JP2002342222A - Method of providing contents - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a contents providing method, capable of solving the problem that a user can not grasp contents, since certain kinds of contents can not be displayed neatly by a portable telephone or a PDA terminal. SOLUTION: In this contents providing method for providing contents data to an internet terminal, by using a server computer, whether or not contents data whose distribution has been requested include preliminarily registered contents to be complemented is determined; and when contents which are to be complemented are included, complemented contents are generated, and distributed to the internet terminal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a content providing method for distributing content data to an Internet terminal connectable to the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the Internet, which is an open network of computers, has been remarkably popularized, and the use of the Internet has been increasing as personal ownership of personal computers has increased. The number of users is increasing rapidly.

[0003] On the other hand, with the spread of mobile phones in recent years, an Internet connection service has been provided that enables these mobile phones to connect to the Internet. Even so, it is possible to obtain desired information, various contents such as music and images, and the number of users is increasing rapidly. In the future, these users will be able to access the Internet through wireless lines such as mobile phones. The number of mobile communication users who can access is expected to increase due to its convenience and quick access to information.

[0004] As described above, the Internet, which was owned by some people until several years ago, has become more and more popular with the spread of personal computers to homes and the spread of mobile phones having an Internet connection function. It has become an indispensable information tool (tool) for humans.

[0005] Therefore, when considering a corporate strategy, as a public relations and publicity and an EC (Electric Commerce) site, a Web is provided for a company to provide or transmit information and other contents.
It is becoming essential to install a server.

[0006]

However, as described above, it is relatively easy to construct a Web server for an ordinary personal computer or the like as an Internet terminal. However, these ordinary personal computers and the Internet connection function are required. Constructing a Web server for mobile phones and PDA terminals that have a mobile phone or PDA terminal requires portability, so the display and processing capabilities of these mobile phones and PDA terminals are lower than those of ordinary personal computers. Therefore, when the content intended for the ordinary personal computer or the like is directly delivered to the mobile phone or the PDA terminal, a certain kind of content, for example, a content having a frame structure or a large number of item contents are described in one page. If the content is a long-form content or a content that contains a table, Instead of displaying the entire content, only the contents of some of the frames that make up the content, some of the items, and the title are displayed, making it difficult to grasp the content of the content. there were.

[0007] Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems. In a Web server for a mobile phone or a PDA terminal having the Internet connection function, certain contents are stored in a mobile phone. It is an object of the present invention to provide a content providing method capable of preventing an access user from being unable to grasp the content of a content without being displayed well on a PDA terminal.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a content providing method according to the present invention is provided for an Internet terminal connectable to an Internet network and a server computer connected to the Internet network. A content providing method for providing content data by using the server computer, wherein the server computer determines whether or not the content data requested to be delivered in the request message includes pre-registered content to be supplemented. A determining step of determining whether or not the complementary content generated in the complementary content generating step has been accessed, and And a distributing step of distributing. To have. According to this feature, when the distribution-requested content data includes content to be supplemented, the supplementary content is automatically created and distributed. The overall content of the content can be grasped by the complemented content, and the inconvenience that the access user cannot grasp the content of the content can be solved.

In the content providing method of the present invention, it is preferable that the content to be complemented is a content having a frame structure. With this configuration, when the content content has a frame structure, it is usually difficult to display the entire frame structure by the mobile phone or the PDA terminal having the Internet connection function. The terminal user can accurately recognize the entire image of the content having the frame configuration.

[0010] In the content providing method according to the present invention, it is preferable that the supplemental content of the content having the frame configuration includes a frame layout display. In this way, the access user can easily recognize the arrangement status (layout) of the entire frame.

[0011] In the content providing method according to the present invention, the complementary content may be displayed together with the frame layout display
It is preferable to include a content information display of each frame linked so that a corresponding frame of the content data can be accessed. This makes it easy to grasp the contents of the content in each frame, and allows easy access to the contents in the corresponding frame by selecting the display of the content information of the frame.

[0012] In the content providing method according to the present invention, in the server computer, a type of the Internet terminal, a type of browsing software installed in the Internet terminal, and a description format corresponding to various access methods are registered. From the request message transmitted from the Internet terminal, type information capable of specifying or estimating the type of the accessed Internet terminal and the type of browsing software installed in the Internet terminal. A type identification step of extracting and identifying the type, a description type identification step of identifying a description format corresponding to the type identified in the type identification step with reference to the terminal information database, and the complementary content and distribution The content data is stored in the description format specifying step. Anda description format conversion step of converting the specified description format by flop, it is preferable that the transformed complemented contents and content data to be distributed in the description format conversion step for delivering in said distribution step. With this configuration, the complementary content and the content data to be distributed are appropriately converted into a description format corresponding to the access method of the Internet terminal that has accessed the content data, and are distributed. There is no need to convert the content data into a description format for each access method in advance, and these content data can be centrally managed in one file format of a predetermined format. Therefore, maintenance and development of the content data can be easily performed.

[0013]

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

(Embodiment) First, the content providing system of the present embodiment is configured as shown in FIG. 1, and a distribution center 5 that performs a content providing service is a computer that executes distribution of each content data. A server computer 6 is provided. The server computer 6 includes a computer terminal 1a connected to a carrier A that provides a normal telephone service via the Internet network 4, a carrier B and a carrier C that provide a mobile phone service, It is connected to the central control stations 3b, 3c and 3d of the carrier D company. In addition, each of the mobile phone service companies, carrier B and carrier C
Mobile phone terminals 1b, 1c, which are wireless terminals subscribed to the respective companies
The mobile phone terminal 1d includes base stations 2b, 2
c, 2d, the central control stations 3b, 3c, 3d, and the Internet network 4 through a gateway server (not shown).
, And can access the server computer 6 of the distribution center 5 via the Internet 4.

As the mobile telephone used in the present embodiment, an ordinary mobile telephone having an Internet connection function corresponding to a predetermined access method in each carrier company can be used. In the present embodiment, the wireless terminal is a mobile phone, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a simplified mobile phone (personal handy phone;
PHS) or a terminal such as MCA radio.

Further, in this practical example, the server computer 6 is connected to the central control stations 3b, 3c, 3d of the respective carrier companies via the Internet network 4, but the present invention is not limited to this. No, these central control stations 3
It is optional to connect b, 3c, 3d and the server computer 6 with a dedicated line or the like.

Also, a content terminal that transmits information and the like has a computer terminal 7 connected to the server computer 6 installed in the distribution center 5 via the Internet network 4 so as to be able to perform data communication. The server computer 6 is accessed using these computer terminals 7, and the server computer 6 can update the content data provided to the access user.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, terminal information of each carrier and a portable telephone terminal used in each carrier, information of a browser which is viewing software, and the like are registered in the server computer 6 as shown in FIG. The terminal information table and the pictogram table in which conversion information such as pictograms used in each terminal and browser are registered are registered. Since new versions are released successively, it is necessary to add and update information successively in order to cope with them. An update computer terminal 8 for updating these terminal information tables and pictogram tables is installed in the management center. The server computer 6 is connected to the updating computer terminal 8 via the Internet 4. By periodically accessed, so as to update the terminal information table and pictogram table are registered.

As shown in FIG. 2, the server computer 6 used in this embodiment has a data bus 20 for transmitting and receiving data inside the server computer 6.
Based on a predetermined processing program, the operation control of the server computer 6, particularly the control for managing the status of data exchange (session) with the accessing computer terminal 1a and the mobile phone terminals 1b, 1c, 1d of the respective carriers is performed based on a predetermined processing program. A central processing unit that performs the process of editing and converting the content data into content data suitable for the terminal of the distribution destination based on the file conversion program “X-Gateway (trade name of Flex Farm)” A processing device (CPU) 21, a RAM 24 for temporarily storing processing data, a real-time clock (RTC) 26 capable of outputting time information such as an access time, and data communication with the Internet network 4. Communication interface 22 and display device such as a display 3, consists of a magnetic disk or a magneto-optical disc, the central processing unit (CPU) 21
The control program in which various control contents to be executed are described, the "X-Gateway" which is the file conversion program, and the information provided by the content provider are described in HTML which is a predetermined markup language. Content database (DB) in which registered base content data is registered as rich content
And a terminal information table in which terminal information of each carrier and a mobile phone terminal used in each carrier and information of a browser serving as browsing software are registered, and conversion of pictograms used in each terminal and the browser. A storage device 25 storing a pictogram table or the like in which information is registered
Are connected to a normal computer capable of performing relatively high-speed processing.

In this embodiment, an HTM mainly used in the computer terminal 1a or the like having a high processing capability as a terminal is used as a description language of the base content data.
Although L is used, the present invention is not limited to this.

Next, the server computer 6 of the present embodiment
An outline of the process of distributing content data to the computer terminal 1a and the mobile phone terminals 1b, 1c, and 1d of the carriers of each company will be described with reference to FIG. To access the server computer 6
Extracts, from the user agent information included in the header of the request message from the mobile phone terminal 1b, information capable of specifying the type of the carrier of the mobile phone terminal 1b, the model of the terminal, and the type of the installed browser. The terminal information such as the type of access method (markup language) of the carrier corresponding to this information, the display performance of the terminal, and the type of the device are obtained from the terminal information table, and the base content requested by the request message is obtained. Data is read from the content database.

The base content data read from the content database is H, which is the access method of the carrier company B of the mobile telephone terminal 1b that has accessed.
The file is converted into a file in the DML format and, in the file conversion, is appropriately modified in accordance with the display performance of the mobile phone terminal 1b based on the terminal information of the mobile phone terminal 1b obtained as described above. As shown in FIG. 3, if the accessing terminal is the computer terminal 1a of the carrier A, as shown in FIG. In the case of carrier C or carrier D, MML and C-
The content data is transmitted and distributed after being converted into the HTML file format. As a result, the same address (URL) can be used to distribute content to all mobile phones and computer terminals of different carriers, and these content data can be centrally managed in one file format. The time and cost required for updating work can be greatly reduced, and maintenance and development can be easily performed.

Hereinafter, the server computer 6 of the present embodiment will be described.
4 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

First, a request message from the computer terminal 1a or the portable telephone portable telephone terminals 1b, 1c, 1d (hereinafter collectively referred to as terminals) used by the user is activated in the server computer 6 The terminal type ID, session ID, and parameters that are received by the servlet engine and that can specify the type of carrier and terminal and the type of installed browser included in the request message are sent to the core program.

As a method of acquiring the terminal type ID, as shown in FIG. 5, the HTTP header transmitted at the beginning of the request message contains the user agent information, As shown in FIG. 5, information specific to each carrier is described in the information, as well as the model of the terminal that transmitted the request message and the version information of the browser. Can be specified by comparing with a terminal information table shown in FIG. 7 which carrier and which type of terminal are matched.

The specific processing content of the terminal type identification processing for specifying the terminal type based on the extracted description data in the user agent information is as shown in FIG. Based on the acquisition of the data, a carrier name included in the description data and a word indicating the type (model) of the terminal are detected.

Next, the terminal information table is searched using the detected carrier name and terminal model name as search keywords. At this time, if there is no corresponding registration, the terminal information table is searched again with the model identification information as “default”. If this still does not apply, the carrier suggestion information is set to “default”. Registration information corresponding to the carrier suggestion information and the model identification information determined in this way, for example, a device type and a markup language format,
The maximum number of bytes of the content data, the number of lines on the display screen, the number of characters, and the like are acquired from the terminal information table and applied to the subsequent content editing processing, content conversion processing, and the like.

If the carrier name and the word suggesting the type (model) of the terminal have not been extracted or if there is no corresponding word in the terminal information table search, the carrier registered in the terminal information table is not detected. A data input screen configured so that the access user can select and input each information of each company and terminal model is returned to the terminal that transmitted the request message, and when the carrier company and the terminal model are selected by the access user, Retrieves information on the selected carrier company and terminal model by searching the terminal information table.

As described above, in the case where the carrier company and the terminal model cannot be specified from the request message, the data input screen is returned to the user terminal to receive the information on the carrier company and the terminal model.
Since the carrier company and the terminal model are unspecified, it is preferable to avoid inconvenience that inappropriate conversion processing is performed in the subsequent content conversion processing and the like, but the present invention is not limited to this. .

The structure of the terminal information table used in the terminal type identification processing and the like is as shown in FIG. 7, and the device type of the "terminal" corresponding to the corresponding carrier type (carrier company name) and model. Type (browser phone (mobile phone type terminal) = BP, personal digital assistant (PDA terminal, etc.) = PDA, personal computer (desktop personal computer, notebook personal computer, etc.) = P
C), “name” of the installed “browser”, information on receivable content data (“name” of “markup language”, character code, maximum number of bytes), information on the size of the terminal screen (“ "Number of horizontal characters" and "Number of vertical lines" in "Screen"), information on images that can be displayed ("Image"
Information such as “format”, “number of horizontal pixels”, “number of vertical pixels”, “aspect ratio”, “whether animation”, “color mode”, and “color / gradation number”) are registered. This terminal information table is regularly updated to the latest one by an update process described later.

Next, in the core program, FIG.
As shown in, session information acquisition processing is performed,
The specific processing contents of these session information are as shown in FIG. In other words, if the request message does not include the session ID, it recognizes that the session is a new session and creates a session ID. If the session is shorter than the reference lifetime, it is stored and managed in the G0 set, otherwise stored and managed in a set other than G (0ther).

Here, the G0 set is a set that manages all the sessions that have been accessed between a certain time and the reference life time (however, those whose life is equal to or less than the reference life time). When the current time has passed “the time obtained by adding the reference life time from a certain time”, the G0 set is managed by changing the name to the G1 set. Then, the G0 set is newly defined as “from the current time to the time obtained by adding the reference life time”. When the G0 set is changed to the G1 set, if the G1 set already exists, its contents are all discarded. As a result, an invalid session can be efficiently deleted.

Here, the session ID is included in the request message.
Is included, the validity period of the session ID is checked, and if not valid, the session is discarded and a new session ID is acquired as described above.
If it is valid, the last access time of the session is updated and G0 set or other than G (0ther)
Store in a set.

The session is identified and the session is identified using the session ID as a key. After that, processing such as content acquisition, editing, conversion, etc. is performed, and before responding to the user with the processing result, if HTTP Cookie is available, set the session ID to Cookie and respond to the user with the content processing result. I do. When the Cookie cannot be used, the server responds to the user by adding session ID information to all link destination URLs included in the content. Note that even if the HTTP Cookie can be used, the HT
The TP Cookie may not be used.

Next, the pictograms and character codes included in the request message are converted into the conversion contents registered in the pictogram table corresponding to the carrier company and terminal model information obtained in the terminal type identification processing. The corresponding pictograms and character codes are converted into predetermined ones based on these.

Based on the request message converted to the predetermined character code, the requested base content data is specified, and as shown in FIG. 9, the distribution generated from the base content data requested by the request message is specified. If the content data already exists in the cache, the page of the specified distribution content data is acquired from the cache and responds to the requesting terminal. If it does not exist in the cache, the application program on the server side is executed to acquire the base content data, and the content is edited, scripted, converted, etc., based on the terminal information, and obtained by these processes. Content data for distribution is cached and a response is made for each page.

The content editing process in this embodiment is as shown in FIG. 10. First, when the device type based on the terminal information is PC, the base content data acquired from the content database (DB) is obtained. Is edited based on a rule file (a file in which the extraction targets and the order of the content elements are defined) corresponding to the base content data, so that the document object model ( DOM). When the device type based on the terminal information is BP (browser phone) or PDA (portable information terminal), it is determined whether or not the acquired base content data is composed of a plurality of frames. In the case of the base content data, editing is performed based on the corresponding rule file as described above, and a document object model (DOM) is created. When the device type based on the terminal information is BP or PDA, and when the acquired base content data is composed of a plurality of frames, as shown in FIG. And a frame map showing the frame configuration,
Generates a guide page (complementary page), which is the supplemental content that displays the title of each frame to which a link to each frame page is added, and displays each of these divided frame pages based on the corresponding rule file. The content data is edited to create each document object model (DOM).

As described above, in this embodiment, when base content data requested by a terminal having a relatively small display area, such as a mobile phone terminal (BP) or a portable information terminal (PDA), has a frame structure, The base content data is divided for each frame, a guide page (complementary page) that can be linked to each frame is generated, and the guide page is first responded (distributed) to the user (access user). Is easy to grasp the page configuration, and this is preferable because the terminal user can accurately recognize the entire image of the content having the frame configuration. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

In this embodiment, a frame map indicating the layout (layout) of each frame in the base content data is displayed on the guide page, so that the user can easily determine the layout of the entire frame. Although it is preferable because it can be recognized, the present invention is not limited to this.

Further, in this embodiment, the title of each frame to which a link to each divided frame page is added is displayed on the guide page, and the contents of each frame page are grasped. It is preferable because it becomes easy to access the corresponding frame page by selecting the title of the frame, but the present invention is not limited to this.

Further, in this embodiment, a guide page which is a supplemental content is generated for base content data having a frame structure. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Is included in the feature-length content, a title guide page that displays only the underlying items may be generated,
Alternatively, when a table or the like is cited in the content, a simple page in which a link to the table is displayed at the display position of the table is generated, and the underlying content is displayed on a small display screen. Alternatively, a supplemental content that can be easily browsed may be generated.

In the above-described rule file of the present embodiment, extraction definitions of content elements are described. These rule files are created corresponding to each of the base contents and stored in a content database (DB). It is registered. This rule file is read when the corresponding base content is converted, and is applied as an extraction definition of a content element constituting base content data.

The rule file extraction definition is defined as “target device (in the case of“ ALL ”, applies to all devices,“ P ”
In the case of "C", the present invention is applied to a device having a display capability equivalent to that of a PC (personal computer) (device type is a terminal of PC). In the case of "PDA", a device having a display capability equal to or higher than that of a PDA (device type is PC or PD
A: When the terminal is “= PDA”, the device (device type is PDA) having a display capability of about PDA
Of "BP", a device having a display capability equal to or higher than BP (device type is PC or PD)
A or BP terminal), if “= BP”, B
A device having a display capability of about P (applied to a terminal having a device type of BP) "and a group designation order that defines the arrangement order of content elements in the same hierarchy (the order number when rearranging is the group designation order) Is set in ascending order) and "extraction target designation (tag name [number of appearances; designation of the number of times the tag appears]] / condition; "*"
"* EXT" extracts all text below the specified tag, and "* TEXT" extracts the text immediately below the specified tag.) "
"Extraction target designation" is described separated by ":".

As described above, in the present embodiment, since the extraction definition of the content element in the base content data is provided for each base content data, the extraction definition is appropriately changed according to the content of each base content data. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an extraction definition applied to all content data is provided, and conversion of all content data is performed based on the extraction definition. You may do it.

The procedure for extracting content elements (content items) based on these rule files is as shown in FIG. 12. First, requested base content data is obtained from a content database (DB), and the obtained base data is obtained. A rule file corresponding to the base content data is searched in a content database (DB). If there is no corresponding rule file, the obtained base content data is output. Also,
If there is a corresponding rule file, this rule file is read, the first content element constituting the acquired base content data is acquired, and the position of the acquired content element (the number of occurrences of the tag or parent tag) ; The number of occurrences) and the type (“tag” or “text”)
Search whether it exists in the read rule file. If there is a corresponding extraction definition, it is determined whether the device type based on the terminal information is included in the target device of the extraction definition, and if so, the content element is designated in the extraction definition group order. And extract to the next content element. If the extraction definition corresponding to the position and type of the acquired content element does not exist in the rule file, or if the device type is not included in the target device, the content element is not extracted and the next content element is not extracted. Transition. After these processes are repeatedly performed and the extraction of the last content element is completed, the content elements in the same hierarchy are rearranged in the order set by the order number based on the order number extracted together with these content elements.

More specifically, when the device type of the terminal to be distributed is a PDA, as shown in FIG. 13, a corresponding rule is assigned to each content element of the acquired base content. In the file, "ALL" or "PDA", "="
From the extraction definitions that specify "PDA" and "BP", a corresponding one is searched. If there is a corresponding extraction definition, the content element is extracted and a new content is extracted as shown in FIG. By generating data and rearranging content elements in the same hierarchy based on the order number determined when extracting each of these content elements,
Content data (DOM) for the PDA is created. When the device type of the terminal to be distributed is BP, as shown in FIG. 15, for each content element of the acquired base content, “ALL” or “PDA” is added to the target device in the corresponding rule file.
From the extraction definitions that specify “BP” and “= BP”, the corresponding one is searched. If there is a corresponding extraction definition, the content element is extracted and a new content element is extracted as shown in FIG. The content data (DOM) for BP is created by generating content data of the same hierarchy and rearranging the content elements in the same hierarchy based on the order number determined at the time of extracting each content element.

As described above, in this embodiment, based on the extraction definition described in the rule file corresponding to the content data, the acquired base content data is converted so that the content element is adapted to the device type based on the terminal information. Is extracted and content data (DOM) suitable for the terminal to be distributed is created.

The extracted content elements are arranged such that the content elements in the same hierarchy are rearranged based on the order number determined based on the extraction definition of the corresponding rule file. It is preferable because the arrangement of the content elements can be appropriately set and distributed, but the present invention is not limited to this.

After the editing process of the base content data, the script process of the content is executed. This script execution process is as shown in FIG. 17. When the content data (DOM) created by the above-described editing process includes a script (a type of program processed on the terminal), Then, the script is executed on the server, the values of variables and the like are set, and the contents of the screen to be displayed are determined. Note that the script is used to change the values of variables and the like according to the operation of the user, and to change the display screen only by processing on the terminal. In the case of the present embodiment, the result of the user operation is , Is transmitted to the server as a request message, and the server performs this processing.

This not only makes it possible to provide content data to a terminal having no ability to process a script in a format included in the content data, but also greatly increases the processing load on the terminal accompanying the processing of these scripts. Although it is preferable because it can be reduced, the present invention is not limited to this.

After these script processes, the content data conversion process is performed. The content data conversion process is as shown in FIG. 18. The content data (DOM) that has been subjected to the editing process and the script process is converted into the corresponding markup language based on the terminal information. At this time, if the size after the conversion exceeds the content size that can be received by the terminal (specified in the terminal information table), the content data (DOM) is viewed from the end and a portion ( Then, the content data is converted again for the first divided part. This is repeated until the size of the content data becomes a size that can be received by the terminal, and one or both links of “previous page” and “next page” are added to each page, and each of the divided pages is Page that responds to
Then, for the unprocessed portion of the initial content data (DOM), the conversion and size check are repeated in the same manner, all the content data (DOM) are converted, all pages are created, and registered in the cache. After this,
The terminal responds to the specified page (the first page if no page is specified, or the guide page if a guide page is included).

Referring to FIG. 19, a description will be given of a display situation by page division in the conversion processing of the content data. If the content data (DOM) is not divided into pages, a part of the content data (DOM) is not displayed or the entire content is not displayed as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, when the page division is performed as described above, as shown in FIG. 19, all the content data (D
OM) can be displayed without omission,
When moving these divided pages, one or both links of “previous page” and “next page” are provided as in the present embodiment, so that movement between pages can be easily performed. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

If a quoted image exists in the converted content data, a process of converting the quoted image into image data is performed. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 20, when an image is requested in the request message,
A cache is searched based on a specified image name (for example, a.gif) and terminal information. If the corresponding data exists in the cache, the digest value of the specified image a.gif is calculated and compared with the stored digest value.

If they match, it is determined that the designated image has not been changed, and the converted image data stored in the cache is output. Except in this case, when the size of the specified image a.gif is large, compression processing is performed when the size of the specified image a.gif is large, color reduction processing is performed when the number of colors is large, and format conversion is performed when the format is different. Do
Output the processing result. At this time, if the digest value for a.gif already exists in the cache and is different from the value calculated this time, all the cache contents for a.gif are discarded. Then, the digest value of a.gif and the converted image are stored in the cache using the image name a.gif and the terminal name N502i as keys.

As described above, when converting image data, it is determined whether or not data corresponding to the converted image data already exists in the cache, and if so, the conversion process is not performed. Although it is preferable because the processing load associated with these image conversion processes can be reduced, the present invention is not limited to this, and image data may be uniquely converted to update cache data.

In addition to the conversion of the image data,
A conversion process of pictograms and character codes in the converted content data is performed. The contents of these processes are as shown in FIG. 21. All pictographic codes included in the content data are converted into pictographic codes of the output terminal by searching a "pictograph table". Is converted to the character code of the output terminal.

The "pictogram table" and "information terminal table" are updated periodically by performing the update process shown in FIG. 22 and accessing the computer terminal 8 of the management center to update. It is updated to the latest data. More specifically, it accesses the computer terminal 8 of the management center at regular intervals, issues an inquiry, and acquires the update time of the “terminal information database” registered in the computer terminal 8. If the time is later than the time managed by the server computer 6, a request message is issued to the computer terminal 8, the “terminal information table” is downloaded from the computer terminal 8, and the Update the registered contents.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the base content data is composed of a plurality of frames, that is, when the base content data includes contents of contents which are easy to grasp by complementing, Since the guide pages are automatically created and distributed, the user can grasp the entire contents of the content data by using the distributed guide pages, and the user can understand the content data. The inconvenience of making it difficult to grasp the contents can be solved.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in the above embodiments with reference to the drawings, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and changes and additions may be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. Needless to say, the present invention is included in the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, an example is shown in which the content providing method of the present invention is applied to a server computer 6 that provides content data based on an internal content database via the Internet network 4. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, these provision methods are applied to gateway servers of carrier companies and web servers of portal sites, and content data obtained from other content providers are edited and converted by these servers. May be distributed to the user terminal.

In the above embodiment, the number of carrier companies is 4
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be four or more carrier companies,
Further, both the mobile phone company and the PHS service company may be connectable.

Further, in the above embodiment, the format of the conversion file converted from the content data registered in the content database is HDML format, C-HTM
Although the L format and the MML format have been exemplified, the present invention is not limited to these, and these file formats may be the XHTML format which is a next-generation file format.

Further, in the present embodiment, the content data registered in the content database is directly converted into each file format. However, the present invention is not limited to this. In the conversion to the intermediate file, the file may be once converted to an XML file as an intermediate file, and then may be converted to a file in each desired format.

[0065]

The present invention has the following effects.

(A) According to the first aspect of the invention, when the content data requested for distribution includes content to be supplemented, the supplemented content is automatically created and distributed. Therefore, the access user can grasp the entire contents of the content by the distributed complementary contents, and can solve the inconvenience that the access user cannot grasp the contents of the content.

(B) According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the content has a frame structure, it is difficult to display the entire frame structure on the portable telephone or the PDA terminal having the Internet connection function. Since a certain case is normal, the terminal user can accurately recognize the entire image of the content having these frame configurations.

(C) According to the invention of claim 3, the access user can easily recognize the arrangement status (layout) of the entire frame.

(D) According to the invention of claim 4, it is easy to grasp the contents of the contents in each frame, and by selecting the display of the contents information of the frames, the contents in the corresponding frames can be easily accessed. can do.

(E) According to the invention of claim 5, the supplementary content and the content data to be distributed are appropriately converted into a description format corresponding to the access method of the accessing Internet terminal and distributed. Therefore, it is not necessary to convert each element of a huge amount of content into each description format for each access method in advance, and these content data can be centrally managed in a predetermined file format. The time and cost for updating the contents can be greatly reduced, and thus maintenance and development of the contents data can be easily performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a content providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a server computer configuring a content providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a file conversion program “X-Gateway” used in the embodiment of the present invention.
It is explanatory drawing which shows the content of a process in.

FIG. 4 is a file conversion program “X-Gateway” used in the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is an overall flowchart showing the processing contents in.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a method of acquiring terminal information from a request message sent from an access user's Internet terminal in terminal type identification processing according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing contents in a terminal type identification processing in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of a terminal information database used in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing processing contents of session management in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the contents of content data distribution processing in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing contents of content data editing processing in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 shows how a guide page (complementary page) is generated in content data (frame-structured content) according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a process of extracting and rearranging content elements from content data in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an extraction state of content elements from content data in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a state of rearranging content elements from content data in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an extraction state of content elements from content data according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a state of rearranging content elements from content data in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing processing contents of script processing in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing contents of conversion processing of content data in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen divided into pages in a content data conversion process according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing the content of a conversion process of image data of a quote image in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing processing contents in pictogram / code conversion processing in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing the contents of a process of updating a terminal information table and a pictographic table in the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a Computer terminal 1b, 1c, 1d Mobile phone terminal 2b, 2c, 2d Base station 3b, 3c, 3d Central control station 4 Internet network 5 Distribution center 6 Server computer 7 Computer terminal (content provider) 8 Computer terminal (management center) Reference Signs List 20 data bus 21 central processing unit (CPU) 22 communication interface 23 display device 24 RAM 25 storage device 26 real-time clock (RT
C)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Toru Saito 39th floor of Sumitomo Building 2-6-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo (72) Inventor Masaru Mima Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 2-6-1 Sumitomo Building 39F Flex Farm Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Mitsuru Hayashi 5-7-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo F-term in NEC Corporation (reference) 5B075 PQ02 PQ05 PQ05 PQ16 5B082 GA02 HA05

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A content providing method for providing content data to an Internet terminal connectable to an Internet network using a server computer connected to the Internet network, the method comprising: A determining step of determining whether or not the content data requested to be delivered in the request message includes pre-registered content to be supplemented; A content providing method, comprising: a complementary content generating step to be created; and a distribution step of distributing at least the complementary content generated in the complementary content generating step to the Internet terminal that has accessed the content. 2. The content providing method according to claim 1, wherein the content to be complemented is a content having a frame configuration. 3. The content providing method according to claim 2, wherein the complementary content of the content having the frame configuration includes a frame layout display. 4. The content according to claim 3, wherein the complementary content includes a display of the frame layout and a content information display of each frame linked so as to enable access to a corresponding frame of the content data. Delivery method. 5. The server computer has a terminal information database in which a type of the Internet terminal, a type of browsing software installed in the Internet terminal, and a description format corresponding to various access methods are registered. Then, from the request message transmitted from the Internet terminal, type information capable of specifying or estimating the type of the accessing Internet terminal and the type of the browsing software installed in the Internet terminal is extracted to specify the type. Type identification step to be performed, and a description format corresponding to the type identified in the type identification step,
A description format specifying step of specifying with reference to the terminal information database, and a description format conversion step of converting the supplemental content and the content data to be distributed to the description format specified in the description format specification step, The content providing method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the complementary content converted in the description format conversion step and the content data to be distributed are distributed in the distribution step.