JP5197700B2 - Electronic book browsing terminal, electronic book distribution system, electronic book distribution server and method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic book browsing terminal, an electronic book distribution system, an electronic book distribution server, and a method that appropriately charge a page viewed by a user when charging an electronic book.

  In recent years, digitalization of contents has progressed, and various contents (for example, books, music, etc.) are provided on a network. Various charging methods have been employed so far for providing digitized content. However, in Patent Document 1, a user is required to satisfy all the conditions of charging contents. A prepaid billing method for providing content is disclosed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-187267

  By the way, in the real world, magazines and weekly magazines having a plurality of contents are provided to the user, but it is possible to provide individual contents (content units) to the user on the network. However, when a book having a plurality of contents is provided in units of contents, only the contents that the user is interested in are purchased in advance, and the opportunity to make the user interested in other contents disappears. Resulting in. On the other hand, when e-books are provided in book units, pages that the user has not read at all, or pages that are only displayed instantly when the user flips the page, can not be said to have been read in book units. An amount of money must be paid, and the user is strongly dissatisfied.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and when distributing an electronic book, while maintaining an opportunity to make the user interested in content that the user has not yet browsed, It is an object to provide a non-electronic book browsing terminal, an electronic book distribution system, an electronic book distribution server, and a method.

  (1) An electronic book viewing terminal that is communicably connected to an electronic book distribution server that distributes electronic books and displays the electronic book to a user, and receives the electronic book from the electronic book distribution server And the page turning operation reception history by the user input for each page of the electronic book received by the electronic book receiving means, and the browsing time for each page of the electronic book is totaled and stored in association with the page Browsing time storage means, charging information determination means for determining charging information of the electronic book for each page based on the browsing time, and charging information transmission means for transmitting the charging information to the electronic book distribution server An electronic book browsing terminal comprising:

  According to the electronic book browsing terminal of (1), the browsing time for each page of the electronic book is managed based on the user's page turning operation, and the accounting information for the electronic book is determined based on the browsing time for each page. . At this time, since the entire electronic book is distributed from the electronic book distribution server, the user can obtain an opportunity to browse content that may not be viewed but may be of interest. In addition, if the user does not have an interest despite browsing (if the browsing time is short), the user will not be dissatisfied if the content is not charged. Therefore, it is possible to provide an electronic book browsing terminal that does not give dissatisfaction to the user while maintaining an opportunity to interest the content that the user has not browsed yet.

  (2) As a condition for the electronic book receiving means to receive the electronic book, a prepaid amount confirming means for confirming a charge amount of a prepaid amount for the electronic book, and a prepaid amount determined by the prepaid amount confirming means The electronic book viewing terminal according to (1), further comprising: a return requesting unit that requests the amount of money that exceeds the charging amount calculated from the charging information determined by the charging information determination unit as a return amount.

  According to the electronic book browsing terminal of (2), while the amount charged for the entire electronic book is paid in advance, the amount for the page that the user has not browsed (the browsing time is short) is returned to the user. , The user will not be dissatisfied.

  (3) The electronic book receiving means receives, from the electronic book distribution server, billing time, which is a billing target time set for each of the pages, together with the electronic book, and the billing information determining means (1) or (2) determines that the page is a chargeable page on condition that the browsing time for each of the pages stored in the browsing time storage means exceeds the charging time. The electronic book viewing terminal described.

  (4) The electronic book receiving means, in addition to the electronic book, displays a billing time, which is a billing time set for each of the pages, and a billing amount set for each of the pages. The billing information determination means received from the distribution server, the billing amount determined for the page on condition that the browse time for each of the pages stored in the browse time storage means exceeds the billing time The electronic book viewing terminal according to (1) or (2), wherein the electronic book browsing terminal is determined as the billing information.

As shown in the electronic book browsing terminal of (3) or (4), the billing amount can be determined by the electronic book browsing terminal or can be determined by the electronic book distribution server.
In other words, the billing amount for an electronic book is determined in advance by the billing time and billing amount to be billed for each page, and the total billing amount set for the page whose browsing time exceeds the billing time is charged to the electronic book. It can be an amount. Therefore, for example, a charging time can be determined based on the time that a general user normally browses the content, or a charging amount can be determined based on the popularity of the content described on the page in the electronic book. It is less likely that the user is dissatisfied by determining an appropriate billing time and billing amount. At this time, it is sufficient for the electronic book browsing terminal to manage at least the browsing time for each page, and whether the page exceeds the charging time or the total amount charged for each page is determined by the electronic book browsing terminal. It may be determined by the electronic book distribution server.

  (5) An electronic book distribution system including an electronic book distribution server for distributing an electronic book, and an electronic book browsing terminal capable of communicating with the electronic book distribution server and allowing a user to browse the electronic book, An electronic book browsing terminal is based on an electronic book receiving means for receiving an electronic book from the electronic book distribution server, and a page turning operation reception history by user input for each page of the electronic book received by the electronic book receiving means. , Browsing time storage means for counting the browsing time for each page of the electronic book and storing it in association with the page; charging information for determining charging information for the electronic book for each page based on the browsing time An electronic book distribution system comprising: determination means; and charging information transmission means for transmitting the charging information to the electronic book distribution server.

  (6) An electronic book distribution server communicatively connected to an electronic book browsing terminal from which a user browses an electronic book, the electronic book having a plurality of contents, and the electronic book with respect to the electronic book browsing terminal Totaling browsing time based on the page turning operation acceptance history by the user input for each page, and storing in association with the page, and determining charging information of the electronic book for each page based on the browsing time And a program for executing a step of transmitting the billing information to the electronic book distribution server.

  (7) a step of receiving an electronic book from the electronic book distribution server, which is connected to an electronic book distribution server that distributes the electronic book and is executed by an electronic book browsing terminal that allows the user to browse the electronic book; Based on the received page turning operation acceptance history by user input for each page of the electronic book, a step of counting the browsing time for each page of the electronic book, and storing it in association with the page, and based on the browsing time And determining billing information of the electronic book for each page, and transmitting the billing information to the electronic book distribution server.

  According to the electronic book distribution system of (5), the electronic book distribution server of (6), and the method of (7), the same effects as the electronic book browsing terminal of (1) are produced.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, an electronic book can be delivered, without giving dissatisfaction to a user, maintaining the opportunity to make the user interested in the content which is not yet interested.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the electronic book delivery system of 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an electronic book memory | storage means and a browsing time memory | storage means. It is a figure which shows a book list memory | storage means and a bill amount memory | storage means. It is a figure which shows an example of the page turning operation by a user input. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the electronic book delivery system of the said embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the electronic book delivery system of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows a bill amount memory | storage means. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the electronic book delivery system of the said embodiment.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
First, the electronic book distribution system 1 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[Configuration of Electronic Book Distribution System 1]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the electronic book distribution system 1.
The electronic book distribution system 1 includes an electronic book browsing terminal 2 used when a user browses an electronic book, and an electronic book distribution server 3 that distributes the electronic book.

  The electronic book browsing terminal 2 is a terminal device that can be carried and used like a mobile phone or a PDA, and includes an electronic book receiving means 21, an electronic book storage means 22, an electronic book browsing means 23, and a browsing time. The storage unit 24, the charging information determination unit 25, and the charging information transmission unit 26 are included.

The electronic book receiving means 21 receives data relating to the electronic book transmitted from the electronic book distribution server 3 (electronic book transmitting means 31), and stores the data in the electronic book storage means 22.
The electronic book storage means 22 stores data relating to the electronic book in association with a book ID for identifying the electronic book. Note that the data relating to the electronic book in the present embodiment includes a content ID for identifying a plurality of contents included in the electronic book, the number of pages of the content, a page unit price, and a billing time. Here, the billing time is a threshold value of the browsing time to be billed. For example, in the content ID “A1_03”, a page viewed for 4 seconds is billed, and 1.3 yen is charged per page.
In this embodiment, the page unit price and billing time are set for each type of content, so a longer time is set if the content has a lot of characters, and a shorter time if the content has a lot of pictures. Time can be set, and the level of the page unit price can be determined based on the audience rating calculated based on the browsing time for each page. However, the page unit price and billing time can be set arbitrarily, even for pages within the same content, the page unit price and billing time can be different, and regardless of the content, The page unit price and billing time can be the same.

The electronic book browsing means 23 controls the display of the received electronic book. Specifically, the electronic book browsing means 23 displays the electronic book on the display unit of the electronic book browsing terminal 2 and accepts a page turning operation (turn a page), so that the next (previous) page is displayed. Display on the display section. The user of the electronic book browsing terminal 2 browses the electronic book based on the display control of the electronic book browsing means 23.
Here, the page turning operation will be described with reference to FIG. When the user drags the point F provided at the lower right part of the page displayed on the electronic book browsing terminal 2 and moves it in the Y direction in the figure and drops it, the page is turned and the electronic book browsing terminal 2 has the following A page is displayed. Similarly, when the user drags a point B provided at the lower left and drops it after moving in the X direction in the figure, the page is turned and the previous page is displayed on the electronic book viewing terminal 2. That is, the page turning operation of this embodiment is performed by dragging and dropping the point F or the point B by the user. Note that the page turning operation can be performed by an arbitrary method, and a page turning operation may be performed by providing buttons such as “next” and “back” and operating (clicking) the buttons.

Returning to FIG. 1, the browsing time storage unit 24 totals the browsing time based on the page turning operation acceptance history by the user input for each page of the electronic book, and stores the tabulated browsing time for each page. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2 (2), the browsing time storage unit 24 stores the browsing time of the electronic book in units of pages.
Note that the correspondence between the page turning operation and the browsing time can be arbitrarily set. For example, the current page browsing time can be set to any position where the point F or the point B is moved in the dragged state. When the position is exceeded, it may be set as the browsing time of the page after turning the page.

  The charging information determination unit 25 determines the charging information of the electronic book for each page based on the browsing time stored in the browsing time storage unit 24. In the present embodiment, the billing information determination unit 25 determines a billing amount for an electronic book viewing page as billing information. Specifically, the billing information determination unit 25 can determine, as the billing information (billing amount), the sum of the unit prices of pages whose viewing time exceeds the billing time stored in the electronic book storage unit 22. Further, the billing information determining means 25 is the same when the page whose browsing time for each page of the electronic book exceeds the billing time stored in the electronic book storage means 22 exceeds a predetermined ratio in the same content. A page where the content of the user is not browsed may be added to the billing information. On the other hand, the billing information determination means 25 is the same when the page whose browsing time for each page of the electronic book exceeds the billing time stored in the electronic book storage means 22 does not exceed a predetermined ratio in the same content. The page viewed by the content may be subtracted from the billing information.

  The charging information transmitting unit 26 transmits the determined charging information to the electronic book distribution server 3.

  Subsequently, the electronic book distribution server 3 includes an electronic book transmission unit 31, a book list storage unit 32, a billing information reception unit 33, and a bill amount storage unit 34.

The electronic book transmission means 31 transmits data relating to the electronic book (including the electronic book file, page unit price, and billing time) to the electronic book browsing terminal 2.
The book list storage unit 32 stores data related to the electronic book to be distributed. Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 3A, the book list storage unit 32 associates an electronic book with a book ID that identifies the electronic book, a content ID, the number of pages of the content, and a page. Data including unit price and billing time is stored.
When the user of the electronic book browsing terminal 2 selects an arbitrary electronic book from the electronic books stored in the book list storage unit 32, data related to the electronic book is transmitted to the electronic book browsing terminal 2.

The billing information receiving unit 33 receives billing information transmitted from the electronic book viewing terminal 2 (billing information transmitting unit 26). The received billing information is stored in the bill storage means 34 in association with a user ID for identifying the user of the electronic book viewing terminal 2.
The configuration of the bill storage means 34 is shown in FIG. The bill amount storage means 34 stores information including the book ID of the distributed electronic book and the bill amount determined from the viewing page of the electronic book in association with the user ID.
The electronic book distribution server 3 charges the charge amount stored in the charge amount storage unit 34 to the user of the electronic book viewing terminal 2, so that not only the charge for all the electronic books but the charge for only the page viewed by the user. I do.

[Hardware Configuration of Electronic Book Browsing Terminal 2 and Electronic Book Distribution Server 3]
The hardware of the electronic book browsing terminal 2 and the electronic book distribution server 3 described above can be configured by a general computer. For example, a general computer includes a central processing unit (CPU) as a control unit, and a memory (RAM, ROM), a hard disk (HDD), and an optical disk (CD, DVD, etc.) as a storage unit, and a network communication device. Various wired and wireless LAN devices as display devices, for example, various displays such as liquid crystal displays and plasma displays, and as input devices, for example, keyboards and pointing devices (mouse, tracking balls, etc.) Are connected by a bus line. In such a general computer, the CPU controls the electronic book browsing terminal 2 and the electronic book distribution server 3 in an integrated manner, reads and executes various programs as appropriate, and cooperates with the hardware described above. Various functions according to the present invention are realized.

[Processing of Electronic Book Distribution System 1]
Next, processing of the electronic book distribution system 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

S1: The electronic book distribution server 3 (electronic book transmission means 31) transmits data related to the electronic book selected by the user of the electronic book browsing terminal 2 to the electronic book browsing terminal 2.
S2: When the electronic book browsing terminal 2 (electronic book receiving means 21) receives data relating to the electronic book from the electronic book distribution server 3, the electronic book browsing terminal 2 stores the data in the electronic book storage means 22.

S3: The electronic book browsing terminal 2 (electronic book browsing means 23) displays the electronic book on the display unit based on the user's operation, so that the user browses the electronic book.
S4: The electronic book browsing terminal 2 (browsing time storage means 24) totals the browsing time based on the page turning operation acceptance history by the user input for each page of the electronic book, and stores the tabulated browsing time for each page.

S5: The electronic book browsing terminal 2 (billing information determining means 25) determines charging information for each page from the tabulated browsing time. For example, the electronic book browsing terminal 2 (billing information determination unit 25) determines the sum of page unit prices of pages whose browsing time exceeds the charging time stored in the electronic book storage unit 22 as charging information (billing amount).
S6: The electronic book browsing terminal 2 (billing information transmitting means 26) transmits the charging information determined in S5 to the electronic book distribution server 3.
S7: When the electronic book distribution server 3 (charging information receiving means 33) receives the charging information, the electronic book distribution server 3 charges the received charging information in association with the user ID for identifying the user of the electronic book viewing terminal 2. Store in the forehead storage means 34. The electronic book distribution server 3 charges the user based on the stored charging information (billed amount).

The electronic book distribution system 1 according to the first embodiment has been described above. In the electronic book distribution system 1, not only the content desired by the user but also the entire electronic book including the content that is unknown whether the user actually browses is distributed to the electronic book browsing terminal 2. This gives the user the opportunity to browse content that has not been of interest to date.
At this time, the electronic book distribution system 1 does not charge for pages that the user has not viewed (does not exceed the charging time), but only the pages that the user has viewed (exceeds the charging time) are charged. , The user will not be dissatisfied. In particular, in the electronic book distribution system 1, the charge amount is determined based on the browsing time in units of pages instead of the browsing time in units of content. Therefore, even when only a part of the content is browsed, the user can It is not necessary to pay the amount of money, and it is sufficient to pay the amount of only the viewed page, and the user is not dissatisfied.

  Since the browsing time is managed by the user's page turning operation, the electronic book distribution system 1 can set a charge amount for each user's turning operation (pay per turn).

[Second Embodiment]
Next, an electronic book distribution system 1A according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In the electronic book distribution system 1 of the first embodiment, the user pays the price after browsing the electronic book. However, in the electronic book distribution system 1A of the second embodiment, the user can read the electronic book before browsing the electronic book. To pay for. At this time, in order to prevent user dissatisfaction due to paying an amount other than the viewed page, in the electronic book distribution system 1A of the second embodiment, the price of the electronic book paid in advance and the charge amount for the page viewed by the user Refund the difference with the sum of.

[Configuration of Electronic Book Distribution System 1A]
With reference to FIG. 6, the structure of 1 A of electronic book delivery systems of 2nd Embodiment is demonstrated. In addition, about the structure same as the electronic book delivery system 1 of 1st Embodiment, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.

  An electronic book distribution system 1A according to the second embodiment includes an electronic book browsing terminal 2A and an electronic book distribution server 3A.

The electronic book browsing terminal 2A includes a prepaid amount determining unit 201A, an electronic book receiving unit 21, an electronic book storage unit 22, an electronic book browsing unit 23, a browsing time storage unit 24, a billing information determination unit 25, a billing The information transmission unit 26 includes a refund amount determination unit 202A, a refund request unit 203A, and a browsing restriction unit 204A.
Further, the electronic book distribution server 3A includes a prepaid amount receiving means 301A, an electronic book transmitting means 31, a book list storage means 32, a billing information receiving means 33, a bill amount storage means 34A, a refund control means 302A, It is comprised including.

The prepaid amount confirming means 201A of the electronic book browsing terminal 2A determines the prepaid amount charged for the electronic book as a condition for receiving the electronic book from the electronic book distribution server 3A. That is, the prepaid amount determination means 201A pays a prepaid amount determined in advance for the electronic book to the electronic book distribution server 3A. Note that the prepaid billing amount confirmed by the prepaid amount confirmation unit 201A is stored in a predetermined area of the electronic book browsing terminal 2A.
The prepaid amount receiving means 301A of the electronic book distribution server 3A receives (receives) the prepaid amount charged before the electronic book distribution. Note that the received billing amount for the advance payment is stored in the bill storage unit 34A (FIG. 7). When the prepaid amount receiving unit 301A receives the prepaid billing amount, the electronic book transmitting unit 31 transmits data related to the electronic book for which the prepaid amount has been paid to the electronic book browsing terminal 2A.

  The configuration of the electronic book receiving means 21 to the billing information transmitting means 26 of the electronic book browsing terminal 2A is the same as that of the first embodiment. When data related to the electronic book transmitted from the electronic book distribution server 3A is received, While counting the browsing time for each page, the charging information is determined, and the determined charging information is transmitted to the electronic book distribution server 3A.

The refund amount determination means 202A of the electronic book viewing terminal 2A determines the amount of money that has been exceeded as the return amount when the charge amount of the advance payment determined by the advance payment determination means 201A exceeds the charging information (charging amount).
The refund request unit 203A of the electronic book browsing terminal 2A requests the electronic book distribution server 3A to refund the refund amount determined by the refund amount determination unit 202A. The request for refund request means 203A can be made at an arbitrary timing. For example, the refund request means 203A may automatically request a refund after a predetermined period of time has passed since the advance payment was made (after purchasing the electronic book). Moreover, it is good also as making a refund request | requirement by the user's intention display (operation) which shows that the purchased electronic book is not browsed any more. Note that the predetermined period during which the return request is automatically made may be arbitrarily specified by the user when purchasing the electronic book, or may be predetermined for each electronic book.

  Upon receiving the refund request, the refund control unit 302A of the electronic book distribution server 3A stores the refund amount included in the refund request in the bill storage unit 34A (FIG. 7), and the variable amount is stored in the user of the electronic book viewing terminal 2A. Refund against.

  When a refund request is made by the refund requesting unit 203A, the browsing restricting unit 204A of the electronic book browsing terminal 2A cannot browse pages other than the billing target page among the pages of the electronic book stored in the electronic book storage unit 22. Limit to possible. The method of restricting to the inability to browse can be performed by an arbitrary method. For example, an electronic book is encrypted for each page, and a composite key other than the page to be charged is combined among composite keys that combine this encryption. It may be deleted, or pages other than the billing target page may be deleted from the electronic book storage unit 22.

[Hardware Configuration of Electronic Book Reading Terminal 2A and Electronic Book Distribution Server 3A]
Since the hardware configuration of the electronic book browsing terminal 2A and the electronic book distribution server 3A is the same as the hardware configuration of the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

[Processing of Electronic Book Distribution System 1A]
Next, processing of the electronic book distribution system 1A will be described with reference to FIG.

S11A: The electronic book browsing terminal 2A (prepaid amount determination means 201A) determines the amount of the advance payment for the electronic book, and purchases the electronic book by paying the advance payment to the electronic book distribution server 3A.
S12A, S1: The electronic book distribution server 3A (prepaid amount receiving means 301A) receives the paid advance payment and stores it in the bill storage means 34A. The electronic book distribution server 3A (electronic book transmission means 31) confirms the paid upfront payment, and when the amount of the upfront payment satisfies the purchase of the electronic book, the electronic book browsing is performed on the data related to the electronic book. Transmit to terminal 2A.

  S2 to S7: These processes are the same as those in the first embodiment. When the electronic book browsing terminal 2A receives the data related to the electronic book, the browsing time for each page of the electronic book is totaled and the charging information is determined. The determined charging information is transmitted to the electronic book distribution server 3A.

S13A: The electronic book viewing terminal 2A (return amount determination means 202A) uses the amount of money as the return amount when the charge amount of the advance payment determined in S11A exceeds the charge information (charge amount) determined in S6. decide.
S14A: The electronic book browsing terminal 2A (refund request means 203A) requests the electronic book distribution server 3A to refund the refund amount determined in S13A.
S15A: The electronic book distribution server 3A (refund control means 302A) performs a refund process based on the refund request.

  S16A: The electronic book browsing terminal 2A (browsing restriction unit 204A) restricts the subsequent browsing of pages other than the billing target page (the page on which the refund request is made) based on the refund request.

  According to the electronic book distribution system 1A of the second embodiment as described above, although the advance payment is paid in advance before the electronic book is distributed, the amount of the page that has not been browsed is returned to the user as a return amount. Thereby, without giving dissatisfaction to the user, it is possible to provide the user with an opportunity to make the user interested in content that is not yet interested.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not restricted to embodiment mentioned above. The effects described in the embodiments of the present invention are only the most preferable effects resulting from the present invention, and the effects of the present invention are limited to those described in the embodiments of the present invention. is not.

  In the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the electronic book browsing terminal 2 (2A) having in advance functions realized by the electronic book receiving unit 21 to the billing information transmitting unit 26 (prepaid amount determination unit 201A to browsing restriction unit 204A). However, the electronic book browsing terminal 2 (2A) may not have a function realized by each means in advance. Specifically, the electronic book browsing terminal 2 (2A) may realize the functions of each unit based on a program provided via a network. At this time, the electronic book distribution server 3 (3A) may distribute the program.

In the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the electronic book viewing terminal 2 (2A) determines the billing amount (the sum of the page unit prices of pages viewed by the user) as billing information. The billing information determined by the viewing terminal 2 (2A) is not limited to the billing amount.
For example, in the electronic book browsing terminal 2 (2A), only the browsing time for each page may be managed, and the browsing time may be transmitted to the electronic book distribution server 3 (3A) as billing information. In this case, the electronic book distribution server 3 (3A) determines whether or not the received browsing time exceeds the billing time, and determines the sum of the page unit prices of pages exceeding the billing time as the billing amount.
Further, the electronic book browsing terminal 2 (2A) manages whether or not the browsing time for each page exceeds the charging time, and uses the accounting target page (page whose browsing time exceeds the charging time) as charging information. It is good also as transmitting to the delivery server 3 (3A). In this case, the electronic book distribution server 3 (3A) determines the sum of the page unit prices of the received accounting target pages as the accounting amount.
In this way, how much the charge amount is determined in the electronic book browsing terminal 2 (2A) can be arbitrarily set, and the electronic book browsing terminal 2 (2A) can manage at least the browsing time for each page. In the electronic book distribution system 1 (1A), the charge amount can be appropriately determined. Therefore, the billing information may be a browsing time, a billing target page, or a billing amount for each page.
In addition, it is good also as making the data regarding the electronic book which the electronic book transmission means 31 of the electronic book delivery server 3 (3A) transmit differ according to the accounting information which the electronic book browsing terminal 2 (2A) determines. For example, if only the viewing time for each page is determined as billing information, the page unit price and billing time need not be transmitted.

  In the second embodiment, the price of the entire electronic book is paid in advance, but only a part of the electronic book (the price of some content) is paid in advance and is calculated from the browsing time for each page. The difference from the charge amount may be refunded or paid. In other words, when the advance payment amount is larger than the billing amount, the user is refunded, and when the advance payment amount is smaller than the billing amount, the user may pay the missing amount.

  In the second embodiment, the return amount (difference) is determined by the electronic book viewing terminal 2 (2A), but the return amount (difference) is determined by the electronic book distribution server 3 (3A). It is good. That is, when the refund request means 203A of the electronic book viewing terminal 2 (2A) makes a refund request, the refund control means 302A may determine a refund amount (difference) and request a refund or payment of the difference to the user. Good.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electronic book delivery system 2 Electronic book browsing apparatus 21 Electronic book receiving means 22 Electronic book storage means 23 Electronic book browsing means 24 Reading time storage means 25 Accounting information determination means 26 Accounting information transmission means 3 Electronic book distribution server

Claims (6)

An electronic book browsing terminal that is communicably connected to an electronic book distribution server that distributes electronic books and displays the electronic book to a user.
An electronic book receiving means for receiving an electronic book from the electronic book distribution server;
Based on the page turning operation acceptance history by the user input for each page of the electronic book received by the electronic book receiving means, the browsing time for each page of the electronic book is totaled and stored in association with the page Storage means;
Charging information determination means for determining charging information of the electronic book for each page based on the browsing time;
Charging information transmitting means for transmitting the charging information to the electronic book distribution server;
With
The electronic book receiving means receives, from the electronic book distribution server, a billing time that is a billing target viewing time determined for each of the pages for each type of content, in addition to the electronic book.
The billing information determining means determines that the page is a billing target page on the condition that the browse time for each of the pages stored in the browse time storage means exceeds the charge time. Terminal. As a condition for the electronic book receiving means to receive the electronic book, a prepaid amount confirmation means for confirming a charge amount of a prepaid amount for the electronic book;
A return requesting means for requesting, as a return amount, a charge amount of the advance payment determined by the advance payment determination means exceeding a charge amount calculated from the charging information determined by the charging information determination means;
An electronic book browsing terminal according to claim 1, comprising: The electronic book receiving means receives, from the electronic book distribution server, a charging amount determined for each of the charging time and the page, together with the electronic book,
The charging information determining means determines the charging amount determined for the page as the charging information on condition that the browsing time for each of the pages stored in the browsing time storage means exceeds the charging time. The electronic book browsing terminal according to claim 1 or 2. An electronic book distribution system comprising: an electronic book distribution server that distributes electronic books; and an electronic book browsing terminal that allows communication with the electronic book distribution server and allows a user to browse the electronic book.
The electronic book browsing terminal is
An electronic book receiving means for receiving an electronic book from the electronic book distribution server;
Based on the page turning operation acceptance history by the user input for each page of the electronic book received by the electronic book receiving means, the browsing time for each page of the electronic book is totaled and stored in association with the page Storage means;
Charging information determination means for determining charging information of the electronic book for each page based on the browsing time;
Charging information transmitting means for transmitting the charging information to the electronic book distribution server;
With
The electronic book receiving means receives, from the electronic book distribution server, a billing time that is a billing target viewing time determined for each of the pages for each type of content, in addition to the electronic book.
The accounting information determining means determines that the page is a charging target page on condition that the browsing time for each of the pages stored in the browsing time storage means exceeds the charging time. system. An electronic book distribution server that is communicably connected to an electronic book browsing terminal for a user to browse an electronic book,
For the electronic book having a plurality of contents and the electronic book browsing terminal, the browsing time for each page of the electronic book is totaled based on the page turning operation reception history by the user input for each page of the electronic book, Storing in association with the page; determining charging information of the electronic book for each page based on the browsing time; transmitting the charging information to the electronic book distribution server; In addition, for each of the pages stored in the step of receiving, from the electronic book distribution server, a billing time, which is a billing time to be billed for each page of the content, for each type of content, and in the storing step The page is determined to be a chargeable page on the condition that the browsing time of the page exceeds the charging time. E-book distribution server to send the program to be executed by the flop, the. An electronic book browsing terminal that is communicably connected to an electronic book distribution server that distributes electronic books and that allows the user to browse the electronic books is executed.
Receiving an electronic book from the electronic book distribution server;
Based on the received page turning operation acceptance history by user input for each page of the electronic book received, totaling the browsing time for each page of the electronic book, and storing in association with the page;
Determining billing information for the electronic book for each page based on the viewing time;
Transmitting the billing information to the electronic book distribution server;
In addition to the electronic book, receiving from the electronic book distribution server a billing time that is a billing target viewing time set for each of the pages for each type of content ;
Determining that the page is a chargeable page on the condition that the browsing time for each of the pages stored in the storing step exceeds the charge time.

Images