Apparatus and method for computation of a pricing index

• US 8,244,703 B2
• Filed: 07/11/2005
• Issued: 08/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Hirayama, Tomoshi, Tomita, Hisashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Vital, Pierre
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mitiku, Berhanu
• Application Number:
  US11/177,296
• Publication Number:
  US 20050246380A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,591 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/705
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

An information processing apparatus is disclosed which comprises: a first acquiring element for acquiring the number of times information contents are downloaded over a network; a second acquiring element for acquiring the number of times the information contents are reproduced; and a computing element for computing a pricing index for the information contents based on the number of times the information contents have been downloaded as acquired by the first acquiring element and on the number of times the information contents have been reproduced as acquired by the second acquiring element.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

means for acquiring a download of information contents from a first information processing apparatus, the download of said information contents having a price, the first information processing apparatus incrementing a download count upon the download, means for holding said information contents acquired by said means for acquiring;

means for reproducing content data, based on said information contents held by said means for holding; and

means for transmitting a notification to a second information processing apparatus upon a reproduction, based on said information contents, of said content data by said means for reproducing, said notification information indicating a number of times that said content data has been reproduced based on said information contents by said means for reproducing, a price for a subsequent download of said information contents being computed, after a transmission of the notification, as a nonlinear function of the download count, and the information number of times;

wherein the price for the subsequent download of said information contents is based on a ratio of the number of times to the download count;

wherein the nonlinear function is based on a linear function of the ratio of the download count to the number of times; and

wherein the price for the subsequent download of said information contents is computed as a function of a square root of a value, the value being a function of the ratio of the download count to the number of times.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said means for holding further holds supplementary information attached to said information contents, and said means for transmitting further transmits said supplementary information to said second information processing apparatus.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the price for the subsequent download of said information contents is based on a number of times said information contents have been downloaded for commercial use and a number of times said information contents have been downloaded for non-commercial use.

11. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the price for the subsequent download of said information contents is based on a number of times said information contents have been downloaded in an urban area.

3. An information processing method for a content reproduction apparatus, the information processing method comprising:

acquiring a download of information contents from a first information processing apparatus, the download of said information contents having a price, the first information processing apparatus incrementing a download count upon the acquiring;

holding said information contents acquired in the acquiring in the content reproduction apparatus;

reproducing content data with the content reproduction apparatus, based on said information contents held in said holding; and

transmitting, with the content reproducing apparatus, a notification to a second information processing apparatus upon the reproducing, said notification indicating a number of times that said content data has been reproduced in said reproducing, a price for a subsequent download of said information contents being computed, after the transmitting, as a nonlinear function of the download and the number of times;

wherein the price for the subsequent download of said information contents is based on a ratio of the number of times to the download count;

wherein the nonlinear function is based on a linear function of the ratio of the download count to the number of times; and

wherein the price for the subsequent download of said information contents is computed as a function of a square root of a value, the value being a function of the ratio of the download count to the number of times.

4. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions, executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

acquiring a download of information contents from a first information processing apparatus the download of said information contents having a price, the first information processing apparatus incrementing a download count upon the acquiring;

holding said information contents acquired in said acquiring;

reproducing content data, based on said information contents held in said holding; and

transmitting a notification to a second information processing apparatus upon said reproducing, said notification indicating a number of times that said content data has been reproduced in said reproducing, a price for a subsequent download of said information contents being computed, after the transmitting, as a nonlinear function of the download and the number of times said content downloaded;

wherein the price for the subsequent download of said information contents is based on a ratio of the number of times to the download count;

wherein the nonlinear function is based on a linear function of the ratio of the download count to the number of times; and

wherein the price for the subsequent download of said information contents is computed as a function of a square root of a value, the value being a function of the ratio of the download count to the number of times.

5. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

an acquiring unit configured to acquire a download of information contents from a first information processing apparatus the download of said information contents having a price, the first information processing apparatus incrementing a download count upon the download;

a holding unit configured to hold said information contents acquired by said acquiring unit;

a reproducing unit configured to reproduce content data based on said information contents held by said holding unit; and

a transmitting unit configured to transmit a notification to a second information processing apparatus upon a reproduction, based on said information contents, of said content data by said reproducing unit, said notification indicating a number of times that said content data has been reproduced based on said information contents by said reproducing unit, a price for a subsequent download of said information contents being computed, after a transmission of the notification, as a nonlinear function of the download and the number of times

wherein the price for the subsequent download of said information contents is based on a ratio of the number of times to the download count;

wherein the nonlinear function is based on a linear function of the ratio of the download count to the number of times; and

wherein the price for the subsequent download of said information contents is computed as a function of a square root of a value, the value being a function of the ratio of the download count to the number of times.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said holding unit is configured to hold supplementary information attached to said information contents, and said transmitting unit is configured to transmit said supplementary information to said second information processing apparatus.

7. An information processing method for a pricing apparatus, comprising:

acquiring a notification, at the pricing apparatus, indicating a number of times that information contents have been downloaded from a first information processing apparatus to a second information processing apparatus, a download of the information contents with having a price;

receiving a notification at the pricing apparatus from the second information processing apparatus indicating a number of times that content data has been reproduced based on the information contents, the notification also indicating a location of the second information processing apparatus;

storing the location of the second information processing apparatus; and

computing, with the pricing apparatus, a price for a subsequent download of the information contents as a nonlinear function of the number of times that the information contents have been downloaded, the number of times the content data has been reproduced based on the information contents, and based on the location of the second information processing apparatus;

wherein the price for the subsequent download of said information contents is based on a ratio of the number of times to the download count;

wherein the nonlinear function is based on a linear function of the ratio of the download count to the number of times; and

wherein the price for the subsequent download of said information contents is computed as a function of a square root of a value, the value being a function of the ratio of the download count to the number of times.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions, executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

acquiring a notification indicating a number of times that information contents have been downloaded from a first information processing apparatus to a second information processing apparatus, a download of the information contents having a price;

receiving a notification from the second information processing apparatus indicating a number of times that content data has been reproduced based on the information contents, the notification also indicating a location of the second information processing apparatus;

storing the location of the second information processing apparatus; and

computing a price for a subsequent download of the information contents as a nonlinear function of the number of times that the information contents have been downloaded, the number of times the content data has been reproduced based on the information contents, and based on the location of the second information processing apparatus;

wherein the price for the subsequent download of said information contents is based on a ratio of the number of times to the download count;

wherein the nonlinear function is based on a linear function of the ratio of the download count to the number of times; and

wherein the price for the subsequent download of said information contents is computed as a function of a square root of a value, the value being a function of the ratio of the download count to the number of times.

9. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

a communication unit configured to receive a download notification indicating a number of times that information contents have been downloaded from a first information processing apparatus to a second information processing apparatus, and to receive a reproduction notification from the second information processing apparatus indicating a number of times that content data has been reproduced based on the information contents, the reproduction notification also indicating a location of the second information processing apparatus, a download of the information contents having a price;

a storing unit for storing the location of the second information processing apparatus; and

a processor configured to compute a price for a subsequent download of the information contents as a nonlinear function of the number of times that the information contents have been downloaded, the number of times the content data has been reproduced based on the information contents, and based on the location of the second information processing apparatus;

wherein the price for the subsequent download of said information contents is based on a ratio of the number of times to the download count;

wherein the nonlinear function is based on a linear function of the ratio of the download count to the number of times; and

wherein the price for the subsequent download of said information contents is computed as a function of a square root of a value, the value being a function of the ratio of the download count to the number of times.