Patent ID: 7941477

Claim:
A digital content distribution system comprising (a) a central content warehouse for storing digital content; (b) a distributed architecture of decentralized content hosting and delivery clusters and content users in each cluster coupled to said central content warehouse and able to receive digital content therefrom; the decentralized content hosting and delivery clusters in said distributed architecture comprising a distribution content warehouse coupled to said central content warehouse; said distribution content warehouse storing content received from said central content warehouse; one or more client servers coupled to said distribution content warehouse; said one or more client servers receiving digital content from said distribution content warehouse; and at least one set top box coupled to said one or more client servers; said at least one set top box receiving digital content from said one or more client servers; said at least one set top box being operative to play said received digital content for a user; (c) each cluster incorporates a user information and tracking system serving all the users associated with the cluster for generating user information and tracking data; (d) said user information and tracking system being coupled to said central content warehouse, and providing said user information and tracking data; said user information and tracking system receiving user profiles obtained from end user data and providing content control information to said central content warehouse and content distribution information to said distribution content warehouse in order to provide a content library to said distribution content warehouse; said content library being tailored to the needs of a group of users served by said distribution content warehouse; and (e) the distributed content host and users of each cluster having complementary software for usage information delivery and content delivery.