JP2003323371A - System and method for detecting usage status of digital content - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique that can evaluate each digital content item. <P>SOLUTION: A server 1 is provided with a user's usage computing part 15, a warning determination processing part 21, a GUI generating part 7 and a deletion processing part 13. The user's usage computing part 15 computes a user's usage of each electronic file in the server 1. The warning determination processing part 21 determines whether each electronic file in necessary or not according to the computed user's usage. The GUI generating part 7 provides an administrator terminal 3B with a screen listing the user's usage and the like of each electronic file. The deletion processing part 13 deletes an electronic file selected on the provided screen from a file management DB 17, and deletes metadata on the electronic file from a metadata management DB 19. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to improvements in techniques for managing one or more digital contents.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a server having a plurality of digital contents receives a request for user-desired digital contents from a client terminal via a communication network such as the Internet, and responds to the request by responding to the request to obtain the digital contents desired by the user. Content is distributed to client terminals. The digital contents include, for example, still images, moving images, sounds, characters, and multimedia including a combination thereof.

[0003]

In recent years, from the viewpoint of providing more information in more detail, the size of digital contents tends to be enlarged. Therefore, the larger the number of digital contents, the more storage capacity of the server is required. Also, if you run out of storage capacity,
It is necessary to take measures such as adding a hard disk.
Therefore, there is a problem that the cost for computer management increases.

[0004] Digital contents are used to provide a company logo mark, product information, commercial messages, etc., and can be one asset for a company. For this reason, it is considered that not a few companies are willing to actively engage in management and operation of digital contents. However, management and operation of digital contents have a certain cost. Therefore, it is considered that each company has issued a request that it should be possible to determine whether or not the produced digital content is extremely valuable.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a technique capable of judging the value of each digital content.

[0006]

The system according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises a usage status detecting means for detecting a usage status of one or more digital contents which can be used by the user in response to the user's request. And a usage status optimizing means for executing processing for optimizing future usage status based on the detected usage status.

The term "digital content" as used herein refers to an individual electronic file or a file group including one or more electronic files. The file group specifically means, for example, one or more data files of characters, still images, moving images, sounds, etc., and to provide the user with characters, still images, etc. using the one or more data files. And the program file of.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the usage status detecting means has the following (1) to (4) for each digital content: (1) the number of times the digital content has been used, and 2) The date and time when the digital content was used (for example, the difference between the latest date and time and the date and time when the digital content was used a predetermined number of times before), and (3) the usage length of the digital content, (4) At least one parameter of the evaluation of the digital content is acquired, and the usage status is detected based on the acquired parameter.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the utilization situation optimizing means notifies the detected utilization situation or information regarding the utilization situation to the user or a predetermined manager.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the utilization status optimizing means identifies, from the detected utilization status, digital content whose utilization status does not correspond to a predetermined utilization status condition, and identifies the identified digital content. about,
The following (1) to (3), that is, (1) automatically warns the user or a predetermined administrator that the usage status of the identified digital content is bad, (2) the identified digital Perform any one of: deleting content automatically or in response to a request from a predetermined administrator, and (3) moving the identified digital content from its current storage location to another storage location. To do.

The method according to the second aspect of the present invention is based on the step of detecting the usage status of one or more digital contents that can be used by the user in response to the user's request, and based on the detected usage status. , And a step of executing processing for optimizing future usage.

A computer program according to a third aspect of the present invention is based on the step of detecting the usage status of one or more digital contents that can be used by the user in response to the user's request, and based on the detected usage status. And a step of executing processing for optimizing future usage conditions, and a computer program for causing a computer to execute the steps.

A plurality of the above means constituting the apparatus of the present invention may be mounted in one computer system,
You may distribute and mount in several computer systems.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the person who provides the digital content is referred to as an “administrator”, and the person who downloads and uses the digital content is referred to as a “user” for the sake of clarity. A computer terminal used by an administrator is called an “administrator terminal”, and a computer terminal used by a “user” is called a “user terminal”.

FIG. 1 shows a content management server to which an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

A content management server (hereinafter simply referred to as "server") 1 according to this embodiment manages a plurality of digital contents including one or more electronic files. When the server 1 receives a request for providing digital content desired by the user from the user terminal 3A via a communication network such as the Internet, the server 1 delivers the digital content to the client terminal. Also, server 1
Detects the usage status of each electronic file included in each digital content, and executes a predetermined process based on the detected usage status. The server 1 will be specifically described below.

The server 1 includes a communication control unit 5 and a GUI (Gr
aphical User Interface) generation unit 7, file management database (hereinafter, file management DB) 17, metadata management database (hereinafter, metadata management DB) 19,
An upload processing unit 9, a download processing unit 11, a user usage calculation unit 15, a warning determination processing unit 21, and a deletion processing unit 13 are provided.

The communication control unit 5 controls communication between the server 1 and the user terminal 3A and the administrator terminal 3B via the communication network based on the protocol of the communication network and the protocol of each application in the server 1. .

The GUI generator 7 generates data (hereinafter, GUI data) for displaying a predetermined screen on the user terminal 3A or the administrator terminal 3B when a predetermined event occurs, and the GUI is generated. The data is provided to the user terminal 3A or the administrator terminal 3B via the communication control unit 5.
Specifically, for example, when the URL of the screen displaying the top page (hereinafter referred to as the server reception screen) is accessed, the GUI generation unit 7 sends the GUI data for displaying the server reception screen to the user terminal 3A or It is provided to the administrator terminal 3B. As a result, a server reception screen is generated based on the GUI data and displayed on the display screen of the user terminal 3A or the administrator terminal 3B.

In the file management DB 17, one or more electronic files such as images and sounds that compose each digital content and information related thereto are recorded. Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG.
One record group is registered for each electronic file of each digital content. In each record group, the file ID, file name, and binary data of the corresponding electronic file (for example, if the electronic file is an image file, Binary data) and records such as registration date are included.

In the metadata management DB 19, information about each digital content is recorded as metadata about each electronic file. Specifically, for example, FIG.
As shown in, one record group is registered in the metadata management DB 19 for each digital content. Each record group includes records such as the content ID of the corresponding digital content, the file ID of each electronic file included in the digital content, the number of downloads, the user usage rate, the unnecessary flag, the upload user name, and the last usage date. ing. In the present embodiment, records such as the number of downloads, the degree of user usage, the unnecessary flag, the upload user name, and the last usage date are prepared for each electronic file.

Here, the "download count" is the number of times the corresponding electronic file has been downloaded to the user terminal 3A. Even if they belong to the same digital content, the number of times each electronic file is downloaded may be different. For example, when the digital content is composed of a character file, an image file, and a sound file, and when the digital content is downloaded first, only the character file and the image file are downloaded, and then a request from the user is received. When the sound file is downloaded only to the, the number of times the character file and the image file are downloaded is different from the number of times the sound file is downloaded.

The "user usage" is an index indicating the usage status of the electronic file by the user. In this embodiment, the user usage rate is calculated based on the number of times the electronic file is downloaded, the latest date when the electronic file was downloaded, and the previous date (the date closest to the latest date). Specifically, for example, it is calculated by the following equation (1).

[0024]   User usage = (number of downloads / (latest date when downloaded- Last date)) x 100 ... (1).

In this equation (1), for example, the latest date is December 11, and the previous date is November 2.
If it is 9th, the latest date is "11" and the previous date is "-1".

The "unnecessary flag" indicates whether or not the corresponding electronic file is unnecessary. In this embodiment, when it is determined that the corresponding electronic file is unnecessary, specifically, “0” is set when the user usage rate of the corresponding electronic file is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and otherwise Is set to "1".

The "upload user name" is the name of the user who uploaded the corresponding electronic file to the server 1. Of course, instead of the user name, other user identification information such as the user ID can be adopted.

The "previous usage date" is the latest date most recent to the latest date when the corresponding electronic file was downloaded.

Referring again to FIG.

The upload processing section 9 uses the respective manager terminals 3
The server 1 can manage the digital content uploaded from B to the server 1 so that the digital content can be distributed to each user terminal 3A. Specifically, the upload processing unit 9 stores in the file management DB 17 the above record group regarding each electronic file included in the uploaded digital content. Further, the upload processing unit 9 registers the above-mentioned metadata regarding each electronic file included in the uploaded digital content in the metadata management DB 19.

The download processing unit 11 performs processing for downloading to the user terminal 3A the digital content requested by the user from the plurality of digital contents managed by the server 1. Specifically, the download processing unit 11 uses the metadata management DB.
19 to identify the file ID of the electronic file belonging to the digital content requested by the user,
The electronic file corresponding to the identified file ID is acquired from the file management DB 17, and a process for downloading the acquired electronic file to the user terminal 3A is performed.

When the digital content desired by the user is downloaded, the user usage calculation unit 15 uses the above formula (1) to calculate the user usage of each electronic file belonging to the digital content. In particular,
The user usage calculation unit 15 extracts the number of downloads and the previous usage date corresponding to each downloaded electronic file from the metadata management DB 19, and extracts the number of downloads and the previous usage date and the date when the file was downloaded. (That is, the latest date) and the above equation (1) are used to calculate the user usage of each electronic file.

The warning determination processing unit 21 is activated at the activation time recorded in a predetermined storage area (hereinafter, "parameter storage area") 23, and uses the user utilization warning threshold value recorded in the area 23. And executes a predetermined process. That is, when activated, the warning determination processing unit 21 extracts the user usage rate of each electronic file (or each record relating to the user usage rate, if accurately expressed) from the metadata management DB 19, and the extracted user usage rate is It is checked whether the user usage warning threshold is exceeded. The warning determination processing unit 21 sets "1" as an unnecessary flag in the metadata management DB 19 for electronic files for which the check result is positive, and for negative electronic files (that is, for the user For electronic files whose usage is less than or equal to the user usage warning threshold), "0" is set as the unnecessary flag.

The deletion processing section 13 has a file management DB 17
Among the plurality of electronic files stored in, the electronic file requested by the user is deleted, and the metadata regarding the electronic file is deleted from the metadata management DB 19.

The processing flow in this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG.

First, the flow of processing performed when the administrator uploads desired digital contents using the administrator terminal 3B will be described.

FIG. 4 shows the administrator terminal 3B used by the administrator.
The flow when digital content is uploaded from is shown.

The administrator terminal 3B accesses the URL of the server reception screen (Web page) in response to the operation of the administrator, and uploads the digital contents via the server reception screen displayed in response to the URL. A request to that effect is issued (step S0).

In response to the request, the GUI generator 7
When the upload processing unit 9 is activated (S1), and the activation processing unit 9 is activated, a screen for inputting a user-desired electronic file and its metadata to the GUI generation unit 7 (hereinafter referred to as file metadata An instruction to generate an (input screen) is issued (S2).

The GUI generation section 7 responds to the instruction by
The GUI data necessary for generating the file / metadata input screen is transmitted to the administrator terminal 3B via the communication control unit 5 (S3). The administrator terminal 3B generates a file / metadata input screen based on the GUI data from the GUI generation unit 7 and displays it on the display screen.

Using the file / metadata input screen, the administrator inputs each electronic file that constitutes the digital content to be uploaded and the metadata of each electronic file (S4). Here, for example, each electronic file can be input by dragging and dropping. For the metadata, only the content ID and the upload user name are input.

The upload processing section 9 activates the user utilization calculation section 15 when each electronic file or the like constituting the digital content desired by the administrator is input (S5).

When the user utilization calculation section 15 is activated,
With respect to the metadata regarding each input electronic file, the download count and the user usage rate are initialized to “0” (that is, “0” is set as an initial value). Also, the user usage calculation unit 15 sets the previous usage date to “NU
LL ”(that is, a null record is recorded as the last usage date). After that, the user usage calculator 1
5 returns the user utilization calculation result (that is, the setting result of the metadata regarding each input electronic file) to the upload processing unit 9 (S6).

When the upload processing unit 9 receives the user usage calculation result from the user usage calculation unit 15, the upload processing unit 9 stores the metadata about each electronic file input in S4 as metadata.
The calculated user usage, the set number of downloads, the unnecessary flag, the previous usage date, and the like are registered in the metadata management DB 19 (S7). Further, the upload processing unit 9 stores the above-mentioned record group regarding each electronic file input in S4 in the file management DB 17 (S8). After that, the upload processing unit 9 issues an instruction to the GUI generation unit 7 to generate a screen (hereinafter, upload processing completion screen) indicating that the series of upload processing from S1 to S8 is completed (S9). .

The GUI generation unit 7 responds to the instruction by
The GUI data necessary for generating the upload processing completion screen is transmitted to the administrator terminal 3B via the communication control unit 5 (S10). The administrator terminal 3B generates an upload process completion screen based on the GUI data from the GUI generation unit 7 and displays it on the display screen. Thereby, the administrator can confirm that the upload of the desired digital content is successful.

Through the above flow, the digital content desired by the administrator is newly registered in the server 1 and becomes ready for distribution in response to the user's request.

Next, the processing flow performed when the user downloads the desired digital content will be described.

FIG. 5 shows the flow when the digital content desired by the user is downloaded to the user terminal 3A.

In response to the user's operation, the user terminal 3A accesses the URL of the server reception screen (Web page) and downloads the digital content via the server reception screen displayed in response to the URL. A request is issued (S11). In response to the request, the GUI generation unit 7
Starts the download processing unit 11 (S12).

When the download processing section 11 is activated,
The metadata management DB 19 is called (S13), and all the metadata registered therein is acquired from the metadata management DB 19 (S14). Then, the download processing unit 11 gives an instruction to pass all the acquired metadata to the GUI generation unit 7 and to generate a screen (hereinafter, a file list display screen) for displaying a list of these metadata. Is output (S15).

The GUI generation unit 7 responds to the instruction by
The GUI data necessary for generating the file list display screen and the metadata from the download processing unit 11 are transmitted to the user terminal 3A via the communication control unit 5 (S1).
6). The user terminal 3A uses the GUI from the GUI generation unit 7.
A file list display screen is generated based on the data and the metadata and displayed on the display screen.

Here, the file list display screen will be described with reference to FIG.

File list display screen 10 shown in FIG.
0 is an example of a file list display screen. On the file list display screen 100, the metadata of each electronic file regarding all digital contents managed in the server 1 is displayed as a file list 101, that is, the file name of each electronic file and the user usage rate. Etc. are displayed in a list. This allows
The user can know at a glance the user usage rate (in other words, the popularity status) of each of the plurality of electronic files (and digital contents) in the server 1.

Although not shown, when one digital content has a plurality of electronic files, a plurality of file names are displayed for the same content ID.

Although not shown in the figure in order to make the figure easier to see, the file list 101 has a small user usage rate (specifically, it is unnecessary because the user usage rate is less than or equal to the user usage warning threshold value). A cell for an electronic file (for which "0" is set as a flag), for example, a cell for an electronic file of "content 3.bmp" and "content 4.bmp" with a user usage rate of 0.7 or less is highlighted. (In other words, electronic files that are deemed unnecessary are warned). As a result, an electronic file with low user usage can be seen at a glance (“highlighting” here means, for example, displaying a cell related to an electronic file with low user usage in a different color from other cells) Is).

Now, refer to FIG. 5 again.

On the file list display screen, the user
The digital content or electronic file to be downloaded is selected by a predetermined method (for example, by clicking the content ID column of the digital content or the file ID column of the electronic file) (S17). At this time, the download processing unit 11 uses the file management DB 1
On the other hand, when the digital content is selected, all or some of the predetermined electronic files included in the digital content are selected, and when the electronic files are individually selected, the electronic files are displayed in the user terminal 3A. It is instructed to transmit (S18). The file management DB 17 transmits the electronic file selected by the user or the electronic file included in the digital content to the user terminal 3A according to the instruction from the download processing unit 11 (S19). After that, the file management DB 17 stores the electronic file in the user terminal 3A.
To the download processing unit 11 (S20).

Upon receiving the transmission end flag from the file management DB 17, the download processing unit 11 activates the user usage calculation unit 15 (S21).

When the user utilization calculation section 15 is activated,
For the metadata relating to each electronic file transmitted to the user terminal 3A in S19, the download count is updated to a value obtained by adding 1 to the current value, the unnecessary flag is updated to "0", and the previous use date is set to Update to the date when it was sent (ie the current date). Then, the user usage calculation unit 15 updates the number of downloads after updating, the updated last usage date (that is, the latest date when downloaded), and the previous usage date before update (that is, the latest date). The latest past date) and the above equation (1) are used to calculate S
At 19, the user utilization of each electronic file transmitted to the user terminal 3A is calculated. After that, the user usage calculator 1
5 returns the result of user utilization calculation to the download processing unit 11 (S22).

Upon receiving the user usage calculation result from the user usage calculating unit 15, the download processing unit 11 uses the current user usage of the metadata regarding each electronic file transmitted in S19 in the metadata management DB 19. To the calculated user usage, the current download count to the updated download count, the current unnecessary flag to "0", and the current previous use date to the updated previous use date. By doing so, the metadata management DB 19 is updated (S23). After that, the download processing unit 11 instructs the GUI generation unit 7 to perform steps S12 to S2.
An instruction to generate a screen (hereinafter, a download process completion screen) indicating that the series of download processes up to 3 has been completed is issued (S24).

The GUI generation section 7 responds to the instruction by
The GUI data necessary for generating the upload processing completion screen is transmitted to the user terminal 3A via the communication control unit 5 (S25). The user terminal 3A generates a download processing completion screen based on the GUI data from the GUI generation unit 7 and displays it on the display screen. Thereby, the user can confirm that the desired digital content or electronic file has been successfully downloaded.

Through the above flow, the digital content or electronic file desired by the user is downloaded from the server 1 to the user terminal 3A, and the user usage rate and the number of downloads are updated accordingly.

Next, a processing flow performed when the administrator sets the activation time of the warning determination processing section 21 or the user usage warning threshold will be described.

FIG. 7 shows the flow when the administrator sets the activation time of the warning determination processing section 21 or the user usage warning threshold value.

The administrator terminal 3B accesses the URL of the server reception screen (Web page) in response to the operation of the administrator, and the warning determination processing section 21 is accessed via the server reception screen displayed in response to the URL. A request to set the activation time or the user usage warning threshold is issued (S26). In response to the request, the GUI generation unit 7 activates the warning determination processing unit 21 (S27).

When the warning determination processing section 21 is activated, the GU
The I generation unit 7 is instructed to generate a screen for setting the activation time of the warning determination processing unit 21 or the user usage warning threshold (hereinafter, activation time / warning threshold setting screen) (S28).

The GUI generator 7 responds to the instruction by
The GUI data necessary for generating the activation time / warning threshold value setting screen is transmitted to the administrator terminal 3B via the communication control unit 5 (S29). The administrator terminal 3B generates a startup time / warning threshold value setting screen based on the GUI data from the GUI generating unit 7 and displays it on the display screen.

On the activation time / warning threshold value setting screen, the administrator inputs a desired activation time of the warning determination processing section 21 or a desired user utilization warning threshold value by a predetermined method (for example,
(Enter in the specified field on the startup time / warning threshold setting screen),
At the same time, it issues an instruction to save the input activation time or user usage warning threshold (S30).

In response to the instruction, the warning determination processing unit 21 stores the activation time of the warning determination processing unit 21 or the user usage warning threshold value input by the administrator in the parameter storage area 23 described above. Then, the warning determination processing unit 21
Generates a screen (hereinafter, a startup time / warning threshold storage completion screen) for reporting to the GUI generation unit 7 that the startup time or the user usage warning threshold input by the administrator has been saved. Give an instruction (S31).

The GUI generation unit 7 responds to the instruction by
GUI required to generate startup time / warning threshold saving completion screen
The data is transmitted to the administrator terminal 3B via the communication control unit 5 (S32). The administrator terminal 3B generates a start time / warning threshold value saving completion screen based on the GUI data from the GUI generation unit 7 and displays it on the display screen. Thereby, the administrator can confirm that the desired start time or the user usage warning threshold value has been set successfully.

Through the above flow, the activation time of the warning determination processing section 21 or the user usage warning threshold desired by the administrator is set. The start time can be entered as the date and time, or only two times can be entered. When only the time is input, the processing is started every day at the input start time and the processing shown in FIG. 8 below is executed.

Next, a processing flow performed when the warning determination processing section 21 is automatically started will be described.

FIG. 8 shows the flow when the warning determination processing section 21 is automatically activated.

The warning determination processing section 21 is automatically activated when the current time reaches the activation time stored in the parameter storage area 23 (S33). When activated, the warning determination processing unit 21 refers to the inside of the metadata management DB 19 (S34) and extracts all the metadata from the metadata management DB 19 (S35). Then, the warning determination processing unit 21 checks whether or not each user usage included in each extracted metadata exceeds a user usage warning threshold stored in the parameter storage area 23. (S36).

As a result of the check, for electronic files that are positive (that is, for electronic files whose user usage exceeds the user usage warning threshold),
The warning determination processing unit 21 sets "1" as the unnecessary flag, that is, sets that the electronic file is regarded as an unnecessary electronic file (YES in S36). On the other hand, as a result of the check in S36, for an electronic file that is negative (that is, for an electronic file whose user usage is less than or equal to the user usage warning threshold), the warning determination processing unit 21.
Performs nothing special, that is, keeps the unnecessary flag "0", and sets that the electronic file is unnecessary (NO in S36).

As described above, the warning determination processing section 21 is automatically activated and the unnecessary flag for each electronic file is updated. The warning determination processing unit 21 is activated when an electronic file desired by the user is downloaded,
You may perform the process for updating the unnecessary flag with respect to the electronic file.

Next, the processing flow performed when the administrator deletes an electronic file that is considered unnecessary is described.

FIG. 9 shows the flow when the administrator deletes an electronic file that is considered unnecessary.

The administrator terminal 3B accesses the URL of the server reception screen (Web page) in response to the operation of the administrator, and configures each digital content via the server reception screen displayed in response to the URL. A request is made to provide the usage status of each electronic file (S38).
In response to the request, the GUI generation unit 7 activates the download processing unit 11 (S39).

When the download processing section 11 is started,
The metadata management DB 19 is called (S40), and all the metadata registered therein is acquired from the metadata management DB 19 (S41). Then, the download processing unit 11 sends an instruction to the GUI generation unit 7 to pass all the acquired metadata and to generate a screen for displaying a list of these metadata (that is, a file list display screen). Put out (S42).

The GUI generator 7 responds to the instruction by
The GUI data necessary for generating the file list display screen and the metadata from the download processing unit 11 are transmitted to the administrator terminal 3B via the communication control unit 5 (S4).
3). The administrator terminal 3B uses the GUI from the GUI generation unit 7.
Based on the data and the metadata, the file list display screen 100 as shown in FIG. 6 is generated and displayed on the display screen. As a result, the administrator can know at a glance which electronic files have low user usage.

On the file list display screen, the administrator
Select the digital content or electronic file you want to delete by a predetermined method (for example, click the content ID column of the digital content or the file ID column of the electronic file) and delete the digital content or electronic file. An instruction to do so is issued (S44).

In response to the instruction, the deletion processing section 13
In the file management DB 17, when digital contents are selected, all or some of predetermined electronic files included therein are selected, and when individual electronic files are selected, the electronic files are managed. DB17
It is instructed to delete from inside (S45). The file management DB 17 deletes the electronic file selected by the administrator or the electronic file included in the digital content in accordance with the instruction from the deletion processing unit 13, and deletes the deletion end flag indicating that the electronic file is deleted. (S46).

In addition, when the digital contents are selected, the deletion processing section 13 electronically outputs metadata about all or some of predetermined electronic files included in the digital contents to the metadata management DB 19. When a file is selected, the metadata management DB 19 is instructed to delete the metadata related to the electronic file (S47). The metadata management DB 19 deletes the metadata regarding the electronic file selected by the administrator or the electronic file included in the digital content according to the instruction from the deletion processing unit 13, and a deletion end flag indicating that the metadata is deleted. Is returned to the deletion processing unit 13 (S48).

The deletion processing unit 13 causes the GUI generation unit 7 to generate a screen (hereinafter, deletion processing completion screen) indicating that the electronic file selected by the administrator or the electronic file included in the digital content has been deleted. An instruction to do so is issued (S49).

The GUI generation section 7 responds to the instruction by
The GUI data necessary for generating the deletion processing completion screen is transmitted to the administrator terminal 3B via the communication control unit 5 (S5).
0). The administrator terminal 3B uses the GUI from the GUI generation unit 7.
A deletion processing completion screen is generated based on the data and displayed on the display screen. Thereby, the administrator can confirm that the desired electronic file or each electronic file included in the digital content has been deleted.

Through the above flow, the electronic file desired by the administrator or each electronic file constituting the digital content is deleted. In the above flow, instead of deleting an electronic file that is considered unnecessary, the administrator moves the storage location of the electronic file to another storage device or recording medium such as a hard disk or a CD-R. May be. Further, the deletion processing unit 13 may automatically delete an electronic file having a user usage rate lower than the user usage rate warning threshold value or move it to another storage location.

As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, each time an electronic file managed by the server 1 is downloaded, the number of downloads of the electronic file, the latest date and time,
Also, the last usage date and time is updated, and the user usage rate is updated based on the updated information. Then, in response to the request from the administrator or the user, each electronic file managed in the server 1 and the user usage rate thereof are displayed in a listable manner. As a result, the administrator can easily judge the value of the electronic files such as images and sounds and the digital contents including them, and based on the judgment result, the digital contents and the electronic files that are considered unnecessary. Can be deleted or moved to another storage location, in other words, the future usage of the plurality of electronic files in the server 1 can be optimized.

Further, according to the above-described embodiment, as described above, it is possible to delete from the server 1 an electronic file determined to be unnecessary based on the user usage of each electronic file. As a result, it is possible to make a free space in the storage area of the server 1 based on the user usage of each electronic file.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, this is merely an example for explaining the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. The present invention can be implemented in various other forms.

For example, the management of each electronic file prepared in the server 1 may be performed in conjunction with the file manager of the OS installed in the server 1.

Further, the system may be constructed so that the server 1 can know the usage time length of the electronic file downloaded to the user terminal 3A (for example, the usage of the downloaded electronic file to the user terminal 3A). A program for detecting the time length and returning it to the server 1 is provided). In that case, the user usage calculation unit 1
5 calculates the user usage rate of each electronic file based on the usage time length of each electronic file instead of or in addition to the download count and date and time of each electronic file. The calculated user usage rate and usage time length are provided to the user or the administrator. Thereby, the value of each electronic file can be judged from another viewpoint. For example, an electronic file that is downloaded less frequently or less frequently is likely to be less used, but if the usage time is long, it is a long-loved electronic file once provided to the user even if the usage is low. I understand. Therefore, there will be more indicators for taking measures for future corporate activity policies.

Further, after each electronic file is used by the user, the user may be allowed to input the evaluation of each electronic file to the server 1. In that case, the user usage calculation unit 15 calculates the user usage of each electronic file based on the evaluation of each electronic file instead of or in addition to the download count and date and time of each electronic file. The calculated user utilization and rating are provided to the user or administrator. Thereby, the value of each electronic file can be judged from another point of view. For example, an electronic file that is frequently downloaded or frequently downloaded is likely to be valuable, but if the evaluation is poor, measures such as correcting the content can be taken.

Further, a high-value user usage threshold may be provided, and an electronic file having a user usage exceeding the threshold may be notified to the user or the administrator (for example, in the file list, a user usage warning is issued). It may be highlighted in a different manner from the electronic file below the threshold). Thereby, it is possible to know which electronic file has a particularly high user usage.

The present invention does not always have to be used in a communication network environment. For example, it can be used in a local computer terminal (for example, a personal computer). In this case, the user can know the unnecessary electronic file among the plurality of electronic files stored in his / her computer terminal. Therefore, for example, when the storage capacity of the hard disk becomes low, the user can make a free space by finding an unnecessary electronic file and deleting the electronic file. In other words, which electronic file should be deleted? You can eliminate the situation where you do not understand.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a content management server to which an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in a file management DB 17.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in a metadata management DB 19.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow when digital content is uploaded from an administrator terminal 3B used by an administrator.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a flow when digital content desired by a user is downloaded to a user terminal 3A.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a file list display screen.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a flow when an administrator sets a start time of the warning determination processing unit 21 or a user usage warning threshold.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a flow when the warning determination processing unit 21 is automatically activated.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a flow when an administrator deletes an electronic file that is considered unnecessary.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Content management server 3A user terminal 3B administrator terminal 5 Communication control unit 7 GUI generator 9 Upload processing section 11 Download processing unit 13 Deletion processing section 15 User usage calculator 17 File management DB 19 Metadata management DB 21 Warning judgment processing unit 23 Parameter storage area

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A usage status detecting unit that detects usage status of one or more digital contents that can be used by the user in response to a user's request, and future usage status based on the detected usage status. A system comprising a utilization situation optimizing means for executing a process for optimizing. 2. The usage status detecting means (1) to (4) (1) the number of times the digital content is used, and (2) the date and time when the digital content is used, for each digital content. And (3) acquiring at least one parameter of the usage time length of the digital content and (4) evaluating the digital content, and detecting the usage status based on the acquired parameter. The system according to Item 1. 3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the usage status optimizing means notifies the user or a predetermined manager of the detected usage status or information regarding the usage status. 4. The usage status optimizing means identifies, from the detected usage status, digital content having a usage status that does not correspond to a predetermined usage status condition. ~ (3) (1) Automatically warn the user or a predetermined administrator that the usage status of the identified digital content is bad, (2) The identified digital content is automatically or predetermined The system of claim 1, wherein the system performs any one of: (3) moving the identified digital content from a current storage location to another storage location in response to an administrator request. 5. A step of detecting a usage status of one or more digital contents that can be used by the user in response to a user's request, and optimizing a future usage status based on the detected usage status. Performing the processing for. 6. A step of detecting a usage status of one or more digital contents that can be used by the user in response to a user's request, and a future usage status is optimized based on the detected usage status. A computer program that causes a computer to execute steps for performing the following processes.