eBook Usage Metric Tracking for Secondary Market Pricing
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Solution Overview
Problem
The secondary market for eBooks faces challenges in determining the price of 'used' digital books, as existing methods cannot distinguish between new and used copies, leading to difficulties in pricing due to the indistinguishable nature of transferred eBooks.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that calculates a usage metric, including factors like reading frequency, transfer count, bookmark usage, and exposure to sunlight, to selectively deteriorate the eBook's appearance for the secondary market, making used copies less attractive and allowing for a fair pricing based on usage levels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If eBook rights are transferred permanently to another person, then the seller loses his right to read the eBook, but the transferred copy remains a perfect copy indistinguishable from a brand new copy
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by embedding usage metric tracking code into the eBook before transfer. This code continuously monitors and records usage information (reading time, pages read, device changes) during the eBook's lifecycle, ensuring usage history is captured before the eBook is transferred to the secondary market
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary usage metric system that mediates between the perfect digital copy and the need for differentiation. The usage metric acts as a mediator that quantifies the eBook's usage history and applies selective deterioration to create visual differences, allowing the system to maintain perfect digital replication while still enabling secondary market differentiation
2Reliability
If the transferred copy is a perfect copy of the original, then it appears digitally new, but this creates difficulty in determining the price for the secondary market
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes parameters by introducing usage metrics (reading time, pages read, device changes) that quantify the eBook's usage history. These parameter changes enable differentiation between copies based on actual usage, providing a basis for accurate secondary market pricing while maintaining the integrity of the digital content itself
3Measurement precision
If usage metrics are tracked to differentiate used copies, then pricing can be determined, but the eBook must be selectively deteriorated based on usage
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by selectively deteriorating specific portions of the eBook based on usage patterns. Instead of uniformly degrading the entire eBook, the system applies deterioration (such as visual noise or degradation effects) only to pages or sections that were actually read, creating a nuanced representation of usage that is both accurate and computationally efficient
Data Source
AI summary
A method, an eBook, and an apparatus. The method includes calculating, by a processor, a usage metric describing a timing at which an eBook has been displayed for viewing by a user. The method further includes selectively deteriorating, by the processor, a look of the eBook for a secondary market based on the usage metric of the eBook.