CN111357033A - Method and system for providing content based on free voucher - Google Patents

Method and system for providing content based on free voucher Download PDF

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Publication number
CN111357033A
CN111357033A CN201980005401.7A CN201980005401A CN111357033A CN 111357033 A CN111357033 A CN 111357033A CN 201980005401 A CN201980005401 A CN 201980005401A CN 111357033 A CN111357033 A CN 111357033A
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China
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content
free
voucher
user
information
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Granted
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CN201980005401.7A
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CN111357033B (en
Inventor
朴正园
朴润豪
李在晟
金贤
崔善娥
朴泰珍
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Cocoa Comics
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Cocoa Comics
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q50/00—Systems or methods specially adapted for specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism
    • G06Q50/10—Services
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/08—Payment architectures
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/08—Payment architectures
    • G06Q20/085—Payment architectures involving remote charge determination or related payment systems
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/08—Payment architectures
    • G06Q20/12—Payment architectures specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/08—Payment architectures
    • G06Q20/12—Payment architectures specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
    • G06Q20/123—Shopping for digital content

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a system for providing contents based on a free voucher and a method for performing the same by the same, in which a free voucher is given to a user for providing contents to the user for a charge based on the lapse of a certain amount of time, thereby reducing a server load due to a large increase in users and graphic objects (contents) and effectively providing a free voucher, and a system for providing contents based on a free voucher in which the same is performed.

Description

Method and system for providing content based on free voucher
Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technique for providing content to a user based on a voucher. Further, the present invention relates to a method for providing contents based on a free voucher, in which a free voucher is given to a user for a charge based on the lapse of a certain amount of time to provide contents to the user, thereby reducing a load of a server due to a greatly increased number of users and works (contents) and efficiently providing the free voucher, and a system for providing contents based on the free voucher in which the method is performed.
Background
In modern busy lives, people generally use smart phones to obtain various contents such as comics, dramas, movies, and the like, with the development of information communication technology via the Internet (Internet).
Content provision by a smart phone is typically performed by a platform that provides the content. A content consumer accesses the platform supplying the required content using his own smart phone, and the smart phone downloads data for executing the corresponding content and provides the corresponding content to the consumer.
Such platforms most likely take two forms to profit. The first form is a free content providing platform that provides content free to increase the number of platform users and earns a profit through advertisement based on the increased number of users, and the second form is a paid content providing platform that earns a profit by providing paid content.
In the past, it was a general online consumption environment that was generally reluctant to use paid content. Based on this factor, a free content providing platform has become advantageous.
However, since the free content providing platform makes a profit through indirect means (e.g., advertisement, etc.), it is difficult to stably provide various contents and there is a limitation in establishing an environment in which contents are provided with high performance. In particular, the advertisement may be excessively used for the maximum profit, which causes a problem in that user convenience is significantly reduced.
Meanwhile, in the case of the pay content providing platform, many consumers do not want to purchase pay content because they suspect whether the pay content will satisfy their needs after purchasing the pay content.
In this case, the present applicant has introduced a business model called "free if wait" (the ten free) into content service provision including web cartoons (Webtoon), web novels, and the like. A method of allowing users who rush to a platform for free viewing of contents if they wait for a certain amount of time has significantly increased, and can lead the users to consume paid contents naturally, thereby promoting the growth of paid content markets including network cartoons, network novels, and the like and related industries (non-patent document 1).
[ relevant documents ]
[ non-patent document ]
(non-patent document 1) Bridge Economics (Bridge economies) internet document published on 12 months and 20 days 2015, title (KakaoPage "free if waiting" drives a content payment culture).
Disclosure of Invention
In one aspect, the present invention provides a method and system for providing content based on a free voucher, so as to more effectively perform a service for providing content to a user based on the free voucher given to the user through charging if a certain amount of time passes.
On the other hand, the present invention provides a method and system for providing contents based on a free voucher, in order to solve the problem that a database and a server have a greatly increased load as the number of users and contents increases, because a free voucher or the like is applied and the charging time is different for each individual user and each individual content.
Technical solution
A method performed by a server for providing content based on a free voucher according to an embodiment of the present invention may include: transmitting information on whether a content complies with a free voucher which is free of charge if a certain amount of time passes, to the user terminal, based on a content information table of a database including meta information on the content; receiving an initiation request from the user terminal for initiating charging of the free voucher for the content complying with the free voucher; when the starting request is received, mapping the user and the content requesting the starting, and recording a mapping result in a user information table of the database; and starting to charge the free voucher aiming at the mapped content based on the user information table recording the mapping result.
A computer-readable recording medium according to an embodiment of the present invention may be capable of storing thereon computer-readable program instructions executable by a computer. In this specification, when the program instructions are executed by a processor of the computer, the processor may cause the method for providing content based on the free voucher according to the foregoing embodiments to be performed.
A system for providing a movie (video) based on a free voucher, comprising a server performing a method for providing a movie based on a free voucher according to an embodiment of the present invention, may comprise: a free voucher management unit configured to transmit information as to whether a content complies with a free voucher which is free of charge if a certain amount of time has elapsed, to a user terminal based on a content information table of a database including meta information on the content, and configured to receive a start request for starting charging of the free voucher for the content complying with the free voucher from the user terminal, and configured to map the user with the content which requests the start when the start request is received, and record a mapping result in a user table of the database, and configured to start charging of the free voucher for the mapped content based on the user table in which the mapping result is recorded; and a content providing unit configured to, when receiving a request for providing the content from the user terminal, identify credential information including the free credential about the user terminal, and configured to provide content information of the requested content to the user terminal based on a result of the identification.
Advantageous effects
According to an aspect of the present invention, a method and system for providing contents based on a free voucher, in providing contents to a user based on a free voucher charged to the user if a certain amount of time passes, can give a free voucher to the user upon receiving a free voucher activation signal from a respective user terminal, thereby reducing a load of the server.
Further, each database is established for a table recording contents related to free voucher information and a table recording users related to free voucher information, and mapping processing of the tables is performed when a designated user requests to start a free voucher for a designated content, thereby achieving efficient database management and fast data processing.
Therefore, in the case where the number of the users and contents is greatly increased, it is possible to effectively provide the contents to the users based on the free voucher, and thus to improve the efficiency of the free voucher type service, thereby further improving the satisfaction and loyalty of the users to the platform and increasing the profit.
Further, on the system user side, since whether to activate free vouchers and whether to complete charging can be individually set for each user, it can be individually set to guide individual users to use more free vouchers than other users according to the access frequency and time. Therefore, the trust and loyalty of the user to the free voucher providing service can be improved.
The effects of the present invention are not limited to the aforementioned effects, and other effects mentioned in the present specification will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the claims of the present application.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a system for providing content based on free vouchers, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a schematic view illustrating a procedure of providing contents according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating a procedure to initiate charging for a free voucher according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of displaying free voucher information on a user terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 5a is a diagram illustrating a procedure for providing content to a user using a free voucher according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 5b is a diagram illustrating a procedure for identifying whether a free voucher of a user is available according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 6 and 7 are diagrams showing a procedure of providing contents based on a free voucher for each case according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. In the drawings, like numerals refer to equivalent or similar functionality in many aspects of the invention. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that alternative examples of the structures and methods illustrated in the present invention may be employed without departing from the inventive principles illustrated in the present invention.
Detailed Description
The embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted, however, that the principles disclosed herein may be embodied in many different forms and are not limited to the examples described herein. In describing the present invention in detail, implementations of well-known features and techniques may be omitted from this description in order not to unnecessarily obscure the features of the illustrated embodiments.
Definition of terms
In this specification, "Content provider" refers to a subject that provides information on a network comic, a network novel, an electronic book, a movie, a broadcast program, and the like. Here, the "provider" refers to an "online service provider" that accepts money and provides information to a user (or subscriber). The content provider may include a television station, a broadcast station, a Video On Demand (VOD) provider, and an Audio On Demand (AOD) provider, etc. In the present specification, "content" is a concept indicating information or individual information elements implemented as text, images, movies, audio, or a combination thereof and which can be provided to a user. The present invention is advantageous for content provided through a platform that multiple users access, particularly content with high load, such as text (e.g., netbooks, other e-books), images in combination with text (e.g., netbooks), movies, and the like.
In this specification, "content information" includes various data and/or information for implementing the content. A device (e.g., user terminal) having an application that can be used by a system to provide content based on credentials and requests and/or to receive a provision of the content based on credentials can have the corresponding content implemented thereon and provided to the user upon receiving the content information. For example, when the content is a movie, the movie information refers to information of a single medium, multimedia and/or a subset thereof (i.e., a set of movie components), and the movie information may include movie and/or audio track information, codec type information (e.g., a base layer, an enhancement layer), or command script information.
In this specification, "meta information" is information about a content and includes basic meta information such as a server address and an identifier, a title, an order, a session length, and a size of the content. In addition, the meta information may include detailed meta information that can access the content information, such as, but not limited to, a URL, a decision value for deciding whether to comply with the free voucher, etc., and may include various information indicating attributes of the content.
In this specification, "primary content" refers to super content containing a part of content, which is a service object generated or provided as a service by the content provider.
In one embodiment, when the content is a movie, the basic movie refers to a movie generally called a program (e.g., in a series broadcast by a broadcast station, an episode (program) may be referred to as the basic movie). Alternatively, a movie may be referred to as the basic movie.
In another embodiment, when the content is content, novel (web novel), comic (web comic), other electronic books (web comic and web novel, the same applies hereinafter) and the like, which are generally supplied in, for example, books, text contents or images in combination with text, the basic novel, the basic comic, and the basic book refer to a book novel, a book comic, and a book, respectively. Of course, the base novel, the base caricature, and the base book include some content that has not yet been completed and is being serialized.
In the present specification, "partial content" refers to content corresponding to a partial paragraph when the entire paragraph of the base content is divided into a plurality of partial paragraphs. In an example, when the content is a movie, a "partial movie" refers to a movie corresponding to a partial paragraph when an entire paragraph of the base movie is temporally divided into a plurality of partial paragraphs. The partial film of each passage is followed by a partial film of the next passage to form the entire film play passage. A piece of film, commonly known as a "clip", is different from this part of the film.
Meanwhile, when the content is composed of a plurality of episodes, such as, for example, a network caricature or a network novel composed of a plurality of episodes, or an electronic book composed of a plurality of chapters, the entire work composed of a plurality of episodes may correspond to the base content, and an individual episode may correspond to the portion of the content.
In this specification, "display" refers to any information that is recognized by the user, and "execute" (e.g., "play", for example) refers to placing the elements of the content (e.g., such as frames in the case of video, images) in a sequential manner so that the user recognizes them as the content.
In this specification, the "free voucher" refers to a voucher that is given free without paying if the user waits for a certain amount of time.
In the present specification, the terms "unit," "module," "device," "terminal," "server," or "system" as used herein are intended to indicate a combination of hardware and software executed by the corresponding hardware. For example, the hardware may be a data processing device, such as a mobile phone and a PC that includes a CPU or other processor. Further, software executed by the hardware may refer to a program, an object, an executable, a thread, a program, and the like to be executed.
Description of the embodiments
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a system for providing content based on free vouchers, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to fig. 1, a voucher based system 1 according to an embodiment is configured to enable communication between a server 3 and a user terminal 4 via a network 2. In some embodiments, the system 1 may further include a financial institution server 5 for voucher settlement, and/or a content providing server (not shown) configured to communicate with the server 3.
The server 3 communicates with a plurality of client apparatuses 4 (e.g., user terminals) via the network 2. The communication method via the network 2 may include various communication methods, which implement network connection between objects, and may be wired communication, wireless communication, 3G, 4G, 5G wired internet, or wireless internet, and in addition, may be a wired public network, a wireless mobile communication network, or a core network integrated with the mobile internet, and may be an open computer network providing many services existing in a transmission control Protocol/internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and its upper layers, i.e., hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), remote login Protocol (Telnet), File Transfer Protocol (File Transfer Protocol, FTP), Domain Name System (DNS), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), but is not limited thereto. For example, the Network 2 may include, but is not limited to, a communication Network selected from the group consisting of Local Area Network (LAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), Wideband Multiple Access (W-CDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), bluetooth, wireless Network Protocol, wireless Local Area Network (Wi-Fi), Voice over Internet Protocol (ieee 802), long term evolution (VoIP), Long Term Evolution (LTE), HSPA + 16 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), Mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e), UMB (former EV-DO version C), Flash-OFDM, iBurst and MBWA (IEEE 802.20) systems, HIPERMAN, Beam-division multiple Access (BDMA), worldwide Interoperability for microwave Access (Wi-MAX) and group of communication using ultrasound.
In some embodiments, the type of network 2 used may vary depending on the function and characteristics of the object, etc. For example, an FTP network may be connected between the content providing server and the server 3, and a WiFi network may be connected between the server 3 and the user terminal 4.
Referring back to fig. 1, the server 3 includes a content providing unit 31 and a free voucher managing unit 33. In addition, the server 3 further includes a database storage unit 37 for storing a table of contents including content-related information (e.g., including content information) and a user table including user-related information. Other embodiments of the server 3 may include additional, fewer, or different components. For example, the server 3 may further include a content generating unit 35.
As described above, in this specification, the system and the user terminal according to the embodiment may have a full hardware, or a partial hardware and partial software aspect. Accordingly, the user terminal 4 and the server 3 and components thereof, such as each unit (or module) included therein, such as at least one of the content providing unit 31, the free voucher management unit 33, the database storage unit 37 and the content generation unit 35, may refer entirely to hardware and software related thereto for processing data of a designated format and content and/or transmitting and receiving the data in electronic communication.
Referring to FIG. 1, each of the components 31-37 of the server 3 are communicatively coupled to each other, but do not necessarily form a physically integrated device. For example, the database storage unit 37 may be individual servers or computing devices that are in communication with each other in a distributed computing environment. Furthermore, each cell 31-37 differs only according to the operating function performed in implementing its computing device, and does not necessarily refer to a separate device. For example, the content providing unit 31 and the free voucher management unit 33 do not necessarily mean separate devices.
Fig. 2 is a schematic view illustrating a procedure of providing contents according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The server 3 is configured to implement the execution of the functions of the application program by communicating with the application program (or APP) executed on the user terminal 4. Specifically, the server 3 manages a server-based service that supports a terminal application that executes a method for providing content based on a free voucher, and/or an arbitrary application that can be stored in the user terminal 4.
In particular, the server 3 can realize distribution of content (e.g., a network caricature, a network novel, an electronic book, a movie, etc.) to the user according to whether or not a voucher is present, and therefore, a terminal application installed in the user terminal 4 can automatically or in response to the user's request transmit a request for providing the content to the server 3 and receive the content from the server 3 (i.e., receive data and/or information for executing the content from the server 3).
Referring to fig. 2, the server 3 is configured to receive, for example, a content provision request signal or a content purchase signal (this signal may include an automatic purchase signal), identify viewing right information (e.g., a voucher), and provide the user terminal 4 with information (content information and/or meta information, and further, viewing right related information (e.g., voucher consumption notice)) about the purchased content.
When receiving a request for providing content-related information from the user terminal 4, the content providing unit 31 performs a function of providing the corresponding information to the user terminal 4 in accordance with the request.
In one embodiment, as described below, the content providing unit 31 may be configured to recognize whether there is an available voucher, and execute a content providing Application Programming Interface (API) that provides content based on the recognized result. For example, the content providing unit 31 may include a content providing API module.
The content providing unit 31 may transmit information for displaying a content home screen, in which the user receives a basic introduction of content and can select basic content and/or partial content, to the user terminal 4 as information on the service content for the user's selection. For example, the server 3 may transmit meta information of the service contents to the user terminal 4.
Further, after receiving a request for providing the user-selected content, the content providing unit 31 may transmit content information (including information for execution in the user terminal 4) of the content requested to be provided to the user terminal 4.
The provision of this information may be performed based on various conditions, including, for example, whether the user who has requested to provide any information has credentials, etc.
In this specification, the "voucher" refers to a right to use content, and may be expressed as virtual money in a system for providing content based on a free voucher.
In this specification, cash/credit cards paid for by the user may be converted into electronic money in the server, and the electronic money may be converted into a voucher allowing the user to view each movie. However, the voucher is not necessarily limited to payment using real money, but may be paid using electronic money or the like. The means for purchasing the voucher may be performed by various methods, such as immediate payment, recurring payment, or electronic voucher, and the like, and is not limited to a particular method. The voucher can be purchased as an entire primary content voucher, but can also be purchased as a single voucher corresponding to each individual piece of partial content.
The scope of use of the voucher can be variously set. In an embodiment, when the content is a series of movies consisting of a plurality of episodes, the voucher may be set to use the movies of each episode and/or parts of the movies of each episode of the series when purchasing the voucher. For example, the user may use each voucher while watching at least a portion of a movie or the like of a designated episode.
In one embodiment, the credential includes a prepaid credential that is based on electronic money or real money; and an unpaid voucher. In this specification, the prepaid credential includes a temporary credential (e.g., a rental voucher, etc.) that allows the user to use (e.g., be able to view and/or access) content for a certain amount of time; and a non-transitory credential (e.g., a holding credential, etc.) that allows the user to use content beyond the certain amount of time.
The non-paid voucher includes an initial voucher (e.g., a free voucher for specifying first to fifth episodes of the cyber-comic) for free use of a predetermined number of contents; a gift certificate provided randomly by a service provider or by a third party; and an activity credential given when a specified condition is satisfied.
The activity credential includes a task credential that is given to the user when a predetermined task is satisfied. In one embodiment, the predetermined task includes an operation of transmitting a prescribed message to at least one other user.
In addition, the activity certificate includes a free certificate which is given to the user through charging if a predetermined period (i.e., a charging time) elapses.
In one embodiment, the content providing unit 31 transmits a signal to the user terminal 4 in order to display a screen indicating that a voucher must be purchased on the user terminal 4 when there is no voucher available, due to the identification voucher information.
Further, when a voucher purchase request is received through a screen indicating that a voucher is necessary to be purchased, the content providing unit 31 may transmit a settlement request of an amount corresponding to the voucher purchase request to the credit card company or the financial institution server 5, and perform a series of settlement procedures. For the billing process, when personal financial information (e.g., credit card information or financial institution account information, etc.) necessary for settlement is received from the user terminal 4, the content providing unit 31 may request settlement from the credit card company or financial institution server 5 based on the received personal financial information. In this specification, the financial institution server refers to all institutions that process financial transactions as a whole, and may include, for example, banks and securities companies, etc.
When receiving a settlement completion notification from the credit card company or the financial institution server 5, the content providing unit 31 may generate credential information in a user account with respect to the user terminal.
In some embodiments, the content providing unit 31 may be further configured to settle the billing and generate the electronic money information on the response even when there is no voucher purchase request. The electronic money information may be converted into a voucher.
The free voucher management unit 33 performs various operations regarding the free voucher such as an operation of transmitting information indicating whether or not the content accessed by the user terminal 4 complies with a free voucher free of charging after a lapse of a certain amount of time to the user terminal 4 and/or an operation of starting charging for the free voucher.
In one embodiment, the free credential management unit 33 may be configured to execute an Application Programming Interface (API) that may perform the aforementioned operations. For example, the server 3 may include a free voucher management API module.
Alternatively, the free voucher management unit 33 can be configured to execute a plurality of APIs, each part of which performs the function of the free voucher management unit 33. In one embodiment, the free voucher management unit 33 can be configured to execute a free voucher initiation API that initiates the charging function of the free voucher and a free voucher usage API that performs the usage function of the free voucher. In this case, the server 3 may include, for example, both a free-voucher startup API module and a free-voucher usage API module.
The free voucher management unit 33 transmits information on whether the content complies with a free voucher free of charging after a lapse of a certain amount of time to the user, and starts charging the free voucher upon receiving an initiation request for starting charging the free voucher for the content complying with the free voucher from the user terminal.
Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of initiating charging for the free voucher according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to fig. 3, the user terminal 4 requests content-related information from the server 3 (S310). In some embodiments, the request may be executed in a specified state. For example, as shown in fig. 2, when the user terminal 4 accesses a content introduction and/or APP page (e.g., a content home page) in which the user can select content, the user terminal 4 may request content-related information for displaying the accessed content home page to the server 3.
When the server 3 receives a request for content-related information from the user terminal 4, the server 3 transmits the content-related information to the user terminal 4 in response to the request (S330). The response to the request transmitted when accessing the content top page may further include additional information in addition to the content-related information.
In one embodiment, the server 3 transmits information as to whether the content complies with a free voucher exempting from charging after a certain amount of time has passed to the user terminal 4 based on the content information table of the database storage unit 37 including meta information on the content (S330).
In this specification, the content information table includes a content identifier (e.g., a work ID, for example); and information indicating whether the content complies with the free voucher or the like. In some embodiments, the content information table may further include information or the like that is subject to limited use in content that complies with the free voucher (e.g., number of episodes and/or number of content that may not be able to use the free voucher).
The user terminal 4 may receive the response of S330 and provide the content-related information to the user to guide the user in making a selection. The user terminal 4 displays a service content item to the user based on the received service content information to guide the user to select a content that the user wants to use. For example, as shown in fig. 2, in an arbitrary series of program contents, the fourth partial movie of the 8 th episode may be selected. In addition, whether the content accessed by the content home page complies with the free voucher can be provided to the user.
When the content accessed by the content home page complies with the free voucher and charging of the user has not yet started, the user terminal 4 may transmit an activation request of the user to provide the free voucher for the corresponding content of the content home page to the server 3.
In an embodiment, the start request of the user terminal 4 may be performed when the preset condition is satisfied, in case of a given condition. In one embodiment, the initiation request may be performed when the unpaid voucher (e.g., an initial free voucher) that has been granted for the corresponding content is fully consumed. The user's satisfaction of the conditions on the activation with respect to the corresponding contents is performed by the user terminal 4.
As described above, whether or not the individual content (individual work) complies with the free voucher is controlled on the server side, but the start acceptance request for the content whose result is decided to comply with the free voucher is received from the user terminal. In addition, in such an example, when the condition (e.g., the condition of the first to fifth sets of the initial free voucher, such as free) is completely consumed) is given, the preset condition is satisfied by receiving a start request to give the free voucher from the user terminal. Therefore, as the number of users and contents complying with the free voucher increases, the server 3 can reduce the load of deciding whether the condition is satisfied.
In some embodiments, the request to initiate charging may include making a call to a charging initiation Application Programming Interface (API) (S350) of the free voucher.
When receiving the activation request of step S350, the server 3 (or the free voucher management unit 33) activates a function of giving the user a free voucher for the corresponding content. That is, the charging of the user' S free voucher for the corresponding content is started from step S350. If the billing free period (time) elapses, the free voucher may be given.
In one embodiment, when receiving the start request, the free voucher management unit 33 maps the user with the content requested to be started, and records the mapping result in the user information table (S370).
In this specification, the user information table includes a user identifier; a content identifier, which requests initiation; an activation value indicating whether charging of the user for a free voucher of the mapped content is activated; and the charging completion time of the free voucher.
The mapping between the user and the content requested to be started is based on the content identifier of the table of content information.
In one embodiment, the charging completion time may be recorded in the user information table through the free voucher management unit 33 as the charging is started. The user is provided with information on whether or not to start giving a free voucher for the content based on the mapped user information table (S390).
In addition, when receiving the activation request, the free voucher management unit 33 can immediately give the user an initial free voucher for the corresponding content. This will be explained in more detail with reference to the following step S535.
The user terminal 4 may display whether to charge the free voucher and the time remaining until charging based on the information received in step S390.
As described above, through steps S310 to S390, the free voucher for the content is activated for each user according to the activation request time for the user, and the fact is stored in the database 6.
Therefore, the server 3 does not give all users the right to view the specified content every predetermined time (for example, for the specified episode B of the content a previously set to be paid, modified to be free on xx days 13:00 in x months).
As described above, by recording information on the corresponding free charging-free content in the content information table, and by recording information on the corresponding user in the user information table, and by matching the tables after such binarization, charging start and charging conditions of free vouchers, which are different for each individual user and for each content of the same user, can be effectively managed.
For reference, in the case of a method of collectively granting viewing rights to a specified content to all users at a predetermined time, the present invention does not solve such a situation by itself, that is, as described above, the charging start and charging situation of the free voucher are different for each individual user and for each content of the same user. On the contrary, this method is not suitable because it has a fundamental problem that customization of free use of desired contents cannot be performed for each individual user.
In an embodiment of the present invention, when a free voucher is used, which allows each individual user to freely use desired contents in a customized manner if waiting for a certain amount of time, by this configuration, a fast and efficient data processing is performed even in the case where the user and the number of contents are greatly increased, and each individual content is efficiently provided for each individual user based on the free voucher.
Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating a procedure in which the free voucher information is displayed on the user terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to fig. 4, the user terminal 4 requests content-related information from the server 3 (S410). The content-related information is similar to that of step S310, and thus a detailed description thereof is omitted in the present specification.
The server 3 may transmit the requested content-related information to the user terminal 4 along with the request (S450). In addition, the response to the request may further include user-related information and the like (e.g., including whether the free voucher is activated, the billing completion time, and voucher information, etc.). In this case, the free voucher management unit 33 determines whether to activate the free voucher of the user for the corresponding content based on the user information table, and includes whether to activate the free voucher and the charging completion time, etc. in response to the request.
The user terminal 4 may display whether to charge the free voucher and the time remaining for the charging completion time based on the response received at step S450. The free voucher is initiated according to the usage pattern of each user as previously described with reference to fig. 3. Therefore, the charging completion time may also be different for each user.
When the billing period elapses, the user may be provided with the contents of the request with respect to step S310 or S410 of fig. 3 or fig. 4 using the billed free voucher. In this specification, the content regarding the request in step S310 or S410 includes content within the same category.
Fig. 5a is a diagram illustrating a procedure for providing content to the user by using the free voucher according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to fig. 5a, the server 3 receives a request for providing content (e.g., basic content or part of content) from the user terminal 4 (S510). The request for provision may be made by an input signal detected in the user terminal 4, but may be made by an instruction of an application installed in the user terminal 4. In one embodiment, the request to provide content may include instructions to make a content provision API call or a credential use API call.
Further, the server 3 identifies whether or not the free voucher of the user who has requested to provide the content is in an activated state with respect to the corresponding content (S530). Based on the result of the recognition, the server 3 decides whether to provide the content information and the viewing right for the corresponding content.
Fig. 5b is a diagram illustrating a process of identifying whether a free voucher of the user is available according to an embodiment of the present invention.
When charging for the free voucher requesting to provide content is initiated, it can be identified whether the free voucher is available.
In one embodiment, the free voucher management unit 33 of the server 3 identifies whether charging of the free voucher for the content is in a startup state (S531). The identification may be performed based on a decision value indicating that the free voucher included in the user information table is enabled. In some embodiments, in a case where the content for which the free voucher is launched is excluded from the application of the free voucher while charging is to be performed, when the decision value indicates the launch state, the following operations related to the use of the free voucher may be performed only on the free voucher being charged.
When the activation state is recognized at step S531, the free voucher management unit 33 recognizes whether charging of the free voucher is completed (S533). Identifying whether charging is complete may be performed based on the charging completion time of the free voucher and the current time. For example, the free voucher management unit 33 decides that charging is completed when the following conditions are satisfied (S535).
[ equation 1]
Tpresent≥TCC
Wherein, TpresentRepresents the current time and Tcc represents the charging completion time. The free voucher management unit 33 determines whether charging is completed when the charging completion time is equal to the current time or elapsed compared to the current time (S535). That is, by recording the completion time at the same time when the billing is started, whether billing is completed or not is determined based on time.
As described above, in an embodiment, in the case where the charging completion time is recorded in the user information table by the start request for the first time, the free voucher is set to a charging completion state when the current time is recorded as the charging completion time. Therefore, the initial free voucher can be given to the user immediately while the function of giving the free voucher is activated, thereby further maximizing user convenience.
Thereafter, the free voucher management unit 33 gives the user viewing rights for the corresponding content while consuming the charged free voucher. Further, the consumption result is recorded in the credential consumption table (S537).
Further, the free voucher management unit 33 updates the available charging completion time when the next free voucher is available. In one embodiment, the free voucher management unit 33 updates the charging completion time of the free voucher to be additionally charged by adding the charging period of the free voucher to the charging completion time of the charged free voucher (S539). The updated result may be further recorded in the user information table.
In addition, in order to enable the user's free voucher to be continuously charged and used for other contents related to the corresponding content, the free voucher management unit 33 continuously maintains the activated state of the user's free voucher in the activated state.
In other embodiments, operations not illustrated in FIG. 5b may be added, modified, and omitted for further execution.
In one embodiment, prior to step S531, for example, the free voucher management unit 33 may further perform the step of identifying whether other non-paid vouchers (e.g., including a free voucher, etc.) given to the user are completely consumed, and/or identifying whether the requested content is limited-use content (e.g., within a predetermined number of episodes from the latest episode), although the charging of the free voucher is initiated.
In one embodiment, the initial free voucher is excluded from the unpaid voucher for which the free voucher management unit 33 decides whether to consume. The user terminal then transmits a free voucher initiation request by having the user terminal satisfy the condition in which the initial free voucher is available.
As mentioned above, the charged free voucher is consumed only when the free voucher is used, and charging is started again. Thus, the user can use the voucher-based content provision service more frequently to maximize the use of many free vouchers at the same time. Accordingly, the user's loyalty and trust, etc. with the voucher-based content provision service can be improved.
In addition, when the free voucher is used for many contents, the user will be able to decide whether to purchase the experienced contents more positively. Therefore, rational consumption by the user can be facilitated.
Referring back to fig. 5a, when the server 3 determines that the user has a voucher for providing the content information of the requested content to the user terminal 4, the content information of the requested content is provided to the user terminal 4 (S550). In one embodiment, the server 3 transmits the voucher consumption result (including the type of the consumed voucher and the number of the remaining vouchers) of the free voucher and/or the next accounting completion time to the user terminal 4. In addition, in order to provide the user with the content through the user terminal 4, the server 3 transmits detailed meta information and/or content information of the corresponding content to the user terminal 4.
Referring to fig. 1, in an embodiment, the server 3 may further include a content generating unit 35 and/or a database storage unit 37. Each component will be described in detail.
The content generation unit 35 divides the entire execution paragraph of the base content into a plurality of partial paragraphs to generate partial contents. For example, the content generation unit 35 divides the entire play paragraph of the base movie into a plurality of partial paragraphs to generate partial movie information.
Further, the content generating unit 35 generates meta-information for the basic content, and may generate meta-information for individual partial content. Further, meta information for the base content may be generated.
The content generation unit 35 may variously divide a piece of basic content into partial paragraphs, e.g., each partial paragraph is equal and/or unequal, to generate a plurality of pieces of partial content information having various running times. Thus, the user may be helped to consume properly, in part considering various factors such as mental state, environmental and financial conditions, etc. Further, the problem that the user cannot view the entire content for an unexpected reason (with respect to the intention at the time of purchase) can be solved, or the user should purchase the entire primary content, although his/her interest may be reduced.
The content generating unit 35 may be further configured to encode the portion of content. The content generation unit 35 may prevent the portion of the content from being played on a user terminal that is not authorized to access the system 1 (e.g., a user terminal in which the application is not installed) or a user terminal that does not have a voucher.
In one embodiment, the content generating unit 35 may generate the partial content having the viewing right (authorization) information through a Digital Rights Management (DRM) process. In this case, the voucher information includes a decryption right to decrypt the encoded part of the content. For example, the decoding right includes a DRM decoding right. However, the foregoing embodiments are examples for content encoding and are not limited thereto, and may be further configured to perform various encoding procedures.
Thereafter, the database storage unit 37 may store various databases. In this specification, the database refers to a collection of many structured, unstructured, or semi-structured data, and may store data related to auctions performed in the past, and the like. In this specification, the structured data is data stored in fixed fields and may include, for example, a relational database and a spreadsheet. Further, the unstructured data is data that is not stored in a fixed field, and may include, for example, text files, images, movies, audio data, and the like. Further, the semi-structured data is data that is not stored in a fixed field but includes postscript data or schema, and may include, for example, extensible markup language (XML), hypertext markup language (HTML), text, and the like. The database storage unit 37 may include a user storage device containing information about user accounts and a content storage device storing content or at least a portion of content received from the content provider.
Each user of the system 1 for providing contents based on free vouchers is associated with user account information stored in the user information storage. The user account information includes descriptive information about users registered in the system. In one embodiment, the user account information includes a plurality of data fields, each of which describes at least one attribute of the corresponding system user. Examples of information stored in the user profile include descriptive information such as user ID, user terminal information, and credential information.
The subscriber account information may include the source (e.g., a password, an access code, a network address, etc. of the subscriber terminal) that allows the user to access the system 1 for providing partial movies based on a credential.
In one embodiment, the database storage unit 37 may store a user information table of the free voucher for the user of the free voucher. The user information table may include a user identifier; a content identifier requesting use of the free voucher; the charging completion time of the free voucher; and a decision value to indicate whether to activate the free voucher for the content, etc., but is not limited thereto.
As will be explained below, the information table recording information about each user associated with the free voucher is made separately from the information table recording information about the content associated with the free voucher, and the individual tables are mapped when a specified user requests to activate a free voucher for specified content. For this reason, even if the number of the users and contents is greatly increased, it is possible to effectively manage the charging start and charging situation in which the free voucher is different for each individual user and for each content of the same user (as described above, such a situation does not occur in the method of collectively providing the contents to all users after a certain amount of time elapses).
When receiving a request for use of the free voucher from the user terminal 4, the server 3 can quickly handle operations for realizing use of the free voucher based on the user information table of the free voucher.
The credential information includes information indicating whether the user has an available credential or the number of credentials the user has. For example, the presence of a credential may be labeled 1 and the absence of a credential may be labeled 0, or the number of credentials held may be indicated in the form of data, such as binary digits or the like, or a combination thereof may be used.
In one embodiment, the free voucher may be given after the server 3 initiates whether to provide the user of the content with a free voucher for the corresponding content. This start-up operation is performed by the free voucher management unit 33 as explained above with reference to fig. 3.
In one embodiment, the credential information may further include category information. When the credential information further includes category information, the user having the credential information can view only content within the category related to the corresponding credential. In one embodiment, the categories may be set as a series. In another embodiment, the category may be set to the entire base content.
In one embodiment, the database storage unit 37 may store a voucher accounting table for recording results of providing based on payment, activity, gift and/or free accounting, and a voucher consumption table for recording results of consumption based on usage and/or expiration of the voucher.
In an embodiment, the content storage stores objects representing content provided by the content provider or objects representing parts of content created by the operator of the system 1 for providing parts of a film based on a voucher.
In one embodiment, the content storage device stores the content information table, which records information about the content to which the free voucher is applied. The table of content information may include, for example, a content identifier; a decision value indicating whether the free voucher applies to the corresponding content; the charging completion time of the free voucher; and the time during which the user should wait until the billing completion time. In addition, the content information table may further include condition information in which the use of the free voucher is limited to the content to which the free voucher is applied (e.g., the use of the free voucher is limited to a condition within a predetermined number of episodes from the latest uploaded episode).
As described above, the database storage unit 37 includes two tables, i.e., a table recording information related to the content of the free voucher and a table recording information related to the user of the free voucher. Each table is mapped when a given user requests to launch a free voucher for a given content. Therefore, in the case where the number of users who want to use the free voucher and/or the number of contents to which the free voucher is applied increases, whether to give the free voucher to each user and/or to each content can be effectively managed. In particular, for multiple contents related to one user, the activation (i.e., giving and/or charging) of different free vouchers (e.g., different charging completion times) may be applied for each individual content, while for individual contents of multiple users, the activation (i.e., giving and/or charging) of free vouchers is applied equally, and thus, the free vouchers may be uniquely used for each user and may be uniquely used for each individual content of the same user.
As mentioned above, the content generating unit 35 and/or the database storage unit 37 of fig. 1 are provided for exemplary purposes only, and the system 1 for providing content based on free vouchers can perform the above operations in other embodiments with structures different from those of fig. 1.
In one embodiment, the content generation unit 35 and/or the database storage unit 37 may be a computing device located remotely from the server 3. In this case, the content generation unit 35 and/or the database storage unit 37 may be of a type that can access the server 3 and perform data communication in response to a request from the user.
Meanwhile, the user terminal 4 is implemented in the form of a smart phone, for example, and can communicate with the server 3 using an application installed in the user terminal 4. The user terminal 4 performs various tasks via such communication, such as providing a request for a movie selected by the user or a voucher payment request. However, the type of the user terminal 4 is not limited to the smart phone, and the user terminal 4 may be implemented in the form of various computing devices, such as other mobile communication terminals, personal computers, notebook computers, tablet computers, and Internet Protocol Televisions (IPTV).
A procedure in which the server 3 provides contents to the user who has used the voucher through the user terminal 4 is described with reference to fig. 6 and 7.
Fig. 6 and 7 are diagrams showing a procedure of providing content based on a free voucher according to an embodiment of the present invention for each case. Although in fig. 6 and 7, the type of requested and provided content is a movie, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the type is not limited thereto. In addition, for clarity of explanation, the overlapping step embodiments are omitted here.
Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for providing a content to the user using a voucher for the content according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to fig. 6, the server 3 receives a request for providing a first partial film of a plurality of partial films from the user terminal 4 (S610). The request to provide may be made by an input signal detected in the user terminal 4, but may be made by the instruction of an application installed in the user terminal 4. In some embodiments, the request to provide content may include instructions to make a content provision API call.
In one embodiment, the server 3 may divide the base movie into a plurality of paragraphs to generate a plurality of partial movies before receiving the request (S600).
After step S610, the server 3 identifies credential information of a user who has requested to provide at least a part of the movie (S620). Based on the result of the recognition, the server 3 decides whether or not to provide the corresponding partial movie information.
When the server 3 determines that there is a certificate capable of providing the user terminal 4 with the film information of the first partial film requested to be provided, the server 3 provides the user terminal with the film information of the partial film requested to be provided (S640). The server 3 transmits detailed meta information and/or content information of the corresponding partial movie to the user terminal 4. Furthermore, the server 3 may provide authorization information, such as decoding rights, for the corresponding portion of the movie. In this case, the server 3 may provide the detailed meta information, but is not limited thereto, and may additionally provide basic meta information (e.g., paragraph information) in addition to the detailed meta information.
In one embodiment, each item of the partial movie information may be composed of a single segment (Fragment) file. In the case of downloading, each item of partial movie information may be composed of a single clip file. In this case, there is an advantage in terms of communication performance and terminal performance.
In another embodiment, for example, in the case of streaming or progressive download, each item of partial movie information may be composed of a plurality of clip profiles. For example, a part of the movie information may be composed of several tens or several thousands of clip files in units of 10 seconds. Of course, the time interval of the clip file is not limited to 10 seconds, and may be arbitrarily changed variously depending on the set value (e.g., 1 second, 4 seconds, etc.).
When each item of the partial movie information is made up of a plurality of clip archives, the content generation unit 35 generates together a clip list corresponding to each partial fragment. The clip list is a list including a file name and a format, etc., of each clip archive. In an embodiment, the content generating unit 35 may generate a first clip list of the first part of the movie, a second clip list of the second part of the movie, and an nth clip list of the nth part of the movie … …, respectively. Alternatively, as explained below, the content generation unit 35 may generate the entire clip list when necessary for the entire clip list of the basic movie.
In an embodiment, the server 3 provides a list of segments of the first part of the movie.
Accordingly, the user terminal 4 plays the first part of the movie using the first part of the movie information (S645). For example, when the user terminal 4 receives the clip list, the user terminal 4 stores a clip list of the first partial film in the play list. Thereafter, the user terminal 4 may receive content information of the clip file using meta information of the clip file included in the clip list and play the first partial movie.
As mentioned above, since the fragment list is provided to the user terminal 4 only upon a request for provision from the user terminal 4, a relatively small amount of information is stored in the memory of the user terminal 4, thus improving the application performance.
Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for providing content to the user using at least one voucher for at least one content, respectively, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to fig. 7, the server 3 receives a request for providing a first partial film among a plurality of partial films from the user terminal 4 (S710).
In one embodiment, the server 3 may divide the base movie into a plurality of paragraphs to generate a plurality of partial movies before receiving the request (S700).
After step S710, the server 3 identifies credential information about the user account that has requested to provide the first part of the movie (S720). Due to the identification, when it is determined that there is credential information that can provide the first part of the movie information to the user terminal 4, the server 3 provides the first part of the movie information requested to be provided to the user terminal 4 (S740), and the user terminal 4 plays the first part of the movie using the first part of the movie information (S745).
The server 3 may receive a request to provide a second part of the film comprising the next passage and provide it to the user terminal 4. In the foregoing embodiment, before the completion of providing the first part of the movie, that is, before the end of playing the first part of the movie, the server 3 may receive a request for providing a second part of the movie including the next passage from the user terminal 4 (S750). The request to provide the second portion of the movie may be performed automatically (e.g., without the user' S separate consent) at step S750. In this case, the server 3 identifies whether the credential information on the user account includes credential information for providing the second partial movie including the next passage (S760).
Due to the identification, the server 3 determines that there is voucher information for providing the second part of the film to the user terminal 4, and the server 3 provides the second part of the film information to the user terminal 4 (S780). For example, the server 3 may provide a list of segments of the second portion of the movie.
In this case, in order to play the second part of the movie seamlessly after ending the playing of the first part of the movie, the user terminal 4 may add the clip list of the second part of the movie to the clip list of the first part of the movie. Thus, after ending the playing of the first part of the film, the second part of the film can be played in a frame seamless continuous manner. Therefore, when the user watches a plurality of partial movies in a continuous manner, seamless playback is possible, thereby providing a high user convenience.
In addition, when the voucher information of the second part of the movie is identified while the first part of the movie is being played, the second part of the movie information may be provided to the user terminal 4, and at the same time, a signal for displaying a screen indicating that the voucher information is updated on the user terminal 4 may be transmitted.
For example, when the second portion of the movie starts playing, a signal may be transmitted simultaneously to display a pop-up window, for example, "a voucher has been consumed".
Meanwhile, when the voucher information is recognized, even in the case where there is no voucher for purchasing the next passage, a partial movie of the next passage can be automatically provided. In one embodiment, when the credential information is identified, although there is no credential for playing the next paragraph, the credential for the next paragraph can be purchased without additional consent. Thus, a partial movie of the next passage may be received from the server 3. In this specification, a notification about the automatic purchase may be provided to the user before or after the automatic purchase. That is, unless the user takes separate action prior to the automatic purchase, a notification may be provided to notify that the voucher was automatically purchased and a partial movie of the next paragraph is provided, and when the purchase is automatically made, an informational screen may be provided to the user to notify that the purchase is completed.
In some cases, the server 3 may receive a request to provide a third portion of the movie comprising a segment that is not consecutive to the first portion of the movie to be played, and in this case, as described above, a clip list of the first portion of the movie may be newly added and provided. That is, the added clip list is not limited to the clips that are consecutive to the portion of the film being played.
In addition, in the voucher identification step S720, the server 3 can identify whether there is a free voucher for the user for the requested content.
In an embodiment, the server 3 may receive a request from the user terminal to additionally provide a part of the film of the next paragraph (e.g. the second part of the film) before the provision of the first part of the film is completed based on the voucher given for the payment.
Thereafter, after the start of the providing of the first part of the movie, the server 3 gives the user a free voucher when the free voucher is completed before receiving a request for additional providing of the second part of the movie. The requested additional second portion of the movie may then be provided to the user terminal based on the newly provided free voucher.
In an embodiment, the server 3 may receive an additional provision request of the next passage of the partial movie from the user terminal 4 before completing provision of the partial movie based on the existing charged free voucher within the category in which the free voucher is applicable. Thereafter, the server 3 identifies whether there is a voucher for providing a part of the movie additionally provided based on the voucher information of the user. If the user has paid vouchers and/or free vouchers, the server 3 provides the user terminal 4 with a part of the movie requested to be additionally provided based on the vouchers the user has.
In another embodiment, the server 3 may generate a clip list, and upon receiving the provided request from the user terminal 4, may provide a clip list including a clip file of a non-requested partial movie. That is, the server 3 may previously provide a clip file of a passage that is not separately requested from the user terminal 4.
In one embodiment, the fragment list may be a fragment list of the entire paragraph.
Thus, since the clip list of the entire passage is registered in the user terminal 4 prior to the provided request, it can be more easily played automatically or seamlessly in a continuous manner.
The steps illustrated in fig. 6 and 7 are for illustrative purposes only and may be performed in a different order or may be omitted depending on the settings of the server 3 and/or the terminal 4.
According to the system and method for providing content based on free voucher as described in the previous embodiments, partial movies corresponding to a plurality of divided segments of the basic movie can be purchased partially, so that the user can selectively and actively consume the entire played segment of the movie, which only partially attracts his interest. In addition, before the part of the movie being displayed is completed, the next part of the movie is requested and displayed in a seamless manner, so that seamless playing can be achieved without interrupting the watching process of the user.
The operations of the system and method for providing a partial movie based on a certificate according to the foregoing embodiments may be at least partially implemented as a computer program and recorded in a computer-readable recording medium.
The computer may be a personal computer, desktop computer, laptop computer, notebook computer, smart phone, or similar computing device and any integrated device. The computer is a device having one or more processors, memory, storage space, and network connectivity components (wireless or wired) for alternative and specific purposes. The computer may execute an Operating System (OS), such as an OS compatible with Microsoft's Windows, Apple OS X or iOS, Linux distribution, or Google's Android OS.
The computer program includes a set of instructions that can be executed on the aforementioned computer, and the names may vary depending on the type of computer. For example, when the computer is of the type of a smartphone, the computer program may be referred to as an application APP.
The computer-readable recording medium on which a program for performing the operation by the system and method for providing a partial movie based on a voucher according to the embodiment has been recorded includes all types of recording apparatuses in which computer-readable data is stored. Examples of the computer readable recording medium are Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), magnetic tape, floppy disk, and optical data storage device. In addition, the computer readable recording medium is dispersed over a computer system connected via a network, and the computer readable code can be stored and executed in a distributed fashion. Furthermore, the functional programs, codes, and code segments for implementing this embodiment will be readily understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which this embodiment pertains.
Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, this is provided for illustrative purposes only, and various modifications and changes will be apparent to those skilled in the art. However, it should be noted that such modifications fall within the technical scope of the present invention. Therefore, the true technical scope of the present invention should be defined by the technical spirit of the claims hereinafter.
Industrial applications
The invention relates to a method and a system for providing content to a user based on a free voucher. The invention can reduce the server load of the user and the works (contents) which are greatly increased, execute effective database management and rapid data processing, further, effectively provide a system of free certificates, and give the free certificates to the user according to the charge based on the lapse of a certain time so as to provide the contents to the user.

Claims (19)

1. A method performed by a server for providing content based on free vouchers, the method comprising:
transmitting information on whether the content complies with a free voucher that is free of charge if a certain amount of time passes, to the user terminal, based on a content information table of a database including meta information on the content;
receiving an initiation request from the user terminal to initiate charging of the free voucher for the content of the free voucher;
when the starting request is received, mapping the user and the content requesting the starting, and recording a mapping result in a user information table of the database; and
starting to charge the free voucher for the mapped content based on the user information table recording the mapping result.
2. The method for providing content based on free vouchers according to claim 1, wherein the content information table includes a content identifier,
the user information table comprises a content identifier; and
the mapping between the user and the content requested to be started is based on the content identifier of the table of content information and the content identifier of the table of subscriber information.
3. The method for providing content based on free vouchers as claimed in claim 2, wherein the content information table further includes a decision value for deciding whether content complies with the free vouchers and charging periods of the free vouchers; and
the user information table further comprises a user identifier; an activation value indicating whether to activate the provisioning of the free voucher for the user's mapped content; and the charging completion time of the free voucher.
4. The free voucher based method of providing content of claim 3, wherein the user information table comprises a free voucher billing table; and a free voucher consumption table including information on the free voucher of the user, and
the method comprises the following steps:
in the event that charging of the free voucher for the content is initiated, identifying whether charging of the free voucher is complete based on a charging completion time of the free voucher and a current time;
while consuming the charged free voucher, giving the user viewing rights to the content charged with the free voucher; and
and recording the consumption result of the free voucher in the voucher consumption table.
5. The free voucher based method of providing content of claim 4, further comprising:
updating the charging completion time of the free voucher to be additionally charged in the user information table by adding the charging period of the free voucher to the charging completion time of the charged free voucher.
6. The free voucher based method of providing content of claim 4, further comprising:
charging for the free voucher when the charging for the content is represented in the user information table as a start-up state, and
in a case where the content indicated as the activated state in the content information table is excluded from the content to which the free voucher is applied, the content is allowed to be viewed through the charged free voucher after completion of charging for the free voucher.
7. The method for providing content based on free vouchers according to claim 4, wherein the content is a work of text or image combined with text composed of a plurality of episodes,
the method further comprises:
receiving a request from the user terminal to provide at least one of the plurality of episodes;
identifying credential information relating to a user account, the credential information including the free credential information; and
based on the result of the identification, providing the user terminal with information about the at least one episode, whether to apply the free voucher being decided for the work consisting of the plurality of episodes, and each of the at least one episode being consumable by the free voucher.
8. The method for providing content based on free vouchers according to claim 4, wherein the content is a basic movie (video),
the method further comprises:
dividing an entire playback passage of the base movie into a plurality of partial sections to generate partial movie information;
receiving a request for providing at least one of a plurality of partial movies from a user terminal;
identifying credential information relating to a user account, the credential information including the free credential information; and
providing at least one of said partial movie information to said user terminal based on the result of identification, whether to apply said free voucher being determined for the entire basic movie, and
each partial movie can be consumed by the free voucher.
9. The free voucher based method of providing content of claim 8, further comprising:
receiving a request for additional provision of a portion of a movie of a next passage from the user terminal before completion of providing the requested at least one portion of the movie information to the user terminal;
identifying whether the credential information about the user account includes the free credential, charging for which is completed prior to receiving the request for additional provisioning of a request for additional provisioning for the portion of the movie; and
providing the user terminal with a request for additional provision of the portion of the movie information for which charging is complete based on a result of identifying the free voucher.
10. A computer-readable recording medium having stored thereon computer-readable program instructions executable by a computer, the program instructions, when executed by the processor, causing a processor of the computer to perform the method of providing content based on free vouchers as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9.
11. A system for providing a movie based on a free voucher, comprising a server for executing a method for providing a movie based on a free voucher, the system comprising:
a free voucher management unit configured to transmit information as to whether a content complies with a free voucher which is free of charge if a certain amount of time passes to a user terminal based on a content information table of a database including meta information on the content, and configured to receive a start request for starting charging of the free voucher for the content complying with the free voucher from the user terminal, and configured to map a user with the content requested to be started and record a mapping result in a user table of the database when the start request is received, and configured to start charging of the free voucher for the mapped content based on a user table in which the mapping result is recorded; and
a content providing unit configured to, when receiving a request for providing the content from the user terminal, identify voucher information including the free voucher about the user terminal, and configured to provide content information of the requested content to the user terminal based on a result of the identification.
12. The free voucher based system of claim 11, wherein the free voucher management unit comprises a content information table and a user information table,
each of the table of content information and the table of user information includes a content identifier, and
the mapping between the user and the content requesting the activation is based on the content identifier of the table of content information and the content identifier of the table of subscriber information.
13. The system for providing content based on free vouchers as claimed in claim 12, wherein the content information table further includes a decision value for deciding whether the content complies with the free vouchers and a charging period of the free vouchers; and
the user information table further comprises a user identifier; an activation value indicating whether to activate the provisioning of the free voucher for the user's mapped content; and the charging completion time of the free voucher.
14. The free voucher based system of claim 13 wherein the user information table comprises a free voucher billing table; and a free voucher consumption table including information about the free voucher of the user; and
the free voucher management unit is further configured to, in a case where charging of the free voucher for the content is started, identify whether charging of the free voucher is completed based on a charging completion time of the free voucher and a current time; while the user consumes the charged free voucher, giving the user viewing rights to the content charged with the free voucher; and
and recording the consumption result of the free voucher in the voucher consumption table.
15. The free voucher based on content system of claim 14, wherein the free voucher management unit is further configured to update the charging completion time of the free voucher to be additionally charged in the user information table by adding a charging period of the free voucher to the charging completion time of the charged free voucher.
16. The free voucher based content system of claim 14, wherein
Charging the free voucher when the charging of the free voucher for the content is represented as a startup state in the user information table; and
in the case where the content indicated as the activated state in the content information table is excluded from the content to which the free voucher is applied,
the free voucher management unit is further configured to allow viewing of the content through the charged free voucher after completion of charging of the free voucher.
17. The free voucher based system of claim 14, wherein the content is a textual or image-combined textual work consisting of a plurality of episodes,
the content providing unit is further configured to, in the event that the content providing unit receives a request from the user terminal to provide at least one of the plurality of episodes, identify credential information relating to a user account, the credential information including the free credential information; and providing information on at least one episode to the user terminal based on the result of the recognition; and
whether to apply the free voucher is decided for the work including the plurality of episodes, and each of at least one episode can be consumed by the free voucher.
18. The free voucher based system of claim 14, wherein the content is a basic movie,
the system further comprises:
a movie generation unit configured to divide an entire play paragraph of the base movie into a plurality of partial paragraphs to generate partial movie information,
the content providing unit is further configured to, in the event that the content providing unit receives a request from a user terminal to provide at least one of a plurality of partial movies, identify credential information relating to a user account, the credential information including the free credential information; and providing at least a portion of the movie information to the user terminal based on the result of the identification; and
whether to apply the free voucher is decided for the entire basic movie, and each partial movie can be consumed by the free voucher.
19. The system for providing content based on free vouchers as claimed in claim 18, wherein the content providing unit is further configured to, in the event that the content providing unit receives a request from the user terminal to additionally provide a portion of a movie for a next passage before completing providing the requested at least a portion of movie information to the user terminal, identify whether the voucher information about the user account includes the free voucher, for which charging is completed before receiving the request for additional providing of additional providing requests for the portion of the movie; and
providing the user terminal with a request for additional provision of the portion of the movie information for which charging is complete based on a result of identifying the free voucher.
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