Patents Examined by R. E. Rhode
  • Patent number: 7072861
    Abstract: In cases where a consumer desires to receive digital content from a digital content retailer through a network, information designating the digital content and a digital content transmission condition such as a transfer rate and a transmission time-zone are sent to the digital content retailer through the network. The digital content retailer reserves the transfer rate and the transmission time-zone in the network and downloads the digital content to the consumer through the network at the digital content transmission condition according to the reservation. After the downloading of the digital content is completed, the consumer pays a charge for the digital content itself and a transmission charge corresponding to the digital content transmission condition to a credit company, the credit company pays the charges to the digital content retailer, and the digital content retailer pays the transmission charge to a network operator managing the network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2006
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hideaki Yamanaka, Teruhiko Moriyama, Katsuaki Kikuchi
  • Patent number: 7006989
    Abstract: A method in a computer system for coordinating the delivery a gift given by a gift giver to a recipient when the gift giver did not provide sufficient delivery information. The gift delivery system initially receives an order from the gift giver. The order identifies a gift to be delivered to the recipient and has contact information describing the recipient. The gift delivery system stores the received order in an order database along with an order tracking number. The gift delivery system then determines whether sufficient delivery information has been provided by the recipient. If the delivery information is not sufficient, the gift delivery system sends a communications to the recipient based on the contact information. The communications requests delivery information for the gift. The communications preferably includes the order tracking number so that the recipient can include the order tracking number in a response to the communications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2006
    Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey P. Bezos, Sheldon J. Kaphan