JP2007111209A - Content providing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a content providing system which has a higher amusement property. <P>SOLUTION: A copying machine 2 reads image data from a manuscript for the content selection which is presented from a user. The copying machine 2 extracts a specified image parameter from the read image data, and selects a content to be provided to the user from a large number of contents which are prepared in advance based on the extracted image parameter. Then, the selected content is printed on a printing medium. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a content providing system that provides digital content to a user.

  A toy vending machine called “Gachagacha” and a system that is sold without knowing its contents, such as a trading card, are known. As a system for selling digital content, Patent Document 1 discloses a system that sells content selected by a purchaser, and Patent Document 2 discloses a system that sells randomly selected content. Has been.

JP-A-11-224288 JP 2002-42233 A

  However, there is no amusement property to purchase the one selected by the user, and there is a certain limit to the amusement property if it is randomly selected.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a content providing system with higher amusement properties.

  The content providing system according to the present invention includes an image reading unit that reads image data from a content selection document presented by a user, and an image parameter extraction that extracts predetermined image parameters from the image data read by the image reading unit. A content selection unit that selects content to be provided to the user from among a large number of contents prepared in advance based on the image parameter extracted by the image parameter extraction unit; and the content selection unit Content output means for outputting the content to a predetermined medium.

  In addition, a content providing system according to the present invention includes a copier including a scanner that reads image data from a document, a print engine that prints image data read by the scanner on a print medium, and a content selection method presented by a user. Image data acquisition means for acquiring image data of the original document by the scanner, image parameter extraction means for extracting predetermined image parameters from the image data acquired by the image data acquisition means, and the image parameter extraction means. Content selection means for selecting content to be provided to the user from among a large number of contents prepared in advance, and content printing control for causing the print engine to print the content selected by the content selection means Means and Characterized in that it has a.

  In any one of the above content providing systems, in a preferred aspect, the content selection unit specifies a group of content based on the image parameter, and based on another predetermined parameter from the content belonging to the specified group. Select content.

  In a content providing system including the copying machine, in a preferred aspect, the copying machine includes a user interface that accepts setting of image processing conditions, and the content selection unit is set by the image parameter and the user interface. Select content based on settings. In a preferred aspect of this configuration, the content selection unit specifies a group of content based on the image parameter, and selects the content based on the set content from the contents belonging to the specified group.

  In any one of the content providing systems described above, in a preferred aspect, the content providing system further includes billing means for performing billing processing related to provision of the content.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the content provision system with higher amusement property can be provided.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a content providing system 100 according to the present embodiment. The content providing system 100 is a system that provides digital content (hereinafter simply referred to as “content”) to a user. Specifically, in this embodiment, a trading card (a card on which a game or animation character, a sports player, or a popular talent is printed) is sold using a copy machine installed in a store such as a convenience store. It is a content sales system. In FIG. 1, a content providing system 100 includes a content providing server 1 and one or more copiers 2 connected thereto via a network N such as the Internet.

  The content providing server 1 is a server that stores and manages a large number of contents (here, image data of game characters and the like) and distributes the contents to each copy machine 2.

  As is widely known, the copier 2 is a device that reads an image of a document and prints it on a print medium such as paper, and is preferably a color copier. In the present embodiment, the copy machine 2 has a function related to content provision, and operates as a content provision terminal.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the copy machine 2. Hereinafter, the configuration of the copier 2 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, the copier 2 includes a scanner 10, a print engine 20, a user interface (UI) 30, and a controller 40.

  The scanner 10 is an apparatus that generates digital image data by optically reading an image of a document by a platen method, a sheet-through method, or the like.

  The print engine 20 is an apparatus that prints an image based on image data on a print medium by an electrophotographic method, an inkjet method, or the like.

  The UI 30 is an input / output device that displays various types of information and accepts user operations, such as a touch panel type liquid crystal display.

  The controller 40 controls the entire copying machine. Here, the controller 40 is configured to include a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), an NVRAM (Non Volatile RAM), and the like, and the function thereof is a recording of a ROM or the like. This is realized by a program recorded on the medium being executed by the CPU. However, the implementation mode of the controller 40 is not limited to the above.

  The controller 40 includes a copy function control unit 41 as a function block for realizing the copy function. Here, the processing of the copy function control unit 41 will be briefly described. The copy function control unit 41 receives setting of image processing conditions from the user via the UI 30. The image processing conditions are roughly classified into image reading conditions and printing conditions. The copy function control unit 41 reads the image data from the document by controlling the scanner 10 in accordance with the image reading conditions set in the UI 30. Then, the copy function control unit 41 controls the print engine 20 according to the printing conditions to print the read image data on the printing medium.

  In the present embodiment, the controller 40 further includes a content provision control unit 42 as a functional block for realizing functions related to content provision.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the content provision control unit 42. In FIG. 3, the content provision control unit 42 includes an image data acquisition unit 42a, an image parameter extraction unit 42b, a content selection unit 42c, a content print control unit 42d, and a charging unit 42e.

  The image data acquisition unit 42 a acquires image data of a content selection document presented by the user using the scanner 10.

  The image parameter extraction unit 42b extracts predetermined image parameters from the image data acquired by the image data acquisition unit 42a. Here, as the predetermined image parameter, for example, the ratio between text and picture in the document, a value based on the position of the text and picture in the document, a value based on a density histogram in the document, and used in the document Value based on color (many red lines, etc.), number of characters in the document, number of pictures in the document, whether or not specific characters are included, whether or not specific graphics are included, or the entire image data or one For example, an operation value obtained by performing an operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, logical operation (AND / OR / XOR / NOT), or the like) on the pixel value of the portion, or a combination thereof.

  Based on the image parameters extracted by the image parameter extraction unit 42b, the content selection unit 42c provides the user with a large number of contents prepared in advance (here, contents stored in the content providing server 1). Select the content that should be.

  The content print control unit 42d causes the print engine 20 to print the content selected by the content selection unit 42c, and provides the user with a medium (trading card) on which the content is printed.

  The billing unit 42e performs billing processing related to content provision. This billing process may be performed by an appropriate method, for example, using cash, a prepaid card, a credit card, or the like.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the controller 40 in content provision. Hereinafter, the operation of the content providing system 100 in content provision will be specifically described with reference to FIG. Since a general copy operation of the copy machine 2 is widely known, a description thereof is omitted here. In the following example, it is assumed that 10 types of content are stored in the content providing server 1 in association with content identifiers i (i is an integer from 0 to 9).

  The controller 40 displays a menu screen on which a “copy” button and a “trading card” button are arranged on the UI 30 and stands by. When the “trading card” button is pressed by the user on this menu screen, the controller 40 executes processing relating to trading card sales as follows.

  First, the accounting unit 42e of the controller 40 performs accounting processing related to trading card sales (S1). Specifically, the billing unit 42e prompts the user to pay a fee to a fee payment machine (not shown) provided in the copier 2 by the screen display of the UI 30, and a predetermined amount of coins is inserted into the fee payment machine. When this is detected, the image data acquisition unit 42a is notified of the completion of charging.

  When the image data acquisition unit 42a receives the notification of the completion of charging, the image data acquisition unit 42a displays a screen for prompting the user to set a document for selecting content on the scanner 10 (S2). Here, the image data acquisition unit 42a displays a start button on the UI 30 together with a message “Please set the document on the document table and press the start button”.

  The image data acquisition unit 42a waits until the start button is pressed (S3: NO). When the user presses a start button after setting an arbitrary document on the scanner 10 (S3: YES), the image data acquisition unit 42a causes the scanner 10 to start scanning, and image data from the set document is displayed. And the read image data is passed to the image parameter extraction unit 42b (S4).

When receiving the image data from the image data acquisition unit 42a, the image parameter extraction unit 42b extracts predetermined image parameters from the image data (S5). In this example, as the predetermined image parameter, the lowest digit value of a value calculated by adding all the pixel data constituting the image data is employed. Here, the following formula
0x00 + 0x55 + ・ ・ ・ + 0xFE = 0x450CA20 = 72403488
It is assumed that pixel data is cumulatively added as described above, and the lowest-order single-digit value “8” of the obtained value “724403488” is extracted as an image parameter. Then, the image parameter extraction unit 42b passes the extracted image parameters to the content selection unit 42c.

  Upon receiving the image parameter from the image parameter extraction unit 42b, the content selection unit 42c selects content to be provided to the user based on the image parameter (S6). Here, the content selection unit 42 c selects content whose content identifier matches the image parameter “8”, and downloads content (image data) associated with the content identifier “8” from the content providing server 1. Then, the content selection unit 42c passes the content to the content print control unit 42d.

  Upon receiving the content from the content selection unit 42c, the content print control unit 42d causes the print engine 20 to print the content (S7). The print engine 20 discharges the card on which the content is printed to a discharge tray (not shown) and provides it to the user.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, image data is read from a document for content selection presented by a user, predetermined image parameters are extracted from the image data, and a number of images prepared in advance based on the image parameters are extracted. Content to be provided to the user is selected from the contents, and the selected content is output to a predetermined medium and provided to the user. For this reason, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to give the user (purchaser) a factor for content selection, which is more amusement than when providing content based on the user's selection or random selection. It is possible to provide a content providing system that is highly reliable and can further encourage purchasers to purchase.

  In this embodiment, a copier is used as a content providing terminal. Specifically, reading of a document for selecting content and outputting of the content to a predetermined medium are performed using a copier. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide content by effectively utilizing existing equipment (for example, copy machines installed in convenience stores throughout the country), and content can be efficiently or widely distributed. Provision can be made.

[Second Embodiment]
The content providing system 200 according to the present embodiment is almost the same as the content providing system 100 described above. However, the content providing system 200 identifies a group of content based on image parameters, and selects other predetermined predetermined content from the contents belonging to the identified group. The content is selected based on the parameters. Here, other predetermined parameters include, for example, date (year / month / day), current time (hours, hours, minutes and seconds), time since the copy machine was turned on, and the number of prints or scans (current day) , The month after the copier was installed and the power was turned on, etc.), the location of the copier, the serial number of the copier, the random number generated by the random number generator, or the image processing set in the copier The setting contents of the conditions, or a combination thereof. Other predetermined parameters may be appropriately determined depending on how much content selection is performed at random. For example, when it is desired to increase the randomness, a random number, the current time, or the like is used, and when it is desired to increase the productivity by reducing the randomness, the setting contents of the image processing conditions may be used.

  Hereinafter, the content providing system 200 will be described in detail by taking as an example the case where the setting content of the image processing condition is adopted as another predetermined parameter. In the following description, parts common to the content providing system 100 are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the content provision control unit 42 in the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, in the present embodiment, the content provision control unit 42 includes a setting content acquisition unit 42 f in addition to the function blocks 42 a to 42 e.

  The setting content acquisition unit 42f acquires the setting content of the image processing conditions via the UI 30. Here, the image processing conditions are roughly divided into image reading conditions and printing conditions as described above. For example, the document size (reading size), color mode (monochrome or color), and magnification (for example, 25.0 to 400). 0.0%), reading or printing density (dark-normal-light), contrast (strong-normal-weak), saturation (strong-normal-weak), sharpness (strong-normal-weak), rotation, etc. It is done.

  In the present embodiment, the content selection unit 42c is based on the image parameters extracted by the image parameter extraction unit 42b and the setting details of the image processing conditions acquired by the setting content acquisition unit 42f. The content to be provided to the user is selected from the content. Specifically, the content selection unit 42c specifies a group of content based on the image parameter, and selects the content based on the set content from the content belonging to the specified group.

  Hereinafter, an example of the operation of the controller 40 in the present embodiment will be specifically shown. In the example shown below, it is assumed that there are 100 types of content. Also, 100 types of content are assumed to be divided into 10 groups, each group including 10 types of content. The content providing server 1 stores 100 types of content in association with content identifiers (g, i) (g and i are integers from 0 to 9), respectively. Here, “g” is an identification number for uniquely identifying each group (hereinafter referred to as a group number), and “i” is an identification number for uniquely identifying each content in each group (hereinafter referred to as “group number”). The content identifier (g, i) indicates the content with the content number “i” belonging to the group with the group number “g”. The content grouping may be performed according to an appropriate rule. For example, the content grouping may be performed according to character attributes, content rarity, or the like.

  In the present embodiment, after the accounting process is completed, the controller 40 displays a screen for prompting setting of an image processing condition and a setting screen for setting the image processing condition on the UI 30 in addition to a screen for prompting document setting. Display. Here, the controller 40 displays a setting button such as a magnification and a document size and a start button on the UI 30 together with a message “Please set the copy condition after setting the document on the document table and press the start button”. Display.

  Then, after an arbitrary document is set on the scanner 10 by the user and the image processing conditions are set, when the start button is pressed, the setting content acquisition unit 42f displays the image processing conditions set by the user on the UI 30. The setting content is acquired, and the setting content is passed to the content selection unit 42c. Here, it is assumed that 25% magnification, color mode (color = 2), and document size 210 mm are acquired as setting contents.

The content selection unit 42c identifies a group of content based on the image parameter (here, “8”) received from the image parameter extraction unit 42b, and sets content acquisition unit 42f from the content belonging to the identified group. The content to be provided to the user is selected based on the setting content received from the user. Specifically, the content selection unit 42c specifies the group number “8” based on the image parameter “8”. In addition, the following formula is used for a magnification of 25%, a color mode (color = 2), and a document size of 210 mm.
25 × 2 × 210 = 10500
And the content number “1” is specified based on the most significant one-digit value “1” of the calculated value “10500”. That is, the content selection unit 42c selects the content identified by the content identifier (8, 1). Then, the content selection unit 42c acquires the content associated with the content identifier (8, 1) from the content providing server 1.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, a group of contents is specified based on image parameters, and contents are selected based on other predetermined parameters from contents belonging to the specified group. For this reason, according to the present embodiment, other factors can be caused to act while the manuscript presented by the user is acted on the selection of content, and the amusement property can be further enhanced. Specifically, the direction of content selection (for example, character attributes and rarity) is determined by the manuscript, while the same manuscript provides various contents depending on other factors such as user operation and time. It's interesting for me.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, It can change variously within the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention. For example, some or all of the functions of the content provision control unit 42 may be provided on the content provision server 1 side. Further, the content may be stored in the copy machine 2, and the content providing systems 100 and 200 may be realized by the copy machine 2 alone.

  The content can also be digital data other than image data, such as game software, music files, or moving image files. The medium on which the content is output can be a medium other than the print medium, such as a flash memory or a CD-R. The reading of the original and the output of the content can also be performed by an apparatus other than the copier.

  Further, although cases have been described with the above embodiment as examples where content is sold, the content may be provided as a prize (bonus) or the like. For example, a form in which content is provided as a bonus for copying can be considered. In this embodiment, a copy original can be used as a content selection original. In addition, the image processing conditions set for copying can be used as parameters for content selection.

  In the second embodiment, the contents are grouped in advance. However, it is not always necessary to clearly group the contents. For example, the following configuration may be used. That is, the content providing server 1 stores 100 types of content in association with the content identifier i (i is an integer from 0 to 99). The content selection unit 42c determines a start value A (A is an integer from 0 to 90) based on the image parameter, determines an addition value B (B is an integer from 0 to 9) based on the setting content of the image processing condition, The content with the content identifier (A + B) is selected. That is, the content selection unit 42c specifies a content group (group) whose content identifiers are A to (A + 9) based on the image parameter, and the content identifier (A + B) based on the set content from the content group. Select content for. In this configuration, the content identifier i is preferably assigned to each content in order according to the content attributes (attributes such as game character strength, card rareness, etc.). For example, it may be assigned such that the degree of rarity increases as the content identifier i increases.

  In the second embodiment, the content group is specified based on the image parameter, and the content is selected based on another predetermined parameter from the group. However, the image parameter and the other predetermined value are selected. There may be other methods for selecting content based on parameters.

It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of the content provision system which concerns on 1st Embodiment. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a copier. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the content provision control part in 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of the controller in content provision. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the content provision control part in 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Content provision server, 2 Copy machine, 10 Scanner, 20 Print engine, 30 User interface (UI), 40 Controller, 41 Copy function control part, 42 Content provision control part, 42a Image data acquisition part, 42b Image parameter extraction part, 42c content selection unit, 42d content print control unit, 42e charging unit, 42f setting content acquisition unit, 100, 200 content providing system.

Claims (6)

Image reading means for reading image data from a document for content selection presented by a user;
Image parameter extraction means for extracting predetermined image parameters from the image data read by the image reading means;
Content selection means for selecting content to be provided to the user from among a large number of contents prepared in advance based on the image parameters extracted by the image parameter extraction means;
Content output means for outputting the content selected by the content selection means to a predetermined medium;
A content providing system characterized by comprising: A copier comprising a scanner for reading image data from a document and a print engine for printing image data read by the scanner on a print medium;
Image data acquisition means for acquiring image data of a document for content selection presented by a user using the scanner;
Image parameter extraction means for extracting predetermined image parameters from the image data acquired by the image data acquisition means;
Content selection means for selecting content to be provided to the user from among a large number of contents prepared in advance based on the image parameters extracted by the image parameter extraction means;
Content printing control means for causing the print engine to print the content selected by the content selection means;
A content providing system characterized by comprising: The content providing system according to claim 1 or 2,
The content providing system, wherein the content selection unit specifies a group of content based on the image parameter, and selects the content based on another predetermined parameter from the content belonging to the specified group. The content providing system according to claim 2,
The copier includes a user interface for accepting setting of image processing conditions,
The content selection system, wherein the content selection unit selects content based on the image parameter and the setting content set in the user interface. The content providing system according to claim 4,
The content providing system, wherein the content selection unit specifies a group of content based on the image parameter, and selects the content based on the set content from the content belonging to the specified group. The content providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
A content providing system further comprising billing means for performing billing processing relating to provision of the content.

Images