Managing method and apparatus for servicing contents provided by content provider

• US 8,712,377 B2
• Filed: 08/18/2005
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SK TechX Co., Ltd (SK Telecom Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: SK Planet Co., Ltd. (SK Telecom Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Cha, Young-In, Lim, Oh-Seung, Oh, Tae-Ho, Kwon, O-Hyon, Nam, Gi-Seon, Kim, Yon-Hee
• Primary Examiner(s): Bost, Dwayne
• Assistant Examiner(s): STERNBANE, LAURENCE J
• Application Number:
  US11/573,886
• Publication Number:
  US 20080070548A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,176 Days
• Field of Search: 709217-219, 455/411, 455/414.1
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/50 Network service management, e.g. ensuring proper service fulfilment according to agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/40 Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof

Abstract

A managing method and an apparatus for servicing contents provided by contents provider wherein the managing apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a contents provider management module for generating an account of a contents provider based on information of the contents provider transmitted from the contents providing apparatus; a contents management module for managing a contents connection point for connecting to the contents provided from the contents providing apparatus and for managing information relative to the contents; and a menu management module for registering menus including a menu connected to the contents connection point and for managing a connection authority to a name of the menu and the menu, such that a collective management on the contents providers is possible and the contents providers can conveniently provide contents services to subscribers.

Claims

1. An integrated management apparatus comprising a processor configured as a service management apparatus, the service management apparatus comprising:

a contents provider management module configured to

generate an account for a contents provider based on information of the contents provider transmitted from a contents providing apparatus, and

generate and manage a plurality of contents providing groups, the number of the plurality of contents providing groups corresponds to the number of services to be provided by the content provider management module;

a contents management module configured to

manage a contents connection point of contents provided from the contents providing apparatus, and

manage information of the contents; and

a menu management module configured to

register menus which include a menu connected to the contents connection point, and

manage a connection authority to the menu and a name of the menu.

2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the plurality of contents providing groups is registered by the contents provider whose account has been created.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the contents provider management module is further configured to control an access of the service management apparatus to the contents providing apparatus.

4. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the contents connection point includes information of a universal resource locator (URL) indicating a position information in which the contents are stored.

5. The apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein the contents management module is further configured to provide a directory based on a nature of the contents so that the contents provider registers the contents connection point according to the nature of the contents.

6. The apparatus as defined in claim 5, wherein, when the contents connection point is registered with the directory based on the nature of the contents, the contents providing apparatus is configured to register information of a mobile communication terminal on which the contents are to be displayed.

7. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a menu information management module configured to manage a language selection from a plurality of available languages, wherein the selection is provided to a mobile communication terminal and the contents providing apparatus.

8. The apparatus as defined in claim 7, further comprising a search engine module configured to implement a contents search in response to a search request from the mobile communication terminal wirelessly connected to the service management apparatus via the Internet.