WO2012015126A1

WO2012015126A1 - Contents message transmitting apparatus and method thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2012015126A1
Application number: PCT/KR2010/009365
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hyo-Hwan Bae; Sin-Jong Li
Original assignee: Hyo-Hwan Bae; Sin-Jong Li
Priority date: 2010-07-29
Filing date: 2010-12-27
Publication date: 2012-02-02
Also published as: KR20120011585A; KR101211644B1

Abstract

A contents message transmitting apparatus and a method thereof are provided. The method of transmitting a content message including receiving a content message transmission request signal from a content message transmission request apparatus, the content message transmission request signal containing a content that a user is willing to transmit and contact information of a recipient to receive the content, generating a content message which contains the content, the contact information of a recipient, and a relevant advertisement of the content, transmitting the content message to a content message receiving apparatus, and charging a fee incurred from transmission of the content message to an advertiser of the relevant advertisement.

Description

CONTENTS MESSAGE TRANSMITTING APPARATUS AND METHOD THEREOF

The following description relates to an apparatus and method for transmitting a content message, and more particularly, to a content message transmission apparatus and method which activates the personal user's use of content message transmission service and at the same time, increases the advertisement effect by generating and transmitting a content message that contains a content that a user is willing to transmit and a relevant advertisement of the content when a consumer desires to transmit the content in use of a personal computer (PC), and charging a fee incurred from the content message transmission to an advertiser.

A text message service, that is, a short message service (SMS) which is provided in a mobile communication system has drawn a great attention recently as a communication means. This is because an SMS can be conducted simultaneously with other tasks and allows users to communicate in situations where silence is required.

The SMS may be input by use of a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone, and then transmitted to a recipient. If a content to be transmitted is data that has been previously input, it may be much easier for a transmitter to copy the same data and transmit it than to type the data. For example, when a user is willing to transmit text disclosed in an Internet site in use of a personal computer (PC) to his/her mobile communication terminal, it is not efficient for the user to type the text into his/her mobile communication terminal. Thus, the user may use a service that allows copying the text and transmitting it to a mobile communication terminal of a recipient.

In this case, the user may use a message transmission service served by a website of a communication service provider. For example, the user may log in a message transmission service provided by a messenger program, paste a content to be transmitted, and send it to a mobile communication terminal of a recipient. However, even in this case, the user needs to conduct a series of operation including logging in the messenger, displaying a window to which the content is pasted, and the like.

To overcome such drawbacks, the applicant of the present invention has introduced a technique to transmit content with the minimum manipulation when the content to be transmitted is present in use of a personal computer (PC). According to the above technique, a fee incurred from the content transmission is charged to a consumer, and such fee charging is highly likely to hinder the activation of the message transmission service.

Therefore, a method of activating the use of the service while reducing the burden of cost on a consumer is required.

The technical purpose of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for transmitting a content message, which activates the use of content message transmission service at the same time increases advertisement effect by generating and transmitting a content message that contains a content to be transmitted and a relevant advertisement of the content when a consumer desires to transmit a content in use of a personal computer, and charging a fee incurred from the content message transmission to an advertiser.

In one general aspect, there is provided a method of transmitting a content message, the method including receiving a content message transmission request signal from a content message transmission request apparatus, the content message transmission request signal containing a content that a user is willing to transmit and contact information of a recipient to receive the content; generating a content message which contains the content, the contact information of a recipient, and a relevant advertisement of the content; transmitting the content message to a content message receiving apparatus; and charging a fee incurred from transmission of the content message to an advertiser of the relevant advertisement.

Other features will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the attached drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

As described above, by charging a fee incurred from transmission of a content message to an advertiser and reducing the burden of cost on a user, the personal user's use of content message transmission service can be activated.

In addition, when an advertisement is inserted into content that a user is willing to transmit, a content message is generated by adding a relevant advertisement related to the content, so that the content message can differ from spam messages and a recipient of the content message may be induced to keep the content message for a longer period of time, thereby achieving the continuous advertisement effect.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a content message transmitting system.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an overall flow of an example of a method of transmitting a content message.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing in detail the input signal monitoring operation S230 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing in detail the content message generating operation S260 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a content message transmission request apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a popup menu.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a content message transmitting apparatus.

Elements, features, and structures are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the drawings and the detailed description, and the size and proportions of some elements may be exaggerated in the drawings for clarity and convenience.

The following detailed description is provided to assist the reader in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the methods, apparatuses and/or systems described herein. Various changes, modifications, and equivalents of the systems, apparatuses and/or methods described herein will suggest themselves to those of ordinary skill in the art. Descriptions of well-known functions and structures are omitted to enhance clarity and conciseness.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a content message transmitting system 10. The content message transmitting system 10 may include a content message transmission request apparatus 500, a content message transmitting apparatus 700, a content message receiving apparatus 900, an Internet network 100, and a mobile communication network 300.

The content message transmission request apparatus 500 may monitor an input signal related to a content message transmission function, and generate a content message transmission request signal according to the monitoring result. To this end, an agent application may be installed in the content message transmission request apparatus 500 to monitor the input signal related to the content message transmission function.

The content message transmission request message generated according to the monitoring result may be transmitted to the content message transmitting apparatus 700. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the content message transmission request message may contain a currently selected content and contact information of a recipient that is to receive the selected content. Here, examples of the contact information of the recipient may include a phone number of a mobile phone in use by the recipient, an email address of the recipient, and the like. In addition, content refers to content that is to be displayed in web browser applications, document editing applications, and other viewer applications and may be at least one of text data and image data. Examples of a method of selecting the content may include a method in which a mouse is dragged to select content to be transmitted and a method in which an arrow key is clicked to select content while a shift key of a keyboard is being pressed.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the content message transmission request apparatus 500 may be an apparatus capable of a transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) communication. Examples of a TCP/IP communication apparatus may include a personal computer such as a desktop computer and a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), and a smart phone.

The content message transmitting apparatus 700 may generate a content message containing content selected by a user, relevant advertisements of the content, and the contact information of the recipient in response to the request from the content message transmission request apparatus 500. As such, to generate the content message including a relevant advertisement added to the corresponding content selected by the user, the content message transmitting apparatus 700 may store and manage advertisement data that an advertiser has previously provided and user information pre-set by a personal user.

The user information may include personal information and additional information. Examples of the personal information may include identification (ID), a password, a resident registration number, an address, and a phone number of the user, and examples of the additional information may include a user's field of interest. The user information may be input or amended after the user logs in a website before or after the agent application is installed.

The advertisement data may contain the substance of the advertisement that the advertiser desires to advertise through the content message, a keyword of the substance of the advertisement, an enterprise name or a company name related to the substance of the advertisement, information about targets of the advertisement, information about an advertisement exposure scheme, and the like.

The content message generated by the content message transmitting apparatus 700 may be transmitted to the content message receiving apparatus 900 via the Internet network 100 or a mobile communication network 300 according to a type of contact information of a recipient. For example, if the contact information of the recipient is an email address, the content message may be transmitted to the content message receiving apparatus 900 via the Internet network 100. If the contact information is a phone number of a recipient, the content message may be transmitted to the content message receiving apparatus 900 via the mobile communication network 300.

In response to the transmission of the content message, the content message transmission apparatus 700 may be allowed to settle a fee incurred from the transmission of the content message. In the example, the fee incurred from the the transmission of the content message may be charged to an advertiser of the relevant advertisement contained in the content message instead of a user who issues a request for transmission of the content message. In this case, the advertiser may be charged with the entire amount charged or a small part of the amount charged for the transmission of the content message. A detailed description of fee settlement will be provided with reference to FIG. 2 later.

The content message receiving apparatus 900 may receive the content message from the content message transmitting apparatus 700. To this end, the content message receiving apparatus 900 may be linked to the Internet network 100 or a mobile communication network 300. In the example, it may be understood that the content message receiving apparatus 900 is a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone.

FIG. 2 illustrates an overall flow of an example of a method of transmitting a content message.

A content transmission apparatus may store advertisement data provided by an advertiser (S200). As described with reference to FIG. 1, the advertisement data may contain the substance of the advertisement that the advertiser desires to advertise through the content message, a keyword of the substance of the advertisement, an enterprise name or a company name involved with the substance of the advertisement, information about targets of the advertisement, information about an advertisement exposure scheme, and the like. The advertiser may previously define advertisement data. For example, the substance of the advertisement may be defined from photographs of a hospital, a map, a phone number, and operation cases, and a keyword representing the above contents of the advertisement may be set as a plastic surgery. An enterprise name related to the substance of the advertisement may be defined as Dr. Doe's Plastic Surgery. Then, targets of the advertisement may be defined as Men and Women over 20 years of age. Finally, an exposure scheme may be selected from exclusive advertising or multiple advertising.

The setting of advertisement data may be performed in various ways. For example, the advertiser may subscribe to a website that the content message transmitting apparatus 700, and set the advertisement data by him/herself. The advertiser may define all items of advertisement data or some items of the advertisement data described above.

In addition, the content transmitting apparatus may allow the advertiser or an operator to define the advertisement data with the minimum manipulation. More specifically, the content transmitting apparatus may display categories related to the advertisement in a graphical user interface for setting the advertisement data. Then, when the advertiser or the operator selects a specific category from the displayed categories, the substance of the advertisement corresponding to the selected category is automatically set.

Then, an agent application may be installed in the content message transmission request apparatus 500 (S210). The agent application may generate a content message transmission request signal by monitoring an input signal related to the content message transmission function.

Examples of the agent application installation method may include a method of downloading and running an installation file and a method of installing a component object model module in an Internet site. The installed agent may run on the background. That is, the agent application does not include a graphical user interface, but only an agent process is run. Alternatively, even when the agent application includes a graphical user interface of its own, the user interface may be configured only to allow the user to set whether to activate or not the content message transmission function or to define environment settings related to a corresponding function.

Moreover, the agent application may be installed to be automatically executed when a device in which the application is installed is booted up. The automatic execution of the agent application may be defined by the user upon installation of the agent application, or by adjusting settings after installation.

After the installation of the agent is completed, the settings of the installed agent may be adjusted (S220). In operation S220, the user may set set various options in relation with the execution of the content message transmission function. For example, the user may register recipient information. At this time, the recipient information may include a name and contact information of a recipient. In addition, the user may create, amend, and remove a group containing one or more pieces of recipient information. Furthermore, the user may register a recipient and his/her contact information to apply a designated transmission function, and set a shortcut key to run the designated transmission function.

Here, the designated transmission function refers to a function that transmits currently selected content to a previously designated recipient. In addition, the user may set a shortcut key to run a recipient designation transmission function. The recipient designation transmission function is a function that receives contact information of a recipient designated to receive the content and transmits the content to the corresponding recipient. For example, the user may assign "Alt + 5" as shortcut keys for executing the designated transmission function, and assign "Alt + 6" as shortcut keys for executing the recipient designation transmission function. If the shortcut keys are assigned as described above, pressing "Alt" and "5" key buttons while the user is selecting the content activates the function to transmit the currently selected content to a previously designated recipient. If "Alt and 6" key buttons are pressed while the user is selecting content, a graphical user interface to receive contact information of a recipient that is to receive the selected content.

In response to the completion of the agent settings, the agent monitors an input signal in the background (S230). In other words, the agent monitors input signals generated by input means including a keyboard, a mouse, and a touch screen.

Here, a detailed description of operation of input signal monitoring (S230) will be provided with reference to FIG. 3.

First, when the content is being selected (S231), it is determined whether or not an input signal related to the content message transmission function is generated (S232). Here, the input signal related to the content message transmission function may be an input signal that is generated upon pressing a pre-assigned shortcut key, or an input signal for generating a popup menu.

If the result (S232) of determining whether the input signal related to the content message transmission function is generated indicates that an input signal unrelated to the content message transmission function is generated (S232, No), a function corresponding to the input signal is executed (S232-N).

If the result (S232) of determining whether the input signal related to the content message transmission function is generated indicates that an input signal related to the content message transmission function (S232, Yes), a type of the input signal may be identified (S232-Y).

When the type of the input signal is determined as being generated by selecting the shortcut key in operation S232-Y, a type of the selected shortcut key is determined (S233).

When it is determined that the shortcut key for executing the designated transmission function is selected in operation S233, a trigger may be provided to generate a content message transmission request signal which contains content and contact information of the previously designated recipient (S236).

If it is determined that the shortcut key for executing the recipient designation transmission function in operation S233, a user interface may be generated to receive contact information of a recipient to receive the content (S234). After generating the user interface to receive the contact information of the recipient, a key input may be focused on the user interface so that the contact information of the recipient can be input to the user interface even when the contact information is directly input without additional manipulation to select the user interface.

In addition to the above method of directly receiving the contact information of the recipient from the user, the user may select a name of a recipient to input contact information. More specifically, names of recipients that have been registered when establishing settings may be displayed on a part of the user interface, the user may select one from the displayed names, and then contact information corresponding to the selected name may be input.

After the contact information of the recipient is input in operation S235, a trigger may be provided to generate a content message transmission request signal which contains content and the contact information (S236).

Meanwhile, if it is determined that the input signal is to generate a popup menu in operation S232-Y, a popup menu to which a new item is added may be generated (S237). Examples of the new item may include an item indicating a designated transmission function and an item indicating a recipient designation transmission function.

After the popup menu is generated, it may be determined which item is selected from among items contained in the popup menu (S238).

If it is determined that the designated transmission item is selected from the popup menu in operation S238, the trigger may be provided to generate the content message transmission request signal which contains the contact information of a previously designated recipient and the selected content (S236).

Alternatively, if it is determined that the recipient designation transmission item is selected in operation S238, the above operations S234 to S236 may be repeated.

During the above operations, to determine a type of the input signal, message hooking may be applied to an input event message provided by an operating system (OS). More specifically, the OS registers a callback function in a kernel of the OS, and the callback is invoked when the input event message is generated. In such state, when an input signal is generated through an input means, the kernel invokes the callback function. Accordingly, the invoked callback function can determine whether or not the input signal is related to the message transmission function.

Referring to the example shown in FIG. 2, the content message transmission request apparatus 500 may generate the content message transmission request signal according to the result of monitoring the input signal (S240). The content message transmission request signal may include content and contact information of a recipient. The generated content message transmission request signal may be transmitted to the content message transmitting apparatus 700 (S250).

The content message transmitting apparatus 700 processes the received content message transmission request message to generate a content message (S260). The content message may contain content, contact information of a recipient, and content-relevant advertisements.

The operation of generating the content message (S260) will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4.

The content message transmitting apparatus 700 may specify a search range for advertisement data before determining the content-relevant advertisement (S261). This is because it is inefficient to search for all of the previously stored advertisement data in order to determine the content-relevant advertisement. Thus, the content message transmitting apparatus 700 may specify the search range for the advertisement data based on user information.

In one example, the content message transmitting apparatus 700 may specify a search range for the advertisement data based on the domicile address of the user who requests the content message transmission. As an example, if the user is domiciled in Jeju island, the content message transmitting apparatus 700 may determine one or more pieces of advertisement data among advertisement data of enterprises located in Jeju island as content-relevant advertisements. Although in the above example the advertisement data search range is specified based on the city where the user is domiciled, the advertisement data search range may be specifieded based on street which is the smaller administrative unit.

As another example, the content message transmitting apparatus 700 may recognize a current location of the user based on an Internet protocol (IP) address of the content message transmission request apparatus 500, and determine one or more pieces of advertisement data from among advertisement data of enterprises placed at the recognized location and at the proximity of the location.

As another example, the content message transmitting apparatus 700 may specify the advertisement data search range based on age of user.

A single criterion for specifying the search range for the advertisement data may be applied or two or more criteria may be applied in a combined manner. The selecting of the criteria to be applied may be carried out by an operator of the content message transmitting apparatus 700 or an advertiser.

As described above, after specifying the search range for the advertisement data, the content message transmitting apparatus 700 may determine whether a particular company name or enterprise name is included in the content that the user selects (S62).

When it is determined that the particular company name or enterprise name is included in the content in operation S262, an advertisement of the company or the enterprise within the search range may be determined as the content-relevant advertisement. Thereafter, a content message which contains the content, contact information of a recipient, the advertisement of the company or the enterprise may be generated (S263). In this case, the company name or the enterprise name contained in the content may be displayed in an emphasized manner. For example, the company name or the enterprise name may differ from the other characters contained in the content in at least one of shape, size, thickness, and shadow.

When it is determined that the particular company name or enterprise name is not included in the content in operation S262, it is determined whether a keyword previously defined by the advertiser is contained in the content (S264).

When it is determined that the keyword previously defined by the advertiser is contained in the content, an advertisement which is linked with the keyword and within the search range may be determined as a content-relevant advertisement. Then, a content message which contains the content, contact information of a recipient, and the advertisement linked with the keyword may be generated (S265). In this case, the keyword contained in the content may be displayed in an emphasized manner. For example, the keyword may be set to be different from the remaining characters of the content in at least one of shape, size, thickness, and shadow.

A plurality of advertisers may be present with respect to the same keyword. In such case, the advertisers may be prioritized, the number of exposure may be determined according to the priority, and accordingly expose advertisements with a higher priority a predetermined number of exposure times. The prioritization of the advertisers may be performed by auction for advertisement cost. To be specific, an advertiser who bids for a higher amount for a single exposure of an advertisement can be given a higher priority. Once the prioritization of the advertisers are performed, a content message may be generated by selecting an advertisement of the advertiser with a higher priority first.

When the advertisements are exposed according to the priority, only an advertisement of the advertiser with the highest priority may be exposed (hereinafter, will be referred to as exclusive advertising) or multiple advertisements of advertisers with different priorities may be exposed simultaneously (hereinafter, will be referred to as multiple advertising). As such, determination of whether to expose only a single advertisement or advertisements of various advertisers through a single content message may be performed by the advertiser. More specifically, if the advertiser sets the advertisement exposure scheme as exclusive advertising when registering advertisement data, the content message includes only the advertisement of the advertiser. If the advertiser sets the advertisement exposure scheme as multiple advertising, the content message may include an advertisement of the advertiser and other advertisements of different advertisers.

If it is determined that the keyword is not contained in the content in operation S264, it is determined whether a field of interest that has been defined by the user is present (S266).

If it is determined that the field of interest of the user is present in operation S266, the content message transmitting apparatus 700 may determine an advertisement corresponding to the field of interest as the content-relevant advertisement. For example, if the user's field of interest is movie, advertisements related to theaters and film festivals within the search range may be determined as content-relevant advertisements. As described above, when the content-relevant advertisements are determined, a content message which contains the content, contact information of the recipient, and the advertisement corresponding to the field of interest may be generated (S267).

If it is determined that the field of interest of the user is not present in operation S266, an advertisement arbitrarily selected within the search range may be determined as content-relevant advertisements. Then, a content message which contains content, contact information of a recipient, and arbitrarily selected advertisement may be generated (S268).

As described above, in generating a content message, sizes of the content and the content-relevant advertisement may be in accordance with a predefined ratio. For example, under the assumption that the overall size of the content and the relevant advertisement is 100 %, the size of the content may be set as 80 % and the size of the relevant advertisement may be set as 20 %. The ratio between the content and the relevant advertisement may be set differently from the above example, and it may be advantageous that the size of the relevant advertisement does not exceed the size of the content that the user is to transmit.

Referring to the example illustrated in FIG. 2, the generated content message may be transmitted to the content message receiving apparatus 900 (S270). Operation S270 includes operation of determining a type of contact information of a recipient, and operation of transmitting the content message via the mobile communication network 300 if the contact information is a phone number of a mobile phone, or operation of transmitting the content message via the Internet network 100 if the contact information is an email. Here, the type of the contact information of the recipient may be determined based on the presence of "@." That is, if "@" is included in the contact information, the contact information is determined as an email, and otherwise, the contact information is determined as a phone number.

In the content message, if the size of text included in the content and the relevant advertisement does not exceed the transmission limitation of a short message, the content message may be transmitted to the content message receiving apparatus 900 via a short message service center (SMSC; not illustrated). If image data is contained in the content or the relevant advertisement, or if the size of text included in the content and the relevant advertisement exceeds the transmission limitation of a short message, the content message may be transmitted to the content message receiving apparatus 900 via a multimedia messaging service center (MMSC; not illustrated).

In response to the completion of the content message transmission, the content message transmitting apparatus 700 may issue a notification message to the content message transmission request apparatus 500 to notify the transmission result of the content message (S280).

The content message transmitting apparatus 700 may settle a fee incurred from the content message transmission (S290). In the examples, the fee incurred from the content message transmission may not be charged to a personal user, but to an advertiser of the advertisement contained in the transmitted content message. In this case, the fee charged to the advertiser may be the entire amount charged or a small part of the amount charged for the transmission of the content message. For example, like the prior art, it is assumed that 200 KRW is charged to a user for transmitting a content message, and an advertiser who offers a bid of 250 KRW for each exposure of an advertisement wins the auction for determining priorities of advertisers, and accordingly has the highest priority. In this case, since the cost (250 KRW) for advertisement exposure exceeds the fee (200 KRW) incurred from the content message transmission, the entire amount incurred from the content message transmission may be charged to the advertiser. However, if an advertiser who offers a bid of 150 KRW for each exposure of an advertisement wins the auction and thus is given the highest priority. In this case, since the cost (150 KRW) for advertisement exposure does not reach the fee incurred from the content message transmission (200 KRW), the advertiser may bear some (150 KRW) of the amount of fee incurred from the content message transmission, and the user may bear the remaining amount (50 KRW) of fee.

In addition, if advertisements of various advertisers are contained in the content message, the fee may be charged to the advertisers. For example, the fee may be differently charged to the advertisers according to the properties of the advertisers.

As a method of settlement of the fee charged to the advertiser, the advertiser may subtract the fee incurred from the message transmission from cyber money which the advertiser charges through a website.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a content message transmission request apparatus. The content message transmission request apparatus 500 may include an input unit 510, a monitoring unit 520, a control unit 540, a storage unit 550, a display unit 530, and a network interface unit 560.

The input unit 510 may receive an instruction from a user and generate an input signal corresponding to the instruction. The input signal generated by the input unit 510 may be provided to the monitoring unit 520 through a kernel (not illustrated) of an operating system installed in the content message transmission request apparatus 500. Examples of the input unit 510 may include, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a touchpad, and a touch screen.

The monitoring unit 520 may monitor the input signal generated by the input unit 510. If the monitoring result indicates that an input signal related to a content message transmission function is generated, the monitoring unit 520 may provide a trigger to the control unit 540 to generate a content message transmission request signal. Here, examples of the input signal for the content message transmission may include, for example, an input signal generated upon selection of a previously designated shortcut key, an input signal for generating a popup menu, and an input signal generated upon selection of an item for content transmission from the generated popup menu.

The control unit 540 may receive the trigger from the monitoring unit and generate a content message transmission request signal. Here, the content message transmission request signal may include a currently selected content and contact information of a recipient. In addition, the control unit 540 may connect and manage all elements of the content message transmission request apparatus 500. Moreover, the control unit 540 may generate a graphical user interface related to operation of the content message transmission request apparatus 500. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the control unit 540 may generate a popup menu to which an item that indicates a designated transmission function and an item that indicates a recipient designation transmission function are added. Referring to the example illustrated in FIG. 6, it is noted that as the item for the designated transmission function, an item 610 of "save to my phone" is added to the popup menu 600.

Meanwhile, it is noted that as the item for the recipient designation transmission function, an item 620 of "forward to friend" is added to the popup menu 600.

The network interface unit 560 may transmit the content message transmission request signal provided from the control unit 540 to the content message transmitting apparatus 700 through an external network (not illustrated). To this end, the network interface unit 560 may support a TCP/IP communication.

The storage unit 550 may store a program or data necessary for the content message transmission. For example, the storage unit 550 may store settings established upon installation of an agent application, or temporarily store contents selected by the user. Moreover, the storage unit 550 may further store data required for constituting a graphical user interface. The storage unit 550 may be implemented by a nonvolatile memory, a volatile memory, a hard disk drive, or the combination of the above.

The display unit 530 may display a user interface related to the content message transmission function. For example, if an input signal for generating a popup menu is generated, the display unit 530 may display a popup menu to which an item that indicates a designated transmission function and an item that indicates a recipient designation transmission function are added as shown in the example illustrated in FIG. 6. Referring to the example illustrated in FIG. 6, it may be noted that an item of "save to my phone" as the designated transmission function and an item of "forward to friend" as the recipient designation transmission function are added.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a content message transmitting apparatus 700. The content message transmitting apparatus 700 may include a storage unit 740, a reception unit 710, a control unit 720, and a transmission unit 730.

The storage unit 740 may store programs necessary for generating a content message, data necessary for constituting a graphical user interface, advertisement data previously provided by an advertiser, and user information previously provided by a user according to a request from the content message transmitting apparatus 700.

The reception unit 710 may receive a content message transmission request signal from the content message transmission request apparatus 500. To this end, the reception unit 710 may be linked to at least one of the Internet network 100 and the mobile communication network 300.

In response to receiving the content message transmission request message from the content message transmission request apparatus 500, the control unit 720 may generate a content message with reference to the advertisement data and the user information which are stored in the storage unit 740. The content message may include contents selected by the user, advertisements related to the contents, and contact information of a recipient. In generating the content message, a company name or an enterprise name, or a previously defined keyword which is contained in the content may be emphasized. As a result, the company name or the keyword in the content message may be displayed in the content message receiving apparatus 900 in an emphasized manner.

In addition, the control unit 720 may form a graphical user interface to receive advertisement data from a manager or an advertiser. The graphical user interface formed by the control unit 720 may be displayed on a display unit (not illustrated), or provided to a terminal (not illustrated) of the advertiser through the transmission unit 730.

The transmission unit 730 may transmit the content message generated by the control unit 720 to the content message receiving apparatus 900. To this end, the transmission unit 730 may be linked to at least one of the Internet network 100 and the mobile communication network 300.

A number of exemplary embodiments have been described above. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made. For example, suitable results may be achieved if the described techniques are performed in a different order and/or if components in a described system, architecture, device, or circuit are combined in a different manner and/or replaced or supplemented by other components or their equivalents. Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

A method of transmitting a content message, the method comprising:

receiving a content message transmission request signal from a content message transmission request apparatus, the content message transmission request signal containing a content that a user is willing to transmit and contact information of a recipient to receive the content;

generating a content message which contains the content, the contact information of a recipient, and a relevant advertisement of the content;

transmitting the content message to a content message receiving apparatus; and

charging a fee incurred from transmission of the content message to an advertiser of the relevant advertisement.
The method of claim 1, before receiving the content message transmission request signal, further comprising:

installing an agent in the content message transmission request apparatus to monitor an input signal; and

in response to the content that the user is willing to transmit being selected and an input signal for transmitting the selected content being received, generating the content message transmission request signal.
The method of claim 2, wherein the input signal for transmitting the selected content is an input signal generated upon selecting a shortcut key previously defined by the user, an input signal for generating a popup menu, or an input signal generated upon selecting an item related to transmission of the selected content from items of the popup menu.
The method of claim 1, wherein the generating of the content message comprises

specifying a search range with respect to previously stored advertisement data based on previously stored user information; and

determining the relevant advertisement of the content from among advertisements within the search range.
The method of claim 4, wherein the advertisement data contains at least one of the substance of an advertisement that is an advertiser is willing to advertise through the content message, a keyword representing the substance of the advertisement, a company name or enterprise name related to the substance of the advertisement, information about a target of the advertisement, and an advertisement exposure scheme.
The method of claim 4, wherein the determining of the relevant advertisement of the content comprises determining an advertisement related to an enterprise, a name of which is contained in the content, as the relevant advertisement of the content.
The method of claim 4, wherein the determining of the relevant advertisement of the content comprises, when an enterprise name is not contained in the content and a keyword previously defined by an advertiser is contained in the content, determining an advertisement linked with the keyword the relevant advertisement of the content.
The method of claim 7, further comprising:

when a plurality of advertisers are present with respect to the keyword contained in the content, determining an advertisement of an advertiser with the highest priority as the relevant advertisement of the content.
The method of claim 8, wherein the priority is determined based on an auction between the advertisers with respect to advertisement costs, and an advertiser who offers a higher advertisement cost has a higher priority and the number of times of exposing an advertisement increases with the priority.
The method of claim 4, wherein the determining of the relevant advertisement comprises, when an enterprise name is not contained in the content and a keyword previously defined by an advertiser is not contained in the content, determining an advertisement corresponding to a field of interest of the user among the user information as the relevant advertisement of the content.
The method of claim 4, wherein the determining of the relevant advertisement of the content comprises, when an enterprise name is not contained in the content, a keyword previously defined by an advertiser is not contained in the content and no information about the field of interest of the user is present in the user information, determining an arbitrarily selected advertisement within the search range as the relevant advertisement of the content.
The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the content message to the content message receiving apparatus comprises when the contact information of a recipient is a phone number of a mobile terminal, transmitting the content message to the content message receiving apparatus via a mobile communication network; and

when the contact information of a recipient is an email address, transmitting the content message to the content message receiving apparatus via an Internet network.
The method of claim 1, wherein the charging of the fee incurred from the transmission of the content message to the advertiser of the relevant advertisement comprises charging the entire amount of the fee incurred from the transmission of the content message to the advertiser when the advertisement cost offered by the advertiser is greater than the fee incurred from the transmission of the content message.
The method of claim 1, wherein the charging of the fee incurred from the transmission of the content message to the advertiser of the relevant advertisement comprises charging a small amount of the fee incurred from the transmission of the content message to the advertiser and charging the remaining amount of the fee to the user when the advertisement cost offered by the advertiser is smaller than the fee incurred from the transmission of the content message.
The method of claim 1, wherein the charging of the fee incurred from the transmission of the content message to the advertiser of the relevant advertisement comprises, when the relevant advertisement of the content includes advertisements of various advertisers, charging the fee incurred from the transmission of the content message to the advertisers differently.
The method of claim 1, wherein a notification message is sent to the content message transmission request apparatus to notify of a result of transmission of the content message.