WO2002097666A1 - Information service system and method for supplying information - Google Patents

Information service system and method for supplying information Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2002097666A1
WO2002097666A1 PCT/FI2002/000471 FI0200471W WO02097666A1 WO 2002097666 A1 WO2002097666 A1 WO 2002097666A1 FI 0200471 W FI0200471 W FI 0200471W WO 02097666 A1 WO02097666 A1 WO 02097666A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
information
server
format
customer
text
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/FI2002/000471
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
Jouni Nieminen
Mikko Somerla
Original Assignee
Inmecon Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Inmecon Ltd filed Critical Inmecon Ltd
Publication of WO2002097666A1 publication Critical patent/WO2002097666A1/en

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F16/00—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
    • G06F16/90—Details of database functions independent of the retrieved data types
    • G06F16/95—Retrieval from the web
    • G06F16/957—Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
    • G06F16/9577—Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F16/00—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
    • G06F16/20—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor of structured data, e.g. relational data
    • G06F16/24—Querying
    • G06F16/248—Presentation of query results

Definitions

  • the present invention concerns an information service system which supplies requested information to a customer by means of a data communications network.
  • the present invention also concerns a method for supplying information to a cus- tomer.
  • a system is known from publication JP 7105113 in which a server belonging to a local area network functions as an adapter for image information.
  • the server finds out whether the file is in a format understood by the workstation. If not, the server performs a necessary conversion.
  • the system does not perform actual information search.
  • the amount of media types the system can handle are quite limited.
  • a system according to the invention is characterized by what is presented in independent claim 1.
  • a method according to the invention is characterized by what is presented in independent claim 6.
  • Advantageous embodiments of the invention are presented in the dependent claims.
  • An information server can be con- nected to numerous databases which function as sources. Information retrieved from a source is converted by the server to an internal format used by the server. Furthermore, the information is processed and arranged to produce chronologically parallel text, image and sound signals. Being parallel means the signal indicates to which part of the text each image and sound message is related.
  • the server receives information requests from customers. If information corresponding to a request does not happen to exist in the server's own database, the server searches for the information and arranges it in the above-mentioned manner. Then the server further arranges the retrieved information, which is in an internal format into a format(s) appearing in the information request and merges the result into an information packet to be sent to the customer. In a normal case said packet includes text, images and sound.
  • An advantage of the invention is that relevant information in a desired format can be supplied to a customer, i.e., an information user. This comes from the automatic request handling and format conversion functions of the server.
  • Another advantage of the invention is that the media type of the information retrieved from a source can be automatically modified. For example, a corresponding speech signal can be produced parallel to a text.
  • Still another advantage of the invention is that retrieved information can be refined by selecting only essential parts of it.
  • Yet another advantage of the invention is that a customer gets information selected from a large num- ber of databases and net pages using relatively simple requests.
  • figure 1 presents an example of a system according to the invention
  • figure 2 presents an example of an information conversion unit according to the invention
  • figure 3 presents another example of an information conversion unit according to the invention and figure 4 presents as a flow chart an example of a method according to the invention.
  • Figure 1 is an example of an information service system according to the invention.
  • the central part of the system is an information server 100.
  • the server comprises an information request handling unit 110, a conversion unit 120, a media adaptor 130, a media merger 140 and a network interface unit 150.
  • the latter contains an interface to at least one data communications network in order to establish a connection to information sources and customers.
  • Data communications networks may be various data networks and also telephone and mobile communications networks.
  • Figure 1 shows, as an example, a first information source SI, a second information source S2 and another information source Sn interfaced to data communications networks. Said sources may be, for example, field-specific databases or hypertext pages accessible through the Internet.
  • the server 100 has access to a representative group of chargeable information sources, too.
  • the figure has a dotted line representing a connection SC to the second information source S2.
  • Another dotted line represents a connection UC to a terminal UT.
  • a user i.e., a customer may with the terminal use the information service according
  • the interface unit 150 directs messages coming from customers to the information request handling unit 110. This analyzes each message, and if the message is inter- preted as an information request, informs the conversion unit 120 about the information request by means of an internal message.
  • the request handling unit 110 is also connected to the media adaptor 130 for informing the adaptor about data formats used by a customer, which formats have appeared in the customer's information request.
  • the task of the conversion unit 120 is to process information retrieved from external information sources.
  • the information is converted to a format used only inside the server.
  • the format of the server's internal information is referred to as RDF (rich data format). Conversion from one format to another takes place via the server's internal format RDF. This reduces the total amount of conversion code needed when there are several formats in a certain media.
  • the task of the media adaptor 130 is to further convert the data in RDF mode received from the conversion unit into the format(s) appearing in the customer's information request.
  • the media merger 140 re- ceives data from the media adaptor. It combines data in different media types into an information packet corresponding to the customer's request. That information packet is transferred to the network interface unit 150, which sends the packet to the customer.
  • the information server 100 also has its own database 160.
  • the server sets up this database from information retrieved from external sources.
  • the criterion for storing information is its statistical occurrence as an object of customer requests.
  • the content of the database 160 is in RDF mode.
  • the structure of the server 100 in figure 1 is to be understood as functional. What kind of physical units and buses there are in the server can be designed freely.
  • Figure 2 shows an example of an information conversion unit according to the invention.
  • the conversion unit 220 comprises a format conversion layer 221, a media conversion layer 222 and a media linking layer 223.
  • the format conversion layer contains modules, each of which makes conversions- within a media type from an original format to the server's internal format.
  • the se- lected media types are text, audio, image and video.
  • the text module converts e.g. a Word document into server's internal text format. The latter is referred to as RTF (rich text format).
  • the audio module converts MP3-packed sound, for example, into server's internal sound format.
  • the image module converts e.g. an image made by Designer drawing application into server's internal image format.
  • the video module converts e.g. MPEG4-coded (motion picture experts group) video signals into server's internal video format.
  • the media conversion layer 222 functions chronologically after the format conversion layer has completed its own processing.
  • the media conversion layer contains modules, each of which makes a conversion from one media type to another. The following conversions were selected for the example of figure 2:
  • the media linking layer 223 functions after the media conversion layer has completed its own processing.
  • the linking layer couples signals of different media types together chronologically.
  • Media types in figure 2 are text, sound and images.
  • Each of the three signals is stored on its own figurative information track, according to figure 2 the text signal on text track TR1, the sound signal on sound track TR2 and the image signal on image track TR3.
  • the information tracks are parallel, so that the system knows to which text section a sound signal or image is related.
  • FIG. 3 shows another example of an information conversion unit according to the invention.
  • the conversion unit 320 contains a format conversion layer 321, a media conversion layer 322 and a media linking layer 323 as does the conversion unit of figure 2.
  • the difference is that now the part storing RDF data has in addition to text, sound and image tracks also a fourth information track TR4, called a meta track.
  • a meta track On the meta track there is stored data found in retrieved information and belonging to no one of the three other media types but linked to the content of other tracks. Such data could be, in the case of an image, coordinates of the recording point and the direction of light in relation to the recorded object.
  • Figure 4 presents as a flow chart an example of a method according to the inven- tion.
  • the method describes the manner of operation of an information server. Operation begins with a request for information sent from a customer's terminal. The request is received by the server in phase 401. The request for information is analyzed in phase 402, and as a result necessary information is sent to the server's conversion unit and media adaptor. Next, in phase 403, the conversion unit finds out whether the requested information exists in the server's own database. If not, phase 404 follows, where based on a call sent by the conversion unit, a connection is made through a network to an information source selected by the conversion unit. In phase 405 information is received from the information source on the basis of search message sent to the information source.
  • RDF data is provided, which data is stored on media type-specific information tracks.
  • a media adapter converts the RDF data into a formats suitable for a customer's terminal. If the request was sent using a WWW (world wide web) browser, for example, the media adapter converts the content of the text track to HTML (hyper text markup language) code and the content of the image track to GIF (graphics interchange format) code.
  • HTML hyper text markup language
  • GIF graphics interchange format
  • the media adapter converts the content of the text track to WML (wireless markup language) code.
  • a media merger combines such an information packet from the data of different information tracks that the customer's terminal outputs it in a descriptive form. If the request was sent by means of a WWW browser as in the above-mentioned example, the media merger inserts GIF code among the HTML code. If the system comprises a meta track mentioned in the description of figure 3, a three-dimensional model of the image object may be constructed, for example, based on the contents of the image and meta tracks.
  • an interface unit sends the information packet to the customer's terminal.
  • phase 403 If in phase 403, according to the criteria used by the database software, a sufficient amount of requested information exists in the server's own database, the process jumps directly to phase 409.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Databases & Information Systems (AREA)
  • Data Mining & Analysis (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Computational Linguistics (AREA)
  • Computer And Data Communications (AREA)
  • Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)

Abstract

*
PCT/FI2002/000471 2001-06-01 2002-06-03 Information service system and method for supplying information WO2002097666A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FI20011156A FI20011156A (fi) 2001-06-01 2001-06-01 Informaatiopalvelujärjestelmä ja menetelmä informaation toimittamiseksi
FI20011156 2001-06-01

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2002097666A1 true WO2002097666A1 (en) 2002-12-05

Family

ID=8561322

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/FI2002/000471 WO2002097666A1 (en) 2001-06-01 2002-06-03 Information service system and method for supplying information

Country Status (2)

Country Link
FI (1) FI20011156A (fi)
WO (1) WO2002097666A1 (fi)

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5557790A (en) * 1994-06-21 1996-09-17 International Business Machines Corp. Facility for the generic storage and management of multimedia objects
US5708828A (en) * 1995-05-25 1998-01-13 Reliant Data Systems System for converting data from input data environment using first format to output data environment using second format by executing the associations between their fields
EP1098485A2 (en) * 1999-10-29 2001-05-09 Fujitsu Limited Information providing method and information distribution apparatus

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5557790A (en) * 1994-06-21 1996-09-17 International Business Machines Corp. Facility for the generic storage and management of multimedia objects
US5708828A (en) * 1995-05-25 1998-01-13 Reliant Data Systems System for converting data from input data environment using first format to output data environment using second format by executing the associations between their fields
EP1098485A2 (en) * 1999-10-29 2001-05-09 Fujitsu Limited Information providing method and information distribution apparatus

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
"MPEG-4 Overview - Overview of the MPEG-4 Standard", XP002957993, [retrieved on 20020109] *

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
FI20011156A (fi) 2002-12-02
FI20011156A0 (fi) 2001-06-01

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