JP2000215253A - Personalized data setting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently set personalized data. SOLUTION: Terminal equipment 1 is connected to a server 2 by a communication line 3. A data base part 12 to which personalized data are registered is installed in the server 2. When personal data are inputted from the input part 5 of terminal equipment 1, a transmission/reception part 7 transmits them to the server 2 and the transmission of personalized data is requested. When the transmission/reception part 11 of the server 2 receives personal data, a CPU 14 retrieves pertinent personalized data from the data base part 12 and they are transmitted to a terminal equipment 1-side from the transmission/ reception part 11. Then, data are stored in the personalized data storage part 8 of terminal equipment 1. Thus, the data base part 12 of large capacity, in which multiple pieces of personalized data are registered, is not necessary to be installed on the terminal equipment 1-side (general-purpose unit-side) and terminal equipment 1 can be miniaturized and lightened. Thus, the cost can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a personalized data setting device for setting personalized data for a general-purpose device whose user is not specified in advance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a game system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-78792, for example, for setting personalized data for a general-purpose device whose user is not specified in advance. In a game in which a character and a game player in a game space communicate with each other in a simulated manner, the name of the game player registered in advance by the game player is output by voice as if called by the character. . In the above-mentioned game system, in order to make it possible to reduce the consumption capacity of the recording medium of the sound data and to change the output sound in the game in which the character and the game player perform the pseudo communication as described above, Like that.

That is, voice data of all characters is registered in a memory. When the game player inputs the character strings "ta", "ro", "u" of the name, the voice data of each character "ta", "ro", "u" is read out, and the game player specifies The parameter values are changed to strength, pitch, and speed, and each audio data is cross-fade processed and stored in a buffer. Then, when a character in the game space utters the name of the game player, the name of the game player is uttered based on the voice data read from the buffer.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned game system has the following problems. That is,
It is not known whether or not the game player will actually select the personalized data, but the voice data of all the characters that can be selected (for example, Japanese characters, alphabets, numbers, and symbols) and utters each character It is necessary to prepare the image data of the character in question, and it is necessary to register a huge amount of information. For this reason, a large memory for registering personalized data is required, which leads to an increase in the size and cost of the apparatus.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a personalized data setting device which reduces the storage capacity of personalized data in a general-purpose device for which a user is not specified in advance, and which can reduce the size and weight of the general-purpose device and reduce the cost. Is to do.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a personalized data setting device, comprising: a first storage unit storing a program;
Rewritable second storage means for storing output information based on a program of the storage means, external storage means for storing a plurality of personalized data, access means for performing access processing to the external storage means, and access means Means for obtaining personalized data by controlling the means, storing the obtained personalized data as one of the output information in the second storage means, and executing the program stored in the first storage means And a program execution means for outputting the output information stored in the second storage means based on the personalized data, wherein the external storage means is outside the control of the personalized data acquisition means and the program execution means. It is characterized by.

[0007] According to the above configuration, based on the control by the personalized data acquisition means, the access processing to the external storage means provided externally is performed to obtain the corresponding personalized data, which is stored in the second storage means. used. In this way, personalized data is set without registering a large number of personalized data on the general-purpose device side where the user is not specified in advance, so that the general-purpose device can be reduced in size and weight and cost can be reduced.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the personalized data setting device according to the first aspect of the present invention, the external storage means is mounted on a server connected to a communication line, and the access means comprises It is connected to a communication line, and has a communication function of communicating with the server via the communication line.

According to the above configuration, there is no need to collect in advance information that may be selected as personalized data by an unspecified user and register it in all general-purpose devices connected to the communication line. Therefore, the portability of the general-purpose device is greatly improved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the personalized data setting device according to the first aspect of the present invention, the counting means for counting the number of accesses to the external storage means, and the count value by the counting means is a predetermined number. Detecting means for detecting whether or not the count value has exceeded, and data transmission prohibiting means for prohibiting transmission of personalized data to the access means whose count value has exceeded the predetermined number based on the detection result by the detecting means. It is characterized by.

According to the above configuration, when the number of accesses to the external storage means based on the same program exceeds a predetermined number, transmission of the personalized data to the access source is prohibited, so that unauthorized reading of the personalized data is prevented. You.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments. <First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a personalized data setting device according to the present embodiment. The personalized data setting device according to the present embodiment includes three pieces of hardware: a terminal device 1, a server 2, and a communication line 3. Here, the terminal device 1 is personally owned by the user.

The terminal device 1 comprises an input unit 5, an output unit 6, a transmitting / receiving unit 7, a personalized data storage unit 8, a program storage unit 9, and a CPU (central processing unit) 10. The input unit 5 includes a pad and a keyboard, and receives personal data. Note that the input unit 5 in the present embodiment is a concept including an input terminal for receiving the input from an external device or the like. The output unit 6 includes a monitor, a speaker, and the like, and outputs output information using personalized data.
Note that the output unit 6 in the present embodiment is a concept including an output terminal for outputting the output information to an external device or the like.

The transmission / reception unit 7 exchanges data with the server 2 via the communication line 3. The personalized data storage unit 8 stores personalized data transmitted from the server 2. The program storage unit 9 stores a program that requests the server 2 for personalized data and uses the personalized data stored in the personalized data storage unit 8. The CPU unit 10 controls the output unit 6, the transmission / reception unit 7, and the personalized data storage unit 8 according to the program stored in the program storage unit 9 to execute a personalized data setting processing operation described in detail later.

The server 2 includes a transmission / reception unit 11, a database unit 12, an input unit 13, and a CPU 14. The transmission / reception unit 11 exchanges data with the terminal device 1 via the communication line 3. The database section 1
2 stores a large number of personalized data including personalized data to be provided to the user. From the input unit 13, new additional data is input to the database unit 12.
Is entered for The CPU 14 searches for corresponding personalized data from the database unit 12 in response to a request from the terminal device 1 and sends the personalized data to the transmission / reception unit 11 during the personalized data setting processing operation.

FIG. 2 is a job flowchart for the personalized data setting processing executed by the CPU 10 of the terminal device 1 and the CPU 14 of the server 2. In FIG. 2, job steps on the terminal device 1 side are shown on the left side, and job steps on the server 2 side are shown on the right side. The arrow shown in the center indicates the direction of transmitting and receiving information via the communication line 3.

First, in step S1, the user
From the input unit 5 of the terminal device 1, personal data corresponding to the program stored in the program storage unit 9 is input. In step S2, the CPU 10 of the terminal device 1 sends the personal data, for example, composed of a character string, input from the input unit 5 to the transmitting / receiving unit 7. Then, the server 2 via the communication line 3 is transmitted to the transmitting / receiving unit 7.
Is instructed to transmit personal data to the transmitting / receiving section 11 of the personal computer. In this way, a request for transmitting personalized data according to the personal data is made from the terminal device 1 side to the server 2 side. At that time, depending on the status of the communication line 3,
Requests can be repeated or postponed.

In step S 3, the received parsol data from the terminal device 1 is sent to the CPU 14 by the transmitting / receiving unit 11 of the server 2. Then, the CPU 14
As a result, personalized data corresponding to the received personal data is retrieved from the database unit 12. Then, the obtained personalized data is sent to the transmitting / receiving unit 11. In step S4, the personalized data searched for is transmitted to the transmission / reception unit 7 of the terminal device 1 by the transmission / reception unit 11. In this case, if the corresponding personalized data is not registered in the database unit 12, the fact is notified to the CPU 10 of the terminal device 1 via the transmission / reception units 11 and 7, and the connection between the terminal device 1 and the server 2 is temporarily performed. Cancel. Thereafter, as soon as the corresponding personalized data is added from the input unit 13 to the database unit 12, the personalized data is
And transmitted to the CPU 10 of the terminal device 1 via the transmission / reception units 11 and 7.

In step S5, the CPU of the terminal device 1
10 stores the personalized data received via the communication line 3 and the transmitting / receiving unit 7 in the personalized data storage unit 8. In step S6, when the program stored in the program storage unit 9 is executed by the CPU 10, the personalized data stored in the personalized data storage unit 8 is read as necessary, and the read personalized data is stored in the personalized data. Output information based on the output information is output from the output unit 6. In this way, detailed personalization is performed. After that, the personalized data setting processing operation ends.

As an example of the terminal device 1, there is a consumer game machine or the like. Examples of the personal data in such a case include the name of the user, the nickname of the user, the intonation of the user's name, and the like used in a game in which the character in the game space and the user communicate in a simulated manner. can give. Examples of the corresponding personalized data include voice data of the character virtually appearing in the game software stored in the program storage unit 9 and voice data of the character when the character voices the voice data. Examples include image data of a “mouth image” used. As an example of the method of adding the above-mentioned personalized data when the personalized data corresponding to the database unit 12 is not registered, there are utterance by a real person instead of the above-mentioned character and automatic speech synthesis by a machine.

As described above, in the present embodiment,
Terminal device 1 and server 2
And both are connected by a communication line 3. The database unit 12 for registering a large number of personalized data is provided on the server 2 side. Then, for example, when the name of a user is input as personal data corresponding to the game software stored in the program storage unit 9 from the input unit 5 of the terminal device 1 as a consumer game machine, for example, The personal data is transmitted to the server 2 to request transmission of personalized data.

When the transmission / reception unit 11 of the server 2 receives the personal data, the CPU 1
By means of 4, the database unit 12 retrieves, for example, voice data of the name of the user of the character in the game software and corresponding image data of the “mouth image” as the personalized data. The personalized data thus obtained is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 11 to the terminal device 1 and stored in the personalized data storage unit 8 on the terminal device 1 side. Then, when the game software is executed, the output unit 6 outputs the voice of the user's name of the character and the "mouthful image" of the character according to the output from the output unit 6 as necessary.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the large-capacity database unit 12 for registering a large number of personalized data is provided on the terminal device 1 side (ie, a general-purpose device whose user is not specified in advance). There is no need to keep it.
Therefore, the size and weight of the general-purpose device can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced and the portability can be improved.

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 3 is a block diagram in the present embodiment. The personalized data setting device according to the present embodiment is obtained by adding a function of recording the history of the terminal device that has requested the server to transmit the personalized data to the server, to the personalized data setting device according to the first embodiment. is there. In FIG. 3, the personalized data setting device is a terminal device 2
1, a server 22 and a communication circuit 23.

The terminal device 21 includes an input unit 25, an output unit 26, and an input unit 25, similarly to the terminal device 1 of the first embodiment shown in FIG.
The transmission / reception unit 27, personalized data storage unit 28, program storage unit 29, and CPU 30 operate similarly. The server 22 includes a transmitting / receiving unit 31, a database unit 32, and an input unit 33 that operate in the same manner as the server 2 illustrated in FIG. Further, in the present embodiment,
A request history storage unit 35 for recording a personalized data transmission request history from the terminal device 21 is provided.

FIG. 4 is a detailed block diagram of the request history storage unit 35. The request history storage unit 35 includes a counting unit 36
And a detection unit 37. The counting unit 36 counts the number of accesses based on the same program. The detecting section 37 detects whether the count value of the counting section 36 has exceeded a predetermined value set in advance. When the number of accesses exceeding the predetermined number of times based on the same program is detected, the CPU
The detection signal is output to the prohibition unit 38 provided in the.

When the prohibition unit 38 of the CPU 34 receives a detection signal indicating that the number of accesses from the detection unit 37 of the request history storage unit 35 exceeds the predetermined number, the prohibition unit 38 detects the personalized data detected from the database unit 32. To the transmission / reception unit 31 is prohibited. still,
In this case, the determination as to whether or not the access is based on the same program is made, for example, when connecting to the server 22, by transmitting the number assigned to each program from the terminal 21 side, and managing each number. It becomes possible by doing.

FIG. 5 is a job flowchart for the personalized data setting processing executed by the CPU 30 of the terminal device 21 and the CPU 34 of the server 2. In FIG. 5, job steps on the terminal device 21 side are shown on the left side, and job steps on the server 22 side are shown on the right side. The arrow shown in the center indicates the direction of transmitting and receiving information via the communication line 23.

First, in step S11, the user
From the input unit 25 of the terminal device 21 to the program storage unit 2
The personal data corresponding to the program stored in 9 is input. In step S12, a serial number attached to the program (game software) is subsequently input. In step S13, the personal data and the serial number input from the input unit 25 are transmitted to the server 22 via the transmission / reception unit 27 by the CPU 30 of the terminal device 21, and a transmission request for personalized data according to the personal data is sent. Will be

In step S14, the CPU of the server 22
When the personal data transmission request from the terminal device 21 is received by the terminal device 34, the serial number from the terminal device 21 is sent to the request history storage unit 35. And
The number of accesses by the serial number is counted by the counting unit 36 of the request history storage unit 35. In step S15, the detection unit 37 of the request history storage unit 35 refers to the count value of the serial number by the counting unit 36, and checks the count value (ie, the number of the request). In step S16, it is determined whether or not the count value (the number of requests) for the serial number is equal to or less than a predetermined value. As a result, when the number is equal to or less than the predetermined number, the process proceeds to step S19, and when the number exceeds the predetermined number, the process proceeds to step S17.

In step S17, the detection unit 37 sends to the prohibition unit 38 of the CPU 34 that the number of requests for the serial number has exceeded the predetermined number.
Then, the CPU 34 determines that the software of the terminal device 21 has been used improperly, so that the search for the database unit 32 is not performed, and the transmission of the personalized data to the terminal device 21 is not performed. As a result, in step S18, the personalization data is not used on the terminal device 21 side.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S16 that the count value (the number of requests) is equal to or less than the predetermined value,
In steps S19 to S22, similar to steps S3 to S6 in FIG. 2, personalized data corresponding to the received personal data is retrieved, transmitted to the terminal device 21, and the received personalized data is stored in the personalized data storage unit. 8 and used when executing the program stored in the program storage unit 29. After that, the processed contents are stored in the request history storage unit 35.
And the personalized data setting processing operation ends.

As described above, in the present embodiment,
On the server 22 side, a request history storage unit 35 having a counting unit 36 and a detecting unit 37 is provided.
When the personal computer sends a request for transmission of personalized data, the serial number assigned to each program (game software) is input. And server 2
On the second side, when there is access from the terminal device 21, the number of accesses is counted by the counting unit 36 for each serial number,
When the detection unit 37 determines that the count value exceeds a predetermined value, the CPU 37 instructs the prohibition unit 38 of the CPU 34 to prohibit the return of personalized data. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the terminal device 21 from illegally using the software by copying or the like.

In each of the above embodiments, the access means is realized by the transmission / reception units 7, 27 connected to the communication lines 3, 23. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be a system in which a human intervenes, such as a postal system.

[0035]

As is clear from the above, the personalized data setting device according to the first aspect of the present invention controls the access means by the personalized data obtaining means of a general-purpose device whose user is not specified in advance and obtains the personalized data obtaining means. Since the personalized data obtained from the external storage means outside the control of the means is stored in the second storage means,
There is no need to provide a database for registering a large number of personalized data on the general-purpose device side. Therefore,
The size and weight of the general-purpose device can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced.

[0036] In the personalized data setting device according to the second aspect of the present invention, the external storage means is mounted on a server connected to a communication line, and the access means is connected to the communication line. Since it is possible to communicate with the server via the above, information that may be selected as personalized data by an unspecified number of users is collected in advance and sent to all general-purpose devices connected to the communication line. No need to register. Therefore, the portability can be greatly improved by reducing the size and weight of the general-purpose device.

In the personalized data setting device according to the third aspect of the present invention, when the detecting means detects that the count value of the number of accesses to the external storage means exceeds a predetermined number, the data transmission inhibiting means. Since the transmission of the personalized data to the access means is prohibited, unauthorized reading of the personalized data can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a personalized data setting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a job flowchart according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a personalized data setting device different from FIG.

FIG. 4 is a detailed configuration diagram of a request history storage unit in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a job flowchart according to FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

1,21 ... terminal device, 2,22 ... server,
3, 23 communication line, 5, 13, 25, 33 input unit, 6, 26 output unit, 7, 11, 27, 31 ...
Transmission / reception section, 8, 28 personalization data storage section, 9,
29: Program storage unit, 10, 14, 30, 34
... CPU, 12, 32 ... Database part, 35
... request history storage unit, 36 ... count unit,
37: detection unit, 38: prohibition unit.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first storage device storing a program, a rewritable second storage device storing output information based on the program of the first storage device, and an external storage device storing a plurality of personalized data. An access unit for performing an access process to the external storage unit; a personalization unit for controlling the access unit to obtain personalized data; and storing the obtained personalized data as one of the output information in the second storage unit. Data acquisition means, executing the program stored in the first storage means,
A program execution unit that outputs the output information stored in the second storage unit based on the personalized data, wherein the external storage unit is outside the control of the personalized data acquisition unit and the program execution unit. Personalization data setting device. 2. The personalized data setting device according to claim 1, wherein said external storage means is mounted on a server connected to a communication line, said access means is connected to said communication line,
A personalized data setting device having a communication function of communicating with the server via the communication line. 3. The personalized data setting device according to claim 1, wherein: a counting means for counting the number of accesses to the external storage means; and a detecting means for detecting whether a count value of the counting means has exceeded a predetermined number. Personal data setting means, comprising: data transmission prohibition means for prohibiting transmission of personalized data to the access means whose count value exceeds the predetermined number based on the detection result by the detection means. apparatus.