WO2012067307A1

WO2012067307A1 - Adaptive user interface providing system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2012067307A1
Application number: PCT/KR2011/000122
Authority: WO
Inventors: 장동일
Original assignee: 주식회사 포키비언
Priority date: 2010-11-19
Filing date: 2011-01-07
Publication date: 2012-05-24
Also published as: KR101184754B1; KR20120054292A

Abstract

The present invention pertains to a user interface providing system and method, and relates to a user interface providing system and method for providing an interface to be executed through an input terminal, such as a smart phone. To this end, the user interface providing system of the present invention comprises: an input terminal which transmits profile information thereof; a server which identifies interfaces that may be supportable to the terminal by analyzing the profile information received from the input terminal, searches for and selects an interface suitable for the input terminal among the identified interfaces, and transmits information on the selected interface to the input terminal and a contents providing terminal; and the contents providing terminal which executes and displays an application corresponding to the interface information received from the server.

Description

Adaptive User Interface Provision System and Method

The present invention relates to a system and method for providing a user interface, and more particularly, to a system and method for providing a user interface for adaptively providing an interface to be executed through an input terminal such as a smart phone.

In general, two-way TV broadcasting refers to a predetermined viewer input signal to a service provider that also transmits a broadcast signal from a unidirectional TV broadcasting, in which a general viewer receives a broadcast signal unilaterally transmitted through a prescribed channel and then watches. Refers to a TV broadcast that allows interaction between a broadcaster and a viewer by allowing the broadcaster to transmit the video. An example of such a two-way TV broadcast is IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) broadcast.

IPTV broadcasting is literally TV broadcasting using the Internet protocol, and the system for IPTV broadcasting receives a broadcast program signal from a broadcast program provider and transmits it to a set top box of each TV receiver, but the handset of the viewer (eg For example, it is a two-way broadcast system that allows the content to be broadcasted to be adaptively determined in response to a request generated according to a remote control) operation. Since the IPTV broadcasting system enables two-way broadcasting based on the IP address assigned to each set-top box of the viewer, the viewer may generate a predetermined signal on the TV receiver and transmit it to the broadcasting company.

Focusing on the bi-directionality of such broadcasts, viewers can send viewer input signals through TV receivers while watching broadcast programs or advertising content, which will be referenced by broadcasters to be used to provide new viewer-friendly services. Can be.

In addition, IPTV is evolving into a smart TV technology that provides education, games, search services, etc. in addition to viewing video contents in connection with input devices by receiving contents of various application types.

As such, as multimedia technologies such as IPTV are rapidly developing, various types of portable multimedia devices and communication devices are also rapidly developing. In other words, as the Internet and wireless Internet environment becomes wider and more active, the use of smart phones, which are highly available portable devices, is rapidly increasing in such environments.

A smart phone is a portable terminal having an operating system, and can be referred to as a concept of a portable computer having a function of transmitting and receiving data such as Internet information retrieval, moving picture, and picture information by using an application program operating on the operating system.

Such a smart phone actually combines the advantages of a mobile phone and a personal digital assistant (PDA). The smart phone includes data communication functions such as program execution and Internet access that can be easily processed by a computer. can do.

As such, the biggest feature of the smart phone is that the operating system (OS) is equipped with the execution of the application program, the wireless LAN (Wi-Fi; Fidelity) can be connected.

Recently, smart phones have provided various input functions such as a touch screen function or a motion recognition function. However, although terminals having various input functions have been developed, only the input functions are used only in the corresponding terminals, and the input functions cannot be used when the contents are used in other devices such as smart TVs.

Accordingly, the present invention relates to a system and a method for providing a user interface, and to provide an adaptive interface to be executed through an input terminal such as a smart phone.

In addition, the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, to provide a server and a method for providing an interface to the terminal in the user interface providing system.

As a technical means for achieving the above-described technical problem, the adaptive user interface providing system according to the first aspect of the present invention, the input terminal for transmitting its profile information, and the profile information received from the input terminal by analyzing A server for identifying an interface supported by the terminal, searching for and selecting an interface suitable for the input terminal among the identified interfaces, and transmitting selected interface information to the input terminal and the content providing terminal, and an interface received from the server And a content providing terminal for executing and displaying an application corresponding to the information.

In addition, the adaptive user interface providing method according to the second aspect of the present invention, the first step of receiving the profile information of the input terminal, and analyzes the received profile information to search and select the interface that the terminal can support; And a second step of transmitting information of the searched and selected interface to the input terminal, and a third step of transmitting content corresponding to the interface information to the content providing terminal.

In addition, the server for providing an adaptive user interface according to the third aspect of the present invention for achieving the above-described technical problem, the receiving unit for receiving the profile information of the input terminal from the input terminal, the analysis of the received profile information A profile analyzer for identifying an interface available to the input terminal, a user interface database storing available interfaces corresponding to contents, and searching for and selecting an optimal user interface from the user interface database based on the analysis of the profile analyzer; And a transmission unit configured to transmit a user interface search unit and the selected interface information to the input terminal, and transmit content corresponding to the selected interface information to a content providing terminal.

According to the aforementioned problem solving means of the present invention, the present invention is provided with an interface to be executed through an input terminal such as a smart phone, so that various applications such as games, the Internet, and YouTube can be used on the smart TV through an optimal interface. It has an effect.

In addition, according to the above-described problem solving means of the present invention by providing an interface that can be commonly used in a plurality of input terminals has the effect that a plurality of users can use the application in a fair environment.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system for providing a user interface according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an input terminal, a server, and a content providing terminal in a user interface providing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing a user interface according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a user interface providing system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. In the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present invention, and like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a part is "connected" to another part, this includes not only "directly connected" but also "electrically connected" with another element in between. . In addition, when a part is said to "include" a certain component, which means that it may further include other components, except to exclude other components unless otherwise stated.

Hereinafter, by using a user input terminal capable of installing and changing a program and having a bidirectional communication function according to the present invention, profile information of the input terminal and a user profile are transmitted to the server, and the server adaptively transmits an individual interface optimized for a use environment. A user interface providing system and method for determining and dynamically providing content to a user will be described.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown, the user interface providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention and the input terminal 110 for transmitting the profile information to the content providing terminal, and transmits the profile information received from the input terminal to the server, from the server Content providing terminal 130 for displaying the received content, and the interface providing server 120 for analyzing the profile information received from the input terminal to select the best interface to transmit to the input terminal and the content providing terminal.

As shown, the input terminal 110 may receive a command from a user, a terminal equipped with a communication module such as a smart phone, a tablet PC, etc., or receive a command from a user, such as a keyboard. But it includes a terminal that is not equipped with a communication module.

Such an input terminal has its own profile information, and if the user wants to use the content through at least one input terminal, the terminal equipped with the transmission / reception module among the input terminals collects the profile information of the at least one input terminal and provides the content. Can be sent to the terminal or server. For example, when each user wants to use content through an input terminal such as a keyboard, a smart phone, or a tablet PC, the smart phone collects profile information of each input terminal and transmits it directly to a server, or a content providing terminal. Can be sent to the server via a set-top box.

The server 120 receiving at least one profile information from the input terminal analyzes the received profile information, selects an optimal interface for each input terminal, and provides interface information corresponding to the selected interface with the input terminal and Send to the content providing terminal. When the profile information of the terminal is received from the input terminal, the server 120 searches for and selects an optimized interface through the received profile information of the terminal, or adaptively selects an optimal user input program according to the content usage situation. It is recommended and transmitted to the input terminal and the content providing terminal 130 in real time.

If each profile information is received from at least two input terminals which want to use the same application or content, the server 120 may select an optimized individual interface that can be commonly used. When the profile information of the terminal is received from the input terminal, the content providing terminal 130 transmits the received profile information to the server through the Internet network and displays the interface information received from the server. In addition, the content providing terminal 130 may include a module capable of executing various applications or contents corresponding to the received interface information.

The content providing terminal 130 provides not only broadcast content such as a video but also content that operates on an application program such as a game, search, and chat. For example, the IPTV or the smart TV may be included in the content providing terminal 130.

Meanwhile, the input terminal 110 refers to a device capable of operating as an input device of the content providing terminal 130 through wired or wireless communication with the content providing terminal 130. The wired and wireless communication may employ various technologies such as USB connection, IEEE 1394, Bluetooth, UWB, Zigbee, Wifi, infrared communication, RF communication.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an input terminal, an interface providing server, and a content providing terminal in a user interface providing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, a system for providing a user interface according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a terminal 210 for transmitting its profile information and user profile information to a server, and input terminal profile information and a user transmitted from the terminal. The server 220 selects an individual interface optimized for a use environment using profile information and transmits the selected interface to the terminal and the content providing terminal 230 controlled by the terminal, and receives the selected individual interface information from the server. And a content providing terminal 230 for displaying an application corresponding to the interface information through the corresponding module.

Hereinafter, an input terminal, a server, and a content providing terminal in a user interface providing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2.

First, the input terminal 110 is an input unit 111 for receiving a command for executing an application, such as a game, the Internet, etc. from the user, and if the command to analyze the input command to execute the application, the terminal itself A control unit 112 for controlling the transmission of the profile information and the user profile information to the server or the set-top box through the transmission and reception unit 114, and a storage unit 113 for storing the interface program transmitted and received through the transmission and reception unit; Include.

The input terminal 110 includes a device having an input unit for receiving and executing a command desired by a user, such as a smart phone, a keyboard, a remote controller, a tablet, a joystick, and the like. The transceiver is a device capable of transmitting and receiving data, and is called a transceiver for convenience, but a transmitter and a receiver may be separately implemented.

If the input terminal 110 is a device capable of inputting / outputting data (eg, a smartphone), the control unit 112 of the terminal 110 may include profile information of respective devices, that is, a keyboard, a remote controller, and a tablet. The user profile information representing the user information using the input terminal is collected and transmitted to the server 120. Hereinafter, profile information and user profile information of the input terminal will be referred to as profile information.

In addition, the server 120 is optimized through the transceiver unit 124 for receiving the profile information of the terminal from the terminal, the profile analyzer 122 for analyzing the received profile information, and the profile information of the analyzed terminal. A user interface search unit 123 for searching for and selecting a predetermined interface or adaptively recommending an optimal user input program according to an application usage situation, and storing various interface information, applications, and contents corresponding to profile information of the terminal; It includes a user interface storage 121.

The profile analyzer 122 analyzes the received profile information to analyze the interface available to the input terminal. For example, the received profile information may be analyzed to identify that the input terminal 110 is a smart phone having a touch screen and a motion sensing function.

In addition, the profile analyzer 122 may identify an interface that can be used in common when each profile information is received from at least two or more terminals intending to use the same application. In other words, since each input terminal is varied such as a keyboard, a remote controller, a smartphone, a tablet, and the like, the profile analyzer 122 analyzes profile information of the input terminal for each user and selects an interface candidate that can be commonly used. Can be identified.

For example, if at least two or more users want to use the Chinese character matching education application through different input terminals (eg, a remote controller and a smart phone), each terminal writes through the profile information received from each terminal. Analyze if the feature is supported. However, since the remote control may not be provided with such a function, but a function of selecting a number is provided, the kanji matching education application may be determined as an interface or content for inputting multiple answers.

In the above example, since the remote controller does not support the write function, the profile information sent to the server includes information indicating that such a write function cannot be performed. On the other hand, the information that the number key can be input is available because the number key can be entered. May be included. And, since the smart phone supports the number key input function as well as the write function, it includes all available functions including the same.

In other words, the profile analyzer 122 may analyze the functions available for each terminal to identify which interfaces are commonly used by all terminals.

The most suitable user interface among the identified interfaces is retrieved from the UI DB 121 in which the UI search unit 123 is stored.

The UI DB 121 stores at least one user interface that matches a specific application or content. The UI retrieval unit 123 retrieves a user interface having the attributes of the available interface identified by the profile analyzer 222 from the UI DB 121, selects an optimal interface, and provides a content providing terminal through the transceiver unit 124f. 130).

For example, when the content requested by the input terminal 110 is an arcade game and a smart phone supporting a touch screen, the profile analyzer 122 analyzes the profile information to identify an interface that the input terminal 110 can support. do. If this is identified, the UI search unit 122 searches for a user interface most suitable for the arcade game from the UI DB 121. If it is determined that the most suitable user interface is a virtual game pad of a screen touch method having a 4-way movement key and an action button, the UI search unit 123 transmits a program of the corresponding interface to the input terminal 110.

The priority of the most suitable user interface may be given in advance by the content creator, or may be prioritized between the user interfaces based on the convenience of the user interface regardless of the content creator. 130 is a transceiver 131 for receiving content and interface information from a server, a display unit 132 for displaying received interface information, and a module capable of executing various applications or content corresponding to the received interface information. The provided content driving unit 134 and a control unit 133 for displaying and controlling the interface information received from the server.

The interface information transmitted to the content providing terminal 130 may be an application program or a driver program that can interoperate with the interface transmitted to the input terminal 110.

The content providing terminal 130 receives the content corresponding to the interface adaptively selected according to the performance of the input terminal 110 and provides the content to be controlled by the interface of the input terminal 110.

As described above, if the screen having the four-way movement key and the action button is provided to the input terminal 110 as an interface, the content providing terminal 130 according to the control signal generated by touching the movement key and the action button. You will control the character of the arcade game.

In this case, the content providing terminal 130 may receive the control signal from the input terminal 110 through wired or wireless local area communication.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a user interface providing method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a user interface providing method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3.

The server receives the profile information and the user profile information of the input terminal from at least one terminal (S310). The profile information of the input terminal is not only user profile information using an input terminal such as a smart phone, but also a unique identifier of the input terminal, system information of the input terminal, interface information on which the input terminal can be driven, and an application to be executed through the input terminal. It may include any one or more of the information. Here, the system information includes information indicating an input function that the input terminal can support, and a manufacturer and model name of the input terminal.

The server analyzes the received input terminal profile information and the user profile information (S312). That is, the server analyzes the profile information received from the terminal to identify an interface that the terminal, that is, the input terminal can support.

In addition, when the supportable interface is identified through the information analyzed in step S312, the server searches for and selects an optimal interface available to the input terminal among the interfaces stored in the UI database (S314).

Here, if profile information of at least two input terminals is received, the received profile information is analyzed to select an interface that can be commonly applied to the at least two input terminals. The selected interface information may be commonly operated in at least two input terminals. If the profile information for only one input terminal is received from the terminal, as in step S312, the received profile information is analyzed to select an interface applicable to the input terminal.

In operation S316, an application or a program corresponding to the selected interface is transmitted. That is, when an interface commonly operated in only one input terminal or at least two input terminals is selected, the server may input information on the selected interface and an application or program corresponding to the selected interface. To send.

4 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a user interface providing system according to another exemplary embodiment.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 4 differs from the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 in that one content is used by a user of a plurality of input terminals, and other functions and operations are the same. Therefore, repeated description of the function and operation of the system will be omitted, and description will be made based on the example.

First, an application or content such as Chinese character matching using a smartphone 410a, a second user using a keyboard 410b, and a third user using a tablet PC 410c. Suppose we use. In this case, when three users want to use a common application or content, a terminal provided with a wired / wireless communication function among three input terminals, that is, the smartphone 410a collects profile information of each input terminal. (S400). In other words, the smart phone 410a collects information including the manufacturer of the keyboard 410b and the tablet PC 410c, a model name, and an input module that each input terminal can support.

For example, the smart phone 410a may not only receive characters such as numbers, Korean, English, and symbols, but also may recognize voices and also have a touch function. Store your own unique information, such as manufacturing companies. In addition, when the input terminal is the keyboard 410b, the smart phone 410a stores the inputtable module information because the input module is capable of letters such as numbers, Korean, English, and symbols. Similarly, the tablet PC 410c is provided with an inputable module similar to that of the smartphone 410a, and the smartphone 410a stores this inputtable module information of the tablet PC 410c.

As such, when the inputtable module information of each of these input terminals and unique information such as a model name and a manufacturing company are stored, the smart phone 410a directly transmits the stored information to the server 420 or the set top of the content providing terminal. Send to the server 420 through the box. The profile information includes not only this inputtable module information but also information on the content of the Chinese character matching to be executed through three input terminals. In the present exemplary embodiment, the smart phone 410a collects profile information and transmits the collected profile information to the server 420. However, this is merely an exemplary embodiment, and the tablet PC collects profile information of each of the input terminals. Can be sent to.

When the server 420 receives profile information collected from an input terminal such as a smart phone 410a or a tablet PC 410c, the server 420 analyzes the received profile information and inputs a module that can be commonly supported by all input terminals. Search for (S410). That is, the profile information of the smart phone 410a confirms that the input module supports text input, voice recognition, and touch functions such as numbers, Korean, English, and symbols, and the input module includes numbers on the profile information of the keyboard 410b. It is confirmed that character input such as Korean, English, and symbols is supported, and the profile information of the tablet PC 410c includes text input such as numbers, Korean, English, and symbols, voice recognition, and touch functions as the smartphone 410a. Check that the input module of is supported. When the input module is identified for each input terminal, an interface corresponding to an input module that can be supported by three input terminals in common is searched, and the content providing terminal 430 provides the content driven through the searched interface information and the searched interface. And transmits to the smart phone 410a (S420).

The content providing terminal 430 displays the interface and the content received from the server 420.

As such, when content such as kanji matching that can be commonly used by three input terminals is displayed on the content providing terminal 430, the kanji matching contents displayed through the respective input terminals may be used.

Therefore, when a plurality of users compete with each other using content or use test content for which grades are calculated, the content can be used fairly regardless of the performance of the input terminal.

An embodiment of the present invention may also be implemented in the form of a recording medium including instructions executable by a computer, such as a program module executed by a computer. Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. In addition, computer readable media may include both computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Communication media typically includes computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave, or other transmission mechanism, and includes any information delivery media.

The foregoing description of the present invention is intended for illustration, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be easily modified in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features of the present invention. will be. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are exemplary in all respects and not restrictive. For example, each component described as a single type may be implemented in a distributed manner, and similarly, components described as distributed may be implemented in a combined form.

The scope of the present invention is shown by the following claims rather than the above description, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention. do.

Claims

In the system for providing an adaptive user interface,

An input terminal for transmitting its profile information,

Analyze the profile information received from the input terminal to identify the interface that the terminal can support, search for and select an interface suitable for the input terminal among the identified interfaces, and transmit the selected interface information to the input terminal and the content providing terminal. The server to send to,

And a content providing terminal for executing and displaying content corresponding to the interface information received from the server.
The method of claim 1, wherein the profile information

And a unique identifier of the terminal, system information of the terminal, interface information that can be driven by the terminal, and at least one of information of an application to be executed through the terminal.
The method of claim 2, wherein the system information is

And at least one of information indicating an input function that the terminal can support, a manufacturer and a model name of the terminal.
The method of claim 1, wherein the server

And identifying interface information that can be operated in the terminal through system information of the terminal included in the received profile information and interface information in which the terminal can be driven.
The method of claim 4, wherein the server

And transmitting the content corresponding to the interface information to the content providing terminal.
In the method for providing an adaptive user interface,

A first step of receiving profile information of an input terminal,

A second step of analyzing the received profile information to search and select an interface supported by the terminal, and transmitting information of the searched and selected interface to the input terminal;

And a third step of transmitting the content corresponding to the interface information to the content providing terminal.
The method of claim 6,

The second step is

And identifying an interface that can be operated in the terminal based on system information of the terminal included in the received profile information and interface information supported by the terminal.
The method of claim 7, wherein

The second step is

Based on the identified interface, searching for and selecting an optimal interface among the stored interfaces.
The method of claim 8,

The second step is

When there are a plurality of input terminals which have transmitted the profile information, identifying an interface that can be commonly supported by the plurality of input terminals, and searching and selecting an optimal interface based on the identified interfaces. How to provide a user interface.
A server providing an adaptive user interface,

Receiving unit for receiving the profile information of the input terminal from the input terminal,

A profile analyzer which analyzes the received profile information to identify an interface available to the input terminal;

A user interface database storing available interfaces corresponding to the content;

A user interface search unit for searching for and selecting an optimal user interface from the user interface database based on the analysis of the profile analyzer;

And a transmitter configured to transmit the selected interface information to the input terminal and to transmit content corresponding to the selected interface information to a content providing terminal.
The method of claim 10,

When there are a plurality of input terminals that transmit the profile information,

The profile analyzer identifies an interface that can be commonly supported by the plurality of input terminals,

And the user interface searching unit searches for an optimal interface based on the identified interface.