METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DIGITAL MEDIA EXCHANGE

摘要

Users are registered in the database that identifies them as consumers or masters and/or providers or catchers. The masters prepare requests or tenders for multimedia data of particular interest, location, and time. The tender can be a one-time request or a subscription for data delivery over time. The request is sent to an exchange computing device that routs it to a particular catcher or electronically posts it. The sending and routing of the request may be performed by e-mail. The catchers respond to the request by submitting requested multimedia data to the exchange. The master then selects the submitted multimedia data. The master may also browse existing libraries of multimedia data kept at the exchange or linked to from the exchange. The master is charged and the catcher is credited with the price of data amount suggested by the catcher and accepted by the master when he/she retrieves the multimedia data.