JP2003076722A - Electronic article supply system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To smoothly make use of an article by a person who opens a Web page. SOLUTION: Articles appeared in already-published magazines are supplied from magazine publishers Z1 to Z3, and are deposited in an article storing portion 120. Use conditions such as a charge for using, a period for using, a print restriction or the like are established for respective deposited articles, and are memorized in a use condition memorizing portion 130. Utilization of the deposited articles are collected by opening the articles in the article storing portion 120 and the conditions in the use condition memorizing portion 130 to enterprises Y1 and Y2 opening Web pages W1 and W2. The articles that are to be subscribed are stored in a covenanted article offering portion 110 as a covenanted article, and stored addresses Add1 and Add2 are noticed. The enterprises Y1 and Y2 describe the noticed addresses in the Web pages W1 and W2 as a linked one. When general readers X1 to X3 click link-points L1 and L2, the covenanted articles that become the linked one are read.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic article providing system, and more particularly to an electronic article providing system capable of providing a service for using articles such as magazines as electronic documents as link destinations on Web pages on the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of the Internet, Web pages have come to play an important social role as an information transmission means. The advantage of web pages is that they can be accessed by anyone from anywhere in the world at any time, and by following links on a single web page, a huge number of web pages can be linked. There is flexibility in becoming. By taking advantage of the Internet, copyrighted works such as videos, music, and literary works are distributed online as electronic contents, and useful information such as news, product catalogs, company information, etc. is also available online. It has been distributed. recently,
There is a growing trend to publish magazines and newspaper articles published as printed matter in paper media on the Internet as electronic documents, and major articles published in magazines and newspapers use the Internet. It is becoming possible to read on a web page. Currently, many printed materials are printed using DTP (Desk Top Publishing).
It is produced by editing work using a computer. Therefore, the information on the printing plates of many magazines and newspapers is prepared as digital data. Therefore,
If this existing digital data is diverted, the work of publishing a magazine published as a printed matter as electronic content on the Internet can be relatively easily performed.

[0003]

As described above, since articles of magazines and newspapers published as printed matter usually have corresponding digital data, if these digital data are diverted, these It is not so difficult technically to publish the article as electronic content on the Web. However, since the articles in magazines and newspapers are all copyrighted, in practice, there are various problems in allowing a third party to freely use them.
For this reason, at present, it is general that the publisher of the magazine or newspaper (copyright holder) publishes the article of the company on a Web page managed by the company. However, newspapers and magazines publish articles in their own publications only on their own Web pages, but in a limited form of usage, articles can be sent to a third party (a person other than the copyright holder). It cannot be used smoothly. For example, if you access the web page of a specific magazine company,
Articles of the magazine can be read, but articles of other companies cannot be read. Practically, any web creator on the Internet receives articles as electronic contents from copyright holders such as magazines and newspapers,
There is a demand for a system that can be used easily.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to realize an electronic article providing system that enables a web page creator to smoothly use various articles.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] (1) In the first aspect of the present invention, an article provided by an article provider is stored as an electronic document, and the stored article is opened as a Web page. In order to realize an electronic article providing system that allows an article user to use the article as a link destination from the Web page, an article input unit for inputting an article consisting of an electronic document provided by the article provider, and this article By the article storage unit that stores the articles input by the input unit, the usage condition setting unit that allows the article provider to set predetermined usage conditions for each article stored in the article storage unit, and the usage condition setting unit Based on the usage rule storage unit that stores the set usage conditions, and the search instruction from the article user, the search process is performed for the articles stored in the article storage unit,
A search processing unit that presents the searched specific article to the article user as a search result, and the usage conditions for the specific article searched by the search processing are read from the usage condition storage unit, and the read usage conditions are read. When an article user applies to use the article under the usage condition presenting section presented to the article user and the predetermined condition satisfying the usage condition presented by the usage term presenting section, according to the predetermined condition for the article. , Access to the link destination from the web page that is the link source, and the contract conclusion part that records that the usage contract has been established between the article provider who provided the article and the article user who uses the article This allows you to read from the article storage section the contract article provision section that has the function of providing the contract articles that are stored as link destinations, and the specific article for which the usage contract has been concluded. A contracted article storage section that stores the particular articles that have been issued as contracted articles in the contracted article provision section is provided, and the contract conclusion section records that the usage contract has been completed and informs the article users of the contracted articles. Then, the processing of notifying the address of the contracted article stored in the contracted article providing unit as the link destination address is performed.

(2) A second aspect of the present invention is the above-mentioned first aspect.
In the electronic article providing system according to this aspect, at least one of the article input unit and the use condition setting unit has a function of communicating with a computer operated by an article provider via a network, and the article input processing and the use condition At least one of the setting processes is performed via a network.

(3) A third aspect of the present invention relates to the above-mentioned first aspect.
Alternatively, in the electronic article providing system according to the second aspect, at least one of the search processing unit, the usage condition presenting unit, and the contract conclusion unit has a function of communicating with a computer operated by an article user via a network, At least one of an instruction input process, a search result presentation process, a usage condition presentation process, an article use application process, and a link destination address notification process is performed via a network.

(4) A fourth aspect of the present invention relates to the above-mentioned first aspect.
~ In the electronic article providing system according to the third aspect, the contracted article storage unit reads a specific article for which a usage contract has been established from the article storage unit, and the read specific article is set for the article. After being processed to satisfy certain usage conditions, it is stored as a closed article in the closed article provision section.

(5) A fifth aspect of the present invention is based on the above first aspect.
In the electronic article providing system according to the fourth aspect, the use condition setting unit can set the charging condition regarding the usage fee to be paid from the article user to the article provider when using the article as the use condition. is there.

(6) A sixth aspect of the present invention is the above-mentioned fifth aspect.
In the electronic article providing system according to the above aspect, the provision history from the contracted article providing section should be recorded for each closed article, and based on this provision history, individual article users should pay to each individual article provider. A billing processing unit is further provided for performing a billing process for calculating the usage fee and notifying the article user and the article provider of the calculated usage fee.

(7) A seventh aspect of the present invention relates to the above-mentioned first aspect.
~ In the electronic article providing system according to the sixth aspect, the use condition setting unit allows the use condition to set the condition condition that determines the use period of the article, and the condition use condition is satisfied in the article use application from the article user. When the contract period within the range is specified, the contract conclusion section records the fact that the usage contract has been concluded for the contract period.

(8) An eighth aspect of the present invention is based on the above-mentioned seventh aspect.
In the electronic article providing system according to this aspect, an article providing management unit that performs a process of prohibiting access from the link source for a closed article whose contract period has expired is further provided.

(9) A ninth aspect of the present invention is based on the above-mentioned eighth aspect.
In the electronic article providing system according to the aspect, when the contract source expires and the contract source has accessed from the link source, the article providing management unit replaces the contracted article and the contract period has already expired. The message to that effect is provided.

(10) According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic article providing system according to the above-mentioned eighth or ninth aspect, the article providing management section periodically sets a contract period for the closed articles in the closed article providing section. It is designed to have a function to delete contracted articles whose contract period has expired.

(11) According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the electronic article providing system according to the above-mentioned first to tenth aspects, the use condition setting unit uses the password setting or the print restriction at the time of browsing the article. The contracted article storage section reads the specified article from the article storage section when the contract is concluded for the specific article for which the password setting or print restriction is set as the usage condition, and the password is set as the password. After being subjected to processing for setting or printing restriction, it is stored as a closed article in the closed article providing section.

(12) A twelfth aspect of the present invention is, in the electronic article providing system according to the above-mentioned first to eleventh aspects, a security method and article quality in providing an article by the use condition setting section. , Or the information specifying the copyright notice can be set as a usage condition, and the contracted article storage unit can access the specific article when the usage contract is concluded for the specific article for which each of the above usage conditions is set. Is read from the article storage unit, processed to satisfy the usage condition set for the article, and then stored as a closed article in the closed article providing unit.

(13) According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic article providing system according to the above-mentioned first to twelfth aspects, the article input section has a function of inputting bibliographic information relating to the article together with the article. However, the article storage unit has a function of storing the bibliographic information together with the article, and the search processing unit performs a search process on the article or the bibliographic information stored in the article storage unit to find the specific article or bibliographic information found. It has a function of presenting information to the article user as a search result.

(14) According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic article providing system according to any one of the first to thirteenth aspects, the search processing section stores the usage condition storage together with the information stored in the article storage section. The search processing is performed by referring to the information stored in the department.

(15) According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic article providing system according to the first to fourteenth aspects, the article input unit inputs an electronic document including a plurality of articles as one file. Then, the input electronic document is stored in the article storage unit in file units, and the contracted article storage unit reads the electronic document in file units from the article storage unit and cuts out only the necessary articles from this electronic document. The executed article is stored as a closed article in the closed article providing unit.

(16) According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic article providing system according to the above-mentioned first to fifteenth aspects, when the contract conclusion section receives an article use application from an article user, It records that a provisional contract has been established between the article provider and the article user, performs the process of notifying the article user of the address of the closed article as a link address, and then the article user officially When there is a notice of the contract, the record of the provisional contract is changed to the record of this contract, and when the notice of the contract is canceled from the article user, the record of the provisional contract is deleted and This is a process for deleting the corresponding contracted article in the contracted article providing unit.

(17) According to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention, a computer program for causing a computer to function as the electronic article providing system according to the above-described first to sixteenth aspects is prepared, and the computer program can be read by the computer. It can be recorded and distributed on various recording media.

[0022]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, an electronic article providing system according to the present invention will be described based on illustrated embodiments.

§1. Electronic article providing system according to the present invention
Basic Concepts Introduction, the basic concept of an electronic article providing system according to the present invention, will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. An object of the electronic article providing system according to the present invention is to provide a service that allows articles such as magazines to be used as electronic documents as link destinations in Web pages on the Internet. In FIG. 1, the electronic article providing system 100 according to the present invention is connected to the Internet N, and the electronic article providing system 100 is connected to the electronic article providing system 100 via the Internet N by a general reader, an article user, and an article provider. An example in which an article providing service is performed by receiving access is shown. In FIG. 1, for convenience, three general visitors X1, X
2, X3 (for example, an individual who accesses the Internet), two article users Y1 and Y2 (for example, a general company that opens a Web page on the Internet), and three article providers Z1 and Z2. , Z3 (for example,
Although newspaper publishers and magazines) use this system, a large number of participants who have an environment for connecting to the Internet N actually use the electronic article providing system 100 according to the present invention. You can get the service of.
In addition, here, for convenience of explanation, general viewers X1, X
2, X3, article users Y1, Y2, article providers Z1, Z
Computers (personal computers, mobile phones, other portable electronic devices, etc.) that are used to connect to the Internet N by 2, 2 and Z3 are respectively labeled with the same symbols as the terminal devices X1, X2, X3, Y1, Y2, Z1. , Z2, Z3.

Electronic article providing system 100 according to the present invention
The service realized by the link service is the article provided by article providers Z1, Z2, Z3 such as magazine companies, if there are articles desired by article users Y1, Y2 such as general companies. It is a service that makes it possible to use. That is, "use of an article" by the article users Y1 and Y2 means that a link to an article to be used is provided from a Web page opened by the user and actually reading the content of the article. It means that general users X1, X2, X3 who browse the Web pages opened by article users Y1, Y2. In Figure 1,
Article provider Z1 has three articles Z1a, Z1b, Z1c
The article provider Z2 has three articles Z2.
a, Z2b, Z2c, and article provider Z3
Shows an example in which three articles Z3a, Z3b, and Z3c are held.

In order to provide such a service, the electronic article providing system 100 is provided with a contract article providing section 110, an article storage section 120, and a usage condition storage section 130 as shown in the figure. The contracted article providing unit 110 is a component that performs the process of actually providing an article by this system, and the content of the articles read by the general readers X1, X2, and X3 is the Internet N from the contracted article providing unit 110. Will be provided through. On the other hand, the article storage unit 120 stores articles that may be provided by this system. The articles stored in the article storage unit 120 are all article providers Z1, Z2.
It is an article provided by Z3, and in the illustrated example, a total of nine articles Z1a, Z1b, Z1c, Z2a, Z2b, Z2c, Z provided by each article provider Z1, Z2, Z3.
3a, Z3b, and Z3c are shown stored in the article storage unit 120. Actually, each article may be transmitted to the electronic article providing system 100 from the terminal devices Z1, Z2, Z3 operated by each article provider via the Internet N. As described above, when depositing articles from the article providers Z1, Z2, and Z3, the usage conditions (usage fee, usage period, etc.) for using the article for each individual article are set. Make sure you have a decision. In the illustrated example, a total of nine usage conditions J1a, J1b, J1c, and J2 set corresponding to each of the total of nine articles stored in the article storage unit 120.
The state where a, J2b, J2c, J3a, J3b, and J3c are stored in the usage condition storage unit 130 is shown. Actually, the terminal device Z1, operated by each article provider,
From Z2 and Z3, the use condition setting work for each article is performed via the Internet N.

The operator of the electronic article providing system 100 is
As described above, the articles are deposited by the article providers Z1, Z2, and Z3 and stored in the article storage unit 120, and the stored articles are disclosed to the article users Y1 and Y2 to be used as link destinations. Applications will be accepted. The article users Y1 and Y2 examine the contents stored in the article storage unit 120 by accessing the articles using the terminal devices Y1 and Y2. And W which self establishes
If there is an article that is desired to be used as a link destination from the eb page, the usage conditions stored in the usage condition storage unit 130 for the article are considered, and whether or not to apply for usage is examined. Article user Y1 or Y
When 2 decides to use the particular article, the terminal device Y1, Y2 makes a use application for the article to the electronic article providing system 100 via the Internet N. Electronic article providing system 100
Upon receipt of this usage application, reads out the article stored in the article storage unit 120 and stores it in the closed article providing unit 110 as a closed article. In FIG. 1, the article user Y1 makes a contract for the article Z3b (article provided by the article provider Z3) to obtain a closed article Y.
1Z3b (meaning the article based on the fact that the article user Y1 has concluded that the article Z3b is used) is stored in the concluded article providing unit 110, and the article user Y2 has the article Z.
By applying for use of 1c (article provided by article provider Z1), a closed article Y2Z1c (an article based on the fact that the article user Y2 made a contract to use article Z1c) is a closed article. An example stored in the providing unit 110 is shown.

Thus, in the example shown in FIG. 1, the use contract is concluded for two articles out of the nine articles stored in the article storage section 120, and the contracted article providing section 110 stores The two articles Y1Z3b and Y2Z1c for which this usage contract has been established are stored.
When the usage contract is concluded in this way, the electronic article providing system 100 stores the contracted article in the contracted article providing unit 110 and uses an address for accessing the contracted article as the contracted article is used. The person is notified as a link destination address. In the case of the illustrated example, the address Add1 for accessing the closed article Y1Z3b is notified as the link destination address to the terminal device Y1 of the article user Y1 who made the contract via the Internet N, and the closed sale is also made. The address Add2 for accessing the article Y2Z1c is notified as a link address to the terminal device Y2 of the article user Y2 who made the contract via the Internet N.

The article users Y1 and Y2 can use the link addresses Add1 and Add2 notified in this way to link to each contract article from the Web page that they themselves open. For example, the article user Y1
A link that specifies the link destination address Add1 can be set in the web page W1 that the user himself establishes, and the article user Y2 establishes a link that specifies the link destination address Add2 in the web page W2 that he himself establishes. be able to. It is general readers X1, X2, and X3 who actually browse each contract article using such a link. General viewers X1, X2, X3 are terminal devices X such as personal computers in which Web browser software is installed.
1, X2, X3 are used to access the web pages W1, W2, and when the link points provided in these web pages are clicked, the terminal device X1,
A predetermined contracted article in the contracted article providing unit 110 is accessed from X2, X3, and the content of the contracted article is sent to the terminal devices X1, X2, X3 that have accessed. For example, if the general viewer X1 uses the Web of the terminal device X1.
We opened by article user Y1 using the browser function
If you click the link point L1 to the address Add1 while browsing page b1 W1
Contract article Y1Z3b stored at address Add1 in
Is accessed and the contracted article Y1Z is sent to the terminal device X1.
The contents of 3b will be sent. Similarly, while the general reader X2 is browsing the web page W2 opened by the article user Y2 using the web browser function of the terminal device X2,
When the link point L2 to the address Add2 is clicked, the contract article Y2Z1c stored at the address Add2 in the contract article providing unit 110 is accessed, and the content of the contract article Y2Z1c is sent to the terminal device X2.

As described above, the electronic article providing system 100
If you use the article provision service by
1 and Y2 are the web pages W1,
An environment in which articles related to W2 can be provided as link destinations can be obtained, and the information value of one's own Web page can be increased. On the other hand, as the article providers Z1, Z2, and Z3, it becomes possible to effectively use the articles that the article providers own, and if a predetermined usage fee is set as a usage condition, the contract articles It will be possible to collect usage fees from article users, and financial benefits will be obtained. Of course, the terms of use are:
In addition to the usage fee conditions, various conditions can be set for the usage period and copyright protection, and the copyright protection for the articles owned by the article provider can be sufficiently achieved.

§2. Electronic article providing system according to the present invention
The basic configuration of §1 has been described above. Here, the basic configuration and operation of the electronic article providing system according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the electronic article providing system 100 according to the basic embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, the part surrounded by the alternate long and short dash line is the part that constitutes the electronic article providing system 100. The electronic article providing system 100 is actually composed of a server device. Further, the elongated ellipses described as general reader X, article user Y, and article provider Z represent terminal devices such as personal computers operated by them. In the case of the embodiment shown here, the terminal devices operated by the general reader X, the article user Y, and the article provider Z are all configured by a general-purpose personal computer in which Web browser software is incorporated, and these terminals are used. The device has a function of accessing a predetermined web page provided by the electronic article providing system 100 side.
Data is exchanged via pages. As described above, in the case of carrying out the present invention, in practice, a terminal device operated by a plurality of general readers X, a plurality of article users Y, and a plurality of article providers Z, and the electronic article provision system 10
0 will be connected via the Internet N, but in the block diagram shown in FIG.
Only signal exchanges between the electronic article providing system 100 and the terminal devices operated by the independent general reader X, the independent article user Y, and the independent article provider Z will be shown.

In the block diagram shown in FIG. 2, the closed article providing section 110, the article storage section 120, and the usage rule storage section 130 shown as the constituent elements of the electronic article providing system 100 are the respective constituent elements shown in FIG. Is the same as As described above, this electronic article providing system 100
The basic function of is to store the articles provided by the article provider Z as an electronic document, and to save the stored articles as W
For the article user Y who has established the eb page W,
Perform processing to use as a link destination from page W,
It is to be provided for reading by the general reader X. The contracted article providing unit 110 stores, as a link destination, a contracted article for which a usage contract has been established between the article user Y and the article provider Z, in the form of an electronic document. Web
If there is a link from the page W, the contracted article providing unit 110 sends the contracted article to the terminal device of the general viewer X. Also, the article storage unit 12
The articles provided by the article provider Z are stored in 0, and the usage conditions for each article set by the article provider Z are stored in the usage rule storage unit 130.

The article input unit 125 is a component that performs a process of inputting articles stored in the article storage unit 120.
The article provider Z can deposit the desired article by transmitting the desired article as an electronic document from the terminal device Z to the article input unit 125 via the Internet.
In the illustrated example, a state in which four articles Z1 to Z4 provided by the article provider Z are stored in the article storage unit 120 is shown. In this case, the four article Z1 to Z4 provided by the article provider Z by the article input unit 125.
Is input, and the process of storing in the article storage unit 120 is performed.

However, it is not always necessary to deposit articles from the article provider Z by online processing via the Internet. For example, in the case where the article provider Z is a magazine company and the person who operates the electronic article providing system 100 is a printing company that undertakes the printing of magazines by the magazine company, the electronic article providing system is provided. It becomes possible to provide a service using the system 100 as an incidental job of the printing job. As previously mentioned,
Currently, most of the plate making / printing processes for magazines and the like are in the form of using the DTP method using a computer, and a manuscript sent from a magazine company to a printing company (a manuscript of paper medium, In any case, the original document of the electronic medium will be input as digital data to the computer constituting the DTP system. In other words,
Most of the articles published in magazines of paper media issued by magazine companies are left as digital data on the DTP system in the printing company. In such a case, the article input unit 125 does not directly input the digital data constituting the article from the article provider Z (magazine company) via the Internet, but uses the digital data remaining on the DTP system as It is input as a deposited article and stored in the article storage unit 120.

The use condition setting unit 135 is used by the article storage unit 12
For each article stored in 0, the article provider Z
Is a component that performs processing for setting a predetermined usage condition, and the usage condition set by the usage condition setting unit 135 is stored in the usage condition storage unit 130. The usage condition setting unit 135 may have any configuration as long as the usage conditions are set in the usage condition storage unit 130 by some method. For example, a predetermined data format for defining the usage conditions is defined in advance, and the usage conditions for each article deposited in the article provider Z (individual articles stored in the article storage unit 120) It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the document data described in this predetermined data format is transmitted using electronic mail or the like. in this case,
The usage condition setting unit 135 may perform such a process of receiving such an electronic mail and writing the document data in which the usage conditions are described in the usage condition storage unit 130. Alternatively, an article provider Z may access a predetermined web page from a terminal device of the article provider Z, and prepare a form for setting individual usage conditions in question form on this web page. A configuration may be adopted in which the usage conditions are set by writing. In this case, the usage rule setting unit 135 sets such a form as W
It is provided as an eb page, the usage rule written on this form is extracted as data, and the usage rule storage unit 1
It suffices to perform the process of writing in 30. In the illustrated example, four usage rules J1 to J4 are stored in the usage rule storage unit 130 corresponding to each of the four articles Z1 to Z4 stored in the article storage unit 120. The status is shown.

As described above, when the article provider Z provides the desired articles to be deposited and sets the usage conditions for each article, the electronic article providing system 10
By 0, preparations for calling the article user Y are completed. In order to actually use the articles stored in the article storage unit 120, it is necessary for the article user Y to consider each article and its usage conditions, and then to have a usage contract signed. is there. Contract conclusion section 140
Is a component that records that such a usage contract has been established. Of course, before the contract is concluded, it is necessary for the article user Y to thoroughly examine the articles in the article storage unit 120 and the usage conditions in the usage condition storage unit 130. The search processing unit 150 performs a search process for an article stored in the article storage unit 120 based on a search instruction from the article user Y, and presents the searched specific article to the article user Y as a search result. It is a component that performs a process. If a search engine that searches the text data of all articles stored in the article storage unit 120 is prepared as the search processing unit 150, the article user Y can input an arbitrary search word. By doing so, the search processing by the search processing unit 150 can be used. The search processing unit 150 picks up an article including a given search word from the articles stored in the article storage unit 120, and operates the list user or the full text of the article as a search result by the article user Y. It can be presented to the terminal device.

The usage condition presenting unit 160 includes a search processing unit 15
The usage rule for the specific article searched by the search process of 0 is read from the usage rule storage unit 130,
It is a component that performs a process of presenting the read usage conditions to the article user Y. In this example, the usage conditions for all articles searched by the search processing unit 150 are
Although the usage condition presenting unit 160 is configured to be presented to the article user Y, only the usage conditions for the articles designated by the article user Y may be selectively presented. Absent.

Thus, the article user Y is the search processing unit 1
By using 50, a desired article can be searched from the articles stored in the article storage unit 120, and the content of the article can be browsed as the search result. In addition, the usage rule presenting unit 160 can confirm the usage rule set for a desired article. As described above, since the articles in the article storage unit 120 and the usage conditions in the usage condition storage unit 130 are disclosed to the article user Y, the authority as the article user Y is given to an unspecified number of people. Giving will cause problems from the perspective of article copyright protection. Therefore, in practice, in order to use the electronic article providing system 100 as the article user Y, it is preferable to obligate the user to pay a predetermined registration fee in advance to perform registration. In this case, the officially registered article user Y issues a predetermined account and has a predetermined password decided as necessary.
When using the electronic article providing system 100 as the article user Y, a login work for inputting a predetermined account and a predetermined password may be imposed.

Now, the article user Y is the article storage unit 120.
If the content of a specific article stored in the article is examined and the usage conditions stored in the usage condition storage unit 130 for this article are examined, and the user wishes to use the article, You will apply to use the article. This application for use is made by transmitting information from the terminal device operated by the article user Y to the contract conclusion unit 140 that the application for the particular article is to be made. Specifically, for example, the contract concluding unit 140 may provide a predetermined use application Web page and perform a predetermined application on the Web page so that the use application procedure can be performed. . In this case, the article user Y may make a use application under the same use condition as the use condition presented by the use condition presenting section 160 for the article to be used, but the article user Y is presented by the use condition presenting section 160. You may apply for usage by setting your own usage conditions within the range of usage conditions. For example, when the usage condition presented by the usage condition presentation unit 160 is set such that the usage period is three months, the usage period is set to one month, for example, within the range satisfying this usage condition. You can set your own usage conditions such as. When the unique usage conditions are set in this way, the unique usage conditions are transmitted to the contract conclusion unit 140 together with the usage application.

In this way, the contract concluding section 140 is concerned when the article user Y makes a use application for a specific article under the predetermined condition satisfying the use condition presented by the use condition presenting section 160. According to the predetermined condition for a specific article, the fact that the usage contract has been established between the article provider Z who provided the article and the article user Y who uses the article is recorded. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the article provider Z
About article Z2 provided by
2 or a unique condition set within the range of satisfying the usage condition J2), the record that the usage contract YJ2 is established between the article provider Z and the article user Y is recorded.

In this way, the fact that the usage contract YJ2 has been established is notified from the contract conclusion unit 140 to the contract article storage unit 115. Upon receipt of this notification, the contracted article storage unit 115 reads the article Z2 for which the usage contract has been concluded from the article storage unit 120, and the read article Z2 is stored in the contracted article providing unit 110 in the contracted article YZ2 (article user Y It is a constituent element that performs a process of storing as an article Z2 that is concluded between the two). In the illustrated example, the contract article YZ2 is stored at the address Add in the contract article providing unit 110. On the other hand, the contract conclusion unit 140 records that the usage contract YJ2 has been established, and the article user Y who has made the contract.
The terminal device operated by is notified of the address Add of the closed article YZ2 stored in the closed article providing unit as a link destination address (for example, using an electronic mail). Eventually, the article user Y will be notified of the linked address Add in exchange for making a usage application for the article Z2. The article user Y, who has obtained the address Add of the link destination for the closed article YZ2, describes the link address Add at a predetermined link point L in the Web page W opened by himself, and writes the data D of this Web page (normally Stores an HTML-formatted electronic document) in the Web server 200.

If the article user Y has performed the above-described usage procedure, then the general viewer X will open the Web page W opened by the article user Y from the terminal device having the Web browser function. If the link point L is clicked during browsing, the link destination address Add for this link point L will be accessed, and the contract article YZ2 in the contract article providing unit 110 will be accessed. Thus, the closed article YZ2 is displayed on the terminal device operated by the general viewer X.

§3. Electronic article providing system according to the present invention
Practical Configuration of Next, a more practical configuration of the electronic article providing system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, in addition to the components shown in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, a billing processing unit 170 and an article provision management unit 180 are newly added. Further, the closed article storage unit 115 has a function of performing a processing process on a specific article read from the article storage unit 120.
Hereinafter, each of these features will be sequentially described.

(1) The electronic article providing system 100 according to the embodiment of FIG. 3 is provided with a billing processing section 170 as a new component. In addition, the usage condition setting unit 13
In 0, the charging condition regarding the usage fee to be paid from the article user Y to the article provider Z when the article is used can be set as one of the usage conditions. Specifically, the charging condition is a charging unit (for example, one article unit, one page unit, one line unit, or the like, a unit relating to the amount of articles for setting a usage fee, one access unit, one day unit, one unit).
(Unit related to time for setting usage fee, such as weekly),
These are conditions such as the amount of usage fee and payment method, which the article provider Z sets in advance for each article using the usage condition setting unit 135. This charge condition is presented to the article user Y from the use condition presentation unit 160, so that the article user Y agrees to this charge condition before applying for use. Therefore, the charging condition is recorded in the contract conclusion unit 140 as a part of the contract content.

The billing processing unit 170 is a component that performs billing processing for the article user Y based on the billing conditions recorded as part of the contract content in the contract conclusion unit 140. Specifically, the charging processing unit 170 records the provision history from the contract article providing unit 110 for each contract article, and based on this provision history, each article user Y to each article provider Z. Is calculated, and a process of notifying the calculated usage fee to the article user Y and the article provider Z is performed. As described above, when the general viewer X clicks the link point L of the web page W, the contract article YZ2 is accessed, and the content is displayed on the terminal device of the general viewer X. . The billing processing unit 170 counts the number of times the contract article YZ2 is provided as one time each time such access is made, and records the cumulative number of times of provision within the fixed period as the provision history. If necessary, the date and time of access may be recorded as the provision history. Then, referring to the preset charging conditions,
The usage fee is calculated according to the presentation history, and the amount of the usage fee is notified to both the article user Y (payer) and the article provider Z (recipient). Of course, in reality, there will be various usage relations regarding many closed articles between many article providers and many article users.
The billing processing unit 170 integrates these complicated usage relationships to calculate the usage fee.

(2) The electronic article providing system 100 according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 is provided with another article providing management unit 180 as a new component. The article provision management unit 180 has a function of managing the provision of contract articles by the contract article provision unit 110 so as not to violate the contract conditions recorded in the contract conclusion unit 140. Here, let us consider a case where, for example, the use condition setting unit 135 sets a period condition that determines a use period of an article as a use condition. When such a term condition is set as the use condition, the article user Y can make an article use application designating a contract period within a range satisfying the set term condition, and the contract conclusion unit 140. As a result, a record that the usage contract has been established for the contract period is recorded. When such a usage contract is established, the article provision management unit 180 monitors the contracted article provision operation by the contracted article provision unit 110 with reference to the contract conditions in the contract conclusion unit 140.

In other words, the article provision management unit 180 has a function of prohibiting access from the link source to the closed articles whose contract period has expired. For example, when the linked source accesses a closed article whose contract period has expired, the article providing management unit 180 provides a message indicating that the contract period has already expired instead of the closed article. It suffices to perform such processing. Originally, after the contract period expires, the article user Y should take a measure to delete the link to the article whose contract period has expired from within his / her own Web page W. If the general visitor X clicks the link point L on the web page W in the case where the general visitor X neglects such a treatment,
Instead of presenting the article that was the link destination, some message is provided by the article provision management unit 180.

Further, since it is not necessary to keep the closed articles whose contract period has expired in the closed article providing unit 110 forever, the article providing management unit 180 regularly checks the closed articles in the closed article providing unit 110. Then, the contracted article whose contract period has expired may be deleted.

(3) The contracted article storage unit 115 in the electronic article providing system 100 according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 sets the usage conditions set for the particular article read from the article storage unit 120. After performing the processing for satisfying, it has a function of storing the article after the processing as a closed article in the closed article providing unit 110.

For example, by the use condition setting unit 135,
Consider a case where a password setting or printing restriction when browsing an article is set as a usage condition. If a password is set for the article or if printing restrictions are imposed, the general reader X can view the article, but must enter the password to view the article, or Printing of articles will be restricted. However, in practice, in order to implement such a restriction, measures are taken so that the terminal device of the general viewer X who has been provided with the restricted article cannot physically freely view or print. It is preferable to take In the electronic article providing system 100 according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the closed article storage unit 115 has a function of taking such a measure. That is, when the usage contract is concluded for a specific article for which the password setting or the print restriction is set as the usage condition, the closed article storage unit 115 stores the specific article in the article storage unit 120.
After performing the processing for reading the password from the user and performing the processing for setting the password or restricting the printing, the processing for storing the processing as the closed article in the closed article providing unit 110 is performed.

At present, a PDF format is widely used as a format for distributing electronic documents.
The electronic document described in this PDF format is a dedicated reading software (Adobe Acrobat Reade
r) can be read by a personal computer with built-in. Moreover, if this PDF format is used, it is possible to embed the designation information for setting the password at the time of browsing and the print restriction in the electronic document, and the electronic document in which the designation information for such restriction is embedded is ,
Password restrictions and print restrictions work during reading, making it impossible to physically view and print. Therefore, the closed article storage unit 115 causes the article storage unit 120 to
Performs processing to convert articles stored in PDF into documents in PDF format, and if necessary, embeds password setting and print restriction designation information, and the processed documents are concluded as contract documents. If it is stored in 110, effective browsing restrictions and printing restrictions are possible.

In addition, even when the use condition setting unit 135 sets the security method at the time of providing an article, the quality of the article, or the information designating the copyright notice as the use condition, the concluded article storage unit 115. Processing by is beneficial. For example, for an article provided on condition that a special security measure is taken, after the contracted article storage unit 115 performs a processing process for taking the security measure, the article is provided as a closed article offer unit 110. It may be stored in the inside. Further, when the usage condition regarding the quality of the article such as the resolution of the image included in the article is set, the contracted article storage unit 115 performs the processing for changing the resolution of the corresponding image. Later, it may be stored as a closed article in the closed article providing unit 110. Further, when the setting is made such that the predetermined copyright is displayed in the article, the contracted article storage unit 115 performs the processing to add the designated copyright display. Later, it may be stored as a closed article in the closed article providing unit 110. By embedding such a copyright notice in an article and distributing it, the source of the article can be specified, which is also effective in limiting secondary use.

§4. Other Modifications The electronic article providing system according to the present invention has been described above based on some embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. Here, some modified examples will be described.

(1) Input of Bibliographic Information In the above embodiment, the article input unit 125 inputs the article provided by the article provider Z as an electronic document,
Although the example of storing this in the article storage unit 120 has been described, the article input unit 125 inputs the bibliographic information related to the article together with the article, and the article storage unit 120 stores the bibliographic information together with the article. By doing so, the search processing by the search processing unit 150 can be performed not only on the article body but also on the bibliographic information, and the specific article or the bibliographic information searched is used as the search result. It can be presented to the article user Y.

For example, in the case of an article published in a magazine, the title of the magazine, the ISBN code of the magazine,
Bibliographic information such as the title of the article, the genre of the article, and the author name of the article is prepared by the article provider Z, and the bibliographic information is stored together with the article body in the article storage unit 1.
It will be stored in 20. By doing so, the article user Y can search the bibliographic information when performing the search using the search processing unit 150. For example, the article user Y searches under the condition such as “article with author XX”. Will be able to do.

(2) Retrieval by use condition Further, the retrieval processing unit 150 does not necessarily include the article storage unit 120.
It is not necessary to search only the information stored therein, and it is possible to search by referring to the information stored in the usage rule storage unit 130. For example, it is possible to perform a search such as "an article for which the usage condition is set to be 5 yen or less for every 1000 accesses".

(3) Storage of Articles in File Units In the embodiments described above, an example in which the electronic document related to one article is stored as one file in the article storage unit 120 has been described. In the above, electronic documents including a plurality of articles are often input and stored as one file. In such a case, an electronic document is read from the article storage unit 120 into the contracted article storage unit 115 in file units, only necessary articles are cut out from the electronic document, and the cut-out articles are closed articles as closed articles. It is preferable to provide a function of performing a storing process in the providing unit 110.

(4) The link source specific article user Y is required to specify the link source of the specific article when applying for use of the specific article, and is recorded in the contract concluding section 140. The link source may be specified in the contract to be used. For example, in the case of the example in FIG. 3, the article user Y
Will make a usage application specifying that the link source is the Web page W. Specifically, the URL address of the Web page W or the like may be specified as the link source. By doing so, when the contracted article providing unit 110 has accessed the contracted article, the access is
Whether or not the access is from the page b W as the link source is confirmed, and only when the confirmation is obtained, it is possible to provide the contracted article as the link destination. If such an operation is performed, it is possible to prevent an act that a third party who obtains the link destination address Add by an illegal method establishes an illegal link from his or her Web page to the closed article.

(5) Execution of Temporary Contract In the above-described embodiment, when the article user reviews the search results and the usage conditions and applies for the usage of a specific article, the usage contract is officially signed. However, if necessary, it is also possible to first make a temporary contract and let the article users try the link, and then move to this contract. In this case, the contract conclusion unit 140 records that the provisional contract has been established between the article provider Z and the article user Y for the time being when the article user Y makes an article use application, A process of notifying the user Y of the address of the closed article as a link destination address is performed. At this time, if necessary, a price list, a cautionary note, and the like may also be notified. As a result, article user Y
Can try the link from his web page to the closed article. Then, at the time when a predetermined trial period has elapsed, the article user Y may answer whether to make a formal contract or cancel the contract. When the article user Y notifies the contract conclusion unit 140 of the formal contract, the contract conclusion unit 140 may perform the process of changing the record of the provisional contract into the record of the main contract. . Further, when the article user Y notifies the contract conclusion unit 140 of the contract cancellation, the process of deleting the record of the provisional contract and erasing the corresponding contract article in the contract article providing unit 110. Should be done.

§5. Specific Business Mode Finally, some examples of specific business modes using the electronic article providing system according to the present invention will be shown.

(1) Travel magazine publisher: Travel agency Travel magazine publisher, as article provider Z, provides travel articles. On the other hand, the travel agency, as the article user Y, makes a contract for a travel article having a content similar to that of the tour planned by the travel agency, and uses a link from the tour introduction Web page of the company. Regardless of the publisher, travel agencies can use the articles that have the closest content to their tour. On the other hand, as a travel magazine publisher, it can be expected that the popularity of its travel magazine will increase and sales will increase.

(2) Information magazine publisher: The product manufacturer information magazine publisher, as the article provider Z, provides product introduction articles. On the other hand, the product maker, as article user Y,
Make a contract for an introduction article about your product,
Use by linking from the company's product introduction Web page. The product manufacturer can provide the customer (general reader X) with the description of the company's product by linking the contents of the published magazines or books to the customer (general reader X), thereby improving the awareness of the product and promoting the sales. Can be planned. In addition, if the provision history from the contracted article provision unit 110 is recorded, for example, by analyzing the relationship between the number of article views and the number of product sales, the customer's interest in the product can be estimated. Can be used for market research.

(3) Information magazine publisher: Restaurant The information magazine publisher, as the article provider Z, provides recommended articles of restaurants. On the other hand, the restaurant, as the article user Y, makes a usage contract for a recommended article regarding the company's store, and uses the link from the company's store introduction Web page.

(4) Information magazine publisher: movie theater The information magazine publisher, as the article provider Z, provides a critical article of the movie being shown. On the other hand, the movie theater, as an article user Y, makes a contract for a critical article about a movie currently being shown, and uses a link from its own Web page.

(5) Publisher: The individual publisher who opened the Web page provides various articles as the article provider Z.
On the other hand, as an article user Y, an individual who has opened a web page makes a contract for an article related to the content of his or her web page and uses a link from his or her web page.

Although some business forms have been exemplified above,
In either case, both the article user Y and the article provider Z will be provided with merits. That is, the article user Y can broadly search for articles most relevant to the content of the web page opened by himself, and by using this article as a link destination, the content of his web page is enhanced. Can be made. On the other hand, article provider Z
As a result, the secondary use of articles of magazines and books published in paper medium can be achieved, and the presence of their own magazines and books can be appealed to the general reader X of the Web page, and the name recognition can be improved. Can be increased.

[0066]

As described above, according to the electronic article providing system of the present invention, the articles provided by the article provider are
It becomes possible for the article users who have established the Web page to use it smoothly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic concept of an electronic article providing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic article providing system 100 according to a basic embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic article providing system 100 according to a practical embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 ... Electronic article providing system 110 ... Closed article providing unit 115 ... Closed article storage unit 120 ... Article storage unit 125 ... Article input unit 130 ... Usage condition storage unit 135 ... Usage condition setting unit 140 ... Contract conclusion unit 150 ... Search processing unit 160 ... Usage condition presentation unit 170 ... Charge processing unit 180 ... Article provision management unit 200 ... Web server Add, Add1, Add2 ... Link destination address D ... Web page data J1, J2, J3, J4, J1a, J1b, J1c, J
2a, J2b, J2c, J3a, J3b, J3c ... Terms of use N ... Internet L, L1, L2 ... Link points W, W1, W2 ... Web page X, X1, X2, X3 ... General viewer / general viewer operates Terminal device Y, Y1, Y2, Y3 ... Article user / terminal device operated by article user Y1Z3b, Y2Z1c, YZ2 ... Contracted article YJ2 ... Usage contract Z, Z1, Z2, Z3 ... Article provider / article provider Operated by the terminal devices Z1a, Z1b, Z1c, Z2a, Z2b, Z2c, Z
3a, Z3b, Z3c ... Articles

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification Code FI Theme Coat (Reference) G06F 17/60 332 G06F 17/60 332 504 504

Claims (17)

[Claims] 1. A process of storing an article provided by an article provider as an electronic document and causing an article user who has established a Web page to use the stored article as a link destination from the Web page. An electronic article providing system for performing an article, comprising: an article input section for inputting an article composed of an electronic document provided by an article provider; an article storage section for storing an article input by the article input section; and the article storage section. For each article stored in
Based on a search instruction from an article user, a usage condition setting unit that allows an article provider to set a predetermined usage condition, a usage condition storage unit that stores the usage condition set by the usage condition setting unit, A search processing unit that performs a search process for articles stored in the storage unit and presents the searched specific article to the article user as a search result, and a usage condition for the specific article searched by the search processing. A usage condition presenting unit that reads out the usage condition from the usage condition storage unit and presents the read usage condition to an article user; and a predetermined condition that satisfies the usage condition presented by the usage condition presenting unit When an article use application is made, between the article provider who provided the article and the article user who uses the article, according to the predetermined condition, for the particular article. A contract conclusion section that records the fact that a usage contract has been established, and a contract article provision section that has the function of providing contract articles stored as link destinations by accessing the link destination from the Web page that is the link source. And a contract article storage unit for reading the specific article for which a usage contract has been concluded from the article storage unit and storing the read specific article as a contract article in the contract article provision unit, the contract conclusion unit Records the fact that the usage contract has been established, and performs the processing of notifying the article user of the closed article to the address of the closed article stored in the closed article provision section as the link destination address. An electronic article provision system characterized by. 2. The electronic article providing system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the article input unit and the usage condition setting unit is
An electronic article providing system having a function of communicating with a computer operated by an article provider via a network, and performing at least one of an article input process and a usage condition setting process via the network. 3. The electronic article providing system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of a search processing unit, a usage condition presenting unit, and a contract conclusion unit communicates with a computer operated by an article user via a network. It has a function and performs at least one of a search instruction input process, a search result presentation process, a usage condition presentation process, an article use application process, and a link destination address notification process via the network. An electronic article providing system. 4. The electronic article providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the contracted article storage unit reads out a specific article for which a usage contract has been established from the article storage unit, and adds the read out specific article to the specific article. On the other hand, an electronic article providing system characterized by performing processing for satisfying the use condition set for the article, and storing the article as a closed article in the closed article providing section. 5. The electronic article providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the usage condition setting unit uses a charging condition regarding a usage fee to be paid from the article user to the article provider when using the article. An electronic article providing system characterized in that it can be set as a condition. 6. The electronic article providing system according to claim 5, wherein the history of provision from the contracted article providing section is recorded for each closed article, and based on the provided history, individual article users individually An electronic article providing system characterized by further comprising a charging processing unit for calculating a usage fee to be paid to an article provider and notifying the article user and the article provider of the calculated usage fee. . 7. The electronic article providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the use condition setting unit enables setting of a period condition for determining a use period of the article as a use condition. If the contract period within the range satisfying the above-mentioned period condition is specified in the article use application, the contract conclusion section records that the use contract has been established for the contract period. Offer system. 8. The electronic article providing system according to claim 7, further comprising an article providing management unit that performs a process of prohibiting access from a link source for a closed article whose contract period has expired. A featured electronic article providing system. 9. The electronic article providing system according to claim 8, wherein when the contract source expires and a contracted article is accessed from the link source, the article provision management unit replaces the contracted article. , An electronic article providing system characterized by providing a message that the contract period has already expired. 10. The electronic article providing system according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the article providing management unit periodically inspects the contract period for the closed articles in the closed article providing unit and determines that the closed articles have expired. If there is, an electronic article providing system characterized by having a function of deleting it. 11. The electronic article providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the use condition setting unit enables setting of a password setting or print restriction at the time of browsing an article as a use condition, and stores a closed article. Section reads the specified article from the article storage section when a usage agreement is established for a specific article for which password setting or print restriction is set as a usage condition, and performs processing for password setting or print restriction. The electronic article providing system is characterized in that it is stored as a closed article in the closed article providing section after the application. 12. The electronic article providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the use condition setting unit provides information for designating a security method when providing an article, quality of the article, or copyright notice. The contracted article storage unit reads out the specific article from the article storage unit when the contract for use is established for the specific article for which the usage condition is set, and sets it for the article. An electronic article providing system, characterized in that the article is stored as a closed article in the closed article providing section after being processed so as to meet the usage conditions. 13. The electronic article providing system according to claim 1, wherein the article input unit has a function of inputting bibliographic information regarding the article together with the article, and the article storage unit includes the article together with the article. It has a function of storing bibliographic information, and the search processing unit performs a search process for the articles or bibliographic information stored in the article storage unit, and the specific user or bibliographic information retrieved is used as the search result by the article user. An electronic article providing system characterized by having a function of presenting to an electronic article. 14. The electronic article providing system according to claim 1, wherein the search processing unit refers to the information stored in the usage condition storage unit together with the information stored in the article storage unit. An electronic article providing system characterized by performing a search process using 15. The electronic article providing system according to claim 1, wherein the article input unit inputs an electronic document including a plurality of articles as one file, and the input electronic document is a file unit. The saved article is stored in the article storage unit, and the contracted article storage unit reads the electronic document in file units from the article storage unit, cuts out only the necessary articles from this electronic document, and closes the cut-out article as a closed article. An electronic article providing system characterized by performing a process of storing in an article providing unit. 16. The electronic article providing system according to claim 1, wherein the contract conclusion unit is provided between the article provider and the article user when the article user applies for the article use. The record that the provisional contract has been established is carried out, and the process of notifying the article user of the contracted article address as the link destination address is performed, and then, when the article user notifies the official contract, When the record of the temporary contract is changed to the record of the main contract, and the notification of the contract cancellation is given from the article user, the record of the temporary contract is deleted and the contract closed in the article providing section. An electronic article providing system characterized by performing a process of deleting an article. 17. A computer program for causing a computer to function as the electronic article providing system according to claim 1, or a computer-readable recording medium recording the computer program.