JP2002099746A - Point managing method and device storage medium and point managing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To immediately decide points in response to contents when the contents are contributed on the Internet. SOLUTION: Photograph data taken by a digital camera 2 is up-loaded on a contents storage server 5 from PC 1 of a user who is a contributor, while receiving the instruction of a WWW server 4 through the Internet 3. Up-loaded data whose point is decided for every data are down-loaded from PC of a user B and the point is added to the user A.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a point management method and apparatus for shopping via the Internet, a storage medium, and a point management system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the business of selling goods using the Internet has been rapidly expanding. Even when using the Internet, just like traditional product sales,
There is a system in which a point is given to a purchaser according to the purchase amount and a discount is provided according to the point allocation amount at the time of subsequent purchases. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-3372 discloses an invention for giving points that can be used for shopping by browsing a homepage or answering a questionnaire.

In addition, there is a business that distributes intangible contents, such as photographs and music, as data to Internet users' terminals, by paying or free of charge, taking advantage of the characteristics of the Internet as well as selling goods.

[0004] Contrary to the distribution of the contents, data such as photographs taken by the Internet user and music composed by the Internet user is provided by uploading the data via the Internet. A service that allows Internet users to view and evaluate has appeared.

[0005] However, since the content is originally produced by an amateur, it cannot be expected that other users will purchase it at such a high price. On the other hand, the number of providers may increase sharply. No reward can be paid. For this reason, it is difficult to transfer a small amount of money to the provider's bank account or mail cash or vouchers,
A major problem has been that it is too costly to implement. For this reason, a method has been considered in which points are given to a provider to receive a discount by applying the above when purchasing goods on the Internet as described above. This leads to a motivation to provide the user who provided the content with higher quality content.

[0006]

However, in order to motivate to provide high-quality content,
Originally, the amount of compensation should fluctuate depending on the quality of the content, but qualitative review of the content takes time,
Because of the subjectivity involved, there was a problem in that it was not possible to immediately and fairly determine and award rewards.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to determine a point amount as a reward for content.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a receiving means for receiving data.
Measuring means for measuring the size of the data received by the receiving means; calculating means for calculating a point in accordance with the result of the measurement by the measuring means; and points calculated by the calculating means to the data provider's points And an adding means for adding the points.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 3 includes a storage unit for storing data, a transmission unit for transmitting the data stored by the storage unit in response to a request,
When data is transmitted by the transmission means, an addition means for adding points of a data provider of the data is provided.

In order to solve the above problem, the invention according to claim 6 is a receiving step of receiving data, a measuring step of measuring the size of the data received in the receiving step, and a measuring step of the measuring step. A point management method comprising: a calculation step of calculating points according to a result; and an addition step of adding the points calculated in the calculation step to points of a data provider.

[0011] In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 8 includes a storing step of storing data, a transmitting step of transmitting the data stored by the storing step in response to a request,
An adding step of adding points of a data provider of the data when the data is transmitted in the transmitting step.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 11 is a program code for a receiving step for receiving data, a program code for a measuring step for measuring the size of the data received in the receiving step, It has a program code of a calculation step of calculating a point according to a result of the measurement in the measurement step, and a program code of an addition step of adding the point calculated in the calculation step to a data provider point. Storage media.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 12 is a program code for a storage step for storing data, and a program code for a transmission step for transmitting the data stored in the storage step in response to a request. And a program code for an addition step of adding points of a data provider of the data when the data is transmitted in the transmission step.

[0014] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an invention according to claim 13 is a system in which a server and a providing device for providing data to the server are connected via a network, Transmitting means for transmitting the data, the server receiving the data from the providing device, calculating means for calculating a point according to the data, and calculating means for the point of the data provider And a point managing system having an adding means for adding the points calculated in (1).

[0015] In order to solve the above problem, the invention of claim 16 is directed to a server, a providing apparatus for providing data to the server, and a purchasing apparatus for purchasing data to the server, comprising a network. In a system connected via a network, the providing device has first transmitting means for transmitting data to the server, and the server has first receiving means for receiving the data from the providing device; Storage means for storing the data, a second transmission means for transmitting the data stored by the storage means in response to a request, and when the data is transmitted by the second transmission means, the data provider of the data Adding means for adding points, wherein the purchasing device is transmitted by the second transmitting means in response to the requesting means for requesting data stored in the storage means; Providing point management system having a second reception hand to receive the data.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(First Embodiment) In this embodiment, a content distributor downloads photograph data via the Internet and provides the photograph to the user for a fee or free of charge. In this content sales, points are awarded in accordance with the amount paid by the purchaser, user B (FIG. 1), and a point system is introduced in which the points are applied at the time of the next and subsequent purchases so that a discount is obtained. Further, this point is also added when the user A who is the poster has posted the photograph data.

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing the configuration of the system of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a personal computer (hereinafter, PC) owned by a user (poster) A. Reference numeral 2 denotes a content input / output device such as a digital camera connected to the user PC 1. 3 is the Internet. Reference numeral 4 denotes a WWW server of a content seller. Reference numeral 5 denotes a content storage server that stores and manages content. Reference numeral 6 denotes a database for managing user points. Reference numeral 7 denotes a personal computer (hereinafter, PC) owned by another user (content purchaser) B.

A point management method for a user who posts information in a system of a content sales company having such a configuration will be described.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the WWW server 4. 1201 is a CPU.
Reference numeral 1202 denotes a ROM. Reference numeral 1203 denotes a RAM. 1
Reference numeral 204 denotes an external storage device. 1205 is a network interface. The CPU 1201 reads a program from the ROM 1202 or the external storage device 1204, and performs processing corresponding to the program using the RAM 1203 serving as a work area. The processing content will be described later using a flowchart. Further, it is connected to the Internet and the content accommodation server 5 via a network interface 1205.

First, the operation of the WWW server 4 shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to a flow chart showing the operation of the WWW server 4 in FIG. .

In step S201, the user B enters the user B's PC 7
Since the user accesses the WWW server 4 of the content seller through the Internet 3, the WWW server 4 accepts the access. In S202, the operation proceeds to the photo sales page by the operation of the user B. In S203, the WWW server 4 presents a photo sales page.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by the WWW server 4 when selling a photograph. User B in FIG.
Is browsed, and a photograph 302 to be purchased is clicked and selected from the photograph sale page 301.
When the purchase decision button 305 is clicked after the selection in S205, the WWW server 4 accepts this. You can select until you click. In S206, when the user B decides to purchase, the input of the user B's member ID and password is accepted from the input boxes 303 and 304. If User B is a point-based member of this content seller, User B has a point account,
The point information is stored in the database 6. In S207, before displaying the payment price at this time, the WWW server 4 confirms that the user B is a point member from the information in the database 6. The timing of confirmation may be a timing other than the present embodiment.

If the user B is a point member in S208, the WWW server 4 reads out the point information of the user B from the data in the database 6. In S209, WW
The W server 4 presents a photo sales payment confirmation page 401 as shown in FIG.
To select whether to apply the points. S210
Then, if the user B applies the points, the payment price is calculated from the point balance of the user B obtained from the database 6. Specifically, the value obtained by subtracting the point balance from the price is set as the payment price. If the point balance is larger than the price, the payment price is set to 0. In S211, the price is displayed in the display box 405. In S212, the payment is confirmed by the user B with the payment confirmation button 406. In S213, the download of the photograph data from the content accommodation server 5 is started, and the photograph data is transmitted to the PC 7. At S214,
When the download is completed successfully, calculate the points generated by the payment and the points that disappear due to the application,
Recorded in the database 6, the sales transaction ends.

Next, a case in which a user A who is a contributor, which is a main part of the present invention, posts photo data will be described.
The operation of the WW server 4 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, it is assumed that only point members can post photo data, and that the compression method of the photo image is unified to one type.

The user A transfers the data of the photograph taken by the digital camera 2 or the like to the PC by means such as replacement of a memory card or connection of an interface cable.
Transfer to 1. The transferred data is stored in the PC 1 as a data file. In step S501, when the user A accesses the WWW server 4 of the content sales company from the PC 1 via the Internet 3, the WWW server 4 accepts the access. In step S502, the screen shifts to a photo posting page by the operation of the user A. In S503, the WWW server 4 sends the user A a photo posting page 6 as shown in FIG.
01 is presented.

In S504, the WWW server 4 accepts the input of the member ID and password of the user A from the input boxes 603 and 604, and confirms that the user A is a point member from the information in the database 6 in S505. S50
At 6, the user A clicks the file selection button 602 to specify a photo data file, and the submit confirmation button 6
05, the transfer is confirmed, and the WWW server 4 accepts the transfer. In S507, the upload of the photograph data from the PC 1 of the user A to the content accommodating server 5 is performed. The content accommodating server 5 receives the photograph data, and at the same time, the WWW server 4 counts the data size.

FIG. 7 is a table showing point conversion when the WWW server 4 posts a photograph. In S508, as shown in FIG. 7, the number of points is calculated according to the data size at the end of the transfer, and the information is sent to the database 6. The database 6 adds the number of points of the user A based on the information sent from the WWW server 4. For example, as shown in FIG.
If the payment amount of User B is \ 300, it is 10% of 30
Accumulate the points, it will be \ 30 discount at the time of charge.

The data size and points are not limited to the values shown in FIG. Further, the data size at a different time point may be used instead of the data size at the end of the transfer.

As described above, according to the present invention, the amount of data is considered to be proportional to the quality of the content, and the amount of points is changed according to the amount of data, so that the quality of the content approximately corresponds to the quality of the content. A reward can be immediately given to the user.

(Second Embodiment) In this embodiment, the system configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. The hardware configuration of the WWW server 4 is similar to that of the first embodiment shown in FIG.

First, a case where a user A who is a contributor posts photo data will be described with reference to FIG. 8 showing the operation of the WWW server 4. Here, description will be made assuming that only point members can post photograph data.

Steps S801 to S806 correspond to steps S501 to S50.
The description is omitted because it is the same as 6. In S806, the WWW server 4
Accepts the posting confirmation, in S807, the user A's PC
1 uploads the photo data to the content accommodating server 5, and the content accommodating server 5 receives the photo data.

Next, the user B photographs (users) stored in the content storage server 5 of the content sales company.
9 and 1 showing the operation of the WWW server 4 that points are added to the purchased user B and the previously registered user A when purchasing a photo (including a photo posted by A).
Explanation will be made based on 0.

S901 to S913 in FIG. 9 correspond to S901 in FIG.
Since it is the same as 201 to S213, the description is omitted. S913
When the download is started and the photo data is transmitted to the PC 7, in S914, it is determined whether or not the posted photo is included in the photo data to be downloaded. If it is included, a point-up process for the poster described later is started. After the point is up, or if the posted photo is not included in S914, when the download is completed successfully in S916, the points generated by the payment and the points that disappear due to the allocation are calculated, recorded in the database 6, and sold. The transaction ends.

The operation of the WWW server 4 regarding the point-up to the contributor activated from S915 will be described with reference to FIG. In step S1001, when the contributor point-up process is started, in step S1002, the member IDs of the contributors given as parameters at the time of starting are read out one by one, and in S1003, the database is queried for confirmation. Here, the ID of the user A is queried to confirm that the user is indeed a member. In S1004, the points are added to the points of the user A and recorded in the database 6. When one item is downloaded, one point is added. In S1005, it is determined whether or not there is the next ID. If the photos of the contributors other than the user A have been downloaded, the process returns to S1002, and the operation up to here is repeated.

As described above, according to the present invention, when a posted content can be downloaded by another Internet user, the number of downloaded content is larger, and the more popular one is, the higher the quality is. By changing the point amount according to the number of cases downloaded by the Internet user, there is an effect that a reward can be instantaneously provided to the user according to the quality of the content.

(Other Embodiments) In this embodiment, the content is a photograph.
Moving images, music data, documents, etc. may be used.

As a point calculation method, when a certain amount of points is reached, the calculation method may be changed, or the calculation methods of the first and second embodiments may be combined.

In this embodiment, the program is stored in a ROM
Although the case where the data is stored in the external storage device 1202 and the external storage device 1204 has been described, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be realized using an arbitrary storage medium. Further, it may be realized by a circuit that performs the same operation.

In this embodiment, the database 6
Is independent, but may be held by the WWW server 4 or another computer.

Although the present invention is divided into the WWW server 4 and the content accommodating server 5 and two devices, the present invention may be applied to a plurality of devices or one device. A recording medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or an apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MP) of the system or the apparatus is supplied.
Needless to say, this can also be achieved by U) reading and executing the program code stored in the recording medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the recording medium implements the function of the above-described embodiment, and the recording medium on which the program code is recorded constitutes the present invention.

As a recording medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, C
D-ROM, CD-R, magnetic tape, non-volatile memory card, ROM and the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS and the like running on the computer are actually executed based on the instructions of the program code. It goes without saying that a part or all of the above-described processing is performed and the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing.

Further, after the program code read from the recording medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU provided in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

The embodiments described here are merely examples for explaining the present invention, and explanations of those which are not substantially related to the present invention, such as a settlement method and a transaction process, are omitted or simplified. There are parts. In carrying out the present invention, it is clearly stated that various embodiments are possible.

[0048]

As described above, according to the present invention, when reward points are given to posted content, points corresponding to the content can be immediately determined.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the WWW server 4 shown in FIG. 1 when purchasing content.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed when a WWW server 4 in FIG. 1 sells a photo.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by the WWW server 4 of FIG. 1 at the time of payment of money.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the WWW server 4 shown in FIG. 1 when posting content.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed when a WWW server 4 in FIG. 1 posts a photograph.

FIG. 7 is a table showing point conversion when a photograph is posted by the WWW server 4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation of the WWW server 4 of FIG. 1 at the time of content posting in the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an operation of the WWW server 4 of FIG. 1 at the time of content purchase in the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 shows the WWW of FIG. 1 in a second embodiment of the present invention.
It is the flowchart which showed the operation | movement at the time of the point up to the submitter of the server 4.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the WWW server 4.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 1 PC owned by user (poster) A 2 Content input / output device such as digital camera connected to user PC 1 3 Internet 4 WWW server of content distributor 5 Content accommodating server 6 for storing and managing content 6 User Database for managing points 7 PC owned by another user (content purchaser) B

Claims (19)

[Claims] A receiving means for receiving data; a measuring means for measuring a size of the data received by the receiving means; a calculating means for calculating a point according to a result of the measurement by the measuring means; An adding unit for adding the points calculated by the calculating unit to the points of the provider. 2. The point management device according to claim 1, wherein the points are data for purchasing data. 3. A storage unit for storing data, a transmission unit for transmitting the data stored by the storage unit in response to a request, and, when data is transmitted by the transmission unit, a data provider of the data. A point management device, comprising: addition means for adding points. 4. The point management apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a determination unit configured to determine whether the data transmitted by the transmission unit has been transmitted from a data provider. 5. The point management device according to claim 3, wherein the points are data for purchasing data. 6. A receiving step of receiving data, a measuring step of measuring a size of data received in the receiving step, a calculating step of calculating a point according to a result of the measurement in the measuring step, An adding step of adding the point calculated in the calculating step to the provider's point. 7. The point management method according to claim 6, wherein the points are data for purchasing data. 8. A storing step of storing data, a transmitting step of transmitting the data stored by the storing step in response to a request, and when data is transmitted by the transmitting step, a data provider of the data. A point management method, comprising: an adding step of adding points. 9. The point management method according to claim 8, further comprising a determining step of determining whether the data transmitted in the transmitting step has been transmitted from a data provider. 10. The point management method according to claim 8, wherein the points are data for purchasing data. 11. A program code for a receiving step for receiving data, a program code for a measuring step for measuring the size of the data received in the receiving step, and calculating points according to a result of the measurement in the measuring step. A storage medium comprising: a program code of a calculation step to be performed; and a program code of an addition step of adding the points calculated in the calculation step to points of the data provider. 12. A program code for a storage step for storing data, a program code for a transmission step for transmitting the data stored by the storage step in response to a request, and when the data is transmitted by the transmission step, A program code for an adding step of adding points of a data provider of data. 13. In a system in which a server and a providing device that provides data to the server are connected via a network, the providing device includes a transmitting unit that transmits data, and the server includes: Receiving means for receiving the data from the providing device; calculating means for calculating points according to the data; and adding means for adding the points calculated by the calculating means to the points of the data provider. Point management system. 14. The calculating means further includes a measuring means for measuring a size of the data received by the receiving means,
14. The point management system according to claim 13, wherein a point is calculated according to a result of the measurement. 15. The point management system according to claim 13, wherein the points are data for purchasing data. 16. A system in which a server, a providing device for providing data to the server, and a purchasing device for purchasing data for the server are connected via a network, wherein the providing device includes: First transmission means for transmitting data to the server, the server receiving first data from the providing apparatus, storage means for storing data, and storage means for storing the data; A second transmitting means for transmitting the data as requested,
Adding means for adding a data provider's point of the data when the data is transmitted by the second transmitting means, wherein the purchasing device requests the data stored in the storage means And the second in response to the request
Point management system having a second receiving unit for receiving the data transmitted by the transmitting unit. 17. The point management system according to claim 16, wherein the points are data for purchasing data. 18. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a determination unit configured to determine whether the data transmitted by the second transmission unit has been transmitted from a data provider.
6. The point management system according to 6. 19. The system according to claim 16, further comprising purchase addition means for adding points of a purchaser who purchases the data, and which can be used when purchasing the data.
Point management system described in 1.