Patent Application
20080005025
Exemplary embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like items in the drawings are shown with the same reference numbers. Embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings.
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention and to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention. In some instances, well-known features have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention. Various modifications to the disclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.
Various aspects and features of example embodiments of the invention are described in more detail hereinafter in the following sections: (1) Functional Overview; (2) Media Kiosk and Media Database; (3) Media Selection, Billing, and Accounts; (4) Media Expiration; (5) Media Transport Device; (6) Media Player.
One or more embodiments of the invention relate to a method and apparatus for renting electronic media content without requiring returns or physical inventory. As used herein, the term “electronic media content,” hereafter referred to as simply “media,” refers to any type of entertainment or informational content that can be stored on a non-volatile memory such as a tape, other magnetic medium, optical medium, read-only memory, or the like. Examples of such content include movies, music, television shows, electronic games, electronic books, electronic magazines, and electronic newspapers, but the invention is not limited to any particular type of content. As used herein, the term “renting” refers to lending specific media to customers for a limited amount of time, with or without the customer paying a monetary fee for the rental. As used herein, “returns” refers to the customer returning a physical item to the lender, either by personally delivering it, by mailing it, or by some other mechanism; or to the customer being required to perform any action on or before a specific date or time.
One or more embodiments of the invention relate to a media rental system comprised of three components: (1) Media Kiosk; (2) Media Transport Device; (3) Media Player. The Media Kiosk has access to a database of media, a user interface with which to communicate with customers, and an interface by which to transmit content to the Media Transport Device.
The media rental system just described is now described with reference to a flow diagram 200 of
It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the Media Transport Device and the Media Player could be one single device. Examples of such devices include a portable music player, a personal digital assistant, or a cell phone, but the invention is not limited to any particular device.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, one or more Media Kiosks are located in a location available to customers such as a mall, a retail store, a bank, or a subway station. The invention is not limited to any particular location.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the Media Kiosk is a computer system that provides access to a database of media. The Media Kiosk allows the customer to select media content from a database of media, and to download the selected media onto the customer's Media Transport Device. More specifically, the Media Kiosk provides an interface for the customer's Media Transport Device by which it can transmit the selected media to the transport device.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the media database is a relational database. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that this database may take other forms, such as object-oriented or flat-files, and the invention is not limited to any particular type of database.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the media files are compressed with MPEG compression, mp3 compression, or the like. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that this compression may take other forms, and the invention is not limited to any particular type of compression.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the Media Kiosk contains capabilities for billing the user for the media rental.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the Media Kiosk adds Digital Rights Management to the transferred media including an expiration policy for the rented media.
In one or more embodiments, the Media Kiosk may be implemented on virtually any type of computer regardless of the platform being used.
The Media Kiosk includes one or more means of input 325, such as a keyboard, mouse, touch-screen monitor, or voice control. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that this input device may take other forms.
The Media Kiosk includes an output means 330 for communicating with the user, such as a display monitor, or voice. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that this output device may take other forms.
The Media Kiosk includes an output means 335 for transferring media to the customer's Media Transport Device, such as a USB port, firewire port, or flash memory disk reader/writer (such as Compact Flash, SD, xD, or Memory Stick). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that this output device may take other forms.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the Media Kiosk has multiple output means for attaching Media Transport Devices so that more than one user can use the kiosk to transfer media at the same time.
The Media Kiosk includes access to a media database 350 stored on one or more non-volatile storage devices such as tape, other magnetic medium, optical medium, read-only memory or the like. In one embodiment of the invention, this storage is directly attached to the Media Kiosk computer system.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the Media Kiosk is connected to the Internet 360 through a network interface 320. It could also connect a Local-Area Network, a Wide-Area Network, or a combination of networks.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the Media Kiosk accesses the media database 350 over its computer network. The media database could be Network Attached Storage, directly-attached storage to a server accessible over the network, or the like. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the storage device connectivity may take other forms.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the Media Kiosk runs user interface software to interact with the user for the purpose of allowing the user to select media to transfer to the Media Transport Device. This interaction may take the form of a Graphical User Interface, a voice-controlled system, or a command-line interface. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that this user interface may take other forms.
The user interface software provides capabilities for the user to view the available media files, to search for media files based on title, performer, genre, or the like, and to select one or more files for rental.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the user interface allows more than one user to interact with the Media Kiosk simultaneously.
In one embodiment of the invention, the computer system contains one or more mechanisms (340 in
In one embodiment of the invention, the Media Kiosk can access user account information, which is stored in a database and accessed over the network.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the Media Kiosk locks the media transport device in STEP 440 until the user inserts identification, in STEP 450, such as a credit card, so that the user is not required to stay by the Media Kiosk while the media is transferred.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the transferred media includes Digital Rights Management (DRM) to protect the media and cause its expiration. The term “Digital Rights Management,” hereafter referred to as “DRM,” refers to electronic protections on the media for the purpose of copy prevention, unauthorized replay prevention, expiration of media, and the like. The invention is not limited to any particular type of DRM.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the transferred media is encrypted such that only the Media Player can be used to view the media. This encryption could be shared-key (DES, Blowfish, or another algorithm, either public or proprietary), public-key (RSA, Diffie-Hellman, or another algorithm, either public or proprietary), or the like. The invention is not limited to any particular encryption mechanism or algorithm.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, an expiration policy is embedded in the transferred media. This expiration policy could take the form of an expiration timestamp embedded in the encrypted media file. The media file will only be accessible by the Media Player until that timestamp expires. The expiration policy could also take the form of an embedded tag in the encrypted media file specifying the number of times the media may be viewed.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, copy protection is added to the transferred media. This copy protection could take the form of an embedded disk ID for the customer's Media Player, such that only that player can display the media.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the Media Transport Device is a portable non-volatile storage device for electronic files. The mechanism of storage could be magnetic, optical, flash-memory, or the like. The invention is not limited by the type of portable storage device.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the Media Payer is a computer system that allows the user to display, play, view, or interact with media files from the Media Transport Device. The Media Player is typically located in a customer's home, but the invention is not limited to any particular location.
In one or more embodiments, the Media Player may be implemented on virtually any type of computer regardless of the platform being used.
The Media Player includes means of input and output, 525, required for making use of the media files from the Media Transport Device, such as audio speakers, video display, keyboard, mouse, touch-screen monitor, voice control, joystick, and the like. The invention is not limited by the number and types of I/O devices.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the Media Player includes directly-attached or network-attached non-volatile read/writable storage, 550, such as tape, other magnetic medium, optical medium, or the like, for storing media content.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the Media Player contains a clock, 540, that can be used for accurate timestamp expiration detection (part of the DRM).
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the Media Player is connected to the Internet, 560, via a network interface, 520. This connection to the Internet allows the Media Player to contain a network-synchronized clock, for use in enforcing the timestamp component of the DRM. The Internet connection could also allow the Media Player to download new decryption keys periodically from a secure network. The Internet connection could also allow the Media Player to inform an accounting server when a media file is viewed or played for billing and accounting purposes.
The Media Player includes software to interact with the user. The user interface may be a Graphical User Interface, voice controlled interface, or the like. The invention is not limited by the type of interface.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the Media Player allows the user to display or play media files directly from the Media Transport Device in a random access manner. In one or more embodiments of the invention, the Media Player also allows the user to copy media files to the non-volatile storage attached to the Media Player, from which it allows random access. Additionally, the software contains a search facility to allow users to search for media files based on title, performer, genre, or the like.
This software has the capability to decode the DRM features with which the media is encoded at the download kiosk.
