Electronic album providing system and file providing system

• US 20090138533A1
• Filed: 09/08/2008
• Published: 05/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nikon Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nikon Corporation
• Inventors: Hasumi, Tomohisa, Iwasaki, Mayuko, Nakamura, Shoei, Kimura, Keita
• Granted Patent: US 8,386,417 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

The electronic album providing system, with which publishing and viewing of an electronic album by a system user is possible, includes: a first decision unit that detects whether or not a designated reader who has been designated by a publisher has viewed the album, and that decides that a first condition has become valid when a number of persons who have completed viewing to a total number of the designated readers reaches a predetermined value; a second decision unit that decides that a second condition has become valid when a time limit for publishing the album that has been set in advance arrives; and a deletion unit that performs deletion control of the album when at least one of the first condition and the second condition becomes valid.

Claims

1. An electronic album providing system with which publishing and viewing of an electronic album by a system user is possible, the system comprising:

a first decision unit that detects whether or not a designated reader who has been designated by a publisher has viewed the album, and that decides that a first condition has become valid when a number of persons who have completed viewing to a total number of the designated readers reaches a predetermined value;

a second decision unit that decides that a second condition has become valid when a time limit for publishing the album that has been set in advance arrives; and

a deletion unit that performs deletion control of the album when at least one of the first condition and the second condition becomes valid.

3. An electronic album providing system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a designation cancellation unit that, according to cancellation input by the publisher, cancels the designation of any desired reader who has been temporarily designated.

4. An electronic album providing system according to claim 1, wherein

in the deletion control, the deletion unit asks the publisher whether or not he consents to deletion, and deletes the album if the publisher has consented to its deletion.

5. An electronic album providing system according to claim 1, wherein

the first decision unit recognizes an opposite party, to whom the publisher has transmitted an electronic mail inviting him to refer to the album, as being the designated reader.

6. An electronic album providing system according to claim 1, wherein

the first decision unit recognizes the designated reader who has performed a predetermined actuation to complete viewing, as being a designated reader who has completed viewing.

7. An electronic album providing system according to claim 1, wherein

the time limit for publishing the album can be set to any desired time by the publisher.

2. An electronic album providing system with which publishing and viewing of an electronic album by a system user is possible, the system comprising:

a first decision unit that detects whether or not a designated reader who has been designated by the publisher has viewed the album, and that decides that a first condition has become valid when a number of persons who have completed viewing to a total number of the designated readers reaches a predetermined value;

a second decision unit that decides that a second condition has become valid when a predetermined album publishing period elapses;

a third decision unit that decides that a third condition has become valid when a total number of times that the album has been viewed has reached a predetermined number of times; and

a deletion unit that performs deletion control of the album when at least one of the first condition through the third condition becomes valid.

8. An electronic album providing system according to claim 2, further comprising:

a designation cancellation unit that, according to cancellation input by the publisher, cancels the designation of any desired reader who has been once designated.

9. An electronic album providing system according to claim 2, wherein

in the deletion control, the deletion unit asks the publisher whether or not he consents to deletion, and deletes the album if the publisher has consented to its deletion.

10. An electronic album providing system according to claim 2, wherein

the first decision unit recognizes an opposite party, to whom the publisher has transmitted an electronic mail inviting him to refer to the album, as being the designated reader.

11. An electronic album providing system according to claim 2, wherein

the first decision unit recognizes a designated reader who has performed a predetermined actuation to complete viewing, as being a designated reader who has completed viewing.

12. An electronic album providing system according to claim 2, wherein

the time limit for publishing the album can be set to any desired time by the publisher.

13. A file providing system with which publishing and utilization of a file, or of a file group consisting of a plurality of files, by a system user is possible, the system comprising:

a first decision unit that detects whether or not a designated user who has been designated by the publisher has utilized the file or the file group, and that decides that a first condition has become valid when a number of persons who have completed utilization to a total number of the designated users reaches a predetermined value;

a second decision unit that decides that a second condition has become valid when a time limit that has been set in advance for publishing the file or file group arrives; and

a control unit that performs deletion control or movement control of the file or of the file group when at least one of the first condition and the second condition becomes valid.

14. A file providing system according to claim 13, wherein

permission/prohibition of deletion or movement is settable for each file in the file group, and

in the deletion control or movement control, the control unit does not perform deletion or movement of those files for which prohibition is set.

15. A file providing system according to claim 13, wherein

in the deletion control or movement control for a file group for which the second condition has become valid, the control unit does not perform deletion or movement of files for which a period of time from date and time at which the file has been published is shorter than a predetermined period.

16. A file providing system according to claim 15, wherein

the control unit deletes files for which the deletion or movement has not been performed, at a point in time at which a period of time from the publication date and time reaches the predetermined period.