JP2003346002A - Contents selling system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a contents selling system capable of purchasing contents according to a normal purchasing process and paying a commission or royalty to a proper contents seller or distributor (contents rightful claimant). <P>SOLUTION: A contents seller ID is embedded into image data of a sample image for advertisements of contents selling. A user reads the sample for advertisement, selects whether to purchase or reserve purchasing, put it into a user's personal purchase basket and transmits it to the register. The register identifies the user from the received basket, takes out the embedded contents seller ID for determining whether it is a proper sample image or not, takes out contents ID and selling price as contents selling information from the sample image data, and calculates the royalty of the distributor, the selling commission of the contents seller and a charging commission of the registry company on the basis of a previously maintaining settling method, using the contents ID as a key. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a content sales information data associated with a unique content ID for identifying a distributor to whom a copyright has been transferred, and a user wants to purchase the content at any time. It is an object of the present invention to realize a content sales system and a method which enable charging at a point in time and have a mechanism in which usage fees and commissions are charged to authorized content distributors and content sellers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, among certain content sales sites, a sales site and a billing site have to be linked in advance, and when a user finds a desired content in the site and purchases it, another sales site is required. In order to make a comparison with similar contents, the purchase operation had to be terminated once. In addition, since the sales site needs to be linked not only with the promotion of the contents but also with the charging site, it is difficult to start up the sales site immediately.

[0003]

The above prior art has the following problems. (1) When a user purchases a content, the user cannot compare the content with another sales site or keep the content (purchase pending) for the time being. (2) The content seller had to configure the system so as to interlock with the content sales charging service in advance.

[0004] An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, issue a content and a content ID capable of identifying a distributor licensed by a copyright holder, and issue the content ID.
Under the situation where distribution information to distributors, content sellers, and registry companies is managed using D as the key, while the user is browsing the sales advertisement sample on the sales site, the content that the user wants to purchase regardless of the sales site In response to the request, the content registration server (registry company) generates a user's personal virtual shopping basket in response to the user's shopping basket generation request, and the user inserts the content into the shopping basket and discards the information put in the shopping basket. Select, set a purchase / purchase suspension (storage) flag, send it to the content cash register server, read out the content ID on the content cash register server side, and sell the content seller, distributor (copyright holder information), content (number), sales Acquire the price, etc., transmit the content and sales price information to the user, confirm the purchase, and then send the purchased content ID + Incoming data is notified, a credit method is acquired from user information (ID), and a process of charging a user and completing payment of a distribution amount of a content seller, a registry company, and a distributor is enabled. It is an object of the present invention to realize a content billing and settlement method. Also, falsification can be prevented by embedding the identification data of the content seller in the image data of the sales promotion sample on the sales site, and the convenience of the user can be improved by storing the shopping basket containing the content whose purchase has been suspended. Can be planned.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a content sales information including information in which a content seller ID is embedded in an image data portion of a sample image for advertisement of content sales, and whether or not purchase is possible. A shopping basket generation unit that includes information having an entry column for purchase pending, the content cash register server generates a virtual shopping basket including a shopping basket number that can identify the user at the request of the user and an entry column for whether or not the shopping basket can be saved, Means for transmitting a virtual shopping basket generated at the request of the user to the user terminal, and a virtual shopping basket in which the user accesses the content sales information server from the user terminal and purchases or suspends the purchase of the content and puts the content advertisement sample. The user (ID) is specified from the received virtual shopping basket, and the content embedded in the sample image for advertisement is received. The seller ID is extracted to determine whether the image is a legitimate advertising sample image, the content sales information, the content ID, and the selling price are extracted from the content advertising sample image data, and the content ID is stored in advance using the content ID as a key. Based on the settlement method, the contents usage fee of the distributor, the contents sales fee of the contents seller, and the settlement fee of the registry company are calculated, and the sales data is transmitted to the settlement function device. Also, the content purchase suspension information is extracted from the advertisement sample image data, and the virtual shopping basket containing the advertisement sample is stored.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a content sales system and operation means for a user provided by the system. The content sales system includes a user terminal 10 (net connection terminal) used by a user, a content sales information server 20 owned by a content seller, a content cash register server 50 owned by a registry company, and a payment function provider (for example, a credit company) And a content right management server 30 owned by a distributor (for example, a music publisher) by a network. The registry company obtains the income of the charging fee by providing shopping basket generation, shopping basket storage, and settlement means as operation means (content sales server) provided to the user.

FIG. 2 shows the overall configuration of the content sales system.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The user terminal 10 used by the user includes an access unit 11 for accessing a content cash register server 50 of a registry company and a content sales information server 20 of a content seller. Distributor (music publisher)
Enters into a copyright transfer agreement with the copyright owner (e.g., composer, lyricist, etc.) and takes over the copyright of the content (music),
Content information such as a content ID, content information (song data), a selling price, and a method of payment to a copyright holder is stored in the content right management server 30. The content seller acquires content information in accordance with a contract with a distributor (music publisher), and obtains content sales information (content I
D, content information, sales price, content seller I
D, a distributor ID, and an advertisement sample for sale) are created and stored in the content sales information server 20.

[0008] The content cash register server 50 of the registry company includes a plurality of DBs (databases) 51 to 54, a plurality of modules 56 to 60, and a server setting file 55 for controlling transmission and reception of information via a communication network (Internet). . The user information DB 51 registers user information in advance (member registration). FIG. 3 shows an example of the user information. The user information includes a user ID (an ID uniquely indicating the user), a user name and contact information (e-mail address, etc.), a user-specific value (a value for generating a shopping basket number), and a basket number list (currently used by the user). Basket number list), user's position (duties), and the like. The basket information DB 52 holds the shopping basket generated based on the user's basket generation request and the user ID in association with each other. FIG. 4 shows an example of basket information. Basket information
It includes a basket number, a time when the basket was generated, a random number (a random number that is a basis for generating a basket number in consideration of safety), a user ID, and the like. The sales / distributor information DB 53 includes a content ID,
Information on a content seller ID (contact address), a distributor ID (contact address), and a settlement method (distribution information) when the content is sold to the content seller, distributor, and registry company is held in association with each other. FIG. 5 shows an example of sales / distributor information. The log DB 54 is a user ID
And the content ID of the content purchased by the user (sold by the distributor), the content seller ID, and the distributor ID are held in association with each other.

The basket number creation module 56 creates a basket number based on a user unique value (initial setting) and a random number generated by the key number confirmation module 59 based on a user's shopping basket creation request. The authentication / registration processing module 57 stores the user information D
The user is authenticated using B51 and the process of registering each information in the DB is performed. The communication module 58 communicates with a user terminal, a distributor, and a server provided by a payment function provider via a communication network by using a sales / distributor information DB 53 and a server setting file 55 holding the addresses of the respective devices and the maximum number of receptions. Send and receive information. The basket number confirmation module 59 authenticates the user at the next purchase of the content by transmitting the shopping basket using the basket information DB 52 (pair of the basket number and the random number), and proceeds with the content purchase processing. The billing calculation module 60 uses the settlement method of the sales / distributor information DB 53 based on the billing amount (purchase amount) of the user and the content ID to distribute the contents of the content sales company, the distributor, and the registry company, that is, the sales of the content sales company. Calculate fees, registry company billing fees, and distributor content usage fees. The payment function device 40 of the payment function provider (credit company) transmits content sales information (user ID, content ID) and a sales commission from the content cash register server 50,
It receives the charging fee, the content usage fee, and the remittance destination information, withdraws the content purchase amount from the user's account, and distributes it to each company.

The flow of the contents sales system will be described with reference to FIGS. The pre-processing will be described with reference to FIGS. (Pre-processing 1) The distributor (music publisher) concludes a copyright transfer agreement (copyright distribution agreement, etc.) for the content (music) with the copyright holder, and obtains a content ID, content information (music data), and sales. Content information such as a price and a royalty fee is held in the content right management server 30. (Preprocessing 2) The content seller performs content information (content I) based on a contract with a distributor (music publisher).
D, content information, sales price, distributor ID), and creates and holds content sales information (content ID, content information, sales price, distributor ID, seller name (ID), sample for sales promotion) I do. FIG. 7 simulates the content sales information. The sales advertisement sample is a display screen when the user accesses the sales site.
The promotional sample for sale includes title, performer, selling price,
A content seller and a background screen are displayed, and a header of the image data includes a content ID, a digital signature of a distributor,
Price and the like are recorded, and data (content seller ID) for identifying the content seller is embedded in the background screen (that is, a digital watermark). The reason for using a digital watermark is to prevent tampering. Content I
D, the electronic signature of the distributor, the selling price, and the like can be embedded in the background screen. On this screen, a check box indicating that the user has purchased or suspended the content and a purchase number entry column are displayed. (Preprocessing 3) The user accesses the content cash register server 50 to register as a member, and the content cash register server holds the member data in the user DB 51. This member registration can be performed by the same processing as the normal member registration. (Preprocessing 4) The sales / distributor information DB 53 holds a settlement method indicating distribution information of fees and usage fees of content sellers, distributors, and registry companies corresponding to the content IDs.

(Preprocessing 5) FIG. 8 shows a shopping basket generation flow as preprocessing. STEP 0-1: The user uses the user terminal 10 to request (send) a user ID, a password, and a shopping basket generation to the content cash register server 50. STEP0-2: The content sales server receives (receives) the user ID, the password, and the shopping basket generation request. The received user ID, the password, the user information DB 51, and the
The user authentication is performed using the registration processing module 57. If authentication fails, the process ends. STEP0-3: If the authentication is successful, a user unique value (see FIG. 3) is extracted from the user ID, and the current time and the random number are registered in the basket information DB 52. STEP0-4,0-5: The basket number generation module 56 generates a shopping basket object including the basket number generated by using the user unique value and the random number and the content sales information (user purchase information) and registers it in the basket information DB 52. I do. The reason why the user unique value and the random number are used for the generation of the basket number is because security is considered, and the basket numbers may be generated in order.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 9, the overall flow of the content sales system will be described. STEP 1: The user accesses the content seller's site, browses the advertisement sample for sale (FIG. 7), and, when there is content to be purchased, transmits a user ID and a shopping basket generation request to the content cash register server 50. STEP 2: The content cashier server extracts the shopping basket object from the basket information DB 52 based on the user ID and transmits the shopping basket object to the user terminal 10. STEP3: The user puts the purchased content into the shopping basket. (Mark “購入” in the purchase check box in FIG. 7 and enter the number.) Also, if the content is to be kept in the shopping basket and kept (purchase pending), the purchase pending check box is checked. STEP 4: The user browses each content seller site and, when the content purchase and keeping (purchase suspension) are completed, transmits the shopping basket and the user ID to the content cash register server 50.

STEP 5: The content cash register server receives the shopping basket and the user ID, and uses the basket information DB 52 and the basket number confirmation module 59 to confirm (authenticate) whether the user is a valid user based on the shopping basket and the user ID. Also, the signature data of the header of the commercial advertisement sample data is taken out, and it is checked whether it is a legitimate commercial advertisement sample. (Alternatively, the content seller ID embedded in the image data is checked.) If the user cannot be confirmed as a valid user, or if the commercial sample for sale is invalid, the process ends. STEP 6: The billing calculation module 60 determines whether or not there is a shopping basket purchase flag (purchase check). If there is no purchase flag, proceed to STEP14. STEP7: If there is a purchase flag in STEP6, the billing calculation module extracts the content sales information data. STEP8: The charge calculation module extracts the extracted content I
D. Based on the sales price, the sales / distributor information DB 53 is used to calculate the sales fee of the content seller, the content usage fee of the distributor, and the charging fee of the registry company. Next, the purchase flag is deleted. STEP 9: Determine whether the purchase flag remains. If any remain, the process proceeds to STEP7 and STEP8, and the same processing is performed. STEP10: Present the purchase content and price to the user terminal and request confirmation of the user (credit). STEP 11: After the user confirmation is completed, the user's billing amount (collection amount), the sales fee of the content seller, the content usage fee of the distributor, and the charging fee of the registry company are registered in the log DB 54. STEP12: Send a receipt in which the purchase content, price, etc. are entered to the user terminal. STEP13: Send sales data (content ID, user's billing amount, content seller's selling fee, distributor's content usage fee, registry company's billing fee) to the payment function device (payment function provider). STEP14: Determine whether there is a storage flag (STEP3 purchase suspension check). If not, end. STEP15: If there is a storage flag, store the shopping basket in the basket information DB 52
Keep in. STEP16: The payment function device collects the purchase amount from the user based on the sales data received in STEP13, and transmits the distribution amount to the content seller, distributor, and registry company. STEP17: The content sales information server confirms that the distribution has been received, and transmits the content information to the user terminal. In the above embodiment, music information is described as an example of content, but information of a movie, game software, or the like may be applied as content.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, (1) content can be purchased in the same manner as general product purchase by (1) putting a sample image for sale in a shopping basket (purchase check). (3) By embedding an ID for identifying a content seller or a distributor in the sample image for sale, falsification can be prevented, and a legitimate content seller or distributor can be paid for a sales commission and a content usage fee.
By holding a shopping basket containing purchase pending content, it is possible to facilitate selection by the user in purchasing content.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a content sales system.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a content sales system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of user information.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of basket information.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of sales / distributor information.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a content sales system.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a content sales sample.

FIG. 8 is a flow of basket generation.

FIG. 9 is an overall flow of the content sales system.

[Explanation of symbols]

10: User terminal 20: Content sales information server 30: Content right management server 40: Payment function device 50: Content cash register server 51: User information DB, 52: Basket information DB, 53 ...
・ Sales / distributor information DB, 54 ・ ・ ・ Log DB, 56 ・ ・
・ Cage number generation module, 57 ・ ・ ・ Authentication / registration processing module, 58 ・ ・ ・ Communication module, 59 ・ ・ ・ Cage number confirmation module, 60 ・ ・ ・ Charging calculation module 100 ・ ・ ・ Communication network

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 1/387 ZEC H04N 1/387 ZEC (72) Inventor Tomohiro Yamada 2-3-3 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo No. 1 Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Omura 2-3-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo F-term within Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation 5B085 AC04 BA07 BG04 BG07 CA02 CA04 CA07 CE03 5C076 AA14 BA06

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A user terminal, a plurality of content sales information servers holding content sales information including a content ID, content information, and a selling price, and use of a content by a distributor as a content copyright holder in association with the content ID. Payment method for content sales fees of content sellers and settlement fees of registry companies, a content cashier server that performs payment for content sales, receives payment information for content sales, and collects content purchase prices from users. In a content sales system in which a distributor, a content seller, and a payment function device distributed to a registry company are connected via a communication network, the content sales information further includes information for identifying the content seller for promoting the content sales. Embed in the image data part of the sample image, The content registration server includes information having a purchase availability field and a purchase suspension entry column, and the content register server generates a virtual shopping basket including a shopping basket number that can identify a user at the request of the user; and a basket generating unit that generates the virtual shopping basket at the request of the user. Means for transmitting the virtual shopping basket to the user terminal, means for the user to access the content sales information server from the user terminal, and means for receiving the virtual shopping basket containing the content advertisement sample for which the content has been purchased or the purchase of which has been suspended. Means for identifying the user from the virtual shopping basket, extracting the content seller's identification information embedded in the promotional sample image, and determining whether the image is a legitimate promotional sample image; and a received virtual shopping basket promotional sample. The content purchase information, content ID, and sales price information are extracted from the image data. Using the ID as a key, a billing calculation unit that calculates the content usage fee of the distributor, the content sales fee of the content seller, and the payment fee of the registry company based on the payment method held in advance, a charge amount collected by the user, Means for transmitting the content usage fee of the vendor, the content sales fee of the content seller, and the settlement fee of the registry company to the settlement function device; means for extracting the content purchase suspension information from the sample image data for advertisement, and means for storing the virtual shopping basket A content sales system comprising: 2. A user terminal, a plurality of content sales information servers holding content sales information including a content ID, content information, and a selling price, and use of a content by a distributor as a content copyright holder in association with the content ID. Payment method for content sales fees of content sellers and settlement fees of registry companies, a content cashier server that performs payment for content sales, receives payment information for content sales, and collects content purchase prices from users. In a content sales system in which a distributor, a content seller, and a payment function device distributed to a registry company are connected via a communication network, the content sales information further includes a signature of the distributor and a sample image for advertising the content sales. Information with purchase availability and purchase hold entry fields The content cash register server includes: a shopping basket generation unit that generates a virtual shopping basket including a shopping basket number capable of specifying a user at the request of the user; and a unit that transmits the virtual shopping basket generated at the request of the user to the user terminal. Means for the user to access the content sales information server from the user terminal to receive the virtual shopping basket containing the content advertisement sample for which the content has been purchased or purchased, and to identify the user from the received virtual shopping basket for the advertisement sample. Means for determining from the image data whether the image is a legitimate advertising sample image based on the signature of the distributor, and extracting the content purchase information, content ID, and selling price information from the received virtual shopping basket advertising sample image data, Using the content ID as a key, the distributor's A billing calculation unit that calculates the content usage fee, the content seller's content sales fee, and the registry company's settlement fee, the amount collected by the user, the distributor's content usage fee, the content seller's content sales fee, and the registry company's settlement A content selling system, comprising: means for transmitting a commission to a settlement function device; and means for extracting content purchase suspension information from advertising sample image data and storing a virtual shopping basket. 3. A user terminal, a plurality of content sales information servers holding content sales information including a content ID, content information, and a selling price, and use of a content by a distributor as a content copyright holder in association with the content ID. Payment method for content sales fees of content sellers and settlement fees of registry companies, a content cashier server that performs payment for content sales, receives payment information for content sales, and collects sales prices for content from users In a content sales method in a content sales system in which a distributor, a content seller, and a payment function device distributed to a registry company are connected via a communication network, the content sales information further includes information for identifying the content seller. Sample image for sales promotion The content cash register server generates a virtual shopping basket including a shopping basket number that can be identified by a request from the user, the information including a field for entry of whether or not the purchase is possible and a purchase suspension. Transmitting the virtual shopping basket generated by the request from the user terminal to the user terminal, and the user accessing the content sales information server from the user terminal and receiving the virtual shopping basket containing the content advertisement sample for which the content has been purchased or whose purchase has been suspended. Identifying the user from the received virtual shopping basket, extracting the content seller's identification information embedded in the promotional sample image, and determining whether the image is a legitimate promotional sample image; and receiving the virtual shopping basket. Content purchase information and content from basket sample image data for promotion D, extracting the sales price information, and calculating the content usage fee of the distributor, the content sales fee of the content seller, and the payment fee of the registry company based on the payment method held in advance, using the content ID as a key; Sending the user's collection amount, the distributor's content usage fee, the content seller's content sales fee, and the registry company's payment fee to the payment function device; extracting the content purchase suspension information from the advertising sample image data; Storing a shopping basket. 4. A user terminal, a plurality of content sales information servers holding content sales information including a content ID, content information, and a selling price, and use of a content by a distributor as a content copyright holder in association with the content ID. Payment method for content sales fees of content sellers and settlement fees of registry companies, a content cashier server that performs payment for content sales, receives payment information for content sales, and collects sales prices for content from users In a content sales method in a content sales system in which a distributor, a content seller, and a payment function device distributed to a registry company are connected via a communication network, the content sales information further includes a signature of the distributor and whether or not the purchase is possible. Purchase Holds and Content Sales Promotion The content cash register server includes a step of generating a virtual shopping basket including a shopping basket number capable of specifying the user at the request of the user, and a virtual shopping basket generated at the request of the user to the user terminal. A transmitting step, a user accessing a content sales information server from a user terminal to receive a virtual shopping basket containing a sample for content promotion whose purchase or purchase is suspended, and identifying the user from the received virtual shopping basket and promoting the user. Determining from the sample image for use whether the image is a legitimate advertisement sample image based on the signature of the distributor, and extracting the content purchase information, content ID, and sales price information from the received virtual sample image of the shopping basket for the advertisement. , Settlement method that is held in advance using content ID as a key Calculate the content usage fee of the distributor, the content sales fee of the content seller, and the settlement fee of the registry company, the amount collected by the user, the content usage fee of the distributor, the content sales fee of the content seller, and the registry A content selling method, comprising: transmitting a company settlement fee to a settlement function device; and extracting content purchase suspension information from content advertisement sample image data and storing a virtual shopping basket.