JPH10242961A - Information supply system, and accounting system applied to the system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To execute a secure charging processing in an always appropriate load situation by monitoring the load situation of a system following the concentration of the charging processing. SOLUTION: When a request of accounting is received from an information supply system 2, an accounting management part 30 selects a pertinent assorting part from accounting parts 32a-32c and starts the accounting at a charging form and processing timing, which are set. The management part 30 executes judgement from the load situation in the accounting by processing timing at present time. When the normal accounting is judged so that it cannot be executed, accounting timing is changed. Namely, the parts 32a-32c are controlled so that a new interval obtained by extending an original interval is set and the accounting is completed within the range when the prescribed accounting does not complete within the range of the original interval and the excess time of processing time is generated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is particularly applied to an information distribution system for distributing information such as video as a product, and performs a charging process for charging a user of the information product. The present invention relates to an information supply system and a billing system having functions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, information products, which are electronic information such as so-called multimedia information, are transmitted to users (communication media such as computer networks and digital satellite broadcasts) or information recording media such as DVDs (digital video discs). Information distribution systems for providing information products (users of information products) have been proposed. Specifically, there is an information distribution model of the FleaMarket method using the Internet.

[0003] Here, the multimedia information is a video,
It means, for example, a movie composed of a combination of voice and text (text) information, news information corresponding to, for example, an article in a newspaper or a magazine composed of text information and still picture information, catalog information of a product, and the like.

By the way, in order to construct a system for distributing information products as described above, a charging system for imposing a proper price (charge) on a user when providing information products is required. With this charging system, it is possible to realize a mechanism in which a fee or a commission is paid to a creator or a copyright holder of an information product, a distributor of the information product, and the like.

[0005] When assuming a billing system, information products are provided in special and diverse forms in comparison with ordinary products and services. Specifically, there is a form provided by an information recording medium or a communication medium in the form of information such as a file stored in a storage device such as a magnetic disk device or an optical disk device connected to a computer. In addition, there is also a form such as video and audio which is converted into a temporally continuous analog information form and reproduced on a screen of a television receiver or a personal computer. Therefore, the billing process for the information product to be provided requires a method suitable for the information form and the provision form. That is, for video information such as a movie, a charging method in units of reproduction time (usage time) (time-based charging method), and for news information or the like, a charging method in units of information amount (charge-based charging method) can be considered.

In such a billing system, in particular, in a billing method for a service for providing information having a real-time characteristic such as a movie or music, it is common to execute a billing process almost in real time in parallel with the information providing process. It is. For this reason, when the information providing service is concentrated, the billing process is also centralized with the concentration, and the load situation in the billing process of the system occurs as a problem that cannot be ignored.

[0007]

In a distribution system for information products, particularly in an information providing service having real-time characteristics such as a movie or music, it is necessary to execute a billing process almost in real time. The accompanying system load situation becomes a problem. Specifically, in any of the time-based charging method and the pay-per-use method, particularly when the charging unit is small, the charging processing amount generally increases accordingly. For this reason, the load on the system may exceed an allowable value due to the centralization of the accounting process due to the increase in the accounting processing amount, and in the worst case, the normal accounting process may not be possible. Also, the reason for executing the billing process in real time is that, for example, the balance of the bank account and the credit limit of the credit card are likely to fluctuate due to use in other places, so that there is a risk that the usage fee cannot be collected. In order to reduce this, real-time billing processing is required.

Normally, when information processing is concentrated in a computer system and the load increases, the job of the OS
It is conceivable to adjust the execution processing of the system by a scheduling method (for example, a method of waiting a low-priority job) to reduce the load associated with the centralized processing. However, in the above-described billing system, if a method of simply waiting for a certain process is adopted, there is a high possibility that a legitimate billing process cannot be executed due to a time difference.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to monitor the load status of the system accompanying the centralization of the charging process, especially in a charging system for an information providing service having a real-time characteristic such as a movie or music, and always keep the load status appropriate. It is to realize a reliable charging process.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A first aspect of the present invention is as follows.
An information providing unit for providing a request target information to the user via the information communication system in response to a request from the user;
And a means for executing a billing process in accordance with a billing mode preset for each information in response to a request from the information providing means, comprising means for monitoring a load on the processing capacity from the execution status of the billing process, An information supply system comprising: charging means having means for changing a charging process so that a load is reduced from a predetermined value according to a load situation.

Specifically, the billing means executes the billing process at a predetermined processing timing according to a billing form of a time-based or volume-based method preset for each information to be provided. That is, in the time-based billing mode, for example, the charge calculation in units of one minute is executed, for example, at the processing timing of every fixed time. Alternatively, in the pay-as-you-go billing mode, for example, the charge calculation in units of 1 byte is executed, for example, at the processing timing for each fixed data amount. The billing processing means reduces the number of billing processes by, for example, doubling the time interval of the processing timing when a load exceeding the processing capacity occurs, for example, according to the load situation of the billing process. As a result, the number of billing processes executed within a certain period of time is reduced, so that the load on the system can be reduced.

A second aspect of the present invention is a billing process for executing a billing process in accordance with a billing mode preset for each information in accordance with a billing process request from an information supply system for providing information requested by a user. A charging system comprising: means, load monitoring means for monitoring the load on the processing capacity of the system from the execution status of the charging processing by the charging processing means, and charging processing management means for managing the charging processing by the charging processing means. .

[0013] The accounting processing management means causes the accounting processing means to execute the accounting processing according to the accounting processing request, and during execution of the accounting processing, for example, the content of the accounting processing is appropriate according to the status of the system load from the load monitoring means. Is determined. If the result of this determination indicates that the load status of the charging process is high enough to exceed the allowable value, the content of the charging process being executed by the charging unit is dynamically changed to reduce the load on the system. To control. Specifically, the accounting processing management means changes the interval for determining the processing timing of the accounting processing to be longer, for example, and completes the predetermined accounting processing within the interval. Therefore, even if the load of the charging process is concentrated and the charging process is not completed within the normal interval, the charging process can be surely completed by dynamically changing the interval. Can be.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration related to the present embodiment. FIGS. 2 and 3 are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the present embodiment.
Is a timing chart for explaining the operation and effect of the present embodiment. (System Configuration) The system of the present embodiment utilizes a computer system and further requests a paid information product using a computer communication network or a digital broadcasting network (including satellite broadcasting, satellite communication, cable television, etc.). It is assumed that an information distribution system is provided to a user (user) according to the information.

As shown in FIG. 1, the present system is roughly composed of an information source 1, an information providing system 2, a billing system 3, and a user terminal device 4. The information source 1 is a large-capacity storage device that stores information products to be provided by the information providing system 2.
As described above, the information product specifically includes video information such as a movie (composite information including sound), news information (e.g., an electronic newspaper) including text information and a still image, and book information mainly including text information. (So-called electronic book) means so-called multimedia information.

The information providing system 2 is composed of a computer system and communication means for exchanging information with the user terminal device 4. The information providing system 2 receives a request for providing information from the user terminal device 4, and receives the requested information. It has a function of taking out a product from the information source 1 and sending it to the user terminal device 4. Further, the information providing system 2 has an interface for making a request for a charging process to the charging system 3.

The user terminal device 4 is an information receiving device having a personal computer or a television receiver having a communication function operated by a user. The user terminal device 4 includes an input device (keyboard and mouse) for requesting information provision and the like, and a display device and a printing device for outputting the provided information product. In addition, the user terminal device 4 includes a file device such as a hard disk drive for downloading file format information and downloading software.

The billing system 3 is specifically composed of computer system hardware and software. In the present embodiment, a billing processing management unit 30, a system load monitor 31, and a plurality of billing processing units 32a to 32a. 32
c. The accounting processing management unit 30 is an element that manages the entire accounting processing of the system, and has an interface for exchanging information with the information providing system 2 and an external host computer. System load monitor 31
Is an element for monitoring the system load associated with the execution of the accounting process managed by the accounting process management unit 30, and has a function of notifying the status of the load to the accounting process management unit 30. The billing units 32a to 32c have different billing forms and processing timings, and are elements for executing actual billing calculation and transaction processing. (Basic Operation of System) First, the basic operation of the information distribution system will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The information providing system 2 includes a user terminal 4
When a request for providing information products is received from the information source 1, it is checked whether or not the requested information product is stored in the information source 1. If the information product is not stored and information provision is not possible, the user terminal device 4 (Step S1). Further, the information providing system 2 executes a process of presenting a condition necessary for providing the requested information product to the user (step S2). The conditions to be presented include information on the form of charging for the information product and information on user authentication. The billing form refers to the contents of a pay-per-use billing method in use time units applied to video information such as a movie, and a pay-per-use billing method in information amount units applied to news information or the like. By presenting the billing form, the user can confirm the fee required for receiving the service of providing the requested information product. For example, it is possible to confirm the cost required to provide two hours of XX circle video information in one-minute units.

The information providing system 2 determines whether or not to execute the service for providing the requested information product based on a response from the user to the presented condition and a user authentication process (step S3). That is, the information providing system 2
In the case where the user refuses the conditions such as the presented billing form, or when the information cannot be provided due to the authentication process such as the user's qualification, the user is notified that the information product cannot be provided (step S4). NO).

On the other hand, when it is determined that the requested information product is to be provided, the information providing system 2 executes a process of transmitting the information product extracted from the information source 1 to the user terminal device 4 (YES in step S4). , S5). At this time, the information providing system 2 requests the charging system (charging process management unit 30) 3 to perform a charging process (step S6). In response to the request for the billing process, the billing system 3 performs a predetermined billing process as described later (step S7). (Processing of Billing System) Next, the operation of the billing system 3 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 3 and the timing chart of FIG.

Upon receiving the request for the charging process from the information providing system 2, the charging process management unit 30 receives the request for the charging process (different for each information product).
2c is selected from the corresponding charging section (step S1).
0, S11). The selected charging unit 32a starts the charging process according to the charging mode and processing timing set for each information product. Specifically, the billing processing units 32a to 32
In the normal state, as shown in FIG. 4 (A), the charging processes P1 to P4 are started at predetermined processing timings S1 to S4,
The processing is performed so as to end within a certain time interval (interval) IT. That is, for example, at a one-minute interval IT, a provision fee for video information such as a movie to be provided to the user is calculated, and the calculation result is stored.

Further, at the start of the charging process, the charging process management unit 30 inquires of the system load monitor 31 about the system load status at a predetermined timing, or from the system load monitor 31 at regular intervals. , The system load status associated with the accounting process is obtained (step S12). Here, the system load monitor 3
1 uses a method for monitoring the load status of information processing used in a conventional information processing system.

The accounting management unit 30 compares the obtained load status of the system with a specified value to determine whether normal accounting can be executed. Specifically, the validity of the processing timing of the billing process is determined according to the load status of the system (step S13). Here, the specified value is a value determined by the information processing capacity and resources of the billing system,
It is a default value or a value calculated statistically. Also, the limit value of the number of billing processes to be executed at the same time (it depends on the billing mode) may be used.

In the charging process based on the current processing timing, the charging process management unit 30 changes the charging process timing when it is determined that the normal charging process cannot be executed based on the load status of the system (step S14). YES, S15). On the other hand, if the timing of the accounting process is appropriate, the accounting process is executed as it is, and the accounting process result is output (steps S16 and S17). At the end of the charging, a fractional charge is calculated and settled in the original charging unit (step S18).

Here, FIG. 4B shows a specific example in which the load on the system increases and the billing process is not executed normally.
That is, there is a case where a certain charging process P5 is not completed within the range of the original interval IT, and an excess time ET of the processing time occurs. When such a situation occurs, the charging processing (processing started at the processing timing S2) that occurs later is put on standby. However, if it is found that the previous process P5 is not completed after the later-executed charging process is executed, the executed process is useless. For this reason, useless processing occurs every time. Also,
In a method of checking that the previous process P5 is not completed before execution, a process of checking every time is required, and as a result, the processing amount of the entire billing process increases.

Therefore, the accounting processing management unit 30 of the present embodiment
Is a new interval ITn obtained by extending the original processing timing interval IT, as shown in FIG.
1 and the charging processing unit 32 so that the charging processes P5 to P7 are completed within the range of the new interval ITn1.
a to 32c are controlled. Specifically, for example, the charging process based on the fixed-time / time-based charging method executed every minute is changed to the charging process every two minutes. This change doubles the billing amount each time, but naturally does not change the total billing amount. However, there is a problem that the interval between the check processes associated with the billing process is long, but since it is limited only to the time when the load on the system is concentrated, it is considered that there is not much effect. The check process means, for example, a balance inquiry process and a limit inquiry process of a bank account or the like for a user's bill settlement.

Further, the charging processing management unit 30 is configured as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, even when the individual charging processes P1 to P3 can be completed within a predetermined interval, the predetermined interval is increased to the interval ITn2 to reduce the number of charging processes generated within a predetermined time. ,
The load on the entire system can be reduced. Of course,
In this case, the charge calculated in each charging process is changed according to the increase of the interval. Specifically, for example, if it is twice, the calculated fee is also doubled.

As described above, there is a problem that the interval of the check process accompanying the billing process becomes long, but since it is limited only to the time when the system load is concentrated, it is considered that there is not so much effect.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is difficult to execute a normal billing process in accordance with the load on the system when the billing system executes the billing process in association with the process of providing the information product to the user. When it is determined that the processing time is shorter, the processing timing that can reduce the load on the system, that is, the interval of each billing process is dynamically changed. Therefore, when the number of different accounting processes is concentrated and the system load increases, the system load can be dynamically reduced during the execution of the accounting process. In this case, the billing process is continued after the interval is newly changed and the processing timing of each billing processing unit is adjusted. Thus, it is possible to prevent a situation in which a normal billing process cannot be executed due to an increase in the system load, and to always realize a reliable billing process. In particular, if the present invention is applied to an information providing service that provides video information such as a movie in real time, it is possible to reliably perform the charging process almost in real time.

As a method for reducing the load on the system,
A method of requesting a part of the billing process to another host computer or the like may be executed together with the process of changing the process timing of the present embodiment. However, the request may be rejected depending on the processing status of another host computer.

[0032]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the present invention is applied to a distribution system of information products, and in particular, in a charging system for an information providing service such as a movie or music having real-time characteristics, it is possible to centralize charging processing. When the load on the system increases, the load on the system can be reduced and a reliable charging process can be realized. Therefore,
In particular, if applied to a system that executes billing processing in real time, a reliable billing process is always executed under an appropriate load condition of the system, and as a result, an information distribution system for distributing paid information products can be constructed. realizable.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration related to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart for explaining the operation and effect of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Information source 2 ... Information provision system 3 ... Billing system 4 ... User terminal device (user) 30 ... Billing process management part 31 ... System load monitor (load monitoring means) 32a-32c ... Billing processing part

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An information supply system for providing information requested by a user using an information communication system, the information communication system comprising: Information providing means for providing to a user via the information providing means, and a means for executing a charging process in accordance with a charging mode preset for each information provided by the information providing means in response to a request from the information providing means. A charge processing unit having means for monitoring the load on the processing capacity from the execution state of the charge processing, and having a means for changing the charge processing so that the load is reduced from a predetermined value according to the load state. An information supply system characterized by: 2. A billing system applied to an information supply system for providing information requested by a user using an information communication system, wherein the charging system is preset for each piece of information to be provided to the user. Charging processing means for performing charging processing according to a charging mode; load monitoring means for monitoring a load on processing capacity from the execution state of charging processing by the charging processing means; Charging processing management means for dynamically changing the content of the charging processing being executed by the charging processing means so as to reduce the load from a predetermined value, and continuing the charging processing by the charging processing means. Characteristic billing system. 3. The billing processing means executes a billing process at predetermined processing timings after the information providing means starts providing information to the user, and the load status determines the processing timing. 2. The information supply system according to claim 1, further comprising means for changing the timing so as to reduce the load and executing a billing process when the load is reduced to a level that cannot be maintained. 4. An information supply system for providing information requested by a user by using an information communication system, the information communication system comprising: Information providing means for providing to a user via the Internet, charging processing means for performing charging processing in accordance with a charging mode preset for each piece of information provided by the information providing means, and execution of charging processing by the charging processing means Load monitoring means for monitoring the load on the processing capacity from the situation; and causing the accounting processing means to execute the accounting processing in response to a request from the information providing means, and according to the load status of the accounting processing by the load monitoring means. The contents of the charging process being executed by the charging processing means are dynamically changed so that the load is reduced from a predetermined value, and the charging processing by the charging processing means is performed. Information supply system characterized by comprising a charging processing management means to continue the management. 5. The billing processing means is means for performing a billing process in a billing form based on a time-based or volume-based method set in advance for each piece of information to be provided to the user. At the time, the charging processing by the charging processing means is executed at every predetermined processing timing,
When the state of the load by the load monitoring unit increases to such an extent that the processing timing cannot be maintained, a unit that dynamically changes the processing timing or the content of the charging mode so as to reduce the load is provided. The billing system according to claim 2 or the information supply system according to claim 4. 6. The information providing means presents to the user information provision conditions including the billing mode in response to a request from the user, and outputs information based on predetermined conditions including response contents from the user. Means for determining whether or not to provide information, and means for requesting the accounting processing means to perform accounting processing when starting to provide information to the user based on the determination result of the determining means. The information supply system according to claim 4, further comprising: 7. A billing method applied to an information supply system for providing information requested by a user using an information communication system, wherein the information supply system requests the information in response to a request from the user. Accepting a billing request from the information supply system after deciding to provide the target information; and starting a billing process in accordance with a billing mode preset for each piece of information to be provided to the user. Detecting a load situation with respect to the processing capacity of the system during the execution of the billing process; determining the appropriateness of a billing form or processing timing of the billing process being executed according to the load situation; When the load situation is higher than the processing capacity of the system, the charging form or the The retiming dynamically changed, charging processing method characterized by comprising a step of continuing the charging process. 8. An information supply system for providing information requested by a user by utilizing an information communication system, wherein information requested in response to a request from the user is transmitted through the information communication system. Information providing means for providing to a user, charging processing means for performing a charging process in accordance with a charging mode set in advance for each piece of information provided by the information providing means, and execution status of the charging process by the charging processing means. A billing method applied to an information supply system comprising: a load monitoring unit for monitoring a load on a processing capacity; and a billing process management unit for managing a billing process by the billing unit. Receiving a request for billing processing from the information providing means, which has determined to provide requested information in response to a request from the user. Starting the charging process according to the charging mode corresponding to the information of the request target provided to the user; and loading the load on the processing capacity of the system during the execution of the charging process by the load monitoring unit. Judging the validity of the charging mode or the processing timing of the charging process according to a situation; and the charging mode for reducing the load from a predetermined value when the load situation is higher than the processing capacity of the system. Or a step of dynamically changing the processing timing to continue the charging processing by the charging processing means.