JP4377317B2 - Content providing method, server, and mobile communication terminal - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a content providing method for providing content accompanying activation of an application to a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone via a communication network, and a server and a mobile communication terminal that can be used in the method.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone of this type, one that can start a browser software and access a WEB server on a communication network using a predetermined communication protocol is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). . In this mobile communication terminal, the contents of a WEB page, contents such as an image file can be downloaded from a WEB server.
JP 2004-86457 A

When content is downloaded as in the above-described conventional mobile communication terminal, an application program (hereinafter referred to as “application”) used when outputting the downloaded content to an output device such as a display is provided by the provider of the content. It is convenient to be able to specify. For example, if the content to be provided is image content that displays a product three-dimensionally, the product must be used without using a three-dimensional display compatible application that can display the product image three-dimensionally. May not be displayed correctly. Therefore, when providing content such as the image to be provided, if the content provider can specify an application to be used when outputting the content, the content can be correctly output as expected by the content provider. it can.
It is also conceivable that the designated application used for outputting the content is downloaded and acquired from a predetermined server every time content is provided at the mobile communication terminal. However, depending on the type of application, it may already exist in the mobile communication terminal. Even in such a case, every time the content is provided, if you try to download and acquire the application uniformly, it will also execute the acquisition process for the existing application, resulting in unnecessary acquisition processing of the application, There has been a problem that the processing load on the mobile communication terminal and the communication load on the communication network increase.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a purpose thereof is a content providing method, a server, and a mobile communication terminal that can avoid useless acquisition processing of an application used for content output in the mobile communication terminal. Is to provide.

To achieve the above object, the contents of the invention according to claim 1, a content providing method for providing content to the mobile communication terminal from a server on a communication network, the mobile communication terminal, requesting the content A step of transmitting an acquisition request to the server; and the server includes an application activation information description unit included in the WEB content including activation of an application other than a WEB browser and output of a provision target content including an individual file by the application. Application-related information that specifies an application to be started for outputting the content to be provided, and access to acquire the specified application via a communication network when the specified application is not in the mobile communication terminal Show where to get Writing the application acquisition destination information and the provision target content acquisition destination information to be accessed to acquire the provision target content to be activated and output the specified application, and the server includes the application related information and Transmitting the WEB content including the application activation information description part in which the application acquisition destination information and the provision target content acquisition destination information are written to the mobile communication terminal as a response to the content acquisition request ; body communication terminal, the WEB content received from the server, determining whether it has an application specified above SL application-related information, the mobile communication terminal, the designated application Do not have Only when it is determined that, acquiring via the communication network the specification of the application based on SL application acquisition destination information, the mobile communication terminal, based on the provision target content acquisition destination information, the And obtaining a provision target content via a communication network, starting the specified application, and outputting the provision target content by the started application .
Further, the step of invention of claim 2, in the content providing method 請 Motomeko 1, the mobile communication terminal, to query prior to acquisition of the given application, whether or not to acquire the application to the user The mobile communication terminal acquires the application only when the user performs an operation for approving the acquisition of the specified application.
Further, the invention of claim 3, in the content providing method according to claim 1 or 2, upper SL application starting information description unit is configured using the object element with param element, the application related information, the param element The application acquisition destination information is data of a main part of the object element.
Further, providing the subject of invention of claim 4, a server for providing content to provide content to the mobile communication terminal via a communication network, consisting of individual files by the application of activation and the application other than the WEB browser Application related information for designating an application to be activated for outputting the content to be provided in the application activation information description part included in the WEB content accompanied by the output of the content, and the designated application to the mobile communication terminal If not, application acquisition destination information indicating an acquisition destination to be accessed to acquire the specified application via the communication network, and provision to be accessed to acquire the provision target content output by the specified application Target computer When the information writing means for writing the content acquisition destination information and the content acquisition request for requesting the content are received from the mobile communication terminal, the application related information , the application acquisition destination information, and the provision target content acquisition destination information are the WEB content containing the written application starting information description section, is characterized in that a WEB content transmission means for transmitting to the mobile communication terminal as a response to the content acquisition request.
Also, the invention of claim 5 is a server which can communicate with the mobile communication terminal for providing contents via a communication network, said the application storage means for storing applications, the content acquisition request requesting content Means for transmitting to the server, application-related information for designating an application other than the WEB browser to be started for outputting the content to be provided consisting of individual files, and communication when the designated application is not in the mobile communication terminal Application acquisition destination information indicating an acquisition destination to be accessed in order to acquire the specified application via the network, and a provision target to be accessed to acquire the provision target content to be output by starting the specified application Content acquisition destination information The WEB contents written in the publication start information description section, written and WEB content receiving unit that will receive from the server as a response to the content acquisition request, to the application start information description unit included in the WEB contents Information reading means for reading information, determination means for determining whether or not the application specified by the application related information exists in the application storage means, and the determination means determined that the specified application does not exist If only it based on SL application acquisition destination information, acquired via the communication network the specification of the application, the application obtaining means for storing in the application storage means, the providing target content acquisition destination Based on the distribution, obtained via the communication network the provided target content, and is characterized in that it comprises an application execution control means to start the specified application outputs the contents of the provided object .
Further, the invention according to claim 6 is the mobile communication terminal according to claim 5 , in which the application acquisition inquiry means for inquiring the user whether or not to acquire the application prior to acquisition of the specified application, and the specification Application acquisition operation means for performing an operation for the user to instruct acquisition of the application, and the application acquisition means performs an operation for instructing acquisition of the specified application. Only in this case, the application is acquired.

In the server according to claim 4 and the mobile communication terminal according to claims 5 and 6 , the application activation information description section is configured using an object element with a param element, and the application related information is data in the param element. The application acquisition destination information is preferably data of the main part of the object element.

Examples of the “application” include JAVA (registered trademark), FLASH (registered trademark), SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), and the like.
Examples of the “content” include WEB page data, various files such as image files, music files, and program files, and streaming data such as images and music.
Further, as the “mobile communication terminal”, mobile phones such as PDC (Personal Digital Cellular) system, GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) system, TIA (Telecommunications Industry Association) system, IMT (International Mobile Telecommunications) -2000, etc. Mobile phones standardized in TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) TD-SCDMA (MC: Multi Carrier) mobile phone, PHS (Personal Handyphone System), automobile phone, etc. A telephone having a call function is exemplified. Examples of the “mobile communication terminal” include a communication terminal such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance) having a call function in addition to the above telephone.
The control and information processing in the mobile communication terminal and server can also be realized by executing a predetermined program on a computer provided in each of the mobile communication terminal and the server. Delivery of the program used in the computer may be performed using a recording medium such as an FD or CD-ROM in which the program is recorded as digital information, or may be performed using a communication network such as a computer network.

According to the present invention, when the server on the communication network receives the content acquisition request from the mobile communication terminal, the application related information, the application acquisition destination information, and the provision target content acquisition destination information are returned as a response to the content acquisition request. The WEB content including the written application activation information description part is transmitted to the mobile communication terminal. The mobile communication terminal reads the application related information written in the application activation information description part of the WEB content, and determines whether or not it has an application specified by the application related information. Then, only when it is determined that the specified application is not included, the specified application is acquired via the communication network based on the application acquisition destination information written in the application activation information description section. As described above, only when the designated application does not exist in the mobile communication terminal, the application is acquired via the communication network. Therefore, there is an effect that it is possible to avoid useless acquisition processing of an application used for content output in the mobile communication terminal.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of the entire communication system according to the present embodiment. This communication system is configured using a mobile phone 10 as a mobile communication terminal and a mobile phone communication network 20 as a communication network. The cellular phone communication network 20 includes a base station 21, a core network 22, and an IP (Internet Protocol) network 23.

  The base station 21 is provided for each cell to be controlled, converts data from a wired line in the mobile phone communication network 20 into a data format suitable for the wireless interface, and wirelessly transmits to the mobile phone 10 in the cell to be controlled. Transmit at frequency. Conversely, data from the cellular phone 10 transmitted at a radio frequency is received and converted into a data format suitable for the wired interface, and transferred to the wired line portion in the cellular phone communication network 20.

The core network 22 has a location registration database (HLR, VLR), a subscriber database, a billing system, and the like (not shown), and performs communication control so as to relay communication between mobile phones. Furthermore, the core network 22 performs communication control so as to relay communication between each mobile phone and the components in the mobile phone communication network 20. The core network 22 performs communication control so as to relay communication between each mobile phone and another communication network.
The core network 22 has a packet switching network in addition to a circuit switching network. This packet switching network has nodes such as SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node) 24 and GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node) 25. The SGSN 24 has a gateway function between a radio network controller (not shown) to which the base station 21 is connected and a packet switching network on the core network 22 side, a function of performing location management, security management, and access control of each mobile phone 10. have. The GGSN 25 has a gateway function between the packet switching network on the core network 22 side and the IP network 23.

The IP network 23 includes a proxy server 26, a gateway server 27, and a WEB server (not shown). The proxy server 26 performs processing for relaying communication between each mobile phone 10 and a server in the IP network 23 or a server on the Internet. This proxy server 26 also has a protocol conversion function for matching both communication protocols when the communication protocol in the core network 22 and the communication protocol in other communication networks such as the IP network 23 and the Internet 30 are different.
In this IP network 23, a WEB server or a download server for downloading contents may be provided.

  The gateway server 27 has a gateway function and a firewall function between the IP network 23 of the mobile phone communication network 20 and the Internet 30.

  A server for providing various contents is connected to the Internet 30 connected via the IP network 23 of the cellular phone communication network 20. As the server for providing contents, there are a WEB server 40 that mainly provides contents of a WEB page, a download server 50 that mainly provides contents such as image files, music files, and application program files.

  When content is downloaded from the various content providing servers on the Internet 30 to the mobile phone 10, a predetermined communication protocol is used in each layer of the network. For example, HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) is used as a communication protocol of the application layer when downloading a WEB page from the WEB server 40.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of the WEB server 40. The download server 50 can be configured similarly. The WEB server 40 includes a system bus 400, a CPU 401, an internal storage device, an external storage device 404, an input device 405, an output device 406, and an internet communication device 407. The internal storage device includes a RAM 402, a ROM 403, and the like. The external storage device includes a hard disk drive (HDD), an optical disk drive, and the like. The input device 405 includes a mouse, a keyboard, and the like. The output device 406 includes a display, a printer, and the like. The Internet communication device 407 is a device for communicating with various client terminals and other servers on the Internet 30 and communicating with the proxy server 26 on the mobile phone communication network 20 by a predetermined communication protocol. .
The components such as the CPU 401 and the RAM 402 exchange data and program instructions with each other via the system bus 400. A program for operating the WEB server 40 according to a predetermined procedure is stored in the ROM 403 or the external storage device 404, and is called up and executed in the work area on the CPU 401 or the RAM 402 as necessary.

  Further, the content providing server such as the WEB server 40 and the download server 50 may be partially or entirely configured as a dedicated control device, or may be partially or entirely configured using a general-purpose computer system. Good. Each of the content providing servers such as the WEB server 40 and the download server 50 may be configured by one computer, or may be configured by connecting a plurality of computers each having a plurality of functions via a network.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing extracted main functions of the WEB server 40 according to the present embodiment. The WEB server 40 includes an information writing unit 410, an application activation content transmission unit 411, a provision target content request reception unit 412, a content storage unit 413, and a provision target content transmission unit 414. The WEB server 40 implements each function of the information writing unit 410 and the like by executing a predetermined program on hardware such as a CPU.
The information writing means 410 is composed of the CPU and the like, and the application activation information description unit included in the application activation content for starting the application on the mobile phone 10 and outputting the content to be provided is used to obtain application related information and application acquisition. Write destination information. The information writing unit 410 writes content acquisition destination information indicating an acquisition destination to be accessed in order to acquire content to be provided that is output by the specified application, together with the application related information and the application acquisition destination information. In some cases.
The application-related information is information related to an application that is activated for outputting the content to be provided. The application acquisition destination information is information indicating an acquisition destination to be accessed to acquire the application via a communication network when the designated application does not exist in the mobile phone 10.

The application activation content transmission unit 141 transmits application activation content including an application activation information description part in which the application related information and provision target content information are written to the mobile phone 10.
The provision target content request receiving unit 412 includes the Internet communication device 407, a CPU, and the like, and provides the provision target content requesting the provision target content such as an image output when the application is started by a predetermined communication protocol. A request is received from the mobile phone 10.
The content storage unit 413 includes the internal storage device or the external storage device, and stores contents such as WEB page data, images, music, and the like to be provided.
The provision target content transmission unit 414 is configured by the Internet communication device 407, a CPU, and the like, and transmits the provision target content to the mobile phone 10 by a predetermined communication protocol when the provision target content request is received. To do.

  In the present embodiment, the application activation content transmitted to the mobile phone 10 is WEB page (root page) data that can be displayed on the display of the mobile phone 10. The application activation information description part included in the application activation content is configured using an object element with a param element. Here, the application related information is data in a param element, and the application acquisition destination information is data of a main part of the object element.

The application activation information description part is described in the object element of the data of the WEB page (root page) in the following description format, for example.
(Description format)
<object id = "[identifier name]" data = "[URI of application file]"
type = "[MIME type of the file]">
<param name = "[parameter name 1]" value = "[value 1]"/>
<param name = "[parameter name 2]" value = "[value 2]"/>
<param name = "[parameter name 3]" value = "[value 3]"/>
...
</ object>
<a href= "#[identifier name]"> [Display character] </a>

In the value of the “id” attribute, an identifier used when referring to the a element in the last line is described. The value of the “data” attribute includes the URI (Uniform) of the application file as application acquisition destination information used when acquiring the specified application via the communication network when the specified application is not in the mobile phone 10. Resource Identifier) is described. The value of the “type” attribute describes the MIME type of the application file.
In the param element, application-related information related to an application that is activated to output the content to be provided is described. This application related information is used when searching whether the application exists in the mobile phone 10 or not. The application related information includes application name, vendor information, version information, and the like. In addition, when it is necessary to download a content to be provided such as an image or music to be output by starting the application from the WEB server 40 or another server, the acquisition destination information of the content to be provided is also the param element It can be described as one of
In the “display character” portion in the a element, a link character that is selected when the application specified by the object element is activated to output the content to be provided is described.

  When the “display character” of the a element including the application activation information description part in the WEB page (root page) that is the application activation content is selected by the mobile phone 10, it is described in the param element in the application activation information description part. Application related information is read. Then, it is searched whether or not the application specified by the application related information exists in the mobile phone 10. Only when the specified application does not exist as a result of this search, the specified application is downloaded from a predetermined server based on the application acquisition destination information.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing extracted main functions of the download server 50 that allows the mobile phone 10 to download the designated application. The URI of the download server 50 is described in the application activation information description section in the application activation content (WEB page).
The download server 50 includes content storage means 510, application content request reception means 511, and application content transmission means 512. The content storage unit 510 includes the internal storage device or the external storage device, and stores application content such as JAVA (registered trademark). The application content request receiving means 511 is constituted by the Internet communication device or the like, and receives an application content request transmitted from the mobile phone 10 by a predetermined communication protocol. The application content transmitting means 512 is constituted by the Internet communication device or the like, and transmits predetermined application content requested by an application content request to the mobile phone 10 by a predetermined communication protocol.

FIG. 5 is an external view showing a configuration example of the mobile phone 10, and FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a hardware configuration of the mobile phone 10. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a software structure in the mobile phone 10.
The mobile phone 10 is a clamshell (folding) type mobile phone, and includes a system bus 100, a CPU 101, a storage device such as a RAM 102 and a ROM 103, an input device 104, an output device 105, a mobile phone communication network communication device 106, a GPS. A receiving device 107 is provided. Components such as the CPU 101 and the RAM 102 exchange various data and program instructions with each other via the system bus 100.

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

  Further, the CPU 101 can construct an application execution environment different from the native telephone platform by reading and executing a predetermined program from the storage device. In the application execution environment, various applications such as an application preinstalled in the mobile phone and an application downloaded and registered by the user can be executed. Examples of this application include an application written in a programming language such as JAVA (registered trademark) or C ++ developed by platform-independent object-oriented programming, an application written in C language, or an assembly language. Also, these application execution environments are constructed by middleware such as JAVA (registered trademark) virtual machine (VM) or BREW (registered trademark).

  The input device 104 includes a data input key (ten key, * key, # key) 11, a call start key 12, an end key 13, a scroll key 14, a multi-function key 15, a microphone 16, and the like. The numeric keypad 11, the call start key 12, the call end key 13, and the like of the input device 104 constitute an operation unit that can be operated by the user. By operating this operation unit, the user inputs data such as the URL of the content acquisition destination to the mobile phone 10, starts and ends a call when receiving a call, and selects an application program Can be started and stopped. In addition, the user can download and register contents such as image files, music files, and application programs from the download server 50 by operating the operation unit. In addition, by operating the operation unit, the user can expand and display a registered image file, expand and play a music file, and select and execute an application program. The user can also display information received from an information distribution server (not shown) of the mobile phone communication network 20 by operating the operation unit.

The output device 105 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) 17 as a display means, a speaker 18, a vibration device (not shown), and the like. An output unit composed of an output device or the like including the liquid crystal display (LCD) 17 and the speaker 18 displays a Web page received via the mobile phone communication network 20 on the liquid crystal display (LCD) 17 or a mobile phone. This is used when notifying the user that information has been received from the telephone communication network 20. Specifically, when the information is received, an incoming call notification image is displayed on the liquid crystal display (LCD) 17 of the output unit, or a ringing tone is output from the speaker 18. This output unit is also used for displaying images and sound output related to the execution of the application program such as the game, or for displaying information received from the information distribution server. Used.
The speaker 18 may be configured by separately providing a receiver speaker (receiver) for listening to a voice during a call and an external output speaker for outputting a ring tone or music. You may comprise by one speaker so that the speaker for receivers and the speaker for external outputs may be combined.

  The vibration device that constitutes the output device 105 is the whole of the mobile phone 10 when a voice call is received or mail or various distribution information is received when the manner mode (silent mode) is set. Can be controlled to notify the user of the incoming call. In addition, the vibration device can be controlled to generate vibration related to the execution of the program throughout the mobile phone 10 during execution of the application program such as the game.

  The mobile phone communication network communication device 106 includes a modem, a synthesizer, a frequency converter, a high frequency amplifier, and the like, and communicates with other mobile phones, the above-described server 11 and the like via the mobile phone communication network 20. Used. The mobile phone communication network communication device 106 exchanges mails with other mobile phones via the mobile phone communication network 20, or external communication networks such as the Internet from the mobile phone communication network 20 via a gateway server. And is used as a communication means for exchanging electronic mail on the Internet. Further, the mobile phone communication network communication device 106 downloads an application program provided by the download server 50 via the mobile phone communication network 10 or receives distribution information including position information of the current position. Also used as receiving means.

  FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram showing extracted main functions of the mobile phone 10 according to the present embodiment. The cellular phone 10 includes an application storage unit 110, an application activation content reception unit 111, an information reading unit 112, a determination unit 113, an application acquisition unit 114, an application execution control unit 115, an application acquisition inquiry unit 116, and an application acquisition operation unit 117. Have

  The application storage unit 110 is configured by a storage device such as the RAM 102 or the ROM 103, and stores an application incorporated in advance or an application downloaded by the user from the download server 50 or the like.

  The application activation content receiving unit 111 is configured by the mobile phone communication network communication device 106 and the like, and is an application for starting an application and outputting a content to be provided by communication using a predetermined communication protocol such as HTTP. The startup content is received from the WEB server 40.

  The information reading unit 112 includes the CPU 101 and the like, and reads the application related information from an application activation information description part included in the application activation content. Further, when the information reading unit 112 stores content acquisition destination information indicating an acquisition destination to be accessed in order to acquire content to be provided to be output by the specified application in the application activation information description unit. Reads out the content acquisition destination information.

  The determination unit 113 includes the CPU 101 and the like, and determines whether or not the application designated by the application related information exists in the application storage unit 110.

The application acquisition unit 114 includes the CPU 101, the mobile phone communication network communication device 106, and the like, and is written in the application activation information description section only when the determination unit 113 determines that the specified application does not exist. The specified application is acquired from the download server 50 via the communication network based on the application acquisition destination information, and is stored in the application storage unit 110.
Prior to the acquisition of the designated application, when the user is inquired whether to obtain the application, the application obtaining unit 114 performs an operation for instructing the acquisition of the designated application. Get the application only when the user does it.

  The application execution control means 115 is composed of the CPU 101, the output device 105, a storage device, and the like. The application execution control means 115 activates the designated application and outputs the content to be provided to the display of the output device. This application execution control means 115 corresponds to the application program execution environment in FIG. In addition, when the application execution control unit 115 acquires content to be provided such as an image based on the content acquisition destination information, the application execution control unit 115 outputs the acquired content on the execution environment where the application is started.

  The application acquisition inquiry means 116 is composed of the CPU 101, the output device 105, and the like. Prior to acquiring the designated application, whether or not to acquire the application is displayed by displaying a confirmation message on the display of the output device. Contact users.

  The application acquisition operation unit 117 includes various keys of the input device 104 and is operated when a user instructs to acquire the specified application.

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a procedure for receiving provision of a three-dimensional image (3D image) content accompanied by application activation in the mobile phone 10 having the above configuration. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of control in the mobile phone 10 when receiving the provision of the 3D image content, and FIGS. 11A to 11C are displayed on the display of the mobile phone 10 during the control. It is explanatory drawing of a screen transition.
In this example, JAVA (registered trademark) is activated as an application used to output the 3D image content.

First, the user operates the mobile phone 10 to activate a browser application (step S1).
Next, the user inputs a predetermined URI on the browser, accesses the WEB server 40 that sells mail-orders such as shoes, and provides the content of product information such as shoes that are mail-order sales A key operation for receiving activation content (WEB page) is performed. The cellular phone 10 that has accepted this key operation transmits an HTTP request as a content acquisition request for requesting the application activation content to the WEB server 40 (steps S2 and S3).

Next, when receiving the HTTP request, the WEB server 40 writes application related information and application acquisition destination information in the application activation information description part of the WEB page of the application activation content (step S4).
A specific example of the application activation information description part is as follows.
(Concrete example)
<object id = "Java" data = "http: //www.aaa.bbb/3d-shoes.jad"
type = "text / vnd.sun.j2me.app-descriptor">
<param name = "Midlet-Name" value = "3D-SHOES"/>
<param name = "Midlet-Vendor" value = "vvvvv"/>
<param name = "Midlet-Version" value = "1.0.1"/>
</ object>
<a href= "#Java"> Click here to view 3D images </a>

  As shown in this specific example, when the mobile phone 10 does not have a designated JAVA (registered trademark) application in the main body part of the object element constituting the application activation information description part, the application is acquired via the communication network. The application acquisition destination information (data = "http: //www.aaa.bbb/3d-shoes.jad") is written. In addition, application-related information such as the name, vendor name, and version information of the JAVA (registered trademark) application that is activated to output the 3D image content to be provided is written in the param element in the object element.

  Next, the WEB server 40 adds the data of the web page of the application activation content including the application activation information description part including the object element and the param element in which the predetermined information is written, to the HTTP response as the content acquisition response. Then, the HTTP response is transmitted to the mobile phone 10 (step S5).

  Next, when receiving the HTTP response, the mobile phone 10 displays a web page of the application activation content as shown in FIG. 11A on the display (step S6). The user who sees this display performs a key operation to select the link portion (the “3D viewing is here” portion in the figure) where the application activation information description portion is set. The cellular phone 10 that has received this key operation first reads application-related information written in the application activation information description section (steps 7 and 8 in FIG. 9 and step S101 in FIG. 10).

Next, the mobile phone 10 searches and determines whether a JAVA (registered trademark) application designated by the content provider side exists in the mobile phone 10 based on the application-related information (step in FIG. 9). S9, steps S102 to S106 in FIG. Specifically, the following (1) to (5) are sequentially determined.
(1) Is the MIME type of the file written in the type attribute of the object element “text / vnd.sun.j2me.app-descriptor”? (Step S102 in FIG. 10)
(2) Is there a param element “name =“ Midlet-Name ”” in which the application name is written? (Step S103 in FIG. 10)
(3) Is there a param element “name =“ Midlet-Vendor ”” in which the application vendor name is written? (Step S104 in FIG. 10)
(4) Is there a param element “name =“ Midlet-Version ”” in which the version information of the application is written? (Step S105 in FIG. 10)
(5) Does the mobile phone 10 have an application specified by the data of the param element? (Step S106 in FIG. 10)

  If all the determinations (1) to (5) above are “YES”, the JAVA (registered trademark) application for displaying the 3D image present in the mobile phone 10 is started, and FIG. A 3D image of a commodity such as shoes as shown in b) is displayed on the display (step S11 in FIG. 9 and step S107 in FIG. 10). When the “Rotate” button is selected on this display screen, the 3D image of the product displayed on the display can be rotated.

On the other hand, in the determination of (5) above, when it is determined that the application specified by the data of the param element does not exist in the mobile phone 10, the mobile phone 10 downloads and acquires the specified application (step in FIG. 9). S12, S13, step S108 in FIG. That is, the mobile phone 10 uses the JAVA (registered trademark) application based on the application acquisition destination information (data = “http: //www.aaa.bbb/3d-shoes.jad”) read from the main part of the object element. The download server 50 that provides the content is accessed, and the designated application is downloaded and acquired. Then, the cellular phone 10 activates the downloaded JAVA (registered trademark) application for displaying the 3D image, and displays a 3D image of a product such as shoes as shown in FIG. 11B on the display (FIG. 9). Step S11, step S109 of FIG. 10).
Note that the mobile phone 10 of this example displays on the display a message asking the user whether to download the designated application as shown in FIG. 11C before downloading the designated application. . The application is controlled to be downloaded only when the user selects “YES” and performs a key operation to approve the download of the designated application.
Further, in the mobile phone 10 of this example, in addition to the case where the designated application does not exist in the mobile phone 10, predetermined data relating to the designated application is written as shown in the determinations (1) to (4) above. Even if there is not, acquisition processing of the specified application is executed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the application is downloaded and acquired from the download server 50 via the communication network only when the application designated by the content provider or the like does not exist in the mobile phone 10. . Therefore, it is possible to avoid useless download processing of the designated application used for outputting the content to be provided.
In addition, according to the present embodiment, when the designated application does not exist in the mobile phone 10, whether or not to download the designated application is displayed. The download process is controlled only when the user approves the download of the designated application. Therefore, it is possible to avoid execution of application download processing that is not desired by the user.
In addition, since the application start information description part in which the application related information and the application acquisition destination information are written, and the object element with the param element that is standard specification in the data of the WEB page, the application related information There is no need to define a new format structure for writing information and application acquisition source information.

In the embodiment, the application may be an application in which content to be provided such as an image is incorporated, or a general-purpose application in which such content is not incorporated. In the case of the latter general-purpose application, the content such as the image to be provided is downloaded separately. The content acquisition destination information indicating the acquisition destination to be accessed for downloading and acquiring the content to be provided is written in the application activation information description part of the application activation content together with the application related information and the application acquisition destination information Can do. For example, URI information of a server that can download the content to be provided is written as content acquisition destination information in one of a plurality of param elements constituting the application activation information description section. The mobile phone 10 reads out the URI information from the application activation information description part of the application activation content, accesses the WEB server 40, for example, and transmits an HPPT request for requesting the provision target content specified by the URI information. When receiving the HPPT request, the WEB server 40 transmits an HTTP response including content such as an image designated by the URI information to the mobile phone 10. The mobile phone 10 can output provision target contents such as images downloaded from the WEB server 40 in a state where a general-purpose application is activated.
As described above, when the content to be provided such as an image is separately downloaded without being incorporated in the application, the content acquisition destination information to be written in the application activation information description part of the application activation content is simply rewritten. You can change the content.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the content of the image is provided by being output to the user's mobile phone 10 has been described. However, the content to be provided is not limited to the image, and other contents such as music, games, etc. It may be content. Moreover, the content of streaming data, such as an image and music, may be sufficient.

  In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which an application developed by object-oriented programming that does not depend on a platform using a program language such as JAVA (registered trademark) is started, but the present invention is executed by a mobile phone. The present invention can be applied without being limited to the kind of application, and the same effect can be obtained. For example, it may be an application described in a program language such as C ++, or an application described in C language or assembly language. Moreover, the application which can be started on middleware, such as BREW (trademark), may be sufficient. Furthermore, an application such as FLASH (registered trademark) or SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) may be used.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Explanatory drawing which shows an example of schematic structure of the whole communication system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The block diagram which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of a WEB server. The functional block diagram which extracted and showed the main functions of the WEB server. The functional block diagram which extracted and showed the main functions of the download server. The external view which shows the example of 1 structure of a mobile telephone. The schematic block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of a mobile telephone. Explanatory drawing of the software structure in a mobile telephone. The functional block diagram which extracted and showed the main functions of the mobile phone. The sequence diagram which shows an example of the procedure at the time of receiving provision of the three-dimensional image (3D image) content accompanying application starting. The flowchart which shows an example of the control in a mobile telephone when receiving provision of the content. (A)-(c) is explanatory drawing of the screen transition displayed on a mobile telephone.

Explanation of symbols

10 mobile phone 20 mobile phone communication network 30 internet 40 WEB server 50 download server

Claims (6)

A content providing method for providing content to the mobile communication terminal from a server on a communication network,
The mobile communication terminal transmitting a content acquisition request for requesting content to the server;
The server is activated for outputting the content to be provided in the application activation information description part included in the WEB content accompanied by the activation of an application other than the WEB browser and the output of the content to be provided consisting of individual files by the application. Application-related information that specifies an application to be performed, application acquisition destination information that indicates an acquisition destination to be accessed to acquire the specified application via a communication network when the specified application is not in the mobile communication terminal, and Writing the provision target content acquisition destination information to be accessed in order to acquire the provision target content to be activated and output the specified application ;
The mobile communication terminal receives a WEB content including an application activation information description part in which the application related information , the application acquisition destination information, and the provision target content acquisition destination information are written as a response to the content acquisition request. Sending to
The mobile communication terminal, and determining whether it has an application that the WEB content received from the server, as specified above SL application-related information,
A step the mobile communication terminal, to get through the communication network to the specified application based on only the upper SL application acquisition destination information when it is determined not to have the specified application,
The mobile communication terminal acquires the provision target content via a communication network based on the provision target content acquisition destination information, starts the specified application, and outputs the provision target content by the started application And steps to
Content providing method, which comprises a. In the content providing method 請 Motomeko 1,
Prior to the acquisition of the designated application, the mobile communication terminal has a step of inquiring the user whether to acquire the application,
The content providing method, wherein the mobile communication terminal acquires an application only when a user performs an operation of approving acquisition of the specified application. In the content provision method of Claim 1 or 2 ,
Upper SL application starting information description unit is configured using the object element with param element,
Each of the application-related information and the provision target content acquisition destination information is data in the param element,
The content providing method, wherein the application acquisition destination information is data of a main part of the object element. A server for providing content to provide content to the mobile communication terminal via a communication network,
An application to be started for output of the content to be provided is specified in the application start information description part included in the WEB content accompanied by the start of the application other than the WEB browser and the output of the content to be provided consisting of individual files by the application and application-related information, the designated application and the application acquisition destination information indicating an acquisition source to be accessed in order to obtain the specified application via the communication network when not in said mobile communication terminal, the designation of Information writing means for writing provision target content acquisition destination information to be accessed to acquire the provision target content to be output by an application ;
WEB content including an application activation information description portion in which the application related information , the application acquisition destination information, and the provision target content acquisition destination information are written when a content acquisition request for requesting content is received from the mobile communication terminal a server for providing content, characterized in that a WEB content transmission means for transmitting to the mobile communication terminal as a response to the content acquisition request. A mobile communication terminal capable of communicating with a server for providing content via a communication network,
Application storage means for storing the application;
Means for transmitting a content acquisition request for requesting content to the server;
Application-related information that specifies an application other than a WEB browser that is activated to output the content to be provided that is an individual file, and the specified application via the communication network when the specified application is not in the mobile communication terminal Application acquisition destination information indicating an acquisition destination to be accessed in order to acquire an application, and provision target content acquisition destination information to be accessed in order to acquire the provision target content to be output by starting the specified application the WEB contents written in the start information description unit, and WEB content receiving unit that will receive from the server as a response to the content acquisition request,
And information reading means for reading the information written in the application starting information description unit included in the WEB contents,
Determining means for determining whether or not the application specified in the application-related information exists in the application storage means;
Only when it is determined that the specified application does not exist in the determination means, based on SL application acquisition destination information, the application acquisition acquired via the communication network the specification of the application, is stored in the application storage means Means,
Application providing control means for acquiring the provision target content via a communication network based on the provision target content acquisition destination information, starting the specified application, and outputting the provision target content. A characteristic mobile communication terminal . The mobile communication terminal 請 Motomeko 5,
Prior to acquisition of the specified application, application acquisition inquiry means for inquiring the user whether to acquire the application, or
An application acquisition operation means for performing an operation for the user to instruct to acquire the specified application,
The mobile communication terminal characterized in that the application acquisition means acquires the application only when the user performs an operation for instructing acquisition of the specified application.

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