KR20040084483A - A system for distributing contents used for mobile terminal and a method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A system and a method for distributing digital contents of a mobile communication terminal are provided to offer large capacity contents to a demander at a small experience and a high transfer rate, and protect a CONSTITUTION: A contents processor(210) primarily processes the contents provided from the contents provider(100) to the digital contents for the mobile communication terminal and secondarily processes the primarily processed contents by using an ID of the mobile communication terminal fixed from a client system(300). A content storage(220) stores one of the non-processed contents, the primarily processed contents data, and the secondarily processed contents data. A web server(250) provides contents information in order to make the client systems buy the desired contents through an IP(Internet Protocol) based network, and transmits the secondarily processed contents to the client system from the contents storage by requesting the ID if the client system wants to buy the contents.

Description

A system for distributing contents used for mobile terminal and a method

The present invention relates to a system and method for providing and distributing digital content that can be used in a mobile communication terminal. More specifically, the provider relates to a system for providing and distributing digital content, in which a digital content can be prevented from being copied or transferred without permission, and a user can use a large amount of digital content at low cost. The present invention also relates to a mobile communication terminal used in the distribution system and a content authentication method in the mobile communication terminal.

With the development of mobile communication technology, mobile communication terminals such as mobile phones and PDAs can utilize various digital contents in addition to voice communication, which creates new added value in the mobile communication service industry. These digital contents include user's preferences such as wallpaper, avatar, ringtones, stock trading programs, high quality online games, MP3s for listening to music, and even video information. However, these digital contents are becoming more diversified and larger in capacity, but the development of data transmission technology through wireless network is less practical than the terminal due to the size of investment and profitability problem, and the memory embedded in the terminal accepts such contents. There is a limit to this.

Therefore, although various high quality mobile communication contents are being developed, the distribution thereof is difficult to be actively performed due to problems of transmission speed and storage capacity.

1 is a diagram showing a configuration for distributing digital contents for a mobile communication terminal in the prior art.

In order to select the desired digital content, the mobile communication terminal 30 accesses the content provider 10 through the mobile communication network to view and select the digital content. The selected digital content is transmitted to the terminal 30 again through the mobile communication network. According to the configuration of the prior art, the terminal user side must connect to the mobile communication network to purchase digital content, and must bear any wireless network usage fee during the selection and download of the content. In addition, the content provider 10 also has to pay a fee for using the mobile communication network, which must be purchased or supported for expensive access equipment from the point of view of the provider as well, but also has an economic burden. The content viewing time and download time through the mobile communication network are considerably delayed compared to IP-based networks such as the Internet.

2 illustrates another prior art distribution system of digital content.

The user of the client system 20 accesses the server 10 of the content provider via the Internet, selects the digital content, and designates the content by designating a predetermined telephone number of the terminal. The content provider 10 provides the selected content to the mobile communication terminal 30 through the mobile communication network.

However, even in such a case, the content provider must pay the fee for using the mobile communication network, and such a burden is imposed on the user. In addition, the above-mentioned problem of download speed still remains.

In addition, currently paid digital content is rampant piracy, and various efforts have been made to prevent such piracy, but the results are insignificant. The illegal copying problem in such paid digital contents is not irrelevant for a mobile communication terminal, and when such contents are easily interpreted, they become a problem that impairs fair competition among content providers.

In order to solve the above problems of the prior art, the present invention provides a digital content distribution system and distribution method for a mobile communication terminal that provides a large amount of digital content to the consumer at a low cost and a high transmission speed.

In addition, the present invention provides a digital content distribution system and method for a mobile communication terminal that can protect the copyright of the content producer by preventing illegal copying and illegal use of digital content.

1 and 2 are diagrams schematically showing the overall configuration of a conventional method for providing digital content.

3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a digital content distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a signal flow diagram illustrating a signal flow of a digital content distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of an authentication process in a digital content distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 illustrates a method of authenticating use of digital content according to another embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a diagram illustrating a digital content distribution system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a diagram illustrating an example of using digital content provided according to an embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a diagram illustrating a method of transmitting digital content to a mobile terminal according to another embodiment of the present invention.

In order to achieve the above object, a content distribution system according to an aspect of the present invention includes first processing means for first processing the content provided from the content producer into digital content for a mobile communication terminal; Second processing means for second processing the first processed content using an identifier of a mobile communication terminal designated by a client system; Content storage means for storing unprocessed content and at least one of content data processed by the first processing means and the second processing means; Provides content information so that a plurality of client systems can connect through an IP-based network to purchase desired content, and if the client system desires to purchase the content, request the identifier to transfer the second processed content to the content. And a web server for transmitting from the storage means to the client system.

In addition, the content distribution method according to the features of the present invention, (a) a first processing step of first processing the digital content into a content for a mobile communication terminal; (b) publishing information about the digital content online using a web server; (c) requesting an identifier of a mobile communication terminal to use contents from a client system connected to the web server via an IP-based network; (d) a second processing step of second processing the first processed content using an identifier of the mobile communication terminal; (e) transmitting the second processed content to a client system that wants to use the content via an IP-based network; (f) the client system storing the second processed content on a storage medium; (g) decoding, by the mobile communication terminal, the content stored in the storage medium using the identifier of the mobile communication terminal as an authentication key.

Here, the mobile communication terminal used in the distribution system or method includes the steps of: (a) the client system storing the second processed content in a mobile communication terminal memory; (b) authenticating, by the mobile communication terminal, whether the second processed content is content for a mobile communication terminal; (c) detecting the identifier of the mobile communication terminal from the content in the case of the content for the mobile communication terminal, and comparing the identifier with the identifier of the mobile communication terminal to drive the content; (d) driving the content when it is authenticated by matching the identifier of the mobile communication terminal as a result of step (c); (f) If the content is not for the mobile communication terminal or the identifiers do not match in the steps (b) and (c), respectively, authentication and driving are performed by outputting an error message and stopping driving.

The mobile communication terminal used in the embodiment of the present invention for content authentication and driving includes: a memory capable of downloading the content from a client system; Means for checking whether the content stored in the memory is content for a mobile communication terminal; Means for extracting an identifier of a mobile communication terminal included in the content stored in the memory; And a means for decoding the second processed content when the extracted identifier of the mobile communication terminal matches the comparison with the identifier thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.

In the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present invention. Like parts are designated by like reference numerals throughout the specification. (When a part is connected to another part, this includes not only a directly connected part but also an electrically connected part with another element in between.)

Now, a digital content distribution system for a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 is a schematic diagram showing an entire digital content distribution system for a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Digital content distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention is largely composed of the content provider 100, the content seller 200, the user client system (300).

The content provider 100 produces various contents that can be provided by the mobile communication terminal for each company and provides them to the content seller. As described above, such contents are not only relatively small data such as a ringtone and a wallpaper, but also a large amount of data such as an MP3, a video, a mobile game, a stock trading program, and the like. Here, the content provided by the content provider 100 may be provided to the content seller through various IP-based networks that do not charge extra in proportion to data transmission such as the Internet, LAN, and wireless LAN.

The content seller 200 stores the content provided from the content provider and sells the content to the mobile communication terminal user. The content seller 200 includes a content processing unit 210, a content storage unit 220, a user database 240, a content charging unit 230, and a web server 250.

Here, the content processing unit 210 processes the content produced by itself to be suitable for the OS of the mobile communication terminal. The content processed through such processing becomes meaningless information because it cannot be run in the OS of the PC, and thus illegal distribution on the web is blocked in advance. The primary processing is not only a conversion of the data format, but also allows the content vendor to encrypt the content as an encryption key.

The primary processing of the content can be done by the content seller 200, but it is also possible for the content provider 100 to process it separately. In this case, integrated content processing is possible and the content provider 100 can easily enter the market, and can concentrate on content development.

In addition, the content processing unit 210 processes the content in conjunction with the content provider 100 and the client system 300. The above-mentioned primary processed digital content is secondary processed using identification information of the mobile terminal input from the client system, for example, a telephone number (MIN) or a device serial number (ESN).

The content processing unit may be provided with separate primary processing means and secondary processing means, or may be integrated into one means to perform processing respectively.

The content storage unit 220 stores the transmitted content and provides it to the content processing unit 210 or the web server 250 when necessary.

The user information database 240 stores information of a user accessing a web server, for example, a user ID, a password, a phone number, an ESN, and the like, and provides it to a billing unit or a content processing unit as necessary.

The content charging unit 230 provides content according to a download request of a client system, and manages billing such as credit card payment and mobile terminal payment according to the price of the content.

The web server 250 displays the content to the plurality of client systems 300 through the IP-based network, and provides an intermediate role for the client system to access and use the content. Through the web server 250, the client systems are provided with the general information of the content, the price, and the information on the content provider, so that they can be provided with their preferred content. The IP-based network may be any network that does not pay for traffic transmission, such as the Internet, LAN, and wireless LAN, and is not limited to the Internet shown in FIG.

The content user side includes a client system 300, an auxiliary memory 310, and a mobile communication terminal 320.

The client system 300 accesses the web server 250 of the content seller through the IP-based network, and selects and purchases the content. Here, the content user provides the identifier of the mobile communication terminal (for example, a phone number or ESN) to the web server, and the content processing unit 210 inserts the identifier of the mobile communication terminal into the content authentication information or encrypts the content. The content is processed as a key and downloaded to the client system.

The processed content is mounted on the mobile communication terminal 320 through the auxiliary memory 310. The auxiliary memory 310 may be installed in hardware with a client system to download contents for a mobile communication terminal, and may be easily implemented with support of a USB device, a serial port, and an IEEE 1394 device. The auxiliary memory 310 may have various types of memory, such as an extended memory such as a smart media card (SMC) and a multimedia card (MMC). The auxiliary memory is preferably a nonvolatile and writable flash memory, and an appropriate memory can be selected according to the capacity of digital content. In addition, the terminal itself may be connected to the client system using the memory built in the terminal itself to download.

The downloaded digital content performs an authentication process in the terminal 320.

First, the first authentication process is performed by checking whether the content is for a mobile communication terminal. This may be performed by using the information included in the packet header of the received digital content, or may be decrypted by using a secret key or a public key inside the terminal.

Next, a second authentication process is performed using the mobile terminal identifier included in the downloaded content. By using the phone number or ESN information that is uniquely included in each mobile communication terminal as a decryption key, authentication of use of digital content is performed, and when the second authentication process is completed, the digital content can be used in the mobile communication terminal 320. Done. Therefore, the downloaded content can be used only in the mobile communication terminal 320 and is prevented from being illegally used in other mobile communication terminals. Alternatively, the content seller performs secondary processing by assigning a unique ID or password at the time of selling the content, and provides the ID and password to the mobile communication terminal in the form of SMS to the client system 300 to perform the second process. May be enabled.

4 is a diagram illustrating a signal flow in a digital content distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In step S110, when the content provider 100 provides content to the content processing unit 210 provided by the content seller, in step S111, the content processing unit 210 converts the received content into a format for a mobile communication terminal. Process or encrypt it and store it in the content storage unit 220.

In step S112, the client system 300 connects to the web server 250 of the content seller via an IP-based network and attempts to log in. At this time, the user information database 240 provides the user information to the web server to assist in the login process (S113). When the login is completed, the content held by the content seller is displayed (S114), and the client system selects the content to be purchased by looking at the information or sample of the displayed content and requests a download to the web server (S115).

In step S116, when the client system requesting the download request the identifier of the mobile communication terminal to use the content, the client system transmits the identifier of the mobile communication terminal to be used (S117).

In step S118, when the identifier of the mobile communication terminal transmitted above is provided from the web server 250 to the content processing unit 210, in step S119, the content processing unit 210 uses the selected content as the identifier. Secondary processing is stored in the content storage unit 220. The secondary processed content may be provided without requesting an identifier when a download request of the same client system is stored in the content storage unit 220.

The second processed digital content is downloaded to the client system via the IP-based network (S120), and based on the type of the content and the user information, the content charging unit 230 is credit card payment, mobile phone payment payment The charging is performed in various ways such as (S121).

Although the above-described signal flow is performed by the content seller in the first processing of the content, it can be easily inferred that the content seller can perform the first processing on the content provider 100 and provide the same to the content seller. In addition, the identifier request and retrieval process of the mobile communication terminal may be integrally performed even in the login process.

5 is a flowchart illustrating an authentication process in a digital content distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In operation S200, when a storage medium such as an auxiliary memory is mounted in the mobile communication terminal or downloading is completed in the memory embedded in the mobile communication terminal, the mobile communication terminal recognizes new content.

In step S210, it is checked whether the recognized content is a format for a mobile communication terminal. If the content is not for the mobile communication terminal, an error message is output to stop the content reading operation (S260). If the content is for the mobile communication terminal, the identifier of the mobile communication terminal in the content is extracted in step S220.

In steps S230 and S240, a comparison operation between the extracted ID and the identifier of the mobile communication terminal equipped with the current storage medium is performed to check whether the ID is the same. If the identifier is the same, the content may be normally driven using the identifier as authentication information (S250). If the identifier is not the same, an error message is output and the content reading operation is stopped (S260).

Here, the step (S210) may perform the operation of decrypting with the encryption key provided by the content provider or the seller in addition to checking whether the content is the format for the mobile communication terminal. In addition, in step S230, an authentication process may be performed using an ID or a password provided by a content seller.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a mobile communication terminal includes: means for checking whether content stored in an auxiliary memory is content for a mobile communication terminal; Means for extracting an identifier of a mobile communication terminal included in the content stored in the memory; Means for decoding the second processed content if it matches with the identifier of the extracted mobile communication terminal and its identifier.

The above-mentioned inspection means and extraction means can be easily implemented by having a function of inspecting a header or additional information area of the content data, and the identifier of the mobile communication terminal is already stored as data for voice communication in the mobile communication terminal itself. Therefore, those skilled in the art can easily use it.

The first and second authentication processes may be used in various ways, such as encryption or authentication key used in electronic commerce.

6 schematically illustrates performing an authentication process using an ID or password provided by a content seller.

When selecting and purchasing content in the client system 300, the content seller encrypts the content with ID or password information owned by the client and downloads the content to the client system 300, and transmits the SMS or ARS via the wireless network. In the form, the ID or password information is notified to the designated mobile communication terminal. In this case, the process of extracting and preparing the identifier of the mobile communication terminal by software may be omitted, and may be used universally in a general mobile communication terminal having no such function.

7 is a block diagram showing a content distribution system for a mobile communication terminal according to another embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a view showing in more detail the content sales agent portion in the embodiment shown in FIG. The content sales agent 260 may be installed in a separate cyber space on a portal site or a famous site other than the web server 250 of the content seller 200, and the client system may be a web server 250 of the content seller 200. Without directly accessing the information, content information can be provided through the sales agent, and content purchase can be performed.

The content sales agent 260 may be prepared as a separate web page or may link the address of the web server of the content seller. The content download and authentication process is the same as the above-described process, so the detailed description is omitted. With this configuration, the content user can more easily access the content seller, and the content seller can more easily sell the content. In addition, the content sales agent may sell the content in association with a plurality of content sellers, and may receive a predetermined fee when the content is sold.

8 illustrates an example of the use of digital content distributed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, relatively large contents are stored in the auxiliary memory 310 and provided to the mobile communication terminal 310. For example, in a wireless online game, game source programs, graphic data, and sound data required for a game may be stored in the auxiliary memory so that the game may be loaded whenever needed. When the online game is played, only game progress information of multiple users is transmitted from the content use support company 400 through the wireless network. Alternatively, only update information of the game may be transmitted over the air.

Therefore, the amount of traffic through the wireless network is considerably reduced, the progress of the game is smoothly progressed, and thus the usage fee of the wireless network can be reduced.

8 may be applied to a stock trading program and the like in addition to an online game, and the auxiliary memory stores company information, stock information, and a trading program source, and transmits only price change information and disclosure information through a wireless network. Real-time stock trading will be smooth.

9 illustrates a method of transmitting digital content to a mobile communication terminal according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Recently, various Bluetooth applications have been developed for home network implementation. The Bluetooth communication technology enables high-speed wireless communication in the free ISM frequency band using a Bluetooth module. The Bluetooth module 301 is physically connected to the client system 300 to transmit the purchased digital content to the mobile communication terminal equipped with the Bluetooth module. As described above, the mobile communication terminal performs a second authentication process, and if authentication fails, an error message is output and the download is stopped. According to the above embodiment, the digital content purchaser can reduce the trouble of downloading to the storage memory and installing the content of the mobile communication terminal.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements of those skilled in the art using the basic concepts of the present invention defined in the following claims are also provided. It belongs to the scope of rights.

According to the above-described configuration of the present invention, a content user can purchase a large amount of content at low cost without paying an expensive wireless communication network fee. In addition, the content seller can prevent other sellers from illegally infringing copyright through the primary processing, and can increase the profit by allowing the content to be used only in the designated mobile communication terminal through the secondary processing. In addition, content providers, content sellers, and content distributors can be organically connected to each other through a network to efficiently produce and sell content.

Claims (27)

A system for distributing content produced by a content producer to a mobile terminal user: First processing means for first processing the content provided from the content producer into digital content for a mobile communication terminal; Second processing means for second processing the first processed content using an identifier of a mobile communication terminal designated by a client system; Content storage means for storing at least one of raw content, first processed content data, and second processed content data; Provides content information so that a plurality of client systems can connect through an IP-based network to purchase desired content, and if the client system desires to purchase the content, request the identifier to transfer the second processed content to the content. Web server sending from storage means to client system Digital content distribution system comprising a. A system for distributing content produced by a content producer to a mobile terminal user: Second processing means for processing the first processed content by the content producer for the mobile communication terminal using the identifier of the mobile communication terminal designated by the client system; Content storage means for storing at least one of the first processed content and the second processed content data; Provides content information so that a plurality of client systems can connect through an IP-based network to purchase desired content, and if the client system desires to purchase the content, request the identifier to transfer the second processed content to the content. Web server sending from storage means to client system Digital content distribution system comprising a. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And a user information database storing information about a user of a client system accessing the web server. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And charging means for charging the client system user when the client system has purchased the content. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And the first processed content is content obtained by encrypting the content using an encryption key. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And said second processing means encrypts using the identifier of said mobile communication terminal as an authentication key. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And the identifier of the mobile communication terminal comprises at least one of a terminal serial number (ESN) and a terminal telephone number (MIN). The method according to claim 1 or 2, A sales representative means connected between the web server and another client system via an IP-based network, the sales agent means for selling the second processed content to the another client system in conjunction with the second processing means and the content storage means. Content distribution system that includes. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The IP-based network includes at least one of the Internet, wired LAN, wireless LAN. A method for distributing digital content produced by a content producer to a mobile terminal user: (a) a first processing step of first processing the digital content into content for a mobile communication terminal; (b) publishing information about the digital content online using a web server; (c) requesting an identifier of a mobile communication terminal to use contents from a client system connected to the web server via an IP-based network; (d) a second processing step of second processing the first processed content using an identifier of the mobile communication terminal; And (e) transmitting the second processed content to a client system that wants to use the content via an IP-based network; Content distribution method comprising a. A method for distributing digital content, produced by a content producer and processed for a mobile terminal, to a mobile terminal user, the method comprising: (a) publishing information about the digital content online using a web server; (b) requesting an identifier of a mobile communication terminal to use contents from a client system connected to the web server via an IP-based network; (c) a second processing step of second processing the first processed content using an identifier of the mobile communication terminal; And (d) transmitting the second processed content to a client system that wants to use the content via an IP-based network; Content distribution method comprising a. The method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein (f) storing, by the client system user, the second processed content on a storage medium; and (g) decoding, by the mobile communication terminal, the content stored in the storage medium using the identifier of the mobile communication terminal as an authentication key. The method of claim 12, The first processing further includes encrypting the content using an encryption key, The step (g) further includes the step of decrypting the content using the encryption key. The method of claim 12, And the identifier of the mobile communication terminal comprises at least one of a terminal serial number (ESN) and a terminal telephone number (MIN). The method of claim 10 or 11, And charging the client system that wants to use the content. The method of claim 10 or 11, The mobile terminal identifier request step, And storing the login information of the client system user and the corresponding mobile communication terminal identifier in the user information database and requesting the login information from the client system when the web server is connected. The method of claim 10 or 11, (h) transmitting the second processed content to the mobile communication terminal using a short range wireless module included in the client system. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the short range wireless module is a Bluetooth module. A method of driving digital processed content for a mobile communication terminal and processing the second processed content using the identifier of a mobile communication terminal, the first processed content comprising: (a) the client system storing the second processed content in a mobile communication terminal memory; (b) authenticating, by the mobile communication terminal, whether the second processed content is content for a mobile communication terminal; (c) detecting the identifier of the mobile communication terminal from the content in the case of the content for the mobile communication terminal, and comparing the identifier with the identifier of the mobile communication terminal to drive the content; (d) driving the content when it is authenticated by matching the identifier of the mobile communication terminal as a result of step (c); and (e) outputting an error message and stopping driving when the contents are not contents for the mobile communication terminal or the identifiers do not match in the steps (b) and (c), respectively. The method of claim 19, And the memory is a memory detachable from the client system and the mobile communication terminal. The method of claim 20, Downloading, by the client system, the second processed content into a memory of a mobile communication terminal. The method of claim 19, And storing content in a memory using a Bluetooth module embedded in the client system and the mobile communication terminal. The method according to any one of claims 19 to 22, And driving the content in association with a content supporting means through a wireless network. A mobile communication terminal for first processing digital content for a mobile communication terminal and driving the second processed content for which the first processed content is second processed using an identifier of the mobile communication terminal; A memory capable of downloading the content from a client system; Means for checking whether the content stored in the memory is content for a mobile communication terminal; Means for extracting an identifier of a mobile communication terminal included in the content stored in the memory; And means for decoding the second processed content when the identifier of the extracted mobile communication terminal is matched with its identifier. The method of claim 24, And the memory is a removable flash memory. A method for distributing digital content produced by a content producer to a mobile terminal user: (a) a first processing step of first processing the digital content into content for a mobile communication terminal; (b) a content seller publishing information on the digital content online using a web server; (c) requesting a password for use of client system contents connected to the web server via an IP-based network; (d) the content seller inquiring about the telephone number of the mobile communication terminal used by the client system; (e) a second processing step of second processing the first processed content using the password; (f) transmitting the second processed content via an IP-based network to a client system that wants to use the content; (g) a content seller notifying the mobile terminal of the password using a wireless network; And (h) decrypting the second processed content using a password notified to the mobile communication terminal; Content distribution method comprising a. A method for distributing digital content produced by a content producer and first processed for a mobile terminal to a mobile terminal user: (a) a content seller publishing information on the digital content online using a web server; (b) requesting a password for using the client system contents connected to the web server via an IP-based network; (c) the content seller inquiring about the telephone number of the mobile communication terminal used by the client system; (d) a second processing step of second processing the first processed content using the password; (e) transmitting the second processed content to a client system that wants to use the content via an IP-based network; (f) a content seller notifying the mobile terminal of the password using a wireless network; And (g) decrypting the second processed content using a password notified to the mobile communication terminal; Content distribution method comprising a.