JP2006236275A - Online shopping system, copyright licensing system and method, and its program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To mutually utilize contents published in a web site on the Internet. <P>SOLUTION: A web page creator 21 requests a settlement site manager to embed his/her own URL as electronic watermark information in the media 24 introducing sales articles. The media 24 is published in a web page 24. A web page creator 31 copies the media 24 and publishes the media in his/her own web page 33. A user 11 accesses the web page creator 21 from the electronic watermark information in order to buy an article of the media 24 published in the web page 33 and buys the article. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an online shopping system, a copyright permission system and method, and a program thereof. More specifically, the present invention relates to a copyright permission system and method that can be suitably used for online shopping and online shopping using the Web, and a program.

  Product sales and service provision using the Internet are increasingly used. For this reason, there is an increasing need to acquire customers by providing catalogs of products and services and Web pages via the Internet. However, it has been difficult to produce catalogs and Web pages that are attractive to users, especially for small business owners.

  By the way, various contents such as still images, moving images, and music are provided to users on the Internet. If such a content can be taken in and a catalog and a Web page can be produced, it will become a big convenience for a sales person. Also, for Web producers, placing media displaying their products and services on other Web pages should be welcomed because it is useful for their own business. However, for example, creating a catalog by taking in the contents of Web pages of other Web sites may infringe copyright. In this case, it would be convenient if you could easily obtain information such as who the copyright is, or where you can contact to obtain the copyright license. However, if you want to use such content Although there are many people, there has been no method for easily obtaining such information.

  It is also possible for content producers who have copyrights such as still images and videos to prove to users who actually use the content that the content is related to their own work. It was difficult. Furthermore, when requesting a license fee, it is necessary to contact the content user directly and request a license fee. I was worried.

  Patent Document 1 describes a technique for collecting a copyright license fee. In the technology described in Patent Document 1, if the content additional information system embeds the transmission line number of the copyright holder as a digital watermark in the content and there is content that the user wants to use, the content publishing device The transmission line number which is digital watermark information is detected from the content. The user requests copyright permission for the detected outgoing line number.

JP 2002-175380 A

  In the technique described in Patent Document 1, both embedding and detection of electronic watermarks are performed by a content additional information system, and this is mainly intended to collect a royalty fee for copyright. It corresponds to. By the way, in this technology, when the purchase destination where the content is to be purchased is spread over a plurality of providers, the content provider side does not know where to make a purchase request. Information such as the URL of the purchase destination must be disclosed together with the content. In this case, if the copyrighted work is copied without permission, the information such as the URL is not copied, and there is a problem that the user who wants to use cannot know the access destination.

  In addition, for example, whether the content used by a third party on the Internet was performed by a legitimate licensee is not known by the user who viewed the content, and the copyright holder can There is also a problem that situation information is not easily obtained.

  In the present invention, for example, with respect to content published on the Internet, a person who wants to use the content can easily access the copyright owner or the copyright manager, so that it is possible to easily negotiate the license, and It is an object of the present invention to provide a copyright permission system, a copyright permission method, a program, and an online shopping system using these, which can easily confirm whether or not the use is performed by a valid licensor.

In order to achieve the above object, a copyright permission system according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a user processing device used by a user, a copyright holder processing device used by a copyright holder, and a copyright. A copyright permission system comprising: an administrator server used by an administrator who manages; a communication line connecting the processing device for user, the processing device for copyright holder, and the server for administrator,
A digital watermarked content is generated by embedding digital watermark information including the communication address information of the copyright holder in the content subject to copyright, which is arranged in at least one of the copyright holder and the administrator server. Means for embedding digital watermark,
Digital watermark information extraction means arranged in the user processing device, for reading the communication address of the copyright holder as the digital watermark information from the digital watermarked content;
A use permission request receiving unit that is disposed in at least one of the copyright owner processing device and the administrator server, and that receives a copyright use permission request specifying content to be copyrighted from a user processing device; It is characterized by providing.

A copyright permission system according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a user processing device used by a user and a copyright owner processing device used by a copyright holder, and an administrator server connected via a communication line. A copyright permission system comprising: the administrator server,
A digital watermark embedding unit for generating a digital watermarked content by embedding digital watermark information including communication information of the copyright holder in the content upon receiving the content to be copyrighted from the copyright holder server;
Transmission means for transmitting software for reading the communication address information of the copyright holder, which is digital watermark information, from the digital watermarked content in response to the user's request;
When receiving from the copyright holder processing device license information specifying the user who receives the copyright license and the content to be copyrighted, the identification information of the user and the content identification information are associated with each other in the database. And a registration means for registering.

A copyright permission method according to a third aspect of the present invention includes a user processing device used by a user, a copyright owner processing device used by a copyright holder, and a management used by an administrator who manages the copyright. A copyright management method for managing a copyright license by using a copyright license system by connecting to a server for a user via a communication line,
The copyright holder processing device or the administrator server embeds digital watermark information including communication address information of the copyright holder in the content to be copyrighted to generate content with a digital watermark;
The processing device for the user reads the communication address of the copyright holder as the digital watermark information from the digital watermarked content;
The copyright holder's processing device receiving a copyright license request specifying the copyrighted content from the user's processing device; and
The copyright holder's processing device transmits use permission information specifying a user and content;
The manager server includes the step of receiving the use permission information and registering the user identification information and the content identification information in a database in association with each other.

A copyright permission method according to a fourth aspect of the present invention includes a processing device for a user used by a user and a processing device for a copyright holder used by a copyright holder, and an administrator server connected via a communication line. Is a copyright management method for managing copyright permission,
The manager server embeds digital watermark information including communication information of the copyright owner in the content to be copyrighted to generate content with a digital watermark;
The manager server, in response to the user's request, transmitting software that reads the copyright holder's communication address information that is digital watermark information from the digital watermarked content;
The manager server includes: usage permission information specifying a user and content; and registering user identification information and content identification information in a database in association with each other.

A program according to the fifth aspect of the present invention is a program that uses a user processing device used by a user and a processing device for a copyright holder used by a copyright holder, and an administrator server connected via a communication line. A program for managing rights, the administrator server,
A process in which the server for managers embeds digital watermark information including communication address information of a copyright holder in content to be copyrighted to generate content with a digital watermark;
A process in which the administrator server transmits software that reads the communication address information of the copyright holder, which is digital watermark information, from the digital watermarked content in response to the user's request;
The administrator server receives use permission information for specifying a user and content, and executes processing for associating user identification information and content identification information with each other and registering them in a database.

An online shopping system according to a sixth aspect of the present invention includes a user processing device used by a user, first and second business processing devices used by first and second business operators, and a settlement site. A copyright permission system comprising: a settlement site operator server to be operated; a communication line connecting the user processing device, the first and second business operator processing devices, and the settlement site operator server; ,
The settlement operator server includes a digital watermark embedding unit that embeds a digital watermark in a medium.
The first business server publishes a first web page including media embedded with its communication address information as a digital watermark,
The second server for a business posted a second web page including the media,
The processing apparatus for a user is a means for accessing the first business server specified by the communication address information based on information read from the second Web page, and a digital watermark extracting means for reading the digital watermark It is characterized by providing.

  According to the copyright permission system of the first aspect and the copyright permission method according to the third aspect of the present invention, the user processing device reads the digital watermark from the digital watermarked content. It is accessible to the copyright holder or the copyright manager. For this reason, it is possible to easily negotiate the license. In addition, even when a content with digital watermark is downloaded, the digital watermark information is stored in the content as it is. Therefore, at any time after the content is distributed, the content with the digital watermark information can be copied based on the digital watermark information. It is accessible to the copyright holder or the copyright manager.

  According to the copyright permission system according to the second aspect of the present invention, the copyright permission method according to the fourth aspect, and the program according to the fifth aspect, the identification information of the licensed user and the object of permission Since the identification information of the content to be registered is registered in the database, the administrator server receives the usage information including, for example, the content used on the communication line and the user using the content. Then, the legitimacy of use by the user can be easily verified.

  According to the online shopping system of the sixth aspect of the present invention, the user can easily know the communication address information of the product posted on the first Web page from the second Web page. Purchases are made smoothly. As a result, the first salesperson has the advantage of increasing his sales volume. In addition, the second sales person can make a Web page using the media posted by the first sales person without infringing the copyright, and the Web page can be easily made.

  Next, the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an online shopping system using the Internet using the copyright permission system according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention. The online shopping system according to the first embodiment includes a user processing device owned by a user 11, a WWW server held by Web page creators 21 and 31, and a settlement site operator 51 that collects a royalty fee. The WWW server 52, the AP (application) server 54, and the database 55 owned by the company, and the Internet 61 that interconnects these processing devices and servers.

  The user 11 uses a network-distributed online shopping catalog that can be copied using, for example, a digital watermark, using the Internet. The components on the user side include a user 11, a Web browser 12 used by the user 11 for online shopping, and a Web browser plug-in software 13 that reads information from a digital watermark. The software is not particularly limited as long as it is a program that can read digital watermark information.

  The Web page creator 21 sells products / services 25 using a network-distributed online shopping catalog that can be copied using a digital watermark. The Web page creator 21 has a WWW server 22, a Web page 23, and a medium (content) 24 that represents a product / service 25 such as a photograph.

  The Web page producer 31 copies the media 24 representing the product / service and secondary uses it. The Web page creator 31 has a WWW server 32, a Web page 33, and a medium 34 that represents a product / service that is a copy of the medium 24.

  The settlement site operator 51 performs settlement of a copyable network distributed online shopping catalog using a digital watermark. The settlement site operator 51 includes a WWW server 52 that provides a settlement service, a settlement site Web page 53, an AP server 54 that performs a settlement operation, a purchaser's account information necessary for settlement, an identifier of a product / service, a product / service identifier, and the like. It has a database 55 that stores information such as prices, detailed information on products and services, and content permission information.

  As shown in FIG. 4 (a), a user 11 browses a WWW server browsing means 101 using a Web browser 12, media digital watermark information reading means 102 using Web plug-in software 13, and goods / services at a payment site. 25 confirmation means 103, related goods / service search / shopping means 104, and settlement procedure means 105. Furthermore, it has a storage device, a communication device, a display device, an input means, etc. (not shown). Similarly, peripheral devices (not shown) are attached to each server.

  The browsing means 101 of the WWW server has a general function of requesting a script provided by the WWW server, receiving the result, and displaying it on a Web browser. The digital watermark information reading means 102 uses the Web plug-in software to obtain the identifier of the product / service represented by the media, the URL of the settlement site, etc. from the media such as the photograph displayed on the acquired Web browser. And the like. The confirmation means 103 of the product / service 25 at the settlement site is a product / service-specific page accessible by the URL of the settlement site and the product / service identifier, the product / service image, the price of the product / service, the product / service. It has a function to confirm the detailed information. The related product / service search / shopping means 104 is a means for searching for products / services of the same genre and function as the products / services, comparing prices, and purchasing. The payment procedure means 105 is a means for making a payment for purchasing a product / service expressed by the media or a related product / service.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, the Web page creator 21 includes a means 201 for making a contract with a payment site and sales of goods / services, a means 202 for uploading media representing the goods / services to the payment site, and an electronic Means 203 for downloading a medium expressing a product / service to which watermark information is added, and means 204 for posting the downloaded medium on the Web page 23 are provided.

  The means 201 for making a contract with the settlement site for the sale of goods / services is that the Web page producer 21 having the goods / services 25 submits necessary credit information to the settlement site, and the return conditions for the purchased goods / services We make a contract about the appropriate conditions of stock and inventory. The means 202 for uploading media representing products / services to the settlement site uploads to the settlement site side in order to put a digital watermark on media representing products / services to be sold such as photographs. The means 203 for downloading the medium expressing the product / service to which the digital watermark information is added downloads the media expressing the product / service to which the digital watermark information is added from the settlement site side. The means 204 for posting the downloaded media on the Web page 23 causes the Web page producer 21 to post media on the Web page 23 owned by the Web page creator 21 with the digital watermark information added.

  Web page creator 31 includes means 301 for connecting to web page 22 owned by web page creator 21, means 302 for copying media representing products / services to which digital watermark information has been added, from the web page, And means 303 for posting the copied media on the web page 33 produced by 31.

  The means 301 for connecting to the web page 22 owned by the web page creator 21 is performed by HTTP access or the like. A means 302 for copying a medium representing a product / service to which digital watermark information is added from a Web page selects and copies a medium such as a photograph of a browser. The means 303 for posting the copied media on the web page 33 produced by the web page producer 31 selects the media copied to the link destination of the displayed media, in the same way as the production of the normal web page.

The settlement site operator 51 uses the WWW server 52 for the price of the product / service, the detailed information, and the like for the connection from the information such as the URL in the media 24 representing the product / service and the media 34 representing the product / service. Means 501 for providing related product / service information, means 502 for settlement of purchase procedure for the product / service selected by the user, and the profit of the transaction result as a Web page producer who is the seller of the product / service 25 21 means 503 for recording in the account, and if necessary, means 504 for recording the fee in the account of the Web page producer 31 on which the media that caused the transaction is posted.
Next, the operation of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the time chart of FIG. First, the Web page producer 21 makes a contract with the settlement site operator 51 for selling the product / service 25 (step A1). Next, the Web page producer 21 sends / uploads the media (content) 24 representing the product / service such as a photograph to the AP server 54 provided by the settlement site operator 51 (step A2). The settlement site operator 51 embeds digital watermark information in the medium and returns it (step A3). Instead of the reply, the Web producer may download it.

  The web producer 21 posts the media on the web page 23 (step A4). The producer 31 of the web page 33 copies the media 24 provided by the web page 23 and posts it as the media 34 on the web page 33 (step A5). If necessary, the web page producer 31 accesses the settlement site web page 53 from the medium 24 and creates an account (step A6). The user 11 views the web page 23 and the web page 33 with a browser (step A7). The user sees the media 24 and 34 and has a willingness to purchase goods or services, reads the digital watermark information from the media, and connects to the settlement site Web page 53 (step A8).

  The user 11 purchases the product / service 25 and related products / service from the settlement site Web page 53 as desired (step A9). When the transaction is established, the settlement site operator 51 records the profit obtained by subtracting the fee and the like in the account of the Web page producer 21 (step A10). Since the Web page 33 that triggered the purchase exists separately from the Web page 23, a part of the fee is recorded in the account of the Web page producer 31 if necessary. (Step A11) Finally, the Web page creator 21 or the settlement site operator 51 sends the product / service 25 to the user 11 (Step A12).

  In the online shopping system, the merchandise / service seller 21 can start selling the merchandise / service with a small risk by contracting with the settlement site without costly construction of the settlement site. Further, if it is assumed that the distribution of the media is free unless the digital watermark information is destroyed, the Web page producer 31 can easily copy and post the media expressing the product / service. Further, the sales side 21 can increase sales opportunities by copying the media to be posted in various places.

  By reading the digital watermark information, the user 11 can directly connect to a page on which the product / service of the settlement site is posted. You can also purchase with confidence by checking related products and services at the connection destination. The user 11 can search for products / services that he / she wants to buy indirectly on the Internet without going directly to the shopping site. If a distribution-prohibited media that you do not want to be used on another site is diverted without permission, the user 11 who has accessed for the purpose of purchasing the product / service of the photo will be the whistleblower, and which site is diverted without permission Can be determined. In addition, the media with digital watermark has a deterrent effect against unauthorized diversion.

  In the settlement site database, the content or its identification code can be registered in correspondence with the content user who has been licensed for that content.

  The first effect as a copyright permission system used in the above online shopping is that if the distribution of media is free unless the digital watermark information is destroyed, the Web page producer 31 can feel free The media that expresses the service can be copied and posted. Further, the sales side 21 can increase sales opportunities for the product / service seller 21. This is because a relationship (given and take relationship) can be established that simultaneously resolves the desire of the user who wants to use the media without much awareness of copyright and the provider who wants to increase sales opportunities. In particular, media posted on the Web often have no description regarding the copyright, and the copyright information is described in the original media by digital watermark so that the Web page producer 31 can easily use it. become. In addition, the seller 21 can increase sales opportunities by posting on the Web page 33.

  The second effect is that payment, collection, management, and use of media copyright fees are generally performed. This is because the copyright payment is made familiar to the user by connecting to the payment site from the digital watermark information and patterning the procedure of paying the copyright fee by registering the user, This is because once the user is registered, the login process is completed from the next time, and the procedure is simplified. In addition, the user's procedure can be simplified by adding media to which the copyright is to be paid to the shopping cart and making a payment at a time. The media provider can collectively manage who is using the copyrighted work from the provider's account. By embedding user information with digital watermarks in the provided media and making it available for download by the user who has paid the copyright fee, the user can publish the media with peace of mind.

  A third effect is that unauthorized reproduction of media can be suppressed / suppressed. This is because media with digital watermark information circulates, and people's awareness of copyright increases, and by connecting to the payment site from the digital watermark information, it is reported where the media whose transfer is prohibited is posted. This is because you will be able to. If the payment site has a function for requesting permission / non-permission of media reprinting, the user and the provider do not need to directly contact each other, and requests / permissions can be made with confidence. In addition, it is possible to confirm later whether or not the content is used unintentionally by registering and managing in the database which content was requested when and who was permitted which web page. it can.

  The fourth effect is that the user can use it with peace of mind and can reduce phishing and fraud. In general, when payment sites are prosperous, personal information such as credit card numbers is registered each time for account creation, etc., which may lead to phishing or fraud, or the user may have anxiety. In this embodiment example, if the user connects to the payment site safely and creates an account at the first time on a different occasion from shopping with digital watermark information, the payment site will be a fake from the next shopping. It is possible to check with the encryption that the user and the settlement site have decided in advance. In addition, by listing the reputation / evaluation from the consumer to the seller on the settlement site, the consumer can trade with peace of mind.

  Next, the configuration of the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, the online shopping system of the present embodiment includes a server to which a copyright holder 41 is connected to the Internet in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment. The copyright holder 41 is the owner of the media 44 and the producer of the web page 43. The copyright holder 41 has a medium 44 (content) for which a copyright usage fee is requested, a Web page 43 on which the medium 44 is posted, and a WWW server 42 that provides the Web page.

  A web page producer 31 who uses the media 44, which is the subject of copyright, on the web page or without posting it on the web page, posts the WWW server 32 and media requesting a royalty fee. It has a web page 32 and a copy 35 of a media 44 requesting a copyright fee.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the settlement site operator 51 includes an account creation unit 505 of the Web page producer 41 who wants to collect a copyright usage fee, a unit 506 that embeds a digital watermark in the media provided by the Web page producer 41, Means 507 for registering the user who wants to use the media, means 508 for the user to settle the copyright fee, and the amount obtained by subtracting the fee from the copyright fee is recorded in the account of the copyright holder 41, and the copyright holder 41 Means 509 for notifying the user, and means 510 for creating a medium to which the digital watermark of the user information is added. The configurations of other processing apparatuses and servers are the same as those in FIG.

  A Web producer 31 who uses a media that requests a copyright fee on a Web page or uses it without posting it on the Web page has a means for reading a digital watermark of the media that requests a copyright fee.

  The account creation means 505 of the web page producer 41 who wants to collect the copyright fee is collected by logging in by creating a data area associated with the unique login name and password information of the web page producer 41. You can check and transfer the total amount of copyright usage fees, confirm who gave the usage rights, and if necessary, issue permission for copyright usage and set it. The means 506 for embedding a digital watermark in the media provided by the Web page creator 41 can embed information such as a URL to be connected as a digital watermark in the original media uploaded from 41. The means 507 for registering the user who wants to use the media identifies the user connected to the URL provided by the digital watermark as the user who pays the copyright fee (account name, password, email address, credit card number). Etc.).

  The means 508 for settlement of the user's copyright fee is used for settlement from the balance of the user's account or credit card when necessary information is registered and the user's consent to payment of the copyright fee is obtained. Or billing through the company. The means 509 for recording the amount obtained by subtracting the fee from the copyright usage fee in the account of the Web page producer 41 and notifying the Web page producer 41 is the amount obtained by subtracting the procedure fee from the copyright usage fee paid by the user. Is recorded as the total copyright usage fee of 41 accounts, and is notified to the Web page producer 41 by e-mail or the like. If necessary, the means 510 for creating a medium to which a digital watermark of user information is added adds information that can identify the user to the digital watermark of the medium for the user who has paid the copyright fee. Create.

  The means 304 for reading the digital watermark of the media requesting the royalty fee is obtained as software distributed through plug-in software of a Web browser, Web site construction software program, download software, free software, etc. This is done by reading the digital watermark information of the media requesting the royalty fee.

  Next, the operation of the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, for the media 44 that is the subject of the copyright usage fee, a contract work is performed between the web page producer 41 who is the owner of the media 44 requesting the copyright usage fee and the settlement site operator 51. (Step B1). Next, the Web page creator 41 logs in to the payment site Web page 53, and uploads or sends the media 44 to the AP server of the payment site operator 51 (step B2). The settlement site operator 51 embeds information such as the corresponding URL of the web page 53 of the settlement site as a connection destination as digital watermark information in the media 44 that requests the copyright fee, and the media is the web page producer 41. (Step B3). Instead of returning it, the Web page creator 41 may download it.

  The Web page producer 41 posts the media in which the digital watermark information is embedded on the Web page 43 (Step B4). When the user 31 who has seen the media 44 posted on the web page 43 wants to use the media 44 that requests the copyright fee, the digital watermark information is read and connected to the settlement site web page 43. (Step B5). If there is no account of the user 31 in the settlement site, registration work is performed as a user and an account is created (step B6). Next, the copyright usage fee is settled for the media 44 that requests the copyright usage fee based on the account information (step B7). In response to this, the settlement site operator records the amount obtained by subtracting the fee from the copyright fee for the account of 41 that is the media owner, and notifies the Web page producer 41 (step B8). If necessary, a medium with the user identification information added as digital watermark information is created (step B9). If necessary, the media user 31 downloads the media to which the electronic watermark information of the user identification information is added (step B10). Finally, the user 31 reprints the media 44 to construct the Web page 33 or uses it personally (step B11).

  According to the configuration of the above-described embodiment, the user of the Web browser has a medium (such as a still image such as a photo, a moving image, or a music (viewing) file) that represents a product / service to be purchased while browsing the Internet Web site In addition, URL information and the like can be extracted from the digital watermark information embedded in the medium, and purchased by connecting to a payment site. Note that a unique identifier of a product / service can be embedded as a digital watermark, or a URL can be used as a unique identifier.

  The function of reading link information from the electronic watermark required by the user to the payment site is provided as Web plug-in software distributed by the payment site, or provided from a site where free software is downloaded.

  In the online shopping, an online shop can be easily managed even if individual Web site producers do not have a settlement site. The settlement site represents “attribute information such as XML” corresponding to “unique identifier of product / service” (representing the attribute of product / service, for example, product / service type = furniture, product / service type details 1 = desk , Material = wood, material detail 2 = paulownia, manufacturer = A corporation, designer = designated by Mr. B, etc.) and “equivalent product / service” can be searched.

  The right holder who has the right to sell goods and services and the copyright of the media that expresses the goods and services may abandon and distribute the copyright of the media on condition that the digital watermark information is not destroyed. it can. In that case, the sales opportunity of goods and services can be increased by describing the media on other sites. That is, the media in which the digital watermark information is embedded becomes an online shopping catalog distributed in a copyable network.

  If the media copyright owner wants to collect copyright fees from media users, the user can connect to the payment site, register, and pay the copyright fees to It is possible to manage and collect copyright fees.

  Users of copyrighted media can simplify the payment procedure for copyrights after the second time by having an account at the settlement site. In addition, users of copyrighted media can perform payment procedures at once by adding copyrighted media to the shopping cart.

  Users who want to use media for which unauthorized reproduction is prohibited can connect to the payment site from the digital watermark information of the media, request the issuance of permission for permission of reproduction and user registration via the site, and use the media for which unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. The owner gives permission or disapproval through the site. By embedding the URL of the settlement site in the media that should not be reprinted at all, if there is a user who is illegally using the media, it is possible to provide a reporting means to the web viewer who has discovered it .

  When a user of a Web browser feels willing to purchase a certain photo while browsing the Web site, the user opens a link to the copyright holder or the settlement site from the digital watermark information of the media such as the photo. be able to. The purchase motivation felt by a user for a certain product / service is satisfied by the link information to the settlement site included in the digital watermark of the photograph.

  The settlement site extracts the detailed information and price of the product / service from the “unique identifier of the product / service” of the photograph from the database and provides it to the user. Further, by including a “unique identifier of a product / service” in a URL embedded as digital watermark information, it can be handled collectively.

  In terms of reducing the anxiety of users when purchasing, if necessary, search for "equivalent products / services" on the payment site and provide them to users, so that the appropriate price for the products / services is appropriate. By providing the user with a scale and information for judging the safety, the problem of anxiety can be solved.

  In the above embodiment, a user who wants to use media such as photos widely without worrying about copyright, and a seller who wants to increase sales opportunities of products by distributing media expressing products and services such as photos Can be resolved at the same time.

  If a photo of a product that you do not want to use on another site is diverted without permission, the user who has accessed the photo for the purpose of purchasing the product / service of that photo will be the whistleblower and determine which Web site is being diverted without permission. It becomes possible.

  Until now, small purchase consciousness that occurs suddenly but does not lead to purchase by searching on a shopping site has not led to transactions, but it can be settled with simple connections and procedures from photos and other media This will solve this.

  When a media such as a photo of a product or service was posted on the website, there was a problem that it was used by other vendors who sold the same product without permission, in violation of copyright. In addition to the deterrent effect, it has the effect of reporting by connecting to a payment site via a media such as a photograph from the purchaser and the evidence ability of digital watermarking, so it has a problem-solving element for copyright violations.

  If the media copyright owner collects the royalty fee from the media user and wants to manage the user, there is a problem that there is no company that mediates it. By collecting the URL of the payment site from the digital watermark information and connecting it, and then registering the user and paying the copyright fee, the media owner can easily collect the copyright fee and manage the user. Means are provided.

  A person who wants to use copyrighted media must follow the procedures specified by the media provider, and must perform registration work and payment work each time. The psychological threshold for paying is reduced by unifying the payment method, and the procedure is simplified by registering user information. In addition, the procedure can be performed at once by using a shopping cart to pay for a plurality of copyrights. In addition, by downloading a medium containing digital watermark information such as user information from the payment site after the procedure, it is possible to use the medium for which the copyright fee has been paid with peace of mind.

  Even if a user who wants to use media that is prohibited from unauthorized reproduction wants to submit a request for permission to use the media, there may be a publisher who does not provide the request destination. Also, even if the media provider wants to issue permission or non-permission, in many cases there is psychological anxiety because they have to contact the user directly, but it is provided by digital watermark information. The settlement site that can be connected with a URL that mediates the issuance of permission / non-permission, eliminates the psychological anxiety of both media users and providers. Also, by making user registration mandatory, the provider can notify the change of the reprint conditions or can confirm whether or not the usage is not intended.

  There was no easy way for the discovered web browser to report when it was discovered that the media forbidden to reprint was illegally used. In addition, although there was no easy means for reporting when a medium that does not know whether it is being used illegally or not, it is possible to provide means for easily reporting by extracting the URL from the digital watermark information of the medium. .

  Although there was no integrated means for collecting and managing payments and copyright usage fees for distributed online shopping sites, these means can be provided by the present invention.

  Although the present invention has been described based on the preferred embodiment, the copyright permission system of the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment, and various modifications and changes can be made from the configuration of the above embodiment. Changes are also included in the scope of the present invention. In addition, each configuration described as a preferred aspect of the present invention or each configuration described in the embodiment is preferably used together with the essential configuration of the present invention, but about a configuration that exhibits a beneficial effect even when used alone. However, it is not always necessary to use all the configurations described as the essential configurations of the present invention.

  The copyright permission system of the present invention can be used not only for online shopping using the Internet, but also for managing copyright permission for various contents distributed via the Internet.

The block diagram of the online shopping system which has the copyright permission system which concerns on the 1st and 2nd embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the process of online shopping which has the copyright permission system which concerns on 1st Embodiment. The flowchart which shows the process of online shopping which has the copyright permission system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. (A)-(d) is a block diagram which shows the function structure of each part of 1st Embodiment, respectively. The block diagram which shows the function structure of the server of the payment site operator of 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

11: User 12: Web browser 13: Web plug-in software 21: Web page creator 22: Web (WWW) server 23: Web page 24: Product media 31: Web page creator 32: Web (WWW) server 33 : Web page 34: Product media 35: Media copy 41: Web page producer 42: Web (WWW) server 43: Web page 44: Copyrighted media 51: Payment site operator 52: Web server 53: Payment site Web page 54: AP server 55: Database 61: Internet

Claims (15)

A user processing device used by a user, a copyright owner processing device used by a copyright owner, an administrator server used by an administrator who manages copyright, the user processing device, and the copyright holder A copyright permission system comprising a communication line connecting the processing apparatus and the administrator server,
Electronic watermark information including communication address information of at least one of the copyright owner and the manager is embedded in the content to be copyrighted, which is disposed in at least one of the copyright owner processing apparatus and the manager server. Digital watermark embedding means for generating digital watermarked content;
A digital watermark information extracting means arranged in the user processing device, for reading a communication address as the digital watermark information from the digital watermarked content;
A use permission request receiving unit that is disposed in at least one of the copyright holder processing apparatus and the administrator server and receives a copyright use permission request specifying the copyrighted content from the user processing apparatus. A copyright permission system characterized by comprising:   User registration means arranged in the manager server and receiving user permission information specifying the user and content from the copyright holder processing device, and associating the user identification information with the content identification information in the database The copyright permission system according to claim 1, further comprising:   A database that is arranged in the manager server and that associates a user with a deposit account when receiving license information specifying a user, content, and license fee from the user processing device or the copyright owner processing device. The copyright permission system according to claim 1, further comprising billing means for charging the user's deposit account specified by the use permission information.   The copyright permission system according to claim 3, wherein the user processing device publishes a Web page on which a medium including the digital watermarked content is posted.   The copyright permission system according to claim 4, wherein communication address information of the manager server is embedded as digital watermark information in a portion other than the digital watermarked content in the Web page.   The user is a trader who sells a product or provides a service, and the accounting unit of the manager server charges the user who received the product sale or service for the price of the product sale or service. 5. The copyright permission system according to 5.   When the administrator server receives the content usage information including the digital watermarked content and the information of the user who uses the digital watermarked content, the administrator server refers to the database and verifies the validity of the content usage in the content usage information. The copyright permission system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising a verification unit.   The copyright permission system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the user processing device receives software for reading digital watermark information from the digital watermarked content from the administrator server. A copyright permission system comprising a user processing device used by a user and an administrator server connected via a communication line to a copyright owner processing device used by a copyright owner, wherein the administrator server includes: ,
A digital watermark embedding unit for generating a digital watermarked content by embedding digital watermark information including communication information of the copyright holder in the content upon receiving the content to be copyrighted from the copyright holder server;
Software for reading the copyright holder's communication address information, which is digital watermark information, from the digital watermarked content, and transmission means for transmitting the software to the user processing device;
When receiving the license information specifying the user who receives the copyright license and the content subject to the copyright from the copyright holder processing device, the user and the content are associated with each other based on the license information. A copyright permission system comprising registration means for registering in a database.   When the administrator server receives the content usage information including the digital watermarked content and the information of the user who uses the digital watermarked content, the administrator server refers to the database and verifies the validity of the content usage in the content usage information. The copyright permission system according to claim 9, further comprising a verification unit that performs the verification. The copyright is obtained by connecting the user processing device used by the user, the processing device for the copyright holder used by the copyright holder, and the server for the administrator used by the manager managing the copyright via a communication line. A copyright management method for managing copyright permission using a permission system,
The copyright holder processing device or the administrator server embeds digital watermark information including communication address information of the copyright holder in the content to be copyrighted to generate content with a digital watermark;
The processing device for the user reads the communication address of the copyright holder as the digital watermark information from the digital watermarked content;
The copyright holder's processing device receiving a copyright license request specifying the copyrighted content from the user's processing device; and
The copyright holder's processing device transmits use permission information specifying a user and content;
A copyright permission method comprising: a step of receiving the use permission information and registering user identification information and content identification information in a database in association with each other for the administrator server. A copyright management method for managing copyright permission using a server for an administrator connected via a communication line to a processing device for a user used by a user and a processing device for a copyright holder used by a copyright holder. ,
The manager server embeds digital watermark information including communication information of the copyright owner in the content to be copyrighted to generate content with a digital watermark;
The manager server, in response to the user's request, transmitting software that reads the copyright holder's communication address information that is digital watermark information from the digital watermarked content;
A copyright granting method, comprising: the administrator server receiving license information for identifying a user and content, and registering the user identification information and the content identification information in a database in association with each other . A program for managing copyright permission using a server for an administrator connected via a communication line with a processing device for a user used by a user and a processing device for a copyright holder used by a copyright holder, On the administrator server
A process in which the server for managers embeds digital watermark information including communication address information of a copyright holder in content to be copyrighted to generate content with a digital watermark;
A process in which the administrator server transmits software that reads the communication address information of the copyright holder, which is digital watermark information, from the digital watermarked content in response to the user's request;
A program characterized in that the manager server receives use permission information for specifying a user and content, and executes processing for associating user identification information and content identification information with each other and registering them in a database. User processing device used by the user, first and second business processing devices used by the first and second business operators, a settlement site operator server for operating a settlement site, and the user processing A copyright permission system comprising: a communication line connecting the apparatus, the first and second business processor, and the settlement site operator server;
The settlement operator server includes a digital watermark embedding unit that embeds a digital watermark in a medium.
The first business server publishes a first web page including media embedded with its communication address information as a digital watermark,
The second server for a business posted a second web page including the media,
The processing apparatus for a user is a means for accessing the first business server specified by the communication address information based on information read from the second Web page, and a digital watermark extracting means for reading the digital watermark And an online shopping system.   The online shopping system according to claim 14, wherein communication information of the second Web producer is further embedded as digital watermark information in the media.

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