System and method for providing publicly vended content via a wireless network

Abstract

A system and method for vending digitized content over an Internet network path, at least a portion of which is wireless, such as an SDMA high data rate directional wireless path. Content in the form of IP packets is provided to a user terminal via a connect server in response to user requests, which can be real-time requests or which can be requests embodied in a user-defined or system-defined user profile. The user is billed using one or more of several billing paradigms, including by the content piece, by the number of IP packets sent to the user, by the length of time the user accesses the system, by the subscription, and so on.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A computer system, comprising:
 at least one server communicating with a user terminal, the server receiving requests for content generated from the user terminal, the server accessing a database of content to fulfill the requests; and   at least one billing module accessible to the server for generating accounting data based at least in part on a type of the user terminal.   
     
     
         2 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the network path is a directional wireless path. 
     
     
         3 . The computer system of  claim 2 , wherein the directional wireless path has no telephony switches therein. 
     
     
         4 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the content is provided to the user terminal over the network path in packets. 
     
     
         5 . The computer system of  claim 4 , wherein the packets are in Internet protocol format. 
     
     
         6 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the billing module further generates accounting data based on each request received. 
     
     
         7 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein at least some requests are embodied in a content subscription, and the billing module further generates accounting data based on the subscription. 
     
     
         8 . The computer system of  claim 7 , wherein the subscription is established at least in part by a user profile. 
     
     
         9 . The computer system of  claim 4 , wherein the billing module further generates accounting data based on a number of packets delivered to the user terminal. 
     
     
         10 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the billing module generates accounting data based at least in part on at least one time period. 
     
     
         11 . (canceled) 
     
     
         12 . A method for vending digitized content, comprising the acts of:
 making the digitized content available on a computer network;   communicating over at least one network path with a user terminal;   sending the digitized content to the user terminal via the network path; and   generating accounting data based at least in part on a number of packets delivered to the user terminal.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein at least a portion of the path is a private wireless path which is a directional path. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the private wireless path is a space division multiple access path. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the wireless path has no telephony switches therein. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the content is provided to the user terminal over the network in packets. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the packets are in Internet protocol format. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein accounting data is further based on a request for a content piece. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein at least some requests are embodied in a content subscription, and the accounting data is further generated based on the subscription. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the subscription is established at least in part by a user profile. 
     
     
         21 . (canceled) 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the accounting data is further generated based at least in part on at least one time period. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the accounting data is further generated based at least in part on a type of the user terminal. 
     
     
         24 . A computer program device comprising:
 a computer program storage device readable by a digital processing apparatus; and   a program on the program storage device and including instructions executable by the digital processing apparatus, the program when executed by the digital processing apparatus causing the digital processing apparatus to:   bill a user for the provision of digitized audio and/or video content via a network path to a user terminal associated with the user, wherein the digital processing apparatus generates accounting data based at least in part on a user terminal device type, or on a number of packets sent to the user, or on a user terminal device type and a number of packets sent to the user.   
     
     
         25 . The computer program device of  claim 24 , wherein the acts executed by the digital processing apparatus accessing the program further comprise:
 receiving a request for a piece of content from the user, the processor generating accounting data based at least in part on the request.   
     
     
         26 . The computer program device of  claim 24 , wherein the acts executed by the digital processing apparatus accessing the program further comprise generating accounting data based at least in part on a number of packets sent to the user via the path. 
     
     
         27 . The computer program device of  claim 24 , wherein the path is a private directional wireless path having no telephony switches therein. 
     
     
         28 - 29 . (canceled) 
     
     
         30 . The computer program device of  claim 24 , wherein the network path has a data transmission rate of at least one megabyte per second. 
     
     
         31 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the network path has a data transmission rate of at least one megabyte per second. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the network path has a data transmission rate of at least one megabyte per second. 
     
     
         33 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the user terminal is established by a device type, the server detecting the device type and providing content according thereto. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the user terminal is established by a device type, the device type dictating the content provided thereto. 
     
     
         35 . The computer program device of  claim 24 , wherein the acts executed by the digital processing apparatus accessing the program further comprise determining a user terminal device type, the device type dictating the content provided to the user terminal. 
     
     
         36 . A consumer electronics (CE) device configured for receiving content from a computing device, the CE device comprising:
 a processor;   a computer readable storage medium accessible to the processor and causing the processor to:
 receive content from the computing device; and 
 provide information to the computing device indicating a type of CE device to which the CE device belongs, which information is usable by the computing device to bill a user of the CE device for the content.