JP2003316823A - Content browsing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a content browsing system practically easy to use and suitable for Internet rental library system by sufficiently protecting the copyright of each work. <P>SOLUTION: The page of My bookshelf 46 is given from a content browsing site 11 to a user PC 18 by a processing non-operable JAVA (trademark registered) applet, and a bookshelf list 47 exclusive for the user is displayed in the My bookshelf page displayed on a screen by the JAVA applet. In this structure, a function button is eliminated by using the JAVA applet to make various processing operations on the user side impossible. Even if data related to a browsing selected page or data of an electronic content is provided to the user PC, the data of the electronic content cannot be stored in the memory of the user PC, and illicit copy thereof can be prevented. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a content browsing system, and in particular, it can be used as if a book is read through a screen of a PC or the like via the Internet and the copyright can be protected. The present invention relates to a content browsing system suitable for systems and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Electronic commerce sites, that is, online bookstores, in which digitized contents of various books such as books, comics, images, and photo books are prepared are known.
In such an online bookstore, content data is provided to each PC of the user for a fee via the Internet in response to a data request from the user. For example, when purchasing a book, a user operates a PC to access an online bookstore. A user downloads book data by performing a procedure according to a predetermined procedure on an online bookstore purchase application homepage, selecting a book to be purchased, and paying a fee with a credit card or the like. Thus, according to the system of the online bookstore, the book data is downloaded to the own PC.
Store in the internal memory.

[0003] As a conventional technique relating to a method of renting electronic contents, etc., Japanese Patent Publication No. 2000-298689, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-7914, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 20 are disclosed.
No. 02-42234 can be mentioned. In the systems disclosed in these documents, electronic contents, digital works, and various software are downloaded and distributed to users via the Internet. When data such as electronic content is downloaded to the user, the data will be stored in the memory of the user's PC.

[0004]

An online bookstore using the Internet downloads book data. The book data stored in the memory of the user's PC is likely to be illegally copied. Therefore, in general, there is provided a mechanism that cannot be used unless a previously locked lock is unlocked by setting an encryption key. Also, regarding the system that provides content data by pay rental method using the Internet, in the past, since the content data is downloaded,
The same copyright problems as above occur. Therefore, some systems have been proposed as described above, but they are not sufficient as a practical system.

As for the system of the rental head office using the Internet, at present, no proposal of a practical and effective system is found. A system for lending books such as books, comics, images, and photo books is required to be constructed in consideration of copyright protection.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is practical, easy to use, the copyright of each work is sufficiently protected, and a content browsing system suitable for an Internet rental book system. To provide.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the content browsing system according to the present invention is configured as follows.

A first content browsing system (claim 1
Is a JAVA that cannot be processed from the content browsing site to the user's Internet terminal (user PC, etc.).
Use the A (registered trademark) applet to give the browsing selection page, and
It is characterized in that a bookshelf list dedicated to the user is displayed on the browsing selection page displayed on the screen by the AVA (registered trademark) applet. According to this configuration, JAVA
By using the (registered trademark) applet, the function buttons are eliminated, and processing operations such as data storage, copy, and transfer are disabled on the user side. Even if the user's Internet terminal is provided with data related to the browsing selection page or electronic content data, it is not possible to store the electronic content data in the memory of the user PC, so that illegal copying can be prevented. As a result, it becomes possible to protect the copyright of the electronic content, and it is possible to construct an Internet rental book system or the like.
Further, a user who can receive the service of browsing the contents can have his / her own dedicated bookshelf.
In this way, for example, it becomes possible to construct an Internet rental head office and receive a rental book service on the Internet.

A second content browsing system (claim 2
In the first configuration, preferably, the index relating to the reading progress status of at least one book described in the bookshelf list is shown. When multiple books are written, reading progress is shown for each book. The index related to the reading progress status is information such as the display of the page currently being read, the record of the halfway reading, and whether the page has been read or not.

A third content browsing system (claim 3)
In the above configuration, preferably, the index related to the reading progress is the last page information.

A fourth content browsing system (claim 4
In the above configuration, the bookshelf list is preferably characterized by showing information on the reading start date and the number of remaining days.

A fifth content browsing system (claim 5)
In each of the above configurations, preferably, the page content of the book is displayed in a state similar to the actual book reading mode on condition that the book described in the bookshelf list is selected. Characterized.

A sixth content browsing system (claim 6)
In the above configuration, preferably, a page display section and an intermediate reading record information display section are provided corresponding to the displayed content screen of the book.

[0014]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the overall construction of a typical embodiment of a content browsing system according to the present invention. In FIG.
Reference numeral 11 is a content browsing site (data center).
According to the content browsing site 11 according to this embodiment, preferably, an Internet rental book store is constructed. The content browsing site 11 charges various books (books, comics, images,
Lending electronic contents related to illustrations, photobooks, etc.) via the Internet. The content browsing site 11 is provided with a WWW server 12, a content browsing server 13, and a database server 14. A firewall 15 is provided at the entrance of the content browsing site 11, and each server is connected to the Internet 16 via the firewall 15.

Reference numeral 17 is a block collectively showing a large number of users. For user 17, multiple user PCs
(Personal computer, Internet terminal) 18
It is shown. When the user is provided with the Internet rental service, each user terminal 1
By operating 8, the content browsing site 11 is accessed via the Internet 16 based on the browser software. The configuration prepared on the side of the user 17 is a normal configuration for accessing via the Internet 16.

On the content browsing site 11,
The WWW server 12 accepts the access of the connection request from the user 17, sends the top page and the original viewer (original presentation screen) to the user terminal 18, and presents them on the screen.

The content browsing server 13 has a content data file 19. The content data file 19 stores data of electronic content related to the above-mentioned books, comics, images, illustrations, photo books, and the like.
The electronic content data is stored in the form of an image file, a PDF file, or the like. The content browsing server 13 has a function of referring to a user information management DB, which will be described later, and determining whether or not the electronic content can be browsed for each user who requests the rental book service. In order to allow browsing of electronic content, the user browses the electronic content desired by the content browsing server.

The database server 14 includes a content information management DB (database) 20 and a user information management DB.
21 is provided. In the content information management DB 20,
Various attribute information of electronic contents relating to prepared books, comics, images, illustrations, photo books, etc. is managed. In the user information management DB 21, each user's my bookshelf (hereinafter referred to as "My bookshelf". Or my page (M
Information related to (y page)) is managed.

Since the Internet rental service provided at the content browsing site 11 is charged, a credit charging server is provided as a charging means, but it is not shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a main part relating to a lending service of electronic contents at a contents browsing site. This configuration diagram shows the page configuration and various functional units. The top page 31 is a page that is provided by the WWW server 13 when the user 17 accesses the content browsing site 11 and is first displayed on the screen of the user PC 18. A specific display example of the top page 31 is shown in FIG. This top page 31 includes a notification display 32, a recommended content list display 33, a selling content 10 display 34, a category list 35, a shopping cart 36, a member registration explanation page 37, and My.
Bookshelf login 38 is shown. The display manners thereof are as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the notification display 32, the recommended content list display 33, the selling content 10 display 34, and the category list 35 are included in the top page 31 (block 39). When a selection operation (selection click) for selecting any item from the column of the category list 35 is performed, the screen of the product list 40 is displayed. If you perform a further selection operation on the product list 40 screen,
The screen moves to the product detail screen 41. When a selection operation is performed in the display fields of the recommended content list display 33 and the hot selling content 10 display 34, the product detail screen 41 is displayed.

On the member registration explanation page 37, when the selection operation is sequentially performed, the agreement page 42, the member I
D / password (Passwd) input 43 screen, member ID / password (Passwd) input confirmation screen 4
4. Member registration screen 45 is sequentially displayed. Member registration will be performed by inputting necessary information on the screens that are sequentially displayed. In order to receive the content browsing service according to the present embodiment, it is a condition that the member is a member in advance.

On the screen of the top page 31 shown in FIG. 3, My bookshelf login (My bookshelf LOGIN) 38 is an ID.
Input field 38a and PASS input field 38b
Is provided. In My bookshelf login 38, enter I in ID input field 38a and PASS input field 38b.
When the D number and password are entered, the page screen of the My bookshelf 46 is displayed. An example of the page of My bookshelf 46 is shown in FIG.
Is shown in. The page of the My bookshelf 46 is a browsing selection page and is a screen for selecting a browsing target.

On the My bookshelf 46 page shown in FIG. 4, a list 47 of "My bookshelves" is displayed. The page of the MY bookshelf 46 is shown on the browser screen 70. The browser screen 70 has a structure well known in the related art. The page screen of the My bookshelf 46 is the original viewer of the content browsing system. This list 47
Then, in the horizontal column on the top side, items such as "title", "subscription start date", "remaining days", "bookmark", and "action" are displayed, and in the vertical column on the left side, usually multiple numbers are displayed. Is displayed. In the column corresponding to each number, the title of the book you borrowed is shown in the title item, the date when you started borrowing the book is shown in the subscription start date item, for example, in the year, and the item of the remaining days Indicates the number of days remaining until the deadline (in units of hours and minutes if less than one day) as the return deadline,
In the bookmark item, the last read page (or read page) of the book currently being read is shown as an index. Acti
The on item has a "Read" button, and the reading operation is started by operating this button. In the list 47 shown in FIG. 4, since only one book is rented, only matters relating to the book with number 1 are shown. By looking at the list 47 on the page screen of the My bookshelf 46, it is possible to know the book (comic, etc.) that the user is currently renting, the reading progress status (information of the final read page display), and the return deadline. The return deadline is the last day of the contract period during which the browsing contract allows the browsing.

The browser screen 70 of the My bookshelf 46 shown in FIG. 4 is prepared as a dedicated screen for each of a plurality of users. Others cannot see the page screen of My bookshelf 46 unless they enter the ID number and password. The page of the My bookshelf 46 is a page for each of the plurality of users 17, and the operation button 72 for setting the viewer, the operation button 73 for viewing the purchase history, the operation button 49 for changing the member information,
An operation button 50 for canceling the membership is provided.

On the page screen of the My bookshelf 46, the books shown in the list 47 can be organized (see FIG. 3).
Block 51 (sorting function), and My bookshelf 4
6, that is, when a book before the expiration date is selected in the list 47, a screen for reading is displayed, and it becomes possible to read (or see) the continuation of the unread book (the functional unit of the book reader 52).

FIG. 5 shows a user PC when reading a book.
18 shows a page screen displayed at 18. In this display example, for simplification of description, an arbitrary left-right spread page of the illustration collection is shown. On this screen, the information 61 on the rental period (or browsing period), the information 62 on the currently read (or viewed) page portion (page display and halfway reading state), and the next or previous page are displayed. A turning instruction button 63 is provided. The screen of FIG. 5 allows the user to easily obtain the current reading place information during the rental period when viewing the illustration collection.

In the configuration of the content browsing system described above, provision of various pages sent from the content browsing site 11 to the user PC 18 and provision of electronic content are performed in the form of JAVA (registered trademark) applet. That is, the user 17 has his own PC 18
Then, when the content browsing site 11 is accessed via the Internet 16 and the electronic content for which the browsing contract is completed is selected based on the interaction with the WWW server 12, the JAVA downloaded to the user PC 18 is selected.
(Registered trademark) applet screen (My bookshelf 4 described above)
The content browsing server 13 is connected through the page screen (6) to enable browsing of the selected electronic content within the contract period. On the screen of the PC 18, the user 17
Electronic content will be read or viewed on the screen of the JAVA applet. The JAVA (registered trademark) applet operating on the screen of the browser is configured such that the function buttons cannot be used in this embodiment. Therefore, in the user PC 18, it is not possible to perform an operation of saving or copying the data related to the electronic content in the memory. Therefore, illegal copying can be prevented and the copyright can be protected. The electronic content that can be browsed through the content browsing server 13 is browsed by the user by a streaming method. According to this streaming method,
The electronic content can be browsed only when the user is accessing, and cannot be browsed at other times.

FIG. 6 shows the usage state of the content browsing site 11 by the transition of the screen. In FIG. 6, (A) shows one of the books during the subscription contract on the screen of the My bookshelf 46 described above.
If one is selected, a screen 71 regarding the current half-read page of the book is displayed. The display content of this screen 71 is the same as the content shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, (B) is a screen 7
1 in (D), press the flip command button 63
A state is shown in which the page is advanced by one page by pressing the xt button. Further, (C) shows a state in which the page is returned by one page by pressing the Back button with the flipping instruction button 63 shown in (D) on the screen 71. As described above, according to the content browsing according to the present embodiment, the electronic content can be browsed as if the book is read or viewed on the screen of the user PC 18.

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the pages of the My bookshelf 46 described above. List 47 of this "My bookshelf"
The items provided in the horizontal column on the top side are different. In the items of this embodiment, items of “title”, “author”, “deadline”, “state”, and “Read” are displayed. The title item shows the title of the borrowed book, the author item shows the author name, the deadline item shows the return deadline, and the status item shows read or unread or the whole item. Indices such as the number of pages for which reading has been completed are shown. In addition, "Re
In the "ad" item, a click button for performing a reading operation is provided. On the page of My bookshelf 46,
An operation button 48 for viewing past rental history, an operation button 49 for changing member information, and an operation button 50 for canceling a member are provided. The other configuration is the same as the configuration described in FIG. Also in this embodiment, the list table 47 is displayed on the page screen of the My bookshelf 46.
The user can know the book (comic or the like) currently rented by the user himself, the reading progress status (page display and halfway reading status, read or unread information) and the return deadline.

[0031]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, electronic contents are provided using the screen of the JAVA (registered trademark) applet in which the predetermined processing operation is disabled on the screen of the user PC. As a result, it is possible to construct a practical electronic content browsing system capable of preventing illegal copying and sufficiently protecting copyrights. Further, since the book selection table dedicated to the user is provided on the browsing selection page, it is possible to personally use the dedicated Internet rental book. In the bookshelf list, since the index related to the reading progress status is shown for each of the written books, it is possible to easily and accurately know the usage status of each book, and it is easy to use . Further, since the page content of the book is displayed on the screen of the user PC in a state similar to the actual book reading mode, it is practically the same as normal reading, and is practical. Further, since the page display section and the halfway read record information display section are provided on the screen corresponding to the content screen of the book, it is possible to accurately grasp the progress of reading in the middle of reading.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a system configuration of a representative embodiment of a content browsing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a content browsing site.

FIG. 3 is a screen view of a top page.

FIG. 4 is a screen view of a page showing a My bookshelf (My bookshelf).

FIG. 5 is a screen diagram showing a screen state when a user uses electronic content on a screen of a PC.

FIG. 6 is a diagram conceptually showing a usage state of electronic contents.

FIG. 7 is a screen view of a page showing another configuration example of the My bookshelf (My bookshelf).

[Explanation of symbols]

11 Contents browsing site 12 WWW server 13 Content browsing server 14 Database server 16 Internet 17 users 18 User PC 31 Top page 38 My Bookshelf Login 46 My bookshelf screen

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G06F 17/60 342 G06F 17/60 342 ZEC ZEC

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A JAVA (registered trademark) incapable of processing operation from a content browsing site to a user's Internet terminal
A contents browsing system, wherein a browsing selection page is given by an applet, and a user-only bookshelf list is displayed on the browsing selection page displayed on the screen by the JAVA (registered trademark) applet. 2. The content browsing system according to claim 1, wherein an index relating to a reading progress status of at least one book written in the bookshelf list is shown. 3. The content browsing system according to claim 2, wherein the index related to the reading progress status is final page information. 4. The contents browsing system according to claim 2, wherein the bookshelf list shows information on a reading start date and remaining days. 5. The page content of the book is displayed in a state similar to an actual book reading mode on condition that the book described in the bookshelf list is selected.
The content browsing system according to any one of 4 above. 6. The content browsing system according to claim 5, wherein a page display section and an intermediate reading record information display section are provided corresponding to the displayed content screen of the book.