Content trading device and content trading method

Abstract

To provide a content selling / buying device that facilitates selling the ownership of content at an auction.SOLUTION: A trend determination unit 14 determines whether or not content registered on a registration unit 12 or a matter related to the content matches a trend, and, when it is determines that the content or the matter related to the content matches a trend, determines whether it has become the trend in a short period of time. An auction processing unit 15 sets a first auction start price when the content or the matter related to the content matches the trend and it has become the trend in a short period of time. The auction processing unit 15 sets a second auction start price, which is higher than the first auction start price, when the content or the matter related to the content matches the trend and it has become the trend in a short period of time to sell the content at an auction.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0006] , , , ,

[0001] The present invention relates to a content trading device and a content trading method.

Background Art

[0002] As described in Patent Document 1, online auctions for trading goods through a network have become widespread.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] The ownership of content such as voice data or video data can also be the subject of trading by auction. However, simply posting content on an auction site may not increase the purchasing desire, no bidders may appear, and it may not be possible to sell.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a content trading device and a content trading method that can facilitate the sale of the ownership of content by auction.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The present invention provides a content trading device comprising: a registration unit for registering content whose ownership is to be bought and sold by auction; a database for storing the content registered in the registration unit; a trend determination unit for determining whether the content itself or matters related to the content registered in the registration unit are trending, and if it is determined that they are trending, for determining whether they have become trendy within a predetermined short period; and an auction processing unit for listing the content in auction, which sets a first auction starting price for the content when the trend determination unit determines that the content itself or matters related to the content are trending and that they have become trendy within a short period, and sets a second auction starting price higher than the first auction starting price for the content.

[0007] The present invention provides a method for buying and selling content, comprising: registering content to be bought and sold by auction in a registration unit; storing the registered content in a database; a trend determination unit determining whether the content itself or matters related to the content registered in the registration unit is trending; if the trend determination unit determines that the content itself or matters related to the content is trending, it determines whether it became trending within a predetermined short period; if the content itself or matters related to the content is trending but did not become trending within a short period, an auction processing unit sets a first auction starting price as the auction starting price for the content and puts the content up for auction; and if the content itself or matters related to the content is trending and became trending within a short period, the auction processing unit sets a second auction starting price higher than the first auction starting price as the auction starting price for the content and puts the content up for auction. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the content trading device and content trading method of the present invention, it is possible to facilitate the sale of ownership rights of content through auction. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] A block diagram showing a content trading device according to one or more embodiments. [Figure 2] This figure shows an example of the data structure of content. [Figure 3] This is a flowchart showing a content buying and selling method according to one or more embodiments. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Hereinafter, content trading devices and content trading methods according to one or more embodiments will be described with reference to the attached drawings.

[0011] In Figure 1, the content trading device 10 and one or more user terminals 30 are connected via a network 20. Typically, the network 20 is the internet. A trend information generation server 40 is connected to the network 20. The content trading device 10 can be configured with an auction server. The content trading device 10 includes a communication unit 11, a registration unit 12, a database 13, a trend determination unit 14, and an auction processing unit 15.

[0012] When a user who owns a user terminal 30 wishes to buy or sell content they own through an auction, the user requests the content trading device 10 to register the content using the user terminal 30. The content is what is known as digital content.

[0013] Figure 2 shows an example of the data structure of content. The content includes a content ID, the actual content data itself (such as audio or video data), and metadata. The metadata includes, for example, the creator's name, creation date and time, creation location, content name, related keywords, standard auction starting price, standard auction period, short-term auction starting price, and short-term auction period.

[0014] If the normal auction starting price is set as the first auction starting price at a predetermined price, then the short-term auction starting price should be set as the second auction starting price, which is higher than the first auction starting price. If the normal auction period is set as the first auction period at a predetermined length, then the short-term auction period should be set as the second auction period, which is shorter than the first auction period.

[0015] Metadata should include at least the content name, standard auction starting price, standard auction period, short-term auction starting price, and short-term auction period. Metadata should also preferably include related keywords. The content name is the title. Related keywords are words that indicate matters related to the content. For example, related keywords could be the name of the movie or TV program in which the content is used, the names of the cast members (especially the lead actors) in the movie or TV program in which the content is used, the name of the director of the movie in which the content is used, or the location where it was filmed.

[0016] When a user requests content registration from the content trading device 10, they set the normal auction starting price, normal auction period, short-term auction starting price, and short-term auction period. The short-term auction starting price may be set as 1.5 times the normal auction starting price, and the short-term auction period as 0.7 times the normal auction period, for example. In this case, the user only sets the normal auction starting price and normal auction period. Even in this case, the user is considered to have set the short-term auction starting price and short-term auction period.

[0017] Returning to Figure 1, the registration unit 12 registers the content ID and metadata of the content received by the communication unit 11 from the user terminal 30. The database 13 stores the content. Once the content is registered in the registration unit 12, the trend determination unit 14 obtains trend information from the trend information generation server 40. As an example, the trend information generation server 40 is a server that provides a service called Google Trends, provided by Google LLC.

[0018] Trend information generation server 40 generates trend information according to the frequency with which various words are searched in a search engine. For example, the trend information generation server 40 generates trend information such that the relative value of the search frequency of a certain word is 100, the relative value of the search frequency of another certain word is 50, and the relative value of the search frequency of yet another certain word is 0. The trend information generation server 40 may generate trend information according to the frequency actually used in a social networking service.

[0019] Trend determination unit 14 determines whether or not the content name of the content registered in registration unit 12 is a trend based on the trend information generated by trend information generation server 40. The content name is a target word for determining whether or not the content itself is a trend. If trend determination unit 14 determines that the content name is a trend, it determines whether or not the content name has become a trend in a short period of time. The short period of time is a predetermined period such as one week.

[0020] Trend determination unit 14 may also use related words as target words for determining whether or not the content is a trend. Trend determination unit 14 determines whether or not the related words of the content registered in registration unit 12 are trends based on the trend information generated by trend information generation server 40. If trend determination unit 14 determines that the related words are trends, it determines whether or not the related words have become trends in a short period of time.

[0021] Taking the trend information according to the frequency searched in a search engine as an example, if the relative value of the search frequency of the word in the trend information generated by trend information generation server 40 is, for example, 70 or more, trend determination unit 14 determines that it is a trend. At this time, when trend determination unit 14 determines whether or not the content name is a trend, it assigns a first weighting to the relative value of the search frequency of the word in the trend information and determines that it is a trend. The first weighting is, for example, 1.

[0022] When determining whether a related word has become a trend, the trend determination unit 14 preferably assigns a second weighting smaller than the first weighting to the relative value of the search frequency of the word in the trend information, and determines that it has become a trend. The second weighting may be set to an appropriate value smaller than 1, such as 0.8 or 0.5. That is, if the second weighting is 0.8, when the trend determination unit 14 determines whether a related word has become a trend, if the relative value of the search frequency of the word in the trend information generated by the trend information generation server 40 is 87.5 or more, it is determined that it has become a trend.

[0023] The trend determination unit 14 determines whether the content name or related word has become a trend in a short period as follows. For example, the trend determination unit 14 determines that it has become a trend in a short period if the difference between the relative value of the search frequency of the word in the most recent one week and the relative value of the search frequency of the word in the previous one week exceeds a threshold value. The trend determination unit 14 may also determine whether it has become a trend in a short period based on the difference between the relative value of the search frequency of the word in the most recent one month and the relative value of the search frequency of the word in the previous one month.

[0024] If the trend determination unit 14 determines that any of the contents registered in the registration unit 12 itself or matters related to the content have become a trend, the content ID of the content that has become a trend and information indicating whether it has become a trend in a short period are supplied to the auction processing unit 15.

[0025] For a content that has been determined to have become a trend in terms of the content itself or matters related to the content but not to have become a trend in a short period, the auction processing unit 15 sets the normal auction start price as the auction start price of the content. At this time, the auction processing unit 15 preferably sets the normal auction period as the auction period of the content. The auction processing unit 15 offers the content for auction at the set normal auction start price (and normal auction period).

[0026] The auction processing unit 15 determines that the content itself or matters related to the content are trending and have become trendy in a short period of time, and sets a short-term auction starting price for the content. At this time, it is preferable for the auction processing unit 15 to set a short-term auction period for the content. The auction processing unit 15 puts the content up for auction at the set short-term auction starting price (and short-term auction period).

[0027] Content that becomes trendy in a short period of time is likely to be bought and sold at a high price, so it is advisable to set a short-term auction starting price that is higher than the usual auction starting price. Also, since content that becomes trendy in a short period of time is likely to be bought and sold in a short period of time, it is advisable to set a short-term auction period that is shorter than the usual auction period.

[0028] The auction processing unit 15, if there are bidders for the listed content, sells the content to the highest bidder as the successful bidder. The auction processing unit 15 reads the successfully bidden content from the database 13 and sends it to the user terminal 30 owned by the successful bidder.

[0029] A content trading method according to one or more embodiments executed by the content trading device 10 will be explained using the flowchart shown in Figure 3. In Figure 3, when the processing of the content trading device 10 begins, the content trading device 10 determines in step S1 whether or not a content registration instruction has been made. If no content registration instruction has been made (NO), the content trading device 10 repeats the processing in step S1. If a content registration instruction has been made (YES), the content trading device 10 registers the content in the registration unit 12 and saves the content in the database 13 in step S2.

[0030] In step S3, the content trading device 10 acquires trend information for the target word. In step S4, the content trading device 10 determines whether the target word is trending or not. If the target word is not trending (NO), in step S5, the content trading device 10 waits for a predetermined period and returns to step S3. The predetermined period is one day, one week, etc. If the target word is trending (YES), in step S6, the content trading device 10 determines whether the target word became trending in a short period of time. Steps S3 to S6 are processes executed by the trend determination unit 14.

[0031] If the target word is trending in the short term in step S6 (YES), the content trading device 10 sets the short-term auction starting price and short-term auction period in step S7 and proceeds to step S9. If the target word is not trending in the short term in step S6 (NO), the content trading device 10 sets the normal auction starting price and normal auction period in step S8 and proceeds to step S9.

[0032] In step S9, the content trading device 10 puts content that is trending with the target word up for auction. In step S10, the content trading device 10 determines whether the auction period has ended or not. If the auction period has not ended (NO), the content trading device 10 repeats the process in step S10. If the auction period has ended (YES), the content trading device 10 determines in step S11 whether or not there have been any bids.

[0033] If there are no bids in step S11 (NO), the content trading device 10 waits for a predetermined period in step S12 and returns to step S3. The predetermined periods in step S5 and step S12 may be the same or different. If there are bids in step S11 (YES), the content trading device 10 sells the content to the highest bidder in step S13 and terminates the process. Steps S7 to S13 are processes executed by the auction processing unit 15.

[0034] According to the content trading device and content trading method of one or more embodiments described above, since the content itself or matters related to the content are put up for auction when they become trending, it is possible to make it easier to sell ownership of the content through auction.

[0035] The present invention is not limited to the one or more embodiments described above, and can be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of the invention. The content trading device 10 may include a configuration corresponding to the trend information generation server 40. Related words may be grouped into multiple groups, and different weights may be assigned to each group. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0036] 10. Content Trading Device 11 Communications Department 12 Registration Department 13 Databases 14. Trend Determination Unit 15 Auction Processing Section 20 Networks 30 User terminals 40 Trend Information Generation Server

Claims

1. A registration unit for registering content whose ownership is to be bought and sold by auction, and a database for storing the content registered in the registration unit, The registration unit determines whether the content itself or matters related to that content is trending, and if it is determined to be trending, the trend determination unit determines whether it became trending within a predetermined short period of time. An auction processing unit sets a first auction starting price for the content when the trend determination unit determines that the content itself or matters related to the content are trending and then determines that they are no longer trending in a short period of time, and sets a second auction starting price higher than the first auction starting price for the content, and puts the content up for auction. Equipped with, The trend determination unit, When determining whether the aforementioned content itself is trending, a first weight is assigned to trend information based on the frequency with which the content name is searched on search engines or the frequency with which the content name is used on social networking services to determine whether or not it is trending. When determining whether matters related to the aforementioned content are trending, a second weight less than the first weight is applied to trend information based on the frequency with which related words indicating matters related to the aforementioned content are searched on the search engine, or the frequency with which the related words are used on the social networking service, to determine whether or not it is trending. A content trading device.

2. The aforementioned auction processing unit, When the trend determination unit determines that the content itself or matters related to the content have not become a trend in the short term, it sets a first auction period as the auction period for the content. When the trend determination unit determines that the content itself or matters related to the content have become a trend in a short period of time, it sets a second auction period for the content that is shorter than the first auction period. The content trading device according to claim 1.

3. The content to be bought and sold through auction is registered in the registration section. The content registered in the aforementioned registration unit is saved to the database. The trend determination unit determines whether the content registered in the registration unit or matters related to that content is trending. When the trend determination unit determines that the content registered in the registration unit or matters related to that content is trending, it determines whether or not it has become a trend within a predetermined short period. When the aforementioned content itself or matters related to the aforementioned content are trending but are not trending in the short term, the auction processing unit sets a first auction starting price as the auction starting price for the aforementioned content and puts the aforementioned content up for auction. When the aforementioned content itself or matters related to the aforementioned content become a trend, and become a trend in a short period of time, the auction processing unit sets a second auction starting price higher than the first auction starting price as the auction starting price for the aforementioned content, and puts the aforementioned content up for auction. The trend determination unit, When determining whether the aforementioned content itself is trending, a first weight is assigned to trend information based on the frequency with which the content name is searched on search engines or the frequency with which the content name is used on social networking services to determine whether or not it is trending. When determining whether matters related to the aforementioned content are trending, a second weight less than the first weight is applied to trend information based on the frequency with which related words indicating matters related to the aforementioned content are searched on the search engine, or the frequency with which the related words are used on the social networking service, to determine whether or not it is trending. A method for trading content using a content trading device.

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