System for Data Management and On-Demand Rental and Purchase of Digital Data Products

Abstract

A system for handling data and transactions involving data through the use of a virtual transaction zone, which virtual transaction zone removes the dependency of such transaction on the delivery medium of the product. The invention may reside and operate on a variety of electronic devices such as televisions, VCRs, DVDs, personal computers, WebTV, any other known electronic recorder/player, or as a stand alone unit. The transaction zone also provides a mechanism for combining mediums, data feeds, and manipulation of those feeds. The transaction zone also provides a mechanism for controlling the content, delivery, and timing of delivery of the end consumer's product.

1 - 54 . (canceled) 
     
     
         55 . A method for providing targeted advertising to a multimedia content consumer, comprising:
 providing at least one storage device for storing digital multimedia content, wherein the digital multimedia content comprises specifically identified advertising data;   selecting advertising data based upon suitability data associated with an end user;   storing the targeted advertising data in the at least one storage device;   accessing the targeted advertising data from the at least one storage device; and   making the targeted advertising data available to the end user.