JP2002092500A - System for collecting fees for information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system for collecting fees, increasing the utilization frequency of information service by making information fees to be seemingly free to cause a user feel easy about the use without worrying about the fees. SOLUTION: A telephone charge is collected at the same rate as or lower than the call rate of telephone service used by a user at present, and a part of the telephone charge is paid as an information fees to an information provider.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for collecting information charges. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of providing an information service such as content and collecting an information fee.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There have been the following conventional information fee collection methods. (Method 1) A method of collecting as a fixed monthly fee (Method 2) A method of collecting a sum of information charges and call charges, such as a 0990 dial and a 900th dial (Method 3) Once every time information is viewed A method of calculating the billing amount according to the amount of information or the amount of information and collecting it periodically after payment

The method 1 has the following problems. Problem 1
Is very difficult to solicit. Paying a fixed fee every month, regardless of whether you have viewed the information,
It takes time to decide to join. Decisions are easy if you use information services on a regular basis, but it is difficult to make decisions for information services that you have not used often or information services with new concepts. For information providers, it is necessary to prepare various mechanisms, such as disseminating the contents of the information service using various media, or to set up a free service at first and then charge a fee, which has the disadvantage of high customer acquisition costs. is there. The second problem is that the service is available only to customers who have contracted to pay a fixed monthly fee. If there is a train that cannot be used unless a customer has a commuter pass, ordinary passengers other than commuters have no way to use the train, and the railway company loses business opportunities. In many cases, they want to use information services only this time or occasionally, and if there is no mechanism to collect fees every time they use them, the majority of infrequent customers will be missed.

The method 2 has the following problem. 099
Some information services using numbers 0 and 900 have very high information charges, and users are increasingly prejudiced that information services using numbers 0990 and 900 are extremely expensive. Frequently use the 0990 and 900 services
I often hear stories of monthly charges of hundreds of thousands and hundreds of thousands of yen. For this reason, the users are allergic to the 0990 and 900th services, and the frequency of use does not decrease even if the information service has a low information fee.

[0005] The method 3 does not have the same problem as the method 1 or the method 2, but has the following problem. If you use the Internet, you can get a lot of free information. In order to provide free information and collect fees,
It must provide convenience that users can use even for a fee.

[0006] In order to provide information free of charge, it is necessary to take another income route, such as relying on advertisement income. In order to maintain and operate with advertising revenue, a considerable number of hits are required, and many information services except for some famous information services can not expect much revenue.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to make an information fee seemingly free, to allow a user to use the information without worrying about the fee, and to increase the frequency of using an information service.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, in the method for collecting information charges according to the present invention, the same call charge as that of a telephone service currently used by a user or a cheaper charge. A call fee is collected by a fee, and a part of the call fee is paid to an information provider as an information fee.

[0009] There are many telephone service companies that discount call charges for users with large call volumes. The call volume of only normal calls is constant to some extent for each user, and does not increase suddenly. However, if the opportunity to use the information service by telephone other than the normal call increases, the call volume of the user increases. Instead of discounting the call fee for the increase in the call volume, the current call fee is left as it is, and the fee for the portion that would otherwise be discounted is used as the information service fee and paid to the information provider.
The current fee is A, and the discount fee is B. A from user
And the charges collected from the users are divided equally between the telephone company and the information provider. For example, B is the share of the telephone company, A
Let B be the share of the information provider.

Alternatively, the difference between the current fee A and the discount fee B is C. Part of the discount is returned to the user, and the charges collected from the user are shared between the telephone company and the information provider. For example, the user collects AC / 2 and B + C
/ 4 is taken by the telephone company and C / 4 is taken by the information provider.

[0011]

An embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an example of a telephone company fee.

One embodiment of the information fee collecting method according to claim 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. Assuming that the charge of a certain telephone company is as shown in FIG. 1 and the call volume of a certain user is 100 minutes per month, the current call charge of that user is assumed to be 1 minute and 10 cents. The monthly call volume is expected to increase to 150 minutes due to information access, and the telephone company is prepared to discount to 1 minute and 8 cents as shown in FIG. However, the call fee is collected for the user at 10 cents per minute, and 8 cents out of 10 cents is income of the telephone company and 2 cents is income of the information provider. If the monthly call volume actually increases from 100 minutes to 150 minutes, the revenue of the telephone company will increase from $ 10 (10 cents x 100 minutes) before starting the information service to $ 12 (8 cents x 150 minutes) after the information service starts. Minutes).
If the current call charge is 10 cents and the information charge 2 cents is added to 12 cents, and the monthly call volume increases only to 110 minutes, the telephone company's call fee income is $ 11 (10 cents x 110 minutes). , And the increase in call revenue is less than when the entire service is offered for 10 cents.

An embodiment of the information fee collecting system according to claim 2 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. Assuming that the charge of a certain telephone company is as shown in FIG. 1 and the call volume of a certain user is 100 minutes per month, the current call charge of that user is assumed to be 1 minute and 10 cents. The monthly call volume is expected to increase to 150 minutes due to information access, and the telephone company is prepared to discount to 1 minute and 8 cents as shown in FIG. However, the user is charged a discount of 9 cents per minute, 8.5 cents out of 9 cents is the revenue of the telephone company, and 0.5 cents is the revenue of the information provider. 1
The user is pleased because the price has decreased from 0 cents to 9 cents. It feels like the information fee is free, and the user can access the information without any difficulty. Normal call volume may increase slightly. Monthly call volume is actually 1
If it increased from 00 minutes to 150 minutes, the revenue of the telephone company would also be $ 10 (10 cents x 10 cents) before starting the information service.
100 minutes) to $ 12.75 (8.5 cents x 150 minutes) after the start of the information service. If the current call charge is 10 cents and the information charge 2 cents is added to 12 cents, and the monthly call volume is increased only to 110 minutes, the telephone company's call charge revenue is $ 11 (10 cents x 1).
10 minutes), which is less of an increase in call revenue than if it were offered at 8.5 cents.

[0014]

As described above, in the method of collecting the information fee according to the present invention, since the information fee is apparently free, the user can receive the information service without worrying about the fee. Can be done. As a result, the call volume of the user increases, the telephone company also benefits, and the information provider can use the information service frequently without incurring large operating expenses.

[0015]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an example of a call charge before starting an information service.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a method for collecting an information fee according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an embodiment of a method for collecting an information fee according to the present invention.

Claims (2)

[Claims] In a method of collecting an information fee, a user collects a call fee at the same rate as a call fee of a telephone service currently used by a user, and pays a part of the call fee as an information fee to an information provider. Information fee collection system 2. In the method of collecting information charges, a user collects a call charge at a lower rate than a call charge of a telephone service currently used, and pays a part of the call charge to an information provider as an information charge. Information fee collection system