Apple Inc.
SHARED PURCHASES

Abstract:

One or more user accounts can be linked together to form a group of linked user accounts to access content items assigned to the other user accounts in the group of linked user accounts. Prior to completing a purchase for a content item, a requesting user can be alerted that a member of the group of linked user accounts has access to the content item. Content items assigned to a member of a group of linked user accounts can be downloaded by one or more other members of the group of linked user accounts along with a Digital Rights Management (DRM) key that enables use of the content item. The DRM key can represent the group relationship between the downloading user account and the content owner's user account to which the content item is assigned.