JP2003187017A - Content selling system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a content selling system capable of easily selling or buying one or a plurality of digital contents protected for a copyright according to a kind of data. <P>SOLUTION: This content selling system is characterized by having a commodity control means for selling commodity information as a commodity by setting the commodity information composed of one or a plurality of digital contents, a content control means for recording and distributing the digital contents included in the commodity, a license control means for approving use of the digital contents by distributing a license by setting a license issuing condition to the respective digital contents, an information terminal capable of reproducing the respective digital contents for buying the commodity or constituting the commodity, and a communication means connected so that the commodity control means, the content control means, the license control means, and the information terminal can communicate. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a content sales system for selling digital contents via the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, digital books, music, photographs, videos, etc. have been digitized via a network on the assumption that they are used by an information terminal such as a personal computer.
Background services called screen images on screen, or copyrighted works such as software, have become popular.

In the distribution of such digital contents, for example, a selling price is set in data units of digital contents such as one book and one piece of music, and the sales unit of a product is a data unit of digital contents. Met.

Therefore, in the conventional sale of digital contents, it has been impossible to set a selling price for a plurality of digital contents, in particular, a plurality of digital contents having different types of data as one product, and to deliver them at the same time. Furthermore, it was not possible to have different products in the products.

This means that the number of products increases and it is necessary to repeat the purchase operation for the number of products to be purchased at the same time. Therefore, both the seller and the purchaser are concerned with selling or purchasing digital contents. There was a problem that the work was complicated.

[0006] In general, in order to prevent the infringement of the rights related to the digital contents such as illegal copying and illegal acquisition, the digital contents are copyright-protected and managed for each data unit of the digital contents.

[0007] Although various methods have been proposed for copyright protection, a distributor of digital contents is encrypted with a dedicated device (including software) for reproducing the contents for each data format of the digital contents. A method is mainly used in which digital content is distributed, a user obtains a license from the distributor of the content under a certain condition, and the digital content is decrypted and used by the license.

[0008] However, in the past, since one product is data of one digital content, even if the related digital content is, for example, a landscape photograph and screen saver software using the landscape, different data. It was not possible to sell different types of digital contents with different copyright protection as one product.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problem, the present invention provides a content sales method in which one or a plurality of digital contents protected by copyright according to the type of data can be easily sold or purchased. The purpose is to provide a system.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the first aspect of the present invention is a content sales system for distributing or selling digitized contents via the Internet. Merchandise management means for setting merchandise information composed of digital contents and selling it as merchandise, content management means for recording and distributing the digital contents contained in the merchandise, and setting license issuing conditions for each of the digital contents and setting a license. License management means for permitting use of digital content by distribution, information terminal capable of purchasing the product or reproducing each of the digital content constituting the product, the product management means, the content management means, and the license Communication between the management means and the information terminal It is provided with a communication means for connecting to the ability of such.

A second aspect of the present invention is, in the content sales system according to the first aspect, a product in which the product management means is associated with the product and one or a plurality of digital contents constituting the product. A product setting means for setting and recording information, and a product selling means for allowing a user to select and purchase the product are provided.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the content selling system according to the above-mentioned first or second aspect, a different second product is set in the product setting means as an element constituting the first product. And a constituent product setting means capable of doing so.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the content sales system according to the above-mentioned first to third aspects, the content management means is provided with a copyright in accordance with a data format of each digital content constituting the product. Encryption means for performing encryption for protection, content recording means for storing the encrypted digital content, and distribution of the plurality of digital contents constituting the product to the purchaser of the product collectively or individually And a content distribution means for performing the same.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is, in the content selling system according to the first to fourth aspects, a license condition setting means for setting and recording a condition for issuing a license in the license management means, A license distribution unit that distributes a license for each of the plurality of digital contents forming the product to the purchaser of the product collectively or individually.

A sixth aspect of the present invention is a content selling method for distributing and selling digitalized content via the Internet, the step of creating digital content and the license issuing conditions for the digital content. A step of setting, a step of applying copyright protection to the digital content data based on the type of data of the digital content and an issuance condition of the license, and a product combining one or a plurality of the digital contents. Setting, a user browses the product, selects and purchases a desired product, purchases a license for a plurality of digital contents constituting the purchased product or the product, According to the copyright protection applied to the digital contents that compose It is obtained to perform the step of utilizing the digital content.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below with reference to illustrated embodiments. Here, for ease of understanding, a conceptual embodiment will be described first, and then a specific embodiment will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a content sales system of the present invention. Product management means 3 for setting and selling product information 2 related to a product consisting of one or a plurality of digital contents 1. , A content management unit 4 for recording and distributing the digital content 1 included in the product, and a license issuance condition 5 is set for each of the digital contents 1, and the license 6 is actually distributed to distribute the digital content 1. A license management means 7 for permitting use, an information terminal 8 capable of purchasing a product and reproducing each of the digital contents 1 constituting the product, a product management means 3, a content management means 4, a license management means 7, and an information terminal. 8 is composed of a communication means 9 which is connected so as to communicate with each other.

The product management means 3, the content management means 4, and the license management means 7 are computer systems capable of exchanging information with the information terminals 8 of a large number of unspecified users by the communication means 9, and from the viewpoint of hardware. As a result, a recording device for a computer (magnetic disk, optical disk, etc.) for recording information, an input device (keyboard, mouse, bar code reader, etc.) for giving instructions to the computer, a CPU for calculation, a CRT for displaying the result, etc. It is realized by a display device and an interface for exchanging information with other devices.

The merchandise management means 3 sets merchandise information 2 in which merchandise and one or more digital contents 1 constituting the merchandise are associated with each other and records the merchandise setting means 10, and allows the user to select the merchandise and purchase it. Product Sales Means 11
And a component product setting means 12 capable of setting the product itself, which is composed of one or a plurality of digital contents 1, as an element constituting the product.

The content management means 4 includes an encryption means 13 for performing encryption for copyright protection according to each data format of the digital content 1 constituting the product or software for using the digital content 1. Content recording means 14 for recording the digital content 1
And the content distribution means 15 for collectively or individually distributing the digital contents 1 constituting the product to the purchaser of the product.
It has and.

Further, the license management means 7 sets a license issuance condition 5 for issuing the license 6, and records the license condition setting means 16 and a license 6 for each of the digital contents 1 constituting the product for the purchaser of the product. And a license distribution unit 17 that distributes the licenses collectively or individually.

The digital content 1, product information 2, license issuance conditions 5, etc. are recorded in the database 18, respectively. In addition, in FIG. 1, information on members who can use the content sales system and a history of information exchange with members are also recorded in the database.

The purchaser of the product purchases the product by means of the information terminal 8 through the communication means 9, and distributes the digital content 1 constituting the product and the license 6 necessary for using the digital content 1. Then, the digital content 1 is actually used.

The information terminal 8 uses the information managing means 19 capable of exchanging information with the merchandise managing means 3, the content managing means 4, and the license managing means 7, and the decrypting means 2 for decrypting the digital content 1 using the license 6.
0, and a utilization means 21 for actually utilizing digital contents. Information exchange means 19 and decryption means 2
0, the device is not limited to a specific device as long as the device 21 is provided, but a personal computer is generally used.

The communication means 9 is a general-purpose wide area network constructed by using various communication lines, and is a network premised on connection of an unspecified number of users.
Actually, the Internet is used.

Next, the operation of the content sales system shown in FIG. 1 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4. FIG. 2 shows the structure of data used in the content sales system of the present invention, FIG. 3 is from the production of the digital content 1 to setting the product information 2, and FIG. 4 is the process from purchasing the product to using the digital content 1. The processing flow of is shown.

The structure of the product and the product information 2 will be described in detail with reference to the examples of FIGS. 2 (a) to 2 (c). In Fig. 2 (a), the product "Shinjuku" is "Video 1",
If you purchase a product called "Shinjuku" that consists of three digital contents 1 "Music 1" and "Music 2", you can sell or purchase three digital contents 1 with different copyright protection in one operation. can do.

In FIG. 2B, the product "Wallpaper collection (Shibuya edition)" consists of two digital contents 1 "Wallpaper 1" and "Wallpaper 2".
Indicates that two wallpapers can be sold or purchased at the same time.

FIG. 2 (c) is an example of a product called "Tokyo". The product "Tokyo" is a combination of the product "Shinjuku" mentioned above and the product "Wallpaper collection (Shibuya edition)". If you buy the product "Tokyo", you will get "Shinjuku" and "Wallpaper". Collection (Shibuya edition) ”, that is, all digital contents 1, that is,“ picture 1 ”,“ music 1 ”,
It is possible to receive distribution of five digital contents 1 of "music 2", "wallpaper 1", and "wallpaper 2".

In "Shinjuku" of FIG. 2 (a), different copyright protection is applied to the image and music data due to the difference in the types of the data of "image 1" and "music 1" and "music 2". There is. In the “Wallpaper collection (Shibuya edition)” of FIG. 2B, “Wallpaper 1” has a digital watermark, for example, as copyright protection, but “Wallpaper 2” does not require copyright protection. Is shown. As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, a plurality of digital contents 1 having different copyright protection schemes can be used as one unit for sale or purchase.

In the example of FIG. 2A, the same method is used for copyright protection of "music 1" and "music 2" having the same data type of the digital content 1. Even for the digital contents 1 of the same music, if the data format is different, that is, if the software of the player for reproduction is different, the copyright protection method may be different.

Next, referring to FIG. 3, a product, which is a unit of production from the production of the digital content 1 to the sales, that is, product information 2
Up to setting, will be described by taking the three products and five digital contents shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C as examples.

First, five kinds of digital contents 1 of "picture 1", "music 1", "music 2", "wallpaper 1" and "wallpaper 2" are created using commercially available or publicly available tools. Create (step S1).

The digital contents 1 include, in addition to the above-mentioned video and music, 1) books, 2) photographs, 3) software,
It is possible to target various types of data that have been digitized.

The digital contents 1 can be used as follows: 1) a method of using after downloading all data to the information terminal 8 and 2) a method of using while downloading to the information terminal 8, which is called a streaming method.
It is possible to use them properly depending on the amount of data and the contents of digital contents.

Copyright protection is applied to the created "picture 1", "music 1", "music 2" and "wallpaper 1". The license condition setting means 16 sets the license issuance condition 5 for issuing the license 6 such as the usable period of the digital content 1, the number of times the digital contents can be used, the propriety of copy creation and the like, and records it in the database 18 (step S2). .

Next, the encryption means 13 causes "for video" and "for video" based on the license issuing condition 5 and the data formats of "video 1", "music 1", "music 2", and "wallpaper 1", respectively. The database 18 is encrypted by the content recording means 14 by performing encryption such as "for music" or "digital watermark".
(Steps S3 and S4).

When selling digital content 1 which does not require copyright protection, such as "wallpaper 2" in FIG. 2B,
The digital content 1 is recorded in the database 18 by the content recording means 14 in the original data state without being encrypted (step S4).

Next, the product setting means 10 specifies that a combination of three digital contents 1 of "picture 1", "music 1", and "music 2" is one product called "Shinjuku". Then, the price is set and recorded as the product information 3 in the database 18 (step S5).

Similarly, "Wallpaper 1" and "Wallpaper 2" are specified for the product "Wallpaper Collection (Shibuya Edition)" and recorded in the database 18.

Further, the constituent product setting means 12 specifies "Shinjuku" and "Wallpaper collection (Shibuya edition)" to set a new product "Tokyo" (step S6). Each of “Shinjuku”, “Wallpaper collection (Shibuya edition)”, and “Tokyo” are actually sold or purchased items.

Next, with reference to FIG. 4, the process from the purchase of a product to the use of digital contents will be described with reference to an example of purchasing “Shinjuku” from the above-mentioned three products.

The user connects to the product selling means 11 using the information terminal 8. The merchandise selling means 11 confirms that the user is a member who can use the content selling system by a method of inputting the member number and password (step S7).

The user uses the product selling means 11 to display on the information terminal 8 a screen on which a list of three products, "Shinjuku", "Wallpaper collection (Shibuya edition)" and "Tokyo" is described. Select "Shinjuku" that you want to purchase, and further perform payment processing with a credit card or the like to complete the purchase procedure for the product "Shinjuku" (step S8).

Since the three digital contents 1 constituting the purchased product "Shinjuku" are protected by copyright, it is necessary to obtain the license 6 in order to use the digital contents 1. To get license 6,
It is possible at any time after the procedure for purchasing the product is completed and before the digital content 1 is used.

The user connects to the license distribution means 17 through the information terminal 8 and the license 6 relating to "Video 1"
And the information (membership number, password, etc.) for certifying that the customer is a purchaser who has a valid usage right (step S9).

The license distribution means 17 compares the information for certifying that the purchaser has a valid usage right with the information on the sale of the merchandise recorded by the merchandise sale means 11, and confirms that the information is valid. It is confirmed that the purchaser of "Shinjuku" has requested to deliver the license 6 for "Video 1" (step S10).

If a license distribution request is issued from a purchaser of an authorized product, the license issuance condition 5 is referred to, and a license 6 which is a digital key for decrypting the encryption applied to the "video 1" is created. It is delivered to the information terminal 8 (step S11).

Next, the user connects to the content distribution means 15 by the information terminal 8 to request the distribution of "Video 1" and to prove that he / she is a purchaser with a valid usage right. Information is transmitted (step S12).

The content distribution means 15 compares the information for certifying that the purchaser has a valid usage right with the information on the sale of the commodity recorded by the commodity selling means 11 and confirms that the information is valid. It is confirmed that the purchase request for "Shinjuku" is a request for distribution of "Video 1" (step S13).

The content distribution means 15 distributes the "video 1" recorded in the database 18 to the information terminal 8 if the distribution request for the "video 1" is received from the purchaser of the legitimate product. (Step S14).

The user uses the license 6 stored in the information terminal 8 after receiving the distribution, and under the use condition such as the permitted period or the number of times, the software for reproducing the "picture 1" You can enjoy using (Step S
15).

The three digital contents 1 of "video", "music 1" and "music 2" constituting the product "Shinjuku" or the encryption applied to "video", "music 1" and "music 2" are encrypted. It is also possible to collectively deliver the three licenses 6 to be decrypted with a single delivery request.

In this embodiment, after the purchase, the license 6 is first acquired and then the distribution of the "picture 1" is requested. This is because, in the case of streaming type video data, the download and the reproduction to the information terminal 8 are performed at the same time, and therefore, even if the license 6 is not obtained in advance, the download is substantially impossible.

Therefore, in the case of digital contents 1 such as books and photographs that are not streaming, it is possible to have the digital contents 1 distributed first and obtain the license 6 later for use.

That is, if it is possible to confirm that the product is a legitimate purchaser, and if the copyright management method applied to the digital content 1 works effectively when the digital content 1 is used, the digital content 1 and the license are licensed. The distribution order of 6 does not need to be limited.

The present invention has been described above in detail based on the embodiments. However, the license management system according to the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and does not depart from the gist of the present invention. It goes without saying that various changes can be made in the range.

For example, it is possible to record the digital contents without encryption, and to encrypt the digital contents when the user requests the distribution of the license and distribute the contents at the same time as the license.

In this case, a flexible license issuance condition, a price according to the license issuance condition, and the like are set by allowing the user to select a condition for issuing the license within the agreed range. It becomes possible to provide a wider variety of products.

If the software of the player for reproduction supports reproduction of digital contents of a plurality of copyright protection systems, encryption is performed immediately before distribution so that even if the data format is the same, distribution is performed. It is also possible to operate by changing the copyright protection method for each data unit to one with a higher protection effect.

[0061]

As described above, according to the content sales system and method of the present invention, content production and product setting can be performed as independent tasks, which improves production efficiency. Can be achieved.

Since a new product can be set by combining a plurality of digital contents or a combination of different products, it is possible to increase the number of products without increasing the number of data of digital contents. The burden of managing products is small.

Further, since copyright protection can be applied to each content, it becomes possible to set different usage conditions for each content constituting a product, thereby improving the product value and diversifying the product. It will be possible.

Also, since the user can purchase a plurality of digital contents in units of merchandise, it becomes possible to purchase the digital contents via the network with a small number of operations.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a structural diagram of data used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart from production of digital contents of the present invention to setting as a product.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart from purchase of a product of the present invention to use of digital content.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Digital contents 2 product information 3 Product management means 4 Content management means 5 License issuance conditions 6 licenses 7 License management means 8 information terminals 9 Communication means 10 Product setting means 11 Product Sales Means 12 Component product setting means 13 Encryption means 14 Content recording means 15 Content Delivery Means 16 License condition setting means 17 License distribution method 18 Database 19 Information exchange means 20 Decoding means 21 means of use

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A content sales system for distributing or selling digitalized contents via the Internet, wherein a product management unit for setting product information including one or a plurality of digital contents and selling the product as a product. Content management means for recording and distributing the digital content contained in the product, and license management means for setting license issuing conditions for each of the digital contents and distributing the license to permit the use of the digital content. Communication for connecting the information terminal capable of purchasing the product or reproducing each of the digital contents constituting the product, the product management unit, the content management unit, the license management unit, and the information terminal so that they can communicate with each other. Means, Content sales system. 2. The content sales system according to claim 1, wherein the product management unit sets and records product information in which the product and one or more digital contents configuring the product are associated with each other. A content selling system, comprising: a product setting unit; and a product selling unit that allows a user to select and purchase the product. 3. The content selling system according to claim 1, wherein the product setting unit is capable of setting a different second product as an element constituting the first product. A content sales system comprising: 4. The content sales system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the content management unit protects copyright according to a data format of each digital content that constitutes the product. Encryption means for performing encryption, content recording means for storing the encrypted digital content, and content distribution means for collectively or individually distributing the plurality of digital contents constituting the product to the purchaser of the product. A content distribution system comprising: 5. The content sales system according to claim 1, wherein the license management unit sets a license issuing condition and records the license condition setting unit, and A license distribution unit that distributes a license related to each of the plurality of digital contents forming the product to a purchaser collectively or individually, the contents distribution system. 6. A content selling method for distributing and selling digitalized content via the Internet, the steps of creating digital content, and setting license issuance conditions for the digital content. Based on the type of data of the digital content and the issuance conditions of the license, a step of applying copyright protection to the data of the digital content, and a step of setting a product by combining one or a plurality of the digital content. A step in which a user browses the product, selects a desired product for purchase, and purchases; a license related to a plurality of digital contents constituting the purchased product or the product; and the product In accordance with the copyright protection applied to the A method of selling contents, characterized by having a step of using content.