Internet download systems and methods providing software to internet computer users for local execution

DC CAFC

US 7,080,051 B1
Filed: 03/12/2002
Issued: 07/18/2006
Est. Priority Date: 11/04/1993
Status: Expired due to Fees

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First Claim

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1. A method of distributing software to multiple geographically remotely located Internet computer users having associated computers each communicating via the Internet, said method comprising the following steps:

(a) establishing communications via the Internet between a software provider system and multiple geographically remotely located computers;

(b) transmitting software over the Internet from said software provider system to said computers for execution, said execution being initiated without requiring user interaction after said software transmitting has completed;

(c) communicating information to and from said computers over the Internet regarding requests to purchase and/or try out available software;

(d) executing software on said software provider system to accept and process communicated requests; and

(e) permitting said Internet computer users to use requested software, said permitting being conditioned at least in part by at least one of;

(i) a specified try out period;

or (ii) a financial account identifier supplied via the Internet in encrypted form to said software provider system.

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Abstract

A customer computer connects to an online service provider by phone, Internet, or other telecommunications link. The link gives the customer access to additional processing and storage resources such as virtual storage, processing power and/or additional software or data through interaction between the customer computer and an online service provider computer over the link. The additional resources made available to the customer computer enhance the customers'"'"' local needs through access to virtual storage, a more powerful processor of similar type for program execution, and/or online support services such as software rental, software sales, release update services, anti-viral services, data backup and recovery services, diagnostic services and/or repair services.

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22 Claims

1. A method of distributing software to multiple geographically remotely located Internet computer users having associated computers each communicating via the Internet, said method comprising the following steps:
- (a) establishing communications via the Internet between a software provider system and multiple geographically remotely located computers;
  
  (b) transmitting software over the Internet from said software provider system to said computers for execution, said execution being initiated without requiring user interaction after said software transmitting has completed;
  
  (c) communicating information to and from said computers over the Internet regarding requests to purchase and/or try out available software;
  
  (d) executing software on said software provider system to accept and process communicated requests; and
  
  (e) permitting said Internet computer users to use requested software, said permitting being conditioned at least in part by at least one of;
  
  (i) a specified try out period;
  
  or (ii) a financial account identifier supplied via the Internet in encrypted form to said software provider system.

2. A method of selling software to customers over the Internet comprising the following steps:
- (a) providing a software sales service for customers with Internet access, said service using the Internet to communicate with at least one computer user;
  
  (b) sending software from the service to a computer of the user in step (a) for execution, said execution being initiated without requiring user interaction after the software has been sent;
  
  (c) establishing the user as a customer of the service;
  
  (d) sending software and service information to the user;
  
  (e) receiving a request to purchase software from the user;
  
  (f) authorizing the request received in step (e);
  
  (g) allowing the user to download software from the service; and
  
  (h) accepting a payment from the user via an encrypted financial account transaction.

3. In a system with at least one computer programmed to provide Internet commercial software services to customers that use a computer with an Internet connection to receive goods and/or services, said system allowing customers to try out and purchase software, said system performing the following steps:
- (a) establishing communications over the Internet with a computer user, said communications at least in part facilitating the transport of display data, download data, requests, and encrypted transmissions;
  
  (b) sending software from said system to a computer of the computer user in step (a) for execution, said execution being initiated without requiring user interaction after the software has been sent;
  
  (c) sending information about available software to the computer user;
  
  (d) downloading available software to the computer user'"'"'s computer storage device;
  
  (e) allowing the computer user to try out available software for a specified limited period;
  
  (f) accepting a request from the computer user to purchase available software; and
  
  (g) checking payment authorization and charging an associated fee to an account associated with the computer user.

4. A method of providing a software sales and software update service to customers over the Internet, said method comprising the following steps:
- (a) providing a software service with Internet access, said service servicing more than one user simultaneously;
  
  (b) sending information to a computer of a user communicating with the service over the Internet that enables said computer to display software information;
  
  (c) sending software for execution to the computer of said user communicating with the service over the Internet, said execution being initiated without requiring user interaction after the software has been sent;
  
  (d) receiving and processing a request from said user to receive software;
  
  (e) establishing said user as a customer;
  
  (f) allowing a customer established in step (e) to receive software requested in step (d), including determining if said customer should receive said requested software; and
  
  (g) downloading at least one file from said service to a computer of said user over the Internet.

5. A method of providing a software update service wherein a software provider system sends updates to an Internet computer user over the Internet, comprising:
- (a) using the Internet to communicate with the Internet computer user;
  
  (b) sending software from said system to a computer of said Internet computer user for execution, said execution being initiated without requiring user interaction after the software has been sent;
  
  (c) sending software update information to said Internet computer user;
  
  (d) processing a request to receive a software update from said Internet computer user;
  
  (e) checking to see if said Internet computer user needs a software update;
  
  (f) conditioned on step (e), downloading the software update to said Internet computer user; and
  
  (g) executing software that installs said downloaded software update on a computer associated with said Internet computer user.

6. A method of providing software rental services to customers over the Internet, said method comprising the following steps:
- (a) providing a software rental service with Internet access, said service being capable of servicing more than one Internet computer user simultaneously;
  
  (b) sending software over the Internet to an Internet computer user for execution, said execution being initiated without requiring user interaction after the software has been sent;
  
  (c) sending information to the Internet computer user over the Internet, said information including software rental information;
  
  (d) receiving and processing a request from the Internet computer user to rent software;
  
  (e) selectively enabling the Internet computer user to execute requested rental software in a computer associated with the customer while imposing a restriction thereon; and
  
  ;
  
  (f) charging a fee to the customer.

7. A method of providing software rental services to Internet computer users, said method comprising the following steps:
- (a) providing a software rental service with Internet access, said service being capable of servicing more than one Internet computer user simultaneously;
  
  (b) sending information to at least one Internet computer user over the Internet, said information including software rental information;
  
  (c) receiving and processing a request from the Internet computer user to rent software;
  
  (d) executing requested rental software in a computer associated with the Internet computer user;
  
  (e) charging a fee to the Internet computer user; and
  
  (f) providing said Internet computer user with the ability to access a database used by at least one other Internet computer user.

8. A method of providing software rental services to Internet computer users over the Internet, said method comprising the following steps:
- (a) providing a software rental service with Internet access, said service being capable of servicing more than one Internet computer user simultaneously;
  
  (b) sending information to at least one Internet computer user over the Internet, said information including software rental information;
  
  (c) receiving and processing a request from the Internet computer user to rent software;
  
  (d) executing requested rental software in a computer associated with the Internet computer user;
  
  (e) charging a fee to the Internet computer user; and
  
  (f) providing the Internet computer user with the ability to route data to another Internet computer user.

9. A method for online services that includes:
- (1) establishing a customer/provider relationship between a computer user and a provider of online backup, online storage, online processing over the Internet;
  
  (2) establishing a communications link between the customer and provider using the Internet;
  
  (3) validating that the customer is permitted access to the services of the online service provider;
  
  (4) making available to the customer some of the data stored within the online service provider'"'"'s storage over the Internet;
  
  (5) conditionally permitting or denying the customer to access the data stored within the online service provider'"'"'s storage;
  
  (6) receiving data from the customer over the Internet to be stored within the online service provider'"'"'s storage as a backup, restore, and/or archive;
  
  (7) logging the customer'"'"'s use of the services provided by the online service provider; and
  
  (8) billing the customer for using the services provided by the online service provider.

10. An Internet download system comprising:
- a data storage repository containing data for downloading;
  
  a communications facility that provides communications with computer users over the Internet;
  
  a receiver that processes requests from computer users for downloads;
  
  an authorization service that checks authorization of credit card accounts associated with computer users;
  
  a security arrangement that conditionally allows computer users to download data;
  
  a software downloader that downloads data from said data storage repository to computer users via said communications facility, said data at least in part comprising software for execution, said execution being initiated without requiring user interaction after the download has completed;
  
  a commercial data downloader that downloads data from said data storage repository to computer users via said communications facility conditioned at least in part by said security arrangement;
  
  a billing service that charges fees to computer users associated with requests processed by said receiver and satisfied by said commercial data downloader; and
  
  a payment collector that collects fees charged by said billing service, said fees being collected by charging credit card accounts authorized by said authorization service.
- View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
- - 11. A system as in claim 10 further including a database manager that provides computer users with the ability to use a database accessible by at least one other computer user.
  - 12. A system as in claim 10 wherein said software downloaded by said software downloader is executed as if the software is directly accessible by said computer users.
  - 13. A system as in claim 10 wherein said data downloaded by said commercial data downloader includes at least one of software data, information data, multimedia data, video data, image data, sound data, voice data, word processing data, electronic mail data, fax data, and print data.
  - 14. A system as in claim 10 wherein said data downloaded by said commercial data downloader is stored as a data file within storage of said computer users.
  - 15. A system as in claim 10 wherein said data downloaded by said commercial data downloader is accessed by said computer users as a data file.
  - 16. A system as in claim 10 wherein said data downloaded by said commercial data downloader is accessed by said computer users as if the data is directly accessible by software executing in a computer of said computer users.
  - 17. A system as in claim 10 further including a converter that converts data to a different data format before downloading by said commercial data downloader.
  - 18. A system as in claim 10 further including an electronic mail facility that sends email to computer users.
  - 19. A system as in claim 18 wherein said electronic mail facility provides computer users with the ability to route data to another computer user.
  - 20. A system as in claim 18 wherein said commercial data downloader communicates with said electronic mail facility to download data to computer users.
  - 21. A system as in claim 18 wherein said commercial data downloader downloads data to computer users via said electronic mail facility.
  - 22. A system as in claim 21 further including a converter that converts data to a different data format before downloading by said commercial data downloader.

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Litigation Data

Current Assignee
Oasis Research LLC
Original Assignee
CMC Software, Inc.
Inventors
Crawford, Christopher M.
Primary Examiner(s)
DIXON, THOMAS A

Application Number

US10/094,968
Time in Patent Office

1,589 Days
Field of Search

379/90.01, 379/93.01, 379/93.02, 379/111, 379/114, 705/30, 705/34, 705/400, 709/209, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/212, 709/220, 717/168, 717/169, 717/170, 717/171, 717/172, 717/173, 717/174, 717/176, 717/177, 717/178
US Class Current

705/400
CPC Class Codes

G06F 8/61   Installation

G06Q 30/0283   Price estimation or determi...

G06Q 40/12   Accounting

Internet download systems and methods providing software to internet computer users for local execution

First Claim

8 Assignments

Litigations

0 Petitions

Accused Products

Abstract

349 Citations

22 Claims

Specification

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Internet download systems and methods providing software to internet computer users for local execution

First Claim

8 Assignments

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Litigations

0 Petitions

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Accused Products

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Abstract

349 Citations

22 Claims

Specification

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Solutions

Use Cases

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