JP2004355479A - Method for executing pre-installed application and mobile terminal device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the convenience of a mobile terminal device user. <P>SOLUTION: When a rewritable storage area 23A is initialized by the initialization or the like of a portable telephone 10, each pre-installed application is read from a read-only storage area 230 in accordance with an operator's command or automatically, and copied in the rewritable storage area 23A (step S12). Then the update information of the pre-installed application is acquired and reflected to the pre-installed application copied to the rewritable storage area 23A when necessary (steps S13 to S15). When the start of the pre-installed application is instructed by the operator, the pre-installed application stored in the rewritable storage area 23A is executed (step S1). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for executing a preinstalled application and a mobile terminal device, and more particularly, to a method for executing a preinstalled application that executes a preinstalled application stored in a read-only storage area of a mobile terminal device, and The present invention relates to a mobile terminal device using this execution method.
[0002]
[Prior art]
BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, mobile terminal devices such as mobile phones have become widespread. The functions and performance of such mobile terminal devices have been remarkably improved, and in addition to the indispensable functions of the mobile terminal devices, such as a call function and an e-mail transmission / reception function, applications can be executed and games and the like can be enjoyed. .
[0003]
As such applications, there are those that are downloaded and acquired later by wireless communication via a base station or the like, and there are also so-called pre-installed applications that are installed in advance in the mobile terminal device and provided to the user. . The preinstalled application is stored in a read-only storage area of a storage device in the mobile terminal device. Then, the preinstalled application stored in the read-only storage area is executed according to an instruction from the operator (user).
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the above-described conventional mobile terminal device, the preinstalled application is stored in the read-only storage area of the storage device in the mobile terminal device. Therefore, the initialization of the mobile terminal device is performed as in the application obtained by downloading. It will not be erased by the above. Therefore, if the user owns the mobile terminal device storing the preinstalled application, the user of the mobile terminal device can execute and enjoy the preinstalled application at any time.
[0005]
However, in the conventional mobile terminal device, the preinstalled application cannot be rewritten because it is stored in the read-only storage area of the storage device in the mobile terminal device. For this reason, even if the version of the preinstalled application is upgraded, the version upgrade cannot be reflected. In order to enjoy the upgraded version, it was necessary to download and obtain a new version. Also, even if the pre-installed application is a trial version (so-called trial version), if you try to use the trial version and try to acquire this expanded version of the trial version, I had to download and download a new version.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method of executing a preinstalled application that can improve the convenience of a user of a mobile terminal device.
[0007]
Another object of the present invention is to provide a mobile terminal device with improved user convenience.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A method of executing a preinstalled application according to the present invention, the method comprising executing a preinstalled application stored in a read-only storage area of a mobile terminal device, wherein the preinstalled application is executed from the read-only storage area. A method of executing a preinstalled application, comprising: a copying step of reading an installed application and copying the preinstalled application to a rewritable storage area; and an executing step of executing the preinstalled application copied to the rewritable storage area. is there.
[0009]
According to the method of executing the preinstalled application, when the rewritable storage area is initialized by initialization of the mobile terminal device or the like, the preinstallation is performed from the read-only storage area in the copying process automatically or by an instruction from the operator. The application is read and copied to the rewritable storage area. Thereafter, when the operator instructs the activation of the preinstalled application, the preinstalled application copied to the rewritable storage area is executed in the execution step.
[0010]
For this reason, as in the conventional case, even if the rewritable storage area is initialized by initialization of the mobile terminal device or the like, the preinstalled application remains in the read-only storage area. Therefore, the preinstalled application stored in the read-only storage area can be copied to the rewritable storage area again and executed without acquiring a new application identical to the preinstalled application by downloading or the like.
[0011]
When the preinstalled application is executed, the preinstalled application copied to the rewritable storage area is executed. Therefore, the preinstalled application to be executed can be changed and executed as needed.
[0012]
Therefore, according to the execution method of the preinstalled application of the present invention, the convenience of the user of the mobile terminal device can be improved.
[0013]
The method for executing a preinstalled application according to the present invention may further include an updating step of updating the preinstalled application in the rewritable storage area based on update information on the preinstalled application. In this case, after acquiring the update information accompanying the version upgrade of the preinstalled application by downloading or the like, in the update process, the preinstalled application in the rewritable storage area is updated to reflect the version upgrade contents, The trial version can be expanded to the actual version.
[0014]
The mobile terminal device of the present invention comprises: a read-only storage unit storing a pre-installed application; a writable storage unit to which the pre-installed application is copied; and reading the pre-installed application from the read-only storage area; A mobile terminal device comprising: copying means for copying the preinstalled application to the rewritable storage area; and execution means for executing the preinstalled application copied to the rewritable storage area.
[0015]
In this mobile terminal device, when the rewritable storage area is initialized by initialization of the mobile terminal device or the like, the copying means automatically or in accordance with an instruction of the operator, copies the pre-installed application from the read-only storage area. Read and copy to rewritable storage area. Thereafter, when the operator instructs the activation of the preinstalled application, the execution unit executes the preinstalled application copied to the rewritable storage area. That is, the mobile terminal device executes the preinstalled application using the above-described method of executing the preinstalled application of the present invention.
[0016]
Therefore, according to the mobile terminal device of the present invention, the convenience for the user can be improved.
[0017]
In the mobile terminal device of the present invention, the rewritable storage area in which the preinstalled application is copied is a nonvolatile rewritable storage area that does not lose its stored contents even when the power of the mobile terminal device is turned off. It can be. In this case, since the nonvolatile rewritable storage area does not disappear even when the power is turned off, each time the power is turned off and then turned on, the copying unit reads the preinstalled application from the read-only storage area. This eliminates the need to copy to a rewritable storage area.
[0018]
Further, the mobile terminal device of the present invention may further include an updating unit that updates the preinstalled application in the rewritable storage area based on update information on the preinstalled application. In this case, after acquiring the update information accompanying the version upgrade of the preinstalled application by downloading or the like, the updating unit updates the preinstalled application in the rewritable storage area to reflect the version upgrade contents, The trial version can be expanded to the actual version.
[0019]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0020]
1 and 2 schematically show a configuration of a mobile phone 10 which is a mobile terminal device according to one embodiment. Here, FIG. 1A shows a front view of the appearance of the mobile phone 10, and FIG. 1B shows a rear view of the appearance of the mobile phone 10. FIG. 2 shows a functional block configuration of the mobile phone 10.
[0021]
As shown comprehensively in FIGS. 1 and 2, the mobile phone 10 includes: (a) a mobile phone main body 11 including a control unit 21, a transmission / reception unit 22 and a storage device 23; An operation unit 12 having a numeric keypad for input to the control unit and a function key for inputting various commands for switching operation modes to the control unit 21; A display unit 13 having a liquid crystal display device for displaying an operation state, a received message, and the like. Further, the mobile phone 10 includes (d) a speaker 14 for reproducing a voice signal transmitted from a communication partner during a call, a microphone 15 for inputting voice during a call, and (e) a command from the control unit 21. , A guide speaker 16 for generating a ringtone or a guide sound, and (f) an antenna 17 connected to the transmitting / receiving unit 22 for transmitting / receiving a radio signal to / from the base station. .
[0022]
The storage device 23 has a read-only area 230 and a non-volatile rewritable area 23A whose stored contents are not destroyed even when the power is turned off. Note that areas other than the read-only area 230 and the nonvolatile rewritable area 23A in the storage device 23 are volatile rewritable areas whose stored contents are destroyed even when the power is turned off.
[0023]
A preinstalled application 33O is stored in the read-only area 230. Further, the preinstalled application 33A obtained by copying the preinstalled application 33O can be stored in the nonvolatile rewritable area 23A. Here, at the time of the improved shipment of the mobile phone 10, a pre-installed application 33O (hereinafter, also referred to as “application 33O”) is stored in the read-only area 23O, and a pre-installed application 33A ( Hereinafter, it is also referred to as “application 33A”). When the mobile phone 10 is shipped from the factory, only the pre-installed application 33O is stored in the read-only area 23O, and the pre-installed application 33A is stored in the non-volatile rewritable area 23A by the user of the mobile phone 10. May be performed according to the instruction.
[0024]
The control unit 21 includes a central processing unit (CPU) and a digital signal processing unit (DSP), and performs various data processing in order to realize a general mobile phone function. The operation of the components is controlled. The configuration of software such as a program executed in the control unit 21 is as shown in FIG.
[0025]
That is, the software in the control unit 21 includes: (i) a basic processing unit 31 that implements the call function and the mail function, which are the basic functions of the mobile phone, and controls the various hardware resources described above; A) an application 33A for providing a user with various contents such as games, and (iii) an execution environment unit 32 which is located between the basic processing unit 31 and the application 33A and provides an execution environment of the application 33A. It is configured. Here, the execution environment unit 32A is a set of programs that provide software resources for executing an application such as command conversion between the application 33A and the basic processing unit 31 and management of the application 33A.
[0026]
Note that the basic processing unit 31 and the execution environment unit 32 are also stored in the read-only area 230 of the mobile phone 10 from the factory shipment of the mobile phone 10. In addition, the number of executable applications in the mobile phone 10 is not limited to one, and usually there are a plurality of applications in the mobile phone 10, but in FIG. 3, only one application 33A is schematically shown. It is shown.
[0027]
Information such as a request, a response, and an event occurrence is appropriately exchanged between the basic processing unit 31 and the execution environment unit 32 in relation to the application 33. Further, between the execution environment unit 32 and the application 33, various requests from the application 33 are notified to the execution environment unit 32, and a response and an event occurrence are notified from the execution environment unit 32. .
[0028]
Next, execution of the preinstalled application in the mobile phone 10 configured as described above will be described. In the following, an example of processing from the time when the preinstalled application 33A is erased due to the all reset of the storage device 23 accompanying the initialization of the mobile phone 10 to the time when the preinstalled application 33A is executed with the latest version will be described as an example. This will be described in detail.
[0029]
As a premise, it is assumed that the pre-install application 33A is installed in the nonvolatile rewritable area 23A of the storage device 23 before the initialization of the mobile phone 10. Further, it is assumed that the update information associated with the version upgrade of the preinstall application 33A can be downloaded via the antenna 17 and the transmission / reception unit 22.
[0030]
First, in step S11 in FIG. 4, the mobile phone 10 is initialized according to a command from the operator. As a result, the rewritable area of the storage device 23 is reset, and the preinstall application 33A mounted on the nonvolatile rewritable area 23A is erased.
[0031]
Next, in step S12, the control unit 21 (more specifically, the basic processing unit 31 executed by the control unit 21) instructs the pre-installed application stored in the read-only area 230 to respond to an instruction from the operator. 33O is read out and copied into the nonvolatile rewritable area 23A. As a result, the preinstalled application 33A is mounted in the nonvolatile rewritable area 23A.
[0032]
Next, in step S13, the control unit 21 attempts to acquire update information of the preinstalled application 33A according to an instruction from the operator. The attempt to acquire the update information is performed by the control unit 21 controlling the transmission / reception unit 22 and attempting to download the update information via the antenna.
[0033]
Subsequently, in step S14, it is determined whether there is update information of the preinstalled application 33A. If this determination is negative, it is determined that the content of the current preinstalled application 33A is the latest version, and the process proceeds to step S16.
[0034]
If a positive determination is made in step S14, the process proceeds to step S15. In step S15, the preinstalled application 33A is updated based on the acquired update information. When this update ends, the process moves to step S16.
[0035]
In step S16, the preinstalled application 33A is activated in response to an instruction from the operator, and is executed by the control unit 21. In this way, the processing from the time when the preinstalled application 33A is erased due to the all reset of the storage device 23 accompanying the initialization of the mobile phone 10 to the time when the preinstalled application 33A is executed with the latest version is completed.
[0036]
As described above, in the present embodiment, in the mobile phone 10, when the rewritable storage area 23A is initialized by the initialization of the mobile phone 10, the control unit 21 sets the read-only storage area in accordance with an instruction from the operator. The pre-installed application 33O is read from 230 and copied to the rewritable storage area 23A. Thereafter, when the operator instructs activation of the preinstalled application 33A, the control unit executes the execution preinstalled application 33A copied to the rewritable storage area 23A.
[0037]
That is, even if the preinstalled application 33A is erased from the rewritable storage area 23A, the preinstalled application stored in the read-only storage area can be obtained without newly acquiring the same application as the preinstalled application 33A by downloading or the like. It is possible to copy 33O to the rewritable storage area 23A to make it a preinstalled application 33A for execution, and execute it.
[0038]
Further, since the preinstalled application 33A copied to the rewritable storage area 23A is executed, the control unit 21 obtains the update information accompanying the version upgrade of the preinstalled application 33A by downloading or the like, and then the control unit 21 returns to the rewritable storage area. Can be updated. As a result, the version upgrade of the preinstalled application 33A to be executed can be reflected.
[0039]
Further, since the preinstalled application 33O stored in the read-only storage area is copied to the non-volatile rewritable storage area 23A to be the preinstalled application 33A for execution, every time the mobile phone 10 is turned on after being turned off. In addition, the control unit 21 does not need to read the preinstalled application 33O from the read-only storage area 23O and copy it to the rewritable storage area 23A.
[0040]
In the above-described embodiment, the processing after the initialization of the mobile phone 10 has been described. However, similarly to the initialization of the mobile phone 10, the application in which the preinstalled application 33A for execution disappears from the nonvolatile rewritable storage area 23A. The same processing as after the initialization of the mobile phone 10 can be performed after the initialization or after the initialization of only the preinstalled application 33A.
[0041]
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the update accompanying the version upgrade of the preinstalled application 33A has been described, but the update content may be content for expanding from the trial version to the actual version.
[0042]
Further, in the above-described embodiment, after the mobile phone 10 is initialized, the control unit 21 reads the preinstalled application 33O from the read-only storage area 23O and copies the preinstalled application 33O to the rewritable storage area 23A according to an instruction from the operator. did. On the other hand, after the mobile phone 10 is initialized, the control unit 21 may automatically read the preinstalled application 33O from the read-only storage area 23O and copy it to the rewritable storage area 23A.
[0043]
Further, in the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a mobile phone, but it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to a mobile terminal device other than the mobile phone.
[0044]
【The invention's effect】
As described above in detail, according to the method of executing the preinstalled application of the present invention, there is an effect that the convenience of the user of the mobile terminal device can be improved.
[0045]
Further, the mobile terminal device of the present invention can use the method of executing the preinstalled application of the present invention, so that it is possible to improve the convenience of the user.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating an external configuration of a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the mobile phone of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of software operated by a control unit in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the apparatus of FIG. 1;
[Explanation of symbols]
Reference Signs List 10: mobile phone (mobile terminal device), 11: mobile phone body, 12: operation unit, 13: display unit, 14: speaker for communication, 15: microphone, 16: speaker for guidance, 17: antenna (wireless communication means) 18) Image capturing unit, 19 ... Image compressing unit, 21 ... Control unit (copying unit, updating unit), 22 ... Transceiving unit, 23 ... Storage device, 23A ... Non-volatile rewritable storage area, 23O ... Reading Dedicated storage area, 31: basic processing unit, 32: execution environment unit, 33A, 33O: pre-installed application.

Claims (5)

A method of executing a preinstalled application that executes a preinstalled application stored in a read-only storage area of a mobile terminal device,
A copying step of reading the preinstalled application from the read-only storage area and copying the preinstalled application to a rewritable storage area;
An execution step of executing the preinstalled application copied to the rewritable storage area; The method according to claim 1, further comprising an updating step of updating the preinstalled application in the rewritable storage area based on update information on the preinstalled application. Read-only storage means in which the preinstalled application is stored;
Writable storage means for copying the preinstalled application; copy means for reading the preinstalled application from the read-only storage area and copying the preinstalled application to the rewritable storage area;
Executing means for executing the preinstalled application copied to the rewritable storage area; The rewritable storage area to which the preinstalled application is copied is a non-volatile rewritable storage area that does not lose its stored contents even when the power of the mobile terminal device is turned off. Mobile terminal device. 5. The mobile terminal device according to claim 3, further comprising: an updating unit configured to update the preinstalled application in the rewritable storage area based on update information on the preinstalled application. 6.

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