CONTENT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND METHOD

US 20130097009A1
Filed: 10/17/2012
Published: 04/18/2013
Est. Priority Date: 09/21/1999
Status: Active Grant

First Claim

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1. In a system including at least one device for receiving a unit of digital content, a computer system comprising:

at least one memory for storing instructions and at least one processor for executing said instructions for distributing a unit of digital content wherein the unit of digital content comprises at least one of textual content, binary content, video content or audio content, or a combination of two or more thereof, at least one attribute associated with the unit of digital content wherein the at least one attribute is used by the at least one data processor to perform at least one of configuring, generating, controlling, or distributing the unit of digital content in a form to be utilized in a digital medium or a context in which the unit of digital is used;

computer code associated with the unit of digital content; and

wherein the computer code is used in a process on at least one processor of a computer system to perform at least one of configuring, generating, controlling, or distributing the unit of digital content.

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Abstract

Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with the present invention provide an electronic marketplace that matches units of content from secondary content providers with suitable vacancies from primary content providers. Vacancies may constitute, or be included in, any digital transmission containers, such as a television or radio programming, web pages, and the like. Specifically, the electronic marketplace automatically matches content offered by secondary content providers with vacancies offered by primary content providers thus filling the vacancies in these containers through a real-time content trading, placement, and distribution system. To do so, attributes associated with the vacancies and with units of secondary content are used to trade and match suitable vacancies with suitable content. This invention enables both secondary content owners and vacancy owners (primary content providers) to obtain the full commercial benefit of their secondary content and containers.

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21 Claims

1. In a system including at least one device for receiving a unit of digital content, a computer system comprising:
- at least one memory for storing instructions and at least one processor for executing said instructions for distributing a unit of digital content wherein the unit of digital content comprises at least one of textual content, binary content, video content or audio content, or a combination of two or more thereof, at least one attribute associated with the unit of digital content wherein the at least one attribute is used by the at least one data processor to perform at least one of configuring, generating, controlling, or distributing the unit of digital content in a form to be utilized in a digital medium or a context in which the unit of digital is used;
  
  computer code associated with the unit of digital content; and
  
  wherein the computer code is used in a process on at least one processor of a computer system to perform at least one of configuring, generating, controlling, or distributing the unit of digital content.
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
- - 2. The method of claim 1, wherein defining the unit of digital content comprises associating content with the unit of digital content, wherein the associating of the content comprises including the content directly within the unit of digital content'"'"'s definition or including meta-data within the unit of digital content'"'"'s definition sufficient to resolve the content.
  - 3. The method of claim 1, wherein defining the unit of digital content comprises defining static attributes among the unit of digital content attributes, wherein the static attributes are attributes whose values do not change between their assignment and the distribution of the unit of digital content.
  - 4. The method of claim 1, wherein defining the unit of digital content comprises defining one or more dynamic attributes among the unit of digital content'"'"'s attributes, wherein the dynamic attributes have values that may be resolved in the process of distributing the unit of digital content to a requester, wherein the values of the dynamic attributes are resolved from at least one of properties of the requester, properties of the consumer, properties of the receiving device, or information available to software that is associated with the device, or any resolvable value that can be mapped to a dynamic attribute in the process of distribution of the unit of digital content.
  - 5. The method of claim 1, wherein defining the unit of digital content comprises defining an algorithm in a conventional or proprietary computer language to assemble specialized content dynamically and to render the content into an appropriate format.
  - 6. The method of claim 1, wherein defining the unit of digital content comprises assigning the unit of digital content a unique alphanumeric identifier so that the unit of digital content may be unambiguously referred to by the identifier.
  - 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the content associated with the unit of digital content includes at least one of syndicated content, business information, personal information, entertainment content, educational content, an advertisement, or a digital storefront for consumer purchases, or a combination of two or more thereof.
  - 8. The method of claim 1, wherein defining the unit of digital content comprises using computer code to create a definition of the unit of digital content.
  - 9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving digital content further comprises interacting with the unit of digital content by performing at least one of:
    - setting values of dynamic attributes associated with the unit of content, selecting a link or an interface element of the unit of content, using an interface associated with the unit of content.
  - 10. The method of claim 9, wherein interacting with the unit of digital content further comprises notifying a system about the consumer interaction with the unit of digital content.
  - 11. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving digital content further comprises using the value of at least one attribute of the unit of digital content to control or configure other digital content received by the consumer of the content.
  - 12. The method of claim 1 wherein distributing a unit of digital content further comprises tracking the frequency of use or popularity of the unit of digital content and assigning a value to that frequency or popularity.

13. A method for delivering a unit of digital content'"'"'s content upon request, comprising:
- receiving with at least one data processing system comprising at least one memory for storing instructions and at least one processor for executing said instructions a request for a unit of digital content;
  
  selecting with the at least one data processing system a unit of digital content, wherein one or more attributes of the selected unit of digital content match one or more attributes of the request;
  
  acquiring with the at least one data processing system the unit of digital content'"'"'s content;
  
  preparing with the at least one data processing system the unit of digital content for delivery; and
  
  providing the at least one data processing system the requesting client with information corresponding to the unit of digital content'"'"'s content.
- View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
- - 14. The method of claim 13, wherein selecting the unit of digital content comprises creating a lease data structure, the lease containing information that records the event of selecting a digital asset for use according to at least one of terms including exclusivity, number of permitted uses, and/or other similar information that may derive from things including at least one of the attributes of the unit of digital content or stored preferences of the owners of these digital assets.
  - 15. The method of claim 13, wherein selecting the unit of digital content comprises reading a lease and deciding based on the lease whether to permit the requested use of the requested unit of digital content.
  - 16. The method of claim 13, wherein acquiring the unit of digital content'"'"'s content comprises resolving the content, wherein the resolving of the content comprises at least one of fetching stored data, or dynamically generating the content on the fly by retrieving content from a server, or using an Application Programming Interface to retrieve content, or a mail protocol to extract content from an email server, or SOAP to extract content from a web service, or by otherwise executing an algorithm in a conventional or proprietary computer language, or a combination of two or more thereof, to generate content dynamically.
  - 17. The method of claim 13, wherein acquiring the unit of digital content'"'"'s content comprises using a unique unit of digital content identifier supplied by a requester to determine the specific unit of digital content'"'"'s content to resolve.
  - 18. The method of claim 13, wherein preparing the unit of digital content for delivery further comprises rendering or formatting the content to suit a destination medium of the content.
  - 19. The method of claim 13, wherein providing the requesting client with information corresponding to the unit of digital content comprises delivering the unit of digital content to a client using a network transport protocol suitable to the medium, the network transport protocols include at least one of HTTP/HTTPS, SOAP, GPRS or TCP/IP or any other network protocol that can transmit digital content.
  - 20. The method of claim 13, wherein acquiring the unit of digital content'"'"'s content comprises bridging between a particular distribution medium and protocols of a service provider by including an adapter software running in a network proxy with the content distribution software, linked with the content distribution software, or connected with the content distribution software distributing the unit of digital content'"'"'s content, wherein the adapter software is configured to process unit of digital content'"'"'s content requests and transmit the unit of digital content'"'"'s content on behalf of a native software of the distribution medium.
  - 21. The method of claim 13, wherein merging information corresponding to the unit of digital content'"'"'s content comprises using an implementation compatible with HTTP/HTTPS wherein the unit of digital content'"'"'s content is transmitted to an HTML compatible client as an HTML or XML element or elements via an HTTP/HTTPS URL, such that the unit of digital content'"'"'s content is merged with the web page in the normal course of HTTP/HTTPS transport and HTML rendering.

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Current Assignee
Quantum Stream, Inc. (XpresSpa Group, Inc. (f/k/a FORM Holdings Corp.))
Original Assignee
I/P Engine, Inc. (XpresSpa Group, Inc. (f/k/a FORM Holdings Corp.))
Inventors
Akadiri, Tayo

Granted Patent

US 9,047,626 B2
Time in Patent Office

Days
Field of Search
US Class Current

705/14.41
CPC Class Codes

G06F 40/143   Markup, e.g. Standard Gener...

G06Q 30/00   Commerce

G06Q 30/0241   Advertisements

G06Q 30/0251   Targeted advertisements

G06Q 30/0261   based on user location

G06Q 30/0269   based on user profile or at...

G06Q 30/0275   Auctions

G06Q 30/0277   Online advertisement

CONTENT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND METHOD

First Claim

4 Assignments

0 Petitions

Accused Products

Abstract

32 Citations

21 Claims

Specification

Solutions

Use Cases

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CONTENT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND METHOD

First Claim

4 Assignments

Subscription Required

Subscription Required

0 Petitions

Subscription Required

Accused Products

Subscription Required

Abstract

32 Citations

21 Claims

Specification

Subscription Required

Solutions

Use Cases

Quick Links