Recording system, fee calculation device, and content distribution method

Abstract

An information service system works to record or print out, at a fee, information contents downloaded from Web servers, information received from facsimiles and information carried on portable storage mediums. The system includes a recording part which records, duplicates and prints out the image of digitized information, an information accumulating part which accumulates information by making relation with users, a user authenticating part which receives user authentication information and authenticates the legitimacy of the user, a fee calculating part which calculates the fee for information recording, a payment reception part which receives the payment of fee by the user, and a management part which manages the charging data and payment data. The recording part records the supplied information only after authentication of user legitimacy and payment of fee by the user. Based on the authentication of user legitimacy and the management of payment of individual users, the recording part can be used commonly among multiple users and the charged information recording service can be run easily.