Systems and Methods for Enabling the Modification of Pre-Selected Attributes for a Pre-Ordered Product

Abstract

The disclosed electronic commerce cloud-based media retailing systems and methods enable customers to execute a purchase intention of a digital product before that product is officially released for distribution. The ecommerce system comprises a digital entitlement engine and is particularly suited to pre-sell entitlements to digital products such as, but not limited to, video games, computer software, movies, and other entertainment media.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A pre-ordering electronic commerce transaction system comprising at least one server having at least one processor and a plurality of programmatic instructions stored in a non-transient memory wherein, when said plurality of programmatic instructions are executed by the at least one processor, said programmatic instructions:
 generate data representative of one or more first graphical user interfaces, wherein said one or more first graphical user interfaces comprise an option to purchase one or more media products and includes an option to select one or more media product attributes for each of the one or more media products;   transmit said data to a first plurality of client devices such that each of said first plurality client devices receives data representative of said one or more first graphical user interfaces and generates said one or more first graphical user interfaces;   receive data representative of users' selection to purchase the one or more media products;   store data representative of the users' selection to purchase the one or more media products in a non-transient memory;   within a predefined period of time before a release date for said one or more media products, generate data representative of one or more second graphical user interfaces based on said data representative of the user's selection to purchase the one or more media products, wherein said one or more second graphical user interfaces comprise a request to approve a modified version of the one or more media product attributes;   transmit said data to a second plurality of client devices such that each of said second plurality of client devices receives data representative of said one or more second graphical user interfaces and generates said one or more second graphical user interfaces;   receive data representative of the users' approval of the modified version of the one or more media product attributes; and   based on the users' approval of the modified version of the one or more media product attributes, cause the one or more media products selected via the one or more first graphical user interfaces to be delivered to the users.   
     
     
         2 . The pre-ordering electronic commerce transaction system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more media products comprise a video game and the one or more media attributes comprise a specific gaming platform for the video game. 
     
     
         3 . The pre-ordering electronic commerce transaction system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more media product attributes differ depending upon a type and a nature of the one or more media products. 
     
     
         4 . The pre-ordering electronic commerce transaction system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more media products comprise at least one of movies or television programs and the one or more media attributes comprise a format and a language type. 
     
     
         5 . The pre-ordering electronic commerce transaction system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more media products comprise an electronic book and the one or more media attributes comprise one or more of a format of the electronic book, a feature of the electronic book and a language of the electronic book. 
     
     
         6 . The pre-ordering electronic commerce transaction system of  claim 5 , wherein the feature comprises a text-to-speech enabled feature and a text-to-speech not enabled feature. 
     
     
         7 . The pre-ordering electronic commerce transaction system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more media product attributes comprise one or more functionalities and features of the media product. 
     
     
         8 . The pre-ordering electronic commerce transaction system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more media product attributes comprise bundles of a plurality of types of the one or more media products obtained from different providers, wherein each of said bundles is associated with a single stock keeping unit. 
     
     
         9 . The pre-ordering electronic commerce transaction system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more media product attributes comprise one or more of offers provided with the one or more media products, incentives provided with the one or more media products, warranties offered corresponding to the one or more media products, or terms related to future updates of the one or more media products. 
     
     
         10 . The pre-ordering electronic commerce transaction system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more media product attributes comprise one or more of an underlying platform of the one or more media products or an operating system version of the one or more media products. 
     
     
         11 . A method of pre-ordering a media product using an electronic commerce transaction system comprising at least one server having at least one processor and a plurality of programmatic instructions stored in a non-transient memory, said method comprising:
 generating data representative of one or more first graphical user interfaces, wherein said one or more first graphical user interfaces comprise an option to purchase a media product and include an option to select one or more media product attributes;   transmitting said data to a first plurality of client devices such that each of said first plurality of client devices receives data representative of said one or more first graphical user interfaces and generates said one or more first graphical user interfaces;   receiving data representative of users' selection to purchase said media product;   storing data representative of a user's selection to purchase said media product in a non-transient memory;   within a predefined period of time before a release date for said media product, generating data representative of one or more second graphical user interfaces based on said data representative of a user's selection to purchase said media product, wherein said one or more second graphical user interfaces comprise a request to approve one or more modifications of the selected one or more media product attributes;   transmitting said data to a second plurality of client devices such that each of said second plurality of client devices receives data representative of said one or more second graphical user interfaces and generates said one or more second graphical user interfaces;   receiving data representative of the user's modification of the selected one or more media product attributes;
 storing data representative of the user's modification of the selected one or more media product attributes in a non-transient memory; and 
 based on the user's modification of the selected one or more media product attributes, cause the media product selected via the one or more first graphical user interfaces to be delivered to the user. 
   
     
     
         12 . The method of pre-ordering a media product of  claim 11 , wherein the media product is a video game and the one or more media attributes comprise a specific gaming platform for the video game. 
     
     
         13 . The method of pre-ordering a media product of  claim 11 , wherein the media product attributes differ depending upon a type and nature of the media product. 
     
     
         14 . The method of pre-ordering a media product of  claim 11 , wherein the media product is one of movies or TV programs and the one or more media attributes comprise one or more of a format and a language. 
     
     
         15 . The method of pre-ordering a media product of  claim 11 , wherein the media product is an electronic book and the one or more media attributes comprise one or more of a format of the electronic book, a feature of the electronic book and a language of the electronic book. 
     
     
         16 . The method of pre-ordering a media product of  claim 15 , wherein the feature attribute of the electronic book comprises one of text-to-speech enabled and text-to-speech not enabled. 
     
     
         17 . The method of pre-ordering a media product of  claim 11 , wherein the media product attributes comprise one or more functionalities and features of the media product. 
     
     
         18 . The method of pre-ordering a media product of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more media product attributes comprise bundling of a plurality of types of the media product obtained from different providers, wherein each bundling is associated with a single stock keeping unit. 
     
     
         19 . The method of pre-ordering a media product of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more media product attributes comprise one or more of offers provided with the media product, incentives offers provided with the media product, a warranty offered corresponding to the media product, and terms related to future updates of the media product. 
     
     
         20 . The method of pre-ordering a media product of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more media product attributes comprise at least one of an underlying platform of the media product or an operating system version of the media product.