Looking for breakthrough ideas for innovation challenges? Try Patsnap Eureka!

Method and system for licensing digital works

a technology of digital works and licensing methods, applied in the field of digital works licensing methods and systems, can solve the problems of bringing new challenges to the policing of copyright interests in materials, insufficient to meet author's marketing objectives, and loss of author's permission to use documents, etc., to prevent subsequent unauthorized access, secure and convenient

Inactive Publication Date: 2006-08-24
J RIVER INC
View PDF30 Cites 34 Cited by
  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a secure and convenient method of distributing copyrightable materials, such as music files, without having to attend to licensing and selling functions. It separates the license from the digital file containing the copyrightable material, allowing for easy and widespread distribution while preventing unauthorized access. The invention utilizes encryption and secure communication streams to ensure that only authorized users can access the materials. The software checks to make sure that the appropriate product license has been purchased and that the user is the one who actually paid for the license. The operating system ID in the user license is compared with the same information obtained from the currently running operating system to ensure that the user license was created for the currently operating computer."

Problems solved by technology

This new technology has brought new challenges to the policing of copyright interests in materials distributed in or convertible to digital form.
This is disadvantageous for a number of reasons.
For example, if the user loses a document file, he / she also loses their permission to use the document.
Further, Erickson's system contemplates distribution of documents through specific servers, i.e. the author does not have the option of posting the document from any server he / she chooses and this may be insufficient to meet the author's marketing objectives.
Finally, once the document is downloaded and licensed, it cannot be further distributed since the site-specific license is embedded in the file.

Method used

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
View more

Image

Smart Image Click on the blue labels to locate them in the text.
Viewing Examples
Smart Image
  • Method and system for licensing digital works
  • Method and system for licensing digital works
  • Method and system for licensing digital works

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

Embodiment Construction

1. Overview

[0023] As illustrated in rudimentary form in FIG. 1, the system and method of the present invention coordinates the activities of an author, artist or producer (“Vendor”) 110, an end user (“User”) 150 of the copyrighted materials, a “License Provider” (“License Provider” or “LP”) 130, and an entity for processing payment transactions including credit card purchases, debit card withdrawals, electronic cash distribution or the like (“Payment Service”) 170. The basic steps in a method according to this invention are illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The Vendor 110 registers itself with the License Provider (step 19). The Vendor 110 creates a product and registers the Product 10 with the License provider 130 (20). (Step 20 is described below in considerably greater detail as processes 200 and 240.) The Vendor 110 makes the Product available to Users 6 on or through Electronic Media, such as via the Internet, ftp, CD, or e-mail (step 22). The User 150 downloads selected Products...

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

PUM

No PUM Login to View More

Abstract

A method and system is presented for a digital licensing scheme that separates the license from the digital file containing the copyrightable material. According to the present invention, the files can be downloaded from any server, and transferred from user to user, even after the file has been licensed. The present invention utilizes producer software running on a vendor's computer, server software running on a computer provided by the license provider, and player software operating on the user's computer. Digitally encrypted communication streams keep communications between the producer software, the license provider, and the player software confidential. A software component running on the user's computer checks to make sure that the appropriate product license has been purchased. This is accomplished by comparing the product ID in the product license with the product ID contained in the product file. The software also checks that the person seeking to play the product file is the user that actually paid for the license. This is accomplished by comparing the user ID in the product license with a user ID in a user license. Finally, an operating system ID found in the user license is compared with the same information obtained from the currently running operating system, to ensure that the user license was created for the currently operating computer.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Ser. No. 09 / 845,041, filed Apr. 27, 2001 and to U.S. Ser. No. 09 / 844,475, filed Apr. 27, 2001 and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 200,230, filed on Apr. 28, 2000, and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 200,193, filed on Apr. 28, 2000.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates generally to a system and method for controlling access to copyrighted materials in a digital format. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for creating and maintaining licenses that exist separate from the copyrighted materials. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] The widespread demand for music and the growing availability of the Internet as a means of commerce have resulted in a multi-billion dollar industry for digital content including music via the Internet. Audio compression technologies such as MP3 (MPEG Layer III) have allowed digital music ...

Claims

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

Application Information

Patent Timeline
no application Login to View More
Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): G06Q99/00G06F21/00G06Q10/00G06Q20/00
CPCG06F21/10G06F21/105G06Q10/10G06Q20/06G06Q20/1235
Inventor HILLEGASS, JAMES C.DENG, YAOBINGEASTOM, MARKFRITZ, RICHARD R.GATELEY, JOHN C.GRINSFELDER, JAMES A.GROVE, STEPHEN A.HOCKETT, ERIC STEVENSOKRATOV, NIKOLAY G.SWANSON, JAMES G.THOMPSON, JOHN S.MAMEDOV, BORISNORDGAARD, JAMES A.ONNEN, PAUL E.
Owner J RIVER INC
Who we serve
  • R&D Engineer
  • R&D Manager
  • IP Professional
Why Patsnap Eureka
  • Industry Leading Data Capabilities
  • Powerful AI technology
  • Patent DNA Extraction
Social media
Patsnap Eureka Blog
Learn More
PatSnap group products

Browse by: Latest US Patents, China's latest patents, Technical Efficacy Thesaurus, Application Domain, Technology Topic, Popular Technical Reports.

© 2024 PatSnap. All rights reserved.Legal|Privacy policy|Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement|Sitemap|About US| Contact US: help@patsnap.com