Program, information processing device, and system

Abstract

To provide a program, an information processing device, and a system that reduce users' waiting time.SOLUTION: According to the present invention, a program for acquiring an application including a plurality of pieces of content is provided. The program causes a computer configured to be able to acquire the plurality of pieces of content from a server via a network to function as a display unit, an input unit, and an acquisition unit. The display unit displays an image contained in acquired content acquisition of which is completed during acquisition of the plurality of pieces of content. The input unit accepts an input of a command to transition the display from the image being displayed to a desired image. The acquisition unit preferentially acquires yet-to-be-acquired content containing the desired image if the desired image corresponding to the command is not acquired.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a program, an information processing apparatus, and a system.

Background Art

[0002] In recent years, applications are generally downloaded from a server to a terminal such as a smartphone via a network such as the Internet or an intranet. For example, according to the website shown in Non-Patent Document 1, a user can download various applications and install the applications on his / her own terminal.

Prior Art Documents

Non-Patent Documents

[0003]

Non-Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, since applications such as games in recent years have a large data capacity, it takes a considerable amount of time to download all the contents that make up the application. Due to such waiting time, problems such as a user feeling psychological stress or hesitating to install the application in the first place can be considered.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a program, an information processing apparatus, and a system that suppress a user's waiting time.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] According to the present invention, there is provided a program for acquiring an application including a plurality of contents, the program causing a computer configured to be able to acquire the plurality of contents from a server via a network to function as a display unit, an input unit, and an acquisition unit, the display unit displaying an image included in acquired contents that have been acquired during the acquisition of the plurality of contents, the input unit receiving an input of an instruction to transition the display from the displayed image to a desired image, and the acquisition unit preferentially acquiring unacquired contents including the desired image when the desired image corresponding to the instruction is unacquired.

[0007] According to the program of the present invention, the waiting time of the user can be suppressed.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0008]

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Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0009] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Various characteristic matters shown in the following embodiments can be combined with each other. In particular, in this specification, the “section” may include, for example, hardware resources implemented by a circuit in a broad sense and information processing of software that can be specifically realized by these hardware resources. Further, in this embodiment, various information (program PG, each content, etc.) is handled, and these information are represented by the high and low of signal values as a set of binary bits composed of 0 or 1, and communication and calculation can be executed on a circuit in a broad sense.

[0010] Further, the circuit in a broad sense is a circuit realized by appropriately combining at least a circuit, circuitry, a processor, a memory, and the like. That is, it includes an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (for example, a simple programmable logic device (SPLD), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), and a field programmable gate array (FPGA)).

[0011] 1. Overall Configuration In the first section, the components included in this embodiment will be sequentially described.

[0012] 1.1 System 1 FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a system 1 according to the present embodiment. The system 1 includes a server 2 and an information processing apparatus 3. In the present embodiment, the server 2 and the information processing apparatus 3 are connected via a network N typified by the Internet or the like. Such a connection may be wired or wireless.

[0013] 1.2 Server 2 The server 2 stores an application AP including a plurality of contents. Further, it stores a program PG for acquiring (installing) the application AP. The program PG causes a computer (including a smartphone, a tablet terminal, etc.) configured to be able to acquire (download) a plurality of contents from the server 2 via the network N to function as the information processing apparatus 3. The program PG may be implemented so as to be included in the application AP, or may be implemented as a separate installer. Further, the type of the application AP is not particularly limited, but in the present embodiment, a game will be described as an example.

[0014] 1.3 Information Processing Apparatus 3 The information processing apparatus 3 is realized by a computer such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal and the program PG described above. Note that the information processing apparatus 3 may be realized by having the user U of the computer acquire the program PG from the server 2 via the network N (download), or the information processing apparatus 3 may be realized by having the program PG previously acquired by the computer (pre-installed).

[0015] FIG. 2A shows a schematic configuration of the information processing apparatus 3, and FIG. 2B is a functional block diagram showing the functions of the control unit 33. The information processing apparatus 3 includes a communication unit 31, a storage unit 32, a control unit 33, a display unit 34, and an input unit 35, and these components are electrically connected via a communication bus 30 inside the information processing apparatus 3. Hereinafter, each component will be further described.

[0016] <Communication unit 31> Although the communication unit 31 preferably uses wired communication means such as USB, IEEE1394, Thunderbolt, and wired LAN network communication, it may also include wireless LAN network communication, mobile communication such as LTE / 3G, Bluetooth (registered trademark) communication, etc. as necessary. These are just examples, and a dedicated communication standard may be adopted. That is, it is more preferable to implement it as a set of these multiple communication means.

[0017] In particular, as shown in FIG. 1, the information processing apparatus 3 is configured to be able to communicate with the server 2 via the network N by the communication unit 31. For example, the communication unit 31 receives each content included in the application AP stored in the server 2 via the network N.

[0018] <Storage unit 32> The storage unit 32 is a volatile or non-volatile storage medium that stores various information. This can be implemented as a storage device such as a solid state drive (SSD), or as a memory such as a random access memory (RAM) that stores temporarily necessary information (arguments, arrays, etc.) related to the calculation of a program. Also, a combination of these may be used.

[0019] In particular, the storage unit 32 stores a program PG for acquiring the application AP as information. Also, when acquiring the application AP, a content list CL that determines the acquisition order of each content that has not yet been acquired (unacquired content) is stored as information. Furthermore, the content that has already been acquired (acquired content) can be stored as information.

[0020] <Control unit 33> The control unit 33 performs processing and control of the overall operation related to the information processing apparatus 3. The control unit 33 is realized, for example, as a central processing unit (CPU) (not shown). The control unit 33 realizes various functions related to the information processing apparatus 3 by reading a predetermined program (including the program PG) stored in the storage unit 32. Specifically, the control unit 33 acquires content such as a tutorial in advance, and when the acquisition of the content is completed, it displays on the display unit 34 the screen (image) of the acquired content that has been completed during the acquisition of the application AP. Also, the control unit 33 has a parallel acquisition function (see FIGS. 3 to 5) for acquiring other unacquired content in parallel during the display of the acquired content such as a tutorial, and when receiving an input of an instruction to transition the display from the screen of the acquired content being displayed on the input unit 35 described later to the screen of a desired content, it has a replacement function (see FIGS. 7 to 9) for swapping the acquisition order in the content list CL stored in the storage unit 32. Note that such functions will be described in more detail in Section 2.

[0021] That is, the information processing by software (stored in the storage unit 32) can be specifically realized by hardware (the control unit 33), and thus can be executed as the acquisition unit 331 and the replacement unit 332. In FIG. 2A, it is shown as a single control unit 33, but in reality, it is not limited to this, and it may be implemented to have a plurality of control units 33 for each function. Or a combination thereof may also be possible. Hereinafter, the acquisition unit 331 and the replacement unit 332 will be described in more detail.

[0022] [Acquisition Unit 331] The acquisition unit 331 is realized by the hardware (control unit 33) specifically implementing the information processing by software (stored in the storage unit 32). The acquisition unit 331 acquires each content of the application AP stored in the server 2 via the communication unit 31 and the network N. In particular, it should be noted that the acquisition unit 331 can acquire other unacquired content in parallel even when the display unit 34 described later is displaying at least one of the already acquired content (such as a tutorial, etc.) (parallel acquisition function). Also, the acquisition unit 331 sequentially acquires unacquired content based on the acquisition order in the content list CL stored in the storage unit 32.

[0023] [Replacement unit 332] The replacement unit 332 is realized by the hardware (control unit 33) specifically implementing the information processing by software (stored in the storage unit 32). When the replacement unit 332 receives an input of an instruction to transition the display from the already acquired content being displayed by the input unit 35 described later to a desired content, it swaps the acquisition order in the content list CL stored in the storage unit 32.

[0024] <Display unit 34> The display unit 34 may be included in the housing of the information processing device 3, for example, or may be externally attached. The display unit 34 displays a screen of a graphical user interface (GUI) operable by the user U. This is preferably implemented by selectively using display devices such as a CRT display, a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, and a plasma display according to the type of the information processing device 3. The display device can selectively display the GUI screen in response to a predetermined control signal from the control unit 33. Supplementary to the GUI, for example, specific interfaces such as an input form and radio buttons can be displayed.

[0025] The display unit 34 displays an image included in the acquired content while the acquisition unit 331 is acquiring unacquired content (parallel acquisition function). For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the display unit 34 displays a tutorial screen (image), which is content for teaching the user U how to operate the application AP. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the display unit 34 displays a selection screen for selecting content (here, game elements α to γ) included in the application AP. In particular, by the display unit 34 displaying the image of the meter 34d, the user U can grasp how much of the capacity of all the content included in the application AP has been acquired. For example, in FIG. 4, it is shown that 19% of the capacity has been acquired, and in FIG. 5, it is shown that 35% of the capacity has been acquired.

[0026] <Input unit 35> The input unit 35 may be included in the housing of the information processing apparatus 3 or may be externally attached. For example, the input unit 35 can be implemented as a touch panel integrated with the display unit 34. If it is a touch panel, the user U can input a tap operation, a swipe operation, etc. Of course, instead of the touch panel, a switch button, a mouse, a QWERTY keyboard, etc. may be adopted. That is, the input unit 35 receives an operation input made by the user U. The input is transferred as a command signal to the control unit 33 via the communication bus 30, and the control unit 33 can execute predetermined control and calculation as necessary.

[0027] In particular, the input unit 35 receives an input of an instruction to transition the display from an image included in the already acquired content being displayed to an image related to the desired content. For example, when the input unit 35 is a touch panel configured integrally with the display unit 34, as shown in FIG. 5, when the user U performs a tap operation on the button 34c on the selection screen, an input of an instruction to transition the display to the screen (image) of the game element γ which is one content of the application AP is received. Here, if the content (desired content) constituting the game element γ is already acquired content, based on such an instruction, the control unit 33 causes the display unit 34 to display the screen of the game element γ. On the other hand, when the image of the content (desired content) constituting the game element γ has not been acquired, the acquisition unit 331 preferentially acquires the unacquired content (content constituting the game element γ) including the said image.

[0028] Similarly, when the user U performs a tap operation on the button 34a on the selection screen, an input of an instruction to transition the display to the screen of the game element α which is one content of the application AP is received. When the user U performs a tap operation on the button 34b on the selection screen, an input of an instruction to transition the display to the screen of the game element β which is one content of the application AP is received.

[0029] 2. Description of Each Function In the second section, each function realized by the information processing apparatus 3 according to the present embodiment will be described.

[0030] 2.1 Parallel Acquisition Function FIG. 3 is an activity diagram showing the parallel acquisition function realized in the information processing apparatus 3. FIG. 4 shows a mode in which the parallel acquisition function is executed during the display of the tutorial screen, and FIG. 5 shows a mode in which the parallel acquisition function is executed during the display of the selection screen. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a content list CL showing the priority order of content acquisition. Hereinafter, the parallel acquisition function will be described along each activity of the activity diagram shown in FIG. 3.

[0031] [From here] (Activity A1) The program PG stored in the storage unit 32 in the information processing apparatus 3 acquires the application AP. In Activity A1, the acquisition unit 331 acquires the initial content included in the application AP. Here, the initial content is the minimum necessary content for the user U to use the application AP, and includes a title screen at startup, a tutorial screen (see FIG. 4), or a selection screen (see FIG. 5) where each content can be selected. In the content list CL shown in FIG. 6, contents A to C are the initial content and are preferentially acquired in principle without depending on the replacement function described later. That is, the acquisition unit 331 preferentially acquires a selection screen content where each content can be selected or a tutorial content that explains each content.

[0032] (Activity A2) After Activity A1 is completed, Activity A2 is executed in parallel with Activity A3 described later. In Activity A2, the display unit 34 displays a screen related to the initial content acquired in Activity A1.

[0033] (Activity A3) After Activity A1 is completed, Activity A3 is executed in parallel with Activity A2 described above. In Activity A3, the acquisition unit 331 acquires the content with the highest acquisition rank in the content list CL stored in the storage unit 32. Activity A3 is sequentially executed until there is no unacquired content in the content list CL. [Up to here]

[0034] That is, the parallel acquisition function is executed by parallel processing of Activity A2 and A3. By the parallel acquisition function, the user U can start the application before all the contents are downloaded. As a result, the waiting time is shortened, and problems such as the user U feeling psychological stress or hesitating to install in the first place are alleviated.

[0035] 2.2 Replacement function FIG. 7 is an activity diagram regarding the priority of content acquisition. FIG. 8 shows a content list CL when unacquired content is selected. FIG. 9 shows the content list CL when the replacement function is executed in the case shown in FIG. 8. FIGS. 10A and 10B show another example of FIG. 9. Hereinafter, the replacement function will be described along each activity of the activity diagram shown in FIG. 7.

[0036] [From here] (Activity A2) Activity A2 is executed in parallel with activity A3. In activity A2, the display unit 34 displays a selection screen (see FIG. 5) which is an example of initial content.

[0037] (Activity A3) Activity A3 is executed in parallel with activity A2. In activity A3, the acquisition unit 331 acquires the content with the highest acquisition rank in the content list CL stored in the storage unit 32. Activity A3 is sequentially executed until there is no unacquired content in the content list CL. Also, note that since the acquisition rank in the content list CL is replaced in activities A4 and A5 described later, activity A3 is executed based on the latest content list CL.

[0038] (Activity A4) Activity A4 is executed at the timing desired by the user U during the execution of activities A2 and A3. In activity A4, the input unit 35 receives an instruction to transition to a desired content from the selection screen being displayed by the display unit 34. For example, when the user U performs a tap operation on the button 34c in the selection screen shown in FIG. 5, the input of an instruction to transition the display to the screen (image) of the game element γ which is one content of the application AP is received. to.

[0039] (Activity A5) When the image of the desired game element γ in Activity A4 is unacquired content, Activity A5 is executed. In Activity A5, the replacement unit 332 replaces the acquisition order in the content list CL stored in the storage unit 32 (replacement function). In the specific example shown in FIG. 8, the top content in the content list CL when Activity A4 is executed is Content D (which constitutes game element α), and game element γ is composed of unacquired content, Content H and I. Also, the acquisition ranks of Content H and I are lower than those of Content D to G.

[0040] By executing the replacement function in Activity A5, as shown in FIG. 9, the acquisition ranks of Content H and I are swapped to the top. In other words, the replacement unit 332 swaps the acquisition order in the content list CL so that the acquisition of the desired content, Content H (followed by Content I), starts next to the currently acquired content, Content D.

[0041] Also, as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, it may be implemented to interrupt the acquisition of the currently acquired content D and preferentially acquire the desired content, Content H (subsequently, Content I). That is, when the input unit 35 receives an instruction to transition to the screen of the desired game element γ (Content H, I), the acquisition unit 331 interrupts the acquisition of the currently acquired content D, and the replacement unit 332 swaps the acquisition order in the content list CL so that the acquisition of the desired content starts.

[0042] (Activity A6) When the acquisition of contents H and I that constitute the game element γ, which is the desired content, is completed, the display unit 34 transitions to the screen of the game element γ and displays it. Note that after the acquisition of content H is completed, a screen related to content H (a part of the game element γ) may be displayed, or after the acquisition of both contents H and I that constitute the game element γ is completed, the screen of the game element γ may be displayed. [Up to here]

[0043] That is, during the execution of activity A3, the replacement function by activities A4 and A5 can be executed. As a result, the content desired by the user U is preferentially acquired. As a result, the waiting time is shortened, and problems such as the user feeling psychological stress or hesitating to install in the first place are alleviated.

[0044] 3. Others The above replacement function may be further improved with creativity.

[0045] Generally, the application AP stored in the server 2 may be upgraded later and content may be added. Such additional content may become a topic, and the number of users U who acquire the application AP on their own computers in the market may increase. Such users U are assumed to be those who have acquired the application AP for the purpose of the additional content.

[0046] Therefore, when the acquisition unit 331 stores additional content (new content) in which the server 2 has been updated, it is preferable to preferentially acquire such content. Here, FIG. 11 shows a content list CL when new content, that is, content Y and Z constituting the game element ν, is added to the server 2, and FIG. 12 shows a content list CL in which the replacement function is executed in the case shown in FIG. 11. That is, based on the updated date and time associated with the additional content, the replacement unit 332 may change the acquisition order so that the content Y and Z, which are the additional content, are preferentially acquired next to the initial content.

[0047] 4. Conclusion As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide a program PG that suppresses the waiting time of the user U that has conventionally occurred due to the installation time of the application AP and the load time of each content. Such a program PG may be provided as a non-temporary recording medium readable by a computer (information processing apparatus 3), may be provided so as to be downloadable from an external server 2, or may be started by an external computer to implement a so-called cloud computing in which each function can be implemented on a client terminal.

[0048] That is, a program for acquiring an application including a plurality of contents, the program causing a computer configured to be able to acquire the plurality of contents from a server via a network to function as a display unit, an input unit, and an acquisition unit, the display unit displaying an image included in the already acquired content for which acquisition has been completed during acquisition of the plurality of contents, the input unit receiving an input of an instruction to change the display from the image being displayed to a desired image, and the acquisition unit preferentially acquiring unacquired content including the desired image when the desired image corresponding to the instruction is unacquired.

[0049] Further, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus 3 that suppresses the waiting time of the user U that has conventionally occurred based on the installation time of the application AP and the loading time of each content.

[0050] That is, there is provided an information processing apparatus including an acquisition unit, a display unit, and an input unit. The acquisition unit executes an installer of an application including a plurality of contents, and acquires the plurality of contents from a server via a network. The display unit displays an image included in the already acquired contents for which acquisition has been completed during the acquisition of the plurality of contents. The input unit receives an input of an instruction to change the display to a desired image from the image being displayed. Here, when the desired image corresponding to the instruction is not acquired, the acquisition unit preferentially acquires the unacquired contents including the image.

[0051] Further, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide a system 1 that suppresses the waiting time of the user U that has conventionally occurred based on the installation time of the application AP and the loading time of each content.

[0052] That is, there is provided a system including a server and an information processing apparatus. The server stores an application including a plurality of contents. The information processing apparatus is configured to be connectable to the server via a network, and includes an acquisition unit, a display unit, and an input unit. The acquisition unit acquires the plurality of contents from the server via the network. The display unit displays an image included in the already acquired contents for which acquisition has been completed during the acquisition of the plurality of contents. The input unit receives an input of an instruction to change the display to a desired image from the image being displayed. Here, when the desired image corresponding to the instruction is not acquired, the acquisition unit preferentially acquires the unacquired contents including the image.

[0053] Although various embodiments of the present invention have been described, these are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. Such embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention and are also included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0054] 1: System 2: Server 3: Information Processing Device 30: Communication Bus 31: Communication Unit 32: Storage Unit 33: Control Unit 331: Acquisition Unit 332: Replacement Unit 34: Display Unit 34a: Button 34b: Button 34c: Button 34d: Meter 35: Input Unit AP: Application CL: Content List N: Network PG: Program U: User

Claims

1. An application program including a plurality of game elements, a computer configured to be capable of acquiring the plurality of game elements from a server via a network, said computer functioning as a display unit, an input unit, and an acquisition unit; the display unit displays an image of a first game element that has been acquired after starting acquisition of the plurality of game elements and before acquisition of all of the plurality of game elements is completed; the input unit accepts an input of a command to transition a display to an image of a second game element selected from among game elements to which a transition can be made from the first game element being displayed; the acquisition unit, when the second game element has not been acquired, acquires the second game element with priority; Application program.

2. 2. The application program according to claim 1, the display unit displays an image of the second game element after the acquisition of the second game element is completed; Application program.

3. 3. The application program according to claim 1, The computer further functions as an exchange unit; the replacing unit, after displaying the image of the first game element, enables a change in the acquisition order of unacquired game elements among the plurality of game elements; Application program.

4. 4. The application program according to claim 3, the replacing unit replaces the acquisition order so that acquisition of the second game element is started after the currently acquired game element; Application program.

5. 4. The application program according to claim 3, When the input unit receives the command, the acquisition unit interrupts acquisition of the game element that is currently being acquired, the replacing unit replaces the acquisition order so that acquisition of the second game element is started; Application program.

6. In the application program according to any one of claims 1 to 5, the plurality of game elements includes a game tutorial; the acquisition unit acquires the first game element after acquiring the game elements constituting the tutorial; Application program.

7. An information processing device, An acquisition unit, a display unit, and an input unit, the acquiring unit executes an application program including a plurality of game elements and acquires the plurality of game elements from a server via a network; the display unit displays an image of a first game element that has been acquired after starting acquisition of the plurality of game elements and before acquisition of all of the plurality of game elements is completed; the input unit accepts an input of a command to transition a display from the first game element being displayed to a second game element selected from among transitionable game elements; wherein the acquisition unit, when the second game element has not been acquired, acquires the second game element with priority. Information processing device.

8. 1. A system comprising: A server and an information processing device are provided, the server stores an application program including a plurality of game elements; The information processing device includes: A device that is connectable to the server via a network; and An acquisition unit, a display unit, and an input unit, the acquiring unit acquires the plurality of game elements from the server via a network; the display unit displays an image of a first game element that has been acquired after starting acquisition of the plurality of game elements and before acquisition of all of the plurality of game elements is completed; the input unit accepts an input of a command to transition a display from the first game element being displayed to a second game element selected from among transitionable game elements; wherein the acquisition unit, when the second game element has not been acquired, acquires the second game element with priority. system.

Images