JPH10326119A - Fee management device, image editing device using the same, and fee management method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To set a proper fee for both a service provider and a user and also to perform the fine management of sales and profit in response to each purpose. SOLUTION: This device includes a statistic means 208, which collects statistics of the using frequency of various service providing templates and a fee decision means 204, which decides the fees of the templates based on the information on the template using frequency acquired by the means 208. Then, the using frequency of templates are statistically managed and reflected in the decision of the template rental fees. Thus, it's possible to set the fees based on the concrete numerals and to perform the dynamic management of sale and profit with no management dependent on the human perception. As a result, the labor, cost and time needed for setting the prices can be significantly reduced and also every optimum price can be automatically set.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fee management device, an image editing device using the same, and a fee management method, and more particularly to determination of usage fees of various services available on a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, in various fields, systems have been proposed in which a service provider provides various information to a user through a computer, a communication network, or the like, and collects a fee according to the use of the information. . In such a service, at the same time as managing the sales and profits of the service provider appropriately, in order to make it easier for the user to use the service, appropriately set the price for the information to be provided to the user. It becomes important.

Here, the charge setting in this kind of conventional system is basically managed under a fixed charge system that is determined in advance. Also, a system has been adopted in which the price at a specified date and time is changed to a predetermined price.

[0004]

As described above, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, the sales management and the profit management of the service are performed only by the predetermined price setting, and the management such as the number of use of the service is not performed. Even so, the usage information was not reflected in the pricing of service usage. However, if the sales management and profit management are performed only by setting the fixed price in this way, it is not possible to provide detailed services to customers. In addition, regarding sales management and profit management, it has been impossible to perform detailed management based on usage information.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and can always set an appropriate fee quickly for both the service provider and the user, and provide fine-grained sales management and profit for the purpose. The task is to enable management.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a fee management apparatus comprising: a statistical unit for obtaining statistics on the use frequency of various kinds of information for providing a service; and a management unit for the various types of information based on the use frequency obtained by the statistical unit. Data relating to each usage fee is stored as a fee rate table, and fee determination means for determining usage fees for the various types of information using the table is provided.

[0007] Another feature of the present invention is that a statistic means for obtaining statistics on the frequency of use of various information for service provision, and a basic charge storage means for storing a basic charge corresponding to each of the various information as a table. And fee determining means for determining usage fees of the various information based on the usage frequency obtained by the statistical means and the basic fee table obtained from the basic fee storage means.

Here, the statistical means includes a counting means for counting the number of times the information is used for each piece of information each time the information for providing the service is used, and a counting means for counting the number of times the information is used. A use frequency storage means for storing results for each piece of information may be used.

The charge determining means stores data relating to each usage charge as a charge rate table in accordance with the frequency of use of each information, and stores the basic charge table stored by the basic charge storage means and the basic charge table. The usage fee of the various information may be determined based on a fee rate table.

Another feature of the present invention is that a second use of statistics of the frequency of use of the service for each customer is provided.
Statistical means, wherein the charge determining means comprises: a use frequency for each piece of information obtained by the statistical means;
The usage fee for each type of information is determined based on the usage frequency of each customer obtained by the statistical means.

Another feature of the present invention is that the charge rate table can be switched in table units. Here, the charge rate table may be switched according to a manual operation. Also, the charge rate table is for each customer,
Switching may be performed according to the usage frequency of each customer.

Another feature of the present invention is that the charge rate table is rewritten for each piece of information according to the use of the information.

Another feature of the present invention is that it has a billing table for storing data relating to the charge for each frequency of use of the information, the billing table and the frequency of use for each information obtained by the statistical means. Is used to derive the charge rate table. Here, the billing table may be switchable in table units. Further, as the billing table, it has a plurality of billing tables that can be manually selected and a plurality of billing tables that can be selected according to a customer, and includes a billing table that is manually selected and a billing table that is selected according to a customer. May be used to derive the final billing table.

Another feature of the present invention resides in that a storage means for storing a plurality of sets of data relating to respective usage charges of various kinds of information for providing a service as a plurality of charge tables, and selecting the plurality of charge tables Charge determining means for determining a charge for using the various information by using the information in a typical manner. Here, the plurality of fee tables may be selected according to a manual operation. Further, the plurality of fee tables may be selected according to the frequency of use of each customer.

An image editing apparatus according to the present invention comprises: an image input unit for inputting an image from an image input device; a template management unit for managing various templates used when editing the image input by the image input unit; Synthesizing means for synthesizing a template managed by the template management means and an image input by the image input means, output means for outputting a synthesized image synthesized by the synthesizing means, and frequency of use of the various templates Statistical means for taking statistics, basic charge management means for managing the basic charges corresponding to the various templates, and the various types based on the usage frequency obtained by the statistical means and the basic charges obtained from the basic charge management means. And a fee determining means for determining a fee for using the template.

According to another feature of the present invention, the apparatus further comprises a second statistical means for obtaining statistics on the use frequency of each customer for image editing, wherein the fee determining means is provided for each template obtained by the statistical means. The usage fee of each of the templates is determined based on the usage frequency of each template and the usage frequency of each customer obtained by the second statistical means.

According to a fee management method of the present invention, there is provided a fee management method for managing a fee for use of an apparatus for providing a predetermined service, wherein the statistics of the frequency of use of various types of information used in providing the predetermined service are provided. In addition, based on the usage frequency obtained by the statistics, data on each usage fee for each type of information is stored as a table, and the usage fee for the service is determined using the table.

In the present invention configured as described above, the statistic means updates the frequency of use for each piece of information for service provision each time the information is used, and responds to the request by the request source (for example, the charge determination Means) is notified of the frequency of use. The fee determining means calculates the usage fee of the used information based on the usage frequency of the information in response to the request, and notifies the request source of the calculation.

When the statistical means is constituted by a counting means and a use frequency storage means, the counting means counts the number of times of use for each information when the various information for providing the service is used. It operates and the number of times of use counted by the counting means is stored in the use frequency storage means. The stored number of times of use is notified to a request source (for example, a charge determining unit) in response to a request.

The basic charge management means manages a basic charge determined in advance for each piece of information, and notifies the request source (for example, charge determination means) of the basic charge of the used information in response to a request. When the basic charge management means is configured to have a basic charge table for each information for providing a service, the basic charge table is used as a table for managing a basic charge for each information, and is used in response to a request. The requester is notified of the basic fee of the used information.

The charge rate table is managed by the charge determining means, and is used together with the basic charge table to calculate a charge corresponding to the frequency of use of information. The charge table is managed by the charge determination means, and is used alone to calculate a charge corresponding to the frequency of use of information.

The second statistical means updates the use frequency of the customer who has used the information for providing the service every time the service providing information is used, and notifies the request source (for example, the charge determining means) of the use frequency in response to the request. I do. In this case, the fee determining means calculates the usage fee of the used information based on the usage frequency of the information and the usage frequency of each customer in response to the request, and notifies the request source of the calculation.

[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment to which a fee management device according to the present invention is applied will be described below. The following embodiment assumes a system in which information for a service provider to perform image editing is provided to a user through a computer, a communication network, or the like, and a fee is collected according to the use of the information.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image editing apparatus to which a fee management apparatus according to the present invention is applied, and FIG.
Is a software configuration diagram of the image editing device, FIG. 3 is a software-related diagram of the image editing device, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of image input, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of combining a template and an input image, FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of template management.

In the block diagram of the image editing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the image editing apparatus according to the present embodiment is roughly classified into:
An image input device 102 for inputting an image, a computer 100 for processing the input image, a display device 101 for displaying the processed image and displaying screens for various operations, and outputting the processed image And an image output device 103 for the purpose.

As the image input device 102, an image input device such as a camera or a scanner can be used. However, the image input device 102 is for obtaining image data stored in another computer (not shown) via a communication network. It is also possible to use a device. For example, image data stored in a host computer owned by an image editing service provider may be input from the image input device 102 via a communication network.

The computer 100 includes a CPU 104 for performing various processes, a ROM 105 for storing basic control software for the computer, a RAM 106 used as a work area for performing various processes, and a display device 1.
Display controller 107 for controlling the display to 01
And a video RAM 108, software for various processes, various management tables, and the like, and an H as a storage device for reading and using these as necessary.
DD (hard disk) 109; FDD (floppy disk) used for data transfer, etc .; image input interface 111 for interfacing with image input device 102; image output interface 112 for interfacing with image output device 103; And a CPU 113 for connecting the CPU and the CPU 104 to exchange data, and a manually operable operating device 11
4

In FIG. 2, the software configuration of the image editing apparatus according to the present embodiment is roughly classified as follows. That is, an image input unit 200 for inputting an image, and a template management unit 203 for managing various templates used when performing image editing.
Application (synthesizing unit) 20 for synthesizing the image input by the image input unit 200 with the template body 211 managed by the template managing unit 203
1, an output unit 202 for outputting a result synthesized by the synthesizing unit 201, and a fee determining unit 204 for determining a usage fee of the template.

The template managing means 203 includes a template main body managing means 206, a template fee managing means 207, and a statistical means 208 including a counting means 209.
Is provided. Then, the management of the serial number list 205 of various templates, the template main body management means 20
6 manages the template main body 211 by the template charge management means 207 and manages the basic charge table 212 by the template charge management means 207, and counts the frequency of use of various templates by the counting means 209 under the management of the statistical means 208.
The count result is stored and managed as the use frequency 213.

Here, various template bodies 211,
Basic charge table 212 corresponding to each template
The usage frequency 213 of each template is stored in the HDD 109 of FIG.
At 10, they are managed in association with each other. The serial number 210 of each template is stored in the serial number list 205.
Is managed by

In the present embodiment, the charge determining means 204 comprises a first charge rate table 214 and a second charge rate table 21 corresponding to the frequency of use of various templates.
5 and a third charge rate table 216. Then, for example, in response to a request from the application 201, the three charge rate tables 214, 21
5, 216 and the basic fee table 212, the usage fee of the template is calculated.

For example, the first charge rate table 214
Is a table normally used regularly, a second charge rate table 215 is a table used to secure as many customers as possible immediately after the start of the service, and a third charge rate table 216 is a table of the service. This table is used to increase the profit when the use is advanced. For example, a table to be used is determined according to the operation of the manual operation device 114 in FIG. The usage fee of the template is obtained by multiplying the basic fee by the rates obtained from these tables.

In Use Charge Rate Tables 214-21
Table 1 below shows an example of No. 6. As is clear from Table 1,
When the table 214 is used, the coefficient multiplied by the basic charge is reduced as the number of times of use, that is, as the frequency of use increases. This is based on the idea that templates that can be depreciated are provided at a low price, and a fee can be determined with a low business risk. On the other hand, the table 215 intends to provide a template with a small number of uses at low cost and promote the use of the template. Further, the table 216 is used to generate a large profit by charging a fee higher than the basic fee for a popular template.

[0034]

[Table 1]

Here, the charge rate table 214-
Table 2 shows the relationship between the frequency and the rate for obtaining 216. Such correspondence between the number of times of use and the rate can be separately stored as a billing table as described later.

[0036]

[Table 2]

In this case, the template management means 20
3 and an example in which the fee determining means 204 is provided in the computer 100 of the image editing apparatus, these are provided in a host computer (not shown) of the image editing service provider, and the template main body 211 and the determined use The fee may be provided to the computer 100 via a communication network.

The software-related diagram of the image editing apparatus in FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the above-described units from the input to the output of an image, and the relationship between the above-described units regarding template management and fee determination. 3, the same blocks as those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

An image pool 217 in FIG. 3 is for storing image data input from the image input device 102 by the image input means 200. For example, the image pool 217 shown in FIG.
106 and a part of the HDD 109 are used for this. The application 201 that performs image composition obtains an image from the image pool 217, calls the template main body management unit 206 via the template management unit 203, and obtains the template main body 211. And
The image thus obtained and the template are combined, and the combined result is output to the output device 103 via the output unit 202.

The application 201 calls the template fee management unit 207 via the template management unit 203, and acquires the acquired basic usage fee of the template from the basic fee table 212 of various templates. Further, in order to know how much the target template has been used, the statistical unit 208 is called via the template managing unit 203,
The usage frequency 213 of the obtained template is obtained.

Then, the application 201 passes the information on the basic fee and usage frequency of the template acquired in this way to the fee determining means 204. The charge determining means 204 is provided with three charge rate tables 2
The usage fee of the template is determined using 14 to 216. Here, the usage frequency 213 is determined by the
It is updated by the counting means 209 in accordance with the use of 1.

The configuration of the image editing apparatus according to an embodiment to which the fee management apparatus of the present invention is applied has been described with reference to FIGS. Hereinafter, the flow of each process will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of image input. In step S300, an image is input from the image input device 102 by the image input unit 200, and the input image is stored in the image pool 217 in step S301.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of synthesizing an image and a template performed by the application 201. First, in step S310, the application 201
A template list (not shown) is acquired, and the acquired template is displayed on the display device 101. Step S3
At 11, the user selects a template to be used for synthesis from the displayed various templates. Next, the user selects an image to be combined with the template from the image pool 217 in step S312.

Next, the application 201 combines the image and the template selected as described above in step S313. When the synthesis is completed, step S3
In step 14, the synthesis result is output by the output unit 202 to the output device 103
Output to In the following step S315, the application 201 acquires the basic fee of the used template from the basic fee table 212 via the template managing unit 203, and uses the usage frequency 2 via the statistical unit 208.
13 is obtained. Then, step S31
In step 6, the information acquired in step S315 is passed to the charge determining means 204, and the charge rate tables 214 to 2
Use 16 is used to determine the usage fee.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic flowchart of template management. Template management means 20
When No. 3 is called, the contents of the call request are analyzed in step S320. If the request is a template acquisition request, the template management means 203 calls the template main body management means 206.

In this case, the template main body management means 20
In step S321, it is determined whether the request is for a template body or a thumbnail. If the request is for a template body, the template body 211 is determined in step S322.
And passes it to the requestor. And step S
At 325, the use frequency 213 of the read template is updated by the counting means 209 in the statistical means 208. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S321 that the request is for a thumbnail, the thumbnail list is read out in step S323, and the thumbnail list is passed to the request source.

If it is determined in step S320 that the requested content is the acquisition of the template basic fee, the template management means 203 calls the template fee management means 207. In this case, the template fee management unit 207 reads out the basic fee of the target template from the basic fee table 212 in step S324,
Give it to the requester. Further, when it is determined in step S320 that the request is to read out the usage frequency, the statistical unit 208 is called. Then, step S3
At 26, the statistical unit 208 reads out the usage frequency 213 of the target template and passes it to the request source.

By passing the basic charge and the use frequency read in steps S324 and S326 to the charge determining means 204 in this manner, the three charge rate tables 214, 215, and 2 managed by the charge determining means 204 are provided.
By using a charge rate table that matches the intention of the store from among the 16, the charge at that time can be dynamically calculated according to the frequency of use of the template. As a result, when an image editing service provider sets a price in a store, it is possible to automatically set a price according to the frequency of use of the template if a fee rate table according to the intention of the store is created. There is an advantage that it becomes.

(Second Embodiment) In the first embodiment described above, the use frequency information is managed by selectively using a plurality of charge rate tables prepared in advance in the system and managing the use frequency of various templates. Based on the price settings. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, in addition to dynamically performing the charge calculation corresponding to the intention of the store and the frequency of use of each template described in the first embodiment, in addition to the management by a customer management unit (not shown), The usage frequency of each customer is also used.

For example, the usage fee of the template is calculated based on the basic fee, the rate determined to meet the above-mentioned intention of the store for each use of the template, and the usage frequency of the image editing apparatus for each customer. Is determined by multiplying by a rate determined for each use count. In this way, the fee can be determined based on both the frequency of use of the template and the frequency of use of the image editing apparatus by the customer. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, a template with a high degree of use is set at a relatively high price, and a customer who uses the image editing apparatus frequently has a lower fee than a customer who uses the image editing apparatus less frequently. There is an advantage that setting can be performed dynamically.

Table 3 shows an example of the rate determined for each use count corresponding to the use frequency of the editing device for each customer described above. As shown in Table 3, new and unused templates are provided cheaply for excellent customers, for example, customers who use the product more than 10,000 times, and templates that are used frequently are also provided cheaply. At the same time, operate to lower the rate as a whole. Also, for initial customers, for example, customers who have used less than 1,000 times,
Inexpensive templates are provided at low cost so that the editing device can be used in the future. For a general customer whose number of uses is about 1,000 to 10,000, the fee is reduced as the number of uses for each template increases.

[0052]

[Table 3]

In this embodiment, a charge rate (charging table) determined for each number of uses in accordance with the use frequency of the editing device for each customer and a charge table corresponding to the store intention described above. Is multiplied by each use count to obtain a final billing table. Then, the charge rate table for each template is calculated according to the number of times of use of each template with reference to the final charge table.

(Third Embodiment) In the above-described first embodiment, a charge according to the frequency of use of the template is stored in the basic charge table 212 and the charge rate tables 214 to 2.
Although the calculation is performed on the basis of No. 16, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained even if the price table is determined by switching a predetermined fee table according to the use frequency.

(Other Embodiments) In each of the embodiments described above, an image editing service is assumed as a service provided by a service provider, and a fee is determined according to the frequency of use of a template for that purpose. However, the present invention is not limited to such services and systems. For example, it can be applied to all services other than image editing (for example, providing audio information),
Instead of determining a fee for each piece of information, the present invention can be applied to a system that determines a fee for one service according to the frequency of use.

[0056]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the frequency of use of various kinds of information for service provision is statistically managed and reflected in the determination of the fee. It is possible to change pricing, manage sales and profits, and dynamically perform price management, sales management, and profit management without managing depending on human feelings . This can significantly reduce the labor, expense and time associated with pricing that has a significant impact on sales management and profit management. Further, since the price is set based on the statistical information regarding the specific frequency of use, the optimum price can be automatically set for both the service provider and the user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image editing apparatus according to an embodiment to which a fee management apparatus according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a software configuration of the image editing apparatus according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing software relations of the image collection device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of image input.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a process of combining a template and an image.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of template management.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 computer 101 display device 102 image input device 103 image output device 104 CPU 105 ROM 106 RAM 107 display controller 108 video RAM 109 HDD (hard disk) 110 FDD (floppy disk) 111 image input interface 112 image output interface 113 bus 114 manual operation device 200 image input means 201 application (synthesis means) 202 output means 203 template management means 204 charge determination means 205 serial number list 206 template body management means 207 template charge management means 208 statistical means 209 counting means 210 serial number 211 template body 212 basic charge Table 213 Usage frequency 214 First charge rate table Bull 215 second fee rate table 216 third fee rate table 217 image Pool

Claims (18)

[Claims] 1. A statistical means for obtaining statistics on the frequency of use of various kinds of information for providing services, and data relating to respective usage charges of the various kinds of information based on the use frequency obtained by the statistical means as a charge rate table. A charge management device, comprising: charge determining means for storing and using the table to determine a charge for using the various information. 2. Statistical means for statistic use frequency of various information for service provision, basic charge storage means for storing a basic charge corresponding to each of the various information as a table, and use obtained by the statistical means A charge management device comprising: charge determination means for determining a usage charge of the various information based on a frequency and a basic charge table obtained from the basic charge storage means. 3. The statistical means, wherein each time the information for providing the service is used, a counting means for counting the number of times the information is used for each piece of information, and a counting result counted by the counting means. 3. A charge management device according to claim 1, further comprising a use frequency storage means for storing the information for each piece of information. 4. The fee determining means stores data relating to each usage fee as a fee rate table in accordance with the frequency of use of each piece of information, and stores the basic fee table stored by the basic fee storage means and the basic fee table. The charge management device according to claim 2, wherein a charge for using the various information is determined based on a charge rate table. 5. The system according to claim 1, further comprising: second statistical means for obtaining statistics on the use frequency of the service for each customer, wherein the charge determining means comprises: a use frequency for each piece of information obtained by the statistical means; 3. The charge management device according to claim 1, wherein a charge for using the various information is determined based on a use frequency for each customer obtained by the means. 6. The charge management device according to claim 1, wherein the charge rate table can be switched in table units. 7. The charge management device according to claim 6, wherein the charge rate table is switched according to a manual operation. 8. The charge management apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the charge rate table is switched for each customer in accordance with the frequency of use of each customer. 9. The charge management device according to claim 1, wherein the charge rate table is rewritten for each piece of information according to use of the information. 10. A charging table for storing data relating to a charge for each frequency of use of information, wherein the charge rate table is stored using the charge table and the frequency of use for each piece of information obtained by the statistical means. The charge management device according to claim 1, wherein the charge management device derives the charge. 11. The charge management device according to claim 10, wherein the charge table can be switched on a table basis. 12. The billing table includes a plurality of billing tables that can be manually selected and a plurality of billing tables that can be selected according to a customer, wherein the billing table selected manually and a billing table selected according to the customer. The charge management device according to claim 11, wherein a final charge table is derived using the charge table. 13. A storage means for storing a plurality of sets of data relating to usage fees of various kinds of information for providing a service and storing them as a plurality of fee tables, and selectively using the plurality of fee tables. A charge management device comprising: charge determination means for determining a charge. 14. The charge management device according to claim 13, wherein the plurality of charge tables are selected according to a manual operation. 15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of charge tables are selected according to the frequency of use of each customer.
3. The charge management device according to 3. 16. An image input unit for inputting an image from an image input device, a template management unit for managing various templates used when editing the image input by the image input unit, and a management by the template management unit. Synthesizing means for synthesizing the template to be input and the image input by the image input means, output means for outputting a synthesized image synthesized by the synthesizing means, and statistical means for obtaining statistics on the frequency of use of the various templates. A basic charge management unit that manages a basic charge corresponding to each of the various templates; and a usage fee of the various templates is determined based on a usage frequency obtained by the statistical unit and a basic charge obtained by the basic charge management unit. An image editing apparatus comprising: a charge determining unit. 17. A system according to claim 17, further comprising: second statistical means for obtaining statistics on the frequency of use of each customer for image editing, wherein said fee determining means includes a frequency of use for each template obtained by said statistical means and said second statistical information. 9. The image editing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the usage fee of the various templates is determined based on the usage frequency of each customer obtained by the means. 18. A charge management method for managing a charge for use of an apparatus for providing a predetermined service, the method comprising: obtaining statistics of the frequency of use of various types of information used when providing the predetermined service; A charge management method characterized by storing data relating to each charge for each type of information as a table based on the obtained use frequency, and determining a charge for the service using the table.