JP3672787B2 - Electronic data providing system, electronic data providing apparatus, electronic data providing method, and information terminal - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electronic data providing system and an electronic data providing apparatus that provide electronic data free of charge or free of charge, such as a digital kiosk.
[0002]
[Prior art]
With the advancement of information and communication technology, it is possible to electronically provide copyrighted works such as newspapers, magazines, and books that have been provided on paper media, and to be packaged in media such as CD-ROMs, floppy disks, and tapes. It has become possible to provide movies, music, computer software, and the like that have been distributed as media without storing them in the medium.
[0003]
An electronic data sales apparatus called a digital kiosk that transfers such electronic data to a recording medium such as a memory card for a fee has also appeared.
[0004]
In such an electronic data providing system that provides electronic data for a fee or free of charge, the customer first operates the menu displayed on the display of the providing device, specifies the data to be provided, and then the corresponding data is displayed. Copied from the providing device to the storage medium.
[0005]
The provided data is used in an information terminal having a function of reading data from a storage medium and displaying / reproducing the data.
[0006]
However, in this method, since the customer occupies the providing device until the provided data is determined and transferred to the storage medium, other customers cannot use the providing device. In particular, the more data that is provided from the providing device, the longer it takes to select the data that is desired to be provided.
[0007]
During this time, there is a problem that other customers cannot wait to use the providing device and wait.
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, in an electronic data providing system that provides electronic data, there is a problem that waiting time is long because selection and copying of provided data can only be performed sequentially.
[0009]
The present invention proposes an electronic data providing system and an electronic data providing apparatus with a short waiting time by selecting and copying provided data in parallel.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, an electronic data providing system according to the present invention includes a data providing apparatus that provides electronic data to an information terminal via a portable recording medium.
[0011]
The information terminal
Receiving means for receiving a provided data list including an identifier of electronic data from the electronic data providing apparatus via a predetermined transmission path;
Display means for displaying a selection screen of electronic data based on the provided data list;
Operation means for accepting an operation of a user who selects electronic data using the selection screen;
Means for obtaining from the provided data list a selection identifier that is an identifier corresponding to the selected electronic data;
A first recording medium insertion section for inserting the recording medium;
Identifier writing means for writing the selection identifier to a recording medium inserted into the first recording medium insertion unit;
Have
[0012]
The electronic data providing device includes:
Provision data storage means for storing the electronic data and the provision data list;
Transmitting means for transmitting the provided data list to the information terminal via a predetermined transmission path;
A second recording medium insertion unit for inserting the recording medium;
Identifier reading means for reading the selected identifier from the recording medium inserted in the second recording medium insertion unit;
Electronic data writing means for writing the electronic data to the recording medium inserted in the second recording medium insertion unit when electronic data corresponding to the selection identifier is stored in the provided data storage means;
Have
[0020]
As a result, a data list for specifying the provision data is provided to the customer by another means, the provision data is determined in advance, the identifier is written on the memory card, and then inserted into the provision device. A method for providing a data list to a customer provides, for example, a storage medium in which an identifier of provided data is described in advance, which is transferred from an providing device to an information terminal wirelessly, an information terminal is connected to an Internet server and provided from a server. Etc. As a result, the customer occupies the providing device only while copying to the storage medium, and the waiting time can be shortened.
[0021]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[0022]
FIG. 1 is a diagram of an embodiment showing the overall configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, in this embodiment, an electronic data providing device 10 that provides electronic data, an information terminal 20 that uses electronic data, and an identifier of electronic data that a customer requests to provide are recorded and transmitted to the electronic data providing device. And a recording medium 30 having a function of receiving data from the electronic data providing apparatus and transmitting it to the information terminal.
[0023]
The electronic data providing device 10 includes a list of electronic data to be provided and a storage unit 11 for holding the electronic data, a transfer unit 11 for transferring the provided electronic data list to the information terminal, and a recording medium 30 to be read and data read Is formed from a recording medium insertion unit 13 for writing.
[0024]
The storage unit 11 is composed of a medium such as a hard disk. It may be composed of a single hard disk drive or a plurality of drives. Or you may be comprised by a different medium like a hard disk and flash memory. The provided electronic data list and the electronic data may be stored in the same medium, or the provided electronic data list may be classified and stored in the flash memory and the electronic data in the hard disk.
[0025]
The transfer unit 12 is configured with a wireless interface, for example. It is only necessary to have an output necessary for transmitting the provided electronic list to the information terminal. The recording medium insertion unit 13 is composed of, for example, a memory card slot. It has a function of inserting a recording medium 30 and reading and writing contents.
[0026]
The transfer unit 21 is configured with a wireless interface, for example. It has a function of receiving data transferred from the transfer unit of the electronic data providing apparatus. The recording medium insertion unit 22 is configured by a memory card slot, for example. It has a function of inserting a recording medium 30 to be inserted into the recording medium insertion unit 13 of the electronic data providing apparatus and reading and writing data.
[0027]
The recording medium 30 is composed of a memory card, for example.
[0028]
FIG. 2 is an example of a provided data list transferred from the electronic data providing apparatus to the information terminal. The description not enclosed in <> is a character string displayed on the information terminal as it is.
[0029]
The description enclosed in <> is a control code and is processed by the information terminal.
[0030]
(1) outside the margin indicates the first line. The first line indicates that the genre “newspaper” is started. <GENRE> is a control code indicating the start of a new genre.
[0031]
The second line displays the character string “XX newspaper”, this character string is anchored, the id corresponding to the data is 0x119909200, and on the right is “September 20, 1999 morning edition” Indicates that the character string
[0032]
<A id=0x=...> is anchored to the character string enclosed by </A>, and when the character string is selected on the display means, id is given and determined in advance Indicates that processing will be done.
[0033]
Similarly, the third line displays the character string “XX newspaper”, this character string is anchored, the id corresponding to the data is 0x129909200, and further to the right is “September 20, 1999 Indicates that the character string “morning paper” is displayed. The fourth and subsequent lines have the same meaning.
[0034]
FIG. 3 is a display example of the provided data list on the information terminal.
[0035]
The character string of the line starting with <GENRE> is displayed from the left after the line feed. The string enclosed between <A id=0x...> and </A> is displayed by indenting the line break and underlining. This character string means that it can be selected by the pointing device of the information terminal.
[0036]
The string after </A> is indented and displayed on the right side of the same line.
[0037]
FIG. 4 shows an example of recording medium memory management. It consists of an area for storing an identifier of electronic data for which provision is requested, an area for storing an error code when an error occurs in the electronic data providing apparatus, and an area for storing electronic data.
[0038]
In this example, it is assumed that XX newspaper is selected. The corresponding identifier 0x119909200 is written in the electronic data identifier storage area. Enter 0 for the error code. If 0, there is no error, and if it is not 0, it is interpreted as an error.
[0039]
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the present invention. A list of electronic data provided by the present apparatus is transmitted from the transfer unit of the electronic data providing apparatus (step 1).
[0040]
The transfer section of the information terminal receives the electronic data list (step 2).
[0041]
The information terminal displays the received electronic data list on the screen (step 3).
[0042]
The user operates a pointing device or the like to specify desired data (step 4).
[0043]
The identifier of the selected electronic data is written in the storage area for the electronic data identifier of the recording medium inserted in the recording medium insertion unit. Also, 0 is written in the error code storage area (step 5).
[0044]
The user removes the recording medium from the recording medium insertion section of the information terminal (step 6) and inserts it into the recording medium insertion section of the electronic data providing apparatus (step 7). The electronic data providing apparatus reads the identifier of the electronic data described on the recording medium (step 8), and determines whether the identifier is the identifier of the electronic data provided by the providing apparatus (step 9).
[0045]
If so, the electronic data corresponding to the identifier is written to the recording medium (step 10). Otherwise, an error code other than 0 is written to the recording medium (step 11).
[0046]
The user then removes the recording medium from the recording medium insertion section (step 12) and inserts it into the recording medium insertion section of the information terminal (step 13).
[0047]
The information terminal reads the value stored in the error code storage area of the recording medium and determines whether it is 0 (step 14). If 0, it is displayed / reproduced on the information terminal (step 15), otherwise an error message is displayed (step 16).
[0048]
Thus, the electronic data providing system and the electronic data providing apparatus according to the present invention can be realized.
FIG. 6 is a diagram of an embodiment showing the overall configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention. In the first embodiment, the list of data provided by the electronic data providing apparatus is transmitted, but this is not restrictive. Another device may provide. If the data list can be obtained and selected in advance, for example, by making a telephone call without going to the electronic data providing apparatus, the time required for data transfer can be further shortened.
[0049]
As shown in the figure, in this embodiment, an electronic data providing device 10 that provides electronic data, an information terminal 20 that uses electronic data, and an identifier of electronic data that a customer requests to provide are recorded and transmitted to the electronic data providing device. And a recording medium 30 having a function of receiving data from the electronic data providing device and a function of transmitting data to the information terminal, and a data list providing device 40 for providing a list of electronic data provided by the electronic data providing device.
[0050]
Compared with the electronic data providing apparatus in the configuration diagram of FIG. 1, the electronic data providing apparatus 10 in this example is different in that it does not have a transfer unit 12 for providing a data list. Otherwise it is equivalent. Compared with the information terminal in the configuration diagram of FIG. 1, the information terminal 20 in this example does not transfer the transfer unit 21 to or from the electronic data providing apparatus but transfers to the data list providing apparatus. The point is different.
[0051]
The transfer unit is realized by a modem when transferring data to / from the data list providing apparatus via a telephone line, for example, and by a wireless interface when transferring data to / from the data list providing apparatus via a wide area wireless network. . Other parts are equivalent.
[0052]
The recording medium 30 is the same as that shown in FIG. The data list providing device 40 is configured by a device that can provide data to the public, such as a WWW server.
[0053]
An example of the provided data list in this embodiment is the same as that in FIG. However, the difference is that the data list providing device provides not the electronic data providing device. For this purpose, for example, a business operator who operates the electronic data providing apparatus may create a data list and register it in the WWW server.
[0054]
The display example of the provided data list and the memory management example of the recording medium in the information terminal in this embodiment are the same as those in FIGS.
[0055]
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the present invention. Compared with the flowchart of FIG. 5, the flowchart in this example is different in that Step 1 is performed by the data list providing device and that the information terminal receives transfer from the data list providing device in Step 2. Otherwise it is equivalent.
[0056]
Thus, the electronic data providing system and the electronic data providing apparatus according to the present invention can be realized.
FIG. 8 is a diagram of an embodiment showing the overall configuration of the third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, unlike the first and second embodiments, a data list is provided and the user does not select desired data from the list, but the electronic data identifier is described in advance and the recording medium is distributed. Is different.
[0057]
As shown in the figure, in this embodiment, an electronic data providing device 10 that provides electronic data, an information terminal 20 that uses electronic data, and an identifier of electronic data that a customer requests to provide are recorded and transmitted to the electronic data providing device. And a recording medium 30 having a function of receiving data from the electronic data providing apparatus and transmitting it to the information terminal.
[0058]
Compared with the electronic data providing apparatus in the configuration diagram of FIG. 1, the electronic data providing apparatus 10 in this example is different in that it does not have a transfer unit 12 for providing a data list. Otherwise it is equivalent. Further, the information terminal 20 in this example is different from the information terminal in the configuration diagram of FIG. Otherwise it is equivalent.
[0059]
The recording medium 30 has the same hardware specifications as in FIG. 1, but differs in that an identifier of electronic data is described in advance and distributed.
[0060]
In this embodiment, no data list is provided. Therefore, there is no configuration corresponding to FIGS.
[0061]
A memory management example of the recording medium is the same as that in FIG. 4 except that an identifier is described in advance. This identifier may be protected from being rewritten by the user.
[0062]
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the present invention. Compared with the flowchart of FIG. 5, the flowchart in this example is different in that steps 1 to 6 do not exist. This is because a data list is not provided and data selection at the information terminal is not performed. The steps after step 7 are the same.
[0063]
Thus, the electronic data providing system and the electronic data providing apparatus according to the present invention can be realized.
In the first and second embodiments, the provided data list is transferred and the electronic data desired to be provided is specified, but this is not limited to the second and subsequent uses. For example, the provision data list transferred last time can be left, and electronic data to be provided can be designated based on the list. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the procedure in this case.
[0064]
Compared with the flowchart of FIG. 5, the difference is that steps 1 and 2 are omitted. Furthermore, in the first and second embodiments, the electronic data desired to be provided is specified, but this is not limited to the second and subsequent uses. For example, when it is desired to receive electronic data for which provision has been specified last time, the recording medium may be inserted into the electronic data providing apparatus without selecting electronic data at the information terminal. In this case, the flowchart is equivalent to FIG.
[0065]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize an electronic data providing system and an electronic data providing apparatus with a short waiting time by selecting and copying provided data in parallel.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an electronic data distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data list used in the electronic data distribution system j of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of a data list used in the invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing memory management of a recording medium used in the electronic data distribution system of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an electronic data distribution system according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing operations in the electronic data distribution system of the present invention. FIG. 8 is another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the electronic data distribution system of the present invention. FIG. 10 is an electronic data distribution system of the present invention. Flow chart showing the operation of the stem [Description of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Electronic data provision apparatus 11 ... Memory | storage part 12 ... Transfer part 13 ... Recording medium insertion part 20 ... Information terminal 21 ... Transfer part 22 ... Recording medium insertion part 30- ··recoding media

Claims (7)

In an electronic data providing system having a data providing device for providing electronic data of content including at least one of a newspaper, a magazine, a book, a movie, and music to an information terminal via a portable recording medium,
The information terminal
Receiving means for receiving a provided data list including an identifier of electronic data from the electronic data providing apparatus via a predetermined transmission path;
Display means for displaying a selection screen of electronic data based on the provided data list;
Operation means for accepting an operation of a user who selects electronic data using the selection screen;
Means for obtaining from the provided data list a selection identifier that is an identifier corresponding to the selected electronic data;
A first recording medium insertion section for inserting the recording medium;
Identifier writing means for writing the selection identifier to a recording medium inserted into the first recording medium insertion unit;
Means for reading and reproducing the electronic data provided by the electronic data providing device from the recording medium inserted in the first recording medium insertion unit;
Have
The electronic data providing device includes:
Provision data storage means for storing the electronic data and the provision data list;
Transmitting means for transmitting the provided data list to the information terminal via a predetermined transmission path;
A second recording medium insertion unit for inserting the recording medium;
Identifier reading means for reading the selected identifier from the recording medium inserted in the second recording medium insertion unit;
Electronic data writing means for writing the electronic data to the recording medium inserted in the second recording medium insertion section when electronic data corresponding to the selection identifier is stored in the provided data storage means;
Having
Electronic data provision system.   2. The electronic data providing system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined transmission path is wireless. In an electronic data providing system having a data providing device for providing electronic data of content including at least one of a newspaper, a magazine, a book, a movie, and music to an information terminal via a portable recording medium,
A provision data list including an identifier of electronic data is recorded in advance on the recording medium,
The information terminal
A first recording medium insertion section for inserting the recording medium;
Provided data list reading means for reading the provided data list from the recording medium inserted in the first recording medium insertion unit;
Display means for displaying a selection screen of electronic data based on the provided data list;
Operation means for accepting an operation of a user who selects electronic data using the selection screen;
Means for obtaining from the provided data list a selection identifier that is an identifier corresponding to the selected electronic data;
An identifier writing means for writing the selection identifier into a recording medium inserted in the first recording medium insertion unit;
Means for reading and reproducing the electronic data provided by the electronic data providing device from the recording medium inserted in the first recording medium insertion unit;
Have
The electronic data providing device includes:
Provision data storage means for storing the electronic data and the provision data list;
A second recording medium insertion unit for inserting the recording medium;
Identifier reading means for reading the selected identifier from the recording medium inserted in the second recording medium insertion unit;
Electronic data writing means for writing the electronic data to the recording medium inserted in the second recording medium insertion section when electronic data corresponding to the selection identifier is stored in the provided data storage means;
Having
Electronic data provision system. The information terminal further includes list storage means for storing the provided data list used in the past,
The display means uses the provision data list stored in the list storage means when displaying the selection screen based on the same provision data list as the provision data list used in the past.
The electronic data providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein In an information terminal that receives provision of electronic data of content including at least one of a newspaper, a magazine, a book, a movie, and music from a data providing device via a portable recording medium,
Receiving means for receiving a provided data list including an identifier of the electronic data from outside via a predetermined transmission line;
Display means for displaying a selection screen of electronic data based on the provided data list;
Operation means for accepting an operation of a user who selects electronic data using the selection screen;
A recording medium insertion unit for inserting the recording medium;
Means for obtaining from the provided data list a selection identifier that is an identifier corresponding to the selected electronic data;
An identifier writing means for writing the selection identifier into a recording medium inserted in the recording medium insertion unit;
Means for reading and reproducing the electronic data provided by the data providing device from the recording medium inserted in the recording medium insertion unit ;
An information terminal.   6. The information terminal according to claim 5, wherein the predetermined transmission path is wireless. From an electronic data providing device that stores electronic data of content including at least any one of newspaper, magazine, book, movie, or music, an identifier associated with the electronic data, and a provided data list including the identifier,
Via a portable recording medium
An electronic data supply method for providing the electronic data to an information terminal,
The information terminal
Receiving the provided data list from the electronic data providing device via wireless;
Display a selection screen of electronic data based on the provided data list,
Accepting user's operation to select electronic data from the selection screen,
Obtaining a selection identifier that is an identifier corresponding to the selected electronic data from the provided data list;
Writing the selection identifier to the recording medium;
The electronic data providing device includes:
Transmitting the provided data list to the information terminal via wireless;
Reading the selection identifier from the recording medium;
Writing electronic data corresponding to an identifier of the desired electronic data to the recording medium;
The information terminal
Reading and reproducing the electronic data provided by the electronic data providing device from the recording medium;
Electronic data provision method.

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