JP6102464B2 - Information terminal, network system, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information terminal that executes software downloaded from a distribution server, a program executed by a computer of the information terminal, and a network system including the information terminal and the distribution server.

Conventionally, a mobile phone (information terminal) that executes software downloaded from a distribution server is known.
Among the software executed on such mobile phones, for the purpose of suppressing the leakage of personal information stored in the memory of the mobile phone, an area accessible when executing the software, Software limited to an area designated in advance has been proposed (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2007-213595 A

  With the technique described in Patent Document 1, it is possible to prevent information from leaking outside by prohibiting access to personal information and the like. However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, the security of the software itself is not verified, and it is unclear until the software downloaded from the distribution server is safe until it is executed by the mobile phone. There is a problem of being.

  In order to solve this problem, it is conceivable that software developers and manufacturers perform evaluation and verification work to evaluate and verify the safety of the software and resolve defects before distributing the software. . This evaluation / verification work is generally performed manually by developers, and there is a problem that man-hours are required (and cost increases as a result).

In other words, the conventional technique has a problem that it is difficult to achieve both the suppression of man-hours for software evaluation and verification and the security of the software.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a technique that achieves both suppression of man-hours for software evaluation / verification and ensuring security of the software.

  The present invention made to achieve the above object relates to an information terminal (60) for executing software downloaded from a distribution server (10) in which at least one software is stored. The distribution server represents evaluation of the safety of each corresponding software, and evaluation information is stored such that the higher the number of downloads of the software, the higher the evaluation of the safety.

  The information terminal of the present invention includes an evaluation acquisition unit (70, S320), an access area determination unit (70, S330 to S360), and a software execution unit (70, S380).

  The evaluation acquisition means in the present invention uses the software downloaded from the distribution server as the target software, and acquires evaluation information corresponding to the target software from the distribution server. Then, the access area determining means, based on the evaluation information acquired by the evaluation acquiring means, the higher the safety evaluation represented by the evaluation information is, the more information is permitted to access when executing the target software. Next, access information representing accessible information is determined. Further, the software execution means (70, S380) executes the target software according to the access information determined by the access area determination means.

  In the present invention, the evaluation of the security of the software is such that the more frequently the software is downloaded, the higher the safety. This is because the more frequently downloaded software is, the less likely it is that problems will occur when the software is executed, and there are more opportunities for evaluation by software engineers. ) Is considered high.

  Evaluation of software safety based on the number of downloads as described above can reduce the need for software developers to perform the evaluation and can verify the safety of the software itself by a simple method.

That is, according to the present invention, the man-hours required for the evaluation / verification work can be minimized.
Further, according to the present invention, the higher the safety evaluation represented by the evaluation information, the more information is permitted to be accessed when the target software is executed. Therefore, in the present invention, access to highly important information such as personal information is prohibited for software with low safety, and access to highly important information only for software with high safety. Can be prevented from leaking information of high importance to the outside.

That is, in the information terminal of the present invention, the safety (reliability) of software executed on the information terminal can be ensured.
From the above, according to the present invention, it is possible to achieve both the reduction of man-hours for software development and the security of the software.

  By the way, this invention may be made | formed as a network system provided with the information terminal and the delivery server, and may be made | formed as the program which the computer of an information terminal performs. Further, the present invention can be realized in various modes such as a recording medium on which the program is recorded and a method for generating access information.

  For example, if the present invention is constructed as a network system, the same effect as that of the information terminal according to claim 1 can be obtained. If the present invention is a program, for example, it is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a DVD-ROM, CD-ROM, hard disk, etc., and loaded into a computer as necessary, and started up, or communicated as necessary. It can be used by being acquired and activated by a computer via a line. And by making a computer perform each procedure, the computer can be functioned as an information terminal described in claim 1.

  In addition, the code | symbol in the parenthesis described in this column and a claim shows the correspondence with the specific means as described in embodiment mentioned later, Comprising: It does not limit the technical scope of this invention. Absent.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a network system to which the present invention is applied. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the software management process which a delivery server performs. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the software execution process which an information terminal performs.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
<Network system>
The network system 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes at least one distribution server 10 and at least one information terminal 60, and the information terminal 60 executes application software SW (that is, software) distributed from the distribution server 10. It is. The network system 1 includes a plurality of information terminals 60.

Distribution server 10 includes a communication unit 12, a control unit 20, a storage section 30, and at least one application software SW _N, the server evaluation information EI _N is stored corresponding to each application software SW _N is there. The subscript N represents the number of application software SW stored in the distribution server 10 and is a natural number of 1 or more.

  In the communication unit 12, the distribution server 10 communicates with the outside via the communication network 100. The communication network 100 in this embodiment is, for example, a known public wireless communication network, a network line (Internet network such as WAN), a packet communication network, or the like.

  The storage unit 30 is a non-volatile storage device configured to be able to read and write stored contents. The storage device is, for example, a hard disk device or a flash memory. The storage unit 30 stores application software SW and evaluation information EI.

  The application software SW referred to here is software that realizes a function requested by the user (hereinafter referred to as a requested function). The application software SW may be a single program (software) that operates on the system software, or may include system software (software platform).

  The application software SW of this embodiment includes, for example, software that realizes a web browser as a request function and software that realizes an e-mail function as a request function. The application software SW includes, for example, software that implements a database management system as a request function, software that implements a geographic information system as a request function, and software that implements a spreadsheet as a request function. As other application software SW, software that realizes various educational programs as a required function, image editing software that realizes a function of editing an image as a required function, various simulators, and the like can be considered.

  The application software SW in the present embodiment may be created by an individual user of the information terminal 60 and uploaded to the distribution server 10, or may be created by a company and uploaded to the distribution server 10.

  The evaluation information EI is information that is associated with each application software SW and represents an evaluation of the safety of each corresponding application software SW. Each evaluation information EI includes an evaluation value obtained by quantifying the safety evaluation of the corresponding application software SW, and author identification information (such as the name and identification number of the creator) for identifying the creator of the corresponding application software SW. It is included.

  Among these, as will be described in detail later, the evaluation value included in the evaluation information EI is a larger value as the evaluation of the safety of the application software SW is higher as the number of downloads of the application software SW is larger.

  The control unit 20 includes a ROM 22 that stores software and data that need to retain stored contents even when the power is turned off, a RAM 24 that temporarily stores software and data, and various types of software according to software stored in the ROM 22 and RAM 24. A known computer having at least a CPU 26 for executing processing is mainly configured. The control unit 20 controls the communication unit 12 and the storage unit 30.

In the ROM 22 in this embodiment, software for managing the application software SW uploaded to the distribution server 10 and software management processing for managing the evaluation information EI of each application software SW by the control unit 20 ( Program).
<Information terminal>
The information terminal 60 includes a communication unit 61, an information receiving unit 62, a display unit 63, a sound input unit 64, a sound output unit 65, a storage unit 66, and a control unit 70. As the information terminal 60 in the present embodiment, for example, a well-known portable information terminal may be assumed, or an in-vehicle information terminal mounted on an automobile may be assumed. Note that the portable information terminal includes a known electronic book terminal, a mobile phone, a tablet terminal, and the like. The in-vehicle information terminal includes an in-vehicle navigation device.

  The communication unit 61 performs information communication between the information terminal 60 and the outside via the communication network 100. The information receiving unit 62 receives information input via an input device (not shown). The display unit 63 displays an image based on a signal from the control unit 70.

  The sound input unit 64 is a device that converts sound into an electric signal and inputs the electric signal to the control unit 70, and is, for example, a microphone. The sound output unit 65 is a known device that outputs sound, and includes, for example, a speaker. The storage unit 66 is a non-volatile storage device configured to be able to read and write stored contents. The storage unit 66 stores application software SW and various data downloaded from the distribution server 10.

The control unit 70 is configured around a known computer having at least a ROM 72, a RAM 74, and a CPU 76.
The ROM 72 stores software (processing program) for the control unit 70 to execute software execution processing for executing the application software SW downloaded from the distribution server 10. Hereinafter, application software SW downloaded by the information terminal 60 from the distribution server 10 is referred to as target software SW.
<Software management processing>
Next, software management processing executed by the control unit 20 of the distribution server 10 will be described.

  This software management process is started when the application software SW is uploaded to the distribution server 10, and is executed for each application software SW.

  As shown in FIG. 2, when the software management process is started, first, the number of downloads of the application software SW that causes the software management process to be started (that is, uploaded) is set to an initial value. (S110). In the following, application software SW that is a factor that activates the software management process and that is managed by the software management process executed by the activation is referred to as a managed application SW.

  In S110, for example, if the creator of the management target application SW has not uploaded other application software SW in the past, the initial value of the number of downloads is set to “0”. On the other hand, if the creator of the management target application SW has uploaded other application software SW in the past, the initial value of the number of downloads is set to a number larger than “0” (for example, “100”).

  In S110, the initial value of the number of downloads set when the creator of the management target application SW has uploaded other application software SW in the past is larger as the degree of trust for the creator is higher. It may be determined to be. The degree of trust for the creator may be higher as the type and number of application software SW uploaded to the distribution server 10 in the past are larger.

  In the software management process, subsequently, it is determined whether an acquisition request for requesting download of the management target application SW has been received from the information terminal 60 (S120). If the acquisition request is not received as a result of the determination in S120 (S120: NO), the process proceeds to S150 described later in detail.

  On the other hand, if the acquisition request is received as a result of the determination in S120 (S120: YES), the management target application SW (that is, the application corresponding to the acquisition request) is sent to the information terminal 60 that has output the acquisition request. (Software SW) is distributed (S130). At the same time, in S130, the number of downloads of the management target application SW (in FIG. 2, DL number) is incremented by one.

  Furthermore, based on the number of downloads updated in S130, the evaluation information EI corresponding to the management target application SW is updated so that the evaluation with respect to safety increases as the number of downloads increases (S140). As a specific method of updating the evaluation information EI in S140, it can be considered that the evaluation value included in the evaluation information EI is incremented by one as the number of downloads increases.

Thereafter, the process proceeds to S150.
In S150, it is determined whether or not the evaluation estimation information, which is information specified in advance, has been updated. The evaluation estimation information here is at least one index (information) defined in advance for the purpose of evaluating the safety of the application software SW, and is information different from the number of downloads.

  The evaluation estimation information includes, for example, the popularity of the management target application SW and the evaluation result by the user using the management target application SW. The update of these two pieces of evaluation estimation information is, for example, if there is a change as a result of receiving information input from the information terminal 60 from the information terminal 60 and comparing and collating with information received in the past by the distribution server 10. It should be updated.

  Further, the evaluation estimation information includes the total number of times that the management target application SW has been activated and the total time length in which the management target application SW has been executed. For updating these two pieces of evaluation estimation information, for example, the number of times of activation at each information terminal 60 and the length of time executed at each information terminal 60 are received from the information terminal 60 and aggregated, and the distribution server 10 If there is a change as a result of comparing and collating with the results totaled in the past, it may be updated.

If the evaluation estimation information is not updated as a result of the determination in S150 (S150: NO), the process proceeds to S170, which will be described later in detail.
On the other hand, if the evaluation estimation information is updated as a result of the determination in S150 (S150: YES), the evaluation information EI for the management target application SW is corrected based on the updated evaluation estimation information (S160). . The correction of the evaluation information EI in S160 is performed such that, for example, the higher the popularity of the management target application SW and the evaluation result by the user, the higher the evaluation with respect to safety.

  Further, the correction of the evaluation information EI in S160 is, for example, as the number of times that the application software SW is activated on the information terminal 60 increases, or the time length that the application software SW is executed on the information terminal 60 is longer. The higher the safety evaluation, the better.

  As specific correction methods in these cases, for example, adding a correction value to the evaluation value included in the evaluation information EI or multiplying the correction value can be considered. However, the correction value in this case is set to a larger value as the management target application SW is more popular, the evaluation result by the user is higher, the activation count is larger, or the execution time length is longer.

Thereafter, the process proceeds to S170.
In S170, the evaluation information EI of the management target application SW is stored in the storage unit 66 (S170). Subsequently, it is determined whether an evaluation acquisition request for requesting acquisition of the evaluation information EI of the management target application SW has been received from the information terminal 60 (S180). If the evaluation acquisition request is not received as a result of the determination in S180 (S180: NO), the process returns to S120.

  On the other hand, if the evaluation acquisition request is received as a result of the determination in S180 (S180: YES), the evaluation information EI is transmitted to the output source of the evaluation acquisition request (that is, the information terminal 60) (S190).

Thereafter, the process returns to S120.
That is, in the software management process, every time the management target application SW is downloaded, the number of downloads of the management target application SW is updated. The evaluation information EI corresponding to the application software SW is determined so that the safety evaluation becomes higher as the number of downloads increases.

Further, in the software management process, when the evaluation information EI is corrected based on an index (evaluation estimation information) different from the number of downloads and the evaluation acquisition request is received, the evaluation information EI corresponding to the evaluation acquisition request is acquired and the The information is output to the information terminal 60.
<Software execution processing>
Next, software execution processing executed by the control unit 70 of the information terminal 60 will be described.

The software execution process is started when a start command for starting the target software SW is input.
When this software execution process is started, as shown in FIG. 3, an evaluation acquisition request for requesting evaluation information EI corresponding to the target software SW is transmitted to the distribution server 10 (S310).

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the evaluation information EI of the target software SW has been received from the distribution server 10 (S320). If the evaluation information EI is not received as a result of the determination in S320 (S320: NO), the process waits until it is received. When the evaluation information EI is received (S320: YES), the safety of the target software SW is determined based on the evaluation value included in the evaluation information EI (S330).

  As a result of the determination in S330, if the magnitude of the evaluation value included in the evaluation information EI is less than the first threshold, the access information representing the information permitted to be accessed by the target software SW is highly important. The access is set to a high restriction level where access to the content information is most restricted (S340). Note that the first threshold value is a value (for example, “1000”) defined in advance as the magnitude of the evaluation value indicating that the software safety is low.

  Further, the information whose access is prohibited at the high restriction level is, for example, information on a credit card and personal information. The “information about credit card” in the present embodiment includes a card number of a credit card, a personal identification number, and the like. The personal information includes the name and address of the user of the information terminal 60.

Further, the information permitted to be accessed at the high restriction level is, for example, information related to advertisements.
In the software execution process, the process proceeds to S370.

  Further, as a result of the determination in S330, if the magnitude of the evaluation value included in the evaluation information EI is greater than or equal to the first threshold and less than the second threshold, access to highly important information is restricted. Access information for the target software SW is set to the medium restriction level that is relaxed from the high restriction level (S350). Note that the second threshold is a value defined in advance as the magnitude of the evaluation value representing the safety of the software, and is a value larger than the first threshold (for example, “10000”).

  Further, the information whose access is prohibited at the medium restriction level is, for example, information related to a credit card. On the other hand, the information permitted to be accessed at the medium restriction level is, for example, personal information or information related to advertisements.

In the software execution process, the process proceeds to S370.
Further, as a result of the determination in S330, if the evaluation value included in the evaluation information EI is equal to or greater than the second threshold value, the restriction on access to highly important information is relaxed from the medium restriction level. The access information for the target software SW is set to the low restriction level (S360).

Note that the information permitted to be accessed at the low restriction level of the present embodiment is, for example, personal information including information related to a credit card and advertisement information.
In the software execution process, the process proceeds to S370.

  In S370, the access information set in S340 to S360 is stored in the storage unit 66. Subsequently, the target software SW itself is executed according to the access information stored in the storage unit 66 (S380). Thereby, the request realization function required by the target software SW is realized.

Thereafter, the target software SW itself is executed until an end command is input, and when the end command is input, the software execution process ends.
That is, in the software execution process, evaluation information EI corresponding to the target software SW is acquired from the distribution server 10. Then, the access information is determined so that the higher the safety evaluation of the target software SW represented by the acquired evaluation information EI is, the more information is allowed to be accessed when the target software SW is executed. Further, in the software execution process, the target software SW is executed according to the determined access information.
[Effect of the embodiment]
As described above, in the software management process of the present embodiment, the safety of the application software SW is evaluated to be higher as the number of downloads increases. This is because the application software SW having a larger number of downloads is considered to be less likely to be inconvenient when the application software SW is executed, and there are more opportunities for evaluation by software engineers. This is because the property (reliability) is considered high.

  Such an evaluation of the safety of the application software SW based on the number of downloads can verify the safety of the application software SW itself by a simple method not depending on software developers. Therefore, according to the software management process, it is possible to reduce the manpower required for the evaluation / verification work, and the man-hours can be minimized.

  On the other hand, in software execution processing, access to highly important information such as personal information is prohibited for application software SW with low safety, and importance is given only to application software SW with high safety. Allows access to high information.

  That is, in the software execution process, access to highly important information at the time of execution is prohibited for the target software SW having a lower safety evaluation, so that it is possible to suppress the leakage of highly important information to the outside.

In other words, in the information terminal 60, the safety (reliability) of software executed in the information terminal 60 can be ensured.
From the above, according to the network system 1, it is possible to achieve both the reduction of the man-hours for the development of the application software SW and the security of the application software SW.

  In the software management process of the present embodiment, evaluation information is corrected based on evaluation estimation information that is information different from the number of downloads. For this reason, the safety evaluation in the evaluation information EI of each application software SW becomes more accurate.

In addition, in the software management process of the present embodiment, the safety evaluation represented by the evaluation information EI is performed every time the application software SW is downloaded or the evaluation estimation information is updated. For this reason, the safety evaluation represented by the evaluation information EI reflects the latest situation at each time point, and the safety of the corresponding application software SW is more accurately evaluated.
[Other Embodiments]
As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, In the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention, it is possible to implement in various aspects.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, S310 to S370 of the software execution process are executed every time the application software SW is activated, but the execution timing of S310 to S370 in the software execution process is not limited to this. That is, S310 to S370 in the software execution process may be executed once at a specified number of times while the application software SW is executed a plurality of times.

  However, even in this case, the execution of the application software SW itself (that is, S380 of the software execution process) needs to be performed every time the application software SW is activated.

  In the software execution process of the above embodiment, information related to credit card, personal information, and advertisement is cited as information whose access is restricted by access information. However, access is restricted or access is permitted by access information. The content of information to be done is not limited to this. That is, the higher the safety evaluation of the target software SW is, the higher the importance of the information permitted to be accessed when the target software SW is executed, and the more types of information permitted to be accessed. As long as the access information is determined, the content of the information for which access is restricted or permitted by the access information may be anything.

In the software execution process in this case, since it is not necessary to determine access information every time the target software is executed, the load when the target software is executed can be reduced.
In addition, the aspect which abbreviate | omitted a part of structure of the said embodiment as long as the subject could be solved is also embodiment of this invention. Further, an aspect configured by appropriately combining the above embodiment and the modification is also an embodiment of the present invention. Moreover, all the aspects which can be considered in the limit which does not deviate from the essence of the invention specified by the wording described in the claims are the embodiments of the present invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Network system 10 ... Distribution server 12 ... Communication part 20 ... Control part 22, 72 ... ROM 24, 74 ... RAM 26, 76 ... CPU 30 ... Memory | storage part 60 ... Information terminal 61 ... Communication part 62 ... Information reception part 63 ... Display unit 64 ... Sound input unit 65 ... Sound output unit 66 ... Storage unit 70 ... Control unit 100 ... Communication network

Claims (7)

An information terminal (60) for executing software downloaded from a distribution server (10) storing at least one software,
The distribution server stores evaluation information that has a larger value as the number of downloads of the corresponding software increases.
Evaluation acquisition means (70, S320) that sets the software downloaded from the distribution server as target software, and acquires evaluation information corresponding to the target software from the distribution server when the target software is activated .
Based on the evaluation information acquired by the evaluation acquisition means, access information representing accessible information is set such that the larger the value of the evaluation information , the more information is permitted to access when executing the target software. Access area determining means (70, S330 to S360) to be determined;
An information terminal comprising: software execution means (70, S380) for executing the target software according to the access information determined by the access area determination means. Storage control means (70, S370) for storing the access information determined by the access area determination means in a storage device;
The software execution means
The information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the access information stored in the storage device is the access information determined by the access area determination unit. An information terminal (60) according to claim 1 or claim 2;
A network system (1) comprising: a distribution server (10) storing at least one software;
The information terminal
Request transmission means (70, S310) for transmitting an evaluation acquisition request for requesting acquisition of the evaluation information to the distribution server;
The distribution server
Receiving the evaluation acquisition request output by the request transmission means, acquiring evaluation information corresponding to the evaluation acquisition request, and outputting the information to the information terminal (20, S190). Network system. The distribution server
The network system according to claim 3, further comprising information updating means (20, S110 to S160) for updating the evaluation information of each stored software. The information updating means
Time update means (20, S120 to S130) for updating the number of downloads of the software each time the software is downloaded;
Evaluation determination means (20, S140) for determining the evaluation information corresponding to the software so that the safety evaluation becomes higher as the number of downloads updated by the number update means increases. The network system according to claim 4. The information updating means
Correction means (20, S150, S160) for correcting the evaluation information determined by the evaluation determination means based on estimated information that is an index different from the number of downloads
The network system according to claim 5, further comprising: A program executed by a computer (70) of an information terminal (60) that executes software downloaded from a distribution server (10) in which at least one software is stored,
The distribution server stores evaluation information that has a larger value as the number of downloads of the corresponding software increases.
Wherein the distribution server or Rada downloaded software target software, at the start of the target software, and evaluation acquisition procedure for acquiring the evaluation information corresponding to the subject software from the distribution server (S320),
Based on the evaluation information acquired in the evaluation acquisition procedure, access information representing accessible information is set such that the greater the value of the evaluation information , the more information is permitted to access when executing the target software. An access area determination procedure (S330 to S360) to be determined;
A program causing a computer to execute a software execution procedure (S380) for executing the target software according to access information determined in the access area determination procedure.

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