JP2000113050A - Electronic book system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the degree of freedom for selecting the purchase of an electronic book and reduce the purchase. SOLUTION: In publishers of electronic books, the electronic book is partially enciphered by a read key 10025 dedicated to that book in the format readable only by an electronic book viewer 10010 for the dedicated management of the electronic book and in the state of absence of this read key 10025, partial information is made normally unreadable and distributed. A reader reads the partially omitted electronic book and when he desires the acquisition of regular information, the read key 10025 is acquired by payment and while canceling the enciphered parts, all the information is read.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a book supply method and a book management method, and more particularly to electronic publishing for supplying a book as electronic information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Document supply using electronic information has already been used in various fields such as personal computer communication. Electronic books are also sold as electronic information in a format called an expanded book via a personal computer communication or the Internet. With this special browser software, you can read books in the same format as real books with vertical writing and ruby, and you can lay out illustrations and photos.

[0003]

However, the electronic information according to the present method is in the form of a file of an ordinary computer, and can be freely copied. Also, since dedicated browser software can be distributed free of charge and copied, there is no way to prevent unauthorized copying of books other than relying on the morals of the user. In addition, electronic information is in an ordinary file format, and it is necessary to manage all of the information with the file management software of the personal computer in the same line as other word processors and spreadsheet files. Not provided.

[0004]

In order to solve this problem, the present invention employs the following two means for purchasing and updating a book as electronic information. First means: (1) The publisher of electronic information (hereinafter, referred to as an electronic book) of a book (hereinafter, referred to as an electronic bookstore) must be in a format that can be read only by an electronic book viewer who exclusively manages the electronic book, In addition, a part of the information is encrypted with a book-specific key (hereinafter referred to as a viewing key), and is distributed as paid or free of charge as information in which some information cannot be read normally without the viewing key. (2) The subscriber of the electronic book can read the obtained electronic book with the electronic book viewer. At this time, the subscriber sees a partially missing electronic book. If the subscriber wishes to obtain this missing information, he or she obtains a viewing key for a fee. (3) The electronic book viewer decrypts the encrypted part of the electronic book with the obtained browsing key and displays all information.

Second means: (1) When an electronic bookstore updates the contents of an electronic book already distributed regularly or temporarily, the electronic book viewer can easily update the distribution status of the latest information and update the contents. Distribute the associated e-book. (2) The electronic book viewer has a function of allowing the subscriber to set the update conditions of the electronic book (always automatic update, update by article, storage of the old electronic book, etc.) on the electronic book browsing screen. (3) The electronic book viewer acquires a new electronic book according to the update condition of the electronic book set by the subscriber, and rebuilds the electronic book in which information is updated or added and recorded.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A specific example of an embodiment of an electronic book system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an electronic book system according to the present invention. From e-bookstore 10020, book information in broadcast format 1
0022 is transmitted to the electronic book viewer 10000. The electronic book viewer 10010 is an electronic book viewer 1 (not shown).
[0010] The book information 10021 is recorded in an internal recording device or a recording device connected via a network or the like. Since this information is in broadcast format, it is free to intercept and record by signing a reception contract, etc., but since it is partially encrypted, all information in the book will be used unless you purchase it as described below. It is impossible to browse. 10030, 10031, and 10032 are examples of the display screen of the electronic book viewer 10010. The subscriber browses the electronic book information by using the electronic book viewer 10010, selects a chapter or an article by viewing the table of contents on the display screen 10032, and switches the screen. If the subscriber wants the full text, e-bookstore 10020
Send purchase request 10024 including the billing procedure to. Electronic bookstore 1
[0020] In response to the request, a viewing key 10025 for decrypting the book information 10021 is transmitted to the electronic book viewer 10010.
The purchase request 10024 is made using a network such as the Internet or personal computer communication, and the browsing key 10025 is sent in the same broadcast format as the above network and book information. The e-book viewer 10010 uses the viewing key 10025 to release the information loss by encryption (hereinafter, decryption) and display the screen 10031
Is output. With the above operation, the subscriber can obtain the book information 1002
You can browse all contents of 2. The book information 10021 is stored in another network such as the Internet 10022 or on a CD-ROM 10023.
Alternatively, a method of distributing using package media such as the above may be adopted.

A specific example of a method of displaying the book information 10021 distributed by the electronic bookstore 10020 by encryption will be described with reference to FIG. 20010, 20011, 20012, 20013 are e-book viewers 1001
0 is the display screen, 20010, 20011, and 20012 are the viewing keys 1002
5 Encrypted information display screen before purchase.
It is a display screen of the decrypted information after purchasing 10025. On the display screen 20010, information of only one page at the head of all information can be browsed, and all other information cannot be browsed. Further, the display screen 20011 has only the first page and some information (characters and drawings) is invisible. Further, the display screen 20011 allows all pages to be viewed, but makes partial information (characters and drawings) of each page invisible. In any case, by obtaining the browse key 10025, all pages shown on the display screen 20003 can be browsed. The selection of the display method by the encryption can be arbitrarily selected and combined by the electronic bookstore 10020 according to the content of the electronic book to be distributed. For example, a display screen 20010 for an e-book with a large number of pages, such as a novel or a dramatic picture, and a display screen 20011 for a small number of pages such as an article in an information magazine. In the case of an electronic book having mathematical formulas, drawings, and the like, the display screen 20012 is expected to be an effective display method for increasing the purchase motivation of the subscriber.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a second configuration of the electronic book system according to the present invention. This is e-bookstore 10020
When distributing an electronic book, reference information is added to the electronic book information of the main body in advance, and the subscriber obtains and browses the reference.

The electronic book viewer 10010 enables a subscriber to view electronic book information by obtaining electronic book information in the above-described embodiment, and also enables a display screen 30032 showing a list of references to be viewed. The subscriber browses the reference list display screen 30032, selects a reference that is deemed necessary, and switches the screen to display the display screen 3003.
Browse the corresponding partially encrypted references of 0 and get an overview. When the subscriber wants the full text, the purchase key 10025 is purchased and decrypted by the same operation as in the above-described embodiment, so that the entire contents of the reference can be browsed as shown on the display screen 30031.

FIG. 4 shows a specific example of a display method for obtaining a reference from the book information 10021 distributed by the electronic bookstore 10020. 40010, 40011, 40012, 40013 are e-book viewers 100
10 is a display screen. The electronic book viewer 10010 shifts from the electronic book information and table of contents browsing screen of the main body to the reference list screen display 30032 by a SW operation of hardware or software (not shown) by the subscriber. The subscriber browses the screen display 30032 and selects a desired reference. With this operation, the electronic book viewer 10010 displays one of the display screens 40010, 40011, and 40012 of the reference information partially encrypted. Display screens 40010, 40011, and 40012 have the same configuration as 20010, 20011, and 20012 described with reference to FIG. Become The subscriber browses any of the above display screens 40010, 40011, and 40012, and purchases a decryption key 10025 when he or she decides to purchase. Can be browsed.

Next, the electronic bookstore 1002 in the present embodiment
An example of the structure of data of an electronic book distributed by 0 will be described with reference to FIG. (a) and (b) are electronic book data. First
The electronic book data (a) which is an example of the structure of the main body of the electronic book information 50,000, the reference list 50010 which is the reference list information, the reference document information body 1 (50020), reference Reference 2 (50030) and Reference 3 (50040) are integrated. Reference 1 (50020) above,
Reference Document 2 (50030) and Reference Document 3 (50040) are each partially encrypted with a dedicated viewing key. By this,
The electronic book viewer 10010 accesses and displays each data according to the operation of the subscriber, and decrypts each reference by purchasing a viewing key.

The electronic book data (b) of the second configuration example is composed of a main body 50100 of electronic book information, a reference list 50110 as reference list information, and a reference accessed from a network such as the Internet or a personal computer communication. Reference 1 link 5012, which is link information indicating a document storage location
0, reference 2 link 50130, and reference 3 link 50140 are integrated. Reference 1 link 5012
0, Reference 2 link 50130, Reference 3 link 50140
Is composed of a link that can be accessed for the first time when the body 50100, which is the main body of the electronic book information, is purchased, and a link that is encrypted with a dedicated encryption key. The e-book viewer 10010 displays a reference document that is partially encrypted by accessing the network using the link according to the operation of the subscriber. Further, by accessing the network using the link decrypted by the purchase of the browsing key, an unencrypted reference document is displayed.

Next, a screen in which some information has been lost due to encryption of the state before purchase of the browsing key (hereinafter referred to as browsing state).
A data generation method (hereinafter referred to as a browse page) will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 shows the structure of the browse page. An electronic book is composed of characters, drawings, photograph information, and the like, but here, all are described as image information in order to simplify the description. Browse page 6001
At 0, a part of the image is replaced with a replacement image 60011 unrelated to the text content. The replacement image data 60020 is added to the electronic book main body along with the regular image data 60021. In the browse state, the replacement image data 60020 is always selected and displayed.

In the browse page 60030, a part of the image is a low-resolution image 300011. This is effective in increasing the willingness to purchase a browsing key because the subscriber can grasp the outline of the corresponding part even in the state of browsing. A specific method for generating the low-resolution image will be described with reference to FIG. The normal image data 70010 is divided into blocks 70011, and DC
DCT conversion is performed in the T processing unit 70020. DCT (Discrete Cosine
Transform (discrete cosine transform) is a well-known technique that is a typical example of orthogonal transform for frequency-decomposing image data. DCT
The converted and frequency-decomposed image data is grouped into a plurality of frequency bands, and band-based image data 70030, 70031, 70
032 and 70033 are generated. Here, the image data by band
70030 has the highest frequency, 70031, 70032. . . And lower in order. Next, band-specific image data 70030, 70031,
70032 and 70033, respectively, the encoding processing units 7040, 70041, 7004
In 2 and 70043, the image data is compressed by a combination of known techniques such as quantization and entropy coding, and is converted into compressed image data for each band. Further, the compressed image data in the high frequency band is grouped, and the encrypted image data is subjected to encryption using the browsing key in the encryption processing unit 70050, and the compressed image data is integrated with the compressed image data in the low frequency band not subjected to the encryption. Generate the data 70060. Thus, compressed image data having a low frequency band, that is, compressed image data having low-resolution image information (hereinafter referred to as low-resolution compressed image data), and compressed image data having a high frequency band, that is, having high-resolution image information and encrypted (Hereinafter referred to as high-resolution compressed image data).

FIG. 8 shows the internal data structure of the compressed image data 70060 generated by the above processing. Compressed image data 7
0060 is Start data 80010 indicating the head of the compressed image data.
At the beginning, structure information data 8001 describing information such as that the compressed image data has a hierarchical structure for each frequency band.
1, unencrypted low-resolution compressed image data 80012,
It has a structure in which encrypted high-resolution compressed image data 80013 and End data 8014 indicating the end of the compressed image data are described.

When the electronic book viewer 10010 detects the compressed image data 70060 in the electronic book information, the electronic book viewer 10010 verifies the inside of the data and then expands only the low-resolution compressed image data 80012 in the browse state to display it on the browse page. I do. After that, when the subscriber purchases the viewing key, the encrypted high-resolution compressed image data 80013 can be decrypted, and the full text of the electronic book information can be viewed by expanding the decrypted high-resolution compressed image data. it can. If the compressed image data of the present embodiment is used, by analyzing the inside of the compressed image data, extracting the high-resolution compressed image data, and performing expansion processing, even if the full text of the electronic book information is to be browsed, Since the resolution-compressed image data itself is encrypted, it is very difficult, and illegal acquisition of an electronic book can be prevented.

Next, another embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an update operation of an electronic book in which town information, technical information, and the like are frequently updated.
90010, 90020, and 90030 are display screens (parts) of the electronic book viewer 10010, and update the electronic book according to the following procedure. The display screen 90010 is an update processing screen for an already purchased electronic book, and displays information classification 90011 and version 90012, a setting button 90013, and an update button 90014. The electronic book viewer 10010 displays an update condition setting display screen 90020 when the subscriber selects the setting button 90013 for setting the update condition. On the display screen 90020, a button 90021 for automatic update which is automatically updated once set,
Old data save button 90 to update but retain old data
022 etc. are displayed, and the subscriber makes various settings according to the purpose. After the above setting, the screen returns to the display screen 90010, and when the subscriber selects the update button 90014 for executing the update processing, the screen shifts to the update processing confirmation display screen 90030. Here, by selecting an OK button 90031, the update process is started and the display screen 90010 is displayed. At this time, if the update condition is set to always update automatically (select the always update button 90021 on the display screen 90010), the update button
Since there is no need to select, the update button 90014 is switched to non-display or halftone display for the purpose of preventing confusion of the operation and the like. When the automatic update is stopped constantly, the process is canceled by reselecting the automatic update button 90021 on the update condition setting display screen 90020 or the like. Thereafter, when the update is executed and the updated electronic book is acquired, the electronic book viewer 10010 switches the version 90012 displayed on the display screen 90010 to a new version 90015.

FIG. 10 shows the data structure of the electronic book updated by the above processing. (a) shows the electronic book data before updating, and (b) and (c) show the electronic book data after updating, respectively. The e-book data (a) is old A information 100010, old B information 100011, old C information 100012 and 3
It is composed of the type information. Since an electronic bookstore does not always update and distribute all information at the same time, the following description will be made on the assumption that only B and C information are updated and distributed. An example in which the update is executed without selecting the saving of the old data by the operation described with reference to FIG. 9 is the electronic book data (b), and the A information is not updated because the A information is not updated.
0, and the B and C information is updated to the new B information 100021,
The configuration has been replaced with new C information 10022. Further, an example in which the update is executed by selecting the storage of the old data is the electronic book data (c), and the old A information 100010 and the old B information 10001 are displayed.
1. With the old C information 10012 held, the new B information 1002
1. New C information 10022 is added. In this way, the subscriber can build his own e-book by selecting the update condition as necessary (for example, to keep a change history, need only the latest information, reduce the amount of recorded data, etc.) You can do it.

An example of a method of browsing information after reconstructing an electronic book by the above update will be described with reference to FIG. 1100010
Is a display screen of the electronic book viewer 10010, and displays a list of genres searched at certain conditions (restaurants). This information has been updated by selecting to save the old data, so that there are multiple versions. The subscriber can select the desired version selection buttons 1100020, 1100021, 11
Select 00022 to browse necessary information. Although not particularly described with reference to the drawings, a function of deleting arbitrary information that is no longer necessary after browsing and reconstructing an electronic book may be provided.

[0020]

According to the present invention as described above, the subscriber can
An outline can be grasped before purchasing an electronic book, and the degree of freedom in selecting an electronic book can be improved. Also,
Because you can freely select the method of updating the e-book that is updated from time to time (automation, leave a history, etc.),
Since only necessary articles can be purchased and stored in the form of an electronic scrapbook, there is also an effect of reducing purchase costs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an electronic book system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a specific example of a display method by encrypting book information distributed by an electronic bookstore.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a second configuration of the electronic book system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a specific example of a display method when a reference is obtained from book information distributed by an electronic bookstore.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of data of an electronic book distributed by an electronic book store according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a browse page according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a specific method for generating a low-resolution image according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of an internal data structure of compressed image data according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of an electronic book update operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a data structure of an updated electronic book.

FIG. 11 is an example of a method of browsing information after reconstructing an electronic book by updating.

[Description of Signs] 10010: Electronic book viewer 10020: Electronic bookstore 10021: Encrypted book information in broadcast format 10022: Internet 10023: CD-ROM 10024: Viewing key 10030, 10031, 10032: Display screen 20010, 20011, 20012 , 20013… Display screen 30030, 30031, 20032… Display screen 40010, 40011, 40012, 40013… Display screen 50000, 50100… Body 50010, 50110… Reference list 50020… Reference 1 50030… Reference 2 50040… Reference 3 50120… Reference 1 link 50130… Reference 2 link 50140… Reference 3 link 60010,60030… Browse page 60011… Replacement image 60020… Replacement image data 60021… Regular image data 60031… Low resolution image 70010… Image data 70011… Block 70020: DCT processing unit 70030, 70031, 70032, 70033: Image data by band 70040, 70041, 70042, 70043: Encoding processing unit 70050: Encryption processing unit 70060: Compressed image Data 80010… Start data 80011… Structural information data 80012… Low resolution compressed image data 80013… High resolution compressed image data 80014… End data 90010,90020,90030… Display screen 90011… Classification display of information 90012,90015… Version display 90013 ... Setting button 90014 ... Update button 90021 ... Always automatic update button 90022 ... Old data save button 90031 ... OK button 100010 ... Old A information 100011 ... Old B information 100012 ... Old C information 100021 ... New B information 100022 ... New C information 110010… Display screen 110020,110021,110022… Version selection button

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G09C 1/00 660 G06F 15/40 310F (72) Inventor Maki Furui 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture. Hitachi, Ltd. Multimedia System Development Division (72) Inventor Hiroshi Shimizu 292, Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture Hitachi, Ltd. Multimedia System Development Division (72) Inventor Yukinobu Tada Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Ichitochi, Japan Multimedia Systems Development Headquarters, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Toru Numata 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan F-term in Hitachi Multimedia Systems Development Headquarters ) 5B049 AA05 BB26 CC05 EE05 FF01 GG02 GG10 5B075 KK07 ND03 ND06 ND18 ND36 UU11 5B085 AA01 AE29 5B089 GA11 GB03 JA08 JB06 KA00 KH30

Claims (13)

[Claims] An electronic book system in which a book composed of a text document, a diagram, and an image is distributed as an electronic book, and the electronic book can be read only by executing a specific procedure. An electronic bookstore composed of a computer and a communication device for creating and selling an electronic book, and an electronic book viewer composed of a computer and a communication device for purchasing, managing, browsing, etc. of the electronic book in a specific procedure. An electronic book system comprising: 2. An electronic book system in which a book composed of a text document, a diagram, and an image is distributed as an electronic book, and the electronic book can be read only by executing a specific procedure. A means for encrypting and distributing a designated part of the electronic book by using a dedicated browsing key for each book, and distributing and distributing a browsing key for decrypting the encryption; And an electronic bookstore having control means for controlling the communication means. 3. A designated part of an electronic book, which is a computerized electronic book of a text document, a figure, a table, and an image, is distributed and encrypted, and the electronic book can be read only by executing a specific procedure. Means for recording and outputting an image of the encrypted electronic book in the electronic book system;
An electronic book viewer, comprising: communication means for purchasing and receiving the browsing key for visualizing the legitimate information of the electronic book; and means for decrypting the image with the browsing key and outputting the image. 4. An electronic book system in which a book composed of a text document, a diagram, and an image is distributed as an electronic book, and the electronic book can be read only by executing a specific procedure. Means for distributing a book and a plurality of related electronic books related to the contents of the book by encrypting the specified part of the information so that the information cannot be browsed, and selling and distributing a browsing key for decrypting the encryption; An electronic bookstore comprising: a communication unit that performs communication; and a control unit that controls the communication unit. 5. An electronic book in which a book composed of a text document, a diagram, and an image is digitized and a plurality of designated related electronic books related to the contents of the book are encrypted and distributed, and distributed. In an electronic book system that can only read a book by executing a specific procedure, means for recording and outputting an electronic book and an encrypted related electronic book, and visualizing regular information of the related electronic book An electronic book viewer, comprising: a communication unit for purchasing and receiving the browsing key, and a unit for decrypting the image with the browsing key and outputting a video. 6. The system according to claim 2, further comprising means for encrypting and distributing a part of the designated information to information irrelevant to the contents of the electronic book when the browsing key is not purchased. Electronic bookstore listed. 7. A system according to claim 3, further comprising means for switching a part of the designated information to information irrelevant to the contents of the electronic book and outputting a video image when the browsing key is not purchased.
The described e-book viewer. 8. The electronic bookstore according to claim 2, further comprising means for encrypting and distributing a part of the designated information in a state where the browsing key has not been purchased. 9. The electronic book viewer according to claim 3, further comprising means for lowering the resolution of a part of the designated information and outputting an image when the browsing key is not purchased. 10. A system for distributing an electronic book to which book information in which the contents of an electronic book already distributed are updated, and update status information such as a distribution status and an association with a past electronic book are added. The electronic bookstore according to claim 2. 11. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an update condition can be set based on said update status information, and an electronic book is acquired in accordance with said update condition, and means for reconstructing an electronic book owned by a subscriber is provided. The electronic book viewer according to claim 3. 12. The electronic book viewer according to claim 11, which has a function of automatically acquiring the latest electronic book every time the electronic book is updated, and reconstructing the electronic book owned by the subscriber. 13. The electronic book viewer according to claim 11, further comprising means for acquiring the latest electronic book and reconstructing an electronic book associated with a past electronic book owned by a subscriber.