Information supply server and telephone system using the same

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD [Detailed description of the invention]

【0001】

[Technical field to which the invention belongs]

The present invention relates to an information providing server and a telephone device that can use the information providing server. The present invention particularly relates to an information providing server that provides information including a screen to a user's telephone device, and a telephone device that can use the server.

【0002】

[Conventional technology]

Mobile phones have spread rapidly, and many people of all ages own mobile phones. Mobile phone functions are also evolving, and in addition to the normal calling function of talking to others via the public network, you can connect to the Internet to exchange e-mails and access web pages. It has become. Due to such convenience, it is expected that the number of users will continue to increase in the future.

【0003】

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

Now that the number of users has increased and people with diverse values are using mobile phones, the startup screen that is displayed when the mobile phone is started and the display when waiting for an incoming call An increasing number of users want to set the background screen to their favorite screen and enjoy it.

【0004】

In addition, since the number of people who carry mobile phones at all times is increasing and the frequency of use is increasing, mobile phones can be expected to have the same high advertising effectiveness as televisions and radios. There is a demand for advertisement distribution technology that makes good use of the characteristics of mobile phones.

【0005】

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique for providing a screen displayed on a screen display unit of a telephone device such as a mobile phone. Another object of the present invention is to provide a technique for delivering an effective advertisement to a telephone device.

【0006】

[Means for solving problems]

One aspect of the present invention relates to a telephone device. This telephone device stores a screen display unit, a startup screen to be displayed on the screen display unit when the power is turned on, and a storage unit including a memory configured so that at least the data portion of the startup screen can be rewritten. The start screen changed by the screen change unit includes a screen change unit for changing the start screen, and is configured to include data related to advertising information. The rewritable memory may be, for example, a flash memory, an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory), a SRAM (Static Random Access Memory), or the like. This memory may include a BIOS or boot process, in which case the program area may be hardware write protected. That is, only the area containing the data on the startup screen may be rewritable.

【0007】

The telephone device may further include a screen acquisition unit that acquires the activation screen via the network. The network may be a public network, a mobile phone network, a mobile phone packet network, the Internet, or the like.

【0008】

Another aspect of the invention also relates to a telephone device. This telephone device acquires a screen including a screen display unit, a control unit that controls communication with the outside, and advertisement information to be displayed on the screen display unit from the server when the control unit is connected to the server. It includes a screen acquisition unit and a screen setting unit that sets the screen as a background screen displayed on the screen display unit while waiting for an incoming call request via the control unit.

【0009】

This telephone device is a portable mobile communication terminal, and the control unit controls communication between a first control unit that controls a call via a public network and a second control unit that controls communication with the server via the Internet. It may include a control unit.

【0010】

The screen acquisition unit may be configured so that it is impossible to acquire data including new advertisement information for a predetermined period. This is because if the screen acquisition unit is configured to download data including new advertisement information one after another, the advertiser may not be able to effectively provide the advertisement. Therefore, the screen acquisition unit may be configured so that data including new advertisement information cannot be downloaded for one week, for example, and the same advertisement information may be displayed for one week.

【0011】

Yet another aspect of the present invention relates to an information providing server. This information providing server is a server that provides information to a mobile communication terminal, and is a start screen displayed on the screen display unit when the power is turned on when the mobile communication terminal is connected to the server, or the above-mentioned. A screen transmitter that transmits screen data corresponding to at least one of the background screens displayed on the screen when the mobile communication terminal is waiting for an incoming call to the mobile communication terminal in a form including advertisement information, and the advertisement information. Includes a billing unit that charges the provider of the advertising information when the data is sent. The screen may be transmitted every time the mobile communication terminal connects to the information providing server, or may be transmitted every predetermined number of times.

【0012】

The information providing server may further include a profit return unit that performs processing that gives preferential treatment to the user of the mobile communication terminal that has transmitted the screen data. The preferential treatment may, for example, reduce the user's communication costs or provide the user with money or goods.

【0013】

The screen transmission unit may transmit the screen data behind the mobile communication terminal during communication with the mobile communication terminal. As a result, the advertisement can be provided without making the user aware of it.

【0014】

The screen data may include a function for accessing a web page related to the advertisement information. As a result, more detailed advertising information can be provided to the user.

【0015】

It should be noted that any combination of the above components and the conversion of the expression of the present invention among devices, methods, systems, and computer programs are also effective as aspects of the present invention.

【0016】

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the information providing system 10 according to the embodiment. In the information providing system 10, the user terminal 200 is connected to the information providing server 100 via the mobile phone packet network 40, which is an example of a network, and the Internet 20. The mobile phone packet network 40 and the Internet 20 are connected by the Internet service provider 30. Hereinafter, when the term "user" is simply used, the user himself / herself and the user's terminal are not particularly distinguished.

【0017】

FIG. 2 shows the internal configuration of the information providing server 100. Speaking of hardware components, this configuration is realized by the CPU of any computer, memory, a program with a screen data distribution function loaded with memory, etc., but here we will describe the functional blocks realized by their cooperation. I'm drawing. Therefore, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that these functional blocks can be realized in various ways by hardware only, software only, or a combination thereof. The information providing server 100 includes a communication unit 110, a connection request reception unit 120, a screen transmission unit 130, a profit return unit 140, a billing unit 150, a screen database 160, an advertisement database 162, a user database 164, and a billing database 166.

【0018】

The communication unit 110 controls communication with the user terminal 200 via the Internet 20. The communication unit 110 includes hardware such as a modem required for communication and a driver and other programs that control communication. The connection request receiving unit 120 receives the connection request from the user terminal 200 transmitted from the communication unit 110 and transmits the connection request to the screen transmitting unit 130. At this time, the connection request receiving unit 120 acquires information for identifying the user terminal 200 that requested the connection, for example, a user ID and a telephone number of the user terminal 200. The user terminal 200 may be provided with a function for notifying the user ID, the caller ID notification function of the user terminal 200 may be used, or the user terminal 200 may be provided with information for identifying the user as a cookie. It may be provided as information. In short, it suffices if there is a mechanism that can identify the user terminal that requested the connection.

【0019】

The screen transmission unit 130 reads a screen to be displayed on the screen display unit of the user terminal 200 from the screen database 160. The screen transmission unit 130 further reads the advertisement information from the advertisement database 162, adds it to the screen, and transmits it to the user terminal 200. The timing of transmitting the screen may be such that the screen is transmitted every time the user connects to the information providing server 100, the screen may be transmitted at a predetermined number of times, or the screen may be transmitted at random. Further, even when the user connects to the information providing server 100 for a purpose other than acquiring the screen, the screen may be transmitted behind the communication.

【0020】

When the screen including the advertisement information is transmitted to the user terminal 200, the billing unit 150 charges the advertiser for the advertisement. This billing information is stored in the billing database 166. In addition, the profit return unit 140 returns profits to the user by reducing the communication cost of the user. This user information is stored in the user database 164.

【0021】

According to the above configuration, the advertiser has an advantage that the advertisement can be effectively provided to a large number of users. For the user, there is an advantage that the profit is returned by seeing the advertisement. As described above, the system of the present embodiment realizes a business model that is advantageous to both the advertiser and the user.

【0022】

The screen database 160 stores a startup screen or a background screen to be displayed on the screen display unit of the user terminal 200. The screen includes text data written in a markup language such as HTML or XML, and image data. The screen may be composed of only image data.

【0023】

The advertisement database 162 stores advertisement information to be displayed on the startup screen or the background screen of the user terminal 200. FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration, which includes an advertisement ID column 300, an advertiser column 302, an image file name column 304, and a link destination URL column 306. For example, the advertiser " car", the image file name "0001.gif", and the link destination URL "http://www..co.jp" are stored as the advertisement information with the advertisement ID "0001". ing. The screen transmission unit 130 embeds an image file read from the advertisement database 162 at a predetermined position on the screen read from the screen database 160, sets a link destination URL for the image, and transmits the image to the user terminal 200. As a result, the information providing server 100 can provide a screen including an advertisement and a function for accessing a web page related to the advertisement.

【0024】

The user database 164 stores information on users who use the information providing server 100. FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration, which includes a user ID column 310, a telephone number column 312, an advertisement transmission number column 314, and a return amount column 316. For example, as the information of the user whose user ID is "0001", the telephone number "090-xxxx-xxxx", the number of times the advertisement is transmitted "twice", and the return amount "20 yen" are stored. When the advertisement information is sent to the user specified by the user ID or telephone number, the profit return unit 140 adds once to the advertisement transmission count column 314 of that user and returns the return amount corresponding to the advertisement. Add to the amount 316. The user database 164 may automatically add a record for a new user when a new user connects, or may provide a user registration unit (not shown) and register the information by the user himself / herself. In the latter case, the user's personal information, characteristics, preference information, etc. may be further registered, and the advertisement to be provided may be determined based on the information.

【0025】

The billing database 166 stores billing information for advertisers. FIG. 5 shows an example of the configuration, in which an advertiser column 320, a transmission count column 322, and a billing amount column 324 are provided. For example, as the information of the advertiser " car", the number of transmissions "175 times" and the billing amount "3500 yen" are stored. When the advertisement information is transmitted to the user terminal 200, the billing unit 150 adds once to the transmission count column 322 of the provider of the advertisement, and adds the billing amount corresponding to the advertisement to the billing amount column 324.

【0026】

FIG. 6 shows a functional block of the user terminal 200. Similar to the case of the information providing server 100 of FIG. 2, this configuration can be realized in various forms by hardware only, software only, or a combination thereof. The user terminal 200 includes a communication unit 210, a processing unit 220, and a screen display unit 280. The user terminal 200 of the present embodiment is a mobile communication terminal capable of both a call via a public network and a data communication via the Internet 20.

【0027】

The communication unit 210 includes hardware such as a modem required for communication and a driver or other program for controlling communication, and controls communication with the information providing server 100. The screen display unit 280 displays a startup screen, an incoming call standby screen, and other information necessary for operating the terminal. The screen display unit 280 may be configured by a liquid crystal display device.

【0028】

The processing unit 220 includes a first control unit 230, a second control unit 240, a screen acquisition unit 250, a background screen setting unit 260, a startup screen changing unit 262, a background screen storage unit 270, and a startup screen storage unit 272. The first control unit 230 controls a call via a public network or a mobile phone network (not shown). The first control unit 230 includes hardware such as a speaker and a microphone necessary for a call, and a driver and other programs for controlling the call. The second control unit 240 controls communication with the information providing server 100 via the Internet.

【0029】

The screen acquisition unit 250 acquires a screen from the information providing server 100. The background screen setting unit 260 sets the acquired screen as the background screen displayed when waiting for an incoming call request to the first control unit 230. The background screen storage unit 270 stores the background screen. The startup screen change unit 262 changes the startup screen displayed when the power is turned on. The startup screen storage unit 272 stores the startup screen. The background screen storage unit 270 and the startup screen storage unit 272 are composed of rewritable memories such as flash memory, EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory), and SRAM (Static Random Access Memory). With the above configuration, the user's favorite screen can be set as the start screen or the background screen and enjoyed, and advertisement information and the like can be acquired and displayed at any time.

【0030】

FIG. 7 shows an example of a screen displayed on the screen display unit 280 of the user terminal 200. On the screen display unit 280, a background screen 282 displayed while waiting for an incoming call request and an advertisement 284 are displayed. The advertisement 284 has a link, and when the user clicks the advertisement 284, it is possible to access the web page related to the advertisement. As a result, more detailed advertising information can be provided to the user, so that a high advertising effect can be expected. Here, the background screen when waiting for an incoming call is shown, but the same applies to the startup screen.

【0031】

The present invention has been described above based on the embodiments. The above embodiment is an example, and it is understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to the combination of each component and each processing process, and that such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention. is there.

【0032】

As an example of such a modification, the Internet service provider 30 may be provided with the function of the information providing server 100. When the user terminal 200 connects to the Internet, it always goes through the Internet service provider 30, so by sending the advertisement information to the user at this time, the number of times the advertisement information is sent and updated can be increased, which is high. Advertising effect can be expected.

【0033】

In the embodiment, the case where the user terminal is a mobile communication terminal has been described, but the user terminal may be a telephone device connected to a fixed communication network.

【0034】

In the embodiment, the profit return unit 140 returns the monetary profit to the user, but the goods may be provided to the user or the communication cost may be reduced. In short, it would be nice if there was a mechanism to encourage users to see the advertisement.

【0035】

In addition to the content of the embodiment, the screen acquisition unit 250 may be configured so that it is impossible to acquire data including new advertisement information for a predetermined period of time. Therefore, a timer (not shown) may be provided in the screen acquisition unit 250, and the operation of the screen acquisition unit 250 may be disabled while the elapsed time from the previous download does not exceed a predetermined value. As a result, the same advertising information is displayed during that period, and the advertising effect can be ensured.

【0036】

[Effect of the invention]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a telephone device in which the screen can be changed according to preference. In addition, it is possible to provide a technique for effectively delivering an advertisement.

[Simple explanation of drawings]

[Figure 1]

It is a block diagram of the information provision system which concerns on embodiment.

[Figure 2]

It is a figure which shows the internal structure of the information providing server.

[Fig. 3]

It is a figure which shows the internal data of an advertisement database.

[Fig. 4]

It is a figure which shows the internal data of a user database.

[Fig. 5]

It is a figure which shows the internal data of a billing database.

[Fig. 6]

It is a figure which shows the internal structure of a user terminal.

[Fig. 7]

It is a figure which shows the example of the screen displayed on the screen display part.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 Information providing server, 130 Screen transmitter, 140 Profit return unit, 150 Billing unit, 200 User terminal, 230 1st control unit, 240 2nd control unit, 250 Screen acquisition unit, 260 Background screen setting unit, 262 startup Screen change section, 270 background screen storage section, 272 startup screen storage section.