Patent ID: 7653574

Claim:
A method for enabling a customer in a retail store to purchase digital assets, comprising: receiving at a terminal located within the retail store a virtual shopping cart identifier inputted by the customer; transmitting the identifier from the terminal to a server system, which determines the status of the identified virtual cart; after determining the status of the cart, transmitting a response to the terminal; displaying to the customer at the terminal a user interface that enables the customer to select a digital asset for purchase; receiving at the terminal input from the customer indicating that the customer desires to add the digital asset to the customer's virtual cart; transmitting from the terminal to the server system an asset identifier identifying the digital asset, wherein the server system associates the asset identifier with the cart identifier; receiving at the terminal and from the customer an indication that the customer is ready to purchase the contents of the customer's virtual cart; transmitting to a fulfillment system an order message, wherein the order message includes information identifying one or more digital assets, each of which digital asset has an identifier associated with the cart identifier; receiving an order response from the fulfillment system, wherein the order response includes an order confirmation code; providing the order confirmation code to the customer; receiving a message transmitted from a device operated by the customer and located outside the store, wherein the message contains the order confirmation code; and after receiving the message, transmitting to the device located outside of the store the one or more digital assets.