JPH07302244A - A copyrighted material providing system using a network - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] Efficiently manage intellectual property rights associated with the provided work. [Structure] The network 100 includes terminal devices 10 to 50.
Are connected. The overall management device 60 integrally manages the entire system, and a large number of multimedia works are stored in the work information storage device 70 in the form of work information. In response to a request from the terminal device 10, the work information storage device 70
The desired work information is transmitted from. The transmitted work information includes property right data indicating information such as the right holder of the work, consideration for use, and use restriction. The central management device 60 creates history information indicating which terminal device was provided with which work information, and the user pays the price to the right holder based on the property right data of the provided work. Create billing information that indicates what should be done. The work information includes citation data indicating citations of other works, and the billing information is created in consideration of this citation data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a copyrighted work providing system using a network, and in particular, to providing works using multimedia via a network and consideration for intellectual property rights accompanying the provided copyrighted work. The present invention relates to a system for automatically performing the billing process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the improvement of data processing capability of computer equipment, the use of so-called multimedia, which comprehensively handles image information, voice information, character information, etc., has been rapidly spread. This multimedia is expected to continue to be widely used as a digital medium for providing various works. As a method for providing a general user with such a copyrighted work using multimedia, a method using a storage medium such as a floppy disk or a CD-ROM and a method using a network as media are widely used at present. There is. In particular, the method using a network as an intermediary does not require a physical storage medium that serves as a container for data, and thus is expected to become more and more popular in the future. Nowadays, an environment has been established in which a communication function of a personal computer can be used to easily access a wide area commercial network, and various copyrighted material data using multimedia can be transferred to individual personal computers via the network. It has been downloaded.

[0003]

As described above, works of copyrighted works using multimedia generally include image information, audio information, character information, etc., but these individual information items are also independent of each other. It is a work as a copyrighted work. Moreover, it is rare that all these independent works are created by one author, and in the future, one multimedia work will be created as a collection of works by multiple authors. It is expected that more and more cases will be created. In other words, when creating a multimedia work, the technique of quoting and incorporating the work of another person into one's own work is expected to become very popular in the future.

However, each copyrighted work has an intellectual property right such as a copyright. In order to use the copyrighted work of another person, an appropriate consideration is given to the rightful holder. You must pay, and you must comply with the terms and conditions set by the rightful holder. However, as described above, multimedia works include various works in one work. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the right holders of each work and pay appropriate fees for each work. Adhering to the conditions is a very complicated task.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a copyrighted work providing system using a network capable of efficiently managing an intellectual property right associated with a provided copyrighted work.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

(1) According to a first aspect of the present invention, in a copyrighted work providing system using a network, a network for transmitting information to a plurality of users, a plurality of terminal devices connected to the network, and the network are provided. A work information storage device that saves a work to be provided via each work as work information and a general management device that integrally manages the transmission processing of work information to each terminal device are provided. Property data that includes material data that composes a work, composition data that gives instructions to compose a work based on this material data, and information about the right holder and the value of the intellectual property right attached to the work Composed of data and
The terminal device performs a process of presenting the unit work represented by the material data included in the work information based on the instruction shown in the work composition data. At the time of transmitting information, processing for creating billing information indicating to the user of this terminal device that the price shown in the property right data in the transmitted work information should be paid to the right holder It was done like this.

(2) A second aspect of the present invention is, in a copyrighted work providing system using a network, a network for transmitting information to a plurality of users, and a plurality of terminal devices connected to the network. A work information storage device that saves a work to be provided via this network as work information for each work and a general management device that integrally manages the transmission processing of work information to each terminal device are provided. And citation data that specifies material data that constitutes a unit work or other work information that should be cited,
A terminal device that is composed of work composition data that gives instructions for composing a work based on these data and property right data that includes information indicating the right holder and the value of the intellectual property right accompanying the work. For a unit work represented by the material data included in the work information, is presented based on the instructions given in the work composition data, and is represented by the citation data included in the work information. For a copyrighted work, the work information about the cited work specified by the citation data is received via the network, and the process of presenting based on the work information about the cited work is performed. A section that indicates to the user of this terminal device that the consideration shown in the property right data in the transmitted work information should be paid to the right holder when transmitting the work information to It is obtained to perform the process for creating information.

(3) A third aspect of the present invention relates to the above-mentioned first aspect.
Alternatively, in the system according to the second aspect, the terminal device includes temporary storage means for temporarily storing the work information transmitted via the network, and work information stored in the temporary storage means. A work presenting means for presenting a work based on the work is provided, and the part of the work information transmitted to the terminal device via the network, which has been presented by the work presenting means, is sequentially deleted from the temporary storage means. It was made to be done.

(4) The fourth aspect of the present invention is the above-mentioned second aspect.
Alternatively, in the system according to the third aspect, at least one of the plurality of terminal devices connected to the network,
A new work is created by synthesizing material data and citation data with work composition information, and property right data is further added to this to create new work information. Editing means is further provided for performing a new saving process in the work information storage device.

(5) A fifth aspect of the present invention is based on the above first aspect.
~ In the system according to the fourth aspect, different amounts are set as the consideration shown in the property right data for each usage aspect of the work.

(6) A sixth aspect of the present invention relates to the above-mentioned first aspect.
~ In the system according to the fifth aspect, as the property right data, a condition for limiting the use aspect of the work is further added.

(7) A seventh aspect of the present invention relates to the above-mentioned first aspect.
In the system according to the sixth aspect, history information indicating which piece of work information has been transmitted in the past is stored in each central device in each central device.

[0013]

[Work] In the system of the present invention, each multimedia work (work to be provided) is stored as work information for each work in the work information storage device connected to the network. Here, each work information is the material data,
It is composed of citation data, work composition data, and property right data. The material data is raw data consisting of the actual copyrighted material data itself, but the citation data is data for specifying other works to be cited and does not include the raw data. On the other hand, the property right data includes information indicating the right holder and the price of the intellectual property right attached to this work. Further, the work composition data is data that gives instructions for composing an actual work based on the material data or the citation data, and the terminal device is in real time via the network based on the instructions of the work composition data. The work will be presented based on the material data or the citation data transmitted in. That is, when the transmitted data is material data, presentation is performed in real time according to the layout position, allocation ratio, timing, etc. indicated by the work composition data, and when the transmitted data is quotation data. , Work information about the cited work specified by this citation data is newly transmitted via the network.

In addition, this system is provided with an integrated management device for integrally managing the flow of information on the network, and all the information as to which terminal device and which work information has been transmitted can be grasped. Each piece of work information includes property right data indicating the right holder and the price of the work. Therefore, when certain work information is transmitted to a terminal device, the integrated management device changes it to this property right data. Based on this, it is possible to create billing information indicating that a predetermined consideration should be paid to a predetermined right holder for the user of the transmission destination terminal device. In this way, every time the work information is transmitted on the network, the billing information is created in the central management device, so that the payment process for the consideration can be efficiently performed.

Even when the work B of another person is cited in the work A, the raw data constituting the work B is not included in the work information of the work A. No
Only citation data indicating that work B is cited is included. Therefore, when the work A is reproduced on the terminal device side, the work information of the work A is transmitted through the network and the work information of the work B is also transmitted through the network. Then, when the work information of the work A is transmitted, based on the property right data in the work information,
When the author of the work A is charged the consideration to be paid and when the work information of the work B is transmitted, the author of the work B is charged the consideration based on the property right data therein. It In this way, even if a large number of intellectual property rights have been generated for one work, payment processing for the consideration for each author is performed separately.

In the conventional work providing system using a general network, when reproducing a desired work on the terminal device side, first, the individual work data is stored in the storage device on the terminal device side via the network. Is downloaded once, and the downloaded copyrighted material data is reproduced again on a display screen or the like. Therefore, the copyrighted material data remains in the downloaded hard disk device even after the reproduction is completed. Therefore, copy this work data illegally,
It is easy to carry out infringing acts such as selling as a pirated copy.
However, in the system according to the present invention, general end users do not use the method of downloading,
It is possible to adopt a method of presenting the copyrighted-material data transmitted via the network as it is in real time. In such a method, the copyrighted material data transmitted on the network does not remain on the terminal device side after being presented to the user. Therefore,
It is possible to suppress acts that infringe intellectual property rights.

If editing means is further added to the terminal device connected to the network, a new work is created by this editing means, and work information about this new work is stored in the work information storage device. It becomes possible to perform a new save process. At this time, if the property right data indicating the desired price is added, the price will be automatically paid when someone uses this new work in the future. Further, if a different price is set for each usage mode of the work, or if a condition for restricting the usage mode of the work is included in the property right data, more efficient intellectual property right management becomes possible.

[0018]

【Example】

<Basic Configuration of System> The present invention will be described below with reference to illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of a copyrighted work providing system using a network according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the system of this embodiment, the network 100 is provided with terminal devices 10 and 2 for end users.
0, 30, editor terminal devices 40, 50, a general management device 60, a work information storage device 70, and a processing calculation support device 80 are connected. Each of these devices is a device including a computer. However, the system shown in this embodiment is a system showing a very simplified model for convenience of explanation, and in reality, a larger number of terminal devices will be connected.

End user terminal devices 10, 20, 30
In this embodiment, a general-purpose personal computer is used. However, in order to function as one element of this system, dedicated application software is installed in each personal computer. Alternatively, a video game device or the like may be used instead of the personal computer.
On the other hand, as the editor terminal devices 40 and 50, general-purpose workstations are used in this embodiment. As will be described later, the end user terminal devices 10, 20, 30 used in this embodiment have only a passive function of receiving the copyrighted material data, but the editor terminal devices 40, 50 do not. In addition to this passive function, it also has an active function of editing and creating new copyrighted material data. For this reason, workstations having higher functions than personal computers are used. Integrated management device 6
Reference numeral 0 is a large-sized computer having a function of centrally managing the entire system, having a function of storing history information indicating what information was transmitted to which terminal device, and charging information that is a feature of the present invention. It has a function to perform creation processing. The work information storage device 70 is a large-scale computer that stores and distributes the work data used in this system and centrally manages the work data. The work data is stored as work information for each work. . The information indicating the storage destination of each piece of work information in the work information storage device 70 is prepared in the general management device 60 as work management information. In this embodiment, the work information storage device is composed of a single computer, but it may be composed of a plurality of computers. Processing calculation support device 80
As will be described later, is a large-sized computer having a function of supporting processing calculation when transmitting the work information in the work information storage device 70 to each terminal device.

In the system of this embodiment, the B-ISDN communication network is used as the network 100, and the data transmitted on the network is processed by the ATM switch group. In order to use this system commercially, for example, the following usage forms can be mentioned as an example. That is, the integrated management device 60 and the processing calculation support device 80 are installed in a major company that collectively manages this system including the charging process, and the work information storage device 70 is installed in a major publisher, news agency, production or the like. . Then, the editor terminal devices 40 and 50 are installed in small and medium-sized information providing companies and multimedia work production companies, and the end user terminal devices 10, 20 and 30 are installed in general end users (company, individual). . In this case, a large company having a centralized management device 60 can obtain profits by performing charging processing and centralized management of this system as a business, and a large publisher having a work information storage device 70,
Communications companies, production companies, etc. can provide their own copyrighted works as multimedia works or allow secondary use to other companies to obtain copyright profits, and small and medium-sized information providers and multimedia The work production company can obtain a copyright income by providing a secondary work using the work in the work information storage device 70. Then, the general end user is entrusted with the benefit of viewing the multimedia work by using the terminal device for the end user and receiving services such as mail-order sales accompanying this by paying a predetermined consideration.

As will be described later, the integrated management device 60 includes
The history of work information transmitted to each terminal device in the past is stored as history information, and billing information is created in association with this history information. This billing information is information indicating that a predetermined fee is charged to the user of the terminal device that has been provided with the work, and more specifically, the amount of consideration to be paid, and
This is information indicating the other party (right holder). Therefore,
Based on this billing information, for example, if payment is made by a bank account between the end user and the right holder, the end user makes payment of the fee into a bank debit, and the copyrighted material providing system by this network is used. Can be used. In addition, a major company that comprehensively manages this system can obtain a secondary merit by using the history information accumulated in the overall management device 60. That is, this history information indicates the fact that each user accessed what kind of work in the past.
This is valuable data for understanding your preferences and living environment. Therefore, it can be greatly used as information for sales promotion of various products.

Each piece of work information stored in the work information storage device 70 is composed of various data such as material data, citation data, work composition data, and property right data. Here, the material data is raw data that constitutes a unit work (a work that is handled as a group), and for example, in the case of one still image, it is image data in the form of raster data or moving images. If there is such aggregate data of still images, image data in the form of vector data for one line drawing, J for a set of sentences.
The text data expressed by the IS kanji code or the like is a series of sound pressure value data sampled at a predetermined cycle for voice. On the other hand, citation data is data that identifies work information of other works (cited works) to be quoted or material data in other works. For example, each work information is given a unique identification number. When managed in accordance with the above, the identification number given to the work information of the cited work becomes the citation data. The work composition data is data that gives instructions for composing a work based on the material data and the citation data. For example, when one work is composed of two material data consisting of one still image material data and one line drawing material data, where each material data is located on the display screen. ,
The data that gives an instruction as to what magnification should be used for layout is the work composition data. Further, the property right data is data that is a feature of the present invention, and the intellectual property right attached to the work (copyright is a representative right, but industrial property such as patent right may be included. Data) showing the right holder, consideration, and usage restrictions.

The work information in the work information storage device 70 is transferred to the end user terminal device 1 via the network 100.
0, 20, 30 or editor terminal devices 40, 50
Be transmitted to. The end user terminal device 10 is provided with a work presentation means 11 and a temporary storage means 12, and the work information transmitted via the network 100 is temporarily held in the temporary storage means 12, and this temporary storage is carried out. Means 1
The work is presented by the work presenting means 11 based on the work information stored in the item 2. The processing operation of this work presentation will be described later in detail with reference to a specific example. Similarly, the editor terminal device 50 is also provided with a work presentation means 51 and a temporary storage means 52, and the work information transmitted via the network 100 is temporarily stored in the temporary storage means 5.
2, the work is presented by the work presenting means 51 based on the work information held in the temporary storage means 52. Note that the storage of the work information in the temporary storage means 12 and 52 is temporary storage only for the time required for the work presentation in the work presentation means 11 and 51, unlike the so-called download, and when the presentation of the work is completed. , The work information about the finished part will be sequentially deleted. In this embodiment, the temporary storage means 1
Volatile memory (RAM) is used for 2, 52,
When the power of the end user terminal device 10 and the editor terminal device 50 is turned off, all the work information is lost.

The editor terminal device 50 further includes an editing means 53 and a data storage means 54.
The editing means 53 has a function of creating a new work by using the material data and the citation data, and the work information of this new work is newly stored in the work information storage device 70 via the network 100. You can The data storage means 54 is a means for downloading the transmitted work information. As described above, when the work is presented on the terminal device side, the work information is temporarily stored in the temporary storage means 52 and is deleted when the work presentation means 51 finishes the presentation. On the other hand, when the work is downloaded, the work information is stored in the data storage means 54, and is used for editing work as a work external to the system according to the present invention even after the presentation of the work is completed. it can.

<Specific Example of Work Information> The basic configuration of this system has been described above. Next, the contents of the work information used in this system will be described with reference to a specific example. Generally, a multimedia work is composed of materials such as moving images, still images, characters, figures, and sounds, and is presented to a user by a display device and a speaker. Or it is not limited to those that are viewed by hearing,
It can be viewed by touch, taste, or smell, and can be presented by a tactile sensation player. ). Here, the contents of the work information will be described by using a work as shown in FIG. 2 as an example. FIG. 2 shows a display mode of this work on the display screen. In the present specification, the word "work" is not limited to works such as so-called artistic paintings and music, but is used broadly to include works that can be recognized as one collective expression. For example, the work shown in Fig. 2 is named "Japan-US trade friction",
Rather than a work of art, news, documentary,
It is a copyrighted work of a nature such as a commentary article.

The screen shown in FIG. 2 has a title logo 1 (still image represented by text and raster data) laid out in the upper right part of the screen and a text article 2 (text data) laid out below it. And a video 3 laid out in the upper left part of the screen (video data composed of a set of a plurality of still images (frames) represented by raster data, and audio is also played in synchronization with this video)
It is composed of two control buttons 4 and 5 laid out below it. In the initial state when this work is presented, the image 3 is in a still state in which only the first frame is displayed. Here, the user presses the control button 4
When the button is clicked (for example, the mouse pointer is moved to the position of this button and the operation of pressing the mouse button is performed), the reproduction of the moving image and the audio as the image 3 is started. As will be described later, this video itself is
r. K is an independent work entitled "Interview with K." K
This is a recording of the interview with. That is, in a part of the work "Japan-US trade friction",
It means that another work called "Interview with Mr. K" is cited. When the playback of this video 3 is completed, the last frame is displayed on the screen in the still state,
Further, the bio 6 which has not been displayed until now is displayed. This biography 6 is from Mr. It is text data showing the biographies of K.

On the other hand, when the user clicks the control button 5, the graph 7 is displayed in the area where the image 3 was laid out, as shown in FIG. This graph 7 is a still image represented by vector data.
At the same time that the graph 7 is displayed, the control button 5 is replaced with the control button 8. When the user clicks the control button 4 in the state of FIG. 3, the display state of FIG. 2 is restored again and the reproduction of the image 3 is started. Further, when the user clicks the control button 8 in the state of FIG. 3, the presentation of this work ends, and the mode shifts to a mode for selecting another work.

As described above, the multimedia work is composed by combining works of various genres such as moving images, still images, texts and voices, and the work is presented in an interactive manner with the user. Generally proceeds. Moreover, as in the above-mentioned example, works by other authors are also quoted, which makes the relationship of intellectual property rights very complicated. For example, in the example above,
The user who receives the work "Japan-US trade friction" has a duty to pay the author of this work, and the author of the work "Mr. K's interview" cited therein Again, there will be an obligation to pay consideration. The example above is a very simple model where only one citation is made within a work, but in practice such citations are made at various places or in so-called "nested" styles. It is expected that more and more cases will be cited in the future. The management of intellectual property rights is inevitably complicated when a work with such complicated quotations is provided.

This system solves such a problem of intellectual property right management by adopting the following method. Figure 4 shows the individual work information used in this system.
As shown in, content list, material data, citation data,
It is composed of work composition data and property right data. Here, both the material data and the citation data are not necessarily required, and at least one of them is sufficient. The content list shows a list of material data and citation data used in this work, and the work composition data gives instructions for composing the work based on this material data and citation data. is there.
In addition, the property right data is information indicating the right holder of the intellectual property right related to this work, the price when using the work, and the usage restriction (as necessary, the time usage restriction and the price in that case). May be included).

FIG. 5 shows the structure of work information about the work "US-Japan trade friction" shown in FIGS. The content list shows that this work includes material data A, B, and C and citation data D, and raw image data or text data is stored as the material data A to C. . Further, as the citation data D, "Mr. K
Contains data (eg, a unique identification number) that identifies the work "interview." The work composition data includes data designating layout positions and magnifications of the material data A to C, patterns designating control buttons 4 and 5, layout positions, data designating functions, data designating overall synthesis procedure and synchronization designation, And so on. As property right data, the right holder is "A", the price is "20 yen when reclaimed", and the usage restriction is "not downloadable,
The information “only material data A alone cannot be quoted” is described.

On the other hand, FIG. 6 shows the structure of work information regarding another work "Interview with Mr. K" cited in this work "Japan-US trade friction". The contents list shows that this work includes material data E and F, and raw material image data or text data is contained as the material data E and F. The work composition data includes data for instructing the layout position and magnification of each material data E and F, data for instructing the overall composition procedure and synchronization, and the like. As the property right data, the right holder is “Otsu”, the price is “5 yen for recycling, 500,000 yen for downloading”, and the usage restriction is “partially quoted”. Has been done.

The specific examples of the work information have been described above for two works. In short, raw material data representing raw materials for multimedia such as moving images, still images, figures, texts and voices. Or, a format in which a work is constructed using citation data for specifying another work to be cited, and work composition data for giving a composition instruction and property right data indicating information on intellectual property rights are added If so, the condition as the work information in the present invention is provided. In the above specific example,
All of them are works using a plurality of material data, but it is of course possible to compose a work by a single material data or a single citation data. Also,
Each material data may be raw data such as a moving image, a still image, a figure, a text, a voice, and data indicating a processing process performed on the raw data. For example, in the case of a color image, if the conditions for performing color adjustment and the conditions for applying the special image effect are added as the processing data, the terminal device can reproduce the processed data. it can. Further, even when only a part of the image data as the material is used, by adding the processing data for performing the cutting or trimming, only the part necessary for the reproduction can be presented. Of course, such processed data itself is also one of the copyrighted works, and it is possible to request a price when using it.

It is convenient to add output format information to each piece of work information. At present, various personal computers have become widespread, and various software standards for reproducing multimedia works have been adopted. Therefore, if the output format information is added to each work, it is possible to immediately determine whether or not the format is adaptable to each terminal device, and if necessary, format conversion is performed through a predetermined filter to make it different. It is possible to perform processing that is adapted to works with formats.

<Presentation Process in Terminal Device> Next, the presentation process of each work on the terminal device side will be described with reference to a specific example. In FIG. 1, an end user terminal device 10
Is composed of the work presentation means 11 and the temporary storage means 12. The work presenting means 11 and the temporary storage means 12 are block constituent elements when the end user terminal device 10 is viewed from the functional side. The block diagram shown in FIG. 7 shows the block components when the terminal device 10 is viewed from the hardware configuration side. As described above, the end user terminal device 10 is actually used.
Is composed of a general-purpose personal computer and a video game device. That is, an arithmetic processing unit 102 is connected to the network 100 via a terminal adapter 101, and a display unit 103 and a speaker 104 for presenting a work are connected to the arithmetic processing unit 102. Further, the arithmetic processing unit 102 includes a ROM 105 as a non-volatile memory.
To a RAM 106 (including VRAM) as a volatile memory, and a disk device 107 as a storage device. This disk device 107
In the inside, application software of the present system (a program for operating this general-purpose personal computer as the terminal device 10 which is one component of the present system, in other words, a terminal device transmitted from the network 100) General-purpose data that does not depend on the model of the above, and a program for executing a predetermined process in conformity with the method of the terminal device, and other applications (word processors, spreadsheets, CADs used in general-purpose personal computers). , Which is not necessary for the implementation of the present invention). In addition, with respect to the arithmetic processing device 102,
A keyboard 108, a mouse 109, and the like are connected as a device for the user to input predetermined information.

Now, using such a terminal device 10,
Let us explain the operation when playing a work called "Japan-US trade friction" with work information as shown in FIG. This work information is stored as a database in the work information storage device 70. However, when the terminal device 10 requests transmission of this work, the terminal device 10 stores the work information under the control of the general management device 60. This work information is transmitted to the terminal device 10 via the network 100 by being connected to the device 70. However, not all data is transmitted. This is a point different from the download in the conventional system. First, the content list and the work composition data are transmitted and stored in the RAM 106. This RA
Based on the information stored in M106, the application program of the system can recognize the outline of this work. The content list and the work composition data are much smaller than the raw material data and can be stored in a memory having a relatively small capacity.

Then, this application program reproduces this work based on the instruction of the work composition data. In the work composition data, first, a procedure for displaying a screen as shown in FIG. 2 is described. The data necessary for displaying such a screen are the image data of the title logo 1 (material data A), the text data of the text article 2 (material data B), and the image data of the initial screen of the video 3 (quotation data D). This is data relating to the control buttons 4 and 5 and the first frame of the material data E in the work "Mr. K's interview" specified by the quote. Therefore, the application program sends the material data A and B, and
A request is made to transmit the first frame of the material data E in another piece of work information. Based on this request, the general management device 60 connects the terminal device 10 to the work information storage device 70 and permits the terminal device 10 to access the material data A, B, E in the work information storage device 70. give. On the other hand, a command for transmitting the material data A, B, E is given from the central management device 60 to the work information storage device 70. Thus, the material data A, B, E are transmitted by the access from the terminal device 10. When these data are transmitted to the terminal device 10 side, the RAM
It is temporarily stored in 106 (more specifically, in VRAM). At this time, the layout position and magnification of each material are
It is decided based on the instructions in the work composition data.

Thus, the screen shown in FIG. 2 is displayed on the display device 103. The control buttons 4 and 5 are created based on the data included in the work composition data. Here, the user uses the mouse 1
It is assumed that the control button 4 is clicked using 09 to give an instruction to start the reproduction of the image 3. Then, the application program instructs the work information storage device 70 to
"Interview with Mr. K" identified by Citation Data D
Make a request to transmit the work information of the work. As a result, in the form quoted in the work "Japan-US trade friction",
A work called "Interview with Mr. K" will be presented. That is, the image 3 as shown in FIG. 2 is reproduced along with the sound on the screen of the display device 103. When the reproduction is completed, the material data F is transmitted and the bio 6 is displayed.

The important point here is that the material data transmitted to the RAM 106 is temporarily held only for the time required for the presentation (playback) processing on the display device 103 and the speaker 104, and After that, it is erased at any time. Specifically, as for the image data forming each frame of the video 3, one frame currently being displayed may be left at least. Eventually, the material data transmitted via the network 100 will be erased after the presentation. However, it is not always necessary to immediately erase the data that has been presented from the RAM 106. In consideration of the remaining capacity of the RAM 106 and the like, unnecessary data may be deleted as appropriate so that a sufficient space for storing new material data can be secured. As described above, the main purpose of appropriately deleting the material data after the presentation processing is to save the capacity of the RAM 106 and prevent illegal use of the material data. If all the material data is erased from the RAM 106 at the end of the application program for operating this system, the material data will not be leaked from the closed system of this system to the outside and the unauthorized use will be prevented. It is possible.

Here, it is assumed that the user clicks the control button 5 using the mouse 109 and gives an instruction to present the graph 7. Then, the application program requests the work information storage device 70 to transmit the material data C. When the material data C is thus transmitted to the RAM 106, the graph 7 is displayed on the screen of the display device 103 as shown in FIG.
At this point, the material data E and F in the RAM 106 may be erased. If the user has control button 4
When the user clicks to request the reproduction of the image 3 again, the material information E, F is transmitted again from the work information storage device 70. In this embodiment, since the B-ISDN communication circuit network is used as the network 100, high speed transmission of data is possible. Therefore, even if the method of transmitting the material data E and F via the network and displaying the material data E and F on the display device 103 each time the user gives an instruction to reproduce the video 3, it is time-consuming. It is possible to reproduce the transmitted material data in real time without any delay.

<Operation of Entire System> Next, the operation of the entire system shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Now, from the end user terminal device 10, the user
Let's assume that you started accessing this system. That is, this user has started up the application program of this system in the general-purpose personal computer used as the terminal device 10. The general management device 60 recognizes that the access from the terminal device 10 has started. Therefore, the integrated management device 6
0 presents the work list to the terminal device 10 in step S1. That is, the work information storage device 7
A list of various pieces of work information prepared in 0 is transmitted to the terminal device 10. In step S2, the user inputs an instruction to select a work desired to be viewed from this list. For example, suppose that the above-mentioned "Japan-US trade friction" was selected. Subsequently, in step S3, access permission is given by the central management device. That is, the general management device 60 notifies the work information storage device 70 that access to the work “Japan-US trade friction” from the terminal device 10 is permitted. At the same time, the property right data for the selected work is read into the central management device 60. Here, the integrated management device 60
Creates history information indicating that the work "Japan-US trade friction" has been transmitted to the terminal device 10, and also creates billing information for imposing a predetermined consideration to the user of the terminal device 10. Specifically, as shown in the work information of FIG. 5, according to the property right data about this work,
The price of the right holder is "20 yen" for the reproduction (use mode in which the data is simply reproduced and viewed). Billing information indicating that the yen should be paid will be created.

Next, in step S4, the content list, the work composition data, and the property right data of the selected work are fetched. That is, these data are taken into the RAM 106 in the terminal device 10.

Subsequently, in step S5, the terminal device 10
The presentation process to be performed next is recognized based on the work composition data. For example, when the work "Japan-US trade friction" is selected, first, the process of presenting the title logo 1 shown in FIG. 2 is recognized as the process to be performed for the time being. Since the title logo 1 is given as material data A,
The process branches from step S6 to step S7, and if a support process (described later) is required, the process proceeds to step S9 through the support process in step S8, and the material data A acquisition and presentation process is executed. In this way, when the presentation of the title logo 1 is completed by the material data A, the process returns from step S10 to step S5, and the presentation process of the text article 2 is recognized as the process to be performed next. Therefore, step S6
The process branches from step S7 to step S7, and if the support process is still necessary, the support process in step S8 is performed and then step S
In step 9, the material data B is taken in and presented. In this way, when the presentation of the text article 2 is completed by the material data B, the process returns from step S10 to step S5, and the presentation process of the image 3 is recognized as the process to be performed next. Since this image 3 is given by the citation data D, the process branches from step S6 to step S11, and the cited work is selected. In the case of this example, as the cited work specified by the citation data D, “M
r. K's interview ”is selected. The individual presentation processes described above can also be executed simultaneously by a method such as multi-process communication by pre-entity multitasking. Further, it is also possible to simultaneously execute external processing by the processing calculation support device 80 using the distributed object process technology.

In this way, when a new work is selected in step S11, the recursive process in step S12 is performed. This recursive process is a process of repeatedly executing the procedure from step S3. Since this process routine is a so-called “nested” routine corresponding to the level one level below, in FIG. The process from step S3 to step S3 is shown by a broken line. In the "nesting" routine, the same procedure as described above is executed and the material data E and F are presented. That is, in step S3, access to the work “Interview with Mr. K” is permitted,
History information and billing information are created in the integrated management device 60. The billing information created here is the billing information for the work "Interview with Mr. K". Specifically, as shown in the work information of FIG. 6, according to the property right data about this work, the right holder is "Otsu".
Since the price for recycling is "5 yen", billing information indicating that the user of the terminal device 10 should pay 5 yen to the second party is created. Then, when the presentation of the work "Interview with Mr. K" is completed by the processing of step S5 and subsequent steps, all the processing is completed in step S10, and this procedure ends. However, the procedure ended here is the process of presenting the "nested""Interview with Mr. K" work.
This is the procedure executed as a recursive process in step S12 of the original processing routine of one level higher (the presentation processing routine of the work "US-Japan trade friction"). Therefore,
Completion of the presentation of the work "Interview with Mr. K" means that the recursive process in step 12 is completed.

At this point in time, the image display as shown in FIG. 2 is made on the display screen. Therefore, the process returns from step S10 to step S5, as shown in FIG.
The control waits until the control buttons 4 and 5 shown on the screen are clicked. Here, when the control button 4 is clicked, the process branches from step S6 to step S11 again, and the quoted work “Interview with Mr. K” is presented. Further, if the control button 5 is clicked, the process branches from step S6 to step S7, and in step S9, the presentation process of the material data C is performed, and the screen display shown in FIG. In this way, the process returns to step S5 again to enter the standby state for clicking the control button. This work "Japan-US trade friction" ends when the control button 8 shown in the screen of FIG. 3 is clicked. When the control button 8 is clicked,
Since there is no presentation target, steps S6 to S10
Proceeding to, it is judged that all the processing is completed, and the presentation of this work is completed.

Here, the charging process performed by the central management device 60 will be summarized when the user of the terminal device 10 recycles and uses the work "US-Japan trade friction". As described above, first, when the data about the work "Japan-US trade friction" is fetched in step S3, step S3
In 4, the billing information indicating that 20 yen should be paid to A is created. Subsequently, the data about the work "Interview with Mr. K" quoted in this work is taken in at step S3 (step S3 in the processing procedure at the level one level below that executed by the recursive processing at step S12). Then, in the subsequent step S4, billing information indicating that 5 yen should be paid to the second party is created. After all, when the user of the terminal device 10 reproduces the work "US-Japan trade friction", the billing information to pay 20 yen to A and 5 yen to B is created, Based on this billing information, it is possible to automatically make a payment using a bank account. As a user of the terminal device 10, he / she simply viewed one work called "US-Japan trade friction" and paid 25 yen for it, which was 20 yen for A and 5 yen for B. You don't have to be aware of the distribution destination of the consideration. In such a system, a very efficient consideration process can be realized especially when viewing a work that includes multiple citations or a work that includes nested multiple citations.

As described above, in order to take in specific work information to each terminal device, it is premised that the general management device 60 gives access permission in step S3. Therefore, in the centralized management device 60, history information indicating which work information was accessed by which terminal device is accumulated. In this system, the history information is used when the work list is presented in step S1. That is, the history information indicates the kind of work each user has accessed in the past,
It is valuable data for understanding the user's hobbies, preferences, living environment, and the like. Therefore, the presentation of the work list can be customized so that each user can be given priority to the work information that is considered to be more used, with reference to the history information. Further, as described above, this history information can be used as information for sales promotion of various products.

The processing calculation support device 80 has a function of supporting the process of transmitting the work information from the work information storage device 70 to each terminal device. As described above, in the system of this embodiment, a low-priced computer such as a general-purpose personal computer or a video game device is used as the end user terminal device 10, and advanced image processing such as a large computer is used. And operations cannot be performed. Therefore, for the material data that needs to be subjected to advanced processing and calculation, the work information storage device 70
From the work information storage device 70 to the processing operation support device 80 once instead of directly transmitting from the work information storage device 70 to the terminal device 10 so that necessary processing operation is performed here and the material data after the processing operation is transmitted to the terminal device 10. I have to. in this way,
By processing the material data via the processing calculation support device 80, the load of image processing and calculation on the terminal device 10 side can be reduced. The support process in step S8 indicates the execution of the process calculation in such a process calculation support device 80. Step S7 is a step of determining whether or not such a support process is necessary in consideration of the function of the terminal device 10 and the content of the material data to be transmitted, and in this embodiment, the central management device. A decision is made at 60.

As such support processing, for example,
A color image data conversion process can be considered. Generally speaking, there is a so-called "full-color image" in which one pixel is represented by 32 bits even if it is called a color image.
Alternatively, there is a color image represented by 8 bits. Therefore, for example, even if the material data in the work information storage device 70 is prepared as a 32-bit full-color image, if the terminal device 10 side can only support an 8-bit color image, a 32-bit color image is displayed. Is required to be converted into an 8-bit color image. Further, even when the material data in the work information storage device 70 is prepared in high resolution but the terminal device 10 side can only support low resolution, the high resolution image data is thinned out to low resolution image data. Processing is required. Alternatively, if the format of the material data is different from the format that can be handled by the terminal device 10, format conversion processing is required. Such processing is performed by the terminal device 1
If the burden is placed on the 0 side, it will hinder the presentation of works in real time. If such a processing is performed on the transmission path of the material data by interposing a processing calculation support device 80 having a high calculation processing capability, such a problem will be eliminated.

<Editing Process by the Editor Terminal Device> Finally, the functions of the editing means 53 and the data storage means 54 in the editor terminal device 50 will be described. In the system of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, as described above, the end user terminal device 10 is configured by a general-purpose personal computer or a video game device, and the editor terminal device 50 is configured by a general-purpose workstation. Here, the editor terminal device 50 is a device intended to be installed in a small-to-medium-sized information providing company or a multimedia work production company, and in addition to the work presenting means 51 and the temporary storage means 52, the editing means 53 and The data storage means 54 is provided.

The editing means 53 performs a process of creating a new work based on the material data and the quotation data, and newly saving the work information of the new work in the work information storage device 70 via the network 100. In the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 7, the disk device 1 has a function to perform.
It corresponds to the editing software installed in the "application program of this system" installed in 07.

Various material data are registered as work information in the work information storage device 70, and a user of the editor terminal device 50 (hereinafter referred to as an editor) uses the editing means 53. , It is possible to create a new work by freely combining these material data. For example, the work "Japan-US trade friction" with work information as shown in Figure 5.
When creating the, the editor prepares the material data A, B, C by himself. The drawing software that can create a picture like the title logo 1, word processing software that can enter text like the text article 2, and graphing software that can create a graph like graph 7 If included in the application program of the system, the editor can prepare the material data A, B, C using these software.
Alternatively, the material data A, B, and C may be prepared using another application software. In the work "Japan-US trade friction", in addition to these material data, the citation data D is required. For this, the identification number given to the work “Interview with Mr. K” to be quoted may be used as the quoted data D as it is. In this way, the editing means 53 has an editing function of specifying the material data and the citation data to be used and creating the work composition data for them. That is, when the editor uses this editing function to allocate individual material data to a desired position at a desired magnification, an instruction for performing such allocation is generated as work composition data. In this way, when the work "Japan-US trade friction" is created, the editing means 53 is instructed to register it as a new work. At this time, property data about this work is set. In other words, as the right holder, his / her own name, identification code, etc. may be input, and desired price and usage restriction may be set. Then, the overall management apparatus 60 is requested to register this new work. The integrated management device 60 stores this new work in the work information storage device 70.
It is assigned to a new accommodation place in the above, and information indicating the accommodation place is added to the work management information. In this way, when the work information including the material data A, B, C, the content list, the work composition data, and the property right data as shown in FIG. 5 is created, the work information is stored via the network 100. It is sufficient to transmit up to 70 and newly register in the database in the work information storage device 70.

As described above, the work information in the work information storage device 70 is open to the editor via the network 100. The editor can freely use the works and materials registered in the work information storage device 70 to create a new work, and can register this work. In addition to the materials prepared in the work information storage device 70, new newly prepared material data is added,
You can also create new works. If such activities are actively performed by the editor, the work information storage device 70
The work information registered in the site will increase over time. Moreover, all pieces of work information are centrally managed as a database under the control of the overall management device 60, and mutual citation can be easily performed. That is, when quoting another work, it is only necessary to prepare citation data that identifies the work. Moreover, since the property right data is given to each work, management of intellectual property rights can be independently performed for each work and each material.

On the other hand, the data storage means 54 is means for downloading the work information in the work information storage device 70, and in the hardware configuration shown in FIG. As described above, when the work is viewed (reproduced) in the present system, the raw material data is temporarily stored in the temporary storage means 52 (RAM 106 in FIG. 7) and sequentially erased when the reproduction is completed. In the present specification, such a temporary acquisition of data for presentation (so-called data distribution in a closed system) is distinguished without using the wording “download”. As described above, since the download is not performed, the raw material data does not remain in the terminal device after the viewing. Therefore, when the user views the same work again, the user pays the price again (in some cases, at a discounted price or free of charge) and receives the material data. For general end users, such a method causes no particular problem. Rather, such a method is superior in preventing infringement of intellectual property rights. This is because there is no possibility that the material data is illegally used because the material data does not remain in the terminal device.

However, from the standpoint of the editor who is the user of the editor terminal device 50, it is more advantageous to download and perform editing with a higher degree of freedom. Of course, in this system, it is possible to create a new work and newly register it in the work information storage device 70 without performing any download. The editing means 53 (editing routine in the application program of the present system) may be operated for the material data temporarily stored in the temporary storage means 52 (RAM 106). After the editing, the raw material data in the temporary storage means 52 is deleted, but the work information about the new work created by the editing is stored in the work information storage device 70.
Will be registered within. However, in such a method, the editor can only edit using the "editing routine in the application program of the present system", and cannot edit using various commercially available application programs. So, in this example,
Regarding the editor terminal device 50, it is permitted to download raw material data into the data storage means 54 (disk device 107). The editor processes and edits the downloaded material data using various commercially available application programs to create a new work, and hands it over again to the application program (editing means 53) of this system. It becomes possible to newly register in the work information storage device 70. If desired, the downloaded material data can be completely separated from the system and distributed using another medium such as a CD-ROM.

However, the economic value enjoyed by the user is naturally different when the same work is simply reproduced and viewed and when it is downloaded and used. Therefore, in the property right data, different consideration values are set for each usage mode of the work. For example, in the work information shown in FIG. 6, "reuse = 5 yen,"
"Use for download = 500,000 yen" is set. Therefore, a fee of 5 yen will be charged when playing and viewing this work called "Interview with Mr. K." However, if you download and use it, the price of 500,000 yen will be charged. Will be charged. Since the general management device 60 knows whether the usage pattern in each terminal device is simple reproduction or download, the general management device 60
Can create correct billing information according to the usage pattern.

In addition, some authors often request "I do not want to cite my work" or "I want to add such a limiting condition when quoting". Therefore, in this system, conditions regarding usage restrictions are added to the property right data. The usage of individual works will be limited by this condition. For example, for the work “Interview with Mr. K” shown in FIG. Therefore, when quoting this work, the entire work must be quoted in its entirety, such as cutting the material data F (biography 6) and quoting only the material data E (movie 3). Is not allowed. Further, regarding the work "Japan-US trade friction" shown in FIG. 5, a usage restriction of "not downloadable, single citation of only material data A not possible" is added. Therefore, this work cannot be downloaded.
Therefore, when creating a new work that cites this work in the editor terminal device 50, the material data temporarily stored in the temporary storage means 52 should be edited using the editing means 53. However, it is not permitted to download the data to the data storage means 54 and edit it with commercially available application software. Also,
Since it is prohibited to cite only the material data A (title logo 1) alone, it cannot be used to cite only the title logo 1 in one's work.

Since such use restriction information in the property right data is grasped by the integrated management device 60, even if an operation that conflicts with the usage restriction is performed on the terminal side, the integrated management device 60 will The operation can be disabled. Therefore, it becomes possible to surely manage the intellectual property right of each work.

Further, as the property right data, an item such as an information mediation fee can be provided. For example, suppose that user A views one work A and recognizes that another work B is cited in this work A. Therefore, suppose that user A newly creates another work C by citing this work B. In this case, since the work B is quoted in the work C, another user B works
If you watch, the author of work C (step A) and the author of work B will be paid. However, since the creator of work C introduced the existence of work B to the creator of work C, the creator of work C (step A) sets items such as an information brokerage fee as the property right data of work C. Incidentally, when the user B views the work C, the creator of the work A can be paid the consideration as the information mediation fee.

Although the present invention has been described above based on the illustrated embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment and can be implemented in various modes other than this. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the end user terminal device 10 is a personal computer or a video game device, and the editor terminal device 50 is a workstation. It does not have to be configured by hardware. Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the editing means 53 and the data storage means 54 are prepared only in the editorial terminal device 50, but these means may be provided in the end user terminal device 10. . For example, the end user terminal device 10 is provided with a simple editing function that can be used by general users, and the editor terminal device 50 is provided with an advanced editing function for professional use. deep,
The form is also possible. More specifically, as a simple editing function provided in the terminal device 10 for the end user, a function of cutting out a part of the material data, creating original work composition data, and saving the data in the terminal device 10 is prepared. You can Alternatively, it is possible to provide a function of adding link information indicating information relevance and mutual reference / quote relations between different pieces of work information. In this case, when the link information is used by a third party, the payment can be made as the use of the secondary work. According to such a usage pattern, the information of the entire system is organized, and it is possible to achieve the growth of the value by all the users, which is impossible in the conventional network for distributing a single work.

It is preferable that the new work obtained as a result of the editing process be stored in the terminal device 10 or the work information storage device 70 under the control of the central management device 60. By doing this, the integrated management device 6
0 can analyze the result of the editing work performed and can charge the usage fee according to the usage mode. Also,
This analysis can measure the user's interest level for each material data (for example, if a user edits and edits specific material data, that user can , Which showed a stronger interest than ordinary viewing.), Applied to the setting of information priority when presenting different information to users, and direct marketing for mail order. can do.

[0061]

As described above, according to the copyrighted work providing system using the network according to the present invention, material data,
The work information composed of the citation data, the work composition data, and the property right data is stored in the work information storage device, and the necessary work is transmitted to each terminal device as needed, and the property right about the transmitted work Based on the data, I managed to manage intellectual property rights for each work,
It becomes possible to efficiently manage the intellectual property right attached to the provided copyrighted work.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a copyrighted work providing system using a network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which a multimedia work prepared in the system of FIG. 1 is displayed on a display screen.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which the work shown in FIG. 2 is further developed.

4 is a diagram showing a general structure of work information used in the system of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a specific content of work information regarding the work shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing work information of another work cited in the work information shown in FIG. 5;

7 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a terminal device 10 in the system of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the entire system of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Title logo 2 ... Main text article 3 ... Video (sound) 4, 5 ... Control button 6 ... Brief history 7 ... Graph 8 ... Control button 10, 20, 30 ... End user terminal device 11 ... Work presentation means 12 ... Temporary storage Means 40, 50 ... Editor terminal device 51 ... Work presentation means 52 ... Temporary storage means 53 ... Editing means 54 ... Data storage means 60 ... General management device 70 ... Work information storage device 80 ... Processing calculation support device 100 ... Network 101 ... terminal adapter 102 ... arithmetic processing device 103 ... display device 104 ... speaker 105 ... ROM 106 ... RAM 107 ... disk device 108 ... keyboard 109 ... mouse

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location H04L 12/18

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A network for transmitting information to a plurality of users, a plurality of terminal devices connected to this network, and a work to be provided via this network are stored as work information for each work. A work information storage device, and a centralized management device that centrally manages the transmission processing of the work information to each terminal device, and the work information includes material data constituting a unit work,
The work terminal is configured by work composition data that gives instructions for composing a work based on the material data, and property right data including information indicating the right holder and the price of the intellectual property right attached to the work, and the terminal The device performs a process of presenting a unit work represented by the material data included in the work information based on an instruction shown in the work composition data, and the overall management device is a terminal device. When transmitting the work information, processing for creating billing information indicating to the user of this terminal device that the consideration shown in the property right data in the transmitted work information should be paid to the right holder A copyrighted work providing system using a network characterized by performing. 2. A network for transmitting information to a plurality of users, a plurality of terminal devices connected to this network, and a work to be provided via this network are stored as work information for each work. A work information storage device that controls the transmission of work information to each terminal device, and a work management device that manages the transmission processing of work information to each terminal device. Property rights data that includes citation data that identifies information, work composition data that gives instructions to compose a work based on these data, and information indicating the right holder and the value of the intellectual property right attached to the work And the terminal device, for the unit work represented by the material data included in the work information, the terminal device For works that are presented based on the information and are represented by the citation data contained in the work information, work information about the cited work specified by the citation data is received via the network, and Performing a process of presenting the work based on the work information about the cited work, the integrated management device, when transmitting the work information to the terminal device, provides the user of this terminal device with the property in the transmitted work information. A copyrighted work providing system using a network, which is characterized by performing processing for creating billing information indicating that the price shown in the rights data should be paid to the right holder. 3. The system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the terminal device temporarily stores the work information transmitted via the network, and the temporary storage means holds the work information therein. And a work presenting means for presenting a work based on the work information being provided, and among the work information transmitted to the terminal device via the network, the portion of which the presentation by the work presenting means is finished, A literary work providing system using a network, wherein the literary work is erased from the temporary storage means in sequence. 4. The system according to claim 2 or 3, wherein at least one of the plurality of terminal devices connected to the network combines material data and / or citation data and work composition information. Editing means for creating a new work, adding property right data to the new work to create new work information, and newly storing the new work information in the work information storage device via the network. A copyrighted material providing system using a network, further comprising: 5. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a different amount is set for each usage mode of the work as the price shown in the property right data. The copyrighted material providing system. 6. The copyrighted work providing system using a network according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that a condition for restricting a usage mode of the work is further added as the property right data. . 7. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein history information indicating which piece of work information has been transmitted in the past is stored in the central management device for each terminal device. A copyrighted material providing system using a network.