KR20110126310A - Contents providing system and method by using mobile terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A content supplying system and method thereof are provided to transfer accurate content to a wireless terminal through a marker and an identifier method. CONSTITUTION: A content providing server(200) includes a data transmitting module(210), an image analysis module(220), a content mapping module(230), and a content obtaining module(240). The content obtaining module obtains content of the content mapping module. An advertisement management server includes an identifier registration module and a content storing database.

Description

Content providing system and method using a wireless terminal

The present invention relates to a system and method for providing a content using a wireless terminal. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system and method for delivering a content of an identifier to a wireless terminal in real time when a specific marker is recognized in an image captured by a camera of the wireless terminal. It is about.

Currently, the wireless communication market is actively activating the application market due to the expansion of wireless terminals such as smart phones. Wireless communication terminals are expanding to mobile phones, netbooks, tablet PCs, and e-book terminals, including smartphones. Based on these, new services and application markets are created, and numerous services and applications are supplied.

In particular, smart phones have recently acquired augmented reality services that acquire real image information such as building shape and location using a camera, and provide more detailed information related thereto based on such image information. This augmented reality service uses a GPS function possessed by the smartphone, the GPS method is difficult to use in the interior of the building has the disadvantage that the error is likely to occur in a dense area of the building. Therefore, the GPS method has a problem in that accuracy is insufficient to obtain information about a specific store or restaurant in a huge shopping mall. In addition, augmented reality service was not a system for delivering advertising content such as shops and settle advertising costs.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide a content providing system and method for delivering accurate content to a wireless terminal in real time using a marker and identifier method.

In order to achieve the above object, a content providing system using a wireless terminal according to the present invention includes a camera driving module for delivering a captured image to an image recognition module by operating a camera, and image recognition for recognizing whether a marker is included in the captured image. An application of a wireless terminal including a module and a data transmission / reception module for transmitting an image including a marker and an identifier to a content providing server; A data transmission / reception module for receiving an image including a marker and an identifier from an application of the wireless terminal and transmitting the image to the image analysis module, an image analysis module for extracting an identifier by analyzing an image including a marker and an identifier, and analyzing the image in the image analysis module. A content mapping module including a content mapping module configured to search for and map a location of content corresponding to the identified identifier in a content storage DB, and a content acquisition module to import content at a location checked by the content mapping module; Identifier registration module that allows advertisers to register their identifiers and content, including an advertising management server including a content storage DB that stores the content registered by the advertiser with respect to their identifiers, the marker is included in the captured image In this case, the content corresponding to the identifier of the captured image is transmitted to the application of the terminal.

Here, when the camera illuminates the marker, it is preferable that an indicator is provided on the screen of the wireless terminal to indicate whether the marker exists on the current real-time screen by the image recognition module.

The image recognition module preferably recognizes an image through image binarization, image labeling, and comparison of a label map and marker pattern data.

The application of the wireless terminal may further include a content driving module for driving the content received from the content providing server, the advertisement management server further comprises a web interface module that allows advertisers to manage their content over the Internet. The advertisement management server may further include an advertisement cost settlement module that calculates an advertisement fee with an advertiser according to the frequency of providing the content.

Further, the image analysis module extracts a marker by analyzing the image, and extracts an identifier when the marker is extracted, wherein the identifier is preferably a letter, number, figure or logo.

Content providing method using a wireless terminal according to the present invention for achieving the above object, the camera driving module, the image recognition module, the data transmission and reception module, and the application of the wireless terminal including the content driving module, data transmission and reception module, image analysis module A content providing method performed in a content providing system using a wireless terminal, comprising: a content providing server including a content mapping module and a content obtaining module; and an advertisement management server including an identifier registration module and a content storage DB. a) operating the camera and transmitting the captured image to the image recognition module when the application of the terminal is driven; (b) the image recognition module recognizing a corresponding image to determine whether a marker is included in the image; (c) if the image includes the marker, transmitting the image including the marker and the identifier to the content providing server by the data transmission / reception module of the application; (d) receiving and transmitting the image to the image analysis module by the data transmission / reception module of the content providing server; (e) extracting an identifier by analyzing the image by the image analyzing module; (f) searching for the content corresponding to the extracted identifier by the content mapping module; (g) the content obtaining module obtaining content from the content storage DB, and transmitting and receiving the content to a wireless terminal by a data transmitting / receiving module of the content providing server; (h) displaying the content by the content driving module of the wireless terminal to the user.

In this case, before the step (e), the image analysis module may proceed to step (e) only when the image is analyzed and the marker is included in the image. And if the marker is not included, it is preferable to notify the error message to the application of the terminal.

Step (b) includes an image binarization step, an image labeling step, and a comparison of the label map and marker pattern data.

In addition, the advertisement management server further includes an advertisement cost settlement module, and after the step (h), the advertisement cost settlement module may further include the step of calculating the advertiser and the advertising expenses according to the frequency of providing the content.

As described above, the present invention provides a more accurate service than the augmented reality service using a GPS method, because the wireless terminal recognizes the marker and provides the advertisement content only to the target of the identified marker. It has an effect. In addition, it recognizes identifiers such as letters, numbers, and logos, and provides predetermined advertisement contents to users of the wireless terminal in real time, so that the user can immediately obtain desired information about the store, and the advertiser can effectively There is an effect to promote.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a content providing method using a wireless terminal according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
2 is a block diagram illustrating a content providing system using a wireless terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention;
3 is a flowchart illustrating a content providing method performed in a content providing system using a wireless terminal.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the following embodiments are provided to those skilled in the art to fully understand the present invention, and may be modified in various forms, and the scope of the present invention is limited to the embodiments described below. It doesn't happen.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a content providing method using a wireless terminal according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a user drives an application program using a terminal such as a smartphone supported by a camera. The camera uses a camera to illuminate the markers and identifiers printed on the signboards of the store. Then, the application program of the smartphone recognizes the marker and transmits the corresponding image to the content providing server through wireless communication. The content providing server recognizes the identifier, maps the content, and transmits the corresponding content to the user terminal. Then, the user can receive the contents of the store in real time, for example, if the store is a restaurant, the menu and price of the restaurant, event information, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 1, the marker may have any shape such as a circular shape. When the specific marker is included in the image photographed by the smartphone, the content providing server may display content related to the character string SD, for example, an advertisement. It is transmitted to the terminal. The content is a concept encompassing all information including advertisements. If the identifier is a station specific number printed on the bus stop, the terminal may provide a bus number, arrival time information, etc., passing through the corresponding stop. Alternatively, if the identifier is for a specific building in a tourist attraction such as an old palace, the terminal may provide content regarding the history of the building. Such markers and identifiers may be printed on a signboard of a store, or printed on a guide board, a magazine, or the like of a shopping mall, to accurately provide content such as advertisements of a specific advertiser to a user.

Hereinafter, a content providing system using a wireless terminal will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 2.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a content providing system using a wireless terminal according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, a content providing system using a wireless terminal includes a wireless terminal having an application program 100, a content providing server 200, and an advertisement management server 300 of an advertisement provider. The user terminal is connected to the server of the advertisement provider through wireless communication such as Wi-Fi or 3G. The content provider server 200 and the advertisement management server 300 of the advertisement provider are connected by wire or wirelessly, and may be implemented as one server according to an embodiment.

The application program 100 of the wireless terminal may be downloaded and installed by a user through an application store. The camera driving module 110, the image recognition module 120, the data transmission / reception module 130, and the content driving module 140 may be installed. Is done.

The camera driving module 110 operates a camera provided in the terminal when the user executes the application of the terminal. For example, the camera driving module 110 displays an image currently being captured by the camera on a user interface (UI) screen in real time using a camera H / W access API (API) of the terminal platform. The camera driving module 110 transmits the image data displayed on the screen to the image recognition module 120.

The image recognition module 120 recognizes whether a specific marker is included in the image captured by the camera. Marker is to distinguish whether or not the content providing server 200 of the present system can provide content. The marker may be arbitrarily determined by the operator of the content providing system. As shown in FIG. 1, the marker may have a circular shape and may have a simple shape so as to be accurately recognized. Then, the terminal user sees an arbitrary signboard on which a marker such as an annular shape is drawn and learns that the content can be provided by photographing it. When the camera of the terminal illuminates the marker, an indicator UI for displaying whether the marker exists on the current real-time screen may be provided by the image recognition module 120 on the user UI screen.

A method of recognizing a marker is to examine whether an image object having the same pattern as a specific marker of the system can be extracted from the image data captured by using an image processing algorithm. At this time, the image processing flow used by the image recognition module 120 is as follows.

First, the captured image is binarized. This allows the image data that can have various color standards to be inspected through a consistent pattern recognition analysis procedure according to the type of camera H / W of the running terminal and the performance / function of the access API. For this purpose, a preset image quality enhancement filter and a black and white threshold or threshold determination function are set so that each pixel of the image can be a 1-bit bit plane with a completely black and white (0, 1) value. To convert.

Subsequently, image labeling is performed. It scans the entire binarized image (checks all the pixels in the image collectively) to obtain each pixel set that can be connected to each other in the image to be distinguished from other pixel sets, and a unique value for each pixel set. ) Is given. Each labeled pixel set can be said to approximately represent an image object (object, figure) existing in a screen which can be identified by the human eye. As a result of this process, a label map, which is a pixel set classification data structure for pattern data comparison, is then formed.

Next, the label map and pattern data are compared. That is, the image recognition module compares the pattern of each pixel set with the unique marker pattern data of the present system, which is previously created based on a label map obtained through the labeling process and mounted in the image recognition module for reference. For example, the image recognition module sets a minimum rectangular area for enclosing the corresponding pixel set on a two-dimensional plane for each label, obtains statistical values for the distribution of pixels within the minimum rectangular area, and then designates the predetermined marker pattern data. Check each label map within to see if you can find similar values that you processed in the same way. At this time, the image including the marker obtained through the camera by the user may be obtained in a spatial posture that is inclined or sideways instead of being accurately reflected from the front. Therefore, it is preferable that the image recognition module includes a method of comparing the statistical values of the pixel set obtained from the camera image through preprocessing such as rotation and three-dimensional coordinate transformation for each shape pixel set of the marker pattern data.

In this way, the image recognition module 120 determines an image having a higher matching rate than a predetermined pattern matching ratio as an image including a marker, and allows the marker recognition indicator on the terminal UI screen to be changed to recognition determination. . Then, the camera driving module 110 captures the image as a still image and transmits the captured image to the data transmission / reception module 130. In this case, the still image includes a marker and an identifier. The capture and transmission of the target still image may be performed in a full automatic operation according to the user's setting of the terminal application, or may be manually performed by each user's UI screen input.

The data transmission / reception module 130 is responsible for transmitting a still image transmitted from the camera driving module 110 to the content providing server 200 through a Wi-Fi network or a mobile phone (3G) network. The data transmission / reception module 130 may include a Wi-Fi signal analysis module and a network selection and setup module. The Wi-Fi signal analysis module finds all the Wi-Fi networks that the terminal can capture, identifies the networks that can be accessed without a password, and provides network information to the network selection and setup module. The network selection and setup module attempts a Wi-Fi connection according to the information received from the Wi-Fi signal analysis module and accesses the data transmission / reception module of the content providing server through the Wi-Fi network. If the Wi-Fi network information is not available from the Wi-Fi signal analysis module, the user is asked whether to connect to the mobile phone network, and the mobile phone network is attempted to access the content providing server according to the user's selection. .

The content driving module 140 is for driving content received from the content providing server 200 and includes a video player driving module and a text viewer driving module. If the content provided from the content providing server is a video content, the video player is driven. If the content provided from the content providing server is a text, the text viewer is driven. Alternatively, when a mobile web address is provided from the content providing server 200, the web browser of the terminal is driven.

Hereinafter, the content providing server 200 and the advertisement management server 300 of the advertisement content provider will be described.

The content providing server 200 includes a data transmission / reception module 210, an image analysis module 220, a content mapping module 230, and a content acquisition module 240.

The data transmission / reception module 210 sets up and maintains a communication network through a Wi-Fi or mobile telephone network corresponding to the data transmission / reception module of the terminal application.

The image analysis module 220 analyzes the still image received from the terminal and extracts an identifier included in the still image. Such an identifier may be a letter such as SD, a figure such as a triangle, a logo or a number as shown in FIG. 1.

The image analysis module 220 may analyze the still image and extract an identifier as follows.

First, markers in the still image are identified and re-verified. Since the result of real-time recognition of the image obtained from the camera in a wireless terminal application with limited computing power may include an error, the image analysis module 220 of the content providing server 200 filters the still image more precisely to correct the correct marker. Finalize whether or not is included. If it is determined that the correct marker is not included, the content providing server 200 may transmit an error message to the application 100 of the terminal.

The image analysis module 220 then extracts the identifier from the still image. The identifier may be a letter such as a name of a store, a number such as a phone number, or a figure or a logo. In addition to the above, another type that may be analyzed by the image analysis module 220 may be used. If the identifier is a letter and a number, the image analysis module converts the still image into a data processable string based on an optical character recognition (OCR) technology. If the logo is a graphic-based figure, the logo is recognized by a method similar to that used by the image recognition module 120 of the terminal application.

The content mapping module 230 finds and maps content corresponding to the identifier analyzed by the image analysis module 220. To this end, the content mapping module 230 may include a content location DB. The content location DB records the physical location of the content corresponding to the result data provided from the image analysis module 220.

The content acquisition module 240 performs a function of importing content at a physical location identified by the content mapping module 230 from the advertisement management server 300 to the content providing server 200.

The advertisement management server 300 includes a web interface module 310, a content storage DB 320, an identifier registration module 330, and an advertisement cost settlement module 340.

The identifier registration module 330 allows an advertiser to register their identifier and content. As described above, the identifier may be a character, a number, or a figure that can be recognized by the image analysis module, and the content may be any kind of content desired by an advertiser such as a video advertisement, a text advertisement, and a photo. In addition, in the present system, content is a concept encompassing all information related to an advertiser registering an identifier in a broad sense, for example, bus operation information and the history of an old palace. You can also register mobile web addresses instead of content. In this case, the mobile web address corresponding to the identifier is recorded in the content mapping module 230 of the content providing server, and the data transmission / reception module 210 transmits the mobile web address to the terminal application 100.

The content storage DB 320 is where the content registered by the advertiser in relation to its identifier is stored. The web interface module 310 allows an advertiser to manage advertising content he / she wishes to advertise over the Internet. That is, the web interface module 310 is used when an advertiser modifies or updates advertisement content that is already registered.

The advertisement cost settlement module 340 is a module for calculating the advertisement cost according to the advertisement content providing frequency. The following two methods can be used to settle advertising costs.

First of all, this method is based on advertisement exposure. The present content providing system provides advertisement content to an application of a terminal for display to a user, or delivers a mobile web address so that a corresponding web page is displayed on the terminal. In this way, the advertisement cost settlement module 340 recognizes the number of exposures of the advertisement content and sets a predetermined advertisement cost per impression number.

Alternatively, the advertisement fee may be settled according to user behavior after the advertisement is exposed. For example, when a mobile web address is delivered, an application function that can recognize a user's input (click and touch input) when the content is exposed on an application screen of a user terminal by a web-specific Http link method. By this, according to the user's operation can be induced to move to the specific content screen that the advertiser initially specified. At this time, by measuring the number of times the user's actions and the success of reaching the target content, it is possible to calculate the cost per click (CPC) or cost per action (CPA) advertising costs that are set for each advertiser and content.

Hereinafter, a content providing method performed in a content providing system using a wireless terminal will be described with reference to FIG. 3.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a content providing method performed in a content providing system using a wireless terminal. First, the user drives the application program of the terminal (step 400). Then, the camera driving module 110 operates the camera, and the captured image is transmitted to the image recognition module 120 (operation 401).

The image recognition module 120 recognizes the corresponding image (step 402) and checks whether the marker is included in the image (step 403). If it is not confirmed that a marker is included in the image, photographing may be continued or an error message may be output.

If it is determined that the marker includes the image, the data transmission / reception module 130 transmits the still image including the marker and the identifier to the content providing server 200 (operation 404).

Next, the data transmission / reception module 210 of the content providing server 200 receives a still image and transmits the still image to the image analysis module 220 (operation 405). The image analysis module 220 then re-verifies the marker (step 406). That is, the image analysis module 220 analyzes the still image to determine whether the marker is included (step 407), and if it is determined that the marker is not included, the image analysis module 220 notifies an error message to the application of the terminal (step 414). .

If it is determined that the marker is included in the still image, the image analysis module 220 extracts an identifier from the still image (step 408). In operation 409, the content mapping module 230 searches for content corresponding to the identifier. Subsequently, the content obtaining module 240 obtains the content from the content storage DB 320 (step 410), and the data transmitting / receiving module 210 transmits the content to the wireless terminal (step 411).

Then, the content driving module 140 of the wireless terminal displays the content to the user according to the type of the content such as a video or text (step 412).

Thereafter, the advertisement cost settlement module 340 of the advertisement management server 300 calculates the advertisement cost according to the content usage form of the terminal user (operation 413).

100: terminal application, 110: camera driving module
120: image recognition module, 130: data transmission and reception module
140: content driving module, 200: content providing server
210: data transmission and reception module, 220: image analysis module
230: content mapping module, 240: content acquisition module
300: ad management server, 310: web interface module
320: content storage DB, 330: identifier registration module
340: Advertising cost settlement module

Claims (14)

Camera driving module to transfer the captured image to the image recognition module by operating the camera, an image recognition module to recognize whether the captured image includes a marker, and data transmission / reception to transmit the image including the marker and the identifier to the content providing server. An application of a wireless terminal including a module;
A data transmission / reception module for receiving an image including a marker and an identifier from an application of the wireless terminal and transmitting the image to the image analysis module, an image analysis module for extracting an identifier by analyzing an image including a marker and an identifier, and analyzing the image in the image analysis module. A content providing server including a content mapping module configured to find and map a location of content corresponding to the identified identifier in a content storage DB, and a content obtaining module to fetch content at a location checked by the content mapping module;
Includes an identifier management module that allows advertisers to register their identifiers and content, the advertising management server including a content storage DB that stores the content registered by the advertiser with respect to their identifiers,
When a marker is included in the captured image, the content providing system using a wireless terminal, characterized in that the content corresponding to the identifier of the captured image is transmitted to the application of the terminal. The content using the wireless terminal of claim 1, wherein when the camera illuminates the marker, an indicator is provided on the screen of the wireless terminal to indicate whether the marker is present on a current real-time screen. Provide system. The system of claim 1, wherein the image recognition module recognizes an image through image binarization, image labeling, and comparison of a label map and marker pattern data. The system of claim 1, wherein the application of the wireless terminal further comprises a content driving module for driving the content received from the content providing server. The system of claim 1, wherein the image analysis module extracts a marker by analyzing an image and extracts an identifier when the marker is extracted. The content providing system using a wireless terminal of claim 1, wherein the identifier is a letter, a number, a figure, or a logo. The system of claim 1, wherein the advertisement management server further comprises a web interface module which enables an advertiser to manage his or her contents through the Internet. The system of claim 1, wherein the advertisement management server further includes an advertisement cost settlement module that calculates an advertisement cost with an advertiser according to a frequency of providing the content. Content providing server including a camera driving module, an image recognition module, a data transmission and reception module, an application of a wireless terminal including a content driving module, a data transmission and reception module, an image analysis module, a content mapping module, and a content acquisition module, and an identifier registration In the content providing method performed in a content providing system using a wireless terminal including an ad management server including a module, a content storage DB,
(a) when the application of the terminal is driven, operating the camera by the camera driving module and transferring the captured image to the image recognition module;
(b) the image recognition module recognizing a corresponding image to determine whether a marker is included in the image;
(c) if it is determined that the image includes the marker, transmitting the image including the marker and the identifier to the content providing server by the data transmitting / receiving module of the application;
(d) receiving and transmitting the image to the image analysis module by the data transmission / reception module of the content providing server;
(e) extracting an identifier by analyzing the image by the image analyzing module;
(f) searching for the content corresponding to the extracted identifier by the content mapping module;
(g) the content obtaining module obtaining content from the content storage DB, and the data transmitting / receiving module of the content providing server transmitting the content to a wireless terminal;
(h) displaying the content by the content driving module of the wireless terminal to a user. The method of claim 9, wherein before the step (e), the image analysis module analyzes the image and proceeds to step (e) only when the image includes a marker. The method of claim 10, wherein when the marker is not included, an error message is notified to the application of the terminal. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step (b) comprises an image binarization step, an image labeling step, and a comparison of the label map and the marker pattern data. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the advertisement management server further comprises an advertising cost settlement module, and after the step (h), the advertising cost settlement module further comprises the step of calculating the advertising costs with the advertiser according to the frequency of providing the content Content providing method characterized in that. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the identifier is a letter, number, figure, or logo.

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