Method and apparatus for connecting user terminals as a group and providing service including contents associated with the group

1. A connection service providing method comprising:

outputting, by a first user terminal from among a plurality of user terminals, a connection request signal to at least one second user terminal among the plurality of user terminals through an inaudible frequency range based on a trigger signal for initiating a connection between the plurality of user terminals;

connecting the at least one second user terminal and the first user terminal as a group; and

providing a connection service associated with the group on the first user terminal,

wherein the method further comprises

transmitting time information and position information associated with the first user terminal to a server that provides the connection service, and

wherein the providing of the connection service includes,

receiving information about first content and information about an output time of the first content from the server; and

outputting the first content at a time that is determined based on information about the output time.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the connection request signal comprises:

information used for the second user terminal to output a connection request signal to at least one third user terminal to connect the at least one third user terminal among the plurality of user terminals as the group.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the trigger signal is,

a signal that is acquired by the first user terminal in response to joining a first chatroom of a messenger program installed on the first user terminal,

a signal that is received from an outside through the inaudible frequency range, or

data that is acquired by identifying a first code.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein user terminals belonging to the group are synchronized based on time information of the respective user terminals, and

the connection service includes content provided for at least a portion of the synchronized user terminals.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

acquiring the position information about a position of the first user terminal,

wherein the connection service includes content associated with the position information.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the position information is acquired through the inaudible frequency range at the position, or acquired by identifying a first code present at the position.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the connection service is configured to provide a screen output corresponding to position information about a position of each user terminal of at least a portion of the user terminals belonging to the group to said each user terminal, and

the screen output of said each user terminal belonging to the group configures a portion of a semantic entity that is formed by screen outputs of a plurality of user terminals among the user terminals belonging to the group.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the connection service comprises:

at least one content among the same text output, the same audio output, and the same screen output provided to at least a portion of user terminals belonging to the group.

9. The method of claim 8 ,

wherein the connection service comprises:

content including the same audio provided to at least a portion of the user terminals belonging to the group, and

wherein the audio is automatically output to at least a portion of the user terminals at a first timing.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of user terminals belonging to the group is determined as a winning terminal, and

in response to the first user terminal being determined as the winning terminal, content including a video or an image captured by the first user terminal is provided as the connection service to at least a portion of the user terminals belonging to the group.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

transmitting the captured video or image to an external display device or a server that manages the external display device to display the captured video or image on the external display device.

12. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the connection service comprises:

a composite image or a composite video provided to at least a portion of user terminals belonging to the group, and

wherein the composite video or the composite image is generated by composing images or videos captured by user terminals present at a first position among the user terminals belonging to the group.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

in response to the first user terminal being determined to be present at the first position based on position information about a position of the first user terminal,

transmitting an image or a video captured by the first user terminal to a server; and

receiving content comprising the composite video or the composite image from the server.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the composite video or the composite image is content to which a three-dimensional (3D) effect or a dynamic effect is applied.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein, in response to a user terminal of a user having a personal relationship with a user of the first user terminal being included in user terminals belonging to the group, the connection service includes content including information about the user having the personal relationship.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the outputting of the first content comprises:

searching the first user terminal for the first content based on information about the first content and outputting the first content, and

in response to the first content being absent in the first user terminal, requesting the server for the first content and outputting the first content received from the server.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the time information includes information about a global positioning system (GPS) time and a local time of the first user terminal at a time at which corresponding time information is acquired,

the information about the output time includes a first output time at which the first content is to be output, and

the outputting of the first content includes outputting the first content at a time that is determined based on offset time information calculated based on the local time of the first user terminal, the first output time, and the time information.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the offset time information is a difference between the GPS time and the local time of the first user terminal at the time at which the time information is acquired, and

the outputting of the first content includes outputting the first content at the local time of the first user terminal corresponding to a corrected output time that is determined based on the first output time and the offset time information.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the outputting of the first content includes shifting and outputting the first content by an elapse time if the local time of the user terminal passes the corrected output time.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable record medium storing computer instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method of claim 1 .

21. A first electronic device comprising:

processing circuitry configured to,

output a connection request signal to at least a second electronic device through an inaudible frequency range based on a trigger signal for initiating a connection between a plurality of electronic devices, the plurality of devices including the first and second electronic device,

connect the second electronic device and the first electronic device as a group, and

provide a connection service associated with the group on the first electronic device,

wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to

transmit time information and position information associated with the first user terminal to a server that provides the connection service, and

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to

receive information about first content and information about an output time of the first content from the server; and

output the first content at a time that is determined based on information about the output time.

22. The first electronic device of claim 21 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to acquire the position information about a position of the first electronic device.

23. A connection service providing method comprising:

identifying, by a server, that a first user terminal and a second user terminal are connected as a group in response to a connection request signal that is output from the first user terminal to at least one second user terminal through an inaudible frequency range; and

providing a connection service associated with the group to at least a portion of user terminals belonging to the group,

wherein the method further comprises

receiving time information and position information associated with each user terminal from each of the first user terminal and the second user terminal, and

wherein the providing of the connection service includes,

determining information about first content to be output from user terminals belonging to the group and information about an output time at which the first content is to be output, based on the received position information and time information; and

transmitting the determined information about the first content and information about the output time to at least a portion of the user terminals belonging to the group.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the determining comprises:

determining information about content to be output from each of the user terminals belonging to the group based on position information received from each of one or more user terminals from among the user terminals belonging to the group; and

determining offset time information associated with one or more user terminals from among the user terminals belonging to the group based on time information received from user terminals belonging to the group,

the offset time information associated with each of the user terminals belonging to the group being a difference between a global position system (GPS) time and a local time indicated by time information of each corresponding user terminal.

25. The method of claim 23 , further comprising:

mapping each received position information to an image associated with a place where a connection as the group is performed.

26. A server that provides a connection service, the server comprising: processing circuitry configured to,

receive a signal from at least one user terminal among a plurality of user terminals,

identify, based on the received signal, that a first user terminal and a second user terminal are connected as a group based on a connection request signal that is output from the first user terminal to at least the second user terminal through an inaudible frequency range, and

provide a connection service associated with the group to at least a portion of user terminals belonging to the group,

wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to

receive time information and position information associated with each user terminal from each of the first user terminal and the second user terminal, and

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to

determine information about first content to be output from user terminals belonging to the group and information about an output time at which the first content is to be output, based on the received position information and time information; and

transmit the determined information about the first content and information about the output time to at least a portion of the user terminals belonging to the group.