JP6483005B2 - Content distribution system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital content distribution system.

  In recent years, with the widespread use of mobile terminals such as the Internet and smartphones, there have been many development services for digitizing newspapers and distributing digital contents (books, music, videos, etc.).

  As an example of the prior art, there is a “newspaper providing system” disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2014-160446. Providing an electronic newspaper provision system that can collaborate with newspaper dealers through a newspaper portal site that distributes electronic newspapers to users, enabling subscriptions related to paper newspapers, such as ordering a set of electronic newspapers and paper newspapers. To do.

JP 2014-160446

In the conventional technology, the emphasis is on the establishment of a method for providing electronic newspaper contents, and there is a lack of a portion for obtaining a stable income for doing business. For example, in the case of only a user who purchases content in units of one content, although it is an extreme example, depending on the situation, there may be no income at all, which is not a business for content distribution.
Therefore, how to obtain a stable income by having a user who is charged each time switch to a long-term contract has become an issue.

  An object of the present invention is to increase the number of regular contract users by incorporating a system that prompts switching to a regular contract, and to obtain more stable income in the content distribution business.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in addition to the conventional content distribution system, a user information DB storing user identifier, contract plan information, contract start date, purchase history including the number of contents and the date transmitted A purchase history DB for storing information, a product DB for storing content prices and multiple subscription plans, a distribution server for receiving content purchase requests from user terminals and transmitting content, and the user of the user who has transmitted the content Regularly register the identifier and the date on which the content was transmitted and the number of transmitted content in the purchase history DB, refer to the product DB and the purchase history DB, and set the past date as the distribution service start date A purchase history management server that transmits a subscription plan to the user terminal indicated by the user identifier, and a contract switching request from the user terminal to the regular contract plan. Only, by referring to the user information DB, and introducing the contract server for switching service plan.

  The present invention makes it possible to visualize a purchase situation that a user is not normally aware of and to switch to a regular contract. Thereby, it is possible to obtain a stable increase in income in content distribution. In addition, even for the user, selection of a contract plan that becomes an investment in a state where the future cannot be seen can be eliminated, leading to an improvement in user satisfaction.

It is an example of the system block diagram in one Example of this invention. It is an example of the data structure of a user database. It is an example of the data structure of a purchase history database. It is an example of a contract switching promotion notification screen. It is an example of the application screen for contract switching. It is an example of the sequence diagram which shows the flow of a process. It is an example of the flowchart of the content delivery process in a content delivery server. It is an example of the flowchart in a purchase history management server. It is an example of the flowchart of the contract switching process in a contract server.

  FIG. 1 is an example of a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the content distribution system 108 and the long-term contract promotion system 109 are combined. The contents are contents such as newspaper articles, magazine articles, music, photos, and videos.

  The content distribution system 108 includes a content distribution server 101 that receives a content purchase request from the user terminal 107 and transmits the content, a product DB 102 that stores the price of the content and a plurality of subscription plans, and a user information DB 103. .

  In addition, the long-term contract promotion system 109 associates the identifier of the user to whom the content has been transmitted with the date on which the content has been transmitted and the number of the transmitted content, and registers them in the purchase history DB, A contract server 105 and a purchase history DB 106 are provided which refer to the DB 102 and the purchase history DB 106 and transmit to the user terminal indicated by the user identifier a periodic contract plan with a past date as the distribution service start date.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of the data structure of the user database. As shown in the figure, it consists of data of a user ID 201, a contract 202, and a contract start date 203. The user ID 201 is treated as fixed information after being registered for the first time. Further, the contract information 202 and the contract start date information 203 are data updated when the contract is switched by the content distribution server 101 shown in FIG.

  FIG. 3 shows the data structure of the purchase history database. As shown in the figure, the data includes user ID 301, purchase date 302, time 303, purchased content number 304, and purchase amount 305. Each piece of data is added in units of records by the purchase history management server 104 shown in FIG. 1, and is deleted in units of user IDs after contract switching.

  FIG. 4 is an example of a contract switching promotion notification screen. As shown in the figure, the periodic contract guide screen 402 is displayed on the screen of the user terminal 401. In addition to the text showing that the benefits of contract switching and retroactive contracts using amounts paid in the past are possible on the guidance screen, content distribution is scheduled so that the user can determine whether to switch contracts. The contract plan and the amount required for the contract are displayed, the total amount of usage in the past month to be compared and the average purchase amount per day are displayed, and finally the future for each period of the same period Display the estimated purchase price. In the present embodiment, comparison is made with numbers (indicating amounts), but it is also effective to make a graph comparing the predicted purchase amount and the amount of the fixed contract.

  When the user makes a contract switching request, the screen transitions to the application screen for contract switching shown in FIG.

  FIG. 5 is an example of an application screen for contract switching. As shown in the figure, an application screen 502 for a regular contract is displayed on the screen of the user terminal 501. On the application screen, input forms of “select plan”, “start date of contract”, and “payment method” necessary for the contract are prepared. The user inputs each item, confirms the input content, and then presses the data transmission 503 button to transition to the final confirmation screen for the application procedure and complete the procedure. The final confirmation screen displays the amount actually generated by subtracting the amount of the contract period desired from the date of going back to the contract start date.

  FIG. 6 is an example of a sequence diagram showing the flow of processing. The process is started by the user, and a content purchase request (step 601) is transmitted from the user terminal 107 to the content distribution system. In response to the request, the content distribution system refers to the product DB and performs billing request (step 602) of the target content for the user. The user performs a payment procedure (step 603) using a credit card settlement or electronic money. After the payment procedure 603 is completed, the content distribution server provides the requested content (step 604). Here, the content distribution system 108 notifies the long-term contract promotion system 109 of content purchase information (user ID, purchase date / time, number of purchased content, purchase price) (step 605). The purchase information is registered in the purchase history DB 106 by the purchase history management server 104, and after the effect of the contract switching is determined from the purchase history so far, the determination result of the contract switching is notified to the user (step 606). A user who desires a regular contract transmits a contract switching request (step 607), and the long-term contract promotion system 109 transmits a contract form for the request (step 608). The user inputs necessary contract contents (contract period, contract start date, payment method) (step 609). The contract start date may be a past date desired by the user within the range of the period in which the contract is concluded from the date when content is first distributed to the user.

  By contracting with a past date, users can pay past content usage fees with a subscription fee that is cheaper than the amount of content purchased individually, and content providers can conclude stable subscriptions .

  The content distribution system 108 notifies the user of the contract amount actually generated along with the confirmation of the input contents (step 10). After confirming that there is no problem in the contents, a contract is concluded (step 611). The long-term contract promotion system 109 updates the user information DB 103 and deletes the record of the purchase history DB of the corresponding user (step 612). At this time, it instructs the charge billing server connected to the system not to charge the user for the content purchase cost from the distribution service start date to the present.

  FIG. 7 is an example of a flowchart of content distribution processing in the content distribution server 101. After receiving the content purchase request from the user (step 701), the content distribution server 101 refers to the user information DB 103 and determines the user's contract status (step 702).

  If the user is a regular contract user, the content distribution server 101 distributes the content (step 705). Further, when the user is a user who purchases content by charging each time, the content distribution server 101 charges the user (step 703), and after receiving the user's payment procedure information (step 704), Distribution (step 705) is performed. In the discrimination process in step 702, the contents registered in the product DB 102 are given information on the date and time when the distribution was started, and compared with the data of the contract 202 and the contract start date 203 in the user information DB 103. If it is outside the contract period, content that has started distribution within the contract period of the long-term contract can be distributed without restriction by incorporating processing to proceed to billing (step 703) and distributed outside the contract period. In addition, it is possible to construct a distribution system in which additional contents are charged, which is particularly effective for an electronic newspaper distribution system.

  After the content is distributed, the user's contract status is determined again (step 706). If the user is a regular contract user, the processing is terminated as it is. Purchase data (“user ID 301”, “purchase date 302”, “time 303”, “purchase content number 304”, “purchase amount information 305”) is notified to the purchase history management server 104 (step 707).

FIG. 8 is an example of a flowchart of the contract switching process in the purchase history management server 104.
After receiving purchase data (step 801), the purchase history management server 104 receives the received purchase data ("user ID 301", "purchase date 302", "time 303", "purchase content number 304", "purchase price information 305". ) As one record and registered in the purchase history DB 106 (step 802).

  After registration, the purchase history DB 106 is referred to, and the total purchase amount for one month is calculated by going back to the previous user's past one month (step 803). From the calculated total amount, the average purchase amount per day is calculated by the logic of “total amount for the past month / number of days in a month” (step 804). Using the amount of steps 803 and 804, increase the purchase amount in each subscription period using the logic of "total purchase amount per month + average purchase amount per day x (number of days in the subscription period-days in the month)" The amount is calculated and predicted (step 805).

Compare the amount calculated in step 805 with the amount of each regular contract plan registered in the product DB 102 (step 806). If there is at least one, the periodic plan switching promotion message is sent (step 807), and the process is terminated. At this time, if a subscription contract that satisfies the longest contract period is proposed, a more stable contract can be concluded. The monthly fee may be displayed for each subscription contract proposed to the user, and the monthly purchasing fee of the month when the user has purchased the largest amount of content in the past may be displayed on the screen.
If all the comparison results show that “amount of subscription plan (n months)> expected purchase amount of n months”, the processing is terminated as it is.
In this embodiment, the retroactive period is set to one month, but the retroactive period can be arbitrarily changed.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the contract switching process in the contract server.
The contract server 105 starts processing upon receipt of a contract switching request (step 901). The contract form shown in FIG. 5 is transmitted to the user (step 902). After receiving the contract information from the user (step 903), the final confirmation of the input content is performed (step 904). At that time, the contract amount actually generated is displayed on the confirmation screen, and the user is determined whether there is a problem with the input contents including the amount (step 905). If there is a problem in the contents, the contract form is transmitted (step 902). If there is no problem in the contents, the contract information 202 and the contract start date information 203 in the user information DB 103 are updated (step 906). After the update of the user information DB 103 is completed, an instruction to delete the target user record in the purchase history DB 106 is issued to the purchase history management server 104 (step 907), and the purchase history of the target user is deleted.

  The content distribution system described above can be applied to content distribution business such as “electronic newspaper”, “music” and “video” by storing information of digital content products, their price and contract plan in the product DB 102. Is possible.

  101 ... Content distribution server, 102 ... Product DB, 103 ... User information DB, 104 ... Purchase history management server, 105 ... Contract server, 106 ... Purchase history DB, 107 ... User terminal, 108 ... Content distribution system, 109 ... Long-term contract Promotion system, 201 ... user ID information, 202 ... contract information, 203 ... contract start date information, 301 ... user ID information, 302 ... purchase date information, 303 ... time information, 308 ... number of purchased contents, 305 ... purchase amount, 401 ... User terminal, 402 ... Information screen for recurring contract, 403 ... Button for proceeding to recurring contract procedure, 501 ... User terminal, 502 ... Procedure screen for recurring contract, 503 ... Data transmission button, 601 ... Subscription request processing for content 602 ... Billing request processing, 603 ... Payment procedure processing, 604 ... Content provision processing, 605 ... Subscription information notification processing, 606 ... Contract switching judgment result notification processing, 607 ... Contract switching request processing, 608 ... Contract Four 609 ... Contract content input processing, 610 ... Input content confirmation processing, 611 ... Contract conclusion processing, 612 ... Purchase history deletion processing, 701 ... Reception of content purchase request, 702 ... User contract status Discriminating processing, 703 ... billing billing processing, 704 ... receipt of payment procedure information, 705 ... content distribution, 706 ... discriminating processing of the user's contract status, 707 ... information notification processing to the long-term contract promotion system, 801 ... purchase data Receipt, 802 ... Record registration processing in purchase history DB, 803 ... Calculation processing of total amount from past history to today, 804 ... Calculation processing of average purchase amount per day, 805 ... Prediction of increase in purchase amount 806: Periodic plan is superior / inferiority judgment processing, 807: Periodic plan switching promotion contact processing, 901 ... Contract switching request reception, 902 ... Contract form transmission processing, 903 ... Contract information reception, 904 ... Input Final confirmation processing of contents 905 ... problem process for determining the presence or absence of input content, 906 ... update processing of the user information DB, delete instruction of the target user record to 907 ... Purchase history management server

Claims (4)

A user information DB for storing user identifier, contract plan information, contract start date, a purchase history DB for storing purchase history information including the number of contents and the date transmitted,
Product DB that stores content prices and multiple subscription plans,
A distribution server that accepts a content purchase request from a user terminal and transmits the content;
The identifier of the user who transmitted the content, the date when the content was transmitted and the number of the transmitted content are associated with each other and registered in the purchase history DB, and the past date is referred to the product DB and the purchase history DB. A purchase history management server for transmitting a subscription plan as a delivery service start date to the user terminal indicated by the user identifier;
A content distribution system comprising: a contract server that receives a contract switching request to the regular contract plan from a user terminal, refers to the user information DB, and switches the contract plan. The purchase history management server refers to the purchase history DB, calculates the predicted content purchase price of the user's subscription period,
The type of subscription plan to be transmitted to the user terminal is selected by comparing the calculated predicted content purchase price with the subscription price of the subscription plan among the subscription plans registered in the product DB. Item 2. The content distribution system according to Item 1.   When the contract server receives a subscription plan contract request with a distribution service start date as a distribution service start date from the user terminal that has transmitted the subscription plan, the contract server starts from the distribution service start date to the charge billing server connected via the network. 3. The content distribution system according to claim 2, further comprising a mechanism that prevents the user from being charged for the content purchase cost up to now.   4. The content distribution system according to claim 3, wherein the content is content including any one of newspaper articles, magazine articles, music, and moving images.

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