JP2002300314A - Server - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a distribution server that provides information to a mobile phone so that the mobile phone can substantially have ringer melodies whose number is in excess of a storage available number. SOLUTION: A mobile terminal 2 is connected to the distribution server 1 for ringer melodies via a public line. The server 11 downloads data for call reception stored in an information file 12 and imposes charging onto the mobile terminal 2. A deposit box 14 temporarily keeps downloaded melody information and the deposit box extracts the melody information that is temporarily deposited on request from the mobile terminal and stores the information thereto. No charge is imposed on the mobile terminal at the extraction. Thus, a user readily eliminates the ringer melody information stored therein, registers new ringer melody information to the box and extracts the ringer melody once extracted after that from the deposit box.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a server.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a melody (ring melody) registered in advance as a ring tone of a mobile phone is often used. The user may register the melody by recording the incoming melody at the time of manufacture of the mobile phone or by operating a dial button or the like. Furthermore, recently, a predetermined site (host database, distribution server) is accessed using a mobile phone,
In some cases, a target song is downloaded to a user's own mobile phone, and the downloaded song is used as a ring tone.

[0003] In this way, by downloading, the latest hit song can be used as a ringing melody as soon as possible, or conversely, by using a song that matches the user's hobby as a ringing melody, the ringing melody of another person's mobile phone can be used. Differentiation from sound can be achieved.

[0004] Also, a plurality of tunes for a normal incoming call can be stored and stored in the portable telephone, and a tune to be ringed at the time of an incoming call can be selected as necessary. Therefore, since the user is charged when downloading the music, the downloaded music is stored in the mobile phone, so that the charging can be prevented from being wasted and the user can be prepared for the subsequent reuse.

However, the number of songs that can be registered in a mobile phone is finite, for example, about 10 songs. Recently, some devices can store about 30 songs, but in any case, they are still limited.

[0006] Therefore, for example, if the number of songs that can be stored has already been downloaded to the mobile phone, no more data can be stored. In such a case, when a new song or the like to be used comes out, the already recorded song is deleted and newly downloaded with the memory capacity secured.

[0007] Then, the song for which money was paid for the charging is deleted, which is not preferable. In addition, if the user wishes to use it again after deletion, he or she must access the site again and download it for a fee. Therefore, even when selecting a song to be deleted, it is necessary to reconsider and decide whether or not the song may be used in the future.
The judgment is complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has as its object to provide information capable of having substantially more information than a portable terminal can simultaneously hold. To provide a server that performs the following.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a server according to the present invention is a server for providing information to a portable terminal connected via a network. Storage unit (corresponding to "information file 12" in the embodiment), and storage for specifying the information on condition that the information stored in the information storage unit is downloaded to the portable terminal. A custody storage unit for temporarily storing information (corresponding to the “custody box 14” in the embodiment), and storing the custody information in the custody storage unit in response to a request from the portable terminal; A processing unit (corresponding to the "service processing unit 11" in the embodiment) for providing information based on the storage information stored in the storage unit to the portable terminal is provided.

[0010] Here, "conditions for downloading"
This means that, of course, it is not limited to the case where the file is stored at the same time as the download, but may be performed on condition that the file is downloaded in the future without actually downloading. In addition, those downloaded in the past may be used. In any case, the target information is the information stored in the information storage unit of the server, and is downloaded from another database to the mobile terminal, or the data created by the user of the mobile terminal is stored in the storage unit. Temporary storage is outside the scope of the present invention. Various types of networks such as the Internet and public lines can be applied.

[0011] The storage information may be any as long as it can finally provide the corresponding predetermined information to the portable terminal.
For example, there are an address and a pointer for accessing information stored in the information storage unit. According to the present invention, since the original data of the information is stored in the information file, it is only necessary to store the index-like storage information without storing the information (data itself) in the custody storage unit.
The required memory capacity can be reduced. Of course, although the term is storage information, the present invention is a concept that also includes information itself to be finally provided to the mobile terminal. In that case, the information based on the storage information refers to the storage information itself (part or all).

The user can connect his / her own portable terminal to the server and download various information stored in the information storage unit to the portable terminal. Naturally, the amount of information that can be stored in the portable terminal is as follows. I have decided. Therefore,
If the capacity is exceeded, new information is downloaded after deleting already downloaded information. At this time, according to the present invention, by storing the information in the custody storage unit, the information based on the stored storage information can be retrieved at any time, so that the information can be easily deleted from the portable terminal.

Preferably, a customer management information storage unit (corresponding to “customer file 13” in the embodiment) is provided, and the processing unit stores the connected portable terminal in the customer management information storage unit. Is to execute a process for the custody storage unit on condition that the customer is a customer.

It is preferable that a billing process is performed when the information is downloaded to the portable terminal, and that no billing is performed when the information based on the storage information stored in the deposit storage unit is provided. That is, billing is performed when information is provided from the server, but billing is performed at the time of downloading, so that billing is not performed in the case of provision from the depository storage unit. This allows the user to easily use the custody storage unit. In the embodiment, the use of the custody storage unit is free, but a fixed fee is collected or extracted (received) on a monthly or yearly basis. Usually, it's cheaper than downloading).

There are various types of the information,
For example, it may include data for an incoming melody. Of course, other than this, it may be music information, news or other information.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of a system to which the present invention is applied. As shown in FIG. 1, a mobile terminal 2 such as a mobile phone is connected to a ringing melody distribution server 1 via a public line as a network. In this connected state, the mobile terminal 2 makes a service request to the distribution server 1, and the distribution server 1 that has received the service request performs a process according to the request and provides information to the mobile terminal 2. I do.

The information provided here is a melody (song) for an incoming melody. The provision of this information is performed to a pre-registered customer (also referred to as a user or a member). That is, the distribution server 1 determines whether or not the accessed portable terminal 2 is an authorized one that can receive the service, and in the case of an authorized one, information on the melody (song) specified by the portable terminal 2 Download (distribute). This is the premise of the present invention.

In the present invention, the melody information to be downloaded is temporarily stored, and the melody temporarily stored is pulled out and stored in the portable terminal 2 in response to a request. As a result, if the number of ringing melodies that can be recorded in the portable terminal 2 is assumed to be 10, for example, conventionally, it is impossible to hold 11 or more songs. If there is a melody that the user wishes to further register, one of the ten songs already registered is deleted, and then a new melody (song) is downloaded. However, in the present embodiment, the melody is temporarily stored in the distribution server 1, and thereafter, the melody stored is read out (withdrawn), so that the melody is stored again in the portable terminal 2 and can be used as a ringing melody. .

In the present invention, the melody to be temporarily stored is limited to the melody downloaded from the distribution server 1 after being charged. Therefore, when withdrawing thereafter, there is no need to be charged again, so that it can be easily deposited or withdrawn. Further, since all information such as melody to be deposited is held by the distribution server 1,
There is no need to actually send data from the mobile terminal 2, the process of temporarily depositing data can be performed in a short time, and the communication time of the mobile terminal 2 can be reduced.

Hereinafter, an internal configuration of the distribution server 1 for realizing the above-described processing will be described. The distribution server 1 includes a service processing unit 11 for executing the various processes described above,
Information to be delivered to mobile terminal 2 (ring melody, etc.)
, A customer file 13 for storing customer information, and a deposit box (storage unit) 14 for temporarily storing the incoming melody purchased by the customer (user). The information file 12 stores information to be distributed, that is, information on a melody that can be used as an incoming melody.

Specific melody information includes melody data (sound data, music data) and information related to the melody such as a music number, a music title, and a singer name. The melody data may directly store sound data constituting an actual song, or specific sound data may be stored in another database and used to access the other database. A pointer, an address, and the like may be stored.

The customer file 13 registers information on customers (members) for each customer. That is, as described above, the present system is made available to a person who has previously registered as a member, so that it is possible to determine whether or not the portable terminal 2 that has accessed the distribution server 1 belongs to a legitimate customer. Is stored. Specifically, the user ID and
Member information (member name, month of joining, phone number, etc.), music used (song number, date used, etc.), management information (used music in this month, registration date, model at registration, etc.) are registered in association with each other.

Note that the user ID is assigned to each contracted terminal. Therefore, even when the model is exchanged, the same telephone number can be used. On the other hand, when one person has a plurality of mobile terminals 2, a different user ID is assigned to each terminal. Accordingly, even if the information (melody) temporarily stored in the deposit box 14 is not charged when the information is withdrawn to the mobile terminal, it is possible to suppress downloading to a plurality of mobile terminals with one charging.

The storage box 14 is prepared for each customer, and associates a user ID, an index (song number, etc.) for specifying stored information (melody), a storage status (storage start month, a download flag, etc.), and the like. I remember. In addition, various information stored in this custody box 14 is in accordance with a request from the mobile terminal 2.
Be updated. The information once deposited in the storage box 14 may be updated in the download flag and the like even if it is subsequently pulled out, but remains in the storage box 14 without being automatically deleted with the withdrawal. The deletion is performed when there is a deletion request from the mobile terminal 2 side.

Next, the function of the service processing unit 11 will be described. First, the function of registering in the custody box will be described.
As shown in the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, predetermined information is output to display the service top menu on the display screen of the mobile terminal 2 (ST1). FIG. 3 shows an example of the displayed top menu. In this embodiment,
An example using a mobile phone as the mobile terminal 2 is shown,
FIG. 3 shows a display screen of the mobile phone. As is clear from the figure, a menu of available services is displayed, and the user can input a number assigned to each displayed service on the display screen by pressing a dial button or operating an arrow key. The service is selected by, for example, moving the cursor. The mobile terminal 2 transmits the pressed number to the distribution server 1 side, so the service processing unit 11 of the distribution server 1 performs a process according to the received number.

Therefore, first, the selected service (number)
(ST2), and executes a process according to the selected content. That is, in relation to the present invention, "5
When the "number" is selected, the download process is executed (S
T3). In this download process, the process of downloading melody information from the distribution server 1 to the portable terminal 2 and the process of depositing the melody information in the deposit box 14 can be performed. The details will be described later.

When "No. 0" is selected, a custody box process is performed (ST4). In this deposit box processing, the information (melody) deposited in the deposit box 14 is extracted, and the information deposited in the deposit box 14 is edited. The details will be described later.

Further, when other numbers are selected, predetermined processes are respectively performed (ST5). As an example, when the second new melody is selected, for example, the song name and the singer name of the new melody stored in the information file 12 are extracted and sent to the portable terminal 2 as a pair. Thereby, the new arrival list is displayed on the display screen of the mobile terminal 2. Similarly, when the third recommendation is selected, the name of the song being advanced and the name of the singer are sent to the portable terminal 2 as a pair. Alternatively, when the ranking of No. 4 is selected, the most frequently downloaded ones in the past fixed period are extracted,
The song name and the singer name are sent to the portable terminal 2 as a pair. In addition,
Such a process is the same as the conventional process, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Next, download processing will be described. This town load process executes the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, the user ID is acquired, and the customer file 13 is accessed to determine whether the customer is a legitimate customer (ST11, ST12). In the present embodiment, the user ID is set for each mobile terminal 2. If a telephone number is used as the user ID, the mobile terminal 2 automatically (manually communicates between the distribution server 1 and the mobile terminal 2). User ID can be obtained (without intervention). Further, when a user ID is set without being shared with a telephone number, a function of holding the user ID related to the mobile terminal 2 may be provided to automatically respond. Of course, the input screen of the user ID is displayed on the portable terminal 2,
It is also possible to prompt the user to enter a user ID, and to acquire the user ID sent from the portable terminal 2 accordingly.

If the customer is not a legitimate customer, an error occurs, the screen returns to the top menu screen, and the process is executed again from step 1 described above. At this time, a message saying that the customer is not a legitimate customer (user ID is invalid) or a message such as "You must register as a member (user registration) to use this service" are output and then displayed on the top menu. It is also possible to return or display the user registration screen.

On the other hand, if the customer is a legitimate customer, step 1
Since the determination in step 2 is "Yes", the process proceeds to step 13, where the provided information list is displayed (ST13). That is, a list of information that can be provided is displayed. The list is information in which a song name and a singer name are paired, and is sequentially displayed in a scrolling manner. An example of the display form is as shown in FIG. As a matter of course, the number of pieces of information (number of pieces of music) that can be provided is extremely large, so that the pieces of information are displayed in a predetermined order.

As an example of the display order, since there is a request that a normal user wants to use a new song as a melody for receiving a call on a mobile phone as soon as possible, it is possible to display a new song (new arrival) in order. Also, when registering a user, register the genre and singer name you want to use,
It is also possible to preferentially display songs of the corresponding genre or the like. Furthermore, "healing system", "quiet",
An image such as "Energetic" can be registered, and various forms can be taken, such as extracting and displaying the corresponding songs in descending order of matching degree.

The user looks at the above list (music selection screen) displayed on the display screen of his / her portable terminal 2 and selects (selects) music that he / she wants to use (purchase). This selection can be made, for example, by displaying a cursor on the display screen (inverting or blinking the corresponding character portion).
Move the cursor up and down to the song name you want to select,
The selection is determined by pressing a selection key (a button assigned in advance), and the determined music is transmitted to the distribution server 1.

The service processing unit 11 of the distribution server 1 receives a music selection from the user, accesses the information file 12 and the customer file 13, extracts information on the selected melody and information accompanying the melody, and extracts the extracted information. To the mobile terminal 2 and output it to the display screen of the mobile terminal 2 as a download confirmation screen (ST14). An example of such a display screen is as shown in FIG. It should be noted that conventionally known processes can be basically applied to the above-described series of processes from Steps 11 to 14 (excluding the display contents in Step 14).

Here, as information to be displayed on the download confirmation screen, conventionally, along with the name of the selected song and the name of the singer,
An area for sending a download command (confirmation) (in the illustrated example, the area is about “● to * download”. In the present embodiment, a registration request to the custody box 14 is accepted on this download confirmation screen. That is, a message "put this song in a box" is output and displayed in the lower area of the display screen, and the check box is checked, so that the currently selected song is stored in the deposit box 14 for the user (customer). It is registered and kept.

Then, on this download confirmation screen,
Users can download, "put in box,"
You can select 3 “to TOP”, 1 or 2
I will check the place. In other words, in the case of registering in the storage box 14, “insert in box” is checked, and the service processing unit 11 having received the check registers the selected music (melody) in the storage box 14 (ST 15). , ST16). In the registration process (ST16) in the storage box 14, the song number of the selected song and the registration date (month) are registered in the box of the corresponding user ID. Since the actual melody data (sound data) is registered in the information file 12, it is not stored in the storage box.

If download is selected, download processing is performed (ST17, ST18).
That is, melody data (sound data) for reproducing the actual melody and information such as a song title are distributed (downloaded) as information on the selected melody. Further, the corresponding user I in the customer file 13
In the column of D, the music number of the downloaded melody and the use date (download date) are stored. Then, when the download is completed, a completion notification as shown in FIG. 5C is displayed on the display screen of the portable terminal 2, so that the user can confirm that the user has been charged.

Then, if downloaded, and if "to TOP" is selected, the process returns to the top menu screen (ST19). As is apparent from the above-described example, there are four cases: a case where only downloading is performed; a case where only saving is performed in the custody box 14 without downloading; a case where both are performed; and a case where the process returns to the top menu without doing anything.

Further, when a predetermined condition is satisfied, a fee is charged (ST20). Specifically, a fee is charged for downloading. In addition, in the present embodiment, the case where the file is stored in the custody box 14 without downloading is also permitted, and as described later, no charge is made when withdrawing from the custody box 14. The billing process is performed assuming that a normal download has been performed.

It is to be noted that the timing of charging is arbitrary. For example, when the data is stored in the deposit box without downloading, no charging is performed and an uncharging flag is set. Then, when the music piece on which the uncharged flag is set is pulled out, charging may be performed. Then, the flag is changed according to the charging.

In this embodiment, the number of remaining songs that can be registered in the portable terminal 2 and the number of remaining songs that can be stored in the custody box 14 are displayed (see FIG. 5A). The number of remaining songs that can be stored in the custody box 14 can be determined by referring to the custody box 14 for the number of songs stored in the custody box 14 of the user ID. It can be easily obtained by subtracting the number of stored songs.

Next, the custody box processing will be described. This storage box process executes the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, the user ID is acquired, and the customer file 13 is accessed to determine whether the customer is a legitimate customer (ST21, ST22). If the customer is not a legitimate customer, an error occurs, the screen returns to the top menu screen, and the process is executed again from step 1 described above. Such processing is the same as the download processing.

On the other hand, if the customer is a legitimate customer, step 2
Since the determination in step 2 is Yes, the process proceeds to step 23, where the storage box list is displayed (ST23). That is, a list of songs stored in the storage box is displayed. As an example, as shown in FIG. 7A, the names of tunes and singers stored and the total number of tunes stored are output and displayed.

Next, since the user selects information (song) to be processed from the displayed list, information on the selected melody, that is, an information management screen including the song name and the singer name (FIG. 7 ( b)) (ST)
6). This management screen displays two processing instruction lists of "call a song" and "delete from the list" along with the above-mentioned song name and singer name.

If the given processing instruction is a "drawing request", the branch determination in step 25 results in Yes.
Therefore, information on the selected melody is passed to the portable terminal 2 (ST25, ST26). Thereby, the portable terminal 2 can use the pulled-out melody as the incoming melody. Then, when the withdrawal is completed, a completion notification as shown in FIG. 7C is displayed on the display screen of the portable terminal 2. Then, after performing the processing, the storage box list is displayed.

On the other hand, if the given processing instruction is “delete from list”, the branch judgment in step 27 results in Yes.
Therefore, the information on the selected melody is deleted from the deposit box 14 (ST27, ST28).
That is, since the storage box 14 has the maximum number of songs that can be stored, the storage box 14 is deleted by deleting unnecessary ones, that is, those that are not likely to be extracted.
4 to secure the number of songs that can be registered. Then, when the deletion process is completed, the display screen of the mobile terminal 2 is displayed as shown in FIG.
A list of the custody boxes after deletion as shown in (d) is displayed. As is apparent from a comparison between FIGS. 7A and 7D, the deletion reduces the current storage number by 1 to 9
It becomes a song. Also, it can be seen that “dotting jirva” displayed in FIG. 7A is removed from the list in FIG. 7D). In the above-described example, the tune registered in the custody box 14 is deleted by a deletion command from the user. Is also good.

When "To BOXTOP" is selected, the top menu screen of the custody box (see FIG. 3)
Return to and wait for the next instruction. This "BOXTOP"
In the example of FIG. 7, “he” is shown only in FIG.
It is also shown below (a), and by selecting it, it is possible to return to the top menu.

In the above-described embodiment, the tunes to be deposited in the box are limited to the melody (provided tunes) that the user intends to download from now on, but the present invention is not limited to this. The downloaded song (the song stored in the information file 12) may be deposited.

In the above-described embodiment, the information to be distributed is related to a melody for a ringing melody, but the present invention is not limited to this. And any other program that can be provided from the distribution server to the mobile terminal, such as the game and other programs.

[0050]

According to the present invention, a custody storage unit is provided,
Since the stored information can be temporarily stored and the information based on the stored information can be extracted thereafter, even if the downloaded information is deleted, the information is again stored in the mobile terminal by extracting the information based on the stored information. Can be stored. As a result, the mobile terminal can have substantially more information than the capacity that can be held simultaneously.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an internal structure of a server according to the present invention and an entire system.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating functions of a service processing unit.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of a top menu.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a download processing function of a service processing unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen in a download process.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a custody box processing function of the service processing unit.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen in a custody box process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Distribution server 2 Mobile terminal 11 Service processing part (processing means) 12 Information file (information storage part) 13 Customer file (customer management information storage part) 14 Deposit box (deposit storage part)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5K027 AA11 BB01 FF03 FF22 FF25 5K067 AA21 BB04 DD51 EE02 FF02 FF13 FF25 HH23 KK15 5K101 KK02 LL12 NN02 NN21 NN48 PP07 UU15

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A server for providing information to a mobile terminal connected via a network, comprising: an information storage unit for storing the information to be provided; On condition that it is downloaded to the terminal, a storage storage unit for temporarily storing storage information for specifying the information, and storing the storage information in the storage storage unit in response to a request from the mobile terminal And a processing unit for providing information based on the storage information stored in the custody storage unit to the portable terminal. 2. A customer management information storage unit is provided, wherein the processing unit executes processing on the custody storage unit on condition that the connected portable terminal is a customer stored in the customer management information storage unit. The server according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a billing process is performed when the information is downloaded to the portable terminal, and no billing is performed when the information based on the storage information stored in the custody storage unit is provided. 3. The server according to 1 or 2. 4. The server according to claim 1, wherein the information includes data for an incoming melody.