JP2018036768A - Electronic apparatus, control method thereof, control program, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To recommend an application by reflecting the use situation of a user and enable the user to immediately use the recommended application.SOLUTION: A communication terminal, i.e. an electronic apparatus, has at least one application program installed, and processes data according to the application program. A CPU downloads, as a recommended application program, an application program recommended for the application program according to the use situation of the application program, and installs the recommended application program in a prescribed first storage region.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device, a control method thereof, a control program, and a recording medium, and more particularly, to an electronic device capable of performing function expansion by an application.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, electronic devices such as communication terminal devices that can add functions according to applications are known. In such an electronic device, there is one in which a list of other recommended applications corresponding to the application currently used by the user is displayed. Here, an application that is optimal for the user is selected from the applications displayed in the list, and an application that is optimal for the user can be easily acquired (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2010-157207 A

  However, in the electronic device described in Patent Document 1, only an application related to an application currently used by the user is recommended, and the application cannot be recommended reflecting the usage status of the user.

  Furthermore, in an electronic device to which a function can be added by an application, the user needs to download and install the application. That is, in the electronic device described in Patent Document 1, the user cannot immediately use the recommended application.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device capable of recommending an application that reflects the usage status of a user and using the recommended application immediately, a control method thereof, a control program, and a recording medium. There is.

  In order to achieve the above object, at least one application program is installed and is an electronic device that processes data according to the application program, and is recommended for the application program according to the usage status of the application program It has 1st means to download an application program from an external device as a recommended application program, and 2nd means to install the said recommended application program in a predetermined 1st storage area, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  According to the present invention, an application is recommended reflecting the usage status of the user, and the user can immediately use the recommended application.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of the communication terminal device which is one of the electronic devices by embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the network to which the communication terminal shown in FIG. 1 is connected. It is a figure which shows an example of a table in case application information DB shown in FIG. 2 is relational DB. It is a block diagram which shows the structure about an example of the software module which operate | moves with the communication terminal shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a table when the DB provided in the application management unit is a relational DB. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the process performed by the recommended application acquisition part shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the application list displayed on a display by the application selection part shown in FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a selection / activation process by an application selection unit and an application activation unit illustrated in FIG. 4. 5 is a flowchart for explaining uninstallation processing of a recommended application performed by an application management unit 401 illustrated in FIG. 4. It is a block diagram which shows the structure about the other example of the software module which operate | moves with the communication terminal 100 shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, an example of an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Configuration example of electronic equipment>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a communication terminal device that is one of electronic devices according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The illustrated communication terminal device (hereinafter simply referred to as a communication terminal) 100 includes an arithmetic device (application processor: CPU) 101, and the CPU 101 controls the communication terminal 100. The display (display unit) 104 is, for example, an LCD, and displays images, characters, and the like under the control of the CPU 101. The touch panel 105 is used for a user to perform an operation by a touch operation. Although not shown, the user may use a physical button or the like in addition to the touch panel 105 when performing an operation.

  The modem 107 includes a baseband processor and is connected to the wireless unit 106. The wireless unit 106 is provided with an antenna. The modem 107 transmits and receives communication data by the wireless unit 106. The camera module 108 includes a lens, an imaging sensor (imaging device), an image processing processor, and the like, and is used when imaging a subject.

  The RAM 102 is used as a work area when the CPU 101 executes a program. The flash memory 103 is eMMC, for example, and is used for storing various files such as programs and image files. Note that a rewritable storage device such as an HDD may be used instead of the flash memory.

<Example of network system configuration>
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a network to which the communication terminal 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 is connected.

  The communication terminal 100 is connected to a Web server (hereinafter simply referred to as a server) 201 via a network such as the Internet 200. The server 201 has an HTTP / HTTPS server function and is connected to the application information DB 202. The DB 202 is a database for providing AP information related to applications. The server 201 provides the AP information acquired from the application information DB 202 to the communication terminal 200 via HTTP / HTTPS via the Internet 200 in response to a request from the communication terminal 100.

  In the illustrated example, the communication terminal 100 is connected to the Internet 200 via a wireless line, but may be connected via a cellular phone network, an Internet service provider's line network, or a LAN.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table when the application information DB 202 illustrated in FIG. 2 is a relational DB.

  An illustrated application program (hereinafter simply referred to as an application) 300 is a table in which AP information is recorded, and has an application ID 301 that is a unique ID assigned to each application. The application name 302 indicates the name of the application, and the file path 303 indicates the location where the application installer is stored. A capacity 304 indicates a necessary capacity for installing the application. A purpose 305 indicates the purpose of the application. A price 306 indicates the price of the application. The number of users 307 indicates the number of users of the application.

  As will be described later, the number of users 307 is used to determine the order of installation of recommended application programs (hereinafter simply referred to as recommended applications). Here, the number of users is an index corresponding to the recommendation level, but another index of the number of users may be used. For example, instead of the number of users 307, a recommendation degree determined according to the number of users and an average value of user evaluations (for example, five-step evaluation) may be used. The application information DB 202 is not necessarily a relational DB.

<Configuration example of software module>
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an example of a software module that operates on the communication terminal 100 shown in FIG.

  The application management unit 401 has a DB and manages applications installed in the communication terminal 100.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a table when the DB provided in the application management unit 401 in FIG. 4 is a relational DB.

  The application 500 is a table in which all AP information installed in the communication terminal 00 is recorded, and has an application ID 501 corresponding to the application ID 301 described above. An application name 502 indicates the name of an application corresponding to the application name 302. A file path 503 indicates a place where an application is recorded in the flash memory 103. A capacity 504 indicates a capacity corresponding to the capacity 304. An objective 505 indicates an objective corresponding to the objective 305. A price 506 indicates a price corresponding to the price 306.

  The application type ID 507 is an ID indicating an application type described later. A registration date and time 508 indicates the date and time when the application is installed. The unbootable flag is recorded in the unbootable 509. For the activation disable flag, “true” is designated when the application is not allowed to be activated, and “false” is designated when the application is allowed to be activated. The number of activations 510 indicates the number of times the application has been activated. The settlement state 511 indicates whether or not settlement has been completed. If the payment has been completed, the payment state 511 is “true”, and if the payment has not been made, the payment state 511 is “false”.

  The application type 520 is a table in which AP type information relating to the application type is recorded, and has an application type ID 521 that is a unique ID assigned to each application type. The application type name 522 indicates the name of the application type. The upper limit size 523 indicates the upper limit capacity when there is an upper limit of installable capacity for each application type.

  Note that, as the application type, for example, there is an application installed by the user's intention using the communication terminal 100 (hereinafter referred to as a normal application). In addition, as an application type, there is an application (hereinafter referred to as a recommended application) that is installed regardless of the user's intention by a process described later. As the application type ID, “1” is assigned to the normal application, and “2” is assigned to the recommended application.

  On the other hand, as will be described later, the file management unit 408 has an area for storing a normal application and an area for storing a recommended application. The upper limit size of each of these areas is recorded in the upper limit size 523. That is, the upper limit size of the normal application area is recorded in the upper limit size 523 of the record whose application type ID is “1”. The upper limit size of the recommended application area is recorded in the upper limit size 523 of the record whose application type ID is “2”.

  Therefore, by subtracting the sum of the capacity 504 of the record whose application type ID is “1” from the upper limit size of the area for the normal application, the remaining capacity of the area where the normal application is recorded can be obtained. Similarly, the remaining capacity of the area where the recommended application is recorded can be obtained. Note that the DB provided in the application management unit 401 is not necessarily a relational DB.

  Referring to FIG. 4 again, the subject type determination unit 402 determines the type of the subject in the image data. Further, the subject type determination unit 402 stores the number of shots for each subject type in accordance with the user's designation. That is, when the user performs shooting, the subject type determination unit 402 determines the type of the subject in the image data that is output from the camera management unit 407. Then, the subject type determination unit 402 increments the number of shots corresponding to the subject type based on the subject type as the determination result.

  In the case where the shooting management is not performed and only the live view image is displayed on the display 104 by the display management unit 410, the subject type determination unit 402 determines the type of the subject in the live view image. Do not increment.

  The recommended application acquisition unit 403 communicates with the server 201 by a communication management unit 409 described later. Then, the recommended application acquisition unit 403 acquires a list of applications that match the purpose from the server 201. Further, the recommended application acquisition unit 403 acquires an application installer from the server 201.

  The application selection unit 404 selects an application to be recommended to the user and displays the application selected by the display management unit 410 described later.

  The application activation unit 405 activates an application designated by the user by an operation detection unit 411 described later. At this time, if the application designated by the user is a recommended application, the application activation unit 405 performs processing described below prior to activation.

  The charging management unit 406 communicates with the server 201 via the communication management unit 409 and executes charging processing. In the accounting process, for example, an interactive method with the user may be used. A method may be used in which a credit card number is registered in advance and settlement using the credit card is performed. Note that information required for payment such as a credit card number is sent from the charge management unit 406 to the server 201 to charge the user.

  The camera management unit 407 controls the camera module 108 to capture a live view image and image data obtained by shooting.

  The file management unit 408 controls the flash memory 103 and manages files stored in the flash memory 103. One area managed by the file management unit 408 is an area where an application is stored (application area). The application area is divided into an area (normal application area) where a normal application program (hereinafter simply referred to as a normal application) is stored and an area (recommended application area) where a recommended application is stored.

  Note that the normal application is an application other than the recommended application program. The recommended application area is the first storage area, and the normal application area is the second storage area.

  A communication management unit 409 controls the modem 107 and the wireless unit 106 to manage communication with the server 201 and the like. The display management unit 410 controls the display 104 to display a screen generated by an application or the like on the display 104. The operation detection unit 411 detects an operation of the touch panel 105 or the like by the user and notifies an application or the like of an event corresponding to the operation.

<Operation of Recommended Application Acquisition Unit 403>
When the number of shots (hereinafter also referred to as the number of shots) held by the subject type determination unit 402 exceeds a predetermined number (number of times), the subject type determination unit 402 causes the recommended application acquisition unit 403 to exceed the predetermined number of shots. Notify the type of subject. Upon receiving the notification (that is, the determination result), the recommended application acquisition unit 403 executes processing according to the following flowchart.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining processing (application acquisition processing) performed by the recommended application acquisition unit 403 shown in FIG.

  The recommended application acquisition unit 403 identifies the purpose of the application according to the type of subject. Further, the recommended application acquisition unit 403 obtains a list of application IDs related to installed applications from the application management unit 401. Then, the recommended application acquisition unit 403 notifies the server 201 of the application purpose and the application ID list as a request by the communication management unit 409 (step S600).

  When the purpose of the application is specified according to the type of subject, for example, if the type of subject is a pet, the purpose of the application is pet shooting. The correspondence relationship between the subject type and the purpose of the application is acquired from the server 201 in advance.

  In response to a request from the recommended application acquisition unit 403, the server 201 transmits a list of applications having the purpose of the application (that is, matching). At this time, the server 201 transmits an application list excluding the applications described in the application ID list. In step S600, the recommended application acquisition unit 403 acquires the application list. The list includes application ID 301, application name 302, capacity 304, purpose 305, price 306, and number of users 307 shown in FIG. 3 as application information.

  Subsequently, the recommended application acquisition unit 403 selects an application having the largest number of users (that is, satisfies a predetermined condition) in the list, and deletes the selected application from the list (step 601). . Then, the recommended application acquisition unit 403 determines whether or not the capacity for installing the selected application is equal to or less than the remaining capacity of the recommended application area obtained from the application management unit 401 (step S602).

  If the installed capacity exceeds the remaining capacity of the recommended application area (NO in step S602), the recommended application acquisition unit 403 returns to the process of step S601. Here, since the application with the largest number of users has already been deleted from the list, the recommended application acquisition unit 403 selects the application with the next largest number of users.

  If the installation capacity is equal to or less than the remaining capacity of the recommended application area (YES in step S602), recommended application acquisition unit 403 acquires an installer related to the selected application from server 201 (step 603). Then, the recommended application acquisition unit 403 uses the installer to install an application (that is, a recommended application here) in the recommended application area (step 604). At this time, the recommended application acquisition unit 403 inserts a record relating to the installed application in the DB table (application 500) provided in the application management unit 401 (step S605).

  In the above record, information included in the aforementioned list is used for the application ID 501, application name 502, purpose 505, and price 506. For the file path 503, the installed location, and for the capacity 504, the capacity of the installed application is used. Furthermore, “2” is recorded in the application type ID 507, and the current date (installed date) is recorded in the registration date 508. In addition, “true” is recorded in the activation impossible 509, and “0” is recorded in the activation count. Then, “false” is recorded in the settlement state.

  In this case, since the activation impossible 509 is “true”, the application management unit 401 cannot activate the installed application.

<Operation when recommended application starts>
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an application list displayed on the display 104 by the application selection unit 404 shown in FIG.

  In the illustrated application list screen, “installed application” is displayed as the explanatory text 700. An icon group 701 is displayed below the explanatory text 700. In the illustrated example, “application 1” to “application 8” are displayed as the icon group 701. The icon group 701 is a normal application icon.

  Under the icon group 701, “Application Recommended for You” is displayed as the explanatory text 702. An icon group 703 is displayed below the explanatory note 702. In the illustrated example, “recommended application 1” to “recommended application 4” are displayed as the icon group 703. The icon group 703 is a recommended application icon.

  When all the recommended applications cannot be displayed, a part of the recommended applications is displayed in order (number). Furthermore, the recommended application to be displayed may be changed based on statistical data related to the user's application usage. Further, all applications may be displayed by enabling flicking so that all recommended applications and normal applications can be displayed.

  In the example illustrated in FIG. 7, in the application 500 recorded in the DB provided in the application management unit 401, a normal application list is generated from a record whose application type ID 507 is “1”. In addition, a recommended application list is generated from a record whose application type ID 507 is “2”. Then, the normal application list and the recommended application list are displayed on the display 104 by the display management unit 410 as application lists.

  When the user taps one of the icon group 701 or the icon group 703, coordinate information of the tapped position is transmitted from the touch panel 105 to the operation detection unit 411. Then, the operation detection unit 411 notifies the application selection unit 404 of the coordinate information and the like. The application selection unit 404 selects an application corresponding to the position coordinates, and the application activation unit 405 activates the selected application.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining selection / activation processing by the application selection unit 404 and the application activation unit 405 shown in FIG.

  First, the application selection unit 404 determines an application corresponding to the icon at the tapped position according to the coordinate information (step S800). That is, the application selection unit 404 determines an application selected by the user. Then, the application selection unit 404 notifies the application activation unit 405 of the selected application.

  The application activation unit 405 determines whether or not the selected application is a recommended application (step S801). If the selected application is a recommended application (YES in step 801), application activation unit 405 acquires price 506 from application management unit 401. Then, the application activation unit 405 determines whether the price 506 is equal to or higher than a predetermined price (that is, “1”) (step S802).

  If the price 506 is “1” (YES in step S802), that is, if it is charged, the application activation unit 405 performs a settlement process by the charge management unit 406 (step 803). Then, the application activation unit 405 moves the selected application to an area (movement destination) where the normal application is stored in the file management unit 408 (step S804).

  At this time, the application activation unit 405 requests the application management unit 401 to change the file path 503 to the movement destination. Further, the application activation unit 405 requests the application management unit 401 to change the application type ID 507 to “1”. In addition, the application activation unit 405 changes the activation impossible 509 to “false” (that is, cancels the activation impossible), and requests the application management unit 401 to change the settlement state 511 to “true”.

  Note that the change of the unbootable 509 to “false” is performed only by a request from the application launch 405. As described above, the selected application is changed from the recommended application to the normal application by moving to the area where the normal application is stored in the file management unit 408 and setting the application type ID 507 to “1”. . Therefore, the recommended application area becomes free, and other recommended applications can be installed. As a result, another application can be recommended to the user.

  Subsequently, the application activation unit 405 requests the application management unit 401 to activate the selected application (step 805). Then, the application activation unit 405 ends the application selection / activation process. If the price 506 is not paid (NO in step S802), the application activation unit 405 proceeds to the process in step S804.

  If the selected application is a normal application (NO in step 801), the application activation unit 405 proceeds to the process of step S805 and requests the application management unit 401 to activate the selected application.

  As described above, when the user selects an application, the selected application can be used immediately without performing download and installation procedures. Note that the number of users 307 in the application information DB 202 is incremented when the processing of step 804 is completed and the application can be activated. Then, the number of users after the increment is notified from the communication terminal 100 to the server 201. This notification need not be performed immediately after step 804 or step 805.

<Uninstallation when recommended applications are not used>
Once the recommended application is installed, if the icon group 703 is not tapped for a predetermined time and is not used, the user uninstalls the application as not interested.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the recommended application uninstall process performed by the application management unit 401 shown in FIG.

  First, the application management unit 401 selects a record whose application type ID 507 is “2” indicating a recommended application, and generates a recommended application list (step 900). Then, the application management unit 401 determines whether or not the list is empty (step 901).

  If the recommended application list is empty (YES in step S901), the application management unit 401 ends the uninstallation process. On the other hand, if the recommended application list is not empty (NO in step S901), the application management unit 401 extracts one application from the list and deletes the application from the list (step 902).

  Subsequently, the application management unit 401 adds a predetermined time to the registration date / time 508 of the recommended application deleted from the recommended application list to obtain the addition date / time. Note that the preset time is a time for presenting the user as a recommended application. Then, the application management unit 401 compares the addition date and time with the current date and time to determine whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the registration date (step 903).

  When a predetermined time has elapsed since the registration date (YES in step 903), the application management unit 401 uninstalls the recommended application deleted from the recommended application list (step 904). Then, the application management unit 401 returns to the process of step S901 to determine whether or not the recommended application list is empty. If the predetermined time has not elapsed since the registration date (NO in step 903), the application management unit 401 returns to the process in step S901.

  As described above, the recommended applications that the user does not start using after a predetermined time are automatically uninstalled. As a result, the recommended application area is free and other recommended applications can be installed. Thereby, another application can be recommended to the user.

  When the recommended application is uninstalled, the record of the application 500 corresponding to the recommended application is also deleted. Instead of deleting a record, a column indicating a state may be provided in the application 500 so that the state that is enabled at the time of installation is invalidated. In this case, it is possible to avoid a recommended application that has been uninstalled once being installed again as a recommended application. When installing by the user's intention, even if the state is invalid, it is installed after deleting the record.

  FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration of another example of the software module that operates in the communication terminal 100 shown in FIG.

  As described above, when the number of shots exceeds the predetermined number, the subject type determination unit 402 notifies the recommended application acquisition unit 403 of the type of subject whose number of shots exceeds the predetermined number. When the notification is received, the recommended application acquisition unit 403 specifies the purpose of the application according to the type of the subject. Further, the recommended application acquisition unit 403 obtains a list of application IDs related to installed applications from the application management unit 401.

  In the illustrated software module, since the subject type determination unit 402 is not provided, the recommended application acquisition unit 403 performs the shooting when the number of shooting exceeds a predetermined number regardless of the type of the subject. The purpose is specified according to the type of image. In addition, about another process, a process is performed as demonstrated in FIG.6, FIG8 and FIG.9.

  Further, when the communication terminal 100 does not include the camera module 108, the software module does not include the camera management unit 407. In this case, when the number of images recorded on the communication terminal 100 exceeds a predetermined number, the recommended application acquisition unit 403 specifies the purpose according to the type of the image. These images are images sent from the external device to the communication terminal 100.

  As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, not only can the application be recommended reflecting the usage status of the user, but the user can immediately use the recommended application.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated based on embodiment, this invention is not limited to these embodiment, Various forms of the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention are also contained in this invention. .

  For example, the function of the above embodiment may be used as a control method, and the control method may be executed by an electronic device. In addition, a program having the functions of the above-described embodiments may be used as a control program, and the control program may be executed by a computer included in the electronic device. The control program is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, for example.

[Other Embodiments]
The present invention supplies a program that realizes one or more functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or apparatus read and execute the program This process can be realized. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

100 communication terminal device 101 arithmetic unit (CPU)
102 RAM
103 Flash memory 104 Display 105 Touch panel 106 Wireless unit 107 Modem 108 Camera module

Claims (15)

An electronic device having at least one application program installed therein and processing data according to the application program,
A first means for downloading an application program recommended for the application program from an external device as a recommended application program in accordance with the usage status of the application program;
A second means for installing the recommended application program in a predetermined first storage area;
An electronic device comprising:   The first means transmits the purpose of the application program to the external device, obtains a list of the recommended application programs having the purpose from the external device, and performs the recommended application according to a predetermined condition. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one recommended application program is selected from a list of programs, and the selected recommended application program is downloaded from the external device.   In addition to the purpose, the first means transmits a list of application programs installed in the electronic device to the external device, and the list of recommended application programs excluding the installed application programs is sent to the external device. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the electronic device is obtained from the following.   4. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined condition is a recommended application program having the largest number of users using the recommended application program. The application program installed in the electronic device includes the recommended application program and a normal application program other than the recommended application program,
5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a third unit that displays a list of the normal application programs and a list of the recommended application programs on a display unit, and selects one application program from the list. Item 1. An electronic device according to item 1.   The electronic device according to claim 5, wherein when the recommended application program is installed in the storage area, the second means sets the installed recommended application program to be unbootable.   If the application program selected by the third means is a recommended application program, the recommended application program is released from the non-startable setting, and the recommended non-startable application program is released as a normal application program. The electronic apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising: a fourth unit that moves to a predetermined second storage area and activates the recommended application program.   8. The electronic apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the fourth means performs a predetermined charging process when the recommended application program is charged before the recommended application program is activated.   5. A fifth means for obtaining a list of the recommended application programs registered in the first storage area and uninstalling the recommended application program in which a predetermined event has occurred in the list. The electronic device of any one of thru | or 8.   The electronic apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined event is that a predetermined time has elapsed from a registration date and time when the recommended application program is installed in the first storage area. Imaging means for capturing an image of a subject and obtaining image data;
Determining means for determining the type of the image data, and in each of the types of image data indicated by the determination result obtained by the determining means, when the number of shots exceeds a predetermined number, the first means The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein a recommended application program having a purpose corresponding to the type of the image is downloaded because the usage status is high.   The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the external device is a server connected to the electronic device via the Internet. A method for controlling an electronic device in which at least one application program is installed and processes data according to the application program,
A first step of downloading an application program recommended for the application program as an recommended application program from an external device in accordance with the usage status of the application program;
A second step of installing the recommended application program in a predetermined first storage area;
A control method characterized by comprising:   The control program for functioning a computer as each means of the electronic device as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 12.   A computer-readable recording medium storing a control program for causing a computer to function as each unit of the electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 12.