JPH11259422A - Internet terminal device and charging management method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To reduce the burden on the user, confirm the billing fee, and prevent the careless billing expenditure. SOLUTION: In an Internet terminal device 1 provided with a service from a server 7 connected to the Internet 5 via a public line 3, a charging fee storage unit 19 stores a charging fee charged according to a use time of the service. The predetermined charge upper limit 20 is stored, and the charge display unit 17
The charging fee stored in the charging fee storage unit is displayed, and the charging fee monitoring unit 29 displays the charging fee stored in the charging fee storage unit on the charging fee display unit, and the value of the charging fee is the upper limit of the charging fee. Is exceeded, a warning message for notifying that the charging fee has exceeded the charging fee upper limit value is displayed on the charging fee display section.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an Internet terminal device and a charge management method capable of managing a charge for a service provided from a server connected to the Internet via a public line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional Internet terminal device for performing Internet communication, when an address is input from an operation unit, the address is input to a central processing unit (CPU), and the address is analyzed by an analysis unit. And
Based on the analyzed address, the line control unit connects to a target server via a public line and the Internet. The data in the server is displayed on a display unit via a public line and a line control unit.

In this way, data for a desired address can be browsed sequentially. That is, the service provided by the server can be used. In this case, charging is performed according to the time of use of the service. The Internet terminal device is provided with a charging management device that manages a charging fee. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional billing management device in this type of Internet terminal device.

[0006] In FIG. 6, a billing charge storage unit 101 stores a billing charge (not including a call charge) for a service provided from a service use start time to a current time. The charge display unit 103 displays the charge stored in the charge storage unit 101. The operation unit 105 processes an input from a user.

In the above configuration, when a charge display request is input from the operation unit 105, the charge display unit 103
Reads out the billing fee from the billing fee storage unit 101 and displays it. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the sub-screen 109 of the display screen 107 shows "Charge fee: 2000
Yen "is displayed.

[0006] As a conventional charge management apparatus of this type, for example, an information service charge display apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-31509 is known. In this information service fee display device, the message monitoring means starts counting the usage time based on the message content transmitted from the service providing center. The information service fee calculated based on the elapsed time from and the charging information parameter for each service is displayed.

[0007] According to this, it is possible to confirm, if necessary, how much the usage fee based on the usage time elapsed from the start of using the service by operating the operation unit.

[0008]

However, in the conventional charge management device in the Internet terminal device, the user operates the operation unit to constantly check the charge displayed on the charge display unit 103. It had to be a burden on the user.

[0009] Further, if the user fails to confirm the charging fee, there is a risk that the service provider will be charged more charging fee than expected by the user. Further, these problems also exist in the information service fee display device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-315509.

An object of the present invention is to provide an Internet terminal device and a billing management method which can reduce the burden on the user, confirm the billing fee, and prevent the inadvertent expense of the billing fee. Make it an issue.

[0011]

The present invention has the following arrangement to solve the above-mentioned problems. The invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that, in an Internet terminal device provided with a service from a server connected to the Internet via a line, a charging fee charged in accordance with a use time of the service and a predetermined charging fee upper limit value Storage means for storing the charge rate, display means for displaying the charge rate stored in the storage means, and display the charge rate stored in the storage means on the display means,
Display control means for displaying warning information on the display means for notifying that the charging fee has exceeded the upper limit of the charging fee when the value of the charging fee exceeds the upper limit of the charging fee. And

According to the present invention, the charging fee charged according to the service usage time and the predetermined upper limit of the charging fee are stored in the storage means, and the display control means stores the charging fee stored in the storage means. Is displayed on the display means. Further, the display control means causes the display means to display warning information for notifying that the charge has exceeded the charge upper limit when the charge exceeds the charge upper limit.

[0013] That is, since there is no need to input a billing display request from the operation unit, the burden on the user can be reduced, and the billing fee according to the service usage time is always displayed. You can check the billing fee. Also, when the charging fee exceeds the upper limit of the charging fee, warning information is displayed to urge the user that the charging fee has exceeded the upper limit of the charging fee. Expenses can be prevented.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the apparatus further comprises a change unit for changing the upper limit of the charging fee stored in the storage unit to a new upper limit of the charging fee. When the new charging fee upper limit changed by the changing unit is exceeded, the warning information is displayed on the display unit.

According to the present invention, when the changing means changes the upper limit of the charging fee stored in the storage device to the new upper limit of the charging fee, the display control means changes the value of the charging fee by the changing device. Since the warning information is displayed on the display means when exceeding the upper limit of the charging fee, the warning information can be prompted to the user according to the upper limit of the charging fee.

The invention according to claim 3 further comprises input means for inputting display presence / absence information indicating presence / absence of display of the charging fee on the display means, and the display control means comprises means for inputting the display charge information by the input means. The charging fee stored in the storage means is displayed or hidden on the display means based on the presence / absence information.

According to the present invention, when the input means inputs display presence / absence information indicating presence / absence of the display of the charge on the display means, the display control means stores the charge information in the storage means based on the display presence / absence information input by the input means. Since the stored billing fee is displayed or hidden on the display means, it is convenient for the user to freely select.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an accounting management method for managing an accounting fee for a service provided from a server connected to the Internet via a line, wherein the accounting is performed in accordance with the use time of the service. A storage step of storing a charging fee and a predetermined charging fee upper limit value in a storage unit, a displaying step of displaying the charging fee stored in the storage unit on a display unit, and a charging fee stored in the storage unit. Is displayed on the display unit, and when the value of the charging fee exceeds the upper limit of the charging fee, warning information for notifying that the charging fee has exceeded the upper limit of the charging fee is displayed on the display unit. And a control step.

The invention according to claim 5 includes a changing step of changing the upper limit of the charging fee stored in the storage unit to a new upper limit of the charging fee. The display control step includes the step of: The warning information is displayed on the display unit when the changed new charging fee upper limit is exceeded.

[0020] The invention according to claim 6 includes an input step of inputting display presence / absence information indicating presence / absence of display of the charging fee on the display unit, and the display control step includes: The charging fee stored in the storage unit is displayed or hidden on the display unit based on the charging fee.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<Embodiment 1> Embodiment 1 of the Internet terminal apparatus and the billing management method of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment 1 of the Internet terminal device of the present invention.
FIG. The Internet 5 is connected to the Internet terminal device 1 via the public line 3, and a server 7 is connected to the Internet 5.

The Internet terminal device 1 includes an operation unit 1
1, a CPU 13, a service information display unit 15, a charge display unit 17, and a charge storage unit 19. C
The PU 13 includes an analysis unit 21, a line control unit 23, a clock 25,
It has a charge calculating unit 27 and a charge monitoring unit 29.

The operation unit 11 processes an input from a user, and inputs, for example, an address for reading out a desired server and an upper limit of a billing fee for prompting a warning message to the user. The operation unit 11 constitutes an input unit and a change unit.

The analysis section 21 analyzes the address and the upper limit of the charging fee input from the operation section 11. Line controller 23
Controls the line connection of the public line 3 based on the address analyzed by the analysis unit 21 and receives service information provided from the server 7. The service information display unit 15 displays service information provided from the server 7 via the line control unit 23.

The clock 25 measures the time. The charge calculation unit 27 accumulates and adds the charge according to the service usage time from the time when the line control unit 23 receives the service information from the server 7 to the current time based on the time information from the clock 25. The charged fee is stored in the charged fee storage unit 19.

The charge storage unit 19 constitutes storage means,
The charging fee calculated by the charging fee calculation unit 27 is stored, and the charging fee upper limit value 20 input from the operation unit 11 is stored. The charge monitoring unit 29 constitutes a display control unit, reads out the charge stored in the charge storage 19 and displays the charge on the charge display 17.

The charging fee monitoring unit 29 reads the charging fee upper limit value 20 stored in the charging fee storage unit 19 and determines whether the charging fee has exceeded the charging fee upper limit value. Is exceeded, a warning message is displayed in the billing charge display section 1.
7 is displayed.

Next, Embodiment 1 configured as described above
The operation of the Internet terminal device, that is, the accounting management method, will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
The operation of the operation unit 11 causes the charge storage unit 19 to be set in advance.
Charge amount upper limit value 20 is stored.

First, when an address is input from the operation unit 11 (step S11), the address is analyzed by the analysis unit 21. When the line control unit 23 connects to the server 7 connected to the Internet 5 via the public line 3 based on the analyzed address (step S13), the service information provided from the server 7 includes the public line 3, line control It is displayed on the screen of the service information display section 15 via the section 23 (step S15).

Next, when the charge calculation unit 27 calculates the charge according to the service usage time from the time of using the service to the current time based on the time information from the clock 25 (step S17), the charge calculation is performed. The charge calculated by the unit 27 is stored in the charge storage unit 19 (step S1).
9).

The charge monitor 29 reads the charge stored in the charge storage 19 and displays the charge on the charge display 17 (step S21). Then, the charging fee monitoring unit 29
Reads the charging fee upper limit value 20 stored in the charging fee storage unit 19 and determines whether the charging fee has exceeded the charging fee upper limit value (step S23).

When the charge exceeds the upper limit of the charge,
A warning message from the charge monitoring unit 29 is displayed on the screen of the charge display 17 (step S25). For example, as shown in FIG. 3, “current: 10100 yen” is displayed as a charging fee on the screen 51 of the charging fee display unit 17, and “warning!” Is displayed as a warning message on the child screen 53.
Exceeded the upper limit (10,000 yen). Is displayed.

As described above, according to the Internet terminal device of the first embodiment, since there is no need to input a billing display request from the operation unit 11, the burden on the user can be reduced.
Moreover, since the charging fee according to the service usage time is always displayed, the user can always check the charging fee.

When the charge exceeds the charge upper limit, warning information is displayed to urge the user that the charge has exceeded the charge upper limit. Inadvertent expense can be prevented.

<Second Embodiment> Next, a second embodiment of the Internet terminal apparatus and the accounting management method according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the second embodiment of the Internet terminal device of the present invention.

The Internet terminal device according to the second embodiment is different from the Internet terminal device according to the first embodiment in that
Operation unit 11a, charge storage unit 19a, charge monitoring unit 29
The configuration of a is different.

The operation unit 11a inputs a new upper limit of the charging fee and also inputs display presence / absence information indicating whether or not the charging fee is displayed on the charging fee display unit 17. Charge storage unit 19
“a” stores the billing fee, the display presence / absence information 31 input from the operation unit 11a, and the new billing fee upper limit value 20.
a is stored.

The charge monitoring section 29a has the function described in the first embodiment, and further has the charge storage 1
Based on the display presence / absence information 31 stored in 9a, display or non-display of the charge on the charge display unit 29a is controlled.

Since the other structure is the same as that of the first embodiment, the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Next, the second embodiment configured as described above
The operation of the Internet terminal device, that is, the accounting management method, will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

It is assumed that a new charge upper limit 20a and display presence / absence information 31 are stored in advance in the charge storage unit 19a by operating the operation unit 11a. The display presence / absence information is, for example, a display presence / absence flag. When the display presence / absence flag is set to “1”, it indicates the display of the charge, and the display presence / absence flag is set to “0”. If so, it indicates non-display of the charging fee.

First, when an address is input from the operation unit 11a (step S31), the address is analyzed by the analysis unit 21. When the line control unit 23 connects to the server 7 connected to the Internet 5 via the public line 3 based on the analyzed address (step S33), the service information provided from the server 7 includes the public line 3, line control It is displayed on the screen of the service information display section 15 via the section 23 (step S35).

Next, when the charge calculation unit 27 calculates the charge according to the service usage time from the time of using the service to the current time based on the time information from the clock 25 (step S37), the charge calculation is performed. The charge calculated by the unit 27 is stored in the charge storage unit 19a (step S3).
9).

Further, the charge monitoring unit 29a reads the display presence / absence information 31 stored in the charge storage 19a,
It is determined whether or not the display presence / absence information 31 is "1" (step S41). If the display presence / absence information 31 is "1", the charging fee monitoring unit 29a reads out the charging fee stored in the charging fee storage unit 19a and displays it on the charging fee display unit 17 (step S43), and step S45. Proceed to processing.

On the other hand, when the display presence / absence information 31 is "0", the charge monitoring unit 29a does not read out the charge stored in the charge storage 19a. For this reason, the billing fee is not displayed on the billing fee display unit 17 and the step S
Proceed to step 45.

Next, in step S45, the charging fee monitoring unit 29a reads the new charging fee upper limit value 20a stored in the charging fee storage unit 19a and determines whether the charging fee has exceeded the charging fee upper limit value 20a. judge. If the charging fee exceeds the new charging fee upper limit 20a, the charging fee monitoring unit 29a
Is displayed on the screen of the charge display section 17 (step S47).

As described above, according to the Internet terminal device of the second embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained.

Also, according to the display presence / absence information, the charging fee display unit 1
Since the charging fee can be displayed on the display 7 or the charging fee can not be displayed on the display 7, it is convenient for the user to make an arbitrary selection. For example, for a user who only needs to display only a warning message, there is no need to constantly check the billing fee.

Further, a new upper limit of the charging fee is input from the operation unit 11a, and the original upper limit of the charging fee set in the charging fee storage unit 19a is changed to the new upper limit of the charging fee 20a. Can prompt the user for a warning message.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the Internet terminal devices according to the first and second embodiments. In the Internet terminal devices according to the first and second embodiments, a warning message is displayed when the charging fee exceeds the upper limit of the charging fee. For example, when the charging fee exceeds the upper limit of the charging fee, the warning message is displayed. Alternatively, the line may be disconnected. In this case, when the charge exceeds the charge upper limit, the charge monitor 29a may send a line disconnection command to the line controller 23.

In the first embodiment, the charging fee is always
It is displayed, but the charge is 1000 yen, 200 yen
A step-by-step display of the charging fee to be displayed only when the price becomes 0 yen may be performed.

[0053]

According to the present invention, the charging fee charged in accordance with the service usage time and a predetermined upper limit of the charging fee are stored in the storage means, and the stored charging fee is displayed on the display means. When the value of the charging fee exceeds the upper limit of the charging fee, warning information for notifying that the charging fee has exceeded the upper limit of the charging fee is displayed on the display means.

That is, since the user does not need to input the billing display request from the operation unit, the burden on the user can be reduced, and the billing fee according to the service usage time is always displayed. You can check the billing fee. Also, when the charging fee exceeds the upper limit of the charging fee, warning information is displayed to urge the user that the charging fee has exceeded the upper limit of the charging fee. Expenses can be prevented.

The charge upper limit value stored in the storage means is changed to a new charge upper limit value, and when the charge rate value exceeds the new charge upper limit value, warning information is displayed on the display means. Therefore, warning information can be prompted to the user according to the upper limit of the charging fee.

Further, when display presence / absence information indicating whether or not a charge is displayed on the display means is input, the charge stored in the storage means is displayed or hidden on the display means based on the input display / non-display information. , Can be arbitrarily selected and convenient for the user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an Internet terminal device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of the Internet terminal device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a warning message in a charging fee display unit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration block diagram of an Internet terminal device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of the Internet terminal device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a charging management device in a conventional Internet terminal device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display of a charge in a conventional charge management device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Internet terminal device 3 Public line 5 Internet 7 Server 11 Operation part 13 CPU 15 Service information display part 17 Billing charge display part 19 Billing charge storage part 20 Billing charge upper limit value 21 Analysis part 23 Line control part 25 Clock 27 Billing charge calculation part 29 Charge monitoring unit 31 Display presence / absence information

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An Internet terminal device provided with a service from a server connected to the Internet via a line, wherein a charging fee charged according to a use time of the service and a predetermined charging fee upper limit value are stored. A display unit for displaying the charging fee stored in the storage unit; and displaying the charging fee stored in the storage unit on the display unit, and the value of the charging fee indicates the upper limit of the charging fee. An Internet terminal device, comprising: display control means for displaying, on the display means, warning information for notifying that the billing fee has exceeded the billing fee upper limit when exceeding. 2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising changing means for changing the upper limit of the charging fee stored in the storage device to a new upper limit of the charging fee, wherein the display control unit changes the value of the charging fee by the changing unit. 2. The Internet terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the warning information is displayed on the display means when the new charge upper limit is exceeded. 3. An input unit for inputting display presence / absence information indicating presence / absence of display of the charging fee on the display unit, wherein the display control unit is configured to perform the display control based on the display presence / absence information input by the input unit. 2. The Internet terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the charge stored in the storage is displayed or hidden on the display. 4. A charging management method for managing a charging fee for a service provided from a server connected to the Internet via a line, wherein the charging fee charged according to a use time of the service is determined in advance. Storing the charging fee upper limit value stored in the storage unit; displaying the charging fee stored in the storage unit on a display unit; and displaying the charging fee stored in the storage unit on the display unit. A display control step of displaying, when the value of the charging fee exceeds the upper limit of the charging fee, warning information for notifying that the charging fee has exceeded the upper limit of the charging fee on the display unit. A billing management method comprising: 5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: changing the upper limit of the charging fee stored in the storage unit to a new upper limit of the charging fee; The warning information is displayed on the display unit when the charge amount exceeds an upper limit.
The billing management method described. 6. An input step of inputting display presence / absence information indicating presence / absence of display of the charging fee on the display unit, wherein the display control step stores the display fee information in the storage unit based on the input display presence / absence information. The stored charge is displayed or hidden on the display unit.
The billing management method described.