Abstract: A digital content management system is provided in which a user's rights to access content are independent of the format in which the content is stored. A user receives a file containing electronic content, such as music or a ring tone, encoded in a particular format. The system determines the identity of that content, independent of the format in which the content is encoded. The system then determines whether the user has rights to that content. If so, the user is permitted to play the content. If the user later receives a different file that contains the same content but in a different format, the system determines that the different file encodes content that the user already has the right to play, and it allows the user to play the content in the second format.

Abstract: A system for updating web page common elements is provided. The system includes a distribution component that is operable on a first server. The distribution component transfers new common elements provided on the first server to a plurality of other servers that may be geographically dispersed. The plurality of other servers are each provided with a distribution agent that is operable to receive the common element and to store the common element in a directory on each of the plurality of other servers. The common code elements may be common elements, for example, on one or more enterprise web pages. A method for updating common elements for enterprise web pages is also provided.

Abstract: An improved billing system for communication service is disclosed. A printed and/or online invoice will be generated for a subscriber's account and will be structured to include a visual gauge that depicts the extent of use for the billing period at issue. More particularly, the visual gauge will take the form of a table or listing that shows a continuum of possible time-increment or data-increment-ranges and that shows, for each range, the associated cost. The visual gauge will then include a visual marker that highlights or otherwise points out the increment-range into which the subscriber's use fell in the billing period at issue. Conveniently, the invention thus enables a subscriber to readily visualize where the subscriber's use fell within the continuum of possible increment-ranges.