System for and method of distributing proceeds from contents

• US 5,884,280 A
• Filed: 03/19/1996
• Issued: 03/16/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Yoshioka, Makoto, Aoe, Hidefumi, Tsunoda, Haruhiko, Hasegawa, Kazuharu
• Primary Examiner(s): MacDonald, Allen R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Patel, Jagdish
• Application Number:
  US08/618,221
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/17, 705/27, 705/39, 380/4, 707/500
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0855 involving a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A content proceeds distribution system distributes proceeds of a sold content to third parties. Each of the third parties has a right of charge, not prescribed in a sales contract, at a rate corresponding to the right thereof. A content database stores by content IDs all providers of the content and all the parties having the right of charge for copying and selling the content. An agreement of a share allocated to an operator of an SD center is registered in a contract master. A payment section, upon a payment of proceeds, subtracts the share of the operator of the SD center from the proceeds by referring to the agreement of the share of the operator that is registered in the contract master. The payment section next distributes the proceeds after subtraction according to each ID stored in the content database.

Claims

1. A content proceeds distribution system in a content distribution system for distributing proceeds obtained by selling a content provided by a content provider to distributees, said content proceeds distribution system comprising:

a first database storing a first item of distribution data defining a rate at which an amount money of the proceeds is distributed to an operator of said content distribution system;

a second database storing a second item of distribution data defining distribution rates and the distributees of a remaining amount of the proceeds after the amount of money of the proceeds is distributed to the operator;

first reading means for reading the first distribution data from said first database;

subtracting means for subtracting from the proceeds money corresponding to the rate specified in the first distribution data read by said first reading means;

second reading means for reading the second distribution data from said second database; and

distributing means for distributing an amount of money obtained by multiplying a remainder after subtraction by said subtracting means by the corresponding distribution rate specified in the second distribution data to each of the distributees specified in the second distribution data read by said second reading means.

2. A content proceeds distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the content is distributed in an encrypted status, and the content is sold by supplying a party desiring to purchase the content with a key for decrypting the content in said content distribution system.

3. A content proceeds distribution system according to claim 2, wherein the proceeds are paid by the purchaser as a compensation for supplying the key to the purchaser.

4. A content proceeds distribution system according to claim 1, further comprising:

recording means for recording a sales price and a number of sales of a same content; and

calculating means for calculating a total sum of the proceeds of the same content on the basis of the sales price and the number of sales that are recorded in said recording means,

wherein said subtracting means performs the subtraction from a total sum of the proceeds calculated by said calculating means.

5. A content proceeds distribution method in a content distribution system for distributing proceeds obtained by selling a content provided by a content provider to specified distributees, said content proceeds distribution method comprising:

a first storing step of storing a first database with a first item of distribution data defining a rate at which an amount of money of the proceeds is distributed to an operator of said content distribution system;

a second storing step of storing a second database with a second item of distribution data defining distribution rates and the distributees of an amount of money of the proceeds after being distributed to the operator;

a first reading step of reading the first distribution data from said first database;

a subtracting step of subtracting from the proceeds money corresponding to the rate specified in the read first distribution data;

a second reading step of reading the second distribution data from said second database; and

a distributing step of distributing an amount of money obtained by multiplying a remainder after the subtraction in said subtracting step by a corresponding distribution rate specified in the second distribution data to each of the distributees specified in the second distribution data read in said second reading step.

6. A content proceeds distribution system in a content distribution system for distributing proceeds obtained by selling a content provided by a content provider to specified distributees, said content proceeds distribution system comprising:

a database storing an item of distribution data about distribution rates and distributees of the proceeds;

reading means for reading the distribution data from said database; and

distributing means for distributing a distribution amount based on the distribution rate to each of the distributees specified in the distribution data read by said reading means.

7. A content proceeds distribution system in a content distribution system for distributing proceeds obtained by selling a content provided by a content provider to specified distributees, said content proceeds distribution system comprising:

a first database storing a first item of distribution data about distributees of a remaining amount of money of the proceeds after being distributed to the operator;

a second database storing a second item of distribution data about the distributees of an amount of money of the proceeds after being distributed to the operator;

first reading means for reading the first distribution data from said first database;

subtracting means for subtracting from the proceeds money corresponding to the rate specified in the first distribution data read by said first reading means;

second reading means for reading the second distribution data from said second database; and

distributing means for distributing a remainder after subtraction by said subtracting means to each of the distributees specified in the second distribution data read by said second reading means.

8. An apparatus for determining, for an operator, operator proceeds allocated to the operator assembling a CD-ROM comprising contents and, for each rightful claimant including providers and third parties, rightful claimant proceeds allocated to rightful claimants to the contents, user proceeds from users purchasing the CD-ROM comprising the operator proceeds and the rightful claimant proceeds, said apparatus comprising:

a contract master database comprising respective operator IDs and operator proceeds distribution rates corresponding to each of the operators;

a content database comprising respective rightful claimant IDs and rightful claimant proceeds distribution rates corresponding to each of the rightful claimants; and

a computer coupled to the contract master database and to the content database, said computer reading the respective operator IDs and operator proceeds distribution rates from the contract master database, determining rightful claimant proceeds by subtracting the operator proceeds from the user proceeds, and reading the respective rightful claimant IDs and rightful claimant proceeds distribution rates from the content master database, and distributing the respective proceeds to the operator and to the rightful claimants.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising:

a sales slip file comprising a number of sales in a month of each, respective content; and

a goods master database comprising a sales price of each, respective content,

wherein the contract master database further comprises data indicating whether the sales price of each, respective content is allowed to be reduced, said computer determining whether the number of sales of each, respective content in the month is less than a sales target and updating the sales price of each, respective content having the number of sales in the month less than the sales target if the data indicates the sales price is allowed to be reduced.

10. A method for determining, for an operator, operator proceeds allocated to the operator assembling a CD-ROM comprising contents and, for each rightful claimant including providers and third parties, rightful claimant proceeds allocated to rightful claimants to the contents, user proceeds from users purchasing the CD-ROM comprising the operator proceeds and the rightful claimant proceeds, said method comprising the steps of:

storing in a contract master database respective operator IDs and operator proceeds distribution rates corresponding to each of the operators;

storing in a content database respective rightful claimant IDs and rightful claimant proceeds distribution rates corresponding to each of the rightful claimants;

reading, by a computer, the respective operator IDs and operator proceeds distribution rates from the contract master database;

determining, by the computer, rightful claimant proceeds by subtracting the operator proceeds from the user proceeds;

reading, by the computer, the respective rightful claimant IDs and rightful claimant proceeds distribution rates from the content master database; and

distributing respective proceeds to the operator and to the rightful claimants.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

storing, in a sales slip file, a number of sales in a month of each, respective content;

storing, in a goods master database, a sales price of each, respective content;

storing, in the contract master database, data indicating whether the sales price of each, respective content is allowed to be reduced;

determining, by the computer, whether the number of sales of each, respective content is less than a sales target; and

updating, by the computer, the sales price of each, respective content having the number of sales less than the sales target if the data indicates the sales price is allowed to be reduced.

12. An apparatus for determining, for an operator, operator proceeds allocated to the operator assembling a CD-ROM comprising contents and, for each rightful claimant including providers and third parties, rightful claimant proceeds allocated to rightful claimants to the contents, user proceeds from users purchasing the CD-ROM comprising the operator proceeds and the rightful claimant proceeds, said apparatus comprising:

a database, said database comprising;

a contract master layer comprising respective operator IDs and operator proceeds distribution rates corresponding to each of the operators, and

a content layer comprising respective rightful claimant IDs and rightful claimant proceeds distribution rates corresponding to each of the rightful claimants; and

a computer coupled to the database, said computer reading the respective operator IDs and operator proceeds distribution rates from the contract master layer, determining rightful claimant proceeds by subtracting the operator proceeds from the user proceeds, and reading the respective rightful claimant IDs and rightful claimant proceeds distribution rates from the content layer, and distributing the respective proceeds to the operator and to the rightful claimants.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising:

a sales slip file comprising a number of sales in a month of each, respective content; and

a goods master database comprising a sales price of each, respective content,

wherein the contract master layer further comprises data indicating whether the sales price of each, respective content is allowed to be reduced, said computer determining whether the number of sales of each, respective content in the month is less than a sales target and updating the sales price of each, respective content having the number of sales in the month less than the sales target if the data indicates the sales price is allowed to be reduced.

14. A method for determining, for an operator, operator proceeds allocated to the operator assembling a CD-ROM comprising contents and, for each rightful claimant including providers and third parties, rightful claimant proceeds allocated to rightful claimants to the contents, user proceeds from users purchasing the CD-ROM comprising the operator proceeds and the rightful claimant proceeds, said method comprising the steps of:

storing in a contract master layer of a database respective operator IDs and operator proceeds distribution rates corresponding to each of the operators;

storing in a content layer of the database respective rightful claimant IDs and rightful claimant proceeds distribution rates corresponding to each of the rightful claimants;

reading, by a computer, the respective operator IDs and operator proceeds distribution rates from the contract master layer;

determining, by the computer, rightful claimant proceeds by subtracting the operator proceeds from the user proceeds;

reading, by the computer, the respective rightful claimant IDs and rightful claimant proceeds distribution rates from the content layer; and

distributing the respective proceeds to the operator and to the rightful claimants.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

storing, in a sales slip file, a number of sales in a month of each, respective content;

storing, in a goods master database, a sales price of each, respective content;

storing, in the contract master layer, data indicating whether the sales price of each, respective content is allowed to be reduced;

determining, by the computer, whether the number of sales of each, respective content is less than a sales target; and

updating, by the computer, the sales price of each, respective content having the number of sales less than the sales target if the data indicates the sales price is allowed to be reduced.

16. A content proceeds distribution system in a content distribution system for distributing proceeds obtained by selling a content provided by a content provider to distributees, said content proceeds distribution system comprising:

a first database storing a first item of distribution data defining a rate at which an amount money of the proceeds is distributed to an operator of said content distribution system;

a second database storing a second item of distribution data defining distribution rates and the distributees of a remaining amount of the proceeds after the amount of money of the proceeds is distributed to the operator;

a first reading section reading the first distribution data from said first database;

a subtracting section subtracting from the proceeds money corresponding to the rate specified in the first distribution data read by said first reading section;

a second reading section reading the second distribution data from said second database; and

a distributing section distributing an amount of money obtained by multiplying a remainder after subtraction by said subtracting section by the corresponding distribution rate specified in the second distribution data to each of the distributees specified in the second distribution data read by said second reading section.

17. A content proceeds distribution method in a content distribution system for distributing proceeds, said content proceeds distribution method comprising:

storing in a first database a first item of distribution data defining a rate at which an amount of proceeds obtained by selling a content provided by a content provider to specified distributees is distributed to an operator of said content distribution system;

storing in a second database a second item of distribution data defining distribution rates and the distributees of an amount of the proceeds after being distributed to the operator;

reading the first distribution data from said first database;

subtracting from the proceeds money corresponding to the rate specified in the read first distribution data;

reading the second distribution data from said second database; and

distributing an amount of money obtained by multiplying a remainder after the subtraction in said subtracting step by a corresponding distribution rate specified in the second distribution data to each of the distributees specified in the second distribution data read in said second reading step.