JPH1185502A - Softwarae utilization management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow a content user to pay a charge that corresponds to the use frequency of the content by producing information that becomes a source of a charge to be paid based on a use charge which corresponds to the use number and use time of the content. SOLUTION: An optical disk information management device 2 consists of an accounting managing part 9, a reproducing part 10, an accounting storing part 11 and an MO disk drive unit 12 and executes accounting processing in each produced content. A controlling part 8 executes the control of processing that acquires accounting information that is offered together with content and the control of processing that reproduces a file content which can not be read by a host computer 1 into a readable file format. The part 9 executes accounting processing based on the accounting information that is acquired by the part 8 when a user uses a content and generates information that becomes a source with which a provider requests the user for a charge.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to software for executing a predetermined charging process based on charging information provided together with contents and confirming the result of the charging process to charge a user of the contents. Related to usage management system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, content provided by a content publishing company is sold in such a manner that all users purchase the content at a similar price. In addition, a plurality of contents issued by a plurality of content issuing companies are obtained on a storage medium such as a floppy disk, a CD-ROM, and an MO disk, and key information for enabling only the contents to be used is separately purchased. There is a content sales system.

[0003] In order to construct a detailed fee system for contents provided by a content publishing company, there is a demand for a pay-per-use system in which the user of the content pays a fee according to the usage time, the number of times of use, and the like. ing.

[0004]

Conventionally, a user of a content provided by a content publishing company has purchased the content at a similar price regardless of the frequency of use of the content. The contents provided by the contents publishing company are stored in a file format that can be read by a computer system using a floppy disk, CD-R,
Since it is stored on a storage medium such as an OM or MO disk, there has been a problem that it is easy to copy illegally.

[0005] The present invention employs a fee system in which charging is performed in accordance with the usage time, the number of times of use, and the like for each provided content,
Further, the present invention provides a software usage management system capable of reproducing content in a file format that cannot be read from a storage medium in a computer system into a readable file format.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a software use management system according to the present invention comprises:
An acquisition unit (corresponding to a control unit 8 in an embodiment described later) for acquiring billing information provided together with the content, and a predetermined billing process based on the billing information acquired at the time of use. (Corresponding to the charging management unit 9 in the embodiment described later). The content refers to application software that can be processed by the computer system.

[0007] In the software usage management system configured as described above, the acquisition means acquires, for example, a usage fee corresponding to the number of times of use of the content and the usage time as the billing information, and uses the number of times of use and usage of the content. Based on the usage fee corresponding to the time, a charging process for generating information serving as a source of the fee paid by the content user is executed. Therefore, in the software usage management system of the present invention, the user of the content can pay a fee according to the frequency of use of the content.

Further, the acquisition means of the software usage management system according to the present invention, as set forth in claim 2, reads out the accounting information from a storage medium storing the accounting information in a predetermined format together with the contents (described later). (Corresponding to the reproducing unit 10 of the embodiment). Therefore, the software use management system of the present invention can easily read contents, billing information, and the like provided on a storage medium such as a floppy disk, CD-ROM, and MO disk.

Further, the billing management means of the software usage management system according to the present invention is a billing storage means for storing a result of the billing process (corresponding to a billing storage unit 11 in an embodiment described later). It has composition which has. Therefore,
In the software usage management system of the present invention, the content publishing company can, for example, periodically read out the information that is the basis of the fee paid by the user of the content, which is the result of the billing process, according to the frequency of use of the content. Fees can be charged.

The software usage management system according to the present invention, as described in claim 4, means for ejecting the storage medium when the result of the accounting processing by the accounting management means does not satisfy a predetermined specific value (described later). (Corresponding to the control unit 8 of the embodiment). The software usage management system having the above means, for example, if an upper limit is set on the usage fee of the content and the content is used, if the balance is less than the fee for using the content once,
Eject the storage medium from the system.

Therefore, the software use management system of the present invention can prevent illegal use of contents by discharging the storage medium from the system.
Further, the software usage management system according to the present invention, as described in claim 5, means for executing a predetermined service when the result of the charging process of the charging management means satisfies a predetermined specific value (embodiment described later) And a means for executing the discount by referring to the discount information of each content usage fee included in the provided billing information (described later). (Corresponding to the control unit 8 in the example).

The software usage management system having the above means executes a process such as a lottery when a certain balance is reached when the content is used with an upper limit on the usage fee of the content. And a service for increasing the balance according to the processing result. In addition, when a specific content is used during a certain validity period, a service for discounting the usage fee of the content is executed.

Therefore, in the software use management system of the present invention, it is possible to provide a use fee service to the content user. The software usage management system according to the present invention may further include a position information generating unit that generates information relating to a storage location of the content on a recording medium that stores the content. And a reproducing unit (corresponding to a reproducing unit 10 in an embodiment described later) for reproducing the content from the storage medium based on the information on the storage position generated by the position information generating unit.

[0014] In the software usage management system configured as described above, the location information generating means generates information on the storage location of the content according to a program provided with the content. The content is stored in a storage medium in an encrypted state, for example, and the playback unit plays back the encrypted content based on, for example, key information provided with the content. The information on the storage position generated by the position information generating means is managed in association with each content and each company which issues the content, as described in claim 9.

Therefore, the software usage management system according to the present invention provides a system for managing contents even when contents are illegally copied.
It is possible to prevent illegal use of content. Further, the software usage management system according to the present invention activates the position information generating means when a specific condition is satisfied in the charging processing by the charging management means. Note that the specific condition indicates, for example, a case where a charging process can be executed when there is a balance available for the content.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a software use management system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG.
Adopts a fee system that charges according to the number of uses for each content provided by MO disks, and furthermore, a software usage management system that can reproduce content in a file format that cannot be read by a computer system into a readable file format. The following shows an example. In this embodiment, billing is performed according to the number of times of use. However, the billing method is not limited to the number of times of use, and billing may be performed according to the use time.

Referring to FIG. 1, the software usage management system of the present invention comprises a host computer 1 and an optical disk information management device 2, and executes a charging process according to the usage time, the number of usages, etc. for each content. The content is M
O disk (Magneto Optical Dis
The information is provided from the business operator in the state stored in k). The host computer 1 includes an execution unit 3, a storage unit 4, a keyboard 5, a display 6, and a CD-ROM disk drive unit 7.
And executes processing for controlling the processing operation of the entire software use management system.

The optical disk information management device 2 comprises a charging management unit 8, a control unit 9, a reproducing unit 10, a charging storage unit 11, and an MO disk drive unit 12.
Then, a process of reproducing the content in a file format that cannot be read by the above is executed to a readable file format, and a billing process is executed for each reproduced content. Execution unit 3
Executes an application program that controls the processing operation of the entire software usage management system.

The storage unit 4 includes memories such as a RAM and a ROM, and stores application programs to be executed by the execution unit 3 and necessary data obtained in the course of the accounting process. The input unit 5 includes a keyboard, a mouse, and the like, and is used by a user to input information necessary for an application program.

The display section 6 is composed of a CRT, an LCD (liquid crystal display panel), or the like, and displays information for a user.
The CD-ROM 22 stores an application program for controlling the processing operation of the entire charging system.
-CD-RO set in ROM drive unit 7
The application program is installed in the storage unit 4 from M22. In this state, the execution unit 3 executes the application program.

The control unit 8 controls the processing for acquiring the accounting information provided with the contents and the processing for reproducing the contents in a file format that cannot be read by the host computer 1 into a readable file format. .
When the user uses the content, the charging management unit 9 executes a charging process based on the charging information obtained by the control unit 8, and stores information from which the business operator charges the user. Generate.

The reproduction unit 10 reproduces information provided with the content in a format that can be processed by the control unit 8, and further reproduces the content provided by the business operator in a file format that can be used by the execution unit 3. The billing storage unit 11 includes a RAM, R
A process that includes a memory such as an OM and executes a billing process for each content required by the user based on predetermined information provided with the content, and a process for reading content in a file format that cannot be read by the host computer 1. Necessary information obtained in the process of controlling the process of reproducing the file into a readable file format.

The MO disk 21 is configured, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, and includes, as predetermined information provided with the content, for example, a structured document with a tag, key information, a composite program, information on a storage position of the content, a coupon. Information and necessary information and contents are read from the MO disk 21 set in the MO disk drive unit 12 in which each content is further stored.

The processing flow of the software usage management system when the user uses the contents in the MO disk in the software usage management system configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. still,
The application program in the CD-ROM 22 is
It is assumed that it has been installed in advance. When the user who intends to use the content sets the MO disk 21 in the MO disk drive unit 12 of the optical disk information management device 2, the control unit 8 reads the coupon information from the MO disk 21 and sets the reproduction unit 10 as the latest balance information. Is stored in the billing storage unit 11 via. Here, the host computer 1 reads the coupon information from the charging storage unit 11 and stores, for example, initialization data $ 1000 in the storage unit 4 as the latest balance information amount (S1).

In this embodiment, M is used as the coupon information.
When purchasing the O-disc 21, for example, an upper limit of $ 1000 is charged to the user of the content by checking the balance with an upper limit of $ 1000. Further, the data of the coupon information is not limited to the money amount, but can be managed by, for example, a score. Further, in the present embodiment, an upper limit is set according to the amount of the coupon to be purchased, and a fee for use of the content is subtracted from the upper limit to charge a fee according to the balance. Instead, it is also possible to add a fee for the use of the content and charge a fee according to the total amount.

After the coupon information has been initialized, when the user activates an application program for using the content from the input unit 5, the execution unit 3 executes the application program (S2). This application program controls the software use management system of this embodiment. When the user performs input for confirming the available content from the input unit 5, the execution unit 3
For example, a structured document with a tag as shown in FIG. 5 is read from the MO disk 21 and displayed on the display unit 6. In the structured document with a tag, an available content number, a content issuing company name, and billing information corresponding to the content number are displayed, and the execution unit 3 sets the content number of the content to be used for the user, Require that you enter a content publisher name. Here, the user checks whether the content to be used is influential or free based on the tagged structured document displayed on the display unit 6 (S
3).

When the content to be used is charged (S3,
YES), the user inputs, for example, “1” as the content number from the input unit 5, and inputs, for example, “Company A” as the content issuing company name, and the execution unit 3 sets the content number and The content issuing company name is stored in the charging storage unit 11 (S4). The content to be used is
For example, in the case of free content such as a sample version (S3, NO), the user inputs, for example, a double-change key from the input unit 5 as an input for moving to the next screen.

Next, the execution unit 3 requests the user to input a fee for the content to be used. The user checks whether the content to be used is influential or free based on the tagged structured document displayed on the display unit 6 (S5). When the content to be used is paid (S5, Y
ES), the user inputs, for example, $ 10 as a fee for the content “1” of company A to be used from the input unit 5, and the execution unit 3 associates the fee with the content number and stores the fee in the charging storage unit 11. It is stored (S6). If the content to be used is a free content such as a sample version (S5, NO), the user inputs, for example, a double-change key from the input unit 5 as an input for moving to the next screen. .

After inputting the content number and the fee, the execution unit 3 requests the user to confirm the contents of the charging storage unit 11 (S7). As a result of the confirmation, if nothing is stored (S7, NO), the user uses the input unit 5 to input the content number from the input unit 5 because the content being used by the user is free content such as a sample version. Input,
A sample version of the content is obtained (S8).

On the other hand, if the content number, the content issuing company name and the fee are stored as a result of the confirmation in step 7, the execution unit 3 instructs the accounting management unit 9 to execute the accounting process ( S9). The charge management unit 9 checks the balance information stored in the charge storage unit 11 and determines whether the current balance satisfies the fee for using the content (S10).

For example, when the current balance is $ 0, when the charging process is executed based on the content number "1" and the fee "10" previously stored in the storage money storage unit 11, the charging management unit 9 The controller 8 is notified that the balance is insufficient (S10, NO), and the controller 8 executes a process of ejecting the MO disk 21 in the MO disk drive unit 12 (S11).

For example, if the current balance is 1000 $ (S10, YES), the charge management unit 9 is based on the content number "1" and the fee "10" previously stored in the storage money storage unit 11. Executes a charging process (S12).
The charging management unit 9 stores the charging storage unit 11 as a result of the charging process.
Is updated to '$ 990', and the execution unit 3
Reads out the balance information stored in the charging storage unit 11, updates the balance information in the storage unit 4, displays on the display unit 6 whether there is any other content to be used, and confirms with the user (S13).

When there is another content to be used (S1
3, YES), the user repeats the input in steps 3 and 5 from the input unit 5 to execute the billing process.
On the other hand, in the confirmation of step 13, when all the charging processes for the content to be used are completed (S 13, NO), the user notifies the execution unit 3 from the input unit 5 that there is no other content to be used, and executes the execution. The unit 3 issues a command to the control unit 8 to acquire the content from the MO disk 21.

Here, the control unit 8 executes a process of acquiring contents used by the user from the MO disk 21 in the MO disk drive unit 12. Note that the content in the MO disk 21 is stored in an encrypted form in a file format that cannot be read by all computers in order to prevent use by unauthorized copying. The control unit 8 controls the reproduction unit 10 to read, for example, information on the storage location of the content as shown in FIG. The reproduction unit 10 reads out information on the storage position of the content and stores it in the charging storage unit 11 (S14).
The information on the storage location of the content shown in FIG. 6 includes the storage location of key information for decrypting each content encrypted in a file format that cannot be read by the host computer 1 and the leading cluster number of each content. The control unit 8 manages the information in association with each content number and each content issuing company.

The control unit 8 also stores the content number “1” previously input by the user and the content issuing company name “A”.
As key information corresponding to “company”, for example, control is performed to read a directory entry as shown in FIG. 7A and a FAT as shown in FIG. 7B, and the reproducing unit 10 stores the directory entry and the FAT. Readout and billing storage unit 11
(S14). The directory entry contains information for decrypting the encrypted content,
The first cluster of the file name irregularly scattered in the MO disk is indicated, the storage location of the file after the first cluster is indicated in the FAT, and the cluster number in the FAT is not a complete number but a cluster in some places. The numbers are stored in a state where they are missing.

In this state, when the control unit 8 executes the decryption program provided together with the contents (S15), FIG.
Generate a complete FAT as shown in (b). here,
The control unit 8 inputs the directory entry and the FAT into the decryption program (S16) and performs control to connect all the clusters, so that the reproduction unit 10 reproduces the composited content as shown in FIG. (S1
7).

The control unit 8 confirms whether or not the reproduction of all the contents to be used has been completed (S18). If there is another content to be reproduced (S18, YES), the processing of steps 15 to 17 is performed. The processing is executed until the reproduction of all the contents used in order is completed. When the reproduction of all the contents to be used is completed (S18, N
O), the control unit 8 notifies the user of the content that the reproduction of the content has ended (S19). In this state, the user can freely execute the content.

The software usage management system of the present invention stores balance information in both the storage unit 4 of the host computer 1 and the accounting storage unit 11 of the optical disk information management device 2 as shown in FIG. I have. FIG. 9A shows balance information in the storage unit 4 of the host computer 1, and this balance information is
Updated each time the content is used. FIG. 9B shows balance information in the charging storage unit 11 of the optical disc information management device 2, and this balance information is periodically updated by the execution unit 3 to the same information as the storage unit 4. Since the balance information stored in the charging storage unit 11 has accumulated history, it is possible for the business operator to easily check the balance information, and to check the situation when the balance is operated improperly. Can be. Therefore, illegal use of the content can be prevented.

The software usage management system of the present invention can provide the following services to the user.
First, when the content user uses a lot of content and the balance is small, the control unit 8 reads a service table as shown in FIG. 10 from the MO disk 21 and executes a process such as a lottery. It is possible to provide a service in which the obtained fee is loaded on the balance. Secondly,
For example, a discount table as shown in FIG. 11 is stored in the MO disk 21, and the control unit 8 refers to the table and can provide a service for discounting from a normal fee when the corresponding content is used. Becomes

In the embodiment described above, the CD-
The application program is provided in the ROM 22, but the storage medium of the program is not limited to this, and other storage media such as a floppy disk, a magneto-optical disk, and a magnetic tape may be used depending on a computer constituting the system. Can also be used. Further, as the predetermined information provided by the business on the MO disk 21, for example, a structured document with a tag, key information, a composite program, information on the storage location of the content, coupon information, and the like, and each content is further provided. However, the storage medium of this program is not limited to this, and other storage media such as a floppy disk, CD-ROM, and magnetic tape can be used according to the computer constituting the system.

[0041]

As described above, according to the software usage management system of the present invention, the information that is the basis of the fee to be paid is generated based on the usage fee corresponding to the number of times the content is used and the usage time. The user of the content can pay a fee according to the frequency of use of the content.

According to the software usage management system of the present invention, the contents in the storage medium can be stored in a file format that cannot be read by the computer system.
Even if the storage medium is illegally copied by another person, illegal use of the content can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a processing flow of the software use management system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a processing flow of the software use management system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a data structure of an MO disk.

FIG. 5 is an example of a tagged structured document.

FIG. 6 shows information on a storage position of a content.

FIG. 7 is an example of key information.

FIG. 8 is an example of a structure of a content in an MO disk.

FIG. 9 is an example of balance information.

FIG. 10 is an example of a service table.

FIG. 11 is an example of a discount table.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 host computer 2 optical disk information management device 3 execution unit 4 storage unit 5 input unit 6 display unit 7 CD-ROM drive unit 8 control unit 9 charging management unit 10 playback unit 11 charging storage unit 12 MO disk drive unit 21 MO disk 22 CD-ROM

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A software application comprising: an acquisition unit for acquiring billing information provided together with a content; and a billing management unit for executing a predetermined billing process based on the billing information acquired when the content is used. Management system. 2. The software use management system according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition means includes means for reading out the billing information from a storage medium in which the billing information is stored together with the content in a predetermined format. Management system. 3. The software use management system according to claim 1, wherein the charge management means includes a charge storage means for storing a result of the charge processing. 4. The software use management system according to claim 1, further comprising means for ejecting the storage medium when a result of the charging process by the charging management unit does not satisfy a predetermined specific value. Characterized software usage management system. 5. The software use management system according to claim 1, further comprising means for executing a predetermined service when a result of the charging process of the charging management means satisfies a predetermined specific value. Software usage management system characterized by the following. 6. The software use management system according to claim 1, further comprising: means for executing a discount by referring to discount information of each content usage fee included in the provided billing information. Characterized software usage management system. 7. The software usage management system according to claim 2, wherein: a position information generating unit for generating information on a storage position of the content on a recording medium for storing the content; and a storage position generated by the position information generating unit. A software use management system comprising a reproducing unit for reproducing a content from a storage medium based on information. 8. The software usage management system according to claim 7, wherein the location information generating means generates information on a storage location of the content according to a program provided with the content. 9. The software usage management system according to claim 7, wherein the information on the storage location generated by the location information generating means is managed in association with each content and each company which issues the content. Software usage management system characterized by the following. 10. The software usage management system according to claim 7, further comprising: means for activating the position information generating means when a specific condition is satisfied in the charging processing by the charging management means. Software use management system.