EP1017031A2 - Method and apparatus for selling electronic information with or without advertisement - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus (1) for selling electronic information required by a userby writing the information to a mechanically readable and writablerecording medium (9, 11) includes an operation panel (7) allowing the userto determine which electronic information is to be used and to select whetheradvertising information is to be included in the electronic informationdetermined by the user, and a CPU (2) for selectively executing an operationof writing the electronic information with advertising informationincorporated to recording medium (9, 11) when the user selected to includeadvertising information, or an operation of writing electronic informationonly to the recording medium (9, 11) when the user selected not to includethe advertising information.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONField of the Invention
• The present invention relates to an apparatus for selling electronicinformation and, more specifically, to an apparatus for selling electronicinformation together with advertisement information, as well as to themethod thereof.
Description of the Background Art
• Recently, along with the development in hardware and software,attempts have been made to provide contents of existing publications suchas comics and novels in the form of electronic data and to enable reading orsubscription of the contents of the comics or novels selected by a user on aPC (Personal Computer) or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). Suchelectronic publications are distributed to vending machines installed inhomes, kiosks, convenience stores or on the street and sold, through wired orwireless communication networks including the Internet or satellitebroadcast. Such commercial transaction of electronic data is advantageousin that unnecessary inventory can be eliminated, and that the delivery andthe overall cost can be reduced.
• An automatic information vending machine disclosed in JapanesePatent Laying-Open No. 6-12571 includes: an auxiliary memory storingdemonstration information and message information of the information datato be sold; an output unit displaying prescribed operation message maccordance with an external operation signal such as a selection operationand payment operation; a communication unit for obtaining informationdata to be sold from an external data base; a read and write unit detectingexternal insertion of memory and transferring thereto information datafrom the communication unit; and a control circuit reading and displayingthe demonstration data and the message information from the auxiliarymemory and when information data to be sold is selected by an externaloperation signal, detecting remaining capacity of the inserted memory and if it is determined that transfer of the information data is possible,transferring the information data to the inserted memory through acommunication network.
• According to the automatic information vending machine describedin Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 6-12571, when a person comes near tothe vending machine, a demonstration is given, introducing product andsales information. The user selects information data, pays, designates thetype of the storage medium, and sets the storage medium in the read andwrite unit in accordance with an operation procedure. The informationdata is read from the external data base through the communicationnetwork and transferred to the set storage medium, and thus theinformation is sold.
• An electronic press information distribution system in whichelectronic press information is edited and distributed to be used by aconsumer at an automatic vending machine of electronic information,disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 9-23243, includes a unit forconverting press information prepared by a publisher to electronic pressinformation of a prescribed format, a storing unit for receiving and storingthe electronic press information, a unit for classifying press information inaccordance with localities and adding identification code on the basis of eachpiece of press information, and a unit for transmitting the electronic pressinformation classified for local areas to a plurality of automatic vendingmachines.
• In the electronic press information distribution system described inJapanese Patent Laying-Open No. 9-23243, a distribution center classifiespress information in accordance with localities of the information, and addsa code for identifying local area to the press information. The pressinformation is classified area by area, and the information is transmitted toautomatic vending machines provided in respective areas. Thus, it ispossible to sell electronic press of which contents differ area by area.
• For the sales of electronic publication as described above, it is of highinterest for the publisher of the electronic publication or for those whoinstalling the automatic vending machines of the electronic publication that the electronic publication is sold together with advertisement.
• In the conventional vending machine for selling electronicinformation, however, the electronic information and the advertisinginformation have been handled in most cases as packaged information. Ina few cases where the advertisement is separated, the advertisement is atmost merely classified area by area. Even in that case, the advertisingcontents for one area are fixed and not variable.
• Consider application of such advertising information to electronicpublication. There would be no major problem when the electronicpublication information and the advertising information are sold packagedwith each other if the electronic publication information corresponds to aweekly magazine, for example, which is consumed in a short span. On theother hand, if the electronic publication information corresponds to aliterally work circulated over a long period of time, the value of theadvertising information sold together with the literally work would declineor would be utterly meaningless.
• As there are various users having various interest, some users mayrequire advertising information of some field of interest, while other userswould not want any advertising information. At present, however, it isimpossible for the user to select the advertising information.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
• An object of the present invention is to provide method andapparatus of selling electronic information, which allows, when a user buysrequired electronic information, the user to select whether advertisinginformation should be included or not.
• Another object of the present invention is to provide method andapparatus of selling electronic information which allows, when a user buysrequired electronic information, the user to select whether advertisinginformation is to be included or not, and in which the sales price isadjustable accordingly.
• A still further object of the present invention is to provide methodand apparatus of selling electronic information which allows, when a userbuys required electronic information, the user to select whether advertising information is to be included or not and which allows adjustment of contentsof the electronic information accordingly.
• A still further object of the present invention is to provide methodand apparatus of selling electronic information which allows, when a userbuys required electronic information, the user to select whether advertisinginformation is to be included or not, and which allows adjustment ofcontents of the advertising information accordingly.
• A still further object of the present invention is to provide methodand apparatus of selling electronic information which allows, when a userbuys required electronic information, the user to select whether advertisinginformation is to be included or not, and which displays advertisementaccordingly.
• The apparatus in accordance with the present invention is for sellingelectronic information required by a user by wilting the information to amachine-readable and writable recording medium, including: a firstoperation panel used by the user for determining which electronicinformation is to be utilized; a second operation panel used by the user forselecting whether advertising information is to be included in the electronicinformation determined by the user; and a first control circuit selectivelyexecuting an operation of writing the electronic information withadvertising information incorporated to the recording medium when theuser selected to include the advertising information, or an operation ofwriting only the electronic information to the recording medium when theuser selected not to include the advertising information.
• According to the present invention, it is possible for the user to selectwhether the advertising information should be included or not in theelectronic information to be used, by using the second operation panel.Therefore, the user can buy the electronic information after making aselection as to whether the advertising information should be included inthe electronic information or not.
• The method in accordance with another aspect of the presentinvention is for selling electronic information required by a user, by writingthe information to a machine-readable and writable recording medium, including: the step of user's selection of which electronic information is to beutilized; the step of user's selection as to whether advertising information isto be included in the determined electronic information or not; and the firstcontrol step of selectively executing an operation of writing the electronicinformation with the advertising information incorporated to the recordingmedium when the user selected to include the advertising information, or anoperation of writing only the electronic information to the recording mediumwhen the user selected not to include the advertising information.
• According to the present invention, it is possible for the user to selectwhether the advertising information should be included in the electronicinformation to be used or not. Therefore, the user can buy the electronicinformation after selecting whether the electronic advertising informationshould be included in the electronic information or not.
• The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages ofthe present invention will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription of the present invention when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the apparatus for selling electronicinformation in accordance with an embodiment.
• Fig. 2A is a schematic illustration representing the state of datastorage of electronic information in accordance with an embodiment.
• Fig. 2B is a schematic illustration representing the state of datastorage of advertising information in accordance with an embodiment.
• Fig. 2C is a schematic illustration representing the state of datastorage of determining information in accordance with an embodiment.
• Fig. 3 is a flow chart of operation in accordance with a firstembodiment.
• Fig. 4 is a flow chart of operation in accordance with a secondembodiment.
• Fig. 5A represents a state before replacing and inserting advertisinginformation in the second embodiment.
• Fig. 5B is an illustration representing a state after the advertising information is replaced and inserted in accordance with the secondembodiment.
• Fig. 6 is a flow chart of operation in accordance with a thirdembodiment.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSFirst Embodiment
• Referring to Fig. 1, theapparatus 1 for automatically sellingelectronic information in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention includes, all connected through abus line 18, a CPU (CentralProcessing Unit) 2 for controlling theoverall apparatus 1, amemory 3 forstoring a program to be executed by theCPU 2 and various data, an HDD(Hard Disk Drive) 4 for storing various data, avideo controller 5 forcontrolling a display unit, anoperation interface 7 allowing the user toselect and determine items to be selected, amedia drive 8 for writing data toa machine-readable and writable recording medium, a PC card interface 10for writing data to a PC card, acommunication interface 12 forcommunication with user's information display terminal, a communicationinterface 14 for receiving distribution of various data from an external database, and asettlement unit 17 for receiving payment for the sales of theelectronic information.
• CPU 2 is formed of a microprocessor, for example, and controls theoverall apparatus 1 by executing a program onmemory 3 orHDD 4.Memory 3 is formed of an RAM (Random Access Memory) or an ROM (ReadOnly Memory) and used for storing programs and various data.HDD 4 asinformation storage unit stores contents information, advertisinginformation, programs and various data.
• Referring to Fig. 2A, in a data storage area of the electronicinformation (electronic publication in the present embodiment), contents ofthe electronic publication are stored in the form of electronic data, classifiedcategory by category in accordance with the contents of the publication.The category may include cooking, travel and so on. Further, electronicpublication include ones (electronic publications 1, 4) distributed withadvertising information incorporated, and ones (electronic publications 2, 3) distributed without advertising information incorporated.
• Referring to Fig. 2B, in the data storage area of advertisinginformation, at least one piece of advertising information is stored, whichincludes the advertising information itself and additional informationassociated with the advertising information itself, indicative of the type ofthe advertisement. The additional information includes available period,local area specifying information, advertiser information and categoryinformation of the electronic publication related to the advertisement.
• Referring to Fig. 2C, in the data storage area of the determininginformation, data of operation date of the apparatus, data of the place wherethe apparatus is installed, weather data when the apparatus is operated,and user data are stored determining information data.
• CPU 2 is capable of reading contents of the electronic publicationstored in the data storage area for the electronic publication.CPU 2transmits the read contents of the electronic publication tomedia drive 8, PCcard interface 10 andcommunication interface 12 throughbus line 18. Atthis time, when the advertising information is incorporated in the electronicpublication,CPU 2 may newly delete the advertising information, and whenthe advertising information is not incorporated in the electronic publication,CPU 2 may newly add advertising information, by a method as will bedescribed later.
• CPU 2 is capable of directly reading additional information of theadvertising information stored in the advertising data storing area and theadditional information of the advertising information stored in the data areafor the electronic publication. Based on the additional information andvarious data stored in the determining data storage area,CPU 2 searchesand retrieves advertising information to be incorporated.CPU 2 alsoreplaces advertising information which has been incorporated in theelectronic publication with other advertising information stored inHDD 4,or adds advertising information stored inHDD 4 to the electronicpublication.
• Video controller 5 controls a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) 6, so as toprovide display of operation procedure or details of operation onCRT 6. The display device is not limited to a CRT, and an LCD (Liquid CrystalDisplay) or the like may be used.Operation interface 7 is a keyboard or atouch panel, for example, allowing the user to operate theapparatus 1. Theoperation interface 7 may be provided integrated withCRT 6.
• Media drive 8 writes data torecording medium 9. Therecordingmedium 9 may include an FD (Floppy Disk), an MO (Magneto Optic) and anMD (Mini Disk). PC card interface 10 writes data to aPC card 11functioning as a recording medium.
• Communication interface 12 communicates withinformation displayterminal 13 of a user, by which the user views the information such as theelectronic publication he or she bought. Communication utilizing infraredray, USB (Universal Serial Bus) or RS-232C, for example, may be applicable.Alternatively, the information such as the electronic publication may bedirectly displayed on theinformation display terminal 13 without using anyrecording medium.CRT 6 may be used asinformation display terminal 13.
• Media drive 8, PC card interface 10 andcommunication interface 12provide as outputs the contents information and the advertising informationsold to the user by theapparatus 1. These components are usedappropriately dependent on the type of the destination of output (that is,whether the output is provided to a recording medium, a PC card or to theinformation display terminal).
• Communication interface 14 is for interfacingtransmission/reception with a satellite or with acommunication network 15such as Ethernet or ISDN. In accordance with the operation ofoperationinterface 7, the electronic publication information and the advertisinginformation are down-loaded from anexternal data base 16 connected tocommunication network 15 to various media, or temporary toHDD 4. Theinterface is also used for transmitting and receiving managementinformation such as settlement information, user information and the stateof accessing, between theapparatus 1 and an external management server.
• Thesettlement unit 17 is implemented as a unit for reading andwriting a prepaid card, a unit for reading a credit card or a cash counter.Settlement unit 17 receives payment of the price of the sold contents information. More specifically,settlement unit 17 detects payment of aprescribed amount and give a notice of the result toCPU 2.CPU 2 permitssales of electronic publication information and advertising informationaccordingly.
• Referring to Fig. 3, the operation ofapparatus 1 will be described.First, the user operates theoperation interface 7 and selects electronicinformation (S1). In the present embodiment, the electronic informationrepresents electronic publication. The electronic information, however,may be any works including movies and music. Thereafter, the user selectswhether advertisement should be included or not by operating operationinterface 7 (S2).
• When the user selects electronic publication with advertisement, theelectronic publication is sold for one dollar, for example (S3), and theelectronic publication with advertisement is written to the medium (S4).When the user selects electronic publication without advertisement, thepublication is sold for two dollars, for example (S5), and the electronicpublication without advertisement is written to the medium (S6). As theelectronic publication with advertisement is sold for a lower price thanwithout advertisement, sales of electronic publication and advertisementcan be attained in effective and efficient manner.
• The electronic publication with and without advertisement may besold for the same price or, alternatively, the electronic publication withadvertisement may be sold at a higher price.
• Further, when electronic publications with and withoutadvertisement are to be sold for the same price, the electronic publicationwithout advertisement may be limited in contents than the publication withthe advertisement, or the electronic publications with and withoutadvertisement may have different contents. For example, the electronicpublication with advertisement may have the whole contents, while theelectronic publication without advertisement may contain only the indexand summary.
Second Embodiment
• Hardware configuration of the apparatus for automatically selling electronic information in accordance with the present embodiment is thesame as that shown in Fig. 1. Therefore, description thereof is not repeatedhere.
• The operation of the apparatus in accordance with the presentembodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 4. First, the useroperatesoperation interface 7 and selects contents to buy (S21).CPU 2 ofapparatus 1 replaces (S22) and adds (S23) the advertising information.Though the process of replacement and the process of adding advertisinginformation are shown as performed successively in Fig. 4, only one of theseprocesses may be performed. Thereafter, the process for settlement isperformed (S24), and the electronic publication is written to the medium(S25).
• The process of replacement and the process of adding advertisinginformation of steps S22 and S23 will be described with reference to Figs. 5Aand 5B. Advertising information A of distributed electronic publicationshown in Fig. 5A is replaced by advertising information A' as shown in Fig.5B. This process takes place when available period of advertisinginformation A has been expired, for example. Further, referring to Fig. 5B,advertising information B is inserted between pages. Further, advertisinginformation C is inserted to a page. When an advertisement is insertedbetween pages, the page numbers following the inserted advertisement areshifted. Therefore, the pages should be re-numbered. The advertisinginformation for replacement or to be added may be newly distributed, or maybe stored in advance inHDD 4 by a manager of theapparatus 1.
• In the present embodiment, the advertising information to besubjected to the replacement process or the addition process includesadditional information, and the process of replacement or addition isselectively performed based on the additional information. The additionalinformation may be automatically read by theCPU 2 to be processed.Alternatively, a corresponding item may be selected byoperation interface 7to perform similar process. Examples of the additional information are asfollows.
• Additional information defining available period of advertisement: when this additional information is utilized, it is possible to update theadvertising information constantly to the latest one by checking the time ofoperation, and hence it is possible for the user to obtain the latestadvertising information when he or she buys the contents.
• Additional information identifying area of where the apparatus isinstalled; when this additional information is utilized, advertisinginformation of areas not related to the user can be dispensed with, andadditionally, it becomes possible for the advertiser to provide effectiveadvertisement in limited areas.
• Additional information for identifying whether the advertisement isfor the particular store where the apparatus is installed; when thisadditional information is utilized, it becomes possible to provideadvertisement of the store itself where the apparatus is installed to the user.In this case, it is desirable that the installer of the apparatus may arbitrarilyset the additional information in theHDD 4 storing the contents ofadvertisement and the additional information.
• Additional information identifying weather: by utilizing thisadditional information, it is possible to provide information in accordancewith the weather when the apparatus is operated. For example, on a clearday, advertising information for outdoor activity may be provided and whenit rains, advertising information of indoor activity may be provided to highereffects. The weather information when the apparatus is operated may beinput by the user, or may be distributed.
• Additional information identifying time: by utilizing this additionalinformation, information appropriate for the time of operation can beprovided. For example, advertising information of lunch may be providedaround noon, and advertising information of dinner may be provided in theevening to higher effects.
• Additional information identifying preference of various users: byutilizing this additional information, it is possible to provide advertisinginformation of sports, advertising information of theater and the like inaccordance with the preference of the user, to higher effect.
• Additional information identifying category of the electronic publication selected by user's operation: by utilizing this additionalinformation, it is possible to provide advertising information related to theelectronic publication selected by the user, to higher effect. For example,when a cook book is selected, advertising information related to cooking maybe provided, and when a travel book is selected, advertising informationrelated to travel may be provided. Thus advertising information matchingthe user's preference can be provided. In this case, it is necessary that theelectronic publications are classified into categories in advance, as shown inFig. 2A.
Third Embodiment
• The hardware configuration of the apparatus for automaticallyselling electronic information in accordance with the present embodiment isthe same as that of Fig. 1. Therefore, description thereof is not repeated.
• The operation of theapparatus 1 will be described with reference toFig. 6. First, the user selects the electronic publication to buy by operatingoperation interface 7 (S1).CPU 2 calculates settlement (S3).CPU 2displays advertising information on CRT 6 (S34) while the electronicpublication is being written to a medium (S4).
• The advertising information to be displayed is the advertisinginformation added to the electronic publication written to the medium. Theadvertising information may be displayed onCRT 6 when the user selectselectronic publications onoperation interface 7, other than the time ofwaiting for the writing of information to the medium. In this manner, theadvertising information is displayed when the user selects the electronicpublication and the advertising information is again displayed on the PDAor the like so as to be viewed by the user, and the effect of advertisement isenhanced.
• The processes in the embodiments described above are executed by aprogram. The program as a whole or parts of the program may be stored inadvance in a computer readable recording medium such as a floppy disk or ahard disk through a communication network or directly, and the programmay be installed inapparatus 1 as necessary to be executed.
• Although the present invention has been described and illustrated indetail, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration andexample only and is not to be taken by way of limitation, the spirit and scope of the present invention being limited only by the terms of the appendedclaims.

Claims (18)

1. An apparatus for selling electronic information required by auser by writing the information to a mechanically readable and writablerecording medium, comprising:

   a first operation panel used by the user for determining whichelectronic information is to be utilized;

   a second operation panel used by the user for selecting whetheradvertising information is to be included in said determined electronicinformation; and

   a first control circuit connected to said first and second operationpanels for selectively executing an operation of writing said electronicinformation with said advertising information incorporated to said recordingmedium when the user selected to include said advertising information, oran operation of writing said electronic information only to said recordingmedium when the user selected not to include said advertising information.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a pricecalculating circuit for charging different price of sales dependent on whethersaid advertising information is included or not.
3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a secondcontrol circuit for writing, when the user selected not to include saidadvertising information, either a part of said electronic informationdetermined by the user or information different from said electronicinformation determined by the user, to said recording medium.
4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said advertisinginformation includes advertising information and additional informationrepresentative of a search key of said advertising information;

   said apparatus further comprising

   a first searching circuit for searching which advertising informationis to be incorporated in said electronic information determined by the user.
5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

   said electronic information is classified into a plurality of categoriesin accordance with contents of the information;

   said advertising information includes advertising information andcategory information corresponding to the categories of said electronicinformation;

   said apparatus further comprising a second searching circuit forsearching which advertising information is to be incorporated in saidelectronic information determined by the user, based on the category of saidelectronic information determined by the user.
6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a displaymonitor for displaying, when the user selected to include said advertisinginformation, said advertising information.
7. An apparatus for selling electronic information required by auser by writing the information to a computer readable and writablerecording medium, comprising:

   means used by the user for determining which electronic informationis to be utilized;

   means used by the user for selecting whether advertisinginformation is to be included in said electronic information determined bythe user; and

   first control means connected to said determining means and saidselecting means, for selectively executing an operation of writing saidelectronic information with said advertising information incorporated tosaid recording medium when the user selected to include said advertisinginformation, or an operation of writing said electronic information only tosaid recording medium when the user selected not to include saidadvertising information.
8. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising meansfor charging different prices of sales dependent on whether said advertising information is included or not.
9. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising secondcontrol means for writing, when the user selected not to include saidadvertising information, either a part of said electronic informationdetermined by the user or information different from said electronicinformation determined by the user.
10. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said advertisinginformation includes advertising information and additional informationrepresentative of a search key of said advertising information;

    said apparatus further comprising first searching means forsearching which advertising information is to be incorporated in saidelectronic information determined by the user, based on said additionalinformation.
11. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

    said electronic information is classified into a plurality of categoriesin accordance with contents of the information;

    said advertising information includes advertising information andcategory information corresponding to the categories of said electronicinformation;

    said apparatus further comprising second searching means forsearching which advertising information is to be incorporated in saidelectronic information determined by the user, in accordance with thecategory of said electronic information determined by the user.
12. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising meansfor displaying, when the user selected to include said advertisinginformation, said advertising information.
13. A method of selling electronic information required by a user bywriting the information to a computer readable and writable recording medium, comprising:

    the step of user's determination of which electronic information is tobe utilized;

    the step of user's selection of whether advertising information is tobe included in said electronic information determined by the user or not; and

    the step of selectively executing an operation of writing saidelectronic information determined by said user with said advertisinginformation incorporated to said recording medium when the user selectedto include said advertising information in said step of selection, or anoperation of writing said electronic information determined by said useronly to said recording medium when the user selected not to include saidadvertising information.
14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising the stepof charging different prices of sales to the user dependent on whether saidadvertising information is included or not.
15. The method according to claim 13, further comprising the stepof writing a part of said electronic information determined by the user orinformation different from said electronic information determined by theuser, when the user selected not to include said advertising information.
16. The method according to claim 13, wherein

    said advertising information includes advertising information andadditional information indicative of a search key of said advertisinginformation;

    said method further comprising the step of searching whichadvertising information is to be incorporated in said electronic informationdetermined by the user, based on said additional information.
17. The method according to claim 13, wherein

    said electronic information is classified into a plurality of categoriesin accordance with contents of information;

    said advertising information includes advertising information andcategory information corresponding to the categories of said electronicinformation; and

    said method further comprising the step of searching whichadvertising information is to be incorporated in said electronic informationdetermined by the user, based on the category of said electronic informationdetermined by the user.
18. The method according to claim 13, further comprising the stepof displaying, when the user selected to include said advertising information,said advertising information.

Images