JP2007128388A - Information providing system, information providing method, and switching control method of the system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the following problem: a delay time from when a dweller makes a first request until information is transmitted is a wasteful time for the dweller; moreover, when information is transmitted for advertising activities and such a delay time is generated, an advertiser misses a chance to provide information. <P>SOLUTION: In the information providing method, a first server receives a request of information via network from a terminal which the dweller uses and a second server transmits the information. When the first server receives the request of information from the terminal, the second server calculates a waiting time before the information transmission to the terminal is started. When the waiting time is not zero, a waiting content comprising information different from the information is displayed to the terminal before the transmission of the information is started. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information providing system and an information providing method for providing information to a consumer via a network.

  With recent advances in IT technology, various types of information are being actively exchanged over a network. In particular, it is a common practice to exchange various types of information with each other over the Internet, from items with relatively small information sizes, such as text information, to items with relatively large information sizes, such as movies and various types of image information. It has been broken. Thereby, a large number of consumers can obtain these information almost simultaneously. This information is also widely used in advertising activities.

In exchange of such information, a consumer requests information from the terminal (client) to the content server via the network. In response to this, the content server provides the terminal with the content desired by the consumer via the network. The configuration of such an information providing system is shown in FIG. In FIG. 11, a content server 40 is connected to a plurality of terminals 30 via a network. Further, for example, when video advertisement is performed, the content server 40 may provide the video to the terminal 30 used by the consumer, and the consumer may see this video and return the response to the content server. Such information exchange is characterized in that information is exchanged bidirectionally, unlike the case where information is unilaterally transmitted as in normal television or radio broadcasting. When there are a large number of terminals 30 as clients and there are a plurality of requests for information at the same time, this information exchange increases, so it takes time for the content server 40 to respond to all requests, that is, information immediately Is often not sent. In order to cope with this, the network capacity of the network has been increased and the processing capacity of the content server 40 has been improved. Further, for example, a method has been proposed in which the data amount of information sent from the content server 40 to each terminal is controlled according to the congestion status of the line (for example, Patent Document 1). As a result, information is efficiently transmitted to each terminal, and the time until the consumer obtains desired information can be shortened.
JP-A-11-323573

  However, even when these measures are taken, especially when the number of terminals 30 is large and the size of the information is large, the content server 40 receives information requests (accesses) from a plurality of terminals almost simultaneously. Some terminals may not be able to send information immediately. FIG. 12 illustrates the concept of this situation. That is, information cannot be transmitted immediately for accesses exceeding the capacity of the content server. In this case, the content server 40 transmits to the terminals 30 that information cannot be immediately transmitted to the terminals 30 that cannot immediately transmit information, instead of starting the information transmission. In this case, for example, messages such as “Server Error”, “Internal Server Error”, and “Bad Gateway” are displayed on the terminal 30. The consumer sees this message and needs to request information from the terminal 30 again. If the situation does not change even when the request is made again, information is not immediately transmitted, and the consumer needs to make the same request again when access is low. That is, for this purpose, the consumer must perform the same operation many times.

  Thus, the delay time from when the consumer makes the first request until the information is transmitted is a wasteful time for the consumer. Further, when sending information for advertising activities, if such a delay time occurs, the side that performs the advertising activities (side that provides the information) also misses the opportunity to provide information. . As described above, the fundamental solution for eliminating such delay time is to improve the processing capacity of the server and the network line. However, a large amount of capital investment is required to improve this capacity. In addition, since it is difficult to accurately predict the number of accesses, it is also difficult to accurately predict the processing capacity required to eliminate the delay time. Therefore, even if a large amount of investment is made for this purpose, there is a great risk that the effect will not be fully exhibited.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object thereof is to provide an information providing system, an information providing method, and a switching control method thereof that can solve the above problems.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following configuration.
The gist of the invention described in claim 1 is an information providing system for providing information via a network to a plurality of terminals used by consumers, the information request being connected to the terminal via the network. And a second server connected to the first server via a network and capable of transmitting the information in response to a request from the first server. When a server receives a request for information from the terminal, waiting time calculating means for calculating a waiting time until the terminal can start sending the information, and when the waiting time is not zero, the information Waiting information display means for causing the terminal to display waiting content comprising information different from the information until the transmission of the information is started. It resides in Temu.
The gist of the invention described in claim 2 is that a remaining time calculating means for calculating a remaining time until the transmission of the information is started while the waiting content is displayed, and the remaining time becomes zero. The information providing system according to claim 1, further comprising redirect means for automatically starting transmission of the information from the second server.
The gist of the invention described in claim 3 is that the remaining time calculation means for calculating the remaining time until the transmission of the information is started while the waiting content is displayed, and the remaining time becomes zero. The information providing system according to claim 1, further comprising a waiting time progress notifying unit that sometimes notifies the consumer using a communication unit.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a waiting terminal number calculating means for calculating the number of waiting terminals which is connected to the first server and displaying the waiting contents, and the waiting contents are displayed. 4. The information providing system according to claim 1, further comprising priority order calculating means for calculating a priority order at which transmission of the information to each terminal is started. 5. Exist.
The gist of the invention described in claim 5 is the terminal displaying the waiting content, wherein the waiting time and / or the remaining time in the terminal is displayed in the waiting content. The information providing system according to any one of the above.
The gist of the invention described in claim 6 is the terminal displaying the waiting content, wherein the number of waiting terminals and / or the priority is displayed in the waiting content. Exist in the information provision system.
The gist of the invention described in claim 7 is the provision of substitute information for sending substitute information created by quality control means for reducing the quality of the requested information to the terminal and displaying the substitute information in the waiting content The information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising: means.
The gist of the invention described in claim 8 is that the ratio of the information size of the alternative information to the information size of the information is selected by a consumer, and the alternative information is created by the quality control means as much as possible. It exists in the information provision system of Claim 7.
The gist of the invention of claim 9 is that the ratio of the information size of the substitute information to the information size of the information is determined by the waiting time, and the substitute information is created by the quality control means as much as possible. It exists in the information provision system of Claim 7 characterized by the above-mentioned.
The gist of the invention described in claim 10 is that one of a plurality of types of content is selected by a consumer and displayed as the waiting content. Exist in the information provision system.
The gist of the invention described in claim 11 is that one of a plurality of types of content is selected according to the waiting time and displayed as the waiting content. Exists in the information providing system described in the section.
The gist of the invention described in claim 12 is an information providing method in which a first server receives a request for information from a terminal used by a consumer via a network, and a second server transmits the information. When the first server receives a request for information from the terminal, the waiting time until the second server can start sending the information to the terminal is calculated, and the waiting time is not zero Until the transmission of the information is started, a waiting content comprising information different from the information is displayed on the terminal.
The gist of the invention of claim 13 is that the first server calculates a remaining time until the transmission of the information is started while the waiting content is displayed, and the remaining time becomes zero. 13. The information providing method according to claim 12, wherein transmission of the information is automatically started from the second server.
The gist of the invention of claim 14 is that the first server calculates the remaining time until the transmission of the information is started while the waiting content is displayed, and the remaining time becomes zero. The information providing method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein a notification using a communication means is sometimes given to the consumer.
The gist of the invention described in claim 15 is that the first server calculates the number of waiting terminals, which is the total number of terminals connected to the first server and displaying the waiting contents, and displays the waiting contents. The information providing method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein the first server calculates a priority in which transmission of the information to each terminal is started.
The gist of the invention described in claim 16 is that the terminal displaying the waiting content displays the waiting time and / or the remaining time in the terminal in the waiting content. It exists in the information provision method of any one of these.
The gist of the invention described in claim 17 is the terminal displaying the waiting content, wherein the number of waiting terminals and / or the priority order are displayed in the waiting content. Exist in the information provision method.
The gist of the invention described in claim 18 is that the substitute information is created by quality control means for reducing the quality of the requested information, the created substitute information is transmitted to the terminal, and the substitute information in the waiting content. 18. The information providing method according to any one of claims 12 to 17, wherein the information is displayed.
The gist of the invention described in claim 19 is that the ratio between the information size of the substitute information and the information size of the information is selected by a consumer, and the substitute information is created by the quality control means as much as possible. An information providing method according to claim 18.
The gist of the invention of claim 20 is that the ratio between the information size of the substitute information and the information size of the information is determined by the waiting time, and the quality control means creates the substitute information as much as possible. The information providing method according to claim 18, which is characterized in that it exists.
The gist of the invention described in claim 21 is that one of a plurality of types of content is selected by a consumer and displayed as the waiting content. Exist in the information provision method.
The gist of the invention described in claim 22 is that any one of a plurality of types of content is selected according to the waiting time and displayed as the waiting content. It exists in the information provision method described in the section.
The subject matter of claim 23 is an information providing system switching control method for providing information to a plurality of terminals used by a consumer via a network, wherein the terminal and the content server are connected via the network. 12. The first information providing system in which the content server receives the request for the information from the terminal and transmits the information, and the content server is the second server. A switching control method is characterized in that the second information providing system including the information providing system according to any one of the items is switched and operated alternately.
The gist of the invention of claim 24 is that when the total number of terminals requesting the information is smaller than a predetermined value, the first information providing system is operated to request the information. The switching control method according to claim 23, wherein when the total number of terminals is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the second information providing system is operated.
The gist of the invention described in claim 25 resides in the switching control method according to claim 23, wherein switching between the first information providing system and the second information providing system is performed at a preset timing. .

  Since the present invention is configured as described above, the consumer and the side providing the information can effectively use the time until the information is provided to the terminal. Moreover, it is not necessary for the consumer to make the same request from the terminal to the server over and over. As a result, it is possible to provide information with little wasted time for consumers. In addition, since the processing capacity of the server and the network line is not required, a large capital investment is not required, and information required by consumers can be effectively provided at a low cost.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

  The configuration of an example of the information providing system of the present invention is shown in FIG. The information providing system of the present invention is an information providing system that transmits information to a plurality of terminals used by consumers via a network, and is connected to the terminal via a network and receives a request for the information The first server 10 and the second server 20 are connected to the first server 10 via a network and can transmit the information in response to a request from the first server. Furthermore, when the 1st server 10 receives the request | requirement of information from the terminal 30, the waiting time calculation means which calculates waiting time until it can start transmission of this information with respect to this terminal 30 is provided. Furthermore, when this waiting time is not zero, a waiting content display means is provided for causing the terminal to display waiting content comprising information different from this information until transmission of this information is started. In this configuration, when requesting information, the terminal 30 does not directly access the second server 20 but accesses the first server 10. The first server 10 plays a role of mediation when the second server 20 transmits information to the terminal 30, and transmits the waiting content information for displaying the waiting content to the consumer's terminal 30. Fulfill. As the contents of this waiting content, various contents can be used depending on the situation and the choice of the consumer, as will be described later.

  Further, the terminal 30 used by a consumer in the present invention is an information terminal having a communication function, and examples thereof include a mobile phone, a landline phone, a personal computer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a game device, and a communication module. There are built-in televisions, televisions connected to set-top boxes with built-in communication modules, and the like.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the information providing system. In FIG. 2, first, a time when a request for providing information to the first server 10 is made from a terminal (client) 30 used by a consumer is “start”.

  Next, in step S1, the first server 10 checks whether there is another client that has issued a similar request, and adds this to the queue.

  Next, in step S <b> 2, the first server 10 calculates a waiting time until transmission of information to the terminal 30 that has made the request is started by a waiting time calculation unit. This waiting time calculating means calculates the waiting time from the average processing time required to transmit this information before this time and the number of clients that have issued other similar requests.

  Next, when it is determined in step S3 that the waiting time is not zero, the first server 10 transmits waiting content information for displaying the waiting content to the terminal 30 that has made the request. Thereby, the terminal 30 displays the waiting content during this waiting time in steps S11 to S12.

  Various contents can be used as the waiting content displayed here. As an example, as shown in FIG. 3, an advertisement for a product related to information requested by a consumer can be displayed. Also, it does not have to be related to the information requested by the consumer, and as shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b), a quiz is displayed so that the consumer does not have time. It can also be. At this time, a questionnaire regarding this information can also be performed with the waiting content. The first server 10 transmits waiting content information for displaying them to the terminal 30 that has made the request.

  If the waiting time is zero in step S3, or if the waiting content has been displayed when the waiting content is displayed, it is checked in step S4 whether there is an available network line.

  If there is no available line, the process returns to step S2 again to calculate the waiting time again.

  If there is a vacant line, after adding the number of occupied lines in step S5, the connection to the second server 20 is made in step S6, and the information providing process is started in step S7. When the provision of information is completed, the processing time is extracted in step S8, the number of lines occupied is reduced in step S9, and all the processes are completed.

  According to the information providing system described above, the content waiting for the consumer who is simply waiting until the information request is requested again in the conventional information providing system through the first server 10. By displaying, new information can be provided and useless time can be reduced. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing these functions. As described above, the information providing system of the present invention can effectively provide information to all the consumers.

  In the embodiment described above, various other contents can be used as the waiting content. Further, as will be described below, a means for creating contents to be displayed on the waiting content can be provided.

  It is also possible to provide a remaining time calculating means for the first server 10 to calculate the remaining time until the transmission of information is started while the waiting content is displayed. As a result, the remaining time can be displayed as the waiting content as shown in FIG. Thus, the consumer can determine how many minutes later he / she can obtain the desired information. At this time, when the remaining time becomes zero, it is automatically redirected to a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that provides information, that is, by directly accessing the second server 20 from the terminal, It is also possible to provide redirect means for starting the provision of information. Thus, the consumer only needs to request information once and does not need to make a request again.

  Moreover, when the remaining time becomes zero, it is possible to provide waiting time elapse notification means for notifying the consumer using the communication means. As this communication means, a telephone, an e-mail, etc. can be used. Thereby, it can be automatically notified to the consumer that the waiting time has elapsed using these. In this case, the consumer can move away from the front of the terminal 30 and perform other work with confidence until the waiting time elapses.

  Also, when there are many accesses, it is possible to temporarily depart from the queue and access again at the date and time designated in advance. It is possible to make a consumer secure priority for the access. FIG. 7 is a waiting content display screen for inquiring whether or not to issue a ticket for whether or not to secure this priority. If the consumer receives this ticket (if they choose “Get a ticket”), this consumer will get priority for re-accessing at this date and time, so that he / she can get the priority and have the desired time with little or no waiting time. Information can be obtained.

  Since the congestion status when accessing the first server 10 and the second server 20 changes from time to time, it is often difficult to accurately calculate the actual waiting time and remaining time. In such a case, the first server 10 is provided with waiting terminal number calculation means for the server to calculate the number of waiting terminals, which is the total number of terminals currently connected to the first server 10 and displaying waiting contents. You can also. It is also possible to display the number of waiting terminals in the waiting content. A consumer can know the current congestion situation by seeing this. At this time, it is possible to provide priority order calculating means for calculating the priority order in which the second server 20 provides information to each terminal. By displaying this priority in the waiting content at the same time as the number of waiting terminals, the consumer can know the priority order for his / her terminal 30 and determine how many minutes he / she can obtain the desired information. Material.

  It is also possible to provide alternative information providing means for transmitting alternative information in which the quality of requested information is reduced by the quality control means to the terminal 30 and displaying the alternative information as waiting content. For example, when the requested information is image information, the information size of the alternative information can be made smaller than the original image information by reducing the image quality. Therefore, this alternative information can be transmitted in a short time. For this reason, even if desired information cannot be immediately transmitted, alternative information may be provided immediately. By obtaining this, the consumer can obtain an overview of the desired information immediately. Further, the degree of the quality deterioration is defined by the ratio of the information size of the alternative information to the information size of the desired information. That is, the smaller this ratio, the greater the degradation in quality. In the case of 100%, there is no quality degradation, that is, the replacement information is equal to the original desired information. This ratio can be changed according to the waiting time, the number of waiting terminals, and consumers' desires. In order to determine the information size according to the consumer's request, a screen is provided that allows the consumer to select this ratio in the waiting content, and the consumer can select it. This ratio can also be determined according to the waiting time. For example, when the waiting time is long, the number of accesses is large. Therefore, if the information size of the substitute information is large, it is difficult to immediately send the substitute information. Therefore, it is preferable to reduce this ratio when the waiting time is long. In such a case, the relationship between the waiting time and the ratio can be held in advance by the first server 10 as data.

  As an example, FIG. 8 shows an example of a method for creating alternative information for moving image information. Here, the original moving image information is divided into three types of high, medium, and low, and high is converted into moving images, medium is a still image, and low is converted into text (character) information. The information size is larger in this order. In the case of high (moving image), it is possible to obtain moving image information of higher, medium and low grades by reducing the number of pixels in moving image and reducing time resolution. Furthermore, the information size can be set in three stages. In the case of medium (still image), three types of grades can be similarly obtained by reducing the number of pixels. In the case of low (text), this can be classified into three types depending on the number of characters to be displayed. This alternative information may be created by the first server 10 or the second server 20. However, for information with many requests, it is preferable that the first server 10 holds alternative information created in advance in order to reduce the load on the second server 20. The substitute information providing means has a function of creating the substitute information as described above and a function of providing the substitute information from the first server 10 to the terminal. Information requested by consumers is not limited to moving image information, but may be information of only text and images. Even in these cases, it is possible to set alternative information of a plurality of grades by a method such as reducing the image quality or reducing the number of characters.

  When the alternative information is displayed as the waiting content, for example, the consumer may look at it and discover that the requested information is different from the desired information and want to cancel the request for the information. For this reason, in the waiting content, it is possible to cause the consumer to input that the provision of the originally requested information is to be stopped. When the provision of information is stopped, the steps after S4 in FIG. 2 are not performed.

  As described above, there are various types of contents of the waiting content, but a consumer can select one of these types of contents and display it as the waiting content. In this case, for example, the waiting time can be displayed, and a consumer can select one from a plurality of contents and display it. An example of a screen for performing this selection is shown in FIG. For example, a quiz can be displayed when the waiting time is short, and alternative information can be displayed when the waiting time is long, which can be selected by the consumer. In addition, this selection may be a setting that is automatically performed according to the waiting time.

  The content described above can be used as the waiting content, but is not limited to these, and if it is useful for both the consumer side and the information sending side, the waiting content displaying this is displayed. Can be used.

  In addition, the information providing system of the present invention using two types of servers is not always operated, and a conventional information providing system using one type of server (content server) can be switched and operated as appropriate. In this case, the conventional information providing system in which the terminal and the content server are directly connected via the network, the content server receives a request for information from the terminal, and also transmits information, is defined as the first information providing system, The information providing system of the present invention can be used as a second information providing system, and a switching control method of operating the first information providing system and the second information providing system by appropriately switching between them can be used. FIG. 11 shows the configuration of the first information providing system. In the figure, a plurality of terminals 30 are connected to a content server 40 via a network. For this purpose, when operating the first information providing system, the second server 20 in the second information providing system also has a function of directly receiving a request for information from the terminal, and may be used as the content server 40. . When operating the second information providing system, the first server 10 is connected between the second server 20 and the terminal via a network. In this case, the first server 10 accepts a request for information from the terminal, and the second server 20 (the same as the content server 40) does not accept this request directly. In addition, when the waiting time is not zero, the above-described information providing system of the present invention is operated to display the waiting content on the terminal.

  The switching timing can be selected as appropriate. For example, when the total number of terminals requesting information (number of accesses) is smaller than a predetermined value, the first information providing system is operated, and when the number of accesses is equal to or larger than a predetermined value, The information providing system 2 can be operated. Here, the predetermined number can be, for example, the access number (switching reference line) when a terminal having a non-zero waiting time appears when the second information providing system is used. When the number of accesses is equal to or greater than the switching reference line, information cannot be immediately transmitted to some terminals, so the second information providing system that displays the waiting content can be preferably used. On the other hand, when the number of accesses is smaller than the switching reference line, even if the second information providing system is operated, there is no terminal to display the waiting content, so there is no merit of using the second information providing system. In the second information providing system, the second server 20 is connected to the terminal via the first server 10, but when the number of accesses is small, the second server 20 and the terminal are directly connected. Is more efficient. For this reason, the structure of the 1st information provision system with which the 2nd server 20 is directly connected with a terminal is preferable. Therefore, if the switching control method having such a function is used, the above information providing systems can be automatically and effectively used.

  On the other hand, the number of accesses changes from time to time, and it is difficult to accurately predict the value. However, it is often possible to predict the increase / decrease depending on the time to some extent. In this case, the first information providing system and the second information providing system can be switched at a preset timing. For example, when this information provision is based on a campaign, the number of accesses is large immediately after the start and end of the campaign. An example of data indicating the actual number of accesses in units of weeks during the campaign period is shown in FIG. 10a. Although the absolute value of the number of accesses varies depending on the content of the campaign (target product etc.), this tendency often does not change. Here, when the above-described switching reference line is set to the value shown in FIG. 10A, the second information providing system can be set to operate only at a time when the number of accesses is expected to be larger than this. For example, in this example, the second information providing system may be operated only in the first week and the eighth week. In addition, the number of accesses is large at night during the day. FIG. 10 b shows an example of data indicating the change in the number of accesses per day during the campaign period. In this case, the second information providing system may be operated only at night. Therefore, according to the switching control method in which the above switching is performed at a preset timing, the above information providing systems can be used effectively.

  The switching control method for automatically switching can be preferably used when it is difficult to predict the number of accesses. On the other hand, the information provision system must be temporarily stopped before and after switching, and if this switching is performed frequently, the efficiency of information provision deteriorates, so the number of times of switching should be minimal. Is preferred. For this reason, the switching control method in which the switching timing is set in advance can reduce the number of times of switching, and therefore can be preferably used when fluctuations in the number of accesses can be predicted to some extent.

  Switching control in the above switching control method can be performed by the first server 10, the second server 20 (content server 40), or other control devices. Thereby, resources, such as a server, can be used efficiently.

It is a block diagram of the information provision system of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the Example of the information provision system of this invention. It is an example of the display screen of the waiting content in the information provision system of this invention. (A) (b) It is another example of the display screen of the waiting content in the information provision system of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the function of the information provision system of this invention. It is another example of the waiting content display screen in the information providing system of the present invention. It is another example of the waiting content display screen in the information providing system of the present invention. It is a figure shown about the quality control means which produces the alternative information in the information provision system of this invention. It is another example of the waiting content display screen in the information providing system of the present invention. It is an example which shows the fluctuation | variation in the week (a) and time (b) unit of the number of access. It is a block diagram of the conventional information provision system. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the problem of the conventional information provision system.

Explanation of symbols

10 first server 20 second server 30 terminal 40 content server

Claims (25)

An information providing system for providing information to a plurality of terminals used by consumers via a network,
A first server connected to the terminal via a network and receiving the request for information, and connected to the first server via a network and transmitting the information in response to a request from the first server A second server that can
When the first server receives a request for information from the terminal, waiting time calculating means for calculating a waiting time until the terminal can start sending the information;
Waiting content display means for displaying waiting content consisting of information different from the information on the terminal until the transmission of the information is started when the waiting time is not zero,
An information providing system comprising: A remaining time calculating means for calculating a remaining time until transmission of the information is started while the waiting content is displayed;
Redirection means for automatically starting transmission of the information from the second server when the remaining time becomes zero;
The information providing system according to claim 1, further comprising: A remaining time calculating means for calculating a remaining time until transmission of the information is started while the waiting content is displayed;
A waiting time elapse notification means for performing notification using a communication means to the consumer when the remaining time becomes zero;
The information providing system according to claim 1, further comprising: A waiting terminal number calculating means for calculating a waiting terminal number which is the total number of terminals connected to the first server and displaying the waiting content;
Priority calculation means for calculating a priority for starting transmission of the information to each terminal displaying the waiting content;
The information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising:   5. The information provision according to claim 2, wherein the terminal displaying the waiting content displays the waiting time and / or the remaining time at the terminal in the waiting content. 6. system.   The information providing system according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the terminal displaying the waiting content displays the number of waiting terminals and / or the priority in the waiting content.   2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: substitute information providing means for transmitting the substitute information created by quality control means for reducing the quality of the requested information to the terminal and displaying the substitute information in the waiting content. The information providing system according to any one of 1 to 6.   8. The information provision according to claim 7, wherein a ratio of the information size of the alternative information to the information size of the information is selected by a consumer, and the alternative information is created by the quality control means as much as possible. system.   8. The information according to claim 7, wherein a ratio of the information size of the substitute information to the information size of the information is determined by the waiting time, and the substitute information is created by the quality control unit as much as the ratio. Offer system.   10. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein one of a plurality of types of content is selected by a consumer and displayed as the waiting content.   The information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein one of a plurality of types of content is selected according to the waiting time and displayed as the waiting content. An information providing method in which a first server receives a request for information from a terminal used by a consumer via a network, and a second server transmits the information,
When the first server receives a request for information from the terminal, the waiting time until the second server can start sending the information to the terminal is calculated.
When the waiting time is not zero, the waiting content made up of information different from the information is displayed on the terminal until the transmission of the information is started. While the waiting content is displayed, the first server calculates the remaining time until transmission of the information is started,
13. The information providing method according to claim 12, wherein the transmission of the information is automatically started from the second server when the remaining time becomes zero. While the waiting content is displayed, the first server calculates the remaining time until transmission of the information is started,
The information providing method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein when the remaining time becomes zero, a notification using a communication means is made to the consumer. The first server calculates the number of waiting terminals, which is the total number of terminals connected to the first server and displaying the waiting content,
The information providing method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein the first server calculates a priority in which transmission of the information to each terminal displaying the waiting content is started. .   The information provision according to any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the terminal displaying the waiting content displays the waiting time and / or the remaining time at the terminal in the waiting content. Method.   The information providing method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the terminal displaying the waiting content displays the number of waiting terminals and / or the priority order in the waiting content. Creating alternative information by quality control means to reduce the quality of the requested information,
The information providing method according to any one of claims 12 to 17, wherein the created substitute information is transmitted to the terminal, and the substitute information is displayed in a waiting content.   19. The information provision according to claim 18, wherein a ratio between an information size of the substitute information and an information size of the information is selected by a consumer, and the substitute information is created by the quality control unit as much as possible. Method.   19. The information according to claim 18, wherein a ratio between the information size of the substitute information and the information size of the information is determined by the waiting time, and the substitute information is created by the quality control means as much as the ratio. How to provide.   21. The information providing method according to any one of claims 12 to 20, wherein one of a plurality of types of content is selected by a consumer and displayed as the waiting content.   21. The information providing method according to claim 12, wherein one of a plurality of types of content is selected according to the waiting time and displayed as the waiting content. An information providing system switching control method for providing information to a plurality of terminals used by consumers via a network,
A first information providing system in which the terminal and the content server are directly connected via a network, the content server receives a request for the information from the terminal, and transmits the information;
A second information providing system comprising the information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the content server is the second server.
A switching control method characterized by switching and operating alternately.   When the total number of terminals requesting the information is smaller than a predetermined value, the first information providing system is operated, and the total number of terminals requesting the information is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. 24. The switching control method according to claim 23, wherein the second information providing system is operated in some cases. The switching control method according to claim 23, wherein switching between the first information providing system and the second information providing system is performed at a preset timing.

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