System and methods for providing a billing system for use in a content distribution service
First Claim
1. A system for distributing a debt in a content providing service, the system being communicably connected to content storage means in which one or more digital contents are stored and also communicably connected to additional-information storage means in which additional information offered for being provided by one or more additional-information providers is stored, the system having a capability of distributing a debt such that when additional information is transmitted to an user associated with a digital content, part or all of a debt imposed upon the user as a result of transmission of the digital content to the user is distributed to the additional-information provider of the additional information, wherein the digital content and the additional information are selected from the content storage means and the additional-information storage means in accordance with a selection criterion, in terms of the debt distribution, designated by the user, and part or all of the debt imposed upon the user is distributed to the additional-information provider in accordance with the selection result.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
To provide a billing system for use in a content distribution service, in which a digital content requested by a user is provided to the user in accordance with a payment condition specified by the user without causing an unexpectedly high fee to be charged to the user. [Solving Means] In retrieval of digital contents, digital contents are selected such that the total fee for the digital contents to be selected does not become greater than the sum of the maximum value indicated by a user profile table 300 and the total discount value associated with selected advertisement information. In retrieval of advertisement information, advertisement information is selected such that the total fee for the selected digital contents does not become greater than the sum of the maximum value indicated by the user profile table 300 and the total discount value associated with the additional information to be selected.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A system for distributing a debt in a content providing service, the system being communicably connected to content storage means in which one or more digital contents are stored and also communicably connected to additional-information storage means in which additional information offered for being provided by one or more additional-information providers is stored, the system having a capability of distributing a debt such that when additional information is transmitted to an user associated with a digital content, part or all of a debt imposed upon the user as a result of transmission of the digital content to the user is distributed to the additional-information provider of the additional information,
wherein the digital content and the additional information are selected from the content storage means and the additional-information storage means in accordance with a selection criterion, in terms of the debt distribution, designated by the user, and part or all of the debt imposed upon the user is distributed to the additional-information provider in accordance with the selection result.
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2. A billing system for use in a content providing service, the system being communicably connected to content storage means in which one or more digital contents are stored and also communicably connected to additional-information storage means in which additional information offered for being provided by one or more additional-information providers is stored, the system having a capability of distributing a payment value such that when additional information is transmitted to an user associated with a digital content, part or all of the payment value charged to the user as a result of transmission of the digital content to the user is distributed to the additional-information provider of the additional information, the system comprising:
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distribution-manner information storage means for storing distribution-manner information indicating a manner of distributing the payment value, designated by the user;
content selection means for selecting a digital content from the digital contents stored in the content storage means;
additional-information selection means for selecting additional information from the additional information stored in the additional-information storage means;
additional-information linkage means for making a link between the digital content selected by the content selection means and the additional information selected by the additional-information selection means;
content transmission means for transmitting the digital content linked to the additional information to the user; and
payment value distribution means for distributing part or all of the payment value charged to the user to the additional-information provider, in accordance with the selection result made by the content selection means and in accordance with the selection result made by the additional-information selection means, wherein one or both of the content selection means and the additional-information selection means make a selection in accordance with the distribution-manner information stored in the distribution-manner information storage means and in accordance with a selection result made by the other one of the content selection means and the additional-information selection means. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of distributing a debt for use in a content distribution service such that when additional information offered for being provided by an additional-information provider is transmitted to a user associated with a digital content, part or all of a debt imposed upon the user as a result of transmission of the digital content to the user is distributed to the additional-information provider, the method comprising the steps of:
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selecting a digital content and additional information from digital contents and additional information respectively stored in content storage means and additional-information storage means in accordance with a selection criterion, in terms of the debt distribution, designated by the user; and
distributing part or all of the debt imposed upon the user to the additional-information provider in accordance with the selection result.
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13. A computer-readable storage medium in which is stored a debt distribution program for controlling a computer to execute a process of distributing a debt such that when additional information offered for being provided by an additional-information provider is transmitted to a user associated with a digital content, part or all of a debt imposed upon the user as a result of transmission of the digital content to the user is distributed to the additional-information provider, the process comprising the steps of:
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selecting a digital content and additional information from digital contents and additional information respectively stored in content storage means and additional-information storage means in accordance with a selection criterion, in terms of the debt distribution, designated by the user; and
distributing part or all of the debt imposed upon the user to the additional-information provider in accordance with the selection result.
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Specification