KR20090126208A - Method of providing content with interactive component and apparatus thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for offering contents including an interactive component module and an apparatus thereof re provided to offer a more efficient and instinctive electronic catalogue registering/editing function by making the transmission of an electronic catalog registration request to an electronic catalogue server possible through a printing command through a virtual printer. CONSTITUTION: A printing document image and setting information for an interactive component module are obtained. Correspondingly to a printing command of a user for the virtual printer of the first user terminal(100), a printed document image is generated. An electronic catalog corresponding to the printed document image and setting information is registered in a database. A reading request for the registered electronic catalogue is obtained from the second user terminal(300). By transmitting the information about the electronic catalogue to the second user terminal, the response to the reading request is completed.

Description

A method and apparatus for providing content including an interactive component module TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a content providing method and apparatus, and more particularly, to a content providing method and an apparatus including an interactive component module.

Conventional electronic catalogs and the like are often provided to users as information converted into images. This has been considered as a means to prevent illegal duplication of information contained in the electronic catalog. In addition, even if it deviates from the image form, it only delivers unilaterally from the content provider to the viewer of the content.

In order to convey the opinion of the content viewer to the content provider, a method of writing a separate e-mail and a method of delivering the opinion through a separate web site have been used. However, this method of communicating and sharing opinions is inefficient from viewing the contents.

Accordingly, it is required to provide a means for exchanging opinions between users who view the same content or for delivering opinions to a content provider in a form included in the content. There is also a need to implement a visual effect that allows such means to have a sense of unity in the contained content.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and system that can more efficiently create and provide an electronic catalog by using the virtual printer of the present invention.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method and system that can generate and provide content including an interactive component using a virtual printer.

According to an aspect of the present invention, an electronic catalog registration request obtaining unit for obtaining a print document image generated in response to a user's printing command to a virtual printer of a first user terminal and setting information for an interactive component module; An electronic catalog manager configured to register an electronic catalog corresponding to the print document image and the setting information in a database; And an electronic catalog provider which obtains a request for reading an electronic catalog registered in the database from a second user terminal.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an electronic catalog service providing method performed by an electronic catalog server, comprising: (a) a print document image and an interactive component module generated according to a user's printing command to a virtual printer of a first user terminal; Obtaining setting information for the; (b) registering an electronic catalog corresponding to the print document image and the setting information in a database; (c) obtaining a request to view an electronic catalog registered in the database from a second user terminal; And (d) responding to the reading request by transmitting information about the electronic catalog to the second user terminal.

On the other hand, the above-described content providing method may be executed by a computer, for this purpose it may be recorded in the form of a program on a computer-readable recording medium.

Other aspects, features, and advantages other than those described above will become apparent from the following drawings, claims, and detailed description of the invention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, by providing an electronic catalog registration request to the electronic catalog server through a print command through a virtual printer, providing an electronic catalog service providing a more efficient and intuitive electronic catalog registration and editing function Methods and systems can be provided.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an electronic catalog of an e-book type may be provided by generating content including an interactive component module using a client program and a virtual printer installed in a user terminal.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a natural page turning effect may also be implemented for content including an interactive component module.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a content providing method and an apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to specific embodiments, it should be understood to include all transformations, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention. In the following description of the present invention, if it is determined that the detailed description of the related known technology may obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. In addition, in the description with reference to the accompanying drawings, the same or corresponding components will be given the same reference numerals and duplicate description thereof will be omitted.

1 is a diagram illustrating an environment in which a content providing device according to an embodiment of the present invention is implemented. Referring to FIG. 1, a first user terminal 100, which is a terminal for requesting generation of an electronic catalog, an electronic catalog server 200 in which an electronic catalog is registered and provided, and a second user terminal 300, which is a terminal for reading an electronic catalog. The data flow between) is illustrated.

The first user terminal 100 is a terminal for requesting registration of a new electronic catalog to the electronic catalog server 200. In an embodiment of the present invention, the user may request the electronic catalog server 200 to register the transcription catalog through a print command for the virtual printer installed in the first user terminal 100.

The user's print command according to an embodiment of the present invention may be performed by exchanging information between the application 110, the GDI 120, the printer driver 130, and the spooler 140. A general user print command execution process will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2.

Support of the electronic catalog service using the first user terminal 100 is performed by the electronic catalog service support client module 160 of the first user terminal 100. The electronic catalog service support client module 160 recognizes a print job generated by a user's print command and prints a printed document image that reflects the content (content) of the document that is the target of the print command. Can be generated. The application 110 may receive setting information about the interactive component module from the user and transmit the setting information to the communication module 166. The electronic catalog service support client module 160 transmits additional information including the generated print document image and setting information for the interactive component module to the electronic catalog server 200, thereby allowing the electronic catalog server 200 to display the printed document image. Allow the corresponding electronic catalog to be registered.

The aforementioned functions may be performed by the printer monitoring module 162, the print document image generation module 164, and the communication module 166 included in the electronic catalog service support client module 160.

The printer monitoring module 162 is a part for monitoring the operation of the virtual printer installed in the first user terminal 100. When a print job is generated according to a print command for a virtual printer supporting the electronic catalog service, spool data associated with the print job is generated. The printer monitoring module 162 detects the creation of a print job and / or the generation of spool data for the virtual printer so that the process for registration of the electronic catalog can be started. In this way, the user can start a series of procedures for registering the electronic catalog only by printing a command for the virtual printer supporting the electronic catalog service.

Recognition of the print job by the printer monitoring module 162 may be performed by the port monitor of the printer provider 150 conveying information about the print job to the printer monitoring module 162. For example, the port monitor 152 transmits a message to the printer monitoring module 162 when the port corresponding to the virtual printer is activated, so that the printer monitoring module 162 may obtain identification information of the spool data. Identification information (path information) of the spool data may be grasped through the registry, and may be obtained through a query to the operating system of the first user terminal 100. In another embodiment of the present invention, the port monitor 152 of the printer provider 150 may transmit the identification information including the path information of the spool data to the printer monitoring module 162.

The print document image generation module 164 may generate a printed document image based on the spool data related to the print job generated by the user's print command for the virtual printer. The spool data may include a spool file with an extension of SPL. Spool data can be written in the form of extended meta files (EMFs) and RAW data.

The print document image is image information representing the content of a document to be printed by the virtual printer. Printed document images may be created in formats corresponding to various extensions, including JPG and PNG. The generated print document image may be transferred to the electronic catalog server 200. The print document image transmitted to the electronic catalog server 200 may be provided as a response to the electronic catalog viewing request by the second user terminal 300. The response of the electronic catalog viewing request may include image information modified based on the printed document image.

The communication module 166 exchanges information between the electronic catalog service support client module 160 and the electronic catalog server 200. When the first user terminal 100 has a print command for the virtual printer, the first user terminal 100 proceeds to a subsequent process according to the print command to set the document and the interactive component module to be printed on the virtual printer. The registration request of the base electronic catalog is transmitted to the electronic catalog server 200. The electronic catalog registration request will be described in detail later with reference to FIG. 17.

The electronic catalog registration request from the first user terminal 100 may be an electronic signal generated according to a predefined protocol for communication with the electronic catalog server 200. The electronic catalog registration request may include information to be stored in the electronic catalog database 240. For example, the electronic catalog registration request may include the print document image created by the print document image generation module 164 and setting information about the interactive component module generated in association with the application 110.

In addition, the electronic catalog registration request may include additional information other than the printed document image. The additional information may include author identification information, electronic catalog registration type information, electronic catalog classification information, distribution authority setting information, viewing authority setting information, and electronic catalog providing period information.

The printed document image and the additional information may be transmitted in the form of one package included in the electronic catalog registration request, and an encryption and decryption algorithm may be used to secure communication between the communication module 166 and the electronic catalog server 200. .

The creator identification information is information that can identify the creator of the electronic catalog to be registered in the first user terminal 100. The author identification information may include ID information given to a user who uses the electronic catalog service. Author identification information may be utilized in the process of creating a list of electronic catalogs created by the same author.

The electronic catalog registration type information is information on how the electronic catalog is registered. As specified in the electronic catalog registration form information, the electronic catalog may be registered in the form of replacing the existing electronic catalog or in the form of an independent new electronic catalog.

Electronic catalog category information is information that specifies a category to which the electronic catalog belongs. Thereby, the electronic catalog can be classified according to a designated category, and providing a list of electronic catalogs classified according to the category facilitates the management of the electronic catalog.

Distribution authority setting information is information which sets the authority which distributes an electronic catalog. According to an embodiment of the present invention, since it is possible to distribute an electronic catalog using a unique URL (URL) of each electronic catalog, it is possible to set the authority to distribute the electronic catalog using the author distribution authority setting information. May be a valid means of protecting the author's copyright.

The viewing authority setting information is setting information regarding the authority to view the electronic catalog. The electronic catalog may be distributed to a specific object, and may be distributed to an unspecified number through UAL information accessible to the electronic catalog. Under such circumstances, setting the right to view the electronic catalog may be a valid means of protecting the copyright of the author.

The electronic catalog providing period information is setting information on a period during which the electronic catalog is to be provided. Authors can create electronic catalogs by setting a period during which the electronic catalog will be available, and if this period is exceeded, the electronic catalog may be disabled.

The electronic catalog server 200 is a system for managing an electronic catalog to provide an electronic catalog service according to an embodiment of the present invention. The electronic catalog server 200 may include an electronic catalog registration request obtainer 210, an electronic catalog manager 220, and an electronic catalog provider 230.

The electronic catalog registration request obtaining unit 210 obtains a registration request of the electronic catalog from the first user terminal 100. The electronic catalog registration request may include a print document image and additional information. The obtained electronic catalog registration request may be transferred to the electronic catalog manager 220 and used as basic data for changing the stored matter of the electronic catalog database 240.

The electronic catalog manager 220 manages the electronic catalog database 240 to perform functions of registering, updating, and deleting the electronic catalog.

Registration of the new electronic catalog may be performed by registering an identifier of the new electronic catalog in the electronic catalog database 240 and registering information to be provided in the electronic catalog database 240 when a read request corresponding to the identifier is received. . The electronic catalog registration may be performed based on the electronic catalog registration request received by the electronic catalog registration request obtainer 210 from the first user terminal. The printed document image obtained as part of the electronic catalog registration request may be stored in the electronic catalog database 240 and, if necessary, additional image processing may be applied to the printed document image prior to storage. Additional information other than the printed document image may also be stored in the electronic catalog database.

In addition, registration of the electronic catalog may include a process of including an interactive component module to be included in a new electronic catalog. The interactive component module is a module that enables interaction between the user who browses the catalog and the electronic catalog server 200. Interactive component modules can include bulletin boards, guest books, archives, embedded video, and more within the catalog. Such an interactive component module may be implemented as one page in a catalog composed of a plurality of pages. The registration process of the electronic catalog will be described in detail later with reference to FIG. 3.

The component module database 250 includes information on interactive component modules (eg, bulletin boards, archives, guest books, etc.) that may be included in the catalog according to one embodiment of the present invention, for example templates, component module packages, and each component. This is the space where information on the usage conditions of the module is stored.

On the other hand, the electronic catalog registration request by the first user terminal 100 may request to modify the contents of the electronic catalog managed by the electronic catalog server 200, the type of such electronic catalog registration request is electronic It may be delivered as catalog registration type information.

The electronic catalog providing unit 230 provides the second user terminal 300 with information about the electronic catalog managed by the electronic catalog server 200 so that the user can view the contents of the electronic catalog. Information about the electronic catalog may be provided through a web service provided by the electronic catalog server 200, and in this case, the electronic catalog provider 230 may be a daemon in charge of a web service among the electronic catalog servers 200. It can be defined as a part that supports the function.

The request for viewing the electronic catalog may be delivered to the electronic catalog server 200 through the web browser program 310 of the second user terminal 300. The view request for the electronic catalog may include address information corresponding to the electronic catalog.

The address information corresponding to the electronic catalog may include a URL address referring to the electronic catalog server 200, and a parameter for specifying an electronic catalog managed by the electronic catalog database 240 of the electronic catalog server 200. May contain a value.

The second user terminal 300 is a terminal for requesting the electronic catalog server 200 to view the electronic catalog.

The reading of the electronic catalog in the second user terminal 300 may be performed by the web browser program 310. The web browser program 310 is a program that allows the second user terminal 300 to view a document (electronic catalog) on the Internet through wired or wireless communication.

When the address information of the electronic catalog to be viewed is input to the second user terminal 300, the web browser program 310 transmits an electronic catalog reading request to the electronic catalog server corresponding to the address information. The address information input to the web browser program 310 may include URL information indicating the electronic catalog server 200 and parameter values for specifying the electronic catalog. Such address information may be expressed in the form of a query for the web service daemon of the electronic catalog server 200.

A separate client program may be installed to view the electronic catalog on the second user terminal 300, and the client program may be distributed in the form of a plug-in of a web browser program of the second user terminal 300.

Meanwhile, as the first user terminal 100 and the second user terminal 300, a device such as a mobile phone, a PDA, or a PC may be used. Any device having an input function for acquiring a user's command and a communication function for transferring information between the electronic catalog server 200 may be used as the first and second user terminals 100 and 300. On the other hand, when the second user terminal 300 is a terminal using a wireless Internet environment, such as WAP, ME, i-mode, a browsing program suitable for it may be utilized for reading the electronic catalog.

In FIG. 1, for convenience of description, the two databases are described as separate independent databases, but these databases may be integrated with each other. These databases may also be absorbed and operated in the electronic catalog server 200. Description of the database itself is obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art (hereinafter, those skilled in the art), and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

2 is a diagram illustrating a document printing process in a first user terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Components involved in the general document printing process of the first user terminal 100 are an application program, a GDI, and a spooler. The printer driver 130 is loaded in the process context of the application 100 or the spooler 140.

The application 100 is a program used for reading or editing a document in the first user terminal. For example, the application 100 may be a word processor program or a web browser program installed in the first user terminal 100. When there is a print command for a document that the application 100 is reading / editing, the application 100 generates a print job of the document by calling GDI.

The GDI 120 translates the print request of the application 100 into a device driver interface call. If the output format is an extended meta file (EMF), GDI 120 spools to an SPL file. The EMF format can be utilized for the formation of spool data. The EMF format can be understood as a grouping of Device Driver Interface (DDI) calls.

When spooled in RAW format, GDI 120 is called directly into a printer graphics DLL. The rendered data is then passed to the spooler 140. This will go through the language monitor DLL, port monitor DLL, etc.

When spooled in EMF format, the printer graphics DLL is not called first. If all print jobs are spooled and playback is possible, the print processor will call back the GDI 120, which in turn calls the printer graphics DLL. .

The printer driver 130 converts the printer's DDI call into a printer command to be sent to the printer device. However, the printer driver according to an embodiment of the present invention is a virtual printer driver having no physical hardware, and the conversion of the spool data into the print document image may be performed by the print document image generation module 164.

The spooler 140 is a major component of the printing interface of the first user terminal 100. The spooler may be installed in the first user terminal in the form of an executable file for managing the printing process.

When the application 100 generates a printer device context (DC) in response to a user's print command, the spooler 140 may determine a location of a required printer driver and load the printer driver. The type of data recording a print job may also be determined by the spooler 140. Types of data supported for storing print jobs include EMF, ASCII text, and raw data types. In addition, PostScript (PS), Macintosh PICT, and PDF file formats can also be used in the spooling process.

Meanwhile, according to an operating system of the first user terminal 100, a process of performing a print command of a user may be changed. For example, when the operating system used by the first user terminal is Windows Vista, a print job generated by the application 100 may call Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) instead of GDI. have. In addition, when Apple's Mac OS is adopted, the GDI described in FIG. 2 may be replaced by QuickDraw or Quartz.

3 is a diagram illustrating the progress of a content providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 4 is a flow chart in which a content providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention is performed in a user terminal. 5 is a flowchart of a method for providing an electronic catalog service by an electronic catalog server.

Recognizing a print job using a virtual printer (S310) is a step in which the printer monitoring module 162 of the first user terminal recognizes a print job generated by a print command of a document using a virtual print. As mentioned above, the process for registering the electronic catalog of the print job may be started by recognizing the print job by the electronic catalog support client module 160 of the first user terminal 100 as described above. Therefore, the user may proceed with the process for registering a new electronic catalog or updating an existing registered electronic catalog only by issuing a print command through the application 100.

On the other hand, user authentication may be required for the progress of the process for the electronic catalog service (registration of the electronic catalog) according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the user authentication for using the electronic catalog service, the first user terminal 100 transmits user authentication information to the electronic catalog server 200 (S320), and the electronic catalog server 200 checks the user authentication information ( S322) and the electronic catalog server 200 may return a result of checking user authentication information (S324).

The user authentication information may include information such as a user ID and a password. On the other hand, the authentication server responsible for user authentication may be involved. In this case, the user authentication information from the first user terminal 100 may be transmitted to the authentication server, and the result of confirming the user authentication information by the authentication server may be transmitted to the electronic catalog server 200.

On the other hand, in the electronic catalog service providing method, the user authentication process does not need to be performed prior to the transmission step (S340) of the electronic catalog registration request. When the user authentication is performed together with the transmission step of the electronic catalog registration request (S340), the user authentication information from the first user terminal 100 may be included in the electronic catalog registration request and transmitted. Of course, the user authentication process may be performed after the electronic catalog registration request step (S340).

Generating a print document image based on the spool data (S330) is based on the spool data generated by the print document image generation module 164 of the first user terminal in the course of performing a print command in the first user terminal 100. Is a process of generating a print document image.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the spool data may exist in various forms, including RAW format and EMF format. By rendering such spool data, a print document image corresponding to the information contained in the document to be printed can be generated. The printed document image may be included in the electronic catalog registration request and sent to the electronic catalog server 200 to be included as part of the electronic catalog, and further image processing may be performed before being stored in the electronic catalog database.

The transmitting of the electronic catalog registration request to the electronic catalog server (S340) is a step in which the electronic catalog server 200 obtains the electronic catalog registration request sent by the first user terminal 100.

The electronic catalog registration request may be performed by the electronic catalog server 200 from the communication module 166 of the first user terminal 100 in order to perform a printing command using the virtual printer supporting the electronic catalog in the first user terminal 100. The collection of information transmitted to the electronic catalog registration request acquisition unit 210 of. The electronic catalog registration request may use a format defined according to a predefined protocol. As mentioned above, the electronic catalog registration request may include a printed document image and additional information corresponding to the contents of the electronic catalog. In addition, the electronic catalog registration request may include information about an original file (source file) to be registered as content, information about a registration type, and information about an interactive component module to be included in the content.

The service fee payment process includes calculating a service fee by the electronic catalog server 200 (S350), transmitting the service fee information to the first user terminal (S352), and transmitting the payment information by the first user terminal. In operation S354, the electronic catalog server verifies payment information (S360).

In operation S350, the electronic catalog server 200 calculates a cost for using the electronic catalog service based on additional information included in the electronic catalog registration request. The cost for using the electronic catalog service may be calculated based on the additional information included in the electronic catalog registration request. In addition to the information amount of the printed document image, the electronic catalog providing period included in the additional information, the electronic catalog reading authority information, and the like may be taken into account in the service fee calculation.

In operation S352, the service fee information may be transmitted to the first user terminal by using the calculated service fee information so that a user who wants to register or update the electronic catalog may check the fee for the service used by the first user terminal 100. To transfer.

The transmitting of the payment information (S354) is a step of transmitting information for paying a cost for the user of the first user terminal to use the electronic catalog service. The payment information may be information about a payment method such as a credit card of the user. In addition, the password information for approval of the payment may be included in the payment information.

When a separate payment server intervenes, payment information from the first user terminal 100 may be delivered to the payment server, and the payment server may transmit a result of checking the validity of the payment information to the electronic catalog server 200. In this case, the electronic catalog server may indirectly confirm the payment information from the first user terminal 100 by receiving the payment confirmation result transmitted by the separate payment server.

In the electronic catalog service providing method illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 5, the service fee payment process is performed after the step of transmitting the electronic catalog registration request (S340), but with or before the step of transmitting the electronic catalog registration request (S340). It may also be performed.

In the step of registering the electronic catalog (S370), the electronic catalog manager 220 of the electronic catalog server 200 manages the information stored in the electronic catalog database to register a new electronic catalog or update the contents of the already registered electronic catalog. to be.

A process of receiving a user's selection for the electronic catalog registration request will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. 6 illustrates a process of selecting a content registration type according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 illustrates a process of selecting a type of an interactive component module to be included in content generated according to an embodiment of the present invention. to be.

Referring to FIG. 6, it can be seen that a file named 'Company Introduction 2008 Korean.ppt' is to be registered as a new electronic catalog. It can also be seen that this file will be used as 'some page replacement' for existing electronic catalogs. In this way, the user terminal may obtain information on the source file to be registered as content and information on the registration type as a print request for the source file and a user's direct input, and transmit the information to the electronic catalog server 200. .

Referring to FIG. 7, a selection screen for adding an interactive component module to content is illustrated. The target content (e-catalog) to which the interactive component module will be added is 'presentation 3', and the type of component to be added is 'bulletin board'.

Although not shown in FIG. 7, a process of selecting a page into which the interactive component module is to be inserted and a process of selecting a specific template for the interactive component module to be inserted may be additionally performed. The selection result may be included in the electronic catalog registration request and transmitted to the electronic catalog server 200.

The electronic catalog server 200 may confirm the validity of the registration request by checking the component module database in response to the electronic catalog registration request from the user terminal. As mentioned above, the component module database 250 may store information on templates, packages, source codes, compatibility conditions, and the like, related to interactive component modules that may be included in content. The electronic catalog server 200 may detect an error of compatibility through the inquiry of the information, and the electronic catalog server 200 may notify the user terminal if additional information for using the module is required.

In addition, when it is confirmed that the catalog request from the user terminal is valid, the electronic catalog server 200 may update the content stored in the electronic catalog database. Such an electronic catalog database update may be performed by creating a new electronic catalog, replacing some contents of an existing electronic catalog, and the like.

The electronic catalog database 240 may store information to be provided as one electronic catalog based on the print document image obtained from the first user terminal, the additional information, and the interactive component module. The electronic catalog manager 220 may manage information stored in the electronic catalog database 240 in response to the electronic catalog registration request from the first user terminal 100.

Referring to FIG. 3 again, the electronic catalog server 200 transmits a registration completion message to the first user terminal 100 (S372).

The user terminal receiving the registration completion message from the electronic catalog server 200 may provide the user with the registration result in advance before declaring the end of the registration procedure (S373). On the other hand, the preview function described below may be equally applicable to providing content to a user who is not the author.

The performing of the preview function may include receiving electronic catalog information from the electronic catalog server 200 (S374), receiving a page turning request for a component module page (S375), and using an image of the component module. In operation S376, the page turning effect may be performed. The content displayed on the user terminal will be described in detail later with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.

In operation S380, the electronic catalog viewing request is transmitted to the electronic catalog server, and the second user terminal 300 requests the provision of information on the electronic catalog managed by the electronic catalog server 200 using a web browser program or the like. to be.

In response to the e-catalog viewing request (S382), the e-catalog provider 230 may provide information about the e-catalog corresponding to the e-catalog reading request transmitted from the second user terminal 300 to the second user terminal 300. To reply.

The information returned by the electronic catalog providing unit 230 may include a printed document image itself or a converted image thereof generated by the first user terminal 100 and included in the electronic catalog. In addition, all or part of the additional information included in the electronic catalog registration request from the first user terminal 100 may also be transmitted to the second user terminal 300 as part of the electronic catalog.

Meanwhile, the electronic catalog provider 230 according to an embodiment of the present invention may provide a list of electronic catalogs sorted or grouped according to various criteria. A group of electronic catalogs may be formed based on additional information included in the electronic catalog registration request from the first user terminal 100. For example, electronic catalogs registered (published) by the same user may form a group. In this case, the electronic catalog server 200 may facilitate the user's viewing by providing the second user terminal 300 with a list including hyperlinks for each reading in the electronic catalogs belonging to the group.

Hereinafter, contents displayed on the user terminal will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.

8 is in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. Is a diagram illustrating content including a bulletin board. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a page turning process of the content illustrated in FIG. 8.

Referring to FIG. 8, a content display screen using a web browser is illustrated.

In this embodiment, the interactive component module inserted in the content is a bulletin board. An interactive component module such as a bulletin board may be configured as a page of content, and this page may be referred to as a (interactive) component module page. In FIG. 8, although the bulletin board 910 is inserted as the last page of the content, the bulletin board 910 may be moved to another page of the content. In addition, a bookmark tag 920 corresponding to the interactive component module page is also displayed on the screen.

The user may request to move to the previous or subsequent page of the content currently being viewed by clicking the page turning area 930. Such a page moving or turning request can be recognized from an operation such as a click or a drag on a specific area of the content, and the request is transferred to a client program (a general browser or a dedicated program distributed separately) displaying the content on the user terminal. .

In the page turning (movement), a visual effect such as turning a page of an actual print can be given. Referring to FIG. 9, this visual effect may be implemented by displaying the content of a current page or a target page in a page turning process so as to correspond to the turning process. The content of the current page is gradually hidden by the content of the page to be moved (corresponding to the back of the current page).

This visual effect may be implemented by a method of properly masking or rotating an image displaying the content of each page. These features can be implemented (programmed) using libraries and functions based on flash and silverlight technologies, or can be programmed directly using languages such as C ++.

However, when the page involved in page turning includes an interactive component module, more careful attention is required. The interactive component module may include controls called radio buttons, combo boxes, edit boxes, and the like. To implement the page turning effect as shown in FIG. 9 by controlling the video memory of the user terminal while maintaining the visualization properties such as the control requires an excessive amount of computation.

Accordingly, in the implementation of the page turning effect according to an embodiment of the present invention, a technique of visualizing an image file simulating the shape of the page turning effect without visualizing the interactive component module included in the page is displayed. It is used (S376).

For example, in the case of FIG. 8, the displayed bulletin board is a visualization of the source code corresponding to the bulletin board, but the bulletin board 915 shown in FIG. 9 is an image of the appearance 910 shown in FIG. 8. It is a visualization of the file.

To this end, when the client program installed in the user terminal detects a page turning request signal, the client program generates a simulated image of the interactive component module page related to the page turning. This simulated image may be the same as the capture image on the user terminal.

Then, without visualizing the interactive component module, the obtained simulated image is displayed instead (915). The visualization property of the interactive component module may be adjusted by changing the visualization property variable of the controls included therein. Thereafter, in response to the user's mouse drag and the like, the simulated image of the back page of the current page is rotated at a predetermined angle (940), and the page flipped in the actual print by using the simulated image 915 of the current page. You can implement a visual effect that simulates.

In the above, an example of a case where the current page is a bulletin board has been described. However, it is possible to use a simulated image for a natural page turning effect even when the moving target pages 940 and 950 include an interactive component module such as a bulletin board. Can be applied.

10 is a diagram illustrating a frost state of a virtual printer installed in a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The user terminal may be equipped with an electronic catalog support client module and a virtual printer for use of the services of the electronic catalog. Referring to FIG. 10, the name of the installed virtual printer is a domain (eLivezine.com) that refers to a server on which an electronic catalog service is provided. The port used by the virtual printer is named UWP. By monitoring the operation of the port set for the virtual printer in the user terminal, a print job related to the virtual printer can be recognized.

11 is a diagram illustrating a print command input according to an embodiment of the present invention. The application window 710 displays the content 720 of the document that is the target of the print command. The displayed content 720 may be printed through a printer installed in the user terminal.

To register the electronic catalog corresponding to the content 720 displayed in FIG. 11, the user selects a virtual printer (printer name eLivwzine.com) that supports the e-catalog service through the print window 730 and displays the displayed content through the virtual printer. Printing starts.

The spool data according to the print command to the virtual printer may be converted into a print document image corresponding to the displayed content 720, which may be the base material of the electronic catalog registration. By using the virtual printer as described above, the user can register the electronic catalog as displayed through the current application window 710. This may provide a WYSWYG (what you see is what you get) editing function of an electronic catalog using a virtual print.

12 is a diagram illustrating a user authentication information request screen according to an embodiment of the present invention. Prior to transmitting the electronic catalog registration request to the electronic catalog server 200, the user ID and password may be input to pass through a user authentication process. Meanwhile, in another embodiment of the present invention, the user authentication process may also be requested for reading the electronic catalog, which will be described with reference to FIG. 13.

13 is a diagram illustrating an electronic catalog displayed through a web browser program according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When the electronic catalog registration is performed by the electronic catalog server 200, address information for accessing the registered electronic catalog may be given. The user requests the reading of the electronic catalog by inputting the address information into the address window 1310 of the web browser program 1300.

The content 1320 viewed in FIG. 13 corresponds to the content 720 displayed in the application window 710 of FIG. 11. The electronic catalog is registered based on the printed document image corresponding to the displayed content 720, and the information on the registered electronic catalog includes the printed document image itself or the converted image thereof.

Address information for accessing the electronic catalog is given. By using the address information assigned to the electronic catalog, it is possible to distribute the electronic catalog via e-mail. For example, when an embedded tag corresponding to the address information of the electronic catalog is used in the body of an email written in HTML format, the mail receiver can easily view the electronic catalog.

14 to 16 are diagrams illustrating an electronic catalog reading screen according to an embodiment of the present invention. 14 to 16, the electronic catalog may be viewed through a web browser program. Embedded tags can be used to display the contents as part of a web page.

Reading of information corresponding to the electronic catalog of the electronic catalog server 200 is requested by inputting an address bar, clicking a link, or the like in the web browser program of the second user terminal 300. If the user's request to view the reading authority is confirmed before, the electronic catalog server 200 may provide only the sample page 1410 of the electronic catalog to the second user terminal 300. When the user's response information for additional page viewing is obtained, a screen requesting transmission of user authentication information may be displayed as illustrated in FIG. 15 (1415). If user authentication is successful, content other than the sample page may be provided to the second user terminal 300 (1420).

17 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of an electronic catalog registration request according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As mentioned above, the print document image generated as a result of the printing command using the virtual printer of the first user terminal 100 may be included in the electronic catalog registration request 1710 and transmitted to the electronic catalog server 200. have. The electronic catalog registration request may include a header 1712 according to a predefined protocol. The header 1712 may include command code that causes the delivery catalog server 200 to begin a process for registering an electronic catalog.

The print document image 1714 is information obtained by converting a print target document into an image form. The printed document image 1714 may employ various types of image formats such as JPG and PNG. The additional information 1716 may include information regarding an attribute of the electronic catalog to be registered in addition to the print document image 1714. The additional information may also include an interactive component module.

Meanwhile, the electronic catalog registration request does not have to be configured in one package form as illustrated in FIG. 17. The first user terminal 100 transmits a command code for initiating a process for registration of the electronic catalog, and print document images and / or additions only when there is a reply from the electronic catalog server 200 to receive the command code. Information 1716 may be sent. Although not shown in FIG. 17, the data structure of the electronic catalog registration request according to another embodiment of the present invention may be a data structure including separate data corresponding to the interactive component module.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

In this application, the terms "comprise" or "have" are intended to indicate that there is a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification, and one or more other features. It is to be understood that the present invention does not exclude the possibility of the presence or the addition of numbers, steps, operations, components, components, or a combination thereof.

Terms such as first and second may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another.

In addition, the components of the content providing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention do not necessarily have a hardware configuration, and some components may be implemented in the form of an application program that performs the same or similar functions. In addition, each component may be combined or separated within the scope of the invention.

So far I looked at the center of the present invention with respect to the embodiment. Many embodiments other than the above-described embodiments are within the scope of the claims of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be implemented in a modified form without departing from the essential features of the present invention. Therefore, the disclosed embodiments should be considered in descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. The scope of the present invention is shown in the claims rather than the foregoing description, and all differences within the scope will be construed as being included in the present invention.

1 is a diagram illustrating an environment in which a content providing device according to an embodiment of the present invention is implemented.

2 is a diagram illustrating a document printing process in a first user terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating the progress of a content providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart in which a content providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention is performed in a user terminal.

5 is a flowchart of a method for providing an electronic catalog service by an electronic catalog server.

6 is a diagram illustrating a process of selecting a content registration type according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a process of selecting a type of an interactive component module to be included in content generated according to an embodiment of the present invention.

8 is in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. Is a diagram illustrating content including a bulletin board.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a page turning process of the content illustrated in FIG. 8.

10 is a diagram illustrating a frost state of a virtual printer installed in a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

11 is a diagram illustrating a print command input according to an embodiment of the present invention.

12 is a diagram illustrating a user authentication information request screen according to an embodiment of the present invention.

13 is a diagram illustrating an electronic catalog displayed through a web browser program according to an embodiment of the present invention.

14 to 16 are diagrams illustrating an electronic catalog reading screen according to an embodiment of the present invention.

17 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of an electronic catalog registration request according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (29)

An electronic catalog service providing method performed by an electronic catalog server, (a) acquiring print document images generated in response to a user's print command to the virtual printer of the first user terminal and setting information for the interactive component module; (b) registering an electronic catalog corresponding to the print document image and the setting information in a database; (c) obtaining a request to view an electronic catalog registered in the database from a second user terminal; And (d) responding to the browsing request by transmitting information about the electronic catalog to the second user terminal. According to claim 1, (e) checking the validity of the interactive component module according to the setting information before the step (b). According to claim 1, And the print document image is generated based on spool data generated corresponding to the print command for the virtual printer. The method of claim 3, wherein And the spool data follows an extended meta file format. According to claim 1, The interactive component module is an electronic catalog service providing method, characterized in that at least one of a bulletin board, a guest book, a library and an embedded video. An electronic catalog registration request obtaining unit obtaining the print document image generated in response to the user's printing command to the virtual printer of the first user terminal and setting information about the interactive component module; An electronic catalog manager configured to register an electronic catalog corresponding to the print document image and the setting information in a database; And And an electronic catalog providing unit for obtaining a request for reading an electronic catalog registered in the database from a second user terminal. The method of claim 6, The electronic catalog manager checks the validity of the interactive component module according to the setting information. The method of claim 6, And the print document image is generated based on spool data generated corresponding to the print command for the virtual printer. The method of claim 8, And the spool data follows an extended meta file format. The method of claim 6, The interactive component module is an electronic catalog server, characterized in that at least one of a bulletin board, a guest book, a library and an embedded video. In the electronic catalog service providing method of the user terminal, Receiving electronic catalog information from the electronic catalog server; Receiving a page turning request including an interactive component module; Generating an image that simulates a display area of the module; Replacing the display area of the module with the image; And And providing a visual effect of turning a page including the image. The method of claim 11, wherein The generating of the image may include capturing a display area of the interactive component module provided by the module to generate an image. The method of claim 11, wherein The interactive component module is an electronic catalog service providing method, characterized in that at least one of a bulletin board, a guest book, a library and an embedded video. A program of instructions that can be executed by a user terminal to implement an electronic catalog service providing method is tangibly implemented, and in a recording medium recording a program that can be read by the user terminal, Receiving electronic catalog information from the electronic catalog server; Receiving a page turning request including the interactive component; Generating an image that simulates a display area of the module; Replacing the display area of the module with the image; And A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for execution on a computer that performs the step of providing a visual effect of turning a page containing the image. When you receive a page turn request from the electronic catalog server that contains the electronic catalog information and the interactive component module, An electronic catalog service supporting terminal generating an image that simulates a display area of the interactive component module, and providing a visual effect of turning a page including the image by replacing the display area of the module with the image. The method of claim 15, The simulated image is a step of capturing a display area of the interactive component module to generate an image. The method of claim 15, The interactive component module is an electronic catalog service supporting terminal, characterized in that at least one of a bulletin board, a guestbook, a library and an embedded video. A printer monitoring module for recognizing a print job in response to a user's print command for the virtual printer by monitoring an operation of an installed virtual printer; A print document image generation module for generating a print document image corresponding to a document to be printed of the print job recognized by the printer monitoring unit; And And a communication module for requesting registration of an electronic catalog by transmitting an electronic catalog registration request including setting information about the interactive component module received from a user and the print document image to an electronic catalog server. Electronic catalog service support terminal. The method of claim 18, The interactive component module may be one or more of a bulletin board, a guestbook, a library, and an embedded video. Electronic catalog service support terminal. The method of claim 18, The print document image generation module Generating the print document image based on the spool data corresponding to the print job Electronic catalog service support terminal. The method of claim 20, The spool data conforms to the Enhanced Metafile (EMF) format. Electronic catalog service support terminal. The method of claim 18, The printer monitoring module Recognizing the print job by using a port monitor DLL involved in the operation of the virtual printer installed in the terminal. Electronic catalog service support terminal. Recognizing a print job generated in response to a user's print command for the virtual printer by monitoring the operation of the virtual printer installed in the terminal; Generating a print document image corresponding to the content of the document that is the target of the print command; Generating setting information for the interactive component module; And Requesting registration of the electronic catalog by sending an electronic catalog registration request including the setting information for the interactive component module and the print document image to the electronic catalog server. How to Provide an Electronic Catalog Service. The method of claim 23, wherein The interactive component module is an electronic catalog service providing method, characterized in that at least one of a bulletin board, a guest book, a library and an embedded video. The method of claim 23, wherein The printing document image generating step Generating the print document image based on the spool data corresponding to the print job How to Provide an Electronic Catalog Service. The method of claim 25, The spool data conforms to the Enhanced Metafile (EMF) format. How to Provide an Electronic Catalog Service. The method of claim 23, wherein Recognizing the print job (step) Recognizing the print job by using a port monitor DLL involved in the operation of the virtual printer installed in the terminal. How to Provide an Electronic Catalog Service. The method of claim 23, wherein The electronic catalog registration request further includes additional information other than the printed document image, The additional information includes at least one of creator identification information, electronic catalog registration type information, electronic catalog classification information, distribution authority setting information, viewing authority setting information, and electronic catalog providing period information. How to Provide an Electronic Catalog Service. In the recording medium on which a program of instructions that can be executed by a user terminal to implement the electronic catalog service providing method is tangibly implemented, and records a program that can be read by the user terminal, Recognizing a print job generated in response to a user's print command for the virtual printer by monitoring an operation of the virtual printer installed in the user terminal; Generating a print document image corresponding to the content of the document that is the target of the print command; Generating setting information on the interactive component module received from the user; And A computer-readable recording recording a program for execution on a computer performing the step of requesting registration of an electronic catalog by sending an electronic catalog registration request including the setting information for the interactive component module and the print document image to an electronic catalog server. media.

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