Communication system, communication method, distribution apparatus, distribution method and terminal apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9973733-B2
Application number	US-201213589845-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 20, 2012
Priority date	Apr 11, 2000
Publication date	May 15, 2018
Grant date	May 15, 2018

Abstract

A communication system includes a terminal having a first storage section for storing a number of pieces of content information, a second storage section for storing a number of pieces of the content information, a storage control section for placing a content ID stored in the second storage section into purchase information for each terminal and stored in the second storage section, an access control section for controlling access to the content information corresponding to the content ID stored in the second storage section, and an accounting setting section for setting an amount of a fee to be imposed on the terminal in response to the purchase information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mobile terminal comprising:
circuitry configured to
send a request for storing content data stored in the mobile terminal to a remote storage so that the content data are stored into the remote storage within a predetermined storage capacity of the remote storage that is assigned to a user of the mobile terminal;
send a request to use an additional storage capacity of the remote storage that exceeds the predetermined storage capacity for storing additional content data;
receive the content data or the additional content data from the remote storage;
send content ID and a first request for transferring at least one piece of the content data having the content ID from the remote storage;
receive the at least one piece of the content data from the remote storage;
store the received at least one piece of the content data;
receive a first charge for the first request;
send the content ID and a second request for transferring again the at least one piece of the content data having a same content ID as the content ID from the remote storage;
receive again the at least one piece of the content data from the remote storage;
store again the received at least one piece of the content data; and
receive a second charge of a smaller amount of money than the first charge for the second request.

2. The mobile terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is configured to receive a charge of an additional fee to a credit card registered by the user of the mobile terminal in association with a user ID of the user.

3. The mobile terminal according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a display configured to display a list of content data stored in the mobile terminal and a list of content data stored in the remote storage.

4. The mobile terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry uses either or both of a telephone and an internet network.

5. The mobile terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the content data is music data.

6. The mobile terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is configured to receive promotion data based on usage of the content data stored in the remote storage by the user.

7. The mobile terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the content data is on-demand purchased content data.

8. The mobile terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is configured to erase the stored at least one piece of the content data, the erased at least one piece of the content data being transferred from the remote storage in response to the first request.

9. A method comprising:
sending, via a wireless communication unit of a mobile terminal, a request for storing content data stored in the mobile terminal to a remote storage so that the content data are stored into the remote storage within a predetermined storage capacity of the remote storage that is assigned to a user of the mobile terminal;
controlling the wireless communication unit to send a request to use an additional storage capacity of the remote storage that exceeds the predetermined storage capacity for storing additional content data;
receiving the content data or the additional content data from the remote storage;
sending content ID and a first request for transferring at least one piece of the content data having the content ID from the remote storage;
receiving the at least one piece of the content data from the remote storage;
storing the received at least one piece of the content data;
receiving a first charge for the first request;
sending the content ID and a second request for transferring again the at least one piece of the content data having a same content ID as the content ID from the remote storage;
receiving again the at least one piece of the content data from the remote storage;
storing again the received at least one piece of the content data; and
receiving a second charge of a smaller amount of money than the first charge for the second request.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
charging, by the remote storage, an additional fee to a credit card registered by the user of the mobile terminal in association with a user ID of the user.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
displaying, on a display of the mobile terminal, a list of content data stored in the mobile terminal and a list of content data stored in the remote storage.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the wireless communication unit uses either or both of a telephone and an internet network.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the content data is music data.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
monitoring usage of the content data stored in the remote storage by the user; and
generating promotion data based on the usage.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the content data is on-demand purchased content data.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
storing purchase history data of the on-demand purchased content data.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable instructions thereon that when executed by a computer of a mobile terminal cause the computer of the mobile terminal to perform a method comprising:
sending, via a wireless communication unit of the mobile terminal, a request for storing content data stored in the mobile terminal to a remote storage so that the content data are stored into the remote storage within a predetermined storage capacity of the remote storage that is assigned to a user of the mobile terminal;
controlling the wireless communication unit to send a request to use an additional storage capacity of the remote storage that exceeds the predetermined storage capacity for storing additional content data;
receiving the content data or the additional content data from the remote storage;
sending content ID and a first request for transferring at least one piece of the content data having the content ID from the remote storage;
receiving the at least one piece of the content data from the remote storage;
storing the received at least one piece of the content data;
receiving a first charge for the first request;
sending the content ID and a second request for transferring again the at least one piece of the content data having a same content ID as the content ID from the remote storage;
receiving again the at least one piece of the content data from the remote storage;
storing again the received at least one piece of the content data; and
receiving a second charge of a smaller amount of money than the first charge for the second request.

Assignees

• Kumagai Takashi
• Tanaka Izuru
• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Kumagai Takashi
• Tanaka Izuru

Classifications

• H04Q2213/13299

  Bus · CPC title

• H04Q2213/13399

  Virtual channel/circuits · CPC title

• H04N21/254

  Management at additional data server, e.g. shopping server, rights management server {(arrangements for maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00; network services using third party service providers H04L67/53)} · CPC title

• G06Q20/085

  involving remote charge determination or related payment systems · CPC title

• H04N7/173 Primary

  with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal · CPC title