Method and system for offering books for preview in ecommerce

1 . A computer implemented method for providing a preview version of a book by a content provider, over a computer network, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from a user, over said computer network, for examining said preview version of the book on a user device;

structuring said book into a plurality of content segments, each content segment in said plurality of content segments being stored on a preview server, wherein a sequential arrangement of the plurality of content segments defining an original configuration of the book;

modifying said original configuration of the book by rearranging at least a subset of the plurality of the content segments stored on said preview server to create a shuffled configuration of the book, said shuffled configuration of the book defining a shuffled arrangement of at least a subplurality of content segments stored on said preview server;

initiating a preview session and providing at least one content segment from said shuffled configuration of the book on said user device in response to said request;

providing another content segment from said shuffled configuration of the book on said user device, subject to at least one preview limitation, during said preview session upon receiving a prompt from the user; and

controlling availability of said shuffled configuration of the book on said user device, over said computer network, during said preview session.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said subplurality of content segments is randomly rearranged to create said shuffled configuration of the book.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said shuffled configuration of the book being generated by randomly selecting said subplurality of content segments from said plurality of content segments.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said shuffled configuration of the book being created by at least one of—relocating, reordering, substituting, swapping, and randomizing any of the content segments in said plurality of content segments.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one content segment in said shuffled configuration of the book is retained in an original position in accordance with said original configuration of the book.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of content segments comprising a plurality of page batches, each page batch in said plurality of page batches comprising at least one page.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one content segment in said shuffled configuration of the book comprising a plurality of pages arranged in a sequential order.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one content segment in said shuffled configuration of the book comprising a plurality of pages arranged in a shuffled order.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said shuffled configuration of the book is visually displayed on said user device, for readability by the user, during said preview session.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said shuffled configuration of the book is audibly rendered on said user device during said preview session.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said preview session includes at least one of—an advertisement, an infomercial, a commercial message, and a sales promotion.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one content segment in said plurality of content segments being stipulated as unavailable-for-preview by the content provider.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one content segment in said shuffled configuration of the book being tagged for display with an advertisement.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the preview session for inspecting said preview version of the book being subject to a time limitation.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said preview limitation defining a maximum content percentage of the book that can be made available on the user device during the preview session.

16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of: extending said preview session after said preview limitation is reached upon completion of a qualifying activity, said qualifying activity comprising at least one of—watching an advertisement, participating in a survey, writing a book review, recommending a book, responding to a sales promotion, accepting a marketing offer, making a purchase, buying a subscription, redeeming a coupon, redeeming an award, redeeming loyalty points, and redeeming a credit.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each content segment in said sequential arrangement of the plurality of content segments being assigned a numerical value corresponding to its position in said original configuration of the book, said sequential arrangement of the plurality of content segments being represented by a consecutive numerical series; and wherein, at least a subset of said consecutive numerical series being subjected to a computer-generated randomization to derive a shuffled numerical series, said shuffled numerical series representing said shuffled arrangement of said subplurality of content segments.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said shuffled configuration of the book being one of a plurality of permutations for modifying said original configuration of the book.

19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said original configuration of the book being configured for rearrangement in a plurality of shuffled permutations, said plurality of shuffled permutations defining a plurality of shuffled configurations of the book.

20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said shuffled configuration of the book is customized in accordance with an input received from said user.

21 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

receiving a search term input from said user for searching through the book;

identifying a set of relevant content segments corresponding to said search term input and creating a customized shuffled configuration of the book;

displaying at least one relevant content segment from said customized shuffled configuration of the book in response to said search term input.

22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein said customized shuffled configuration of the book includes an advertisement.

23 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

creating a customized shuffled configuration of the book in response to a corresponding search term;

displaying at least a portion of said customized shuffled configuration of the book to the user during said preview session subject to said preview limitation.

24 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

receiving a content-range input from said user for inspecting a specific section from the book, the content-range input comprising a beginning page and an ending page;

identifying a set of relevant content segments corresponding to the content-range input from said shuffled configuration of the book;

displaying at least one relevant content segment from said set of relevant content segments to the user in response to said content-range input.

25 . The method of claim 24 , wherein said preview session includes an advertisement.

26 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said preview version of the book is made available to the user in accordance with a preview map, said preview map integrating—a predefined arrangement of constituent pages for each content segment included in said preview session, and a schedule for displaying advertisements during said preview session.

27 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said at least one preview limitation being one of—displaying an advertisement at a predetermined interval during said preview session, terminating said preview session when a maximum content percentage provided on the user device is reached, and requiring a qualifying action from the user when a predefined content percentage limit is reached.

28 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each content segment in said plurality of content segments is stored in a corresponding data container in a plurality of data containers on said preview server, said original configuration of the book being represented by a sequential data index; and wherein,

the shuffled configuration of the book being represented by a shuffled data index, said shuffled data index defining a shuffled arrangement of at least a subplurality of data containers stored on said preview server.

29 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each content segment in said plurality of content segments is stored in a corresponding data container in a plurality of data containers, and wherein a sequential arrangement of the plurality of data containers according to said sequential data index being represented by a consecutive series of numerical identifiers corresponding to said original configuration of the book; and wherein, at least a subset of said consecutive series of numerical identifiers being subjected to a computer-generated randomization to derive a shuffled series of numerical identifiers corresponding to said shuffled configuration of the book.

30 . A computer implemented method for providing a preview version of a book by a content provider, over a computer network, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from a user, over said computer network, for examining said preview version of the book on a user device;

structuring said book into a plurality of content segments, each content segment in the plurality of content segments being stored on a preview server, wherein a sequential arrangement of the plurality of content segments defining an original configuration of the book, and a non-sequential arrangement of at least a subplurality of content segments stored on said preview server defining a shuffled configuration of the book;

initiating a preview session and providing at least a first-selected content segment on said user device, from said plurality of content segments stored on said preview server, in response to said request;

controlling the availability of a next set of content segments from said shuffled configuration of the book during said preview session, subject to at least one preview criterion.

31 . The method of claim 30 , wherein said first-selected content segment is randomly selected from said plurality of content segments.

32 . The method of claim 30 , wherein said next set of content segments is randomly selected from said plurality of content segments.

33 . The method of claim 30 , wherein said at least one preview criterion requires displaying an advertisement.

34 . The method of claim 30 , wherein said at least one preview criterion comprising completion of a qualifying activity; said qualifying activity comprising at least one of—watching an advertisement, participating in a survey, writing a book review, recommending a book, responding to a sales promotion, accepting a marketing offer, making a purchase, buying a subscription, redeeming a coupon, redeeming an award, redeeming loyalty points, and redeeming a credit.

35 . The method of claim 30 , wherein said shuffled configuration of the book is customized in accordance with a content-range input from the user for inspecting a specific section from the book, the content-range input comprising a beginning page and an ending page.

36 . The method of claim 30 , wherein said shuffled configuration of the book is customized in accordance with a search term input received from the user.