Predictive delivery of digital content items to mobile devices to support offline transactions

摘要

A server system that hosts an electronic catalog of digital content items uses behavioral data to predictively select digital content items to proactively deliver to mobile devices of users. The digital content items may, for example, include mobile applications, mobile application components or add-ons, e-books, music tracks, and/or videos. An application component that runs on the mobile devices caches the proactively delivered content items in anticipation that they will be requested by the associated users. In some embodiments, the system supports off-line purchases of cached digital content items such that a user can purchase cached digital content items on the mobile device when no network connection is available.

主权项

1. A system for enabling users to make off-line purchases of digital content items, comprising:
a server system that hosts an electronic catalog of items that are available for purchase, including digital content items; and a mobile application configured to run on a mobile device of a user, and to provide functionality for the user to purchase digital content items from the electronic catalog; said server system configured to proactively deliver digital content items over a network to the mobile device based on predictions that the user will be interested in purchasing such digital content items; said mobile application configured to cache the proactively delivered digital content items on the mobile device, and to enable the user to purchase the cached digital content items while the mobile device is off-line, such that the user can purchase the digital content items when no network connection is available between the server system and the mobile device, the mobile application additionally configured to store license status metadata representing license statuses of the proactively delivered digital content items; said mobile application responsive to a purchase request by the user for a cached, proactively delivered digital content item, said purchase request occurring while the mobile device has no network connection, by making the digital content item available to the user on the mobile device before the mobile device thereafter establishes a network connection, said mobile application additionally responsive to the mobile device subsequently establishing a network connection by notifying the server system of the purchase request; wherein the server system is responsive to being notified by the mobile application of the purchase request by determining, and notifying the mobile application whether, an associated purchase of the proactively delivered digital content item is authorized; and wherein the mobile application is responsive to being notified by the server system that the purchase is authorized by updating the license status metadata to reflect a licensed status of the digital content item.