JP2002258878A - System for distributing contents data - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To distribute newer contents and also to surely collect use charge or the like by omitting troublesome labor. SOLUTION: This contents data distribution system generally comprises portable telephones 1, 1-1, and 1-2, a charging system 4, contents distribution systems 5, 5-1 and 5-2 and a reproducing devices 7, 7-1 and 7-2. In the case of requesting, e.g. a desired piece of music from the portable terminal 1, the requested piece of music and the identification number of the reproducing device 7, that should reproduce the piece of music in a Karaoke room are inputted to transmit data to the charging system 4, prescribed checking is performed in the charging system 4 and by the contents distribution system 5, the contents distribution system 5 subsequently distributes the requested piece of music to the designated reproducing device 7, and when reproduction is finished, the device 7 transmits billing information to the charging system 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for distributing contents such as video and audio represented by, for example, communication karaoke.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Karaoke songs (music and lyrics) that have been digitized and compressed are not converted to conventional package media.
The communication karaoke system distributed via the communication line
It has features such as “new songs are fast”, “many songs”, and “compact equipment”, and has already spread over 300,000 terminals nationwide. These systems are generally installed in facilities called "karaoke rooms" and "karaoke boxes" or in eating and drinking facilities such as "snack" and "bar"
The user can pay the usage fee in the form of a song or a food and drink fee, or as a fee added per hour in the form of a room or other usage fee, as an operator of the facility (owner). Etc.). Then, the system pays a corresponding usage fee from the usage fee to the content provider who produced the karaoke music.

[0003]

In most cases, the usage fee is paid to the content provider at a fixed monthly fee in order to avoid complicated processing. If the content provider can collect (even indirectly) a fee according to the usage fee that varies depending on the number of times of use and the content, the trouble of the facility operator can be saved, and furthermore, other than karaoke such as games etc. There is a possibility of expanding the provision of content. Therefore, the present invention is intended to simplify the payment of the usage fee to the content provider of the facility operator and to provide a convenient system such that the content provider can surely collect the content usage fee. .

[0004]

The present invention, in order to achieve the above object, comprises the following 1) to 3). That is,

[0005] 1) An information terminal having operation means, a billing means for authenticating the owner of the information terminal and performing billing settlement;
A content data distribution system comprising at least content data supply means for supplying content data in response to a request from the information terminal, and reproduction means for reproducing the content data supplied from the content data supply means, When the user wants to reproduce the desired content data by the desired reproducing means, the information terminal transmits at least the identification information of the desired content data and the identification information of the desired reproducing means. Supplying the desired content data from the content data supply unit to the desired reproduction unit based on the identification information of the content terminal; To obtain billing information Content data delivery system, characterized in that. 2) an information terminal having an operation unit and a communication function unit, a billing unit for authenticating the owner of the information terminal and performing billing settlement, and a content data supply unit for supplying content data in response to a request from the information terminal. A content data delivery system configured to play back content data supplied from the content data supply means and to include at least playback means having an infrared transmitting / receiving section corresponding to a communication unit of the information terminal; When the user wants to reproduce the desired content data by the desired reproducing means, the information terminal transmits at least the identification information of the desired content data, and transmits the identification information via the communication function unit of the reproducing means. The identification information of the content data and the identification information of the reproducing means through a predetermined path. The content data is supplied to the content data supply means, and the desired content data is supplied from the content data supply means to the desired reproduction means based on the obtained information. A content data distribution system characterized in that the supply information and the information terminal user information are obtained and billed and settled. 3) In the content data distribution system according to claim 1 or 2, the storage means for storing the content data supplied from the content data supply means in the reproduction means, and the reproduction means in the content data supply means. And a storage unit for storing history information of the content stored in the storage unit, wherein when the user desires the desired content data, the desired content data in the history information is stored in the reproduction unit. Content data delivery system, characterized in that when it is detected that the content data has already been stored in the unit, the supply of the desired content data to the reproduction means is stopped and only the reproduction permission information is supplied. .

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to preferred embodiments. FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram showing a content data distribution system according to the embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a data flow from selection of content to distribution of content data and billing. is there. 3A to 3D are examples of a database. FIG. 3A is a mobile terminal database.
FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating an example of an enterprise database, FIG. 3C is a diagram illustrating an example of a playback device database, and FIG. 3D is a diagram illustrating an example of a content database.

In FIG. 1, the content data distribution system includes a plurality of portable terminals (telephones) 1, 1-1, 1-2.
, A billing system (mobile phone data center) 4, a plurality of content distribution systems 5, 5-1 and 5-2, a reproducing device 7, 7-1 and 7-2, and a connection between each of the above systems and devices. The communication network is composed of communication networks 3 and 6.

[0008] Each portable terminal (telephone) 1, 1-1, 1-2,
For example, communication is performed via the mobile phone base station 2 by a mobile terminal having a well-known configuration having an application with a small data amount and a data communication function of character data, image data, and the like.

Billing system (mobile phone data center)
4 is provided in the mobile phone operator, and the communication control device 41,
3, a central processing unit 43 storing programs for performing processes to be described later, each database and each unit in the device, and the like.
The mobile terminal database 44 schematically stores a mobile terminal database 44 storing the database of FIG. 3A and the like and a business database 45 storing data of a content distributor as shown in FIG. Thus, data is transmitted to the content distribution system 5.

[0010] Each content distribution system 5, 5-1 and 5-2
Is a central processing unit 52 that stores a communication control device 51, a processing program to be described later, a menu program, a program for controlling each unit in the device, and the like, and a fee payment status to the content provider of the owner of each playback device. Indicating the type of the playback device (terminal) of the facility operator as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 3C, the storage status of the content in the content database of each playback device (history, etc.). , Etc.) stored in the playback device database 53,
As shown in FIG. 3D, the content is roughly composed of data of what type of reproducing apparatus (terminal) each music can be reproduced and a content database 54 storing the content itself. Then, information from this system and data from a playback device described later can be transmitted and received through the dedicated line 6.

Next, each of the playback devices 7, 7-1, 7-2 is a playback device installed in a facility operator such as a karaoke room provider, for example, and a communication control device 71 and a distributed content. A central processing unit 72 that stores a program for controlling the data reproducing unit 74, checking the storage state of the content data, and performing each operation described below;
An infrared interface 77 for transmitting / receiving data to / from an infrared transmitting / receiving unit (not shown) of the mobile terminal 1, a content database storing prepared content data and downloaded content data, and It is roughly composed of a reproducing unit 74, a display device 75 for reproducing images and sounds, and a speaker 7.

Next, an operation for obtaining and reproducing content data such as karaoke music will be described with reference to FIG. Now, a description will be given assuming an example in which a user (user) (not shown) brings the mobile phone 1 and obtains content data with the playback device 7 installed in the night club and plays back the content data.

First, a user who wants to obtain content data accesses a designated address by a known method and downloads a menu program stored in the central processing unit 52 in the content distribution system 5 to the portable terminal 1 in advance. Need to be kept. The user can use the liquid crystal display 1
According to the menu program displayed in 2, if the user is a user of “club flower” from the operation unit 11 of the mobile terminal 1, as shown in FIG. The ID No. “13480015” of “club flower” is input, and the number [7] of the playback device is input. Subsequently, FIG.
As shown in (d), when the desired content is, for example, “Nagiri Sapporo”, the content ID No. “1301”
Enter "5". Then, the necessary information is transmitted by pressing the transmission button.

The necessary information is supplied from the mobile phone base station 2 to the communication control device 41 in the charging system 4 via the mobile phone network 3, and the central processing unit 43 sends the mobile phone transmitted from the user. The number is authenticated from the data in the portable terminal database 44. For this authentication tick, for example, an authentication check is performed to determine whether the user is an unauthorized user such as a delinquent mobile use fee.

Next, in the business operator database 45,
For example, it is detected which content ID is provided by a content distribution system in which business entity. According to this example, it is detected that the content is provided by the XX software company.

Thereafter, the IP address “188.24.21” of the content distribution system in the XX software company is obtained, and the necessary information including the requested music is transmitted from the communication control device 42 to the corresponding content distribution system. You. In this case, it is assumed that the relevant content distribution system is the content distribution system 5, and the necessary information is transmitted via the dedicated line 6.

In the content distribution system 5, the transmitted acquired information is supplied to the central processing unit 52 via the communication control unit 51. In this central processing unit 52, "club flower" which is a karaoke room facility operating company transmitted as necessary information in the playback device database.
A check is made to determine whether or not is a fraudulent trader who has delinquently paid the content usage fee.

If the company is a proper trader, FIG.
As shown in (d), the requested content is
It is checked which type of playback device can be played back (applicable). As shown in FIG. 3 (c), the playback device to be downloaded to "Club Hana" is 7, the type of the device 7 is "A", and the request song "Night Sapporo" is of type A or C. If there is, reproduction (application) is possible, so that it is determined that reproduction on the requested reproduction device 7 is possible.

Next, in the playback device database 53, a check is performed to determine whether the requested song has already been stored in the content database 73 of the playback device 7. If not, the playback device specified by the user is checked. 7, the request music is delivered via the dedicated line network 6. If it is detected that the content is already stored in the playback device 7, the content data is not delivered to the playback device 7, Transmit a reproduction permission signal for the requested music.

When the requested music is distributed, it is received by the communication control device 71 in the playback device 7 and stored in the content database 73. At the same time, the central processing unit 72 determines a playback timing such as whether another song is currently being played, and if it is determined that there is a timing at which playback can be performed,
The reproduction circuit 74 converts the data into video (moving image, still image, text) and sound by well-known predetermined processing, and reproduces the desired music and the accompanying image data and character data on the display device 75 and the speaker 76. Will be.

When the reproduction is normally completed by the reproduction device 7, the content distribution system 5
The completion information is transmitted to. With this information, the fact that the requested music has been stored in the playback device 7 is recorded in the playback device database 53 as a history. In the case of a request music that is not permitted to be stored in the playback device, the request music is not recorded in the history, and when the same music is selected from the next time onward, the request music is distributed every time as described above. At the same time, the playback completion notification is sent to the charging system 4 through the dedicated line 6.
Also sent to. As a result, a history of which karaoke room provider has played which music of which content provider has been used is stored in the business operator database 45, and similar information is stored in the mobile terminal database as the history information of the mobile terminal 1. You. The central processing unit 43 integrates the billing result for each mobile terminal with reference to the portable terminal database and the billing result for each karaoke room provider with reference to the business operator database. This content usage fee is charged and collected together with the fee to the owner of the mobile terminal as a contractor.

The content distribution (providing) business is paid by the mobile phone business for each content business, so that the collection of the fee is completed. At this time, if there is a karaoke room provider or a mobile terminal owner with a bad payment situation, the information is stored in the playback device database 53 or the mobile terminal database 44.

The use history is created for each playback device in the content distribution company, and the owner of each playback device can determine the usage status of the playback device for each playback device. And be able to pay.

In the above embodiment, the case where the mobile phone service provider and the content distribution service provider are separate is illustrated. However, the two service providers are the same, and the system can be operated integrally.

In this embodiment, the dedicated communication network is used between the charging system and the content distribution system. However, a general network or a local area network (LAN) may be used.

Further, the mobile phone directly instructs playback or distribution and playback to the playback device through the infrared interface of the playback device, performs the playback result from the content distribution system, and performs authentication of the mobile phone from the charging system. Taking information paths other than those shown in FIG. 2 is an implementation problem, and there is essentially no difference.

In the above embodiment, the procedure is described in which the user first inputs the identification number for specifying the reproducing apparatus to the portable telephone.
7, the identification number may be directly exchanged with the portable terminal by mutual communication.

Also, for example, the portable terminal has a Web browsing function, and is built in a playback device (through a general communication network via a gateway facility (in FIG. 1, a charging system performs the function as a whole)). (Web server function)
May be accessed. In such a case, even if the portable terminal is not equipped with the infrared interface, the (direct) identification number can be exchanged with the playback device. In this case, it goes without saying that the ID (telephone number) of the portable terminal is displayed on the display device of the playback device so that the user can confirm it. In this way, not only can the troublesome input of the identification number of the reproducing apparatus be omitted, but also erroneous input can be prevented.

It is also possible to mix CMs such as a TV program in the contents. If the reproducing apparatus has a function of selecting such a mode, a user who selects and views the mode can be used as described above. It is also possible to send the contents to the portable terminal database 44 and to discount or refund the usage fee of the content to the user. In this case, it is possible to determine whether or not the CM portion has been surely viewed, for example, by displaying a keyword in the CM, inputting the keyword from the mobile terminal, and transmitting the information. In this way, it is possible to provide a system that is advantageous to both the sponsor who provides the CM, so that the CM can be surely viewed, and the user can be discounted the content usage fee. .

Further, in this embodiment, when a user requests a music piece, the user first inputs an identification number for specifying a device to be reproduced on the portable terminal. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The position information and the playback device installed at that position may be specified using the position information. In this case, for example, it is necessary to prepare a database indicating the installation location of the playback device in the playback device database 53 in advance.

Also, by using the position information system, contents depending on the location of the terminal from which the contents are selected, such as a timetable of the nearest station, public facilities, restaurants, map data, etc., can be reproduced. It may be displayed through.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where music data is acquired has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is not limited to this. The software may be movie software, game software, or the karaoke room provider may be a learning school. In that case, teaching material data such as curriculum software may be distributed.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The content provider can prevent content distribution to unauthorized content users and can collect fees according to the use of the content. Also, for the mobile terminal user and the facility operator who provides the playback device, the payment procedure is troublesome and the office procedure is simplified. In addition, there is an effect that the latest content information can be sequentially provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a content distribution system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a flow of information.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing items in each database.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,1-1,1-2 Mobile terminal (mobile phone) 4 Billing system 5,5-1,5-2 Content distribution system 7,1-1,7-2 Reproduction device 43,52,72 Central Processing device 44 Mobile terminal database 45 Business operator database 53 Playback device database 54, 73 Content database 74 Playback unit 75 Display device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 7/16 H04N 7/16 C 7/173 630 7/173 630 F term (Reference) 5C064 BB01 BB07 BC01 BC07 BC16 BC20 BD02 BD04 BD07 BD08 5D108 BF11 BG07 BG08

Claims (3)

[Claims] An information terminal having operation means; a billing means for authenticating an owner of the information terminal and performing billing settlement; a content data supply means for supplying content data in response to a request from the information terminal; A content data distribution system comprising at least a reproduction means for reproducing content data supplied from the content data supply means, wherein the user wants to reproduce desired content data by the desired reproduction means. Transmitting at least the identification information of the desired content data and the identification information of the desired reproduction means from the information terminal, and transmitting the desired information from the content data supply means to the desired reproduction means based on the identification information. While charging the content data, Ceiling and supply information to the playback unit data, the content data distribution system is characterized in that the arrangement for billing and settlement to obtain the user information of the information terminal. 2. An information terminal having an operation unit and a communication function unit, a billing unit for authenticating an owner of the information terminal and performing billing settlement, and content data for supplying content data in response to a request from the information terminal. A content data distribution system comprising: a supply unit; and a reproduction unit configured to reproduce content data supplied from the content data supply unit and to include an infrared transmission / reception unit corresponding to a communication unit of the information terminal. When the user wants the desired content data to be reproduced by the desired reproduction means, the information terminal transmits at least identification information of the desired content data,
The identification information is obtained via the communication function unit of the reproduction means, and the identification information of the content data and the identification information of the reproduction means are supplied to the content data supply means through a predetermined path. The desired content data is supplied from the content data supply means to the desired reproduction means based on the information, supply information of the content data to the reproduction means, and information of a user of the information terminal, The content data distribution system is characterized in that a billing settlement is made by obtaining the following. 3. The content data distribution system according to claim 1, wherein: the storage means for storing the content data supplied from the content data supply means in the reproduction means; A storage unit for storing history information of the content stored in the storage unit of the playback unit, wherein when the user desires the desired content data, the desired content data in the history information is reproduced. When it is detected that the content data is already stored in the storage unit of the means, the supply of the desired content data to the reproduction means is stopped, and only the reproduction permission information is supplied. Data distribution system.