Abstract:
The present invention provides for the creation of customized data compilation utilizing a variety of media types and with proper royalty payments. These customized data compilations are created at distributed locations using central database or distributed databases, a local workstation, and a high-speed media specific recording device.

Description:
PRIORITY CLAIM  
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/391,560 filed Jun. 25, 2002. 
     
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    This invention relates generally to computer systems and, more specifically, to a computer system for creating user selected customized digital data compilations.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    There currently is an “underground” market for customized compact discs (“CDs”) including custom music CDs. These custom CDs are made, for example, by obtaining copies of songs in digital format, by either downloading the desired songs from the Internet or copying or “ripping” the songs onto a personal computing system from borrowed CDs, and then recording or “burning” the songs onto blank CDs using a CD-R drive. Custom music CDs are assembled in minutes, and represent lost revenue to the record companies, since unauthorized copies of property are made that would otherwise be subject to royalties.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    The system described herein provides for the creation of customized data compilation utilizing a variety of media types (e.g., CD, DVD, DAT, Mini-disc, MPEG 3 Digital file, etc.), with proper royalty payments, and thus facilitates greatly expanding a newly emerging market for customized audio products. These customized data compilations are typically created at distributed locations (such as record stores) using a central database or distributed databases, a local workstation and a high-speed media specific recording device, such as a CD-Recorder, DVD-Recorder, DAT recorder, Mini-disc recorder, etc.  
           [0005]    It should be noted that the audio information is not necessarily constrained to music, and can encompass additional areas suitable for customization, including currently existing markets for personal self-improvement, business lectures, and other forms of audio data marketed to the public. Additionally, still-video or visual text information may also be associated with the music audio data, including textual data on recording artists, still photos of the artists and graphics for custom label or other media production. For other custom audio products, such as customized business lectures, scientific material, and integration of excerpts from books and/or speeches, still-visual data (such as text, graphs, drawings and/or photos) may be included for off-line publication and use while listening to the audio information, or included in a multi-media, integrated media type, such as a CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM playable, for example, on current personal computer systems. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0006]    The preferred and alternative embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the following drawings.  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for creating user selected customized digital data compilations in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a representative portion of the Internet;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative architecture for a workstation computer system in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative architecture for a remote central server utilized to transmit data files to the workstation computer in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a routine implemented by the workstation computer for creating a customized data compilation in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIGS. 6A and 6B are a flow diagram of a subroutine implemented by the workstation computer for procuring the selected data files for creating a customized data compilation in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a sub routine implemented by the workstation computer for publishing a customized data compilation in accordance with the present invention; and  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a sub routine implemented by the workstation computer for selecting billing information from the selected data files in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0015]    In accordance with the present invention, an illustrative embodiment of a digital customized system for creating user-selected customized digital data compilations is shown in FIG. 1. Generally described, the system  10  allows a user to select data files, such as audio files, from a plurality of data files stored on a workstation computer  28  located at a point of sale location, such as a record store, for creating customized digital data compilations. The workstation computer  28  is connected via a communications network  20  to a remote server(s)  32 , which stores an additional mass quantity of data files for selection by the user.  
         [0016]    In operation, a user wishing to create a custom compilation selects one or more data files from a list of data files on the workstation computer  28 . The workstation computer  28  obtains the user selected data files by first searching the memory of the workstation computer  28 . If one or more of the user selected data files is not located on the workstation computer  28 , the workstation computer communicates with one or more remote servers  32  to search for the selected data files. If the selected data file is located on the remote server  32 , the remote server  32  transmits a copy of the data file over the communications network  20  to the workstation computer  28  to be added to the user&#39;s list of selected data files. Once all of the data files are located and added to the user&#39;s list, the data files are published as a customized compilation containing all of the selected data files in any one of a plurality of media types, such as CD, DAT, DVD, miniature disk, flash memory, or memory sticks, by utilizing a corresponding output device. In addition to the selected data files, associated data, such as royalty billing information, may be assembled by either the workstation or the remote server.  
         [0017]    Referring now to FIG. 2, an illustrative operating environment for an embodiment of the present invention will be described. Aspects of the present invention are implemented as an executable software component located on a workstation computer, accessible via the Internet. As is well known to those skilled in the art, the term “Internet” refers to the, collection of networks and routers that use the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (“TCP/IP”) to communicate with one another. A representative section of the Internet  20  is shown in FIG. 2, in which a plurality of local area networks (“LANs”)  24  and a wide area network (“WAN”)  26  are interconnected by routers  22 . The routers  22  are special purpose computers used to interface one LAN or WAN to another. Communication links within the LANs may be twisted wire pair, or coaxial cable, while communication links between networks may utilize 56 Kbps analog telephone lines, 1 Mbps digital T-1 lines, 45 Mbps T-3 lines or other communications links known to those skilled in the art. Furthermore, a consumer computer  28  and other related electronic devices can be remotely connected to either the LANs  24  or the WAN  26  via a modem and temporary telephone or wireless link. It will be appreciated that the Internet  20  comprises a vast number of such interconnected networks, computers, and routers and that only a small, representative section of the Internet  20  is shown in FIG. 2.  
         [0018]    A consumer or other remote user may retrieve hypertext documents from the World Wide Web (“WWW”) via a WWW application, which can include WWW browser application programs. A WWW browser, such as Netscape&#39;s NAVIGATOR® or Microsoft&#39;s Internet Explorer, is a software application program for providing a graphical user interface to the WWW. Upon request from the user via the WWW browser, the WWW browser accesses and retrieves the desired hypertext document from the appropriate WWW server using the URL for the document and a protocol known as HyperText Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”). HTTP is a higher-level protocol than TCP/IP and is designed specifically for the requirements of the WWW. It is used on top of TCP/IP to transfer hypertext documents between servers and clients. The WWW browser may also retrieve application programs from the WWW server, such as JAVA applets, for execution on the consumer computer  28 . Further, a WWW browser may retrieve data files using other protocols known in the art, such as File Transfer Protocol (“FTP”). While the present invention as been described herein utilizes the Internet as one type of communications network, a private network suitably configured as known in the art may be used, if desired.  
         [0019]    Referring back to FIG. 1, an actual embodiment of the present invention will now be described. A workstation computer  28  is connected to the Internet  20  through a modem, private network, virtual network, or other type of connection. Once connected to the Internet  20 , a user of the workstation computer  28  may utilize a WWW browser to retrieve data files from WWW sites, such as a WWW site provided by the remote server  32 . As is known to those skilled in the art, the workstation computer  28  may comprise, for example, a workstation, a computer kiosk, or a general purpose computer, all capable of executing a WWW application or WWW browser. The computer  28  may also comprise another type of computing device such as a palm-top computer, a cell phone, personal digital assistant, and the like. Computer  28  is described in greater detail below with respect to FIG. 3.  
         [0020]    Turning now to FIG. 3, an illustrative architecture for the workstation computer  28  will now be described. The workstation computer  28  includes many more components than those shown in FIG. 3. However, it is not necessary that all of these generally conventional components be shown in order to disclose an illustrative embodiment for practicing the present invention.  
         [0021]    As shown in FIG. 3, the workstation computer  28  includes a network interface  44  for connecting directly to a LAN or a WAN, or for connecting remotely to a LAN or WAN. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the network interface  44  includes the necessary circuitry for such a connection, and is also constructed for use with the TCP/IP protocol, the particular network configuration of the LAN or WAN it is connecting to, and a particular type of coupling medium. The workstation computer  28  may also be equipped with a modem  48  for connecting to the Internet through a point to point protocol (“PPP”) connection or a SLIP connection as known to those skilled in the art.  
         [0022]    The workstation computer  28  also includes a processing unit  46 , a display  50 , and a memory  52 . The memory  52  generally comprises a random access memory (“RAM”), a read-only memory (“ROM”) and a permanent mass storage device, such as a disk drive, optical drive, or the like. The memory  52  stores an operating system  56  for controlling the operation of the workstation computer  28 . In one actual embodiment of the invention, the operating system  56  provides a graphical operating environment, such as Microsoft Corporation&#39;s WINDOWS® graphical operating system in which activated application programs are represented as one or more graphical application windows with a display visible to the user.  
         [0023]    The memory  52  also includes a WWW browser  54 , such as Netscape&#39;s NAVIGATOR® or Microsoft&#39;s Internet Explorer browser, or other WWW applications for accessing the WWW. It will be appreciated that these components may be stored on a computer-readable medium and loaded into the memory  52  of the workstation computer  28  using a drive mechanism associated with the computer-readable medium, such as a floppy, CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. The memory  52  may also include a data compilation creation application  60 . As will be described in greater detail below, the data compilation creation application  60  is capable of creating a published compilation of user selected digital data files. Further, the memory  52  may include data resource files  62 , preferably contained in a searchable database. Optionally, an external database  64  may be connected to the memory  52  and accessible by the processing unit  46 .  
         [0024]    The memory  52 , network interface  44 , display  50 , and modem  48  are all connected to the processing unit  46  via one or more buses. Workstation computer  28  may also include various input devices  66  such as pointing devices, keyboards, or light pens, which are connected to the processing unit  46  via one or more buses. As would be generally understood, other peripherals may also be connected to the processing unit in a similar manner. The workstation computer  28  further includes output or publishing devices  68 , for example, CD-R drives, DVD-R drives, miniature disk drives, and printers, which are also connected to the processing unit  46  via one or more buses. Other output devices  62  of the workstation computer  28  may include interface devices, such as USB ports, or devices such as drive mechanisms for transferring the selected data files onto a storage medium, such as flash memory, memory sticks, and the like.  
         [0025]    Additionally, it will be appreciated that the workstation computer  28  may include the necessary components (not shown) to provide wireless data transmission over any known protocol, such as 802.11, Bluetooth, infra-red, to name a few, to a wireless digital device, such as a palm-top computer, a cell phone, personal digital assistant, and the like. It will be appreciated that the data may be transmitted in any known uncompressed format or compressed format, such as MPEG 3.  
         [0026]    As mentioned briefly above, a remote central server computer  32  is also connected to the Internet  20 . The central server  32  comprises a general purpose server computer and is described in more detail below with reference to FIG. 4. The central server  32  stores additional data files  62 , such as audio, video, text, and graphic files, and receives requests for such data files  62  from the workstation computer  28 . The data files  62  may be cataloged in a database, as will be described below, by searchable fields, such as title, artist, publisher (e.g. Sony®, Capital®, Arista®, etc.). Additionally, each data file  62  may be associated with other data, which may include, for example, billing information for the payment of royalties, graphic or photographic files, and text files (e.g. lyrics, biographical data).  
         [0027]    Referring now to FIG. 4, an illustrative architecture for a remote central server  32  utilized to provide data files  62  to the workstation computer  28  will be described. The server  32  includes many more components than those shown in FIG. 4. However, it is not necessary that all of these generally conventional components be shown in order to disclose an illustrative embodiment for practicing the present invention. Moreover, although the computer system described in FIG. 4 is described as a server, the function of the server may be implemented by computer systems not generally classified as server-type computer systems. Further, although only one remote central server  32  is depicted in FIG. 1, the central server may be a distributed server that may utilize other servers  32  located elsewhere on the Internet  20  to serve data files  62  to the workstation computer  28 .  
         [0028]    As shown in FIG. 4, the server  32  includes a network interface  72  for connecting directly to a LAN or a WAN, or for connecting remotely to a LAN or WAN. The network interface  72  includes the necessary circuitry for such a connection, and is also constructed for use with the TCP/IP protocol, the particular network configuration of the LAN or WAN it is connecting to, and a particular type of coupling medium.  
         [0029]    The server  32  also includes a processing unit  74 , a display  76 , and a mass memory  80 . The mass memory  80  generally comprises a RAM, a ROM and a permanent mass storage device, such as a hard disk drive, tape drive, optical drive, floppy disk drive, or combination thereof. The memory  80  stores an operating system  82  for controlling the operation of the central server  32 . The operating system component  82  may comprise a general-purpose server operating system as is known to those of ordinary skill in the art, such as UNIX, LINUX™, or Microsoft WINDOWS NT®.  
         [0030]    The memory  80  includes one or more date files  62  which are to be provided in response to requests from the workstation computer. The data files  62  are preferably contained in a database in memory  80 . Optionally, the data files  62  may be retrieved from an external database  84 . The memory  80  also includes server application  100  operable to receive such requests from the workstation computer and transmit the selected data files to the workstation computer. These components may be stored on a computer-readable medium and loaded into memory  80  of the server  32  using a drive mechanism associated with the computer-readable medium, such as a floppy, CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. The memory  80 , network interface  72 , and display  76  are all connected to the processing unit  74  via one or more buses. Other peripherals may also be connected to the processing unit in a similar manner.  
         [0031]    Referring now to FIG. 5, an illustrative routine  500  of the data compilation creation application  60  for creating user customized digital data compilations will now be described. The routine  500  begins at block  502 , and proceeds to block  504 , where the user operating the workstation is prompted to select one or more data files  62  for creating the user&#39;s customized compilation. For example, the user may wish to select songs for a music compilation representing their favorite songs for a specific decade. After the user selects one or more data files  62  at block  504 , the routine proceeds to block  506 , where the workstation computer  28  executes a routine for obtaining the selected data files  62  for creating the custom compilation. As will be described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 6, the procurement routine retrieves the selected data files  62  from the memory  52  of the workstation, or transmits a request for the data files  62  to the central server  32 .  
         [0032]    Once a copy of the data files  62  are obtained at block  506 , the routine proceeds to block  508 , where the copy of each data files  62  is added to a compilation list representative of the custom compilation to be created. Then, at block  510 , a test is run to determine if the compilation list is complete. If the compilation list is not complete, the routine  500  returns to block  504 , where the user may select another data files  62 . If the compilation list is complete, the routine proceeds to block  512 , where a publication routine is executed. As will be described in more detail below with reference to FIG. 7, the publication routine allows the user to select what media type the compilation will be published on, formats the selected data files  62  for publication, and sends the data files  62  to the selected output device  68  for publication. After the compilation has been published, for example, written to a Compact Disk (CD) with a Compact Disc Recorder drive mechanism, the routine ends at block  514 .  
         [0033]    As briefly described above with respect to FIG. 5, FIGS. 6A and 6B depicts the execution of an illustrative procurement routine  600  in greater detail. The routine  600  begins at block  602 , and proceeds to block  604 , where the memory  52  of the workstation computer  28  is searched first for the one or more selected data files  62 . At block  606 , a determination is made as to whether the selected data files  62  are located locally in the memory  52  of the workstation computer  28 . If the selected data files  62  are located locally on the memory  52  of the workstation computer  28 , the routine  600  proceeds to block  608  where the routine  600  retrieves a copy of the selected data files  62  from the memory  52 . Once a copy of the selected data files  62  has been retrieved at block  608 , the routine  600  ends at block  610 .  
         [0034]    If the selected data files  62  has not been located locally in the memory  52  of the workstation computer  28 , the routine  600  proceeds to block  612 , where a search is conducted of the remote server  32  for the, selected data files  62 . The routine  600  continues to block  614 , where a determination is made as to whether the selected data files are located in the memory  80  of the remote server  28 . If so, the routine  600  retrieves a copy of the selected data files  62  from the memory  80  or database  84  of the remote server  32  at block  616 , and transmits the copy of the data files  62  to the workstation computer  28  at block  618 . After the copy of the selected data files  62  has been transmitted to the workstation computer  28 , the routine  600  ends at block  620 . If, however, the selected one or more data files  62  are not located on the remote server  32 , the routine  600  proceeds to block  622 , where the user receives an error message that the selected data files  62  are unavailable. The routine  600  then proceeds to add the unavailable data file(s) to a remote list for further procurement at block  624 , and ends at block  626 .  
         [0035]    As described briefly above with respect to FIG. 5, FIG. 7 depicts the execution of an illustrative publishing routine  700  in greater detail. The routine  700  begins at block  702  and proceeds to block  704 , where the user is prompted to select the type of media for the published compilation. For example, the user is prompted to select media types, such as a compact disc (CD), digital audiotape (DAT), flash memory, or the like. After the user is prompted to select the type of media at block  704 , the routine  700  proceeds to block  706 , where the user is prompted to select the format type for the compilation. For example, the user may be prompted to select any known compressed or uncompressed data format known in the art. The routine  700  then proceeds to format the selected data files of the type selected at block  708  for publication. Optionally, the routine  700  may proceed to block  710 , where a billing routine is executed. As will be described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 8, the billing routine collects royalty data from the data files for future payment to the necessary parties.  
         [0036]    The routine  700  then proceeds to block  712 , where the selected data files  62  are published for example, by writing the selected data files to the selected media type (e.g. CD, DAT, etc.) by the corresponding output device  68 , thereby creating a custom compilation of user selected data files for later use. After the user selected data files  62  are published at block  712 , routine  700  ends at block  714 . It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that routine  700  may include other steps, if desired. For example, routine  700  may prompt the user as to whether the user would like a case for the selected media type, or a printed label or other printed text or graphic information associated with the selected data files.  
         [0037]    As briefly described above with respect to FIG. 7, FIG. 8 depicts the execution of an illustrative billing routine  600  in greater detail. The routine  800  begins at block  802 , and proceeds to block  804 , where billing information is obtained from the user selected data files  62 . As was described in detail above, specific billing information is associated with each data file for the correct payment of royalties. After the billing information is obtained, the routine proceeds to block  806 , where the billing information is transmitted to the central server  32 . It will be appreciated that the server application  100  may be configured to contain a program module for the collection and storage of billing information. Optionally, the billing information may be collected locally at the workstation computer  28  by a program module located in the memory of the workstation computer  28 . After the billing information is received by either the local or remote server, the routine proceeds to block  808 , where the customer is billed based on the billing information obtained from the user selected data files  62 . Once the customer (or user) is billed, the routine ends at block  810 .  
         [0038]    While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, as noted above, many changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is not limited by the disclosure of the preferred embodiment.