Importance

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Abstract

A digital content vending machine in which a client on a personal computer, contains an infrastructure and an inventory. The infrastructure and inventory may both be stored in a hard drive, or the inventory may instead be stored on a removable media The infrastructure presents a graphical user interface on the client which metaphorically resembles a village containing a plurality of stores operated by vendors. Customers shop in the stores by selecting assets, constituting the inventory, and sending money and an identifier to a clearing house via a communications system such as telephone, private network, or the Internet. The clearing house returns a key used to at least partially remove a digital wrapper protecting the asset from unauthorized use. A master server may also be provided to update the infrastructure and inventory, and to provide additional keys used to remove the digital wrappers.

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First Claim