# US 7,072,867 B2 · System and method for third party logging server

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- Number: US 7,072,867 B2
- Document ID: US7072867B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 09/726,272
- Filed: 2000-11-30
- Published: 2002-05-30
- Granted: 2006-07-04
- Earliest claimed: 2000-11-30
- Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation
- Inventors: Rabindranath Dutta
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US7072867B2

## CPC

- G06Q 30/02: Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
- G06Q 20/102: {Bill distribution or payments}
- G06Q 30/0613: {using intermediate agents}
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## Abstract

A system and method for a third party logging server to keep track of sales by online merchants of copyrighted works. Providers of copyrighted works, such as publishers and authors, register with the third party logging server and acquire an authentication mechanism to use the server, such as a username and password. The providers upload digital works and royalties corresponding to the works to the third party logging proxy server. Online merchants register with the third party logging proxy server and also acquire an authentication mechanism to use the server. The merchant downloads works and royalty rates to the merchant's computer for online sales. The merchant also downloads software that informs the third party logging proxy server whenever the merchant makes a sale. The server keeps track of the sale. The server collects royalty payments from merchants. The server also calculates and sends providers their royalty payments.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A computer implemented method comprising:
obtaining, at a third party logging server, a plurality of digital works from a plurality of provider computer systems;
storing the received digital works on a nonvolatile storage device accessible from the third party logging server;
receiving, at the third party logging server, a product sale request from a merchant computer system, wherein the product sale request is received over a computer network;
transmitting, from the third party logging server through the computer network to the merchant computer system, one or more of the digital works, wherein the merchant computer system is adapted to provide the transmitted digital works to one or more customer computer systems;
recording, at the third party logging server, a sales record corresponding to the product sale request; and
registering a merchant corresponding to the merchant computer system with the third party logging server, the registration including an agreement with the merchant regarding use of the digital works and payment for receipt of the digital works, wherein the registration occurs before the receiving, transmitting, and recording.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:
providing the merchant computer system with an authentication mechanism in response to the registration of the merchant; and
authenticating the merchant computer system using the authentication mechanism prior to the transmission of digital works to the merchant computer system from the third party logging server.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:
sending a plug-in software module for installation on the merchant computer system, the plug-in software module adapted to notify the third party logging server whenever a customer purchases one of the digital works from the merchant computer system; and
receiving, from the merchant computer system, a notification that one or more of the digital works has been purchased from the merchant computer system, wherein the recording of the sales record corresponding to the product sale request is performed in response to receiving the notification.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The computer implemented method of claim 3 wherein the notification is sent to the third party logging server over the computer network by the plug-in software module installed at the merchant computer system.

### Claim 5 (depends on 3)

The computer implemented method of claim 3 wherein the notification includes one or more digital work identifiers that correspond to the digital works that have been purchased from the merchant computer system and a merchant identifier that identifies the merchant.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The computer implemented method of claim 5 wherein the recording further comprises:
identifying a royalty rate corresponding to the digital work identifiers;
calculating a purchase amount based upon the royalty rate; and
including the purchase amount in the sales record.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The computer implemented method of claim 6 further comprising:
preparing a billing statement that includes the sales record; and
providing the billing statement to the merchant.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The computer implemented method of claim 7 further comprising:
for each of the provider computer systems, registering a provider corresponding to the provider computer system with the third party logging server, the registration including an agreement with the provider regarding use of the digital works and payment for use of the digital works by merchants, wherein the registration occurs before the obtaining and the storing.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The computer implemented method of claim 8 further comprising:
identifying a set of one or more providers from the plurality of providers from which the digital works sold by the merchant were obtained;
determining a royalty amount for each of the identified providers;
preparing a royalty statement to the identified providers, the royalty statement including the royalty amount; and
electronically sending the royalty statements and funds corresponding to the royalty amounts to the providers.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:
sending the product sale request from the merchant computer system to the third party logging server in response to a customer requesting to purchase the digital works from the merchant computer system;
receiving, at the merchant computer system, the digital works transmitted from the third party logging server; and
transmitting the received digital works from the merchant computer system to the customer computer system after the merchant computer system has received the digital works.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving, from one or more of the providers a royalty rate corresponding to one or more of the digital works;
calculating an amount due from the merchant based upon the royalty rate of the digital works transmitted to the merchant computer system; and
billing the merchant the amount due.

### Claim 12

An information handling system comprising:
one or more processors;
a memory accessible by the processors;
a network interface connecting the information handling system to a computer network;
a nonvolatile storage device accessible by the processors; and
a logging tool, the logging tool including:
means for obtaining, at the information handling system, a plurality of digital works from a plurality of provider computer systems;
means for storing the received digital works on the nonvolatile storage device;
means for receiving, at the information handling system, a product sale request from a merchant computer system, wherein the product sale request is received over a computer;
means for transmitting, from the information handling system through the computer network to the merchant computer system, one or more of the digital works, wherein the merchant computer system is adapted to provide the transmitted digital works to one or more customer computer systems;
means for recording, on the nonvolatile storage device, a sales record corresponding to the product sale request; and
means for registering a merchant corresponding to the merchant computer system with the information handling system, the registration including an agreement with the merchant regarding use of the digital works and payment for receipt of the digital works, wherein the registration occurs before the performance of the means for receiving, the means for transmitting, and the means for recording.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The information handling system of claim 12 further comprising:
means for providing the merchant computer system with an authentication mechanism in response to the registration of the merchant; and
means for authenticating the merchant computer system using the authentication mechanism prior to the transmission of digital works to the merchant computer system from the information handling system.

### Claim 14 (depends on 12)

The information handling system of claim 12 further comprising:
means for sending a plug-in software module for installation on the merchant computer system, the plug-in software module adapted to notify the information handling system whenever a customer purchases one of the digital works from the merchant computer system; and
means for receiving, from the merchant computer system, a notification that one or more of the digital works has been purchased from the merchant computer system, wherein the means for recording of the sales record corresponding to the product sale request is performed in response to receiving the notification.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The information handling system of claim 14 wherein the notification is sent to the third party logging server over the computer network by the plug-in software module installed at the merchant computer system.

### Claim 16 (depends on 14)

The information handling system of claim 14 wherein the notification includes one or more digital work identifiers that correspond to the digital works that have been purchased from the merchant computer system and a merchant identifier that identifies the merchant.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The information handling system of claim 16 wherein the means for recording further comprises:
means for identifying a royalty rate corresponding to the digital work identifiers;
means for calculating a purchase amount based upon the royalty rate; and
means for including the purchase amount in the sales record.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The information handling system of claim 17 further comprising:
means for preparing a billing statement that includes the sales record; and
means for providing the billing statement to the merchant.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The information handling system of claim 18 further comprising:
for each of the provider computer systems, means for registering a provider corresponding to the provider computer system with the information handling system, the registration including an agreement with the provider regarding use of the digital works and payment for use of the digital works by merchants, wherein the registration occurs before the performance of the means for obtaining and the means for storing.

### Claim 20 (depends on 19)

The information handling system of claim 19 further comprising:
means for identifying a set of one or more providers from the plurality of providers from which the digital works sold by the merchant were obtained;
means for determining a royalty amount for each of the identified providers;
means for preparing a royalty statement to the identified providers, the royalty statement including the royalty amount; and
means for electronically sending the royalty statements and funds corresponding to the royalty amounts to the providers.

### Claim 21 (depends on 12)

The information handling system of claim 12 further comprising:
means for sending the product sale request from the merchant computer system to the information handling system in response to a customer requesting to purchase the digital works from the merchant computer system;
means for receiving, at the merchant computer system, the digital works transmitted from the information handling system; and
means for transmitting the received digital works from the merchant computer system to the customer computer system after the merchant computer system has received the digital works.

### Claim 22 (depends on 12)

The information handling system of claim 12 further comprising:
means for receiving, from one or more of the providers a royalty rate corresponding to one or more of the digital works;
means for calculating an amount due from the merchant based upon the royalty rate of the digital works transmitted to the merchant computer system; and
means for billing the merchant the amount due.

### Claim 23

A computer program product stored on a computer operable medium comprising:
means for obtaining, at a third party logging server, a plurality of digital works from a plurality of provider computer systems;
means for storing the received digital works on a nonvolatile storage device accessible from the third party logging server;
means for receiving, at the third party logging server, a product sale request from a merchant computer system, wherein the product sale request is received over a computer network;
means for transmitting, from the third party logging server through the computer network to the merchant computer system, one or more of the digital works, wherein the merchant computer system is adapted to provide the transmitted digital works to one or more customer computer systems;
means for recording, at the third party logging server, a sales record corresponding to the product sale request; and
means for means for registering a merchant corresponding to the merchant computer system with the third party logging server, the registration including an agreement with the merchant regarding use of the digital works and payment for receipt of the digital works, wherein the registration occurs before the means for receiving, the means for transmitting, and the means for recording.

### Claim 24 (depends on 23)

The computer program product of claim 23 further comprising:
means for providing the merchant computer system with an authentication mechanism in response to the registration of the merchant; and
means for authenticating the merchant computer system using the authentication mechanism prior to the transmission of digital works to the merchant computer system from the third party logging server.

### Claim 25 (depends on 23)

The computer program product of claim 23 further comprising:
means for sending a plug-in software module for installation on the merchant computer system, the plug-in software module adapted to notify the third party logging server whenever a customer purchases one of the digital works from the merchant computer system; and
means for receiving, from the merchant computer system, a notification that one or more of the digital works has been purchased from the merchant computer system, wherein the means for recording of the sales record corresponding to the product sale request is performed in response to receiving the notification.

### Claim 26 (depends on 25)

The computer program product of claim 25 wherein the notification is sent to the third party logging server over the computer network by the plug-in software module installed at the merchant computer system.

### Claim 27 (depends on 25)

The computer program product of claim 25 wherein the notification includes one or more digital work identifiers that correspond to the digital works that have been purchased from the merchant computer system and a merchant identifier that identifies the merchant.

### Claim 28 (depends on 27)

The computer program product of claim 27 wherein the means for recording further comprises:
means for identifying a royalty rate corresponding to the digital work identifiers;
means for calculating a purchase amount based upon the royalty rate; and
means for including the purchase amount in the sales record.

### Claim 29 (depends on 28)

The computer program product of claim 28 further comprising:
preparing a billing statement that includes the sales record; and
providing the billing statement to the merchant.

### Claim 30 (depends on 29)

The computer program product of claim 29 further comprising:
for each of the provider computer systems, means for registering a provider corresponding to the provider computer system with the third party logging server, the registration including an agreement with the provider regarding use of the digital works and payment for use of the digital works by merchants, wherein the registration occurs before the performance of the means for obtaining and the means for storing.

### Claim 31 (depends on 30)

The computer program product of claim 30 further comprising:
means for identifying a set of one or more providers from the plurality of providers from which the digital works sold by the merchant were obtained;
means for determining a royalty amount for each of the identified providers;
means for preparing a royalty statement to the identified providers, the royalty statement including the royalty amount; and
means for electronically sending the royalty statements and funds corresponding to the royalty amounts to the providers.

### Claim 32 (depends on 23)

The computer program product of claim 23 further comprising:
means for sending the product sale request from the merchant computer system to the third party logging server in response to a customer requesting to purchase the digital works from the merchant computer system;
means for receiving, at the merchant computer system, the digital works transmitted from the third party logging server; and
means for transmitting the received digital works from the merchant computer system to the customer computer system after the merchant computer system has received the digital works.

### Claim 33 (depends on 23)

The computer program product of claim 23 further comprising:
means for receiving, from one or more of the providers a royalty rate corresponding to one or more of the digital works;
means for calculating an amount due from the merchant based upon the royalty rate of the digital works transmitted to the merchant computer system; and
means for billing the merchant the amount due.