Content price control system, method and recording medium

• US 20050240534A1
• Filed: 04/18/2005
• Published: 10/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Solutions Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Solutions Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Akimoto, Naota, Kato, Taku, Yamamoto, Junichi, Matsukawa, Shinichi, Yamada, Masataka, Riku, Shinko, Nishizawa, Hidekazu
• Application Number:
  US11/107,753
• Publication Number:
  US 20050240534A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A content price control system according to an example of the invention comprises a unit which accepts identification data to identify a content, and route data showing a circulation route of the content, a unit which reads price control data in which the identification data and distribution data showing a price distributing rule of the content are corresponded to each other, from a recording unit and a unit which executes a process of distributing prices of the content to persons concerned with circulation engaged in circulation of the content, based on the distribution data corresponding to the identification data and the route data.

Claims

1. A content price control system comprising:

a unit which accepts content identification data to identify a digital content, and route data showing a circulation route of the digital content;

a unit which reads price control data in which the content identification data and distribution data showing a price distributing rule of the digital content are corresponded to each other, from a recording unit; and

an execution unit which executes a process of distributing prices of the digital content to persons concerned with circulation engaged in circulation of the digital content, based on the distribution data corresponding to the content identification data and the route data.

2. A content price control system according to claim 1, further comprising a unit which accepts a setting command of the price distributing rule about the persons concerned with circulation from the persons concerned with circulation, and sets the portion whose setting authority the persons concerned with circulation have of the distribution data based on the setting command.

3. A content price control system according to claim 1, wherein

the distribution data further comprises reference data showing a request destination to which dividend calculation is requested, and

the execution unit executes a process of providing a dividend calculation command to the request destination based on the reference data, and accepting a dividend calculation result from the request destination, and distributing prices of the digital content to the persons concerned with circulation based on the dividend calculation result.

4. A content price control system comprising:

a unit which accepts content identification data to identify an encrypted digital content, and route data showing a circulation route of the digital content;

a unit which reads price control data in which the content identification data and distribution data showing a price distributing rule of the digital content are corresponded to each other, from a recording unit; and

a unit which executes a process of distributing prices of the digital content to persons concerned with circulation engaged in circulation of the digital content, according to distribution of a decoding key for use in decoding the digital content, based on the distribution data corresponding to the content identification data and the route data.

5. A content price control system comprising:

a unit which accepts content identification data to identify a digital content, and route data showing a circulation route of the digital content;

a unit which reads price control data in which the content identification data, and distribution data showing a price setting rule set according to a accounting form of the digital content, and a price distributing rule of the digital content are corresponded to each other, from a recording unit;

a selecting unit which selects a program for executing a distribution process according to the accounting form by use of the distribution data and the route data as parameters, based on the price setting rule corresponding to the content identification data; and

a unit which executes a process of distributing prices of the digital content to persons concerned with circulation engaged in circulation of the digital content, based on the distribution data corresponding to the content identification data and the route data and the program selected by the selecting unit.

6. A local content price control system comprising:

a unit which accepts a dividend calculation command, from a content price control system which distributes prices of a digital content to persons concerned with circulation engaged in circulation of the digital content;

a unit which executes a dividend calculation, according to the calculation command, based on distribution data showing a price distributing rule of the digital content of local; and

a unit which provides a dividend calculation result to the content price control system.

7. A key control system comprising:

a key distributing unit which accepts content identification data to identify an encrypted digital content, and route data showing a circulation route of the digital content from a distribution destination of the digital content, and provides a decoding key corresponding,to the content identification data to the distribution destination;

a unit which reads price control data in which the content identification data and distribution data showing a price distributing rule of the digital content are corresponded to each other, from a recording unit;

an execution unit which executes a process of distributing prices of the digital content to persons concerned with circulation engaged in circulation of the digital content, based on the distribution data corresponding to the content identification data and the route data; and

an accounting unit which records price data obtained by the process by the execution unit.

8. A key control system according to claim 7, wherein

the key distributing unit accepts user ID showing the distribution destination from the distribution destination,

the key control system further comprises a unit which determines a group to which the distribution destination belongs based on the user ID, and changes the price data according to a specified discount rule according to the group to which the distribution destination belongs, and

the accounting unit records the price data which has been changed.

9. A key control system according to claim 7, further comprising a unit which accepts a setting command of a price distributing rule about the persons concerned with circulation from the persons concerned with circulation, and sets the portion whose setting authority the persons concerned with circulation have of the distribution data based on the setting command.

10. A key control system according to claim 7, wherein the distribution data further comprises

reference data showing a request destination to which a dividend calculation is requested, and

the execution unit executes a process of providing a dividend calculation command to the request destination based on the reference data, and accepting a dividend calculation result from the request destination, and distributing prices of the digital content to the persons concerned with circulation based on the dividend calculation result.

11. A content circulation system for distributing an encrypted digital content recorded in a content provision system to a distribution destination by a content distribution system, and distributing a decoding key for use in decoding the digital content to the distribution destination by a key control system,

the key control system comprising:

a unit which accepts content identification data to identify the digital content, and route data showing a circulation route of the digital content from the distribution destination, and provides the decoding key corresponding to the content identification data to the distribution destination;

a unit which reads price control data in which the content identification data and distribution data showing price distributing rule of the digital content are corresponded to each other, from a recording unit;

an execution unit which executes a process of distributing prices of the digital content to persons concerned with circulation engaged in circulation of the digital content, based on the distribution data corresponding to the content identification data and the route data; and

an accounting unit which records price data obtained by the process by the execution unit,

the content provision system executes a setting of the portion whose setting authority operator of the content provision system has of the distribution data, and

the content distribution system executes a setting of the portion whose setting authority operator of the content distribution system has of the distribution data.

12. A method of distributing prices of a digital content by a computer, comprising:

accepting content identification data to identify the digital content, and route data showing a circulation route of the digital content, and reading price control data in which the content identification data and distribution data showing a price distributing rule of the digital content are corresponded to each other, from a recording unit; and

executing a process of distributing prices of the digital content to persons concerned with circulation engaged in circulation of the digital content, based on the distribution data corresponding to the content identification data and the route data.

13. A recording medium for recording a program which causes a computer to function as:

a unit which accepts content identification data to identify a digital content, and route data showing a circulation route of the digital content;

a unit which reads price control data in which the content identification data and distribution data showing a price distributing rule of the digital content are corresponded to each other; and

an execution unit which executes a process of distributing prices of the digital content to persons concerned with circulation engaged in circulation of the digital content, based on the distribution data corresponding to the content identification data and the route data.

14. A recording medium according to claim 13, wherein the distribution data further comprises reference data showing a request destination to which dividend calculation is requested, and

the execution unit executes a process of providing a dividend calculation command to the request destination based on the reference data, and accepting a dividend calculation result from the request destination, and distributing prices of the digital content to the persons concerned with circulation based on the dividend calculation result.

15. A recording medium for recording a program which causes a computer to function as:

a unit which accepts a dividend calculation command, from a content price control system which distributes prices of a digital content to persons concerned with circulation engaged in circulation of the digital content;

a unit which executes a dividend calculation, according to the calculation command, based on distribution data showing a price distributing rule of the digital content of local; and

a unit which provides a dividend calculation result, to the content price control system.