Systems and methods for commerce in media program related merchandise

Abstract

The disclosed technology provides systems and methods for delivering a media program and purchase opportunities related to the media program to user equipment. A media program and its related merchandise information can be located at a distribution facility. The distribution facility can tailor the purchase opportunities it provides to the user equipment based on the user equipment's equipment category. When user equipment receives purchase opportunities, the user equipment can select the opportunities based on which types of merchandise are supported by the user equipment. The user equipment and / or a distribution facility may be able to determine the location of the user equipment. When the distribution facility provides merchandise information for physical merchandise to the user equipment, the merchandise information can be selected to include physical merchandise that are available for purchase at stores that are, for example, near the location of the user equipment.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] The disclosed technology relates generally to media programs and, more particularly, to providing users of a media program with an opportunity to preview, purchase, and / or gain more information about merchandise related to the media program. [0002] Increasingly, user electronic devices are becoming more multi-functional and have the capability to interact with more media formats and programs. For example, handheld / pocket PCs, cellular telephones, computers, and television sets today are capable of accessing and playing digital music and video, surfing Web content, and / or running video games. In particular, user devices and equipment are now capable of accessing media content and programs that historically have been accessed only by very particular types of devices. The proliferation of media content and programs to many different types of user devices has the potential of reaching a greater number and variety of audiences. Because media content has...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006] When a user is enjoying the media program on user equipment (e.g., a television and set-top box, a computer, a cellular telephone) or after a user has been presented with the media program, the user equipment can present the user with opportunities to preview, purchase, and / or see more information about some of the related merchandise. In general, the user equipment can present the user with an opportunity to purchase electronic merchandise related to the media program. The user equipment can additionally present the user with an opportunity to see more information about physical merchandise. In this manner, if a user is interested in merchandise related to the media program, the user can immediately preview, purchase, or see more information about the merchandise, rather than spending additional time to locate the merchandise elsewhere.

[0018] In one embodiment, the user equipment can present the media program and can provide a purchase opportunity during the presentation of the media program or at the end of the media program. In one embodiment, merchandise related to the media program can be associated with a particular elapsed time of the media program. This particular elapsed time can be stored in the merchandise information for the merchandise. When the user equipment is presenting the media program, the user equipment can keep track of the elapsed time of the media program. When the elapsed time surpasses the particular elapsed time in the merchandise information, the user equipment can provide a purchase opportunity associated with the merchandise information. In one embodiment, user equipment can provide the purchase opportunity by displaying a notification to the user. If the user equipment supports a vibration feature, such as a vibration feature on a cellular telephone, the notification can be a vibration of the user equipment.

[0019] After providing a notification, the user equipment can provide a time interval for a user to indicate interest in the purchase opportunity. If the user equipment receives an indication during this time interval, the user equipment can display an interactive overlay that provides information about the merchandise and options to preview the merchandise, purchase the merchandise, or exit the overlay display. If the user equipment receives an indication to preview or buy electronic merchandise, the user equipment can access the merchandise based on an electronic address in the merchandise information for the merchandise.

Problems solved by technology

Therefore, although user devices are becoming more multi-functional, there may still be noticeable differences among the capabilities of different types of user devices.

With the potential benefit of reaching a greater audience through accessibility to media content and programming, there is also the complication of reaching users who do not have the same device / equipment capabilities.

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