KR20020074333A - Method for Providing Information to Wireless Terminals - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for providing information to a wireless terminal is provided to save a use charge of a user by shortening an information use time of the user. CONSTITUTION: A server provides a menu provided by an information providing system so that a user selects a part of the menu(106). If the menu portion selection is completed, the server generates a program for storing the selected menu portion in a user terminal and downloads the program(110,112). When the program is downloaded in the user terminal, the selected menu portion is stored(114). If the storage is completed, the user uses the menu portion stored in the user terminal and selects one among selection items included in the stored menu portion for requesting contents corresponding to the selected item through a wireless Internet(116). In case that the corresponding contents are provided by an other information providing server, the contents are provided by the corresponding server(118).

Description

Method for Providing Information to Wireless Terminals

The present invention relates to a method for providing information through a communication network, and more particularly, to a method for providing information to a wireless terminal through a wireless communication network.

Due to the development of the telecommunications industry, such as the Internet, information is gradually becoming mass and diversified. Accordingly, people want to search and access the information they want anytime, anywhere, and recently, they have been able to access necessary information through SMS service or wireless Internet service using a wireless terminal as well as wired communication using a PC.

As the use of wireless terminals has become more common, many services have been proposed to provide more useful and systematic information to users of wireless terminals. Many of them are actually implemented. And various additional services provided by CPs, and wireless internet that allows mobile subscribers to access the Internet through their telephones. In particular, the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), which was established by the WAP Forum in 1997 and has been upgraded several times, is becoming the core of the wireless Internet-based technology that enables various Internet applications and contents to be accessed through the wireless terminal.

However, since most of the commercially available wireless terminals have a small display size, the depth of the menu for information retrieval is deeply designed. Surfing is inconvenient and limited, and thus the amount of information that can be obtained is concise. In addition, when the data transmission speed of the mobile telephone network is low, the burden of the fee paid by the information service user is high compared to the time of receiving or surfing the data.

The excessive information acquisition time and the burden of charges can be an obstacle in suppressing an increase in demand for wireless data services and maximizing the utility of the wireless terminal. Therefore, there is a strong demand for a method that enables each wireless terminal user to quickly access the information he needs or is interested in.

On the other hand, if the spread of new wireless terminals in the future, the memory capacity of the wireless terminal is expected to expand, it is possible to store a number of dedicated browsers, mobile games, karaoke services, and the like. In addition, with the expansion of 8-line color LCD, the user interface is becoming more convenient, and when the PDA becomes more common, communication opportunities between service providers and customers are expected to increase significantly.

As the performance and generalization of wireless terminals increase, competition among mobile carriers intensifies, and each company focuses on maximizing customer life time value (LTV) through customer relationship management (hereinafter, referred to as CRM). However, they face the problem of lack of communication tools that are the basis of CRM. In addition, it is difficult to aggregate data for wireless Internet users due to unnamed subscribers, and customer complaints about SMS service are large because there is no one-to-one marketing tool that can be operated in accordance with different needs of users.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problem, and provides a method for providing an information that enables a user of a portable voice communication terminal to quickly and accurately obtain information on his / her field of interest. do.

1 is a view showing a network environment for implementing an information providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a program module and a database mounted on the information portal system of FIG. 1.

3A and 3B are flowcharts for explaining the information providing method provided by the information providing portal server shown in FIG.

4 is a diagram illustrating a network environment for implementing an information providing support method according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a diagram illustrating a program module and a database mounted in the information providing support system of FIG. 4.

6A and 6B are a flowchart for explaining an information providing support method provided by the information providing supporting WAP server of FIG.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

10: wireless terminal 20: base station

22: exchanger 24: IWF

30: informational portal system 60: informational support system

90: wired Internet client

According to one aspect of the present invention for achieving the above technical problem, the information providing method is to transmit a hierarchical menu including a plurality of selection items to the user's wireless communication terminal and the user selects any one of the menu; If the corresponding content is provided by the information providing system to be provided.

The information providing system first (a) provides menu information about at least some of the menus to the terminal in the first access session so that the at least some menus are stored semi-permanently in the terminal, thereby terminating the first access session. In the second connection session, which is generated separately, the user may select the one of the stored menu parts to request content provision corresponding to the selected item. And (b) when the information providing request is received from the terminal in the second access session, the information providing system provides corresponding content.

In a preferred embodiment, in performing step (a), first, a user is allowed to select a portion to be stored in the menu. When the user selects a portion to be stored in his terminal, information about the selected menu portion is recorded in a predetermined storage means, and then menu information including the selected menu portion is generated and transmitted to the terminal. The menu information may be program code that can be interpreted and executed in the terminal, such as javascipt.

In performing the step (b), it is first determined whether there is a change in the menu on the system corresponding to the stored menu part at the start of the second access session. If it is determined that there is a change, the change is provided to the terminal so that the stored menu portion is updated.

The menu information may be provided directly to the wireless terminal, for example by WAP, upon request of the terminal. In another example, such menu information may be provided to the user via the wired Internet to allow the user to store the menu information on the wireless terminal.

An information providing support method according to another aspect of the present invention for achieving the above technical problem allows a user of a wireless communication terminal to easily obtain a plurality of contents provided by a plurality of content providing systems. In performing the information providing method, first, (a) storing a hierarchical menu in which a plurality of selection items mapped to the plurality of contents are hierarchically arranged in the first storage means. (B) providing the terminal with menu information about at least some of the stored hierarchical menus so that at least some of the menus are stored semi-permanently in the terminal, thereby allowing the user to request the content using the stored menus. Do it. And, (c) when receiving a predetermined connection signal from the terminal later, it is determined whether there is a change in the menu portion on the first storage means corresponding to the stored menu portion. (d) If it is determined in step (c) that the change is present, the change is provided to the terminal so that the menu portion stored in the terminal is updated.

In performing step (b), first, a user is allowed to select at least a part of the stored hierarchical menu. After recording information on the selected menu portion in the second storage means, menu information including the selected menu portion is generated and transmitted to the terminal. In the step (c), when receiving a predetermined connection signal from the terminal, it is determined whether there is a change in the menu portion on the first storage means based on the information on the selected menu portion recorded in the second storage means. do.

The menu information may be provided directly to the wireless terminal, for example by WAP, upon request of the terminal. In another example, such menu information may be provided to the user via the wired Internet to allow the user to install the menu information on the wireless terminal.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, the same reference numerals are used for the same or corresponding parts.

1 shows a network environment for implementing an information providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1, the information providing method of the present invention is implemented by an information providing portal system 30.

The information providing portal system 30 is connected to the switch 22 of the wireless communication network through the interworking function 24 of the wireless communication provider. The IWF 24 is a gateway that allows an external server to be connected to the wireless switch 22 through a wired communication network. Since the device is well known to those skilled in the wireless communication field, detailed description thereof will be omitted. In the present embodiment, the information providing portal system 30 may be operated by the wireless communication service provider.

The information providing portal system 30 provides a plurality of contents prepared in a hierarchical menu form for the wireless terminal 10. Here, the wireless terminal 10 is preferably a portable voice communication terminal such as a cellular phone or a PCS phone, but is not limited thereto and may be another portable terminal such as a PDA or an IMT-2000 terminal. On the other hand, some of the content provided by the information portal system 30 is provided directly by the system 30 operator, while others may be provided by other content providing servers 40a-40n.

As shown, the informational portal system 30 includes a portal server 32, a web server 34, and a database 36. The portal server 32 provides a plurality of contents arranged in a hierarchical menu form to the terminal 10 by a WAP. In particular, according to the present invention, the portal server 32 receives a member registration request from a user using the terminal 10, that is, an application for using the information providing service according to the present invention, and includes menu information including all or part of the hierarchical menu. Download the batches. The downloaded menu data is stored in the terminal 10 so that the user can request contents from the portal server 32 or other content providing servers 40a-40n using the stored menu.

In a preferred embodiment, the menu information may be program code that can be interpreted and executed by the terminal, such as javascipt. To this end, the terminal 10 preferably has a sufficient memory capacity to receive a substantial amount of menu information from the information providing portal system 30 to be stored semi-permanently. In addition, the terminal 10 preferably includes an interpreter for interpreting a program for carrying menu data from the informational portal system 30. However, in other embodiments, menu information downloaded by the information providing portal system 30 may be provided in the form of simple data. In this case, it is preferable that the terminal 10 be provided with a separate program for storing menu data.

On the other hand, the menu information downloaded from the information providing portal system 30 to the terminal 10 may include some content in addition to the menu itself. In this case, the user may check or refer to the contents of the content stored in the terminal from time to time. Such content includes, for example, learning information of schools conducting curriculum through broadcasting or communication, sales information uniformly delivered to salespeople in insurance or transportation service businesses, other community information, and information providing portal system (30). ) And customer management information of the wireless communication system.

Member registration and menu information download for the information providing portal system 30 may be performed via wired Internet. The web server 34 shown in FIG. 2 accepts a member registration request from the client computer 90 via the wired internet, and provides menu information to the user via the wired internet according to the user's selection. In this case, the user may move the menu information from the computer 90 to the wireless terminal 10 and install it in the wireless terminal 10.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a program module and a database mounted in the information providing portal system 30 of FIG. 1. In a preferred embodiment, the information portal server 32 includes a WAP menu management procedure 71, a content DB management procedure 72, a subscriber management procedure 73, a menu management procedure 74, a menu download / update procedure ( 75) is loaded. The database 34 also includes a content DB 76, a subscriber DB 77, a menu DB 78, and a subscriber menu DB 79.

The WAP menu management procedure 71 allows an administrator to create and manage a menu of all the content that can be provided to the user so that the WAP content provided on the wireless Internet can be efficiently provided to the user terminal 10. The content DB management procedure 72 classifies and classifies the newly acquired or generated content into each category and assigns index terms. The member management procedure 73 performs processing for member registration / information correction / withdrawal. Menu management procedure 74 allows each member to select some or all of the menus. In addition, the menu management procedure 74 checks the update status of the menu portion stored in the user terminal 10 each time a member accesses. The menu download / update procedure 75 downloads, to each terminal 10, menu information including a menu portion selected by the member or in which changes have occurred.

3A and 3B are flowcharts for explaining the information providing method provided by the information providing system 30, and FIG. 3A is a wireless terminal user accessing the information providing portal server 32 for the first time to download a menu storing program and the contents. 3b shows a process of requesting and acquiring content by accessing the information providing portal server 32 in a later access session.

Referring to FIG. 3A, when the user accesses the information providing portal server 32 through the wireless terminal and selects the information providing service menu according to the present invention (step 100), the server 32 indicates that the terminal user is a member. Check whether or not the subscription is applied to the service (step 102). If it is determined that the membership is registered, the procedure shown in FIG. 3B is performed. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 102 that the membership is registered, the user registration procedure is performed according to the user's selection (step 104).

When the membership is completed, the server 32 provides a menu provided by the information providing system 30 so that the user can select at least a portion (step 106). When the selection of the menu portion is completed in step 108, the server 32 generates and downloads a program for storing the selected menu portion in the user terminal 10 (step 110 and 112). The program may be produced in the form of javascript, for example, and executed immediately after being downloaded to the user terminal 10 to store the menu portion selected above (step 114). However, in another embodiment of the present invention, the portal server 32 transmits only the data relating to the menu portion selected by the user, and a separate program loaded on the terminal 10 responds to a user command or is automatically selected. You can save and install the part. In this case, an icon or a function selection menu may be generated in the terminal so that the user can easily recall and use the stored menu later.

In the state in which the storing is completed, the user can request the content corresponding to the selection item through the wireless Internet by using the menu portion stored in the terminal 10, that is, selecting one of the selection items included in the stored menu portion. (Step 116). If the content is provided by the informational portal server 32 directly, the content is provided by the portal server 32. However, if the corresponding content is provided by another information providing server 40, the content is provided by the corresponding servers 40a to 40n (step 118).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 104 that the user has already registered a member, as shown in FIG. 3B, the information providing portal server 32 refers to the database and stores the member information already downloaded for the member. The part is checked (step 152). The portal server 32 then checks whether there is a change in the portion corresponding to the menu portion stored in the terminal on the entire menu (step 154). If the changed selection items are found, the server 32 generates and downloads a program for storing the changed selection items (step 156). The program is executed immediately after being downloaded to the user terminal 10 to update the menu portion corresponding to the changed selection items (step 158). On the other hand, the server 32 confirms the existence of the changed portion in step 154, checks whether a new selection item related to the menu portion previously selected by the user is generated and provides the new selection item at the user's discretion. You may. In the updated state, the content can be requested and received as in the steps 116 and 118 (steps 160 and 162).

4 is a diagram illustrating a network environment for implementing an information providing support method according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, the information providing support method of the present invention is implemented by the information providing support system 60. The information providing support system 60 is connected to an exchange 22 of a wireless communication network either directly or via an information providing portal server 32 via an interworking function 24. The information providing support system 60 obtains and manages a hierarchical menu generated by the information providing portal server 32 to provide contents, and allows a user to manage some or all of the hierarchical menus of his or her terminal 10. Allows you to save to Here, the wireless terminal 10 is preferably a portable voice communication terminal such as a cellular phone or a PCS phone, but is not limited thereto and may be another portable terminal such as a PDA or an IMT-2000 terminal. Some of the content provided by the informational portal server 32 is provided directly by the portal server 32 operator, while others may be provided by other content providing servers 40a-40n.

As shown, the information support system 60 includes a WAP server 62, a web server 64, and a database 66. The swap server 62 accepts a membership registration request from a user who uses the terminal 10, that is, an application for using the information provision service according to the present invention, and downloads menu information including all or part of the hierarchical menus in a batch. The downloaded menu data is stored in the terminal 10 so that the user can request contents from the portal server 32 or other content providing servers 40a-40n using the stored menu.

In a preferred embodiment, the menu information may be program code that can be interpreted and executed by the terminal, such as javascipt. To this end, the terminal 10 preferably has a sufficient memory capacity to receive a substantial size of menu information from the information providing support system 60 to be stored semi-permanently. In addition, the terminal 10 preferably includes an interpreter for interpreting a program for carrying menu data from the information providing support system 60. However, in other embodiments, menu information downloaded by the information providing support system 60 may be provided in the form of simple data. In this case, it is preferable that the terminal 10 be provided with a separate program for storing menu data.

Meanwhile, the menu information downloaded from the information providing support system 60 to the terminal 10 may include some content in addition to the menu itself. In this case, the user may check or refer to the contents of the content stored in the terminal from time to time. Such content may include, for example, learning information of a school conducting a curriculum through broadcasting or communication, sales information uniformly delivered to salespeople in insurance or transportation service businesses, other community information, and an information providing support system (60). Or customer management information of the portal server 32 or the wireless communication system.

Member registration and menu information download for the information providing support system 60 may be performed via wired Internet. The web server 64 shown in FIG. 4 accepts a member registration request from the client computer 90 via the wired internet, and provides menu information to the user via the wired internet according to the user's selection. In this case, the user may move the menu information from the computer 90 to the wireless terminal 10 and install it in the wireless terminal 10.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a program module and a database mounted on the information providing support system 60 of FIG. 4. In the preferred embodiment, the swap server 62 is loaded with programs such as a WAP menu management procedure 91, member management procedure 92, menu management procedure 93, menu download / update procedure 94, and the like. The database 34 also includes a subscriber DB 95, a menu DB 96, and a subscriber menu DB 97.

WAP menu management procedure 91 allows an administrator to create and manage an entire menu that can be presented to a user. The member management procedure 92 performs processing for member registration / information correction / withdrawal. The menu management procedure 93 allows each member to select some or all of the menus. In addition, the menu management procedure 93 checks the update status of the menu portion stored in the user terminal 10 each time each member connects. The menu download / update procedure 94 downloads, to each terminal 10, menu information including a menu portion selected by the member or in which changes have occurred.

6A and 6B are flowcharts for explaining the information providing support method provided by the information providing support system 60, and FIG. 6A is a wireless terminal user first accessing the information providing support WAP server 62 to execute a menu storing program. The process of downloading and storing a menu portion and requesting and acquiring content using the same is shown, and FIG. 6B shows a process of updating and storing a requested menu portion and requesting content in a later access session.

Referring to FIG. 6A, when a user connects to the support WAP server 62 through the wireless terminal and selects the information providing support service menu according to the present invention (step 200), the support WAP server 62 is connected to the terminal user. Check whether the user is registered as a member, that is, the application for service use (step 202). If it is determined that the membership is registered, the procedure shown in FIG. 6B is performed. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 202 that membership is registered, a user registration procedure is performed according to the user's selection (step 204).

When the membership is completed, the support WAP server 62 provides a menu provided by the information providing system 30 to allow the user to select at least a portion (step 206). Here, the menu items selectable by the user may further include things other than those provided by the information providing system 30. When the selection of the menu portion is completed in step 208, the support WAP server 62 generates and downloads a program for storing the selected menu portion in the user terminal 10 (step 210 and step 212). The program may be produced in the form of javascript, for example, and executed immediately after being downloaded to the user terminal 10 to store the menu portion selected above (step 214). However, in another embodiment of the present invention, the portal assisted WAP server 62 only transmits data relating to the menu portion selected by the user, and a separate program loaded on the terminal 10 responds to a user command or automatically. You can save and install the selected menu part. In this case, an icon or a function selection menu may be generated in the terminal so that the user can easily recall and use the stored menu later.

In the state in which the storing is completed, the user can request the content corresponding to the selection item through the wireless Internet by using the menu portion stored in the terminal 10, that is, selecting one of the selection items included in the stored menu portion. (Step 216). In one embodiment, the informational support system 60 does not provide the content directly, and the content is provided by the informational system 30 or other content providing servers 40a-40n. However, in other embodiments of the invention, some content may be provided directly by the informational support system 60.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 204 that the user has already registered a member, as illustrated in FIG. 6B, the supporting WAP server 62 refers to the database and the member information and the stored menu portion already downloaded for the member. Check (step 252). The supporting WAP server 62 then checks whether there is a change in the portion corresponding to the menu portion stored in the terminal on the entire menu (step 254). If the selections that have changed have been found, the support WAP server 62 generates and downloads a program for storing the changed selections (step 256). The program is executed immediately after being downloaded to the user terminal 10 to update the menu portion corresponding to the changed selection items (step 258). The supporting WAP server 62 checks the existence of the changed portion in step 154, checks whether a new selection related to the menu portion previously selected by the user is generated, and provides the new selection together with the user's judgment. You may. If it is determined in step 254 that there is a menu change, a guide message indicating that there is no change is provided to the terminal 10 (step 260). In the updated state, the content can be requested and received as in the steps 116 and 118 (steps 262 and 264).

Those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains will understand that the present invention can be implemented in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features. For example, in the preferred embodiment, the program or data for storing the selected menu portion in the terminal 10 is provided to the terminal 10 via the wireless Internet. In another embodiment, the program or data is provided to the user via the wired Internet. It may be provided to the computer 90 so that the user can install it after moving it to the wireless terminal 10. In addition, in the embodiment of FIG. 4, the menu that the user can select from the information providing support system 60 is described as being created based on the menu provided by the information providing portal server 32. In another embodiment, the information providing support system 60 may maintain and manage its own menu system regardless of the information providing portal server 32.

Therefore, the above-described embodiments are to be understood as illustrative in all respects and not as restrictive. The scope of the present invention is shown by the following claims rather than the detailed description, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention. do.

As described above, according to the present invention, by reducing the user's information usage time in providing the wireless information service charged in connection time units, it is possible to reduce the user's burden on information usage, and to accurately correct his / her field of interest. And the selected information can be obtained quickly. Accordingly, the demand for wireless data services can be increased and the utility of the wireless terminal can be maximized.

Claims (9)

In the information providing system for transmitting a hierarchical menu including a plurality of selection items to the user's wireless communication terminal and the corresponding content is provided when the user selects any one of the menu, (a) providing the menu information about at least some of the menus to the terminal in the first access session so that the at least some menus are semi-permanently stored in the terminal, thereby being separately generated after the first access session ends. Enabling the user to request content provision corresponding to the selected selection by selecting the one of the stored menu portions in a second connection session; And (b2) providing the content corresponding to the information providing request from the terminal in the second access session; Information providing method comprising a. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) (a1) allowing the user to select a portion of the menu to store; (a2) recording information on the selected menu portion into predetermined storage means; And (a3) generating the menu information including the selected menu portion and transmitting the generated menu information to the terminal; Information providing method comprising a. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein step (b) (b1) determining whether there is a change in a menu on the system corresponding to the stored menu portion at the start of the second access session; And (b2) if it is determined in step (b1) that the change is present, providing the change to the terminal to update the stored menu portion; Information providing method comprising a. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And in the step (a), the menu information is provided directly to the wireless terminal according to the request of the terminal. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And in the step (a), the menu information is provided to the user through a wired internet so that the user can install the menu information in the wireless terminal. An information providing method for enabling a wireless communication terminal user to easily obtain a plurality of contents provided by a plurality of contents providing systems, (a) storing a hierarchical menu in which a plurality of selection items mapped to the plurality of contents are arranged hierarchically in a first storage means; (b) providing the terminal with menu information about at least a portion of the stored hierarchical menus so that the at least some menus are semi-permanently stored in the terminal, thereby allowing the user to request the content using the stored menus; Doing; (c) determining whether there is a change in a menu portion on the first storage means corresponding to the stored menu portion when receiving a predetermined access signal from the terminal; And (d) if it is determined in step (c) that the change is present, providing the change to the terminal to update the stored menu portion; Informational support method comprising a. The method of claim 6, wherein step (b) (b1) allowing the user to select at least some of the stored hierarchical menus; (b2) recording information on the selected menu portion into the second storage means; And (b3) generating the menu information including the selected menu portion and transmitting the generated menu information to the terminal; Including; In the step (c), when receiving a predetermined connection signal from the terminal, information for determining whether there is a change in the menu portion on the first storage means based on the information on the selected menu portion recorded in the second storage means. Provide support method. The method according to claim 6 or 7, And providing the menu information directly to the wireless terminal in response to a request of the wireless terminal in the step (a). The method according to claim 6 or 7, And in the step (a), the menu information is provided to the user through a wired internet so that the user can install the menu information in the wireless terminal.