Patent Publication Number: US-2016248843-A1

Title: Data upload method using shortcut

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/696,409 filed on Nov. 6, 2012, which is a 371 application of International Application No. PCT/KR10/06202, filed Sep. 13, 2010, which claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2010-0051135 filed on May 31, 2010 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2010-0063465, filed on Jul. 1, 2010 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the contents of which applications are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The following description relates to a data upload method using a shortcut key or a pop-up menu, and more particularly, to a method of uploading data to a data server with minimum manipulations and downloading or retrieving the uploaded data by using a user&#39;s mobile terminal or a user-designated recipient&#39;s mobile terminal. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     The so-called Internet storage service involves giving a user an account to access a data server through the Internet and allowing the user given the account to use a storage service through the Internet. 
     As the use of mobile terminals (e.g., smart phones) that can access the Internet anywhere increases, the need for retrieving data uploaded from a computer system to a data server by using a mobile terminal is also increasing. 
     DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION 
     Technical Problem 
     To upload data stored in a computer system to a data server, an application for accessing the data server is executed, and data is uploaded to the data server by using the application. In this method, however, since a certain application must be executed, a lot of manipulations are required. 
     In addition, the type of contents that can be used on mobile terminals may be limited as compared with computer systems. For example, a moving image in an ‘asf’ format cannot be played on certain mobile terminals. Thus, even when the moving image in the ‘asf’ format is downloaded from a data server to the mobile terminals, it cannot be immediately played on the mobile terminals. Accordingly, this has led to a demand for a technology of uploading various contents stored in a computer system to a data server with minimum manipulations but converting a file that is to be uploaded (hereinafter, referred to as an ‘upload file’) into a format supported by a recipient&#39;s mobile terminal and uploading the upload file in the supported format to the data server. 
     In computers, data is managed on a file-by-file basis. Likewise, there is a demand for a technology of converting contents displayed on a web browser application, a document editing application, or other viewer applications into a file with minimum manipulations, uploading the file to a data server, and downloading the uploaded file to a mobile terminal. 
     Solution to Problem 
     The following description relates to a method of uploading data to a data server only with the input of a shortcut command to upload data (hereinafter, referred to as a ‘data upload shortcut command’) without executing an application, which is required to upload data to the data server, and downloading or retrieving the uploaded data by using a user s mobile terminal or a user-designated recipient&#39;s mobile terminal. 
     The following description also relates to a method of identifying a model of a recipient&#39;s mobile terminal, converting an upload file into a format supported by the recipient&#39;s mobile terminal when the upload file is in a format unsupported by the recipient&#39;s mobile terminal, and uploading the upload file in the supported format to a data server. 
     The following description also relates to a method of converting contents displayed on a certain application into a file and uploading the file to a data server. 
     In one general aspect, there is provided a data upload method used by a computer system. The method includes: monitoring whether a data upload shortcut command is input; selecting an object to be uploaded when an input of the data upload shortcut command is sensed; and transmitting an upload file, which consists of data of the selected object, to a data server. The data upload shortcut command may be input by inputting a shortcut key or selecting a menu item from a pop-up menu that appears upon a right mouse button click. That is, an agent application may perform the function of monitoring whether the data upload shortcut command is input. 
     The monitoring of whether the data upload shortcut command is input, the selecting of the object to be uploaded, and the transmitting of the upload file may be performed by the agent application which is executed in a background mode by an operating system that controls the computer system. Here, the method may further include receiving information about a model of a mobile terminal through the agent application, wherein the transmitting of the upload file may include: retrieving information about formats supported and unsupported by the model of the mobile terminal; and converting the upload file into a supported format when the upload file is in an unsupported format and transmitting the upload file in the support format to the data server. 
     In another aspect, there is provided a data upload method using a shortcut key. The data upload method includes: installing an agent application, which monitors whether a data upload shortcut key is input, on a computer system; selecting an object to be uploaded by using the agent application when the data upload shortcut key is input from a user by using the computer system; and transmitting an upload file, which consists of data of the selected object, to a data server by using the agent application. 
     In another aspect, there is provided a data upload method using a pop-up menu. The data upload method includes: installing an agent application, which monitors mouse input signals, on a computer system; adding a data upload item to a pop-up menu by using the agent application when a mouse input signal for generating the pop-up menu is received from the computer system; selecting an object to be uploaded by using the agent application when the data upload item is selected; and transmitting an upload file, which consists of data of the selected object, to a data server by using the agent application. 
     Other features and aspects will be apparent from the following detailed description, the drawings, and the claims. 
     Advantageous Effects of Invention 
     According to the present invention, a user of a computer system can upload data to a data server by inputting a data upload shortcut command without executing an application, which is required to upload data, and can download or retrieve the uploaded data to his or her mobile terminal or a user-designated recipient&#39;s mobile terminal. 
     According to the present invention, data in a format unsupported by the mobile terminal of the user having an account in the data server, to which data is to be uploaded, is converted into a supported format and uploaded accordingly to the data server. Thus, the user can download the uploaded data to the mobile terminal and use the downloaded data without conversion. 
     According to the present invention, after contents displayed on an Internet browser application, a document viewer application, or the like are selected, the input of only the data upload shortcut command is required to convert the selected contents into a file and upload the file to the data server. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a data upload and retrieval system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating a method of uploading data to a user&#39;s own account according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating a method of uploading data to a user-designated recipient&#39;s account according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a conceptual diagram of a user interface related to a method of uploading character strings posted on a document editing application; and 
         FIG. 5  is a conceptual diagram of a user interface related to a method of uploading an image posted on an Internet browser application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     Throughout the drawings and the detailed description, unless otherwise described, the same drawing reference numerals will be understood to refer to the same elements, features, and structures. The relative size and depiction of these elements may be exaggerated for clarity, illustration, and convenience. 
     BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
     Advantages and features of the present invention and methods of accomplishing the same may be understood more readily by reference to the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments and the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the concept of the invention to those skilled in the art, and the present invention will only be defined by the appended claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification. 
     The present invention is described hereinafter with reference to block diagrams or flowchart illustrations of a method of uploading data using a shortcut according to exemplary embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks. 
     These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer usable or computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer usable or computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks. 
     The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks. 
     And each block of the flowchart illustrations may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of the order. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. 
     The configuration of a data upload and retrieval system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to  FIG. 1 . 
     (1) Installation and Execution of an Agent Application 
     An agent application is a software module that monitors whether a data upload shortcut command is input, selects an object to be uploaded when sensing the input of the data upload shortcut command, creates an upload file  500  which consists of data of the selected object, and transmits the created upload file  500  to a data server  300 . 
     The agent application can be executed on a computer system  100  after an installation file is downloaded to the computer system  100  or after a component object model (COM) module is installed on a website. After installation, the agent application may be executed in the background. That is, the agent application process is performed, but the agent application may not have its own graphic user interface (GUI). Even when the agent application has its own GUI, only environment settings and whether to activate each function can be set on the GUI. 
     The agent application may be installed such that it automatically runs when the computer system  100  having the agent application installed thereon boots up. In the process of installing the agent application, a user may decide whether to allow the automatic execution of the agent application. 
     A device on which the agent application is installed, that is, a device on which a data upload method according to the current exemplary embodiment is implemented may be any device capable of transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) communication. The TCP/IP communication may use a wired communication network or a wireless communication network. For example, the agent application can be installed on personal computers (PCs), personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart phones, and notebooks. 
     Once installed, the agent application starts monitoring, in the background, whether the data upload shortcut command is input. The data upload shortcut command may be input by inputting a shortcut key or selecting a data upload menu item from a pop-up menu. Thus, the agent application must monitor mouse inputs as well as key inputs. The mouse inputs may include touches on a touch screen or touchpad. 
     The monitoring of the key inputs and the mouse inputs may be performed by hooking an input occurrence message provided by an operating system installed on the computer system  100  on which the agent application runs. The operating system may support a GUI. 
     The message hooking may include registering a callback function, which is called when the input occurence message is generated, with a kernel of the operating system; calling the callback function by using the kernel in response to an input signal generated by an input device; determining whether the input signal is related to a data upload function by using the callback function; and executing the data upload function when it is determined that the input signal is related to the data upload function. 
     (2) Selection of an Object to be Uploaded when a Data Upload Shortcut Command is Input 
     When the data upload shortcut command is input (operation S 106 ), the agent application selects an object to be uploaded. The object to be uploaded denotes a data set to be uploaded to the data server  300 , such as character strings, image data, moving image data, a file, or a folder. 
     The agent application may select an object activated on a GUI as the object to be uploaded. When no activated object is available, the agent application may select an object displayed at the position of the cursor on the GUI as the object to be uploaded. 
     The activated object may be a selected block of text or an object currently selected by a click.  FIG. 4  shows a pop-up menu displayed by selecting and activating a block of character strings from all character strings displayed on a document editing program and clicking the right mouse button on the activated block. For example, when a ‘upload to My Account’ item  400  is selected from menu items of the pop-up menu, the activated block of character strings is selected as the object to be uploaded. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a case where an object displayed at the position of the cursor on the GUI is selected as the object to be uploaded when no activated object is available. Referring to  FIG. 5 , when no activated object is available, image data (i.e., an object displayed at the position of the cursor) embedded in a web document may be selected as the object to be uploaded. In this case, the file name of the embedded image data may be written on each data upload menu item  400  or  404  of the pop-up menu, as shown in  FIG. 5 . 
     Next, the agent application creates the upload file  500 , which consists of data of the selected object to be uploaded, and transmits the created upload file  500  to the data server  300 . The above operations of selecting the object to be uploaded, creating the upload file  500 , and uploading the upload file  500  may be performed by the agent application in response to only the data upload shortcut command input by the user. 
     When an object activated or displayed at the position of the cursor is one of a file and a folder, the agent application may upload all files contained in the file or the folder to the data server  300 . 
     When the activated object is character strings as shown in  FIG. 4 , the agent application may create a document file containing the character strings. The for of the document file is not limited. For example, a general text file (.txt), a word file (.doc) of Microsoft Corporation, or a Hangul file (.hwp) of Hancom Inc. may be created. To create the document file, an application programming interface (API) provided by a document editing application may be used. 
     As shown in  FIG. 5 , if the data upload shortcut command is input in a state where an Internet browser application is activated, the object to be uploaded may be at least one of a web document posted on the currently activated Internet browser application and contents embedded in the web document. 
     The embedded contents may be, e.g., an image, a moving image clip, or a sound clip included in the web document. The type of the object, which is displayed at the position of the cursor and from which URL information is to be extracted, may be obtained from an API provided by the Internet browser application. 
     Here, the agent application may create a link file containing the URL information and upload the link file to the data server  300 . 
     In addition, the agent application may download a file corresponding to the URL information and upload the downloaded file. For example, when the user places the cursor on an image posted on an Internet browser application and inputs a shortcut key or selects a pop-up menu item to upload the image, the agent application may generate URL information of the image by calling an API provided by the Internet browser application, download a file corresponding to the URL information, and upload the downloaded file to the data server  300 . 
     (3) Format Conversion of an Upload File 
     When the upload file  500  is in an unsupported format, the agent application may convert the format of the upload file  500  before uploading the upload file  500  to the data server  300 . 
     For example, iPhone models of Apple Inc. are unable to play moving images in an ‘asf’ format of Microsoft Corporation. Thus, when the upload file  500  is in the ‘asf’ format, the application agent converts the upload file  500  into an ‘mp4’ format and uploads the upload file  500  in the mp4 format to the data server  300 . Accordingly, the user can download the upload file  500  from the data server  300  using an iPhone and play the downloaded upload file  500  without conversion. 
     To this end, the operation of obtaining information about the model of a mobile terminal by using the agent application may further be performed. In addition, information about formats supported and unsupported by each mobile terminal model may be stored in the computer system  100  in advance. That is, when the upload file  500  is in an unsupported format, the agent application may convert the upload file  500  into a supported format and transmit the upload file  500  in the support format to the data server  300 . 
     The obtaining of the information about the model of a mobile terminal may include receiving a phone number of a mobile terminal and retrieving information about the model of the mobile terminal by using the phone number of the mobile terminal. 
     The upload file  500  may be uploaded to the user&#39;s own account or to a designated recipient&#39;s account. When the upload file  500  is to be uploaded to the user&#39;s account, information about the model of the user&#39;s mobile terminal  400  may be extracted from subscriber information. When the upload file  500  is to be uploaded to the designated recipient&#39;s account, a service ID of the designated recipient or a phone number of the designated recipient&#39;s mobile terminal may additionally be input to the computer system  100 . 
     (4) Uploading of Data to a Data Server 
     The upload file  500  may be stored in a certain area of the data server  300 . For example, the upload file  500  may be stored in an area allocated to a first account which is received through the agent application. For example, login information may be received through the agent application, and data may be uploaded to the user&#39;s account or to the designated recipient&#39;s account. 
     The upload file  500  can be retrieved or downloaded using the mobile terminal  400  of the user. To this end, a data server access application may be installed on the mobile terminal  400 . The mobile terminal  400  may receive information about a second account through the data server access application. When the information about the first account is the same as the information about the second account or when the relationship between the first account and the second account allows the second account to access the first account, a list of files stored in the area allocated to the first account can be provided to the mobile terminal  400 . That is, when user A uploads moving image file X to his or her account, user B who has a data sharing relationship with user A can retrieve or download the moving image file X stored in an area allocated to user A&#39;s account as well as files stored in an area allocated to his or her account in the data server  300 . When user A does not have the data sharing relationship with user B, user A may designate user B as a recipient and upload data to the area of the user B&#39;s account. 
     When the mobile terminal  400  requests transmission of the upload file  500  stored in the area of the first account, the data server  300  may transmit the upload file  500  to the mobile terminal  400 . 
     A method of uploading data to a user&#39;s own account will now be described with reference to  FIG. 2 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , an agent application is installed in the way described above (operation S 100 ), and a login process is performed using the agent application (operation S 102 ). Before the login process, a user subscription procedure may be performed. Subscription information may include information about the model of a user&#39;s mobile terminal. The information about the model of the user&#39;s mobile terminal may be input directly by the user or may be retrieved from a user information server of a communication service provider based on a phone number of the mobile terminal. The user information server of the mobile communication service provider may be, for example, a home location register (HLR) server. 
     The agent application starts its monitoring operation (operation S 104 ). When sensing the input of a data upload shortcut command (operation  106 ), the agent application selects an object to be uploaded in the way described above and creates an upload file (operation S 108 ). In the current embodiment, the sensing of the input of the data upload shortcut command (operation S 106 ) denotes sensing the selection of the ‘upload to My Account’ item  400  from the pop-up menu shown in  FIG. 5  or sensing the input of a shortcut key that is allocated to upload data to the user&#39;s account. 
     When the created upload file is in a format unsupported by the model of the mobile terminal of the user who logged in, the agent application converts the upload file into a supported format (operation S 112 ). The conversion may be performed by, e.g., a moving image converter. When the upload file is a document file, it may be converted into a text file (.txt) by extracting only character strings. 
     The upload file is uploaded to a data server (operation S 114 ). Then, the user can retrieve or download the uploaded upload file by accessing the data server using his or her mobile terminal (operation S 116 ). 
     According to the present invention, only a single shortcut command input is required for a user to upload a file, a folder, activated character strings, or a selected still or moving image to an area allocated to the user&#39;s account in a data server. In addition, when data is in a format unsupported by a mobile terminal of the user, the data is automatically converted into a supported format and is then uploaded to the data server. Thus, after downloading the uploaded data, the user can use the downloaded data without conversion. 
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating a method of uploading data by designating a recipient. The following description will focus on differences from  FIG. 2 . 
     In the current embodiment, sensing the input of a data upload shortcut command (operation S 106 ) denotes sensing the selection of an ‘upload to Friend&#39;s Account’ item  402  from the pop-up menu shown in  FIG. 4  or sensing the input of a shortcut key that is allocated to upload data to a user&#39;s account. 
     After operation S 108  in which an object to be uploaded is selected and an upload file is created, a recipient of the upload file is designated. 
     A recipient may be designated by a phone number of the recipient&#39;s mobile terminal. (operation S 109 ). In this case, an agent application may retrieve information about the model of the designated recipient&#39;s mobile terminal from a user information server of a mobile communication service provider by using the phone number of the designated recipient&#39;s mobile terminal. 
     When the information about the model of the designated recipient&#39;s mobile terminal is retrieved, formats unsupported by the model of the designated recipient&#39;s mobile terminal can also be identified. Thus, the agent application performs file conversion (operation S 112 ) in the same process as that illustrated in  FIG. 2  and uploads the upload file (operation S 114 ). 
     The designated recipient may access the data server using his or her mobile terminal and retrieve or download the upload file uploaded to an area that is allocated to his or her account (operation S 116 ). 
     While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims. The exemplary embodiments should be considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. 
     INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY 
     This invention can be applied to the field of mobil software program.