JP2010250429A - Charging and/or authentication management method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To manage charging and/or the authentication of the portable terminal when using the service of a kiosk terminal by using a portable terminal, by using a management server. <P>SOLUTION: In response to the operation of a prescribed operation button arranged in a digital camera 100, the digital camera 100 transmits a connection request to a portable telephone set 200 (step S14), and in response to the reception of the connection request, the portable telephone set 200 transmits the connection request to a management server 300 (step S16), and in response to the reception of the connection request, the management server 300 determines the necessity/non-necessity of charging and the necessity/non-necessity of the authentication processing of the portable telephone set 200, and when determining that charging should be performed and/or that the authentication processing of the portable telephone set 200 should be performed, the management server 300 makes the connection request to a kiosk terminal 400 (step S24), and in response to the reception of the connection request, the kiosk terminal establishes communication connection with a digital camera 100 (steps S26 to S40). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention includes an information terminal such as a digital camera, a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone, a management server that manages charging for the use of the mobile terminal and / or authentication of the mobile terminal, a kiosk terminal that provides a service, The present invention relates to a charging and / or authentication management method in a charging and / or authentication system having.

  Images taken with a digital camera are transmitted to a personal computer (hereinafter abbreviated as “PC”) by wired or wireless communication, processed by the PC, stored in a database, and searched / used. .

  On the other hand, in recent years, information communication terminals (kiosk terminals) such as photo print services have come to be used as output devices for images taken with digital cameras. By using this kiosk terminal, a photographed image can be printed out as a photograph even when the user is away from home. It is also possible to send a photographed image from the kiosk terminal to the management server and store it there, or to print out the photographed image and mail it to the home or deliver it to the home.

  Further, Patent Document 1 proposes a technique for transmitting an image captured by a digital camera to a mobile phone via a wireless LAN or the like and transmitting the image from the mobile phone to an email server as an attached file of an e-mail. With this technique, a method of transmitting a captured image to a management server without passing through a kiosk terminal, and storing or printing out the image may be considered.

JP 2002-191077 A

  However, in the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, a large amount of data called an image is transmitted, which increases the transmission capacity. The Internet usage fee for mobile terminals such as mobile phones is not only high in addition to the normal Internet connection fee for PCs etc., but is generally charged for the amount of data transmitted and received, so it is necessary to transmit a large number of images. Is not suitable.

  On the other hand, if a kiosk terminal is used, the charge is in units of the number of sheets, so that the image data can be transmitted at a low cost without being greatly affected by the size of the image data. However, the kiosk terminal has to pay a fee each time, which is troublesome for the user. In addition, in order to be able to pay a usage fee for a predetermined period such as a monthly unit in a lump, some user authentication processing is required, and the authentication processing also requires troublesome operations.

  In a mobile phone, a user can be uniquely identified by its terminal number, and therefore, a management server manages billing for service usage by the mobile phone and / or manages authentication of the mobile phone.

  However, no proposal has yet been made to make it possible to use the charging and / or authentication method using the user identification function based on the terminal number of the mobile phone in the service provided by the kiosk terminal.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and manages charging and / or authentication of a mobile terminal using a service of a kiosk terminal using a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone using a management server. It is an object of the present invention to provide a billing and / or authentication management method that can be used.

One aspect of the accounting and / or authentication management method of the present invention is:
In the charging and / or authentication system comprising: an information terminal; a portable terminal; a management server that manages charging and / or authentication of the portable terminal for use of the portable terminal; and a kiosk terminal that provides a service. A charging and / or authentication management method for managing charging and / or authentication of a mobile terminal when using a service of the kiosk terminal using a terminal, using the management server,
A first connection request transmission step in which the information terminal transmits a first connection request to the mobile terminal in response to an operation of a predetermined operation unit arranged in the information terminal;
A second connection request transmission step in which the mobile terminal transmits a second connection request to the management server in response to reception of the first connection request;
A determination step in which the management server determines whether or not to charge and / or whether or not to authenticate the mobile terminal in response to receiving the second connection request;
A third connection request for making a third connection request to the kiosk terminal when the management server determines in the determining step that charging is to be performed and / or when it is determined to perform authentication processing of the mobile terminal Sending step;
A first connection establishing step in which the kiosk terminal establishes a communication connection with the information terminal in response to reception of the third connection request;
It is characterized by having.

  According to the present invention, there is provided a charging and / or authentication management method capable of managing charging and / or authentication of a mobile terminal when using a kiosk terminal service using the mobile terminal using a management server. can do.

FIG. 1A is a diagram showing a configuration of a charging and / or authentication system to which a charging and / or authentication management method according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied, and FIG. It is a figure which shows the more detailed structure of an authentication system. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a communication process among a digital camera as an information terminal, a mobile phone as a mobile terminal, a management server, a kiosk terminal, and an access point in an accounting and / or authentication system.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  A charging and / or authentication system to which a charging and / or authentication management method according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied includes a digital camera 100 as an information terminal and a portable terminal as shown in FIG. The mobile phone 200 includes a management server 300 that manages charging for the use of the mobile phone 200 and / or authentication of the mobile phone, and a kiosk terminal 400 that provides a service. In addition, the kiosk terminal 400 having no wireless communication function includes an access point 500 for enabling wireless communication with the digital camera 100.

  The digital camera 100 has a wireless communication function and has a built-in storage medium for recording photographic images. The mobile phone 200 has a wireless communication function and an Internet connection function, and an application for detecting a connection request of the digital camera 100 and making a connection request to the management server 300 is installed. The kiosk terminal 400 displays a communication function for wirelessly connecting to the digital camera 100 via the access point 500, and a photographic image recorded on the storage medium of the digital camera 100, and is connected to another management server 300 via the network. It is a device equipped with a function for inquiring various information. This kiosk terminal 400 is installed in a store or the like in various places, but FIG. 1A shows only one representative for simplification of the drawing. The management server 300 has a function of performing billing management and / or authentication management by specifying a user by using the terminal number of the mobile phone 200, and functions such as content management, temporary storage management of photo images, and printing of photos. , A device controlled by the kiosk terminal 400 via the network.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1B, the digital camera 100 includes a camera function unit 110, an information terminal unit 120, an antenna 130, a storage medium 140, a digital / analog converter 150, a speaker 160, and a LAN. The connector 170 is configured.

  The camera function unit 110 performs an image processing module 111 including a photographing lens, an image sensor, and the like, and performs signal processing such as gamma correction and white balance on the image signal obtained by the image capturing module 111 and performs compression processing. Image engine LSI 112.

  The information terminal unit 120 includes a service (application) execution unit 121 including a CPU and a memory, an operation unit 122 connected to the service execution unit 121, an LED 123, an IrDA 124, a wireless LAN module 125, and a display LCD 126. Become.

  Here, the service execution unit 121 executes one or more services (applications) and controls various functions of the information terminal unit 120. In addition, this service execution part 121 implement | achieves the various functions which the information terminal part 120 has by processing sequentially the information processing program stored in CPU or external non-volatile memory by CPU. It is configured. The operation unit 122 is a member operated by the user, such as a shutter button or a cross button. The LED 123 is a light emitting unit for notifying the user of the state of the digital camera 100. The IrDA 124 is an infrared light emitting unit for transmitting information to the outside by infrared rays. The wireless LAN module 125 performs wireless communication with the kiosk terminal 400 using the antenna 130. The display LCD 126 displays a photographic image captured by the camera function unit 110 or displays a menu and various information according to the operation of the operation unit 122.

  The storage medium 140 is a memory card or the like for storing a photographic image captured by the camera function unit 110, and may be a built-in memory that cannot be removed from the digital camera 100. On the other hand, it may be detachable.

  The digital / analog converter 150 converts the message generated by the service execution unit 121 to notify the user of the state of the digital camera 100 into an analog audio signal and utters it through the speaker 160. .

  The LAN connector 170 is used for wired connection to a network such as the Internet via a cable.

  In addition, the kiosk terminal 400 specifically includes an information terminal unit 410, a printer 420, and a LAN connector 430, as shown in FIG.

  The information terminal unit 410 includes a service (application) execution unit 411 including a CPU and a memory, an operation unit 412, an LED 413, an IrDA reception unit 414, and a display LCD 415 connected to the service execution unit 411.

  Here, the service execution unit 121 executes one or more services (applications) and controls various functions of the information terminal unit 410. The service execution unit 411 realizes various functions of the information terminal unit 410 by sequentially processing the information processing program stored in the CPU or in the external nonvolatile memory or the like by the CPU. It is configured. The operation unit 412 is a member operated by the user such as various buttons. The LED 413 is a light emitting unit for notifying the user of the state of the kiosk terminal 400. The IrDA receiver 414 is an infrared light receiver for receiving information from the outside by infrared rays. The display LCD 415 displays photographic images received from the digital camera 100 and displays menus and various information according to the operation of the operation unit 412. The operation unit 412 is configured as a touch key on the screen of the display LCD 415, so that the same effect as that provided with a large number of buttons can be obtained without increasing the number of button members.

  The printer 420 is for printing a photographic image received from the digital camera 100. In some cases, a kiosk terminal 400 without the printer 420 can be configured.

  The LAN connector 430 is used for wired connection to a network 600 such as the Internet via a cable, and can communicate with the management server 300 via the network.

  Specifically, the access point 500 includes a wireless LAN module 510 and an antenna 520 as shown in FIG.

  The wireless LAN module 510 is wired to the kiosk terminal 400 and performs wireless communication between the digital camera 100 and the kiosk terminal 400 using the antenna 520.

Next, the operation of the accounting and / or authentication system having such a configuration will be described.
When communication between the digital camera 100 and the kiosk terminal 400 is started via the wireless LAN, settings necessary for establishing initial communication settings are set on the digital camera 100 and / or access point 500 side. Thereby, it becomes possible to start communication with the kiosk terminal 400 from the digital camera 100 via the access point 500, and the amount of processing on the kiosk terminal 400 side of communication start can be reduced.

  Conventionally, the digital camera 100 and the kiosk terminal 400 are connected by a USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable, the network setting information is exchanged and the initial setting is easily registered, and then the power of the digital camera 100 is activated to perform communication. Something like that is done.

  When this initial setting is performed wirelessly, a wireless LAN device connection and security setting called WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) is used. This WPS is a wireless LAN-related industry group “Wi-Fi Alliance” that has established its specifications and has certified compatible devices since January 2007.

  WPS provides a mechanism for registering the digital camera 100 in a wireless LAN as a client (child device). A device responsible for registering a client of the digital camera 100 is called a registrar. There are two types of mechanisms prepared by the WPS: a push button method and a PIN (personal identification number) code method.

  In the push button method, pressing the dedicated buttons installed on the access point 500 and the client automatically completes the security settings for the ESSID (extended service set identifier) identifier and the WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2) encryption method. To do. In this case, the access point serves as a registrar. This push button method is a method in which the client is suitable for a device not equipped with a keyboard such as a game machine or a printer.

  On the other hand, in the PIN code method, a 4-digit or 8-digit number allocated in advance to a client is registered with a registrar from a device already participating in the network. In this case, the connection between the client and the access point 500 is established in a state where the ESSID and WPA2 are set.

  Here, when describing the communication protocol of IEEE802.11, ESSID is used as one of network identifiers in a wireless LAN. ESSID serves as a so-called network name.

  In the network configuration of the infrastructure mode, a network composed of one basic access point and a plurality of wireless LAN terminals under it is called a BSS (Basic Service Set), and an identifier used at that time is a BSSID. Call it. Further, a network composed of a plurality of BSSs is called ESS, and an identifier used at that time is called ESSID (in this specification, unless otherwise specified, SSID indicates this ESSID. To do). The SSID setting is for preventing connection to an unintended network or for identifying a terminal or device to be connected. That is, the access point and the wireless LAN terminal cannot be connected unless the same SSID is set. Although this function can be used to limit users to some extent, the access point periodically distributes packet data called a beacon. Since the beacon packet includes the SSID name of the access point necessary for the wireless LAN terminal to connect, the existence of the access point is notified to the wireless LAN terminal within the reach of this radio wave. In addition, since the SSID name can be known, the connection destination is set by the SSID of this beacon and connection is automatically made according to the following procedure.

  The data structure of a beacon includes a data part (including information such as an element ID, a command length to be transmitted, an ID, and a format type) and an application part (device type, UUID, service reference URL, device name, and IP address). Included).

  In this embodiment, the PIN code method is adopted, and the access point 500 uses the wireless LAN module 510 to transmit a beacon including the PIN code as an SSID as information for detecting a device (digital camera) from the antenna 520. It shall be transmitted.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a communication process among the digital camera 100, the mobile phone 200, the management server 300, the kiosk terminal 400, and the access point 500 in the billing and / or authentication system. Here, the case of the PIN code method will be described as an example.

  First, the mobile phone 200 detects a connection request for the digital camera 100 and activates an application for making a connection request to the management server 300 (step S10).

  Then, in response to an operation of a predetermined operation button arranged on the digital camera 100 (step S12), the digital camera 100 searches for the mobile phone 200 by the wireless LAN module 125 and connects to the mobile phone 200 via the wireless LAN. A request is transmitted (step S14). Of course, the connection request may be made not by wireless LAN but by infrared communication using IrDA 124, wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), or electromagnetic induction communication such as Felica (registered trademark).

  The mobile phone 200 acquires the URL of the management server 300 after the application is started, before the mobile phone 200 transmits a connection request to the management server 300 at the time indicated by the broken line in FIG. deep. This can be obtained from the kiosk terminal 400 or the access point 500 with Felica, or obtained by reading a QR code obtained by two-dimensionally coding the URL of the management server 300 displayed on the display LCD 126 of the kiosk terminal 400 by a predetermined operation. Do that. Then, in response to receiving the connection request from the digital camera 100, the mobile phone 200 transmits a connection request to the management server 300 via the network 600 such as the Internet (step S16).

  In response to the reception of the connection request from the mobile phone 200, the management server 300 determines whether or not charging is possible and / or whether or not the authentication processing of the mobile phone 200 is possible (step SS18). At this time, a PIN code for specifying the digital camera 100 is input using the dial numeric buttons of the mobile phone 200 and is transmitted from the mobile phone 200 to the management server 300. In the management server 300, for example, the mobile phone 200 The terminal number is ID and the PIN code is the password, and the membership registration status for the paid service provided by the kiosk terminal 400 is determined to determine whether or not to charge, or to determine whether or not the mobile phone 200 can be authenticated.

  Then, the management server 300 transmits to the mobile phone 200 the determination result of the chargeability determination and / or the determination processing permission determination of the mobile phone 200 (step S20), and the mobile phone 200 displays the determination result. In response to the reception, the result of the determination, for example, “accounting OK” is displayed (step S22). Note that transmission / reception and display of the determination result may be omitted.

  When it is determined that charging is performed and / or authentication processing of the mobile phone 200 is performed (ie, authentication OK) in the determination of availability and / or the determination of whether the mobile phone 200 is authenticated, the management server 300 makes a connection request to the kiosk terminal 400 via the network 600 (step S24). At this time, the PIN code received from the mobile phone 200 is also transmitted to the kiosk terminal 400.

  When the service execution unit 411 of the kiosk terminal 400 receives the connection request via the LAN connector 430, the service execution unit 411 establishes a communication connection with the access point 500 in response to the connection request (step S26). At this time, the PIN code received from the management server 300 is also transmitted to the access point 500.

  If communication is established between the kiosk terminal 400 and the access point 500, the access point 500 shifts to an automatic connection mode with the digital camera 100 (step S28), and the access point 500 and the digital camera 100 are connected. Establish a wireless connection between them.

  Here, an example in which the access point 500 is used will be described. However, when the kiosk terminal 400 has a wireless communication function, the kiosk terminal 400 is connected from the management server 300 without using the access point 500. Of course, a communication connection may be established with the digital camera 100 in response to reception of the connection request.

  In the automatic connection mode, the access point 500 makes a communication connection setting request by multicast (step S30). This is done by using the IEEE 802.11 sequence and transmitting the beacon including information (PIN code received from the kiosk terminal 400) for starting network participation.

  When the wireless LAN module 125 receives a beacon including its own PIN code, the service execution unit 121 of the digital camera 100 transmits an encryption key request to the access point 500 by the wireless LAN module 125 (step S32).

  In response to receiving the encryption key request, the access point 500 transmits a first encryption key for performing wireless communication to the digital camera 100, and further sets wireless communication to ensure communication security. Wireless connection setting information (encryption key, encryption method) to be used is generated as a second encryption key, the second encryption key is encrypted using the first encryption key, and transmitted to the digital camera 100. (Step S34).

  In response to the reception of the first encryption key and the second encryption key by the wireless LAN module 125, the service execution unit 121 of the digital camera 100 sends an automatic connection mode end request to the access point 500 by the wireless LAN module 125. (Step S36). Then, the service execution unit 121 restores the received second encryption key with the previously received first encryption key, and the user can view the obtained wireless connection setting information (encryption key, encryption method). The data is stored in the unusable memory area, and the connection setting ends (step S38).

  The access point 500 ends the automatic connection mode in response to receiving the automatic connection mode end request (step S40).

  After the automatic setting process for wireless communication between the digital camera 100 and the access point 500 as described above is completed, the digital camera 100 and the access point 500 are in the wireless LAN mode (steps S42 and S44). , A startup step for starting communication with the kiosk terminal 400 via the access point 500 via the wireless LAN (for example, a part of the communication process by HTTP (Hypertext transfer protocol)), and the digital camera 100 The communication step of communicating with the kiosk terminal 400 is executed in order, and an application such as browsing a photo recorded in the digital camera 100 is executed. This can be executed at any time after the wireless communication automatic setting process is performed.

  Examples of services used include printing and storage of photographic images stored in the storage medium 140 of the digital camera 100, for example. In this case, the service execution unit 411 of the kiosk terminal 400 uses a predetermined preset image file stored in the storage medium 140 to the digital camera 100 via the access point 500. File information of image files that meet the following conditions (file information (update time, creation time, access time, file name) and attribute information (image size, shooting information, thumbnail images, etc.) included in the image file header And the thumbnail image data included in the header of the image file are sequentially transferred, and the digital camera 100 receives the transfer request and sends data that satisfies the predetermined condition via the access point 500. To the kiosk terminal 400, and the kiosk terminal 400 receives the data.

  Thereafter, the user searches for photographic image data desired to be printed or stored in the management server 300 using the thumbnail image transmitted to the kiosk terminal 400, and then operates the kiosk terminal 400 to transmit the image data via the access point 500. Transfer from the digital camera 100 to the kiosk terminal 400, and after confirmation, storage in the management server 300, printing by the printer 420 of the kiosk terminal 400 or the print service provided by the management server 300, and the like can be performed. .

  If the end of service usage is instructed, the digital camera 100 ends the service usage and transmits the service end to the kiosk terminal 400 via the access point 500.

  In response to receiving this service end, if the service is a paid service, the service execution unit 411 of the kiosk terminal 400 transmits billing information based on the service usage amount of the user to the management server 300 via the network 600. .

  Then, in response to receiving the billing information, the management server 300 executes the existing billing process using the terminal number of the mobile phone 200 and collects the usage fee.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the management server 300 is used to charge and / or authenticate the mobile phone 200 when using the service of the kiosk terminal 400 using the mobile phone 200 that is a mobile terminal. Billing and / or authentication management methods that can be managed can be provided.

  Thereby, it is possible to transmit image data at low cost using the kiosk terminal 400.

  In addition, charging for paid services can be performed without troublesome operations.

  Further, since the wireless communication with the digital camera 100 cannot be performed unless the mobile phone 200 is authenticated, the authentication process of the digital camera 100 can be omitted.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated based on one Embodiment, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, Of course, a various deformation | transformation and application are possible within the range of the summary of this invention. is there.

  For example, a digital camera has been described as an example of the information terminal, but any other portable terminal such as a PDA may be used. In addition to the photographic image data, the type of service target data such as music data and game data is not limited.

  The management server 300 may be not only a network print or network storage management server but also a home PC or the like that does not have an accounting management function but requires an authentication management function.

    DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Digital camera, 110 ... Camera function part, 111 ... Imaging module, 112 ... Image engine LSI, 120, 410 ... Information terminal part, 121,411 ... Service execution part, 122, 412 ... Operation part, 123, 413 ... LED 124 ... IrDA, 125,510 ... LAN module, 126,415 ... display LCD, 130,520 ... antenna, 140 ... storage medium, 150 ... digital / analog converter, 160 ... speaker, 170,430 ... LAN connector, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 200 ... Cellular phone, 300 ... Management server, 400 ... Kiosk terminal, 414 ... IrDA receiving part, 420 ... Printer, 500 ... Access point, 600 ... Network.

Claims (3)

In the charging and / or authentication system comprising: an information terminal; a portable terminal; a management server that manages charging and / or authentication of the portable terminal for use of the portable terminal; and a kiosk terminal that provides a service. A charging and / or authentication management method for managing charging and / or authentication of a mobile terminal when using a service of the kiosk terminal using a terminal, using the management server,
A first connection request transmission step in which the information terminal transmits a first connection request to the mobile terminal in response to an operation of a predetermined operation unit arranged in the information terminal;
A second connection request transmission step in which the portable terminal transmits a second connection request to the management server in response to the reception of the first connection request;
A determination step in which the management server determines whether or not to charge and / or determines whether or not to perform authentication processing of the mobile terminal in response to reception of the second connection request;
A third connection request for making a third connection request to the kiosk terminal when the management server determines in the determination step that charging is to be performed and / or when it is determined to perform authentication processing of the mobile terminal. Sending step;
A first connection establishment step in which the kiosk terminal establishes a communication connection with the information terminal in response to reception of the third connection request;
A billing and / or authentication management method characterized by comprising: The billing and / or authentication management system further includes an access point connected to the kiosk terminal for wireless connection with the information terminal,
The first communication connection establishment step includes:
A second connection establishment step for establishing communication connection between the kiosk terminal and the access point;
A third connection establishment step for establishing a wireless connection between the access point and the information terminal;
The accounting and / or authentication management method according to claim 1, further comprising: A determination result transmission step in which the management server transmits a determination result of the determination step to the mobile terminal;
A display step for displaying the determination result in the determination step in response to reception of the determination result in the determination step;
The accounting and / or authentication management method according to claim 1, further comprising:

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