JP2007299274A - Mobile communication terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mobile communication terminal capable of restraining increase of the capacity of a storage means while maintaining an update management process of summary information of contents. <P>SOLUTION: When acquiring the updated summary information (RSS feed) of the web contents, the updated summary information is stored only in a storage region for an application (storage) used by an application (RSS reader) for reading the summary information without storing it in a storage region for acquisition (cache) used by an acquisition means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone that can acquire and display content summary information provided from a server on a communication network, and a server that can communicate with the mobile communication terminal.

  Non-Patent Document 1 describes software that receives and displays summary information of WEB content by a mobile phone as a mobile communication terminal. The data of the summary information of the WEB content is transmitted in a format called RSS in response to an acquisition request from the mobile phone. This RSS is an XML (Extensible Markup Language) based format in which metadata such as headings, summaries, and update information of web contents provided by a web server (web site) is structured and described. There are several versions of RSS (RSS0.9X, RSS1.0, RSS2.0, Atom). Each version is called “Rich Site Summary”, “Really Simple Syndication”, and “RDF Site Summary”. It is. The document described in the RSS format is called “RSS feed”, and the software that receives and displays the RSS feed is called “RSS reader”. When the WEB content is updated, an RSS feed reflecting the updated summary information of the WEB content is transmitted to the mobile phone in response to an acquisition request from the mobile phone.

“Mobile Portal App”, [online], QUEST-COM Inc., [Search March 3, 2006], Internet (URL: http://rsseye.qusco.cc/)

  By the way, a WEB browser is conventionally used to acquire WEB content. The WEB browser performs the following HTTP communication processing in order to improve the home page display speed and reduce traffic on the Internet. That is, it has a cache function for storing a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) as connection destination information once referenced and content information of the connection destination in a memory. Then, the WEB browser transmits an If-Modified-Since header to the server at the time of content acquisition request, and inquires of the server whether or not the content has been updated. When information indicating that the content has not been updated (Status-Code: 304 Not Modified) is received, this is an HTTP communication process for displaying the content stored in the cache memory.

  The RSS reader also confirms the update of the RSS feed by using the HTTP communication processing using the cache function described above in order to reduce traffic on the Internet. However, by using such HTTP communication processing, the RSS feed is saved in the cache memory and the storage that is a recording area used by the RSS reader. As a result, there is a problem that a necessary memory capacity increases. In particular, a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone needs to be downsized so that it can be easily carried, and since the capacity of the memory provided is limited, it is difficult to increase the memory capacity. It is.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mobile communication terminal capable of suppressing an increase in the capacity of storage means while maintaining update management processing of content summary information. Is to provide.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 transmits a request for acquiring content summary information to a display means for displaying an image, a communication means for communicating via a communication network, and a server on the communication network. An acquisition unit for acquiring the summary information, and an acquisition storage area used by the acquisition unit and an application used by an application for browsing the summary information in a mobile communication terminal that displays the acquired summary information Storage means for storing, when receiving an acquisition response to the acquisition request, the update management information included in the acquisition response is stored in the acquisition storage area, and the summary information included in the acquisition response Is stored in the application storage area without being stored in the acquisition storage area.
Further, the invention of claim 2 is the mobile communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the update date of the summary information on the server side is only after the update date of the summary information acquired by the mobile communication terminal, Instruction information for instructing to transmit the summary information is added to the acquisition request.
Further, the invention of claim 3 is the mobile communication terminal according to claim 1, only when the identification information of the summary information on the server side is different from the identification information of the summary information acquired by the mobile communication terminal, Instruction information for instructing to transmit the summary information is added to the acquisition request.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the mobile communication terminal according to any one of the first to third aspects, the summary information is heading information, summary information, and update information of WEB content. Is.

  According to the first to fourth aspects of the present invention, the acquired summary information included in the acquisition response received from the server is stored only in the application storage area, and the acquisition storage area includes the update included in the acquisition response. Configured to save only management information. As a result, the update management information stored in the acquisition storage area is used to maintain the content summary information update management process, while the summary information is stored in both the application storage area and the acquisition storage area. The increase in the capacity of the storage means can be suppressed.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of the entire communication system according to the present embodiment. This communication system is configured using a mobile phone 10 as a mobile communication terminal and a mobile phone communication network 20 as a communication network managed by a mobile communication operator. The cellular phone communication network 20 includes a base station 201, a switch (not shown) (circuit switch, packet switch), and the like, and is connected to another communication network such as the Internet 30 via a gateway server (not shown). Further, a WEB server 41 that provides WEB content is connected to the mobile phone communication network 20 and the Internet 30. The WEB server 41 provides various WEB contents, as well as summary information and update information of the WEB contents. The WEB server 41 may be provided on the mobile phone communication network 20 side. When content is downloaded from these servers to the mobile phone 10, a predetermined communication protocol is used in each layer of the network. For example, HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) is used as a communication protocol of the application layer when downloading a WEB page from the WEB server 41.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the WEB server 41. The WEB server 41 includes a system bus 400, a CPU 401, an internal storage device, an external storage device 404, an input device 405, an output device 406, and an internet communication device 407. The internal storage device includes a RAM 402, a ROM 403, and the like. The external storage device includes a hard disk drive (HDD), an optical disk drive, and the like. The input device 405 includes a mouse, a keyboard, and the like. The output device 406 includes a display, a printer, and the like. The communication device 407 communicates with other mobile phones and other servers via the mobile phone communication network 20 and communicates with various client terminals and other servers on the Internet 30 using a predetermined communication protocol. It is a device.

  The components such as the CPU 401 and the RAM 402 exchange data and program instructions with each other via the system bus 400. A program for operating the server 40 according to a predetermined procedure is stored in the ROM 403 and the external storage device 404, and is called up and executed in the work area on the CPU 401 or RAM 402 as necessary.

  The WEB server 41 may be partially or entirely configured as a dedicated control device, or may be partially or entirely configured using a general-purpose computer system. Each WEB server 41 may be configured by one computer, or may be configured by connecting a plurality of computers each having a plurality of functions via a network.

  FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the WEB server 41. The WEB server 41 includes a storage unit 415, a reception unit 416, and a transmission unit 417. The WEB server 41 realizes the functions of the above means by executing predetermined programs on hardware such as a CPU. The storage unit 415 includes the internal storage device and the external storage device, and stores various WEB content data that can be received by the mobile phone 10 and summary information data of the WEB content. The receiving unit 416 includes the CPU 401, the communication device 407, and the like, and receives from the mobile phone 10 an acquisition request for requesting a plurality of types of WEB content stored in the storage unit 415 and summary information of the WEB content. . The transmission means 417 includes the CPU 401, the communication device 407, and the like, and transmits the web content data selected based on the acquisition request and the summary information data of the web content to the mobile communication terminal 10.

  The summary information data of the WEB content is transmitted to the mobile phone in the RSS format in response to an acquisition request from the mobile phone, and the mobile phone receives a document (RSS feed) described in the RSS format. An RSS reader which is software for displaying the information is provided. When the WEB content is updated, an RSS feed reflecting the summary information of the updated WEB content is created. The updated RSS feed is transmitted in response to an acquisition request from the mobile phone. Examples of RSS feeds include general news, music information, blogs, weather forecasts, and content summary information such as sales rankings for CDs and movies.

  FIG. 4 is an external view showing a configuration example of the mobile phone 10, and FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of the mobile phone 10. The mobile phone 10 is a clamshell (folding) type mobile phone, and includes a system bus 100, a CPU 101, a storage device such as a RAM 102 and a ROM 103, an input device 104, an output device 105, and a communication device 106 for a mobile phone communication network. Yes. Components such as the CPU 101 and the RAM 102 exchange various data and program instructions with each other via the system bus 100.

  The CPU 101 reads and executes a predetermined program from the storage device, thereby performing various functions such as a voice call function and application software (hereinafter referred to as “application”) on the basic software OS of the native telephone platform. Can be realized. The functions of this application include an RSS reader, a WEB browser, a mailer, data transmission / reception with an external device, address book management, scheduler, memo pad, and the like.

  The CPU 101 can construct an application execution environment for executing an application on the native telephone platform by reading and executing a predetermined program from the storage device. In the application execution environment, various applications such as an application preinstalled in the mobile phone 10 and an application downloaded and registered by the user can be executed.

  The input device 104 includes a data input key (ten key, * key, # key) 11, a call start key 12, an end key 13, a scroll key 14, a multi-function key 15, a microphone 16, and the like. The numeric keypad 11, the call start key 12, the call end key 13, and the like of the input device 104 constitute an operation unit that can be operated by the user. By operating this operation unit, the user inputs data such as the URL of the content acquisition destination to the mobile phone 10, starts and ends a call when receiving a call, selects an application, It can be started and stopped. Further, the user can download and register contents such as application programs from the WEB server 41 by operating the operation unit.

  The output device 105 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) 17 as display means, a speaker 18 as sound output means, and the like. An output unit composed of an output device or the like including the liquid crystal display (LCD) 17 and the speaker 18 displays a Web page received via the mobile phone communication network 20 on the liquid crystal display (LCD) 17 or a mobile phone. This is used when notifying the user that information has been received from the telephone communication network 20. Specifically, when the information is received, an incoming call notification image is displayed on the liquid crystal display (LCD) 17 of the output unit, or a ringing tone is output from the speaker 18. The speaker 18 may be configured by separately providing a receiver speaker (receiver) for listening to a voice during a call and an external output speaker for outputting a ring tone or music. You may comprise by one speaker so that the speaker for receivers and the speaker for external outputs may be combined.

  The mobile phone communication network communication device 106 includes a modem, a synthesizer, a frequency converter, a high frequency amplifier, and the like, and is used when communicating with other mobile phones, the server 41, and the like via the mobile phone communication network 20. It is done. The mobile phone communication network communication device 106 exchanges mails with other mobile phones via the mobile phone communication network 20, or external communication networks such as the Internet from the mobile phone communication network 20 via a gateway server. And is used as a communication means for exchanging electronic mail on the Internet. Further, the mobile phone communication network communication device 106 downloads various contents provided by the server 41 via the mobile phone communication network 10 or receives distribution information including position information of the current position. Also used as a means.

  FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram showing extracted main functions of the mobile phone 10 according to the present embodiment. The cellular phone 10 includes a communication unit 110, a display unit 111, a storage unit 112, a display control unit 113, and a summary information browsing application 114.

The communication unit 110 includes the communication device 106 and the like, and performs communication via the mobile phone communication network 20 using a predetermined communication protocol such as HTTP. This communication means 110 accesses the WEB server 41 on the communication network based on a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) as connection information stored in the acquisition storage area of the storage means 112, and from the WEB server 41, the above-mentioned Used as acquisition means for acquiring RSS feeds. In addition, the acquisition unit stores the RSS feed update management information in the acquisition storage area (cache) 112a in the acquisition response (HTTP response) including the acquired RSS feed, and includes the acquisition response (HTTP response). The summary information (RSS feed) is stored in the application storage area (storage) 112b. Further, the obtaining means can access the WEB server 41 on the communication network based on the URI at predetermined time intervals and automatically confirm the update of the RSS feed from the server. At this time, the acquisition means reads the update management information from the acquisition storage area, and sends an acquisition request with an identifier (If-Modified-Since header or If-None-Match header) for inquiring update of summary information to the WEB server. is doing. The acquisition timing in this automatic acquisition process is set manually by the user, or automatically set by the mobile phone from the type of RSS feed.
The automatic acquisition timing is processed according to the DRM internal clock inside the apparatus. Further, even when the time of communication traffic congestion is the timing of automatic acquisition, the automatic acquisition process may not be performed to reduce the addition of the mobile phone communication network 20.

  The display unit 111 is configured by the display or the like, and can display the RSS feed received from the WEB server 41 on the communication network when the application 114 (RSS reader) for displaying the RSS feed is activated. .

  The storage unit 112 includes a storage device such as the RAM 102, and includes an acquisition storage area 112a and an application storage area 112b. The acquisition storage area 112a stores RSS feed update management information used by the acquisition means. The RSS feed update management information includes RSS feed update date information (Last-Modified) and RSS feed identification information (ETag). The RSS feed update management information is stored in association with the RSS feed connection destination information (URI). The application storage area 112b stores RSS feed data used by the RSS reader. RSS feed data is stored in the application storage area 112b in a folder format. A plurality of folders are provided for each category. For example, if the RSS feed is related to “news”, it is stored in the folder of the news category, and if it is related to “blog / diary”, it is stored in the folder of the blog category. Is done.

  The display control means 113 is composed of the CPU 101 and the like, and controls to display the RSS feed read from the application storage area 112b with an RSS reader. Further, when the RSS feed is unread, control is performed so that a pictographic image indicating that there is an unread RSS feed is displayed in a pictographic area such as a standby screen.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of screen transition of the mobile phone when the RSS reader is activated. When the user selects “RSS reader” from a menu selection screen (not shown) displayed on the display 17 of the mobile phone, a category selection screen as shown in FIG. 7A is displayed on the display 17. This category selection screen corresponds to the folder of the storage means 114. For example, “news” on the screen corresponds to the folder of the news category, and “blog / diary” corresponds to the folder of the blog category. ing. If there is an unread RSS in the RSS stored in the folder, for example, a “NEW” pictographic image as shown in the figure is displayed in the pictogram area of the menu selection screen.

When the user selects a news category, as shown in FIG. 7B, the mobile phone 10 classifies the news category and displays the RSS feed title list stored in the news category folder. When the user selects the TV category shown in FIG. 7B, the RSS feed title list stored in the TV category folder is displayed. When the user selects the blog / diary category, the blog A list of RSS feed titles stored in the diary category folder is displayed.
Also, in the RSS list display screen, if there is an unread RSS, a “NEW” pictographic image as shown in the figure is displayed in the pictogram area of the screen corresponding to the RSS feed.

  When XX newspaper company is selected from the RSS feed title list in FIG. 7B, a summary list of RSS information (RSS RSS) provided by XX newspaper company as shown in FIG. 7C. Feed item title list). When the summary information title list screen is displayed, the mobile phone 10 recognizes that the RSS feed has been read, and turns off the pictogram image. The RSS feed title (XX newspaper) at the top of the figure has a link, and when the user clicks on the RSS feed title at the top of the chart, for example, to the XX newspaper website. A specific WEB page is displayed by connecting to a specific URI destination such as accessing.

  When the user selects the title of the summary information of “XX country prime minister's visit to Japan”, the mobile phone 10 displays summary information corresponding to the title of the summary information on the display 17 as shown in FIG. Is displayed. The title of the summary information at the top of the figure (XX country prime minister's visit to Japan) has a link, and when the user clicks on the title of the summary information at the top of the figure, the WEB page corresponding to this summary information Is acquired from the WEB server 41 and displayed.

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram during the update process of the RSS feed stored in the storage unit 112.
When the RSS feed stored in the storage unit of the mobile phone is updated, the RSS feed update date information (Last-Modified) stored in the cache memory 114 is read. Then, the update date information (Last-Modified) is specified in the If-Modified-Since header of the HTTP request and transmitted to the WEB server 41. When receiving the HTTP request, the WEB server 41 compares the update date information (Last-Modified) of the RSS feed of the access destination with the date specified by the If-Modified-Since header. If the update date information (Last-Modified) of the RSS feed at the access destination is after the date specified by the If-Modified-Since header, the RSS feed has been updated, so the WEB server 41 receives an HTTP response as an acquisition response. The RSS status code is 200 (OK), and the RSS feed is transmitted. When the mobile phone receives the RSS feed, the mobile phone overwrites the received RSS feed with the RSS feed stored in the storage 112b. Further, the Last-Modified (update date) transmitted from the WEB server 41 together with the RSS feed is stored in the cache 112a in association with the URI. Then, a pictographic image is displayed on the display 17 or a sound or a vibration is sounded to notify the user that the RSS feed has been updated.

  On the other hand, if the Last-Modified (update date) of the RSS feed of the access destination is not after the date specified in the If-Modified-Since header, the RSS feed has not been updated. Response) HTTP status code is added with 304 (Not Modified) indicating that the RSS feed has not been updated. When the mobile phone 10 receives the HTTP status code 304, it determines that “no update” and ends the process.

  In this way, in the acquisition request (HTTP request), instruction information that instructs to send the RSS feed only when the update date of the RSS feed on the server side is after the update date of the RSS feed acquired by the mobile phone (If -Modified-Since header) is added. As a result, when the RSS feed is not updated, only the HTTP status code 304 (Not Modified) indicating that the RSS feed has not been updated is returned, so that the amount of data transmitted from the WEB server can be reduced. Thereby, the communication cost can be reduced, and the load on the mobile phone communication network can be reduced.

  Further, unlike the HTTP communication process using the normal cache function, the updated RSS feed is not stored in the cache 112a. Therefore, since the RSS feed is stored only in the storage 112b, the storage capacity of the storage unit can be reduced compared to the RSS feed stored in both the cache 112a and the storage 112b. Since the RSS feed is not stored in the cache 112a, when the HTTP status code 304 (Not Modified) is received, the RSS feed stored in the cache is displayed unlike the HTTP communication processing using the normal cache function. And control to end the process as it is.

  In the above description, it is confirmed from the update date information (Last-Modified) whether or not the RSS feed is updated from the WEB server. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it may be confirmed whether or not the RSS feed of the WEB server is updated by an ETag that is an identifier for specifying the RSS feed. In this case, an If-None-Match header is added to the HTTP request, and the ETag stored in the cache 114 is designated. The WEB server 41 checks whether the ETag of the RSS feed to be accessed is the same as the ETag specified by the If-None-Match header. If they are not the same, the RSS feed has been updated, so the HTTP status code of the HTTP response is set to 200 (OK) and the RSS feed is transmitted. The RSS feed stored in the storage unit 112 (storage) is overwritten on the received RSS feed. Further, the ETag transmitted together with the RSS feed from the WEB server 41 is stored in the cache 114.

  On the other hand, if the ETag of the RSS feed of the access destination is the same as the ETag specified in the If-None-Match header, the RSS feed has not been updated, so the WEB server 41 has an HTTP status code: 304 (Not Modified) Send. When receiving the HTTP status code 304, the mobile phone 10 determines that “no update” and ends the process.

  In this way, the instruction information (If-None for instructing to transmit summary information only when the RSS feed identification information (ETag) on the server side is different from the RSS feed identification information (ETag) acquired by the mobile phone. -Match header) is added to the acquisition request (HTTP request), and when the RSS feed is not updated, only the HTTP status code 304 is returned, so that the amount of data transmitted from the WEB server can be reduced. Thereby, the communication cost can be reduced, and the load on the mobile phone communication network can be reduced.

  Further, the present invention is not limited to a mobile phone and can be applied to various mobile communication terminals provided with a display means. That is, as the “mobile communication terminal” in the present invention, a PDC (Personal Digital Cellular) system, a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) system, a TIA (Telecommunications Industry Association) system mobile phone, an IMT (International Mobile Telecommunications) system, etc. -2000 standard mobile phone, TD-SCDMA (MC: Multi Carrier) mobile phone, one of TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), PHS (Personal Handyphone System), automobile phone And a telephone having a call function such as a fixed telephone. Examples of the “mobile communication terminal” include a communication terminal such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance) having a call function in addition to the above telephone.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram of the hardware constitutions of a WEB server. The functional block diagram of a WEB server. FIG. The block diagram of the hardware constitutions of a mobile telephone. The functional block diagram of a mobile telephone. (A)-(d) is a figure which shows an example of the screen transition of the mobile telephone at the time of RSS reader starting. The sequence diagram at the time of the update process of the RSS feed memorize | stored in the memory | storage means.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Mobile phone 20 Mobile phone communication network 30 Internet 41 WEB server 110 Communication means (acquisition means)
111 Display Unit 112 Storage Unit 112a Acquisition Storage Area 112b Application Storage Area 113 Display Control Unit 114 Summary Information Browsing Application 415 Storage Unit 416 Reception Unit 417 Transmission Unit

Claims (4)

A display means for displaying an image; a communication means for communicating via a communication network; and an acquisition means for acquiring the summary information by transmitting a content summary information acquisition request to a server on the communication network. In the mobile communication terminal that displays the summary information,
A storage means having an acquisition storage area used by the acquisition means and an application storage area used by an application for browsing the summary information;
When the acquisition response to the acquisition request is received, the update management information included in the acquisition response is stored in the acquisition storage area, and the summary information included in the acquisition response is not stored in the acquisition storage area. A mobile communication terminal, wherein the mobile communication terminal is stored in the application storage area. The mobile communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein
Only when the update date of the summary information on the server side is after the update date of the summary information acquired by the mobile communication terminal, instruction information for instructing to transmit the summary information is added to the acquisition request. A characteristic mobile communication terminal. The mobile communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein
Only when the identification information of the summary information on the server side is different from the identification information of the summary information acquired by the mobile communication terminal, instruction information for instructing to transmit the summary information is added to the acquisition request. A characteristic mobile communication terminal. In the mobile communication terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The mobile communication terminal, wherein the summary information is heading information, summary information, and update information of WEB content.

Images