Patent Publication Number: US-2015081529-A1

Title: Method of managing online reward content

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority from and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0111506, filed on Sep. 17, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. 
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field 
     Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method of managing online reward content. More, particularly exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a management method and system for issuing online reward content as a result of a user performing an activity. 
     2. Discussion 
     Generally, a user may obtain reward contents such as points, coupons, stamps, etc. by performing on/off-line activities to earn a reward. Visiting an event area or a store within a specific period/time are examples of off-line activities, and, gaming, posting photos/blogs, writing notices/comments, etc., are examples of online activities, and a user may obtain reward contents by performing such activities. Also, some recent programs from which a user obtains stamps by achieving certain goals. The user can exchange these stamps for gift certificates or cyber money after achieving these goals. Since different programs assign different goals to a user, a user has to download to a mobile device a specific program to perform each goal. Therefore, when a user achieves a number of goals, the user has to separately download and manage the programs, which is inconvenient when the user wants to achieve a number of goals. Also, the reward contents are issued through an e-mail or specific web-site; therefore in order to download the reward contents, a user has to log-in to a mail account or a specific web-site. 
     In addition, the downloaded reward contents are managed independently in a mobile device or PC; therefore, it is inconvenient for the user to search for these rewards on a mobile device. Further, coupons or points that are given as the reward contents can only be used in a specific store or web-site. 
     SUMMARY 
     In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of managing online reward content includes providing on/off-line activities, obtaining online reward content or a rewards album by performing the activities, moving the obtained online reward content to a rewards album, and editing the issued online reward content in the rewards album. In one embodiment, editing the rewards album may be one of adding, moving and deleting the online reward content. In one embodiment, the online reward content may be a digital badge or points. 
     A method of managing online reward content according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may further include exchanging the online reward content for digital money usable in a digital content store server. 
     A method of managing online reward content according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may further include purchasing online content from a digital content store server. In one embodiment, the purchased content may be an online content, a rewards album, or game content, and the rewards album may include a personalized rewards album which is editable by a user. 
     A method of managing online reward content according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may further include purchasing additional digital money through payment. 
     A method of managing online reward content according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may further include exchanging the online reward content for desired online content with a second user from the digital content store server. In one embodiment, the exchanged online reward content may be a digital badge. 
     As described above, a method of managing online reward content according to an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a convenient and easy way for a user to manage online reward content by proving on/off-line activities, providing a managing and editing method of online reward content obtained by performing the activities, exchanging the obtained online reward content for digital money usable in a digital online store, and purchasing contents or exchanging for desired content with another user. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram explaining a method of issuing online reward content according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a flow chart showing a method of issuing and editing online reward content according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 3  is a flow chart showing a method of exchanging online reward content according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 4A  and  FIG. 4B  are images showing display state using a method of managing online reward content according to an embodiment of  FIG. 2 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS 
     The present disclosure is described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the present disclosure are shown. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as 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 scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art. In the drawings, the sizes and relative sizes of layers and regions may be exaggerated for clarity. 
     It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, third etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another region, layer or section. Thus, a first element, component, or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, or section without departing from the teachings of the present disclosure. 
     The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. 
     Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. 
     Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail. 
       FIG. 1  is a diagram explaining a method of issuing online reward content according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a system providing online reward content for an activity performed by a user according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include at least one user device  10  and a service server  20 . The user device  10  monitors a user&#39;s execution of a selected activity and generates activity execution data according to the monitored user&#39;s execution and transmits the activity execution data to the service server  20 . Herein, the user device may be a smartphone or a tablet or other mobile computing device. The service server  20  compares the activity execution data to reward condition information to determine whether and what to issue from online content to the user, and provides the online content to the user when the activity execution data meet the reward condition information. The service server  20  may include a data receiving part  21  which receives the activity execution data from the user device  10 , a determining part  22  which calculates using the activity execution data and determines reward condition information of the online content, which is stored in a database, corresponding to the activity execution data, a reward content issuing part  23  which issues the online content according to the result of the determining part  22  to the user device  10 , and a storing part  24  which stores a record of the activity execution data transmitted from the user device  10  and the issued online content after issuing the online content. The online content provided by service server  20  as a reward includes an online reward content, an item-book (which may also be referred to as an “item-book” or a “rewards album”), and points. The online reward content includes a digital badge and points that may be redeemable for digital money. 
     The determining part  22  selects the online content corresponding to standardized activity execution data according to a type of an activity, or, selects the online content according to calculated data which is calculated based on the activity execution data which is measured by the user device  10 . 
     Herein, the calculated data based on the activity execution data may be an exercise intensity such as a moving path, moving distance, moving velocity, or calories consumed by a person performing the exercise. 
     The system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may further include a digital content store server  30  which receives online reward content by the user device  10 . When the user wants to sell the online reward content, the digital content store server  30  exchanges the online reward content to digital money and transmits the digital money to the user device  10 . When the user wants to exchange the online reward content, the digital content store server  30  searches desired online content or another user possessing the desired online content and transmits the result to the user device  10 . The online reward content transmitted by the user device  10  may be a duplicated content or an unnecessary content. 
     The user may purchase other online content from a digital content store server  30  through the digital money obtained by exchanging the online reward content. A rewards album, online content, or game content may be purchased from the digital content store server  30 , and the rewards album includes a personalized rewards album which is editable by the user. 
     Also, the user may obtain additional digital money through payment in the case of insufficient digital money during purchase of online content. 
       FIG. 2  is a flow chart showing a method of issuing and editing online reward content according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     A detailed explanation of a method of managing an online reward content is described with reference to  FIG. 2 . 
     First, in a step S 110 , a user device  10  provides a first user interface that displays a plurality of selectable activities and at least one activity of the plurality of activities is selected by a user. The user device  10  accesses a service server  20  which issues online reward content, and displays activities in a menu in which a user selects an activity. Examples of such activities may include a habitual physical activity (stretching, stair climbing, etc.), an exercise without using equipment (running, walking, hiking, etc.), and an exercise using equipment (golf, skiing, riding, etc.). 
     Then, in step S 120 , the user device  10  monitors a user&#39;s execution of the activity which is selected by the user to generate activity execution data based on the user&#39;s execution and transmits the activity execution data to the service server  20 . 
     Next, in step S 125 , the service server  20  receives the activity execution data from the user device  10 . 
     Then, in step S 130 , the service server  20  determines whether to issue a reward based on the activity execution data, and transmit the result to the user device  10 . 
     For example, the service server  20  calculates a moving path, a moving distance, a moving velocity, or calories consumed by the user by using the activity execution data, and determines whether to issue a reward and which online reward content should be issued based on the calculated data. 
     During the step of determining whether to issue the reward, the service server  20  may limit a maximum number of issuance of the online reward content based on the fact that the reward may be issued with a predetermined probability every predetermined time. 
     The predetermined time and the probability may be varied based on the type of activity selected by the user. 
     In one embodiment, it is typical that a habitual activity such as doing housework burns up fewer calories than an activity such as running or riding. Therefore, the former activity may be set less frequently than the latter activity. For example, a habitual activity may be set every 60 min. with 10% probability, while an activity such as a running may be set every 30 min. with 60% probability, therefore, an activity with higher exercise intensity has a greater chance of earning a reward. 
     To give a differentiated reward according to an exercise intensity, the service server  20  may include a database to store information of a standardized exercise intensity according to a type of an activity, and the service server  20  may calculate a real exercise intensity of the user and store the result based on measured data by the user device  10 , geographical information and the standardized exercise intensity. 
     In one embodiment, the service server  20  may store a standardized exercise intensity for each activity, and a reward determining time and a probability associated with it. 
     Herein, the service server  20  may calculate a moving velocity and a moving path of the user device  10  by receiving position information from a GPS of the user device  10 , and calculate a gradient of the moving path and a distance, etc. of the activity of the user by using external geographical information (not shown) or geographical information stored in the service server  20 . The service server  20  may calculate an exercise intensity of the user by using geographical information executed during execution the activity of the user and a moving velocity of the user. For example, a relative exercise intensity of the activity may be evaluated by calculating calorie consumption using pre-stored body information of the user, an exercise intensity calculated by the service server  20 , and a duration time of the activity. 
     The above description explains the situation in which the service server  20  calculates an exercise intensity using position information transmitted by the user device  10  and geographical information; alternatively, the user device  10  may calculate an exercise intensity by using position information of the user device  10  and geographical information transmitted by the service server  20 , and transmit the calculated result to the service server  20 . 
     Also, the service server  20  may transmit a message to the user device  10  to inform the user device regarding an issue of the online reward content. 
     Also, when the online reward content is issued, the user device  10  or the service server  20  may initialize the activity execution data to start to measure the predetermined time from the beginning, and after the predetermined time interval, determines again whether to issue online reward content according to the predetermined probability. Alternatively, when the online reward content is not issued, the user device  10  or the service server  20  continues to measure the an activity execution data by accumulating the activity execution data, and the service server  20  may increase the online reward content issuing probability according to the accumulated activity execution data. 
     In one embodiment, online reward content is issued according to a first 30 min. with 30% of probability when a user selects walking as an activity, however, when the online reward content is not issued after the above condition, the activity execution data is not initialized but accumulated, and after another 30 min (60 min in total), the service server 20 determines to issue the online reward content according to 60% of the probability. 
     Next, in step  140 , the user device  10  provides a second user interface which displays the online reward content determined by the service server  20  and a rewards album. As used herein, the term “rewards album” is any container, directory, folder, etc. in a mobile device that holds and optionally organizes rewards content for the conveniences of the user. Herein, the second user interface may include another online reward content which is pre-issued before the online reward content. 
     Next, in step S 150 , the user device  10  provides an editing function of the online reward content displayed in the second user interface. Herein, the editing function may include moving or adding the online reward content to a rewards album by the user, moving or adding the another online reward content which is pre-issued before the online reward content to the rewards album, and also, deleting the online reward content. 
       FIG. 3  is a flow chart showing a method of exchanging an online reward content according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     A detailed explanation of a method of exchanging an online reward content is described with reference to  FIG. 3 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , in step S 160 , the user device  10  may further transmit an online reward content which is selected by the user to send to the digital content store server  30 . The transmitted online reward content may be a duplicated reward content or an unnecessary reward content. 
     Next, in step S 165 , the digital content store server  30  receives the online reward content selected by the user, in step S 170 , and determines whether to exchange the online reward content for digital money or for another online content. In step S 174 , which is a case of exchanging for digital money, the online reward content is exchanged for digital money and the digital money is transmitted to the user device  10 . Alternatively in step S 172  the online reward is exchanged for other online content. In step  172  a search is performed for the other online content or for a user possessing the other online content. The result of the search is transmitted to the user device  10 . 
     In step  176 , the user device  10  receives the digital money obtained by exchanging the online reward content. The user may then further select online content or a rewards album from the digital content store server  30  to be purchased with the digital money. In step S 180 , the selected online content of the rewards album is transmitted to the digital content store server  30 . Herein the rewards album includes a personalized rewards album which is editable by the user. 
     Next, in step  182 , the digital content store server  30  may further purchase the online content or the rewards album transmitted by the user device  10 , and transmit it to the user device  10 . 
     Then, in step  184 , the user device  10  may further display the online content and the rewards album transmitted by the digital content store server  30 . 
     Also, in step  190 , the user device  10  may further purchase additional digital money through payment in the event of insufficient digital money during the purchase process. 
       FIG. 4A  and  FIG. 4B  are images showing a display state using a method of managing an online reward content according to an embodiment of  FIG. 2 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 4A , a user may possess various online reward contents by performing a variety of activities as shown in  FIG. 4A . The user may move the various online reward contents, for example, by moving them to a rewards album through an editing function as shown in  FIG. 4B . As seen in  FIG. 4B , the rewards album may be a personalized rewards album which is edited/organized by a theme or a category. 
     Several steps of the present disclosure are implemented using a coded program, which can be read by a computer, on a computer readable recording medium. 
     Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, optical data storage devices, etc. (e.g., transmission through the Internet), and the like. The computer readable recording medium in a computer system can be connected to a network in a distributed manner by the computer readable code that is stored and executed.