JP2003060646A - Content distribution method and distribution server - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reliably distribute contents to a fixed number of wireless terminals. SOLUTION: If any terminal exists in its service area, a distribution server for distributing contents to the terminals in its service area judges whether or not the number of terminals for which the distribution of contents is permitted reaches a prescribed number. If the judging result is negative, the server permits the distribution of content to this terminal. If the judging result is positive, the server forbids the distribution of content to this terminal, and stores identification information of the terminal for which the distribution of content is forbidden together with a priority. When the distribution of content to another terminal is completed, or another terminal exists out of the service area before the distribution of content is not completed yet, the server permits the distribution of content to a terminal of the identification information having top priority out of the stored identification.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a content distribution method and a distribution server for distributing content to wireless terminals within a service area, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a weather condition, news, stock market, etc. have been present in a service area of a wireless base station and carried by a user from a server via the wireless base station. A system for delivering useful information (hereinafter referred to as “content”) to a user is being realized. According to such a distribution system, the user can obtain the desired content only by carrying the wireless terminal and passing through the service area. Here, not only general character information but also various types of content such as image data including still images / moving images, music data, and application programs are expected in the future.

By the way, since the user usually does not have to be aware of the service area, it is premised that the wireless terminal receives the content while moving. On the other hand, the range of the service area is necessarily determined by the transmission output of the wireless base station, the radio wave condition, and the like. Therefore, in such a distribution system, it is necessary to complete the distribution of the content to the wireless terminal within the time when it passes through the limited service area.

[0004]

However, in such a distribution system, when the number of wireless terminals existing in the service area rapidly increases, the band used by the wireless terminals is narrowed. Alternatively, the number of channels per unit time assigned to one wireless terminal decreases depending on the communication method used. In any case, 1
Transfer efficiency of data to one wireless terminal is significantly reduced. For this reason, it becomes difficult to distribute the content to the wireless terminals existing in the service area, and in the worst case, the content cannot be distributed to even one wireless terminal.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a content distribution method and a content distribution method capable of reliably distributing content to at least a fixed number of wireless terminals. To provide a distribution server.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a distribution server according to the present embodiment is a distribution server that distributes contents to terminals in a service area, and one terminal is a service area. If it is within the range, a determining means for determining whether or not the number of terminals permitted to distribute the content in the service area has reached the set number, and if the determination result is negative, the terminal To the terminal while the content is permitted to be distributed to the terminal, and if the determination result is affirmative, setting means for disabling the content to be distributed to the terminal, and identification information of the terminal to which the content is not to be distributed If the content has been delivered to another terminal and the storage means for storing the content with the priority, or before the delivery of the content is completed,
When another terminal is out of the service area, a permission unit that permits the distribution of the content to the terminal having the identification information with the highest priority among the stored identification information is provided. .

With such a configuration, the number of terminals to which the content is distributed in the service area is limited to a certain number or less, so that the content can be more reliably delivered to the certain number of terminals. Become. Also, if the delivery of content to another terminal is completed, or if one terminal goes out of the service area before the delivery of content is completed, the content is not permitted to be delivered. If the priority is high, distribution of the content is permitted. Therefore, even if the number of terminals to which the content is distributed is limited to a certain number or less, it is possible to efficiently distribute the content in order.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<Schematic Configuration of Content Delivery System> First, a schematic configuration of the content delivery system according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing this configuration. In this figure, the service area 11a
Is transmitted by the radio wave from the base station 13a.
2 is an area in which it is possible to receive a service of a predetermined quality or higher. Similarly, the service area 11b is
This is an area corresponding to the base station 13b.

Here, the wireless terminal 12 is carried by a user and downloads contents (data thereof). This wireless terminal 12 is, for example, a PDA (Pe
rsonal Digital Assistants) and notebook PCs (Persona
Wireless communication is possible by incorporating a communication module into a mobile terminal such as a computer. of course,
It is also possible to integrate these functions. In addition, each of the base stations 13 a and 13 b transmits content to the wireless terminal 12 and receives various requests / acknowledgements (signals indicating) from the wireless terminal 12 on the contrary, thereby communicating with the wireless terminal 12. Mutual wireless communication is performed. Subsequently, the distribution server 14 controls data distribution with the wireless terminal 12 via the base station 13.

In FIG. 1, the service area 11
Although only one wireless terminal 12 is present in each of a and 11b, in reality, a plurality of terminals individually enter or leave the area, as will be described later. Also,
Although only two service areas 11a and 11b are shown in FIG. 1, the number may be one or three or more. Further, in FIG. 1, the base station 13 and the distribution server 14 are directly connected, but between these,
Various networks and devices for connection may be inserted. Here, in the case of generally explaining without specifying the base stations 13a and 13b and their service areas 11a and 11b, they will be described as the base station 13 and the service area 11. Next, the configuration and operation premise of each unit in this content distribution system will be described in detail.

<Wireless Terminal> First, the details of the wireless terminal 12 will be described. Here, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the wireless terminal 12. In this figure, ROM (Re
The ad only memory) 121 stores a control program for controlling the wireless terminal 12. CPU (Ce
The ntral processing unit) 122 controls each unit via the bus B2 according to a control program.
The RAM (Random Access Memory) 123 is the CPU 12
It is used as a work area in the control of 2 and stores temporarily generated work data and flags.

The main storage device 124 stores contents, content reservation information, a download completion flag and the like in a non-volatile manner. Of these, the content is actually downloaded from the base station 13 (distribution server 14). Further, the content reservation information is information for the user to specify a new desired content. Further, as will be described later, the download completion flag is indicated by "1" when all the contents to be downloaded have been received in the service area where the user has visited (for example, immediately before), while the contents to be downloaded are Is received, it is indicated by "0".

Here, when all the contents to be downloaded are not received, the contents are not downloaded in the service area and therefore the contents are not downloaded, and the contents are downloaded in the service area. However, if the content download is not completed as a result of moving to the outside of the service area in the middle of the download, there are two possible cases.

On the other hand, the display unit 125 displays various information, such as a liquid crystal panel. Furthermore, the operation unit 126 is for an input operation by the user, and supplies a signal corresponding to the operation to the CPU 122. The content reservation information described above is also generated corresponding to the result of the user operating the operation unit 126 to select and input desired content. Then, the wireless communication unit 127, under the control of the CPU 122,
Various information is wirelessly communicated with the base station 13. In the present invention, the communication method between the wireless terminal 12 and the base station 13 is not limited, but, for example, Bluetooth
It is possible to apply the one based on the (registered trademark) or the one based on the method used for a general wireless LAN.

<Wireless Terminal Control Program> Next, for convenience of explanation, a control program in the wireless terminal 12 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing contents by the control program. First, wireless terminal 1
In step Sa1, the CPU 122 of No. 2 determines whether or not a new service area 11 is newly entered.
As this determination, for example, it is possible to determine whether or not a beacon periodically emitted from the base station 13 is newly received.

Here, if the determination result is "No", that is, the CPU 122 determines that the new service area 1
If it has not entered 1, or if it remains in the old service area 11, the processing procedure is skipped to step Sa5 described later, while if the determination result is “Yes”, in step Sa2, A connection request is executed with the distribution server 14 via the base station 13 to receive user authentication. Since the connection request and the user authentication are not directly related to the present invention, the details will be described in the specific operation described later.

Now, the wireless terminal 12 approved by the user
In step Sa3, the CPU 122 sends a content download request. The download request is identification information for identifying the wireless terminal 12, content reservation information indicating what content the wireless terminal 12 (user) desires, and a download completion flag at the present time. And so on.

Next, in step Sa4, the CPU 122 resets the download completion flag stored in the storage device 124 to "0". Then, CPU1
22 determines in step Sa5 whether or not any signal is received, and if the determination result is “No”, returns the processing procedure to step Sa1. On the other hand, if any signal is received, the CPU 122 causes the step Sa6,
The Sa8 determines what the signal is.

Here, if the CPU 122 determines that the received signal is the content (if the determination result in step Sa6 is "Yes"), the CPU 122 stores the content in the main storage device 124 in step Sa7. If the CPU 122 determines that the received signal is a signal requesting to wait for the download of content (download standby request) (the determination result of step Sa6 is “No”, the determination result of step Sa8). Is “Yes”), a signal to approve the standby request (download standby approval) in step Sa9.
To reply.

The CPU 122 executes the step Sa6,
If all the determination results of Sa8 are “No”, it is determined that the received signal is the confirmation of the download end, and in step Sa10, a signal indicating the approval (download end approval) is returned, and thereafter, , Step Sa1
In step 1, the download completion flag is set to "1". Here, the download end approval is a signal transmitted from the base station 13 and is a signal indicating that all the contents requested by the wireless terminal have been distributed.

As described above, in the control program of the wireless terminal 12, the wireless terminal 12 is in a certain service area 11
When the operation enters, the download completion flag is provisionally reset to "0" (step Sa4), and then the download completion flag is maintained at "0" unless all the contents to be downloaded are received in the service area 11. Will be done. On the other hand, even if the user enters a certain service area 11 and the download completion flag is reset to “0”, when all the contents to be downloaded are received in the service area 11, the download completion flag is set to “1”. (Step Sa11).

It should be noted that, although confirming, the download completion flag indicates the value in the state immediately before the reset to "0" in step Sa4, that is, the content to be downloaded in the service area immediately before, not at the current time. A value indicating whether or not all of them are received is transmitted when entering the current service area.

When the determination result in step Sa5 is "No" (when the wireless terminal 12 has not received any content, download standby request, or download end approval), the processing procedure is returned to step Sa1. The determination result in step Sa1 is “No”
If (the wireless terminal 12 is the old service area 11
The reason why the processing procedure is skipped to step Sa5 is as follows. That is, after the wireless terminal 12 enters a certain service area 11 and is authenticated by the user, the wireless terminal 12 leaves the service area 11 before receiving a signal and a new service area 11 is received.
In such a case, in order to connect to a new service area or the like, steps Sa2 to Sa4 are performed.
Of the wireless terminal 1.
This is because it is necessary to execute the processing (steps Sa7, Sa9, Sa10, Sa11) according to the signal when the signal is received even when the two remain in the same service area 11.

<Base Station> Next, the configuration of the base station 13 will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the base station 13. In this figure, the ROM 131 is the base station 1
3 for storing the basic input / output system. CP
U132 controls each unit via the bus B3. The RAM 133 is used as a work area or the like under the control of the CPU 132. Further, the main storage device 134 stores a control program or the like used for controlling the base station 13, and is, for example, an HDD.
(Hard Disk Drive) etc. The wireless communication unit 135 wirelessly communicates various types of information to the wireless terminal 12, and the communication unit 136 performs wired communication with the distribution server 14.

The contents distributed to the wireless terminal are
Although originally stored in the distribution server 14, in the present embodiment, in order to simplify the description, when content is newly generated or updated, the content is automatically transferred to the base station 13 and the RAM 133. Alternatively, it is assumed to be cached in the main storage device 134. That is, the distribution server 14
The same content as that stored in the base station 13 is always stored in the base station 13.

The contents of the control program in the base station 13 are not particularly described with reference to the drawings, but basically the following processing is executed in addition to the above caching. That is, the main function of the base station 13 is a first operation of transferring a signal received from the wireless terminal 12 to the distribution server 14 and a signal received from the distribution server 14 to the wireless terminal 12, respectively.
If the signal received from the distribution server 14 is a download approval signal for approving the distribution of the content to the wireless terminal 12, the cached content that the wireless terminal 12 desires is distributed to the wireless terminal 12. The second operation, and when all the contents to be distributed to the wireless terminal 12 are distributed, the third operation of transmitting a signal to that effect (download end confirmation) to the wireless terminal 12 and the wireless terminal 12 If all the contents to be distributed are distributed and the download end confirmation is transmitted to the wireless terminal 12, but the reply signal (download end approval) is not received from the wireless terminal 12 within a certain time, the download is performed. Is a fourth operation of transmitting to the distribution server 14 a signal (confirmation of download incompletion) indicating that the process has failed.

<Distribution Server> Next, the configuration of the distribution server 14 will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the distribution server 14. In this figure, the ROM 141
Stores the basic input / output system in the distribution server 14. The CPU 142 controls each unit via the bus B4 according to the control program.
The RAM 143 is used as a work area in the control of the CPU 142 and stores a wireless terminal information table described later. In addition, the main storage device 14
Reference numeral 4 stores a control program used for controlling the distribution server 14, various contents to be distributed to the wireless terminal 12, and the like, and is composed of, for example, an HDD.

Next, the clock circuit 145 outputs information indicating the current time. The current time is used in the wireless terminal information table. In addition, the communication unit 147 performs, for example, wired communication with the base station 13.

<Structure of Wireless Terminal Information Table> Next, the wireless terminal information table created in the RAM 143 of the distribution server 14 will be described with reference to FIG. It should be noted that FIG. 5 is merely an example, and various modifications are possible. The wireless terminal information table is created by the distribution server 14 for each base station 13 (each service area 11).

Now, as shown in FIG. 5, in the wireless terminal information table, the terminal ID, the area in time, and the area ID corresponding to each of the wireless terminals 12 existing in the service area 11.
Items of download completion flag, content size, and priority are provided. Of these, the terminal ID is
This is identification information uniquely assigned to the wireless terminal 12 in order to identify the wireless terminal 12 located in the service area 11. For example, the subscriber number of the wireless terminal, its identifier, and the wireless LAN system. MAC (Media
Access Control) address can be used. Next, the area-in-time is information indicating the time when the wireless terminal identified by the terminal ID is within the range of the corresponding service area 11. For example, when the wireless terminal receives a connection request, It is obtained from the output of the clock circuit 145. Next, the download completion flag is information included in the connection request when the wireless terminal identified by the terminal ID enters the service area 11, and as described above, the wireless terminal is in the past (previous ) In the service area 11, the case where all the contents to be downloaded are received is indicated by "1", while
If not, it is indicated by "0".

On the other hand, the content size (judgment result thereof) is indicated by "Large" if the total data amount of the content to be distributed to the wireless terminal identified by the "terminal ID" exceeds the threshold. If it is below the threshold value, it is indicated by "Small". The distribution server 14 obtains the content size of the wireless terminal identified by the terminal ID, for example, in the following procedure. That is, first, the wireless terminal 12
After the authentication, the content reservation information indicating the content and type of the content desired by the user is included in the download request and transmitted to the distribution server 14, and secondly, the distribution server 1
4 knows the amount of data in all contents, and if there is a request from the wireless terminal 12, obtains the sum of the amounts of data of the requested contents. Third, if the sum exceeds a threshold value, Judge whether or not.

As shown in FIG. 5, the wireless terminal information table is roughly divided into a permit list and a disallow list. Among these, the permission list indicates that the content download is permitted for the wireless terminal having the terminal ID included therein. Here, the number of vehicles (limit value) that can be written in the permission list is set for each service area 11. It should be noted that this limit value has a property that should be set dynamically or in advance from the radio wave condition of the corresponding service area 11, the area area of the service area 11, and the like. On the other hand, the disapproval list indicates that the wireless terminal having the terminal ID included therein is not permitted to download the content (ie, is not permitted). Here, unlike the allowance list, the number of devices that can be listed on the disallowance list is unlimited unless physical restrictions (mainly storage capacity) are applied. Further, the priority is used when determining which of the wireless terminals with the terminal IDs listed in the non-permission list is to be moved (incorporated) to the permission list when there is space in the permission list. It is used. For example, in the present embodiment, the terminal ID whose priority is “1” when the permission list has a space
(Wireless terminal) is said to be moved to the permission list.

In the wireless terminal information table shown in FIG. 5, the terminal ID is "XXX" in the service area 11.
There are 10 wireless terminals "XX1" to "XXXX10", and the distribution of contents is permitted by the wireless terminals of the former four parties and not permitted by the wireless terminals of the latter six parties.

<Distribution Server Control Program> Next, the control program in the distribution server 14 will be described. This control program executes creation / rewriting of a wireless terminal information table and determination of permission / non-permission of content distribution according to the table. As described above, the wireless terminal information table is the service area 11
This control program is also executed for each service area 11 (base station 13) because it is created only for that portion, but here, only one service area 11 will be described. If the wireless terminal enters any of the service areas, the distribution server 14
Executes connection approval with the wireless terminal and user authentication, but this point is not directly related to the present invention, and therefore its explanation is omitted here. That is, the contents of the control program here are of the nature that they are executed separately from connection approval and user authentication with a wireless terminal that has entered the service area.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of this control program. First, C of the distribution server 14
In step Sb1, the PU 142 determines whether or not any signal has been received from the wireless terminal via the base station 13. If no signal is received, the CPU 142 returns the processing procedure and waits until a signal is received.
On the other hand, if the signal is received, the CPU 142 determines in step Sb2 whether the received signal is a download request. As described above, the download request is information for requesting the download of the content from the wireless terminal 12 that has been authenticated by the user in the service area 11, and as described above, the identification information of the wireless terminal and the content reservation. It includes information and a download completion flag.

If the received signal is a download request (if the determination result in step Sb2 is "Yes"),
In step Sb3, the CPU 142 refers to the wireless terminal information table to determine whether the number of wireless terminals 12 currently permitted to distribute the content is less than the limit value, and the permission list is empty. Occurs, and it is determined whether or not there is a wireless terminal 12 that is in the standby state because it is listed in the disapproval list.

If this determination result is "Yes", CP
U142 describes the information regarding the said wireless terminal in the permission list of a wireless terminal information table in step Sb4. Specifically, the CPU 142, in an arbitrary line of the allowance list having a space, displays the terminal ID that is the identification information of the wireless terminal 12 that requested the download and the wireless terminal 12 concerned.
Area intime, which is the time when the user entered the service area 11, the download completion flag included in the download request, and the content size (judgment result) calculated and determined from the content reservation information included in the download request. Enter. Then, the CPU 14
2 approves the download to the wireless terminal 12 added to the permission list in step Sb5, in detail,
A signal to approve the download of the content indicated by the content reservation information is transmitted via the base station 13.
As a result, the base station 13 caching the content delivers the content indicated by the content reservation information to the wireless terminal 12. After this, the CPU
142 returns the processing procedure to step Sb1.

On the other hand, in step Sb3, when the number of wireless terminals 12 which are permitted to deliver the content at the present time is equal to or more than the limit value, that is, when the permission list of the wireless terminal information table has no space, CPU1
In step Sb6, the information 42 additionally writes information about the wireless terminal in the last line of the disapproval list of the wireless terminal information table. In detail, the CPU 142 adds to the disapproval list the terminal ID that is the identification information of the wireless terminal 12 that made the download request, the area-in-time that is the time when the wireless terminal 12 entered the service area 11, and the download request. The download completion flag included and the content size (judgment result thereof) are additionally described. For example, when the wireless terminal information table is in the state as shown in FIG. 5, the terminal ID is “XXXX11”.
When the download request of the wireless terminal is received, it will be additionally described as shown in FIG.

Then, the CPU 142 proceeds to step Sb7.
In step 2, the wireless terminal 12 transmits, via the base station 13, a download standby request for requesting the standby for content download. As a result, the content is not delivered to the wireless terminal 12, and the wireless terminal 12 is in the standby state. Then, the CPU 142
In step Sb8, the priority is reset by comparing the area-in-time, the download completion flag, and the content size (judgment result) of the terminal IDs listed in the non-permission list in the wireless terminal information table. After that, the CPU 142 executes the processing procedure in step Sb.
Return to 1. The resetting of the priority will be described later.

If the signal received in step Sb2 is not a download request, the CPU 142 determines in step Sb9 that the received signal is the wireless terminal 1 concerned.
In step 2, it is determined whether it is either a download end approval indicating that the download is completed or a download incomplete confirmation indicating that the download is incompletely completed on the wireless terminal 12. If the result of this determination is "No", the CPU 142 determines that the received signal is approval for download standby, and returns the processing procedure to step Sb1. On the other hand, if the determination result is “Yes”, the CPU 142 proceeds to the next steps Sb10 to Sb.
14 processing is performed.

That is, the CPU 142 executes the step Sb.
At 10, the information regarding the wireless terminal 12 is deleted from the wireless terminal information table. Here, the wireless terminal that has transmitted either the download end approval or the download incomplete confirmation corresponds to the terminal ID listed in the permission list of the wireless terminal information table. Therefore, when the information related to the wireless terminal is deleted from the wireless terminal information table, the permission list becomes empty. For example, when the wireless terminal information table is in the state shown in FIG. 5, the terminal ID is "XX.
When the download end approval or the download incompletion confirmation is received from the wireless terminal 12 of “XXX1”, as shown in FIG. 8, the corresponding line in the allowance list is deleted, and the line becomes empty.

Subsequently, the CPU 142 proceeds to step Sb1.
In step 1, it is determined whether or not there is a wireless terminal listed in the disapproval list. If the determination result is "No", the processing procedure is moved to step Sb1 to prepare for the reception of the next signal. return. On the other hand, this determination result is “Yes”.
If so, the CPU 142 determines in step Sb12 that
In the disapproval list, the information about the wireless terminal whose priority is “1” at the present moment is moved to the part where the allowance list has a space. For example, in the wireless terminal information table, as shown in FIG. 8, when the top row of the allowance list has a vacancy, information about the wireless terminals having the priority “1” in the disapproval list, that is, , The information about the wireless terminal having the terminal ID “XXXXXX5” is moved to the row (see FIG. 9). It should be noted that the priority is indicated as "-" because it can be ignored after it is incorporated into the permission list.

Next, in step Sb13, the CPU 142 sets the priority of each wireless terminal in the disapproval list to "1" in order to cope with moving the wireless terminal having the priority "1" to the allowance list. Decrement only, and fill in the empty part of the disallowed list. For example, when the information regarding the wireless terminal whose priority is “1” in the disapproval list is moved to the allow list, as shown in FIG. 9, the disapproval list becomes empty, but the process of step Sb13 causes The priority of each wireless terminal in the permission list is decremented by "1", and the empty portion is reduced (see FIG. 10). In the state shown in FIG. 10, if there is a vacancy in the permission list, this time, the terminal ID is "XX.
The information regarding the wireless terminal, which is “XXX9”, moves to the empty portion.

The CPU 142 then proceeds to step Sb1.
4, the wireless terminal 12, which has moved to the permission list, receives the download approval for approving the download of the content indicated by the content reservation information from the base station 13
To send via. As a result, the base station 13 that caches the content delivers the content indicated by the content reservation information to the wireless terminal 12 that has been prohibited until then. After this, the CPU 142
Returns the processing procedure to step Sb1.

<Resetting Priority> Here, the resetting of the priority in step Sb8 of FIG. 7 will be described with reference to FIG. First, in the wireless terminal information table, the CPU 142 provisionally sets the priority of the download completion flag described in the disapproval list to “0” to “1”, while setting the download completion flag to “1”. The priority of a certain item is lowered to a uniform value (step Sb801). For example, in the state where the wireless terminal information table is as shown in FIG. 12, the terminal IDs that are included in the disapproval list and have the download completion flag of “0” are “XXXXXXX5”, “XXXXXXX8”, and “XX”.
Since there are 4 units of "XXX9" and "XXXX11",
While the priority is set to “1”, the terminal ID whose download completion flag is “1” is “XXXXXXX”.
6 ”,“ XXXX7 ”and“ XXXX10 ”, the priorities of these are equally lowered to“ 5 ”(see FIG. 13). By this step Sb801, the priority of the wireless terminal that could not download all the contents to be downloaded in the past (immediately before) service area 11 is increased.

Next, the CPU 142 maintains the priority of the content size (judgment result) of "Small" among those having the same priority, while the priority of "Large" is maintained. The degree is relatively low (step Sb802). For example, in the state where the wireless terminal information table is as shown in FIG. 13, the content size is “Sm
The terminal IDs that are “all” are “XXXXXXX5” and “X
Since the terminal IDs having the content size of "Large" are "XXXX8" and "XXXX11", the priorities of these are relative. Is reduced to "3" (see FIG. 14). Similarly, of the terminals having the same priority “5”, the terminal ID having the content size “Small” is “XXXX10”, so that the priority is maintained at “5” while the content size is "Larg
The terminal IDs that are “e” are “XXXX6” and “XXX”
Since they are "X7", these priorities are relatively lowered to "6" (see FIG. 14). By this step Sb802, even if the download completion flag has the same value, the priority of the wireless terminal having a small total data amount of the content to be distributed is increased.

Further, the CPU 142 raises the priority of the items whose priority is set to the same value, the older the time indicated by the area-in time is (step Sb803). For example, in the state where the wireless terminal information table is as shown in FIG. 14, the terminals having the same priority “1” have terminal IDs “XXX”.
Since the area-in-time is the past in the order of XX5 ”and“ XXXXXX9 ”, these priorities are set to“ 1 ”and“ 2 ”, respectively (see FIG. 15). Similarly,
Since the area-in-time is the past in the order of the terminal IDs “XXXX8” and “XXXX11” among those having the same priority “3”, these priorities are set to “3” and “4”, respectively. It is set (see FIG. 15). Similarly, terminals having the same priority “6” are connected to the terminal I.
Since the area-in-time is past in the order of “XXXXXXX6” and “XXXX7” for D, these priorities are set to “6” and “7”, respectively (see FIG. 15).

As described above, when the download request is received and the information of the wireless terminal is additionally described in the disallowed list of the wireless terminal information table, the information of the wireless terminals listed in the disallowed list is compared with each other. In detail, in this embodiment, the download completion flag, the content size, and the area-in-time are compared in this order, and the priority is reset.

<Specific Operation of Content Delivery System>
Next, regarding the specific operation of the content distribution system,
In detail, how each of the wireless terminal 12, the base station 13, and the distribution server 14 controlled as described above specifically operates in each assumed case will be described. In addition, as a possible case,
When a wireless terminal is within the service area and the number of wireless terminals downloading content in the service area is less than the limit value, and when a wireless terminal is within the service area At this time, when the number of wireless terminals downloading the content in the service area is equal to or larger than the limit value. Furthermore, in the case or in the case, the wireless terminal sometimes leaves the service area without downloading all the contents to be downloaded, and this case will be described as a case.

<Case> First, the case will be described mainly with reference to FIGS. 16, 17 and 18. First, it is assumed that the wireless terminal 12 has moved into a certain service area 11. When entering the service area in this way, the wireless terminal 12 operates in step Sa of FIG.
Since the determination result of 1 is “Yes”, the process of Sa2 is executed. On the other hand, the base station 13 executes the transfer operation according to the above-described first operation, and the distribution server 1
In 4, the connection approval and
User authentication will be executed. For details, see FIG.
It becomes as shown in.

That is, when the wireless terminal 12 moves into the service area 11 (block b11), the wireless terminal 12 sends out a connection request CR (block b12), and when the base station 13 receives the connection request CR, this By sending to the distribution server 14 (block b13),
The distribution server 14 receives the connection request CR. The distribution server 14, which has received the connection request CR, receives the connection request C.
When a connection approval CP to approve the connection is sent to the wireless terminal 12 which issued the R (block b14), and the base station 13 receives the connection approval CP, the base station 13 receives the connection approval CP.
The wireless terminal 12 receives the connection approval CP by transmitting the connection approval CP to the wireless communication terminal 2 (block b15).

Further, the wireless terminal 12 that has received the connection approval CP sends a user authentication request UR to the distribution server 14 to authenticate whether it is a valid user (block b16), and the base station 13 When receiving the user authentication request UR, the distribution server 14 receives the user authentication request UR by transmitting it to the distribution server 14 (block b17). Then, the distribution server 14 that has received the user authentication request authenticates whether the user of the wireless terminal 12 is valid, and if the user is valid,
The user approval UP is sent to the wireless terminal 12 (block b18), and when the base station 13 receives the user approval UP, the base station 13 transmits the user approval UP to the wireless terminal 12 (block b19). Receives the user approval UP.

Now, the wireless terminal 12 thus approved
Then, the processes of steps Sa3 and Sa4 in FIG. 6 are executed. That is, the wireless terminal 12 sends the download request DR (block b in FIG. 17).
21). As described above, the download request DR includes the terminal ID of the wireless terminal 12, content reservation information, a download completion flag, and the like. After that, in the wireless terminal 12, the download completion flag is reset to “0” and some signal is received,
It will be in a standby state until it moves to another service area 11 (see steps Sa1 and Sa5 in FIG. 6). On the other hand, when the base station 13 receives the download request DR, the base station 13 transmits the download request DR to the distribution server 14 (block b22), and the distribution server 14 receives the download request DR.

In the case of the case, the determination results of steps Sb1 to Sb3 in FIG.
s ”, the distribution server 14 that has received the download request DR executes the processing of steps Sb4 and Sb5. Therefore, the distribution server 14 sends the download approval DP to the wireless terminal 12 after writing the information about the wireless terminal 12 in the permission list (block b23 in FIG. 17) (FIG. 18). Block b31). It should be noted that the distribution server 14 that has transmitted the download approval DP is in a standby state for the wireless terminal 12 until it receives any signal (see step Sb1 in FIG. 7).

In addition, the base station 13 that has received the download approval DP transmits the content specified by the content reservation information among the already cached content to the wireless terminal 12 according to the second operation (block b32). ). It should be noted that the content reservation information referred to here includes the content reservation information when the download request DL from the wireless terminal 12 is used for caching when it is transferred to the distribution server 14, or when the download approval DP transmitted by the distribution server 14 is used. Of course, various modes are conceivable such as the case of extracting and using this. In the wireless terminal 12 that has received the content, steps Sa5 to Sa7 are performed.
The content is stored in the main storage device 124 because the processing of (1) is executed.

When the base station 13 has transmitted all the contents to be distributed to the wireless terminal 12, the base station 13 confirms the download end E to the wireless terminal 12 by the third operation.
OD is transmitted (block b33). On the other hand, when the wireless terminal 12 receives the download end confirmation EOD, the processes of steps Sa5, Sa6, Sa8, Sa10 and Sa11 in FIG. 6 are sequentially executed. Therefore, the wireless terminal 12 outputs the download end approval TA (block b34) and sets the download completion flag, which is an internal variable, to "1". Therefore,
When the wireless terminal 12 enters another service area, the download completion flag included in the download request is "1", and thus the priority is set to be low.

Further, the base station 13 which has received the download end approval TA transmits it to the distribution server 14 in accordance with the first operation (block b35). Then, in the distribution server 14 that has received the download end approval TA,
Steps Sb1, Sb2 and Sb9-S in FIG.
The processing of b14 is sequentially executed. Therefore, the distribution server 14 executes processing such as deleting the item corresponding to the wireless terminal that has transmitted the download end approval TA from the permission list of the wireless terminal information table (block b36). It should be noted that the distribution server 14 enters a standby state after the deletion, if the information regarding the wireless terminal is not listed in the disapproval list.

Here, the case is a case where, when a certain wireless terminal is within the service area, the number of wireless terminals downloading the content in the service area is less than the limit value. After that, if the number of wireless terminals 12 entering the service area increases, there is a possibility that the wireless terminals exist in the disapproval list at the stage of reaching the block b31. However,
In this way, even if there is a wireless terminal on the disallowed list,
The distribution server 14 moves the one of which the priority is “1” to the allowance list and transmits the download approval DP to the wireless terminal, so that this wireless terminal 12 this time.
The content will be distributed to.

<Case> Next, a case will be described in which, when a certain wireless terminal is within the service area, the number of wireless terminals downloading the content in the service area is equal to or more than the limit value. In this case, the process from when the wireless terminal 12 enters the service area 11 to when the distribution server 14 receives the download request is the same as the case. That is, in the case, the operations up to block b22 in FIG. 16 and FIG. 17 are common. Therefore, in order to avoid duplication of description, the description of the operation up to when the distribution server 14 receives the download request 14 will be omitted, and the subsequent operation will be described.

That is, it is assumed that the distribution server 14 receives the download request DR transmitted from a certain wireless terminal 12 into a certain service area 11 after connection / authentication. In the case of the case, the distribution server 14 that has received the download request DR performs step S in FIG.
The processing is executed in the order of b1 to Sb3 and Sb6 to Sb8. Therefore, the distribution server 14 additionally writes information about the wireless terminal that has transmitted the download request DR in the disallowed list of the wireless terminal information table (block b).
41), and sends a download standby request SR (block b42). After that, the distribution server 14 resets the priority including the additionally described wireless terminal, and enters the standby state.

Upon receipt of the download standby request SR, the base station 13 transmits it to the wireless terminal 12 according to the first operation (block b43). On the other hand, when the wireless terminal 12 receives the download standby request SR, the processing procedure is step Sa5, Sa6, Sa8 in FIG.
As a result of proceeding in the order of Sa9, download standby approval S
Send A (block b44) to leave the current service area and enter another service area,
Alternatively, it stands by until a signal is received.
Then, the base station 1 that has received the download standby approval SA
3 transmits this to the distribution server 14 according to the first operation. When the download standby approval SA is received, the processing procedure of the distribution server 14 proceeds in the order of steps Sb1, Sb2, and Sb9 in FIG. 7, but since the determination result of step Sb9 is “No”, the distribution server 1
4 is in a standby state.

In this standby state, if the distribution server 14 receives any signal and it is a download end approval or a download failure confirmation, the processing procedure proceeds in the order of steps Sb1, Sb2, Sb9 to Sb14. As a result, the download approval DP is sent to the wireless terminal 12 having the priority “1” at that time. In addition, the wireless terminal 12 is not necessarily the wireless terminal that has been additionally described in the disapproval list. This is because the wireless terminal 12 which is the transmission destination of the download approval DP is the terminal ID whose priority is set to “1” in the priority resetting (step Sb8) executed after the wireless terminal 12 is additionally described in the disapproval list. This is because it corresponds to.

As described above, when the wireless terminal 12 enters a certain service area 11 and there is no vacancy in the permit list of the corresponding wireless terminal information table, it is listed in the disallow list and the priority is reset. Then, the system waits until the permission list becomes empty. Here, in the resetting of the priority, the download completion flag and the content size (the determination result thereof) are also taken into consideration. Therefore, even if the area intime is relatively recent, if the download is not completed in the immediately preceding service area and the total amount of content to be downloaded is small, the priority is set to be relatively high. Become. Therefore, when such a wireless terminal enters the service area, even if the wireless terminal is in the download standby state because it corresponds to a case, the download is permitted relatively early. On the other hand, even if the area in time is relatively past,
Download is completed in the last service area,
Alternatively, if the total amount of contents to be downloaded is large, the priority is set to be relatively low. Therefore, when the wireless terminal enters the service area and falls into the download standby state because it falls under the case,
It will be a relatively long wait until the download is approved.

<Case> Next, in the case where a wireless terminal that is listed in the permission list of the wireless terminal information table and is permitted to download the content leaves the service area without downloading all the content. The case will be described.

Here, in the case, the reason why the information regarding the wireless terminal is listed in the permission list may be the case or the case. That is, when the wireless terminal 12 enters the service area and is approved, the wireless terminal information table may have a vacancy in the allow list of the wireless terminal information table and may be listed in the allow list as it is. Although the permission list of the wireless terminal information table is full and the permission list is listed, the permission list may be moved to the permission list after the permission list becomes available. So, for the case,
In order to avoid duplication of explanation, the explanation of the operation until the information regarding the wireless terminal 12 is described / moved in the permission list will be omitted, and the operation thereafter will be explained.

That is, when the information regarding the wireless terminal 12 is additionally described in the permission list, the distribution server 14 sends the download approval DP to the wireless terminal 12 (block b51 in FIG. 20). It should be noted that the distribution server 14 that has transmitted the download approval DP, until the wireless terminal 12 receives any signal,
It becomes a standby state.

Next, the base station 13, which has received the download approval DP, transmits the content specified by the content reservation information among the already cached content to the wireless terminal 12 according to the second operation (block). b52). However, since the wireless terminal 12 has already left the outside of the service area, even if the base station 13 sends the download end confirmation EOD to the wireless terminal 12 (block b53), the response is the download end approval. The TA is not received within the fixed time. Therefore, the base station 13 transmits the download incompletion confirmation DF to the distribution server 14 by the fourth operation (block b54).

On the other hand, when the download incompletion confirmation DF is received, the wireless terminal 12 proceeds to step Sb in FIG.
Since the determination result of 1 is “Yes” and the standby state is released, and the determination result of step Sb2 is “No” and the determination result of step Sb9 is “Yes”, the process of step Sb10, that is, Information regarding the wireless terminal 12 is deleted from the allowance list (block b5).
5). After that, if there is a wireless terminal listed in the disapproval list, the one with the priority “1” is moved to the allow list, the download approval is transmitted to the wireless terminal, and the content is Will be delivered.

As a case where the wireless terminal 12 leaves the service area, in addition to the case described above, there is also a case where the wireless terminal 12 leaves the service area without being listed in the permission list after user authentication. However, in this case, even if the information about the wireless terminal 12 is listed in the permission list, the wireless terminal cannot send the download end approval. Therefore, the information about the wireless terminal 12 is: It will be removed from the allow list. That is, the operation in the case where the wireless terminal 12 leaves the service area without being listed in the permission list can be regarded as the same as the above-mentioned case as a result.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the number of wireless terminals to which contents are distributed in a certain service area is the number that can be described in the permission list of the wireless terminal information table created corresponding to the service area. Therefore, even if the number of wireless terminals entering the service area rapidly increases, it is possible to avoid a decrease in content transfer efficiency. Therefore, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the content cannot be distributed to all the wireless terminals existing in the service area. Also, when the distribution of content to a certain wireless terminal is completed, or when a certain wireless terminal goes out of the service area during the distribution of content, the information related to that wireless terminal is deleted from the allow list, while it is listed in the disallowed list. Among the created wireless terminals, the one with a higher priority is moved to the permission list and the content is distributed, so that the content can be sequentially set up and distributed.

<Actual Configuration, Applied Modification, etc.> In the above-described embodiment, the configuration when applied to an actual system is partially omitted for the sake of understanding of the description. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the same content may be distributed every time the wireless terminal 12 enters the service area 11. Therefore, the base station 13 actually transmits the content to the wireless terminal 12. Before transmitting, the identification information of the content is transmitted, and if the wireless terminal 12 receives the identification information, it is determined whether or not the content corresponding to the identification information has already been acquired. A signal indicating that it is necessary is returned, and at that time, the base station 13
While transmitting the content, if the wireless terminal 12 has already acquired the content corresponding to the received identification information, the base station 13 transmits the content by returning a signal indicating that the content is unnecessary. It is not configured.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various applications, improvements, modifications and the like can be added. For example, in the above-described embodiment, in determining the priority, firstly, a download completion flag indicating whether or not all the contents to be downloaded in the immediately preceding service area could not be downloaded,
Second, the judgment result indicating whether or not the total data amount of the content to be downloaded exceeds the threshold value, and thirdly,
Although it is determined in the order of the time of entering the service area, it is needless to say that the order is not limited to this. Further, in determining the priority, the number of times that continuous download could not be performed in the past may be used instead of the download completion flag. Similarly, in determining the priority, the total amount of data itself of the content to be downloaded may be taken into consideration. Furthermore, the rank may be determined for each user according to the charge setting, the cumulative usage time, etc., and this rank may be taken into consideration when determining the priority. Further, depending on the time of day, the priority of a specific user may be lowered, or the configuration may be such that it is not permitted.

On the other hand, in the above-described embodiment, the user newly specifies the content in the wireless terminal 12 and transmits the specified content as the content reservation information to the distribution server 14, while the distribution server 14 If the above conditions are satisfied, the distribution of the content is permitted. Here, since the content desired by the user does not always exist in the distribution server 14 (base station 13), the following configuration may be adopted.
That is, first, when the content desired by the user is registered in the distribution server 14 in advance, and secondly, when the distribution server 14 permits distribution of the content with respect to a certain wireless terminal 12 (information regarding the wireless terminal). Is added to the permission list), it is determined whether or not there is pre-registered content for the wireless terminal. Thirdly, if it exists, it is pre-registered with the content indicated by the content reservation information. The content may also be distributed, but if it does not exist, only the content indicated by the content reservation information may be distributed.

In this embodiment, the base station 13
Even though the download end confirmation is transmitted to the wireless terminal 12, if the reply completion signal, which is the download end confirmation, is not received from the wireless terminal 12 within a certain time, the wireless terminal 12 fails the download. It is configured to recognize and transmit a download incompletion confirmation to that effect to the distribution server 14 (fourth operation). In addition to this, if the base station 13 transmits data (not limited to content) to the wireless terminal 12, the wireless terminal 12
However, if a protocol that always returns the arrival confirmation is adopted, the wireless terminal immediately goes out of the service area when the arrival confirmation is not received by the base station 13 (download failed. ) Can be recognized. Therefore, with such a protocol, the base station 13 may transmit the download incompletion confirmation to the distribution server 14 at that time.

Further, in this embodiment, the base station 1
In order to reduce the amount of data transmitted and received between the wireless communication terminal 3 and the distribution server 14, the base station 13 caches the content and transmits the content to the wireless terminal 12, but a cache server is provided near the base station. Then, the cache server may be configured to deliver content data,
If there is no problem in the amount of data exchanged between the base station 13 and the distribution server 14, the distribution server 14 may perform distribution each time. On the other hand, in order to reduce the load on the distribution server 14, a part of the function may be assigned to a separately provided server. For example, a user authentication server may be separately provided, and the user authentication server may perform user authentication or the like instead of the distribution server 14.

[0077]

As described above, according to the present invention, the content is distributed to at least a fixed number of wireless terminals, so that the content is distributed to all wireless terminals existing in the service area. It is possible to avoid the inconvenience of not being performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a content distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a wireless terminal in the system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a base station in the same system.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a distribution server in the system.

FIG. 5 is a chart showing a configuration of a wireless terminal information table in the distribution server.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the contents of a control program in the wireless terminal.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the contents of a control program in the distribution server.

FIG. 8 is a chart showing a state of a wireless terminal information table in the control program.

FIG. 9 is a chart showing a state of a wireless terminal information table in the control program.

FIG. 10 is a chart showing a state of a wireless terminal information table in the control program.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing details of a priority resetting process in the control program.

FIG. 12 is a chart showing a state of a wireless terminal information table in the control program.

FIG. 13 is a chart showing a state of a wireless terminal information table in the control program.

FIG. 14 is a chart showing a state of a wireless terminal information table in the control program.

FIG. 15 is a chart showing a state of a wireless terminal information table in the control program.

FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining a specific sequence operation in the system.

FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining a specific sequence operation in the system.

FIG. 18 is a diagram for explaining a specific sequence operation in the system.

FIG. 19 is a diagram for explaining a specific sequence operation in the system.

FIG. 20 is a diagram for explaining a specific sequence operation in the same system.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Service area, 12 ... Wireless terminal, 13 ... Base station, 14 ... Distribution server, 121 ... ROM, 122 ... CP
U, 123 ... RAM, 124 ... Main storage device, 125 ... Display unit, 126 ... Operation unit, 127 ... Wireless communication unit, 131 ...
ROM, 132 ... CPU, 133 ... RAM, 134 ... Main storage device, 135 ... Wireless communication unit, 136 ... Communication unit, 14
1 ... ROM, 142 ... CPU, 143 ... RAM, 144
... Main storage device, 145 ... Communication unit

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Fumihiko Kato             2-11-1, Nagatacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Stock             Ceremony company NTT Docomo F-term (reference) 5K015 AD01 GA01                 5K024 AA76 CC11 GG13                 5K033 AA05 CB17 DA01 DA17 EA03                 5K067 AA11 BB21 FF17 GG01 GG11                       HH22 HH23                 5K101 KK18 LL12 NN18 NN21 RR11                       SS07 TT06 UU16

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A distribution method in which a distribution server distributes content to a terminal within a service area, wherein the distribution server is configured to distribute the content within the service area when one terminal is within the service area. It is determined whether or not the number of terminals for which distribution is permitted has reached the set number, and if the determination result is negative, content distribution is permitted for the terminal while the determination result is If the result is affirmative, the content is not allowed to be delivered to the terminal, the identification information of the terminal that is not allowed to be delivered is stored together with the priority, and the content is delivered to another terminal. Then,
Alternatively, if another terminal is out of the service area before the content distribution is completed, the content distribution is permitted to the terminal having the identification information with the highest priority among the stored identification information. A content distribution method characterized by the above. 2. The distribution server, when the content distribution to one terminal is prohibited, compares the information related to the terminal with the information related to the other terminals that are not permitted, and prohibits the distribution. The content distribution method according to claim 1, wherein the priority of the terminals is set. 3. The distribution server uses, as the information regarding the terminal, information on the time when the terminal is within the service area, and the priority is increased as the time is earlier. The content delivery method according to item 2. 4. The distribution server uses, as the information regarding the terminal, information indicating whether or not the terminal has completed the distribution of the content in the past, and does not use the information indicating that the distribution of the content has completed in the past. The content distribution method according to claim 2, wherein the priority of things is increased. 5. The distribution server uses, as the information regarding the terminal, information indicating the data amount of the content to be distributed to the terminal, and increases the priority of the data having a small data amount. The content distribution method according to claim 2. 6. A distribution server that distributes content to terminals within a service area, and if one terminal is within the service area, the number of terminals that are permitted to distribute content within the service area. If the determination result is negative, the content is permitted to be distributed to the terminal, while if the determination result is affirmative, the determination means determines whether or not the set number has been reached. , Setting means for disallowing content distribution to the terminal, storage means for storing identification information of the terminal for which content distribution is not allowed together with priority, and content distribution for another terminal. Once done,
Alternatively, if another terminal is out of the service area before the content distribution is completed, the content distribution is permitted to the terminal having the identification information with the highest priority among the stored identification information. A distribution server comprising: a permission unit.