KR20030039736A - Charged-Contents Providing Method for Mobile Communication Device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method of supplying pay contents for a mobile communication terminal is provided to supply a user post office, to register contents in the user post office when purchasing the pay contents, and to download the contents for free, thereby downloading the contents for free as desirous times without duplicated-paying for the same contents. CONSTITUTION: A user connects to a post office server(S310), and receives user authentication(S311). The user selects one of a purchasing(or, gift) service(S320) and a service(S340) for downloading registered contents for free. When the purchasing service(S320) is selected, contents lists are outputted(S326). When a gift service of contents is selected(S322), a target identifier is inputted(S323). A terminal confirms whether a target is registered in the post office server(S324), and filters purchasable contents lists(S326). The user selects contents to purchase(S327), and pays for the contents(S328). Billing information is stored in a billing DB(S329), and the contents are registered(S330). If the user selects a 'user post office see' menu(S340), the contents lists are outputted(S341). If the user wants to download specific contents(S342), the contents are downloaded to the terminal of the user for free(S344).

Description

Charged content providing method for mobile communication terminal {Charged-Contents Providing Method for Mobile Communication Device}

The present invention provides a method for providing paid content for a mobile communication terminal, more specifically, a personal storage (personal mailbox; User Post Office) on a server, and registers in a storage space of a corresponding user when purchasing and presenting paid content, Thereafter, the present invention relates to a method of allowing a user to freely download and use contents in his storage space to a mobile communication terminal for free.

With more than 20 million mobile subscribers in Korea alone, most people now receive more than one mobile service. Accordingly, in addition to the conventional simple voice call, text and voice message transmission service, a wireless content providing service that downloads and uses various contents such as a game, a wallpaper, and a ringtone to a terminal has been actively used.

The wireless content providing service transmits the selected content to the mobile communication terminal when the user selects the desired paid content, and the communication service provider provides the content to the user. Will be charged. Specifically, a user accesses a wireless Internet server of a mobile communication company or a content provider using a program (such as a WAP or ME protocol) or an ARS service that can use a wireless Internet service, and then selects desired content. . The wireless Internet server transmits the corresponding content to the user's mobile communication terminal according to a protocol such as WAP, and the mobile communication terminal stores the content in the storage space of the terminal and uses the same.

On the other hand, current mobile communication terminals do not have sufficient storage space due to size or cost, but the capacity of provided content is increasing, and thus, a plurality of contents cannot be stored in a terminal like a general PC. Therefore, when a user wants to purchase new content, the user should delete one or more of previously stored content and receive a download. However, the charging of the paid content is made every time, so if the user has used previously but wants to reuse the content that has been deleted for the purchase of new content, the user has to pay for the download again. In other words, the same content must be paid twice.

Of course, this may not be the case if the storage space of the mobile communication terminal is dramatically increased, but such overlapping charging cannot be avoided with the current mobile communication terminal.

In addition, in the current paid wireless content, the download failure rate is up to several to tens of percent, which is a very small probability. However, the download failure rate may not be performed as a content error even after the download is successful. I have anxiety that I may have to pay.

In addition, the current purchase of wireless content is possible only when connected to the content providing server using a mobile communication terminal. Due to the limitation of the display space of the mobile communication terminal, not only sufficient search for content that can be provided is performed, but also an action for performing an operation until purchase (for example, searching for content through key input or logging in a user). If not) is not easy and consumes a lot of time. Due to these various problems, the wireless content service is not activated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and provides a personal post (User Post Office) as a personal mailbox of the individual user in the storage space of the server, and stores (registered) paid content in the storage space at any time when necessary This is a free method. In addition, the present invention may also provide a method for purchasing contents on a general web using a computer system and the Internet.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for providing paid content to a mobile communication terminal.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of storing (registering) content in a personal storage space (personal mailbox; User Post Office) on a server, and downloading and using the freely stored content to a mobile communication terminal when desired. .

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method for verifying and purchasing contents to be used in a mobile communication terminal by accessing a content providing server or a server providing a service according to the present invention using a web browser and an internet network of a computer system. It is.

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an entire system for performing a paid content providing method of a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention.

2 shows a detailed configuration of the mailbox server of FIG.

Figure 3 shows the overall flow of the method for providing paid content for a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention.

4 illustrates a process of verifying and storing content received from a content server by a mailbox server.

In order to achieve the object described above, the paid content providing method to the mobile communication terminal according to the present invention includes a content providing server and a storage space (personal mailbox) separately provided to each member to provide a service according to the present invention. By using a system consisting of a mailbox server, a user's mobile communication terminal, a user's computer system and a mobile communication network connecting the mailbox server or content providing server and the terminal and the Internet network connecting the server and the user computer system,

An access step of accessing and logging in to a mailbox server using a web browser installed on a user's computer system or a wireless internet browser installed on a mobile communication terminal; The mailbox server checks the user registration information of the user, extracts the model information of the registered mobile communication terminal of the user, provides a list of contents that the user can purchase, and allows the user to select desired content and pay a fee. A content purchasing step; The mailbox server includes a content registration step of storing the purchased content or the content related information in the personal mailbox of the corresponding member; After that, when the target member requests to download the content purchased by the mailbox server or the content server to the mobile communication terminal using a mobile communication terminal or a computer system, the target content is downloaded after checking whether the requested content is registered in the personal mailbox. Content download step is made.

The member registration information stored in the mailbox server includes the model information of the mobile communication terminal possessed by the user in addition to the user's personal information, and the mailbox server includes information inputted by a specific member when joining the mobile communication service providing server. Number, social security number, etc.) may further include a communication service user verification step of confirming that the correct.

In addition, the content-related information in the content registration step may be the title of the content, a brief description, and the location information (such as the IP address of the server) of the content server having the corresponding content.

In the content purchase step, it is possible to present the content to a mobile communication terminal of another member other than the connected member, in which case, additionally, identification means (member ID, phone number, etc.) of the target member to receive the content is added. In the content registration step, the content or content related information presented to the personal mailbox of the target member is registered.

In addition to the content registration step, a real-time download for downloading the content directly to the designated mobile communication terminal in real time, or a reservation download step for downloading the corresponding content to the designated mobile communication terminal at the time specified by the user may be further provided.

In addition, in the content download step, 1) if the content download request is sent to the mailbox server and the content is stored in the personal mailbox of the mailbox server, the content is downloaded to the designated mobile terminal, 2) the content download request is a mailbox If the information is transmitted to the server and only relevant information of the content is stored in the personal mailbox of the mailbox server, the mailbox server sends a download request including the user's mobile terminal number and content identification means to the content server having the content. And the content server receiving the content downloads the content to the designated mobile communication terminal. 3) If the content download request is sent to the content server, the content server registers the content in the user's personal mailbox of the mailbox server. Check if it is , By downloading to the mobile communication terminal it is specified only if the check can be performed.

To this end, the mailbox server should store information on a plurality of contents for mobile communication terminals received from one or more content providing servers, and it is preferable that the mailbox server is stored in a directory by type or type of contents of the mobile communication terminal. The mailbox server does not need to store all of the content, but it is sufficient to store a brief introduction of the content and the location information where the content is located (ie, the IP and directory of the corresponding content providing server).

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described an embodiment of the present invention;

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an entire system for performing a paid content providing method of a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention.

Largely, one or more content servers 110 and 110 ′ providing content for a mobile communication terminal, a mailbox server 120 providing a service according to the present invention, a computer system 130 for an individual user, a mobile communication terminal for an individual user 140, an internet network 150 connecting the server and the computer system of the individual user, and a mobile communication network (including a server of the mobile communication service company 160) connecting the mobile communication terminal and the server.

The content server 110 is a server for producing and storing contents for a mobile communication terminal, and includes a plurality of contents that can be executed by using a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) or a ME (Mobile Explorer). The development of the content using the WAP or ME and the transmission (downloading) to the mobile communication terminal are currently used technologies, and thus a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The mailbox server 120 is connected to a user terminal system (mobile communication terminal or computer system; 130 and 140) through an internet network 150 or a mobile communication network 160, and is configured as a general web server. . Mailbox server should be able to perform the following functions. 1) First, it stores information about contents from various content servers, 2) provides a personal mailbox as a specific storage space for each individual to a user registered as a member, and 3) provides a list of downloadable contents to a logged-in user. 4) store the information about the content that the user purchased or received from others in the mailbox of the individual, 5) store the billing information of the user who purchased or presented the content, and 6) store in the personal mailbox ( When you download the registered content, it downloads to the user's mobile communication terminal.

Figure 2 shows the configuration of such a mailbox server 120 in detail, a member management module 210 for receiving and storing member information from a user, and linked to a content server to a plurality of mobile communication terminal content Content management module 220 for storing and managing information, a personal mailbox management module 230 for storing and managing information on content that is assigned to each member and received or received by each member, and a transmission / reception module 240 ), The central control module 250, and the database module. In addition, a content verification module 270 for verifying the performance and content of the content may be further provided as described below.

The central control module 250 may be implemented as an application program capable of performing the above-described various functions, and the database module may again store personal information about a member and information on a terminal model of the member. And a content database 262 for storing information about various contents provided from the content server, a personal mailbox database 263 which is assigned to each member and stores information about content purchased or gifted by each member, It may be divided into a billing database 264 that stores billing information.

These databases can be relational database management systems (RDBMS) such as Oracle, Infomix, Sybase, DB2, or object-oriented databases such as Gemston, Orion, O2, etc. It can be implemented for the purposes of the present invention using a management system (OODBMS) and has the appropriate fields to achieve its function.

Since the construction and management of the database using the information fields necessary for the present invention can be sufficiently performed by those skilled in the art, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

If the user's mobile communication terminal 140 is installed with an application program that can download and run the content, the form is not limited. However, as will be described below, the user should provide information on his or her terminal model when registering as a mailbox server, so that the mailbox server can provide only a list of contents suitable for individual users.

The internet network 150 includes various services existing in the TCP / IP protocol and its upper layers, namely, HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Telnet, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Domain Name System (DNS), and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). ), A global open computer network architecture that provides Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Network File Service (NFS), and Network Information Service (NIS).

The mobile communication network 160 is a conventional network for voice communication between terminals, that is, a base station (BS), a mobile telephone switching office (MTSO), a home location register (HLR), and network management. In addition to the Network Management System (NMS), it additionally includes a component such as a WAP gateway that enables the transmission and reception of content for mobile communication, and when the user applies for content download to a content server or a mailbox server, Send to the mobile communication terminal.

The user computer system 130 connected to the mailbox server or the content server through the Internet network may be a personal computer (PC), a notebook computer, and the like. A general modem, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) network, a cable modem and a wired computer may be used. It can be connected to an external Internet network through a broadcasting network, a LAN card and a LAN network, a LAN card and an intranet within an enterprise.

Figure 3 shows the overall flow of the method for providing paid content for a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention.

The user accesses the mailbox server using a computer system and the Internet (S310) and inputs various information for membership. The membership information includes information on the mobile communication terminal owned in addition to the general personal information. The information on the mobile communication terminal may be a phone number of the mobile communication terminal, a model of the terminal, and the like, and inputting terminal information at the time of membership registration is intended to provide only the contents corresponding to the corresponding model when purchasing contents.

The user registered as a member receives user authentication by logging in (S311). Of course, the mailbox server may replace user authentication by receiving and confirming information about a member from a server of a mobile communication service company without receiving a separate subscription.

In addition, as indicated by the dotted line, the mobile communication service user checks to check whether the information input by the corresponding member is correct, that is, the terminal model input by the corresponding member and the telephone number and identity match with the external mobile communication service server. A step may be added (S312).

The authenticated user selects one of 1) a service that pays a fee and purchases (or presents) the content (S320), and 2) a service (S340) to download the content already purchased and registered in a personal mailbox for free. do.

When the user selects the content purchase service (S321), the terminal model of the member is checked, the content DB is searched, and a content list corresponding to the model is created and output (S326). Of course, at this time, the content list may be created based on the age, the propensity of the mobile communication company, the user, etc., in addition to the terminal model.

When the user selects the gift service of the content (S322), the target person identification means such as the ID of the person to whom the content is to be presented, the personal mailbox identification code of the person, and the telephone number is input (S323). After confirming whether the gift recipient is a registered member of the mailbox server according to the present invention (S324), if necessary, a message related to the gift (Short Message) and a delivery time of the present content may be input (S325). When the gift subject specification and information input are ended, filtering of the purchaseable contents list similar to the above is performed based on the terminal model and the propensity of the subject to receive the gift (S326).

After selecting the content to purchase or present in the list of content increase (S327), and pays for the corresponding content (S328). Payment can be made using any payment method on the wired / wireless Internet. Examples include, but are not limited to, credit card payment, online payment, cyber money payment, and mobile phone payment (content fee is charged to mobile communication fee). It doesn't happen.

When the payment is made, the billing information is stored in the billing database of the mailbox server (S329), and if necessary, the billing information is transferred to the server and / or content server of the mobile communication service company. The billing information may include necessary items, and may include, for example, a user ID, a content ID, a number, an amount, a payment method, a purchase date, and financial information.

After the payment for the purchased content or the paid content is finished, the purchased or gifted content is registered in the user's personal mailbox (S330). In this case, "registering content in a personal mailbox" refers to 1) a method of storing the entire content, 2) information on the content, that is, the title of the content, a brief description, and the IP address and directory of the server where the content is located. One of the methods of storing the location information may be used.

After that, when the user requests the mailbox server to download the contents in his or her personal mailbox, in the case of 1) above, the mailbox server downloads the contents directly. In the case of 2), the mailbox server retains the contents. The application is downloaded with the phone number of the terminal to be downloaded to the content server, and the received content server checks that the request is from a mailbox server and downloads it to the user's mobile terminal for free.

The user may download the registered content for free by logging in to the mailbox server, but may request to download the content to the content providing server or the mobile communication service providing server. That is, a user accesses a content server or a mobile communication service providing server using a mobile communication terminal or a computer system and requests free download of specific content, and the requested content server or mobile communication service server is an individual user of a mailbox server. You can request to check if the content is already registered in the mailbox, and download the content free of charge.

When the above-described steps are completed, the user can select one of the following services: 1) real time download, 2) download reservation, and 3) registration to a personal mailbox in order to process the purchased or presented content. "Real-time download" means to download the purchased or gifted contents directly to the designated mobile terminal, "download reservation" means to download to the designated terminal at the time you set, "register to personal mailbox" to download later It means only storing the information in the corresponding personal mailbox of the mailbox server (S341 or less).

When the user logged in to the mailbox server requests the "view private mailbox" menu (S340), outputs a list of contents registered in the personal mailbox (S341), and requests the download of specific content (S342). Free download to the mobile communication terminal (S344). At this time, the download of the content, as described above may be performed directly by the mailbox server or through a request to the content server (S343; dotted line).

The process of accessing and logging in to a mailbox server to receive a "purchase of content (gift)" or "view personal mailbox" service generally uses an internet network and a computer system. And a predetermined gateway may be used. In other words, access to a mailbox server to receive a service according to the present invention means that a wired (Internet network) or wireless (mobile communication wireless Internet service network) can be used.

In order to download the content, the download server (mailbox server or content server) should be provided with hardware and / or software capable of providing a wireless Internet service. For example, a WAP server program must be provided for content transmission to a mobile communication terminal using WAP, and a predetermined WAP gateway must be used.

4 illustrates a flow in which a mailbox server stores contents (information) received from a content server.

The mailbox server receives the content from the affiliated content provider server (S410), and verifies the content using an appropriate emulator (S411). In addition to the general error check, the verification of the content confirms whether the actual execution is performed in the designated terminal (S412). The approved content is approved for commercialization, and the content itself or information (title, brief information, server location information, etc.) of the content itself is stored in the content database (S413, S414).

In the above description, the method of paying a fee for the paid content once and registering it in a personal mailbox and downloading afterwards is free of charge. However, if it is necessary for profit, a predetermined storage fee is charged every time the user registers in a personal mailbox, It may be possible to charge storage fees for the registration of content that exceeds a certain amount. In addition, since the cost of using the communication channel is generated every download, a predetermined amount (the actual cost required for the download, not the charge for the content) may be charged for each download.

In addition, by providing a content such as ringtones, news, magazines, etc. to the personal mailbox of a specific or unspecified individual at their own expense, or by using a personal mailbox as a prize providing method according to the event, It may be used as a kind of advertising means.

The above description is exemplarily described for the practice of the present invention, and does not limit or limit the scope of the present invention.

By using the above-described method, it is convenient to purchase (gift) and download the contents for the mobile communication terminal on the general web using the Internet and the computer without purchasing the contents in the limited interface and functions of the terminal.

In addition, it is not convenient to charge each time you download the same contents, but you can register for a personal mailbox by one paid purchase, and then freely download and use it freely when you want. By overcoming the problems caused by lack, it is possible to activate the production and sales of wireless Internet contents.

In other words, by using a personal mailbox of the mailbox server as a kind of terminal auxiliary storage device, it is possible to purchase and store various contents at once, and freely (or inexpensively) at a later time when desired.

In addition, by providing contents to a private mailbox, a general company can use wireless content as a means of advertisement.

Claims (7)

A content providing server, a mailbox server having a personal mailbox provided separately for each user, a user's mobile communication terminal, a user's computer system, and a mobile communication network and a server connected to a mailbox server or a content providing server and a user computer system. By using a system consisting of an internet network connecting the An access step of accessing and logging in to a mailbox server using a web browser installed on a user's computer system or a wireless internet browser installed on a mobile communication terminal; The mailbox server checks the user registration information of the user, extracts the model information of the registered mobile communication terminal of the user, provides a list of contents that the user can purchase, and allows the user to select desired content and pay a fee. A content purchase step; The mailbox server content registration step of storing the purchased content or the content related information in the personal mailbox of the target member; After that, when the target member requests to download the content purchased by the mailbox server or the content server to the mobile communication terminal by using the mobile communication terminal or the computer system, the requested content is downloaded after checking whether the requested content is registered in the personal mailbox. Paid content providing method for a mobile communication terminal characterized in that the content download step. The method of claim 1, The member registration information stored in the mailbox server includes the personal information of the user and the model information of the mobile terminal possessed by the user. The method of claim 1, The mailbox server further comprises a communication service user verification step of confirming whether the information entered at the time of registration by a member is correct to the mobile communication service providing server linked thereto. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The content-related information in the content registration step is paid content providing method for a mobile communication terminal, characterized in that at least one of the title of the content, a brief description, and location information including the IP address of the content server having the content. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, In the content purchase step, an additional means for identifying a target member to receive the content may be input so that the content can be presented to a mobile communication terminal of another member other than the connected member. A paid content providing method for a mobile communication terminal, comprising registering a content or content related information presented in a personal mailbox. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, In addition to the content registration step, Paid content for a mobile communication terminal, characterized in that it further comprises a real-time download to download the content directly to the designated mobile communication terminal in real time, or to download the content to the designated mobile communication terminal at the time specified by the user How to Provide. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, In the content download step 1) If the content download request is sent to the mailbox server and the content is stored in the personal mailbox of the mailbox server, download the content to the designated mobile communication terminal, 2) If the content download request is sent to the mailbox server and only the relevant information of the content is stored in the personal mailbox of the mailbox server, the mailbox server requests the download request including the user's mobile terminal number and content identification means. Transmitting the content to a content server having the content, and the content server receiving the content downloads the content to a designated mobile communication terminal, 3) If the content download request is sent to the content server, the content server requests confirmation that the content is registered in the user's personal mailbox of the mailbox server and downloads it to the designated mobile terminal only when confirmed. Paid content providing method for a mobile communication terminal characterized in that.