On November 15, the US Patent & Trademark Office published four of Apple’s patent applications relating to media distribution systems and agreements. The patents are respectfully titled Computerized Management of Media Distribution Agreements, Submission of metadata content and media content to a media distribution system, Processing of metadata content and media content received by a media distribution system and Methods and systems for managing data.

Patent: Computerized Management of Media Distribution Agreements

Apple’s first patent relates to electronic distribution of media and, more particularly, to management of agreements concerning distribution of media items.

Apple’s Patent Background : Traditionally, music has been purchased at music stores or music departments of larger stores. A consumer will visit the music store or department and manually browse for albums or compact discs (CDs) of interest. Often, the music in the music store or department is categorized by genre, and then indexed by artist. For example, genre can include rock, country, pop, soul, jazz, etc. After the consumer selects an album or CD of interest, the consumer proceeds to a check-out register to pay for the album or CD being purchased.

In recent years, music delivery or distribution over the Internet has become popular. Due to the advances in efficient file formats, such as MP3 and MPEG4, the size of media files have become small enough to make their download via the Internet practical. Also, technological advances have led to higher-speed Internet connections and lower cost of memory. The combination of these advances make downloading media files, such as for music and videos, manageable and not too time consuming.

Today, various online media distribution sites permit virtual visitors to electronically search or browse various media items (e.g., albums, songs, ring tones, videos, etc.) as well as purchase and download such media items via the Internet (e.g., World Wide Web). However, in order for the media items to be offered for purchase and download, the electronic content for the media items must first be provided to the media distribution sites. Conventionally, content providers enter into contracts with media distribution sites so that media items of the content providers can be offered for purchase and download at the media distribution sites. Unfortunately, media distribution sites do not provide robust systems to manage these contracts. For example, contracts may not be timely renewed and manual interaction may be required to cease the purchase and download of media items corresponding to content providers having expired contracts. These and other problems are exacerbated by the large number of content providers that distribute media content with a media distribution site. As a result, representatives of the media distribution site face substantial burdens and difficulties in attempting to manage the contracts associated with the many content providers.

Thus, there is a need for improved approaches to manage distribution of media items from an online media distribution site.

Apple’s Summary

Methods and systems for managing media distribution are disclosed. Advantageously, the management of media distribution can be substantially computer implemented and include management of media distribution agreements. The management of media distribution agreements can operate to manage the creation and/or renewal of media distribution agreements in an automated and efficient manner. The methods and systems for management of media distribution can also take appropriate action when a media distribution agreement is approved as well as when the media distribution agreement expires.

The invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as a method, system, device, apparatus, graphical user interface, or computer readable medium. Several embodiments of the invention are discussed below.

As a computer-implemented method for automated processing of media contracts for a media content provider and a media distribution system, one embodiment of the invention includes at least the acts of: receiving a media contract request from a media content provider; determining a document set to be utilized for the media contract request; personalizing the document set for the content provider; and sending the personalized document set to the content provider.

As a computer-implemented method for notifying a content provider to renew a media contract with a media distribution system, one embodiment of the invention includes at least the acts of: determining at least one content provider having at least one contract that is soon to expire; producing a notification message to inform the content provider that the contract is soon to expire unless renewed; and sending the notification message to the content provider.

As a computer-implemented method for renewing media contracts between content providers and a media distribution system, one embodiment of the invention includes at least the acts of: identifying at least one media contract to be renewed, the media contract being between a content provider and the media distribution system; determining a document set for renewal of the at least one media contract to be renewed; personalizing the document set for the content provider; sending the personalized document set to the content provider; storing document information corresponding to the personalized document set into a contract database; updating the contract database when the personalized document set is executed and returned; enabling submission and distribution of media content to the media distribution system; and notifying the content provider that they are eligible to submit content to the media distribution system for distribution.

As a graphical user interface for renewing a contract, one embodiment of the invention includes at least: an expiration warning area that presents an expiration warning; renewal instructions area that presents renewal instructions; and a listing of one or more existing contracts that can be renewed. For each of the existing contracts in the listing, the listing of existing contracts includes a contract region and a contract type.

Apple’s patent FIG. 5A is a diagram of a retrieval notification system according to one embodiment of the invention.

As a computer readable medium including at least computer program code for automated processing of a media distribution agreement between a media content provider and a media distribution system, one embodiment of the invention includes at least: computer program code for receiving a media distribution agreement request from a media content provider; computer program code for determining a media contract to be utilized for the media distribution agreement request; computer program code for personalizing the media contract for the content provider; and computer program code for sending the personalized media contract to the content provider.

As a media management system for managing media content, one embodiment of the invention includes at least: an agreement management system that manages media distribution agreements for the media management system; and a media distribution system that manages electronic distribution of media content associated with content providers to purchasers over a network. The agreement management system can include one or more of: (i) a notification manager configured to send notifications to those content providers with media distribution agreements that are soon to expire; (ii) an agreement renewal manager configured to facilitate renewal of media distribution agreements prior to their expiration; (iii) an agreement expiration manager configured to indicate an expiration status when one or more of the media distribution agreements expire before being renewed; and (iv) a database that stores agreement information on the media distribution agreements, the agreement information including at least descriptive information and a status indication for each of the media distribution agreements.

Apple’s patent FIG. 1C is a schematic diagram of a contract database organization according to one embodiment of the invention.

Apple’s patent FIG. 1A is a block diagram of a media submission and distribution system according to one embodiment of the invention.

Apple lists Justyna Horwat (San Francisco, CA), Max Muller (San Jose, CA), Gregory Robbin (Mountain View, CA), Eric John Gray (Sunnyvale, CA), Jonathan B Leffert (Mountain View, CA), Matti J. Railo (San Jose, CA) and Sean K. Smith (San Francisco, CA) as the inventors of patent application 20070265969.

Related Patents

Two of the three remaining related patents respectfully titled Submission of metadata content and media content to a media distribution system and Processing of metadata content and media content received by a media distribution system share the same patent abstract as follows:

Apple’s Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate generally to the submission of metadata content and media content to a media distribution system. The media content can include, for example, audio, video, image, or podcast data. In accordance with one embodiment, a client submitting metadata content can validate the metadata content prior to submission of the metadata content and/or associated media content. A media distribution system receiving metadata content can also validate the metadata content.

The last in this group is titled Methods and Systems for Managing Data. Apple’s abstract reads as follows: The disclosed embodiments relate generally to the submission of metadata content and media content to a media distribution system. The media content can include, for example, audio, video, image, or podcast data. In accordance with one embodiment, a client submitting metadata content can validate the metadata content prior to submission of the metadata content and/or associated media content. A media distribution system receiving metadata content can also validate the metadata content.

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Written and researched by Neo.