JP2001249874A - Information collecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an excellent information collecting device by which an updating part is easily confirmed. SOLUTION: Web pages are collected from registered URLs by a collecting program 9 and a collecting thread 8 being a collecting means. An updating judging means 10a judged whether the collected Web pages are updated or not then, both of information collected preceding time and information collected this time are displayed in a display means 31 by a Web browser when the Web pages are updated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information collecting apparatus connected to an information providing server via a network, and more particularly, to an updated part of an information file provided by the information providing server when the information file has been updated. The present invention relates to an information collecting apparatus that can easily confirm the information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a URL registered by a user is periodically monitored to check whether or not a Web page specified by the URL has been updated based on the date and file size at which the Web page was updated. Then, automatic patrol software that notifies a user of an updated Web page when it has been updated has appeared.

[0003]

In such conventional automatic patrol software, it is simply notified that an update has been made by changing an icon or the like, or the updated Web page is displayed on a Web browser as it is. It is displayed, and it is difficult to grasp which part has been updated even when looking at the updated Web page, which is very inconvenient.

[0004] Under such circumstances, there has been a demand for the development of a user-friendly information collection device capable of easily confirming an updated portion.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems (1) An information collecting apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention is connected to an information providing server via a network, collects information provided by the information providing server, and collects the information provided by the information providing server. An information collection device for checking whether or not there is an update, a display means for displaying information, a storage means for setting address data of information to be updated and various data necessary for the update check, Collecting means for collecting information from the information providing server based on the address data of the means; updating determining means for comparing the information collected by the collecting means with the previously collected information to determine whether the information has been updated; A display control unit configured to display both the information collected this time and the previous corresponding information on the display unit when the determination unit determines that the information has been updated; It is. Note that the collecting unit corresponds to a collecting program and a collecting thread in the embodiment described later.

(2) An information collecting apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention is connected to an information providing server via a network, collects information provided by the information providing server, and checks whether the information is updated. An information collecting apparatus, comprising: display means for displaying information; storage means for setting address data to be updated and various data necessary for the update check; and information based on the address data of the storage means. A collection unit that collects information from the providing server; an update determination unit that compares the information collected by the collection unit with the corresponding information collected last time to determine whether the information has been updated; An extractor for extracting the updated portion when determined, and a display system for displaying information so that the updated portion extracted by the extractor is distinguished from the unupdated portion. It is obtained by a means.

(3) An information collecting apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention is connected to an information providing server via a network, collects information provided by the information providing server, and checks whether the information is updated. An information collecting apparatus, comprising: a display unit for displaying information; a storage unit in which address data of information to be updated and various data necessary for the update check are set; Collecting means for collecting information from the information providing server, comparing the information collected by the collecting means with the previously collected corresponding information to determine whether or not the information has been updated, and updating by the update determining means. If it is determined that the updated portion is extracted, information is displayed so that the updated portion extracted by the extracting portion is distinguished from the unupdated portion. A, in which a display control means for displaying on the display unit of the previous information together with the display information.

(4) In the information collecting apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention, in the above (2) or (3), the display control means highlights the updated part extracted by the extracting means, thereby displaying the unupdated part. It is intended to distinguish the above.

(5) In the information collection apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention, in any one of the above (1) to (4), the address information is a URL, and the information is a Web page in a format that can be displayed by a Web browser. It is.

(6) In the information collecting apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention, in the above-mentioned (5), the storage means includes, as various data, check items such as a date when the Web page was updated, a file size, Any one or a plurality of characters is set, and the update determination unit performs an update check based on the check item.

(7) In the information collecting apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention, in the above (6), the storage means may store, as various kinds of data, a check range to be subjected to an update check in a display screen of a Web page. When the character is specified as a check item, the update determination means performs an update check on characters within the specified range.

(8) In the information collecting apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention, in any one of the above (5) to (7), the storage means may store, as various data, a URL set in the storage means.
The number of layers indicating how many layers of the link are to be subjected to the update check is set, and the update judging means performs update detection on a Web page corresponding to the set layer.

(9) In an information collecting apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention, in any one of the above (5) to (8), the Web page is composed of a document described in an HTML language, and a check range is: The HTML document is hierarchized based on the document structure represented by the tag of the HTML document, and is specified for each block in each hierarchy.

(10) An information collecting apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention, in any one of the above (1) to (9), wherein the collecting means periodically collects information from the information providing server. It is.

(11) An information collecting apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention is the information collecting apparatus according to any one of (1) to (10), It is connected to a distribution server that distributes information according to the attribute, and distributes updated information to the distribution server.

(12) In the information collection apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention, in the above (11), the information collection apparatus, when distributing the updated information to the distribution server, includes the category information to which the information belongs. Is transmitted.

(13) An information collecting apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention is the information collecting apparatus according to any one of the above (1) to (10), It is connected to a mail server that transmits address information of information corresponding to the attribute, and transmits the updated address information of the information to the mail server.

(14) In the information collecting apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention, in the above (13), the information collecting apparatus transmits the updated address information to the mail server when transmitting the updated address information to the mail server. It is transmitted including the category information to which it belongs.

In the information collecting apparatus configured as described above, the collecting means connects to the information providing server based on the address information set in the storage means and collects information from the information providing server. Further, the update determination unit determines whether the information collected by the collection unit has been updated by comparing the information collected last time with the corresponding information. When it is determined that the information has been updated by the update information means, the display control means displays both the information collected this time and the corresponding information collected last time on the display means.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram showing a specific use form of the information collecting apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The information collecting apparatus 1 periodically collects a Web page of a URL registered by a user from a Web server 2 via a network 3 such as the Internet, and checks whether the collected Web page is updated. When it is determined that there is an update, both the pre-update and post-update Web pages are displayed so that they can be compared with each other, and the updated portion is highlighted so that the user can easily confirm the updated portion. These functions are realized by the collection agent 5 and the update management agent 6.

In the present embodiment, this information collecting apparatus 1 is provided to a registered user through a Web corresponding to a user attribute.
In a push-type distribution system 11 for distributing a page or a mail system 21 for notifying a URL of a Web page according to a user attribute by e-mail, a meaningful update to registered users (that is, a simple change of an advertisement banner, etc.) However, in order to provide a Web page to which is applied, a description will be given assuming that an administrator of each system uses the information to confirm an updated portion at the time of the check. Note that this distribution system 11 includes a distribution server 12
And a distribution client 13, and a mail system 21
Has a mail server 22 and a mail client 24 connected to the mail server 22 via a small network 23 such as an intranet.

A web browser 25 and a voice character agent 26 are installed in the distribution client 13 and the mail client 24, respectively. An updated web page is displayed on the web browser 25, and the voice character agent 26 Thus, a character screen different from that of the Web browser 25 is displayed, and notification of an updated portion is effectively performed when the character speaks. FIG. 13 described below shows an example of a character display screen.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of an information collecting apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the information collecting apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the configuration of the information collection device 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
It will be described based on. The information collecting device 1 includes a display unit 3
1, an input means 32 such as a keyboard and a mouse, a memory 33, registration data and Web
The information collection device 1 includes a management database 34 in which Web pages collected from the server 2 are stored, and a central processing unit (CPU) 35 that controls the information collection device 1. The collection agent 5, the update management agent 6, and the Web browser 4 as a display control unit are installed in the memory 33, and are executed by the CPU 35 to perform processing described below.

The registration data includes various kinds of data necessary for checking the update of the URL address and the like (hereinafter referred to as check target information), information necessary for notifying the distribution server of the update (Web page categories (for example, “news”, “news”). Medical) etc.)) and other supplementary data such as the title and description of the URL, and the check target information includes the following data.

URL address Check item: The content to be checked for update (ie,
Date, file size, text). Check range: When "character" is specified as a check item, it indicates which range in the Web page is to be checked. -Number of link layers: Indicates how many layers are checked for the registered URL.・ Check cycle

[0027] By designating check items, for example, a notice of a change in the file size due to a change in the image of the banner advertisement is determined to be "updated" and a notice is given. Becomes possible. Also, by specifying the number of layers of the link, an update check is also performed on a Web page corresponding to the specified layer.

The collection agent 5 is provided with a registration program 7 for setting registration data and a collection thread 8 provided for each registration URL, for collecting Web pages of the URL from the Web server 2 and storing them in the management database 34.
And a collection program 9 for activating the collection thread 8 at a designated cycle (that is, a check cycle of the URL).

The update management agent 6 comprises an update management program 10. The update management program 10 compares the collected Web page with the previously collected Web page and determines whether or not the Web page has been updated.
0a, and an extracting unit 10b for extracting an updated portion from a Web page when it is determined that the Web page has been updated.

Next, the operation of the information collecting apparatus 1 configured as above will be described in the order of <registration processing>, <collection processing>, <update check processing> with reference to flowcharts.

<Registration Processing> FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the registration processing of the collection agent of FIG. 1 by the registration program. First, the administrator starts the collection agent 5.
As a result, the registration program 7 is started, and a registration screen for inputting various data is displayed on the display means 31 (S
1) Prompt the administrator for input.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the registration screen. The URL, title, category, description, check items, number of linked layers, and check cycle are input by the administrator based on the registration screen.
When the "set check range" portion 41 is clicked (S2), an HTML document for a check range setting screen to be displayed as a link destination is generated (S3) and displayed (S4).

FIG. 6 shows an example of the check range setting screen. The check range setting screen is a screen for designating a range to be subjected to an update check. As shown in the figure, the entire display screen is divided into blocks, and a block frame 42 is shown for each block. A check box 43 is provided at the upper left, and by checking this check box 43, the checked block is designated as a check range. The figure shows a case where the block of “news headline” is checked.

Here, the HTML of the check range setting screen is displayed.
The procedure for generating a document will be described. When the "set check range" portion 41 is clicked, the URL entered on the registration screen is accessed, and the Web page is fetched. Then, the captured Web page (HTML document) is formed into a hierarchical structure based on the tag information, and a tag for displaying a check box 43 immediately before a tag of a block of each layer and a block for visualizing the structure of each block. A tag for displaying the frame 42 is inserted.
The HTML document generated by this procedure is displayed as a check range setting screen. For the original Web page before being divided into blocks, see FIG. 7 described later (excluding the block frame 44).

When the setting of the check range is completed, the registration program 7 displays a check range confirmation screen (S5). FIG. 7 shows an example of the check range confirmation screen, and as shown in the figure, the block frame 44 of the “news headline” portion that has been set as the check range is highlighted.

When the input of all the registration data is completed and the screen returns to the registration screen and the "register" button 40 is clicked, the registration program displays a registration data confirmation screen (S6).

FIG. 8 shows an example of the registration data confirmation screen. The content is confirmed by the administrator based on the registration data confirmation screen, and when the "registration" button 45 is clicked (S7), the registration program 7 stores various data on the registration data confirmation screen in the management database 34. (S
8).

<Collecting Process> FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of the collecting process by the collecting program and the collecting thread of the collecting agent.

After the above-described registration processing is completed, when a predetermined operation for activating the collection agent 5 is performed by the administrator, the collection program 9 reads the registration URL, the check cycle, and the number of layers from the management database 34. It acquires (S11) and starts checking whether there is a URL that has reached the check cycle. This check is performed for all registered URLs, and if there is a reached Web page (S12), the collection thread 8 corresponding to the Web page is activated (S13).

The collection thread 8 has a UR to be collected by itself.
L, and collects the Web page of the URL (including the Web page corresponding to the designated hierarchy) (S1).
4), and store it in the management database 34 (S15).

As a result, the Web page of the registered URL is collected at the specified check cycle and stored in the management database 34.

<Update Management Processing> FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of the update management processing by the update management program of the update management agent. The update management agent 6 is activated when the collection agent 5 is activated, and starts operating when the collection agent 5 proceeds to collect Web pages. The update management program 10 acquires check target information (check items and check ranges) and Web pages (previous and current Web pages) from the management database 34 (S21), and retrieves the last Web page stored in the management database 34 The Web page collected this time is compared based on the check items and the check range (S22). That is, when “date, file size, character” is set as a check item as shown in FIG.
The date and the file size are compared with the previous Web page, and the block specified in the check range is compared in units of characters to check whether or not the block has been updated (S23). These processes are performed for each registered URL by the update determining means 10a.

If it is determined by the update determining means 10a that the data has been updated (S23), the extracting means 10b
Extracts the updated part from the updated Web page (S2
4). Then, the extracted portion and a tag for highlighting the outer frame portion of the block designated as the check range are inserted into the corresponding portion, respectively, and the HTML document for the before and after update comparison display screen (see FIG. 12 described later) is displayed. Generate (S2
5).

The update management process described above is a process performed independently of the operation input by the administrator. When the administrator wants to check the updated Web page, for example, he / she can use “ Update detection site list display "part 4
Click 6. Upon recognizing this operation input, the update management agent 6 generates and displays an update detection site list display screen for displaying a list of Web pages determined to be updated by the update determination unit 10a (S26). FIG.
Shows an example of the update detection site list display screen. Then, in this update detection site list display screen, for example, when the “Tokushima News” portion 47 is clicked,
The corresponding HTML document generated in step S25 is displayed as a display screen for comparison before and after updating (S27).

FIG. 12 shows an example of a display screen for comparison before and after updating. In the comparison screen before and after the update, the Web pages before and after the update are displayed on the left and right, the outer frame 44 of the block specified as the check range is highlighted, and the Web page after the update is within the check range. The updated character 48 is highlighted in bold. As described above, since the updated portion is highlighted, the administrator can easily confirm the updated portion (changed portion).

The administrator determines whether or not the updated portion has been updated semantically (in terms of content) based on the display screen before and after the update, and when it is determined that the updated portion has been updated,
The distribution server 12 displays the Web page and the URL address of the Web page together with the category to which the Web page belongs.
And to the mail server 22. The update presence / absence check is automatically performed by the update management agent 6, and the administrator is notified of the updated Web page based on the update detection site list display screen. System 21
Web that has been updated semantically for each user
In order to increase the accuracy of the update check for distributing the page, the check is further performed by a human (administrator). Of course, the one determined to be updated by the update management agent 6 may be transmitted as it is without checking by the administrator.

The distribution server 12 and the mail server 22
A registered user to be delivered is selected based on the received category and the user attribute of the registered user, and a Web page and a URL address are transmitted to the selected registered user. Distribution client 13 and mail client 24
Then, a Web page is displayed based on the received data, and a character display screen (see FIG. 13) by the voice character agent 26 is displayed. On the character display screen, for example, "Tokushima News has been updated. The headline has been updated. ", Etc., and the update notification is effectively performed.

According to the present embodiment, both the pre-update Web page and the updated Web page are displayed, and the updated Web page is displayed.
As for the page, the updated portion is highlighted, so that the administrator can easily confirm the updated portion.

Further, since the check range can be specified, only the necessary portion of the Web page needs to be updated and checked, and the check time can be reduced.

Further, since the check items can be specified, it is possible to reduce meaningless update notifications by specifying a plurality of items. Further, since it can be set individually for Web pages to be checked, it is possible to cope with update checks of various types of pages.

Since the number of link layers can be specified, it is possible to perform an update check even on a Web page corresponding to the specified layer.

Further, in the embodiment in which the information collecting apparatus 1 is used by the administrator of the distribution system 11 and the mail system 21 as described above, the burden of the administrator on the update check work is reduced and the work efficiency is improved. Becomes possible.

In the present embodiment, the case where the administrator of the distribution system 11 and the mail system 21 uses the system has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to such a mode of use. When a Web page of interest is updated by a user, it can be used as a tool for quickly confirming the updated portion. In addition, if such an Internet user is a dial-up user, it can be expected to have effects such as helping to save on telephone charges and provider connection costs.

There is no particular limitation on the display format of the highlighted display. In addition to the above-described method of enclosing the image with a bold frame and bolding the characters, for example, changing the color or inverting the color of the background of the updated portion is performed. Of course, other formats, such as inserting a GIF image (for example, [changed] or the like) into a changed portion, may be adopted.

[0055]

As described above, according to the present invention, both the screen before the update and the screen after the update are displayed, so that the user can easily confirm the updated portion. Becomes

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of an information collection device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

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

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram showing a specific use form of the information collection device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a registration process performed by a registration program of the collection agent of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a registration screen.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a check range setting screen.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a check range confirmation screen.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a registration data confirmation screen.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a flow of a collecting process by a collecting program and a collecting thread of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of an update management process by an update management program of the update management agent of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of an update detection site list display screen.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen for comparison before and after updating.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a character display screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information collection apparatus 2 Web server (information provision server) 3 Network 4 Web browser (display control means) 5 Collection agent 6 Update management agent 7 Registration program 8 Collection thread (Collection means) 9 Collection program (Collection means) 10a Update judgment means 10b Extracting means 31 Display means 34 Management database (Storage means)

Continued on the front page F-term (reference) 5B075 ND03 ND36 NK46 PP02 PP03 PQ02 PQ22 PQ62 UU24 5B082 AA11 EA10 GB02 5B089 GA11 GA21 GB04 JA22 JA36 KA02 KB07 KC28 KC37 LB14 5E501 AA02 BA03 CA02 FB21

Claims (14)

[Claims] An information providing server is connected via a network to collect information provided by the information providing server.
An information collecting apparatus for checking whether or not the information has been updated, comprising: a display unit for displaying the information; and a storage in which address data of information to be updated and various data necessary for the update check are set. Means, collecting means for collecting information from the information providing server based on the address data in the storage means, and comparing the information collected by the collecting means with the previously collected information to determine whether or not the information has been updated. Update determination means; and if the update determination means determines that the data has been updated,
An information collecting apparatus, comprising: display control means for displaying both the information collected this time and the previous applicable information on a display means. 2. An information providing server is connected via a network to collect information provided by the information providing server.
An information collecting apparatus for checking whether or not the information has been updated, comprising: a display unit for displaying the information; and a storage in which address data of information to be updated and various data necessary for the update check are set. Means, collecting means for collecting information from the information providing server based on the address data in the storage means, and comparing the information collected by the collecting means with the previously collected information to determine whether or not the information has been updated. Update determination means; and if the update determination means determines that the data has been updated,
An information collecting apparatus, comprising: extracting means for extracting the updated part; and display control means for displaying the information so that the updated part extracted by the extracting means is distinguished from an unupdated part. 3. An information providing server which is connected via a network to collect information provided by the information providing server,
An information collecting apparatus for checking whether or not the information has been updated, comprising: a display unit for displaying the information; and a storage in which address data of information to be updated and various data necessary for the update check are set. Means, collecting means for collecting information from the information providing server based on the address data in the storage means, and comparing the information collected by the collecting means with the previously collected information to determine whether or not the information has been updated. Update determination means; and if the update determination means determines that the data has been updated,
Extracting means for extracting the updated part; displaying the information so that the updated part extracted by the extracting means is distinguished from the unupdated part; and displaying the previous information together with the display of the information on the display means. An information collection device comprising: a display control unit for displaying. 4. The information collection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the display control unit highlights the updated part extracted by the extracting unit to distinguish the updated part from the unupdated part. . 5. The information collection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the address data is a URL, and the information is a Web page in a format that can be displayed by a Web browser. 6. The storage means stores various data as
One or more of a check item, a date at which the Web file was updated, a file size, and characters are set, and the update determination unit performs an update check based on the check item. The information collection device according to claim 5. 7. The storage means stores various data as
A check range to be updated is set on the display screen of the Web page, and the update determination unit includes:
7. The information collection device according to claim 6, wherein when a character is specified as the check item, an update check is performed on characters within the specified range. 8. The storage means stores various data as
With respect to the URL set in the storage means, the number of layers indicating how many layers of the link are to be subjected to the update check is set, and the update determination means performs the update detection for the Web page corresponding to the set layer. The information collection device according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein 9. The Web page is composed of a document described in HTML language, and the check range is HTML
9. The information collection apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the HTML document is hierarchized based on a document structure represented by a document tag, and is specified for each block in each hierarchy. 10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the collection unit periodically collects information from the information providing server.
The information collection device according to claim 9. 11. The information collection device according to claim 1, wherein the information collection device is connected to a distribution server that distributes information according to a user attribute among information in the information providing server to a registered user, An information collection device for distributing updated information to a distribution server. 12. The information collection apparatus according to claim 11, wherein when the updated information is distributed to the distribution server, the information collection apparatus transmits the information including the category information to which the information belongs. 13. The information collection device according to claim 1, wherein the information collection device sends, to a registered user, address information of information according to a user attribute among information in the information providing server. An information collecting apparatus connected to a server and transmitting address information of updated information to a mail server. 14. The information collection apparatus according to claim 13, wherein when transmitting the updated address information to the mail server, the information collection apparatus transmits the information including the category information to which the information belongs. apparatus.