Dynamic information storage or retrieval – Information location or remote operator actuated control – Selective addressing of storage medium
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-11
2001-03-13
Dinh, Tan (Department: 2752)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
Information location or remote operator actuated control
Selective addressing of storage medium
Reexamination Certificate
active
06201771
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus in which many unspecified people can arbitrarily use it to obtain various kinds of information with a fee or without a fee.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various kinds of information have been provided in electronic information mode in which they are recorded in a medium.
For example, a newspaper, a magazine, a novel, and the like are recorded in CD-ROMs or the like as electronic publications and are on sale. The same is applied to music, video (movie, video clip, etc.), game software, application software used in a personal computer, and the like, and various kinds of information (hereinafter, information recorded in a medium and provided will be referred to as “content” in the present specification) are provided with a fee or without a fee in an extremely wide range.
In the content which is provided in electronic form, there are content which a user keeps for a long period (music software, application software, etc.) and content which the user feels that long storage is unnecessary.
For example, when it is considered that a newspaper or a weekly magazine is provided in electronic form, if the user sees the information once, it often becomes unnecessary thereafter.
In other words, it is not realistic to sell a newspaper or a magazine, as a package medium, in a maintainable recording medium of a disk or card. For example, if the user sees the contents once, not only the information but also the medium itself becomes unnecessary, so that useless consumption of resources is caused.
On the other hand, with respect to the information which does not require long storage, it is also carried out for a user to search or download arbitrarily from his own terminal (personal computer, etc.) through communication such as the Internet. However, in this case, in order to see the contents of the information, the user must be in a place (home, office, etc.) where the terminal is set. For example, in the case where the user desires to see the contents of the information at an arbitrary place through a portable disk reproducing apparatus or the like, it is necessary to further download the information from the terminal to a disk medium or the like.
Besides, in order to obtain content such as an electrical newspaper through communication, it is naturally necessary for the user to have the terminal connected to a communication network.
From the above circumstances, it has been required to realize such that a general user can easily obtain a medium on which are recorded content such as an electronic newspaper or magazine, and the user can confirm the content at an arbitrary place by using, for example, a portable reproducing apparatus or a home terminal, and further, waste of the medium itself does not occur.
Besides, when considering an apparatus in which a general user can obtain a medium which records content, it is also required that inventory control can be simply made.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a content providing system in which many unspecified people arbitrarily use it to obtain (purchase) a recording medium in which desired content has been downloaded, and the recording medium itself can be effectively used, and further, inventory control of the recording medium recording the content to be sold can be made simple and adequate.
According to an aspect of the invention, an information providing apparatus comprises: a loading section in which a recording medium including use state identification information indicating one of a personal use and an unspecified user's use is loaded; recording means for recording content information in the recording medium loaded in the loading section; use state detecting means for detecting which of the personal use and the unspecified user's use the use state identification information of the recording medium loaded in the loading section indicates; ejecting means for ejecting the recording medium to an outside of the apparatus; content detecting means for detecting a kind of content information to be recorded in the recording medium ejected by the ejecting means; a housing section capable of housing a recording medium in which one of various kinds of content information is recorded in advance; and control means, wherein when the use state detecting means detects that the use state identification information of the recording medium indicates the personal use, the control means controls the recording means so that the content information of the kind detected by the content detecting means is recorded in the recording medium loaded in the loading section, and then, the control means controls the ejecting means so that the recording medium loaded in the loading section is ejected; and when the use state detecting means detects that the use state identification information of the recording medium indicates the unspecified user's use, the control means controls the ejecting means so that the recording medium in which the content information of the kind detected by the content detecting means is recorded is ejected among recording media housed in the housing section.
According to another aspect of the invention, an information providing apparatus comprises: a housing section capable of housing a plurality of recording media in which any one of plural kinds of contents information is recorded in advance; content detecting means for detecting a kind of content information required by a user; ejecting means for ejecting a recording medium in which the content information of the kind detected by the content detecting means among recording media housed in the housing section; remaining recording medium detecting means for detecting whether or not the remaining number of the recording media which are housed in the housing section and in which each kind of content information is recorded, is a minimum threshold value or less; and replenishing means for replenishing the recording medium in which the content information of the kind detected by the remaining recording medium detecting means such that the remaining number is the minimum threshold value or less.
According to further aspect of the invention, an information providing apparatus comprises: a loading section in which a recording medium is loaded; content identification information detecting means for detecting content identification information of the recording medium loaded in the loading section; setting means for setting content information on the basis of the content identification information detected by the content identification information detecting means; housing section capable of housing a plurality of recording media in which content information indicated by the content identification information is recorded in advance; and ejecting means for ejecting, among recording media housed in the housing section, a recording medium in which the content information coincident with the content information set by the setting means is recorded.
According to still further aspect of the invention, a recording medium which loaded in an information providing apparatus in a removable manner and in which content information can be recorded by the information providing apparatus, wherein the recording medium comprises: a recording medium main body; and a content identification section including content identification information indicating a kind of content information which can be detected by the information providing apparatus.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a method of providing content comprises the steps of: detecting which of a personal use and an unspecified user's use is indicated by use state identification information of a recording medium loaded in a loading section; detecting a kind of content information to be recorded in a recording medium ejected by ejecting means; wherein when it is detected in the step of detecting a use state that the us
Marukawa Kazuyuki
Otsuka Satoshi
Dinh Tan
Limbach & Limbach L.L.P.
Oh Seong-Kun
Sony Corporation
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