Information processing device for creating set of pages constituting booklet

Abstract

The present invention creates printed matter incorporating user's wishes.　This information processing device is provided with: a means for creating a user page including a material prepared by a user; a means for storing created user pages; a means for creating an advertiser page for advertising an object to be advertised; a means for storing created advertiser pages; and a means for selecting, in response to a user's operation, a user page to be used as a free page from among the user pages stored in the means for storing user pages, and selecting, in response to the user's operation, an advertiser page to be used as an advertisement page from among the advertiser pages stored in the means for storing advertiser pages, thereby creating a set of pages constituting a booklet.

Description

Information processing device for creating a booklet configuration page set

[0001] The present invention relates to information processing when creating printed matter.

[0002] A conventional service method for printing free papers is known to use a system in which a terminal device of an information supplier, a management server of a management company, and an image forming device installed in a store are all connected to each other via a network (see Patent Document 1).

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-94913

[0004] However, while the above-mentioned conventional technology allows users to select the free paper they wish to print from a list of printable free papers, there is a problem in that the contents of the free paper itself cannot be configured to suit the user's wishes.

[0005] Therefore, in one aspect, the present invention aims to provide a technique that allows a user's wishes to be incorporated into the creation of printed matter.

[0006] In order to solve the above problem, an information processing device according to the present invention may have: means for creating a user page including materials prepared by a user; means for saving the created user page; means for creating an advertiser page for advertising the object of an advertiser's advertisement; means for saving the created advertiser page; and means for selecting, in response to an operation by the user, a user page to be used as a free page from the user pages saved in the means for saving the user pages, and for selecting, in response to an operation by the user, an advertiser page to be used as an advertising page from the advertiser pages saved in the means for saving the advertiser pages, thereby creating a set of pages constituting a booklet.

[0007] The information processing apparatus according to the present invention may further comprise means for outputting a print command for the set of booklet constituting pages.

[0008] The information processing device according to the present invention may further comprise means for charging the advertiser for the printing costs of the set of booklet pages.

[0009] The information processing device according to the present invention may further comprise means for providing the set of booklet constituent pages to a predetermined website.

[0010] In the information processing device according to the present invention, the advertiser page may include a ticket for the user to receive a predetermined benefit.

[0011] An information processing method according to the present invention is a method executed by an information processing device, and may include the steps of creating a user page including materials prepared by a user, saving the created user page, creating an advertiser page for advertising an object of advertising, saving the created advertiser page, and selecting, in response to an operation by the user, a user page to be used as a free page from the user pages saved in the step of saving the user pages, and selecting, in response to an operation by the user, an advertiser page to be used as an advertising page from the advertiser pages saved in the step of saving the advertiser pages, thereby creating a set of pages constituting a booklet.

[0012] The information processing program according to the present invention may cause an information processing device to execute the following processes: a process of creating a user page including materials prepared by a user; a process of saving the created user page; a process of creating an advertiser page for advertising an object of advertising; a process of saving the created advertiser page; and a process of selecting, in response to an operation by the user, a user page to be used as a free page from the user pages saved in the process of saving the user pages, and selecting, in response to an operation by the user, an advertiser page to be used as an advertising page from the advertiser pages saved in the process of saving the advertiser pages, thereby creating a set of pages constituting a booklet.

[0013] According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to create a printed matter that incorporates the user's wishes.

[0014] 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall configuration of an information processing system including an information processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the functional configuration of the information processing device of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing an overview of processing contents particularly related to advertisers among processing contents of an information processing program executed in the information processing device of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an overview of processing contents particularly related to users among processing contents of an information processing program executed in the information processing device of FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an overview of processing contents particularly related to printing of a custom-made advertising booklet among processing contents of an information processing program executed in the information processing device of FIG.

[0015] 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall configuration of an information processing system including an information processing device 1 according to an embodiment, as an example of a specific configuration of an information processing device according to the present invention. The information processing method according to the embodiment, as an example of a specific configuration of an information processing method according to the present invention, is a method executed by the information processing device 1, and the information processing program according to the embodiment, as an example of a specific configuration of an information processing program according to the present invention, is a program executed by the information processing device 1.

[0016] The information processing system realizes a service for producing, as printed matter, a booklet that includes pages created in accordance with a user's request and advertisements selected by the user. A booklet produced using the information processing system is called a "custom advertising booklet." The custom advertising booklet of this invention is produced as a booklet for personal use, for example, as a keepsake, commemoration, or entertainment, and is expected to be printed in a range of approximately 50 to 200 copies and viewed on a specified website.

[0017] An example of a custom-made advertising booklet is a saddle-stitched booklet, in which a single cover sheet is stacked on one or more inner pages and the folded edges are bound together with wire or the like. However, custom-made advertising booklets are not limited to saddle-stitched booklets, and may be bifolded by folding a single sheet of paper once, accordion-folded by folding a single sheet of paper multiple times, gatefolded by folding a single sheet of paper three times so that the left and right folds open outward from the center, trifolded by folding a single sheet of paper twice so that the left and right folds open outward, or quarterfolded by folding a single sheet of paper top to bottom and then left to right. Custom-made advertising booklets also include printed materials called booklets, as well as flyers, fliers, posters, leaflets, pamphlets, catalogs, and other printed materials.

[0018] The information processing device 1 may have any hardware configuration. For example, the information processing device 1 may be configured with one or more servers (computers).

[0019] The information processing program executed on the information processing device 1 has a function for combining pages created and registered by each user and pages created and registered by each advertiser to compose and create a customized advertising booklet. The pages created by each user that compose the customized advertising booklet are called "user pages," and the pages created by each advertiser are called "advertiser pages." Advertiser pages are pages for advertising the advertising objectives of each advertiser. Note that user pages and advertiser pages may not be the entire page or page, but may be a portion of a page or page. However, whether they are the entire page or page, or a portion of a page or page, the following description will use the page as the unit of treatment.

[0020] The customized advertising booklet includes pages on which user pages are published and pages on which advertiser pages are published. Of the customized advertising booklet, the pages on which user pages are published are called "free pages," and the pages on which advertiser pages are published are called "advertising pages."

[0021] The number of free pages is not limited to a specific number as long as it is one or more. The number of advertising pages is also not limited to a specific number as long as it is one or more. In this embodiment, an example will be described in which the custom advertising booklet is saddle-stitched, and a total of two pages, the front cover and the back side of the front cover (also called "endpapers"), are assigned to free pages, and the remaining pages are assigned to advertising pages. The total number of advertising pages, including the back cover, may be six or ten.

[0022] A user uses a terminal to register as a system user who creates a customized advertising booklet, and uses the services provided by the information processing system including the information processing device 1. By registering as a system user who creates a customized advertising booklet, each user is assigned an individual user identifier, and a password for authentication of each user is set.

[0023] The terminal used by the user is referred to as a "user terminal 4." The user terminal 4 is a device that can communicate with the information processing device 1 via a communication network 6 such as the Internet and utilize the functions of the information processing program. Specifically, the user terminal 4 may be, for example, a mobile information terminal such as a smartphone, or may be various types of personal computers such as tablet or desktop computers. Note that while only one user terminal 4 is illustrated in FIG. 1 , there may be multiple user terminals 4 that communicate with the information processing device 1 and utilize the functions of the information processing program.

[0024] Advertisers use terminals to register as system users who provide advertisements, and use services provided by the information processing system including the information processing device 1. By registering as system users who provide advertisements, each advertiser is assigned an individual advertiser identifier, and a password for authentication of each advertiser is set.

[0025] The terminal used by the advertiser is referred to as the "advertiser terminal 5." The advertiser terminal 5 is a device that can communicate with the information processing device 1 via a communication network 6 such as the Internet and utilize the functions of the information processing program. Specifically, the advertiser terminal 5 may be, for example, a mobile information terminal such as a smartphone, or may be various types of personal computers such as tablet or desktop computers. Note that while only one advertiser terminal 5 is illustrated in FIG. 1 , there may be multiple advertiser terminals 5 that communicate with the information processing device 1 and utilize the functions of the information processing program.

[0026] An advertiser creates an advertiser page for advertising, for example, the products that the advertiser sells, the services that the advertiser provides, or the store that the advertiser operates, and provides the page as an advertisement.

[0027] Here, the functions of the information processing program may be configured by a dedicated app installed on an information processing device 1 configured by one or more servers (computers), or may be configured by a dedicated app installed on one or more servers (computers), a dedicated app installed on the user terminal 4, and a dedicated app installed on the advertiser terminal 5. Therefore, the information processing device 1 may be configured by one or more servers (computers), the user terminal 4, and the advertiser terminal 5. In this case, it can be said that the entire processing system is configured as an information processing system including one or more servers (computers), a user terminal, and an advertiser terminal.

[0028] (Configuration of Information Processing Apparatus) FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the functional configuration of the information processing apparatus 1 according to the embodiment.

[0029] The information processing device 1 has a configuration for mainly performing processing corresponding to user operations, a configuration for mainly performing processing corresponding to advertiser operations, and a configuration for mainly performing processing corresponding to printing a custom advertising booklet in accordance with user operations.

[0030] (Configuration for user correspondence) The information processing device 1 has a configuration for mainly performing processing corresponding to user operations, which includes a user management unit 11, a user information database 12, a user material registration unit 13, a material database 14, a user page creation unit 15, and a user page database 16.

[0031] The user operates the user terminal 4 to communicate with the information processing device 1, thereby utilizing the functions of the information processing device 1 (in other words, the functions of the information processing program executed on the information processing device 1) to create a custom advertising booklet.

[0032] The user may use the functions of the information processing device 1 by communicating with the information processing device 1 using a web browser application installed on the user terminal 4, or may use the functions of the information processing device 1 while communicating with the information processing device 1 using a dedicated app installed on the user terminal 4.

[0033] The user management unit 11 performs processes related to the registration of users who wish to use the information processing system and the authentication of each user. The user management unit 11 also registers user information related to user registration, authentication, etc. in the user information database 12 in association with a user identifier.

[0034] The user information database 12 stores information related to authentication such as a user identifier and password for each user registered by the user management unit 11, as well as information related to personal attributes.

[0035] The personal attributes of a user include, for example, age, gender, place of residence, etc., and may also include preferences. When registering the user in the information processing system, the user inputs his / her personal attributes and preferences. Information based on the content input and transmitted by the user is then stored in the user information database 12 as the user's personal attributes.

[0036] The user material registration unit 13 performs the processing required when a user transmits and registers materials to be included in a user page. Materials prepared by a user and transmitted and registered by the user are referred to as "user-prepared materials." Examples of user-prepared materials include image data of photographs taken by each user and image data of illustrations created by the user.

[0037] The user material registration unit 13 registers the material sent by the user in the material database 14 in association with the user identifier of the user.

[0038] The material database 14 stores the materials registered by the user material registration unit 13 as user-prepared materials in association with the user identifiers.

[0039] The user page creation unit 15 performs the processes required when a user creates and registers a user page.

[0040] A user page is created as content including, for example, the title of a booklet, text such as sentences, and images such as photographs and illustrations. When creating a user page, a user reads and uses user-prepared materials stored in the material database 14 in association with the user's own user identifier.

[0041] In addition to the user-prepared materials, materials that can be included in user pages and that all users can use freely may be prepared in advance. Materials that all users can use freely are called "freely used materials." The freely used materials are prepared, for example, by the administrator of the information processing system and stored in the material database 14. In this case, a user may create a user page by reading and using the freely used materials stored in the material database 14 in addition to the user-prepared materials.

[0042] A user page may be freely edited by the user, including the layout of text and images, or may be edited by the user entering text or selecting images according to a pre-prepared template. If templates are prepared in advance, for example, a template may be prepared in advance for each page assigned to a free page; specifically, in this embodiment, a template for the front cover and a template for the back side of the front cover may be prepared in advance. If templates are prepared in advance, multiple types of templates may be prepared in advance, and the user may select a template to be used as the layout of a user page from among the multiple types of templates.

[0043] In this embodiment, a user page for the front cover, which is assigned to a free page, and a user page for the back side of the front cover, which is also assigned to a free page, are created via the user page creation unit 15.

[0044] The user page creation unit 15 registers a user page created by a user in the user page database 16 in association with the user identifier of the user.

[0045] The user page database 16 stores the user pages registered by the user page creation unit 15 in association with the user identifiers.

[0046] (Configuration for Advertiser Support) The information processing device 1 has an advertiser management unit 21, an advertiser information database 22, an advertiser page creation unit 23, and an advertiser page database 24 as components for mainly performing processing corresponding to operations by advertisers.

[0047] The advertiser operates the advertiser terminal 5 to communicate with the information processing device 1, thereby creating an advertiser page using the functions of the information processing device 1 (in other words, the functions of the information processing program executed on the information processing device 1).

[0048] The advertiser may use the functions of the information processing device 1 by communicating with the information processing device 1 using a web browser application installed on the advertiser terminal 5, or may use the functions of the information processing device 1 while communicating with the information processing device 1 using a dedicated app installed on the advertiser terminal 5.

[0049] The advertiser management unit 21 performs processes related to the registration of advertisers who wish to use the information processing system and the authentication of each advertiser, as well as processes related to the management of budgets and charges for each advertiser. The advertiser management unit 21 also registers advertiser information related to the registration and authentication of advertisers and the budgets and charges, etc., in the advertiser information database 22 in association with advertiser identifiers.

[0050] The advertiser information database 22 stores information related to authentication such as an advertiser identifier and password for each advertiser registered by the advertiser management unit 21, as well as information related to budgets and charges.

[0051] Here, when a special-order advertising booklet is created and printed, the printing costs are borne by the advertisers who use the advertiser pages as advertising pages in the special-order advertising booklet in proportion to each other.

[0052] The budget for each advertiser stored in the advertiser information database 22 is the amount of money that the advertiser is willing to pay as compensation for using the services provided by the information processing system including the information processing device 1. The budget for each advertiser is specified, for example, as an amount per month or per year. The advertiser inputs the budget amount when registering the advertiser in the information processing system. The budget amount input and transmitted by the advertiser is then stored in the advertiser information database 22 as the budget for each advertiser, which is part of the advertiser information. The budget for each advertiser may be changed and updated by the advertiser in question.

[0053] Furthermore, the charges for each advertiser stored in the advertiser information database 22 are the pro rata costs of printing a customized advertising booklet that are incurred by the advertiser of that advertiser page when the advertiser page is selected by a user as an advertising page and a customized advertising booklet is created and printed. Specifically, when the advertiser page is selected by a user as an advertising page and a customized advertising booklet is created and printed, the printing costs of this customized advertising booklet are pro rata divided according to the number of advertiser pages published in the customized advertising booklet, and the pro rata divided printing costs are charged to each advertiser of the advertiser page as the pro rata costs of printing. The charges for each advertiser are stored in the advertiser information database 22 so that the total charges for the advertiser's budget period can be calculated.

[0054] In addition, the operating costs of the information processing system may be included in the charges incurred by each advertiser. For example, the operating costs of the information processing system may be included in the printing costs of a custom advertising booklet, and may be included in the charges to each advertiser as a pro rata printing cost.

[0055] The advertiser page creation unit 23 performs the processing required when an advertiser creates and registers an advertiser page.

[0056] The advertiser page is created as content including, for example, text such as the name and description of the advertising object, as well as images such as photographs and illustrations. The advertiser page is created as content that is completed in the space / page equivalent to one page of a custom advertising booklet, in other words, on a page-by-page basis.

[0057] The advertiser may set conditions such as personal attributes of users who wish to or are permitted to use the advertiser page for the advertiser page created by the advertiser. Conditions such as personal attributes of users who wish to or are permitted to use the advertiser page, which are set by the advertiser for each advertiser page, are referred to as "user attribute conditions." User attribute conditions include, for example, age, gender, and place of residence. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the advertiser sets user attribute conditions for each advertiser page.

[0058] The user attribute conditions may be set, for example, by taking into consideration the characteristics of the product, service, store, etc. that is the object of the advertisement on the advertiser page, the attributes of customers who are likely to use the product, use the service, or visit the store, or by taking into consideration the area in which the product, service, store, etc. that is the object of the advertisement on the advertiser page is particularly desired to be advertised. In other words, the user attribute conditions may be set by taking into consideration the consumer demographic that is targeted by the product, service, store, etc. that is the object of the advertisement on the advertiser page.

[0059] If preferences are included in the personal attributes of the user, the user attribute conditions may include the preferences of the user who desires or permits the use of the advertiser page.

[0060] The user attribute conditions may include the content of the user page desired by the advertiser. Specifically, for example, the types and contents that the advertiser considers desirable may be included, such as the content of text to be written on the user page and the content of user-prepared materials such as photos to be used on the user page.

[0061] For an advertiser page created by the advertiser, the advertiser may set a maximum number of copies to be printed when a customized advertising booklet created using the advertiser page is printed. The maximum number of copies is the maximum number of copies to be printed for a customized advertising booklet when a certain user uses the advertiser page, and is the maximum number of copies to be printed for each customized advertising booklet created using the advertiser page. The maximum number of copies to be printed may be set, for example, taking into consideration the advertiser's budget. The number of copies to be printed for a customized advertising booklet may be a predetermined fixed number. The number of copies to be printed for a customized advertising booklet is not limited to a specific value, but may be set to, for example, approximately 50 to 200 copies. This embodiment assumes that the maximum number of copies to be printed for a customized advertising booklet is set by the advertiser.

[0062] The advertiser page creation unit 23 registers the combination of the advertiser page created and set by the advertiser, the user attribute conditions, and the maximum number of copies of the custom advertising booklet to be printed in the advertiser page database 24 in association with the advertiser identifier of the advertiser.

[0063] In addition, the advertiser page may be configured so that content that has already been created as an advertisement or content created by another device is registered as the advertiser page via the advertiser page creation unit 23 (in other words, an electronic file is uploaded).

[0064] The advertiser page database 24 stores the advertiser pages registered by the advertiser page creation unit 23 as independent advertiser pages for each page, in association with the advertiser identifier, user attribute conditions, and the maximum number of copies of a custom-made advertisement booklet to be printed.

[0065] (Configuration for User Correspondence) The information processing device 1 further includes a booklet creation unit 17, a booklet database 18, and a print setting unit 19 as components for mainly performing processing corresponding to user operations.

[0066] The booklet creation unit 17 performs the processes required when a user creates and registers a custom advertisement booklet.

[0067] The mode of the customized advertising booklet may be determined in advance as a single binding mode and page allocation to free pages and advertising pages, or may be selected by the user from among a plurality of types. When the mode of the customized advertising booklet is selected from a plurality of types, the user selects the binding mode of the customized advertising booklet and sets the allocation to free pages.

[0068] The booklet creation unit 17 presents information such as page numbers and page size / space assigned to each of the free pages and advertising pages according to the binding style of the custom advertising booklet based on predetermined settings or based on the user's selection.

[0069] The user selects user pages and advertiser pages to create (in other words, edit) a custom advertising booklet.

[0070] The user selects user pages to be used as free pages in the custom advertising booklet. Specifically, the user selects user pages to be used as free pages from the user pages stored in the user page database 16. In this embodiment, the user selects a user page for the front cover and a user page for the back side of the front cover from the user pages stored in the user page database 16 in association with the user's own user identifier.

[0071] The user further selects advertiser pages to be used as advertising pages in the custom advertising booklet. Specifically, the user selects advertiser pages to be used as each advertising page from among the advertiser pages stored in the advertiser page database 24. When the user selects advertiser pages, the advertiser may be selected first, and then the advertiser pages to be used as each advertising page may be selected from among the advertiser pages created by the selected advertiser.

[0072] When a user selects an advertiser page, the booklet creation unit 17 may refer to the user's personal attributes stored in the user information database 12 and the user attribute conditions stored in the advertiser page database 24, compare the user's personal attributes with the user attribute conditions associated with each advertiser page, and make only advertiser pages whose user's personal attributes satisfy the user attribute conditions selectable as advertiser pages.

[0073] If preferences are included in the user's personal attributes and user attribute conditions, the booklet creation unit 17 may preferentially display (in other words, at the top) advertiser pages that have a high degree of match between the preferences in the user's personal attributes and the preferences in the user attribute conditions.

[0074] The booklet creation unit 17 registers in the booklet database 18 the user pages to be used as free pages and advertiser pages to be used as advertisement pages selected by the user, in association with the user identifier of the user.

[0075] A combination of user pages used as free pages selected by the user and advertiser pages used as advertising pages is called a "booklet constituting page set." A booklet constituting page set is, in other words, a collection of pages that make up one custom advertising booklet. A separate booklet identifier is assigned to each booklet constituting page set. In this embodiment, the booklet creation unit 17 registers the user pages used as the front cover, the user pages used as the back side of the front cover, and the advertiser pages used as each advertising page as a booklet constituting page set in the booklet database 18 in association with the user identifier and booklet identifier.

[0076] The booklet database 18 stores booklet constituent page sets registered by the booklet creation unit 17 in association with user identifiers and booklet identifiers.

[0077] The print setting section 19 performs the processing required when the user makes settings related to printing of a custom advertisement booklet.

[0078] When a user wishes to print a customized advertising booklet that he or she has created, the user selects the customized advertising booklet that he or she has created and specifies the number of copies of the customized advertising booklet to be printed, and issues a printing instruction. The number of copies to be printed is specified within a range that does not exceed the maximum number of copies of the customized advertising booklet that is stored in the advertiser page database 24 for each advertiser page used as an advertising page in the customized advertising booklet. Note that the number of copies to be printed of a customized advertising booklet may be a fixed number that is determined in advance, as described above. In this case, the user selects the customized advertising booklet and issues a printing instruction.

[0079] When a user instructs printing of a custom-made advertisement booklet, the print setting unit 19 outputs, as a print command for the custom-made advertisement booklet, the booklet identifier of the booklet constituting page set that constitutes the custom-made advertisement booklet and the number of copies of the custom-made advertisement booklet to be printed.

[0080] (Configuration for Printing) The information processing device 1 has a print processing unit 31 as a configuration for mainly performing processing for printing a custom advertisement booklet in response to a user operation.

[0081] The print processing unit 31 receives the booklet identifier of the booklet page set output from the print setting unit 19 and the number of copies of the custom advertisement booklet to be printed, and reads out the booklet page set associated with the booklet identifier from the booklet database 18.

[0082] The information processing device 1 may include a printing machine (not shown) for printing the customized advertising booklet, or may not include a printing machine for printing the customized advertising booklet.

[0083] If the information processing device 1 includes a printing machine for printing a custom-made advertising booklet, the printing processing unit 31 transmits data of the set of booklet constituent pages to the printing machine and specifies the number of copies of the custom-made advertising booklet to be printed, so that the printing machine prints the custom-made advertising booklet.

[0084] If the information processing device 1 does not include a printing machine for printing a customized advertising booklet, the print processing unit 31 may provide the printing machine with data on the set of pages constituting the booklet and specify the number of copies of the customized advertising booklet to be printed, for example, via a communications network. If the information processing device 1 does not include a printing machine for printing a customized advertising booklet, the data on the set of pages constituting the booklet may be provided to the printing machine via a storage medium usable by the information processing device 1 and the printing machine, and the number of copies of the customized advertising booklet to be printed may be specified manually. The printing of the customized advertising booklet may also be performed with the intervention of an operator of the information processing system.

[0085] The print processing unit 31 also calculates the pro rata printing cost per advertiser page by dividing the printing cost, which is determined based on the number of copies of the custom advertising booklet to be printed, by the number of advertiser pages used as advertising pages in the set of pages that make up the booklet to be printed.The print processing unit 31 then adds the calculated pro rata printing cost to the charges for each advertiser stored in the advertiser information database 22 as the charge to each advertiser for the advertiser pages.

[0086] (Processing of information processing device) The information processing device 1 performs processing of an information processing program executed on the information processing device 1, particularly processing related to advertisers, particularly processing related to users, and particularly processing related to printing of custom advertising booklets.

[0087] (Processing Contents for Advertiser Response) FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing an outline of processing contents related to advertisers in particular among processing contents of the information processing program executed in the information processing device 1 according to the embodiment.

[0088] The advertiser operates the advertiser terminal 5 and performs authentication by inputting, for example, his / her own advertiser identifier and password (S11), and becomes able to use the information processing system.

[0089] The advertiser management unit 21 of the information processing device 1 refers to the advertiser information database 22 and identifies the advertiser based on the advertiser identifier and password transmitted from the advertiser terminal 5 (S12).

[0090] The advertiser operates the advertiser terminal 5 and uses the advertiser page creation unit 23 to create an advertiser page, sets the user attribute conditions of the advertiser page and the maximum number of copies of the custom-made advertising booklet to be printed, and registers it as his / her own advertiser page (S13).

[0091] The advertiser page database 24 stores the combination of the advertiser page, user attribute conditions, and maximum number of copies of the custom advertisement booklet to be printed, transmitted by the registration process performed by the advertiser page creation unit 23, in association with the advertiser identifier (S14).

[0092] (User-Related Processing) FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an overview of processing particularly related to the user among processing contents of the information processing program executed in the information processing device 1 according to the embodiment.

[0093] The user operates the user terminal 4 and performs authentication by inputting, for example, his / her own user identifier and password (S21), and is then able to use the information processing system.

[0094] The user management unit 11 of the information processing device 1 identifies the user by referring to the user information database 12 based on the user identifier and password transmitted from the user terminal 4 (S22).

[0095] The user operates the user terminal 4 to transmit image data of a photograph that the user has taken or image data of an illustration that the user has created, and registers the data via the user material registration unit 13 (S23).

[0096] The user material registration unit 13 registers the image data transmitted from the user terminal 4 as user-prepared material in the material database 14 in association with the user identifier (S23).

[0097] The material database 14 stores the user-prepared material transmitted by the user material registration unit 13 through the registration process in association with the user identifier (S24).

[0098] The user operates the user terminal 4, uses the user page creation unit 15 to create a user page, and registers it as his / her own user page (S25).

[0099] The user page database 16 stores the user page transmitted by the registration process performed by the user page creation unit 15 in association with the user identifier (S26).

[0100] The user operates the user terminal 4, utilizes the booklet creation unit 17, creates a custom advertising booklet, and registers it as a set of pages constituting the user's booklet (S27). Specifically, the user selects user pages to be used as free pages from the user pages stored in the user page database 16, and also selects advertiser pages to be used as advertising pages from the advertiser pages stored in the advertiser page database 24.

[0101] The booklet database 18 stores the set of booklet constituting pages transmitted by the booklet production unit 17 through the registration process as one custom-order advertisement booklet, in association with the user identifier and booklet identifier (S28).

[0102] Here, the contents of the set of booklet constituent pages may be confirmed for each advertiser whose advertiser pages are used as advertising pages in a custom advertising booklet created (in other words, edited) by the user. In this case, the advertiser may check the free pages and advertising pages included in the set of booklet constituent pages, and if he or she determines that any of the free pages or advertising pages are undesirable for the booklet in which the advertiser page related to his or her product, service, or store will be published, he or she may refuse to publish his or her advertiser page in the custom advertising booklet. In this case, the user is notified that the advertiser has refused to publish his or her advertiser page, and the user may reselect the advertiser pages to use as advertising pages for the rejected pages.

[0103] (Printing-Related Processing Contents) FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an overview of processing contents related to printing of a custom-made advertisement booklet, among processing contents of an information processing program executed by information processing device 1 according to the embodiment.

[0104] The user operates the user terminal 4 to select a custom-made advertising booklet that the user has created and stored in the booklet database 18, and transmits the number of copies to be printed (S31). This causes a print command for the custom-made advertising booklet (specifically, a set of pages constituting the booklet) to be given to the print processing unit 31 via the print setting unit 19.

[0105] If the information processing device 1 includes a printing machine for printing a customized advertising booklet, the printing processing unit 31 executes the printing process by transmitting data on the set of booklet pages to the printing machine and specifying the number of copies of the customized advertising booklet to be printed. If the information processing device 1 does not include a printing machine for printing a customized advertising booklet, the printing processing unit 31 executes the printing process by providing data on the set of booklet pages to the printing machine and specifying the number of copies of the customized advertising booklet to be printed. Alternatively, the printing process is executed by providing data on the set of booklet pages to the printing machine via a storage medium, and manually specifying the number of copies of the customized advertising booklet to be printed. Note that, for example, the operator of the information processing system may intervene to provide the data on the set of booklet pages to the printing machine and specify the number of copies of the customized advertising booklet to be printed. The customized advertising booklet is then printed by the printing machine (S32).

[0106] When the customized advertising booklet is printed, the advertisers of each advertiser page used as an advertising page in the customized advertising booklet are charged a pro rata printing fee (S33). Specifically, the print processing unit 31 calculates the pro rata printing fee per advertiser page from the printing fee for the customized advertising booklet and the number of advertiser pages in the set of pages that make up the booklet to be printed, and adds the calculated pro rata printing fee to the charges for each advertiser stored in the advertiser information database 22 as the charge to each advertiser of the advertiser pages.

[0107] In addition, when the total amount of charges for each advertiser stored in the advertiser information database 22 exceeds or is about to exceed the budget amount for that advertiser, when the user selects an advertiser page to use as an advertising page, the booklet creation unit 17 may not display or select the advertiser page of the advertiser whose total amount of charges exceeds or is about to exceed the budget amount.

[0108] The custom-made advertising booklet printed in accordance with the user's printing instructions is delivered to the user by mail or the like.

[0109] The printed custom advertising booklet may also be delivered by mail to each advertiser whose advertiser pages are used as advertising pages in the custom advertising booklet that is the subject of the user's print command. In this case, the number of copies of the custom advertising booklet designated by the user is added to the number of copies required to deliver to each advertiser, and the custom advertising booklet is printed.

[0110] (Envisioned Use Scenarios) There are various possible reasons why a user might create a custom advertising booklet or for what purposes a custom advertising booklet might be used, and the motivations and purposes for using this invention are not limited to any particular reasons. However, in order to deepen understanding of the significance of this invention, the following are assumed use scenarios for this invention, merely as examples.

[0111] (Assumption 1) For example, it is assumed that a user creates a custom advertising booklet as a guidebook for a trip before going on a trip.

[0112] Specifically, for example, the user creates a user page using his / her own photographs as user-prepared materials, and writes comments related to the photographs and a summary of the trip, and selects this user page as a free page.

[0113] The user also selects, as an advertising page, advertiser pages for products that the user wishes to purchase at the travel destination, services that the user wishes to experience, restaurants that the user wishes to eat at, etc.

[0114] This creates a customized advertising booklet that can be used as a travel guidebook. The user can carry the created customized advertising booklet as a travel guidebook, or distribute it to family, friends, and acquaintances. If a printed customized advertising booklet is also delivered to each advertiser whose advertiser pages are used as advertising pages in the customized advertising booklet, the advertiser may use it as a promotional item by placing it in their own store or distributing it in-store.

[0115] The advertiser page may include coupons (i.e., tickets that allow the user to receive a specific benefit). The advertiser page may include, for example, coupons that can be used to purchase products that are the subject of the advertiser page's advertisement, coupons that can be used to receive services, coupons that can be used to eat at restaurants, etc. In this case, a user can select an advertiser page that includes coupons as an advertising page, create a customized advertising booklet, and take it with them when traveling, and use the coupons at their travel destination to purchase products, receive services, or eat at restaurants. In this case, the customized advertising booklet also functions as a coupon magazine.

[0116] A user may create an advertising page in a customized advertising booklet before going on a trip, so that a coupon related to the advertised object of the advertiser page selected as the advertising page is issued. In this case, the user uses the coupon issued before going on a trip at the travel destination and takes photos of tourist attractions and stores where the coupon was used. The user then uses the photos of the travel destination as user preparation material and creates a user page by writing comments related to the photos, articles about stores where the coupon was used, and text about events at the travel destination. The user then selects the user page containing the photos of the travel destination, especially the photos and articles about stores where the coupon was used, as a free page. A customized advertising booklet may then be created using the advertising page created before going on a trip and the free page created after going on a trip.

[0117] A user may be granted points by creating a custom advertising booklet. The content of the coupon (in other words, the content of the benefit) granted to the user may change depending on the points granted to the user. The points granted to the user are stored in the user information database 12.

[0118] (Assumption 2) It is assumed that a user creates a custom-made advertising booklet after a trip as a memento of the trip.

[0119] Specifically, for example, a user travels to a certain area and takes photos at tourist spots and shops they visit at their destination.The user then uses the photos from the destination as user preparation material, writes comments related to the photos, and writes about events that occurred at the destination, creates a user page, and selects the user page containing the photos from the destination as a free page.

[0120] The user also selects advertiser pages such as products purchased at the travel destination, services experienced, and restaurants where the user ate as advertising pages.

[0121] This creates a custom-made advertising booklet as a memento of the user's trip. The user can keep the created custom-made advertising booklet as a memento of the trip, or distribute it to family, friends, and acquaintances. If a printed custom-made advertising booklet is also delivered to each advertiser whose advertiser page is used as an advertising page in the custom-made advertising booklet, the advertiser may use it as a promotional item by placing it in their own store or distributing it in-store.

[0122] It should be noted that situations in which a user creates and uses a custom advertising booklet are not limited to travel-related situations, but may also be everyday situations in which the user visits a local store, for example.

[0123] (Effects) According to the information processing device 1, information processing method, and information processing program relating to the embodiment, a user can create a free page using the user-prepared materials he or she has prepared and can select an advertiser page to use as an advertising page, making it possible to create printed materials that incorporate the user's wishes.

[0124] According to the information processing device 1, information processing method, and information processing program of the embodiment, a user can create a free page using user-prepared materials prepared by the user, thereby enabling the user to preserve their memories and mementos.

[0125] According to the information processing device 1, information processing method, and information processing program of the embodiment, it is possible to advertise one's products, services, stores, etc. to the target consumer demographic, thereby enabling efficient advertising.

[0126] The above describes the embodiments of the present invention, but the specific configuration of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and the present invention also includes forms in which modifications and changes are made to the above embodiments within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

[0127] For example, in the above embodiment, a customized advertising booklet is printed. However, depending on the user's wishes, the customized advertising booklet (specifically, the set of pages constituting the booklet stored in the booklet database 18) may be viewed on a predetermined website. In this case, the customized advertising booklet may be printed and also be viewable on the predetermined website, or the customized advertising booklet may not be printed and only be viewable on the predetermined website. When the customized advertising booklet is viewed on the website, it may be private and viewable only by the user who created the customized advertising booklet, or it may be publicly available and freely viewable by anyone. When the customized advertising booklet is viewed on the website, the user-prepared materials may further include video data of videos shot by each user themselves, or audio data such as audio recorded by each user themselves. The user may be able to set the range of viewers who can access the customized advertising booklet they created, such as whether it is private or publicly available. When the custom-made advertising booklet is to be viewed on a specified website, the information processing device 1 has means for transmitting and providing data of the set of pages constituting the booklet stored in the booklet database 18 to the specified website.

[0128] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Information processing device 11 User management unit 12 User information database 13 User material registration unit 14 Material database 15 User page creation unit 16 User page database 17 Booklet creation unit 18 Booklet database 19 Print setting unit 21 Advertiser management unit 22 Advertiser information database 23 Advertiser page creation unit 24 Advertiser page database 31 Print processing unit 4 User terminal 5 Advertiser terminal 6 Communication line network

Claims

1. An information processing device comprising: means for creating a user page including materials prepared by a user; means for saving the created user page; means for creating an advertiser page for advertising the object of an advertiser's advertisement; means for saving the created advertiser page; and means for selecting, in response to an operation by the user, a user page to be used as a free page from the user pages saved in the means for saving the user page, and selecting, in response to an operation by the user, a advertiser page to be used as an advertising page from the advertiser pages saved in the means for saving the advertiser page, thereby creating a set of pages constituting a booklet.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for outputting a print command for the set of booklet pages.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for charging the advertiser for the printing costs of the set of booklet pages.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for providing the set of booklet-constituting pages to a predetermined website.

5. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the advertiser page includes a ticket for the user to receive a predetermined benefit.

6. A method executed by an information processing device, comprising the steps of: creating a user page including materials prepared by a user; saving the created user page; creating an advertiser page for advertising an object of advertising; saving the created advertiser page; selecting, in accordance with the user's operation, a user page to be used as a free page from the user pages saved in the step of saving the user pages, and selecting, in accordance with the user's operation, an advertiser page to be used as an advertising page from the advertiser pages saved in the step of saving the advertiser pages, thereby creating a set of booklet constituent pages.

7. An information processing program that causes an information processing device to execute the following processes: a process of creating a user page including materials prepared by a user; a process of saving the created user page; a process of creating an advertiser page for advertising an object of advertising; a process of saving the created advertiser page; and a process of selecting, in response to an operation by the user, a user page to be used as a free page from the user pages saved in the process of saving the user pages, and selecting, in response to an operation by the user, an advertiser page to be used as an advertising page from the advertiser pages saved in the process of saving the advertiser pages, thereby creating a set of pages that constitute a booklet.

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