MXPA99011950A - Portable terminal with advertising medium - Google Patents

Abstract

A portable telephone device or a portable terminal connected to an entertainment device that functions as an advertising medium. When the calendar information and the time information based on a real time clock are presented on a display screen of a portable terminal, the advertising information supplied through the radio waves received by an antenna, is presented simultaneously . Since the advertising information is presented simultaneously with the calendar and time information that attracts the user's attention, that is, it is frequently seen by the user, the portable terminal can function as a highly effective advertising medium.

Description

"TERMINAL PORT TIL WITH PUBLICITY MEDIA" BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a portable terminal with advertising means for use with a portable terminal with a display unit such as an existing portable telephone set, a PHS terminal, a portable gaming machine, or a PDA ( Personal Digital Assistant).

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED TECHNIQUE: Recently, portable terminals have been used with a display unit such as existing portable telephone sets, PHS terminals, portable gaming machines, or PDAs that have an electronic note pad function. These portable terminals have a computer application and storage software (which will be referred to below as "application software for main purposes") that is operated by the computer to perform the various functions.

- Almost all portable terminals with a presentation unit incorporate a real-time clock that is operated by an integral cell even when the power or power supply of the portable terminals has been disconnected. When the application software for main purposes is related to the telephone, communications, games, projects, etc. it is not executed by the computer, the portable terminals display a clock and a calendar in a clock and calendar mode. Figures 11 and 12 of the accompanying drawings show examples of images presented in clock and calendar mode. Figure 11 shows a "September 20, 02 h, 38 m, 37 s" presented image of a liquid crystal display screen of a portable pedometer 602. Figure 12 shows a presented image of "1998/09/20 02:43"on a 606 liquid crystal display screen of a 604 portable telephone set. In many of the conventional portable terminals with a presentation unit, even when the general-purpose application software is running, the related images with general purpose application software they are presented on the presentation screen. However, when the application software is not run for general purposes, a clock (time) and a calendar are presented on a presentation screen. In recent years, the technological advances of the display units, particularly the liquid crystal display units, allow large-sized liquid crystal display panels (hence the screens) and colored liquid crystal display panels are available at low prices. However, since the amount of information required in the clock and calendar mode is limited, conventional portable terminals do not use sufficient presentation resources including color rendering capability and the size of recent presentation units. Even though the display units have improved presentation capabilities and color presentation capabilities, the level of operation required by the clock and calendar mode remains essentially unchanged. Therefore, the image presented in the clock and calendar mode provides the user with an unbalanced and insufficient impression in view of the advances of the images presented when it comes to application software for main purposes.

COMPENDIUM OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a portable terminals with an advertising means, which is capable of carrying out new functions, not available up to now, to present images in a clock and calendar mode. In accordance with the present invention, a portable terminal with a function of the advertising means has a presentation control means to present, on a presentation screen, advertising information and presentation information based on the application software carried out by a computer. Therefore, the portable terminal also functions as an advertising medium. The application software may include at least one software related to entertainment, so that the portable terminal provides an increased entertainment capacity. In accordance with the present invention, a portable terminal with a function of the advertising means has a presentation control means for displaying, on a display screen, advertising information and time information based on a real-time clock.

- Since the advertising information is presented simultaneously with the time information that attracts a lot of attention from the user, that is, which is frequently seen by the user, the portable terminal can function as a highly effective advertising medium. The advertising information is supported by a communication input unit and is presented on the presentation screen. Therefore, the advertising information can be updated. The communication input unit may comprise at least one, at least two, or all of the radio wave input means, the infrared information input means and a physical connector. An optimal communication input unit can be provided depending on the cost of the personal terminal or the needs of the user. When a plurality of advertising information pieces admitted from the communication input unit are stored as the data in the data storage memory, the presentation control means presents the plurality of pieces of advertising information stored in the memory of the data storage unit. storage of data on the presentation screen, according to a rule provided. Therefore, the plurality of pieces of advertising information can be presented selectively on the display screen. The rule provided may be either a rule for taking out and presenting the newly received advertising information, a rule for presenting the advertising information a certain number of times and then presenting the following advertising information a certain number of times, a rule for present the advertising information for a certain period of time and then present the following advertising information- during a certain period of time, a rule to allow the user to select the preferred advertising information based on a control action carried out at through the manual driver. One of these rules can be selected by the user. When the advertising information admitted from the communication input unit is provided as a data in a working memory, the presentation control means presents the advertising information supplied to the working memory essentially on a real-time basis. The advertising information in this way can be transmitted immediately to the user who is observing the presentation screen. If the advertising information admitted from the communication input unit as the data comprises the image information and the sound information, the image information and the sound information can be stored in the data storage memory and presented synchronously in the presentation screen and send from the sound output medium. Since an advertisement is provided simultaneously as an image and sound, the advertising information can be presented more efficiently to the user. The presentation control means may comprise a means for displaying the advertising information on the display screen at all times or during specific times by measuring the real-time clock. These specific times can be selected by the user, depending on the preference or the preferences of the user. The advertising information can be controlled by the computer in order to be admitted as a data from the communication input unit when a certain piece of the plurality of application software pieces is activated or none of the plurality of pieces of application software is activated. execute Since the admission of advertising information is not caused as an interruption while the application software is being executed, the user can uniformly execute the application software.

The objects, features and advantages mentioned above and others of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description when taken together with the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown, through the illustrative example .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a plan view of an entertainment apparatus incorporating a portable terminal in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 is a rear view of the entertainment apparatus, showing intervals thereof; __ Figure 3 is a perspective view of the entertainment apparatus; Figure 4 is a functional diagram of a specific arrangement of main electrical components of the entertainment apparatus; Figure 5 is a plan view of the portable terminal; Figure 6 is a perspective view of the portable terminal; Figure 7 is a perspective view of the portable terminal with a layer being open; - Figure 8 is a front elevational view of the portable terminal; Figure 9 is a functional diagram of a specific arrangement of main electrical components of the portable terminal; Figure 10 is an illustrative view of the clock information and advertising information that are simultaneously displayed on a display screen of the portable terminal; ~~~ Figure 11 is a front elevational view showing an example of an image presented on a conventional pedometer; and Figure 12 is a front elevational view showing an example of an image presented in a conventional portable telephone apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITY A modality of the portable terminal according to the present invention will be described below with reference to. Figures 1 to 10. Figure 1 shows in plan view an entertainment apparatus 1 to which a portable terminal 100 in accordance with the present invention is detachably connected.

The entertainment apparatus 1 reads a program registered in such an optical disc, for example, and executes a game, for example, based on the program depending on the user's commands, e.g., the game player. The execution of the game mainly represents controlling the progress of the game and the presentation of the images and the generation of sounds. The entertainment apparatus 1 has a rectangular box 2 which houses a disk loading unit 3, essentially centrally therein for charging an optical disc such as a CD-ROM or the like as a recording medium for supplying a program of registered application in it for a video game or similar. The box 2 supports a reset switch 4 for resetting a program currently being executed, a power supply switch 5, a disk control switch 6 for controlling the optical disk load and two intervals 7A, 7B . ~~ The entertainment apparatus 1 - which is supplied with the application program via a communication link, instead of being supplied from the optical disk as a recording medium. A manual controller 20 for supplying the user controls is connected to the entertainment apparatus 1.

- - Two manual controllers 20 can be connected respectively as the intervals 7A, 7B allow two users or players of the game to play a compentence game, for example. A memory card that has been conventionally used with a portable terminal 100 in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention, can also be inserted in the ranges 7A, 7B. Even though the two intervals 7A, 7B are shown in Figure 1, the entertainment apparatus 1 may have more or less than two intervals. The manual controller 20 has first and second control pads 21, 22, a left button 23L, a right button 23R, a start button 24, a selector button 25, analog control pads 31, 32, a mode selector switch 33 for selecting the control modes for the analog control pads 31, 32, and an indication 34 for indicating a selected control mode. The manual 2D controller also has a mechanism for imparting vibration (not shown) placed thereon to impart vibrations to the manual controller 20, depending on the manner in which the video game progresses. The manual controller 20 is electrically connected to the slot 7B in the box 2 via a connector 26.

- Figure 2T shows the intervals 7A, 7B which are defined in a front panel of the box 2, of the entertainment apparatus 1. Each of the intervals 7A, 7B have upper and lower units. Specifically, the intervals 7A, 7B respectively have respective memory card insertion units (which are also referred to as portable terminal insertion units) 8A, 8B as their upper units for inserting a 1Q memory card ( see Figure 4) or the portable terminal 100 therein and the respective controller connectors (jacks) 9A, 9B as their lower units for connection to a connection-terminal (connector) 26 of the manual controller. The memory card insertion units 8A, 8B have respective insertion holes. (intervals) which are rectangular in shape horizontally elongated. These insertion intervals have opposite lower round corners in contrast to opposite corners thereof so that the memory card 10 is not inserted into the memory card insertion units 8A, 8B in the wrong or incorrect orientation. The memory card insertion units 8A, 8B also have shutters for - - protect the connection terminals placed in them, for electrical connection. The connectors 9A, 9B of the controller also have respective insertion holes (slots) which are rectangular in shape horizontally elongated. These insertion intervals have opposite round corners in contrast to the opposite upper corners thereof so that the connector terminal 26 of the manual coiler 20 does not connect with the connectors 9A, 9B of the controller in the wrong or incorrigible orientation. The insertion holes of the controller connectors 9A, 9B are differently from the insertion holes of the memory card insertion units 8A, 8B, so that the memory card 10 is not inserted into the insertion holes. of the connectors of the controller 9A, 9B. In Figure 3, the portable terminal 100 is inserted into the memory card insertion unit 8A in the range 7A that is defined in the front panel of the entertainment apparatus 1. A specific arrangement of the entertainment apparatus 1 will now be described with reference to Figure 4. As shown in Figure 4, the entertainment apparatus 1 comprises a control system 50 which includes a central processing unit (CPU) 51 and its peripheral devices, a graphic system 60 that includes a graphic processing unit (GPU) 62 for generating and storing the image data in a frame buffer 63, a sound system 70 including a sound processing unit (SPU) 71 for generating music sounds and sound effects, an optical disk controller 80 for controlling an optical disk in which the application programs are recorded, a communication controller 90 for controlling the signals from the manual controller 20, input to the user instructions, and data supplied to and from a memory card 10, which stores the game recordings, and a BUS bus to which the control system 50, the graphic system 60, the system 70 are connected of sound, the optical disk controller 80, and the communication controller 90. The control system 50 comprises a CPU 51, a controller 52 of the peripheral device for controlling interrupts and a direct memory access data transfer (DMA), a main memory 53 comprising a random access memory (RAM), and a read-only memory (ROM) 54 which stores the various programs such as an operating system for managing the main memory 53, the graphic system 60, the sound system 70, etc. The main memory 53 is - - a memory capable of storing a program that is being executed or carried out. The CPU 51 controls the entertainment apparatus 1 in its entirety when the operating system stored in the ROM 54. The CPU 51 comprises a 32 bit RISC-CPU., for example. When the entertainment apparatus 1 is switched on, the CPU 51 executes or performs the operating system stored in the ROM 54 to initiate control of the graphic system 60, the sound system 70, etc. For example, when the operating system is executed, the CPU 51 initiates the operation of the entertainment apparatus 1 in its entirety to confirm its operation, and then controls the optical disk controller 80 to execute an application program registered on the disc. optical. As the application program is executed, the CPU 51 controls the graphic system 60, the sound system 70, etc., depending on the user's supported commands in order to control the presentation of images and the generation of sounds of the user. music and sound effects. The graphic system 60 comprises a geometry transfer engine 61 (GTE) to carry out the transformations and coordinate and other processing, a GPU - 62 for generating the image data according to the instructions of the CPU 51, or a frame buffer 63 for storing the image data generated by the GPU 62 and an image decoder 64 for decoding the image data compressed and encoded by an orthogonal transformer such as a discrete cosine transformer. The GTE 61 has a parallel arithmetic mechanism for carrying out a plurality of arithmetic operations parallel to each other, and can carry out coordinate transformations, light source calculations, matrices or vectors at a high speed in response to a request from CPU 51. Specifically, GTE 61 can calculate the coordinates of a maximum of 1.5 million polygons per second for a flat shading process in order to draw a triangular polygon with a color, for example. With the GTE 61, the entertainment apparatus 1 is able to reduce the load on the CPU 51 and carry out coordinate calculations at high speed. In accordance with an image generation instruction from the CPU 51, the GPU 62 generates and stores the data of a polygon or the like in the buffer 63 of frame. The GPU 62 is capable of generating and storing a maximum of 360 thousand polygons per second.

- The frame buffer 63 comprises a Double port RAM, and is able to simultaneously store the data of the image generated by: 1st CPU 62 or the data of the transferred image from the main memory 53, and read the data of the image for presentation. The frame buffer 63 has a storage capacity of 1 Mbytes, for example, and is handled as a 16 bit array consisting of a horizontal array of 1024 pixels and a vertical column of 512 pixels. The frame buffer 63 has a display area for storing the data of the image to be sent as the video output data, a CLUT area (color query box) to store a color query box that will be referenced by GPU 62 when it generates a polygon or similar, and a texture area to store the texture data that is going to undergo coordinate transformations when a polygon is generated and presented to a polygon generated by the GPU 62. The CLUT area and the texture area are dynamically varied as the presentation area is varied. The GPU 62 can carry out, in addition to the process of plane shading, a Gouraud shading process to determine the colors in the polygons by interpolating the intensities of the vertices of the polygons, and a process of texture reproduction, and the GTE 61 can carry out coordinate calculations for a maximum of approximately 500,000 polygons per second. The image decoder 64 is controlled by the CPU 51 to decode the image data of a motionless or moveable image stored in the main memory 53 and store the decoded image in the memory 53 principal. The image data reproduced by the image decoder 64 is transferred to the frame buffer 63 by the GPU 52, and can be used as a background for an image plotted by the GPU 62. The sound system 70 comprises a SPU 71 to generate music sounds, sound effects, etc., based on the instructions of the CPU 51, a sound buffer 72 for storing the data of the waveform from the SPU 71, and a speaker 73 for sending sounds of music, sound effects, etc. generated by SPU 71. "The SPU 71 has an ADPCM (adaptive differential PCM) function to reproduce the 16-bit sound data that has been encoded as the 4-bit differential sound data by ADPCM, a playback function for playback the waveform data stored in the sound buffer 72 for - generating sound effects, etc., and a modulation function for modulating and reproducing the waveform data stored in the sound buffer 72. The sound system 70 can be used as a sampling sound source that generates music sounds, sound effects, etc. based on the waveform data stored in the sound buffer 72 in accordance with the commands from the CPU 51. The optical disk controller 80 comprises an optical disc driver 81 for reproducing application programs and the data recorded in the optical disk such as a CD-ROM or the like, a decoder 82 for decoding programs and data that are recorded with an error correction code added thereto, and a buffer 83 for temporarily storing the read data of the disk drive 81 optical in order to allow the optical disk data to be read at a high speed. The auxiliary CPU 84 is connected to the decoder 82. The sound data recorded on the optical disc that is read by the optical disk drive 81 includes the PCM data converted from the analog sound signals, in addition to the ADPCM data. The ADPCM data, which is recorded as the 4 bit differential data of the 16 bit digital data, is decoded by the decoder 82, supplied to the SPU 71, converted in this way into the analog data and applied to drive the loudspeaker 73 The PCM data, which is recorded as a 16-bit digital data, is decoded by the decoder 82 and then applied to drive the loudspeaker 73. The communication controller 90 comprises a communication control mechanism 91 for controlling communication with CPU 51 through the BUS bus. The communication control mechanism 91 has the connectors of the controller 9A, 9B with which the hand controller 20 is connected to support the user commands, and the memory card insertion units 8A, 8B to receive a memory card 10 as an auxiliary memory device for storing game settings, etc. and the portable terminal 100. The manual controller 20 connected to one of the connectors 9A, 9B of the controller has 16 command keys, for example, to support the user commands, and transmits the current states of the command keys about 60 times per second to the controller. communication control mechanism 91 through synchronous communication according to the instructions of the communication control mechanism 91. The communication control mechanism 91 transmits the current states of the keys or control keys to the CPU 51.

In this way, the user's commands are applied to the CPU 51, which performs a process according to the commands based on the game program-which is being executed. A large amount of the image data needs to be transferred at high speed between the main memory 53, the GPU 62, the image decoder 64 and the decoder 82 to read a program, present an image or generate and store the image data . In the entertainment apparatus 1, the data is transferred directly between the main memory 53, the GPU 62, the image decoder 64, and the decoder 82 according to the transfer of the DMA data under the control of the controller 52 of the device. Peripheral instead of the CPU 51. Therefore, the load on the CPU 51 can be reduced for data transfer, and high-speed data transfer can be achieved between the main memory 53, the GPU 62, the image decoder 64 , and the decoder 82. When the graduation data of a running game needs to be stored, the CPU 51 transmits the graduation data to the communication control mechanism 91, which writes the transmitted graduation data to the memory card 10. or the terminal 100 portable - - which is inserted into the memory card insertion unit 8A or 8B. The communication control mechanism 91 has an integral protection circuit for protection against electrical disintegration. The memory card 10 and the portable terminal 100 are separated from the bus BUS, and can be switched on and off while the entertainment apparatus 1 is being energized. Therefore, when the memory card 10 and the portable terminal 100 suffer from a shortage of storage capacity, a new memory card or terminal can be connected without having to disconnect the entertainment apparatus 1. Consequently, any data of the game that needs to be backed up can be stored in a new memory card connected to the entertainment apparatus 1, without danger of being lost. As shown in Figure 4, the entertainment apparatus 1 further includes a parallel I / O interface (PIÓ) 96 and a serial 1/0 interface (SIO) 97 which serve to connect the external extended devices to the apparatus 1 entertainment. The portable terminal 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described below. It is assumed that the portable terminal 100 will be used as a slave unit connected to the entertainment apparatus 1 which serves as a master unit. The portable terminal 100 is inserted into one of the memory card insertion units 8A, 8B at intervals 7A, 7B of the entertainment apparatus 1, and can be used as a memory card inherent in the connected manual controllers. For example, if two users or game players play a game in the entertainment apparatus 1, then two terminals 100 are connected to store the game results of the respective users. In order to electrically connect the power supply terminals and ground terminals before the other terminals when the memory card 10 and the portable terminal 100 are inserted in the memory card insertion units 8A, 8B, those supply terminals of power and ground terminals of the connectors of the memory card 10 and the portable terminal 100, are made longer than the other terminals in order to achieve security and stability of the electrical operation. The corresponding connector conductors of the memory card insertion units 8A, 8B can be made longer and other conductors of the connector or both power supply terminals and ground terminals of the connectors of the memory card 10 and the - terminal 100 portable and the connector conductors of the memory card insertion units 8A, 8B can be made longer than the other terminals and conductors of the connector. Likewise, the connectors of the memory card 10 and the portable terminal 100 can be configured asymmetrically in the longitudinal direction to prevent them from being inserted in the wrong or incorrect direction. As shown in Figures 5 to 8, the portable terminal 100 has a housing 101 holding a manual control pad 120 having one or more direction buttons 121 and a decision button 122 for admitting events and making several selections, one color display unit 130 having a display screen 128 comprising a color liquid crystal display (LCD) unit of the TFT type or the like, and a window 140 for wireless communication such as infrared communication with a control unit wireless communication (to be described later). The housing 101 comprises an upper helmet 101a and a lower helmet 101b, and houses a board 151 that supports memory devices, etc. in the same. The housing 101 is configured to be insertable in any of one of the intervals 7A, 7B in the box 2 of the - entertainment apparatus 1 The housing 101 has a connector 150 on the side of one end thereof that includes a rectangular window. The window 140 is mounted on a substantially semicircular end of the housing 101 remote from the connector 150. The color display unit 130 occupies essentially half of the upper hull 101a of the housing 101, and is positioned near the window 140. The hinge pad 120 of FIG. manual control _ occupies the other half area essentially of the upper hull 101a, and is positioned at a distance from the window 140. The manual control pad 120 comprises an essentially square lid 110 which is movably supported angularly in the housing 101 and holds in the same, the steering buttons 121 and the decision button 122 and the switch pressure devices 102, 103 placed in an area of the housing 101 that can be opened and closed by the lid 110. The steering buttons 121 and the button 122 of decision extend through the lid 110 from its upper surface to its lower surface. The steering buttons 121 and the decision button 122 are held in the lid 110 to move in and out of the upper surface of the lid 110.

- The switch pressers 102, 103 have respective pressure elements held in the housing 101 for movement in and out of the upper surface of the housing 101. When one of the pressing elements is pressed from above, press a pressure switch such as a pressure switch. diaphragm switch, for example, mounted on board 151 in housing 101. With cover 110 closed, switch pressers 102, 103 are retained in vertical alignment with direction buttons 121 and decision button 122, respectively. Therefore, while the lid 110 is being closed above the housing 101, when the steering buttons 121 and the decision button 122 are pressed from above to the upper surface of the lid 110, the steering buttons 121 and the decision button 122 causes the pressing elements of the corresponding switch presses 102, 103 to press the corresponding pressure switches in the housing 101. As shown in Figure 8, the power and signal terminals 152 are mounted on the board 151 and they are placed in the 150 connector window.

- The connector 15Q has a shape and dimensions that are identical to those of the memory card 10 used in the entertainment apparatus 1. An arrangement of the main components of the portable information terminal 100 will be described below with reference to Figure 9. The portable terminal 100 has a controller 300 comprising a microcomputer or the like including a CPU 302 for controlling the total system of the terminal 100. laptop. The CPU 302 manages a bus of the system 304 to which the different blocks of the portable terminal 100 are connected. The portable terminal 100 has three communication entry ways towards which the advertising information or similar information can be admitted as a data. The first route or communication path comprises a reception antenna 306, an RF processor 308, a decoder 310, and an interface 312 in series to parallel (SPI) to convert a serial signal into a parallel signal. A radio wave representing the advertising information sent from the radio station (not shown) and received by the receiving antenna 306 is converted from a radio frequency signal into a signal of - IF through the radiofrequency processor 308, and the IF signal is demodulated in this way. The demodulated signal is then converted by the decoder 310 into a serial data that is converted by the SPI 312 into a parallel data that is sent to the bus 304 of the system. The receiving antenna 306 and the radiofrequency processor 308 together constitute a radio wave input means. When advertising information or similar is admitted as a data through the first route or means of communication, the portable terminal 100 does not connect with the entertainment apparatus 1, ie, it is independent of the entertainment apparatus 1, e.g., it is carried by the user. The second route or route of communication is a route along which the communication data can be accepted and sent and comprises an infrared interface 316 which is a module in accordance with the standards of IrDA (Infrared Data Association), with diodes 314, 315 of emission-detection of red mounted integrally therein and a UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter) 318 as an interface for the transfer of the asynchronous data. Infrared rays are received and sent along the second communication path when they are received from and sent to the external source via the infrared 316 interface and converted from a parallel signal to a serial signal and from a signal in series to a parallel signal and are admitted and sent from the bus 304 of the system. The infrared interface 316 serves as a means of infrared information input / output. When the advertising information or the like is admitted as a data through the second communication path, the portable terminal 100 does not connect with the entertainment apparatus 1, that is, it is independent of the entertainment apparatus 1, ie, it is carried by the user. The third communication path is a path along which the communication data can be accepted and sent and comprises a connector (physical connector) 150 to be used to make a physical connection and a serial-to-parallel interface (SPI) 320. The connector 150 is connected to any of the insertion units 8A, 8B of the portable terminal at intervals 7A, 7B of the entertainment apparatus 1. The serial data of the information including the advertising information read from an optical disc such as a CD-ROM or the like by the optical disk drive 81 is supplied through the connector 150 to the SPI 320, from which the serial data is sent. as a data in parallel to bus 304 of the system.

- To present an image on the presentation screen 128 of the color display unit 130 of the portable terminal 100, a GDC (Graphic Display Controller) 324 such as an image processing means exchanges the data with a connected 326 frame memory with the GDC 324, and controls the LCDC (Liquid Crystal Display Driver) 328 as the controller of the liquid crystal display unit (the liquid crystal display unit control means) to present an image on the screen 128 for presenting the color display unit 130 comprising a color liquid crystal display unit of the TFT type. To send the sound (including music) from a loudspeaker 330 as a means of sending sound, a DAC (Digital Analog Converter) 332 receives the digital sound data from the bus 304 of the system, converts the digital sound data into data of analog sound and sends the analog sound data through the loudspeaker 330. To the bus 304 of the system, a working memory 334 is connected as a memory medium comprising an SRAM to temporarily store the data and the calculated results required by the processing of the CPU 302, and a data memory 336 as an external memory medium through the memory interface 337. A ROM 335 with an integral OSD function (In the Screen Display) (which is also done also referred to as OSDROM), which may comprise a "flash" memory, for example it is connected to the bus 304 of the system. The ROM 335 stores a control program such as a grain or the like. A real-time clock (RTC) 338 having a clock and calendar function is also connected to the bus 304 of the system. Manual controller 120 is connected through a switch interface 340 (SWIF) with bus 304 of the system. The interface 340 of the switch also functions as an interruption generation means. Electric power is supplied from a battery 342 to the controller 300. Therefore, while the portable terminal 100 is independent of the entertainment apparatus 1, the portable terminal 100 can carry out the application software stored in the data memory 336. The data and application software stored in the data memory 336 are backed up by a non-volatile memory or the like when the power supply of the portable terminal 100 is disconnected. In Figure 9, the CPU 302, the working memory 334, the OSDROM 335, and the data memory 336 work - as a computer that performs calculations and data processing according to a program (including application software). The GDC 324 and the frame memory 326 function as a display control means for displaying the advertisement information, the time information or presenting the information based on the application software executed by the computer, on the presentation screen 128 the presentation unit 130. The presentation of the data or sound generation in relation to the advertising information obtained through the first, second and third communication channels will be described below. - - - The portable terminal 100 has a function to present the received advertising information as the data, together with the clock and calendar information on the presentation screen 128 of the display unit 130 _ in a clock display mode. In this sense, the portable terminal 100 can be described as a portable terminal with an advertising medium. The data representing advertising information may be the data of any content eg, still images compressed (JPEG or similar), movable or similar images (MPEG or similar), animation, two-dimensional or three-dimensional graphics, trademarks of logarithm of manufacturers and brands, and letters and symbols in one-size-prepared warehouses. If the data representing advertising information is a data of two-dimensional or three-dimensional graphs then in order to economize a data capacity, the portable terminal 100 can be placed as a stage receiving system to receive the image data (texture data) first and then receive a primitive list and commands. The advertising information obtained through the first, second and third communication channels is usually stored in a predetermined area in the external data memory 336 through the bus 304 of the system. During the course of a certain period of time after the user operates or does not operate the manual controller 120 while presenting the portable terminal 100, on the presentation screen 128 the presentation information based on the executed application software by the CPU 302, eg, the entertainment software including the game software or the like, the CPU 302 places the portable terminal 100 in a clock display mode. In the clock display mode, the CPU 302 refers to the real time clock 338.

- - Essentially simultaneously when the CPU 302"reads the clock and calendar display data, from a real-time clock 338, the CPU 302 reads the advertising data stored in the data memory 336 and the GDC 324 and the memory of the data. box 326 work with each other to combine the clock and calendar display data and the advertising data in the frame memory 326, and display the combined data on the presentation screen 128 of the color presentation unit 130. Figure 10 shows, by way of example, the presentation of the advertising information (which is also referred to as presentation of advertising or advertising information) 350, the calendar presentation (which is also referred to as information of advertising). calendar) 352 ("1998.12.31 THR" in the Figure 10), and the presentation of time (which is also referred to - as information - of time) 354 ("12:50" in Figure 10) which are made in the presentation screen 128 of the color presentation unit 130 based on the combination of the clock and calendar presentation data and the advertising data. Since the display screen 128 simultaneously displays the calendar information 352, the time information 354, and the advertisement information 350 based on the real-time clock which attracts the user's great attention, the information presented is highly effective as an advertisement. or announcement. The advertising information 350 is admitted through the first, second and third communication channels and then presented on the presentation screen 128, the advertising information 350 which is usually required to be highly new, can be easily updated. Since the first, second and third communication channels can receive radio wave data, infrared data and physical connector data, any of these data can be selected and used in accordance with the intention of the person making the user's advertising. . Not only a piece of advertising information but also a plurality of piece of advertising information can be stored as a data in the data memory 336 so that the CPU 3Q2, the GDC 324, and the frame memory 326 will select the plurality of pieces of advertising information and will present the same on the presentation screen 128 according to a certain rule that will be provided below. The determined rule can either be a rule for extracting and presenting the newly received advertising information on the presentation screen 128 (called - the rule of immovable exit inverse to the entrance (LIFO), a rule to present advertising information a certain number of times and then present the following advertising information a certain number of times, a rule to present advertising information during a certain period of time and then present the following advertising information for a certain period of time, a rule to allow the user to select the preferred advertising information based on a control action carried out through the manual controller 120. If the real-time advertising information is important, then when the advertising information is admitted as the data in the working memory 334 through one of the first, second and third communication channels, the advertising information admitted in the Work memory 334 may be presented on a presentation screen 128 essentially on a real-time basis. The advertising information can therefore be immediately transmitted to the user who is observing the display screen 12-8. The user can use the manual controller 120 to switch to this real-time presentation process. If the advertising information admitted as the data comprises the image information and the sound information, then the image information and the sound information can be stored in the data memory 336 and presented synchronously on the presentation screen 128 and sent from the loudspeaker 330 or stored in the working memory 334 and synchronously presented presentation screen 128 and sent from loudspeaker 330. In this case, advertising is provided in the form of an image and sound, and advertising infoxmation can be presented more efficiently to the user. The advertising information 350 can be displayed on the presentation screen 128 at all times or during specific times (e.g., for 1 minute every 15 minutes) by measuring the real-time clock 338. These specific times can be selected by the user depending on the preferences or tastes of the user. The calendar information 352 and the time information 354 may be presented in a semitransparent manner, i.e., a way to be viewed through it, and the advertising information 350 may be presented on the presentation screen 128 in its entirety. The advertising information can be controlled by the CPU 302 to be admitted from the first, second and third communication channels when a - a certain piece of the multiple pieces of application software stored in the data memory 336 is activated or none of the pieces of application software is executed. In this way, since the input of the advertising information is not caused as an interruption while the application software is being carried out, the advertising information is read in the work memory 334 or the data memory 336 without that is observed by the user and the user can uniformly carry out the application software. The portable terminal 100 described above is a portable terminal that can be connected to the entertainment apparatus 1. However, the present invention is not limited to the portable terminal that can be connected to the entertainment apparatus 1 but can be applied to all portable terminals including a portable telephone set, a PHS terminal, a portable gaming machine, a pedometer and a PDA having an electronic note pad function (preferably a color display unit such as a color liquid crystal display unit or the like) that is capable of displaying clock information such as calendar information and / or time information.

- The portable terminal 100 or other portable terminals including a portable telephone apparatus, a PHS terminal, a portable gaming machine, a pedometer, and a PDA are therefore capable of placing an advertisement on the presentation screen which attracts great attention of the user, that is, that is frequently seen by the user in order to recognize a time and a date. Therefore, the portable terminal 100 or other portable terminal can be used as an advertising medium-highly effective for the advertisers. The portable terminal capable of presenting advertisements can effectively use the presentation resources of the presentation screens of the small-sized liquid crystal display units that have improved capabilities including higher resolutions, larger graduations and more colors, power requirements lower, sharper images and lower profiles. In addition, the portable terminal allows those supplying the content to distribute the information or persons that supply the portable terminal to obtain an advertising revenue that leads to a reduction in the content and price quotas of the portable terminal, and therefore provides a advertising information that - It provides a system that is highly convenient and economical for the user. In accordance with the present invention, therefore, the portable terminal may present the advertising information, present the information based on the application software, and in this way may function as a means of advertising. Since an advertisement is also simultaneously displayed in the clock and calendar mode, the portable terminal is provided with an advertising medium function which is a new function that was not previously available. Although a certain preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described in detail, it should be understood that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (19)

- - CLAIMS:

1. A portable terminal with a function of the advertising medium comprising: a computer, a presentation screen and a manual controller; and a presentation control means for presenting, on the presentation screen, the advertising information and presenting information based on the application software executed by the computer.

2. A portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the application software includes at least one software related to entertainment. _

3 . A portable terminal with an advertising medium function comprising: a computer having a real-time clock and a presentation screen; and a display control means for displaying, on the display screen, advertising information and time information based on the real time clock.

4. A portable terminal according to claim 1, further comprising: - a common input unit to receive information through communications; the arrangement is such that the advertising information is admitted by the communication entry unit and presented on the presentation screen.

5. A portable terminal according to claim 3, further comprising: a communication input unit for receiving the information through the communications; the arrangement is such that the advertising information is admitted by the communication entry unit and presented on the presentation screen.

6. A portable terminal according to claim 4, wherein the communication input unit comprises at least one, two or all of the radio wave admission means, infrared information admission means and a physical connector.

A portable terminal according to claim 5, wherein the communication input unit comprises at least one, at least two or all of the radio wave input means, the infrared information input means and a physical connector.

8. A portable terminal according to claim 4, wherein the computer includes a data storage memory, the arrangement being such that when a plurality of pieces of management information admitted from the communication input unit are stored as data in the data storage memory, the display control means presents the plurality of pieces of advertising information stored in the data storage memory on the display in accordance with a given rule.

9. A portable terminal according to claim 5, wherein the computer includes a data storage memory, the arrangement is such that when a plurality of pieces of advertising information admitted from the communication input unit are stored. as a data in the data storage memory, the presentation control means presents the plurality of pieces of advertising information stored in the data storage memory on the display screen, in accordance with a given rule.

10. A portable terminal according to claim 8, wherein the determined rule is either a rule for extracting and presenting newly received advertising information, a rule for displaying advertising information a certain number of times and then displaying the following advertising information a certain number of times, a rule to present the advertising information during a certain period of time and then present the advertising information for a certain period of time, a rule to allow the user to select the information of Preferred advertising based on a control action that is carried out through the manual controller.

11. A portable terminal according to claim 9, wherein the given rule is either a rule for extracting and presenting the newly received advertising information, a rule for presenting the advertising information a certain number of times and then presenting the advertising information below a certain number of times, a rule for presenting the advertising information during a certain period of time and then presenting the advertising information below for a certain period of time, or a rule for allowing the user to select the preferred advertising information.

12. A portable terminal according to claim 4 wherein the computer includes a working memory, the arrangement being such that - when the advertising information admitted from the communication input unit is supplied as the data in the working memory, the presentation control means presents the advertising information supplied to the working memory essentially on a real-time basis.

13. A portable terminal according to claim 5, wherein the computer includes a working memory, the arrangement is such that when the advertising information admitted from the communication input unit is supplied as a data in the memory of work, the presentation control means presents the advertising information supplied to the working memory essentially on a real-time basis.

14. A portable terminal according to claim 8, further comprising: a sound output means for sending sounds; the computer comprises means for, if the advertising information admitted from the communication input unit as a data comprises image information and sound information, storing the image information and the sound information in the data storage memory and presenting of synchronous manexa the image information on the presentation screen and - - send the sound information from the sound output medium.

15. A portable terminal according to claim 9, further comprising: a sound output means for sending sounds; a computer comprising means for, if the advertising information admitted from the communication input unit as the data comprises image information and sound information, storing the image information and the sound information in the storage memory of data and synchronously present the image information and the display screen and send the sound information from the sound delivery medium.

16. A portable terminal according to claim 12, further comprising: a sound output means for sending sounds; the computer comprises means for, if the advertising information admitted from the communication input unit co or the data comprises an image information and sound information, storing the image information and the sound information in the storage memory of data and synchronously present the image information on the screen of - presentation and send the sound information from the sound sending medium.

17. A portable terminal according to claim 13, further comprising: a sound output means for sending sounds; a computer comprises a means for, if the advertising information admitted from the communication input unit as the data comprises the image information and the sound information, storing the image information and the -sound information in the memory of data storage and synchronously present the image information on the presentation screen and send the sound information from the sound output medium.

A portable terminal according to claim 3, wherein the display control means comprises means for displaying the advertising information on the display screen at all times, or during specific times by measuring the real time clock.

19. A portable terminal with a function of the advertising medium comprising: a computer, a presentation screen and a manual controller; - a display control means for presenting, on the display screen, advertising information and presenting information based on any of a plurality of application software pieces that are carried out by the computer; a communication input unit for receiving information through communications; the arrangement being such that the advertising information is controlled by the computer to be sent as a data from the communication input unit when a piece of the plurality of application software pieces is activated or none of the plurality of pieces Application software is carried out.