If the Walt Disney Company has its way, McDonald's Happy Meal toys could be replaced with portable media players that hold Disney movies, music, games or photos, according to a pending patent application. Users could add files to the devices by earning points with food purchases.

The plan could work something like this: A customer enters a restaurant and buys a meal, receiving the portable media player and an electronic code that authorizes a partial download of a movie, video or other media file, which can be downloaded while in the restaurant, according to a United States Patent and Trademark Office application filed by Disney. Then, with each subsequent return, the customer earns more downloadable data, eventually getting an entire movie or game.

Earning a large file, like a movie, might require five trips - a compelling incentive for a customer to return to the restaurant.

"The reward for eating at a restaurant, for example, could be the automatic downloading of a segment of a movie or the like, or a short animated clip or cartoon," according to the patent application. While the application mentions McDonald's as a potential restaurant partner, such a device could apparently be licensed to other restaurants or businesses as well.

The British journal New Scientist, which recently reported on the patent application, said that the portable media players could be used as part of a McDonald's promotion and create marketing opportunities for electronics companies. They could also carry advertisements aimed at children and teenagers, the most likely targets of the promotion, and customers could transfer downloaded files to other media devices, potentially sharing their files with other users. (A Disney spokeswoman declined comment; McDonald's executives could not be reached.)

The patent application follows efforts by McDonald's to enhance wireless capabilities at its restaurants. The company began outfitting its restaurants with wireless Internet connections in 2003, and since then has installed Wi-Fi services in more than 6,200 restaurants worldwide. For now, Wi-Fi is primarily intended for McDonald's customers to surf the Internet and check e-mail messages on laptops. The restaurant charges customers for Wi-Fi usage and trades promotional coupons and prepaid cards for Wi-Fi time.

The portable media players would require "networking systems, such as Wi-Fi or any other suitable wireless Internet access systems," the application said. By continuing to install Wi-Fi capability, McDonald's may be gearing up for the portable media player to be a staple of its promotional lineup.

But McDonald's customers should not plan on the devices appearing anytime soon. Patent applications currently take an average of 30 months for final approval.

"It hasn't even begun to be reviewed," a spokeswoman for the Patent and Trademark Office said.

Izvor: New York Times