JP2003244671A - Contents providing method, contents providing device and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a contents providing method, a contents providing device and a program for continuously reproducing a program obtained in such a manner that a program editor or a viewer edits a reproduction order of contents in the form of advertisement contents inserted into the program with a program viewing charge basically paid by an advertiser when the viewer views the program, and for adaptively selecting advertisement contents to be inserted on the basis of an advertiser's advertisement providing policy of each of the advertisement contents when the program is viewed. <P>SOLUTION: A contents provider registers main part contents and the advertisement contents (121), the program editor registers program scheduling information (122), the advertiser sets an advertisement providing policy for each of the advertisement contents (210), the viewer can also register program scheduling information with the main part program or the like as a unit (310), and when the viewer selects a viewing target program etc., from the main part contents etc., (320) and views the program (330), the selected viewing target program etc., with the advertisement inserted therein is continuously reproduced (332), and charging processing is performed in accordance with viewing (333). <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 providing method and a content providing apparatus for delivering a content such as video in response to a user's request.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art (1) In the conventional content providing system, there is no system in which an advertisement content adaptively selected based on an advertisement providing policy is added to the main content when a viewer views the main content. .

As a similar content providing system,
"Communication system and program viewing fee collection method"
No. 83991), there is a video-on-demand format in which an advertisement is inserted at the time of viewing a program, and the advertisement target program is specified in the advertisement attribute. It does not mention the selection method.

As a similar content providing system,
"Internet Advertising System" (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-51
4772), there is an attempt to evaluate and select the advertisement to be inserted when displaying a specific web page for the viewer having a certain attribute based on the bid result, and set the provision policy for each advertisement. It is not a thing, and it becomes a system where it is difficult for an advertiser with a small budget to provide an advertisement.

As a similar content providing system,
"Method and apparatus for controlling reproduction of advertisement" (Patent Document 200)
1-242842), an evaluation value is calculated for each registered advertisement data according to a viewing time limit, a viewer group, and the number of remaining reproductions for determining the reproduction priority order, and each is calculated when an advertisement reproduction request is received. It decides the priority order based on the evaluation value of the advertisement and selects the advertisement to be played according to the priority order, not to give the advertisement when watching the content,
Only one of the implementation examples of the advertisement selection method is shown.

As a similar content providing system,
Although there is a "content providing system and method, console and recording medium" (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-222643), a discount of content providing fee can be obtained by viewing an advertisement selected by matching with a user attribute when downloading content. Therefore, adaptive search / evaluation / selection of advertisements based on the advertisement provision policy has not been performed, and it is not possible to set the advertisement provision conditions such as the advertisement provision deadline designation and the advertisement provision upper limit amount designation.

(2) A program organized by a content provider, its agent, or a viewer can be registered in the conventional content providing system, and each main content in the program can be registered when the viewer views the program. There is no system in which advertisement contents are adaptively selected based on the advertisement provision policy and continuous viewing is possible in the form of advertisement insertion of organized programs.

[0008] Conventional television / radio broadcasting is a system in which a viewer can continuously watch a program with an advertisement inserted, but the program editor performs the program organization and the advertisement insertion, and the viewer cannot customize the program. The advertisement that cannot be inserted is fixedly decided before viewing.

As a system in which the order of reproduction by the viewer can be programmed, a compact disc or Real
Like streaming content viewing systems such as System and Window Media Technology, there is a system that programs the content you want to watch in advance as a playlist and then plays it back continuously, but it is not possible to insert adaptive advertisements as it is.

(3) As a system for viewing content in a form in which an advertisement is attached, a form in which content in which an advertisement is attached is viewed can be considered. When an advertisement is to be attached based on an advertisement providing policy, Even if there is a change in the advertisement provision policy between the timing of ad provision and the timing of viewing, the advertisement will be viewed with the advertisement based on the ad provision policy before the change, for example, the advertisement with the expired provision will be attached. The phenomenon of being viewed may occur.

[0011]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] (1) Desire of viewers:
Program organization and continuous viewing Viewers can search and select the content they want to watch, and when they finish viewing / listening, repeat the steps of searching / selecting another content and then viewing Because I am tired of watching and it is difficult to continue watching, I have searched and selected the content I want to watch in advance and registered it as a program, and when watching, select the organized program and watch it There is a demand to relax and continuously watch the contents included in the program without searching again.

(2) Desire of main content provider: acquisition of a large amount of viewing fees Main content providers provide a mechanism that makes it easy for viewers to view, and increase the number of viewers and the amount of viewing. There is a desire to get a lot of viewing fees.

[0013] Further, the main contents provider provides a mechanism for preliminarily packaging a plurality of contents and registering them as a program, thereby realizing appeal to the viewer's selective viewing and efficient acquisition of viewing fees. There is a desire to do so.

(3) Advertiser's desire: Advertisement insertion The advertiser has a desire to force the viewer to see the advertisement.

Further, the advertiser sets an expiration date and a budget and provides advertisement within that range (advertisement provision condition designation), designation of specific content targeted for advertisement provision or limitation of content genre, sex, age, etc. There is a demand to provide advertisements after setting an advertisement provision policy such as providing advertisements to a limited number of viewers (specifying the advertisement provision target) and paying the advertising expenses only for the amount of advertisements actually viewed. .

The present invention is intended to solve the above problems, and when the viewer views a program in which the program editor or the viewer organizes the reproduction order of the content, the advertiser pays the program viewing fee. Based on the above, the advertising content is continuously played in the inserted form, and the selection of the advertising content to be inserted is based on the advertising provision policy for each advertising content by the advertiser and adaptively when viewing the program. It is an object of the present invention to provide a content providing method, device and program that are performed.

[0017]

The present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is characterized by the following methods, devices and programs.

(Invention of Method) (1) At least the main content / advertisement content recording process for recording the main content and the advertisement content to be provided, and at least the advertisement provision target designation and the advertisement provision condition designation for the advertisement content. An advertisement providing policy setting process of setting one of them, a viewing target program selection process in which the viewing target program is selected by the viewer terminal in units of the main content or the advertising content, and the selected viewing target program is included. And a step of inserting an advertisement in which the advertisement content adaptively selected from the advertisement content is inserted at the stage of reproducing each main content.

(2) A program organization information recording process for recording preprogrammed program organization information based on the main content and the advertisement content, and a reproduction order in which the main content and the advertisement content are combined are described as follows. It is characterized in that at least one of a viewer program organization information recording step of recording as a new program organized by setting by the terminal is provided.

(3) In the advertisement insertion process, the advertisement contents to be inserted are searched and listed by checking the compatibility of the advertisement provision target designation and the advertisement provision condition designation, and the advertisement contents are calculated based on a predetermined evaluation formula. The advertisement content is adaptively selected by comparing the evaluation values of the candidates.

(4) When viewing a program on the viewer terminal, viewing the advertising content before viewing the main content enables viewing at the advertiser's viewing charge.
It is equipped with a billing process that charges the advertisement providing fee to the advertiser when the advertising content is played and pays the content providing fee to the provider of the main content when the main content is played. Characterize.

(5) In the billing process, if the required number of advertisement contents that can be inserted before viewing the main contents is not available, it is determined whether or not the contents are not paid for the viewing, and the viewer pays the contents. Confirm processing on the viewer terminal,
When consent is obtained from the viewer terminal, the content viewing fee for the advertisement not viewed is charged to the viewer and the main content is played back, and when consent is not obtained from the viewer terminal, the main content is It is characterized by including a process of skipping the reproduction process of.

(Invention of Apparatus) (6) Main / Advertisement Content Recording Means for Recording Main Content and Advertisement Content to be Provided, and at least Specification of Advertisement Provision Target and Specification of Advertisement Provision Condition for the Advertisement Content An advertisement providing policy setting means for setting one of them, a viewing target program selecting means for selecting a viewing target program by a viewer terminal in units of the main content or the advertising content, and the selected viewing target program And an advertisement insertion unit for inserting the advertisement content adaptively selected from the advertisement content at the stage of reproducing each main content.

(Invention of Program) (7) At least the main content / advertisement content recording procedure for recording the main content and the advertisement content to be provided, and the designation of the advertisement provision target and the advertisement provision condition for the advertisement content. An advertisement providing policy setting procedure for setting one of them, a viewing target program selection procedure in which a viewing target program is selected by a viewer terminal in units of the main content or advertisement content, and included in the selected viewing target program And a step of inserting an advertisement content adaptively selected from the advertisement content at the stage of reproducing each main content.

[0025]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (1) Outline of Operation FIG. 1 is an outline of an operation flowchart of a content providing method and apparatus, the flow of which will be described below. In addition,
Examples of contents handled by the system capable of viewing the main content content or the advertising content for which the viewing time is defined, which is the basis of the present invention, include moving images, still images, slides, Web pages, and audio. The content has a specified viewing time.

(1A) Preparation-The main part / advertising content (111) provided by the content provider or agent (101) and its attributes are registered in the system (121).

The main content is registered in units in which advertisements can be inserted. Also, registered content (130)
The following description will proceed assuming that some main content / advertising content is registered as described above.

Program registration information (112) provided by the program editor (102) is registered in the system (12)
2).

It is assumed that the program registered here can be searched by all viewers and can be incorporated into their own program organization. In addition, both main content and advertising content can be incorporated into the program. Here, it is assumed that the program # 1 is registered as shown in the organized program (140).

(1B) Advertisement provision policy setting / registration (21
0) -The advertiser or agent (200) sets an advertisement provision policy and registers it in the system. An example of this advertisement provision policy setting / registration flowchart is shown in FIG. 5 (1C) Viewer programming / registration (310) -A series of contents that the viewer wants to continuously view from the viewer terminal (300) is searched prior to viewing. -Select and organize, and the result is recorded as a program in the system.

Both the main content and the advertising content can be incorporated in the program. Here, it is assumed that the organized program can be incorporated in a new program like the program # 2 of the organized program (140), and the program # 1 is incorporated in the organization of the program # 2. FIG. 6 shows an example of a viewer program organization / registration flowchart.

(1D) Program selection for viewing (320) -The viewer searches and selects the program to be viewed.

It is also possible to select the main content or the advertising content as a single program as a viewing target. Here, it is assumed that the program # 2 is selected.

Regarding the designation of the reproduction order when viewing a program,
In addition to the mode of viewing in sequence according to the program organization, the viewer may be able to switch the order or select a viewing mode in a random viewing order at the time of selecting a viewing program. Here, the viewers will be sequentially watched according to the program organization.

(1E) Program Viewing (330) A detailed example of the program viewing flowchart will be described with reference to FIG. 7, and the outline will be described here.

Insertion of advertisement (331) When the viewer selects a program, the main content included in the program is adjusted according to the amount of advertisement required for viewing, which is set as an attribute of each content. Then, the advertisement content adaptively selected based on the advertisement provision policy information for each advertisement content is inserted immediately before each reproduction, and the order of the content to be reproduced is sequentially determined.

If the required number of advertisement contents that can be inserted are not available, the viewer is confirmed whether or not the content can be viewed at the viewer's expense, which is the content viewing charge for the unviewed advertisement, and the viewer agrees. In this case, the main content is played back, and if the viewer does not agree, the playback of the main content is skipped.

Like the program # 2-A (341) in which the advertisement is inserted, the advertisement is inserted in the required amount just before the viewing of each main content, but the advertisement is not required to be inserted in the advertisement content # 1. On the other hand, no advertisement is inserted.

As in the program # 2-B (342) in which the advertisement is inserted, the amount of the advertisement inserted immediately before the main content # 2 is small because the content viewing fee for the unviewed content is the viewer's consent. Is obtained.

The main content # 2 is skipped like the program # 2-C (343) in which the advertisement is inserted because the required number of advertisement contents that can be inserted into the main content # 2 are not prepared. This is the case where the viewing at the viewer's expense is refused for the content viewing fee for the unviewed portion of the advertisement.

Unless the required number of advertisement contents that can be inserted by the viewer are prepared, if the advertisement cannot be inserted, the content viewing fee will be paid by the viewer during the viewing process. Playback may be interrupted after receiving a question about whether or not viewing is possible, but by allowing the viewer to set correspondence beforehand, it is possible to avoid interruption of playback due to questions during viewing. May be.

Program reproduction (332) Similar to the advertisement insertion (331) described above, the program selected by the viewer during continuous viewing of the program is reproduced.

As a result, the contents are reproduced as the order of the contents to be reproduced is sequentially determined.
The viewer can continuously watch the program with the advertisement inserted.

Program # 2 (340) with advertisement inserted
As described above, the advertisements are continuously reproduced while being inserted, but the respective advertisements to be inserted are adaptively determined at the respective reproduction timings.

-Billing process (333) Similar to the above-mentioned advertisement insertion (331), a billing process is performed for the program selected by the viewer during continuous viewing of the program.

This performs the charging process of the advertisement providing fee for the advertiser when the information that the advertisement content determined by the advertisement insertion (331) is reproduced by the program reproduction (332) is acquired. In addition, if the required number of advertisement contents that can be inserted is not available, a confirmation process is performed to confirm the consent of the viewer for viewing the main content at the viewer's expense.
When this confirmation is made, the viewing fee is charged to the viewer at that time, and when the main content is reproduced, the content providing fee is paid to the main content provider at that time.

(2) Example of Advertisement Insertion Method An example of the advertisement insertion method performed in the advertisement insertion (331) of FIG. 1 will be described.

Basically, the selection of the advertisement content to be inserted immediately before the reproduction of each main content included in the program is designated as the advertisement provision target set as the advertisement provision policy for each advertisement content preset by the advertiser. Also, it is adaptively performed by searching and listing advertisement contents as insertion candidates by checking suitability of specification of advertisement providing conditions and comparing evaluation values of each candidate calculated based on a predetermined evaluation formula.

The evaluation value for each advertisement content that is a candidate for insertion is calculated at the same time as listing. Also, the target of advertisement provision is specified content,
It is designated by a combination of designation of the target content genre and designation of the target audience group attribute, and a plurality of designations are possible for each advertising content. In addition, the advertisement provision condition designation includes an advertisement provision upper limit amount designation and an advertisement provision deadline designation.

Further, in the determined evaluation formula, the specific content designation of each candidate advertising content, the target content genre designation, the target viewer group attribute designation, and the main content to be inserted the advertisement, its genre, the viewer It is calculated from the degree of matching with each attribute, the maximum amount of advertisement provision of each candidate advertisement content and the available advertisement provision amount calculated from the record of the amount of advertisement provision, the advertisement provision deadline designation and the current time The remaining time until the advertisement provision deadline and the time elapsed from the last advertisement provision date and time are included as elements, and a weighting coefficient is attached to each element to define an evaluation formula.

As an example of the evaluation formula, the following formula can be defined.

[0052]

[Equation 1]

However, X _{1 is 1} when the specified content is specified, 0 when it is not specified. X _{2 is} n when the specified content genre is specified up to the level n and when it is not specified, 0 0 ₃ when not specified. Number of attribute items that match the attribute designation and viewer attributes (example of attribute items: age group designation, gender designation, region designation, favorite genre designation) X ₄ : Reciprocal number of remaining time (seconds) until advertisement deadline X ₅ : Advertisement available value balance (yen) X ₆ : Elapsed time (seconds) from the last advertisement providing date and time A _{1 to} A ₆ : Weighting factors for X _{1 to} X ₆ (3) Configuration of content providing device It is a block diagram showing an example of composition of a contents providing device concerning the present invention, and each block plays the following roles.

(3A) The main story / advertisement content recording medium (411) holds the main story content or advertisement content (111) provided and registered by the content provider (101).

(3B) Main story / advertising content attribute DB
(412) is the main content / advertising content recording medium (41
As the attribute information of each main content or advertisement content held in 1), information including a content genre for designating an advertisement provision target at the time of setting a search / advertisement policy, and an advertisement required for further viewing of the main content Holds quantity information.

(3C) Advertisement provision policy setting section (210)
Shows the advertisement provision policy information of each advertisement content held in the main story / advertisement content recording medium (411), the attribute information of the main story content held in the main story / advertisement content attribute DB (412), and the viewer. Attribute D
The item that can be set as the viewer attribute held in B (450) can be set with reference, and the registration is accepted.

(3D) The advertisement provision policy DB (420) holds the advertisement provision policy information registered in the advertisement provision policy setting unit (210).

(3E) The program DB (430) stores the program organization information (113) provided by the program editor (102) and the program organization newly created and registered by the viewer in the program organization section (310). They are held as programs based on the information.

(3F) The program organization section (310)
Main content or advertising content held in the advertising content recording medium (411), or program DB
The viewer can search and select the program held in (430) by accessing from the viewer terminal (300), and the viewer can combine them to organize the playback order. Can be registered as a new program.

(3G) The program selection unit (321) displays the program D
The viewer terminal (300) displays the program held in B (430) or the main content or the advertising content held in the main / advertising content recording medium (411).
Viewers can search and select by accessing from
The selection of a program as a viewing target, or the selection as a viewing target by regarding the main content or the advertising content alone as one program is accepted.

(3H) In the advertisement insertion unit (322), when the viewer views the program selected by the program selection unit (321), for each main content included in the program, the main / advertising content attribute is set. Advertisement provision set as the advertisement provision policy held in the advertisement provision policy DB (420) according to the amount of advertisement required for viewing set as each attribute held in the DB (412) It is adaptively selected by searching / listing for advertisement content that is an insertion candidate by checking the suitability of target specification and advertisement provision condition specification, and comparing the evaluation value of each candidate calculated based on the defined evaluation formula. If the ad content that was inserted is inserted immediately before each playback and the required number of ad content that can be inserted is not available, the viewing charge for the unviewed portion of the viewer If the viewer confirms whether or not the user can view the content, and if the viewer agrees, the main content will be played, and if the viewer does not agree, the main content will be skipped. Through the processing, the order of the contents to be reproduced is sequentially determined.

When searching / listing up the advertisement contents as insertion candidates and calculating the evaluation value for each candidate, the advertisement providing policy DB (420), the main part / advertising content attribute DB (412), the viewer attribute DB ( 450), the system clock (460), and the billing DB (440) are referred to, and an advertisement calculated from the specific content designation / target content genre designation, the target viewer group attribute designation, and the content provision condition designation as the content provision target designation While the remaining time until the provision deadline and the balance of the ad probable value are checked, the advertisement content that is an insertion candidate is searched and listed, and at the same time as the listing, the specific content is designated, the target content genre is designated, and the target audience group attribute is designated. And the main content attribute of the advertisement insertion target and the viewer attribute The extent of their respective mates, the remaining time until the advertisement providing date, the advertisement providing amounts outstanding, the elapsed time from the last advertisement providing time is evaluated, the evaluation value is calculated by the previously set evaluation formula.

(3I) In the program reproducing section (323), as the order of the contents to be reproduced in the advertisement inserting section (322) is sequentially determined, each is recorded in the main part / advertising content recording medium (411). The content is played.

(3J) The billing processing unit (324) acquires the program information reproduced by the program reproducing unit (323) and charges the advertiser for the advertisement providing fee for the reproduced advertisement content. In the playback of the main content at the viewer's expense, if the viewer's consent to the viewing is confirmed, the viewer is charged a viewing fee, and the main content provider does the playback of the main content. The billing process for paying the content provision fee is executed.

(3K) The billing DB (440) holds information on the billing processing result executed by the billing processing unit (324).

(4) Variation of Usage Form of Content Providing Method and Apparatus (4A) FIG. 3 shows a form in which a viewer accesses a service providing center via a network and uses it.

The main body / advertisement content is stored in a form provided in the service providing center and a form provided in a base on the network other than the service providing center.

(4B) FIG. 4 shows a mode in which the system is installed in the viewer terminal to receive the service.

It is necessary to have a mechanism for arranging the latest advertisement providing policy at the service providing center at the time of inserting an advertisement and a mechanism for enabling viewing after confirming transmission of the charging result to the service providing center.

The variations as the storage form of the main part / advertisement content are the form in which the viewer does not see it on the terminal of the viewer, the form in the service providing center, and the form in the service providing center. There is a form at a base on a network other than.

(5) Registration of Advertisement Provision Policy by Advertiser The advertisement provision policy setting / registration flow chart of FIG. 5 shows an example of the flow of advertisement provision policy registration by the advertiser. By setting it, it is possible to narrow down the target audience for the advertisement that matches the content of the advertisement and enhance the advertising effect.

The advertiser or agent (200) is
As an advertisement provision policy for each advertisement content stored in the advertisement content recording medium (411), an advertisement provision target designation (2) that is a combination of a specific content designation, a target content genre designation, and a target audience group attribute designation
11), one or more are designated, and further, an advertisement provision condition designation (212) including an advertisement provision deadline designation and an advertisement provision upper limit amount designation is performed, and the setting content is the advertisement provision policy DB (42
Register to 0).

The advertisement providing target designation (211) is set by referring to the attribute information of the main content held in the main feature / advertising content attribute DB (412) for the specific content designation and the target content genre designation. The viewer group attribute designation is set while referring to the items that can be set as the viewer attributes held in the viewer attribute DB (450).

(6) Program Arrangement by Viewer The viewer program organization / registration flow chart of FIG. 6 shows an example of the flow of program organization by the viewer.

By the viewer, the main content or advertisement content registered in the main / advertising content attribute DB (412), or the program registered by the program editor registered in the program DB (430) or the viewer himself / herself From the edited programs, the entry to be incorporated into the program is searched and selected, and the new program organization work (311) to be incorporated into the program is repeated until the program organization is completed. When the new program organization is completed, the program DB (430) Registration processing (312) is executed.

The following functions can be added as auxiliary functions when programming a program.

The viewer can hold a plurality of programs, and can later confirm / change the program organization contents.

When a viewer searches for content or a program in order to organize a new program, he / she can search by designating unviewed / viewed / viewed times, or distinguishing between unviewed / viewed and viewed times The search result can be displayed with, the search can be performed by specifying whether or not it is included in another program, and if it is included in another program, it can be displayed so that the inclusion relation can be understood. You may do it.

(7) Program Viewing The program viewing flowchart of FIG. 7 shows an example of the program viewing flow.

(7A) Extraction of program entry (350) When the program starts to be viewed, the program entry is extracted from the program DB (430) (350), and if the entry is the main content, an advertisement is inserted (360 However, if the entry is an advertisement content, the advertiser is charged (371) and immediately the advertisement content that is an entry in the program is reproduced (382).

(7B) Processing carried out during advertisement insertion (360) -First, the required insertion advertisement number is read (361) from the main part / advertising content attribute DB (412), but the required insertion advertisement number is 1 In the above case, the process of inserting an advertisement is continued, but when the required number of inserted advertisements is 0, the main content which is the entry in the program is immediately reproduced (382).
To be done.

Next, insertion advertisement candidate search / listing / evaluation value calculation (362) is executed.

At this time, the advertisement providing policy DB (420),
The main content / advertising content attribute DB (412), the viewer attribute DB (450), the system clock (460), and the billing DB (440) are referenced to specify a specific content / target content genre, target viewer group attribute, Search for ad content that is a candidate for insertion while checking the remaining time until the ad provision deadline and the available ad provision value balance.
The listing is done, and at the same time as the listing, the condition of matching the specific content designation, the target content genre designation, and the target audience group attribute designation, the remaining time until the advertisement provision deadline, the ad probable price balance, the last ad provision date and time The elapsed time is evaluated and the evaluation value is calculated by a preset evaluation formula.

-Comparison of candidate evaluation values-Determining required number of insertion advertisements (363) From each of the listed candidates, the required number of advertisements to be inserted are determined by comparing the evaluation values.

Temporary billing processing for the advertiser for the inserted advertisement (3
72) Comparison of evaluation values of each candidate and decision of required number of insertion advertisements (363)
Since there is a time lag between the time when the required number of advertisements to be inserted is determined and the time when the actually inserted advertisement is played back in the inserted advertisement playback (381), there is a temporary charge to the advertiser for the inserted advertisement. Processing is performed and recorded in the billing DB (440).

After that, when insertion advertisement candidate search / listing / evaluation value calculation is performed for other viewers,
The result of provisional billing is used.

[Viewing fee] Viewing confirmation at the viewer's expense (36
4) When the required number of insertable advertisement contents is not available, the viewer is confirmed (364) at the viewer's expense, which is the viewing charge for the unviewed advertisement, and the viewer agrees. It is possible to view the main content, which is an entry in the program, after viewing the advertising content that can be inserted into the, but if the viewer does not agree, the main content cannot be viewed due to insufficient insertion of the advertisement.

If the viewer does not agree, the temporary charge to the advertiser is canceled (373) and the inserted advertisement content is played back, but the main content content for which the advertisement insertion was insufficient but the advertisement insertion was insufficient. Playback is also skipped.

(7C) Final Charge Processing for Advertiser (37
4) Inserted advertisement playback (381) Viewing fee viewers who have not watched the advertisement depending on whether the required amount of advertisement content was inserted by the provisional billing process (372) to the advertiser for the inserted advertisement or not When the viewer consents to the viewing at a burden, a main billing process (374) for the advertiser and a reproduction (381) of the inserted advertisement content are performed for the inserted advertisement content.

(7D) Charge processing to viewer (375) When the viewer agrees to the viewing charge for the viewer who has not paid the advertisement in the viewing confirmation (364) at the viewer charge, The main billing process (374) for the advertiser is performed, the inserted advertising content is reproduced (381), and the billing for the viewer is performed when the viewing of the advertising content is completed (375).

(7E) Payment processing to content provider (376), in-program entry reproduction (382) main billing processing to advertiser (374) or billing processing to viewer (375) is performed. Therefore, after payment is made to the content provider, the main content, which is the entry in the program, is reproduced.

When the in-program entry reproduction (382) ends, if the next entry remains, the process returns to the in-program entry extraction (350), but if not, the viewing of the program ends.

(7F) Immediately before the insertion advertisement reproduction (381) of FIG. 7 or in-program entry extraction (3) of FIG.
Immediately before step 50), an embodiment in which the viewer is requested to click a button on the screen may be adopted.

The viewer is allowed to set in advance what to do if the required number of insertable advertisement contents are not available, and the viewing confirmation is paid (364) at the viewer's expense during the viewing process. It may be an embodiment in which reproduction is not interrupted.

(8) Example of Database Table Configuration (8A) Tables 1 and 2 are the main part / advertising content attribute DB
Table 1 shows the main contents attribute TB
L, Table 2 shows the advertisement content attribute TBL.

[0096]

[Table 1]

[0097]

[Table 2]

In this example, the main story / advertising content attribute D
B is divided into two tables, the main content attribute TBL and the advertisement content attribute TBL.

The main content attribute includes the number of advertisements that need to be inserted immediately before viewing each content. In this example, the advertisement charge is made uniform for each advertisement, the number of advertisements is specified as the amount of advertisement that needs to be inserted immediately before viewing, and sales are converted to 100 yen per advertisement. .

A genre is included as the main content attribute. The deeper the hierarchy, the finer the genre is designated. In this example, genres are specified in n layers.

(8B) Table 3 shows a configuration / registration example of the program DB.

[0102]

[Table 3]

Programs stored in advance by the program editor are held in the program DB.

Since the editor of the program # 1 is the provider # 1, it can be seen that the content provider has registered as a program editor. Program # 1 is a permutation of two contents, a main content # 2 and a main content # 3. The final flag indicates that it is the final entry in the program.

A program newly edited / registered by the viewer is also held in the program DB.

Since the editor of the program # 2 is the viewer # 1, it is understood that the program # 2 is organized by the viewer # 1. Program # 2
Is a permutation of two entries of the main content # 1 and the program # 1. Since program # 1 is a permutation of the two main contents # 2 and # 3,
As a result, the program # 2 is a permutation of the three main contents # 1, the main contents # 2, and the main contents # 3.

(8C) Tables 4 and 5 are examples of the configuration / registration of the viewer attribute DB. Table 4 is the viewer basic information TBL, and Table 5 is the viewer favorite genre TBL.

[0108]

[Table 4]

[0109]

[Table 5]

In this example, the viewer attribute DB is divided into two tables, the viewer basic information TBL and the viewer favorite genre TBL.

Basic information for each viewer is recorded in the viewer basic information TBL, one record for each viewer.

The viewer's favorite genre TBL is recorded with the contents registered as the viewer's favorite genre, and the records are divided and recorded by the number registered as the favorite.

As an example of favorite registration, comprehensive designation such as whole sports and detailed designation such as travel to Hokkaido are made.

(8D) Tables 6 and 7 are examples of the configuration and registration of the advertisement provision policy DB, Table 6 is the advertisement provision target designation TBL, and Table 7 is the advertisement provision condition designation TBL.

[0115]

[Table 6]

[0116]

[Table 7]

In this example, the advertisement provision policy DB is divided into two tables, the advertisement provision target designation TBL and the advertisement provision condition designation TBL.

In the advertisement provision target designation TBL, the contents of specific content designation, target content genre designation, and target viewer group attribute designation are recorded as advertisement provision targets.

The advertisement provision target designation of each advertisement is recorded by dividing the records by the registered number, and the designation in each record becomes an AND condition, and when a plurality of records are recorded for one advertisement. It becomes an OR condition for each record.

For example, two designations are made for advertisement # 1, and designation # 1 is designation of specific content, so that when the content (10/24 Japan series) is viewed, it is listed as a candidate. Designation # 2 is a combination of the target content genre designation and the target viewer group attribute designation, and the content of the target content genre (sports-baseball) is designated by the target viewer group attribute. It is specified to be listed as a candidate when being viewed by those aged 60 or over).

Also, one designation is made for advertisement # 2, and a viewer who lives in Tokyo and has baseball registered as a favorite is a high ranking person such as sports as a whole even if baseball is not specified in detail. (Including viewers who comprehensively specify favorite genres in the hierarchy of), it is specified to be listed as candidates for all main content viewed by.

In the advertisement provision condition designation TBL, the advertisement provision time limit designation and the advertisement provision upper limit amount designation are recorded for each advertisement one record as the advertisement provision condition designation.

In addition to the example shown in this example, in order to limit the frequency at which the same advertisement is provided to the same viewer, the same advertisement providing interval (time) and the same advertisement in the same program are specified as the provision conditions. It is also conceivable to add the allowable number of inserts to the items in the database.

(8E) Tables 8, 9 and 10 are examples of the structure / registration of the billing DB. Table 8 is the cumulative amount of advertisement provision TBL, Table 9 is the viewer burden TBL, and Table 10 is the content sales amount T.
It is BL.

[0125]

[Table 8]

[0126]

[Table 9]

[0127]

[Table 10]

In this example, the billing DB is divided into three tables: the total amount of advertisement provision TBL, the viewer's burden amount TBL, and the content sales amount TBL.

The cumulative amount of advertisement provision TBL records the cumulative amount of provision and the final advertisement provision date and time, and these items are referred to when the advertisement is inserted.

Note that the present invention can configure a computer to execute the processing functions of part or all of the method shown in FIG. 1 or the like or the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 as a program.

[0131]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects.

(1) Program Organization and Continuous Viewing / Auditing: In order to prepare for viewing the content, the viewer should complete the search / selection of the main content that he / she wants to view in advance, so that the viewer can compose the program. You can continuously watch selected content without stress.

With the conventional viewing style of repeating the steps of searching, selecting and viewing, there is a fear that the viewer does not feel like trying to view a plurality of contents continuously because he / she does not want to search again and again. But there is
If you complete the search and selection of viewing content first, you can comfortably watch it because you do not have to operate the terminal in the middle of subsequent continuous viewing, you can watch away from the terminal, which is a little interesting If there is a certain content, it can be expected that the number of viewers who are interested in choosing and viewing it will increase.

Further, the content provider or its agent registers a series of the main content sequence as a program which has been organized so that the viewer can incorporate the program at the time of program organization. The search / organization work can be simplified, and the content provider also has an appealing effect to have the viewer view the content.

(2) Adoption of advertisement insertion model ・ For premium contents such as movies that viewers want to pay even if they pay for themselves, the viewer will not be required to take the form of the advertisement insertion model, and the viewer will actively You can expect to buy it, but for posted videos other than premium content, it is difficult to draw models that viewers will pay for viewing.

However, if the advertisement insertion model is adopted even if the content is not premium content, the viewer can feel free to watch it without any cost burden, and if the advertiser can see the advertisement whatever the content is, Therefore, it can be expected that the advertiser can set the advertisement providing policy so that the advertisement is bound if there is a content that has a little appealing point to the audience expected by the advertiser.

The advertiser can set a fine-tuned advertisement providing policy, and the main content cannot start until the viewer sees the advertisement, so that the advertisement can be forcibly and effectively shown to the viewer. You can enhance the effect of providing.

(3) As a content collection content provider, a platform that can receive the content provision fee even if it is not a premium content is provided, which makes it easier for the content distribution system to be provided. As a person, it can be expected that it will be easier to collect many contents.

(4) Advertisement provision according to budget Advertiser fees are charged according to the advertisement viewing count, and advertisements can be provided according to the budget, so that the advertiser is satisfied and pays the advertisement expense. You can do it, and you can advertise within that range even if you have a small budget. That is, simply Web
Watch when the price is negotiated in advance or the advertisement cannot be easily replaced when the advertisement is fixedly incorporated in the program, such as a system where only a banner advertisement is pasted on a page or a broadcasting system. It is possible to avoid being charged an advertisement fee later according to the actual results of the rate or the actual viewing count, or manually replacing the advertising when the viewing count reaches a scheduled count while paying close attention to the viewing count.

(5) Insertion of advertisement based on adaptive search / evaluation at the time of viewing Since the advertisement is inserted into the content based on the latest advertisement providing policy at the viewing stage, it is possible to flexibly respond to changes in the advertisement providing policy. Thus, it is possible to incorporate the advertisement provision record at the viewing stage into the evaluation, and for example, it is possible to avoid the occurrence of the advertisement insertion such that the advertisement has expired or the provision upper limit has been exceeded.

(6) Platform Provider Business Model Before paying the content providing fee to the main content provider, the advertisement providing fee is charged to the advertiser or the viewing fee is charged to the viewer. By setting the fee, the platform provider using the system according to the present invention can earn the difference while preventing his or her own funds from being borrowed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a content providing method showing an embodiment of the present invention,
Operation flow chart of the device.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a form used by a viewer via a network in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a form used by a viewer in a terminal in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an advertisement provision policy setting / registration flowchart in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a viewer program organization / registration flowchart according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a program viewing flowchart according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

210 ... Advertising provision policy setting section 300 ... Viewer terminal 321 ... Program selection section 322 ... Advertisement insertion section 323 ... Program playback unit 324 ... Charge processing unit 411 ... Main story / advertising content recording medium 412 ... Main story / advertising content attribute DB 420 ... Advertisement provision policy DB 430 ... Program DB 440 ... Billing DB 450 ... Viewer attribute DB 460 ... System clock

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ identification code FI theme code (reference) H04N 7/173 610

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A main / advertisement content recording process for recording the provided main content and advertisement content, and at least one of an advertisement provision target designation and an advertisement provision condition designation is set for the advertisement content. The process of setting an advertisement provision policy and the main content or advertisement content as a unit,
In the viewing target program selection process in which the viewing target program is selected by the viewer terminal and in the stage of reproducing each main content included in the selected viewing target program, the advertising content adaptively selected from the advertising content is displayed. A method of providing contents, comprising: an advertisement insertion process of inserting. 2. A viewer terminal is provided with a program organization information recording process of recording program organization information that is organized in advance based on the main content and the advertisement content, and a reproduction order in which the main content and the advertisement content are combined. 2. The content providing method according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of a viewer program organization information recording step of recording as a new program organized by the setting according to. 3. The step of inserting the advertisement is calculated based on a predetermined evaluation formula by searching and listing advertisement content that is an insertion candidate by checking the compatibility of the advertisement providing target designation and the advertisement providing condition designation. The content providing method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the advertisement content is adaptively selected by comparing the evaluation values of the respective candidates. 4. When a program is viewed by a viewer terminal, the advertising content is viewed before the main content is viewed, thereby allowing the advertiser to view the content at a viewing charge, and when the advertising content is played back, an advertisement to the advertiser. 4. A billing process for billing a provision fee and paying a content provision fee to a provider of the feature content when the feature content is reproduced. Content provision method described in section. 5. In the billing process, if the required number of advertisement contents that can be inserted before viewing the main contents is not available, the contents can be viewed at the viewer's expense if the contents are not viewed. When the viewer terminal confirms, and the viewer terminal agrees, the content viewing fee for the advertisement not viewed is charged to the viewer, the main content is played back, and the consent is obtained from the viewer terminal. The content providing method according to claim 4, further comprising a step of skipping the reproduction processing of the main content when the content is not reproduced. 6. A main / advertisement content recording means for recording the provided main content and advertisement content, and at least one of an advertisement provision target designation and an advertisement provision condition designation for the advertisement content. Advertising provision policy setting means, the main content or advertising content as a unit,
Viewing target program selecting means for selecting a viewing target program by a viewer terminal, and an advertisement content adaptively selected from the advertising content at a stage of reproducing each main content included in the selected viewing target program. A content providing device, comprising: an advertisement insertion means for inserting. 7. A main / advertisement content recording procedure for recording the provided main content and advertisement content, and at least one of an advertisement provision target designation and an advertisement provision condition designation is set for the advertisement content. Ad provision policy setting procedure, with the main content or advertising content as a unit,
A viewing target program selection procedure in which a viewing target program is selected by the viewer terminal, and an advertisement content adaptively selected from the advertising content is selected at the stage of reproducing each main content included in the selected viewing target program. A program comprising an advertisement insertion procedure to be inserted.