Patent ID: 7110965

Claim:
A data repository system to allow a seller to store a data item that the seller wishes to sell electronically to a buyer for a fee, said repository system comprising: a) a data storage; b) an information storage; and c) a monetary storage having a seller's account and a buyer's account, wherein (i) the data storage is used to store the data item; and (ii) the information storage is for posting the fee for downloading the data item from the data storage, and the buyer deposits the fund in the monetary storage prior to downloading the data item; wherein said data repository system further comprises a program capable of communicating with the data storage, the information storage and the monetary storage so as to store a fund deposited by the buyer to pay for downloading the data item into the buyer's account; (iii) to allow the buyer to download a portion of the data item so that the buyer may review the data item without the possibility of downloading the data item in its entirety without paying the seller; (iv) to deduct a monetary sum from the deposited fund according the posted fee in the information storage; (v) to allow the buyer to download the data item from the data storage; (vi) to credit the monetary sum to the seller's account, wherein the fee for downloading the data item has a range specified by the Seller and defined by a maximum amount, and a minimum amount wherein the maximum amount is the fee posted by the Seller, and a minimum amount is what the Seller is willing to collect from the buyer for downloading the data item so that the buyer is allowed to download the data item if the buyer's proposed monetary sum for downloading the data item is greater or equal to the minimum amount specified by the seller and after the buyer's proposed monetary sum is deducted from the buyer's account and credited to the seller's account (vii) to encrypt the data item prior to downloading the data item to the buyer to prevent an unauthorized person from obtaining the downloaded data item by interception; and (viii) to provide a digital signature to the buyer to allow the buyer to verify the authenticity of the downloaded data item through a certification authority.