Method of and a system for distributing digital contents

Abstract

In a digital content distribution method to distribute digital contents via a network, distribution of a digital content is instructed according to a distribution schedule, the digital content is distributed according to the distribution schedule indicated, and a particular digital content is selected from the digital contents distributed and is then sold, thereby conducting the distribution of digital contents at a high speed.

Description

[0001] The present application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09 / 473,277, filed Dec. 28, 1999, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to a digital content distribution system to distribute contents, and in particular, to a technology efficiently applicable to a digital content distribution system in which an original document such as a book is digitized into a digital content and the content digitized is distributed from a content database center to stores such that a digital content selected by a customer is sold in the stores. [0003] Thanks to the spread of the Internet, electronic commerce has been developed and hence attention has been attracted to sales of a digital content which can be sold and delivered through a network. Additionally, it has been expected that the contents of information (such as novels, comics, music, and games) which have been sold as articles or package media t...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a digital content distribution system that can quickly and efficiently distribute digital content to stores and content holders. The system generates a distribution schedule and sends the content to stores for distribution. The stores can then copy or download the content for sale to customers. The system also allows for on-demand distribution of content and collects sales information from the stores to calculate the license fee and remit it to the content holder. Overall, the system allows for high-speed distribution of digital content and improved efficiency in the distribution process."

Problems solved by technology

This leads to a problem that a digital content generated through the digitization cannot be immediately distributed to a store to be sold to a customer.

Consequently, there exists a problem that a period of several days is required for the delivery of a digital content of a new item and the delivery of a digital content ordered by a customer.

However, in the background art above, there has not been clearly established a system in which the license fee of the digital content is collected according to the number of copies to pay the collected amount to the content holder.

This consequently leads to a problem of possibility that the license fee is not paid to the content holder according to the number of copies sold.

However, in the related art to sell a digital content, since the digitization is not achieved to reproduce with possible fidelity to the configurations such as the appearance of articles of publications and CDs actually distributed, the appearance of the original book of the content considerably varies from that of the digital content attained by digitizing the original book in some cases.

This leads to a problem of difficulty in the handling of the digital content in the same way as for the actual item.

For example, when only text data of a book is inputted to generate an electronic book, since information of appearance of the book such as a cover and a backbone of the book is lost, it is difficult to search for the electronic book including only the text data in a way similar to that used to search for a book which a customer just happened to see in an advertisement or to search for a well-known book in a store by visually checking its cover and backbone.

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