Pre-Grant Publication Number: 20070136608
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I have also used ATM machines that will work while offline, and then transfer the activities when they go back online. The offline transaction part has been done before, and may be "obvious".
The early Pay per View Cable TV boxes had a phone line for the back channel. They allowed watching the content, and then at night called home with the billing information. Some of the money went to the cable company, and some went to the content provider. This may be close art for the claim.
So this is either unworkable or improperly defined.
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A method, comprising:
performing a secure off-line transfer of a digital media content from a
first media playback device of a first user to a second media playback
device of a second user for a price via an off-line transaction;
securely storing a proof of the off-line transaction; providing a first
percentage of the price to an owner of a copyright of the digital media
content based on the stored proof; and providing a second percentage of
the price to the first user based on the stored proof.
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This is no different from a cash sale of a CD over the counter in a
store after the purchaser has listened to it on the store's player then
the purchaser placing it into his/her own player for listening.
performing a secure off-line transfer = handing over the item purchased
of a digital media content = CD from a first media playback device = CD
player of a first user = store to a second media playback device = CD
player of a second user = purchaser for a price via an off-line
transaction; = cash sale securely storing a proof of the off-line
transaction; = saving the sales receipt providing a first percentage of
the price = royalty paid by the CD manufacturer to an owner of a
copyright = music writer/arranger/producer of the digital media content
= song recorded digitally based on the stored proof = sales price on
sales slip and providing a second percentage of the price = profit to
the first user = store based on the stored proof = sales slip/record
So, as best I can tell they seem to have claimed to have invented over-the-counter sales. Hmm. Despite millennia of prior art.
The third (jumbled) paragraph should read:
1. "performing a secure off-line transfer" = handing over the item purchased
2. "of a digital media content" = CD
3. "from a first media playback device" = CD player
4. "of a first user" = store
5. "to a second media playback device" = CD player
6. "of a second user" = purchaser
7. "for a price via an off-line transaction;" = cash sale
8. "securely storing a proof of the off-line transaction;" = saving the sales receipt
9. "providing a first percentage of the price" = royalty paid by the CD manufacturer
10. "to an owner of a copyright" = music writer/arranger/producer
11. "of the digital media content" = song recorded digitally
12. " based on the stored proof" = sales price on sales slip
13. "and providing a second percentage of the price" = profit
14. "to the first user" = store
15. "based on the stored proof" = sales slip/record
"As shown in FIG. 1, most, if not all, economic
ecosystems for digital media are based upon
on-line systems"
Correct me if I am wrong but the longest running
economic ecosystem for digital media is the Red Book
CD. That being invented in the 80's. Therefore
the suppsition in the first paragraph of the
Description is flawed.
1. Sending of digital media content (files) from one device to another.
2. An accounting system that credits the sending user (royalty) and the copyright owner (payment), and debits the receiving user.
3. Considerations when the devices are not within reach of a network. (They can only network between each other.)
4. Data communications encryption, authentication and authorization.
5. DRM.
6. Media player (software) on the user devices.
7. Management system (software) that handles the accounting (economy) aspects.
8. Actions to be taken in special cases, eg. detection of downloads that have not been paid for.
Part 1: hardly original; Bluetooth and Infrared systems are already capable of doing this.
Part 2: prior art exists (submitted).
Part 3: these are obvious technical issues common to disconnected operation in transactional databases; the application does not even solve any interesting issues here.
Part 4: there is tons of prior art; this is an area where most problems are already solved, and certainly this application solves none of the problems, it merely lists existing capabilities of data communications security.
Part 5: like security, nothing new here; the application merely lists existing capabilities.
Part 6: only a simple description of capabilities which can be found in many media players. Also, there is prior art.
Part 7: see part 6.
Part 8: can you patent the decision to allow customers to pay retroactively if they have received content that hasn't been paid for? Can you patent the decision to play, upon detection of such material, media content discouraging the user from continuing its use without paying? That is not an invention.
I have found and attached some prior art.
The 17 original rules of Xanadu include online, off line, payments, etf.
Can any of this patent pass KSR with all of this for common knowledge?
1. Every Xanadu server is uniquely and securely identified.
2. Every Xanadu server can be operated independently or in a network.
3. Every user is uniquely and securely identified.
4. Every user can search, retrieve, create and store documents.
5. Every document can consist of any number of parts each of which may be of any data type.
6. Every document can contain links of any type including virtual copies ("transclusions") to any other document in the system accessible to its owner.
7. Links are visible and can be followed from all endpoints.
8. Permission to link to a document is explicitly granted by the act of publication.
9. Every document can contain a royalty mechanism at any desired degree of granularity to ensure payment on any portion accessed, including virtual copies ("transclusions") of all or part of the document.
10. Every document is uniquely and securely identified.
11. Every document can have secure access controls.
12. Every document can be rapidly searched, stored and retrieved without user knowledge of where it is physically stored.
13. Every document is automatically moved to physical storage appropriate to its frequency of access from any given location.
14. Every document is automatically stored redundantly to maintain availability even in case of a disaster.
15. Every Xanadu service provider can charge their users at any rate they choose for the storage, retrieval and publishing of documents.
16. Every transaction is secure and auditable only by the parties to that transaction.
17. The Xanadu client-server communication protocol is an openly published standard. Third-party software development and integration is encouraged.[1]
As decribed in Prior Art Reference 1 teh protocol can be used to purchase anything, including digital content, so applying it as claimed here is foreseen in this European standard.
Step 1 claims the transfer of content between two devices in a secure fashion which is commomnly done using SSL or VPN. The concept of off-line is meaningless, as may be demonstarted by two devices communicting via VPN as they are conceptually de-coupled from the net, and cannot serve to introduce an invenmtive aspect. Step two claims the secure storage of a transction receipt, this is commonly done in a cash register at a point of sale. Steps three and four describe partioning proceeds to different interested parties in a sale, this is common practice in many sale transaction, for example in auction houses or consignment shops. These aparticular steps can be performed in cash which is fully off-line (in the truest sense!).
The number is EN1546, 1994.
http://www.openmobilealliance.org/release_program/drm_v2_0.html
OMA DRM 2.0 has been specified from 2003 to 2006, and transaction tracking was discussed early on - the mailing list archives and meeting minutes should contain enough references.
The economic methods around paying a percentage to both the copyright owner and a seller/distributor as an incentive originated with SML and are not original to Microsoft. The consumer version of the SML technology known as Weedshare was available from 2003 until April 2007 when they shutdown. The Superdistribution platform was built on the Microsoft Windows Media Player DRM.
Some background info on SML Inc and Weedshare is here:
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/blog/114
SuperDistribution was originally developed and a patent filed by John Beezer, president of Shared Media Licensing. Microsoft knows about this prior art, because they signed a patent non-assertion agreement with SML Inc in 2006.
http://www.bulletron.com/2020-11-30-microsoft-soon-rolling-out-zune-sharing-rewards.html
The Weedshare model was an online model but extending the identical model to work offline is obvious.
MPEG-21 is on-line, so it is not prior art for this patent application. However, MPEG-21 Part 4 was in its final form by the end of 2003, so the claims in this patent application should be checked against related MPEG claims. I do not have familiarity with the MPEG-21 patent literature, so I am not able to offer specific comments.