KR101391009B1 - Method and system for creating a bulletin board system (bbs) message including a map through a communication network - Google Patents

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a Bulletin Board System (BBS) message including a map is provided through a communication network. According to this embodiment, upon receiving a request to compose a message, it is determined whether the user wishes to include the map in the message. If the user desires to include the map in the message, a location mapping interface is provided to facilitate the user-defined map configuration, and a map defined by the user using the location mapping interface is inserted into the message do. The user can add items such as symbols and annotations to the map to indicate the location of the area of interest. Upon receiving the user's request to display the map included in the message, a map corresponding to the user's request is retrieved from the map server and displayed to the user. Map information and messages of the displayed map are stored in the database.

Description

Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a method and system for generating a VOB message including a map via a communication network,

The present invention generally relates to a method for providing a BBS over a communication network.

The BBS system supports user message posting and message downloading. The BBS system typically includes a number of different file libraries and discussion groups to allow clients to communicate with each other on-line. Users of these network systems post messages to various groups within the BBS, allowing different clients to read the messages. For example, a given client may post a message to the BBS requesting information about a particular topic. Other clients can read this message and respond by posting a message containing their reply. These messages are publicly available and can be read by any user.

Unfortunately, the BBS messages provided to the BBS system are limited to certain data types (e.g., text documents, images, animations, audio, etc.). That is, the range of information transmitted through the BBS is generally limited. However, restrictions on the types of data that can be included in a BBS message are undesirable for users who want to provide more information about a given topic. For example, a user who tries to post a new message to a BBS for his / her favorite restaurant near Gangnam station may find that the location of the restaurant is important information on the subject, The location of the restaurant can not be visually communicated. On the other hand, a map included in the BBS message may be applied to various topics including location information such as "recommended vacation "," real estate ", &

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and system for generating a BBS message including a map via a communication network.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided for providing a BBS including a map over a communication network at a user side attempting to start a new posting. According to this embodiment, upon receiving a request from a user to compose a message, it is determined whether the user wishes to include the map in the message. If it is determined that the user desires to include the map in the message, a location mapping interface is provided to facilitate the user to configure the user-defined map, and a map defined by the user with the location mapping interface, . The map along with the message is stored in the database.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a system for providing a BBS including a map via a communication network is provided. The system includes a host computer center and one or more client computers. The host computer center houses a network of one or more servers, such as a BBS server, a map server, and the like. The client computer communicates with the host computer center via a network. The host computer center includes a BBS server and a map server for providing at least one message containing a map.

The method and system according to an embodiment of the present invention inserts a map related to the contents of a message into a message and provides the user with the location of the place mentioned in the message. That is, the present invention has the advantages of both map and BBS.

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a BBS system providing a map in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a flowchart showing an overall outline of a BBS system according to an embodiment of the present invention
FIG. 3 shows an example of a window provided in step 210 of FIG. 2
4 shows an example of a reading window opened in step 224 of FIG.
5 is a flowchart showing a process of generating a message to be created according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 shows an example of a map generated according to an embodiment of the present invention
7 shows an example of a web page provided during the step of generating a message
8 is a flowchart showing a process of posting a message according to an embodiment of the present invention
9 is a diagram illustrating a computer system structure used to implement a system or method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

In the following, detailed description of various embodiments is set forth. However, these embodiments may be embodied without including some or all of the details described below. Furthermore, in the following embodiments, detailed descriptions of steps or components of widely known methods are omitted so as not to unnecessarily limit the scope of the present invention.

1 illustrates a block diagram of a system for providing a BBS for generating a BBS message including a map over a communication network in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1, a plurality of client computers 160 communicatively coupled to a host computer center 100 by a network 120 are provided. The network 120 is preferably the Internet or other similar broadband network provided by one or more telecommunications companies and allows the client computer 160 to access the host computer center 100 over a wide geographical area.

 The client computer 160 includes software that enables reading and writing messages from a location available to the public and available to the public on a computer network. That is, the client computer 160 is primarily controlled by computer-readable instructions, which may be in the form of software, and which control the client computer 160 by being stored or connected. Such software may be a general purpose browser application or any type of software module that may be plugged into a general purpose browser application and is executed within the CPU of the client computer 160 to operate the client computer 160. In the present invention, the software further supports the user to request map information and display the obtained map information on the screen. In another embodiment of the present invention, such software may be downloaded from the BBS immediately prior to a request to insert a map or read an embedded map. The client computer 16 includes a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile or cellular telephone device, a laptop, a notebook, a desktop, or any other type of computing device.

The network interface 102 is responsible for receiving requests from the client computer 160 to the controller 105 or delivering BBS items from the controller 105 to the client computer 160. BBS items include maps, images, text, audio, and so on. BBS items are grouped into groups for specific messages using appropriate techniques, such as primary keys, so that when the items for a particular message are requested, the corresponding items can be provided together. The operation of the controller 150 will be performed by a predetermined algorithm. The algorithm is set up in such a way that the controller 105 conveys the request in response to receiving a request to view the BBS from the client computer 160. The BBS server 110 then extracts the necessary BBS items from the database 111 and delivers the extracted BBS items to the client computer 160 via the network interface 102. [

As described below, when a request for a map is received from the client computer 160, the controller 160 forwards the request to the map server 114. The map server 114 provides a map corresponding to the user's request using the coordinate value and the zoom level. To achieve this functionality, the map server employs appropriate software to manage the map data stored in the database 112 to provide a map of the area of interest.

The BBS server 110 may include database management software for managing data posts. The database management software controls requests related to configuration, storage, retrieval and BBS. The BBS server 110 will be connected to the database 111 storing the necessary items. Items stored in the database 111 are classified into one group for each posting using an appropriate technique.

In accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention, the specific procedures performed between the host computer center 100 and the client computer 160 to provide the BBS are described in further detail below. In the following, it should be understood that a configuration such as a window is provided to the user at the user's choice is implemented by communication with the host computer center 100. [

Referring to FIG. 2, the user initiates an operation on client computer 160 in start step S210. The BBS client software is written in C ++ and runs properly according to the operating system. Of course, similar software may be programmed in different languages and designed to run on various operating systems, but these are still to be understood as being within the scope of the present invention.

When the user initiates at step 210, a read window is opened that contains a list of various messages that can be read on the client computer 160. FIG. 3 is an example of a read window provided in step 210. FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the web page 300 displays a plurality of messages 310 together with titles and date information in which the messages are created. With the scroll bar 340, the user scrolls through a number of messages and selects one of them to read. Preferably, the web page 300 includes a search box 360 to enable a user to search for a message using at least one of the following conditions: title, content, and author.

After the user initiates the BBS at step 210, a determination is made at step 220 as to whether to read the particular message. If a decision is made at decision step 220 to read a particular message, a message to read is selected at step 222. [ The message can be selected by highlighting the message with the mouse, by pressing the enter key, or by clicking the mouse button on the message. These commands are primarily used in many operating system and client application environments, but are not so limited, and other methods for selecting messages may be used. If a particular message is selected for reading in step 222, a read window is opened in step 224.

Fig. 4 shows an example of a web page 400 of a reading window, which is opened at step 224. 4, the read window 400 in the system includes two distinct regions known as the header section 410 and the body section 420 of the message. The header section 410 includes information such as the name 412 of the user creating the message, the subject 414 of the message and the date 416 the message was created and the body section 420 of the message includes information such as a map, And text 460 of the message with attached objects such as audio or video. In FIG. 4, a map 440 is shown in the body section 420 in addition to the text 460. The map is retrieved from the map server 114 using a pre-stored coordinate value and zoom level in the message and provided to the user. That is, when the user clicks a message, the coordinate values and the zoom level of the map included in the message are transmitted to the map server 114, and the map server 114 provides a map corresponding to the client computer 160. Thereby, unlike many other BBS systems, the map itself can be inserted directly into the body section 42 of the message.

If the reading window is opened in step 224, the user reads the message containing the map in step 226 and closes the reading window in step 228. Once the reading window is closed, the message is marked as read normally in the BBS system. The user can choose to read one of the messages that are not yet read while browsing the readable messages. After the reading window closes at step 228, a determination is made at decision step 230 whether another message is to be read. If it is determined that another message is to be read, the process 200 for reading and writing the message returns to the message selection at step 222. If it is determined in decision step 230 that no further messages are to be read, then decision step 240 asks whether to compose a message.

If it is determined at decision step 240 to create a new message, a write window similar to the read window discussed above is opened at step 242. The write window includes a header section and a body section of a message that can be populated by the user. If a write window is opened in step 242, a message including the map may be generated in step 244, in response to the user's work to fill the header and body sections of the message. By posting the message in step 246 after the message is generated in step 244, the message is publicly accessible and allowed to be used in the computer network. The process of generating a message and posting the message will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. After the message is posted in step 246, a determination 260 determines if the user has completed the task. If completed, the step ends at an end step 270. [

Referring to FIG. 5, the process of creating a message to be posted in an initiating step 510 begins and then proceeds to step 512 to place header information in the header section of the message. As described above, in one embodiment of the present invention, the header information includes the name of the user who posts the message, the subject of the message, and the date and time the message was posted. If header information is entered at step 512, a body section is selected at step 514 and a question is asked at step 520 as to whether to insert the map into the body section.

If the user wishes to include the map in the body section, a pre-established map is provided from the map server 114 at step 522. That is, when the map server 114 receives the user's request to include the map in the body section, the map server 114 provides the user with a predetermined map as a default. After being provided with a preset map, the user searches for the desired location on the map in step 524 to indicate the target location on the map.

The search process can be performed using a search window. When the search window is opened, the user can directly input one or more location characteristics such as the name of the location to be searched. The map server 114 extracts and provides a map corresponding to the search term. To this end, the map server 114 may be coupled to an external database, such as Yahoo's database, which stores a plurality of POI (Point of Interest) information. As another example, instead of using a search window, a user can make a movement on a map and find a desired location. If the user, i.e., the user's mouse, moves on the map and points to a predetermined location, the map server 114 receives the coordinate values from the client computer 160 and provides a modified map corresponding to the new location. The coordinate values and the zoom level of the final map obtained after the search step are stored in the database. Thereby, when another user clicks the message, the map can be retrieved from the map server 114 using the coordinate value and the zoom level.

After the desired map is provided in step 524, the user marks the target point with the preset symbol in step 526. [ This is done by clicking on the target point in the map. In response to receiving a click from the client computer 160, the map server 114 reads the coordinate value of the location and stores the value temporarily. The target point having the received coordinate value will be represented by a symbol preset on the map by the map server 114. Thereafter, it is determined in step 528 whether the procedure of inserting the map into the message has been completed. If the procedure is not complete, go to step 530 to display one or more other target points on the map. If the user determines that the map has been inserted, the procedure moves to step 540.

6 shows an example of a map 600 generated according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 6, the target point 610 is represented by a star symbol. It should be appreciated that various symbols may be used to represent target points on map 600. In addition, the present invention can be configured to provide an additional process, such as adding an annotation 620 to a target point in the map 600, as shown in FIG. In Figure 6, the annotation 620 includes the content "Best French Restaurant ". The map items included in the map, such as symbols representing target points and annotations, may be geo-tagged information. The geo-tagged information will include information about the coordinate values of the map and the scaling factor. Therefore, when a user selects and reads a message including a map, map items corresponding to the target point can be appropriately displayed on the map based on the geo-tagged information.

After the map insertion process is complete, step 540 determines whether to insert text into the message. If the user wants to add text to the message, the text is inserted at step 542. Typically, the user inserts text, and the inserted text forms part of the message it is posting. If the message is about a favorite restaurant, the text includes simple information about each restaurant, such as the name, type, and quality of the food. If it is determined in step 540 that there is no text to insert into the message, the process moves to step 560 to store the generated posted message. 5, only the determination as to whether to include the map and the text in the message is disclosed. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. Or "whether to insert audio? &Quot;.

7 shows an example of a web page provided during the process of generating a message to be posted. 7, the web page 700 includes a "theme" 710, a "map add" button 720, a "text add" button 730, an "add image" button 740, Add "button < / RTI > If the user clicks the "Add Map" button 720, it is determined that the map is inserted into the message in step 520. Similarly, by clicking on the "Add Text" button 730, a determination is made at step 540 to insert the text. The "save" button 760 allows the generated message to be stored in step 560. When the "save" button 760 is clicked, a process of posting a message is performed, as described in more detail below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 8 illustrates a process of posting a message according to an embodiment of the present invention. The posting process begins at start step 810 and moves to step 820 where a message delivery file is created. The message delivery file is a data structure used in the host computer center 100 to deliver a message to the network. Once the message delivery file is created, the header information read from the message is placed in the message delivery file (step 830). As described above, the header information includes information such as the subject of the message, the date and time when the message was created, and the name of the person who created the message.

If the header information is located within the message delivery file in step 830, the posting process moves to step 840 to add the body of the message to the delivery file. The body section of the message may be constructed using any suitable technique, such as a rich text format (RTF) stream. The RTF standard allows text and graphics, including font styles, emphasis, spacing, and other characteristics of data within the control range, to be output in a standard format and retains all formatting commands. Thus, the data output to the RTF can be regenerated to include all appropriate graphics, objects, and font styles. The prepared delivery file is uploaded to the BBS server 110 in step 850. Uploading the transfer file to the BBS server 110 generally entails sending the file from the client computer 160 to the controller 105 via the network 120 and the network interface 102. Protocols for sending files from an end user to a computer network are well known in the art, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted. In step 860, the header and message body section of the delivery file are stored in the BBS server 110.

While the methods of the present invention have been described with reference to specific embodiments, some or all of the components or operations thereof may be implemented using a computer system having a general purpose hardware architecture. 9 illustrates an example of a computer system architecture that may be utilized to implement one or more of the operations described herein. In one embodiment, the hardware system 900 includes a processor 910, a cache memory 915, and one or more software applications and drivers associated with the functions described herein.

In addition, the hardware system 900 includes a high performance input / output bus 940 and a standard I / O bus 970. The host bridge 920 couples the processor 910 to the high performance I / O bus 940 and the I / O bus bridge 950 couples the two buses 940 and 970 to each other. System memory 960 and network / communication interface 930 are coupled to bus 940. The hardware system 900 may further include a video memory (not shown) and a display device coupled to the video memory. Mass storage device 980 and I / O ports 990 are connected to bus 970. The hardware system 900 optionally includes a keyboard and a pointing device, and a display device (not shown) may be coupled to the bus 970. Commonly, these components are intended to represent a broad category of computer hardware systems, including, but not limited to, other suitable processors, as well as the Pentium 占 product family manufactured by Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. But are not limited to, general purpose computer systems based on processors.

The components of the hardware system 900 are described in further detail below. Specifically, network interface 930 provides communication between any of a wide variety of networks, such as a hardware system 900 and an Ethernet (e.g., IEEE 802.3) network. In the case of the host computer center 100, the network interface 930 interfaces the network with the hardware system 900 so that the hardware system 900 can operate the databases. Mass storage 980 provides persistent storage of data and programming instructions that perform the functions implemented in host computer center 100 described above and system memory 960 (e.g., DRAM) 1210 to provide temporary storage for data and programming instructions. I / O ports 990 provide one or more serial and / or parallel communication ports for communication between additional peripherals that may be connected to the hardware system 900.

The hardware system 900 may include various system architectures and various components of the hardware system 900 may be rearranged. For example, the cache 915 may be formed on-chip to the processor 910. Optionally, cache 915 and processor 910 may be packaged together as a "processor module ", in which case processor 910 is referred to as a" processor core ". Certain implementations of the invention do not require all of the elements described above and may not include all of the elements. For example, peripherals depicted as being connected to the standard I / O bus 970 will be connected to the high performance I / O bus 940. Also, in some implementations, there is only one bus, and the components of the hardware system 900 may be connected to one bus. In addition, the hardware system 900 may include additional components such as additional processors, storage devices, or memories. As will be described below, in one embodiment, the operations of the integrated search systems described herein are implemented as a series of software routines executed by the hardware system 900. These software routines include a plurality or series of instructions that are executed by a processor in a hardware system, such as processor 910. Initially, a series of instructions are stored in a storage device, such as mass storage device 980. On the other hand, a series of instructions may be stored in any suitable storage medium such as a diskette, CD-ROM, ROM, EEPROM, or the like. Also, a series of commands need not be locally stored, but may be received via a network / communication interface 930 from a remote storage device such as a server on the network. The instructions are copied from the storage device, such as mass storage device 980, to memory 960 and then accessed and executed by processor 910. [

The operating system manages and controls operations of the hardware system 900, including input and output of data to and from software applications (not shown) and input and output of data from software applications (not shown). The operating system provides an interface between the software applications running on the system and the hardware components of the system. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the operating system is a Windows < RTI ID = 0.0 > 95/98 / NT / XP operating system. The invention may also be analogous to Macintosh operating systems, UNIX operating systems, LINUX operating systems, etc., available from Apple Computer Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments.

Claims (25)

CLAIMS What is claimed is: 1. A method for generating a BBS message comprising a map via a network, the method being performed by a host computer center,
Receiving a request to create a new BBS message from a client computer;
Providing a BBS message posting user interface in response to the request, the BBS message posting user interface being used to generate the BBS message, the BBS message posting user interface including a selectable button for adding a map to the BBS message, ≪ / RTI >
Receiving a notification for adding a map to the generated BBS message through the button included in the BBS message posting user interface;
Providing a location mapping user interface to the client computer in response to a notification to add a map to the BBS message, the location mapping user interface facilitating configuration of a user-defined map, wherein the user- Having a zoom level determined through the location mapping user interface;
Inserting a map defined through the location mapping user interface into the BBS message; And
Storing the map in the database together with the BBS message in response to a request received via a save button included in the BBS message posting user interface, wherein the storing comprises storing the zoom level determined via the location mapping user interface Wherein the stored zoom level determined through the location mapping user interface is used to set the zoom level of the map displayed as part of the BBS message when the BBS message is displayed,
Wherein the map embedded in the BBS message comprises map items represented in the form of geo-tagged information displayed in the BBS message.
A method for generating a BBS message including a map via a network. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing a location mapping user interface to facilitate the construction of a user-defined map to the client computer comprises:
Receiving a name of the location from the client computer;
Retrieving a map corresponding to the name from the map server; And
And providing a map containing the location to be displayed on the client computer. ≪ Desc / Clms Page number 21 > 2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing a location mapping user interface to facilitate the construction of a user-defined map to the client computer comprises:
Searching for a corresponding map from the map server in response to manipulation of coordinate values of the map to be displayed; And
And providing the corresponding map to be displayed on the client computer. ≪ Desc / Clms Page number 19 > The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the BBS message posting user interface further comprises an interface for adding content to the BBS message,
The method comprises:
Receiving content to be added to the BBS message from the client computer through the BBS message posting user interface; And
And inserting the received content into the BBS message. ≪ Desc / Clms Page number 21 > 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the content added to the BBS message has a common primary key. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising adding a target point to the map in response to receiving an indication indicating the map from the client computer. The method according to claim 6,
The step of adding a target point to the map includes:
Receiving a coordinate value of the target point from the map server;
Storing coordinate values of the target point in the database; And
And displaying a symbol at a location corresponding to the coordinate value of the target point on the map. The method according to claim 6,
Further comprising adding map items to the map, the map items including comments and text. ≪ Desc / Clms Page number 17 > 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the map items are displayed in geo-tagged information form. A host computer center housing a network of one or more servers and performing the method of claim 1; And
At least one client computer communicating with the host computer center via the network,
Wherein the host computer center comprises a BBS server and a map server for providing at least one BBS message including a map,
A system for generating a BBS message containing a map via a network. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the BBS server is configured to execute a BBS by delivering BBS items upon receiving a request from the client computer. 12. The method of claim 11,
Wherein the map server is configured to provide a map corresponding to the requested location from the client computer, the BBS message including a map via a communication network. 15. A computer-readable medium having instructions recorded thereon, the instructions comprising instructions that when executed cause one or more processors to:
Receiving a request to create a new BBS message from a client computer;
Providing a BBS message posting user interface in response to the request, the BBS message posting user interface being used to generate a BBS message, the BBS message posting user interface being selectable for adding a map to the generated BBS message; Button;
Receiving a notification for adding a map to the generated BBS message through the button included in the BBS message posting user interface;
Providing a location mapping user interface to the client computer in response to a notification for adding a map to the BBS message, the location mapping user interface facilitating configuration of a user-defined map to be inserted into the BBS message, Wherein the user-defined map has a zoom level determined through the location mapping user interface;
Inserting a map defined through the location mapping user interface into the generated BBS message; And
Storing the map in the database together with the BBS message in response to a request received via a save button included in the BBS message posting user interface, wherein the storing comprises storing the zoom level determined via the location mapping user interface Wherein the stored zoom level determined via the location mapping user interface is used to set the zoom level of the map displayed as part of the BBS message when the BBS message is displayed ,
Wherein the map embedded in the BBS message comprises map items represented in the form of geo-tagged information displayed in the BBS message. A method performed by a host computer center,
Receiving a request for a display of a BBS message, the BBS message being previously posted and stored together with map information for a map displayed in a body section of the BBS message, the stored map information being stored in the BBS The zoom level and the coordinate value determined through the location mapping user interface when the message was previously posted;
Retrieving the BBS message and the map information;
Searching the map using the map information; And
Providing the BBS message with the map for display, the map for the display being included in a body section of the BBS message,
The zoom level of the map for display in the body section of the BBS message is the previously stored zoom level determined via the location mapping user interface when the BBS message was previously posted,
Wherein the map displayed in the body section of the BBS message comprises items represented in the form of geo-tagged information. 15. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the map comprises at least one annotation. delete 15. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the map includes at least one symbol at a location corresponding to at least one coordinate value of the target point. As a system,
At least one server computer including one or more processors for execution; And
A memory for storing instructions,
The instructions,
Receiving a request for display of a BBS message, the BBS message being previously posted and stored together with map information for a map displayed in a body section of the BBS message, Includes a zoom level and a coordinate value determined through a position mapping user interface when previously posted,
Searches the BBS message and map information,
Searching the map using the map information,
To provide the BBS message with the map for display,
Wherein the map for the display is included in a body section of the BBS message,
The zoom level of the map displayed in the body section of the BBS message is the previously stored zoom level determined through the location mapping user interface when the BBS message was previously posted,
Wherein the map displayed in the body section of the BBS message comprises items represented in the form of geo-tagged information. 19. The method of claim 18,
Wherein the map comprises at least one annotation. delete 19. The method of claim 18,
Wherein the map includes at least one symbol at a location corresponding to at least one coordinate value of the target point. 15. A computer-readable medium having instructions recorded thereon, the instructions comprising instructions that when executed cause one or more processors to:
Receiving a request for display of a BBS message, the BBS message being previously posted and stored together with map information for a map displayed in a body section of the BBS message, Includes a zoom level and a coordinate value determined through a position mapping user interface when previously posted,
Searches the BBS message and map information,
Searching the map using the map information,
To provide the BBS message with the map for display,
Wherein the map for the display is included in a body section of the BBS message,
The zoom level of the map displayed in the body section of the BBS message is the previously stored zoom level determined through the location mapping user interface when the BBS message was previously posted,
Wherein the map displayed in the body section of the BBS message comprises items represented in the form of geo-tagged information. 23. The method of claim 22,
Wherein the map comprises at least one annotation. delete 23. The method of claim 22,
Wherein the map comprises at least one symbol at a location corresponding to at least one coordinate value of the target point.

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