Program distribution system

• US 20030131046A1
• Filed: 12/09/2002
• Published: 07/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Asano, Takashi, Tominaga, Nobuki
• Granted Patent: US 7,168,073 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/62 Uninstallation

Abstract

A program distribution system capable of discarding a distributed program according to the properties of the program is provided. In the program distribution system, a program is distributed from a program transmission apparatus 1 to a program reception terminal 3 over a network 2. The program transmission apparatus 1 includes a transmission processing section 11. The program reception terminal 3 includes a reception-side storage section 34 and a discard processing section 32. The transmission processing section 11 transmits a program and discarding procedure information to the program reception terminal 3. The discarding procedure information relates to a procedure of discarding the program performed by the program reception terminal 3. The reception-side storage section 34 stores the program transmitted from the transmission processing section 11. The discard processing section 32 discards the program stored in the reception-side storage section 34 according to a discarding procedure specified by the discarding procedure information transmitted from the transmission processing section 11.

Claims

1. A program distribution system in which a program executable by a program reception terminal is distributed from a program transmission apparatus to the program reception terminal via a network,

the program transmission apparatus comprising a transmitting section for transmitting, to the program reception terminal, the program and discarding procedure information related to a discarding procedure for discarding the program, and

the program reception terminal comprising:

a program storage section for storing the program transmitted from the transmitting section; and

a discarding section for discarding the program stored in the program storage section according to the discarding procedure specified by the discarding procedure information transmitted from the transmitting section.

2. The program distribution system according to claim 1, wherein

the discarding procedure information includes a discard condition indicative of a condition for discarding the program, and

the discarding section includes

a discard determining section for determining whether the discard condition included in the discarding procedure information is satisfied with respect to the program stored in the program storage section;

and

a discard executing section for executing, when the discard determining section determines that the discard condition is satisfied, a discarding of the program stored in the program storage section.

3. The program distribution system according to claim 2, wherein

the transmitting section wirelessly transmits the program and the discarding procedure information to the program reception terminal that has entered a predetermined area to be able to wirelessly communicate with the program transmission apparatus, and

the discard condition included in the discarding procedure information transmitted to the program reception terminal is one that is satisfied when the program reception terminal is located outside of the predetermined area.

4. The program distribution system according to claim 3, wherein

execution of the program is terminated when the program reception terminal goes out of the predetermined area, and

the discard determining section determines whether the program reception terminal is located outside of the predetermined area based on whether the execution of the program is terminated.

5. The program distribution system according to claim 2, wherein

the discarding procedure information further includes a decision condition for determining whether the discard condition is satisfied, and

when the decision condition included in the discarding procedure information is satisfied, the discarding determining section determines whether the discard condition is satisfied.

6. The program distribution system according to claim 5, wherein

the program reception terminal further includes a program executing section for executing the program stored in the program storage section, and

the decision condition includes a condition related to timing of executing the program by the program executing section.

7. The program distribution system according to claim 6, wherein

the decision condition includes a condition that the program is activated by the program executing section.

8. The program distribution system according to claim 6, wherein

the decision condition includes a condition that execution of the program by the program executing section is terminated.

9. The program distribution system according to claim 2, wherein

the discard determining section determines whether the discard condition is satisfied at predetermined time intervals.

10. The program distribution system according to claim 2, wherein

the discard condition includes a condition related to a lapse of time after the program transmitted from the transmitting section is received by the program reception terminal.

11. The program distribution system according to claim 2, wherein

the discard condition includes a condition related to the number of times the program transmitted from the transmitting section has been executed by the program reception terminal.

12. The program distribution system according to claim 2, wherein

the discard condition includes at least a user'"'"'s approval of discarding the program, and

the discard determining section receives the user'"'"'s approval before the discarding section discards the program and, based on the received user'"'"'s approval, decides whether the discard condition is satisfied.

13. The program distribution system according to claim 1, wherein

the discarding procedure information is in a form of a discarding program for causing the program reception terminal to execute the discarding procedure, and

the discarding section discards the program by executing the discarding program.

14. The program distribution system according to claim 1, wherein

the discarding procedure information indicates a procedure identifier given to the discarding procedure for identification,

the program reception terminal includes:

a discarding procedure storage section that stores the discarding procedure; and

a selecting section for selecting the discarding procedure stored in the discarding procedure storage section based on the procedure identifier transmitted from the transmitting section, and

the discarding section discards the program according to the discarding procedure selected by the selecting section.

15. The program distribution system according to claim 1, wherein

the discarding section includes:

a default procedure storage section for storing a default discarding procedure that is previously set;

a discarding procedure determining section for determining whether the discarding procedure indicated by the discarding procedure information transmitted from the transmitting section is to be executed by the program reception terminal, and

when the discarding procedure determining section determines that the discarding procedure is not to be executed, the discarding section discards the program according to the default discarding procedure stored in the default procedure storage section.

16. The program distribution system according to claim 1, wherein

the discarding section includes:

a default procedure storage section for storing a default discarding procedure that is previously set; and

a discarding procedure determining section for determining whether the transmitted program is accompanied with discarding procedure information, and

when the discarding procedure determining section determines that the transmitted program is not accompanied with discarding procedure information, the discarding section discards the program according to the default discarding procedure stored in the default procedure storage section.

17. A program reception terminal capable of executing a program distributed from a program transmission apparatus via a network, the program reception terminal comprising:

a receiving section for receiving a program and discarding procedure information related to a discarding procedure for discarding the program in the program reception terminal;

a program storage section for storing the program received by the receiving section; and

a discarding section for discarding the program stored in the program storage section according to the discarding procedure specified by the discarding procedure information received by the receiving section.

18. A program transmission apparatus for transmitting a program executable by a program reception terminal from the program transmission apparatus to the program reception terminal via a network, the program transmission apparatus comprising:

a program storage section for storing the program to be executed by the program reception terminal;

a discarding procedure information storage section for storing discarding procedure information related to a discarding procedure to be performed by the program reception terminal for discarding the program; and

a transmitting section for transmitting, to the program reception terminal, the program stored in the program storage section and the discarding procedure information stored in the discarding procedure information storage section.

19. A program to be transmitted, together with a computer-executable program to be executed by a computer of a program reception terminal, from a program transmission apparatus to the program reception terminal via a network, and to cause a computer of the program reception terminal to execute a procedure comprising discarding the computer-executable program.