KR100383667B1 - Update Agent And Method For Installing Of Software For PDA - Google Patents

Abstract

The software automatic installation agent according to the present invention is a web information management unit that monitors and analyzes, at predetermined intervals, update information of a web document in a web server on which a PDA application software is published through a communication network connected using a communication platform inside a PDA. (WIM); A user preference manager (UPM) for storing and managing preference information of PDA users; A communication management unit (CM) for instructing installation of the software installation management unit (SIM) when notified that there is new information on the web server from the web information management unit (WIM); And a software installation management unit (SIM) for downloading and installing new software posted on the web server according to an instruction from the communication management unit (CM) and installing it on a PDA. It makes the dedicated application available on the user's device, reduces the user's additional effort for continuous web monitoring and software information retrieval, and also the time interval between web retrieval and the type of software to be downloaded. It is possible to implement more autonomous service by inputting back etc. in advance and comparing it with web information and applying it to service processing.

Description

Update Agent And Method For Installing Of Software For PDA

The present invention relates to a type of automatic installation method for automatically installing application software on a personal digital assistant (PDA), and the like, and in particular, an agent and method for a PDA for performing such automatic installation and such an automatic installation program. A computer-readable recording medium stored therein, wherein the agent is mounted on a PDA to perform a real-time update function with a minimum of user operation.

In today's business environment, 'anytime, anywhere access to information' is a key element. The need for access to the Internet, online services, messages, e-mail and databases is required in mobile as well as office environments.

As the demand for wireless data communication increases, there are many attempts to exploit and extend the advantages of existing analog / digital wireless technologies. Currently, various wireless communication technologies with technical standards for data transmission and reception are being developed one after another, and small terminals with mobility are also commercialized.

According to the development of information and communication technology, one of various research and development is progressing to PDA. PDAs are equipped with portable computer functions, fax functions, and electronic organizer functions.In addition, functions such as using a pen or voice as an input means instead of a keyboard and providing a GUI (Graphic User Interface) environment for the user's convenience, Convenience is expanding.

In addition, such application software for PDAs is being actively developed. These softwares have the following characteristics.

First, the software life cycle is very short. In other words, since it is developed around information services (highway rest area information, weather information, LPG charging station location information, phone number search, etc.) that are valid only for a certain period, frequent upgrades should be made. Second, since it is developed around information services (shopping cart, birthday management, car care book, obesity degree, etc.) effective for real life, a specific application area is not defined, and it is developed immediately when there is a demand, so it is impossible to predict the application area.

Currently, hundreds of application-specific PDA software are posted daily for newly developed or upgraded software information. Therefore, the user should directly monitor the web site dedicated to the PDA from time to time to download the desired software and continue the simple repetitive work of installing it on the terminal. This is not only difficult for general users, who are not computer experts, but also has the inconvenience of continuously monitoring, acquiring and utilizing new software information for users who are familiar with terminals.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned inconvenience by mounting an automatic update agent (hereinafter referred to as an "agent") that performs such simple repetitive tasks on behalf of a user in an individual user terminal.

The agent according to the present invention is automatically executed when the PDA power is turned on (on) and communication is possible to monitor the web at regular intervals and obtain new information to confirm the user or automatically download the required software Load and install directly on the terminal. Therefore, the user can always upgrade the latest software automatically to his device through the agent without any additional work, and can know the information in real time whenever the application software of interest is distributed. It automatically installs and makes the software available immediately.

1 is an execution environment of an agent according to the present invention;

2 is a structure of an agent according to the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of performing an agent according to the present invention;

4 is a flowchart illustrating an execution process of a web information management unit (WIM) of an agent according to the present invention;

5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of performing a software information management unit (SIM) according to the present invention.

* Brief description of the main symbols in the drawings

10: Software Automated Installation Agent 11: Web Server

12: communication network 21: Web Information Management Department

22: communication management unit 23: user symbol management unit

24: Software Installation Manager 25: PDA User

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a web information management unit for monitoring and analyzing update information of a web document in a web server on which a PDA application software is published through a communication network connected using a communication platform inside a PDA at predetermined intervals ( WIM: Web Informatiion Manager); A user preference manager (UPM) for storing and managing preference information of PDA users; A communication manager (CM) for instructing installation of a software install manager (SIM) when it is notified that there is new information on the web server from the web information manager (WIM); And a software installation management unit (SIM) for downloading new software posted on the web server and installing the same on a PDA according to an instruction from the communication management unit CM. .

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, a first monitoring and analyzing update information of a web document in a web server in which a PDA application software is published through a communication network connected using a communication platform inside the PDA at predetermined intervals step; A second step of storing and managing preference information of the PDA user; A third step of instructing to install software corresponding to the information when notified that there is new information on the web server through the first step; And a fourth step of downloading new software posted on the web server and installing the new software on the PDA according to the instructions through the third step.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a first aspect of monitoring and analyzing update information of a web document in a web server in which a PDA application software is published through a communication network connected using a communication platform inside a PDA at predetermined intervals. step; A second step of storing and managing preference information of the PDA user; A third step of instructing to install software corresponding to the information when notified that there is new information on the web server through the first step; And a program for executing a fourth step of downloading and installing new software posted on the web server according to the instruction through the third step and installing the new software on the PDA.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, a detailed description of the agent according to the present invention will be able to understand the other advantages and advantages of the present invention more clearly.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a schematic diagram in which an agent 10 according to the invention is mounted on a PDA 20 and connected to a server 11 via a communication network 12.

First, a schematic description of the agent 10 according to the present invention mounted on the PDA 20, the agent 10 is largely web monitoring and information analysis function, terminal software loading function, user preference analysis function, and Perform active information transfer. The agent 10 monitors the information of the PDA-dedicated web through the connected communication network 12 based on a value set at the time of manufacture or a time interval arbitrarily defined by the user, and compares and analyzes the current information on the PDA. The priority of the analysis of information is to firstly identify whether the application software currently installed on the PDA has changed, and secondly, to apply new information corresponding to the items designated by each user such as preferences of users, for example, entertainment, games, weather, and news. The software will be published, third, and other new software information analysis.

If new information is found, the agent 10 informs the user of the acquired information through the active information transfer function. The user looks at the received information and selects a software item that he wants to mount on his terminal or change.

The agent 10 starts the user's preference analysis through the selected software item. That is, it acquires domain information to which the selected software belongs, determines the priority of analysis based on the next analysis, and then downloads a specific application program from the web and installs it on the terminal through the PDA software loading function.

Hereinafter, specific functions of the agent 10 according to the present invention will be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the server 11 has posted information on application software that can be mounted on the PDA 20 as a website dedicated to the PDA 20, and the user has a website published on the server 11. By downloading the software required by the user through their own terminal can receive a variety of services.

Agent 10 according to the present invention, as will be described later below, since the software module is performed independently of the network environment, the network environment is applicable to both wired and wireless. That is, since the agent 10 itself is implemented in software, if the PDA 20 to be mounted has a platform supporting wired / wireless communication, the wired / wireless environment can be naturally supported by using the platform interface as it is.

Referring to Figure 2, the internal structure of the agent 10 according to the present invention is shown divided by function module. As shown in Fig. 2, the agent 10 according to the present invention is largely divided into four functional modules: a web information manager 21, a communication manager 22, a user preference manager 23, and a software installation manager 24. Equipped with.

The web information management unit 21 parses and analyzes web documents in the web server 11 of the web site while periodically monitoring the terminal-specific web site, and analyzes information currently installed on the user's PDA 20. And other new information.

The communication manager 22 receives the web information from the web information manager 21 and has an optional function of notifying the terminal user 25 whether to install the software information on the PDA or new software information. In addition, the user 25 receives a request, that is, an installation command or user's preference information instructed by the user 25 through an input means on the PDA 10, to the software installation management unit 24 and the user preference management unit 23. To pass.

The user preference manager 23 receives the preference information regarding the software of the user directly or from the communication manager 22 to the user 25 and manages the preference information.

The software installation management unit 24 functions to download necessary software from the web server 11 and install it directly on the PDA 20.

Hereinafter, each function module of the agent 10 according to the present invention will be described in detail.

Figure 3 shows the overall flow of execution of the agent 10 according to the present invention, the agent 10 according to the present invention mounted on the user's terminal 20, the start step 300 by the power switch is turned on (on) Enter Once the agent 10 enters the start phase, execution of each of the functional modules mentioned in FIG. 2 is branched by thread 310 and executed in parallel. In FIG. 3, the web information management unit 21 is "WIM", the communication management unit 22 is "CM", the user preference management unit 23 is "UPM", and the software installation management unit 24 is provided for convenience of description. Is denoted as "SIM", and the same notation will be used hereinafter.

4 is a detailed flowchart of performing a web monitoring and information analysis performing step 321 of the WIM 21 shown in FIG. When the function of the WIM 21 starts (400), first test the time interval information for monitoring the web (401). If there is no time interval information, it is set as an initial value (411), and time interval information is loaded (412). The initial value is set according to the manufacturer's intention when designing the product, and it is preferable that the user can change it after purchasing the product.

Next, the set initial value is assigned to the timer (413). At the end of this process, the WIM 21 analyzes the web information at the currently set time interval. Test whether a time event occurs that specifies the time interval for obtaining the web information (414) and wait for it to occur. Or (no at 414), or read the web document if it occurs (415).

The update information of the application software for the PDA is extracted from the head portion of the web document and compared with the update information of the WIM 21 (416). In other words, the agent 10 confirms the last update date described in the web document posted on the web server 11. Since this update date represents information on the latest update date of the web document, the update date is always compared with the previous update date in the internally stored WIM 21 when retrieving the web document.

The presence or absence of such a change is confirmed (417), and if changed, the extracted update information is stored in the WIM 21 (418), and the parsing operation of the actual web document is entered (419). During parsing, the WIM 21 determines the domain of the currently published application software, that is, information about the software classification items, and information about individual application software belonging to each item, for example, software names and download files belonging to a specific classification item. Information is extracted (420) and stored in a temporary storage location of the WIM (21).

Looking at the method of extracting the software information by the parsing operation in detail, the web document that publishes the software is mainly classified by software and managed by the field, for example, since the game software belongs to the game field (domain) agent (10). When analyzing a web document,) extracts a discipline (domain) and extracts the individual software information belonging to the extracted domain. In other words, it is possible to find out from the web documents what game software is currently in the game field.

After this process, the extracted information from the temporary storage is loaded one by one into the comparative analysis 422 of the extracted information. First, the same previous application software information stored in the WIM 10 is retrieved (423). After determining whether there is information (424), and if there is information, the WIM 21 requests the UPM 23 whether the currently extracted information corresponds to the user's preference information (425). If the information belongs to the user's domain of interest, the WIM 21 adds new information and changes 428. If the information does not belong to the user's domain of interest, the WIM 21 returns to step 422.

If the test 424 result information is present, the WIM 21 compares the update date of the existing item with the extracted information (427). If the change is made, the WIM 21 data is changed to new information (428). The changed information is stored (429) in the temporary storage for delivery to the CM (22). This process continues until the extraction information 421 stored in the temporary storage location ends. Next, information 430 is directly transmitted to the CM 22.

Next, if any one of the branches of the thread is terminated (322), if the termination is terminated, otherwise waits for a time event again to repeat the above-described steps.

The CM 22 tests 331 whether the message is confirmed. When the information indicating that new information has been posted from the WIM 21 arrives, the option information stored in the user's PDA 20 is loaded (333). The user's option information is information on whether to load the software on the terminal after confirming the user's instructions by notifying the post message to the user, or whether to install the terminal software to the agent internally regardless of the user's instructions. If the information corresponds to the notification function, it is notified to the user (335), and the download and installation operation command (336) to the SIM (24) only when the installation instruction of the user (337). Then, after testing any one of the branches of the thread is terminated (338), if the end is terminated, otherwise it repeats from the message check process (331).

The UPM 23 tests whether the information regarding the application software currently extracted from the WIN 21 is a message corresponding to a user's preference (341). In the case of a message about information corresponding to a user's preference, the user's preference information extracted by the UPM 23 is extracted and transmitted to the WIN 21 (341). If the message is for storing the user's preference information, the preference information is stored in the UPM 23 internal storage location (343). Next, after testing whether there is a terminated thread among the branched threads (344), if the termination is terminated, otherwise repeats the UPM execution process (340).

FIG. 5 is a detailed flowchart of the terminal software downloading and installation execution 351 of the SIM 24 of FIG. 3. If the command execution request message is confirmed from the CM 22 (510), the SIM 24 extracts software information to be downloaded from the message (511). Then, the network device (network device) information currently available is extracted (512). After selecting an available network device, a download operation of the application program is performed through this (513). After the downloading is finished (514), the application software is loaded into the application software dedicated space inside the terminal (516). Then, after testing whether any one of the branches of the thread is terminated (352), if the termination is terminated the whole execution, otherwise the SIM 24 execution process 350 is repeated.

The foregoing description is of the preferred embodiments to aid the understanding of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

By employing the other agent 10 in the present invention, a simple and repetitive method of monitoring the software information of the existing PDA user, that is, the software information posted via the web at any time by the user, and downloading and installing the required software on the terminal. By doing the work through an agent, even ordinary users who are not familiar with computers can easily use the latest PDA-only applications on their terminals, and save users' extra effort for continuous web monitoring and software information retrieval. It has the effect of giving.

In addition, real-time update service is possible based on the existing agent concept that takes the place of the user's computing tasks, so that various application softwares can be provided, that is, the user selects a menu through various buttons arranged on the PDA. Unlike executing a service by executing a command, the web search time interval, the type of software to be downloaded, such as the user's preference, are input in advance, and the web information can be compared to the web application and applied to the service processing. .

Claims (8)

A user preference manager (UPM) for storing and managing preference information of PDA users; Software and / or the user installed on the PDA by monitoring and analyzing update information of the web document in the web server where the application software for the PDA is published through a communication network connected using the communication platform inside the PDA at predetermined intervals. A web information manager (WIM) for acquiring new information corresponding to software not installed on the PDA based on the user preferences received from the preference manager; A communication management unit (CM) for instructing the software installation management unit (SIM) to install when the web information management unit (WIM) is notified that there is new information on the web server; And And a software installation management unit (SIM) for downloading new information posted on the web server and installing the new information posted on the web server according to an instruction from the communication management unit (CM). The method of claim 1, The time interval for monitoring and analyzing the update information of the web information management unit (WIM) and the user preferences stored in the user preference management unit (UPM) can be changed arbitrarily by the user. The method of claim 1, The software installation management unit (SIM) extracts the currently available network devices on the PDA before downloading the software, and downloads and installs them through the extracted available devices. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The update information is an update date of a web document described on a web document in the web server and domain information of an application software and individual information of respective softwares belonging to the domain, and the web document analysis includes the extracted update information. Automated Software Installation Agent for PDA, characterized in that it is performed only when there is a change compared to its update information. The method of claim 4, wherein The installation command of the communication unit CM informs the user if a notification function for notifying the user is set when a software is not installed in the PDA as a result of analyzing the update information performed by the web information management unit WIM. After the user is installed according to the installation instructions, the automatic software installation agent for PDA, characterized in that is performed immediately if the notification function for notifying the user is not set. A first step of storing and managing preference information of the PDA user; Software installed on the PDA by monitoring and analyzing update information of the web document in the web server where the application software for PDA is published through a communication network connected using the communication platform inside the PDA at predetermined intervals, and / or A second step of acquiring new information corresponding to software not installed on the PDA based on the user preferences; A third step of instructing to install software corresponding to the information when notified that there is new information on the web server through the second step; And And installing a new software posted on the web server according to the installation instruction and installing the new software on the PDA. The method of claim 6, The third step may further include a fifth step of notifying a user if a notification function for notifying the user is set when new software is not installed in the PDA as a result of analyzing the update information performed in the second step. PDA automatic software installation method characterized in that. A first step of storing and managing preference information of the PDA user; Software installed on the PDA by monitoring and analyzing update information of the web document in the web server where the application software for PDA is published through a communication network connected using the communication platform inside the PDA at predetermined intervals, and / or A second step of acquiring new information corresponding to software not installed on the PDA based on the user preferences; A third step of instructing to install software corresponding to the information when notified that there is new information on the web server through the second step; And And a program for executing a fourth step of downloading and installing new software posted on the web server in accordance with the installation instruction.