The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 13, 2018
Filed:
Feb. 21, 2013
Time Warner Cable Enterprises Llc, New York, NY (US);
Glenn Britt, New York, NY (US);
Michael L. Lajoie, Stamford, CT (US);
Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC, New York, NY (US);
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for selecting, purchasing and delivering content to users of a network so that the user has 'virtual' ownership of and access to the content, thereby obviating the need for physical media (e.g., DVDs or CDs). In an exemplary embodiment, the network comprises a hybrid fiber coax (HFC) network, and on-demand (OD) sessions or broadcast modes are used to deliver the virtual content stored at the head-end (or hub site) to the requesting owner. The purchased content is associated with one or more users when stored, thereby providing the owner(s) unlimited access thereto, without the costs and effort associated with renting/purchasing and maintaining DVDs. The content may also comprise new release content, which would otherwise not be available over the network at that time but for the purchase and delivery mechanisms of the invention. Various other complementary features for enhancing the user's virtual ownership experience are also disclosed.