JP2003108796A - Document sales system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a document sales system by which only required contents of the respective books and magazines can be purchased. SOLUTION: The document sales system is provided with a server 15 having a book data base 16 for storing pieces of bibliographic information of a plurality of books and computerized data of body texts and a client 11 connected with the server 15 via a network 14, presents a book list web page on the client 11 by retrieving the book data base 16 by a search engine 17 based on pieces of information inputted by the client 11, when a book desired to be observed is specified from the presented book list, presents an index and its purchase price to the client 11, and when the presented index is specified, presents the contents corresponding to the index to the client 11. A user can purchase the contents of a required index part by carrying out purchase after confirming the contents by browsing the presented contents.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document sales system for selling documents using a network such as the Internet. Throughout this specification, "documents" means various books sold at general bookstores such as books, magazines, and photo books, academic journals and specialized literature, reports from government offices and research institutes, and Refers to all written documents such as newspapers, letters, photographs, drawings, etc.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, transmission and reception of information using a computer has been remarkably developed, and various information is frequently acquired by accessing a server that stores and manages information. A method of selling books using this technology is known, and for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-2851.
There is number 74. In this bulletin, the entire text content such as books and newspaper magazines is disclosed to the user via the communication network free of charge or at a predetermined time charge fee, and the user selects the desired text content block to purchase or access. A configuration for obtaining the whole or a part of the character content by obtaining it is described.

[0003]

However, in the conventional system, the book or newspaper magazine that the user wants to see is known in advance, and the character content is disclosed by calling by the title of the book or newspaper magazine. There is. Therefore, if you do not know which book or newspaper magazine contains the content you want to see, first search for the title of the book or newspaper magazine that is posted, and then identify the book or newspaper magazine by that title according to the search results. Must disclose the content from. If there are multiple books or newspaper magazines, specify the title of each book or newspaper magazine, and then specify the necessary part from each book or newspaper magazine. Correspondingly, it has to be repeated many times. Furthermore, since the contents of each book and magazine are composed of different columns and formats, the work of re-editing them together is complicated.

The present invention solves these problems. Even if the user does not know in which document or magazine the content he or she wants to see is searched, the document or magazine in which the content is published is searched and the content is disclosed. Do it continuously,
Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide a document sales system that can obtain all the documents and magazines by simply specifying the necessary parts. Another object of the present invention is to provide a document sales system that can easily re-edit each acquired content.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document sales system in which a server having a document database for storing contents of a plurality of documents as digitized data is connected to the server via a network. First presenting means for presenting a document list to the client by searching the document database based on the information input from the client, and a table of contents and purchase of each document in the document list. Second presentation means for presenting the price to the client, third presentation means for presenting the content corresponding to the table of contents to the client, and contents presented in the table of contents from the information presented by the second or third presentation means. It is characterized by having a means for browsing or purchasing. A document selling system according to a second aspect of the present invention is the document selling system according to the first aspect, characterized in that it has means for ending browsing of the content by the client within a fixed time. A document sales system according to a third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the document sales system according to the first aspect, there is provided means for prohibiting storage and printing of the content when the client browses the content. The document sales system according to claim 4 of the present invention is the document sales system according to claim 1, wherein the digitized data of a plurality of documents stored in the document database are standardized in the same format. Is characterized by. A document selling system according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the document selling system according to the first aspect, each of the first to third presenting means can be transferred to another presenting means.

[0006]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A document sales system according to a first embodiment of the present invention is connected to a server having a document database for storing the contents of a plurality of documents as electronic data, and the server via a network. First presenting means for presenting a document list to the client by searching the document database based on the information input from the client, and a table of contents and a purchase price for each document in the document list. To the client, a third presenting means for presenting the content corresponding to the table of contents to the client, and the content presented in the table of contents from the information presented by the second or third presenting means. It has a means to browse or purchase, so you can find out in which document or magazine the content you want to see is published. Even if it does not exist, you can obtain all of them by simply searching the documents and journals in which they are posted and disclosing the contents, and specifying the necessary parts of each document or magazine. .

The document sales system according to the second embodiment of the present invention, in the document sales system according to the first embodiment, has means for ending the browsing of the content in the client in a certain time, so that so-called browsing is possible. In addition, since it is forcibly ended in a fixed time, unlimited browsing can be prohibited.

The document sales system according to the third embodiment of the present invention is different from the document sales system according to the first embodiment in that it has means for prohibiting storage and printing of contents when the client browses the contents. ,
Unauthorized acquisition of content can be prohibited.

In the document sales system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, in the document sales system according to the first embodiment, electronic data of a plurality of documents stored in a document database are standardized to have the same format. Since the contents of different documents can be obtained in the same format, it is easy to confirm the contents at the time of browsing and re-edit after obtaining.

In the document sales system according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention, in the document sales system according to the first embodiment, each of the first to third presenting means can be changed to another presenting means. The display of the document list, table of contents, and text can be changed to that of other documents.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the document sales system of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a book will be described as an example of a document, but the structure is essentially the same for other types of documents such as magazines and reports. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a document sales system according to the present invention. The basic configuration of this system includes a client 11 used by a user and a server 16 connected to them through a network 15 such as the Internet or an intranet. The client 11 is composed of a personal computer 12 connected to a network 14 and a printer 13 for printing a predetermined portion of its screen. The server 15 follows a web page memory 20 that provides a search screen, a browsing screen, and the like to the client 11, a book database 16 that stores bibliography and texts of a plurality of books, and data and commands input to the web page by the client 11. A search engine 17 for searching the book database 16 and web pages, an output engine 18 for transmitting contents and web pages such as bibliographic items of a book and a book body searched by the search engine 17 to the client 11, and a client 11 It is provided with a billing processing engine 19 which performs billing processing when a purchase is instructed and downloads the content to be purchased to the client 12. It is set so that the text of the book cannot be downloaded to the memory and the printing cannot be executed when the billing engine 19 is not operated. Details will be described later. The books stored in the book database 16 usually have different columns, formats, forms, etc. When different books are displayed on the web page, they will be different.
It is difficult for users to use. Therefore, in the book database 16, contents such as bibliographic items and texts are converted to standardized electronic data so that they are all in the same format when displayed on a web page, and are stored. The user is the personal computer 12 of the client 11
When the server 15 is accessed via the network 14 according to, the search engine 17 searches the web page memory 20 according to the input from the client 11, extracts the searched web page, and outputs it to the client 11 by the output engine 18.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the search web page. The search web page 21 is a page for searching books,
Book name input window 22, author input window 23, publisher input window 2
4, a keyword input window 25 and a search key 26. If the user knows the book name, author, or publisher to search for, he / she inputs them into the respective input windows 22, 23, 24, and if he / she does not know the book name, author, or publisher, inputs a keyword. Enter a keyword related to the book to be searched in the window 25 and click the search key 26. This search instruction is for network 1
4 to the server 15. In the server 15, the search engine 17 searches the book database 16 in accordance with the transmitted search instruction, writes the corresponding candidate book in the book list browsing web page in the web page memory 20, and sends it to the client 11 by the output engine 18.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the book list web page. On the book list web page 31, the book name 32, the author 33, the publisher 34, and the amount 35 of the searched candidate books are listed. At the right end of each book, a table of contents key 36 for displaying the table of contents of the book is provided. A page return key 37 and a page feed key 38 for turning the pages of the table of contents list are provided at the bottom. When the page feed key 38 is clicked, the next page of the book list is displayed, and the page return key 37 is clicked. Then, the previous page of the book list is displayed.
If the user wants to print this book list, the personal computer 1
2 is operated to print with the printer 13. That is, the book list can be obtained free of charge. To view the table of contents of a book displayed on the book list web page 31, click the table of contents key 35,
The search engine 17 searches for the table of contents of the book from the book database 16, writes it in the table of contents browsing web page in the web page memory 20, and sends it to the client 11 by the output engine 18.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the table of contents browsing web page. A book title 42 is displayed at the top of the table of contents browsing web page 41, and the amount of money for purchasing all books 4 is 4 on the right side.
3 and a whole volume purchase key 44 are provided. Below that, the chapter number 45, the name of the chapter 46, the purchase price 47 of the chapter, a browsing marking key 48 for instructing to browse the content of the chapter, and a purchase marking key 49 for instructing to purchase the chapter.
Is provided. A page return key 51 and a page feed key 52 for turning the page of the table of contents page are provided at the bottom. When the page feed key 52 is clicked, the next page of the table of contents is displayed, and the page return key 5
Click 1 to display the previous page of the table of contents.
Furthermore, a previous book display key 53 for displaying the table of contents of the previous book in the book list and a next book display key 54 for displaying the table of contents of the next book are provided.
At the bottom, a browsing execution key 55 for browsing each chapter and a purchase execution key 56 for purchasing are provided.
When the user wants to print the table of contents, he or she can operate the personal computer 12 to print with the printer 13. That is, the table of contents can also be obtained free of charge.

The purchase price of each chapter is set to be lower than the purchase price of the whole book, and when only some of the chapters are purchased, the purchase price is lower than the purchase of the whole book. On the other hand, by setting the purchase price of each chapter to be higher than the purchase price of the whole book, the purchase of the whole book can be cheaper when most chapters are required. When the entire book is purchased by looking at the table of contents, the whole book purchase key 44 is clicked to put the whole book in the cart, and the purchase execution key 56 is clicked. Also, if the chapter to purchase is predetermined or if it is possible to determine whether to purchase based on the table of contents only, purchase marking key 4
When 9 is clicked to display it, the chapter is added to the cart, and by clicking the purchase execution key 56, the chapter can be directly purchased. When the purchase execution key 56 is clicked, the charge processing engine 19 of the server 15 performs the charge processing, the output engine 18 is notified that the charge processing is completed, and the content of the chapter is downloaded to a predetermined memory of the client 11. The printer 13 can also print. If you want to browse and purchase the contents of each chapter, click the browsing marking key 48 of the relevant chapter to display ◎ and then browse execution key 5
Click on 5 to view the contents of that chapter. When there are a plurality of chapters to be browsed, each browsing marking key 48 may be clicked to display a plurality of ◎ displays. FIG. 4 shows an example in which the browsing marking keys 48 are displayed in a double circle in order to browse the chapters 2 and 4.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a browsing page displaying the contents of Chapter 2 solar panel in FIG. Reading page 6
1 includes a page 62 showing the contents of the chapter corresponding to the table of contents and its operation unit 63. The operation unit 63 returns a page 62 to the previous page, a page return key 64, a page forward key 65 to move to the next page, a browse return key 66 to return to the previous browse chapter designated by the browse marking key 48 in FIG. Next browse forward key 67, a previous book display key 68 for displaying the table of contents of the previous book in the book list in FIG. 3 and a next book display key 69 for displaying the table of contents of the next book, purchase Marking key 70 and purchase execution key 71 for purchasing the displayed chapter
Is provided. When checking the contents on the contents display web page in FIG. 5 and purchasing the chapter, the purchase marking key 70 is clicked to add the chapter to the cart. Similarly, the next chapter is browsed to determine whether or not to purchase, and when purchasing, the purchase marking key 70 is clicked to add the chapter to the cart. When the purchase execution key 71 is clicked while all the purchase targets are in the cart in this way, the charge processing engine 19 of the server 15 performs the charge processing, the output engine 18 is notified that the charge processing is completed, and The contents can be downloaded to a predetermined memory of the client 11 and can be printed by the printer 13. When the purchase marking key 70 is not clicked and the contents of the chapter are displayed, the user cannot enter the cart, so that the charging processing engine 20 does not operate, and therefore, the download to the memory of the client 11 and the print processing cannot be performed. Also, the so-called reading time can be limited by limiting the time for displaying the chapter contents to a certain time and deleting the display after the time has elapsed. As a result, it is possible to prevent unauthorized acquisition of content by escaping the charging process.
On the other hand, when not purchasing, the previous browse return key 66 or the next browse forward key 67 is clicked to return to the table of contents browse web page of FIG. 4 to instruct browsing of other chapters, or the previous book display key 68 or the next book. The display key 69 is operated to return to the book list web page in FIG. 3 to instruct to display the contents of another book, and the same operation is repeated.

Thus, by purchasing only the necessary chapters of a plurality of books, the user can purchase only the truly necessary chapters of each book. In this case, since the digitized data in the book database 16 is standardized electronic data as described above, each chapter extracted and purchased from a different book can be obtained in the same column or format format. Therefore, the user can create an original book by re-editing chapter numbers and the like in the client 11 and binding or binding them in the same file.

[0018]

As described above, according to the document sales system of the present invention, even if the user does not know in which document or magazine the content he or she wants to see is searched, the document or magazine in which the content is published and the content are searched. You can obtain all of them online by simply disclosing all of them and designating the necessary parts of each document or magazine. Further, so-called browsing is possible, and unlimited browsing can be prohibited by forcibly ending it in a fixed time. Further, since the contents cannot be downloaded to the memory or printed unless the billing process is performed, illegal acquisition can be prohibited. Further, since the obtained contents are standardized in the same format, it is easy to confirm the contents at the time of browsing, re-edit after obtaining, and bind.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an example of an input web page in the embodiment of the document sales system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an example of a document list browsing web page in the embodiment of the document sales system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example of a table-of-contents browsing web page in the embodiment of the document sales system according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an example of a text browsing web page in the embodiment of the document sales system according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 clients 12 PC 13 Printer 14 network 15 servers 16 document database 17 Search Engine 18 output engine 19 Billing processing engine 20 web page memory 21 Search Web Page 22 Book name input window 23 Author input window 24 Publisher input window 25 Keyword input window 26 Search key 31 Book List Web Page 32 Book name 33 Author 34 publishers 35 amount 36 Table of contents key Page 37 Return key 38 Page feed key 41 Contents browsing web page 42 Book name 43 amount 44 Purchase key for all books 45 chapter number 46 Name 47 purchase price 48 Browse marking keys 49 Purchase Marking Key 51 Page return key 52 Page feed key 53 Previous book display key 54th book display key 55 Browse execution key 56 Purchase execution key 61 Browse page Page 62 63 Operation part 64 page return key 65 Page feed key 66 Browse return key 67 Next browse key 68 Previous book display key 69th book display key 70 Purchase Marking Key 71 Purchase execution key

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Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A server having a document database for storing contents of a plurality of documents as digitized data, and a client connected to the server via a network, wherein the server is based on information input from the client. A first presenting means for searching the document database and presenting the document list to the client, a second presenting means for presenting the table of contents and its purchase price to the client for each document in the document list, and the table of contents are provided. A document sales system comprising: a third presenting means for presenting a content to a client; and a means for browsing or purchasing the content for each table of contents based on the information presented by the second or the third presenting means. 2. The document sales system according to claim 1, further comprising means for ending browsing of the content at the client in a fixed time. 3. The document sales system according to claim 1, further comprising means for prohibiting storage and printing of the content when the client browses the content. 4. The document sales system according to claim 1, wherein digitized data of a plurality of documents stored in the document database are standardized in the same format. 5. The first to third presenting means can be transferred to other presenting means, respectively.
Document sales system described in.