an improved payment process is described in, for example, European patent application publication no. EP2476087, which is owned by the assignee of this patent application, and which such process: (a) stores an identification number of the user device; (b) stores the purchase amount in relation to the identification number; (c) monitors the total amount of purchases by the user device; (d) receives a request from the Internet-based merchant to account for the purchase amount; and (e) sends a request for settlement of at least a part of the total amount of purchases to a user of the user device only when the total amount of purchases exceeds a predefined value and/or after the expiry of a predefined time interval. 
     Such combination enables a user to make internet-based purchases using a user device for a purchase amount for which the buyer does not initially have to settle. Information regarding purchases and purchase amounts are maintained by the payment system in relation to a user device identification, which does not include an identification of the user, nor does it need a registration, login or little other user interaction. 
     Accordingly, the computer-implemented disclosure advantageously solves the problem created by internet-based commerce by providing a method that serves both the interests of the content provider and the user in that a payment can be requested by the content provider for all valuable content and users of referrer service, such as internet-based search services, will be able to conveniently pay or agree to pay a corresponding fee relative to other referrers or direct access, without registration or login, identifying the user or delaying a user&#39;s access to the content. 
     Another aspect of the present disclosure is the content provider computer determining whether the identified referrer, who referred the user device to the content, satisfies an easy-access criterion and if so, selects an easy-access payment system. 
     A further aspect of the invention is the use of an easy-access payment system in instances when (a) the identified referrer provided an internet search service to the user device, (b) the paid content was provided by the content provider to the identified referrer for indexing and/or for making it available to an internet search service, and (c) the identified referrer and the content provider have an agreement for such easy access. 
     Another related aspect of the present disclosure is the content provider computer server providing information to the payment system; wherein the information based on the identified referrer causes the payment system to not to request settlement from the user of the user device prior to receiving the requested content by, for example, increasing the predetermined threshold for the total amount of purchases used by the payment system to determine whether to request settlement from the user or otherwise delaying the request for payment. 
     Another aspect of the present disclosure is the content provider computer providing the paid content based on approval from a payment system, wherein the user device identification is amended based on the identified referrer of the content causing the payment system to account the fee for the content on an account that is specific for combination of the user device and the referrer. 
     This SUMMARY is provided to briefly identify some aspects of the present disclosure that are further described below in the DESCRIPTION. This SUMMARY is not intended to identify key or essential features of the present disclosure nor is it intended to limit the scope of any claims. 
     The term “aspects” is to be read as “at least one aspect.” The aspects described above and other aspects of the present disclosure described herein are illustrated by way of example(s) and not limited in the accompanying drawing. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       A more complete understanding of the present disclosure may be realized by reference to the accompanying drawing in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram showing an exemplary data network for a digital content computer server according to aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating exemplary operations of the content computer server depicted in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating exemplary operations of a content computer server that is an alternative to the operations depicted in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart of an exemplary method performed by a content provider computer server in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 5  depicts a flowchart of another exemplary method performed by a content provider computer server implementing other aspects of the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 6  depicts a flowchart of yet another exemplary method performed by a content provider computer server implementing other aspects of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The following merely illustrates the principles of the disclosure. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements which, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the disclosure and are included within its spirit and scope. 
     Furthermore, all examples and conditional language recited herein are principally intended expressly to be only for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the disclosure and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. 
     Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the disclosure, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future, i.e., any elements later developed that perform the same function, regardless of structure. 
     In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure,  FIG. 1  depicts an exemplary system network  100  for distributing digital content to internet-accessible user devices according to aspects of the present disclosure. The system network  100  includes an internet-accessible network  180  accessible by a user device  110 , two referrer systems  120  and  130 , an internet-based merchant system  140  (alternatively referred to herein as “content provider computer server” or “content provider”), and two payment systems  150  and  160 . The content provider  140  offers access to digital content items  144  and  146 . 
     The user device  110  may, for example, be a personal computer, or a mobile processing device, e.g. a mobile phone or tablet. As used herein, “referrer” refers to any system or network of systems that refer a user and/or a user device to the network address of content offered by a content provider. The referrers  120  and  130  may be single servers or groups of servers for, search service providers. The referrers may be systems each comprising many single entities interconnected via the network  180  or via other networks. The referrers  120 ,  130  may comprise computer devices, storage devices, data base devices and the like so that the referrers each are a multitude of entities providing a referral service to the user device  110  and potentially other devices. 
     The payment systems  150  and  160  may comprise, for example, one or more server computer servers interconnected via the network  180  or other networks, which provide the payment service related to this disclosure. 
     The content provider  140  may be a single server entity controlling access to the content item(s)  144  and/or  146  and managing the content distribution, or a group of server entities, e.g. server computers and storage systems connected through a network, which together provide access to and manage distribution of the content items  144  and/or  146 . 
     The digital content items  144  and  146  may comprise any type of digital data including, for example, pictures, photos, text, video-data, audio-data, speech-audio-data, drawings, maps, plans, construction plan, software and operating instructions, which may be accessible by one or more user devices, such as the user device  110 . The digital content items  144  and/or  146  may be accessed by a user device in the form of the content provider  140  transmitting such content as a download, or in a streaming manner. The digital content items)  144  and/or  146  may also be in the form of a service, which, in full or in part, may be executed by the content provider  140  and the results  144  and/ 146  being transmitted to the user device  110 , e.g., as may result from a software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering by the content provider  140 . 
     For the present disclosure, the content items  144  and  146  are offered by the content provider  140  for a fee payable by the user  110 . The content provider  110  may implement a paywall to restrict access to the content item(s)  144  and/or  146  to users that provide payment for such access. Such paywall may operate, for example, with a payment system. An exemplary suitable payment system may receive from the content provider  140 , a billing request that may contain information about the user device  110 , the corresponding user, the content item  144  or  146  requested by the user device  110  and/or the associated fee. Such payment system may request from the user device  110 , login or registration of the user of the user device  110  and it may request acceptance of the fee or payment of the fee via credit card or other payment means. The payment system may then approve the payment or the agreement to pay by transmitting an approval signal to the content provider  140  who then delivers the requested content item  144  or  146  to the user device  110 . It should be readily understood that the payment system may alternatively be operated in the same computer server(s) as the content provider process for providing access to the content items  144  and  146 . 
     An exemplary payment system useable with a paywall that is particularly useful with the systems and methods of the present disclosure is an easy-access payment system. As used herein, an easy-access payment system is payment system that, for example, does not require registration or login by the user or user device, identify the user, or, in some or all instances, overly delay transmission of the content to a user. An exemplary easy-access payment system particularly suitable with the systems and methods of the present disclosure is described in European patent application publication no. EP2476087, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety and which is owned by the assignee of this patent application. Such easy-access payment system stores: (a) an identification number of the user device; (b) stores the purchase amount in relation to the identification number; (c) monitors the total amount of purchases of the user device; (d) receives a request from the internet-based content provider to account for the purchase amount; and (e) sends a request for settlement of at least a part of the total amount of purchases to a user of the user device only when the total amount of purchases exceeds a predefined value and/or after the expiry of a predefined time interval. 
     The content provider  140  may implement or communicate with such an easy-access payment system for the payment system  150  or  160 . In such an embodiment, the content provider  140  may alternatively implement the functions of such a payment system so that the content provider  140  itself implements the easy-access payment operations. The content provider  140  may involve one of more types of payment systems having different payment and settlement methods. For example, the payment systems  150  may be an easy-access payment system, while the other payment system  160  may be a legacy payment system requesting a user to login for payment. 
     In operation of the system network  100  of  FIG. 1 , a user may use her/his user device  110  may use a search service provider to search for content by keywords or other search criteria or algorithms. The results of such a search may be presented on a displayed webpage in the user device  110  including, for example, URL addresses or web-links referring to relevant search results, including URL addresses for accessing the content item(s)  144  and/or  146  offered by the content provider  140 . Alternatively, the user device  110  may be referred to the content provider  110  by other referrer resources than search result webpages. 
     As a basis of this disclosure, it is assumed that an entity or entities in the network  180  refer the user device  110  to the content provider  140  and to a specific content item  144  or  146  managed by the content provider  140 .  FIG. 1  depicts two referrers  150  and  160  that may be any system or systems able to provide references, e.g., referring URL addresses, to the contents  144 ,  146  of the content provider  140 . For example, the referrer  150  may be a system of the content provider itself, e.g. a web-server of the content provider referring to the content in a table of contents, while the referrer  160  is a third party search service not under the content provider&#39;s control. 
       FIG. 2  depicts a method  200  of a communications flow of the system network  100  implementing particular aspects of this invention. In step  210 , the user device  110  receives resource information from a referrer  120 . The resource information may be a web-page or an XML-file for rendering, in step  220 , information on a display of the user device  110 . The resource information may contain a reference to the content provider  140  and the content item  144 , e.g., in form of a web-link or an address in the internet. The resource information may be rendered, e.g., displayed, on the user device  110 , so that the user, in step  230 , can activate the reference, i.e. click on the link or otherwise trigger a request for the referenced content. An activation of the referral link may also be done without user interaction, e.g. autonomously or as a result of applying pre-defined rules by an application or the operating system of the user device  110 . In step  240 , the request for the content item  144  is transmitted from the user device  110  to the content provider  140 . The request comprises a referrer identity (“Referrer ID”) of the referrer  150 . 
     Then, in step  250 , the content provider  140  determines, based on the referrer identity Referrer ID which payment system to apply for the content item  144  requested by the user device  110 . The determination may in addition be based on other criteria, e.g. the individual user device  110  or the device type, the specific content item  144  or the content type. 
     The determination may consider information, for example, which is not depicted including, for example, in instances where the referrer is a search service provider system. In such instances, the search service provider system regularly requests and/or receives content information from the content provider  140  for indexing and providing the index information of the content to the search service, i.e. make the content searchable by users of the service. The content provider performed step  250  for determining a payment system may be based on whether the referrer identification Referrer ID matches an identification of a search service provider system that received the full digital content item  144 . The content provider  140  could thus select a specific payment system if the referrer identity Referrer ID indicates referral from such search service. The relation between provisioning of content to a referral system and determining a payment service based on a comparison of the referral system and the received referrer identity. Referrer ID is described in greater detail with regard to  FIG. 4 . 
     In an alternative example, the content provider  140  may include payment system  150  and  160  offering multiple kinds of payment methods, e.g., payment system  150  offering an easy-access payment and payment system  160  offering a legacy access payment system. In step  250 , the referrer identity Referrer ID may influence the payment system  150  or  160  to be selected. For explanatory purposes only, the payment system  150  will be considered an easy-access payment system. As a consequence, the content provider  140 , in step  260 , may request payment or confirm an agreement to later receive payment of the fee for the request for content by the user device  110  based on the determined easy-access payment system. The fee may be determined, in whole or in part, based on the referrer identity Referrer ID or be, for example, a fixed amount for all payment systems or an amount fixed for certain payment system, but different for other payment systems. The request is transmitted from the content provider  140  to the user device  110  which may render the request via its user interface to the user. 
     In response to the user transmitting back to the content provider  140  a signal indicating her/his agreement in step  270 , the content provider  140  may request billing from a payment system  150  in step  280 . The billing request may include triggering an establishment of a connection between the user device  110  and the payment system  150 . The payment system  150  identifies the user device  110  or parts thereof via the connection. The content provider  140  may further identify the user device or a part of the user device in a user device identity (ID) and provide this user device identity (ID) to the payment system in a billing request. 
     The establishment of a connection between the user device  110  and the payment system  150  and/or the user device identification and provision of the user device identity (ID) to the payment system  150  may alternatively be performed by the content provider  140  as a result of the determining, for example, that the payment system  150  is an easy-access payment system. The billing request may also comprise the fee for the requested content item  144  and a description of the content requested. The payment system  150  may receive the billing request from the content provider  140  and store the fee in relation to the user device identity (ID). 
     If the payment system  150  is an easy-access payment system, it will, in step  285 , monitor a total sum of billing requests related to the user device identity (ID) that have not been settled and compares this sum with a preset threshold amount. If the sum exceeds the threshold amount, the payment system  150  will trigger a request for settlement of at least a part of the total sum from the user associated with the user device  110 , otherwise no further user interaction occurs for the exemplary transaction for the content item  144  (as depicted in  FIG. 2 ). The payment system  150 , in step  290 , confirms by transmitting an approval signal to the content provider  140 , who in turn, in step  295 , transmits the content item  144  to the user device  110 . 
       FIG. 3  depicts an alternative method  300  of a communications flow for the system network  100  implementing particular aspects of this invention. The steps and sequence of method  300  are similar to the method  200  depicted in  FIG. 2 , with certain differences. Specifically, in step  310  of the method  300 , the user device  110  receives resource information comprising a referral to the content item  144  from referrer  160 , which is rendered on the user device  110  in step  320 , which triggers a request for the content item  144  from the content provider  140  in steps  330  and  340 , in an identical or substantially similar manner as steps  210 - 240  in  FIG. 2 , In response, the content provider  140  determines the referrer identity Referrer ID and selects the corresponding payment system in step  350  in a similar manner as step  250  of  FIG. 2 . However, in  FIG. 3 , this selection step selects payment service  160  (instead of  150  as in  FIG. 2 ). In this example, the payment system  160  is a conventional payment system and not an easy-access payment system. 
     Accordingly, the payment system  160 , in step  360 , may require a registration and/or login of the user of the user device  110  to arrange for payment. The particular method for such registration and login is not critical to the present disclosure and may be accomplished using conventional well-known payment systems methods. After payment has been made is step  370 , and confirmed by the payment system  160  to the content provider  140  in step  380 , the content provider  140  transmits the requested digital content to the user device  110  in step  390 . 
       FIG. 4  depicts a flowchart of an exemplary method  400  that may be performed by the content provider computer server  140  for implementing aspects of the present disclosure. The method  400  starts in step  410 , wherein such content provider  140  provides, for example, content item  144  to a referral system, such as referrer system  120 . The content item  144  is provided to the referrer system  120  for the purpose to generate references to the content and thus direct users to such content. The referrer system  120  may, for example, be an internet-based search service or any other service that generates references to the content received from the content provider  140 . 
     Then, at a later time, the content provider  140  may receive a request from a user device, such as user device  110 , in step  420 , for access to the content or parts thereof. The request comprises a referrer identity Referrer ID that informs the content provider  140  about which referrer system  120  or  130  referred the user device  110  to the content. The referrer system  120  or  130  may be the content provider itself, i.e. a link on the content provider&#39;s web-site referenced the content, or it may be from a third party system. In the step  430 , the content provider  140  determines, whether the Referrer ID indicates that the user device  110  was referred to the content by the referrer system  120  that received the content in step  410 , and if so, the content provider  140  selects, for example, an easy-access payment system in step  440 . At such time, the content provider  140  may also determine a fee for the content based, at least in part, on the Referrer ID. 
     Then, in step  450 , the user&#39;s confirmation to pay the fee is requested for the content and a user device identity (ID) may optionally be determined, shown in  FIG. 4  with dashed lines because the step of determining the user device identity (ID) may performed alternatively by the payment system  150  or  160 . Further, in step  460 , billing of the fee for the content is requested from the easy-access payment system based on the user device identity (ID) that has been determined by the content provider  140  or that is determined by the easy access payment system. 
     However, if in step  430 , the Referrer ID does not indicate the referrer system  120  as the origin of the referral, another payment system may be selected by the content provider  140  in step  480 . As indicated in step  480 , the selected other payment system may not be an easy-access payment system and thus it may be based on user registration and login. The content provider may then, in step  490 , request the user&#39;s confirmation for payment of the fee and further, in step  495 , request immediate billing of the user for the fee from the selected payment system. 
       FIG. 5  depicts a flowchart of another exemplary method  500  that may be performed by the content provider computer server  140  for implementing other aspects of the present disclosure. In this embodiment, the content provider  140  selects an easy-access payment system for payment of a fee for content with at least one feature of the easy-access payment being determined based on the Referrer ID. Specifically, in step  510 , the content provider  140  receives a request for the content item  144  from a user device, such as user device  110 . The request comprises a referrer identity Referrer ID that informs the content provider about which referrer system referred the user device  110  to the content item  144 . In step  520 , the user&#39;s confirmation for payment of the fee is requested for the content item  144  and a user device identity (TD) may be determined by the content provider (shown with dashed lines) as step  530 , or alternatively at a later point in time by the payment system. 
     Then, in step  540 , the content provider  140  determines if the Referrer ID indicates a high priority payment treatment is requested. As used herein, a high priority payment may be a payment that guarantees an easy-access payment without the requirement for user. If, in step  540 , it is determined that a high priority payment treatment is requested, the method  500  proceeds to step  550 , and a bill is transmitted to the payment system without further interaction from the user and the requested content item  144  is transmitted to the user device  110 . However, if in step  540 , it is determined that the Referrer ID does not indicate a high priority payment treatment is required, the method  500  proceeds to step  560  and billing and payment is requested from the payment system before transmission of the content item  144  to the user device  110  occurs. The triggering of the high priority treatment in  FIG. 5  may also comprise temporarily increasing the threshold applied by an easy-access payment system to determine whether to request settlement from the user. As a consequence, it is less likely that settlement would be sought by the easy-access payment system prior to transmission of the content item  144 . 
     In the alternative, the Referrer ID may include a status of the user or the user device  110  instead of or in addition to an indicator that high priority payment treatment is required. Such status of the user or user device  110  may be used by the content provider  140  for selection of the payment system  150  or  160 , or determination of the fee for the requested digital content. 
       FIG. 6  depicts a flowchart of yet another method  600  that may be performed by the content provider computer server  140  according to further aspects of the present disclosure. According to the method  600 , the content provider  140  selects an easy-access payment system for payment of a fee for content with at least one aspect of the easy-access payment being determined based on the Referrer ID, requested use of a referrer-specific account. In particular, in step  610 , the content provider  140  receives a request for content item  144  from the user device  110 . The request comprises a referrer identity Referrer ID that informs the content provider  140  which referral system  120  or  130  referred the user device  110  to the content item  144 . In step  620 , the user&#39;s confirmation for payment of the fee is requested for the content item  144 . The user device identity (ID) may be determined by the content provider (shown with dashed lines) as step  630 , or alternatively at a later point in time by the payment system. 
     The content provider  140  then determines, in step  640 , whether the Referrer ID identifies a referrer which requires billings to a referrer-specific account for the user device in contrast to an account that is only user device specific. As an example, a specific referrer could request the content provider  140  to apply an easy-access payment system with an account that only has to be settled by the user if the sum of purchases of content accessed based on a referrals by the same referrer exceeds a threshold amount. Accordingly, the content provider  140  determines, in step  640 , whether a referrer-specific account needs to be applied and if so, it enhances the user device identity ( 1 D) determined by a referrer specific enhancement (RID). Based on the identity (ID) or (ID)+(RID), billing is requested from the payment system in step  650 . However, if in step  640 , it is determined that it is not necessary to provide billing to a referrer specific account for the user device  110 , the method  600  proceeds to step  660 , wherein billing is made to an account that is specific for the user device  110 . 
     REFERENCE CHARACTER TABLE 
     The following table lists the reference characters and names of features and elements used herein: Reference characters assigned to method steps are not listed. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
             
               
                   
               
               
                 Ref. char. 
                 Feature or element 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 100 
                 System network 
               
               
                 110 
                 User device 
               
               
                 120 
                 Referral system 1 
               
               
                 130 
                 Referral system 2 
               
               
                 140 
                 Content provider 
               
               
                 144 
                 Digital content 1 
               
               
                 146 
                 Digital content 2 
               
               
                 150 
                 Payment system 1 
               
               
                 160 
                 Payment system 2 
               
               
                 180 
                 Internet-accessible network 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     It will be understood that, while various aspects of the present disclosure have been illustrated and described by way of example, the invention claimed herein is not limited thereto, but may be otherwise variously embodied within the scope of the following claims.