WO2002039312A1

WO2002039312A1 - An electronic book service system and the advertising method using the system

Info

Publication number: WO2002039312A1
Application number: PCT/KR2001/000720
Authority: WO
Inventors: Young-Kwon Jun
Original assignee: Trust & Obey Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2000-11-11
Filing date: 2001-05-02
Publication date: 2002-05-16
Also published as: AU2001256808A1

Abstract

Electronic book system and advertising method using thereof is provided. By performing electronic book browser, electronic book system provides the client with text information which can be converted to voice. TTS program is installed in the server or client computer and text file that can be converted to voice information is sent from server to client computer with predetermined format to be displayed on the screen with voice by the browser installed in client computer. Also, by inserting advertisement which is relevant to the contents of electronic book through the browser, useful information can be sent to the reader, providing effective advertisement method.

Description

AN ELECTRONIC BOOK SERVICE SYSTEM AND THE ADVERTISING

METHOD USING THE SYSTEM

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a multimedia electronic book system and advertising method using the system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electronic book system which receives as an input the information data that is converted or convertible to voice information and produces voice information as an output by running electronic book browser, and also to an advertising method by which advertisement is displayed on the electronic book browser having advertising function.

Background Art

The electronic book is considered to be a revolutionary invention that can be comparable to Gutenberg's invention of printing, and is generally defined in two ways. In a broad sense, an electronic book means all forms of printing that use any form of electronic media including off-line system such as CD-ROM and on-line system such as Internet or computer communication. In a narrow sense, the electronic book means digitalized book which is made by applying HTML(Hypertext Markup Language), the standard language for Internet, and XML(eXtended Markup Language), the language expected to be the next generation standard language, and can be read through a personal computer or other electronic book terminal. In general, the electronic book means that in a narrow sense.

Generally, an electronic book means an electronic reading device, that is, the specially designed device for reading information data, which has been developed in the form of using PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) as on-line publishing develops, and has the meaning of hardware. Though the concept is still not precisely defined, the term 'electronic book' has been used to mean comprehensively a variety of things such as the book downloaded from Internet, the viewer for reading this book, or a hardware electronic book such as a mobile computer. But, the electronic book means not only electronic terminal, as is considered generally, but a form of electronic publishing. In this sense, the system that can read contents downloaded from Internet through viewer or browser can also be regarded as an electronic book. In other words, the electronic book means not only the contents downloaded from Internet but also a software and hardware system which is able to read these contents electronically with a viewer.

As the development of information technology, there is needed media for communicating information without using paper, and electronic book has been developed. But most electronic books use memory device, CD or tape as a storing device. Therefore, there is limit in the capacity of stored data and price becomes high. To overcome this limit of capacity and price, Internet server is used as a data storing place and the user selected data is downloaded from the Internet server through communication means. These electronic book devices connected through computer communications and wired or wireless telephone line has the function of multimedia electronic book that existing computer or PDA does not have, and the need of paper is greatly reduced. An electronic book using CD-ROM has been introduced by SONY and TOSHIBA, but they were not widely used since they had little advantage against paper book and still had the limit of CD-ROM. In addition, Text-to-Speech method has not been realized in the prior art electronic viewer and no electronic book has function of advertising.

Disclosure of the Invention

One object of the present invention is to provide electronic book service system which employs Text-to-Speech technology.

Another object of the present invention is to provide electronic book service system which produces voice output in real time, on line or of line, using TTS engine. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide electronic book service system which can convert text data into voice information and store this voice information in MP3(MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3) file format.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an advertising method using the electronic book browser which has the function of advertising.

To achieve these objects, the electronic book service system of the present invention uses network system composed of one or more of server computers which provide electronic book service and a plurality of client computers which can communicate information with said server computer through communication means such as Internet, and comprises: initial setup procedure wherein TTS(Text-To-Speech) program which converts text data into voice information is installed on the server computer or on the client computer that can access the server computer, second setup procedure which checks whether the electronic book browser is installed on the client computer connected to the server computer by using registration information of the client computer and, when the electronic book browser is not installed, installs the electronic book browser, according to the intention of the client, by downloading the electronic book browser program to the client computer through communication means, and execution procedure wherein electronic book browser is executed in the client computer to generate voice information which is converted from the downloaded data that is convertible to voice information.

According to the detailed feature of the present invention, in electronic book service system of the present invention, above execution procedure comprises the steps of displaying the information of data which is convertible to voice information on the client computer connected to the server computer so that the client can acknowledge the information, providing the server with the information of client's selection which is input by the client through input device connected to the client computer, loading files which are selected by client, and related multimedia files from database, encoding said loaded files into predetermined file format, and transferring the encoded data to the client computer through communication means.

According to the feature of electronic book browser to perform advertising according to the present invention, the electronic book browser has a plurality of frames which can process multimedia data. According to the detailed feature of electronic book browser to perform advertising according to the present invention, the electronic book browser includes TTS program which can convert electronic book data into voice information.

According to another detailed feature of electronic book browser to perform advertising according to the present invention, advertisement is displayed inside the frame which composes electronic book browser.

According to still another detailed feature of electronic book browser to perform advertising according to the present invention, advertisement is displayed on the tool-bar of the electronic book browser. According to yet another detailed feature of electronic book browser to perform advertising according to the present invention, one frame of electronic browser is used exclusively for advertisement.

According to yet another detailed feature of electronic book browser to perform advertising according to the present invention, advertisement is displayed in the form of banner and linked to the home page of client of advertisement. According to yet another detailed feature of electronic book browser to perform advertising according to the present invention, electronic book data is transferred from server computer to client computer when client computer and server computer is connected by communication means such as Internet.

According to yet another detailed feature of electronic book browser to perform advertising according to the present invention, the transfer of electronic book data is performed in real time.

Brief Description of Drawings

Fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of electronic book service system according to the present invention,

Fig. 2 is an illustration of electronic book browser,

Fig. 3 illustrates setting of voice communication character by using the electronic book browser of the present invention, and

Fig. 4 through Fig. 7 illustrate advertising method using the electronic book browser.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

The electronic book service system according to the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. Fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the electronic book service system according to the present invention. The electronic book service system according to the present invention first installs TTS (Text-To-Speech) engine on the server computer or client computer, and then performs the function of electronic book by executing multimedia electronic book browser.

TTS engine can be installed on the personal computer of the user or on a high performance computer like server computer. TTS engine can convert text data into voice information in real time, so the effort of a reader is reduced since the reader doesn't have to read documents in person. After installing TTS engine on the computer, the input text file which is converted from novel, poem, document or news article, etc., can be output as a voice, making it possible to use the electronic book system as a voice book. Moreover, the electronic book can be used as a multimedia electronic book, since electronic book browser can have visual function with image and animation as well as audio function.

Multimedia electronic book browser program with multimedia function is separated from TTS engine and by installing multimedia electronic book browser program on the computer after installing TTS engine, voice which is output from TTS engine can be combined with image or animation providing multimedia electronic book. In addition, since electronic book browser can be used under the HTML or XML environment based on the Internet, user can experience multimedia function based on Internet, on line or off line.

To carry out the function of electronic book service system according to the present invention, TTS engine should be installed on the computer which may be a personal computer or a high performance computer such as a server computer. TTS engine can be installed in three ways. First, TTS engine can be installed on the server computer and is executed when user connects to the server computer on-line. Next, TTS engine can be installed on the client computer by downloading from the server computer when the user connects to the server computer. Finally, in case user cannot access the server computer on-line, user can install TTS engine program in person using the storing media such as CD which contains TTL engine (Step SI).

After TTS engine is installed on the computer which can be a personal or a server computer, multimedia electronic book browser should be installed on the user's computer. As in the case of installing TTS engine, multimedia electronic book browser can be installed by downloading from server computer through Internet or LAN, or by using the storing media storing install program of multimedia electronic book browser (Step S2).

Next, the operation of electronic book browser which is executed on the client computer will be described. The basic format of the multimedia electronic book browser program installed on the client computer is illustrated in Fig. 2. In addition to the electronic book function, the program has function of playing multimedia files similar to the function of existing program such as Realplayer or Winamp. Existing program such as Realplayer or Winamp has the function of playing multimedia files by which music files can be played on the computer, and also has the function similar to general audio system such as 'Play', 'Forward', 'Rewind', 'Pause', 'Stop' and 'Mute', which can be operated by short key, and the function of repeating and showing the file information (the content of file). And existing electronic book viewer can show text file through display and has the function of search, drag & drop, and bookmark.

The multimedia electronic book browser program according to the present invention can show text on the center window which has the function of showing text file, image text, still image or moving picture. Basically, multimedia electronic book browser program can be used under the HTML or XML environment. The function used in the HTML or XML environment includes hyperlink and the multimedia function of inserting image, animation, moving picture or music file.

The submenu of 'Program' menu includes 'File', 'View', 'Play', Option', 'Upgrade' and 'Help'. In detail, 'File' menu includes 'Open', 'Close', 'Save as Another Name' and 'Exit'. The menu 'Save as Another Name' saves file not only as another name but as another format other than text file such as MP3 music file by specifying file format.

When user clicks 'Open' menu in the 'File' menu, the program reads electronic book contents information stored in the predetermined directory of user computer, or when client is connected to the server on-line through the communication means such as Internet, the program displays electronic book information which is convertible to voice to the client computer to provide electronic book data that client needs. This information can be transferred in real time due to the development of communication technology. Electronic book data can be in the form of clipping service of magazine, news or printed books. 'Open' menu displays list of files and has the function of showing brief file information which shows the content of voice files stored in the form of text or MP3 music file.

'View' menu includes the function of 'Standard', 'Minimum', 'Picture' and 'Content'. The function 'Standard' shows file in the predetermined basic form. The function 'Minimum' shows only menu item and the function 'Picture' shows menu item and picture. The function 'Content' shows menu item and the content of text. 'Play' menu includes the function of 'Play/Pause', 'Stop', 'Fast Backward' 'Rewind',

'Fast Forward', 'Repeat', 'Bookmark', 'Speed', and 'Volume'. The function 'Play/Pause', 'Stop', 'Fast Backward' 'Rewind', 'Fast Forward', 'Repeat', 'Speed', and 'Volume' are the same as the function of general audio system, and the function 'Bookmark' is function marking bookmark which user can start from the marked position by marking the position. 'Option' menu includes the function of 'Pause', 'Repeat', 'Background' and 'Voice'.

The function 'Pause' and 'Repeat' are the same as the function of general audio system, and the function 'Background' is the function that can insert background image The function 'Voice' has the function of setting Text-to-Speech engine and selection of avatar which is a virtual character using virtual animation transferring voice, which is selected by the user of electronic book browser as shown in Fig. 3.

'Upgrade' menu has the function which upgrades program. Program upgrade can be done automatically by connecting to the server on-line or by providing user with upgrade program so that the program detects automatically the need of upgrade and do upgrade when user clicks 'Upgrade' menu. 'Help' menu has the function of 'Help', 'Registration' and 'Registration Information'.

The function of 'Help' and 'Registration Information' are the same as general programs. By using the function of 'Registration' user can be registered or restricted in use of the program. For example, user can use the program for 15 or 30 days, or for 10 or 15 minutes in a row. (Step S3).

When client send signal requesting text file to be read into the electronic book browser using mouse or keyboard, the server is provided with this signal through Internet. (Step S4).

The service server analyzes the signal sent from the client computer and reads documents which is selected by the user and related multimedia files from the data base. (Step S5).

Then, service server transfers file read from the database to the client computer using communication means. Transferred files are in the special format which is encoded so that only the electronic book browser program provided by the server computer can read. In other words, these files are processed in special code so that they can be decoded only in the electronic book browser of the present invention. (Step S6).

TTS program is executed in the client computer and the text files transferred from the server computer are converted into voice and output. Play operation is the same as described above. (Step S7).

Fig. 4 through Fig. 7 illustrate frames of electronic book browser to carry out advertising method according to the present invention. In the browser, frames are sections that can be controlled independently to represent web. This effect can be achieved by making several independent HTML files and combining themselves in one master HTML file so that these files can perform systematically. When user requests web page which uses frames, the requested address is the address of master file which defines actual frames and as a result of request, each HTML file that has visual region of its own is returned. When a link is selected in one frame, the result can appear in other frame (or in the same frame). In general, selection menu is in one frame and the file that are selected by the menu is in other frame.

Fig. 4 is an example of advertisement which appear in the frame composing browser. Several advertisement can appear between paragraphs or between paragraphs of frame representing the contents of a book or between chapters of frames.

Advertisement can appear on the tool-bar of electronic book browser as shown in Fig. 5 or one frame can be used as an advertisement frame exclusively as shown in Fig. 6. Advertisement in the form of banner can be linked to the homepage of client company of the advertisement or other site which the client company of the advertisement wants. Otherwise, advertisement may not appear always but may be represented as a voice when user puts mouse on the advertisement region. Also, as shown in Fig. 7, predetermined word in the text can be in the form of HTML, and advertisement can be displayed when mouse is positioned on this word or this word is clicked. To enhance the advertising effect, the advertisement in the form of HTML can be in the form of treasure hunting so that predetermined gifts can be offered when predetermined specific advertisement is clicked. By executing multimedia electronic book browser program, user can listen voice converted from text file from the server computer, or can listen when convenient after downloading in MP3 file format. Also user can make text file and input into multimedia electronic book browser. Then client is connected to the server computer and text is converted into voice or MP3 file so that user can listen. Prior art electronic book viewer has the function of displaying text file. But the multimedia electronic book browser according to the present invention can not only show text file through display but also carry out multimedia function providing user with much convenience.

As described above, by adding TTS engine to the function of player, the multimedia electronic book browser according to the present invention outputs voice from the text file in real time, on line or off line. The multimedia electronic book browser according to the present invention can show not only text file but also image file, moving picture, music file and animation and can carry out the multimedia function. By accomplishing these functions, the present invention provides electronic book which has the convenience of paper book and the information function of electronic technology, and can be downloaded from the service server without using separate recording device such as a paper book or CD-ROM. Also, electronic book browser has the function of advertising as well as text- to-voice converting function so that user can obtain necessary information through advertisement on the electronic book browser. Therefore, the multimedia electronic book browser according to the present invention can enhance the effect of advertisement and by providing electronic book for free by using the income obtained from the advertisement, help the people access many useful information.

Claims

ClaimsWhat is claimed is;

1. An electronic book service system, which uses network system composed of one or more of server computers which provide electronic book service and a plurality of client computers which can communicate information with said server computer through communication means such as Internet, comprising: initial setup procedure wherein TTS(Text-To-Speech) program which converts text data into voice information is installed on the server computer or on the client computer that can access the server computer, second setup procedure which checks whether the electronic book browser is installed on the client computer connected to the server computer by using registration information of the client computer and, when the electronic book browser is not installed, installs the electronic book browser, according to the intention of the client, by downloading the electronic book browser program to the client computer through communication means, and execution procedure wherein elecfronic book browser is executed in the client computer to generate voice information from the data which is downloaded from the serve computer and is convertible to voice information.

2. The elecfronic book service system of claim 1, wherein said execution procedure comprises the steps of displaying the information of data which is convertible to voice information on the client computer connected to the server computer so that the client can acknowledge providing the server with the information of client's selection which is input by the client through input device connected to the client computer, loading files, which are selected by client, and related multimedia files from database, encoding said loaded files into predetermined file format, and transferring the encoded data to the client computer through communication means.

3. The electronic book service system of claim 1 or 2, wherein said initial setup procedure comprises the step of installing TTS program on the client computer by downloading TTS program from the server computer.

4. The electronic book service system of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said initial setup procedure comprises the step of installing TTS program on the client computer by using the storing media which contains said TTS program.

5. The electronic book service system of claim 1, wherein said electronic book browser is provided with the function that converts the voice information which is converted by TTS program into mp3 file.

6. The electronic book service system of claim 1, wherein the communicator of the voice information which has been converted by TTS program is a character, to be selected by user, which makes use of virtual animation.

7. The electronic book service system of claim 1, wherein the data provided by the electronic book browser is in the form of clipping service of magazine, news and books.

8. The electronic book service system of claim 1, wherein the data provided by the electronic book browser is in the form of multimedia information including voice information, still image and moving picture.

9. An advertising method using the electronic book which provides electronically readable contents by using the electronic book browser, wherein advertising mark is displayed on the predetermined area of the electronic book browser.

10. The advertising method using the elecfronic book according to claim 9, wherein said electronic book browser contains a plurality of frames which can perform multimedia function.

11. The advertising method using the elecfronic book according to claim 9, wherein said elecfronic book browser includes TTS program and provides voice information converted from electronic book data by the TTS program.

12. The advertising method using the electronic book according to claim 9, wherein said advertising mark is displayed inside the frame which composes the electronic book browser.

13. The advertising method using the electronic book according to claim 9, wherein said advertising mark is displayed on the tool bar of the electronic book browser.

14. The advertising method using the electronic book according to claim 9, wherein said advertising mark is displayed in the form of banner which is linked to the home page of the advertiser.

15. The advertising method using the electronic book according to claim 9, wherein predetermined word of the text is in the form of HTML link and corresponding advertisement is displayed when said predetermined word is clicked with the mouse.

16. The advertising method using the electronic book according to claim 15, wherein said predetermined words, in the form of HTML link are in the form of treasure hunting and gifts are presented when specific advertisement is clicked.

17. The advertising method using the electronic book according to claim 9, wherein said advertising mark is displayed between paragraphs in the frame representing the contents of the electronic book.

18. The advertising method using the electronic book according to claim 9, wherein said advertising mark is displayed between chapters in the frame representing the contents of the electronic book.

19. The advertising method using the electronic book according to claim 9, wherein said advertising mark is represented in such a way that voice of the corresponding advertisement is generated when user locates the mouse on the advertisement area.

20. The advertising method using the elecfronic book according to claim 9, wherein one frame of electronic browser is used exclusively for advertisement.