Abstract:
A method and a system that automatically searches an application store corresponding to the Internet Protocol (IP) address of a connected Access Point (AP) for applications and content with a smart mobile device (mobile terminal) by which a user can download the desired applications and that notifies a user of the results of the search, thus allowing the user to install the applications without requiring a separate search operation.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of priority from the Korean Patent Application No. 10-2011-0010253, filed with the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Feb. 1, 2011, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     A method and a system consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to distributing applications for publicizing businesses or distributing digital content such as electronic books (e-books) or videos, and more particularly, to a method and a system that automatically searches an application store for applications and content with a smart mobile device (mobile terminal) by which a user can download the desired applications. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Generally, an Internet portal-based application store database (DB) is provided with DB tables, each including pages for presenting individually registered applications and digital content, such as e-books and videos, and unique identifiers corresponding to the respective pages. A business application installed on a user terminal can search the tables using the unique identifiers assigned by an application store operation server to relevant businesses and can then search for and provide applications or content for publicizing and introducing relevant businesses. Further, mobile smart devices based on the iPod Operating System (iOS) and the Android OS are designed to search for surrounding APs so as to realize wireless Fidelity (WiFi) connections, and are configured such that applications can be developed and installed which have the function of searching for the IP addresses and Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of APs that are currently accessible. 
     The user of the above-described smart device may personally access an application store via an AP and may view a list of applications or pieces of digital content belonging to a specific category, or may enter the name of content and search for the corresponding content. However, in the case of applications for publicizing and introducing small-scale businesses, or pieces of content which are not best sellers i.e., popular, when preliminary information about the name of the relevant content is not present, it is difficult for a user to personally search for the relevant content and obtain resulting pages, and most unpopular applications may be inefficiently distributed or may die out in the market without being publicized, due to prior-arrangement policies centered around a small number of pieces of popular content of the application store, thus preventing the unpopular applications from being widely used. 
     SUMMARY 
     One or more exemplary embodiments may overcome the above disadvantages and other disadvantages not described above. However, it is understood that one or more exemplary embodiment are not required to overcome the disadvantages described above, and may not overcome any of the problems described above. 
     One or more exemplary embodiments provide a method and a system for distributing digital content, which is configured such that when the mobile terminal of a user performs WiFi communication using surrounding access points (Aps), an application (App) store server provides identifiers with reference to a table related to a list of IP addresses of the APs, and a push notification (push Noti) server automatically provides a notification (hereinafter briefly referred to as “Noti”), so that the user can purchase or install applications or content from the App store server, thus enabling the utility of unpopular applications or content (hereinafter an application or content will be integrally referred to as ‘content’) of businesses to be efficiently and widely improved even if the user does not personally access and search an App store. 
     According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is provided a method of distributing digital content using a mobile terminal, including a mobile terminal searching for an internet Access Point (AP); and the mobile terminal transmitting to an application store a request for content. The request includes one or more addresses for the found internet access points. The mobile terminal receives the requested content from the application store. The content is selected based on the address in the request. 
     The mobile terminal may compare strengths of signals received from a plurality of internet access points and select closest one of the internet access points based on the signal strength. The mobile terminal may then obtain an address of the closest internet access point, and transmit the obtained address to the application store. 
     The mobile terminal may compare strengths of signals received from a plurality of internet access points and select at least two of the internet access points whose signal strength is greater or equal to a predetermined value. The mobile terminal may obtain respective addresses of the selected internet access points, and may transmit any one of the obtained addresses to the application store. 
     The application store may include a storage unit which stores a table that links respective unique identifiers to a plurality of addresses of respective internet access points. The application store may select at least one unique identifier which corresponds to the address provided by the mobile terminal based on the stored table, may transmits the selected one unique identifier to the mobile terminal. If the mobile terminal requests to connect with a web page that provides access to the content, where the web page corresponds to the unique identifier, the mobile terminal is provided with the web page which allows access to the content. 
     The method may further include transmitting by the application store respective unique identifiers corresponding to a plurality of IP addresses to the mobile terminal based on the stored table, and if a list of the received unique identifiers is displayed on a display screen of the mobile terminal, a user interface is provided in which a user selects one of the received unique identifiers, the mobile terminal requests to connect to a web page based on the selected unique identifier, and the application store provides the requested web page, which provides the content to the mobile terminal. 
     If at least one of the unique identifiers is received by the mobile terminal, the mobile terminal may transmit a notification request to a push server, may receive a notification from the push Noti server, and the mobile terminal may select an option in the notification, the option indicating a request to receive a corresponding web page. 
     The push server may include a storage unit which stores a table indicating whether an event which provides information about each terminal has been requested, and if the terminal information included in a message for the notification request received from the mobile terminal has been registered in the storage unit in advance of the request, the push server may provide a notification based on the notification request. 
     According to another aspect, a system for distributing digital content is provided. The system includes an application store server which provides the content to a mobile terminal. The application store server includes a reception unit which receives a request with an address from the mobile terminal when the mobile terminal obtains the address of a found interne access point and a content provision unit which searches and provides content corresponding to the request. 
     The mobile terminal may compare strengths of signals received from a plurality of internet access points, may obtain an address of an internet access point closest to the mobile terminal, and may transmit the address to the application store server. 
     The App store server may further include a transmission unit; and a storage unit which stores a table that links respective unique identifiers to a corresponding plurality of IP addresses, the content provision unit may search the storage unit for unique identifiers corresponding to the addresses, and may transmit the unique identifiers to the mobile terminal via the transmission unit in conformity with a communication protocol, and when a connection request for the received unique identifiers is received from the mobile terminal, the content provision unit may provide a corresponding web page which provides the content to the mobile terminal via the transmission unit in conformity with a communication protocol. 
     The content provision unit may search the database for respective unique identifiers corresponding to a plurality of IP addresses and transmit found unique identifiers to the mobile terminal via the transmission unit in conformity with a communication protocol, and when a connection request for a unique identifier selected from a list of the received unique identifiers is received from the mobile terminal, the content provision unit may provide a web page for providing the content to the mobile terminal via the transmission unit in conformity with a communication protocol. 
     The mobile terminal may include a processing unit which controls the mobile terminal such that, when the unique identifier is received, a notification request is transmitted by the mobile terminal to a push server, and a notification is received from the push server, and the notification is displayed on a display screen of the mobile terminal; and a web page activation unit, which when a user selects to make a connection request, receives and displays the web page provided by the application store server. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above and other aspects and features of exemplary embodiments will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating a system for distributing digital content such as an application according to an exemplary embodiment; 
         FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating structure of a user terminal according to an exemplary embodiment; 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating structure of the App store server according to an exemplary embodiment; 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating a method distributing digital content according to an exemplary embodiment; 
         FIG. 5  is a diagram illustrating information managed in the DB of the App store server according to an exemplary embodiment; 
         FIG. 6  is a diagram illustrating an example of a notification provided by a push-notification server according to an exemplary embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings, but the inventive concept is not limited or restricted by the exemplary embodiments. 
       FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating a system  100  for distributing digital content such as applications according to an exemplary embodiment. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the system  100  for distributing digital content such as applications according to an exemplary embodiment includes a mobile terminal  110 , a wireless Access Point (AP)  120 , a network  130 , an application store (App store) server  140 , and a push notification (hereinafter referred to as ‘Noti’) server  150 . 
     Here, the mobile terminal  110  is a terminal which can access the network  130  (for example, the Internet) according to a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) protocol via the wireless AP  120  and can use a data service, and which may be, but is not limited to, a smart phone such as an ipod or an android phone, may be a portable or a mobile terminal such as a cellular phone capable of performing communication via the wireless AP  120 , a Personal Communications Services (PC) phone, a synchronous/asynchronous International Mobile Telecommunication-2000 (IMT-2000) phone enabling wireless communication, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) phone, a mobile game console (mobile play-station), and other Portable Multimedia Players (PMPs), may also be a notebook personal computer (PC), a desktop PC, a Palm PC, or the like, and may include various electronic appliances or devices present over the entire society for home-use or business-use, capable of communicating with other electronic appliances depending on the circumstances. 
     The network  130  may be, but is not limited to, the Internet, may include a wireless mobile communication network such as a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) or Wireless Broadband (WiBro) network, or may include a wired telephone network or the like depending on the circumstances. The mobile terminal  110  may be provided with a content service according to an exemplary embodiment while communicating with the App store server  140  and the push Noti server  150  over the above-described network. In this case, the content includes applications (App) (e.g., a game, a psychological test program, a video provision application, a biorhythm provision application, a program, etc.) that can be installed and executed on the mobile terminal  110  to provide interesting services to the user while performing bidirectional communication with the Internet server such as the App store server  140 , or digital multimedia data such as images, e-books, or videos. 
     Using such a construction, exemplary system  100  is configured such that in the case where the mobile terminal  110  of the user performs WiFi communication using the surrounding AP  120 , if the App store server  140  provides a unique identifier with reference to a table related to the Internet Protocol (IP) address list of the AP  120 , the push Noti server  150  automatically provides a notification to allow the user to purchase or install content from the App store server  140 , thus enabling efficient and wide-spread improvements in the utility of even the unpopular content of businesses even if the user does not personally access and search the App store. That is, the push Noti server pushes a message onto the mobile terminal  110 . This message or notification allows access to unpopular and popular contents of various businesses that may be located near the mobile terminal  110 . 
       FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating the structure of the mobile terminal  110  according to an exemplary embodiment. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the mobile terminal  110  according to an exemplary embodiment includes an IP address reception unit  111 , a content requesting unit  112 , an identifier/notification (Noti) processing unit  113 , and a web page activation unit  114 . This exemplary structure of the mobile terminal  110  may be implemented as software, hardware, or a combination thereof, and may be the configuration of a client that is downloaded from a web server or the like over the network  130  and is installed in the form of an application (App), and the client installed on the OS-based mobile terminal  110  supporting multitasking may be executed in background mode and may always be executed and operated. The exemplary mobile terminal  110  includes at least a micro-processor (not shown) and a memory. 
     The mobile terminal  110  searches for the surrounding wireless AP  120  using a device or an application for WiFi communication, and exchanges with the found AP  120  the signals required for authentication or the like, thus being provided with various types of communication services (calls, Internet browsing, data downloading, etc.) over the network  130  using the WiFi communication. The mobile terminal  110  connects to the wireless AP  120  that has the strongest signal. In this case, the mobile terminal  110  can obtain the IP address of the AP  120  from the AP  120 . In particular, the mobile terminal  110  may obtain the IP address of an AP closest thereto by comparing the strengths of signals received from a plurality of surrounding APs  120 . For example, the mobile terminal  110  may measure received signal strengths such as Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) values from signals received from a plurality of surrounding APs  120  using a predetermined detector, may then select an AP having the highest RSSI value, that is, the closest AP, from among the Aps. The mobile terminal  110  performs WiFi communication with the selected AP and obtains the IP address of the selected AP. In addition, the mobile terminal  110  can obtain respective IP addresses of all of the surrounding APs  120 , from which signals having strengths equal to or greater than a predetermined value have been received. 
     As described above, the IP address reception unit  111  receives the IP addresses obtained for example as described above via the device or the application for WiFi communication. 
     The content requesting unit  112  sends a request message including the obtained IP addresses to the App store server  140 . 
     When the App store server  140  searches for and transmits unique identifier(s) corresponding to relevant IP addresses included in the request message, the identifier/Noti processing unit  113  performs control such that it receives the unique identifier(s), sends a Noti-request message to the push Noti server  150  depending on the unique identifier(s), receives a relevant notification from the push Noti server  150 , and displays the received notification on a display screen (refer to  FIG. 6 ). Here, the App store server  140  may include a DB for storing a table (refer to  FIG. 5 ) related to unique identifiers corresponding to a plurality of IP addresses, search the DB for unique identifier(s) corresponding to respective IP addresses, and transmit the found unique identifier(s) to the identifier/Noti processing unit  113 . Further, the push Noti server  150  may include a DB for storing a table related to whether an event corresponding to information about each terminal has been requested, that is, the push Noti server  150  may have information of mobile terminals, for example, Mobile Station International ISDN (MSISDN) Numbers, to be allowed for a notification request, in the table. The push Noti server  150  may provide a relevant terminal with a notification for a relevant notification request when relevant terminal information included in a message for the above-described notification request received from the identifier/Noti processing unit  113  of the mobile terminal  110  has already been registered on the DB to request an event. 
     The web page activation unit  114  receives a relevant web page provided by the App store server  140  and displays the received web page on the display screen via a browser or the like when a connection request button (refer to ‘connect’ in  FIG. 6 ) on the display screen is selected. 
       FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating a structure of the App store server  140  according to an exemplary embodiment. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the App store server  140  according to an exemplary embodiment includes a request reception unit  141 , a content provision unit  142 , a database (DB)  143 , and a transmission unit  144 . 
     The request reception unit  141  receives a relevant request message when the mobile terminal  110  obtains the IP addresses of APs  120  found in its surroundings and sends a request message including the IP address(es). 
     The content provision unit  142  searches for content corresponding to the request message received by the request reception unit  141  as described above, and provides the found content. As shown in  FIG. 5 , the DB  143  stores a table related to respective unique identifiers corresponding to a plurality of IP addresses, and the content provision unit  142  searches the DB  143  for unique identifier(s) corresponding to the IP addresses in the request message received by the request reception unit  141 . The transmission unit  144  may transmit relevant unique identifiers to the mobile terminal  110  in conformity with a communication protocol supported by the network  130 . 
     Further, when the unique identifiers are transmitted to the mobile terminal  110  in this way, the mobile terminal  110  may send a Noti-request message to the push Noti server  150 , receive a relevant notification from the push Noti server  150 , and display the received notification on the display screen (refer to  FIG. 6 ). On the above-described display screen (refer to  FIG. 6 ), the user may select a connection request button (refer to ‘connect’ in  FIG. 6 ). Accordingly, the content provision unit  142  searches the DB  143  for a web page which will provide content when a relevant connection request (a connection request for a relevant unique identifier) is received from the mobile terminal  110 , and the transmission unit  144  may provide the relevant web page to the mobile terminal  110  in conformity with a communication protocol supported by the network  130 . 
     Hereinafter, a method of distributing the digital content according to an exemplary embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of  FIG. 4 . 
     First, at operation S 10 , an application (App) may be downloaded from a web server or the like via the network  130  and may be installed on the mobile terminal  110  so that the application may be operated as the component of the client, as shown in  FIG. 2 . The above-described client installed on the OS-based mobile terminal  110  supporting multitasking may be executed in background mode and may always be operating. 
     When the client having the structure such as the one shown in  FIG. 2  is installed on the mobile terminal  110 , the installation of the client may be registered on the push Noti server  150  in operation S 11 . For example, the push Noti server  150  may receive information about individual terminals and information about whether events have been requested from the mobile terminals on which the above-described client is installed, and may register and store in advance the received information in the DB. This operation is performed in order for the push Noti server  150  to provide a relevant notification (for example, “Would you like to visit the App store?” or the like) when an event related to a Noti-request made by the mobile terminal  110  in operation S 22 , which will been described later, is generated. 
     Thereafter, the mobile terminal  110  searches for a surrounding wireless AP  120  using a device or an application for WiFi communication, and exchanges signals required for authentication or the like with the found AP  120 , thus being provided with various types of communication services (calls, Internet browsing, data downloading, etc.) over the network  130  using WiFi communication in operation S 12 . In this case, the mobile terminal  110  may obtain the IP address of the AP  120  from the AP  120 . In particular, the mobile terminal  110  may compare the strengths (for example, Received Signal Strength Indication: RSSI) of signals received from a plurality of surrounding APs  120  and may then select the IP address of an AP closest to the mobile terminal  110 . In addition, the mobile terminal  110  may obtain the IP addresses of all of a plurality of surrounding APs  120  from which signals having strengths equal to or greater than a predetermined value have been received. 
     Accordingly, the IP address reception unit  111  of  FIG. 2  receives IP address(es) obtained in this way through the device or application for WiFi communication, as described above, in operation S 13 . The content requesting unit  112  sends a request message including the obtained IP addresses to the App store server  140  in operation S 14 . 
     Thereafter, the request reception unit  141  of  FIG. 3  receives the above request message from the mobile terminal  110 , and the content provision unit  142  searches the DB  143  for unique identifiers corresponding to the IP address(es) included in the request message received by the request reception unit  141  in operation S 20 . The transmission unit  144  may transmit the unique identifier(s) to the mobile terminal  110  in conformity with the communication protocol supported by the network  130  in operation S 21 . As shown in  FIG. 5 , the DB  143  stores in advance a table related to the unique identifiers corresponding to the respective IP addresses of the wireless APs. For example, as shown in  FIG. 5 , the IP address of the closest AP  501  found by the mobile terminal  110  may be 10.16.1.2, and the unique identifier  502  of content corresponding to the IP address may be ‘OGADA Coffee’. The unique identifier  502  of the content ‘OGADA Coffee’ or the like may be used as abbreviated information of the web page address required to provide the web page as in the case of operation S 32 , which will be described later. The table of the DB  143  as shown in  FIG. 5  is intended to describe an example, wherein information about IP addresses and the unique identifiers of content corresponding to the IP addresses may be stored and managed in different forms, and information about the categories and brand names of individual pieces of content may also be managed to correspond to the information about the respective IP addresses. 
     When the unique identifier(s) are transmitted to the mobile terminal  110  in this way, the identifier/Noti processing unit  113  sends a Noti-request message to the push Noti server  150  in operation S 22  and then receives a relevant notification from the push Noti server  150  and displays the received notification on the display screen in operation S 23 . When the mobile terminal  110  receives a list of unique identifiers corresponding to the respective IP addresses of the plurality of surrounding APs from the App store server  140  (a list of unique identifiers corresponding to the respective IP addresses of the wireless APs, as shown in  FIG. 5 ) in operation S 21 , the identifier/Noti processing unit  113  may perform control such that a list of the unique identifiers representing the content, corresponding to each unique identifier to be known as shown in  FIG. 5 , is displayed on the display screen. Using the screen on which the list of the unique identifiers is displayed, the user may select any one unique identifier from the list, and accordingly, the identifier/Noti processing unit  113  may send a Noti-request message for the selected unique identifier to the push Noti server  150  in operation S 22 , and may perform control such that it receives a relevant notification from the push Noti server  150  and displays the received notification on the display screen. 
     The push Noti server  150  may include a DB for storing a table related to whether an event corresponding to each piece of terminal information has been requested. When relevant terminal information, included in the above-described Noti-request message received from the identifier/Noti processing unit  113  of the terminal  110 , has been previously registered in the DB to request an event, the notification for the notification request may be provided to the terminal. As shown in  FIG. 6 , the notification  601  received from the push Noti server  150 , for example, “Would you like to visit the App store?” may be displayed on the screen of the mobile terminal  110 , and in this case, a connect button  602  for accessing the relevant content (or the relevant unique identifier) or a cancel button  603  for canceling access to the content may be provided together with the notification  601 . 
     On the above-described display screen, the user may select the connect button  602  to make a connection request (refer to ‘connect’ of  FIG. 6 ) in operation S 31 . Accordingly, the content provision unit  142  of  FIG. 3  searches the DB  143  for a relevant web page required to provide content when a relevant connection request (a request for connecting to the relevant unique identifier) is received from the mobile terminal  110 , and the transmission unit  144  may provide the relevant web page to the mobile terminal  110  in conformity with the communication protocol supported by the network  130  in operation S 32 . 
     Accordingly, on the mobile terminal  110 , the web page activation unit  114  runs a browser or the like, and may then receive the web page provided by the App store server  140  and display the web page on the display screen in operation S 40 . That is, the mobile terminal  110  may purchase or install application(s) from a provided web page. When the web page is displayed in this way, the user checks the presentation of digital content associated with the AP  120  currently being accessed on the relevant web page, and clicks a button for downloading/streaming implemented on the relevant page when desiring installation, downloading, or video streaming, thus automatically purchasing an application or content, installing or downloading the application or content free, or utilizing video streaming. 
     As described above, according to a method and system for distributing digital content using an App store and a wireless AP according to an exemplary embodiment, notifications are automatically provided to a mobile terminal that passes by various stores in which applications are installed even if a service provider does not perform separate advertising or publicity, thus allowing the user to select and purchase applications and content using notifications even if the user does not personally access and search an App store. 
     As described above, exemplary embodiments are merely exemplary and are not to be construed as limiting. The present teachings can be readily applied to other types of apparatus. Also, those skilled in the art can implement various changes and modifications from the above description of exemplary embodiments. The previous description of various exemplary embodiments is provided to enable a person skilled in the art to distribute business application and contents. Moreover, various modifications to these exemplary embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles and specific examples defined herein may be applied to other embodiments. For example, some or all of the features of the different embodiments discussed above may be combined into a single embodiment. Conversely, some of the features of a single embodiment discussed above may be deleted from the embodiment. Therefore, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the exemplary embodiments described herein but is to be accorded the widest scope as defined by the features of the claims and equivalents thereof.