JP2008092215A - Mobile communication terminal and server - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mobile communication terminal additionally mounting an application so as to display the application at a prescribed display position on a menu screen, and a server. <P>SOLUTION: The mobile communication terminal is provided with a means for acquiring from the server a property information with display position designation information for designating a display position of an application on the menu screen and a program main body of the application, and a means for displaying the application at a prescribed position on the menu screen on the basis of the display position designation information described in the property information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone that can execute an application program and a server that provides the application.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a mobile phone capable of executing an application described in an object-oriented programming language such as JAVA (registered trademark) independent of a platform (for example, see Patent Document 1). In this mobile phone, a user can download a desired application from a server on the mobile communication network and additionally register it in the mobile phone. Applications that are additionally registered by the user are displayed on the application list screen, and the user selects a desired application on the application list screen and launches it, thereby realizing various functions such as games, browsers, and character information input on the mobile phone. can do.

  On the other hand, the conventional mobile communication terminal is preinstalled with applications for realizing basic functions. This pre-installed application is stored in a read-only memory (ROM) together with firmware such as other basic software, and is displayed on a basic menu screen so that it can be activated with a simple operation.

JP 2000-347867 A

  However, the conventional mobile phone has a problem in that it cannot be additionally mounted so that an application selected by the user or an application designated from the network side is displayed at a designated display position on the basic menu screen.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a mobile communication terminal that can be additionally mounted so as to display an application at a predetermined display position on a menu screen, and a server that provides the application.

The mobile communication terminal according to the present invention is a mobile communication terminal capable of executing an application, and includes property information describing display position specifying information for specifying the display position of the application on the menu screen, and the program of the application Means for obtaining a main body from a server, and means for displaying the application at a predetermined position on the menu screen based on display position designation information described in the property information.
This mobile communication terminal can be additionally mounted so that the application acquired from the server is displayed at a predetermined display position on the menu screen based on the display position designation information described in the property information of the application acquired from the server. .

  The mobile communication terminal includes means for acquiring an integrated file including the application data and other software data from a server, and means for extracting the application data from the integrated file acquired from the server. Also good. In this case, when the application file to be additionally mounted is incorporated in the integrated file acquired from the server, the application data can be extracted from the integrated file and displayed at a predetermined display position on the menu screen.

In the mobile communication terminal, the integrated file may be acquired from a server based on a push-type application implementation request notification received from the network side. In this case, since the integrated file in which the data of the application to be additionally mounted can be acquired by the application mounting request notification from the network side, it is displayed at a predetermined position on the menu screen by the network side instruction. It is possible to implement additional applications.
When updating an application mounted on the basic menu screen, a push-type application update request notification is sent from the network side to the mobile communication terminal. Based on the application update request notification, the mobile communication terminal acquires an integrated file including the update target application data from the server, and updates the installed application with the update target application data extracted from the acquired integrated file. can do.

  Further, in the mobile communication terminal, means for acquiring the property information of the application from a server on the communication network, and means for acquiring the program main body of the application from the server on the communication network based on the property information of the application; May be provided. In this case, application data individually acquired from the server based on the application property information can be displayed at a designated display position on the basic menu screen.

The server according to the present invention is a server that provides an application to a mobile communication terminal via a mobile communication network, and includes a means for receiving an acquisition request for requesting application data from the mobile communication terminal, and a menu screen. Means for describing display position designation information for designating the display position of the application in the property information of the application, and in response to the acquisition request, transmits application data including the property information and the program body to the mobile communication terminal And a means for carrying out the above.
In the server, a means for receiving an acquisition request for requesting an integrated file including the application data and other software data from the mobile communication terminal, a means for creating the integrated file, and in response to the acquisition request Means for transmitting the integrated file to the mobile communication terminal.
In the server, the integrated file acquisition request received from the mobile communication terminal is transmitted from the mobile communication terminal based on a push-type application implementation request notification received from the network side. Also good.
Further, in the server, means for receiving an acquisition request for requesting the property information of the application from a mobile communication terminal, and means for transmitting the property information of the application to the mobile communication terminal in response to the acquisition request; Means for receiving an acquisition request for requesting a program body corresponding to the property information of the application from the mobile communication terminal; and means for transmitting the program body of the application to the mobile communication terminal in response to the acquisition request And may be provided.

  According to the present invention, an application can be additionally mounted so as to display at a designated display position on the menu screen.

Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a mobile phone as a mobile communication terminal will be described.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a main part of a mobile communication system using a mobile phone 20 according to the present embodiment. In this mobile communication system, the mobile phone 20 used by the user 1 has a configuration capable of executing an application developed by platform-independent object-oriented programming. Examples of this application include applications composed of programs written in a program language such as JAVA (registered trademark), C, C ++, and the like. The execution environment of these applications is constructed by middleware such as a JAVA (registered trademark) virtual machine (VM) or BREW (registered trademark).

  The application may be preinstalled in the mobile phone 20 as one of basic menus for using basic functions, for example, or via the mobile phone communication network 10 as a mobile communication network. It may be downloaded from the download server 11 or the terminal management server 12 described later, stored in the mobile phone 20 and registered.

  The mobile phone 20 can communicate by connecting to a mobile phone communication network 10 as a mobile communication network via a wireless communication line. The mobile phone communication network 10 is connected to a download server 11 that provides application data designated by the user. In addition to the download server 11, a terminal management server 12, an information providing server (not shown), a location registration server, a mail server, and the like are connected to the mobile phone communication network 10. The terminal management server 12 manages firmware such as basic software (OS), drivers, and applications preinstalled in read-only storage means such as ROM of each mobile phone 20. When the basic software, driver, application, etc. of the above firmware are added, modified, upgraded, etc., an integrated file integrated to include them (for example, a file containing the entire firmware or a differential file containing only a part thereof) ) To the mobile phone 20. The mobile phone 20 extracts a file to be added, modified, or upgraded from the integrated file received from the terminal management server 12 and stores it in a predetermined folder.

  Application data provided from the download server 11 and the terminal management server 12 is provided from the application developer 2. Specifically, for example, it is uploaded from the computer device on the application developer 2 side to the servers 11 and 12 via a dedicated line or a public line. Note that a recording medium such as an optical disk or a magnetic disk on which the developed application data is recorded is sent from the application developer 2 to a communication carrier that manages and operates the servers 11 and 12, and the application data in the recording medium is sent to the server. 11 and 12 may be provided. The application data provided in this way is registered in the download server 11 in a state where it can be downloaded from the mobile phone 20 via the mobile phone communication network 10, or integrated with other basic software as an integrated file. It is registered in the terminal management server 12 in a state where it can be received by the mobile phone 20.

  Note that each of the servers may be a single server. Further, these servers may be configured as dedicated control devices having different configurations, or may be configured using a general-purpose computer system. Each server may be configured by a single computer, or may be configured by connecting a plurality of computers each having a plurality of functions via a network.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of the mobile phone according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a front view showing an example of an external configuration of the mobile phone. The cellular phone 20 according to the present embodiment includes a main control unit 120 serving as a control unit, an internal memory 121 serving as a storage unit, a wireless communication unit 122 serving as a communication unit that performs communication via the cellular phone communication network 10, and an antenna 112. A display unit 125 as a display unit, and a key operation unit 126 as an operation unit. The mobile phone 20 also includes an application execution management unit 127 that builds and manages an execution environment for executing a platform-independent application such as JAVA (registered trademark).

  The main control unit 120 includes, for example, a CPU, a cache memory, a ROM, a system bus, and the like, and transmits and receives data to and from each unit such as the internal memory 121 and the wireless communication unit 122 by executing a predetermined control program. And control each part. The main control unit 120 is connected to a microphone 108 as a sound input unit and a speaker 109 as a sound output unit via a sound signal processing unit 123. Further, a display unit 125 is connected to the main control unit 120 via a display control unit 124 as a display control unit. Further, the main control unit 120 is also connected with a key operation unit 126 operated by a user when instructing various processes or inputting various data. The main control unit 120 transmits and receives various commands and data to and from the application execution management unit 127.

  The main control unit 120 includes means for storing application data (property information, program body) acquired from the servers 11 and 12 in a predetermined folder of the internal memory 121 based on application type information in the property information, a terminal management server 12 also functions as a means for extracting application data from the integrated file acquired from 12. For example, in the case of JAVA (registered trademark), the property information of the application used when saving in the predetermined folder can be described in the MIDxlet extended attribute in the JAD file.

  The main control unit 20 cooperates with the wireless communication unit 122 and the like to obtain application data including property information and the program main body from the servers 11 and 12, application data, and other software data. It also functions as a means for acquiring an integrated file from the terminal management server 12 and a means for acquiring the integrated file from the terminal management server 12 based on a push-type application implementation request notification received from the network side.

  The main control unit 20 cooperates with the wireless communication unit 122 and the like to acquire application property information from the download server 11 and to acquire an application program body from the download server 11 based on the property information. After obtaining the property information, if it is determined that the application is displayed on the basic menu screen based on the application type information described in the property information, the application confirmation screen is not displayed without displaying the user confirmation screen. It also functions as a means for acquiring the program body.

  The wireless communication unit 122 and the antenna 112 as the communication means also function as means for transmitting and receiving various requests and responses to and from the servers 11 and 12 and transmitting and receiving data and files.

  The internal memory 121 is configured by a semiconductor memory such as a RAM or a ROM, and stores programs executed by the main control unit 120 and various data. As these storage means, instead of the internal memory 121, a storage medium such as a memory card or an IC card that can be attached to and detached from the mobile phone body may be used.

  The data read-only data storage area configured by the ROM of the internal memory 121, for example, can be updated by the integrated file received from the terminal management server 12, and can be updated by an application displayed on the basic menu screen or other basics. A predetermined folder of the firmware storage area 121A in which firmware such as software is stored is provided. Below, the application that is actually pre-installed so that it will be displayed on the basic menu screen from the beginning is called the “default basic application”, and it is added by receiving the above integrated file and displayed on the basic menu screen. The application is called “additional basic application”.

  Further, in the internal memory 121, for example, a data storage area that is freely readable / writable by RAM, a basic menu screen storage area 121B for storing applications individually downloaded from the download server 11 and an application list are stored. A screen storage area 121C is provided.

  The application stored in the predetermined folder of the basic menu screen storage area 121B is displayed on the basic menu screen so that it can be started as one application of the preinstalled basic menu. The application stored in the basic menu screen storage area 121B is also apparently added to the basic menu screen and displayed in the same manner as the application added by receiving the integrated file. That's it.

  On the other hand, the application stored in the predetermined folder in the application list screen storage area 121C is displayed on the application registration screen for user registration as an application additionally registered individually by the user. Hereinafter, this application is referred to as a “user registration application”.

  The display control unit 124 controls to display an image on the display unit 125 based on the drawing data sent from the main control unit 120. The display unit 125 is configured using a display 110 including a liquid crystal panel or the like, and displays various images based on data stored in the internal memory 121. The display unit 125 can also display the basic menu screen and application list screen.

  In addition, the display control unit 124 and the display unit 125 cooperate with the main control unit 20 to display the basic menu screen based on the display position designation information described in the property information of the application downloaded from the download server 11. It also functions as a means for displaying an application at a predetermined position.

  Note that when the data of the application to be added is extracted from the integrated file received from the terminal management server 12 and displayed on the basic menu screen, the display position designation information may not be used. In this case, a predetermined display position on the basic menu screen is set in advance for the additional application, and the additional application extracted from the integrated file is displayed at the predetermined display position set in advance.

  4 and 5 are explanatory diagrams illustrating examples of basic menu screens displayed on the display unit 125, respectively. In the example of FIG. 4, when the “Menu 3” icon located in the upper right is selected from the nine basic menu icons arranged in 3 rows and 3 columns of the main basic menu screen 901A, the sub basic menu screen 901B of Menu 3 is selected. Is displayed. An additional basic application is displayed in a lower hierarchy of the sub basic menu screen 901B of Menu3. The display position of the additional basic menu can be designated by “display position designation information” described in the property information of the corresponding application, for example. In the case of a JAVA (registered trademark) application, for example, it can be specified by using an attribute of display position designation information “MIDxlet-menu-Position” of property information stored in a JAD file. When the display position as shown in FIG. 4 is designated, it is described as “MIDxlet-menu-Position: 3”.

  In the example of FIG. 5, when the “Menu 3” icon is selected from the six basic menu icons arranged in six rows on the main basic menu screen 902, a pull-down menu screen 902A is displayed. An additional basic application is displayed in the second menu of the pull-down menu screen 902A. For example, in the case of JAVA (registered trademark), the display position of this additional basic menu is specified by describing as “MIDxlet-menu-Position: 3-2” using the attribute “MIDxlet-menu-Position” described above. it can.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an application list screen displayed on the display unit 125. In the example of the application library screen 903 serving as the application list screen, user registration applications that are individually downloaded and additionally registered by the user are sequentially added and displayed. The user can select and execute a desired user registration application from the application library.

  The speaker 109 receives an analog signal converted from a digital signal by the sound signal processing unit 123, and outputs a voice during a call, or outputs a mail ringtone, a telephone ringing tone, music, or the like. The sound generation means including the speaker 109 and the sound signal processing unit 123 reproduces and outputs a sound effect and music (song, melody) using an attached file attached to the received mail. Can be controlled.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the speaker 109 is configured by separately providing a receiver speaker (receiver) 109a for listening to a voice during a call and an external output speaker 109b for outputting a ring tone or music. Alternatively, a single speaker may be used so that both the speaker for the receiver and the speaker for external output can be used together.

  The key operation unit 126 includes a data input key (ten key, * key, # key) 103, a call start key 104, a call end key 105, a scroll key 106, a multi-function key 107, and the like. This is used when instructing the end of conversation, menu selection, display mode switching, etc., or inputting information.

  The microphone 108 converts the user's voice into an electrical signal (analog signal). An audio electrical signal (analog signal) output from the microphone 108 is input to the sound signal processing unit 123 and converted into a digital signal.

The application execution management unit 127 includes a system bus, a CPU, a RAM, and the like. The application execution management unit 127 is also called a virtual machine, and corresponds to a central “program execution environment” in the software structure of FIG. The application execution management unit 127 provides software such as a class library, an execution environment management library, and application management used for an application program developed by object-oriented programming, and manages the execution environment of the application program. Here, the application program can be used by calling a class library such as a function in the program execution environment via a class library API (application interface). The call history of the class library such as this function is held until the virtual execution environment (virtual machine VM) of the application program is terminated. In addition, the execution environment management library in the program execution environment can be used by calling the telephone platform library in the telephone platform via the telephone platform API.

  FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of processing when the user designates and downloads an additional basic application to be displayed as one of the basic menus on the basic menu screen from the download server 11. First, when the user operates the mobile phone 20 to specify an additional basic application on a predetermined application providing screen, the mobile phone 20 stores a property information file of the specified additional basic application (for example, a JAD file in the case of JAVA). ) Is transmitted to the download server 11 (S1, S2). The download server 11 searches for the specified property information file, and transmits the file to the mobile phone 20 as an acquisition response (S3, S4). The mobile phone 20 refers to a predetermined attribute in the property information file, confirms that the application type to be downloaded is an additional basic application, and program body of the additional basic application (for example, a JAR file in the case of JAVA) Is requested (S5, S6). At this time, unlike the case of normal application download, the download confirmation screen is not displayed. Next, the download server 11 searches for the file of the program body of the designated additional basic application and transmits the file to the mobile phone 20 as an acquisition response (S7, S8). The mobile phone 20 stores the downloaded program main body file together with the property information file in a predetermined folder in the basic menu screen storage area 121B set in the internal memory. Then, the cellular phone 20 confirms the display position on the basic menu screen by referring to a predetermined attribute in which the display position designation information is described in the property information file (S9), and is exemplified in FIG. 4 and FIG. As described above, the icon of the downloaded additional basic application is displayed at the designated predetermined display position (S10).

  FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of processing when an additional basic application to be displayed as one of the basic menus on the basic menu screen is downloaded from the terminal management server 12. First, the terminal management server 11 sends a firmware update request notification requesting an update of all or a part of firmware including basic software, drivers, and applications pre-installed in the mobile phone 20 by Push-type communication. 20 (S1). The cellular phone 20 transmits an integrated file request for requesting an integrated file obtained by integrating a plurality of files of the designated firmware to the terminal management server 12 (S2). The terminal management server 12 searches for the designated integrated file and transmits the file as an acquisition response to the mobile phone 20 (S3, S4). The mobile phone 20 takes out the file (property file and program main body file) of the additional basic application from the received integrated file and, together with other files, the predetermined storage in the firmware storage area 121A set in the internal memory described above. Save in a folder (S5). Then, the mobile phone 20 displays the icon of the downloaded additional basic application at a predetermined display position for the additional basic application that is set in advance on the basic menu screen (S6).

  In the case of the additional basic application, the property information includes an attribute for specifying whether or not to display an end confirmation screen when the application ends, and an attribute for specifying an application display name to be displayed on the basic menu screen. It may be described. With these attribute descriptions, for example, if an application that does not require the display of an end confirmation screen such as a calendar or a calculator is additionally installed as an additional basic application, an end confirmation screen is displayed when these applications are terminated based on the description of the attribute. Can be controlled not to display. Further, the application supplier side can specify an application display name to be additionally mounted and displayed on the basic menu screen of the mobile phone 20.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, an application designated by the user or the network can be easily added to the basic menu screen and can be activated as one of the basic menus.

  Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, various modifications can be made to the disclosed embodiments within the scope of the technical matters described in the claims without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention. Can be added.

  For example, in the above embodiment, a mobile phone that can execute an application program developed by platform-independent object-oriented programming using a program language such as JAVA (registered trademark) has been described. The present invention can be applied without being limited to the type of application program to be executed, and the same effect can be obtained.

  Further, the present invention is not limited to a mobile phone and can be applied to various mobile communication terminals capable of executing applications. That is, as the “mobile communication terminal” in the present invention, a PDC (Personal Digital Cellular) system, a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) system, a TIA (Telecommunications Industry Association) system mobile phone, an IMT (International Mobile Telecommunications) system, etc. -2000 standard mobile phone, TD-SCDMA (MC: Multi Carrier) mobile phone, one of TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), PHS (Personal Handyphone System), automobile phone And a telephone having a call function such as a fixed telephone. Examples of the “mobile communication terminal” include a communication terminal such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance) having a call function in addition to the above telephone.

  The processing and control in the mobile communication terminal and the server can also be realized by executing a predetermined program on a computer provided therein. Delivery of the program used in the computer may be performed using a recording medium such as an FD or CD-ROM in which the program is recorded as digital information, or may be performed using a communication network such as a computer network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Explanatory drawing which shows the principal part of the mobile communication system using the mobile telephone which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The block diagram which shows an example of schematic structure of a mobile telephone. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the external appearance structure of a mobile telephone. Explanatory drawing which shows the example of a display of a basic menu screen. Explanatory drawing which shows the other example of a basic menu screen. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of an application list screen. Explanatory drawing of the software structure in a mobile telephone. The sequence diagram which shows an example of a process when a user designates an additional basic application and downloads from a download server. The sequence diagram which shows an example of a process when downloading an additional basic application from a terminal management server.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Mobile phone communication network 11 Download server 12 Terminal management server 20 Mobile phone 120 Main control part 121 Internal memory 121A Firmware storage area 121B Basic menu screen storage area 121C Application list screen storage area 124 Display control part 125 Display part 127 Application Execution management unit 212 Display means 213 Display control means

Claims (8)

A mobile communication terminal capable of executing an application,
Means for acquiring from the server the property information describing the display position designation information for designating the display position of the application on the menu screen and the program body of the application;
And a means for displaying the application at a predetermined position on the menu screen based on display position designation information described in the property information. The mobile communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein
Means for acquiring an integrated file including data of the application and data of other software from a server;
Means for extracting data of the application from the integrated file acquired from the server. The mobile communication terminal according to claim 2, wherein
A mobile communication terminal, wherein the integrated file is acquired from a server based on a push-type application implementation request notification received from a network side. The mobile communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein
Means for obtaining property information of the application from a server on a communication network;
Means for obtaining a program main body of the application from a server on a communication network based on the property information of the application. A server for providing an application to a mobile communication terminal via a mobile communication network,
Means for receiving an acquisition request for requesting application data from a mobile communication terminal;
Means for describing display position specification information for specifying the display position of the application on the menu screen in the property information of the application;
Means for transmitting application data including the property information and the program body to the mobile communication terminal in response to the acquisition request. The server of claim 5,
Means for receiving from the mobile communication terminal an acquisition request for requesting an integrated file including the application data and other software data;
Means for creating the integrated file;
Means for transmitting the integrated file to the mobile communication terminal in response to the acquisition request. The server of claim 6,
The server, wherein the integrated file acquisition request received from the mobile communication terminal is transmitted from the mobile communication terminal based on a push-type application implementation request notification received from the network side. The server of claim 5,
Means for receiving an acquisition request for requesting property information of the application from a mobile communication terminal;
Means for transmitting property information of the application to the mobile communication terminal in response to the acquisition request;
Means for receiving from the mobile communication terminal an acquisition request for requesting a program body corresponding to the property information of the application;
Means for transmitting a program main body of the application to the mobile communication terminal in response to the acquisition request.