KR101336257B1 - Method of providing a service for searching users and apparatus, server, and system for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a service providing method for searching a user and an apparatus, a server, and a system therefor. According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing a service, comprising: transmitting a terminal search request message including a content information element to a service providing server; Receiving location information, and displaying the received location information.

Content, taste, location information, map, terminal

Description

Method of providing a service for searching users and apparatus, server, and system for the same}

1 is a view showing a service system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a content providing process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a service processing process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4A illustrates a state in which a terminal is playing movie content according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4B is a diagram illustrating a metadata type selection screen according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of collecting location information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of collecting location information according to another embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a terminal displays location information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a flowchart illustrating a process of using a communication service between terminals according to an embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a diagram illustrating an IM service using screen according to an embodiment of the present invention.

10 is a view showing a service system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

11 is a flowchart illustrating a service providing process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

12A illustrates a state in which a terminal is playing movie content according to an embodiment of the present invention.

12B is a diagram illustrating a search area selection screen according to an embodiment of the present invention.

13A illustrates a state in which a terminal displays location information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

13B is a diagram illustrating a state in which a terminal displays location information according to another embodiment of the present invention.

14 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a service providing server 1400 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

15 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a relay server 1040 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

16 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a terminal 1600 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE REFERENCE NUMERALS

1011: terminal 1020: first service providing server

1030: second service providing server 1040: relay server

The present invention relates to a service for searching a user, and more particularly, to a method for searching for a user having a similar taste in content use, and an apparatus, a server, and a system therefor.

As digital technology develops, demand for various digital contents such as music, movies, and games is increasing. Users may contact people with similar tastes in order to search for and use contents that meet their tastes and to exchange other information. For example, a user may join a community that is built on a web site, thereby sharing more and more information.

However, in the related art, in order to obtain information related to the content that the user is using from another user, the user uploads a question about the content on the website, or instant message (IM) to users who are currently accessing the website. You should apply for the conversation in the form. That is, according to the prior art, it is not easy to exchange information in real time.

Recently, more and more users use tens or hundreds of contents stored in portable terminals such as mobile phones and portable multimedia players (PMPs) and use desired contents regardless of time and place. In the case of a user using such a portable terminal, it is more difficult to exchange information with a person having a similar taste in real time.

Accordingly, there is a demand for a technology that allows a user to exchange information in real time with another user having a similar taste with respect to content currently in use.

An object of the present invention is to provide a service that can search for users using similar content in real time and exchange information with the searched user.

The objects of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned objects, and other objects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

In order to achieve the above object, the method for providing a service according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of: transmitting a terminal search request message including a content information element to a service providing server; Receiving location information of a terminal playing content, and displaying the received location information.

In order to achieve the above object, the method for providing a service according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of: receiving a terminal search request message from a first terminal, playing content related to the content information element included in the received terminal search request message; Collecting location information of a second terminal, and transmitting the collected location information to the first terminal.

In order to achieve the above object, a digital device according to an embodiment of the present invention, a control unit for generating a terminal search request message including a content information element, and transmits the generated terminal search request message to a service providing server, the service provision And a network interface unit for receiving the location information of the terminal playing the first content related to the content information element from the server, and a display unit for displaying the received location information.

In order to achieve the above object, the service providing server according to an embodiment of the present invention, the location information management device for collecting the location information of the second terminal is playing the content associated with the content information element included in the terminal search request message, and And a service processing device for receiving the terminal search request message from the first terminal and transmitting the collected location information to the first terminal.

In order to achieve the above object, the service providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention, when a terminal search request message is received from the first terminal, the content associated with the content information element included in the terminal search request message in the first local area; A first service providing server that collects location information of a second terminal that is playing the content, transmits the content information element to a relay server, and a location of the third terminal that is playing content related to the content information element in a second local area; A second service providing server for collecting information, and the content information element transmitted from the first service providing server to the second service providing server, and collected by the second service providing server. A relay server for transmitting location information to the first service providing server, wherein the first server comprises: a relay server; Service providing server transmits the position information of the location information of the second terminal and the third terminal to the first terminal.

The details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and drawings.

Advantages and features of the present invention and methods for achieving them will be apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail with the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. To fully disclose the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art, and the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a view showing a service system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Although three terminals 112, 114, and 116 are shown in FIG. 1, this is only one embodiment of the present invention, so there may be more terminals than shown or fewer terminals than shown. In addition, each of the terminals 112, 114, and 116 may perform the same or similar function. Therefore, hereinafter, the description of a specific terminal may be equally applicable to other terminals. However, although the users of the terminals 112, 114, and 116 are different from each other, hereinafter, for convenience of description, the user of the terminal 112 will be referred to as “user A”, and the terminal 114 and the terminal 116 will be described. The users of are referred to as "user B" and "user C" respectively.

In FIG. 1, the network 10 may be formed by wire, wireless, or a combination thereof. The network 10 is a communication path between the terminal 112 and the service providing server 120, and may include a relay station (for example, a base station or an access point) that relays communication between them.

The terminal 112 may communicate with the service providing server 120 through the network 10. In order to communicate with the service providing server 120, the terminal 112 uses a communication protocol based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), or Global System for Mobile communication (GSM). Can be used. Of course, this is exemplary and the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the terminal 112 may use a communication protocol or other type of communication protocol based on the IEEE 802.11 standard or the IEEE 802.15.3 standard.

The terminal 112 may play the content. The content is a digital object including at least one of video information, audio information, and text information. Specific types of content include movies, music, photos, Java games, electronic books, various digital broadcasts (DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting), DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting), DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting)). According to an embodiment of the present invention, the terminal 112 may operate in one of the streaming mode and the normal mode to play the content.

When operating in the streaming mode, the terminal 112 may be provided with the content in a streaming format from the service providing server 120. In this case, the terminal 112 may play the content while buffering the content by a predetermined amount. When operating in the normal mode, the terminal 112 may play the content stored in the storage medium connected to or connected to the terminal 112. The content stored in the terminal 112 or the storage medium connected to the terminal 112 may be downloaded from the service providing server 120 or may be obtained through another path.

The terminal 112 is preferably a portable digital device such as a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a notebook computer, or the like. Of course, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the terminal 112 may be a fixed digital device such as a set top box, a desktop computer, or a digital TV.

The service providing server 120 may provide content and metadata of the content to the terminal 112. The metadata includes one or more content information elements representing the characteristics of the content. The type of content information element may vary depending on the type of content. For example, if the content type is music, the metadata of the content may include content information elements such as genre, artist, album, melody, etc. If the content type is movie, the metadata may include content such as genre, lead actor, director, etc. May contain information elements. If the content type is digital broadcast, the metadata may include content information elements such as a broadcast channel and a broadcast program.

Such metadata may be composed of data objects separate from the contents, but, preferably, metadata is included in the contents so that the metadata and the contents may be composed of all data objects.

Meanwhile, the service providing server 120 searches for a terminal that is playing content related to a specific content information element among other terminals 114 and 116 according to a request of the terminal 112, and searches the terminal 112 for location information of the found terminal. Can be provided to

In order to receive a predetermined service from the service providing server 120, the terminal 112 needs to access the service providing server 120. The connection of the terminal 112 to the service providing server 120 means that the terminal 112 transmits a message requesting the provision of the service to the service providing server 120 and the service providing server 120 transmits the message to the service providing server 120. It may mean that a communication channel for providing a service is established upon request.

Preferably, the service providing server 120 may allow or disallow connection of the terminal 112 by performing an authentication operation. To this end, the service providing server 120 may compare the authentication information transmitted from the terminal 112 with the registration information registered in advance. For example, the user A may register his or her ID and password in the service providing server 120 using the terminal 112 in advance. Thereafter, the terminal 112 attempting to access the service providing server 120 according to the request of the user A transmits the user A's ID and password to the service providing server 120, and the service providing server 120 transmits the terminal ( By comparing the ID and password of the user A received from 112 with a previously registered ID and password, it is possible to determine whether to permit the connection of the terminal 112. This authentication method may be understood similarly to a log-in method or a sign-in method. Of course, since this is only one embodiment, the service providing server 120 may perform an authentication operation based on another type of authentication method.

Hereinafter, the service providing process according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail. In the following embodiment, each terminal 112, 114, and 116 is connected to the service providing server 120 (for example, the service providing server 120 allows access to each terminal 112, 114, and 116). A state).

2 is a flowchart illustrating a content providing process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The user A who wishes to receive the content from the service providing server 120 may input a content search request to the terminal 112 together with a keyword (hereinafter, referred to as “search keyword”) to be used for searching the content. When a content search request is input from the user A (S210), the terminal 112 may generate a content search request message including the input keyword (S215), and transmit it to the service providing server 120 (S220). The content search request message may include a plurality of search keywords.

The service providing server 120 may extract a search keyword from the content search request message received from the terminal 112 (S225), and search for content related to the extracted search keyword (S230). For example, if the search keyword is a name of a specific singer, the service providing server 120 may search music contents of the singer. If a plurality of search keywords are extracted from the content search request message, the service providing server 120 may search for contents related to all of the plurality of search keywords.

When the search operation of step S230 is completed, the service providing server 120 may generate a list of the content found as a result of the search (S235), and transmit the generated content list to the terminal 112 (S240). The content list may include information about the content, such as the title, type, and identifier of the content.

Upon receiving the content list from the service providing server 120, the terminal 112 may display the content list (S245). In this case, the user A may select a desired item from the content list using the terminal 112 and request the transmission of the content corresponding to the selected item. In addition, the user A may determine one of a streaming method and a download method as a content transmission method using the terminal 112.

When a content transmission request is input from the user A (S250), the terminal 112 may generate a content transmission request message including an identifier of the corresponding content (S255), and transmit it to the service providing server 120 (S260). ). The content transmission request message generated in step S255 may also include information on the content transmission method determined by user A.

The service providing server 120 extracts a content identifier from the content transmission request message transmitted from the terminal 112 and transmits the content identified by the extracted content identifier to the terminal 112 (S265). In step S265, metadata of the content may also be transmitted to the terminal 112. As described above, the metadata may be included in the content or may be transmitted to the terminal 112 as a data object separate from the content. have.

Meanwhile, the method of transmitting the content to the terminal 112 by the service providing server 120 in step S265 may be any one of a streaming method and a download method. Which content transmission method is to be used may be set in advance in the service providing server 120. However, as described above, if the content transmission request message transmitted from the terminal 112 includes information on the content transmission method, the content transmission method in step S265 may be determined accordingly.

When the content transmission method is the streaming method, the playback mode of the terminal 112 is the streaming mode.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a service processing process according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the terminal 112 will be described as searching for the other terminals 114 and 116, but this is the user of the other terminals 114 and 116 from the viewpoint of " user A " It can be interpreted to mean searching for "User B" or "User C".

First, when the request of the user A, the terminal 112 can play the content (S310). Here, the playback mode of the terminal 112 may be a streaming mode or a normal mode.

When the terminal search request is input from the user A during the playback of the content (S315), the terminal 112 displays the type of metadata related to the type of the content that is being played (S320). For example, if a terminal search request is input from the user A while the terminal 112 is playing the movie content 410 as shown in FIG. 4A, the terminal 112 displays the movie content as shown in FIG. 4B. The metadata type selection screen 420 may be displayed to indicate the type of metadata related to (eg, genre, starring actor, director, etc.).

When the terminal search request is input, the terminal 112 may temporarily stop the playback of the content. Of course, even if the terminal search request is input, it is also possible for the terminal 112 to continue playing the content.

The user A may select the type of metadata to be searched from among the types of metadata displayed by the terminal 112. The number of types of metadata selected here may be one or more.

When the type of metadata is selected by the user A (S325), the terminal 112 extracts the content information element corresponding to the type of the metadata selected by the user A from the metadata of the content being played (S330). For example, if the terminal 112 is playing the movie content called “Lord of the Rings” and the user selects “Director” from the type of metadata, the terminal 112 displays the movie content that the user is playing in step S330. From the metadata of (Lord of the Rings), "Peter Jackson", which is a content information element corresponding to the "Supervision" type, can be extracted.

Thereafter, the terminal 112 generates a terminal search request message including the extracted content information element (S335), and transmits the generated terminal search request message to the service providing server 120 (S340).

The service providing server 120 that receives the terminal search request message from the terminal 112 plays a content related to the content information element included in the terminal search request message among other terminals 114 and 116 connected to the terminal. Search for and collect the location information of the searched terminal (S345).

The process of collecting the search and the location information of the terminal S345 may vary depending on whether the terminals 114 and 116 are receiving content in a streaming manner. More specifically, the service providing server 120 may determine whether the terminals 114 and 116 being accessed are receiving the content in a streaming manner, and perform the process of FIG. 5 or the process of FIG. 6 according to the determination result. Process S345 may be performed for all terminals connected to the service providing server 120, so that the service providing server 120 sequentially processes the process of FIG. 5 and the process of FIG. Can be done in parallel For convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the terminal 114 is in a state of receiving content from the service providing server 120 in a streaming manner, and the terminal 116 is not. In this case, the terminal 114 may be playing the content in the streaming mode, and the terminal 116 may not be playing the content or may be playing the content in the normal mode.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of collecting location information according to an embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated process is performed with respect to the terminal 114 receiving the content in a streaming manner.

The service providing server 120 extracts the content information element from the terminal search request message received in step S340 of FIG. 3 (S510), and extracts the metadata of the content that the terminal 114 is receiving in a streaming manner and the process S510. It is determined whether the matched content information element is matched (S520).

If the content information element extracted from the terminal search request message matches the metadata of the content being transmitted to the terminal 114 (specifically, if the same content information element is included in the metadata), the service is determined. The providing server 120 collects location information of the terminal 114 (S530).

However, if it is determined in step S520 that the content information element extracted in step S510 is not included in the metadata of the content being transmitted to the terminal 114, the location information of the terminal 114 is not collected.

The process of FIG. 5 may be performed for all terminals that are receiving content in a streaming manner from the service providing server 120 when the terminal search request message is received from the terminal 112.

On the other hand, among the terminals connected to the service providing server 120, the service providing server 120 may perform the process of FIG.

When the terminal search request message is received from the terminal 112 (step S340 of FIG. 3), the service providing server 120 extracts a content information element from the terminal search request message (S610). Thereafter, the service providing server 120 generates a metadata request message (S620), and transmits the generated metadata request message to the terminal 116 (S630).

If the terminal 116 is playing the content at the time of receiving the metadata request message, the terminal 116 generates a response message including the metadata of the content being played (S640), and generates the generated response message. To the service providing server 120 (S650).

When the response message is received from the terminal 116, the service providing server 120 extracts metadata from the response message (S660), and compares the content information elements extracted in step S610 (S670).

As a result of the comparison in step S670, if the content information element extracted in step S610 is also included in the metadata extracted in step S660, the service providing server 120 collects location information of the terminal 116 (S680). However, as a result of the comparison in step S670, if the content information element extracted in step S610 is not included in the metadata extracted in step S660, the location information of the terminal 116 is not collected.

Although omitted in FIG. 6, if the terminal 116 was not playing the content at the time of receiving the metadata request message, the process S640 generates a response message including information indicating that the terminal 116 is not playing the content. It can be replaced with a process. In this case, since metadata is not included in the response message, processes S660 to S680 of FIG. 6 may not be performed.

On the other hand, process S630 of Figure 6 may be automatically performed without the user C intervention. For example, the user C may set in the terminal 116 whether to respond to the metadata request message of the service providing server 120. If it is set to respond, process S630 of FIG. 6 may be automatically performed. If it is set to not responding, process S630 of FIG. 6 generates a response message including information indicating that metadata cannot be informed. May be replaced by

Of course, process S630 may be performed under real-time intervention of userC. For example, when a metadata request message is received from the service providing server 120, the terminal 116 may display content for requesting determination of a response. In this case, the user C may determine whether to respond to the request of the service providing server 120. If the user C determines to respond, the terminal 116 may perform step S630. However, if the user C determines not to respond, the process S630 of FIG. 6 may be replaced by a process of generating a response message including information indicating that metadata cannot be informed. Whether or not the user C intervenes may be set in advance by the user C in the terminal 116.

6 may be performed for all terminals that are connected to the service providing server 120 when the terminal search request message is received from the terminal 112 but are not receiving content in a streaming manner.

Referring back to FIG. 3, the service providing server 120 may map the collected location information to identification information (for example, an identifier of a terminal or an ID of a user of the terminal) of the corresponding terminal (S350). . Thereafter, the service providing server 120 transmits the collected location information to the terminal 112 (S355). In this case, the identification information of the terminal mapped to each location information in step S350 may also be transmitted to the terminal 112. Therefore, the terminal 112 can know the identification information about the terminal corresponding to each location information.

The terminal 112 receiving the location information from the service providing server 120 displays the received location information (S360). In step S360, the terminal 112 may display the location information in the form of a text list or table. However, the terminal 112 preferably displays the location information in the form of a map. For example, in operation S355, the service providing server 120 may transmit an electronic map including the location information to the terminal 112. Alternatively, the terminal 112 may receive the electronic map from the service providing server 120 in advance, and display the location information transmitted in step S355 together with the electronic map obtained in advance. Of course, it is also possible for the terminal 112 to obtain the electronic map in advance through another route.

The location information may include coordinate information based on the electronic map. Of course, the location information includes information on latitude and longitude, and the terminal 112 may convert the location information into a coordinate format suitable for the electronic map held by the terminal 112.

An embodiment of the location information displayed by the terminal 112 in step S360 is illustrated in FIG. 7. Circles 710 to 750 shaded in FIG. 7 are points indicated by location information provided from the service providing server 120. These points indicate the location of another terminal (eg, terminal 114 or terminal 116) that is playing content associated with metadata of the content that terminal 112 is playing. That is, the location information may indicate the location of other users (for example, user B and user C) having a similar taste to user A. Therefore, user A can easily grasp the existence and location of other users having similar tastes as the user. The map shown in FIG. 7 also includes information 760 indicating the location of the terminal 112, that is, the location of the user A. The location information of the terminal 112 is provided together with the location information of the other terminal in step S360. It may be provided from the server 120. Of course, if the terminal 112 has a function of managing its own location information (for example, a GPS function), the terminal 112 may provide its own location information.

On the other hand, when the number of searched terminals is very large, it may be inefficient for the terminal 112 to display all the location information of each terminal. Therefore, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the number of location information provided from the service providing server 120 may be limited to a threshold number. That is, if the number of location information collected by the service providing server 120 exceeds the threshold number, the service providing server 120 may select the location information of the threshold number and provide the selected location information to the terminal 112. Can be. Here, the threshold number may be set in advance by the operator of the service providing server 120, or may be set directly through the terminal 112 when the user A inputs a terminal search request. When the user A directly sets the threshold number, the set threshold number may be included in the terminal search request message generated in step S335 of FIG. 3, and the service providing server 120 receiving the same provides location information according to the threshold number. can do. On the other hand, the manner in which the service providing server 120 selects the position information of the threshold number of the plurality of location information does not limit the present invention. The service providing server 120 may randomly select location information from among a plurality of location information, and as many pieces of location information as necessary in proportion to the distribution density of the location information for each sub-area of the area in which the service providing server 120 is responsible. May be screened.

The user A may select any one of the location information displayed by the terminal 112 and communicate with the user of the terminal corresponding to the location information. This will be described with reference to FIG. 8.

When any one of the location information displayed through the process of FIG. 3 is selected by the user A (S810), the terminal 112 generates a communication request message requesting communication with the terminal corresponding to the selected location information (S815). In operation S820, the generated communication request message is transmitted to the service providing server 120. The communication request message may include at least one of location information selected in step S810 or identification information about a terminal corresponding to the location information. Since the information included in the communication request message is for the service providing server 120 to know which other terminal the terminal 112 wants to communicate with, other information may be included in the communication request message if it meets these purposes. have. In addition, the communication request message may include identification information of the terminal 112 (for example, an identifier of the terminal 112 or an ID of the user A).

The service providing server 120 determines which terminal the terminal 112 wants to communicate with using the communication request message received from the terminal 112 (S825). In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the terminal 114 is confirmed as the communication request of the terminal 112 as a result of the determination in step S825.

The service providing server 120 generates an acknowledgment message including the identification information of the terminal 112 (S830), and transmits it to the terminal 114 (S835).

When the acceptance message confirmation message is received from the service providing server 120, the terminal 114 displays information indicating that there is a communication request from the terminal 112 (S840). In operation S840, identification information of the terminal 112 requesting communication may also be displayed.

The user B may check the information displayed by the terminal 114 and determine whether to accept the communication request of the terminal 112. If information indicating that the user 112 accepts the communication request from the user B is input (S845), the terminal 114 generates a communication acceptance message (S850) and transmits it to the service providing server 120 (S855). ).

At this time, the service providing server 120 generates a response message including the information that can communicate with the terminal 114 (S860), and transmits it to the terminal 112 (S865).

Thereafter, the service providing server 120 relays the communication between the terminal 112 and the terminal 114 (S870).

Accordingly, a communication service between the terminal 112 and the terminal 114 may be provided. That is, the user A can use the communication service with the user B having a taste similar to that of the user A. Examples of communication services include IM (Instant Messenger) services, SMS, voice calls, video calls, and the like. Of course, the communication service in the present invention is not limited thereto. 9 illustrates an example of a screen displayed by the terminal 112 when the terminal 112 uses an IM service with the terminal 114.

Although omitted in FIG. 8, if the user B inputs information that denies communication in step S845, the terminal 114 may generate a communication rejection message and transmit it to the service providing server 120. At this time, the service providing server 120 may generate a response message including the information that the communication is denied, and transmit it to the terminal 112. In this case, no communication service is provided between the terminal 112 and the terminal 114.

Meanwhile, at the request of user A, the terminal 112 may store the location information of the terminal 114 that performed the communication. If the user A requests later, the terminal 112 may display the stored location information again. Accordingly, the user A can find a user B on the map who has a similar taste in using the content. Of course, as time passes, the actual location of the user B may not match the location information displayed by the terminal 112 again. However, in general, since the radius of activity of the human is limited, there is no big problem for the user A to roughly identify the user B on the map. In addition, since identification information for the terminal 114 mapped to the location information may also be stored with the location information, it is still possible for the terminal 112 to use the communication service with the terminal 114 again. According to an embodiment, when the terminal 112 uses the communication service with the terminal 114 again, the service providing server 120 may provide the terminal 112 with new location information of the terminal 114. In this case, the terminal 112 may store new location information of the terminal 114. These details may be equally applied to the terminal 114 which has communicated with the terminal 112.

1 to 9 have described a service system in which one service providing server 120 exists. However, there may be a limitation in the physical area in which one service providing server 120 may provide a service to terminals. Therefore, a service providing server exists in every predetermined area, and a relay server capable of linking each service providing server can be provided to enlarge the service providing area. This will be described with reference to FIG. 10.

10 is a view showing a service system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 10, a relay server 1040 connecting two service providing servers 1020 and 1030 and service providing servers 1020 and 1030 is illustrated. Of course, embodiments in which two or more service providing servers exist. Each service providing server 1020 and 1030 is in charge of a first local area and a second local area, respectively. The networks 20, 30, 40, 50 shown in FIG. 10 may be understood similarly to the network 10 shown in FIG. 1.

The terminals 1011, 1012, and 1013 in the first local area may be connected to the first service providing server 1020 to receive a service, and the terminals 1014, 1015, and 1016 in the second local area may receive a second service. A service may be provided by accessing the service providing server 1030. This configuration can be understood as a service environment for providing services between cities and cities, provinces and provinces, countries and countries. The configuration of the first local area and the second local area may be understood similarly to the service system shown in FIG. 1. However, in the present embodiment, the coverage of the service is not limited to the same local area but can be extended to other local areas. This will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 11.

11 is a flowchart illustrating a service providing process according to an embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated embodiment will be described based on the terminal 1011.

In response to the user's request, the terminal 1011 may play the content (S1101). Here, the playback mode of the terminal 1011 may be a streaming mode or a normal mode.

When the terminal search request is input from the user during the reproduction of the content (S1102), the terminal 1011 displays a search area selection screen (S1103). For example, in a state in which content is being played back as shown in FIG. 12A, when a user's terminal search request is input, the terminal 1011 may display a search area selection screen as shown in FIG. 12B. As shown in FIG. 12B, the search area may include a local area and a global area. Here, the global area is a range including a plurality of local areas, and if the service system is the same as the embodiment of FIG. 10, the global area is a range including a first local area and a second local area.

The user can select either the global zone or the local zone. When the search area is selected by the user (S1104), the terminal 1011 displays the type of metadata related to the type of content that is being played (S1105).

The user may select the type of metadata to be searched from among the types of metadata displayed by the terminal 1011. If the type of metadata is selected by the user (S1106), the terminal 1011 extracts content information elements corresponding to the type of metadata selected by the user from the metadata of the content being played (S1107). Processes S1105 to S1107 of FIG. 11 may be understood similarly to processes S320 to S330 of FIG. 3.

Thereafter, the terminal 1011 generates a terminal search request message including information on the search area selected in step S1104 (hereinafter referred to as search area information) and content information elements extracted in step S1107 (S1108). The terminal search request message is transmitted to the first service providing server 1020 (S1109).

Receiving a terminal search request message from the terminal 1011, the first service providing server 1020 is to provide a service to the search area of the local area and the global area through the search area information included in the terminal search request message. It is determined (S1110). If the search area information indicates the local area, the terminal search operation is performed on the first local area that the first service providing server 1020 is in charge of and the process is the same as described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. . Therefore, the operation process when the search area is set to the local area will be omitted in the present embodiment.

As a result of the determination in step S1110, if the search area information included in the terminal search request message indicates the global area, the first service providing server 1020 transmits the terminal search request message to the relay server 1040 (S1111). In this case, the transmitted terminal search request message may be received from the terminal 1011 or may be newly generated by the first service providing server 1020.

The relay server 1040 relays the terminal search request message from the first service providing server 1020 to the second service providing server 1030 (S1112).

The second service providing server 1030 searches for a terminal playing content related to the content information element included in the terminal search request message among the terminals 1014, 1015, and 1016 connected to the second local area, and searches for the searched terminal. Collect location information of the terminal (S1113). Operations involved in the process S1113 may be understood similarly as described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

The second service providing server 1030 may map the collected location information with identification information of the corresponding terminal (S1114). Thereafter, the second service providing server 1030 generates a response message including the collected location information (S1115) and transmits it to the relay server 1040 (S1116). The response message generated in step S1115 may also include identification information for the terminal mapped to each location information.

The relay server 1040 relays the user search response message received from the second service providing server 1030 to the first service providing server 1020 (S1117).

Meanwhile, the first service providing server 1020 searches for a terminal playing content related to the content information element included in the terminal search request message among the terminals 1012 and 1013 that are connected to the first local area, and searches for the searched terminal. Collect location information of the terminal (S1118). The operation performed in step S1118 may be understood similarly as described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

The first service providing server 1020 may map the collected location information with identification information of the corresponding terminal (S1119).

Thereafter, the first service providing server 1020 extracts the location information from the response message transmitted from the relay server 1040 (S1120), and collects the location information collected by itself and the location information extracted in step S1120. (S1121). Of course, in step S1121, identification information of the terminal mapped to each location information may be transmitted together.

The terminal 1011 receiving the location information from the first service providing server 1020 displays the received location information (S1122). Process S1122 may be understood similarly to process S360 of FIG. 3. However, since the present embodiment searches for the location of the terminals in the global area, if the location information is displayed in the form of a map in step S1122, the map displayed in step S1122 includes both the first local area and the second local area. It may have a form. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the position information displayed in step S1122 is shown in FIG. 13A. Of course, the present invention is not limited to the example shown in Fig. 13A. For example, location information may be displayed in units of local area. That is, in step S1122 of FIG. 11, the search result of the first local area and the search result of the second local area may be alternately displayed according to a request of the user. 13B, the terminal 1011 may display the first local area 1320 and display the second local area 1330 when a "next local area" is requested from the user. . Of course, the reverse process is also possible.

Meanwhile, in step S1117 of FIG. 11, the relay server 1040 may temporarily store location information transmitted from the second service providing server 1030. If a terminal search request message including the same content information element transmitted in step S1111 is received from the first service providing server 1020 before the threshold time elapses from when the location information is temporarily stored, the terminal service temporarily stores the location information. The location information may be transmitted to the first service providing server 1020. If the same request is received within a certain period of time, it will not be very different from the actual situation even if the previous work result is provided without having to perform the same work again as before. In this case, the relay server 1040 may not transmit the terminal search request message to the second service providing server 1030. Through this, the work processing time or load of the relay server 1040 may be reduced. This embodiment may be equally applied to the first service providing server 1020. That is, the first service providing server 1020 temporarily stores the location information transmitted to the terminal 1011 in step S1121 of FIG. 11, and is identical to the one transmitted in step S1109 from the terminal 1011 within a threshold time from the storage time. When the terminal search request message is received, the terminal 1011 may provide temporarily stored location information.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the aforementioned terminals 112, 114, 116, 1011, 1012, 1013, 1014, 1015, 1015, service providing servers 120, 1020, 1030, and relay server 1040 will be described. . An operation process between these components may be understood in more detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 12 described above.

14 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a service providing server 1400 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated service providing server 1400 may be viewed as a configuration of the service providing servers 120, 1020, and 1030 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 10.

The service providing server 1400 includes a content management device 1410, a connection management device 1420, a location information management device 1430, a service processing device 1440, and a communication relay device 1450.

The content management device 1410 may provide the requested content when the content request message is received from the terminal. The content providing method may be a streaming method or a download method. Accordingly, the content management device 1410 may identify which terminal is receiving the content in a streaming manner. In addition, when the content search request message is received, the content management device 1410 may search for a content corresponding to a search keyword included in the content search request message and create a list of searched contents. To this end, the content management device 1410 may store a plurality of content and metadata of each content. Of course, the content management device 1410 may access an external content provider to search for and receive necessary content and metadata.

The access management device 1420 performs an authentication operation on the terminal requesting access. To this end, the connection management apparatus 1420 receives and registers predetermined registration information from the terminal in advance from the terminal and registers the registration information thereafter. You can decide whether or not. In addition, the access management device 1420 manages a list of terminals currently connected, and updates the list when a change occurs in the access status.

The location information management device 1430 manages location information of a terminal being accessed. As an embodiment for managing location information of a terminal, the location information management device 1430 may include at least one of a home location register and a visited location register. Of course, this is exemplary, and may include other types of devices (eg, GPS processing devices) capable of obtaining location information of the terminal. The location information management device 1430 may manage an electronic map to be provided to the terminal.

As another embodiment of the present invention, the location information management device 1430 may receive the location information of the terminal periodically or aperiodically from the terminal being accessed, and may manage the location information. For example, when the terminal being accessed voluntarily transmits its location information to the service providing server 120 at a predetermined time interval, the location information management device 1430 may store and manage the location information. Alternatively, the location information management apparatus 1430 may inquire the terminal to which the terminal is connecting, and obtain the location information of the terminal from the terminal.

The service processing device 1440 serves as a gate for communication with the terminal or the relay server 1040. In addition, the devices 1410, 1420, and 1430 constituting the service providing server 1400 are instructed to provide necessary operations to provide the necessary services to the terminal. To this end, the service processing device 1440 may generate or interpret various messages required for communication with the terminal or the relay server. A message is an information carrier for various requests or responses, and its meaning should not be construed as limited by the term "message". For example, the term "message" may be replaced by "frame" or "packet".

The communication relay device 1450 relays communication between terminals. The communication may include an IM service, an SMS, a voice call, a video call, and the like. In order to support various communication services, the communication relay device 1450 may include a plurality of communication service processing devices (not shown). For example, the communication relay device 1450 may include a short message processing device, an exchange station, or the like.

15 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a relay server 1040 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The relay server 1040 includes a proxy device 1510 for delivering a message transmitted from a service providing server to another service providing server, and a management device 1520 for storing location information transmitted from the service providing server. The management device 1520 may delete the stored location information after a predetermined time elapses. In addition, the management device 1520 determines whether to reuse the temporarily stored location information when the same terminal search request message is received again from a specific service providing server. For example, when the first terminal search request message is received from the first service providing server 1020, the proxy device 1510 transmits it to the second service providing server 1030. Thereafter, when a response message including location information is received from the second service providing server 1030, the proxy device 1510 transmits it to the first service providing server 1020. At this time, the management device 1520 may store the location information included in the response message. If the second terminal search request message including the same content information element as the first terminal search request message is received from the first service providing server 1020 before the threshold time elapses from the storing of the location information, the management device The 1520 may transmit the stored location information to the first service providing server 1020. In this case, the management device 1520 may control the proxy device 1510 not to transmit the second terminal search request message to the second service providing server 1030.

16 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a terminal 1600 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The terminals 112, 114, 116, 1011, 1012, 1013, 1014, 1015, and 1016 of FIGS. 1 and 10 may include the same or similar configuration as the terminal 1600 illustrated in FIG. 16.

The terminal 1600 includes a network interface unit 1610, a user input unit 1620, a playback unit 1630, a storage unit 1640, a user interface provider 1650, a communication service processor 1660, and a controller 1670. It includes.

The network interface unit 1610 communicates with the service providing server 1400. That is, the network interface unit 1610 transmits and receives various messages, contents, location information, and other data or information described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 12. The network interface unit 1610 may use a communication protocol based on CDMA, WCDMA, or GSM. Of course, this is exemplary and the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the network interface unit 1610 may use a communication protocol or other type of communication protocol based on the IEEE 802.11 standard or the IEEE 802.15.3 standard.

The user input unit 1620 receives various requests or commands from the user. To this end, the user input unit 1620 may include input means such as a keypad, a touch pad, and a touch screen.

The playback unit 1630 plays a map including various types of content or location information. The playback unit 1630 may include various codecs or application processing units to play content or a map. For example, the playback unit 1630 may be a video decoder based on video decoding technologies such as Moving Picture Experts Group 2 (MPEG2), MPEG4, H.264, MPEG Audio Layer-3 (MP3), Window Media Audio (WMA), or the like. And an audio decoder based on an audio decoding technique.

The storage unit 1640 stores content, location information, and other data. The storage unit 1640 may include various memories such as a hard disk, a flash memory, a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), and the like.

The user interface providing unit 1650 provides various user interfaces for guiding the use of the service. For example, the user interface providing unit 1650 may provide a type selection screen of metadata as shown in FIG. 4B, a search area selection screen as shown in FIG. 12B, and the like.

The communication service processor 1660 supports various communication services such as IM, SMS, voice call, and video call.

The controller 1670 controls the operation of each component constituting the terminal 1600. In addition, the controller 1670 may generate various messages to be transmitted to the service providing server 1400 and interpret various messages received from the service providing server 1400.

In addition, although the control unit 1670 is not directly described in the description of the terminal 1600 with reference to FIG. 16, the controller 1670 may perform a task necessary to provide the service described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 13B.

Although not shown, the terminal 1600 may further include a location information management unit managing its location information. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the location information management unit may include a GPS processing unit capable of receiving and storing location information of the terminal 1600 provided through a GPS satellite.

Each component constituting the terminal 1600 described with reference to FIG. 16 may be implemented as a kind of module. 'Module' means a software component or hardware component such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), and the module plays some role. However, a module is not limited to software or hardware. A module may be configured to reside on an addressable storage medium and may be configured to execute one or more processors. Thus, as an example, a module may include components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components, and task components, and processes, functions, properties, procedures, subroutines. , Segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuits, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functionality provided by the components and modules may be combined into a smaller number of components and modules or further separated into additional components and modules.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, It will be understood. It is therefore to be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive.

According to the method for providing a service for searching a user of the present invention as described above, and an apparatus, a server, and a system therefor, the present invention provides a service for searching for users using similar content in real time and exchanging information with the searched user. There is an effect that can provide.

Claims (37)

Playing second content; Transmitting a terminal search request message including a content information element related to the second content to a service providing server; Receiving location information of a terminal playing the first content related to the content information element from the service providing server; And Displaying the received location information. The method according to claim 1, And the content information element is information included in metadata of the second content. 3. The method of claim 2, Displaying one or more types of metadata; Extracting, from the metadata of the second content, the content information element corresponding to the type of metadata selected from the user among the displayed types of metadata; And And generating the terminal search request message including the extracted content information element. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying comprises: Displaying a map including the location information. The method according to claim 1, The terminal search request message further includes information about a search area. 6. The method of claim 5, The information about the search area may include: a first local area in charge of the service providing server; and a second local area in charge of another service providing server to which the first local area and the service providing server may be linked through a relay server. A service providing method, which indicates any one of the global areas including a. 6. The method of claim 5, Displaying a selection screen of the search area; And And generating the terminal search request message including information about the search area selected by the user and the content information element on the displayed selection screen of the search area. The method according to claim 1, And communicating with a terminal corresponding to the location information selected by the user among the displayed location information. The method of claim 8, wherein performing the communication comprises: And performing one of an IM service, an SMS, a voice call, and a video call with a terminal corresponding to the selected location information. 9. The method of claim 8, Communication with the terminal corresponding to the selected location information is relayed through the service providing server. 9. The method of claim 8, Storing location information of the terminal that performed the communication; And And displaying the stored location information at the request of a user. Receiving a terminal search request message from the first terminal; Collecting location information of a second terminal that is playing content related to the content information element included in the received terminal search request message; And Transmitting the collected location information to the first terminal. The method of claim 12, wherein the collecting step, Extracting the content information element from the received terminal search request message; Searching for a terminal receiving a content having metadata including the extracted content information element in a streaming manner; And And collecting location information of the searched terminal. The method of claim 12, wherein the collecting step, Extracting the content information element from the received terminal search request message; Transmitting a metadata request message to a terminal that is connecting through a network; Receiving a response message to the metadata request message from a terminal accessing through the network; Extracting metadata from the response message; And If the extracted metadata includes the extracted content information element, collecting location information of the terminal that sent the response message. The method of claim 12, wherein the collecting step, Collecting location information of a terminal that is playing content related to the content information element among terminals existing in a first local area; And And collecting location information of a terminal that is playing content related to the content information element from a terminal existing in a second local area via a relay server. 13. The method of claim 12, Relaying a communication service between the first terminal and the second terminal. The method of claim 16, wherein the relaying step, Receiving a communication request message requesting communication with the second terminal from the first terminal; Sending the communication request message to the second terminal; Receiving a response message to the communication request message from the second terminal; And If the response message includes information that accepts communication with the first terminal, relaying a communication service between the first terminal and the second terminal. 17. The method of claim 16, The communication service is any one of an IM service, an SMS, a voice call, and a video call. The method of claim 12, wherein transmitting the collected location information comprises: And transmitting the electronic map including the collected location information to the first terminal. A playback unit for playing second content; A controller configured to generate a terminal search request message including a content information element related to the second content; A network interface unit which transmits the generated terminal search request message to a service providing server and receives location information of a terminal which is playing first content related to the content information element from the service providing server; And And a display unit for displaying the received location information. 21. The method of claim 20, The content information element is information included in metadata of the second content. 22. The method of claim 21, A user interface providing unit for providing one or more types of metadata; And Further comprising a user input unit for receiving a user's selection for at least one of the types of metadata provided, The control unit extracts the content information element corresponding to the type of metadata selected from the user from the metadata of the second content, and generates the terminal search request message including the extracted content information element. 21. The method of claim 20, The display unit displays a map including the location information. 21. The method of claim 20, The terminal search request message further includes information about a search area. 25. The method of claim 24, The information about the search area may include: a first local area in charge of the service providing server; and a second local area in charge of another service providing server to which the first local area and the service providing server may be linked through a relay server. A digital device, which represents any one of the global areas, including. 25. The method of claim 24, Further comprising a user interface providing unit for providing a selection screen of the search area, And the control unit generates the terminal search request message including information about the search area selected by the user on the selection screen of the provided search area and the content information element. 21. The method of claim 20, And a communication service processor configured to perform communication with a terminal corresponding to the location information selected by the user among the displayed location information. 28. The method of claim 27, The communication comprises one of an IM service, an SMS, a voice call, and a video call. 28. The method of claim 27, The communication is relayed through the service providing server. 28. The method of claim 27, Further comprising a storage unit for storing the location information of the terminal performing the communication, The display unit displays the stored location information in response to a user's request. A location information management device for collecting location information of a second terminal that is playing content related to the content information element included in the terminal search request message; And And a service processing apparatus for receiving the terminal search request message from a first terminal and transmitting the collected location information to the first terminal. 32. The method of claim 31, The apparatus may further include a content management device for searching for a terminal that is receiving content having metadata including the content information element in a streaming manner. The location information management apparatus includes collecting location information of the searched terminal. 32. The method of claim 31, The service processing apparatus transmits a metadata request message to a terminal accessing through a network, extracts metadata from the response message when a response message to the metadata request message is received from a terminal accessing through the network, And the location information management device collects location information of a terminal that has sent the response message when the extracted metadata includes the extracted content information element. 32. The method of claim 31, And a communication relay device for relaying a communication service between the first terminal and the second terminal. 35. The method of claim 34, The communication is any one of an IM service, an SMS, a voice call, and a video call. 32. The method of claim 31, The location information management device provides an electronic map including the collected location information, service providing server. When the terminal search request message is received from the first terminal, location information of the second terminal that is playing content related to the content information element included in the terminal search request message in the first local area is collected, and the content information element is collected. A first service providing server transmitting to the relay server; A second service providing server for collecting location information of a third terminal playing content related to the content information element in a second local area; And The content information element transmitted from the first service providing server is transmitted to the second service providing server, and the location information of the third terminal collected by the second service providing server is transmitted to the first service providing server. Including a relay server, The first service providing server transmits the location information of the second terminal and the location information of the third terminal to the first terminal.

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