Contents providing method, contents providing system, and contents server

• US 20050240597A1
• Filed: 04/12/2005
• Published: 10/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ueda, Daisuke, Yamamoto, Takateru, Kishi, Nobuya, Imayoshi, Kenichiroh
• Granted Patent: US 7,680,863 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1485 Tariff-related aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

In response to a contents data transmission request from a user terminal, a contents storage server encodes a contents data meeting the transmission request by vector coding or hierarchical coding and transmits the encoded contents data to the user terminal. The user terminal having received the encoded data notifies a charging server of information on a resolution selected by the user and then receives information needed for a corresponding decoding process from the charging server. The charging server carries out a charging process based on the received information on the resolution.

Claims

1. A contents providing method applicable to a contents providing system including a contents server and a user terminal which are connected to each other via a network, the method comprising:

a step in which the user terminal issues a contents data transmission request to the contents server;

a step in which the contents server encodes a contents data meeting the transmission request into an encoded data capable of being restored to the contents data with a quality level which varies according to which of decoding processes is selected;

a step in which the contents server transmits the encoded data to the user terminal and then disconnects from the user terminal;

a step in which the user terminal receives an operation of inputting information on a quality level desired by a user with which the contents data meeting the transmission request is to be restored;

a step in which the user terminal establishes connection with the contents server and transmits the information on the desired quality level thus received to the contents server;

a step in which after having received the information on the desired quality level from the user terminal the contents server transmits information needed for a decoding process for obtaining the desired quality level to the user terminal and then disconnects from the user terminal; and

a step in which the contents server carries out a charging process with respect to the user based on the information on the desired quality level received.

3. The contents providing method according to claim 1, further comprising a step in which the contents server transmits charge information on the contents data meeting the transmission request and information on an addressee to which the information on the desired quality is to be transmitted, as attachments to the encoded data transmitted to the user terminal.

4. The contents providing method according to claim 3, further comprising a step in which the contents server transmits information needed for a decoding process corresponding to a quality level not higher than a predetermined quality level, as an attachment to the encoded data transmitted to the user terminal.

5. The contents providing method according to claim 4, wherein:

the contents data comprises image data; and

the encoded data is a data which is capable of being restored to any one of image data having different amounts of information according to a selected one of the decoding processes.

6. The contents providing method according to claim 5, wherein the encoded data is a data generated by vector coding from the contents data meeting the transmission request from the user terminal.

7. The contents providing method according to claim 5, wherein the encoded data is a data generated by hierarchical coding from the contents data meeting the transmission request from the user terminal.

8. The contents providing method according to claim 5, further comprising a step in which the contents server transmits a plurality of sample image data having different amounts of information, as an attachment to the encoded data transmitted to the user terminal.

2. A contents providing method applicable to a contents providing system including a contents server and a user terminal which are connected to each other via a network, the method comprising:

a step in which the user terminal issues a contents data transmission request to the contents server;

a step in which the contents server encodes a contents data meeting the transmission request into an encoded data capable of being restored to the contents data with a quality level which varies according to which of decoding processes is selected;

a step in which the contents server transmits the encoded data and information needed for a decoding process for decoding the encoded data to the user terminal and then disconnects from the user terminal;

a step in which the user terminal receives an operation of inputting information on a quality level desired by a user with which the contents data meeting the transmission request is to be restored;

a step in which before using the information needed for the decoding process for obtaining the desired quality level, the user terminal establishes connection with the contents server and transmits the information on the desired quality level thus received to the contents server; and

a step in which the contents server carries out a charging process with respect to the user based on the information on the desired quality level received.

9. A contents providing system comprising a contents server and a user terminal which are connected to each other via a network, the contents server comprising:

a recording section configured to record a plurality of contents data;

an encoding section configured to encode a contents data meeting a transmission request from the user terminal such that the contents data is capable of being restored with a quality level which varies according to which of decoding processes is selected;

a charge information recording section configured to record a quality level made to correspond to a charge level and an information item on a decoding process for each of the contents data recorded by the recording section;

a transmitting section configured to transmit the contents data encoded by the encoding section and information needed for a corresponding decoding process to the user terminal; and

a charging section configured to receive an information item on a decoding process applied to the contents data meeting the transmission request and then carry out a charging process based on the information item received, the user terminal comprising;

a receiving section configured to receive an operation of inputting information on a quality level desired by a user with which the contents data meeting the transmission request is to be restored; and

a notifying section configured to notify the contents server of the received information on the desired quality level.

10. A contents server connected to a user terminal via a network, comprising:

a recording section configured to record a plurality of contents data;

an encoding section configured to encode a contents data meeting a transmission request from the user terminal such that the contents data is capable of being restored with a quality level which varies according to which of decoding processes is selected;

a charge information recording section configured to record a quality level made to correspond to a charge level and an information item on a decoding process for each of the contents data recorded by the recording section;

a transmitting section configured to transmit the contents data encoded by the encoding section and information needed for a corresponding decoding process to the user terminal; and

a charging section configured to receive an information item on a decoding process applied to the contents data meeting the transmission request and then carry out a charging process based on the information item received.