Method and apparatus for multimedia content promotion in vehicular wireless networks

A method for cooperatively disseminating multimedia content wirelessly among mobile vehicles in a wireless vehicle communication network, the communication between mobile vehicles within the wireless vehicle communication network utilize dedicated short-range communications, the method comprising the steps of:

• selecting at least one host vehicle within the wireless vehicle communication network for disseminating multimedia content;
• providing multimedia content to the at least one host vehicle by an entity authorized to distribute the multimedia content;
• the at least one host vehicle selectively transmitting an inquiry to target vehicles in the wireless vehicle communication network, the inquiry comprising a content profile that includes descriptors associated with the multimedia content for allowing target vehicles to determine whether an interest exists in the multimedia content;
• an interested target vehicle transmitting a response to the at least one host vehicle requesting a sampling of the multimedia content;
• the at least one host vehicle transmitting the multimedia content in encrypted form to the interested vehicle for sampling the multimedia content;
• the interested vehicle requesting ongoing use of the multimedia content from the authorized entity in response to sampling the multimedia content;
• and
• the authorized entity providing to the interested target vehicle a decryption key for authorizing ongoing use of the multimedia content.