JPH1166182A - Charging processing method and charging substituting method for information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To providing a charging system in place of a provider, which charges a user for information and collects the charge for information. SOLUTION: This is a system interposed logically between an information server 2 and a specific user client 3 which acquires information through a public telephone line, and constituted including a charging process server 10, a billing process server 11, and a collecting process server 12. The charging process server 10 obtains charged information and charge amount information from the information server 2 in response to the reception of an information request from the client 3 and sends them out to the client 3 as the information request source, and also determines how much the user is charged according to the amount of information. The request process server 11 adds the charge amount determined by the charging process server 10 to the charge of the user for the public telephone line use. The collecting process server 12 extracts and totalizes the charge amount from the collected amount by providers for information when the charge is collected from the user, and performs a transfer process.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an accounting system for charging and collecting information charges for pay information provided through a computer communication network such as the Internet on behalf of an information provider.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is known a service providing system for providing horse race information, karaoke / music data, and other pay information to a user through a computer communication network. In such a service providing system, usually, a usage fee per unit time is set for each piece of pay information, and charging is performed according to the time used by the user. The credit method is generally used for collecting the charged amount. That is, a bill is issued from the information provider to the user, and the fee described in the bill is deducted from the deposit account registered for the credit card.

[0003]

By the way, in recent years, service providing systems using a network (Internet) based on the TCP / IP protocol as a medium for providing paid information have been increasing. However, there is the following problem in the service providing system in which the collection of the usage fee of the pay information is performed by a credit card using the Internet as a medium.

(1-1) In the credit system, 10 yen,
A method for charging a small amount in units of 100 yen has not been established. There is a service provision system that uses the prepaid method for the small amount billing method itself, but for that purpose it is necessary to install dedicated software on the terminal to realize the prepaid method and use a general-purpose browser as it is Can not do it.

[0005] (1-2) In the settlement after the transaction through the Internet, it is possible to register a credit number in advance, insert a credit card number for each settlement, or separately pay by a bill from an information provider. It was done. However, in any case, if the user does not have a credit card, the user cannot use the credit card. In addition, giving a credit number online also raises security concerns for users.

(1-3) In a system in which a user searches for information desired from a large number of pay information and provides the information, the information provider can freely replace the pay information or freely obtain necessary statistical information. It was difficult to take. for that reason,
There has been a request to operate a WWW server that provides information at the convenience of the information provider itself.

(1-4) The problem of downloading paid information on the Internet is that it cannot be guaranteed whether the information has reached the client terminal. for that reason,
Conventionally, some information providers do not charge for a fixed period of time when the same pay information is accessed again. However, it has been difficult to control the timing of recharging by individual contents. For example, it is not always necessary to re-charge software or the like at a long time, and conversely, there is a demand to charge for an online game or the like every time, and it has been difficult to centrally manage these.

(1-5) In a system for providing pay information having different charge amounts for each user, such as purchasing goods, providing images, and providing guidance information, the charge amount for each user is different for each pay information. It was difficult to change or set a non-billing time.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an information charge processing method which can solve the above-mentioned conventional problems at once. Another object of the present invention is to provide a billing agent system suitable for implementing the method of the present invention.

[0010]

A billing method according to the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is provided between an information providing apparatus for providing pay information and a terminal device on the user side for obtaining the pay information through a public communication line. The proxy server intervenes, and the proxy server identifies the corresponding information providing device based on the information request sent by the terminal device, and pays for the user requested paid information and uses the paid information by the user. The charge information to be charged is acquired from the specified information providing device, and the charge amount to the user is determined based on the acquired charge information when transmitting the acquired pay information to the terminal device. And integrating the determined charging amount with the usage amount of the public communication line of the user to be charged. In this method, since the proxy server functions in place of the information providing device, it appears as if the information providing device has been directly accessed from the terminal device, and at that time, the information fee is automatically charged. Will be done. Further, since the billing amount is integrated with the public communication line usage amount, the user only has to pay the fee once.

[0011] In the billing method of the present invention, the storage address of the pay information is stored in the proxy server in advance, and when the information request is transmitted from the terminal device, the proxy server stores the pay address. The storage destination address of the pay information included in the information request is specified, and the information providing apparatus storing the pay information is accessed. In this way, the terminal device can access the pay information without specifying the information providing device storing the pay information.

[0012] The billing amount is determined at the time when the pay information obtained by the proxy server is first transmitted to the terminal device, and transmission of the same pay information within the designated time to the same user is treated as non-charged. . This is a process that takes into account the difficulty of confirming the information size and whether all paid information has been transmitted to the user when providing the paid information via a public communication line. When a request for pay information is issued, it is considered that it is presumed that the previous pay information was not provided to the user.

[0013] A billing agent system according to the present invention for solving the above-mentioned other problems is a user side that obtains the pay information through an information providing device for providing pay information and a public communication line, for example, a network line based on the TCP / IP protocol. And the pay information requested by the user by specifying the corresponding information providing apparatus based on the information request sent by the terminal apparatus and the user of the pay information. Proxy acquisition means for acquiring from the specified information providing device the amount information to be charged for use by the
Charge amount determining means for transmitting the acquired pay information to the terminal device and determining a charge amount of the user for the pay information based on the acquired charge information, the determined charge amount being a public communication line of the user. A billing processing unit for performing billing processing by integrating with the usage amount.

[0014] The billing proxy system further includes, if necessary, address specifying means for identifying pay information included in the information request sent from the terminal device and specifying a storage destination address of the pay information. It is configured to acquire the pay information based on the stored storage destination address.

[0015] The charge amount determining means determines the charge amount at the time of the first transmission of the acquired pay information, and performs non-charge processing for transmission of the same pay information to a same user within a designated time. The configuration is as follows.

Another billing system according to the present invention is a terminal device on the user side that obtains the decryption key through a public communication line with a registration organization of a decryption key for decrypting the pay information encrypted and provided in a broadcast format. Logically intervening between the terminal device and the decryption key from the registration authority based on the decryption key request received from the terminal device and the amount information to be charged for the use of the decryption key by the user. Acquiring proxy acquisition means, acquiring the decryption key to the terminal device, and determining a billing amount to the user based on the acquired money amount information; And billing processing means for performing billing processing by integrating with the amount of use of the public communication line.

[0017] In the above another billing proxy system, the billing amount determination means determines the billing amount when the obtained decryption key is transmitted to the terminal device, and determines the same decryption key for the same user within a designated time. Is configured to perform a non-charging process.

As a preferable mode in each of the above-mentioned accounting systems, one or both of the following elements are further provided as appropriate. (1) A collection processing means for extracting the billing amount from the collected amount when the integrated amount of charges is collected, and totalizing and distributing the same for each pay information provider. (2) User authentication is performed upon receipt of the information request,
If the authentication result is normal, the authority information replacing means for replacing the authority information for acquiring the information registered for the user with the authority information of the own server.

The proxy acquisition means included in each of the billing proxy systems notifies the information providing apparatus of the user's identification information so as to acquire the amount information determined by the information provider for the user. Be composed. Further, the proxy acquisition unit, the billing amount determination unit, the billing processing unit, the address specifying unit, the collection processing unit, and the authority information replacement unit are configured by at least one proxy server.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a service providing system to which a billing proxy system of the present invention is applied. This service providing system is a charging agent system 1 of the present invention.
In addition, an unspecified number of information servers 2 functioning as information providing devices, and a number of terminal devices (hereinafter, clients) 3 accessing pay information are connected to the service providing network L1. The service providing network L1 is linked to the Internet L2 based on the TCP / IP protocol, and the information server 2 and the client 3 are connected to the Internet L2. Each client 3 can access any information server 2 connected to the service providing network L1 and the Internet L2 through a general-purpose HTML (HyperText Markup Language) browser.

In the present embodiment, charged information to be charged is registered in the information server 2 in advance by an information provider, and HTTP (HyperText Transfer) is requested by a user.
(Protocol) to be transmitted to a specific client 3. The pay information includes, but is not particularly limited to, information such as HTML data, binary, audio, and images, and computer graphics. The information request sent from the client 3 is a request line (HTTP
Version / Request URL (Uniform Resource Loc)
ator) / method), general header, request header (including user name and password), entity header, and entity body.

In the present embodiment, the billing system 1 is provided with a function of specifying a storage destination address indicating a storage location of the pay information based on the pay information included in the information request from the client 3, so that each client 3 This system 1 is viewed as one large information server group, while each information server 2 is viewed as a client 3. In addition, it enables a small charge not depending on the credit method for use of pay information by a user. Furthermore, each information server 2 enables the information provider to manage the information independently. Therefore, a plurality of proxy servers, for example, a billing server 10, a billing server 11, a collection server 12, and other servers are connected via an internal network, and the billing surrogate system 1 is configured to function as a so-called application gateway. .

As shown in FIG. 2, the accounting server 10 includes a client connection unit 101 serving as a connection interface with the client 3 and an information server connection unit 102 serving as a connection interface with the information server 2. Have. Protocols supported by the client connection unit 101 are HTTP, SSL (Secure Sockets Layer),
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), IP (Inte
rnet Protocol). On the other hand, the information server connection unit 10
Protocols supported by HTTP, SSL, T
CP and IP.

The accounting server 10 also analyzes the request header of the information request received from the client 3 to perform user authentication, and registers user authority information (such as a password) for its own server. Authority information replacing unit 104 for replacing the authority information, information request receiving unit 105 for identifying the contents of the request line of the information request and specifying the corresponding pay information, and pay information included in the information request as an example of the address specifying function. Server management unit 106 that implements an address conversion function of converting specified information or storage destination information into an address (server name / information path) of information existing in the corresponding information server 2. Request for paid information requested by the user by accessing with the authority information of the own server and charging for the charged information Information proxy request section 10 makes a request for broadcast
7.

The address conversion function by the server management unit 106 is realized as follows. That is, a function of forming in the server management unit 10 an address table holding storage addresses of pay information for a plurality of, preferably all of the information servers 2 in advance and determining a type of information included in the information request is provided. It is provided in the server management unit 10. Then, based on the information type determination result and the contents held in the address table, the information server in which the pay information exists and its storage destination address are specified, and the corresponding pay information is acquired from the specified storage destination address. In this way, regardless of the message format of the information request from the client 3, if the information type can be determined, the necessary fee information can be accessed from the accounting server 10. Client 3
Can acquire the pay information without knowing the storage address of the desired pay information accurately.

The billing server 10 also receives an information response from the information server 2 in response to the proxy request. The information response receiving unit 108 transmits the received pay information to the information requesting client 3. Part 109,
A charging amount determining unit 110 for determining a charging amount for a user who operates the client 3 at the time of transmitting the pay information;
Charge processing unit 1 that performs necessary processing for the determined charge amount
11 and a charging information database (DB) 112 for storing charging information for each user. Billing information DB
The billing information stored in 112 is used in a billing server 11 described later. The above function block 10
1 to 111 and the billing information DB 112 are formed by the server body reading and executing a predetermined program.

The processing procedure in the accounting server 10 is as follows.
As shown in FIG. That is, upon receiving the information request from the client 3, the authentication processing unit 103 performs user authentication (step S301: Yes, S30
2). When an incorrect user ID or password is set in the information request, the client 3 is individually urged to input the user ID and / or password (or both) through the information proxy response unit 109. If the authentication is valid (step S303: Yes), the information request receiving unit 105 receives the information request and sends it to the server management unit 106. The server management unit 106 determines the information type included in the information request or the storage destination address of the information (when instructed by the client 3), and uses the address conversion function to determine the information in which the pay information exists. The server 2 is specified (Step S304). And the information proxy request unit 1
Through 07, the specified information server is accessed with its own authority information (substitution of the user's authority information) to notify the user's identification information and the pay information storage destination address. The information response receiving unit 108 acquires the charging information freely set by the information provider for the user (step S305). Further, a proxy request for pay information is transmitted to the information server 2 through the information proxy request unit 107, and the pay information is obtained through the information response receiving unit 108 (step S306). To the client 3. That is, a proxy response is made (step S307). The proxy request for the pay information may be transmitted to the information server 2 at the same time as the notification of the user identification information and the storage destination address, and the billing information and the pay information may be acquired at the same time.

The information proxy responding unit 109 sends the client 3
When the transmission of pay information to is started, the charge amount determination unit 1
10 judges with reference to the billing information DB 112 whether the billing information has already been billed. If charging has been completed, but within a predetermined time, for example, the time set by the information server 2 for the pay information, it is considered that the previous proxy response did not reach the client 3 normally, and the non-charging is performed. (Step S308: Yes, S30
9: Yes). Note that a proxy response may include a plurality of blocks in response to one information request. In this case, if the first block is within the specified time, no charge is made even if the last block exceeds the specified time. And

On the other hand, if the charging has not been completed in step S308, or if the charging has been completed but the specified time has elapsed, the charging amount determining unit 110 starts the proxy response, When the first block is transmitted to the client 3, the billing amount is determined (step S308: No, S310). In this way, it is possible to solve the problem that it is not possible to guarantee whether or not paid information has reached the client 3 properly.

When the charge amount is determined, the charge processing unit 111
Indicates the charge amount for the user in the charge information DB 112
After that, the information server 2 is notified of the billing result (steps S311 and S312). If the information server 2 does not need to notify the charging result in advance, the charging result notification to the information server 2 is omitted.

Although not shown, the billing server 10 analyzes the billing-related information a posteriori, so that the billing server 11 and the collection processing server 12 send the information fee billing journal and the billing result notification file. And are collected for each user. The information fee billing journal records the billing results for each user, and the first block (ht
(tp header) at the time of normal transmission. The billing result notification file records information for performing either a billing result notification to the information server 2 or a billing amount fraud notification for each user. Collected when a block (http header) is sent. The billing amount fraud notification is collected when an illegal billing amount response is received.

Next, the billing server 11 will be described. The billing server 11 performs the billing process by integrating the accumulated amount of the billing amount for each user determined by the billing server 10 with the public communication line usage amount of the user. A specific example of the configuration is as shown in FIG. 4, and a command analysis unit 201, a status management unit 202, a TID (Telephone ID) management unit formed by reading and executing a predetermined computer program by the server body. 20
3. It has a charge meter processing unit 204. Here, the public communication line usage amount for each user, that is, the telephone charge, is collectively managed by a charge management system of a charge management organization (not shown), and the actual billing operation for each user is performed by the charge management system. Assumed to be performed.

The command analysis unit 201 analyzes the contents of the input command, and outputs the analysis result to the status management unit 20.
2 and the charge meter processing unit 204 is notified. The status management unit 202 monitors the overall status (status) of the billing surrogate system 1 according to the present embodiment.
As a result of the analysis by 01, if the input command is an execution command of the billing process, a flag indicating that the charging process is being performed is set to the command, and the flag is released when the execution of the command ends. When the flag indicating that the accounting process is in progress is set, the present system provides services to the user (recorded in a journal), but prohibits new registration or deletion of the user. TID management unit 2
03 is the user name and subscriber telephone number (hereinafter, telephone number)
Is linked to and managed. The TID management unit 2
Instead of separately providing 03, the telephone number of the user may be specified using the above-mentioned charging information DB 112. The billing meter processing unit 204 creates a billing meter by totalizing the billing amount for each user in the billing information DB 112, searches the TID management unit 203 for a subscriber telephone number corresponding to the created billing meter, and The charge meter for the user and the charge details for each information provider are notified to the charge management system. At the time of notification, it is converted into a message format for the charge management system. The billing meter and the billing details represent the contents of billing to the user and correspond to the previous notice of receipt.

The processing procedure in the billing server 11 is as shown in FIG. That is, when a command requesting a billing process is input through a data input device (not shown), the command analysis unit 201 analyzes the content thereof,
The start of the billing process is notified to the status management unit 202 and the charging meter processing unit 204 (step S501). Upon receipt of this notification, the status management unit 202 sets a flag indicating "charging in progress" (step S502).
The billing meter processing unit 204 reads the billing amount of one user from the time when the previous billing meter was created to the reference time of the current term (hereinafter referred to as a reference period) from the billing processing server 10 (the billing information DB 112) (step S1). S50
3), a billing meter within the reference period of the user is created (step S504). Thereafter, the TID management unit 203 is searched to identify the subscriber's telephone number, and the charge meter of the user and the breakdown of each information provider are notified to the charge management system (step S505). The subscriber telephone number is specified, for example, by specifying a user name from a user log managed by the charging information DB 112 or a user ID,
Thereafter, the subscriber telephone number corresponding to the specified user name is retrieved from the TID management unit 203. As described above, without providing the TID management unit 203, the charging information DB
When the user's telephone number is managed only by using 112, storing the user's telephone number as a history in the user ID allows the telephone number to be specified immediately. After the notification to the charge management system, the charge amount in the charge information DB 112 for the user is reset (step S506). This process is repeated for other users (step S507), and when the billing process for all users is completed, the status management unit 202 is notified of that fact and the flag of the charging process is canceled (step S508). ). In this way, the charge amount and the telephone charge for the pay information can be managed in a unified manner.

Next, the collection processing server 12 will be described. The collection processing server 12 performs a collection agency process when a charge of the amount in which the billing amount is superimposed on the telephone charge is collected from the user. It is assumed that, in the charge management system, the amount obtained by subtracting the telephone charge from the collected amount, that is, the amount corresponding to the charge meter previously notified (hereinafter, the collected amount) is notified or transferred.

As shown in FIG. 6, the collection processing server 12 includes an interface unit 301 connected to the fee management system, an information provider management unit 302, a collection amount collection unit 303, and a transfer by a financial institution (not shown). And a transfer processing unit 304 connected to the system. These functional blocks 301 to 304 are formed by the server body reading and executing a predetermined program. The interface unit 301 receives a collection notification and a collection amount from the fee management system. The information provider management unit 303 includes the ID of the information provider who wishes to perform the collection agency,
Transfer account numbers, transfer conditions, etc. are registered. The collection amount collection unit 304 totals the collection amount of each user for each information provider. The transfer processing unit 304 accesses the transfer system and performs an automatic transfer process to the transfer account number for each information provider.

The processing procedure in the collection processing server 12 is as shown in FIG. First, the interface unit 301
In step S701, the user's collection amount is acquired from the fee management system (step S701). The collection amount summation unit 302 totalizes the collection amount for each information provider (step S70).
2), a transfer account number and a transfer condition are specified through the ID of each information provider (step S703), and processing for transferring the totaled amount of charges is performed according to the specified transfer account number and transfer condition (step S703). Step S704).
Steps S703 and S704 for other information providers
Is repeated, and the collection process is completed when the transfer process for all information providers is completed (step S70).
4).

Note that the above processing procedure is an example in the case where all users pay a fee for a request without delay and collection is made. If collection by some users is delayed, make adjustments as follows. In this case, the charge management system receives notification of the unrecoverable user ID and the amount corresponding to the charge meter of the user. Based on this notification, the collection amount summarizing unit 302 analyzes the charging amount of the unrecoverable user and the breakdown thereof, and deducts the unrecoverable amount from the collection amount in the reference period of the current term to obtain the information for each information provider. Perform tallying. On the other hand, if the fee management system notifies that the uncollectible has been collected in the next reference period, the collected amount is added to the original collection amount in the reference period and the information provider is notified. Aggregate each time.

In the above-described embodiment, an example is shown in which the receipt completion notification to the user is substituted by the billing details in the billing processing server 11. When the collection amount is transferred to the transfer account number of each information provider, a receipt notification may be issued to each user via a paper medium or a communication medium.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an embodiment of another service providing system to which the above-mentioned accounting agency system 1 is applied. Here, it is assumed that the information provider encrypts the pay information and provides it as a pay broadcast from the broadcast station 6. The information provider registers in advance the decryption key for decrypting the encrypted pay information in the key center 7 together with the information on the amount of the information fee. The user obtains a decryption key from the key center 7 through a general-purpose browser of the client 3 connected to a public communication line, for example, the Internet L2, and decrypts the pay broadcast using the decryption key. The decryption key is made valid only for a predetermined time determined by the information provider, and the distribution of the decryption key is charged.

As in the first embodiment, the billing proxy system 1 includes a billing server 10, a billing server 11, and a collection server 12, and performs almost the same processing except that pay information is used as a decryption key. Is what you do. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, the decryption key request from the client (1)
In response to the receipt of the request, the user accesses the key center 7 to check the charge amount (2) and obtains the decryption key (3). The obtained decryption key is distributed to the client 3 (4), and the billing amount is determined at the same time. Further, the charge management institution 7 is notified of the total charge amount for each user (5). When the fee collection from the user is confirmed by the fee management organization 7 linked to the transfer system (7), the information charges for each information provider are totaled (8), and the transfer processing to the designated account is performed. (9).

It should be noted that the first and second embodiments are merely examples, and other similar service providing systems such as horse race information, karaoke / music data,
The accounting service system 1 of the present invention can also be used for other pay information providing service systems.

As described above, the charging proxy system 1 of the present invention
Since the proxy server incorporates a charge collection function, it has become possible to realize a small charge method on the Internet without using a credit card using a general-purpose browser, which was impossible with a conventional system.

Also, since the charge imposed on the pay information is integrated with the user's normal telephone line charge and can be centrally managed, misuse of the credit information by a third party can be prevented. It has become possible to dispel user anxiety. Since the information fee is automatically transferred to the designated account for the information provider, there is no need to issue a bill or a notice of receipt for each user.

Further, the system is configured so that the client 3 requests the information from one WWW server, so that the information provider can freely replace the pay information with the information server 2 or use the information frequency. This makes it easy to freely obtain necessary statistical information such as information information, and the information provider 2 can have flexibility in operating the information server 2.

At the time when the pay information is first transmitted to the client 3, the charge amount based on the instruction from the information provider is determined, and the same pay information within a specified time (specified by the information provider) for the same user is determined. The non-billing process is performed for the transmission of the pay information. For example, it is not necessary to check each time whether the download of the pay information on the Internet has been completed normally. It is no longer necessary to control As a result, both charging and information security for each type of pay information can be realized at the same time.

Further, in the conventional system, since the same pay information has a fixed charge, when a plurality of kinds of pay information exist in the same site, the charge amount is changed for each user for each pay information. Although it is difficult to set the non-charging time, the charging proxy system of the present invention notifies the information server 2 of the user ID, and the information server 2 informs the user of the amount of money to be charged. Is returned as a response, so that the amount of charge is determined.For example, for users who access frequently or at exhibitions, a higher discount rate is set for charging. It has become possible to adopt a simple billing system.

[0048]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the billing proxy system of the present invention, for example, the billing and collection of the fee for the pay information performed through the network line adopting the TCP / IP protocol can be performed. It is possible to appropriately perform the operation while taking advantage of both the user and the information provider, and the conventional problems can be solved at once. This can contribute to the spread of this type of service providing system.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a service providing system to which a billing agent system of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a billing server according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a processing procedure in a charging processing server.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a billing server.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a processing procedure in a billing server.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of a collection processing server.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a processing procedure in a collection processing server.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of another service providing system to which the charging agent system of the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Billing agency system 2 Information server 3 Client 6 Broadcasting station 7 Key center 8 Charge management organization 10 Billing server 11 Billing server 12 Collection processing server 101 Client connection unit 102 Information server connection unit 103 Authentication processing unit 104 Authority information substitution unit 105 Information request receiving unit 106 Server managing unit 107 Information proxy requesting unit 108 Information response receiving unit 109 Information proxy responding unit 110 Charging amount determining unit 111 Charging processing unit 112 Charging information database (DB) 201 Command analyzing unit 202 Status managing unit 203 TID management Unit 204 Charge meter processing unit 301 Interface unit 302 Collection amount totaling unit 303 Information provider management unit 304 Transfer processing unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Katsumi Sakurai, Inventor, Katsumi Sakurai 3-chome, 192-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Inside Japan Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Osamu Onodera 3-192-1, Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo No. Japan Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A proxy server is interposed between an information providing device for providing pay information and a terminal device on the side of a user who obtains the pay information through a public communication line, and the terminal device sends the proxy information to the proxy server. Identifying the corresponding information providing apparatus based on the information request, and acquiring from the identified information providing apparatus the pay information requested by the user and the price information to be charged for the use of the pay information by the user. Determining a billing amount for the user based on the acquired amount information when transmitting the acquired pay information to the terminal device, and determining the determined billing amount in a public communication of the user to be charged. A billing method for an information fee, which is integrated with a line usage amount. 2. The proxy server stores in advance the storage destination address of the pay information, and when the information request is sent from the terminal device, the proxy server stores the pay information included in the information request. 2. The accounting method according to claim 1, wherein the storage address is specified to access the information providing apparatus storing the pay information. 3. The billing amount is determined when the proxy server first sends the pay information acquired to the terminal device, and the transmission of the same pay information within the designated time to the same user is treated as non-charged. 2. The billing method according to claim 1, wherein: 4. A system logically interposed between an information providing device for providing pay information and a terminal device on a user side for obtaining said pay information through a public communication line, wherein said terminal device transmits said pay information. A proxy that specifies the information providing apparatus corresponding to the information request and obtains, from the specified information providing apparatus, the pay information requested by the user and the price information to be charged for the use of the pay information by the user; Obtaining means, transmitting the obtained pay information to the terminal device, and determining a charging amount to the user based on the obtained amount information, a charging amount determining means, and transmitting the determined charging amount to a public communication of the user. A billing system for an information fee, comprising billing processing means for performing billing processing by integrating with a line usage amount. 5. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising address identification means for identifying pay information included in the information request sent from said terminal device and specifying a storage destination address of said pay information, and based on the specified storage destination address. 5. The billing system according to claim 4, wherein the billing system is configured to acquire pay information. 6. The charge amount determining means determines the charge amount when the acquired pay information is first transmitted to the terminal device, and transmits the same pay information to a same user within a designated time. 5. The billing proxy system according to claim 4, wherein the billing proxy system is configured to perform a non-billing process. 7. A logical interposition between a registration key for a decryption key for decrypting encrypted pay information provided in a broadcast format and a terminal device on the user side for obtaining the decryption key through a public communication line. Proxy obtaining means for obtaining a decryption key from the registrar based on the decryption key request received from the terminal device and money amount information to be charged for the use of the decryption key by the user; Is transmitted to the terminal device and a charging amount determining means for determining a charging amount to the user based on the obtained amount information, integrating the determined charging amount with a public communication line usage amount of the user. A billing system for an information fee, comprising billing processing means for billing. 8. The charging amount determining means determines the charging amount when the obtained decryption key is transmitted to the terminal device, and does not charge the same user for transmitting the same decryption key within a specified time. 8. The accounting system according to claim 7, wherein the system is configured to perform processing. 9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a collection processing unit configured to extract the billing amount from the collected amount when the integrated amount of the fee is collected, and to collect and distribute the billing amount to each pay information provider. The billing proxy system according to claim 4 or 7, wherein 10. A user information is authenticated upon receipt of the information request, and when the authentication result is normal, the authority information for information acquisition for the user is replaced with the authority information of the own server. 8. The billing proxy system according to claim 4, further comprising means. 11. The method according to claim 11, wherein the proxy acquisition unit is configured to notify the information providing apparatus of the identification information of the user and acquire the amount information determined by the information provider for the user. The billing proxy system according to claim 4 or 7, wherein 12. The accounting system according to claim 4, wherein said public communication line is a network line based on a TCP / IP protocol. 13. The method according to claim 1, wherein said proxy acquisition means, said billing amount determination means, said billing processing means, said address specifying means, said collection processing means, and said authority information substitution means are constituted by at least one proxy server. Claim 4,
The billing proxy system according to any one of 5, 7, 9, 10, and 12.