Program distribution system for discarding program on reception terminal side

• US 7,168,073 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2002
• Issued: 01/23/2007
• 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
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatri; Anil
• Application Number:
  US10/314,219
• Publication Number:
  US 20030131046A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,506 Days
• Field of Search: 717174-178, 709/203
• US Class Current: 717/176
• 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 to a program reception terminal over a network. The program transmission apparatus includes a transmission processing section. The program reception terminal includes a reception-side storage section and a discard processing section. The transmission processing section transmits a program and discarding procedure information to the program reception terminal. The discarding procedure information relates to a procedure of discarding the program performed by the program reception terminal. The reception-side storage section stores the program transmitted from the transmission processing section. The discard processing section discards the program stored in the reception-side storage section according to a discarding procedure specified by the discarding procedure information transmitted from the transmission processing section.

Claims

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

wherein said program transmission apparatus comprises a transmitting section for transmitting, to said program reception terminal, the program and discarding procedure information related to a discarding procedure for discarding the program in said program reception terminal;

wherein said program reception terminal comprises;

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

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

wherein the discarding procedure information includes a discard condition indicating that said program reception terminal is located outside of a predetermined area,

wherein said discarding section includes;

a discard determining section for determining whether or not the discard condition included in the discarding procedure information is satisfied with respect to the program stored in said program storage section; and

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

wherein said transmitting section is operable to wirelessly transmit the program and the discarding procedure information to said program reception terminal that has entered the predetermined area to be able to wirelessly communicate with said program transmission apparatus.

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

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

said discard determining section is operable to determine whether or not said program reception terminal is located outside of the predetermined area based on whether the execution of the program is terminated.

3. The program distribution system according to claim 1, wherein:

the discarding procedure information further includes a decision condition for determining whether or not the discard condition is satisfied; and

when the decision condition included in the discarding procedure information is satisfied, said discarding determining section is operable to determine whether or not the discard condition is satisfied.

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

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

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

5. The program distribution system according to claim 4, wherein the decision condition includes a condition that the program is activated by said program executing section.

6. The program distribution system according to claim 4, wherein the decision condition includes a condition that execution of the program by said program executing section is terminated.

7. The program distribution system according to claim 1, wherein said discard determining section is operable to determine whether or not the discard condition is satisfied at predetermined time intervals.

8. The program distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the discard condition includes a condition related to a lapse of time after the program transmitted from said transmitting section is received by said program reception terminal.

9. The program distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the discard condition includes a condition related to number of times the program transmitted from said transmitting section has been executed by said program reception terminal.

10. The program distribution system according to claim 1, wherein:

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

said discard determining section is operable to receive the user'"'"'s approval before said discarding section discards the program and, based on the received user'"'"'s approval, decide whether the discard condition is satisfied.

11. The program distribution system according to claim 1, wherein:

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

said discarding section is operable to discard the program by executing the discarding program.

12. The program distribution system according to claim 1, wherein:

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

said program reception terminal includes

a discarding procedure storage section for storing the discarding procedure, and

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

said discarding section is operable to discard the program according to the discarding procedure selected by said selecting section.

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

said 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 or not the discarding procedure indicated by the discarding procedure information transmitted from said transmitting section is to be executed by said program reception terminal; and

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

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

said 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 or not the transmitted program is accompanied with discarding procedure information; and

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

15. A program reception terminal for executing a program distributed from a program transmission apparatus via a network, said program reception terminal comprising:

a receiving section for receiving, when said program reception terminal has entered a predetermined area to be able to wirelessly communicate with the program transmission apparatus, a program and discarding procedure information related to a discarding procedure for discarding the program in said program reception terminal;

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

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

wherein the discarding procedure information includes a discard condition indicating that said program reception terminal is located outside of the predetermined area; and

wherein said discarding section includes;

a discard determining section for determining whether or not the discard condition included in the discarding procedure information is satisfied with respect to the program stored in said program storage section; and

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

16. A program transmission apparatus for transmitting a program executable by a program reception terminal from said program transmission apparatus to the program reception terminal via a network, said 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 said program storage section and the discarding procedure information stored in said discarding procedure information storage section, wherein;

the discarding procedure information includes a discard condition indicating that the program reception terminal is located outside of a predetermined area; and

said transmitting section is operable to wirelessly transmit the program and the discarding procedure information to the program reception terminal that has entered the predetermined area to be able to wirelessly communicate with said program transmission apparatus.