JPH0946453A - Multimedia communication system and communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the charging amount according to the information receiving frequency of a user in a multimedia network. SOLUTION: An information provider terminal equipment 20 which provides the video information to users counts the receiving frequency of the same information of the same user via a counter 24a and stores this count value in a storage part 24b. A charging part 25 sets a charging amount to the user according to his information receiving frequency and reduces this charging amount when the count value of the counter 24a exceeds a prescribed amount. Thus the user wants to more frequently use the information owing to reduction of the charging amount.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multimedia communication system and a communication device for transmitting information such as moving image data, still image data, audio data, computer data, etc., and more particularly to charging for providing information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various communication networks have been developed, such as maintenance of optical fiber networks in trunk communication networks, realization of B-ISDN using them, spread of cable systems, practical use of communication satellites, spread of local networks, etc. Are being rapidly developed and their interconnections are being actively made. On the other hand, by using these information communication networks, not only character data but also still images, audio,
Information called so-called multimedia such as moving images is being exchanged on a global scale. Under such circumstances, the information service industry using the multimedia information network is rapidly expanding. For example, the following information services have been developed and deployed on the premise of multimedia information networks.

(1) Video-on-demand in which the user can access the video library from the terminal and select / watch the favorite one. (2) Select the favorite one from the game library,
Game network to play with distant people (3) Information retrieval service that accesses various databases and calls necessary information (4) Search for and purchase the desired product from hundreds of thousands of products. (5) Attendance TV where users participate (6) A video conference where people who are far away are discussing while sharing materials

In putting these services into practical use,
The billing technology of "delivering the price of the used service to the service provider surely" occupies an important position. In particular, if you consider copyright issues such as illegal copying of information and software,
This is a life and death problem for the information service industry on the premise of the multimedia information network described above.

However, the conventional billing system is a monthly billing system which is unrelated to the frequency of use such as a cable television system or satellite broadcasting, or a use which is unrelated to the type and quality of information such as a computer usage service. In many cases, it was a charging system in which only the frequency (or usage time) was counted. Further, in broadcasting such as CATV and video-on-demand, there is no discount even if the same program is viewed many times, and detailed billing for transmitting and receiving information has not been made.

[0006]

The conventional charging method that does not depend on the type and quality of the information and services as described above is to cope with various information and services that are expected to further expand in the future. Is difficult, and proper billing has been an important issue.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to obtain a multimedia communication system and a communication device capable of reducing the charge to the user.

[0008]

According to the invention of claim 1, a user terminal device for a user to receive information, and information used by an information provider for providing the information to the user. The provider terminal device, the network to which each of the terminal devices is connected, and the amount of money according to the information received by the user are charged to the user, and the same user receives the same information a predetermined number of times. In the case of the above, a charging means for reducing the charging amount is provided.

According to the invention of claim 5, the information providing communication means for providing information to the user and the amount of money according to the information received by the user are charged to the user, and the same user When the number of times the same information is received by the device exceeds a predetermined number of times, the charging amount is reduced.

[0010]

According to the present invention, the charging means charges the user an amount of money according to the number of times the user has received the information, and
If the user receives the same information more than a predetermined number of times,
Reduce the amount and charge. As a result, the reception of user information can be further promoted.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a user terminal device 10 used by a user in a multimedia network. The terminal device 10 includes a communication interface 11 for communicating with the outside, a user input / output unit 12 for displaying a transmitted signal on a display (not shown) and designating a signal channel, and a user as additional information. A commercial selection (hereinafter referred to as "CM") selection by a keyboard or a switch for specifying whether or not to receive a commercial advertisement, and a signal conversion from a digital signal to an analog signal transmitted from the communication interface 11 is performed. Or
It has a control unit 14 that selects a signal in accordance with the designations of the user input / output unit 12 and the CM selection unit 13.

This terminal device 10 performs input and output by the user, and in particular, the user can select via the control unit 14 and the communication interface 11 by setting in the CM selection unit 13 whether or not to receive the CM. Particularly in the case of video-on-demand, the CM selection by the user is sent to the information provider via the communication interface 11 together with the designation of the request information in advance. In addition, the information provider performs the process of inserting or not inserting the CM into the original information.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of an information provider terminal device 20 used by an information provider in a multimedia network. The terminal device 20 includes a video-on-demand library 21 that holds a large number of video works, a CM database 22 that holds a large number of CMs, a CM insertion unit 23 that inserts a CM into a video work at the request of the user, and a video at the request of the user. A control unit 24 that searches for a work from the on-demand library 21 or the CM database 22 and controls the insertion of a CM, and a fee charged by the control unit 24 depending on the presence or absence of a CM for the user and the sponsor. Part 2
5, a communication interface 26 for exchanging information between the transmission path and the control unit 24, a counter 24a for counting the number of times the same user has received the same program, and a storage unit 24b for storing the count value.

The terminal device 20 transmits information, which is mainly video, to the user via the communication interface 26 according to the designation of the user. When the user specifies the insertion of the CM, the control unit 24 manages to extract the video and audio of the CM from the CM database 22, and the CM insertion unit 23 inserts the CM on the video-on-demand signal at an appropriate timing. It When viewing a work with a commercial inserted, the sponsor charges a fee corresponding to the video-on-demand work in the charging unit 25, and the user can watch the work for free or at a lower charge than when there is no advertisement. .

When the user does not select the CM, the control section 24 manages the video-on-demand video and audio information to be sent as it is. In this case, the charging unit 25 charges the user terminal device 10 connected to the communication interface 26 with the amount of money according to the video-on-demand work. The counter 24
The a and the storage unit 24b will be described later.

As shown in FIG. 3, the billing unit 25 comprises a billing database 27, a cumulative amount storage device 28 and a billing device 29, and the control unit 24 informs the billing unit 25 of the person to be billed and the type of service. Then, the cumulative amount of money of the target person is read from the cumulative amount of money storage device 28 to the charging device 29, and the amount of money according to the type of service is calculated by the charging device 29 by the charging database 27 and transmitted to the sponsor through the communication interface 26. To be The accumulated amount storage device 28 can be omitted when the payment is made each time. Charges are billed to the user and sponsor respectively.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of a sponsor terminal device 30 used by a sponsor in a multimedia network. The terminal device 30 includes a communication interface 32 for exchanging information between the transmission line and the control unit 31, and a control unit 3 for controlling the communication interface 32 and the sponsor input / output unit 33.
1. The sponsor comprises a sponsor input / output unit 33 for displaying or changing the charge amount. Further, if necessary, a billing database 34 for storing billing requests from each information provider and billing amounts for each CM is added.

In the above-mentioned structure, when the information provider makes a billing request via the communication interface 32, this information is output to the sponsor input / output unit 33 to convey the billing details to the sponsor. In addition, the charging database 34
If there is a billing request from each information provider and each CM
It is also possible to store the billing amount of.

FIG. 5 shows each of the above-mentioned terminal devices 10, 20, 3
1 shows a multimedia communication system configured by connecting 0 to a network 40. In the illustrated example, two terminal devices 10, 20, 30 are used, but at least one terminal device may be used. As the network 40, for example, an ATM network is used. In the following description, the terminal devices 10, 20, 30 are simply referred to as a user 10, an information provider 20, and a sponsor 30, respectively, for the sake of clarity.

In the above configuration, when a user 10 requests one information provider 20 for a service with a video-on-demand CM, first, the user 10 connects to the information provider 20 and connects with the video with CM. Make an on-demand bill. Subsequently, the information provider 20 uses the CM insertion unit 23 to
The CM from the M database 22 is inserted into the video information from the video-on-demand library 21 and sent to the user 10. Subsequently, the charging unit 25 of the information provider 20 notifies the sponsor 30 of the charging data and charges the charging amount. At this time, if the amount of the charge is not the burden of the sponsor 30, the user 10
Will also be charged a portion of the charge.

When the user 10 makes a request for a service without a CM, the user 10 connects to the information provider 20 and makes a video-on-demand request without a CM.
Then, the information provider 20 sends the video information of the video-on-demand library 21 to the user 10. Subsequently, the charging data of the charging unit 25 of the information provider 20 is notified to the user 10, and the charging amount is charged.

When the user 10 requests a service with a commercial, the information provider 20 may change the charge amount charged to the sponsor 30 according to the frequency of viewing. In that case, the charge amount may be set in the charge database 27 according to the viewing frequency. Furthermore, when the user 10 exceeds a certain viewing frequency for the same service, the charge amount may be capped. That is, when the number of times exceeds a certain number, the charge amount is set to zero.
Depending on the case, the number of times may be only once.

In the above description, at least the charge amount for viewing the information of the user 10 has not decreased. Therefore, in the present invention, when the same user 10 repeatedly views the same information, the charge amount is reduced. As a result, it is possible to encourage the user to further watch.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the information provider 20 has a counter 24a for counting how many times each user 10 has watched the same program, and a storage section 24b for storing the count value. With. Further, the billing database 27 of FIG. 3 records a reduction amount according to the number of times the same program is viewed. As a result, when the information provider 20 receives a request for information from the user 10, the information provider 20
The number of times of use of the fee is checked by the storage unit 24b, and the number of times is compared with the number of times of the charge database 27. Performs the operation of deducting from the charge amount of. The operation as a network is similar to the above-mentioned operation. In some cases, the sponsor 30 may be charged for the reduction amount.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of a multimedia network without sponsors. Even in this case, if there is a user 10 who repeatedly views the same program, the charge amount is reduced. It should be noted that the present embodiment also includes a case where the information provider also serves as a sponsor by playing his / her own commercial.

First, when the information provider 20 also serves as a sponsor, when the information provider 20 receives a request for information from the user 10, the number of times of use of the user is checked by the storage unit 24b, and the number of times is checked. If it is the number of times the charge is reduced compared with the number of times in the charge database 27, the reduction amount according to the number shown in the database is given to the user 1
Decrease from 0 charge amount.

Also, in the case of a network consisting of the normal user 10 and the information provider 20 in which the information provider 20 does not also serve as a sponsor, the information provider 20 performs the same operation as described above, but in this case, The CM insertion unit 23 and the CM database 22 in FIG. 2 can be omitted. In addition, the user 10 of FIG.
The CM selection unit 13 can also be omitted.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By reducing the charge when the same user receives the same information a predetermined number of times or more, the number of times the user uses the information can be promoted, and as a result, the profit can be increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a user terminal device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a terminal device for an information provider.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a charging unit of the information provider terminal device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a sponsor terminal device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a multimedia communication system.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of a multimedia communication system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 User Terminal Device 11 CM Selection Unit 14 Control Unit 20 Information Provider Terminal Device 21 Video On-Demand Library 22 CM Database 23 CM Insertion Unit 24 Control Unit 24a Counter 24b Storage Unit 25 Charging Unit 30 Sponsor Terminal Device 31 Control Department 33 Sponsor I / O Department 34 Billing Database 40 Network

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A user terminal device for a user to receive information, an information provider terminal device used by an information provider for providing the user with the information, and each of the terminal devices. The user is charged an amount of money according to the network to be connected and the information received by the user, and when the number of times the same user receives the same information exceeds a predetermined number, the charge amount is reduced. A multimedia communication system comprising a charging means. 2. The multimedia communication system according to claim 1, wherein the charging means is provided in the information provider terminal device. 3. The multimedia communication system according to claim 1, further comprising a sponsor terminal device used by a sponsor connected to the network and providing additional information. 4. The multimedia communication system according to claim 3, wherein said billing means bills said sponsor for a reduction of said billing amount. 5. An information providing communication means for providing information to a user, the user is charged an amount of money according to the information received by the user, and the number of times the same user receives the same information. And a charging device that reduces the charging amount when the number of times exceeds a predetermined number.