Information providing method and information providing system
AssigneeSony Corporation
InventorAtsushi Tsuchiya
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A terminal can play back song or video information in real time without downloading it, and thus restrictions on the hardware of the terminal are reduced and a large amount of music can be listened to anytime and anywhere. Also, the user can listen to music more cheaply than if it was downloaded, and copyright problems are reduced. Further, the terminal is charged based on the playback time or the amount of information. Accordingly, when the user stops playback because he or she does not like a song, the price is less than it is when the user listens to the song to the end, and thus the user can feel free to use this service.
Claims18
A method for providing music or video information from a server to a terminal through a network, the method comprising:
- transmitting the information from the server to the terminal;
- playing back the transmitted information in real time in the terminal;
- stopping transmission of the information from the server to the terminal when the terminal outputs a playback stop instruction while the information is being played back;
- and
- determining a charge to the terminal for the transmitted information based on a factor selected from the group consisting of an amount of the transmitted information and an amount of time the transmitted information was played back.
A method for providing music or video information from a server to a terminal through a network, the method comprising:
- sequentially transmitting from the server to the terminal pieces of specific partial information selected in advance from a plurality of pieces of information;
- playing back the transmitted pieces of specific partial information in real time in the terminal;
- selecting in the terminal a desired piece of information from the plurality of pieces of information based on the played back pieces of specific partial information;
- and
- transmitting the selected piece of information from the server to the terminal.
A system for providing music or video information, comprising:
- a server;
- a terminal;
- and
- a network operable to carry information between the server and the terminal;
- the terminal including:
- means for playing back in real time information transmitted from the server;
- and
- means for communicating a playback stop instruction to the server while the information is being played back;
- and
- the server including:
- means for transmitting the information to the terminal;
- means for stopping transmission of the information to the terminal when the terminal communicates the playback stop instruction to the server;
- and
- a charge determining unit operable to determine a charge to the terminal for the transmitted information based on a factor selected from the group consisting of an amount of the transmitted information and an amount of time the transmitted information was played back.
A system for providing music or video information, comprising:
- a server;
- a terminal;
- and
- a network operable to carry information between the server and the terminal;
- the server including:
- means for sequentially transmitting to the terminal pieces of specific partial information selected in advance from a plurality of pieces of information;
- and
- means for transmitting to the terminal a desired piece of information selected in the terminal, and
- the terminal including:
- means for playing back the transmitted pieces of specific partial information in real time;
- and
- means for selecting the desired piece of information from the plurality of pieces of information based on the played back pieces of specific partial information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.