JP2001266040A - Method and apparatus for software sale - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and an apparatus for software sale, which can omit search of a licenser and access to a terminal or a server device provided by the licenser at software purchase time to improve the convenience of purchasers and eliminate the need for license contract between a software vendor and the licensor of software and enables the licensor of software, to recognize persons who have placed orders for the software. SOLUTION: A customer terminal 10, a vendor terminal 20, a licensor terminal 30, and a settlement terminal 40 which are connected to a network N are provided. The vendor terminal 20 provides the customer terminal 10 with commodity information of software and transfers order information to the licensor terminal 30, when order information is transmitted from the customer terminal 10. The licensor terminal 30 transmits download permission information to the customer terminal 10 which has transmitted order information to enable downloading.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for selling software, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for selling software via a network such as the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, generally, various applications such as an operating system (OS), a word processor, a spreadsheet program, etc., and various softwares (hereinafter, referred to as software) such as a game are a flexible disk, a CD-ROM, etc. In the state of being stored in the recording medium of
The form provided by the dealer was common. By the way, in recent years, along with the improvement of a network environment such as the Internet and the dramatic improvement in computer processing capability, software sales have been started via a network.

[0003]

By the way, in selling conventional software via a network, it is general that a software seller is a licensee of the software. Therefore, when the orderer purchases the software,
It was necessary to search for the license holder on the Internet for each piece of software to be purchased and access the terminal or server device to purchase the software, which was extremely cumbersome and complicated for the orderer. .

[0004] In order to solve the above problems, it is now practiced that one software seller purchases software sales rights from many software license holders and sells the software. However, in this case, there is a problem for the software seller that it is necessary to conclude a license contract with many licensees of the software. Also, there is a problem that the licensee of the software cannot recognize the orderer.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and eliminates the need for searching for a licensee and accessing a terminal or a server provided by the licensee when purchasing software, thereby improving the convenience of the purchaser. A software sales apparatus and method that can enhance the operability, eliminate the need for a license agreement between the software seller and the software licensee, and further enable the software licensee to know the orderer who ordered the software. The purpose is to provide.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a software selling apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a customer terminal connected to a network;
A sales terminal that provides merchandise information relating to software when requested by the customer terminal; and a license holder terminal that is connected to the network, stores the software, and provides the software. The licenser terminal transmits the order information to the license holder terminal when order information is transmitted from the customer terminal, and the license holder terminal transmits the order information when the order information is transferred. Transmitting download permission information permitting download of the software specified by the order information to the customer terminal that transmitted the order information, wherein the customer terminal transmits the software ordered from the license holder terminal based on the download permission information; It is characterized by downloading. Further, in the software selling apparatus of the present invention, the network is connected to a settlement terminal including at least a customer account operating the customer terminal and a license holder account operating the license holder terminal, The order information transmitted from the customer terminal includes payment card information designating the account of the customer, and the license holder terminal generates customer settlement information based on the transferred order information, and The customer settlement information is transmitted to a terminal, and the settlement terminal transfers money from the customer's account to the license holder's account based on the customer settlement information. Further, in the software selling apparatus according to the present invention, the settlement terminal further includes an account of a seller who operates the seller terminal, and the license holder terminal transmits the download permission information to the customer terminal, Send to seller terminal,
The seller terminal creates seller payment information based on the download permission information and transmits the seller payment information to the payment terminal. The payment terminal transmits the sales information from the license holder's account based on the seller payment information. It is characterized by making a transfer to the account of the person. Further, the software selling method of the present invention includes a step of providing merchandise information on software from a seller to a customer, and a step of licensing the order information when the order information of the software is sent from the customer to the seller. Transferring the license information to the customer to whom the license owner has transmitted the order information; and transmitting the license information to the customer who has transmitted the order information. And downloading the software ordered from the company. The software selling method according to the present invention further comprises the step of transmitting payment card information for designating an account to the license holder when the customer places an order, wherein the license holder determines the customer based on the payment card information and the order information. Generating payment information; and performing a transfer from the customer's account to the license holder's account based on the customer payment information. Further, the software selling method of the present invention further comprises the steps of: sending the download permission information to the seller; the seller creating seller payment information based on the download permission information; Transfer from the license holder's account to the seller's account based on the

[0007]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a software sales apparatus and method according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a software vending apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
Referring to FIG. 1, a software sales device according to an embodiment of the present invention is configured by connecting a customer terminal 10, a seller terminal 20, a license holder terminal 30, and a payment terminal 40 to each other via a network N such as the Internet. Have been.

[0008] The customer terminal 10 is a terminal operated by a customer who is an orderer of software (hereinafter, referred to as software), and is an information processing device such as a portable information terminal, a personal computer, or a workstation. The customer terminal 10 includes an input unit 13 having a data input function, a processing unit 11 for controlling data input and display, and a network N.
It comprises an I / F unit 12 having a function of transmitting and receiving a connection with the display unit, a display unit 14 for displaying various guide screens and the like, and a storage unit 15 for storing data and the like.

An example of the input means 13 is, for example, various keys such as a numeric keypad provided in a portable information terminal, a keyboard or a mouse. The processing unit 11 is, for example, a CPU (central processing unit). The I / F unit 12 is, for example, a modem or a terminal adapter. Also, the display means 14
Various display devices such as a CRT (Cathod Ray Tube) and a liquid crystal display device.

[0010] The customer terminal 10 accesses the seller terminal 20 on the network N and displays on the display means 14 the product information transmitted from the seller terminal 20 via the network N; Is transmitted to the seller terminal 20 via the network N.
The product information includes information such as a software name, a product number, a maker name, and a price. The customer terminal 10 further has a function of receiving the download permission information from the license holder terminal 30 and downloading the ordered software to the storage unit 15.

The seller terminal 20 is used by a software seller and is constituted by an information processing device such as a workstation or a server. The seller terminal 20 includes a processing unit 21 having the same functions as the customer terminal 10, an I / F unit 22, a product information database 23 storing a plurality of product information of at least one software maker, and a seller and a license right. And a charge file 24 for storing sales commission information determined in advance with the seller.

The seller terminal 20 has a function of transmitting merchandise information stored in advance in the merchandise information database 23 to the customer terminal 10 via the network N, and transmits the order information of the orderer received from the customer terminal 10 to the network N. And a function of receiving download permission information from the license holder terminal 30 and transmitting settlement information (seller settlement information) to the settlement terminal 40. Here, the settlement information includes at least a sales commission amount, a due date, and the like.

The license holder terminal 30 is used by a software license holder and is constituted by an information processing device such as a workstation or a server. The license holder terminal 30 includes a processing unit 31 having the same functions as the seller terminal 20, an I / F unit 32, a software database 33 storing software for which the license holder has a license,
And a price file 34 for storing price information of the software.

The license holder terminal 30 is the seller terminal 20
A function of transmitting the download permission information of the corresponding software to the customer terminal 10 and the seller terminal 20 via the network N based on the order information received from the customer, and a settlement including at least a price amount of the software, a payment date, etc. And a function of transmitting information to the settlement terminal 40.

The payment terminal 40 is a device provided in a bank or the like, receives payment information from the licensee terminal 30, and based on the payment information, reduces the price of the software to the customer account 41 on the payment date. Is transferred to the license holder account. Similarly, the payment terminal 40 receives the payment information from the seller terminal 20, and transfers the sales commission amount from the license holder account 42 to the seller account 43 on the deduction date based on the payment information.

Next, the operation of the software selling apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention having the above configuration, that is, the software selling method using the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a software selling method according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, the case where the network N in FIG. 1 is the Internet will be described.

Referring to FIG. 2, the orderer has a customer terminal 1
0 to access the seller terminal 20 via the network N (step S1). When there is an access from the customer terminal 10, the seller terminal 20 transmits the product information as shown in FIG. 3 to the customer terminal 10 via the network N (step S2). When the product information is transmitted, the customer terminal 10 displays the product information on the display unit 14 (Step S3). FIG. 3 shows a state in which the seller terminal 20 is connected to the customer terminal 10.
It is a figure showing the example of a display of the goods information transmitted with respect to.
As shown in FIG. 3, the product information is a software name R
1, a list of product number R2, maker name R3, price R4, and check box R5 for inputting whether or not to purchase is displayed.

Referring to the merchandise information listed on the customer terminal 10, the merchandise desired to be purchased is determined (Step S).
4), registering the purchase of the product on the screen (step S5). Here, it is assumed that the purchaser desires to purchase “BB software” from among the product information displayed in the list. In this case, when the purchaser clicks the check box R5 displayed corresponding to “BB software” with a mouse or the like, the clicked check box is marked with a filled-in mark as shown in FIG. Attached. By the above operation, the product desired to be purchased is determined. Next, when the order button B1 shown in FIG. 3 is clicked, "BB software" is registered. Note that a plurality of check boxes R5 can be selected, and by selecting a plurality of check boxes R5, the orderer can register a plurality of software.

Next, the orderer inputs his or her payment card information via the input means 13. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a screen display example when payment card information is input. FIG.
As shown in the figure, the screen for inputting payment card information includes a message M1 "Please enter payment card information" and an input field C for inputting card information.
1 and a send button B2 are displayed. Buyer input means 1
After inputting the payment card information from the input field C1 by operating the button 3 (step S6), when the transmission button B2 in FIG. 3 is clicked with a mouse or the like, the name of the software registered by the orderer in step S5 and step S6 Is transmitted to the seller terminal 20 via the network N (step S7).

When the order information is transmitted, the seller terminal 20 receives the order information of the orderer (step S8),
The order information is transferred to the license holder terminal 30 via the network N (step S9). The license holder terminal 30 receives the transferred order information (step S10), and further outputs download permission information for permitting the software ordered by the orderer to be downloaded from the software database 33 to the customer terminal 10. 10 and to the seller terminal 20 (step S11).

When the customer terminal 10 receives the download permission information transmitted from the license holder terminal 30 (step S12), the customer terminal 10 sends the software ordered from the software database 33 of the license holder terminal 30 to the network N.
Is downloaded to the storage means 15 of the customer terminal 10 of the customer terminal 10 (step S13). By the above processing, the downloaded software is stored in the storage means 15 of the customer terminal 10.

On the other hand, after the end of step S11, the license holder terminal 30 sends settlement information (customer settlement information) such as the price amount of the ordered software and the payment date to the network N.
Is transmitted to the settlement terminal 40 via the terminal (step S14).
Upon receiving the payment information transmitted from the license holder terminal (step S15), the payment terminal 40 licenses the price of the software ordered from the customer from the customer account 41 on the payment due date based on the payment information. A process of transferring to the right holder account 42 is performed (step S16). Here, regarding the payment of the price of the ordered software, the orderer may perform the transfer processing at the bank instead of the electronic automatic payment via the network N.

When the seller terminal 20 receives the download permission information from the license holder terminal 30 (step S17), the seller terminal 20 transmits the settlement information such as the sales commission amount and the due date to the settlement terminal 40 via the network N (step S17). Step S18). The payment terminal 40 receives the payment information transmitted from the seller terminal 20 (step S1).
9) A process of transferring the sales commission amount from the license holder account 42 to the seller account 43 on the payment due date based on the transmitted settlement information is performed (step S20). Here, regarding the payment of the sales commission amount, the license holder may perform the transfer processing at the bank instead of the electronic automatic payment via the network N.

As described above, the software selling apparatus and method according to one embodiment of the present invention have been described in detail. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be freely changed within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the description has been made on the assumption that the customer terminal 10, the seller terminal 20, the license holder terminal 30, the payment terminal 40, and hardware resources such as the Internet are used. good.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, the customer does not need to search for the licensee and access to the terminal or server provided by the licensee when purchasing the software. Since it is only necessary to access to, there is an effect that the convenience of the purchaser is enhanced. Further, according to the present invention, there is an effect that a license contract between a software seller and a software license holder is not required. Further, according to the present invention, since the licensee of the software wafer can recognize the orderer who ordered the software, there is an effect that the risk of illegal copying of the software can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a software vending apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a software selling method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of product information transmitted from a seller terminal 20 to a customer terminal 10;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a screen display example when payment card information is input.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Customer terminal 20 Seller terminal 30 License holder terminal 40 Payment terminal N network

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 1/00 G07F 17/00 B G07F 17/00 G06F 9/06 660A F-term (Reference) 5B049 BB11 BB46 CC03 CC05 CC08 CC39 DD01 EE05 FF03 FF04 GG04 GG07 5B055 BB10 CB09 CC05 CC10 EE02 EE21 EE27 FA01 FB03 JJ00 KK01 KK19 5B076 BB06 FB02

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A customer terminal connected to a network, a seller terminal connected to the network and providing product information on software when requested by the customer terminal, and a software terminal connected to the network And a license holder terminal for providing the software, the seller terminal transmits the order information to the license holder terminal when order information is transmitted from the customer terminal. The license holder terminal transmits, when the order information is transferred, download permission information for permitting download of the software specified by the order information to the customer terminal that transmitted the order information, The customer terminal executes the software ordered from the license holder terminal based on the download permission information. Software sales and wherein the to download. 2. A settlement terminal including at least a customer account that operates the customer terminal and a license holder account that operates the license holder terminal is connected to the network, and the settlement terminal is transmitted from the customer terminal. The order information includes payment card information designating the customer's account, the license holder terminal generates customer settlement information based on the transferred order information, and sends the customer settlement information to the settlement terminal. 2. The software selling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein information is transmitted, and the payment terminal transfers money from the customer's account to the license holder's account based on the customer payment information. 3. The settlement terminal further includes an account of a seller operating the seller terminal, and the license holder terminal transmits the download permission information to the customer terminal and transmits the download permission information to the seller terminal. The seller terminal creates seller payment information based on the download permission information and transmits the seller payment information to the payment terminal. The payment terminal reads the license holder's account based on the seller payment information. 3. The software sales apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transfer is made to an account of the seller. 4. A step of providing merchandise information relating to software from a seller to a customer, and when order information of the software is sent from the customer to the seller, the order information is transferred to a license holder. Sending download permission information permitting software download to the customer to whom the license holder has transmitted the order information; and transmitting the software ordered by the license holder from the license holder based on the download permission information. Downloading the software. 5. The method according to claim 5, wherein the customer sends payment card information designating an account to the license holder when placing an order, and the license holder generates customer settlement information based on the payment card information and the order information. 2. The software selling method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of: transferring the customer's account to the licensee's account based on the customer settlement information. 6. a step of further sending the download permission information to the seller; a step of the seller creating seller settlement information based on the download permission information; and a step of transmitting the license based on the seller settlement information. 3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of transferring money from a holder's account to the seller's account.