System, method and device for subscribing to content

Abstract

A method includes (a) receiving periodic subscription fees from subscribers of a content subscription service, (b) updating an electronically maintained account of the subscriber to reflect an additional amount of scrip corresponding to each subscription fee, and (c) enabling the subscriber to obtain items of content in amounts and at times determined arbitrarily by the subscriber in exchange for amounts of scrip in the subscriber's account.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A computing device-implemented system for content subscription management, comprising:
 a subscription database containing a subscription account for a subscriber of a commercial service, the subscription account indicating a current balance of scrip associated with the subscription account, the subscription account having periodic time intervals; and   a subscription server configured to:
 increase the balance of the scrip for the subscription account based on a subscription fee received for each time interval, 
 update the balance of scrip by adding an additional amount of scrip corresponding to a purchase of scrip received from the subscriber, the updating based on an exchange rate of scrip to negotiable currency, the exchange rate varying based on at least one of a current time or date; 
 enable the subscriber to use an amount of scrip belonging to the balance to acquire digital content from a provider of content, the digital content having an associated value in units of scrip, the associated value in scrip not expressly set to a monetary value, and 
 reduce the balance by the amount of scrip used to acquire the digital content, 
   
       wherein the subscription account does not require the subscriber to acquire any particular amount of digital content within any time interval. 
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  in which the subscription server is further configured to:
 enable a subscriber to supplement scrip with money when acquiring digital content. 
 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  in which the digital content is at least one of wall paper images or ring tones. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  in which the digital content is video content. 
     
     
         5 . A computing device-implemented method for content subscription management comprising:
 maintain a subscription account for a subscriber of a commercial service, the subscription account indicating a current balance of scrip associated with the subscription account, the subscription account having periodic time intervals;   increase the balance of the scrip for the subscription account based on a subscription fee received for each time interval;   update the balance of scrip by adding an additional amount of scrip corresponding to a purchase of scrip received from the subscriber, the updating based on an exchange rate of scrip to negotiable currency, the exchange rate varying based on at least one of a current time or date;   enable the subscriber to use an amount of scrip belonging to the balance to acquire digital content from a provider of content, the digital content having an associated value in units of scrip, the associated value in scrip not expressly set to a monetary value, and   reduce the balance by the amount of scrip used to acquire the digital content, wherein the subscription account does not require the subscriber to acquire any particular amount of digital content within any time interval.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 enabling a subscriber to supplement scrip with money when acquiring digital content.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5  in which the digital content is at least one of wall paper images or ring tones. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5  in which the digital content is video content. 
     
     
         9 . A computing device-implemented method for content subscription management comprising:
 maintaining a subscription account for a subscriber of a commercial service, the subscription account indicating a current balance of scrip associated with the subscription account, the subscription account having periodic time intervals;   increasing the balance of the scrip for the subscription account based on a subscription fee received for each time interval;   updating the balance of scrip by adding an additional amount of scrip corresponding to a purchase of scrip received from the subscriber;   enabling the subscriber to use an amount of scrip belonging to the balance to acquire digital content from a provider of content, the digital content having an associated value in units of scrip, an exchange rate of scrip to negotiable currency used for the acquiring varying based on whether an amount of scrip in the subscription account of the subscriber exceeds a pre-determined threshold; and   reducing the balance by the amount of scrip used to acquire the digital content.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  in which the digital content is at least one of wall paper images or ring tones. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9  in which the digital content is video content.