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Music distribution systems
| Details |
Inventors: Hunter, Charles Eric; Sparks, Kelly C.; Hebrank, John H.;
Assignee: World Theatre, Inc. (Morrisville, NC)
Primary Examiner: Najjar; Saleh
Assistant Examiner:
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP
Music is blanket transmitted (for example, via satellite downlink transmission) to each customer's computer-based user station. Customers preselect from a list of available music in advance using an interactive screen selector, and pay only for music that they choose to have recorded for unlimited playback, for example, by a "CD burner". An antipiracy "ID tag" is woven into the recorded music so that any illegal copies therefrom may be traced to the purchase transaction. Music is transmitted on a fixed schedule or through an active scheduling process that monitors music requests from all or a subset of satellite receivers and adjust scheduling according to demand for various CD's. Receivers store selections that are likely to be preferred by a specific customer. In those instances where weather conditions, motion atmospheric layers or dish obstructions result in data loss, the system downloads the next transmission of the requested CD and uses both transmissions to produce a "good copy". In conjunction with the blanket transmission of more popular music, an automated CD manufacturing facility may be provided to manufacture CD's that are not frequently requested and distribute them by ground transportation. |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention provides music distribution systems that are beneficial to all involved parties, namely consumers, content providers and data transmission providers.
In certain embodiments, consumers are able to preselect music selections from thousands of CD's that are transmitted daily.
Customers of the music distribution system utilize a menu driven, graphical user interface with simplified controls that provide music selection by artist, title and category (e.
g.
, jazz, classical, rock, etc.
).
Music content is blanket transmitted, preferably via direct broadcast satellite (DBS), in an encoded format directly to each customer's receiving dish or antenna which is linked to the customer's user station.
The user station may store the content on a suitable intermediate storage medium such as a disk drive.
The customer may "preview" the stored music for free and thereafter decide whether to purchase a permanent copy.
If the purchase decision is made, a full quality CD is recorded via a CD writer that may be part of the user station.
The customer is billed by the music distribution system operator.
Antipiracy protection is provided by weaving an ID tag into the recorded music so that any illegal copies therefrom may be traced to the purchase transaction.
An automated production facility may be provided to manufacture low-volume CD's (i.
e.
, CD's that are not frequently requested) and distribute them by ground transportation, while the higher volume CD's are distributed by satellite as described above.
Customer music preferences may be used to determine what content is stored in the limited space on their hard drive, and that content is immediately available, on demand, to the consumer.
Customer preference information is thereby used to make use of limited broadcast bandwidth and system storage.
This preference information is gleaned from information given by the user, and may be combined with demographic preference information collected from a population of customers
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Finance 
