Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7693871?dq=rishi+bhargava&ei=ljBsTuudOsLliALn09CXDg
Timestamp: 2017-08-20 12:34:11
Document Index: 356678221

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 001', 'art 001', 'art 001', 'art 001', 'arts 001', 'art 001', 'art 001', 'art 001', 'art 001', 'art 001', 'art 001', 'art 001', 'art 001', 'art 001', 'art 002', 'art 002', 'art 002', 'art 002', 'art 002', 'art 002', 'art 002', 'art 002', 'art 002']

Patent US7693871 - Modifying a digital media product - Google Patents
Storing, by an owner of a digital media product, the product in a distributed media library, the library including information describing the modifiable part of the digital media product and a digital grant of rights to modify and distribute the product; producing, from users' digital expressions of...http://www.google.com/patents/US7693871?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7693871 - Modifying a digital media product
Publication number US7693871 B2
Application number US 11/696,252
Also published as US20080250065
Publication number 11696252, 696252, US 7693871 B2, US 7693871B2, US-B2-7693871, US7693871 B2, US7693871B2
Inventors W. Barrs II John, Michael W. Brown, Paul S. Williamson, Scott L. Winters
Patent Citations (20), Non-Patent Citations (6), Referenced by (10), Classifications (17), Legal Events (4)
Modifying a digital media product
US 7693871 B2
Storing, by an owner of a digital media product, the product in a distributed media library, the library including information describing the modifiable part of the digital media product and a digital grant of rights to modify and distribute the product; producing, from users' digital expressions of preferences, information describing a user community preference for replacing the modifiable part of the digital media product with a replacement part; retrieving the digital media product and the digital grant of rights to modify and distribute the digital media product; receiving at least one replacement part, a digital grant of rights to use the replacement part to modify the digital media product, and a digital grant of rights to distribute the replacement part with the digital media product; and replacing, in accordance with the information describing the user community preference and the digital grants of rights, the modifiable part with the replacement part.
One of the areas in which substantial technical advances have been is editing and delivery of digital media products. With the expanding menu of media (audio, video, text) becoming available on-line, media owners have unprecedented channels through which to reach potential customers. Media content is often created to cater to specific, “least common denominator” demographic cultures or subgroups. Once a version of media content is created and released, it is inefficient and expensive for media owners to analyze and identify potential revenue opportunities if “tailored” versions were created of the media, modify the existing, licensed, media based upon the new opportunities and distribute the “tailored” versions of the media targeted to appeal to demographic subgroups who would yield the most revenue and profit to the media owner.
Methods, apparatus, and computer program products are described for modifying a digital media product, where the digital media product includes digital media content, the digital media content includes a modifiable part, the methods, apparatus, and products include storing, by an owner of the digital media product, the digital media product in a distributed media library, the distributed media library operatively coupled to a digital media production hub, the distributed media library including information describing the modifiable part of the digital media product and a digital grant of rights to modify and distribute the digital media product; producing, by the digital media production hub from users' digital expressions of preferences, information describing a user community preference for replacing the modifiable part of the digital media product with a replacement part; retrieving, by the digital media production hub from the distributed media library, the digital media product and the digital grant of rights to modify and distribute the digital media product; receiving, by the digital media production hub from a media parts provider, at least one replacement part, a digital grant of rights to use the replacement part to modify the digital media product, and a digital grant of rights to distribute the replacement part with the digital media product; and replacing, by the digital media production hub in accordance with the information describing the user community preference and the digital grants of rights, the modifiable part with the replacement part.
FIG. 1 sets forth a network diagram of an exemplary system for modifying a digital media product according to embodiments of the present invention.
FIG. 2 sets forth a diagram of an example graphical user interface (‘GUI’) useful for communicating with a digital media production hub that modifies a digital media product according to embodiments of the present invention.
Exemplary methods, apparatus, and products for modifying a digital media product in accordance with the present invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings, beginning with FIG. 1. FIG. 1 sets forth a network diagram of an exemplary system for modifying a digital media product (328) according to embodiments of the present invention. The example system of FIG. 1 includes a media parts provider (314) that is coupled for data communications through wireline connection (104), network (100), and wireline connections (136, 116, 130) respectively to a distributed media library (408), a digital product owner (312), and a digital media production hub (302). The example system of FIG. 1 also includes user communities (330) that include users (138) who communicate with another network (101) respectively through a mobile phone (114) connected to network (101) through wireless connection (102), a laptop computer (118) connected to network (101) through wireless connection (106), a personal computer (126) connected to network (101) through wireline connection (110), and a personal digital assistant (128) connected to network (101) through wireless connection (112). The user communities (330) are additionally connected for data communications through network (101) to the Web (134) and to the digital media production hub (302) respectively through wireline connection (132) and wireline connection (108). A digital media product, as opposed to an analog media product, refers to electronic or optical media having content that is implemented with binary digital encodings. ‘Digital’ refers to two discrete states used to implement the digital encodings, variously referred to as “0” and “1”, “true” and “false”, “active” and “inactive”, “on” and “off”, and so on. Computers as described in this specification are machines that interpret the binary digital encodings as information, the information referred to in this specification as “digital media content.” Digital media products such as digital audio, digital video, and other digital media content can be created, referred to, and distributed by computers and data communications networks composed of computers. Digital media products are substantially different from the older analog media products such as analog recordings on vinyl records and magnetic tape. Examples of digital media products include compact discs, digital video discs, digital television, c-books, video games, the Internet, the World Wide Web, cell phones, other interactive media, and many others products as will occur to those of skill in the art.
<product header type=“digital video movie” name=“GoldenEye ”>
<scene id=“001” rsrc=“www.rts.com/rights?frame=001”>
<clip id=“001” rsrc=“+”></clip>
<clip id=“002 rsrc=“+”></clip>
<frame id=“39457”>
<part id=“001”
psrc=“www.objs.com/pixels?frame=39457,obj=001”>
<frame id=“39458”>
psrc=“www.objs.com/pixels?frame=39458,obj=001”>
<clip id=“003” rsrc=“www.rts.com/rights?frame=001”></clip>
<clip id=“004” rsrc=“+”></clip>
<scene id=“123”> “Climax Scene”
This XML example is said ‘pseudocode,’ so called because it is an explanation expressed in the form of code as opposed to an actual working model of computer code. This example illustrates a hierarchical organization of digital media content in a digital media product, where the hierarchy is:
The digital media product in this example is identified in the <product> element as having type “digital video movie” and is identified by the name “GoldenEye” as a James Bond movie. The digital media content in this example is identified by a <content> element; scenes are identified by <scene> elements; clips are identified by <clip> elements; frames are identified by <frame> elements; and modifiable parts are identified by <part> elements. Although such digital media content may include any number of clips, this example identifies four clips: clips 001, 002, 003, and 004.
In this James Bond movie example, clips can inherit from scenes digital rights to modify and distribute the contents of a clip. The <clip> elements contain ‘rsrc’ attributes, standing for ‘rights source,’ that specify a source for specification of the digital rights to modify and distribute the contents of the clip. For clips 001, 002, and 004, the rsrc attribute value “+” specifies that the clips inherit digital right from the scene of which they are parts. Sources of digital rights for scenes are identified in a couple of exemplary, alternative ways. Scene 001 has an rsrc attribute that identifies a source of digital rights with the URL “www.rts.com/rights?frame=001.” Scene 123 includes an <sla> element that identifies a Service Level Agreement (“SLA”) implemented as an XML Schema Definition (“XSD) named “timewarner.xsd” as the source of digital rights to modify and distribute the contents of scene 123. Clip 003, unlike clips 001, 002, and 003, specifies an rsrc URL, signifying that digital rights for the contents of clip 003 are not inherited, but are derived from a query to a remote database according to “www.rts.com/rights?frame=001.”
Clip 002 in this example contains two frames each of which includes a modifiable part. In fact, it is the same modifiable part in each frame, part 001, which remains on display for more than a fraction of a second and is therefore represented in more than one frame. As a practical matter, such a display of a modifiable part would be included in more than two frames, although only two are used in this example for convenience of explanation. Frame 39457 has a ‘psrc’ attribute, standing for ‘part source,’ that specifies the URL www.objs.com/pixels?frame=39457,obj=001 as the source of a description of part 001, the description typically composed of a list of pixels that make up or outline the modifiable part within the frame, although that is not a limitation of the invention, and a modifiable part may be specified or identified in other ways as will occur to those of skill in the art. Frame 39458 has a psrc attribute that specifies the URL www.objs.com/pixels?frame=39458,obj=001 as the source of a description of part 001. If part 001 moves or changes shape between frames, then, despite the fact that the part number is the same, the description retrieved from www.objs.com/pixels? frame=39457,obj=001 will not be the same as the description retrieved from www.objs.com/pixels?frame=39458,obj=001.
The distributed media library is prospectively a huge aggregation of digital data encompassing massive amounts of information, entertainment media, educational media, interactive media, stateful online video games with multiple players, business applications, and so on. The data communications coupling between the distributed media library and the digital production hub is termed an ‘operative coupling’ in this specification, so called because the operative coupling is implemented so that function calls from the application level in the digital media production hub for retrieving digital media products or replacement parts are implemented as local function calls—so that application programs in the digital media production hub are unaware of the actual structure of the distributed media library, including being unaware of the location, physically or in cyberspace, of components of the library. That is, the operative coupling abstracts services of the library so that they can be accessed as function calls by applications of the digital media production hub. Such abstraction of library services may be achieved, for example, by:
implementing the operative coupling with application servers in a multi-tiered, client-server architecture, so that function calls to retrieve digital media products or replacement parts from the library appear to applications in the digital media production hub to be ordinary function calls in a programming language such as C, C++, or JAVA™,
implementing the operative coupling with web services, describing library services in WSDL (Web Services Description Language), registering library services in a UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration) directory, implementing calls to the library as SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) or HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) messages,
implementing the operative coupling with a grid computing architecture, allocating library resources in accordance with Service Level Agreements (‘SLAs’), or
implementing the operative coupling in other ways as will occur to those of skill in the art.
In the example of FIG. 1, the media product owner (312) prepares the digital media product (328) for use in modifying a digital media product according to embodiments of the present invention by making one or more parts of the digital media content modifiable, identifying them as such as described above with regard to the example of the James Bond movie, and specifying digital rights for modification of each modifiable part and digital rights for the distribution of the digital media product after modification. The digital product owner (312) then stores the digital media product (328) in a distributed media library, including storing information describing the modifiable part (332) of the digital media product and the digital grant of rights (324) to modify and distribute the digital media product. The media parts provider (314) stores the replacement part (334) in the distributed media library (408), including storing a digital grant of rights (336) to use the replacement part (334) to modify the digital media product (328) and a digital grant of rights (338) to distribute the replacement part (338) with the digital media product (328).
The digital media production hub (302) produces, from users' digital expressions of preferences, information (305) describing a user community's preference for replacing the modifiable part (332) of the digital media product (328) with a replacement part (334). A user community is an aggregation of users or consumers having at least one or more preferences in common. The presence or existence of a user community may be express, as in the National Rifle Association for example, or implicit, as in a data mining cluster. There is no requirement that members of a user community have any awareness of membership. Members of the NRA no doubt are aware of their membership in that user community; members of a community identified only as a data mining cluster likely do not know that they are members. Expressions of preference need not be overt; they can be implicit. “I like red Ford convertibles” is an example of an overt expression of preference. Purchasing a red Ford convertible is an example of an implicit expression of preference. The digital media production hub may derive expressions of preference, overt and implicit, from many resources, web logs (‘blogs’), records of online purchases, user demographics, patterns of web navigation, email content, and many other resources as will occur to those of skill in the art.
The digital media production hub (302) operates by retrieving, from the distributed media library (408), the digital media product (328) and the digital grant of rights (324) to modify and distribute the digital media product—where they were previously deposited by the media product owner (312). The digital media production hub is operatively coupled for data communications to the distributed media library as described above-operatively coupled with application servers in a multi-tiered, client-server architecture, with web services, or with a grid computing architecture. Depending on the implementation of the operative coupling between the digital media production hub and the distributed media library, the digital media production hub may retrieve the digital media product (328) and the digital grant of rights (324) to modify and distribute the digital media product from the distributed media library by, for example, a function call in a programming language such as C, C++, or JAVA™, a SQL query, a web services request or in other ways as will occur to those of skill in the art.
Also in the example of FIG. 1, the digital media production hub (302) operates by receiving, from a media parts provider (314), at least one replacement part (334), a digital grant of rights (336) to use the replacement part (334) to modify the digital media product (328), and a digital grant of rights (338) to distribute the replacement part (334) with the digital media product (328). The digital media production hub (302) may carry out the receiving of the replacement part by retrieving, from the distributed media library (408), the replacement part (334), the digital grant of rights (336) to use the replacement part to modify the digital media product, and the digital grant of rights (338) to distribute the replacement part with the digital media product. That is, the digital media production hub (302) may retrieve the replacement part (334), the digital grant of rights (336) to use the replacement part to modify the digital media product, and the digital grant of rights (338) to distribute the replacement part with the digital media product from the distributed media library (408)—where they were previously deposited by the media parts provider (314).
Having acquired the digital media product (334) and the replacement part (328) along with the pertinent digital grants of rights (324, 336, 338), the digital media production hub (302) replaces the modifiable part with the replacement part in accordance with the information describing the user community preference and the digital grants of rights. The replacement is carried out in dependence upon the information describing the user community preference because it is the information describing the user community preference that indicates the desirability or usefulness of making the replacement in the first place. The replacement is carried out in dependence upon the digital grants of rights in that the digital grants of rights specify the permitted sources and uses of all the digital media content (340), including the modifiable part (332) and the replacement part (334)—which itself becomes part of the digital media content (340) when it replaces the modifiable part (332). Such digital grants of rights to modify and distribute the digital media product may include, for example:
specification of license fees for modification of modifiable parts of the digital content to be distributed in the digital media product;
specification of requirements for review and approval of modifications; and
other grants and limitations on rights as may occur to those of skill in the art.
The arrangement of the media parts provider (314), the media product owner (312), the distributed media library (408), the digital media production hub (302), the user communities (330), the networks (100, 101), and other apparatus and subsystems making up the exemplary system illustrated in FIG. 1 are for explanation, not for limitation. Data processing systems useful for modifying a digital media product according to various embodiments of the present invention may include additional servers, routers, other devices, and peer-to-peer architectures, not shown in FIG. 1, as will occur to those of skill in the art. Networks in such data processing systems may support many data communications protocols, including for example TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), IP (Internet Protocol), HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), WAP (Wireless Access Protocol), HDTP (Handheld Device Transport Protocol), and others as will occur to those of skill in the art. Various embodiments of the present invention may be implemented on a variety of hardware platforms in addition to those illustrated in FIG. 1.
For further explanation, FIG. 2 sets forth a diagram of an example graphical user interface (‘GUI’) (224) useful for communicating with a digital media production hub (302) that modifies a digital media product according to embodiments of the present invention. The GUI (224) in this example is a GUI of a client-side data communications program, in particular, a browser. The browser GUI (224) may provide communications more or less directly with the digital media production hub through, for example, networked data communications (216) with a web server (230) integrated within the digital media hub (302). Or the browser GUI (224) may provide communications more indirectly (218, 220) with the digital media production hub (302) through, for example, networked data communications (218) with a third party provider (222) anywhere on the World Wide Web (134), where the third party provider (134) is implemented as a web server whose back end communicates with the digital media production hub (302) through an operative coupling (220) that may be implemented, for example, as:
a client-server architecture, so that function calls to communicate with the digital media production hub appear to applications in the third party provider to be ordinary function calls in a programming language such as C, C++, or JAVA™,
one or more web services described in WSDL, registered in a UDDI directory, implementing calls to the digital media production hub (302) as SOAP or HTTP messages,
a grid computing architecture with resources allocated in accordance with SLAs, or
other implementations as will occur to those of skill in the art.
The example browser GUI (224) of FIG. 2 includes a horizontal menu (226) containing menu items for control of the browser, “File,” “Edit,” “View,” and so on. The example browser GUI (224) of FIG. 2 includes a toolbar (228) that in turn includes browser control button or icons for browser navigation, “Back,” “Forward,” “Refresh,” “Stop,” and so on. The browser in this example has been navigated to a website named “Modifiable Movies,” from which a user or consumer can, among other things, order a movie that has been modified according to embodiments of the present invention.
The example browser GUI (224) of FIG. 2 includes a pull down menu (202) through which a user may select a movie for download or streaming display from the digital media production hub (302). A ‘movie’ in this example represents a digital media product that includes digital media content in the form of digital video, including at least one modifiable part amenable to modification with replacement by a replacement part. The browser GUI (224) also provides a selection menu (204) for various versions of a selected movie. The digital media production hub (302), optionally given sufficient replacement parts and grants of digital rights, may produce more than one version of a movie among which versions various modifiable parts are replaced with differing replacement parts—so that multiple versions may be produced with a different male lead in each version, for example.
In the example of FIG. 1, the digital media production hub can deliver a digital media product, in which one or more modifiable parts are replaced with replacement parts, by streaming the product from the digital media production hub to a consumer. The streaming delivery may be from the hub to a consumer's laptop or desktop computer, to a wireless handheld device, to a set-top box on a television set, and so on. The streaming may be implemented by use of any of a number of data communications protocols, SIP, TCP, IP, HTTP, VOIP, and so on, as will occur to those of skill in the art. During such a streaming delivery of a product, the digital media production hub can accept from a consumer a request for a modification of the digital media product in which a modifiable part is replaced with a specifically requested replacement part. Then, during the streaming delivery, the digital media production hub can replace the replacement part with the specifically requested replacement part—on the fly, as it were, in real time. In this example, the browser GUI (224) provides data entry fields, pull down menus (206, 208, 210), described in more detail above, that enable a user or consumer to formulate such a request and send it to the digital media production hub (302).
As mentioned above, the digital media production hub (302) may derive expressions of preference, overt and implicit, from many resources, web logs (‘blogs’), records of online purchases, user demographics, patterns of web navigation, email content, and many other resources as will occur to those of skill in the art. Users' digital expressions of preferences may also include overt assertions of a willingness to pay for a certain version of a movie which may not yet exist. Such overt assertions are referred to in this specification as ‘bids.’ Users' digital expressions of preferences may include such bids representing amounts of money one or more users are willing to pay for a version of the digital media product in which a modifiable part is replaced with a replacement part. For business reasons, with which the digital media production hub may be programmed by, for example, business rules expressed in the Business Process Execution Language (‘BPEL’), the digital media production hub can replace the modifiable part with the replacement part by replacing the modifiable part with the replacement part only when the total amount of money represented by all such bids exceeds a predetermined threshold value. Such a threshold value may be determined, for example, according to the cost of producing the version represented by any particular replacement of modifiable parts, volume requirements, required minimum profit margins, market size as indicated by the number of bids received, and so on. In the example of FIG. 2, the browser GUI (224) provides data entry fields, a pull down menu (212) and a data entry field (214), that enable a user or consumer to formulate a bid on an alternative version of a digital media product and submit the bid to the digital media production hub (302).
Modifying a digital media product in accordance with the present invention is generally implemented with computers, that is, with automated computing machinery. In the system of FIG. 1, for example, the media parts provider (314), the media product owner (312), the digital media production hub (302), the user communities (330), and the communications networks (100, 101) all are implemented to some extent at least as computers. For further explanation, therefore, FIG. 3 sets forth a block diagram of automated computing machinery comprising an exemplary computer (152) configured to operate as a digital media owner in modifying a digital media product according to embodiments of the present invention. The computer (152) of FIG. 3 includes at least one computer processor (156) or ‘CPU’ as well as random access memory (168) (‘RAM’) which is connected through a high speed memory bus (166) and bus adapter (158) to processor (156) and to other components of the computer.
Also stored in RAM, in the example of FIG. 3, is an operating system (154). Operating systems useful in computers that modify a digital media product according to embodiments of the present invention include UNIX™, Linux™, Microsoft NT™, AIX™, IBM's i5/OS™, and others as will occur to those of skill in the art. The operating system (154), application program (182), the digital media product (328), the replacement part (334), and so on, in the example of FIG. 3, are illustrated disposed in RAM (168), but many components of such software typically are stored in non-volatile memory also, for example, on a disk drive (170).
The computer (152) of FIG. 3 includes a bus adapter (158), a computer hardware component that contains drive electronics for the high speed buses, the front side bus (162), the video bus (164), and the memory bus (166), as well as drive electronics for the slower expansion bus (160). Examples of bus adapters useful in computers according to embodiments of the present invention include the Intel Northbridge, the Intel Memory Controller Hub, the Intel Southbridge, and the Intel I/O Controller Hub. Examples of expansion buses useful in computers according to embodiments of the present invention include Industry Standard Architecture (‘ISA’) buses and Peripheral Component Interconnect (‘PCI’) buses.
The computer (152) of FIG. 3 includes disk drive adapter (172) coupled through expansion bus (160) and bus adapter (158) to processor (156) and other components of the computer (152). Disk drive adapter (172) connects non-volatile data storage to the computer (152) in the form of disk drive (170). Disk drive adapters useful in computers include Integrated Drive Electronics (‘IDE’) adapters, Small Computer System Interface (‘SCSI’) adapters, and others as will occur to those of skill in the art. In addition, non-volatile computer memory may be implemented for a computer as an optical disk drive, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (so-called ‘EEPROM’ or ‘Flash’ memory), RAM drives, and so on, as will occur to those of skill in the art.
The example computer (152) of FIG. 3 includes one or more input/output (‘I/O’) adapters (178). I/O adapters in computers implement user-oriented input/output through, for example, software drivers and computer hardware for controlling output to display devices such as computer display screens, as well as user input from user input devices (181) such as keyboards and mice. The example computer of FIG. 3 includes a video adapter (209), which is an example of an I/O adapter specially designed for graphic output to a display device (180) such as a display screen or computer monitor. Video adapter (209) is connected to processor (156) through a high speed video bus (164), bus adapter (158), and the front side bus (162), which is also a high speed bus.
The exemplary computer (152) of FIG. 3 includes a communications adapter (167) for data communications with other computers (182) and for data communications with a data communications network (100). Such data communications may be carried out serially through RS-232 connections, through external buses such as a Universal Serial Bus (‘USB’), through data communications data communications networks such as IP data communications networks, and in other ways as will occur to those of skill in the art. Communications adapters implement the hardware level of data communications through which one computer sends data communications to another computer, directly or through a data communications network. Examples of communications adapters useful for modifying a digital media product according to embodiments of the present invention include modems for wired dial-up communications, Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) adapters for wired data communications network communications, and 802.11 adapters for wireless data communications network communications.
Stored in RAM in the example of FIG. 4 is a digital media production hub application program (183), a module of computer program instructions that causes the computer (151) in the example of FIG. 4 to operate as a digital media production hub and modify a digital media product (328), where the digital media product includes digital media content (340) and the digital media content includes a modifiable part (332), by producing, from users' digital expressions of preferences (306), information (305) describing a user community's preference for replacing the modifiable part (332) of the digital media product (328) with a replacement part (334); retrieving, from a distributed media library, the digital media product (328) and the digital grant of rights (324) to modify and distribute the digital media product—where they were previously deposited by the media product owner; receiving, from a media parts provider, at least one replacement part (334), a digital grant of rights (336) to use the replacement part to modify the digital media product, and a digital grant of rights (338) to distribute the replacement part with the digital media product; and replacing, in accordance with the information (305) describing the user community preference and the digital grants (324, 336, 338) of rights, the modifiable part (332) with the replacement part (334).
a client-server architecture, so that function calls to communicate with the library appear to applications in the hub to be ordinary function calls in a programming language such as C, C++, or JAVA™,
one or more web services described in WSDL, registered in a UDDI directory, implementing calls to the library as SOAP or HTTP messages,
The method of FIG. 5 also includes producing (304), by a digital media production hub (302) from users' digital expressions of preferences (306), information (305) describing a user community's preference for replacing the modifiable part (332) of the digital media product (328) with a replacement part (334). The digital media production hub is the aggregation of computer hardware and software described above. The digital media production hub (302) may acquire users' expressions of preference, overt or implicit, from many resources, web logs (‘blogs’), records of online purchases, user demographics, patterns of web navigation, email content, and many other resources as will occur to those of skill in the art. The digital media production hub (302) may produce the information (305) describing a user community's preference for replacing the modifiable part (332) of the digital media product (328) with a replacement part (334) in various forms, including the following example XML format:
<userCommunity id= “001”>
< digitalMediaProduct id= “54673”>Action Movie
<preference id= “54368”>
<modifiablePart id= “001”>Male Lead
<replacementPart id= “001”>Tom Cruise
<preference id= “54369”>
<modifiablePart id= “002”>Soft Drink Container
<replacementPart id= “002”>Pepsi
This example XML sets forth information describing preferences of user community 001 for replacing modifiable parts of an action movie with replacement parts. The information describes a preference numbered 54368 for replacing the male lead with Tom Cruise, and the information also describes a preference for replacing a soft drink container with a Pepsi™ container. The information describes only two preferences for only one digital media product, the action movie, although neither of these numbers are limitations of the invention. In fact, information describing user community preferences may be provided by a digital media production hub for any number of preferences for any number of digital media products as may occur to those of skill in the art.
In addition to the steps mentioned above that the method of FIG. 6 shares with the method of FIG. 5, the method of FIG. 6 also includes storing (410) by the media parts provider (314) the replacement part (334) in the distributed media library (408), along with the digital grant of rights (336) to use the replacement part to modify the digital media product and the digital grant of rights (338) to distribute the replacement part with the digital media product. Storing (410) the replacement part (334) in the distributed media library (408) is optional within the overall context of the present invention. The replacement part (334) may alternatively, for example, be provided by the media parts provider directly from the provider or the provider's computer system to the digital media production hub in a predetermined data format—or in other ways as will occur to those of skill in the art. In the example of FIG. 6, however, where the replacement parts provider (314) has stored (410) the replacement part (334) in the distributed media library (408), receiving (318) the replacement part is carried out by retrieving (406), by the digital media production hub (302) from the distributed media library (408), the replacement part (334), the digital grant of rights (336) to use the replacement part to modify the digital media product, and the digital grant of rights (338) to distribute the replacement part with the digital media product.
an identification of one or more modifiable parts of the digital content of a digital media product (502);
identification of one or more specific entities authorized to modify modifiable parts of the digital content (504);
specification of a scope of authorized modifications for modifiable parts of the digital content (506);
specification of license fees for modification of modifiable parts of the digital content to be distributed in the digital media product (508); and
specification of requirements for review and approval of modifications (510).
For further explanation, consider the following example, expressed in XML, of a digital grant of rights to modify and distribute a digital media product according to embodiments of the present invention:
<rights product_ID=“98756”>Action Movie
<modifiablePart id=“001”>Male Lead
<replacementPartProvider id=“657”>
<replacementPartProvider id=“5467”>
<modifiablePart id=“002”>Generic Soft Drink Container
<replacementPartProvider id=“543”>
<scope>COCA COLA ™</scope>
<replacementPartProvider id=“761”>
<scope>PEPSI ™</scope>
This XML example, referred to sometimes in this specification as ‘the Action Movie example,’ is an example of a digital grant of rights to modify and distribute a digital media product, that is, an action movie, according to embodiments of the present invention. The Action Movie example includes identification of two modifiable parts of the digital content of the action movie identified by <modifiablePart> elements as modifiable parts 001 and 002 respectively. Modifiable part 001 represents the parts of the digital media content depicting the male lead in the action movie. A <replacementPartProvider> element for modifiable part 001 identifies replacement parts provider 657 as a specific entity authorized to modify modifiable part 001. The scope of authorized modifications of modifiable part 001 by replacement parts provider 657 is limited by a <scope> element to replacing the male lead in the action movie with replacement parts representing images of Tom Cruise—presumably because replacement parts provider 657 is properly licensed for Tom Cruise replacement parts. License fees are specified for modification of modifiable part 001 with Tom Cruise replacement parts by the <fee> element to payment of license fees according to Fee Schedule 2345. The <review> element for replacement parts provider 657 specifies the requirement of review and approval by the owner of the action movie and also by Tom Cruise's agent of modifications effected by replacement parts provider 657.
In the Action Movie example, in addition to the deification of replacement parts provider 657 as an entity authorized to modify the action movie, a further <replacementPartProvider> element for modifiable part 001 identifies replacement parts provider 5467 as a specific entity authorized to modify modifiable part 001. The scope of authorized modifications of modifiable part 001 by replacement parts provider 5467 is limited by a <scope> element to replacing the male lead in the action movie with replacement parts representing images of Denzel Washington—presumably because replacement parts provider 5467 is properly licensed for Denzel Washington replacement parts. License fees are specified for modification of modifiable part 001 with Denzel Washington replacement parts by the <fee> element to payment of license fees according to Fee Schedule 9807. The <review> element for replacement parts provider 5467 specifies the requirement of review and approval by the owner of the action movie and also by Denzel Washington's agent of modifications effected by replacement parts provider 5467.
Modifiable part 002 represents the parts of the digital media content depicting a generic soft drink container in the action movie. A <replacementPartProvider> element for modifiable part 002 identifies replacement parts provider 543 as a specific entity authorized to modify modifiable part 002. The scope of authorized modifications of modifiable part 002 by replacement parts provider 543 is limited by a <scope> element to replacing the generic soft drink container in the action movie with replacement parts representing images of Coca Cola™, containers—presumably because replacement parts provider 543 is properly licensed for Coca Cola™ replacement parts. License fees are specified for modification of modifiable part 002 with Coca Cola™ replacement parts by the <fee> element to payment of license fees according to Fee Schedule 324. The <review> element for replacement parts provider 543 specifies the requirement of review and approval by the owner of the action movie of modifications effected by replacement parts provider 543.
In the Action Movie example, in addition to the deification of replacement parts provider 543 as an entity authorized to modify the action movie, a further <replacementPartProvider> element for modifiable part 002 identifies replacement parts provider 761 as a specific entity authorized to modify modifiable part 002. The scope of authorized modifications of modifiable part 002 by replacement parts provider 761 is limited by a <scope> element to replacing the generic soft drink container in the action movie with replacement parts representing images of Pepsi™ containers—presumably because replacement parts provider 761 is properly licensed for Pepsi replacement parts. License fees are specified for modification of modifiable part 002 with Pepsi replacement parts by the <fee> element to payment of license fees according to Fee Schedule 768. The <review> element for replacement parts provider 761 specifies the requirement of review and approval by the owner of the action movie of modifications effected by replacement parts provider 761.
The method of FIG. 9, however, also includes delivering (702), by streaming from the digital media production hub (302) to a consumer, the digital media product (328) in which the modifiable part (332) is replaced with the replacement part (334). A streaming delivery of digital media content is continuously received by, and normally displayed to, an end-user or consumer while the digital media content is being delivered from the digital media production hub. “Streaming” refers to the delivery method rather than to the medium itself The distinction is usually applied to media that are distributed over telecommunications networks, as most other delivery systems are either inherently streaming, such as radio or television, or inherently non-streaming, such as books, video cassettes, or audio CDs.
The method of FIG. 9 also includes accepting (704), during the streaming delivery by the digital media production hub, a request (708) from the consumer for a modification of the digital media product in which the modifiable part (332) is replaced with a specifically requested replacement part (710) and replacing (706), during the streaming delivery by the digital media production hub, the replacement part (334) with the specifically requested replacement part (710). In this way, a user may eater a request, and, if the requested replacement part is available and supportive digital grants of rights are in place, the hub can replace the replacement part with the specifically requested replacement part—on the fly, as it were, in real time. A user can change the leading man several times in the course of a single viewing a product, for example. If a user decides Pepsi™ would be preferable to Coca Cola™, the user can make that change right in the middle of a viewing of a movie. And then change right back to Pepsi™ if the user wishes to do so.
US7596583 * Mar 29, 2007 Sep 29, 2009 International Business Machines Corporation Dynamic learning in redesigning a composition of web services
US20050091683 Oct 28, 2003 Apr 28, 2005 Motorola, Inc. Method and apparatus for recording and editing digital broadcast content
US20080126301 * Aug 2, 2006 May 29, 2008 International Business Machines Corporation Locating and altering sensitive information in core dumps
WO2003081438A1 * Mar 24, 2003 Oct 2, 2003 Sony Corporation Information image utilization system, information image management server, information image management method, device information image, program, and recording medium
WO2007080479A2 * Jan 9, 2007 Jul 19, 2007 Nokia Corporation System and method for providing content security in upnp systems
WO2007140415A2 * May 30, 2007 Dec 6, 2007 Dell Products L.P. Dynamic constraints for content rights
* WOWO3081438A1 Title not available
1 Office Action Dated Jul. 22, 2009 in U.S. Appl. No. 11/696,239.
2 Susan Wegner, Prototype Description of an Open DRM Architecture, Project Report P1207, OPERA-Interoperability of Digital Rights Management (DRM) Technologies, Dec. 2003, pp. 1-33, EDIN 0439-1207.
3 Susan Wegner, Prototype Description of an Open DRM Architecture, Project Report P1207, OPERA—Interoperability of Digital Rights Management (DRM) Technologies, Dec. 2003, pp. 1-33, EDIN 0439-1207.
4 U.S. Appl. No. 11/696,239, filed May 1997, Barrs et al.
5 U.S. Appl. No. 11/696,252, filed Apr. 2007, Barrs et al.
6 U.S. Appl. No. 11/696,272, filed Apr. 2007, Barrs et al.
US8341241 * Apr 14, 2009 Dec 25, 2012 At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. Method and apparatus for presenting media content
US8694531 Oct 16, 2009 Apr 8, 2014 S. Merrell Stearns System and method for analyzing and matching digital media libraries
US8892471 Apr 4, 2007 Nov 18, 2014 International Business Machines Corporation Modifying a digital media product
US9513775 Oct 14, 2012 Dec 6, 2016 At&T Intellectual Property I, Lp Method and apparatus for presenting media content
US20090133130 * Nov 20, 2007 May 21, 2009 Albert Kovalick Media editing system using digital rights management metadata to limit import, editing and export operations performed on temporal media
US20100262675 * Apr 14, 2009 Oct 14, 2010 At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. Method and apparatus for presenting media content
US20140095594 * Jun 26, 2012 Apr 3, 2014 Sony Corporation Server apparatus and information processing apparatus
Cooperative Classification G06F21/85, G06F17/30017, H04L2463/101, G06F21/10, G06F21/105, G06Q30/02, H04L63/10, Y10S707/99948
European Classification G06Q30/02, G06F21/85, G06F21/10, G06F21/10A, H04L63/10, G06F17/30E
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:BARRS, JOHN W., II;BROWN, MICHAEL W.;WILLIAMSON, PAUL S.;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:019239/0162