JP2002334037A - Gateway device, data processor, and communication terminal device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that it is very difficult to obtain data which are not display because of display restrictions by a communication terminal device such as a portable telephone set having the imposed display restrictions. SOLUTION: A gateway device is enabled to perform processes (S1 to S3) for obtaining data requested by the communication terminal device having the imposed display restrictions from a server device which hold the data, a process (S5) for converting the obtained data to a format that the communication terminal device can display the data in, a process (S6) for judging whether there are data which can not be converted to the format that the communication terminal device can display the data in, and processes (S7, S8) for adding a notice mark indicating the presence of the unconvertible data to the data having been converted and transferring them to the communication terminal device when it is judged that there are the unconvertible data to displayed in the communication terminal device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gateway device, a data processing device and a communication terminal device suitable for use in acquiring data in a server device using a terminal such as a portable telephone.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a small communication terminal device such as a mobile phone, data can be obtained from a WWW (World Wide Web) server on the Internet by using an Internet function by a dedicated Web browser. As an actual communication system, a system is known in which a data acquisition request is transmitted from a mobile phone to a gateway device, and the gateway device obtains the requested data from a WWW server and transfers the data to a request destination mobile phone. I have.

In such a communication system, when data is displayed on a mobile phone, the display area (the size of the display screen) and the data format that can be handled are limited.
Various measures have been taken, such as converting data obtained from a WWW server by a gateway device, and creating home page data so that it can be displayed on a mobile phone.

[0004]

However, when the above measures are taken, data that cannot be displayed on a mobile phone is
It will be removed at the stage of conversion or data creation in the gateway device. The data thus removed is often data indicating more detailed information than data actually sent to the mobile phone (hereinafter also referred to as detailed data). For example, in data relating to accommodation facilities, stores, and the like, map data or the like representing the location is detailed data, and this detailed data may be removed due to display restrictions on a mobile phone or the like.

[0005] In such a case, even if the user of the mobile phone desires the map data, if the data is transferred from the gateway device in such a manner that the map data is removed, there is no way to obtain the desired data. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-134125 discloses a system in which location information of data on the Internet is transferred from a mobile phone to a printing device, and the printing device acquires data from a WWW server and prints using the location information. Although proposed, if the source data itself is simplified in accordance with the display restrictions of the mobile phone, the user of the mobile phone cannot obtain detailed data.

[0006]

A gateway device according to the present invention comprises: data acquisition means for acquiring data requested by a communication terminal device with display restriction from a server device holding the data; A data conversion means for converting the data obtained in step 1 into a format which can be displayed on the communication terminal device, and when converting the data by the data conversion device, the data obtained by the data obtaining means can be displayed on the communication terminal device. Determining means for determining whether or not there is data that cannot be converted into a format that cannot be converted into a format that cannot be converted into a format that can be displayed on the communication terminal device. The data conversion unit adds a notification mark indicating the data conversion to the data converted by the data conversion unit and transfers the data to the communication terminal device. It has a configuration in which a unit.

In the gateway device having the above configuration, when data requested from the communication terminal device with display restriction is acquired from the server device by the data acquisition means, and the acquired data is converted by the data conversion means, the communication terminal device When the determining means determines that there is data that cannot be converted into a format that can be displayed by the method, data to which a notification mark indicating the existence of the non-convertible data is added is transferred to the communication terminal device by the data transfer means.

[0008] The data processing device according to the present invention comprises: a receiving means for receiving a data output instruction from a communication terminal device;
A first data acquisition unit for acquiring data from a server device on a network indicated by the location information when the output instruction received by the reception unit includes location information of data to be processed; Determining means for determining whether or not the data obtained by the first data obtaining means includes location information of secondary data related to the data; and determining the secondary data by the determining means. A second data acquisition unit that acquires secondary data from a server device on the network indicated by the location information when determining that the location information is included; the first data acquisition unit and the second data acquisition unit; And data output means for outputting the data acquired by the second data acquisition means.

In the data processing device having the above configuration, when an output instruction including data location information is received from the communication terminal device by the receiving means, the data specified by the location information and the secondary data related to the data are received. Are obtained by the first data obtaining means and the second data obtaining means, respectively, and the obtained data is output by the data output means.

[0010] A communication terminal device according to the present invention comprises: data acquisition means for acquiring data from a server device on a network; and, in the data acquired by the data acquisition means, location information of secondary data related to the data. A determination unit that determines whether or not data in a format that cannot be displayed on the own device is included, and the determination unit determines that the location information of the secondary data or data in a format that cannot be displayed on the own device is included. And a display means for displaying a notification mark that informs the user of the situation.

In the communication terminal device having the above-described configuration, the data obtained from the server device by the data obtaining means includes location information of secondary data related to the data or data in a format that cannot be displayed by the own device. In such a case, a notification sign notifying the fact is displayed by the display means.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a network configuration of a data communication system to which the present invention is applied. In the illustrated network configuration, WWW on the Internet
When the data held by the server 1 is acquired by the mobile phone 2, the acquisition request is sent from the mobile phone 2 to the gateway device 4 via the public wireless base station 3 by public wireless communication. The mobile phone 2 has a so-called Internet function equipped with a Web browser. However, since the display screen of the mobile phone 2 is very small as compared with a personal computer or the like, display restrictions are imposed on the displayable data format and the like.

The gateway device 4 obtains data requested to be obtained from the mobile phone 2 from the WWW server 1 on the Internet, and converts the obtained data into a format that can be displayed on the mobile phone 2. Further, gateway device 4
Transfers the converted data to the mobile phone 3 via the wireless public line base station 3. The data thus transferred is displayed on the screen of the mobile phone 2.

A WWW server 2 on the Internet
In the case where the data held by the printer is to be printed by the printing device 5, the mobile phone 2 sends the printing device 5 a URL (Uniform Resou- ble) serving as location information (address) of the data to be printed.
Send (transfer) a print instruction including (rce Location) by local communication. The printing apparatus 5 has a pull printing function through an Internet connection, and is configured by an image forming apparatus such as a digital copying machine. This printing device 5
Then, when a print instruction is received from the mobile phone 2, the data designated by the URL is acquired from the WWW server 2, and the data is imaged and printed out on a recording medium such as paper.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the gateway device according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown,
The gateway device is a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 1
1, a first communication unit 12, a second communication unit 13, a storage unit 14, a data analysis unit 15, a data conversion unit 16, and other functional units. These functional units are interconnected via a bus line 17.

The CPU 11 controls the processing operation of the entire apparatus, and a specific control processing procedure will be described later. The first communication unit 12 performs communication with the WWW server 1 existing on the Internet. The second communication unit 13 communicates with the mobile phone 2 via a public line network. The storage unit 14 is configured by a hard disk or the like, and stores (stores) various data, information, tables, and the like. The data analysis unit 15
The data obtained from the W server 1 is analyzed.
The data conversion unit 16 converts data acquired from the WWW server 1 into a format that conforms to the display restriction of the mobile phone 2.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the gateway device 4. Here, a case where a request to acquire data held by the general-purpose WWW server 1 on the Internet is made from the mobile phone 2 with the Internet function will be described. Also, a general-purpose WWW server 1
The data stored in the mobile phone 2 includes data in a format that cannot be displayed on the mobile phone 2.

First, while monitoring the communication state of the second communication unit 13, it is continuously confirmed whether or not there is a data acquisition request from the mobile phone 2 (step S1). In this case, the first communication unit 12 sends to the WWW server 1 holding the data designated by the acquisition request.
Requests transmission of the data (step S2). When data is transmitted from the WWW server 1 as a response to the request, the first communication unit 12 receives and receives the data (step S2).
3).

Next, the data obtained in step S3 is analyzed by the data analysis unit 15, and the result of the analysis is as follows.
It is determined whether or not the data acquired from the WWW server 1 is in a format that can be displayed on the mobile phone 2 that is the acquisition request source of the data (step S4). In step S4, for example, when the type of data that can be displayed, the format, and the like are restricted in the mobile phone 2 that is the data acquisition request source, the data in a format that is outside the restrictions is replaced with the actually acquired data. Is determined to be “No” if at least one of them is included, and “Ye” if the other, that is, if all the acquired data can be displayed on the mobile phone 2.
s ". If the determination is" Yes ", the process proceeds to step S8, and the data obtained from the WWW server 1 in the previous step S3 is transferred to the mobile phone 2.

If "No" is determined in step S4, the data acquired in step S3 is converted by the data conversion unit 16 into a format that can be displayed on the mobile phone 2 (step S5). ). Next, in the conversion process in the data conversion unit 16, it is determined whether or not there is data that cannot be converted into a format that can be displayed on the mobile phone 2 (unconvertible data) (step S6). This step S
If "No" is determined in step 6 (if it is determined that there is no data that cannot be converted to a format that can be displayed on the mobile phone 2), the process proceeds to step S8, and the data converted in step S5 is transferred to the mobile phone 2. Forward.

On the other hand, if "Yes" is determined in step S6 (if it is determined that there is data that cannot be converted into a format that can be displayed on the mobile phone 2), the process proceeds to step S5.
In step S7, a notification mark for notifying the presence of the data that could not be converted, that is, the data that cannot be converted is added to the mobile phone 2 (step S8). The notification mark indicating the presence of the unconvertible data is added as a part of the data displayed on the mobile phone 2 to the data (converted data) obtained by the conversion process by the data conversion unit 16. . Therefore, in step S8 following step S7, the converted data to which the notification mark has been added is transferred to the mobile phone 2.
Incidentally, data that could not be converted by the data conversion unit 16 may be deleted at that time.

FIG. 4 shows a display example when the data transferred with the notification mark from the gateway device 4 is displayed on the mobile phone 2. As shown in the drawing, on the screen of the mobile phone 2, a notification mark including character information of “(* details *)” is displayed in the first line. Thereby, the user of the mobile phone 2 can display the currently displayed data (store name, address,
It is possible to recognize from the character information of the notification mark displayed on the screen that there is some detailed data other than the telephone number and the menu.

In addition, the gateway device 4 adds a notification mark so as to include a character string representing the type of the data that cannot be converted, so that, for example, “the presence of a guide map” or “the presence of a photo” is displayed on the screen of the mobile phone 2. It is also possible to display character information such as. In this case, the user of the mobile phone 2 recognizes the existence of the data not displayed on the screen from the character information of the notification mark displayed on the screen, and determines whether the data not displayed is the one desired by the user. It is possible to determine whether or not.

Here, a description will be given of a case where the user of the mobile phone 2 looks at the character information of the notification mark displayed on the screen and wishes to acquire detailed data not displayed on the screen. First, the user of the mobile phone 2 transfers the URL of the currently displayed homepage to the printing device 5. Then, the printing device 5 acquires data from the WWW server 1 using the URL transferred from the mobile phone 2, develops the acquired data into an image, and prints it on paper or the like.
The so-called pull printing is performed. In this pull printing, the printing device 5 includes data not displayed on the screen of the mobile phone 2.
Obtains data from the WWW server 1, develops the obtained data into an image, and prints the image. Therefore, mobile phone 2
The user can acquire desired detailed data only by transferring the URL to the printing apparatus 5. FIG. 5 shows an output result of data by pull printing.
Compared with the display example on the mobile phone shown in FIG. 7, the picture of the tableware and the guide map (MAP) are output as detailed data.

Here, in the above embodiment, the case where the user of the mobile phone 2 instructs pull printing (transfer URL) while seeing the notification mark displayed on the screen has been described. Even in the case where the notification mark is not displayed on the screen, when the pull printing is instructed from the mobile phone 2, the printing result including the detailed data can be automatically output by the printing device 5. Hereinafter, a specific processing form will be described.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the printing apparatus 5. First, it is continuously checked whether or not a print instruction has been received from the mobile phone 2 (step S1).
1) When a print instruction from the mobile phone 2 is received (accepted), it is determined whether the print instruction is instructed by pull printing (step S12). Here, when the mobile phone 2 instructs the printing apparatus 5 to perform the pull printing, the location information (URL) of the data to be printed is included in the print instruction and transferred. Data itself is included in the print instruction and transferred. Therefore, in the printing device 5, the print instruction from the mobile phone 2
Whether or not pull printing is instructed can be determined based on whether or not RL is included.

If it is determined in step S12 that the instruction has not been given by the pull printing, the data (for example, the display data of the homepage or the text data representing the mail contents) transferred from the mobile phone 2 as the print target is printed. The image is developed into an image (step S18) and printed on paper or the like (step S19).

If it is determined in step S12 that the instruction has been given by the pull printing, the URL included in the print instruction transferred from the mobile phone 2 is extracted (step S13). Next, data is obtained from the WWW server 1 on the Internet specified by the extracted URL,
This is analyzed (step S14).

Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the address of the detailed data is added to the data obtained from the WWW server 1 in the analysis result in step S14 (step S15). The address of the detailed data indicates the location information (URL link) of the secondary data related to the data actually acquired from the WWW server 1, and for example, as shown in FIG. 7, c-HTML (compact
-Stored in the acquired data in the description format of Hyper Text Markup Language). In this example, "http: //www.aaa.c
o.jp "is stored as the address of the detailed data. The link address to this detailed data may be defined in the comment or set as a tag.

If it is determined in step S15 that the address of the detailed data has not been added, the data acquired from the WWW server 1 is developed into an image for printing in step S14 (step S18) and printed on paper or the like (step S18). Step S19).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S15 that the address of the detailed data has been added, the address is extracted from the acquired data (step S16), and the data (secondary data) designated by this address is further extracted. (Data) from the WWW server 1 and analyze it (step S1).
7). Subsequently, the data acquired in step S14 and the data acquired in step S17 are developed into a print image (step S18), and printed on paper or the like (step S19).

Thus, the user of the mobile phone 2 merely transfers the address (URL) of the data displayed on the screen to the printing device 5 and the data displayed on the screen and the secondary data ( It is possible to acquire the print result of the detailed data).

As a method of transferring the URL from the mobile phone 2 to the printing device 5, a wireless interface such as Bluetooth is effective.

In the above embodiment, the case where the URL is transferred from the mobile phone 2 to the printing device 5 to execute the pull printing is exemplified. For example, the browser mounted on the mobile phone 2 may not be able to display. When displaying data excluding data, it is possible to directly output data from the mobile phone 2 to the printing device 5 and analyze the data with the printing device 5 to output a print result including the data removed by the browser. Becomes

Further, as an embodiment for displaying a notification mark indicating the presence of the detailed data on the screen of the mobile phone 2, as described above, the gateway device 4 adds the notification mark and transmits the data to the mobile phone 2 as described above. In addition to the transfer, it can be realized by internal processing of the mobile phone 2.

That is, for example, when the description format of the home page is as shown in FIG. 7, when data is acquired from the WWW server 1 on the Internet by the mobile phone 2, the acquired data includes Location information (URL) of secondary data (detailed data etc.) related to the data
Etc.) are determined. Then, when it is determined that it is included, a notification mark notifying the fact is displayed on the screen. Such processing can be realized as a function of a browser mounted on the mobile phone 2.

In addition to the above, when data is acquired by the mobile phone 2 from a WWW server on the Internet,
It is determined whether or not the acquired data includes data in a format that cannot be displayed on the own device (mobile phone 2). If it is determined that the data is included, a notification sign indicating that fact is displayed on the screen. It is also possible to adopt a process of displaying the information on the display.

As still another form, for example, when the creator of the homepage clearly specifies a notification sign informing the existence of detailed data at the time of data creation, the data of the homepage is simply obtained by the mobile phone 2 and the mobile phone 2 is used. 2 can be displayed on the screen.

Further, the communication terminal device according to the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned portable telephone 2, but may be, for example, a PDA (Personal Digital
It is also possible to apply to mobile terminals such as tal Assistance). Further, the data processing device according to the present invention is not limited to the printing device 5 described above, and can be applied to a display device that outputs data obtained from a WWW server by display.

[0041]

As described above, according to the gateway device of the present invention, when displaying data in a server device using a communication terminal device with display restriction, data in a format that cannot be displayed by the communication terminal device is displayed. Is present to the user of the communication terminal device by adding a notification mark. Thereby, the user of the communication terminal device transfers the location information of the actually displayed data to a data processing device such as a printing device or a display device, and the data processing device acquires data from the server device and obtains the acquired data. (Printing, display, etc.), it is possible to easily obtain data not displayed on the mobile phone.

According to the data processing device of the present invention,
When receiving an output instruction including the location information of the data from the communication terminal device, both the data specified by the location information and the secondary data related to the data are output. By giving an output instruction to the data processing device with data location information attached, detailed data represented by secondary data can be easily obtained.

Further, according to the communication terminal device of the present invention, the data obtained from the server device includes location information of secondary data related to the data or data in a format that cannot be displayed on the own device. In this case, a notification mark indicating that fact is displayed, so that the user of the communication terminal device recognizes that the secondary data exists or that data in a format that cannot be displayed exists by looking at the displayed notification mark. can do.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a network configuration of a data communication system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a gateway device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing in the gateway device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of data on a mobile phone.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a data output result in the printing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow in the printing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a description example of display data.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... WWW server, 2 ... Mobile telephone, 4 ... Gateway device, 5 ... Printing device

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A data acquisition unit for acquiring data requested from a communication terminal device with display restriction from a server device holding the data, and the data acquired by the data acquisition unit can be displayed on the communication terminal device. A data conversion unit that converts the data into a format that can be converted to a format that can be displayed on the communication terminal device in the data obtained by the data obtaining unit. Determining means for determining, when the determining means determines that there is data that cannot be converted to a format that can be displayed on the communication terminal device,
A gateway device comprising: a data transfer unit that adds a notification mark indicating the existence of the unconvertible data to the data converted by the data conversion unit and transfers the data to the communication terminal device. 2. The gateway device according to claim 1, wherein the notification mark includes a character string indicating a type of the non-convertible data. 3. A receiving means for receiving a data output instruction from a communication terminal device, and when the output instruction received by the receiving means includes location information of data to be processed, the location information is used. A first data acquisition unit for acquiring data from a server device on the indicated network; and the data acquired by the first data acquisition unit include location information of secondary data related to the data. Determining means for determining whether or not the location information of the secondary data is included in the determination means, when the location information of the secondary data is included, the secondary data from the server device on the network indicated by the location information A second data acquisition unit that acquires the data, and a data output unit that outputs the data acquired by the first data acquisition unit and the second data acquisition unit. Data processing apparatus according to symptoms. 4. The data processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the data output unit outputs the data acquired by the first data acquisition unit and the second data acquisition unit by printing or displaying. . 5. A data acquisition unit for acquiring data from a server device on a network, wherein, in the data acquired by the data acquisition unit, location information of secondary data related to the data or a format that cannot be displayed by the own device Determining means for determining whether or not the data of the secondary data is included, and when the determining means determines that the location information of the secondary data or data of a format that cannot be displayed on the own device is included, the effect is determined. A communication terminal device, comprising: display means for displaying a notification mark for notification.