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US 2006/0149685 A1Published application
Method of processing rental requests and returns
OwnerJohn Grossinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A delivery mechanism for distributing media items to subscribers uses a timed based benchmark in lieu of or in addition to a conventional capacity driven model. In this manner, titles are delivered based on delays introduced intentionally and based on title demand, subscriber behavior, etc.
Claims20
A method of delivering machine readable media to subscribers of a media:
- rental service comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a maximum number of machine readable media items (Nmax) which the subscribers can have out at any moment in time from the media rental service;
- (b) identifying if a first subscriber has capacity available for delivery of a first machine readable media item requested by such subscriber;
- (c) imposing a first delay on delivery of said first machine readable media item to the first subscriber even when said first subscriber has not reached Nmax.
1 more element
A method of delivering machine readable media to subscribers of a media rental service comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a maximum number of machine readable media items (Nmax) which the subscribers can have out at any moment in time from the media rental service;
- (b) evaluating a demand characteristic with a computing system for a first machine readable media item requested by a first subscriber;
- (c) identifying if said first subscriber has capacity available for delivery of said first machine readable media item based on Nmax for such subscriber;
- (d) imposing a delay on delivery of said first machine readable media item to the first subscriber based on the results of steps (b) and (c);
- wherein delivery of a first machine readable media item can be intentionally delayed even when said first subscriber has not reached Nmax.
2 more elements
A method of delivering machine readable media to subscribers of a media rental service comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a maximum number of machine readable media items (Nmax) which the subscribers can have out at any moment in time from the media rental service;
- (b) identifying if a first subscriber has capacity available for delivery of a first machine readable media item based on Nmax for such subscriber;
- (c) measuring media useage behavior of said first subscriber;
- (d) imposing a delay on delivery of said first machine readable media item to the first subscriber based on the results of steps (b) and (c);
- wherein delivery of a first machine readable media item can be intentionally delayed even when said first subscriber has not reached Nmax.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.