JP2013149012A - Content distribution server - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a content distribution system capable of adequately reflecting a user evaluation to determination of a content price.SOLUTION: A server, for use in distribution of content through communication with user terminals via a communication network, includes: a content page for causing a user to access content; a content page management part for generating a content page; a price determination part for determining a content price; and a sales distribution management part for facilitating distribution of content to user terminals. Further, the price determination part calculates the content price on the basis of content evaluation information stored in a content database and a user rank that is stored in a user information database and is correlated with the user.

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for determining the price of content when purchasing the content via a communication network.

  2. Description of the Related Art Purchase of digital content (hereinafter simply referred to as content) such as moving images, music, and books via a communication network represented by the Internet has been generally performed. At the same time, it has become common for users who have viewed content to evaluate the content.

  Patent Document 1 describes a system that dynamically sets a content price by reflecting the number of content sales in the content price in a system that sells content on such a communication network.

  However, if the content price is determined mechanically based on the number of sales or the like, there is a risk that it will deviate from the ideal content price. This is because, for example, the influence on the content purchase varies depending on the user who evaluates the content.

JP 2001-338117 A

  In view of the problems as described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a content distribution system that can more appropriately reflect a user's evaluation in content price determination.

The invention according to claim 1 to solve the above-mentioned problem is a server for distributing content through a user terminal and a communication network, wherein the server allows the user to access the content, and the content A content page management unit that generates a page; a price determination unit that determines a price of the content; and a sales and distribution management unit that prompts the user terminal to distribute the content, and the price determination unit stores the content stored in the content database. The content distribution server is characterized in that a content price is calculated based on evaluation information and a user rank stored in a user information database and associated with a user.
Further, in the invention according to claim 2, the content page management unit requests content price information from the price determination unit when the user accesses the content page, and the price determination unit performs content in response to a request from the content page management unit. The content distribution server according to claim 1, wherein a price is returned.
The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the price determination unit stores the calculated content price in a content database, and the content page management unit refers to the content price stored in the content database. The content distribution server described.
The invention according to claim 4 includes an external server cooperation unit that cooperates with an external server that collects content evaluation information, the external server cooperation unit requests content evaluation information from the external server, and the price determination unit includes: 4. The content distribution server according to claim 1, wherein the content price is calculated with reference to content evaluation information transmitted from an external server.
The invention according to claim 5 is a search engine in which an external server transmits a search result in response to transmission of a keyword, and the external server cooperation unit transmits a keyword related to the content to the external server, and determines a price. 5. The content distribution server according to claim 4, wherein the unit calculates content evaluation information from a search result transmitted from an external server and reflects the content evaluation information on the content price.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a server for distributing content through a communication network with a user terminal, the content page managing unit for generating a content page and a content page for allowing the user to access the content. A price determination unit that determines the price of the content, a sales and distribution management unit that prompts the user terminal to distribute the content, and an external server linkage unit that cooperates with an external server that collects content evaluation information. The server cooperation unit identifies the user from the user information held by the external server, determines the user rank associated with the user, and the price determination unit includes the content evaluation information received from the external server and the user associated with the user. Content distribution service characterized by calculating content price based on rank It is a server.

  According to the present invention, since the user rank can be set by setting the user rank according to the influence on the user's content purchase and the user's reliability, the user's willingness to purchase the content is increased, and the content It is possible to increase the provider's profit.

It is a mimetic diagram showing one embodiment of the whole contents distribution system concerning the present invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structural example of the content distribution server which concerns on this invention. It is an example of the table which linked | related user ID and content evaluation in the content database of this invention. It is an example of the table which shows the relationship between an evaluation value and a user rank. It is an example of the table which linked user ID and user rank in the user information database of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the step which calculates the price of a content in the content price determination method which concerns on this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows another embodiment of the whole content distribution system which concerns on this invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a first embodiment of the entire content distribution system according to the present invention. In the content distribution system according to the present invention, a user who wants to purchase content such as moving images, music, books, etc., from a user terminal 20 such as a personal computer, a portable terminal, or a digital TV set via a communication network such as the Internet. Exchanges with the content distribution server 10.

  The content distribution server 10 is provided with page information for displaying content information including content content, content price, content evaluation information, content purchase means, etc. on the user terminal for each content or content group. Is accessed (content page 11).

  In the content page 11, content samples may be reproduced (video, music) or partially displayed (books), for example, in order to prompt the user to purchase the content. From the viewpoint of content management, it is preferable that the content sample is allowed only to be temporarily stored for display and reproduction to the user terminal.

  In the content page 11, the content price is dynamically generated when the user accesses the content distribution server 10 and displayed on the content page. Alternatively, it is displayed on a content page reflecting a content price that is regularly updated. The content price generation step will be described later.

  In the content page 11, the content evaluation information is calculated by each user inputting content evaluation and totaling in the content distribution server 10. Details of the content evaluation information calculation method will be described later.

  FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the content distribution server 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The content distribution server of the present invention includes a user management unit 12, a price determination unit 13, a sales / distribution management unit 14, and a content page management unit 15 as processing units that function by a program incorporated in the server device. Further, the database includes a user information database 17 and a content database. These databases are referred to by the respective processing units. The content distribution server of the present invention does not necessarily have to be composed of one server device, and includes a plurality of servers. For example, in consideration of security, a server accessed by the user and a server connected to the database may be provided separately.

  The user information database 16 includes at least a user ID for identifying a user and a user rank that is linked to the user ID and is a content price determining element. The user ID is preferably a unique ID. Each user is given a user ID along with acquiring an account. Here, the account may include not only natural persons but also companies, various organizations, and groups. The user rank may be set to the same type for all contents, or may be set for each genre. This is because it is assumed that the influence that promotes the user's desire to purchase content is different depending on the type of content even for the same user. In addition to this, information for identifying the user may be stored in association with each other. For example, a telephone number, an e-mail address, etc. In addition, general IDs of unregistered users may be assigned and user ranks of unregistered users may be determined and placed. As will be described later, by setting the user rank of the unregistered user, the evaluation of the unregistered user can be reflected in the calculation of the content price.

  The user rank may be automatically determined by the user management unit 12 based on the number of accesses to the content of the user, the number of purchased contents (downloaded number), and the number of registered contents. For example, the user rank can be shifted to a higher rank for a user whose content purchase number has reached a certain level. On the other hand, the user rank may be lowered for a user who has not accessed the content page for a certain period of time. The user rank may be set according to the amount of information provided by the user. For example, a user who has registered information that can identify the user, such as an address, can be estimated to be highly reliable with respect to the contents to be evaluated. A user who registers only information that cannot be specified is given a relatively low user rank.

  The content database 17 is provided with a content ID for each content data, and includes content evaluation information associated with the content ID and content information such as content content information. The content evaluation information includes the number of accesses to the content page, the number of content sales (the number of downloads), and the like, in addition to evaluation information based on user votes (voting evaluation information). As shown in FIG. 3, the user ID and the content evaluation value are linked and recorded. FIG. 3 shows an example of a table storing voting evaluation information. The content evaluation information is updated by adding the content evaluation by transmitting the user ID and the content evaluation value from the content page management unit 15. In the example of FIG. 3, the ID of an unregistered user is recorded as N (0000). However, only registered users may be evaluated.

  The user management unit 12 searches the user information recorded in the user information database 16 based on the identification information transmitted from the user who has accessed the content page 11, and specifies the user ID. The identification information transmitted from the user is, for example, a user ID or mail address input by the user, a telephone number, a user ID recorded in the cookie of the user terminal, a MAC address set in the user terminal, or other user terminal It is a solid identification number. If the user ID is not specified, it is determined that the user is not registered. When an unregistered user creates an account, the user management unit performs user registration processing for adding new user information to the user information database.

  In response to a request from the content page management unit 15, the price determination unit 13 calculates the content price of the designated content ID and returns it to the content page management unit. Alternatively, when the content price is recorded in the content data database 17 and the content page management unit refers to the content data database, the content price is calculated and recorded in the content data database at regular intervals. The price determination unit calculates the content price reflecting the content evaluation information by the user at least as shown below. At this time, the user rank of the user is added to the content evaluation information. In addition to the content evaluation information, the content sales period and the like may be reflected in the price.

  In the price determination unit 13, the content evaluation of the voting evaluation is “Good (1)” or “Bad (−1)”, and the user rank is heavy (3), medium (2), low (1). The price determination method in the case of three stages is shown as an example. As shown in FIG. 4, the price determination unit stores a table indicating the relationship between the evaluation value and the user rank, and is used when the price determination unit calculates the price of a predetermined content.

FIG. 6 shows a step of calculating the price of content in the price determination unit 13. First, when a content price of a specific content ID is requested from the content page management unit 15, the price determination unit 13 reads content evaluation information corresponding to the price calculation content from the content database 17 (S11). Here, taking voting evaluation as an example, the evaluation voted by the user as shown in FIG. 3 is recorded in a form associated with the user ID. Next, the user rank of the user ID for which the vote evaluation information has been recorded in the previous step is extracted and read from the user information database 16 (S12). Here, it is assumed that each user is set to a user rank as shown in FIG. 5 for the content evaluation of FIG. Next, for each type of content evaluation, evaluation values considering the user rank are aggregated to calculate a price (S13). For example, the price is calculated by the following formula.
(Expression 1) Calculated price = Base price + (Value of content evaluation 1 × Evaluation coefficient 1 + Value of content evaluation 2 × Evaluation coefficient 2+...)
In the above example, assuming that the base price is 200 yen and the evaluation coefficient 1 of 1% is reflected as the content evaluation 1, the calculated price is 200 yen + 200 yen × (3−2 + 1) × 0.01. = 204 yen. The content evaluation value may be calculated by a weighted average other than addition. In addition, an upper limit / lower limit price may be set for the calculated price so as not to fluctuate from the reference price for a certain level.

  As described above, according to the content price determination method according to the present invention, more accurate price setting can be performed by setting the user rank in accordance with the influence on the number of users sold. This is because, in the above example, if a dominant user performs a good evaluation, it is considered that the user's willingness to purchase content is improved as compared with a case where a general user performs a good evaluation.

  In addition, it is preferable that one user performs only one vote for one content so that an illegal vote is not performed. In addition, if only users who have purchased content can perform vote evaluation, the accuracy of vote evaluation can be further improved.

  In the above example, the price determination unit 13 determines and returns the content price in response to a request from the content page management unit 15, but other methods may be used. For example, the price determination unit may calculate the price periodically instead of calculating it in real time, and record it in the content database 17 in association with the content ID. In this case, the content page management unit reads the content price from the content database.

  Similar to the vote evaluation, the number of downloads and the number of accesses for each user can be superimposed according to the user rank. Using multiple evaluation axes, for example, content evaluation 1 is a vote evaluation, content evaluation 2 is the number of downloads, content evaluation 3 is the number of accesses, and an evaluation coefficient is determined and weighted according to the type of content evaluation. Price determination can be made.

A certain reference value may be set for the number of downloaded contents and the number of accesses, and the price increase / decrease may be determined depending on whether the number exceeds or falls below the reference value for content evaluation as follows.
(Equation 2) Content evaluation value = (Number of downloads or number of accesses)-Reference value Also, set the upper and lower limit prices for the content evaluation value as follows so that the calculated price does not fluctuate from the reference price for a certain amount or more. You can keep it.
(Expression 3) Lower limit value ≦ value of content evaluation ≦ upper limit value

  The content page management unit 15 creates a dynamic or static content page 11 and transmits the content page data to the user who has accessed the content distribution server. The content page management unit requests the identification information as described above from the user terminal 20, and specifies the user in response to a reply from the user terminal. The content page management unit records the user access information in the user information database 16 in association with the user ID, and further stores and updates the access information in the content database 17 in association with the content ID.

  The user can purchase content through the content page 11 or a separate content purchase page. When the user performs a content purchase procedure, the sales and distribution management unit updates the content database by recording purchase (download) information for the specified content ID in the content database.

  Further, the user can register content through the content page 11 or a content registration page provided separately. When the user performs a content registration procedure, the sales and distribution management unit 11 registers the content by recording new content information in the content database.

  FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a second embodiment of the entire content distribution system according to the present invention. The same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

  The second embodiment of the present invention is different from the first embodiment in that an external server 30 is added. The external server includes content evaluation information independently of the content distribution server. For example, a server that operates a social network service that allows a user to evaluate content. The content distribution server 10 'includes an external server cooperation unit that cooperates with the external server.

  The user evaluates content on the content page 11 or other pages, and is collected by an external server. The external server cooperation unit of the content distribution server 10 ′ acquires the content evaluation information by requesting the external server for the content evaluation information collected by the external server 30. At this time, by specifying the content ID for specifying the content and the user ID of the user who has performed the content evaluation on the external server side or the content distribution server side, it can be handled in the same manner as the user information database in the content distribution server 10. it can.

  In this case, the user rank may be automatically determined from user information held by the external server such as user activity history information of the external server. For example, the user rank can be determined based on the number of users connected to the user through the network. A user who has a large number of users connected via a network is considered to have a greater influence on other users, and thus is considered to have an influence on the purchase of content.

  The external server 30 may be a search engine. If a keyword related to content is sent to an external server and the number of search results extracted is large, it can be determined that the evaluation of the content is high. More specifically, the external server cooperation unit of the content distribution server 10 ′ transmits a keyword related to the content to the external server, and the price determination unit calculates the content evaluation value from the search result transmitted from the external server. The content evaluation information can be reflected in the content price. Even in this case, the evaluation coefficient may be set by applying the above equation (1).

  As an application example that can be applied to both the first embodiment and the second embodiment described above, in the determination of the content price, the price may be lowered when a certain period has elapsed from the content registration date. . For example, it is possible to allow a user who registers content to set conditions for price reduction such as an elapsed period. Further, when the number of downloads (sales number) exceeds a certain number, it is considered that the content creation cost has been collected, and the price of the content may be reduced. In this case as well, it is possible for a user who registers content to set conditions for reducing the price such as the number of sales.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Content distribution server 11 ... Content page 12 ... User management part 13 ... Price determination part 14 ... Sales distribution management part 15 ... Content page management part 16 ... User information database 17 ... Content database 20 ... User terminal 30 ... External server

Claims (6)

A server that distributes content through a user terminal and a communication network,
The server is
A content page for users to access the content;
A content page manager that generates content pages;
A price determination unit that determines the price of the content;
A sales and distribution management unit that promotes distribution of content to the user terminal,
A content distribution server, wherein the price determination unit calculates a content price based on content evaluation information stored in the content database and a user rank stored in the user information database and associated with the user.   The content page management unit requests content price information from a price determination unit when a user accesses a content page, and the price determination unit returns a content price in response to a request from the content page management unit. Item 2. A content distribution server according to item 1.   The content distribution server according to claim 1, wherein the price determination unit stores the calculated content price in a content database, and the content page management unit refers to the content price stored in the content database.   An external server cooperation unit that cooperates with an external server that collects content evaluation information is provided. The external server cooperation unit requests content evaluation information from the external server, and the price determination unit transmits content evaluation information transmitted from the external server. The content distribution server according to claim 1, wherein the content price is calculated with reference to FIG. A search engine in which an external server sends search results in response to keyword transmission,
The external server cooperation unit transmits a keyword related to the content to the external server,
The content distribution server according to claim 4, wherein the price determination unit calculates content evaluation information from a search result transmitted from an external server and reflects the content evaluation information in the content price. A server that distributes content through a user terminal and a communication network,
The server is
A content page for users to access the content;
A content page manager that generates content pages;
A price determination unit that determines the price of the content;
A sales and distribution management unit for encouraging user terminals to distribute content;
An external server cooperation unit that cooperates with an external server that collects content evaluation information;
With
The external server cooperation unit identifies the user from the user information held by the external server, determines the user rank associated with the user,
A content distribution server, wherein the price determination unit calculates a content price based on content evaluation information received from an external server and a user rank associated with the user.

Images