INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM, INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM

• US 20090177556A1
• Filed: 01/08/2009
• Published: 07/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Matsuo, Takashi
• Granted Patent: US 10,360,544 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/123 Shopping for digital content
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2547 Third Party Billing, e.g. billing of advertiser
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47211 for requesting pay-per-view content payment schemes payment architectures or payment protocols G06Q20/00, G07F

Abstract

A system effectively performs content information acquisition processing and content purchase processing in which it is necessary to access different servers. If a user views information provided by an information providing server, for example, television program table information, and acquires content related to information selected from among pieces of information included in the television program table information, the user can transmit a content acquisition request including content specification information to a content providing server simply by dragging and dropping the selected information displayed on a display screen onto a toolbar included in a display unit or onto another server information display area. As a result, the user can effectively perform the selection and acquisition of content without switching between connections to various servers.

Claims

1. An information processing system comprising:

a content-management server for managing content of a client;

an information-providing server for performing information providing processing for the client; and

a client apparatus for displaying pieces of information provided by the information providing server in a first data display area in a display unit and transmitting to the content-management server or a content-purchase server a content purchase request including content specification information generated on the basis of information that is selected from among the pieces of information and dragged and dropped into a second data display area in the display unit.

2. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein the client apparatus reads out a user ID from an IC card, transmits the user ID to the content-management server, and displays information provided by the content-management server in the display unit.

3. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the client apparatus reads out a password or an electronic certification from an IC card, transmits the password or the electronic certification to the content management server, and displays information provided by the content management server in the display unit.

4. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein the client apparatus displays an IC card management toolbar in the second data display area and transmits to the content-management server or a content-purchase server a content purchase request including content specification information generated on the basis of information that is selected from among the pieces of information displayed in the first data display area and dragged and dropped into the IC card management toolbar.

5. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein the client apparatus reads out a user ID from an IC card, transmits the user ID to the content-management server, displays information provided by the content-management server in the second data display area, and transmits to the content-management server or a content-purchase server a content purchase request including content specification information generated on the basis of information that is selected from among the pieces of information displayed in the first data display area and dragged and dropped into the second data display area.

6. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein the client apparatus reads out a password or an electronic certification from an IC card, transmits the password or the electronic certification to the content management server, displays information provided by the content-management server in the second data display area, and transmits to the content-management server or a content-purchase server a content purchase request including content specification information generated on the basis of information that is selected from among the pieces of information displayed in the first data display area and dragged and dropped into the second data display area.

7. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein the content-management server provides for the client information about a program for transmitting to the content-management server or a content-purchase server a content purchase request including content specification information generated on the basis of information selected from among the pieces of information displayed in the first data display area.

8. The information processing system of claim 1, further comprising a keyword search server for receiving a keyword search request from the client apparatus and providing a result of keyword searching for the client apparatus.

9. An information processing apparatus for performing content acquisition processing comprising:

a display unit for displaying information;

a control unit for performing data processing on the basis of information about an operation performed for information displayed in the display unit; and

a communication unit for performing network communication, and

wherein the control unit displays pieces of information provided by an information-providing server in a first data display area in the display unit and transmits via the communication unit to a content-management server or a content-purchase server a content purchase request including content specification information generated on the basis of information that is selected from among the pieces of information and dragged and dropped into a second data display area in the display unit.

10. The information processing apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a proximity communication unit for reading out a user ID from an IC card, and

wherein the control unit transmits the user ID acquired form the IC card to the content-management server and displays information provided by the content-management server in the display unit.

11. The information processing apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a proximity communication unit for reading out a password or an electronic certification from an IC card, and

wherein the control unit transmits the password or the electronic certification acquired form the IC card to the content-management server and displays information provided by the content-management server in the display unit.

12. The information processing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the information processing apparatus displays an IC card management toolbar in the second data display area and transmits to the content-management server or a content-purchase server a content purchase request including content specification information generated on the basis of information that is selected from among the pieces of information displayed in the first data display area and dragged and dropped into the IC card management toolbar.

13. The information processing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the information processing apparatus reads out a user ID from an IC card, transmits the user ID to the content-management server, displays information provided by the content-management server in the second data display area, and transmits to the content-management server or a content-purchase server a content purchase request including content specification information generated on the basis of information that is selected from among the pieces of information displayed in the first data display area and dragged and dropped into the second data display area.

14. The information processing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the information processing apparatus reads out a password or an electronic certification from an IC card, transmits the password or the electronic certification to the content-management server, displays information provided by the content-management server in the second data display area, and transmits to the content management-server or a content-purchase server a content purchase request including content specification information generated on the basis of information that is selected from among the pieces of information displayed in the first data display area and dragged and dropped into the second data display area.

15. An information processing method of performing content acquisition processing in an information processing apparatus, comprising:

with a control unit, controlling displaying of pieces of information provided by an information providing server in a first data display area in a display unit; and

with the control unit, controlling transmitting via a communication unit to a content-management server or a content-purchase server a content purchase request including content specification information generated on the basis of information that is selected from among the pieces of information and dragged and dropped into a second data display area in the display unit.

16. The information processing method of claim 15, further comprising:

reading out a user ID from an IC card via a proximity communication unit, and

causing the control unit to transmit the user ID acquired from the IC card to the content-management server, and display information provided by the content-management server in the display unit.

17. The information processing method of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

reading out a password or an electronic certification from an IC card via the proximity communication unit, and

causing the control unit to transmit the password or the electronic certification acquired from the IC card to the content-management server, and display information provided by the content-management server in the display unit.

18. The information processing method of claim 15, further comprising causing the control unit to display an IC card management toolbar in the second data display area, and

wherein the controlling transmitting comprises transmitting to the content-management server or the content-purchase server a content purchase request including content specification information generated on the basis of information that is selected from among the pieces of information displayed in the first data display area and dragged and dropped into the IC card management toolbar.

19. The information processing method of claim 15, further comprising:

reading out a user ID from an IC card via the proximity communication unit; and

causing the control unit to transmit the user ID to the content-management server and display information provided by the content-management server in the second data display area, and

wherein the controlling transmitting comprises transmitting to the content-management server or a content-purchase server a content purchase request including content specification information generated on the basis of information that is selected from among the pieces of information displayed in the first data display area and dragged and dropped into the second data display area in which the information provided by the content-management server is displayed.

20. The information processing method of claim 15, further comprising:

reading out a password or an electronic certification from an IC card via the proximity communication unit; and

causing the control unit to transmit the password or the electronic certification to the content-management server and display information provided by the content-management server in the second data display area, and

wherein the controlling transmitting comprises transmitting to the content-management server or the content-purchase server a content purchase request including content specification information generated on the basis of information that is selected from among the pieces of information displayed in the first data display area and dragged and dropped into the second data display area in which the information provided by the content-management server is displayed.

21. A storage medium for storing processor control instructions comprising a computer program, the computer program causing an information processing apparatus to perform content acquisition processing, the storage medium comprising:

control instructions to cause a control unit to display pieces of information provided by an information providing server in a first data display area in a display unit; and

control instructions to cause the control unit to transmit via a communication unit to a content-management server or a content-purchase server a content purchase request including content specification information generated on the basis of information that is selected from among the pieces of information and dragged and dropped into a second data display area in the display unit.

22. A storage medium to store computer readable data comprising processor control instructions for a computer apparatus to perform content acquisition processing, the storage medium comprising:

control instructions to generate a graphic user interface comprising a first data display area and a second data display area, the first data display area representing data content units of a first server;

control instructions to control the graphic user interface to accept as an input a drag and drop operation to the second data display area of a visual element associated with the first data display area, the visual element representing data concerning a particular content unit of the first data display area; and

control instructions to initiate a transmission in response to the drag and drop operation, the transmission comprising generating a content purchase request to a second server, the content purchase request representing a request for a content unit associated with the particular content unit.

23. A method for a computer apparatus to perform content acquisition processing, the method comprising:

generating a graphic user interface with a processor of the computer apparatus, the graphic user interface comprising a first data display area and a second data display area, the first data display area representing data content units of a first server;

controlling the graphic user interface with the processor to accept as an input a drag and drop operation to the second data display area of a visual element associated with the first data display area, the visual element representing data concerning a particular content unit of the first data display area; and

initiating a transmission with the processor in response to the drag and drop operation, the transmission comprising generating a content purchase request to a second server, the content purchase request representing a request for a content unit associated with the particular content unit.