Contents distributing server, contents distribution control method, program, and recording medium

• US 7,386,603 B2
• Filed: 06/24/2002
• Issued: 06/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Tanaka, Katsuhiko, Shimizu, Yukihiko, Nagatsuka, Takayuki, Shiba, Rikio
• Primary Examiner(s): Cardone; Jason
• Assistant Examiner(s): Patel; Chirag R
• Application Number:
  US10/177,210
• Publication Number:
  US 20030018775A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,178 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.14, 709/219, 709/202
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Contents are distributed on the basis of information of a hobby and an address of the user and the like. The distribution of the contents is controlled also on the basis of a result of comparison of a reception intensity regarding contents of 3 or more levels set on the user side and a distribution intensity set as attributes into the contents on a distributing side.

Claims

1. A contents distributing server for distributing, via a network, news contents which represent a news article and which are extracted from a news contents database to which attributes have been added, to an information processing apparatus which is used by a user, wherein distribution intensity information showing a distribution intensity of three levels or more is related to the news contents, wherein the distribution intensity information denotes a distribution index (y) which indicates a target number of persons for distributing the news contents, and wherein a value of the distribution index is a small value for a large target number of persons and increases correspondingly to a high value for a small target number of persons, said server comprising:

a managing unit that receives, from the information processing apparatus, reception intensity information showing a reception intensity of three levels or more which were set via a user interface for setting the reception intensity to receive the news contents displayed in a display unit of said information processing apparatus, and that manages the received reception intensity information, wherein the reception intensity information denotes a reception index (x) which indicates a degree of interest by a user of the news contents, and wherein a value of the reception index is a small value for a low level of degree of interest by the user and increases correspondingly to a high value for a high level of degree of interest by the user;

a comparing unit that makes a comparison between the distribution intensity information of the three levels or more related to the news contents and the reception intensity information of the three levels or more managed by said managing unit so as to determine whether the news contents are to be distributed, wherein the comparison compares the value of x and the value of y to determine whether or not to distribute the new contents, and the news contents are determined to be distributed if (x≧

y);

an extracting unit that extracts at least one of the news contents in accordance with a result made by the comparison of said comparing unit; and

a distribution control unit that controls the distribution of the at least one news content extracted by said extracting unit.

2. A server according to claim 1, wherein said distribution control unit transmits the news contents corresponding to an intensity higher than the reception intensity which was notified by said information processing apparatus to a notification destination which has previously been registered.

3. A server according to claim 1, wherein a setting function for setting said reception intensity for each of at least two kinds of news contents is included in said user interface, and said managing unit manages the reception intensity set for each of the at least two kinds of said news contents.

4. A server according to claim 1, further comprising a discriminating unit that discriminates whether or not a collecting base point is included in a desired distributing range and/or whether or not a distribution base point is included in a desired collecting range in accordance with information of the distribution base point corresponding to the news contents and the desired distributing range and information of the collecting base point and the desired collecting range of the news contents which were set via said user interface,

and wherein said distribution control unit distributes said news contents in accordance with a result of the discrimination of said discriminating unit.

5. A server according to claim 4, wherein application information is allowed to be concerned with said collecting base point, application information is further included in the attributes of said news contents, and said distribution control unit distributes said news contents in accordance with adaptation of the application information included in the attributes of said news contents and the application information concerned with said collecting base point.

6. A server according to claim 1, wherein information of a color priority is included in said news contents,

said managing unit receives and manages information of desired color degrees of at least two or more levels set through the user interface for setting the information of the desired color degree in the reception of the news contents displayed in the display unit of said information processing apparatus, and

said distribution control unit controls the distribution of said news contents in accordance with a result of the comparison of the information of the desired color degree included in the attributes of the news contents stored in said news contents database and the information of the desired color degrees of said two or more levels.

7. A server according to claim 1, wherein original news contents codes for specifying the news contents are included in the attributes of said news contents, and

wherein said server further comprises:

a correspondence unit that allows a custom news contents code to correspond to each of the original news contents codes of the news contents distributed to a predetermined user by said distribution control unit; and

a specifying unit that specifies the original news contents code in accordance with information which is input from an external apparatus and used for specifying the user and the custom news contents codes;

wherein said distribution control unit controls the distribution of the news contents corresponding to the original news contents code specified by said specifying unit.

8. A server according to claim 1, wherein first news contents and second news contents indicative of advertisement news contents are included in said news contents, and

wherein said server further comprises:

a presuming unit that presumes an amount of consumables which were consumed for output of said advertisement news contents; and

a calculating unit that calculates an amount of money according to the amount of consumables which was presumed by said presuming unit.

9. A server according to claim 8, wherein in said presuming the amount of consumables which were consumed for output of said second news contents, an image ratio is used as a parameter.

10. A contents distribution control method by a news contents distributing server for distributing, via a network, news contents which represent a news article and which are extracted from a news contents database to which attributes have been added, to an information processing apparatus which is used by a user, wherein distribution intensity information showing a distribution intensity of three levels or more is related to the news contents, wherein the distribution intensity information denotes a distribution index (y) which indicates a target number of persons for distributing the news contents, and wherein a value of the distribution index is a small value for a large target number of persons and increases correspondingly to a high value for a small target number of persons, said method comprising:

a managing step of receiving, from the information processing apparatus, reception intensity information showing a reception intensity of three levels or more which were set via a user interface for setting the reception intensity to receive the news contents displayed in a display unit of the information processing apparatus, and managing the received reception intensity information, wherein the reception intensity information denotes a reception index (x) which indicates a degree of interest by a user of the news contents, and wherein a value of the reception index is a small value for a low level of degree of interest by the user and increases correspondingly to a high value for a high level of degree of interest by the user;

a comparing step of making a comparison between the distribution intensity information of the three levels or more related to the news contents and the reception intensity information of the three levels or more managed by said managing step so as to determine whether the news contents are to be distributed, wherein the comparison compares the value of x and the value of y to determine whether or not to distribute the new contents, and the news contents are determined to be distributed if (x≧

y);

an extracting step of extracting at least one of the news contents in accordance with a result of the comparison made in the comparing step; and

a distribution control step of controlling the distribution of the at least one news content extracted by said extracting step.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein in said distribution control step, the news contents corresponding to an intensity higher than the reception intensity which was notified by said information processing apparatus are transmitted to a notification destination which has previously been registered.

12. A method according to claim 11, wherein a setting function for setting said reception intensity for each of at least two kinds of news contents is included in said user interface, and in said managing step, the reception intensity set for each of the at least two kinds of said news contents is managed.

13. A method according to claim 10, further comprising a discriminating step of discriminating whether or not a collecting base point is included in a desired distributing range and/or whether or not a distribution base point is included in a desired collecting range in accordance with information of the distribution base point corresponding to the news contents and the desired distributing range and information of the collecting base point and the desired collecting range of the news contents which were set via said user interface, and

wherein in said distribution control step, said news contents are distributed in accordance with a result of the discrimination in said discriminating step.

14. A method according to claim 13, wherein application information is allowed to be concerned with said collecting base point, application information is further included in the attributes of said news contents, and in said distribution control step, said news contents are distributed in accordance with adaptation of the application information included in the attributes of said news contents and the application information concerned with said collecting base point.

15. A method according to claim 10, wherein information of a color priority is included in said news contents,

in said managing step, information of desired color degrees of at least two or more levels set through the user interface for setting the information of the desired color degree in the reception of the news contents displayed in the display unit of said information processing apparatus is received and managed, and

in said distribution control step, the distribution of said news contents is controlled in accordance with a result of the comparison of the information of the desired color degree included in the attributes of the news contents stored in said news contents database and the information of the desired color degrees of said two or more levels.

16. A method according to claim 10, wherein original news contents codes for specifying the news contents are included in the attributes of said news contents, and

wherein said method further comprises

a correspondence step of allowing a custom news contents code to correspond to each of the original news contents codes of the news contents distributed to a predetermined user in said distribution control step;

and

a specifying step of specifying the original news contents code in accordance with information which is inputted from an external apparatus and used for specifying the user and the custom news contents codes,

wherein in said distribution control step, the distribution of the news contents corresponding to the original news contents code specified in said specifying step is controlled.

17. A method according to claim 10, wherein first news contents and second news contents indicative of advertisement news contents are included in said news contents,

wherein said method further comprises:

a presuming step of presuming an amount of consumables which were consumed for output of said advertisement news contents; and

a calculating step of calculating an amount of money according to the amount of consumables which was presumed in said presuming step.

18. A method according to claim 17, wherein in said step of presuming the amount of consumables which were consumed for output of said second news contents, an image ratio is used as a parameter.

19. A computer-readable storage medium on which is stored a computer-readable program that is read out and executed by a news contents distributing server for distributing, via a network, news contents which represent a news article and which are extracted from a news contents database to which attributes have been added, to an information processing apparatus which is used by a user, wherein distribution intensity information showing a distribution intensity of three levels or more is related to the news contents, wherein the distribution intensity information denotes a distribution index (y) which indicates a target number of persons for distributing the news contents, and wherein a value of the distribution index is a small value for a large target number of persons and increases correspondingly to a high value for a small target number of persons, said program comprising:

a managing step of receiving, from the information processing apparatus, reception intensity information showing a reception intensity of three levels or more which were set via a user interface for setting the reception intensity to receive the news contents displayed in a display unit of the information processing apparatus, and managing the received reception intensity information, wherein the comparison compares the value of x and the value of y to determine whether or not to distribute the new contents, and the news contents are determined to be distributed if (x≧

y);

a comparing step of making a comparison between the distribution intensity information of the three levels or more related to the news contents and the reception intensity information of the three levels or more managed by said managing step so as to determine whether the news contents are to be distributed, wherein the comparison compares the value of x and the value of y to determine whether or not to distribute the new contents, and the news contents are determined to be distributed if (x≧

y);

an extracting step of extracting at least one of the news contents in accordance with a result of the comparison in the comparing step; and

a distribution control step of controlling the distribution of the at least one news content extracted by said extracting step.