Patent ID: 7552194

Claim:
A content delivery system for connecting terminal apparatuses of users to a content management unit of a service provider managing a plurality of contents via a computer network, said service provider delivering said contents to said users over said computer network, said content management unit comprising: content file storing means for storing files of said contents; user-oriented content storing means in which a user area of a predetermined size is allocated to each of said users for the storage of a content owned by a corresponding one of the users; file managing means for managing the content files stored in said content file storing means and the contents stored in the user areas of said user-oriented content storing means, wherein the file managing means copies content files selected by the user from the content file storing means to the corresponding user area; content delivering means for providing said corresponding user with said contents stored in said corresponding user area, the contents provided to the corresponding user solely as streaming content wherein the content files are not downloadable for permanent storage by the corresponding user; and superposing means for discouraging illegitimate copying of the content files by superposing personal information, by the content provider, including a user-identification that identifies the corresponding user on the streaming content provided by the content delivering means so the superposed personal information is displaying when the streaming content is reproduced, wherein the personal information includes at least a corresponding user's credit card number, wherein each of said corresponding users is charged a usage fee proportional to the user area size allocated to the corresponding user in said user-oriented content storing means.