Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02250680 1998-10-16
SONG TITLE ORDERING, DOWNLOADING AND PLAYBACK SYSTEM
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for ordering, downloading and
playing a realtime artistic work from a remote storage facility. The invention
relates
further to such as system in which a plurality of works, such as song titles,
can be
arranged and sequentially played back. More particularly, the present
invention
relates to a system, method and apparatus for ordering, downloading and
playing back
sound tracks.
Background of the Invention
Most households in North America are equipped with sound systems for
pleasure listening. Consumers purchase compact discs (CD's) or cassette tapes
prerecorded with artists' music and maintain an inventory for playing back as
desired.
A desired arrangement of song titles may be played back from a fixed number of
CD's
by programming and using particular types of CD players which hold a plurality
of
CD's in a turntable or cartridge holder and have an exchange mechanism to
choose
one of the CD's held in the holder. The quality of sound varies according to
the
choice of sound system, although the digital quality of the sound recording on
CD's is
excellent.
The drawback associated with prerecorded music is that consumers pay in
advance for artists' royalties for the lifetime of personal use of the
recording, and that
selections of music are either impossible to create without illegal copying,
require
difficult programming, or must be purchased as fixed prerecorded selections.
Summary of the Invention
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system in which audio,
video or mufti-media recordings may be individually arranged for sequential
play,
ordered and paid for single or a limited number of plays, downloaded and
controllably
played back by a user.
According to a broad aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for
arranging, ordering, downloading and playing back audio recordings. The system
comprises title selector means for displaying available titles of audio
recordings and
for generating an order request in response to user selection input, the order
request
identifying the user and at least one title, authorization and billing means
for receiving
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the order request, and sending an authorization message to permit playback of
the at
least one title, storing means for downloading and storing title files
containing audio
recording data corresponding to the at least one title, playback control means
for
controlling a playback of the audio recording data and outputting the audio
recording
data to a sound system, means for preventing the playback of the audio
recording data
in absence of the authorization message.
Preferably, the system has a remote audio recording file server for
transfernng
the title files containing the audio recording data. The authorization message
may be
received by the storing means, the storing means may send a password to the
audio
recording file server, and the means for preventing the playback of the audio
recording
may use means located at the audio recording file server for authenticating
the
password sent from the storing means prior to transferring the title files
containing the
audio recording data.
Also preferably, the system includes an audio recording information server,
wherein the title selector means obtain data on the available titles from the
audio
recording information server. The title selector means may include a title
search
engine means.
The playback control means preferably include cueing area display means for
displaying a list of audio recordings selected and available for playback, the
playback
means playing back the audio recording from the list of audio recordings
selected in
an ordered manner. The playback control means may include means for pausing
playback of a title, means for stopping playback of a presently played title,
the
playback means playing back a next title in the list of audio recordings
selected, or
even means for rearranging and removing selected titles from the list of audio
recordings selected.
The title selector means, storing means and the playback control means may be
located at a user station connected via a data network to the remote audio
recording
file server and the authorization and billing means. The authorization and
billing
means and the remote audio recording file server may share password or
encryption
key information over a secure channel.
Preferably, the storing means and the playback control means cooperate to
delete audio recording files once played back and prevent unauthorized copying
of the
audio recording files. Also preferably, the authorization and billing means
charge a
user's account for each audio recording title ordered and account for artists'
royalties
to be paid for playback of the audio recording titles ordered.
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The title selector means may include means for selecting ordered selection
lists
containing a plurality of titles. The system may include means for saving as
an
ordered selection list a selection of titles from the list of audio recordings
selected.
_Brief Description of the Drawings
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to
those
skilled in the art by way of the following detailed description of a preferred
embodiment with reference to the appended drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of the system according to the preferred
embodiment; and
Fig. 2 is a view of an interface screen display of the title selector and
cueing
area according to the preferred embodiment.
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment
As illustrated in Fig. 1, the system has a user station 10 connected via the
Internet 11 to a remote station 12. At the user station, a song title selector
14 is
provided by software in a personal computer having a graphical user's
interface (GUI)
or an Internet browser device connected to a television monitor for WebTV
applications. At startup, an information request message is sent from the
selector 14
to song information server 16. The server 16 returns a file, called an m3u
file, to
selector 14 which provides a list of available song titles. Selector 14
formats the lists
and provides a scrollable list of titles in display 18, as is better shown in
Fig. 2. To aid
the user in finding desired song titles, a search engine 20 is provided.
When the user has located a desired song title, the user selects the title
using
the GUI (i.e. the user double clicks on the title), and the selector 14 sends
an order
request message to authorization and billing server 22. The selector 14 may be
used
to select a plurality of titles or one or more of a number of hit lists and
favorite
selection lists. The request message includes the titles desired, user
identification and
the user's public key. The server 22 then checks the user's account to
determine if it is
a valid account and in good standing. If the account is good, server 22
returns a
message including a download password for the title. If the account is not
good, the
message from server 22 causes selector 14 to inform the user that his or her
account is
not valid. Server 22 also records the authorization of the download and play
of the
title for the purposes of accounting royalties to be paid to artists.
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The download password is passed on by selector 14 to the song file download
module 24. Module 24 uses the Internet connection to obtain the song file from
FTP
server 26. The module 24 sends the password to server 26 to authorize the
download.
Public key encryption is used to send the password from billing server 22 to
selector
14. The download module 24 also decrypts the song file encrypted by server 26
using
a key which is obtained either from decrypting a message sent from server 26
using
public key encryption or from data contained in the password message sent from
server 22. Server 22 communicates with server 26 by means of secure password
and
key sharing channel 25.
Once the download module 24 has downloaded enough of the MPEG-3 format
song file and stored it in storage device 28, the module 28 informs the
playback
control module 32 that the song is available for playing. The title appears in
the
cueing area display 30 as well. Newly requested titles are added to a list of
titles
appearing in the display 30. The playback control device 32 retrieves the MPEG-
3
file from storage 28 and outputs the digital sound data in realtime to MPEG
decoder
34. The decoder 34 converts the MPEG. compressed sound data into uncompressed
sound signals and then converts the digital signals into analog output for
playing on
the analog sound system 36.
As soon as a title is finished playing, control device 32 signals storage
device
28 to erase the song file. The song file, when segmented, may be deleted as a
song is
played back to minimize the length of time a song file remains on storage
device 28.
Unauthorized copying of the song file is prevented or made more difficult as a
result
of early removal of the song file, by the use of encryption, and, in the case
of
dedicated hardware for the user station equipment 10, by removal of tools to
copy
files from storage device 28.
The playback control module 32 is provided by software in the personal
computer and provides for user control inputs. The user may pause and play a
title.
The titles in the cueing area may also be arranged in order or removed from
the cueing
area list. Arranging in order requires changing the cueing area display and
the list
order in control device 32. Removal from the cueing area requires a reversal
of the
order transaction. The control device 32 signals download module 24 to request
a
cancellation of the song file. Module 24 sends a special cancel message to
server 22,
which checks that the title was ordered by the user, and reverses the
transaction. The
user may still be charged a handling charge for canceling the transaction. The
module
24 then signals storage device 28 to erase the song file for the canceled
title.
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Module 32 may permit fast forward and rewind, as well as replaying within
certain time period or a certain number of replays without paying additional
artists'
royalties. In this case, the song file is not immediately deleted, or deleted
during play,
until the user has either moved on to the next title or indicated that the
title is to be
disposed of. The module 32 allows the user to indicate whether songs are to be
played
continuously, continuously with a predetermined silence period between plays,
or
whether consecutive titles are to be played only upon user input. The module
32 also
allows for the user to specify, when repeat playing is permitted, for an
entire selection
in the cueing area to be repeated.
The cueing area display 30 also allows the user to select titles from the
cueing
area to form a personal selection list. The personal list can be stored and
recalled
from the song selector 14 for future replay.
It will be appreciated that the invention has been described above with
reference to a specific preferred embodiment only. It is apparent to the
person skilled
in the art that many variations, substitutions and alternatives are possible
within the
scope of the present invention, as defined in the appended claims.
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