Systems and Methods for Acquiring Media Assets
AssigneeTrans World New York LLC
InventorGregory W. HARPER
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Abstract
In one aspect, the invention provides a device for facilitating the acquisition of media assets. In some embodiments, the device includes: a housing; a USB connector projecting outwardly from an end of the housing; a card reader housed in the housing; non-volatile memory housed in the housing and coupled to the USB connector and the card reader; and a barcode disposed on a major surface of the housing, said barcode encoding an identifier that is associated with customer information.
Claims13
A device for facilitating the acquisition of media assets, the device comprising:
- a housing;
- a USB connector attached to the housing and operable to project outwardly from an end of the housing;
- non-volatile memory housed in the housing and coupled to the USB connector so that data received via said USB connector can be stored in said non-volatile memory;
- and
- a barcode disposed on a surface of the housing, said barcode encoding an identifier that is associated with customer information.
A method of using a device to acquire media assets, wherein the device comprises a housing, a USB connector, non-volatile memory housed in the housing and coupled to the USB connector so that data received via said USB connector can be stored in said non-volatile memory, and a barcode disposed on a surface of the housing, said barcode encoding an identifier that is associated with the user of the device, the method comprising:
- positioning the device relative to a kiosk so that a barcode scanner connected to the kiosk can scan the barcode;
- using the kiosk to select at least one media asset;
- inserting the device's USB connector into a compatible USB slot provided by the kiosk;
- using the kiosk to authorize or provide payment for the at least one media asset;
- and
- after using the kiosk to authorize or provide payment for the at least one media, receiving from the kiosk the at least one media asset and storing the at least one media asset using the non-volatile memory;.
A method of using a device to acquire media assets, wherein the device comprises a housing, a USB connector operable to project outwardly from an end of the housing, non-volatile memory housed in the housing and coupled to the USB connector, and a barcode disposed on a surface of the housing, said barcode encoding an identifier that is associated with the user of the device, the method comprising:
- using a kiosk to select media assets;
- activating a user interface element displayed on a display device of the kiosk to indicate that a media asset selection process is complete;
- receiving a prompt from the kiosk to position the device so that the barcode can be read;
- positioning the device relative to the kiosk so that a barcode scanner connected to the kiosk can scan the barcode;
- after the scanner scans the barcode, taking the device to a point-of-sale system, which uses the barcode to determine the selected media assets;
- inserting the device's USB connector into a compatible USB slot provided by the point-of-sale system;
- authorizing or providing payment for the selected media assets;
- and
- after authorizing or providing the payment, receiving from the point-of-sale system the selected media assets and storing the media assets in the non-volatile memory.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.