Providing and receiving on-demand assets using a pool of assets containing unavailable assets

A method for providing on-demand assets, comprising:

• receiving a user's request for an asset from a pool of assets, the pool of assets including a subset of available assets and a subset of unavailable assets;
• determining whether the asset is:
• case (a):
• available without substantial delay;
• case (b):
• available after a delay;
• or
• case (c):
• unavailable;
• in the event of case (a), providing the requested asset to the user;
• in the event of case (b), querying the user to determine whether the user wishes to receive the requested asset after a delay;
• and
• in the event of case (c), logging the user's request for the requested asset.

A system for providing assets, comprising:

• logic configured to provide information to a user regarding at least one asset from a pool of assets, the pool of assets including a subset of available assets and a subset of unavailable assets;
• logic configured to receive a user's request for an asset from the pool of assets to define a requested asset;
• logic configured to determine whether the requested asset is:
• case (a):
• within the subset of available assets;
• case (b):
• within the subset of unavailable assets;
• wherein the system is configured to, when the requested asset is within the subset of available assets, immediately provide the requested asset to the user;
• and
• wherein the system is configured to, when the requested asset is within the subset of unavailable assets, offer to provide the requested asset to the user when a number of requests for the requested asset exceeds a threshold.

A system for providing on-demand assets, comprising:

• logic configured to receive a user's request for an asset from a pool of assets, the pool of assets including a subset of available assets and a subset of unavailable assets;
• logic configured to determine whether the asset is:
• case (a):
• available without substantial delay;
• case (b):
• available after a delay;
• or
• case (c):
• unavailable;
• wherein the system is configured to provide the requested asset to the user in the event that case (a) is true;
• wherein the system is configured query the user to determine whether the user wishes to consume the requested asset after a delay in the event that case (b) is true;
• and
• wherein the system is configured to log the user's request for the requested asset in the event that case (c) is true.

A system for providing on-demand assets, comprising:

• a client configured to present assets to a user for the user's consumption;
• a transport mechanism;
• head-end infrastructure coupled to the client via the transport mechanism, including:
• logic configured to provide information to a user regarding at least one asset from a pool of assets, the pool of assets including a subset of available assets and a subset of unavailable assets;
• logic configured to receive a user's request for an asset from the pool of assets to define a requested asset;
• logic configured to determine whether the requested asset is:
• case (a):
• within the subset of available assets;
• case (b):
• within the subset of unavailable assets;
• wherein the system is configured to, when the requested asset is within the subset of available assets, immediately provide the requested asset to the user;
• and
• wherein the system is configured to, when the requested asset is within the subset of unavailable assets, offer to provide the requested asset to the user when a number of requests for the requested asset exceeds a threshold.

An apparatus for receiving on-demand assets, comprising:

• logic configured to present information to a user regarding at least one asset from a pool of assets that includes a subset of available assets and a subset of unavailable assets;
• logic configured to receive the user's request for an asset to define a requested asset;
• logic configured to play the requested asset in the event that the asset is available;
• logic configured to play a first message to the user in the event that the asset is not available, the first message notifying the user of the unavailability of the asset, and to play a second message to the user in the event that the requested asset later becomes available, wherein the requested asset later becomes available due to a number of requests for the requested asset exceeding a threshold.