JP2015109109A - Program and program distribution method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a burden on an application provision side and to prevent the occurence of an unfair environment between terminals at an application like performing online competition communication due to the difference of specification.SOLUTION: A program has an information processing device capable of communicating with a client device execute the steps of: obtaining information on specification of the client device from the client device; converting one source code to create an application program into an application program to perform image display processing corresponding to the information obtained in the obtaining step; and distributing the application program obtained in the converting step to the client device. The distributing step to the client device includes a step of distributing an instruction to replace or rewrite a part of the application program.

Description

  The present invention relates to a program and a program distribution method for distributing an application program or the like to a plurality of types of portable terminals.

  Traditionally, the social game market has grown rapidly. The social game is game software created based on an API (Application Program Interface) and an operating environment (application platform) that operate on a web browser of SNS (Social Networking Service). Various application software including this social game is generally referred to as a social application.

  In particular, the social application does not require dedicated client software, can be used only with a web browser and an SNS account, and is characterized by a combination of communication functions inherent to the SNS.

  Here, the social application is referred to as a “native application” depending on the OS of the terminal, such as application software dedicated to an iPhone (registered trademark) terminal of a smartphone or application software dedicated to an Android (registered trademark) terminal, and a web browser It can be roughly divided into what is called a “web application” operable on the above.

  The “native application” is advantageous in terms of performance because it is specialized for the terminal to be used, and a framework for billing processing called a marketplace is considerably prepared.

  However, while application software that operates on “iOS”, which is the OS adopted by iPhone (registered trademark), is developed in the programming language “Objective-C”, application software that operates on the Android (registered trademark) It has been developed with the programming language “Java (registered trademark)”.

  Therefore, in order to develop the “native application”, it is necessary to pass through an official marketplace after a coding process using a language specific to the terminal platform.

  On the other hand, the above “Web application” can be cross-developed based on languages such as HTML5 (Hyper Text Markup Language 5), JavaScript (registered trademark), CSS3 (Cascading Style Sheets 3) for both platforms. There is no need to go through the official marketplace for the release.

  The “native application” is a type of application that is downloaded from a marketplace to a terminal, installed, and used. While it is possible to make full use of terminal functions and processing performance, functions and operations depend on the terminal, and some terminals may not operate normally.

  On the other hand, a “web application” is an application that runs on a web server and is used using a web browser. The “web application” is used by using a web browser as a client and accessing a web server through HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol).

  “Web application” has the advantage that the user can use the application as if browsing a web page, and that the application functions can be used if there is a web browser without installing application software in the local environment. is there. On the other hand, the “web application” may not fully support the function provided by the “web application” depending on the type and version of the web browser.

  In particular, in the “web application”, those that realize high-function and dynamic functions using technologies such as Flash (registered trademark), Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript + XML), Silverlight (registered trademark), and RoR (Ruby on Rails) It is called Rich Internet Application (RIA).

  In recent years, attempts have been made to make GoogleOS ChromeOS (operating system) a web application.

  Furthermore, when a software developer creates an application program for a specific software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, game machine, or OS, a software development kit (hereinafter referred to as “Software Development Kit”) A set of development tools called “SDK”) is used.

  This SDK is a tool kit prepared by manufacturers of information devices and OSs to encourage the development of software for their products, and is often distributed free of charge to developers. (For example, Non-Patent Document 1)

“Http://microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8442” (confirmed on June 7, 2012)

  When considering various application programs distributed from a web server device to a mobile terminal such as a smartphone via a network, that is, the “native application”, the program distributed from the web server device is a specification of a destination mobile terminal. For example, it is necessary to match specifications such as OS version, display size, and resolution.

  Usually, since one source code is converted to generate one application program, naturally, in order to provide an application program for each of a plurality of specifications, a plurality of source codes corresponding to the number of specifications must be prepared. However, the burden on the side providing the program is increased accordingly.

  In addition, especially in competitive online games, etc., the time required to display the effect screen during battle may differ due to differences in the specifications on the terminal side. There was a problem that there was an advantage / disadvantage.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the object of the present invention is an application program that reduces the burden on the side that provides the application program and performs online battle communication. An object of the present invention is to provide a program and a program distribution method capable of preventing unfairness due to differences in specifications between terminals.

  According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for acquiring, in an information processing apparatus capable of communicating with a client machine, the specification information of the client machine from the client machine, and one source code for generating an application program. Causing the client machine to execute a step of converting to an application program that performs an image display process according to the information acquired in the acquiring step, and a step of distributing the application program obtained in the converting step to the client machine. The step of distributing includes the step of distributing an instruction to replace or rewrite a part of the application program.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, while reducing the burden on the side which provides an application program, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of the improperness due to the difference in specifications between terminals in an application program that performs online battle communication. Become.

The figure explaining the environment where the information provision system which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention is used. The figure which shows the concept of the connection architecture between the server and client which concerns on the embodiment. The flowchart which shows centering on the processing content at the time of login with the server and client which concern on the embodiment. The figure explaining the concept which creates a program from the single source code concerning the embodiment. The figure which shows the concept of the program for every terminal device which concerns on the embodiment. The figure which shows the structure of the database (DB) with which the web server apparatus which concerns on the embodiment is provided. The figure which illustrates a part of the head side of the version information as the specification information according to the embodiment. The figure explaining the difference of the process based on the specification information on the game program which concerns on the embodiment using the specific example of a display screen. The figure explaining the difference of the process based on the specification information on the game program which concerns on the embodiment using the specific example of a display screen. The flowchart which shows centering on the processing content at the time of login with the server and client which concern on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the concept of the program for every terminal device which concerns on the embodiment. The figure which shows the structure of the database (DB) with which the web server apparatus which concerns on the embodiment is provided.

Hereinafter, an embodiment when the present invention is applied to an online game system will be described with reference to the drawings.
(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an environment in which the online game system according to the first embodiment of the present invention is used. In the figure, web server devices 2 and 3 are connected to a network 1 such as the Internet, and portable terminals 4 and 5 serving as client devices used by a user in this system are connected to an access point (AP) 6 or Connected via the base station 7.

  The web server devices 2 and 3 are computers for realizing the online game system according to the present embodiment, and a plurality of web server devices 2 and 3 are installed in parallel to the network 1 in order to provide an online game service.

  On the other hand, the mobile terminals 4 and 5 on the client side include smartphones, feature phones, and the like, and are mobile phones that operate on an OS such as Android (registered trademark) and iOS (registered trademark). It may be a notebook personal computer, a mobile computer, a tablet computer, or the like. In any case, it is assumed that a game program for an online game is installed in the mobile terminals 4 and 5 in advance.

  As the mobile terminals 4 and 5, the hardware configuration specific to the model, the OS used, the installed applications, and the like are various, and the web server devices 2 and 3 are respectively connected to the various mobile terminals 4 and 4, respectively. It is assumed that the native application can be distributed corresponding to 5.

  Since the hardware configurations of the electronic circuits of the web server devices 2 and 3 and the mobile terminals 4 and 5 are very general and well-known, their description and description are omitted.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a concept of a connection architecture between a server and a client according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, when the online game program or application program provided by Company A is executed, the mobile terminal 4 or 5 contains the game or application program described in AIR (registered trademark), for example. An application execution environment C1 is implemented, and a company A database connection kit C2 for connecting to the database of company A and performing charging processing and the like is incorporated.

  At the same time, the (software) client-side framework C3 developed by Company A is installed for the portion where the portable terminals 4 and 5 communicate with the web server devices 2 and 3.

  On the other hand, in the web server devices 2 and 3 operated by the company A, for example, Node. A server-side Java Script (registered trademark) (JS) execution environment S1 written in js (registered trademark) is provided, and the portion for directly transmitting and receiving data to and from the portable terminals 4 and 5 corresponds to the framework C3. Company A (software) server-side framework S2 is provided.

  Between the framework C3 of the portable terminals 4 and 5 and the framework S2 of the web server devices 2 and 3, a game event based on the web socket (WebSocket), which is a standard implemented in HTML5 (registered trademark). Information is sent and received.

  With this web socket, once a connection is established between server clients, data can be exchanged by socket communication without being aware of the communication procedure unless explicitly disconnected.

In addition, the server and all the clients that have established a connection with the web socket share the same data and can transmit and receive in real time.
Therefore, by using the above web socket standard, it is possible to compensate for the disadvantages of Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript (registered trademark) + XML) and Comet communication, and more efficiently realize bidirectional communication between the server and the client.

  The frameworks C3 and S2 are described using, for example, Java Script (registered trademark) as a script language independent of the OS. Therefore, even if the OS of the mobile terminals 4 and 5 is either Android (registered trademark) or iOS (registered trademark), the same connection environment can be constructed without depending on them.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.
FIG. 3 shows the processing contents related to the specification authentication setting at the beginning of the online game, which are executed between the web server devices 2 and 3 as servers and the mobile terminals 4 and 5 as clients.

  The web server devices 2 and 3 read one (single) source code that has already been created (step S101). Next, the web server devices 2 and 3 refer to a plurality of specifications information prepared for each of a plurality of OSs in advance (step S102), and compile the read source code into a machine language for each of the specifications information. To program (step S103). The web server devices 2 and 3 store the program thus obtained in a predetermined position in the own device (step S104).

  The web server devices 2 and 3 are requested to download the program together with the specification information from the mobile terminals 4 and 5 via the network 1 while storing the program created for each specification information as described above. (Step S105).

  On the other hand, when at least one of the mobile terminals 4 and 5, for example, the mobile terminal 4 connects to the web server device 2 via the network 1 and logs in to the online game site, the mobile terminal 4 is already in its own device at the beginning. The version information of the installed game program is transmitted as specification information to the web server device 2 (step C101).

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the concept of creating a program from a single source code executed by the web server device 2 at this time. In the web server device 2 (3) requested to download the native application from the mobile terminals 4 and 5 including various models, the database (DB) 2A (3A) is stored in the database (DB) 2A (3A) based on the OS version of the web server devices 2 and 3. By referring to the spec information stored in advance, one (single) source code is compiled to generate a machine language program 2B (3B) that conforms to the version of the OS, and this is stored again in the database 2A ( 3A), while delivering to the portable terminals 4 and 5 that have requested download.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration concept of a program installed in each of the mobile terminals 4 and 5. It is assumed that an application program group described in various programming languages including HTML5, JavaScript (registered trademark), and CSS is constructed in a certain model adopting program A (ex.iPsOS4.0) as an OS.

  On the other hand, in a certain model that adopts the program B (ex.iPsOS4.3) whose version is higher than the program A as the OS, it is similarly used in various programming languages including HTML5, JavaScript (registered trademark), and CSS. It is assumed that the described application program group is constructed.

  In this case, in the portable terminal in which the program A is installed, when it is assumed that the calculation processing capability is low and time is required for displaying a plurality of layer images superimposed on each other, for example, by using JavaScript (registered trademark), It is assumed that an image display process for making the upper layer image opaque is adopted.

  On the other hand, when executing the same application program, the other portable terminal in which the program B is installed has a high calculation processing capability and a low processing load when a plurality of layer images are displayed on the display. For example, it is assumed that an image display process for translucent the image of the upper layer is adopted by JavaScript (registered trademark).

  FIG. 6 is a diagram exemplifying spec information for each model of each mobile terminal, which is provided in advance in the database 2A (3A) on the web server device 2 (3) side. Here, for each model name “device xx”, OS version information, one pixel aspect ratio, screen DPI (Dot Per Inch), screen pixel number X, screen pixel number Y, and (application compatible) Various kinds of information such as presence / absence of audio (voice sound generation processing) are stored in advance.

  The screen DPI is originally an index indicating the resolution of the screen, but in the present embodiment, it is used as an index representing the entire specification information.

  Incidentally, in an index called density DPI, ldpi (low dpi) is 120 (dpi), low resolution, mdpi (medium dpi) is 160 (dpi), medium resolution, and hdpi (high dpi) is 240 (dpi). High resolution, xhdpi (extra high dpi) is 320 (dpi), which is extremely high resolution, and is not only the resolution of the display of the model of the mobile terminal, but also the standard of the arithmetic processing capability of the entire hardware circuit .

  FIG. 7 is a diagram exemplifying a part on the head side of the version information VI as the spec information transmitted by the portable terminal 4 in step C101 of FIG. In the present embodiment, the specification information is described as version information. However, specification information (device information of mobile terminal, OS version information, screen ratio, presence / absence of voice sound generation process, etc.) may be used.

  As illustrated, the version information VI includes display resolution information DR of the portable terminal 4. When the display resolution information DR is, for example, “163 [dpi]”, a total of the portable terminal 4 such as a CPU used in the portable terminal 4 and a chip used for graphics, a clock frequency thereof, a capacity of a main memory, and the like As a result, the calculation processing speed at the time of game execution can be easily analogized.

  Upon receiving the specification information from the mobile terminal 4, the web server device 2 extracts the display resolution information DR from the received version information VI when determining that the program download request has been made in step S105 (step S105). S106) Based on the specifications, the corresponding program is selected from the stored latest version of the program.

  Next, when the download of the latest version of the program is requested from the mobile terminal 4, the web server device 2 responds to the request by downloading the selected latest version of the program according to the specifications of the mobile terminal 4, for example, JavaScript (registered trademark). ) To the portable terminal 4 in the format described in () (step S107).

  Here, the new version of the program described in, for example, JavaScript (registered trademark) has two parts. One is an instruction unit that instructs which module (part) of an already installed application (old version program) is to be changed, and the other is the module to be changed.

  When the portable terminal 4 downloads the latest version of the program sent from the web server device 2 according to its own specifications (step C102), the master data in the program is stored in a database area in the terminal. In accordance with the downloaded program, the old version of the program that has already been installed is rewritten and set for update (step C103).

  Here, the rewriting of the old version of the program may be not only the process of rewriting or replacing all of them, but also the process of rewriting or replacing only a part thereof.

  In that case, the old version of the program has a function of accepting an instruction in the instruction section of the downloaded program described in, for example, Javascript (registered trademark), and has a plurality of units that can be replaced or rewritten. It consists of a part, and the function to be accepted replaces or rewrites the module to be changed according to the instruction unit included in the downloaded program.

  In this way, it is possible to make adjustments using a program that partially matches the specifications, without preparing an application to be installed first corresponding to the old version of the program for each of a plurality of specifications.

  The portable terminal 4 transmits the checksum information rewritten at the same time to the web server device 2 again by this update setting (step C104).

  On the other hand, the web server device 2 receives the checksum information from the portable terminal 4 and confirms that the program has been normally rewritten to the latest version. A response signal is transmitted (step S108), the process is temporarily terminated as described above, and then the process returns to the process from step S105 to wait for the process for another portable terminal.

  On the other hand, the portable terminal 4 transmits the checksum information of the latest version to the web server device 2 in step C104 and then receives the response signal from the web server device 2 to upgrade the program version. Confirming completion (step C105), a series of login processing to the web server device 2 is completed as described above, and the process proceeds to execution of the upgraded game.

Hereinafter, differences in processing based on specification information on the game program will be described using specific examples.
FIG. 8 illustrates one scene displayed on the display of the portable terminal 4 in a certain battle game. Consider a case where a certain game character displays a technique developed during a turn of an attack with a visual effect during the progress of such a game.

  FIG. 9A shows that the specification information of the mobile terminal 4, that is, the display resolution information DR in the version information VI is lower than the threshold value set in advance on the web server device 2 side, and the graphics display performance is low. An example in which a technique is displayed with a visual effect according to the game program prepared in the case of being played is shown.

  Here, only the visual effect of the technique is displayed on the screen without displaying the game progress screen (image of the lower layer) shown in FIG. An example is shown.

  On the other hand, in FIG. 9B, the display information DR of the specification information of the portable terminal 4, that is, the version information VI is higher than the threshold value set in advance on the web server device 2 side, and the graphics display An example is shown in which the technique is displayed with visual effects according to the game program prepared when it is determined that the performance is high.

  Here, the visual effect of the technique shown in FIG. 9A is made translucent so that the game progress screen (lower layer image) shown in FIG. 8 can be seen. An example of overlapping and displaying on the screen in the state is shown.

  In this way, by changing the content of the image to be displayed according to the specifications of the mobile terminal 4, the time related to the display of the required image can be averaged regardless of the model of the mobile terminals 4 and 5, and the online game Simultaneity can be secured.

  Therefore, depending on the competitive game, it is possible to shift to preparation for the next turn immediately after taking a skill in one turn. If you are in the middle of receiving, you can prepare for recovery of hit points, such as when the model with lower specifications becomes more advantageous, the occurrence of situations that may cause advantages / disadvantages in game progression due to differences in specifications Can be avoided as much as possible to ensure fairness.

(Second Embodiment)
In the first embodiment, a case has been described in which a plurality of programs corresponding to specifications are created in advance from source code and stored on the web server device 2 side. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the client Each time the spec information is acquired from the side, a program may be generated from the source code based on the spec information, and the generated program may be distributed.

Hereinafter, such a second embodiment will also be described with reference to the drawings.
The environment in which the online game system according to the second embodiment of the present invention is used is substantially the same as FIG. 1 above, and the concept of the connection architecture between the server and the client is substantially the same as FIG. The same reference numerals are used for the same parts, and illustration and description thereof are omitted.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.
FIG. 10 shows the processing contents related to the specification authentication setting at the beginning of the online game, which are executed between the web server devices 2 and 3 as servers and the mobile terminals 4 and 5 as clients.

  The web server devices 2 and 3 are waiting for a request for downloading the program together with the specification information from the mobile terminals 4 and 5 side via the network 1 (step S201).

  On the other hand, when at least one of the mobile terminals 4 and 5, for example, the mobile terminal 4 connects to the web server device 2 via the network 1 and logs in to the online game site, the mobile terminal 4 is already in its own device at the beginning. The version information of the installed game program is transmitted as specification information to the web server device 2 (step C201).

  When the web server apparatus 2 receives the specification information from the portable terminal 4, it determines that a request for downloading the program has been made in step S201, and then extracts display resolution information from the received version information (step S201). S202).

  Next, the web server devices 2 and 3 read one (single) source code that has already been created (step S203). Next, the web server device 2 refers to a plurality of specification information prepared for each of a plurality of OSs in advance (step S204), and converts the source code into a machine language corresponding to the specification information received in the step S201. Compile and program (step S205). The web server device 2 stores the program thus obtained in the database 2A in the device itself (step S206), and then transmits the program to the mobile terminals 4 and 5 that have requested download (step S207).

  When the mobile terminal 4 downloads the latest version of the program according to its own specifications sent from the web server device 2 (step C202), the master data in the program is stored in a database area in the terminal. Then, the old version of the program that has already been installed is rewritten and set according to the downloaded program (step C203).

  The portable terminal 4 transmits the checksum information rewritten at the same time to the web server device 2 again by this update setting (step C204).

  On the other hand, the web server device 2 receives the checksum information from the portable terminal 4 and confirms that the program has been normally rewritten to the latest version. A response signal is transmitted (step S209), the process is temporarily terminated as described above, and then the process returns to step S201 to wait for the same process for another portable terminal.

  On the other hand, the portable terminal 4 transmits the checksum information of the latest version to the web server device 2 in step C204 and receives the response signal from the web server device 2 to upgrade the program. Completion is confirmed (step C205), a series of login processing to the web server device 2 is completed as described above, and the process proceeds to execution of the upgraded game.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a configuration concept of a program installed in each of the mobile terminals 4 and 5. Here, it is assumed that the portable terminal 4 is a model that employs the program A (ex.iPsOS4.0) as an OS, and application program groups described in various programming languages including HTML5, JavaScript (registered trademark), and CSS are constructed. Suppose you are.

  On the other hand, the portable terminal 5 is assumed to be a model that adopts a program B (ex.iPsOS4.3) whose version is higher than the program A as an OS, and HTML5, JavaScript (registered trademark), and CSS are similarly used. Assume that a group of application programs written in various programming languages is built.

  In this case, in the portable terminal 4 in which the program A is installed, when displaying a plurality of layer images on the display in a superimposed manner, when the calculation processing capability is low and time-consuming, for example, by JavaScript (registered trademark), It is assumed that an image display process for making the upper layer image opaque is employed.

  On the other hand, when executing the same application program, the other portable terminal 5 in which the program B is installed has a high processing capacity and a low processing load when a plurality of layer images are displayed on the display. As an example, it is assumed that an image display process for translucent the image of the upper layer is adopted by JavaScript (registered trademark).

  FIG. 12 is a diagram exemplifying spec information for each model of each portable terminal that is preliminarily provided in the database 2A (3A) on the web server device 2 (3) side. Here, for each model name “device xx”, OS version information, one pixel aspect ratio, screen DPI (Dot Per Inch), screen pixel number X, screen pixel number Y, and (application compatible) Various kinds of information such as presence / absence of audio (voice sound generation processing) are stored in advance.

  The screen DPI is originally an index indicating the resolution of the screen, but in the present embodiment, it is used as an index representing the entire specification information.

  As described above in detail, according to the first and second embodiments, the burden on the side providing the application program is reduced, and the application program that performs online battle communication is not affected by the difference in specifications between terminals. It becomes possible to reliably prevent the occurrence of fairness.

  In the above embodiment, the specification process of the model of the client machine is determined as the specification information based on the display resolution information DR in the version information VI. Since the portion relating to the graphics calculation that is easily exposed to the difference is determined based on the display resolution information DR, the criterion for determination is clear and the processing on the web server device 2 side can be simplified.

  In addition, although both the said 1st and 2nd embodiment demonstrated the example at the time of applying to the program of a battle | competition type online game, this invention does not limit the kind etc. of the application program to distribute, etc. It can be similarly applied to various application programs.

  In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, the functions executed in the above-described embodiments may be combined as appropriate as possible. The above-described embodiment includes various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by an appropriate combination of a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some constituent requirements are deleted from all the constituent requirements shown in the embodiment, if the effect is obtained, a configuration from which the constituent requirements are deleted can be extracted as an invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Network, 2, 3 ... Web server apparatus, 4, 5 ... Portable terminal, 6 ... Access point (AP), 7 ... Base station, DR ... Display resolution information, VI ... Version information.

Claims (3)

In the information processing device that can communicate with the client machine,
Obtaining spec information of the client machine from the client machine;
Converting one source code for generating an application program into an application program for performing image display processing according to the information acquired in the acquiring step;
Delivering the application program obtained in the converting step to the client machine;
The step of distributing to the client machine includes a step of distributing an instruction to replace or rewrite a part of the application program. The application program has a function of accepting the instruction,
The program according to claim 1, wherein the accepting function replaces or rewrites a part of the application program in accordance with the instruction. A program distribution method to be executed by an information processing apparatus capable of communicating with a client machine,
Obtaining spec information of the client machine from the client machine;
Converting one source code for generating an application program into an application program for performing image display processing according to the information acquired in the acquiring step;
Delivering the application program obtained in the converting step to the client machine,
The step of distributing to the client machine includes a step of distributing an instruction to replace or rewrite a part of the application program.