JP3222142B2 - Information service system and method for mobile terminal - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a mobile terminal moving to various places, and relates to a system and a method for providing information for the mobile terminal.

BACKGROUND ART As an information service for an unspecified number of users, Co
There is a so-called "personal computer communication" represented by mpu-Serve or PCVAN. In personal computer communication, communication is performed between a computer that provides information called a host machine and an unspecified number of user terminals through a telephone line or the like, and services information stored in the host machine.

In personal computer communication, an information service is used in the following procedure. First, the user starts communication software or the like. Next, a connection operation is performed to connect to the host machine. The host machine sends index information indicating what kind of service can be provided. The user searches for a target service based on the index information. Usually, the number of types of services to be provided is enormous, and the index information sent at one time is often limited to a part. For this reason, the index information and the user's index selection command are repeatedly exchanged between the host machine and the user terminal until the user reaches the target service. For example, in a case where a newspaper article relating to a specific person is searched using personal computer communication, the user first searches for an item of a connection service to a commercial database from the index information of the entire personal computer communication and selects it. . Next, an item in the newspaper database is searched for and selected from the index information of the commercial database sent from the host machine.

Upon reaching the target service, the user searches for the target information and acquires the information. In the example above,
A newspaper database is accessed, a newspaper article is searched using a person's name as a keyword, and a necessary article is downloaded to the user terminal.

In most cases, billing is based on the usage time. In addition, when the service to be provided is separately charged, the user is notified that the service is charged, and then, in many cases, it is confirmed whether or not to use the service. The usage status of the service for each user is collectively managed by the host machine.

In personal computer communication, in order to prevent unauthorized use of a service, the identity of a user is checked using credit information such as a credit card, and an ID number for using the service is assigned. When connecting to the host machine, the ID number sent from the user terminal is checked to prevent unauthorized use.

The mobile terminal has a feature that it can be moved to various places. Therefore, by utilizing this feature, it is conceivable to provide a variety of fine-grained information unique to the place, such as road guidance and shopping guidance. For example, assuming an information service at a station where many people gather, an information service such as a timetable for each station, nearby road guidance, or advertisement and shopping information is conceivable. Also, mobile terminals are expected to become more widespread than personal computers. Some predict that it will be about 10 to 100 times that of a personal computer. As a result, information services for mobile devices offer a wider variety of services than current personal computer communications,
In addition, it is expected that the number of terminals to be serviced will increase tens of times.

However, if the service method of the personal computer communication is applied as it is to the information service for such a mobile terminal, the following problems are expected to occur.

First, in order to realize various information services for a large number of mobile terminals using the interactive communication method of personal computer communication as it is, the communication load becomes enormous, which may cause a communication bottleneck and a delay in response. There is. To avoid this, a large-capacity communication line and a higher-performance host machine are required. For this reason, the equipment investment of the information service provider becomes more expensive than in the past.

Second, protecting copyright for information is more difficult. In conventional personal computer communication,
Information services are provided in a public data format.
For example, an information service is provided after a data format is determined in advance, such as JIS or Shift JIS kanji code for text information, or TAFF format or JPEG format for image data. The user prepares a display program capable of processing such a data format and browses information. However, since the data format of the information once sent to the user is already known, there is a possibility that the information is illegally used by the user without the permission of the copyright owner.

On the other hand, as communication using mobile terminals, ASCII, Vol. 18, # 10 October 1994, p.
An article entitled "Eneral Magic and Magic Cap" is published, which introduces the content that remote programming using the communication protocol "Telescript" is possible. Certainly, in the network service using Magic Cap, the processing required by the user is transmitted to the network as an agent described in Telescript, and the agent returns after completing the required processing on the target server. There is an advantage that the connection time to the connection is shortened. However, even if the communication introduced in this article is accessed simultaneously from a large number of mobile terminals, there is a problem that the load on the host (server) side increases, causing a communication bottleneck and a delay in response.

On the other hand, Nikkei Electronics 1994.12.5, p.133-144
Contains an article on a car navigation system that supports traffic information provision services (FM data multiplex broadcasting, optical beacon, radio beacon) starting in 1996. The congestion information service has the advantage of being able to receive congestion information in a limited area, but the type of information is fixed, and basically, unidirectional service provision from the host to the navigation device side Therefore, there is a problem that two-way communication is difficult and lacks versatility. (In the service of traffic information,
The "optical beacon" method is capable of two-way communication, and is capable of transmitting the position of the vehicle from the vehicle to the beacon.
However, transmission from a car is mainly used for traffic control, and it is difficult to selectively request transmission of various information from a car. Also, the traffic jam information obtained from the host is stored in the car navigation device. Since the traffic jam information is successively accumulated in the storage device of the car navigation device, appropriate management of the traffic jam information is performed. Otherwise, there is a problem that the storage device on the navigation side overflows.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-138821 discloses a method of displaying a station-specific timetable on a portable terminal using wireless communication of a base station having a narrow area such as a PHS installed at a station or the like. ing. However, according to this conventional technique, a base station installed in a station or the like does not have a large amount of information (such as timetable information) inherent in the base station and does not make a call, but holds the information in a mobile terminal. It functions only as a base for transmitting ID collation information for simply selecting information to be performed.
Therefore, in this conventional technique, the information desired by the user must be prepared in advance in the mobile terminal, which may lead to an increase in the storage capacity of the mobile terminal, and the type of information is limited. It is not as versatile as computer communications.

As described above, the personal computer communication and other information service methods for specific applications have various problems.

An object of the present invention is to reduce the communication time per mobile terminal while securing versatility like personal computer communication without fixing the type of information, and to provide a service system for providing information (mainly providing equipment). ) At low cost. It is another object of the present invention to efficiently use a portable terminal having a limited storage capacity. It is another object of the present invention to appropriately protect copyright which has been difficult in the past. Another object is to reduce costs required for maintenance of the entire system. Other objects will become apparent from the following description.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION In the present invention, basically, three communication schemes of (1) a broadcast scheme, (2) an information object scheme, and (3) an area limitation scheme are combined to reduce a communication / calculation load of a service center.

The broadcast system is a system for transmitting information to terminals using a repetitive one-way protocol (broadcast), such as traffic information broadcasting performed on an expressway or the like. In this method, the service center does not synchronize communication,
Since information can be transmitted to an unspecified number of mobile terminals at the same time, no communication load is generated. However, this communication method does not consider consideration for general-purpose information.

Therefore, the information to be transmitted by the broadcasting system is divided into two types of information: a) primary information that is frequently used (no charge = not notified of charging) and b) information that is not as frequently used as the primary information but is required by some users. The primary information basically follows the broadcasting system, and the secondary information performs interactive communication. Then, by converting these pieces of information into information objects described below, the communication load is reduced and the versatility is increased.

The information object method is a method in which information data to be provided is in an encrypted or undisclosed format, and transmitted as a set together with a program for decrypting and displaying the information data. At that time, the decryption / display program has a built-in function to transmit the ID and billing notification built into the mobile terminal to the center side as e-mail, and sends a notification to that effect by e-mail only when the user uses the secondary information. Try to transmit. As a billing method, billing based on the number of billing notification mails received by the service center is used as the number of pieces of information used by the user. This makes it possible to reliably charge the information to be provided and protect the copyright.

As described above, by combining the broadcasting system and the information object system, charging can be performed while the communication load on the service center side is reduced.

The area limitation method is a method for limiting information transmitted by the broadcast method to information related to “area”. This means that transmitting all the information that can be provided by broadcasting
This is because it is not practical considering the capacity and the communication band. For this reason, information to be provided, especially primary information, shall be sent with high regional characteristics. Here, since the main object of the present invention is to reduce the communication load, it is desirable that the request frequency of the primary information transmitted by the broadcast method from the portable terminal is high to some extent. However, whether the frequency of request for information is high or low cannot be determined unconditionally, and may vary greatly depending on the situation where the user is placed. Therefore, an attribute called “place” where the user (mobile terminal) is located is introduced as a measure of the situation where the user is located, and “information to be broadcast” and “ The match rate with "information requested from the user terminal" is improved.

Examples of the information related to the "area" include the timetable and the neighboring guidance information which are considered to be relatively frequently used in the information service at the station described above.

An advantage of the combination of the regional limited system and the broadcast system is that the user (portable terminal) can receive information of the information object system, particularly the primary information, when the user enters a certain "region" as a trigger. The apparent communication time can be reduced.

Also, when the mobile terminal leaves the "area" or after a certain period of time, the primary information transmitted by the broadcasting method is deleted from the mobile terminal unless otherwise instructed by the user. The storage device of the mobile terminal can be more efficiently used by accumulating a large amount of data.

By the combination of the above, a mechanism is provided which can manage (charge / copyright protect) information while flowing down like a radio. Further, since unknown service information can be easily handled, the service center has high versatility and can freely provide various services.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows an apparatus configuration of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a system configuration of the service center. FIG. 3 shows the structure of the user information database. FIG. 4 shows the structure of the information database. FIG. 5 shows a system configuration of the portable terminal. FIG. 6 shows the structure of the information object. Figure 7 shows the information DB
Represents the structure of the access means (program). FIG. 8 shows the relationship between the mobile terminal and the information object. FIG. 9 shows an outline of a regional information service realized by the present invention. FIG. 10 shows a data flow at the time of information search in the present invention. FIG. 11 shows a protocol in a conventional personal computer communication method. FIG. 12 shows a protocol in a communication method realized by the present invention. FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure in which an information object is transmitted from the service center. FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure in which the mobile terminal receives the information object.
FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a procedure for activating the information DB access means (program) in the mobile terminal. FIG.
5 is a flowchart showing a procedure for using a DB access unit. FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a procedure for terminating the information DB access means (program). Figure 18 shows the CSS
It is a flowchart showing operation | movement of the service center at the time. FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the operation of the portable terminal at the time of CSS. FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a user authentication procedure in the service center. FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating an information search operation of the mobile terminal. Fig. 22
5 is a flowchart showing the timing of charging when using the service.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, before describing a system configuration, a communication protocol, and the like of the present invention, a basic concept of the present invention will be described.

In order to provide information services without expensive capital investment, it is conceivable to reduce the amount of communication between the mobile terminal and the host machine. However, since the information provided to the user cannot be reduced, the communication overhead can be reduced by reducing the number of conversations between the mobile terminal and the host machine, or the communication time and the communication time of the host machine can be reduced by reducing one communication time. It is conceivable to reduce the occupation time.

According to the present invention, it is conceivable that all or a part of only the primary information that is considered to be frequently used in the information service is sent to the mobile terminal in advance, and the subsequent dialogue is reduced as much as possible. For example, in the above-mentioned information service at a station, if a timetable or nearby guidance information that is considered to be used relatively frequently is sent to a portable terminal, it is possible to eliminate a dialogue with such information. Also, the secondary information whose usage frequency is not as high as the primary information may be charged, and the host machine may be notified of the charge only when the user uses the secondary information.

The primary information considered to be frequently used in the mobile terminal may be information strongly related to the location where the mobile terminal is located. Of the information services at the stations mentioned above, information such as station timetables, nearby route guides, advertisements, shopping guides, etc. are not only strongly related to the place where the mobile terminal is located, but also completely unrelated places. It is unlikely that such information will be needed.

Therefore, for such region-specific information, a region for actively providing an information service is provided, and all or a part of the region information is transmitted collectively to a portable terminal in the region. At this time, if a signal is used as a trigger to transmit before the user starts using the service, it is possible to reduce the communication time apparently to the user and to reduce the communication load on the host machine side. Can be reduced. Also, when the mobile terminal leaves the area where the information service is provided or after a certain period of time, if that information (primary information) without a special instruction from the user is deleted from the mobile terminal, the area-specific information can be obtained. The storage device of the portable terminal by storing a large amount can be used more efficiently.

On the other hand, since the secondary information is premised on charging, the following method is considered as one of the methods for preventing the secondary information provided by the information service from being easily illegally used.

That is, by converting primary information and secondary information into information objects, distributing programs or routines for decrypting and displaying the data together with the data, and making the data format private or encrypted, Restrict. In particular, when accessing secondary information, the program requires personal authentication.
Further, if the copyright owner information is stored in the display program or the display routine, unauthorized use can be suppressed. Further, this secondary information is charged, and in this case, a routine for notifying the host machine of a charge when the user displays the information using the simultaneously transmitted display program or display routine may be provided. If this is the case, charging can be performed reliably. The secondary information may also be configured so that the information (secondary information) without a special instruction from the user is deleted from the portable terminal. By storing a large amount of region-specific information, the storage device of the portable terminal can be used more efficiently.

It should be noted that the primary information can be realized without making it into an information object. However, it is more advantageous to view the primary information and the secondary information as a series of flows (algorithms) in system construction such as software development. Therefore, in the following embodiments, a description will be given of a method in which both primary information and secondary information are converted into information objects and transmitted.

Now, the configuration of such an apparatus for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail. Next, an information service realized by the present invention will be described by taking an information service assumed at a station as an example.

1 to 8 illustrate an apparatus configuration and a system configuration of the present invention. First, the device configuration of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1, and then the system configuration and components of the service center and the portable terminal will be described with reference to FIGS. The data format of information exchanged between the service center and the portable terminal will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows an apparatus configuration of the present invention. The present invention is a service center 100 that provides various information such as text, voice, and images via a wireless or wired network,
It is composed of two mobile terminals 200 that receive such information. In the following embodiments, a system using a wireless network will be described. Even in the case of a system using a wired network, it is possible to construct a system of the same type as a wireless system if the area of the mobile terminal to be accessed is limited.

The service center 100 includes a CPU 101, a wireless communication device 102, a memory 103, a hard disk 104, and an antenna 105. The CPU 101 loads and executes an information service program stored in the hard disk 104 onto the memory 103, and provides an information service to the mobile terminal 200. The wireless communication device 102 receives the notification and request from the mobile terminal 200 via the antenna 105, and sends secondary information such as a document or an image to the mobile terminal 200 when requested by an interactive protocol or the like. Can also be sent. The hard disk 104 stores information service programs and service information for users.

The mobile terminal 200 includes a CPU 201, a wireless communication device 202, and a memory 20.
3. A hard disk 204, an antenna 205, and a screen 206 with a pen input function. CPU 201 is hard disk 2
04 stores the information access program stored in memory
The information is loaded and executed on 203, and information provided from the service center 100 is acquired and displayed. The wireless communication device 202
Via the antenna 205, the service center 100 transmits a notification and a processing request to the service center 100, and receives service information. The hard disk 204 is a part that stores the information access program and the received service information. The screen 206 with a pen input function receives a request from a user through an operation such as a pen input or the like and outputs a processing result obtained from each control unit.

On this apparatus, a program constituting the system shown in FIGS. 2 and 5 is executed to realize the present invention. Of course, the configuration of the service center 100 and the portable terminal 200 is not limited to the configuration of FIG. 1, and various modifications are conceivable. For example, the mobile terminal 200
For example, an input device other than a pen, a touch panel, a keyboard or the like may be used, or a storage device such as a semiconductor memory without using the hard disk 204 may be used.

FIG. 2 shows a system configuration of the service center 100.
The service center 100 includes a communication control unit 110, a user information DB control unit 111, a trigger signal transmission unit 112, an information object transmission unit 113, a central control unit 114, and an information database control unit 11.
5, user information database 300, information database 40
0, 400 '.

The central control unit 114 controls the communication control unit 110, the user information DB control unit 111, the trigger signal transmission unit 112, the information object transmission unit 113, the information database control unit 115, the user information database 300, and the information databases 400 and 400 '. Part.

The communication control unit 110 includes the service center 100 and the mobile terminal 200.
And a means for controlling various information objects 500 and a communication control command exchanged between them. Here, the communication control command includes a trigger signal, a transmission / reception command (transmission request,
(Reception request, timeout, acknowledgment, retransmission instruction, checksum, etc.). The information object 500 is
It refers to data combining information or an information database and a means (program) for displaying and retrieving it. Details of the information object will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The communication procedure of the information object 500 and the communication control command will be described later in detail with reference to FIG.

The user information database 300 implements information for user authentication such as a password and a usage log, and means for managing billing information. As a result, unauthorized use of the information service can be prevented, and the usage history of each user can be accurately grasped and appropriate billing can be performed. The user information database 300 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

The user information database control unit 111 is a part that implements means for controlling the user information database 300.
The above-mentioned acquisition of the user information is possible only through the user information database control unit 111.

The trigger signal transmission unit 112 is a unit that intermittently outputs a signal that triggers the start of service to the mobile terminal 200 that has entered the area where the information service is received.

The information object sending unit 113 outputs the information object 500
Is transmitted to the mobile terminal 200. The information object sending unit 113 realizes means for simultaneously transmitting service information and access means such as display and search, means for storing copyright information inside the service information, means for giving charging means to the access means. To achieve.

The information databases 400, 400 'implement means for storing and managing information serviced by users. Examples of information stored in the information database include various types of information such as timetables and shopping information. This information is assumed to be various types of information, and is limited to a limited amount of special information, such as information close to public information such as timetables installed at stations, etc., to private information such as shopping information. Broad. Therefore, in preparing the system infrastructure, the information provider may limit the types of information within a range that does not impair versatility according to the purpose. It is also conceivable that the user ID of the information user and the type of information to be provided are registered in advance within a range that does not impair versatility, and the accessible range is limited.

In the present invention, the primary information and the secondary information may be classified by a predetermined standard by the information provider in consideration of the frequency of use, the purpose of the information provision, and the like.

Incidentally, the information databases 400 and 400 'may be not only one but also a plurality. FIG. 2 shows an example in which the system center 100 has two information databases 400 and 400 '.

The information database control unit 115 controls the information database 40
This part controls access to 0 and 400 '. Necessary information is extracted from the information database in response to a request from the central control unit 114 or the information object sending unit 113.

Here, the user information database 300 is shown as one component of the service center, but a configuration in which a plurality of service centers 100 share one user information database 300 may be used. For example, a user information center composed of a large-scale user information database 300 is created in one place, and this is combined with each service center.
A mechanism in which 100 dialogues can be considered.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of the user information database 300.
The user information database 300 is a part for managing user authentication information and billing information.
It comprises a user information table 302.

The user ID table 301 is a table including a user ID 303. The user ID 303 is a number for identifying an individual, and is used for identification when a user receives an information service. The user ID 303 includes a pointer to the user information table 302.

The user information table 302 includes a password 304, user personal information 305, service use log 306, and billing information 307. The password 304 is a part in which a password to be collated at the time of user identification is stored. The user personal information 305 stores personal information such as a user's name, address, and telephone number. The service usage log 306 stores usage history such as from when and how long the user has used the service. The user is charged based on the service usage log 306. The charging information 307 stores usage upper limit information indicating how much the user can use the service, the amount of money the user has used so far, and the like.

Usually, the user information database 300 is the service center 1
It is used as business information of 00 and cannot be used by general users.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of the information databases 400 and 400 '.
The information databases 400 and 400 'are parts for storing and managing information such as text, voice, and images provided to the user, and are composed of information database definition information 401 and various information data 402.

Information database definition information 401 stores database definition information, and table / query definition information.
403 and data record management information 404. The table / query definition information 403 stores information such as how tables and queries stored in the database are defined. Here, the table represents an arrangement of data defined on the database.
The query represents a dynamic table created by selecting related items from a plurality of tables during a search.

Further, the data record management information 404 stores information such as where and how much such various information data 402 for each table is stored. Various information data 402 is a part where actual data is stored,
It is composed of a plurality of data records 405. One data record 405 corresponds to one service information. The data stored in the data record can be stored in various formats such as text, voice, and image. This is because, when information is provided to a user, access means for the information can be transmitted at the same time, so that the format of the information to be handled is not limited.

FIG. 5 illustrates a system configuration of the mobile terminal 200. The mobile terminal 200 includes a communication control unit 210, a trigger signal detection unit 211, a central control unit 212, a display control unit 213, an input control unit 214, and a service information control unit 215.

The central control unit 212 controls the communication control unit 210, the trigger signal detection unit 211, the display control unit 213, the input control unit 214, and the service information control unit 215.

The communication control unit 210 includes the service center 100 and the mobile terminal 200.
And a means for controlling communication of the information object 500 and the communication control command exchanged with the server.

The trigger signal detection unit 211 is a unit that detects a trigger signal transmitted from the service center 100.

The display control unit 213 sends a display message 220 to the information object 500 received from the service center 100,
Displays information in various forms, such as text, audio, and moving images.

The input control unit 214 determines an instruction from the user input through the screen 206 with the pen input function, and
This is the part to tell.

The service information control unit 215 sends various messages to the information object 500 received from the service center 100 to perform control. Messages sent to the information object include an inquiry message 222 and an information search message 223. Each message activates various procedures in the information object 500 to perform processing.

The above is the description of the system configuration of the service center 100 and the mobile terminal 200. Information exchanged between the two in addition to the communication control command is an information object 50.
0, information for authenticating the user, a search request, and a billing notification. 6 to 8, the information object 500 will be described.

FIG. 6 shows the structure of the information object 500. The information object 500 is data obtained by combining information or an information database with a means (program) for decoding, displaying, and retrieving the information or the information database.
0 and an information DB access means (program) 600 for accessing this. The information DB access means (program) 600 implements means for accessing the information database 300. The mobile terminal 200 displays and searches for information by sending various messages to the information DB access means (program) 600 and activating these means.

According to the present invention, the data structure of the information included in the information object is hidden, and access by other means is disabled by limiting the access means. This allows
Securely charge for paid information and protect copyrights, which was taken up as an issue.

FIG. 7 shows the structure of the information DB access means (program) 600. Information DB access means (program) 600
Interface inquiry means (program) 700, D
B Access means (program) 800, user authentication means (program) 900, billing notification means (program) 1000, and display means (program) 1100.

Interface inquiry means (program) 700
Is a part for providing definition information of the information DB access means (program) 600, and comprises an interface registration means (program) 701 and an inquiry means (program) 702. The inquiry means (program) 701 provides information such as what kind of means (function) is included in the information DB access means (program) 600. The interface registration unit (program) 701 registers these units in the service information control unit 215 and makes them available from the central control unit 214 and the display control unit 213.

The DB access means (program) 800 provides a means for actually accessing the information database 300. D
B Open means (program), DB close means (program), DB structure information means (program), DB search means (program).

The user authentication means (program) 900 performs user authentication performed when starting the service of secondary information because the information to be provided is on the service center side and it is necessary to perform normal interactive communication (interactive protocol). Provides a means for obtaining a key.

The charge notifying means (program) 1000 is used when the user uses the service of the paid secondary information.
A charge notification is made to 0.

The display means (program) 1100 is an information database 30
A means for displaying various data 302 of 0 is provided.

FIG. 8 shows a relationship between the mobile terminal 200 and the information object 500. Here, the flow of messages and data exchanged between each control unit and the information object will be described. The operation flowchart of each control unit and means will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

First, the mobile terminal 200 receives the information object 500 from the service center 100 using a trigger signal as a trigger. First, the service information control unit 213 activates the interface inquiry means (program) 700 in the information DB access means (program) 600, and the information object 500
To use the information DB access means (program) 600 included in. Next, the display control unit 213 displays the display message 220
To start the information service program. When a user receives an information search request when using a service, the service information control unit 213 sends an information search message 221. Then
The DB access means (program) 800 is started.

At this time, the information to be searched is an information object
If the mobile terminal 200 does not exist in the service center 100 but exists in the service center 100, the mobile terminal 200 accesses the secondary information based on the user authentication between the mobile terminal 200 and the service center 100. Transition. User authentication is performed by a user authentication means (program) 90 by a user authentication message from the DB access means (program) 800.
This is done by activating 0.

When the information to be searched exists in the information object 500, an information search is performed on the information database 300 included in the information object 500, and the search result is returned to the service information control unit 213. When the user makes a search request for the paid secondary information, the DB access unit (program) 800 activates the charging unit 1000, notifies the user that charging is performed, and then provides a charging notification service. Send to the center 100.

9 to 12, the service center 100 and the mobile terminal 2
The protocol (communication procedure) and operation means during 00 will be described with reference to flowcharts.

First, in FIGS. 9 and 10, the service center 100 and the mobile terminal 200 are shown.
11 and 12 show a comparison between a communication method according to the present invention and a conventional personal computer communication method.

FIG. 9 shows an outline of a regional information service realized by the present invention. This example assumes an information service at each station, such as a Japanese JR or a subway subway. First, it is assumed that the user who has the portable terminal 200 approaches the station A (service center 100) where the information service is provided by traveling by train or on foot. At this time, a signal that triggers information distribution is issued from the station A, and various information (information object information) is transmitted to the terminal owned by the user in response to the signal.
500) is sent. In this case, the information services provided by Station A include a “timetable” service and a “transfer information” service. The “timetable” service is a service that provides a timetable of the station A, as it is literally. The "transfer information" service is a service that tells an optimal route and transfer to transfer from the station A to another station.

Upon completion of the transmission, the received information service program is activated, and icons and character strings representing the contents of the transmitted information are displayed on the screen 206 of the mobile terminal 200. By clicking these icons, character strings, and the like, the user switches the main control to the information service program and starts the service. According to the service menu, the user can confirm the departure time of the target train using the “timetable” service, and can confirm the optimal route using the “transfer information” service.

Finally, it is assumed that the user of the portable terminal 200 has moved out of the range of the trigger signal transmitted from the station A due to movement such as a train or walking. At this time, if the user does not use the information service for a certain period of time or does not instruct to save the used information, the information sent from the station A is deleted so that the hard disk 204 of the mobile terminal 200 is not pressed. I do.

If the user moves within the range of the trigger signal while using the service, or searches again for the information instructed to save, the station A can be accessed through the nearest wireless network. .

FIG. 10 shows a data flow at the time of information search in the present invention. Normally, the information database 400 to be searched has various sizes. In the example of FIG. 9, the “timetable” at Station A is expected to be several KB at most, whereas the database for implementing the “transit” service is a CD.
-The amount of information is expected to be close to one ROM. In the case of a small database such as a “timetable”, all can be stored in the information object 500 and sent to the mobile terminal 200. However, in the case of a large-scale database such as a “transit” service, it is not realistic to transmit all of the data to the mobile terminal 200. Therefore, in the present invention, a part of the database definition information 401 and various information data 402 is stored in the information object 500 as a distributed database of the information database 400, and is transmitted to the portable terminal 200.

When searching for information, various information data 402 to be searched
Is stored in the definition 401 of the database, and the information DB access means (program) 600 switches the search target based on this. These processes are hidden, and are not visible to the service information control unit 210 at all. If it is stored in the information object 500 on the mobile terminal 200, it is searched. If not stored, a search request is sent to the service center 100 via the communication control units 110 and 210 and the antennas 105 and 205, and the information database 400 in the service center 100 is searched by the information DB control unit 115. The search results are stored in the information DB of the mobile terminal 200 via the communication control units 110 and 210 and the antennas 105 and 205.
The screen 206 is returned to the access means (program) 600 and is displayed by the display control unit 213 and the display means (program) 1100.
Displayed above.

11 and 12 show a comparison between a communication method according to the present invention and a conventional personal computer communication method.

FIG. 11 illustrates a communication procedure between a terminal and a service center by a conventional personal computer communication method.

First, when the user starts using the service, a comprehensive index of the entire service information is requested to inquire what kind of information is being serviced (step
1200) and transmitted to the portable terminal (step 1201). Since there is a very high possibility that the comprehensive index information is required, there is also a personal computer communication for transferring such comprehensive index information in advance. The user searches for service contents to be used based on the comprehensive index sent from the service center, and requests a service from the service center (step 1202). As a result, the request result is sent from the service center to the portable terminal (step 120).
3). In the example shown in the figure, the user finds two of the timetable service (free) and the connecting information service (paid) from the sent comprehensive index. Next, a request is made for a connection information service of “Kokubunji → Yokohama”, a charge permission is notified to the service center side, and the connection information is received. FIG. 12 illustrates a communication procedure between a terminal and a service center according to the present invention.

First, when a user moves into an area where a service is provided, three items of a comprehensive index of service information, all or a part of information to be serviced, and an information service connection unit are transmitted to a portable terminal (step 1300). . Therefore, there is no "query" request for the comprehensive index information generated at the start of service use. The user searches for service contents to be used based on the comprehensive index, and requests a service (step 1301). Even if it is a comprehensive index, the use of a communication protocol such as telescript, which was introduced in the prior art above, can reduce the user's trouble of searching the menu screen many times and selecting the desired service. Can be expected. However, at this time, all or a part of the requested information has already been transferred to the portable terminal, so that no service request is issued to the service center (step 1302). In the example shown in the figure, the user has requested the timetable service, but since the timetable information has already been transmitted to the mobile terminal,
No timetable request is made to the service center. As described above, the main point of the present invention is to transmit all or a part of meaningful information to the mobile terminal directly without establishing communication from the mobile terminal. In many cases, since the target information is obtained by the primary information directly transferred to the mobile terminal, the number of “inquiry” requests from the mobile terminal to the service center is reduced, and the communication amount is reduced.

If the directly transferred primary information is not satisfactory and further detailed secondary information, for example, pay information such as a connecting information service is used, no request for the service itself is generated and charging is permitted. A notification is sent to the service center only (step 1303).

As described above, in the information service method according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the traffic of various request commands / results generated between the mobile terminal and the service center, thereby improving the response of the information service. Further, by allocating the calculation load required for the information search that has occurred on the service center side to the mobile terminal, the calculation load on the service center side can be reduced.

Hereinafter, the operation procedures of the service center 100 and the mobile terminal 200 will be described with reference to FIGS. Service center 1
00 and the mobile terminal 200 each independently execute two processes. In the service center 100, a process of transmitting a trigger signal and an information object 500;
These are two processes for interactively processing the processing request received from the mobile terminal 200. In the mobile terminal 200, there are two processes, a process of collecting information objects and a process of performing an information service by performing interactive processing.

FIG. 13 shows an operation procedure of an information object transmission process of the service center 100. 14 to 16 show an operation procedure in the reception process of the mobile terminal 200. Figures 17-2
In FIG. 2, an operation procedure at the time of interactive processing between the service center 100 and the mobile terminal 200 is shown by a flowchart.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for transmitting a trigger signal and an information object 500 from the service center 100. This is an independent process in the service center 100. First, the service center 100
Is started (step 1400), and a trigger signal is broadcast all at once (step 1401). Next, the information object is transmitted (step 1402). The above processing is repeated.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure in which the mobile terminal 200 receives the information object 500. This is a mobile device
200 independent processes. First, the user with the mobile terminal 200 uses some means of transportation,
It is assumed that the user is moving toward the area where the trigger signal transmitted by the service center 100 reaches (step 1500).
It is determined whether the portable terminal 200 has caught the trigger signal (step 1501). If you have not caught,
Return to step 1500 and wait until the trigger signal is caught. If the signal is caught, the identification code of the signal is extracted, and it is checked whether or not the identification code is registered in a table in the trigger signal detection unit 211. If registered, the process returns to step 1500 assuming that the corresponding information object 500 has already been received. If not registered, the service center 100 starts receiving the information object 500 (step 1503). Information object 500
At the end of the reception of the information (step 1504), the service information control unit 1505 activates the information DB access means (program) 600 in the information object 500, and the information database 4
Open 00 (step 1505). Next, the display control unit 213 activates the display means (program) 1100 in the information object 500, displays the service as an icon, and makes the service available (step 1506). Finally, the identification code is registered in the table inside the trigger signal detection unit 211, the process returns to step 1500, and the above processing is repeated.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a procedure for activating the information DB access means (program) 600 in the mobile terminal 200, and explains the first half process of step 1505 in FIG. 14 in more detail. First, it is assumed that the information object 500 is received in the mobile terminal 200 (Step 1600). next,
Information object file 500 to information database 400
And the information DB access means (program) 600 is divided into separate files (step 1601). Next, the information DB access means (program) 600 is loaded into the memory (step 1602). The interface inquiry means (program) 700 is started for the information DB access means (program) 600 loaded in the memory (step 160).
3). Interface inquiry means (program) 7
00 acquires addresses for all means (functions) in the information DB access means (program) 600 (step 1604). The obtained address is registered in the vector table of the service information control unit (step 1605), and the activation process of the information DB access means (program) 600 ends (step 1606).

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the information database 400 by the DB access means (program) 800, and explains the latter half of the processing of step 1505 in FIG. 14 in more detail. First, according to the procedure described in FIG.
The startup process of the information DB access means (program) 600 is performed (step 1700). Next, the information database 400 is opened by the DB opening means (program) 801 (step 1701). Next, various definition information 401 of the information database 400 is acquired by the DB structure information means (program) 802 and is made usable (step 1702). When an information search message is sent from the service information control unit 215, D
The B search means (program) 802 is activated to search the information database 400 (step 1703). DB closing means (program) 80 when use of information service ends
4 to close the information database 400 (step 170)
Four).

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for ending the information service. Release processing starts when the use of the information service by the user ends (step 1800). First, after releasing all the pointers of each means (function) registered in the vector table in the service information control unit 215, the vector table is released (step 1801), and the information DB access means (program ) 60
0 is discarded (step 1802). Next, it is checked whether or not the user has designated the storage of the information object 500 (step 1803). If storage is not specified, the information object file 500 (information database file 400 and information DB access means (program) file 600) is discarded from the hard disk 204 (step 1804). If saving is specified, the process directly proceeds to step 1805 and ends.

Hereinafter, FIGS. 18 and 19 show the mobile terminal 200 and the service center 1.
The operation flowchart of 00 will be described. Normally, the mobile terminal 200 searches the information database 400 in the information object 500, which is the primary information sent together with the trigger signal, and thus hardly communicates with the service center 100. However, when the information to be searched exists in the service center 100 as secondary information, the communication between the portable terminal 200 and the service center 100 is not a broadcast method but a communication similar to general personal computer communication. Is performed, and an operation different from the above is performed.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing the operation of the service center when the interactive communication (interactive protocol) is performed. The service center performs three processes: a user authentication process, an information search process, and a billing process.

The user authentication process is performed only when the information to be searched for exists in the service center 100 and an interactive communication session based on user authentication between the mobile terminal 200 and the service center 100 is performed.

First, when the service center starts (step 200)
0), waiting for a processing request from the mobile terminal 200 (step
2001). When a processing request is received from the portable terminal, it is determined whether or not the request is a user authentication processing request (step 200).
2). In the case of a user authentication processing request, the process proceeds to step 2003 to create an authentication key, register the key in an authentication table in the user information DB control unit, and wait for a request again (step 2001). If it is not a user authentication processing request, it is determined whether the authentication key sent at the same time as the processing request is valid (step 2004). If not, the rejection is notified to the portable terminal (step 2005). If the authentication key is valid, it is determined whether the processing request is a service end processing (step 2006). In the case of the termination processing, the corresponding key on the authentication table is deleted (step 2007). If the processing request is a search process (step 2008), the requested information is searched from the information database, and the search result is returned to the mobile terminal (step 2009). If the processing request is for billing (step 2010), the billing information in the user information DB is updated. When the process is completed, the process waits for a request again (step
2001).

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mobile terminal when using the service. First, the information service program is started to start using the service (step 210).
0). Next, user authentication is performed by inputting a user ID and a password. At this time, a standby state is set until the user authentication is successful (step 2101). If user authentication is successful,
Obtain an authentication key from the service center (step 210)
2). Next, the main menu of the information service is displayed on the screen of the mobile terminal, and the use of the service is started (step 2103). The result of the information search is displayed according to the user operation (step 2105). This process is repeated until the end is selected (step 2106). At the end of the use of the service, an inquiry is made as to whether the information acquired by the user is stored in the portable terminal (step 2107). If storage is specified, the information object is stored in the mobile terminal, and the process ends (step 2110). If storage is not specified, the communication control unit of the mobile terminal checks for the presence or absence of a trigger signal (step 2108). When the trigger signal is no longer detected, the information object in the portable terminal is discarded, and the process ends (step 2110). FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a user authentication procedure in the service center. When the information service program is started by the user, the service center first starts a user authentication process (step 2100). First,
The user ID and password input by the user are sent to the user information DB control unit 211 (Step 2101). Here, the validity of the user ID and the password is checked (step 2102). If it is valid, an authentication key is created (step 2203). If not, a rejection notice is transmitted to the portable terminal (step 2104). Register the created authentication key in the authentication table of the user information DB control unit (step
2105). Finally, the authentication key is transmitted to the portable terminal (step 2106), and the process ends (step 2107).

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing the information search operation of portable terminal 200. This process is started when an information search request is made by a user (step 2200). Whether the search data exists in the mobile terminal 200 or the service center 1
It is determined whether it exists on the 00 side (step 2201). If it exists in the mobile terminal, the information DB in the mobile terminal is searched (step 2202). If it exists in the service center 100, a search request is issued (step 2203). It waits until the search result is received (step 2204), and when the search is rejected by the service center (step 2205), the rejection is displayed on the terminal screen 206 (step 220).
7). If the requested search result is obtained, it is displayed on the terminal screen 206 (step 2206). After displaying the result, the search processing ends (step 2208).

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing the timing of charging when using the service. Service center 1 from mobile terminal 200
The billing notification for 00 occurs when the user uses paid information. First, it is assumed that the user authentication has succeeded and the use of the information service has started (step 2300). When the service starts, a list of available services is displayed on screen 20.
6 is displayed on the screen (step 2301). The user selects a target item from the displayed service list (step 2302). Here, it is determined whether or not the selected item is the end of use of the service (step 2303), and if it is completed, the process proceeds to step 2308 to end the process. If not,
Determine whether the item is a paid service (step 230)
Four). If it is a free service, go to step 2407.
If the user is charged, a message to the effect that the user is to be charged is displayed, and an inquiry is made as to whether or not to use the paid service (step 2305). If the use has been canceled, the process returns to step 2302. When the use is determined, a billing notification is transmitted to the service center (step 2306), and the service is used by the user (step 2307). The above processing is repeated until the user selects termination.

According to this method, when the user uses the pay information, the charge notification can be reliably performed. Therefore, the advertisement service means is used in place of the charge notifying means, and a notification that an advertisement has been viewed is received instead of the charge notice. That is, the audience rating of the advertisement can be accurately grasped. By performing the advertisement, a part of the paid service cost can be borne by the sponsor of the advertisement, so that cheap and high-quality information can be provided to the user.

According to the present invention, the process of transmitting the information object 500 in the service center 100 and the service process by the interactive processing between the mobile terminal 200 can be executed independently. When the communication load of both processes is predicted, it is considered that the process of transmitting the information object 500 far exceeds the communication load of the process performing the interactive processing. Therefore, a service center 100 that executes a process of transmitting the information object 500 and a service center that executes a service process by interactive processing with the portable terminal 200
By separately dividing 100 'and switching the performance of the host machine and the communication device according to the communication load, the equipment cost of the service center can be suppressed.

In addition, since the processes for each of the two terminals are independent of each other, it is possible to execute a large number of inexpensive personal computers in parallel. If the difference in load between the two processes is adjusted by the number of personal computers to be assigned, the cost can be further reduced.

The present invention is not only an information service at a station, but also by changing information stored in an information database.
It can be applied to information services in large-scale and crowded places such as department stores, government offices, hospitals, and construction sites. In the example of a construction site, the information database 500 stores the design drawings of the entire building, the process schedule, the work procedure manuals, etc., so that the ever-changing information can be immediately provided to various places on the work site. Becomes possible.

An advantage of the present invention is that the communication time per mobile terminal can be reduced as compared with the communication method used in conventional personal computer communication. This means that the number of terminals that can be processed per unit time can be increased. Since the terminal processing at the service center can be greatly reduced, the equipment of the service center can be realized with inexpensive hardware. In general, mobile terminals are expected to be 100 to 1000 times more popular than personal computers, so the cost reduction effect of the present invention is considered to be very large.

In addition, by providing display / retrieval means by making an information object, it is not necessary to disclose the data format of the information to be served, so that copyright protection, which was difficult in the past, can be easily realized. .

Furthermore, the system on the mobile terminal side and the information provided are completely isolated by message control. Even if a change in the data structure occurs due to a specification change or technological innovation, the system on the mobile terminal side does not need to be changed, so that the cost required for the maintenance of the entire system can be reduced.

Another embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the above example,
Although the information is divided into primary information and secondary information, zero-order information is further added. In other words, the zero-order information is not converted into an information object having a program or the like, and only the information (data) is transmitted to the portable terminal in a unidirectional broadcast system and in a limited area.

As described above, by dividing information into three levels (three types) such as 0-order information, primary information, and secondary information, it becomes possible to provide services that further meet user needs. Since the 0th-order information is simply a unidirectional communication of information (data), the communication load is relatively light. If information having a high publicity is transmitted as the 0th-order information, only the 0th-order information is received. It can be expected that the needs of the mobile terminal will be satisfied.

This zero-order information is also a combination of the area-limited system and the broadcast system, and is a “region” where the user (mobile terminal) is located.
As a trigger, the user can receive the zero-order information before the user starts using the service (primary information and secondary information), so that the apparent communication time seen by the user can be reduced. If the mobile terminal goes out of the area, the zero-order information may be deleted.

As a modification of the present embodiment, a combination of the zero-order information and the primary information, and a combination of the zero-order information and the secondary information are also possible.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is widely applicable to service systems using mobile terminals. The service can be applied to both public information and private information. Further, the present invention can be applied to an information service by wire, in addition to an information service in wireless mobile communication.

Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-6-70367 (JP, A) JP-A-6-269044 (JP, A) JP-A-6-245254 (JP, A) JP-A-6-1055367 (JP, A) , A) JP-A-6-161918 (JP, A) JP-A-4-47435 (JP, A) JP-A-2-501237 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB Name) H04B 7/24-7/26 H04M 11/00-11/10 H04Q 7/00-7/38

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A service center for storing information and transmitting the stored information, a plurality of mobile terminals receiving the transmitted information, and transmitting and receiving information between the service center and the plurality of mobile terminals. An information service system for mobile terminals having a wireless or wired network for performing, wherein the service center is triggered by movement of at least one of the mobile terminals within a coverage area,
For the mobile terminal, include an information decryption program,
A means for transmitting primary information frequently used via the network is provided, and the mobile terminal, which has moved into the area, receives the primary information transmitted from the service center and registers the primary information in the mobile terminal. When the primary information is matched with a certain identification code, the primary information is decrypted, and by performing personal authentication, a transmission request for secondary information whose use frequency is not higher than the primary information is sent to the service center via the network. An information service system for mobile terminals, characterized by comprising means for transmitting. 2. The portable terminal receiving the primary information,
2. The information service system for a portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein a means for discarding the received primary information is provided in the portable terminal, triggered by the movement outside the area. 3. The portable terminal receiving the primary information,
2. The information service system for a portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein a means for discarding the received primary information after a lapse of a predetermined time after reception is provided in the portable terminal. 4. The information service system for portable terminals according to claim 1, wherein said portable terminal is provided with means for transmitting a notice for accepting charging to said service center via said network. 5. The information for portable terminals according to claim 1, wherein said portable terminal is provided with means for transmitting owner information (copyright) to said service center via said network. Service system. 6. A service center for storing information and transmitting the stored information, a plurality of portable terminals for receiving the transmitted information, and transmitting and receiving information between the service center and the plurality of portable terminals. An information service method for a mobile terminal having a wireless or wired network for performing, wherein the service center is triggered by the movement of at least one of the mobile terminals within a coverage area,
For the mobile terminal, include an information decryption program,
The mobile terminal, which transmits primary information frequently used via the network, moves to the area, receives the primary information transmitted from the service center, and identifies the identification code registered in the mobile terminal. When the primary information is matched, the primary information is decrypted and personal authentication is performed, thereby transmitting a transmission request for secondary information whose use frequency is not higher than the primary information to the service center via the network. An information service method for a mobile terminal, comprising: