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Content distribution management system and content distribution management method

  • US 7,630,922 B2
  • Filed: 02/13/2002
  • Issued: 12/08/2009
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2001
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A content distribution management system that circulates a content via a network that includes a plurality of communication terminal devices that exchange the content on the network, a distribution management device that performs copyright management of the content and payment management concerning usage of the content, and a communication exchange device that provides information regarding the circulation of the content to the communication terminal device, the system comprising:

  • at least one communication terminal device that includes;

    a content receiving unit that receives a content from another communication terminal device, the content being one of a primary circulated content and a secondary circulated content;

    a content acquisition processing unit that sends, to said distribution management device, purchase requesting information requesting purchase of the received content;

    a content storage processing unit that receives, from the distribution management device, rights information for enabling, under a certain rule, usage of the content which is requested to be purchased;

    said content acquisition processing unit that also sends information regarding a search to the communication exchange device, receives result information regarding a predetermined search item from the communication exchange device, and specifies a content and a communication terminal device which is a distributor of the content based on the received result information, and sends, to the specified communication terminal device which is the distributor of the content, information for requesting the sending of the specified content;

    said content storage processing unit that also uses the content which is requested to be purchased according to the rights information received by the rights information receiving unit; and

    sends, to the distribution management device, a rule registration request for requesting registration of a usage rule of one of the primary circulated content and the secondary circulated content, which is to be distributed; and

    a sending unit that sends the content received by the content receiving unit to another communication terminal device,wherein said content acquisition processing unit sends a search condition to the communication exchange device, receives a predetermined search list from the communication exchange device, weights an attribute information indicating a characteristic of each of the content which is attached to the received search list, compares the content based on the attribute information, and specifies a most weighted content and a communication terminal device which is a distributor of the most weighted content, and specifies one of said communication terminal device that requests the sending of content and said another communication terminal device as a destination of the specified content, and sends the requesting information to the specified communication terminal device, andwherein said content storage processing unit further includes a usage request processing unit that sends usage requesting information for requesting usage of a purchased content to the distribution management device, and receive usage licensing information for licensing the usage from the distribution management device, and said content storage processing unit uses the content based on the usage licensing information;

    the communication exchange device includes;

    a search responding unit that receives the information regarding the search from a communication terminal device, determines the result information regarding the search based on the received information, and sends the result information to the communication terminal device sending the information regarding the search; and

    the distribution management device includes;

    a memory unit that stores information regarding copyright management information and payment management information such that the copyright management information and the payment management information are associated with individual content, the copyright management information including a number of rights representing how many times the content is usable under a certain rule, and the payment management information including payment information indicating one of a payment amount for each of the rights that are purchased and information indicating that the rights are not purchased;

    a rights information sending unit that specifies rights information according to one of the purchase requesting information received by the communication terminal device and the copyright management information that is specified based on the rule registration request, and sends the specified rights information to a predetermined communication terminal device; and

    a payment management processing unit that updates the copyright management information and the payment management information based on one of the purchase requesting information and the rule registration request,wherein the updating is performed by decreasing, by a number of rights which are purchased, the number of the rights in the memory unit regarding the content for which the purchase requesting information is sent, and registering, in the memory unit, payment information indicating the number of the rights which are purchased and the information indicating that the rights are not purchased, when the purchased content which is purchased according to the purchase requesting information, and the purchase requesting information is received from the communication terminal device, and the updating is performed by updating the payment information in the memory unit regarding the content for which the rule registration request is sent, from the information indicating that the rights are not purchased, to the payment amount for each of the rights, when the rule registration request is received from the communication terminal device.

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