Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6233682B1/en
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 12:15:43+00:00

Document:
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This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/116,918, filed on Jan. 22, 1999; U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/116,910, filed on Jan. 22, 1999; U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/116,779, filed on Jan. 22, 1999; U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/116,917, filed on Jan. 22, 1999; U.S. Provisional Application No. 10 60/116,780, filed on Jan. 22, 1999; and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/116,778, filed on Jan. 22, 1999.
The above and other objects are achieved by a system and method for distributing products over the Internet. According to the present invention, a login screen is displayed on a video monitor that allows a user to enter an unique identifier for accessing database information. After the validity of the entered unique identifier is confirmed, a shopping list is displayed that lists items for purchase as selected by the user. The listed items are in digital format suitable for downloading to a user's computer connected to the Internet and are in other media format suitable for shipping to the user.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the listed items are either compact disks containing music recorded thereon or digital music in an encoded format, and the shopping list is displayed on the video monitor as long as at least one item is contained therein.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a portion of digital music is retrieved from a database and the retrieved portion of digital music is then played for the user.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram of various software and hardware units (sub-systems), as well as database components, comprising the overall system of the present invention.
As a general overview, the present invention includes a system and method for maintaining a music web site on the Internet. Consumers may access the web site via a personal computer or any other wired or wireless Internet access device, such as WebTV, personal digital assistant, cellular telephone, etc., to obtain a variety of services and products. For instance, a consumer may browse through artists, tracks or albums, pre-listen to a portion of the song and purchase the selected song either by downloading the digital data to her computer hard drive or by placing a mail order for a compact disk (CD). A specially encoded or encrypted MP3 files called “NETrax” are delivered from a server over the Internet or cable services to the end consumers' home PC.
The server is a node on a global computer-implemented network, such as the Internet. As known to those skilled in the art, a network router may be used to connect the server to the Internet for controlling the flow of data. Also connected to the Internet is a plurality of nodes, such as personal computers, Web devices, etc., under control by the users (hereinafter collectively referred to as PC users). The PC users communicate with the server using dial-up modems, cable modems, IDSN, DSL, etc., and using browser programs executing on their personal computers, as well known to those skilled in the art. Communication links or sessions are established between the PC users and the server, via the Internet, when the PC users log onto the web site hosted by the server.
If the purchased items are to be delivered by mail, then the system's mail delivery software module accesses a database for storing track/album titles available in CD format or titles of books, disks or other products available in the appropriate tangible medium. The titles of the purchased items are retrieved and transferred to a terminal controlled by a live operator. The operator may then contact a record/book warehouse, book/video shop for hard to find and special order items, or other contractual arrangements for outsourcing the order as customary in the industry. The operator subsequently supplies the customer's name and shipping address for fulfillment of the order, whereby the purchased items are shipped directly to the customer under the web site vendor's name.
The shopping history subsystem allows every customer who has ever previously shopped on the web site to access a list of all products that the consumer has purchased in the past. The access to the past purchases is provided after typing in a username and password. After entering this information, the PC user finds all products previously purchased at the lower portion of the shopping list. All items obtained at the web site are displayed, and a vertical scroll bar may be required if the list is long. By clicking on one of these items, the main frame of the web site displays the product purchased. The customer can then go back and pre-listen to the songs (NETrax), as well as download the NETrax songs that were previously purchased.
As described above, once the PC user purchases a song or album in digital format, she can download the purchased music to her PC many times. In case her PC is damaged, the customer retains the right to the unlimited access after the purchase in case various eventualities occur, for example a crash of the hard drive or some other damage to the PC. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, however, this unlimited access to the web site vendor's database does not allow the PC user to take advantage of this feature of the present invention for illegal purposes. For example, it appears as if the PC user may purchase a song, download it to her hard drive and then transfer the downloaded music to a portable storage medium or to another PC user via the Internet for playback.
The received key is then appended with additional data. This additional data uniquely identifies the customer's PC. For example, some information from the customer's hard drive or other computer hardware/software component may be added to the key. Alternatively, some other component information, either as a prefix or suffix, may be combined with the received key. As a result, the new key uniquely identifies the customer and the customer's hardware. This key is then stored to the customer hard drive.
Prior to downloading a song, a key for the requesting customer is inserted into a header of the song. After the download, the key embedded in the header is used for comparing with the key on the customer's hard drive. Only if the two pieces of information provide an exact match, the song will be played at the customer's computer. Thus, if the customer decides to transfer a downloaded song to her friend, the song will not be played at her friend's computer because the new computer will not contain data that will match the key embedded in the song header.
The file stored to the customer's hard drive may contain more than 1 key. For example, a key ring file may contain 3 keys, wherein each key is used by a different PC user.
FIG. 4C shows a portion of the screen displaying the user interface for the web site for distributing digital or analog music as described above. Various search engines are available to the PC user to browse through the on-line selections and to purchase the desired music. FIG. 4D shows a screen display whereby the search is performed by an album. FIGS. 4E-4 show screen displays in response to the PC user search by different genres, such as electronica and dance, jazz, hip-hop, rap, R&B, country, rock and pop, world, children's and miscellaneous.
FIG. 5 shows a screen displaying a page for various other portions of the web site, whereby additional information may be obtained by clicking on the displayed heading or sub-heading. A new web page will then be displayed for listing the requested information.
means for displaying a shopping list that lists items for purchase as selected by said user, the listed items being in digital format suitable for downloading to a user's computer connected to the Internet and being in other media format suitable for shipping to said user.
2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the listed items are either compact disks containing music recorded thereon or digital music in an encoded format.
3. The system according to claim 2, wherein said means for displaying displays said shopping list on said video monitor as long as at least one item is contained in said shopping list.
4. The system according to claim 3, further comprising means for retrieving a portion of digital music from a database and means for playing the retrieved portion of digital music.
5. The system according to claim 4, further comprising means for maintaining a shopping history list for said user for display on said video monitor.
6. The system according to claim 5, wherein said user is permitted to download an unlimited number of times previously purchased items selected from said shopping history list.
7. The system according to claim 5, wherein said user is permitted to download a preselected number of times previously purchased items selected from said shopping history list.
8. The system according to claim 3, further comprising means for calculating royalties from the sale proceeds of digital music and compact disks and means for displaying the results of the calculation.
9. The system according to claim 8, wherein said royalties are calculated for a user-selectable predetermined period of time.
10. The system according to claim 1, wherein said means for displaying displays items available for purchase or browsing in a first portion of the display and displays said shopping list in a second portion of the display, said display consisting of said first and second portions.
11. The system according to claim 4, further comprising means for searching through said items available for purchase or browsing in said first portion of the display using a user selectable search criterion.
displaying a shopping list that lists items for purchase as selected by said user, the listed items being in digital format suitable for downloading to a user's computer connected to the Internet and being in other media format suitable for shipping to said user.
13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the listed items are either compact disks containing music recorded thereon or digital music in an encoded format.
14. The method according to claim 13, wherein said shopping list is displayed on said video monitor as long as at least one item is contained in said shopping list.
15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising retrieving a portion of digital music from a database and playing the retrieved portion of digital music.
16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising maintaining a shopping history list for said user for display on said video monitor.
17. The method according to claim 16, wherein said user is permitted to download an unlimited number of times previously purchased items selected from said shopping history list.
18. The method according to claim 14, further comprising calculating royalties from the sale proceeds of digital music and compact disks and displaying the results on said video monitor.
19. The method according to claim 18, wherein said royalties are calculated for a user-selectable predetermined period of time.
20. The method according to claim 12, wherein items available for purchase or browsing are displayed in a first portion of the display and said shopping list is displayed in a second portion of the display, said display consisting of said first and second portions.
21. The method according to claim 15, further comprising searching through said items available for purchase or browsing in said first portion of the display using a user selectable search criterion.

References: Application No. 60
 Application No. 60
 Application No. 60
 Application No. 60
 Application No. 10
 Application No. 60