JP2002215574A - Device and method for time-limited information management and recording medium having program thereof recorded thereon - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device and a method for time-limited information management which manages time-limited electronic information wherein the term of validity of its contents is specified and discloses only electronic information having a valid term to a user and to provide a recording medium where their program is recorded. SOLUTION: A WEB server 11 receives a user's request to peruse time-limited electronic information. The WEB server 11 having received the perusal request actuates a time-limited information display part 14. The display part 14 actuates a schedule management part 15. The schedule management part 15 updates the contents of a time-limited information recording part 12 and a schedule information recording part 13 at need. The display part 14 refers to the terms of validity of time-limited electronic information recorded in the schedule information recording part 13 to determine the display format of the time-limited electronic information to be disclosed to the user. The display part 14 displays the time-limited electronic information in a user's WEB browser through the WEB server 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a term-limited information management apparatus, a method, and a method for managing term-limited electronic information in which the expiration date of the information content is designated and disclosing only the valid term-valid electronic information to users. And a recording medium on which the program is recorded.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a system for transmitting and receiving electronic information between users using a computer network, electronic information provided by an information provider is delivered to users who meet delivery conditions. There is an electronic information delivery system using an electronic post office box. For sending and receiving electronic information, a post office box management server provided for each user for receiving electronic information is provided on the Internet, and the user can access the electronic post office box in the post office box management server and Get the information sent to.

[0003]

In the above-described electronic information delivery system, even if the content of the electronic information has an expiration date, if the user does not delete the expired electronic information, the electronic information is not deleted. The information is recorded in the electronic post-office box forever, and there is a problem that the recording area is wasted. Also, from the user's point of view, even if electronic information recording a discount advertisement of a product or service for a limited time is sent, it is recognized that the expiration date of the advertisement is approaching at a glance at the electronic information. There was no system that could do it, which was inconvenient. In addition, such direct mail format advertisements are often not viewed, deleted or deleted from the electronic post-office box if they are not interested. There was a problem that the capacity of the electronic post-office box was consumed and it was annoying. vice versa,
There has been a request from information providers to send such direct mail advertisements to a large number of users without burdening the users.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and manages time-limited electronic information having a specified expiration date of information content, and discloses only electronic information whose expiration date is valid to a user. It is an object of the present invention to provide an attached information management device. More specifically, a schedule management unit that deletes expired electronic information from the time-limited electronic information and updates the information recorded in the schedule information recording unit that specifies the expiration date of the time-limited electronic information is provided. It is an object of the present invention to provide a time-limited information management device and method for disposing only electronic information with a valid time limit to a user, and a recording medium recording the program thereof.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention manages time-limited electronic information in which the expiration date of the information content is specified, and provides only the electronic information whose expiration date is valid to the user. A term-limited information management device to be disclosed, wherein a term-limited information recording unit that records term-limited electronic information, and a schedule information recording unit that records an expiration date of the term-limited electronic information in association with the content of the term-limited electronic information When a request for viewing electronic information is received from a user and the time-limited electronic information is disclosed to the user, the time-limited electronic information is recorded based on the expiration date of the time-limited electronic information recorded in the schedule information recording means. The time-limited information display means for determining the display form and the display form determined by the time-limited information display means allow the user to send the time-limited electronic information via the computer network. Characterized in that a communication means for disclosure. With the configuration described above, it is possible to disclose to the user only electronic information for which the expiration date of the information content is valid. Further, it is possible to change the display form of the electronic information whose expiration date is imminent and notify the user that the expiration date is imminent.

According to the present invention, in the above-mentioned term-limited information management apparatus, when the term-limited information display means receives an electronic information browsing request from a user, the term-limited electronic information is deleted and the term-limited term information is deleted. It is characterized by further comprising a schedule management means for updating the information recorded in the schedule information recording means when the electronic information is deleted.

According to the present invention, in the above-mentioned term-limited information management apparatus, the schedule management means deletes the term-limited electronic information whose expiration date has expired and records the schedule information accompanying the deletion of the term-limited electronic information at regular time intervals. It is characterized by further comprising a schedule management means for updating the information recorded in the means. With the above configuration, the expired electronic information is automatically deleted from the electronic information recording unit, and it is possible to suppress unnecessary consumption of the recording area of the recording unit.

According to the present invention, in the information management apparatus with time limit, when the time limit of the electronic information with time limit recorded in the schedule information recording means is imminent, the information display means with time limit is provided when the information is to be disclosed to the user. The display form of the time-limited electronic information is a display form in which the display color is changed in accordance with the urgency of the expiration date. With the above configuration, it is possible to allow the user to visually recognize the expiration date of the electronic information. In particular, color-coded display colors according to the urgency of the expiration date enable more efficient management of electronic information with a time limit.

The present invention relates to a time-limited information management method for managing time-limited electronic information in which an expiration date of information content is designated and disclosing only electronic information with a valid time limit to a user,
When a request for viewing electronic information is received from a user and the time-limited electronic information recorded in the time-limited information recording means is disclosed to the user, the time-limited electronic information recorded in the schedule information recording means is used based on the expiration date of the time-limited electronic information. And a communication process for disclosing electronic information with a time limit to a user via a computer network by a time-limited information display process for determining a display format of the time-limited electronic information and a display format determined by the time-limited information display process. And characterized in that:

[0010] The present invention is a program used in a time-limited information management method for managing time-limited electronic information having a specified expiration date of information content and disclosing only electronic information with a valid time limit to users. When a request for viewing electronic information is received from a user and the time-limited electronic information recorded in the time-limited information recording means is disclosed to the user, the time-limited electronic information recorded in the schedule information recording means is used based on the expiration date of the time-limited electronic information. And a communication process for disclosing electronic information with a time limit to a user via a computer network by a time-limited information display process for determining a display format of the time-limited electronic information and a display format determined by the time-limited information display process. Are executed by a computer.

[0011] The present invention manages term-limited electronic information in which the expiration date of the information content is specified, and records a program used in a term-limited information management method for disclosing only valid-expiration date electronic information to a user. Medium, wherein the program receives the electronic information browsing request from the user, and discloses the time-limited electronic information recorded in the time-limited information recording means to the user when the time-limited information recorded in the schedule information recording means is disclosed. The time-limited information display processing for determining the display form of the time-limited electronic information based on the expiration date of the time-limited electronic information, and the display form determined by the time-limited information display processing, allow the user to send the time-limited electronic information to the computer. The present invention is characterized by causing a computer to execute a communication process disclosed via a network.

[0012]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a time-limited information management device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The time-limited information management device 1 according to the present embodiment includes a web server 11, a time-limited information recording unit 12, a schedule information recording unit 13, a time-limited information display unit 14, and a schedule management unit 15. I have. The web server 11 receives a request for browsing electronic information from a web browser operated by a user via a computer network, and activates the information display unit 14 with a time limit. It is a communication unit that supplies electronic information requested to be viewed to a web browser operated by a user. Here, the browsing request for electronic information with time limit includes all recorded electronic information with time limit, electronic information with time limit specified after the specified date, or time limit related to the specified content. A condition of electronic information desired to be browsed, such as attached electronic information, may be specified.

The term-limited information recording section 12 is a recording section in which term-limited electronic information in which the expiration date of the information content provided by the information provider is designated is recorded in advance. Here, the term-limited electronic information for which the expiration date of the information content is designated is, for example, a discount advertisement or the like for a limited time of a product or service. The schedule information recording unit 13 is a database in which the expiration date of the time-limited electronic information recorded in the time-limited information recording unit 12 is recorded in advance in association with the content of the time-limited electronic information. Information display part 14 with time limit
Starts up the schedule management unit 15 and
The electronic information requested to be browsed by the user via the server 11 is extracted from the time-limited information recording unit 12, the display form is determined by referring to the schedule information recording unit 13, and WE
Send it to B server 11. The schedule management unit 15
With reference to the schedule information recording unit 13, of the time-limited electronic information recorded in the time-limited information recording unit 12, the expired time-limited electronic information is deleted, and at the same time, the time-limited electronic information is deleted. Accordingly, the information recorded in the schedule information recording unit 13 is updated.

The time-limited information recording unit 12 and the schedule information recording unit 13 include a nonvolatile memory such as a hard disk device, a magneto-optical disk device, or a flash memory, or a volatile memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory). It is assumed that it is constituted by a computer-readable and writable recording medium using a memory or a combination thereof.

The WEB server 11, the information display unit with time limit 14, and the schedule management unit 15 may be realized by dedicated hardware, respectively, and may include a memory and a CPU (central processing system). And a program for realizing the function of each unit described above may be loaded into a memory and executed to realize the function.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the time-limited information management device 1 shown in FIG. First,
The WEB server 11 receives a request for viewing electronic information with a time limit from a WEB browser operated by a user (step S1). WEB that received a request to view electronic information with a time limit
The server 11 activates the information display unit with time limit 14 (step S2). Next, the information display unit with time limit 14 activates the schedule management unit 15 (step S3). The activated schedule management unit 15 confirms the updated state of the time-limited information recording unit 12 and the schedule information recording unit 13 so that the time-limited information display unit 14 can handle the latest information (step S4). Then, it is determined whether or not each piece of information needs to be updated, such as whether or not expired electronic information with a term is not recorded (step S5).

If it is determined in step S5 that each piece of information needs to be updated (YE in step S5).
S), the schedule management unit 15 deletes the expired time-limited electronic information from the time-limited information recording unit 12 (Step S6). At the same time, with the deletion of the time-limited electronic information, the information recorded in the schedule information recording unit 13 is updated (step S7). If it is determined in step S5 that updating of each piece of information is not necessary, the schedule management unit 15 does nothing and the process proceeds to step S8 (NO in step S5). Next, when the recorded contents of the time-limited information recording unit 12 and the schedule information recording unit 13 are updated to the latest contents, the time-limited information display unit 14 displays the validity of the time-limited electronic information recorded in the schedule information recording unit 13. With reference to the time limit, the display form of the electronic information with time limit to be disclosed to the user is determined (step S8). When the display mode is determined, the information display unit with time limit 14 displays the electronic information with time limit via the web server 11 on the web browser operated by the user (step S9).

In the above-described embodiment, the schedule management unit 15 is started with the operation of the time-limited information display unit 14, and the user enters the time-limited electronic display on the time-limited information display unit 14 via the WEB server 11. The case has been described where the information recording unit 12 with the time limit and the schedule information recording unit 13 are updated when the information browsing request is made. However, the update of the time-limited information recording unit 12 and the schedule information recording unit 13 by the schedule management unit 15 is not limited to this. For example, the time-limited information recording unit 12 and the schedule information recording unit 13 are automatically updated at regular time intervals. You may go. in this case,
The time-limited electronic information to be viewed by the user is the information updated at the closest timing immediately before the time when the user made a request for viewing, but the time-limited electronic information is viewed only for the time that the information is not updated. There is an advantage that the display of is faster. Further, in the above embodiment, when changing the display mode of the time-limited electronic information to be disclosed to the user, for example,
A display form in which the display color is changed in accordance with the urgency of the expiration date may be adopted. In this case, the user can intuitively grasp which information has the most imminent expiration date, and can easily manage the electronic information.

Next, an embodiment using the time-limited information management device described in the above embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The present embodiment uses the time-limited information management device of the present embodiment for an electronic information delivery system that uses an electronic post-office box to deliver electronic information provided by an information provider to users who meet delivery conditions. This is an example of managing the time limit of electronic information recorded in an electronic post-office box. FIG.
It is a block diagram explaining the electronic information delivery system using the information management device with a term of this Embodiment. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 201 denotes an electronic information delivery system. The reference numeral 202 uses the electronic information delivery system 201,
An information provider who provides information. Reference numeral 203 denotes a user who uses the electronic information delivery system 201, and obtains information provided by the information provider 202 using a Web browser 231 operating on a personal computer and a mobile phone 232 that can be connected to the Internet. Reference numeral 201a denotes a management unit that manages a delivery process of electronic information, and includes an operation management unit 211 that manages operation of the electronic information delivery system 201 and a delivery information management unit 212 that manages electronic information to be delivered. Reference numeral 201b denotes a delivery processing unit. Symbol 213
Is a filter function unit that performs a filtering process on the information received from the information provider in the delivery information management unit 212. Reference numeral 214 denotes an individualization function unit that individualizes the information filtered by the filter function unit 213.

Reference numeral 215 denotes a distribution distribution unit that distributes and distributes the information individualized by the individualization function unit 214. Reference numeral 216 denotes a history information file that records a change in the state of the delivered information. Reference numeral 217 denotes a history reference unit that refers to the history information file 216 and notifies the information provider 202 of the status of the delivered information. Reference numeral 218 denotes a user attribute information file in which attribute information of the user 203 is defined, and information on hobbies and preferences is defined for each user 203. Reference numeral 219 denotes a post-office box server using the time-limited information management device described in the above-described embodiment for managing an electronic post-office box having a data file provided for each user. Is stored in the electronic post-office box in this post-office box server by the delivery processing unit 201b, and only the electronic information whose information is valid is disclosed to the user. Code 220
Is a delivery server that delivers information to the user 203. Reference numeral 221 denotes a mobile phone connection gateway for connecting the mobile phone 232 to the electronic information delivery system 201.

The post-office box server 219 includes a web server 11, a time-limited information display unit 14, a schedule management unit 15, an electronic post-office box 20, and a schedule information recording unit 21. Here, components given the same reference numerals as those of the information management device with time limit described in the above-described embodiment shown in FIG. 1 are components that perform the same operations as the operations described in the above-described embodiment. Then, the description is omitted. The electronic post-office box 20 replaces the information of the designated replacement portion with the personal information of each designated user or adds personal information to the information of the designated replacement portion in the individualizing function unit 214, and assigns personal information to each individualized user. The personalized electronic information is received and stored in a corresponding data file based on the destination (post-office box ID) assigned to the electronic information. The schedule information recording unit 21 records the expiration date of the individualized electronic information recorded in the electronic post-office box 20 in association with the content of the individualized electronic information.

Next, the basic operation of the electronic information delivery system 201 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, an example in which the information provider 202 transmits a direct mail to the user 203 will be described. First, the information provider 20
In step 2, electronic information, which is the content of the direct mail, is created using a personal computer or the like owned by the information provider 202.
The electronic information created here is digital data including document data, image data, sound data, and the like. Then, the information provider 202 transmits a direct mail dispatch request including the created electronic information to the electronic information delivery system 201. At this time, the information provider 202 sends the electronic information to the electronic information delivery system 201 together with the delivery conditions for delivering the electronic information. The delivery condition here is a condition for limiting a delivery destination to which direct mail is delivered,
This information specifies the expiration date of the content described in the direct mail, specifies the user's age range, hobbies, and preferences, and delivers the direct mail only to users who meet this condition. Is used to notify the expiration date of the direct mail.

The electronic information and the delivery conditions transmitted from the information provider 202 are received by the delivery information management unit 212, and the electronic information is held in the delivery information management unit 212. Then, the delivery information management unit 212 outputs the electronic information and delivery conditions held therein to the filter function unit 213. In response to this, the filter function unit 213 refers to the user attribute information file 218 and extracts a user that matches the received delivery condition. Subsequently, the filter function unit 213 outputs the electronic information to the individualization function unit 214 for each user who meets the delivery condition. The electronic information output here is output by the same number as the number of users that match the delivery conditions.

Next, the individualization function unit 214 performs individualization processing for adding necessary information for each user to the electronic information received from the filter function unit 213 and converting the electronic information into a direct mail format. The electronic information becomes individualized electronic information. In this individualization process, information such as a destination and a sender is given, and a process of inserting electronic information into a predetermined direct mail format is performed. However,
The destination here is a post office box ID number provided for each user 203 to specify the electronic post office box 20 included in the post office box server 219.

Next, the individualization function unit 214 distributes the individualized electronic information subjected to individualization processing for each user and information specifying the expiration date of the individualized electronic information specified in the delivery information. Output to the distribution unit 215. In response, the delivery distribution unit 215 distributes the personalized electronic information to the post-office box server 219 based on the destination (post-office box ID number) assigned to the personalized electronic information received from the personalization function unit 214. Output. At the same time, information specified in the expiration date specified in the personalized electronic information is transmitted to the post-office box server 2.
Output to # 19. The post-office box server 219 receives the personalized electronic information and stores it in a corresponding data file of the electronic post-office box 20 based on the post-office box ID number. Further, the schedule information recording unit 2 associates information specifying the expiration date of the individualized electronic information with the contents of the individualized electronic information.
Record to 1. In addition, in synchronization with outputting the electronic information to the post-office box server 219, the delivery distribution unit 215 sends the direct mail to the user 203 who owns the electronic post-office box 20 that has delivered the direct mail via the delivery server 220. Notify that it has arrived.

Upon receiving this notification, the user 203
The electronic information stored in the electronic post office box 20 of the post office box 219 is acquired by the b browser 231 or the mobile phone 232. As a result, the direct mail transmitted from the information provider 202 reaches the user 203. At this time, the user 203 sets the electronic information delivery system 20
When requesting the acquisition of the electronic information to the user 1 and the expiration date of the corresponding personalized electronic information recorded in the electronic post-office box 20 is imminent, the display form provided by the time-limited information display unit to the user 203 is displayed. You can be notified that the expiration date is imminent due to the change. Further, if the user 203 does not respond to the notification indicating that the direct mail has arrived and does not browse the time-limited electronic information within the validity period, or if the browsing is completed and the time-limited electronic information is When the time limit has passed, the schedule management unit 15 automatically deletes unnecessary electronic information with a time limit in the electronic post-office box 20, so that useless recording area is not consumed in the post-office box server 219.

As described above, by managing the electronic information provided by the information provider 202 in the post-office box server 219 using the information management device with time limit, the user is notified of the expiration date of the electronic information and the electronic post-office box 20 An electronic information delivery system capable of efficiently managing the recorded contents of the information can be constructed.

The information management device with time limit 1 described in the above-described embodiment or the post-office box server 219 described in the embodiments respectively stores a program for realizing the function in a computer-readable recording medium. The functions of the above-described devices may be implemented by recording the program recorded on the recording medium into a computer system and executing the program.

Here, the "computer system" includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices.
If a WW (World Wide Web) system is used, a homepage providing environment (or display environment) is also included. The "computer-readable recording medium" is a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, a CD-ROM.
And a storage system such as a hard disk built into a computer system. Further, a “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a medium that dynamically stores a program for a short time, such as when a program is transmitted through a computer network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. (Transmission medium or transmission wave), such as volatile memory inside a computer system that is a server or client in that case,
This includes programs that hold programs for a certain period of time.

The above-mentioned program may be for realizing a part of the above-mentioned functions, and may be for realizing the above-mentioned functions in combination with a program already stored in a computer system, that is, a so-called program. It may be a difference file (difference program).

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a term-limited information management apparatus which manages term-limited electronic information having a designated term of validity of information contents and discloses only electronic information having a term of validity to a user. Term-limited information recording means for recording term-limited electronic information, schedule information recording means for recording the term of validity of the term-limited electronic information in association with the content of the term-limited electronic information, and browsing of the electronic information from a user A term-limited information display unit that determines a display form of the term-limited electronic information based on an expiration date of the term-limited electronic information recorded in the schedule information recording unit when the term-limited electronic information is disclosed to a user upon receiving the request. And communication means for disclosing time-limited electronic information to a user via a computer network according to the display mode determined by the time-limited information display means. It was configured to be disclosed only to the user's valid e-information of the time limit. This makes it possible to disclose to the user only electronic information for which the expiration date of the content of the information is valid. In addition, it is possible to change the display form of the electronic information whose expiration date is approaching, and notify the user that the expiration date is imminent.

According to the present invention, there is provided the above-mentioned term-limited information management device, wherein the term-limited information display means receives the electronic information browsing request from the user, or at regular time intervals, the expired term-limited electronic information. And a schedule management means for updating the information recorded in the schedule information recording means in accordance with the deletion of the time-limited electronic information, so as to manage the time-limited electronic information. This allows
The expired electronic information is automatically deleted from the electronic information recording unit, and it is possible to suppress wasteful consumption of the recording area of the recording unit. According to the present invention, in the information management apparatus with time limit, the information display means with time limit changes the display form of the electronic information with time limit when the information is disclosed to the user by changing the display color according to the urgency of the expiration date. Was adopted. This allows the user to visually recognize the expiration date of the electronic information.

Therefore, in the conventional electronic information delivery system, when the expiration date is provided for the content of the electronic information, the expiration date is automatically set even if the user does not delete the expired electronic information. The cut-off electronic information is deleted, and an effect that unnecessary consumption of the recording area does not occur can be obtained. Further, from the user's point of view, it is possible to recognize at a glance electronic information such as direct mail that the expiration date of the information is imminent, and it is possible to easily manage the electronic information. Furthermore, information that is not of interest and that is neither viewed nor deleted from the electronic post-office box is automatically deleted when the time comes, so that management of one's own electronic post-office box becomes very easy. The information provider can obtain the effect that the direct mail advertisement can be sent to many users without worrying about the burden on the users.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic information delivery system using the information management device with time limit according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information management apparatus with a time limit 11 WEB server 12 Information recording part with a time limit 13 Schedule information recording part 14 Information display part with a time limit 15 Schedule management part 20 Electronic post-office box 21 Schedule information recording part 201 Electronic information delivery system 201a Management part 201b Delivery processing part 202 information provider 203 user 211 operation management unit 212 delivery information management unit 213 filter function unit 214 individualization function unit 215 delivery distribution unit 216 history information file 217 history reference unit 218 user attribute information file 219 post office box server 220 delivery server 221 Mobile phone connection gateway 231 WEB browser 232 Mobile phone

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 17/60 326 G06F 17/60 326 (72) Inventor Hiroaki Fukasawa 2-chome Otemachi 2-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo No. 1 Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation F-term (reference) 5B085 AC05 BG07 5E501 AB15 AC35 BA03 BA20 FA46 FB28

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A time-limited information management device that manages time-limited electronic information having a specified expiration date of information content and discloses only electronic information with a valid time limit to a user. Term-limited information recording means for recording; schedule information recording means for recording the expiration date of the time-limited electronic information in association with the content of the time-limited electronic information; and receiving a request for browsing the electronic information from a user, When disclosing the time-limited electronic information to a user, based on the expiration date of the time-limited electronic information recorded in the schedule information recording means, a time-limited information display unit that determines a display mode of the time-limited electronic information, Communication for disclosing the time-limited electronic information to the user via a computer network according to the display mode determined by the time-limited information display means. Time-limited information management apparatus characterized by comprising a stage, a. 2. When the time-limited information display means receives an electronic information browsing request from a user, the time-limited electronic information is deleted and the schedule associated with the deletion of the time-limited electronic information is deleted. The information management device with a time limit according to claim 1, further comprising a schedule management unit that updates information recorded in the information recording unit. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the schedule management unit deletes the expired electronic information with an expiration date at a predetermined time interval, and deletes the information recorded in the schedule information recording unit in accordance with the deletion of the expired electronic information. The time-limited information management device according to claim 1, further comprising a schedule management unit that performs updating. 4. The time-limited information display means, when the expiration date of the time-limited electronic information recorded in the schedule information recording means is imminent, displaying the time-limited electronic information when disclosing it to a user. The term-limited information management device according to claim 1, wherein the form is a display form in which a display color is changed in accordance with the degree of urgency of the expiration date. 5. A time-limited information management method for managing time-limited electronic information having a specified expiration date of information content and disclosing only valid-time-limited electronic information to a user. Receiving the browsing request, and when disclosing the time-limited electronic information recorded in the time-limited information recording means to a user, based on the expiration date of the time-limited electronic information recorded in the schedule information recording means, Term-limited information display processing for determining the display form of the term-limited electronic information; and communication processing for disclosing the term-limited electronic information to the user via a computer network by the display form determined by the term-limited information display processing. And a time-limited information management method. 6. A program used in a time-limited information management method for managing time-limited electronic information having a specified expiration date of information content and disclosing only valid-expiration-time electronic information to a user. When the electronic information browsing request is received from the user and the time-limited electronic information recorded in the time-limited information recording means is disclosed to a user, based on the expiration date of the time-limited electronic information recorded in the schedule information recording means. The time-limited information display processing for determining the display form of the time-limited electronic information, and the display form determined by the time-limited information display processing, the user is provided with the time-limited electronic information via a computer network. A program for causing a computer to execute a communication process to be disclosed. 7. A recording medium storing a program used in a time-limited information management method for managing time-limited electronic information having a specified expiration date of information content and disclosing only valid electronic information to a user. When the program receives a request for browsing electronic information from a user and discloses the time-limited electronic information recorded in the time-limited information recording means to the user, the program recorded in the schedule information recording means. A time-limited information display process for determining a display mode of the time-limited electronic information based on an expiration date of the time-limited electronic information; and A communication process for disclosing attached electronic information via a computer network, and a computer-readable recording medium for causing a computer to execute the communication process.