Abstract:
An information providing apparatus for registering the delivery of data for providing a content is disclosed, that comprises a storing means for storing a content that is provided, and a delivery designating means for designating a delivery condition for delivering a content, wherein a delivering apparatus presents data necessary for considering the delivery condition that is designated to said delivery designating means.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus, an information providing method, a delivering apparatus, and a delivering method for delivering content data.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    In the conventional CS (Communication Satellite) digital broadcast corresponding to the MPEG2 (Moving Picture Experts Group Phase 2) system, bands (channels) assigned to individual contents are pre-designated. A content provider creates a transmission schedule for a content with a pre-designated band and provides the content under the total control of a broadcasting station as a delivering device for each channel. As the number of channels of the digital broadcast increases, the number of content providers increases. In addition, the provided contents are diversified and the content providers are distributed.  
           [0005]    Thus, conventionally, bands, broadcast time, and so forth assigned to contents are totally managed. Thus, a content provider can not select a transmission band, transmission time, and a transmission path by his or her preference. For example, when a content provider transmits a content through a particular channel, he or she should request the broadcasting station that manages the channel to reserve designated transmission band and time for the content.  
           [0006]    In the environment that the number of content providers increases and they are distributed, when the broadcasting station side totally manages transmission bands and transmission time for contents, the flexibility of transmission bands and transmission time for contents is lost. A content provider may want to deliver a content with his or her convenient band and time from view points of the provided content, expected number of audiences, the cost, and so forth. However, the conventional content delivering system cannot satisfy the needs of content providers.  
           [0007]    Thus, it is preferred to allow a content provider to easily designate a delivery condition. However, since a delivery condition cannot be exclusively designated, the operation for designating the delivery condition may become complicated. In addition, the delivery condition cannot be effectively designated.  
         OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an information providing apparatus, an information providing method, a delivering apparatus, and a delivering method that allow an information provider to easily designate a proper delivery condition in an information delivering system that delivers content data.  
           [0009]    A first aspect of the present invention is an information providing apparatus for registering the delivery of data for providing a content, comprising a storing means for storing a content that is provided, and a delivery designating means for designating a delivery condition for delivering a content, wherein a delivering apparatus-presents data necessary for considering the delivery condition that is designated to said delivery designating means.  
           [0010]    A second aspect of the present invention is an information providing method for registering the delivery of data for providing a content, comprising the steps of storing a content that is provided, and designating a delivery condition for delivering a content, wherein before the delivery condition is designated, a delivering apparatus presents data necessary for considering the delivery condition that is designated.  
           [0011]    A third aspect of the present invention is a delivering apparatus for delivering data for providing a content, comprising a first communicating means for receiving a content that is provided from an information provider, a storing means for storing a content, a transmitting means for delivering a content to a receiving terminal unit, a second communicating means for receiving user profile information from a receiving terminal unit, a profile storing means for storing the profile information, a charging process controlling means for calculating a cost necessary for delivering a content, and a band controlling means for controlling a band used for delivering a content, wherein said charging process controlling means pre-calculates the number of audiences for a content corresponding to the profile information, calculates a cost necessary for delivering the content, and informs an information providing apparatus of the cost.  
           [0012]    A fourth aspect of the present invention is a delivering apparatus for delivering data for providing a content, comprising a first communicating means for receiving a content that is provided from an information provider, a storing means for storing a content, a transmitting means for delivering a content to a receiving terminal unit, a second communicating means for receiving user watching/listening history from a receiving terminal unit, a watching/listening history storing means for storing the watching/listening history, a charging process controlling means for calculating a cost necessary for delivering a content, and a band controlling means for controlling a band of a network used for delivering a content, wherein said charging process controlling means pre-calculates the number of audiences for a content corresponding to the watching/listening history, calculates a cost necessary for delivering the content, and informs an information providing apparatus of the cost.  
           [0013]    A fifth aspect of the present invention is a delivering method for delivering data for providing a content, comprising the steps of receiving a content that is provided from an information provider, storing a content, delivering a content to a receiving terminal unit, receiving user profile information from a receiving terminal unit, storing the profile information, calculating a cost necessary for delivering a content, and controlling a band used for delivering a content, wherein the number of audiences for a content is pre-calculated corresponding to the profile information, wherein a cost necessary for delivering the content is calculated, and wherein an information providing apparatus is informed of the cost.  
           [0014]    A sixth aspect of the present invention is a delivering method for delivering data for providing a content, comprising the steps of receiving a content that is provided from an information provider, storing a content, delivering a content to a receiving terminal unit, receiving user watching/listening history from a receiving terminal unit, storing the watching/listening history, calculating a cost necessary for delivering a content, and controlling a band of a network used for delivering a content, wherein the number of audiences for a content is pre-calculated corresponding to the watching/listening history, wherein a cost necessary for delivering the content is calculated, and wherein an information providing apparatus is informed of the cost.  
           [0015]    According to the present invention, the information providing apparatus can easily designate a delivery condition of a content.  
           [0016]    These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent in light of the following detailed description of a best mode embodiment thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]    [0017]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an information providing system according to the present invention;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the structure of an information providing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the structure of a delivering apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the structure of a receiving terminal unit of the delivering apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the structure of a user profile operating portion; and  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a delivery designation screen of the information providing apparatus. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0023]    [0023]FIG. 1 shows the overall structure of an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, each of information providing apparatuses  101   1 , . . . , and  101   n  pin has a data storing portion (for example, a hard disk) and a server. The information providing apparatuses  101   1 , . . . , and  101   n  provide content data to a delivering apparatus  102  through a bi-directional network  105 . The delivering apparatus  102  has a server and a storing portion (for example, a hard disk). The delivering apparatus  102  delivers data to receiving terminal units  103   1 , . . . , and  103   n  through a data multicast network  104  (for example, a digital broadcast). In addition, the delivering apparatus  102  not only manages the delivery of content data, but performs managing operations such as a user information managing operation and a charging managing operation.  
         [0024]    In addition, data can be delivered to the receiving terminal units  103   1 , . . . , and  103   n  through the bi-directional network  105  (for example, the Internet). The receiving terminal units  103   1 , . . . , and  103   n  are owned by individual users. Each of the receiving terminal units  103   1 , . . . , and  103   n  has a displaying portion (for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)) that displays delivered content data for each user. In addition, the receiving terminal units  103   1 , . . . , and  103   n  selectively receive delivered contents corresponding to their profile information. Moreover, the receiving terminal units  103   1 , . . . , and  103   n  transmit profile information and content watching/listening history information to the delivering apparatus  102  through the bi-directional network  105 .  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 2 shows an example of the structure of the information providing apparatus  101   1 . Content data is input through a content inputting portion  201 . A content storing portion  202  stores a content that is provided. A delivery designating portion  203  designates a delivery condition for a content (an example of the delivery condition is a band used for delivering a content). In this case, the delivery designating portion  203  can designate a delivery condition to each of the multicast network  104  and the bi-directional network  105 . In other words, the delivery designating portion  203  can designate a medium used for delivering a content (examples of the medium are a satellite broadcast and an Internet television).  
         [0026]    The delivery designating portion  203  designates a delivery condition for a content by (interactively) exchanging the delivery condition with an content inputting portion of the delivering apparatus  102  through a communication controlling portion  204  and the bi-directional network  105 . After a delivery condition for a content has been designated, the content that is delivered is sent to the delivering apparatus  102  through the communication controlling portion  204  and the bi-directional network  105 . The structure of each of the information providing apparatuses  101   2  to  101   n  may be the same as the structure of the information providing apparatus  101   1 .  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 3 shows an example of the structure of the delivering apparatus  102 . A communication controlling portion  301  collects content data transmitted from the information providing apparatuses  101   1 , . . . , and  101   n . The communication controlling portion  301  supplies the received content data to a content inputting portion  302 . The content inputting portion  302  supplies the supplied content data to a content storing portion  303 . The content storing portion  303  stores content data that is delivered.  
         [0028]    When the content inputting portion  302  collects contents that are delivered from the information providing apparatuses  101   1 , . . . , and  101   n , the content inputting portion  302  (interactively) exchanges charging information with the information providing apparatuses  101   1 , . . . , and  101   n . At that point, a charging process controlling portion  305  controls a charging process. The charging process controlling portion  305  performs the charging process corresponding to user profile information and real content watching/listening history.  
         [0029]    A band controlling portion  309  is disposed in association with the content inputting portion  302 . The band controlling portion  309  controls a band as a delivery condition. The band controlling portion  309  performs the process corresponding to user profile information and real content watching/listening history. When receiving terminal units  103   1 , . . . , and  103   n  can store received a content, the delivering apparatus  102  can deliver the content in a network non-busy time rather than real time. In this case, the band controlling portion  309  controls the assignment of a band for the content. When it is expected that many users (owners of receiving terminal units) want to watch a content that is delivered, the band controlling portion  309  assigns a wide band for the content so that it can be delivered in a short time. In contrast, when it is expected that not many users want to watch the content that is delivered, the band controlling portion  309  assigns a narrow band for the content so that it is delivered with the narrow band in a long time. The band controlling portion  309  performs such a band controlling operation.  
         [0030]    User profile information and real content watching/listening history are stored to a profile storing portion  306  and a watching/listening history storing portion  307 , respectively. User profile information and watching/listening history are periodically or non-periodically collected from the receiving terminal units  103   1 , . . . , and  103   n  through a communication controlling portion  308 . After a delivery condition of a content has been designated, the content is stored to the content storing portion  303 . A content stored in the content storing portion  303  is delivered from a transmitting portion  304  to the receiving terminal units  103   1 , . . . , and  103   n  through the multicast network  104  or the bi-directional network  105 .  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 4 shows an example of the structure of the receiving terminal unit  103   1 . A receiving portion  401  receives content data from the multicast network  104  and supplies the received content data to a content selecting portion  402 . A communication controlling portion  403  receives content data from the bi-directional network  105  and supplies the received content data to the content selecting portion  402 . In addition, the communication controlling portion  403  transmits user profile information and real content watching/listening history to a transmitting device through the bi-directional network  105 .  
         [0032]    The content selecting portion  402  selects data (that is stored) from the supplied data and supplies the selected data to a content storing portion  404 . The content storing portion  404  stores the selected data. A content that is read from the content storing portion  404  is displayed by a content displaying portion  405 . A watching/listening history storing portion  406  is disposed in association with the content displaying portion  405 . A real watching/listening history is periodically or non-periodically transmitted to the delivering apparatus  102  through the communication controlling portion  403  and the bi-directional network  105 .  
         [0033]    A profile storing portion  408  stores profile information that is input through a profile operating portion  407 . Data stored in the content storing portion  404  is selected by the content selecting portion  402  corresponding to profile information. The profile information is periodically or non-periodically transmitted to the delivering apparatus  102  through the communication controlling portion  403  and the bi-directional network  105 . The structure of each of the receiving terminal units  103   2  to  103   n  may be the same as the structure of the receiving terminal unit  103   1 .  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 5 shows an example of the operation of a profile of the profile operating portion  407 . A user profile (for example, preference information) has genres of politics, business, sports, and whether. The user designates his or her profile by checking desired genres on a screen shown in FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, the business genre has been selected.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 6 shows an example of a delivery condition designated by the information providing apparatus  101   1 . The information providing apparatus  101   1  displays a delivery designation screen. In FIG. 6, an indication  601  displays a band corresponding to one transponder of for example a satellite broadcast and a band assignment state of a bi-directional network (for example, Internet). In the indication  601 , the horizontal axis represents time (or month/day), whereas the vertical axis represents a band. In FIG. 6, shaded portions represent portions of which the band is occupied by contents. Such a band assignment state can be obtained as information managed by the band controlling portion  309  of the delivering apparatus  102  through the bi-directional network  105 .  
         [0036]    In FIG. 6, an indication  602  is a designation indication displayed by the delivery designating portion  203 . In the example shown in FIG. 6, a content “today&#39;s stock market” is designated. When the label of the content “today&#39;s stock market” is dragged and dropped to a blank area of the indication  601 , a medium for delivering the content and the delivery time can be reserved. After the label has been dragged and dropped, the delivery time is displayed in the designation indication  602 . When the length of the frame of the delivery time is dragged, the delivery time can be adjusted.  
         [0037]    After the delivery for the content has been reserved, a “confirm” button in the designation indication  602  is pressed (clicked). Thus, the information providing apparatus  101   1  is communicated with the content inputting portion  302  of the delivering apparatus  102 . The content inputting portion  302  inquires the charging process controlling portion  305  for a charging state corresponding to the designated delivery condition.  
         [0038]    The charging process controlling portion  305  calculates the number of delivery audiences for a content corresponding to information stored in the profile storing portion  306  and/or the watching/listening history storing portion  307 . The calculated result as the number of audiences and the charging information corresponding to the designated delivery condition is transmitted to the information providing apparatus  101   1 .  
         [0039]    Thus, an indication  603  for the number of audiences and charging information corresponding to the designated delivery condition is displayed as another window. When the delivery condition displayed in the indication  603  is checked and confirmed, an “OK” button is pressed (clicked). Thus, the delivery condition and charging condition displayed in the indication  603  are confirmed.  
         [0040]    Thereafter, a relevant content (in this example, “today&#39;s stock market”) is transmitted from the information providing apparatus  101   1  to the delivering apparatus  102 . The content is stored to the content storing portion  303  of the delivering apparatus  102 . Corresponding to the designated delivery condition, the content is delivered. In other words, the content is delivered using the designated medium at the designated time.  
         [0041]    Although the present invention has been shown and described with respect to a best mode embodiment thereof, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes, omissions, and additions in the form and detail thereof may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, both content data and data for managing a content (program information, resource reservation information, and so forth) are handled by a transmitting device or a content providing apparatus. However, only data for managing a content may be handled according to the present invention. Content data may be stored at another location. In addition, when a band is assigned, unlike with the indication  602  of which a band assignment state is displayed by the information providing apparatus and designated by the information provider, a transmission path may be automatically selected. In this case, the number of audiences is calculated corresponding to information stored in the file storing portion or the watching/listening history storing portion. For a content that is delivered to many audiences, a large band is assigned. When a content is delivered to many audiences, a multicast network is used. In contrast, when a content is delivered to not many audiences, a bi-directional network is used.  
         [0042]    According to the present invention, a delivery condition (a band and so forth) of a content can be designated corresponding to user profile information and/or watching/listening history information. Thus, in the environment of which delivery resources are shared by a plurality of information providers, they can be effectively used. In addition, according to the present invention, a charging condition is calculated. Thus, a delivery cost can be presented to information providers. As a result, the information providers can designate delivery conditions in consideration of the delivery cost.