JP2003324547A - Application program for portable communication terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively advertise to a user of an application in a portable communication terminal. <P>SOLUTION: When it becomes necessary for a game image to be switched to a next image in accordance with screen clearing, advertisement processing is started, and the next image is not displayed until the advertisement processing is finished. In the advertisement processing, display of an advertisement image which is based on advertisement data read from SRAM in a step ST57 is performed from a step ST60 to a step ST63. When display of all the advertisement images which are based on the advertisement data is finished, the advertisement processing is finished. As a result, the next image of the game image is displayed after the advertisement processing is finished. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an application program for displaying an advertisement screen on a mobile communication terminal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Portable communication terminals are known that are capable of executing application programs downloaded via a mobile communication network.

In this type of application program for mobile communication terminals, advertisements are widely used to collect compensation for the development thereof. A banner advertisement is known as a typical method for displaying the advertisement.

[0004]

However, in the banner advertisement, the advertisement image is incorporated in the original display screen of the application. For this reason, the area that can be used for the application in the display screen becomes small, and it becomes difficult to design the screen configuration. Moreover, since the area that can be secured for the banner advertisement is limited, the advertisement effect cannot be effectively exhibited. In particular, in the case of a mobile communication terminal, the above problem is extremely large because the screen size itself of the display is very small.

The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an application program capable of effectively advertising to an application user of a mobile communication terminal. To provide.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is to perform communication through a mobile communication network.
A computer controlling a mobile communication terminal having a display capable of displaying an arbitrary screen and a storage means capable of storing arbitrary information is caused to acquire advertisement data via the mobile communication network, and the advertisement data is stored in the storage. Store in the means. Further, the computer is caused to control the display device to display an advertisement screen based on the advertisement data stored in the storage means during a predetermined advertisement period determined in association with a predetermined event in a predetermined application process, and the advertisement During the period, screen display on the display unit by the application processing is suppressed.

[0007] By taking such a means, the screen display on the display by the application processing is temporarily interrupted, and the display of the advertisement screen based on the advertisement data acquired through the mobile communication network is displayed on the display. Is done. Then, after the display of the advertisement screen is finished, the screen display on the display unit by the application processing is restarted. Therefore, while displaying the advertisement screen in association with the application processing, it is possible to display an advertisement screen completely different from the display screen for the application processing.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the system according to this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, this system comprises a mobile communication terminal 1, an application is a distribution server 2, an advertisement distribution server 3, a mobile communication network 4 and the Internet 5.

This system provides an environment in which a mobile communication terminal 1 can download and use an arbitrary application program. Specifically, the application program is downloaded from the application distribution server 2 in response to a request from the mobile communication terminal 1. In this embodiment, Java is particularly used as the application program.
A computer program called an "applet" written in the (registered trademark) programming language will be described as an example, but the invention is not limited to this, and the concept of this application program is data that can be exchanged on a network. include.

The mobile communication terminal 1 is connected to the mobile communication network 4 via a wireless line. The mobile communication terminal 1 can communicate with any other party via the mobile communication network 4. The mobile communication network 4 supports packet communication, and the mobile communication terminal 1 can access any site via the Internet 5 using packet communication.

The application distribution server 2 stores applets for realizing various applications via the Internet 5 and the mobile communication network 4 in the mobile communication terminal 1.
To deliver to. The application distribution server 2 also
The advertisement data is distributed to the mobile communication terminal 1 via the Internet 5 and the mobile communication network 4. The application distribution server 2 acquires the advertisement data from the advertisement distribution server 3 via the Internet 5.

The advertisement distribution server 3 has advertisement data showing various advertisement screens. The advertisement distribution server 3 distributes advertisement data to the mobile communication terminal 1 via the application distribution server 2.

The mobile communication terminal 1 has a function of downloading and executing a Java applet. An example of this type of mobile communication terminal is a PDC compatible with an i-appli provided by NTT DoCoMo, Inc.
(Personal Digital Cellular) terminals and the like are known.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the hardware configuration of the mobile communication terminal 1.

The mobile communication terminal 1 as shown in FIG.
CPU10, ROM11, RAM12, SRAM (Stat
ic RAM) 13, data input / output unit 14, wireless processing unit 15,
An antenna 16, a voice processing unit 17, a speaker 18, a microphone 19, a keypad 20 and an LCD 21 are connected.

Various control programs and the like are stored in the ROM 11, and the CPU 10 executes various control processes based on this control program. At that time, RAM12
Is used as a work area of the CPU 10. RO
The control program in M11 includes firmware that supports the basic operation of the mobile communication terminal 1, a browser, and various applications described later. SRAM13
Caches a web page acquired via the Internet 5. The SRAM 13 also stores applications downloaded via the Internet 5.

The radio processing unit 15 includes a frequency synthesizer, an amplifier, a modulation / demodulation circuit, etc. (not shown), and an antenna 16
Well-known wireless processing such as frame synchronization / separation and error detection / correction processing is performed on a signal transmitted / received via the. Thereby, the wireless processing unit 15 realizes wireless communication with a base station (not shown) included in the mobile communication network 4. The wireless processing unit 15 can perform processing corresponding to a signal transmitted by circuit switching and a signal transmitted by packet switching. Wireless processing unit 15
The data processed by is input to and output from the CPU 10 via the data input / output unit 14.

The voice processing section 17 is connected to a speaker 18 and a microphone 19. The voice processing unit 17
Predetermined processing is performed on the audio signal. Keypad 20
Is an input interface for the user to perform various operations. The LCD 21 is a display interface for displaying various information.

Next, referring to FIG. 3, the mobile communication terminal 1
The process configuration of will be described. As shown in FIG.
The lowest layer of the process configuration is a key interface unit 101 related to hardware control of the mobile communication terminal 1, a screen interface unit 102, a data communication driver 103, a speaker / microphone control unit 104, and a memory interface unit 1.
05.

The upper layer is constituted by the firmware 111. The firmware 111 supports basic processing of the mobile communication terminal 1.

The upper layer further comprises a Java virtual machine 121, a browser 122, a telephone function section 123, and a setting section 124.

A Java applet 131 is formed on the upper layer of the Java virtual machine 121. Java
An applet is an application program written in Java. The Java applet is downloaded from the application distribution server 2 or the like to the mobile communication terminal 1 and executed on the Java virtual machine 121.

In the system shown in FIG. 1, various applications such as games are distributed from the application distribution server 2 to the mobile communication terminal 1. However, it is assumed that the Java applet actually distributed by the application distribution server 2 is configured by combining the main program and the advertising program for realizing the above application.

The advertisement program causes the CPU 10 of the mobile communication terminal 1 to perform a process for advertising to a user of an application realized based on the main program. This advertisement program causes the CPU 10 to function as an acquisition unit, a storage control unit, an advertisement display unit, a display suppression unit, an end suppression unit, a request unit, a notification unit and a prohibition unit.

The acquisition unit acquires the advertisement data distributed from the advertisement distribution server 3 via the application distribution server 2.

The storage control unit stores the advertisement data acquired by the acquisition unit in the SRAM 13. The advertisement data includes an advertisement code, an expiration date, a URL and screen data. The storage control unit adds information on the date and time when the advertisement data was acquired to these pieces of information and stores the information in the SRAM 13 in the state as shown in FIG. The advertisement code is a code for uniquely identifying the advertisement data. The expiration date is the expiration date when the advertisement data can be used. The URL is the address of the site regarding the advertisement data. The screen data is data indicating an advertisement screen.
The screen data is configured to include one or more of three types of data blocks shown in FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (c).

The advertisement display unit displays an advertisement screen on the LCD 21 at a predetermined timing (described later) linked to the application processing by the main program.

The display suppression unit suppresses the screen display on the LCD 21 by the application processing by the main program while the advertisement display unit is displaying the advertisement screen.

The termination inhibiting unit inhibits the termination processing of the application processing by the main program while the advertisement display unit is displaying the advertisement screen.

The request unit requests the browser 122 to access the URL indicated in the advertisement data.

The notification unit notifies the application distribution server 2 of the history of requesting the display of the advertisement screen and the access to the URL. The notification unit creates an event history as shown in FIG. 6 in order to make this notification.

The prohibition unit prohibits execution of application processing when the acquisition of the advertisement data by the acquisition unit has not been performed for a certain period of time.

Next, the operation will be described.

When the mobile communication terminal 1 accesses the application distribution server 2 and requests distribution of the application, the application distribution server 2 has a Java program having a main program for realizing the requested application.
Download the applet to the mobile communication terminal 1. In the mobile communication terminal 1, the downloaded Java applet is stored in the SRAM 13. This Java applet is stored in the SRAM 13 according to the execution instruction from the user.
It is read by and is executed on the Java virtual machine 121.

The specific operation will be described below by taking as an example the case where a Java applet having a main program for realizing a game is executed.

First, when execution of a Java applet is instructed, game application processing based on the main program as shown in FIG. 7 is started.

First, the CPU 10 initializes in step ST1. If this initialization is complete, the CPU
10 starts an advertisement process based on the advertisement program.
When the advertisement process is started by the game application process, the CPU 10 executes the advertisement process based on the advertisement program in parallel with the game application process.

On the other hand, in the game application processing, the CPU 10 reads the game data included in the main program and creates initial data in step ST3. If you finish creating this initial data, CP
U10 sets the main side end flag in step ST4. Then, on this, the CPU 10 performs step S
At T5, it waits for the advertisement processing started at step ST2 to end. The main end flag is
For example, it is stored in the RAM 12. In this way, when the game application process is started, the initialization and the creation of the initial data are first performed, but the subsequent processes are not performed until the advertisement process is completed.

Completion of the advertisement process is confirmed in step ST5.
If confirmed, the CPU 10 displays the initial game screen on the LCD 21 in step ST6. Then, after this, the CPU 10 starts the game processing for causing the user to play the game in step ST7.

While performing this game processing, the CPU 10 waits for an instruction to clear one side of the game, to over the game, or to end the game in steps ST8 to ST10.

It is step ST that one side is clear.
If confirmed in step 8, the CPU 10 proceeds to step ST11.
At, the surface clearing process is executed.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing details of the face clearing process.

First, in step ST21, the CPU 10 starts an advertisement process. Subsequently, in step ST22, the CPU 10 reads the data of the next surface of the game. And if you finish reading data here, CP
U10 sets the main side end flag in step ST23. Then, in step ST24, the CPU 10 waits for the advertisement processing started in step ST21 to end. As described above, in the game application of this embodiment, the game screen is switched every time one surface is cleared, and the next-surface data is read first when the surface is cleared.
The next game screen is not displayed until the advertisement process is completed.

Completion of the advertisement process is confirmed in step ST2.
If confirmed in step 4, the CPU 10 proceeds to step ST25.
At, the next screen of the game is displayed on the LCD 21. After this, the CPU 10 repeats the processing from step ST7.

When it is confirmed in step ST9 that the game is over, the CPU 10 executes the game over process in step ST12.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing details of the game over process.

First, in step ST31, the CPU 10 starts an advertisement process. Subsequently, in step ST32, the CPU 10 confirms whether or not the result of the game in which the game is over is a high score. If it is confirmed here that the score is high, the CPU 10 starts transmission of high score information indicating the score of the game and the like. The CPU 10 waits for the completion of the transmission of the high score information in step ST34. And CP
If the transmission of the high score information is completed, U10 sets the main side end flag in step ST35. Then, in step ST36, the CPU 10 waits for the advertisement processing started in step ST31 to end. As described above, in the game application of this embodiment, when the high score is achieved, the high score information is transmitted, but at this time, the advertising process is executed in parallel. Then, even if the transmission of the high score information is completed, the next process in the game application process is not performed until the advertisement process is completed.

Completion of the advertising process is step ST3.
If confirmed in step 6, the CPU 10 proceeds to step ST37.
At, the high score transmission completion screen is displayed on the LCD 21. The high score transmission completion screen notifies the user that the transmission of high score information has been completed. Then, the user who confirms the display of the high score transmission completion screen is supposed to perform a predetermined key input indicating the confirmation. Therefore, the CPU 10 carries out step ST3.
At 8, the system waits for the above key input. When it is confirmed that the above key input has been made, the CPU 10 ends the game over process.

When it is confirmed in step ST32 that the score is not the high score, the CPU 10 sets the main side end flag in step ST39. Then, in step ST40, the CPU 10 waits for the advertisement process started in step ST31 to end. As described above, when the high score is not achieved, the high score information is not transmitted, but the next process in the game application process is not performed until the advertisement process is completed. Then, if it is confirmed in step ST40 that the advertisement processing is completed,
The CPU 10 ends the game over process.

When the game over process is completed, C
The PU 10 makes it possible to start the game again from the beginning by repeating the processing from step ST6.

If it is confirmed in step ST10 that the game end has been instructed, the CPU 10 executes end processing in step ST13.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing details of the end processing.

First, in step ST41, the CPU 10 starts an advertisement process. Subsequently, the CPU 10 sets the main-side end flag in step ST42.
Then, in step ST43, the CPU 10 waits for the advertisement processing started in step ST41 to end. In this way, the advertisement process is performed before the game application process ends, and the next process in the game application process is not performed until the advertisement process ends.

Completion of the advertisement process is confirmed in step ST4.
If confirmed in step 3, the CPU 10 proceeds to step ST44.
At, the application termination processing for terminating the game application is performed, and the termination processing ends therewith. When the ending process in step ST13 is completed as described above, the CPU 10 ends the game application process with it.

As described above, the advertisement process is started during the game application process, and the game application process is kept in the state of not displaying the screen on the LCD 21 until the advertisement process is completed.

Next, the advertisement processing will be described in detail.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing details of the advertisement processing.

First, in step ST51, the CPU 10 deletes the advertisement data from the SRAM 13 if the advertisement data stored in the SRAM 13 has expired. Next, in step ST52, the CPU 10 confirms whether or not the advertisement data is stored in the SRAM 13. And if SRAM1
If it is confirmed that the advertisement data is stored in the CPU 3, the CPU 10 proceeds to step
Select one of the advertisement data stored in the AM 13. When a plurality of advertisement data is stored in the SRAM 13, the advertisement data may be selected randomly or according to a predetermined order. On the other hand, S
If it is confirmed that the advertisement data is not stored in the RAM 13, the CPU 10 proceeds to step ST54,
Select default ad data.

Step ST53 or Step ST54
If the process is completed, the CPU 10 subsequently proceeds to step ST5.
In step 5, acquisition processing of advertisement data is executed.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing details of the advertisement data acquisition process.

First, in step ST71, the CPU 10 confirms whether or not the event history information is stored in the SRAM 13. If it is confirmed that the event history is stored, the CPU 10 proceeds to step ST.
At 72, the event history is transmitted to the application distribution server 2.

As shown in FIG. 13, the application distribution server 2 transfers the event history to the advertisement distribution server 3 when the event history is sent from the mobile communication terminal 1.
On the other hand, the advertisement distribution server 3 returns to the application distribution server 2 a confirmation notification indicating whether or not the event history has been normally received. The application distribution server 2 transfers this confirmation notification to the mobile communication terminal 1.

In the portable communication terminal 1, the CPU 10 succeeds in transmitting the event history in step ST73 after finishing step ST72 or when confirming in step ST71 that the event history is not stored. It is confirmed based on the confirmation notification sent from the application distribution server 2 as described above. Then, if it is confirmed that the event history has been successfully transmitted, the CPU 10 confirms in step ST74 whether or not the acquisition condition is satisfied. The acquisition condition defines the timing at which the advertisement data should be acquired. The contents are, for example, “once a day” or “two days have passed since the last acquisition date”.
Those like are arbitrarily set in advance.

It is determined in step S that the acquisition condition is satisfied.
If confirmed at T74, the CPU 10 proceeds to step ST
At 75, a request for distribution of advertisement data and reception of advertisement data sent in response to the request are made. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 13, the mobile communication terminal 1 sends an advertisement distribution request to the application distribution server 2. Then, the application distribution server 2 transfers the advertisement distribution request to the advertisement distribution server 3. Upon receiving the advertisement distribution request, the advertisement distribution server 3 extracts some of the advertisement data registered in itself and transmits an advertisement distribution response including the extracted advertisement data to the application distribution server 2. The application distribution server 2 transfers this advertisement distribution response to the mobile communication terminal 1.

As described above, although the mobile communication terminal 1 finally exchanges the event information and the advertisement data with the advertisement distribution server 3, the application distribution server 2 intervenes. This is because it is specified that the processing based on the Java applet can only communicate with the server that has delivered the Java applet.

Subsequently, the CPU 10 confirms in step ST76 whether or not the advertisement distribution response has been successfully received. When it is confirmed that the advertisement distribution response has been successfully received, the CPU 10 confirms whether or not the advertisement distribution response includes valid advertisement data correctly. If you confirm that it contains valid advertising data, CP
In step ST78, U10 stores the advertisement data in SRAM13. When the storage of the advertisement data is completed, the CPU 10 updates the information of the last acquisition date and time stored in the SRAM 13 to the current date and time in step ST79, and ends the advertisement data acquisition processing.

If it is confirmed in step ST77 that the valid advertisement data is not included, the CPU 1
0 ends the advertisement data acquisition process without performing the processes of step ST78 and step ST79. Also,
If the transmission of the event history has failed, step ST73
If it is confirmed in step ST74, or if it is confirmed in step ST74 that the acquisition condition is not satisfied, the CPU 10
Ends the advertisement data acquisition process without performing the processes of steps ST75 to ST79, that is, without acquiring the advertisement data.

When the advertisement data acquisition process is completed in this way, the CPU 10 subsequently proceeds to step ST56 where the advertisement data cannot be acquired (unacquired period).
Check if is less than or equal to a predetermined limit value. If it is confirmed here that the unacquired period is equal to or less than the limit value, the CPU 10 proceeds to step
One of the advertisement data stored in 13 is read. Next, in step ST58, the CPU 10 clears the advertisement end flag in order to indicate that the advertisement processing has not been completed. The advertisement end flag is stored in the RAM 12, for example. Subsequently, the CPU 10 updates the event history in step ST59. Specifically, step S
In association with the advertisement code of the advertisement data read out at T57, a record in which the current date and time is set as the event date and "display" is set as the event content is added to the event history.

After this, the CPU 10 makes a step ST60.
In step ST57, the advertisement screen based on the first screen data included in the advertisement data read in step ST57 is displayed on LCD 21 for a certain period of time. When the display of the advertisement screen for this fixed time is completed, the CPU 10 executes step S
At T61, it is confirmed whether or not all display of the advertisement screen based on all screen data included in the advertisement data read in step ST57 is completed. If you confirm here that the advertisement display is not completed yet, CPU
In step ST62, 10 confirms whether or not the key input for clicking the link shown on the displayed advertisement screen is performed. If the CPU 10 confirms that the key input has not been made, the CPU 10 proceeds to step ST6.
In 3, the advertisement screen based on the next screen data included in the advertisement data read in step ST57 is displayed on the LCD 21 for a certain period of time. When the display of the advertisement screen for this fixed time is completed, the CPU 10 returns the process to step ST61, and repeats the process of step ST61 and thereafter.

If the display of the advertisement screen based on the final screen data included in the advertisement data read in step ST57 is performed in step ST63, the CPU 1
0 then confirms in step ST61 that the advertisement display is completed. In this case, in step ST64 and step ST65, the CPU 10 finishes the processing on the main side, that is, the game application processing side here, or performs key input to click the link shown in the displayed advertisement screen. Wait.

Whether or not the processing on the main side has ended is confirmed by checking the state of the main side end flag. Then, if the main side end flag is set, the CPU 10 determines that the main side processing has ended. In this case, the CPU 10 sets the advertisement side end flag in step ST66, and ends the advertisement process.

If the advertisement end flag is set in this way, the CPU 10 determines step ST5, step ST24, step ST in the game application process.
It is possible to confirm that the advertisement process is completed at 36, step ST40 or step ST43. Therefore, in response to the end of the advertising process after the process of step ST66, the process of the stopped game application process is restarted.

On the other hand, when it is confirmed in step ST62 or step ST65 that a key input has been made, the CPU 10 updates the event history in step ST67. Specifically, step ST57
Corresponding to the advertisement code of the advertisement data read in,
A record with the current date and time as the event date and "click" as the event content is added to the event history. Then, after this, the CPU 10 proceeds to step ST68 to step ST62 or step S
The browser 122 is requested to access the URL of the link destination of the link specified by the key input confirmed in T65. Then, with this, the CPU 10 ends the advertisement processing.

The browser 122 is activated based on the request in step ST62. This browser 12
With the start of 2, application processing based on Java applets such as game application processing is forcibly terminated.

By the way, when it is confirmed in step ST56 that the unacquired period extends for a long time and is equal to or more than the limit value, the CPU 10 displays a warning screen on the LCD 21 in step ST69. Let This warning screen informs the user that the application cannot be used because the advertisement data cannot be acquired. Then, with this warning screen displayed, the CPU 10 waits for the user to instruct the forced termination of the application in step ST70. Then, if it is confirmed that the instruction to forcibly terminate the application is issued, the CPU 10 ends the advertisement processing with it. In this case, the game application process is also forcibly terminated.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the Java
If any of the following four events occurs in the processing of the a application, the advertisement processing is activated. (1) Start Java application. (2) Switching of display screen by Java application. (3) Communication by Java application. (4) Terminate the Java application.

Until the advertisement processing is completed, Java
The processing of the Java application is stopped so that processing involving screen display in the application a is not performed.

In the advertisement processing, the advertisement screen is displayed based on the advertisement data acquired from the advertisement distribution server 3 via the application distribution server 2. At this time, since the advertisement screen can be displayed independently of the screen display of the Java application, the display area of the LCD 21 can be freely used. For this reason,
The degree of freedom in designing the advertisement screen is increased, and it is possible to easily design the advertisement screen that is easy to see and has a high advertising effect.

The processing of the Java application is not restarted unless the advertisement processing is completed normally. That is, the Java application cannot be continuously used without displaying the advertisement screen. Therefore, Jav
Even if the advertisement image is not incorporated in the display screen for the application a, it is possible to reliably present the advertisement screen to the user of the Java application. Therefore,
Since the display screen for the Java application can be designed independently of the advertisement, the display area of the LCD 21 can be freely used. As a result, the degree of freedom in designing the display screen for the Java application is increased.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the mobile communication terminal 1
If the link set in the advertisement screen is clicked, the browser accesses the link destination address of the link, and the event history showing that the above click was made Is transmitted to the application distribution server 2. Further, in the present embodiment, the application distribution server 2 further transfers the event history to the advertisement distribution server 3. Therefore, the application distribution server 2 and the advertisement distribution server 3
In, it is possible to manage the execution status of the web access based on the advertisement, and it is possible to apply the method, for example, to investigate the usage of the advertisement.

Further, according to this embodiment, the mobile communication terminal 1
Transmits to the application distribution server 2 an event history indicating which advertisement data is used to display the advertisement screen based on the advertisement processing. Further, in the present embodiment, the application distribution server 2 further transfers the event history to the advertisement distribution server 3. Therefore, the application distribution server 2 and the advertisement distribution server 3 can manage the actual execution state of the advertisement display, and can be applied, for example, to count the number of times the advertisement is displayed.

Further, according to this embodiment, the mobile communication terminal 1
Then, information regarding clicks and displays of advertisements is collected as history information (event history), and this history information is transmitted. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform communication each time an advertisement is displayed or a link in the advertisement is clicked, and the above information can be efficiently transmitted.
Moreover, in the present embodiment, the mobile communication terminal 1 transmits the event history when the advertisement data is acquired, so the number of times of communication can be further reduced.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the mobile communication terminal 1
Then, each time the advertisement process is activated, the acquisition of the advertisement data is tried if a predetermined acquisition condition is satisfied. Therefore, the mobile communication terminal 1 periodically tries to acquire the advertisement data to some extent, and can download the latest advertisement data. As a result, an appropriate advertisement can be displayed based on the latest advertisement data.

Moreover, in the present embodiment, the portable communication terminal 1 is designed to allow a certain amount of time from the final acquisition timing of the advertisement data to the next attempt to acquire the advertisement data. Therefore, the advertisement data is not tried to be acquired more frequently than necessary, and unnecessary communication does not occur.

Further, according to the present embodiment, if the expiration date is set in the advertisement data and the advertisement data acquired and stored in the mobile communication terminal 1 has passed the expiration date,
The advertisement data is deleted so as not to be used for displaying advertisements. Therefore, the display of an advertisement screen that is old and is no longer valid will not be meaninglessly displayed.

Further, according to this embodiment, the mobile communication terminal 1
Then, if there is no advertisement data downloaded and stored in the SRAM 13, the advertisement screen is displayed based on the default advertisement data prepared in advance. Therefore, even if the advertisement data cannot be acquired via the Internet 5, the advertisement can be displayed without any trouble.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the period during which the advertisement is displayed is until the display of all the advertisement screens indicated by one advertisement data is completed. Therefore, it is possible to display an advertisement having a high advertising effect, which is composed of a plurality of screens.

Further, according to the present embodiment, when the period in which the advertisement data cannot be newly acquired continues to exceed the limit value, the portable communication terminal 1 does not return the process from the advertisement process to the main process of the application. I am trying. Therefore, if the mobile communication terminal 1 continues to be unable to acquire advertisement data due to, for example, the mobile communication terminal 1 existing outside the service area of the mobile communication network 4 for a long period of time, Usage can be restricted.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the application program according to the present invention is not limited to the one realized as a Java applet, and may be a program of any form.

The application realized by the application processing may be something other than the game, such as a stock price display.

The timing of executing the advertisement processing is as follows:
It suffices to include at least one of the four types of timing shown in the above embodiment.

Plural links having different link destinations may be set in one advertisement data. The link is WW
The network is not limited to the W (World Wide Web) site, and may be another network. Therefore, the link destination address is also U.
It is not limited to RL.

The processing for accessing the link destination and displaying the information distributed from the link destination when the link in the advertisement is clicked may be performed based on the application program of the present invention.

Further, the advertisement display and the notification of the click of the link in the advertisement may be transmitted every time those events occur. Further, even when it is transmitted as history information, history information regarding advertisement display and history information regarding click of a link in the advertisement may be created separately and transmitted separately. Then, in the case of transmitting as such or as history information such as an event history, the transmission may be performed irrespective of acquisition of the advertisement data.

Further, the destination of the event history is not limited to the application distribution server 2 and may be directly transmitted to the advertisement distribution server 3, or may be transmitted to a completely different notification destination. You can Further, the advertisement display notification and the link click notification in the advertisement may be transmitted to different notification destinations.

If the advertisement distribution response is successfully received from the application distribution server 2 but the advertisement data is not included in the advertisement distribution response, the mobile communication terminal 1 does not have to acquire the advertisement data. On the side, it can be said that the operation is normal. Therefore, the final acquisition date and time may be updated if the advertisement distribution response can be received. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the mobile communication terminal 1 from repeatedly attempting to acquire advertisement data at an unnecessarily short cycle when there is no advertisement data to be distributed by the advertisement distribution server 3. The user of the terminal 1 will not be burdened with unnecessary communication costs. Further, even if the advertisement data is not actually acquired for a period exceeding the limit value, application processing is performed as long as communication with the application distribution server 2 is performed at intervals not exceeding the limit value. Can be executed.

The timing of trying to acquire the advertisement data is, for example, every time the power of the mobile communication terminal 1 is turned on,
It can be arbitrarily changed, such as every fixed time.

[0100] Further, for example, if the advertisement data used once for displaying the advertisement is deleted from the SRAM 13, it is possible to omit the management of the expiration date of the advertisement data.

Further, the downloaded advertisement data is S
If it is not stored in the RAM 13, the advertisement may not be displayed.

The period for displaying the advertisement can be arbitrarily changed, for example, a fixed period.

Besides, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0104]

According to the present invention, the screen display on the display by the application processing is temporarily interrupted at a predetermined timing, and the display of the advertising screen based on the advertising data acquired through the mobile communication network is displayed. With a container. Then, after the display of the advertisement screen is finished, it is decided to restart the screen display on the display unit by the application process. Therefore, while the advertisement screen is being displayed in association with the application process, Can display a completely separate advertising screen. As a result, it becomes possible to effectively advertise to the user of the application in the mobile communication terminal.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a hardware configuration of the mobile communication terminal 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a process configuration of the mobile communication terminal 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a storage state of advertisement data in SRAM 13.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a specific example of a data block included in advertisement data.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the structure of an event history.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of game application processing.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing details of surface clearing processing.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing details of game over processing.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing details of termination processing.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing details of advertisement processing.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing details of advertisement data acquisition processing.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a sequence when the mobile communication terminal 1 acquires advertisement data.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Mobile communication terminal 2 ... Application distribution server 3 ... Advertisement distribution server 4 ... Mobile communication network 5 ... Internet 10 ... CPU 11 ... ROM 12 ... RAM 13 ... SRAM 111 ... Firmware 121 ... Java virtual machine 122 ... Browser 131 ... Java applet

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Shuntaro Sato             Stock Market Association, 3-5-8 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo             Company D2 Communications F term (reference) 5C064 BA07 BB10 BC18 BC20 BC25                       BD02 BD08 BD09                 5K024 AA77 BB04 CC11 DD02 FF04                       GG01                 5K027 AA11 CC08 FF01 FF22                 5K067 AA34 BB04 EE02 FF01 FF31                       KK13                 5K101 KK16 LL12 MM07 NN02 NN14                       NN21 PP03 SS07

Claims (20)

[Claims] 1. Communication for communicating via a mobile communication network,
A computer for controlling a mobile communication terminal equipped with a display capable of displaying an arbitrary screen and a storage capable of storing arbitrary information; an acquisition means for acquiring advertisement data via the mobile communication network; And a storage control unit for storing the storage unit in the storage unit, and a storage control unit for storing the display unit in the display unit during a predetermined advertisement period starting from the time when it is necessary to switch the display screen on the display unit by a predetermined application process. Advertisement display means for displaying an advertisement screen based on the advertisement data, and an application program functioning as a display inhibiting means for inhibiting screen display on the display by the application processing during the advertisement period. 2. The communication is carried out via a mobile communication network,
A computer for controlling a mobile communication terminal equipped with a display capable of displaying an arbitrary screen and a storage capable of storing arbitrary information; an acquisition means for acquiring advertisement data via the mobile communication network; Storage control means for storing in the storage means, and advertisement display means for displaying an advertisement screen based on the advertisement data stored in the storage means on the display during a predetermined advertisement period starting from the time when a predetermined application process is activated. And an application program that functions as a display suppressing unit that suppresses a screen display on the display unit by the application processing during the advertisement period. 3. A mobile communication network is used for communication.
A computer for controlling a mobile communication terminal equipped with a display capable of displaying an arbitrary screen and a storage capable of storing arbitrary information; an acquisition means for acquiring advertisement data via the mobile communication network; Storage control means for storing in the storage means, and advertisement display means for displaying an advertisement screen based on the advertisement data stored in the storage means on the display during an advertisement period when communication is performed by a predetermined application process. An application program that functions as a display suppression unit that suppresses a screen display on the display unit by the application processing during the advertisement period. 4. The communication is carried out via a mobile communication network,
A computer for controlling a mobile communication terminal equipped with a display capable of displaying an arbitrary screen and a storage capable of storing arbitrary information; an acquisition means for acquiring advertisement data via the mobile communication network; And a storage control unit for storing the storage unit in the display unit during a predetermined advertisement period starting from the time when it is necessary to perform an end process for ending the application process of the predetermined application process. Advertisement display means for displaying an advertisement screen based on the advertisement data stored in the display data, display suppression means for suppressing the screen display on the display by the application processing during the advertisement period, and the end processing during the advertisement period. An application program that functions as a termination suppression unit that 5. The application program according to claim 1, which is downloaded from an application distribution server to the mobile communication terminal via the mobile communication network. 6. The request means for requesting the browser to access the address of the computer when the address information included in the advertisement data is specified, and the mobile communication that the request is made by the request means. The application program according to any one of claims 1 to 4, which is caused to function as notifying means for notifying a predetermined notification destination via a network. 7. The notification means creates history information requested by the requesting means, and notifies the notification destination of the history information at a predetermined timing.
The application program described in. 8. The computer according to claim 1, wherein the computer functions as notifying means for notifying a predetermined notification destination via the mobile communication network which of the advertisement screens displayed by the advertisement display means is. 4. The application program according to any one of 4 above. 9. The notification unit according to claim 8, wherein the notification unit creates history information of display of an advertisement screen by the advertisement display unit and notifies the notification destination to the history information at a predetermined timing. Application program. 10. The application program according to claim 7, wherein the predetermined timing is when the acquisition unit acquires the advertisement data. 11. The application program according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit tries to acquire the advertisement data when a process based on the application program is started. 12. The advertisement data is obtained only when the start timing of the processing based on the application program exceeds a predetermined acquisition timing determined by a timing at which advertisement data was acquired last time and a predetermined acquisition interval. The application program according to claim 11, wherein the application program is to be acquired. 13. The predetermined acquisition timing of the acquisition means is determined by a predetermined acquisition interval and a timing at which a communication with a predetermined partner was successful for the acquisition of advertisement data last time. The application program according to claim 11, wherein an attempt is made to acquire the advertisement data only when the acquisition timing has passed. 14. The advertisement data has an expiration date set, and the advertisement display means displays an advertisement screen based only on the advertisement data whose expiration date has not expired. The application program according to any one of claims 1 to 4. 15. The advertisement display means displays a predetermined advertisement screen prepared in advance on the display device when the advertisement data is not stored in the storage means. 4. The application program according to any one of 4 above. 16. The advertisement display means according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement display means sets the advertisement period until display of all advertisement screens indicated by one advertisement data is completed. Application program. 17. The advertisement display means is set until the display of all advertisement screens indicated by one piece of advertisement data for the advertisement period is completed and the start-up processing of the application processing is completed. The application program according to claim 2. 18. The advertisement display means sets the advertisement period until display of all advertisement screens indicated by one advertisement data is completed and communication by the application processing is completed. 3. The application program described in 3. 19. The computer according to claim 1, wherein the computer functions as a prohibition unit that prohibits execution of the application processing when the acquisition unit cannot acquire advertisement data for a predetermined period of time. Item 5. The application program according to any one of items 4. 20. When the computer does not succeed in communicating with a predetermined partner for acquiring the advertisement data by the acquisition means, the application process is executed when the communication continues for a predetermined period of time. The application program according to any one of claims 1 to 4, which is caused to function as prohibiting means for prohibiting.