Digital contents distribution method and distribution system

Abstract

An intellectual contents distribution method distributes intellectual contents from a computer via a network. The contents provided from a contents provider are stored in a computer 1 , along with support results from at least one supporter relating to the contents. The contents are transmitted to a system of a purchaser via a network in response to the purchaser's request. Also, purchase results of the contents are stored in the computer. Further, the computer computes earnings to be returned to the contents provider and earnings to be returned to each supporter based on a predetermined computational formula by using the support results and the purchase results stored in the computer.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A digital contents distribution method for distributing digital contents from a computer via a network, the computer being connectable to a contents provider terminal of a contents provider, a user terminal of a user, recommender terminals of recommenders, and a purchaser terminal of a purchaser, and the digital contents provided from the contents provider, purchase results relating to the purchase of the digital contents by the purchaser, and support results from the recommenders relating to the digital contents being stored in the computer, the support results being defined by supports made by the respective recommenders, the digital contents distribution method comprising:
 providing information on estimated earnings to be received by a recommender upon a request from a user terminal of a user who is a potential recommender;   receiving, by the computer, support for the digital contents from the user terminal;   after receiving the support from the user terminal, identifying, by the computer, the user terminal as a recommender terminal;   updating the support results of the recommender terminal stored in the computer upon a receipt of the support from the recommender terminal;   updating purchase results relating to the purchase of the digital contents stored in the computer upon a receipt of the purchase of the digital contents by the purchaser;   computing earnings to be received by each of the recommenders with the computer by using the updated support results of the respective recommenders and the updated purchase results stored in the computer, the earnings to be received by the recommenders being variable from the estimated earnings based on the support results of the respective recommenders and the purchase results of the digital contents at the time of the computation; and   transmitting information on the earnings from the computer to the recommender terminals via the network.   
     
     
         2 . The digital contents distribution method as described in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 computing earnings to be received by the contents provider with the computer by using the support results and the purchase results stored in the computer.   
     
     
         3 . The digital contents distribution method as described in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 in response to a request from the a recommender, transmitting actual current earnings to be received by the recommender from the computer via the network to a recommender terminal of the recommender, the actual current earnings being computed by using the support results and the purchase results of the time of the request form the recommender.   
     
     
         4 . The digital contents distribution method as described in  claim 3 , further comprising:
 assigning, by the computer, personal identification information to the contents provider, wherein transmission of information relating to the contents provider and the recommender is conducted when at least one of the personal identification information from the contents provider terminal and the personal identification information from the recommender terminal has been received via the network.   
     
     
         5 . The digital contents distribution method as described in  claim 2 , further comprising:
 transmitting, to the recommender terminals, information on the digital contents distributed via the network, information indicating that a provision of the contents has been solicited, information relating to a method for the support employed by the recommenders, and information on the earnings to be received by the contents provider in response to the support results and purchase results in response to the support received from the recommender terminals.   
     
     
         6 . The digital contents distribution method as described in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 transmitting information on the digital contents distributed via the network, information indicating that the recommender have been solicited with respect to the contents provided from the contents provider, and information relating to a method for the support employed by the recommenders.   
     
     
         7 . The digital contents distribution method as described in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 transmitting information on the contents that have been stored, information indicating that the contents can be received via the network, and information indicating that the contents can be purchased in response to a request from the user of the user terminal.   
     
     
         8 . The digital contents distribution method as described in  claim 7 , wherein
 the information on the stored contents comprises information provided by the contents provider, and the information provided by the contents provider is freely updatable in response to accessing by the contents provider to the computer via the network.   
     
     
         9 . The digital contents distribution method as described in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 transmitting the entirety of the digital contents to purchaser terminal via the network in response to a request from the purchaser, irrespective of whether a declaration of purchase intention by the purchaser is present or not, and the declaration of purchase intention by the purchaser is received thereafter.   
     
     
         10 . The digital contents distribution method as described in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 assigning personal identification information to the purchaser in response to a request from the purchaser, wherein the computer identifies the purchaser by the personal identification information after the assigning of the personal identification information.   
     
     
         11 . A digital contents distribution system for distributing the digital contents from a computer via a network, the digital contents distribution system comprising:
 the computer, a contents provider terminal of a contents provider, a user terminal of a user, recommender terminals of recommenders, and a purchaser terminal of a purchaser, connected to each other via the network;   a contents storage that stores the digital contents provided from the contents provider;   a support storage that stores support results of support from the recommenders on the digital contents; and   a purchase storage that stores purchase results of a purchase of the digital contents by the purchaser; wherein   upon a request from a user terminal of a user who is a potential recommender, the computer provides information on estimated earnings to be received by a recommender to the user terminal,   when the computer receives support for the digital contents from the user terminal, the computer identifies the user terminal as a recommender terminal,   the computer updates the support results of the recommender terminal stored in the support storage upon receiving the support from the recommender terminal,   the computer updates the purchase results relating to the purchase of the digital contents stored in the purchase storage upon a receipt of the purchase of the digital contents by the purchaser,   the computer computes earnings to be received by each of the recommenders by using the updated support results of the respective recommenders stored in the support storage and the updated purchase results stored in the purchase storage, the earnings to be received by the recommenders being variable from the estimated earnings based on the support results of the respective recommenders and the purchase results of the digital contents at the time of the computation, and   the computer transmits information on the earnings to the at least one recommender terminal via the network.   
     
     
         12 . The digital contents distribution system as described in  claim 11 , wherein
 the computer computes earnings to be received by the contents provider by using the support results and the purchase results stored in the computer.   
     
     
         13 . The digital contents distribution system as described in  claim 11 , wherein
 in response to a request from a recommender, the computer computes actual current earnings to be received by the recommender by using the support results and the purchase results of the time of the request form the recommender, and   computation results are transmitted from the computer to recommender terminal of the recommender via the network.   
     
     
         14 . The digital contents distribution system as described in  claim 11 , wherein
 the computer transmits, to the recommender terminals, information on the digital contents distributed via the network, information indicating that a provision of the contents has been solicited, information relating to a method for the support employed by the recommenders, information indicating that the recommenders have been solicited with respect to the contents provided from the contents provider, information on the stored contents, information indicating that the contents can be received via the network, and information indicating that the contents can be purchased in response to a request from the user.   
     
     
         15 . The digital contents distribution system as described in  claim 14 , wherein
 the information on the stored contents comprises information provided by the contents provider, and   the information provided by the contents provider is freely updatable in response to accessing by the contents provider to the digital contents distribution system via the network.   
     
     
         16 . The digital contents distribution system as described in  claim 11 , wherein
 the entirety of the digital contents is transmitted to the purchaser terminal via the network in response to a request from the purchaser via the network, irrespective of whether a declaration of purchase intention by the purchaser is present or not, and the declaration of purchase intention by the purchaser is received thereafter.   
     
     
         17 . A non-transitory computer readable medium containing a digital contents distribution program that, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform:
 connecting a contents provider terminal of a contents provider, a user terminal of a user, recommender terminals of recommenders, and a purchaser terminal of a purchaser and the computer via a network;   providing information on estimated earnings to be received by a recommender upon a request from a user terminal of a user who is a potential recommender;   receiving, by the computer, support for the digital contents from the user terminal;   after receiving the support from the user terminal, identifying, by the computer, the user terminal as a recommender terminal;   updating the support results of the recommender terminal stored in the computer upon a receipt of the support from the recommender terminal;   updating purchase results relating to the purchase of the digital contents stored in the computer upon a receipt of the purchase of the digital contents by the purchaser;   computing earnings to be received by each of the recommenders with the computer by using the updated support results of the respective recommenders and the updated purchase results stored in the computer, the earnings to be received by the recommenders being variable from the estimated earnings based on the support results of the respective recommenders and the purchase results of the digital contents at the time of the computation; and   transmitting information on the earnings from the computer to the recommender terminals via the network.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable medium as described in  claim 17 , wherein
 the computer is caused to compute earnings to be received by the contents provider with the computer by using the support results and the purchase results stored in the computer   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable medium as described in  claim 17 , wherein
 in response to a request from a recommender, the computer is caused to transmit actual current earnings to be received by the recommender from the computer via the network to a recommender terminal of the recommender, the actual current earnings being computed by using the support results and the purchase results of the time of the request form the recommender.