JP2001167150A - Electronic publication rental server, recording medium recording server program, electronic publication reproduction terminal, and recording medium recording terminal program - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide an electronic publication rental server which charges a rental fee based on a rental period of an electronic publication and can cope with user needs of customers. SOLUTION: An electronic publication rental server 1 of the present invention.
Is a rental I that decrypts electronic data into electronic publications
D, a transmitting unit 24 for transmitting the D, a receiving unit 10 for receiving the rental ID transmitted by the transmitting unit 24, and a rental for calculating a rental fee based on an elapsed time from the transmission of the rental ID to the reception of the rental ID. ID lending period measurement unit 18
And a rental fee charging unit 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic publication rental server and an electronic publication reproducing terminal, and more particularly, to an electronic publication rental server and a server program capable of charging a rental fee based on an actual rental period. The present invention relates to a recording medium, an electronic publication reproduction terminal, and a recording medium on which a terminal program is recorded.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of the Internet, electronic publications have become widespread. An electronic publication rental system is also being realized.

As a known technique related to the present invention, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
An electronic rental system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 181965 (first publicly known technique) rents digitally convertible data as electronic data. Consists of

[0004] In this system, the terminal device can repeatedly reproduce the received electronic data any number of times during the valid rental period, based on the viewing period recorded in the use ticket provided by the electronic rental device. In addition, the electronic data rented for a certain period or a certain number of times can be reproduced, and the viewing period can be extended as necessary.

[0005] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-222579 (second known technology) discloses a rental management method for providing a virtual vending machine for distributing electronic data. In this method, the virtual vending machine receives a request from a client to obtain electronic data. Next, when the electronic payment for the electronic data from the client is successful, the electronic data from the vendor is transmitted to the client.

[0006]

In the above-mentioned first known technique, if the contents of the rented electronic data are not satisfactory, the rental fee is the same as when renting and returning until the expiration date even if the rental is returned earlier than scheduled. And the user's substantial viewing period is not taken into account, and in some cases the user may have a lost image. Also, if you do n’t have time to read your rental,
Or, if you want to spend more time reading, you may not know how long the viewing period should be extended. These problems are due to the uncertain value of the electronic data unless it is actually confirmed.

In the second known technique, the contents of the electronic data are confirmed at the time of successful payment, so that there is no merit for the user even if the return is made earlier than the rental period. An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic publication rental server capable of charging a rental fee based on an actual rental period in order to address the above user needs, a recording medium recording a server program, an electronic publication reproduction terminal, and a terminal It is to provide a recording medium on which a program is recorded.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic publication rental server, a recording medium storing a server program, and an electronic publishing server capable of avoiding the occurrence of a huge rental fee payment problem due to a user forgetting to return the electronic publication. It is an object of the present invention to provide a product reproducing terminal and a recording medium on which a terminal program is recorded.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic publication rental server according to the present invention transmits a rental ID for decrypting electronic data to an electronic publication to an electronic publication reproducing terminal. Receiving means for receiving the rental ID transmitted from the electronic publication playback terminal, calculating means for calculating a rental fee based on an elapsed time from the time of transmission of the rental ID to the time of reception,
It is provided with.

[0010] The electronic publication further includes an encryption unit for encrypting the electronic publication, and the transmission unit transmits the encrypted electronic publication and the rental ID via a communication line by transmitting the encrypted electronic publication and the rental ID. Since electronic publications can also be transmitted, rental procedures can be easily performed in real time.

[0011] In another aspect, the present invention provides a rental I / O system for decrypting electronic data into electronic publications.
Transmitting means for transmitting D to the electronic publication reproducing terminal, receiving means for receiving the rental ID transmitted from the electronic publication reproducing terminal, and transmitting time from the transmission of the rental ID to the reception of the rental ID. And a calculating means for calculating a rental fee based on the computer-readable recording medium storing a program for functioning as an electronic publication rental server.

[0012] An electronic publication reproducing terminal of the present invention includes a receiving unit for receiving a rental ID for decrypting electronic data into an electronic publication, a first storing unit for storing the electronic data, and a receiving unit for receiving the rental data. ID for rental
A second storage unit that stores the electronic data into the electronic publication using the rental ID; a display unit that displays the electronic publication from the decryption unit; Transmitting means for transmitting the rental ID to the electronic publication rental server; and ID managing means for deleting the rental ID from the second storage means when the transmitting means transmits the rental ID. It is.

[0013] In addition, when the rental period of the rental ID is set in the rental ID, the ID management means may control the rental ID according to the elapse of the rental period.
By erasing D, the customer can avoid an enormous rental fee due to forgetting to return it. In this case,
After the predetermined loan period, the contents of the electronic publication cannot be viewed. Therefore, there is no need to be prompted to return the rented electronic publication, and there is no problem such as loss of the electronic publication due to the rental.

[0014] In another aspect, the present invention is directed to a computer rental system for decrypting electronic data into electronic publications.
D, receiving means for receiving the electronic data, first storing means for storing the electronic data, second storing means for storing the rental ID received by the receiving means, and the electronic data using the rental ID. Decoding means for decoding the electronic publication into the electronic publication, display means for displaying the electronic publication from the decoding means, transmission means for transmitting the rental ID to an electronic publication rental server, and transmission Computer-readable recording medium storing a program for functioning as an electronic publication playback terminal, comprising: ID management means for deleting the rental ID from the second storage means when transmitting the rental ID by means. It is.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this embodiment, an electronic book will be described as an example of an electronic publication. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic publication rental server according to an embodiment of the present invention. This electronic publication rental server 1 (hereinafter referred to as rental server)
Is a control unit 25, a ROM 26, a RAM 27, a recording unit 2
8, input unit 29, transmission / reception unit 30, display unit 31, and C
A D-ROM drive 32 is provided.

The control unit 25 controls the operation of the entire rental server 1, and performs communication control, encryption processing, calculation processing of a rental period and a fee, and the like, which will be described later. ROM
Reference numeral 26 stores a program or the like for instructing processing necessary for the operation of the rental server 1. The RAM 27 temporarily stores data required for the processing of the rental server 1.

The recording unit 28 includes, for example, a magnetic disk device,
It is an optical disk library device or the like, and has a plurality of databases. The input unit 29 is a keyboard, a mouse, or the like, and is operated by an operator when making a rental application directly from the rental server 1.

The transmission / reception unit 30 performs data transmission / reception processing based on an instruction from the control unit 25. For example, data transmission / reception processing when renting an electronic book is performed with an electronic publication reproduction terminal 50 (see FIGS. 3 and 4, hereinafter, referred to as a reproduction terminal) used by a customer. The electronic book production company that provides the electronic book performs transmission / reception processing of information about the electronic book to be rented to the customer. Further, with respect to a billing system (not shown), transmission / reception processing of data related to billing of rental fees is performed.

The display unit 31 is operated when the input unit 29 is operated.
The input status is displayed based on an instruction from the control unit 25. CD
-The ROM drive 32 reads a program stored in the CD-ROM 33 based on an instruction from the control unit 25, and stores the program in the RAM 27, for example. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating functions of the rental server 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The rental server 1 includes a reception unit 10, a reception data identification unit 11, a rental application processing unit 12, a rental ID reception processing unit 13, a rental availability determination unit 14, a rental fee charging unit 15, an electronic book database (electronic Book DB) 16, customer database (customer DB) 17, rental ID lending period measuring unit 18, electronic book extracting unit 19,
Rental ID extraction unit 20, Rental ID transmission preparation unit 21, e-book encryption unit 22, electronic data transmission preparation unit 23
And a transmission unit 24.

The receiving unit 10 receives data from the reproduction terminal 50, an electronic publication production company, a billing system, or the like. The receiving unit 10 converts the received data into the received data identifying unit 11
To send to. The reception data identification unit 11 mainly identifies whether the reception data is a rental application or a rental ID. The received data identification unit 11 sends the input received data to the rental application processing unit 12 if it is a rental application, and sends it to the rental ID reception processing unit 13 if it is a rental ID.

The rental application processing unit 12 processes a rental application transmitted from a customer, and sends the name of the electronic book included in the input rental application to the rental availability determination unit 14. Rental availability determination unit 14
Is for determining whether or not a rental application is possible, and determines whether or not to rent by referring to the electronic book database 16 based on the input electronic book name.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of the electronic book database 16. Electronic book database 16
Stores an electronic book and a rental ID required for renting the electronic book. As shown in FIG. 5, the data structure includes the name of the electronic book, the rental ID for encrypting or decrypting the electronic book at the time of rental, and whether the electronic book corresponding to each rental ID is being rented. Rental status indicating whether or not the item is included.

For example, the electronic book "To survive the year 2000" has a rental ID for three books "1895XA
4, "1895XA5" and "1895XA6" are all rented, indicating that rental is not possible at present. The electronic book “Human History” is provided with two rental IDs “8079YT0” and “8079YT1”, indicating that only one book is being rented, so that it can be rented. .

It should be noted that the rental IDs provided in each electronic book are provided in a predetermined number in accordance with a contract with an electronic publication production company. Each rental ID provided in one electronic book has a function as the same key. Returning to FIG. 2, the rental availability determination unit 14
Sends the name of the electronic book for which rental has been applied to the electronic book extracting unit 19 and the rental ID extracting unit 20 when it is determined that the rental is possible.

The electronic book extracting unit 19 extracts an electronic book for which a rental application has been made from a customer from the electronic book database 16, and extracts an electronic book corresponding to the input electronic book name from the electronic book database 16. And sends it to the electronic book encryption unit 22.

The rental ID extraction unit 20 stores a rental ID corresponding to the electronic book for which the customer has applied for a rental.
Is extracted from the electronic book database 16.
Rental ID corresponding to the input e-book name
Is extracted from the electronic book database 16 and sent to the rental ID transmission preparation unit 21 and the electronic book encryption unit 22.

As will be described later, if the customer has rented the electronic book in the past and the encrypted electronic book is
, Only the corresponding rental ID is extracted and transmitted. The electronic book encryption unit 22 encrypts the electronic book using the rental ID corresponding to the electronic book. The electronic book encryption unit 22 encrypts the electronic book using the input rental ID, and encrypts the electronic book. To the electronic data transmission preparation unit 23.

The electronic data transmission preparation unit 23 prepares transmission by preparing transmission data by adding a header or the like to the encrypted electronic book, and sends the transmission data prepared for transmission to the transmission unit 24. . The rental ID transmission preparation unit 21 prepares transmission by preparing transmission data by adding a header or the like to the rental ID, and sends the transmission data prepared for transmission to the transmission unit 24.

The transmission section 24 is provided with an electronic data transmission preparation section 2
3. The transmission data from the rental ID transmission preparation unit 21 is transmitted to the reproduction terminal 50. The transmission time is stored in the customer database 17 together with the customer name as a rental start time based on, for example, the time of a clock means (not shown) provided inside or outside the control unit 25.

The customer database 17 stores the use information of the rental system, such as the name of the electronic book, the rental ID, the rental start time and the rental fee charging information, corresponding to the customer name.

On the other hand, the rental ID reception processing unit 13
The rental ID transmitted from the customer is processed, and the customer is specified by referring to the customer database 17 based on the input rental ID. Further, the rental ID reception processing unit 13 reads out the rental start time for the specified customer and sends it to the rental ID lending period measuring unit 18.

The rental ID lending period measuring unit 18 lends the rental ID based on the rental start time from the rental ID reception processing unit 13 and the current time as the rental end time from the control unit 25, for example. The period is measured, and the measured lending period is sent to the rental fee charging unit 15.

The rental fee charging unit 15 calculates and charges the rental fee of the customer. The rental fee charging unit 15
For example, rental fee information for each rental period is stored, and based on the rental period of the input rental ID,
The charge according to the rental period is calculated and charged, and this charge information is stored in the customer database 17.

As described above, the rental server 1 calculates the rental fee based on the elapsed time from when the rental ID is transmitted to the reproduction terminal 50 to when the rental ID is received from the reproduction terminal 50. Therefore, the rental fee is charged based on the actual rental period.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the reproduction terminal 50 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Main playback terminal 50
The control unit 61, the ROM 62, the RAM 63, the input unit 6
4, a transmission / reception unit 65, a display unit 66 such as an LCD, and a CD-ROM drive 67.

The control section 61 controls the overall operation of the reproduction terminal 50 based on the above-mentioned program, and performs communication control and decoding processing to be described later. The ROM 62 stores a program or the like for instructing processing necessary for the operation of the reproduction terminal 50.
The RAM 63 temporarily stores data necessary for the processing of the reproduction terminal 50.

The input unit 64 is a keyboard, a mouse, or the like, and is operated to input a rental application or to reproduce and display an electronic book. The transmission / reception unit 65 performs data transmission / reception processing with the rental server 1 via a communication line based on an instruction from the control unit 61.

The display unit 66 performs display processing based on an instruction from the control unit 61 when playing back an electronic book, operating the input unit 64, and the like. The CD-ROM drive 67 includes the control unit 6
The program stored in the CD-ROM 68 is read based on the instruction 1 and stored in the RAM 63, for example.

FIG. 4 shows a reproduction terminal 50 according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the function of FIG. The playback terminal 50
Receiving unit 51, received data identification unit 52, electronic data storage unit 53, rental ID storage unit 54, rental ID management unit 55, electronic data decoding unit 56, rental ID transmission preparation unit 57, rental request transmission preparation unit 58 , Information display section 5
9 and a transmission unit 60.

The receiving section 51 receives the encrypted electronic book, rental ID, and the like transmitted from the rental server 1 and sends the received data to the received data identifying section 52. The reception data identification unit 52 mainly identifies whether the reception data is an encrypted electronic book or a rental ID.
The received data identification unit 52 sends the received data to the electronic data storage unit 53 if it is an encrypted electronic book, and sends it to the rental ID storage unit 54 if it is a rental ID.

The electronic data decryption unit 56 decrypts the encrypted electronic book using the rental ID received from the rental server 1. The electronic data decryption unit 56 decrypts the encrypted electronic book stored in the electronic data storage unit 53 using the rental ID stored in the rental ID storage unit 54, and displays the decrypted electronic book on the information display unit 59. Send out. The information display unit 59 displays an electronic book.

The rental ID management unit 55 manages the rental ID of the encrypted electronic book stored in the electronic data storage unit 53. Rental ID management unit 55
Sends the rental ID corresponding to the electronic book whose rental is to be completed to the rental ID transmission preparation unit 57 among the rental IDs stored in the rental ID storage unit 54, and further rents the rental ID. From the storage ID storage unit 54.

At the end of the rental, the rental ID transmission preparation unit 57 prepares transmission by creating transmission data by adding a header or the like to the rental ID to be returned, and prepares the transmission data for transmission. 24. The transmission unit 60 transmits the transmission data prepared for transmission to the rental server 1.

As a result, the rental ID transmitted from the transmission unit 60 does not exist in the rental ID storage unit 54 due to the erasing process of the rental ID management unit 55. The encrypted electronic book corresponding to the rental ID remains in the electronic data storage unit 53, but the electronic book cannot be reproduced because there is no rental ID which is a key for decryption.

The rental request transmission preparation unit 58 prepares transmission data by preparing transmission data by adding a header or the like to the rental application to be transmitted to the rental server 1.
The transmission data prepared for transmission is transmitted to the transmission unit 24. The transmission unit 60 transmits the transmission data prepared for transmission to the rental server 1.

As described above, for an electronic book once rented, the encrypted electronic book stored in the electronic data storage unit 53 may be used, and only the corresponding rental ID is received from the rental server 1. Then, the encrypted electronic book is decrypted and browsed again. By transferring only the rental ID, the transfer time and communication cost for transferring the encrypted electronic book can be reduced.

Next, the operation of the entire electronic publication rental system by the rental server 1 and the reproduction terminal 50 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the rental receiving process performed by the rental server 1. First, in step S1, when the reproduction terminal 50 connects to the rental server 1, useful information such as a list display of electronic books or a weekly rental ranking is provided to the customer.

Next, in step S2, the customer selects an electronic book to be rented from the list with reference to the provided information and the like, and makes a rental application. At the time of this rental application, a plurality of electronic books can be selected.

In this embodiment, the rental application is made from the reproduction terminal 50 via the communication line. However, the customer or the operator may make an application directly from the rental server 1 or accept the application by telephone or mail. Thus, the operator may apply directly to the rental server 1.

The rental server 1 receives the rental application. An identification code indicating the data type is added to the head of the data transmitted from the reproduction terminal 50. By detecting the identification code indicating the rental application, it is possible to determine whether or not the rental application has been made.

In step S3, it is determined whether the electronic book for which rental has been applied is available for rental. If the electronic book for which rental has been applied cannot be rented because it is being rented, the process returns to step S1 to display a list. If the rental is possible, the process proceeds to step S4. In step S4, a rental permission message indicating that rental is possible is transmitted to the reproduction terminal 50.

Here, as a condition for determining whether or not the rental is possible, the number of books being rented by the person stored in the customer database 17 and the return status are considered, so that more efficient operation is possible. Can operate the rental system.

The electronic book database 16 determines whether the electronic book for which rental has been applied is currently rentable.
The electronic book stored in the electronic book is searched, and it can be determined by confirming that the rental ID corresponding to the electronic book is in a rentable state. FIG.
In the example, it is determined that the electronic book “To survive the year 2000” cannot be rented, and the electronic book “human history” is determined to be rentable.

Next, in step S5, it is confirmed whether or not an encrypted electronic book corresponding to the electronic book for which rental has been applied is stored in the reproduction terminal 50. The existence confirmation of the encrypted electronic book is performed, for example, by the rental server 1
Transmits the name of the electronic book, the playback terminal 50 searches the electronic data storage unit 53 based on the name of the electronic book, and transmits the search result to the rental server 1.

If the encrypted electronic book is stored, the process proceeds to step S8, and the corresponding rental ID is transmitted. If the encrypted electronic book is not stored, the process proceeds to step S6. In step S6,
An electronic book and a rental ID corresponding to the electronic book are extracted, the electronic book is encrypted using the rental ID, and the encrypted electronic book is transmitted.

In step S7, it is confirmed whether or not the encrypted electronic book has been transmitted normally. If an error has occurred, the process returns to step S6 and transmits again. If the encrypted electronic book has been transmitted normally, step S8
Proceed to.

In step S8, the corresponding rental I
D is transmitted to the reproduction terminal 50. Next, step S9
Then, it is confirmed whether or not the rental ID has been transmitted normally, and if an error has occurred, the process returns to step S8 and is transmitted again. If the rental ID has been successfully transmitted, the process proceeds to step S10.

In step S10, the transmitted electronic book name, rental ID, rental start time information and the like are stored in the customer database 17. As described above, the rental receiving process is completed, and the rental is started.

After the rental is started, the reproduction terminal 50 can decrypt the encrypted electronic book using the rental ID transmitted from the rental server 1 and browse the desired electronic book. After browsing, when ending the rental of the electronic book, the corresponding rental ID is transmitted to the rental server 1. Thereby, the reproduction terminal 50 deletes the rental ID managed by the reproduction terminal 50.
If the value is 0, the electronic book cannot be decrypted and cannot be reproduced any more.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining a return acceptance process at the end of rental in this embodiment. First, in step S20, the rental ID transmitted from the reproduction terminal 50 is received.

Next, in step S 21, the received rental ID is checked against the rented rental ID stored in the customer database 17. As a result of this comparison, it is possible to know which customer has sent the received rental ID to return which electronic book.

In step S22, a confirmation message is transmitted to the reproduction terminal 50 to confirm the electronic book whose rental has ended. Next, in step S23, confirmation with the customer is performed. If the customer cannot be confirmed from the reproduction terminal 50, the process returns to step S21, and the customer database 1
7 is compared with the rental ID again. If the customer is confirmed, the process proceeds to step S24.

In step S24, a period during which the rental ID is lent is measured, and a rental fee is calculated based on the rent period. Next, in step S25, the calculated rental fee is transmitted to the reproduction terminal 50 as a confirmation message.

In step 26, confirmation with the customer is performed.
If the customer's confirmation of the transmitted rental fee is not obtained from the reproduction terminal 50, the process returns to step S24, and the rental fee calculation process is performed again. If the customer is confirmed, the process proceeds to step 27.

In step S27, the rental fee is stored in the customer database 17, and the billing amount is transmitted to the billing system. In this embodiment, the billing amount is transmitted every time the rental ID is returned. However, the billing amount may be transmitted for a predetermined period such as one month at the end of the month.

In step S28, it is determined whether or not the billing amount has been normally transmitted to the billing system. If the transmission has not been performed normally, the process returns to step S27, and the transmission to the billing system is performed again. If the transmission has been normally completed, the return acceptance processing ends.

The above-mentioned billing system includes a customer database 1
The rental fee is sequentially added and stored for each customer stored in 7, and a bill is sent to each customer after a predetermined period has elapsed. Further, when payment is confirmed by the specified payment method, the added rental fee is reset. In this way, the customer can complete the handling related to the rental of the electronic book only by returning the rental ID.

In the above embodiment, the rental ID is transmitted to the reproduction terminal 50 for decryption. However, the rental ID may be transmitted with the rental period added. In this case, the rental ID management unit 55 deletes the rental ID from the rental ID storage unit 54 according to the elapse of the rental period based on the term information. As a result, it is possible to end the rental process even if the rental ID is not returned. Alternatively, the arrival of a predetermined rental expiration date may be displayed on the display screen in advance and notified via the information display unit 59, and the rental ID may be invalidated based on the presence or absence of the customer's response.

In the above embodiment, a predetermined electronic book is encrypted after a rental application is made, but this is not always necessary, and each electronic book is encrypted and stored before receiving a rental application. You may leave it.

In the above embodiment, the decryption is performed by using the same rental ID as the rental ID used for encrypting the electronic book. However, the decryption is not always necessary, and the electronic book is encrypted by the received rental ID. It is only necessary that the e-book can be decrypted and reproduced.

Further, in the above embodiment, an electronic book is taken as a rental product, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, general electronic publications such as video data and music data are handled as rental products. The same can be applied to a system.

As described above, each of the rental server 1 and the reproduction terminal 50 of the present invention is also realized by a program for causing each of the rental server 1 and the reproduction terminal 50 to function. This program is stored in a computer-readable recording medium. In the present invention, as the recording medium, the ROMs 26, 6 shown in FIG.
2 itself may be a program medium, or a CD-ROM drive 32, 6 as an external storage device.
7 is provided, and a CD-ROM 3 readable by inserting a recording medium into the program reading device.
3, 68 or other program media may be used. In any case, the stored programs may be configured to be accessed and executed by the control units 25 and 61, or the programs may be read and the read programs may be stored in a program storage area (not shown). The program may be downloaded and the program may be executed. It is assumed that this download program is stored in the main unit in advance.

Here, the program medium is a recording medium which is separable from the main body, such as a tape system such as a magnetic tape or a cassette tape, a magnetic disk such as a floppy disk or a hard disk, or a CD-ROM / MO / M.
It carries a fixed program including a disk system of an optical disk such as a D / DVD, a card system such as an IC card (including a memory card) / optical card, or a semiconductor memory such as a mask ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash ROM, or the like. It may be a medium.

Further, the medium may carry a program in a fluid manner such that the program is downloaded from a communication network (not shown) via the transmission / reception units 30 and 65. When the program is downloaded from the communication network in this manner, the download program is stored in advance in the apparatus main body,
Alternatively, it may be installed from another recording medium. Further, the content stored in the recording medium is not limited to a program, but may be data.

[0076]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a rental system considering user needs by calculating a rental fee based on a substantial audiovisual time. Also,
The rental ID can be returned by a simple return operation, and operability can be improved. Further, since there is no need to return the electronic book, transfer time and communication cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic publication rental server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating functions of an electronic publication rental server according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic publication playback terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating functions of the electronic publication playback terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of an electronic book database.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a rental receiving process of the rental server according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a return acceptance process of the rental server according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: electronic publication rental server 10: reception unit 11: reception data identification unit 12: rental application processing unit 13: rental ID reception processing unit 14: rental availability determination unit 15: rental fee charging unit 16: electronic book database 17: Customer database 18: Rental ID lending period measurement unit 19: Electronic book extraction unit 20: Rental ID extraction unit 21: Rental ID transmission preparation unit 22: Electronic book encryption unit 23: Electronic data transmission preparation unit 24: Transmission unit 25 , 61: control unit 26, 62: ROM 27, 63: RAM 28: recording unit 29, 64: input unit 30, 65: transmission / reception unit 31, 66: display unit 32, 67: CD-ROM drive 33, 68 : CD-ROM 50: Electronic publication reproducing terminal 51: Receiving unit 52: Received data identification unit 53: Electronic data Data storage unit 54: Rental ID storage unit 55: Rental ID management unit 56: Electronic data decryption unit 57: Rental ID transmission preparation unit 58: Rental request transmission preparation unit 59: Information display unit 60: Transmission unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A transmitting means for transmitting a rental ID for decoding electronic data to an electronic publication to an electronic publication reproducing terminal, and a receiving means for receiving the rental ID transmitted from the electronic publication reproducing terminal. And a calculating means for calculating a rental fee based on an elapsed time from transmission of the rental ID to reception of the rental ID. 2. The electronic publication further includes an encryption unit for encrypting the electronic publication, wherein the transmission unit transmits the electronic publication and the rental ID encrypted by the encryption unit. The electronic publication rental server according to claim 1, wherein: 3. A transmitting means for transmitting a rental ID for decrypting electronic data to an electronic publication to an electronic publication reproducing terminal, and receiving the rental ID transmitted from the electronic publication reproducing terminal. Recording a program for functioning as an electronic publication rental server, comprising: a receiving unit for performing the above operation; and a calculating unit for calculating a rental fee based on an elapsed time from transmission of the rental ID to reception of the rental ID. Characteristic computer readable recording medium. 4. A receiving means for receiving a rental ID for decoding electronic data into an electronic publication, a first storage means for storing the electronic data, and storing the rental ID received by the receiving means. A second storage unit, a decryption unit that decrypts the electronic data into the electronic publication using the rental ID, a display unit that displays the electronic publication from the decryption unit, For I
Transmitting means for transmitting D to the electronic publication rental server;
An ID for deleting the rental ID from the second storage means when the rental means transmits the rental ID;
An electronic publication playback terminal, comprising: a management unit. 5. The rental ID management means according to claim 1, wherein
When the rental period of the rental ID is set in D, the rental ID stored in the second storage unit is deleted according to the elapse of the rental period. 4. The electronic publication playback terminal according to 4. 6. A receiving means for receiving a rental ID for decrypting electronic data into an electronic publication by a computer,
A first storage unit for storing the electronic data, and a second storage unit for storing the rental ID received by the reception unit.
Storage means, decoding means for decoding the electronic data into the electronic publication using the rental ID, display means for displaying the electronic publication from the decoding means,
Transmitting means for transmitting the rental ID to an electronic publication rental server;
A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for functioning as an electronic publication reproduction terminal, comprising: an ID management unit for deleting the rental ID from the second storage unit when transmitting D. .