JP2003162474A - Support method and support server supporting acquirement of information - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a support method supporting the efficient acquiring of information provided from an information providing server by a computer system, especially in a terminal device with limit on resources. <P>SOLUTION: In the terminal device 2, meta-information regarding the information providing server 11 holding the information requested to be acquired and attribute information concerning the terminal device 2 are transmitted to a supporting server 3. The supporting information which is appropriate for the terminal 2 based on the attribute information is transmitted to the terminal device 2 by the supporting server 3. Furthermore, information is periodically collected from the information providing server 11 based on the meta- information and any renewal in the information range specified by the meta- information is checked. If the update of information is judged by the support server 3, the updated message is transmitted to the terminal device 2. Only the information for the requested range is acquired from the information providing server 11 by the terminal device 2 which has received the updated message and displayed to a display part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention, in a client / server system that provides information to a terminal device from an information providing server via a communication network in response to a request from the terminal device, supports the acquisition of information at the terminal device. The present invention relates to a support method and a support server, and more particularly to a support method and a support server for supporting acquisition of information in a portable information terminal device having limited resources.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the progress of advanced information technology against the backdrop of information and communication technologies that have been dramatically developed, enormous amounts of information are transmitted from an information providing server connected to a network such as the Internet via the network. The user who uses the information connects the terminal device to the network and obtains and uses various information from the information providing server.

In the last few years, various information held by the information providing server has been further connected to a personal digital assistant (PDA: Personal Digital Assistant) that can be connected to the Internet.
The number of users who can easily obtain and use mobile devices such as e) and mobile phones is increasing.

The information provided from the information providing server is often updated daily in order to provide the latest information at all times, and the user who uses the information provided from the information providing server has the latest information. In order to obtain the information, it is necessary to constantly monitor the information content of the information providing server and obtain the latest information.

On the other hand, information provided from the information providing server has dramatically increased in data capacity such as still image data, moving image data, and audio data with the progress of multimedia in recent years. Further, as the number of Internet users has increased, the number of users accessing the information providing server has also increased.

Conventionally, in order to cope with the increase in the number of accesses to the information providing server, when the information providing server provides the information, the information update information is also provided so that the user can use the information providing server unnecessarily. A mechanism for preventing access is known.

Further, as the data capacity of the information provided by the information providing server increases, a program for collecting only a part of the information provided by the information providing server is installed in the user's terminal device, and the user provides the information. It is also known that only the necessary information can be obtained from the server.

Further, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-250009, a server is installed between an information providing server and a mobile information terminal device, and the server operates from the information providing server to the web in response to a request from the mobile information terminal device or the like. Get the data,
An invention is disclosed that aims to convert web data so as to match resources such as a mobile information terminal device and transmit the web data to the mobile information terminal device.

[0009]

As described above, in recent years, it has become possible to easily obtain information on the Internet even in a mobile information terminal, a mobile phone, etc.
Mobile information terminals and mobile phones have limited resources because portability is an important factor. That is, from the viewpoint of downsizing or power saving, there are relatively restrictions on the screen size for displaying information, the image display capability, the information processing capability, the memory capacity, etc., as compared with a personal computer or the like.
Therefore, in the portable information terminal device with limited resources, there is a need for a mechanism that can immediately obtain only desired information from a large amount of information provided from the information providing server at the time of updating.

However, in the above-mentioned mechanism for preventing unnecessary access, it is only possible to indicate whether the information provided by the information providing server has been updated in file units or page units, and the user can update the updated information. It is necessary to obtain the information including "" in units of files or pages, check whether the desired information is updated from the obtained information, and obtain only the updated information. In this case, in a portable information terminal device with limited resources, it is difficult to obtain information in file units or page units having a large data capacity in terms of communication speed, processing capacity, display capacity, etc. It was difficult to obtain the desired information given.

Further, in the case of incorporating a program for collecting only a part of the above-mentioned information, if the page structure of the information provided by the information providing server is modified, it is necessary to program again, which is not efficient.

Further, in the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-250009, if the information provided from the information providing server is changed without the consent of the information provider, the copyright may be changed. Problems may occur.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and the object thereof is provided from an information providing server in consideration of copyright, especially in a terminal device having limited resources. It is to provide a support method for supporting, by a computer system, to efficiently obtain only updated information among the information.

Another object of the present invention is to efficiently obtain only the update information out of the information provided from the information providing server in consideration of copyright, especially in a terminal device having limited resources. It is to provide a support server that supports that.

[0015]

According to the present invention, a support method is a client for providing information held by an information providing server from an information providing server to a terminal device via a communication network in response to a request from the terminal device. In the server system, it is a support method for assisting the acquisition of information in the terminal device by the computer system, which is the position information of the information providing server and the partial information which is a part of the information and which the terminal device desires to acquire. A first step of receiving and setting meta information including area information specifying an area from a terminal device; meta information; and a terminal device for obtaining only partial information from an information providing server based on the meta information A second step of transmitting the support information to the terminal device, and a third step of acquiring information at a predetermined frequency from the information providing server based on the meta information. The fourth step of comparing the partial information included in the acquired information with the previously acquired partial information and determining whether the acquired partial information is updated based on the comparison result, and the content of the partial information is updated. And a fifth step of notifying the terminal device to obtain the partial information from the information providing server using the support information.

[0016] Preferably, the support method further comprises a sixth step of receiving attribute information about the terminal device from the terminal device, and in the second step, the support information suitable for the terminal device is based on the attribute information. Sent to.

Preferably, the attribute information includes information display capability and processing capability of the terminal device. Preferably, the support information includes a program for extracting partial information from the information received from the information providing server.

[0018] Preferably, the support information includes information for processing the information received from the information providing server into information suitable for the terminal device based on the attribute information.

[0019] Preferably, the support information further includes information for processing the partial information into information suitable for the terminal device, based on the attribute information about the terminal device received from the terminal device.

[0020] Preferably, the support method compares the information acquired in the third step with the information acquired last time, and determines whether or not the configuration of the acquired information is changed based on the comparison result. The method further includes steps and an eighth step of notifying the terminal device to reset the area information when it is determined that the information structure has been changed.

[0021] Preferably, the terminal device is any one of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, and a portable personal computer.

Further, according to the present invention, the support method is a client / server system for providing information held by an information providing server from an information providing server to a terminal device via a communication network in response to a request from the terminal device. A position information of an information providing server, which is a supporting method for supporting acquisition of information in a terminal device by a computer system,
A first step of receiving and setting meta information, which is a part of the information and includes area information that specifies an area of partial information that the terminal apparatus desires to obtain, from another terminal apparatus; And a second step of transmitting, to the terminal device, support information for the terminal device to obtain only partial information from the information providing server based on the meta information, and a predetermined frequency from the information providing server based on the meta information. A third step of acquiring information, and a fourth step of comparing partial information included in the acquired information with the previously acquired partial information and determining whether the acquired partial information is updated based on the comparison result.
And a fifth step of notifying the terminal device to obtain the partial information from the information providing server using the support information when it is determined that the content of the partial information has been updated.

Further, according to the present invention, the support server is
In a client-server system that provides information to a terminal device from an information providing server that provides information in response to a request from the terminal device, a support server that assists the terminal device in obtaining information, Communication means for exchanging data with the device and the information providing server, storage means for storing meta information, support information, and partial information, and partial information included in the information acquired at a predetermined frequency from the information providing server Comprising the determination unit that determines whether or not the acquired partial information is updated by comparing it with the previously acquired partial information stored in the storage unit, and the control unit, the meta information is the information of the information providing server. The support information includes position information and area information that specifies an area of partial information that the terminal apparatus desires to obtain, and the support information is obtained by the terminal apparatus based on the meta information. From the terminal device via the communication means, stores the meta information specified in the terminal device in the storage device, and stores the meta information and the support information. From the information providing server based on the meta information at a predetermined frequency, and the partial information included in the obtained information is given to the determining means, and the determining means When it is determined that the content of the partial information acquired in step 1 has been updated, the terminal device is notified via communication means to obtain the partial information from the information providing server using the support information, and the acquired partial information is displayed. It is stored in the storage means.

[0024] Preferably, the storage means further stores attribute information relating to the terminal device received from the terminal device, and the control means obtains support information suitable for the terminal device from the storage means on the basis of the attribute information, and the communication means. To the terminal device.

Preferably, the attribute information includes information display capability and processing capability of the terminal device. Preferably, the support information includes a program for extracting partial information from the information received from the information providing server.

[0026] Preferably, the support information includes information for processing the information received from the information providing server into information suitable for the terminal device based on the attribute information.

[0027] Preferably, the support information further includes information for processing the partial information into information suitable for the terminal device based on the attribute information about the terminal device received from the terminal device.

Preferably, the storage means further stores the information acquired from the information providing server based on the meta information, and the determination means compares the acquired information with the previously acquired information stored in the storage means. Then, the control means determines whether or not the structure of the acquired information is changed, and the control means gives the acquired information to the judging means, and when it is judged that the structure of the information acquired by the judging means is changed. The terminal device is notified via the communication means to correct the meta information and set again, and the acquired information is stored in the storage means.

[0029] Preferably, the terminal device is any one of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant and a portable personal computer.

Further, according to the present invention, the support server is
In a client-server system that provides information to a terminal device from an information providing server that provides information in response to a request from the terminal device, a support server that assists the terminal device in obtaining information, apparatus,
Communication means for exchanging data with another terminal device and information providing server, storage means for storing meta information, support information, and partial information, and information included at a predetermined frequency from the information providing server Comparing the partial information to be stored with the previously acquired partial information stored in the storage unit, the determination unit that determines whether or not the acquired partial information has been updated, and the control unit. The position information of the information providing server and the area information for specifying the area of the partial information that the terminal device desires to obtain are included. In the support information, the terminal device obtains only the partial information from the information providing server based on the meta information. The control unit receives the meta information specified by the other terminal device from the other terminal device via the communication unit and stores the meta information in the storage unit. The support information is acquired from the storage unit and transmitted to the terminal device via the communication unit, the information is acquired at a predetermined frequency from the information providing server based on the meta information, and the partial information included in the acquired information is used as the determination unit. When it is determined that the content of the partial information acquired by the determining unit is updated, the terminal device is notified via the communication unit to acquire the partial information from the information providing server using the support information, and the acquisition is performed. The stored partial information is stored in the storage means.

As described above, according to the support method or the support server according to the present invention, the support information suitable for the terminal device is transmitted to the terminal device, and the terminal device uses the support information to obtain only the desired information from the information providing server. Therefore, the terminal device can obtain only the necessary information from the information providing server without being restricted by resources.

Further, according to the supporting method or the supporting server according to the present invention, the update check of the information specified based on the meta information acquired from the terminal device or another terminal device is performed, and when there is an update, the terminal is checked. Notify the device,
Since the terminal device uses the support information to obtain the desired information from the information providing server, the terminal device can immediately obtain only the necessary information from the information providing server when updating.

Further, according to the support method or the support server according to the present invention, the support information suitable for the terminal device is transmitted to the terminal device, and the terminal device uses the support information to obtain only the desired information from the information providing server. Therefore, it is the personal terminal device that processes the information provided by the information providing server, and the copyright of the provided information is protected.

[0034]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts will be denoted by the same reference characters and description thereof will not be repeated.

[Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a support system using the support server according to the present invention for supporting efficient acquisition of information in a terminal device.

Referring to FIG. 1, the support system 100 is
The information providing servers 11 to 13, the terminal device 2, the support server 3, and the network 4 are provided. Information providing server 1
1 to 13, the terminal device 2 and the support server 3 are connected to each other via a network 4.

The information providing servers 11 to 13 are servers that provide information in response to a request from the terminal device 2 which is a client. In the information providing servers 11 to 13, a plurality of information providing servers 11 to 13 are generally connected to the network 4 in response to the existence of various information providing sources.

In the first embodiment, a case where the information providing server 11 provides information to the terminal device 2 in response to a request from the terminal device 2 will be described below.

The information providing server 11 transmits the requested information to each request source in response to a request from the terminal device 2 and the support server 3.

FIG. 2 is a diagram in which the information provided by the information providing server 11 is expressed in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language).

Referring to FIG. 2, the information providing server 11
It provides information 111-113. Reference numeral 114 indicates a link destination (URL) of the information 111. Similarly, code 1
Reference numeral 15 indicates the link destination (URL) of the information 112.
Reference numeral 6 indicates a link destination (URL) of the information 113. Code 1
"H" common to each link destination (URL) shown in 14 to 116
http: // www. server. com / "indicates the Internet address of the information providing server 11. The area 112A in the information 112 is an area of information that the terminal device 2 desires to obtain, and as described later, meta information about the information providing server 11. Is designated in the terminal device 2.

Referring again to FIG. 1, in the terminal device 2, the users of the information provided from the information providing servers 11 to 13 are
Information providing servers 11 to 1 with support from the support server 3
3 is a terminal device for obtaining information from

The user of the terminal device 2 uses the meta information about the information providing server 11 in the terminal device 2 and the terminal device 2
The user information including the attribute information regarding is set. Details of the meta information and the user information will be described later. Then, the terminal device 2 transmits the set meta information and user information to the support server 3.

Further, the terminal device 2 includes the information providing server 11
From the support server 3, the support information and the meta information for obtaining only the information of the area 112A included in the information 112 from the are received. Details of the support information will be described later.

Further, the terminal device 2 is the information providing server 1
1 is requested to provide the information 112, and the information 112 is received from the information providing server 11. Then, the terminal device 2 uses the support information and the meta information to change from the information 112 to the area 112.
Only the information of A is acquired.

Furthermore, the terminal device 2 processes the information in the area 112A into information in a format suitable for the display characteristics of the terminal device 2 using the support information, and displays the content of the information in the area 112A on the display unit. .

The meta information is information on the position information of the information providing server 11 which is the information providing source and the area 112A of the information 112 which the terminal device 2 desires to obtain. Area 1
The information about 12A is the area information designating the beginning and end of the area 112A and the contents of the information of that area.

When setting the meta information, the terminal device 2 transmits the link destination (URL) of the information 112 including the information desired to be obtained to the support server 3. Depending on the link destination (URL) of the information 112 received from the terminal device 2,
From the information providing server 11 to the information 11 in the support server 3
When 2 is acquired, the terminal device 2 receives the information 112 from the support server 3 in consideration of resource constraints and displays the information 112 on the display unit. Then, the user of the terminal device 2 specifies an area corresponding to the area 112A desired to be acquired and sets it as meta information.

The meta information set by the user of the terminal device 2 is transmitted from the terminal device 2 to the support server 3. Then, in the support server 3, the area 1 is created based on the meta information.
The information of 12A is collected, and the contents are checked for updates.

Further, the meta information is transmitted in the terminal device 2
The terminal device 2 is used to specify the area when the information of the area 112A is acquired from the information providing server 11 by using the support information received from the support server 3.

The user information is information about the user of the terminal device 2 and the resources of the terminal device 2. The user information includes the Internet address of the terminal device 2, the electronic mail address of the user of the terminal device 2, and the attribute information regarding the terminal device 2. The attribute information about the terminal device 2 is
It includes resource information such as display attributes of the terminal device 2, information processing capability, and memory capacity.

The user information is set in the terminal device 2 and transmitted from the terminal device 2 to the support server 3. Then, the support server 3 selects support information suitable for the terminal device 2 based on the attribute information, and the selected support information is transmitted from the support server 3 to the terminal device 2.

Regarding the support information, the terminal device 2 acquires only the information of the area 112A included in the information 112 from the information providing server 11, and further, the content of the acquired information of the area 112A is adapted to the resource of the terminal device 2. This is information to be displayed on the display unit of the terminal device 2. The support information processes the acquired information in order to match the acquired information with the display characteristics of the display unit of the terminal device 2. The substance of the support information is a component for causing the terminal device 2 to execute the above-described function, and is, for example, a Java (R) applet, a Perl module, or UNIX.
(R) programs.

The support server 3 performs registration and management of users of the terminal device 2, acquisition and storage of meta information and user information from the terminal device 2, and transmission of support information and meta information to the terminal device 2.

The support server 3 also assists the terminal device 2 in setting the meta information. The support server 3 sets the link destination (URL) of the information 112 of the information providing server 11 including the information desired to be obtained by the terminal device 2 to the terminal device 2
The information 112 is acquired from the information providing server 11. Then, the support server 3 considers the resources of the terminal device 2 and acquires the acquired information 112 from the terminal device 2
Send to. Then, the user of the terminal device 2 selects, in the terminal device 2, an area including the information desired to be obtained, and the area of the desired area 112A is selected.

Further, the support server 3 receives the information 11 from the information providing server 11 at predetermined intervals based on the meta information.
2 is collected, and whether or not the information in the area 112A designated by the meta information in the collected information 112 is updated is checked. When the support server 3 determines that the information in the area 112A has been updated, it sends an update message to the terminal device 2 and stores the updated information in the area 112A.

The support server 3 is the information providing server 1
When it is determined that the page configuration of the information 112 collected from 1 has been changed, the terminal device 2 is notified to reset the meta information.

The network 4 is a data communication network such as the Internet. In the support system 100, the terminal device 2 transmits the meta information and the user information set by the user of the terminal device 2 to the support server 3 via the network 4. Upon receiving the meta information and the user information, the support server 3 selects the support information suitable for the terminal device 2 based on the attribute information included in the received user information, and downloads the support information and the meta information from the support server 3. A notification prompting the user to do so is transmitted to the terminal device 2 via the network 4. Then, the terminal device 2 downloads and acquires the support information and the meta information from the support server 3 via the network 4.

Further, the support server 3 collects the information 112 from the information providing server 11 via the network 4 based on the meta information at preset constant intervals. Upon receiving the information 112 from the information providing server 11, the support server 3 extracts the information in the area 112A from the collected information 112 and compares it with the information in the area 112A collected last time to check whether the content is updated. In addition, the support server 3 collects the information 112 collected from the previously collected information 112.
Also, it is checked whether the page structure of the information 112 is changed by comparing with.

When the support server 3 determines that the information content of the area 112A is updated, the area 112A is updated.
An update message notifying that the content of A has been updated is transmitted to the terminal device 2 via the network 4. Also,
When the support server 3 determines that the page configuration of the information 112 has been changed, the support server 3 notifies the terminal device 2 via the network 4 to reset the meta information.

When the terminal device 2 receives the update message from the support server 3 via the network 4, the terminal device 2 activates the component as the support information previously received from the support server 3 and transmits the information 112 based on the meta information. Thus, the information providing server 11 is requested via the network 4. The information providing server 11 that has received the transmission request for the information 112 from the terminal device 2 transmits the information 112 to the terminal device 2 via the network 4. When receiving the information 112 from the information providing server 11, the terminal device 2 acquires only the information of the area 112A from the information 112 by using the above-described components and meta information. And the terminal device 2
Displays the information of the area 112A on the display unit by processing the acquired information of the area 112A into information that matches the display characteristics of the terminal device 2.

When the terminal device 2 receives a request for resetting the meta information due to the change in the page configuration of the information 112 from the support server 3 via the network 4, the terminal device 2 specifies the area of the information desired to be obtained again. Then network 4
To the support server 3 via.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram functionally explaining the support server 3. Referring to FIG. 3, support server 3
Is a communication control unit 31, a user management unit 32, an information collection unit 33, an information collection setting unit 34, a determination unit 35, a control unit 36, a timer 37, and a support information database 38.
1, a user information database 382, a collection information database 383, and a bus 39.

The communication control section 31 exchanges data between the bus 39 and the network 4.

The user management unit 32 manages the account of the user who uses the support server 3 and information about other users. The user management unit 32 uses the support system 10
A user identifier and an authentication code are given to a user who uses 0, and the user is managed using the user identifier.
Further, the user management unit 32 stores the user information received from the terminal device 2 in the user information database 382 in association with the user identifier. Furthermore, the user management unit 32
Determines the permission / non-permission of use for the user of the terminal device 2 who has accessed the support server 3 based on the user information stored in the user information database 382.

The information collecting unit 33 collects the information 112 from the information providing server 11 based on the meta information stored in the collected information database 383 at each timing notified by the timer 37.

The information collection setting unit 34 requests the terminal device 2 to set meta information in response to the first access from the terminal device 2, and stores the meta information obtained from the terminal device 2 in the collected information database 383.

The determination unit 35 is provided with the area 11 included in the information 112 collected from the information providing server 11 by the information collection unit 33.
It is determined whether or not the 2A information is updated, whether or not the page configuration of the information 112 is changed, and the like.

The control unit 36 gives operation instructions to the communication control unit 31, the user management unit 32, the information collection unit 33, the information collection setting unit 34, and the determination unit 35.

The timer 37 informs the information collecting unit 33 of the timing at which the information collecting unit 33 collects the information 112 from the information providing server 11 at predetermined intervals.

The support information database 381 stores components that match each attribute for each attribute of various terminal devices.

The user information database 382 stores the user information received from the terminal device 2.

The collection information database 383 stores meta information and information collected based on the meta information.

The bus 39 includes a communication control unit 31, a user management unit 32, an information collection unit 33, an information collection setting unit 34, a determination unit 35, a control unit 36, a timer 37, a support information database 381, a user information database 382 and Data is exchanged between the collected information databases 383.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of data stored in the support information database 381. Referring to FIG. 4, the support information database 381 has a screen size 3812 and a display attribute 381, which are attribute information of the terminal device.
3 and the component 3814 are the component IDs
It is associated with 3811 and stored.

The component ID 3811 is a code for recognizing each component. Screen size 3
Reference numeral 812 is information regarding the screen size of the display unit of the terminal device that displays the information provided from the information providing servers 11 to 13. The display attribute 3813 is the information providing server 11 to 11.
13 is information regarding the display characteristics of the display unit of the terminal device that displays the information provided from 13. Component 3814
Is a component for displaying information on the display unit of the terminal device having the display characteristics indicated by the screen size 3812 and the display attribute 3813.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of data stored in the user information database 382. Referring to FIG. 5, the user information database 382 associates the authentication code 3822, the mail address 3823, the screen size 3812 and the display attribute 3813 which are the attribute information of the terminal device described above with the user identifier 3821. Remember.

The user identifier 3821 is the support system 1
This is a code for recognizing each user who uses 00. As for the authentication code 3822, each user has the support system 10
It is a password given to each user in order to determine whether or not the user is an authorized user when 0 is used. The mail address 3823 is the electronic mail address of the user corresponding to the user identifier 3821, and is used when notifying the terminal device 2 of the update message.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of data stored in the collection information database 383. With reference to FIG. 6, the collected information database 383 includes the information address 3831 of the information providing server and the area head tag 3832.
The area end tag 3833 and the content 3834 are stored in association with the user identifier 3821.

Information address of information providing server 3831
Is a link destination (URL) of information that the user having the user identifier 3821 desires to obtain. Area start tag 3
Reference numeral 832 is information for specifying the area of the information desired by the user indicated by the user identifier 3821 in the information of the link destination (URL) indicated by the information address 3831 of the information providing server. The start tag of the area is specified. Further, as the area end tag 3833, the end tag of the area is designated in correspondence with the area head tag 3832.

Here, the "tag" is a code for designating the contents in HTML, and is a code for designating a display style when displaying information on a browser and giving a specific meaning to text or the like. Is. The “tag” is a character string enclosed by the symbols “<” and “>”, and in the first embodiment, the regions are specified by separating the tags.

The content 3834 is entity information of the area specified by the area start tag 3832 and the area end tag 3833.

The data whose user identifier 3821 is "ID0002" will be described with reference to FIG. 7. The second tag "P" from the head of the information 112 is designated as the head of the area 112A based on the area head tag 3832. To be done.
Further, the tag “P” for the fourth time from the beginning of the information 112 is designated as the end of the area 112A based on the area end tag 3833. Then, the content of the information of the area 112A designated by the area start tag 3832 and the area end tag 3833 is stored in the content 3834.

The communication control unit 31 uses the network 4
And a communication control device that performs data communication according to a predetermined protocol. In addition, the user management unit 32, the information collection unit 33, the information collection setting unit 34, the determination unit 35, the control unit 3
6 and the timer 37 have a RAM (Rand
om Access Memory (CPU)
sing Unit). In addition, the programs of the above respective units are stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory), and C
It is taken out by the PU and operates. The support information database 381, the user information database 382, and the collection information database 383 are realized by a recording device device such as a hard disk.

In the support server 3, when the communication control unit 31 receives a request for transmitting support information via the network 4, the control unit 36 confirms the request source and confirms the user with respect to the terminal device 2 which is the request source. To the user management unit 32. Upon receiving the instruction from the control unit 36, the user management unit 32 confirms whether the user of the terminal device 2 is already registered. If the user of the terminal device 2 is not registered, the user management unit 32 instructs the communication control unit 31 to notify the terminal device 2 of the request for transmitting the user information. Then, the communication control unit 31 notifies the terminal device 2 of the transmission request of the user information via the network 4. Then, when the communication control unit 31 receives the user information from the terminal device 2 via the network 4, the user management unit 32 stores the received user information in the user information database 382.

Further, the user management unit 32 instructs the communication control unit 31 to notify the terminal device 2 of the transmission request of the user identifier 3821 and the authentication code 3822 in order to authenticate the user of the terminal device 2. . Then, the communication control unit 31 notifies the terminal device 2 of the transmission request of the user identifier 3821 and the authentication code 3822 via the network 4. The communication control unit 31 uses the user identifier 3821 and the authentication code 382 from the terminal device 2 via the network 4.
When 2 is received, the user management unit 32 searches the user information database 382 and confirms whether the user of the terminal device 2 is an authorized user. When the user management unit 32 determines that the user of the terminal device 2 is not authorized, the user management unit 32 instructs the communication control unit 31 to transmit the usage disapproval notice to the terminal device 2. Then, the communication control unit 31 uses the network 4
A use-disapproval notice is transmitted to the terminal device 2 via. On the other hand, when the user management unit 32 determines that the user of the terminal device 2 is authorized, the user management unit 32 notifies the control unit 36 that the authentication of the user of the terminal device 2 is completed.

When the communication control unit 31 receives the address of the information 112 of the information providing server 11 from the terminal device 2 via the network 4, the control unit 36 notifies the information providing server 11 of the transmission request of the information 112. Communication control unit 3
Instruct 1. Then, the communication control unit 31 notifies the information providing server 11 of the transmission request for the information 112 via the network 4. When the communication control unit 31 receives the information 112 from the information providing server 11 via the network 4, the control unit 36 instructs the information collection setting unit 34 to acquire the meta information from the terminal device 2.

Upon receiving an instruction from the control unit 36, the information collection setting unit 34 causes the information providing server 11 to select the area of the information that the terminal device 2 desires to obtain.
The communication control unit 31 is instructed to transmit the information 112 received from the terminal device 2. When transmitting the information 112, the information collection setting unit 34 considers the resources of the terminal device 2 and sequentially transmits the information 112 from the beginning only while receiving the transmission enable notification from the terminal device 2.
Instruct 1. Then, the communication control unit 31 sequentially transmits the information 112 to the terminal device 2 via the network 4.
In the terminal device 2, the area 112A desired to be obtained from the information 112 is designated and set as the meta information, and when the communication control unit 31 receives the meta information from the terminal device 2 via the network 4, the information collection setting unit 34 , And stores the meta information in the collection information database 383, and notifies the control unit 36 that the setting of the meta information is completed.

When the control section 36 receives the notification of completion of the setting of the meta information from the information collection setting section 34, it acquires the attribute information corresponding to the terminal device 2 from the user information database 382 and corresponds to the acquired attribute information. Component 381
4 is acquired from the support information database 381. Then, the control unit 36 further acquires the meta information stored in the collected information database 383, and the component 381
4 and the meta information are instructed to the communication control unit 31 to be transmitted to the terminal device 2. Then, the communication control unit 31 sends the component 381 to the terminal device 2 via the network 4.
4 and send meta information.

On the other hand, when the information collecting unit 33 receives a timing from the timer 37 at a predetermined interval, it starts the process of acquiring the update information from the information providing server 11. The information collecting unit 33 acquires the link destination (URL) stored in the information address 3831 of the information providing server from the collection information database 383, and acquires the information 112 from the information providing server 11 based on the link destination (URL). To the communication control unit 31. Communication control unit 31 that received the instruction
Accesses the information providing server 11 via the network 4 and acquires the information 112 via the network 4. When the communication control unit 31 receives the information 112, the information collection unit 33 notifies the control unit 36 that the collection of information has been completed based on the meta information. Upon receiving the notification from the information collection unit 33, the control unit 36 instructs the determination unit 35 to determine whether or not the information in the area 112A designated in the meta information is updated.

Upon receiving the instruction from the control unit 36, the determination unit 35 acquires, from the collection information database 383, information of the content 3834 associated with the user identifier “ID0002” corresponding to the collected information 112. And
In the determination unit 35, the previous information collection unit 33 is the information providing server 1
The information of the area 112A acquired from 1 is compared with the information of the content 3834 acquired from the collected information database 383,
It is determined whether the content of the information in the area 112A has been updated. The determining unit 35 also determines whether the page configuration of the information 112 acquired from the information providing server 11 by the previous information collecting unit 33 has been changed. Then, the determination unit 35 notifies the control unit 36 of the determination result.

The control unit 36 sends information 112 from the judging unit 35.
Upon receiving the determination result that the page configuration has been changed, the communication control unit 31 is instructed to request the terminal device 2 to reset the meta information. Then, the communication control unit 3
1 transmits a notification request for resetting the meta information to the terminal device 2 via the network 4.

Further, when the control unit 36 receives from the determination unit 35 a determination result that the content of the information in the area 112A has been updated, it sends an update message to the terminal device 2 notifying that it has been updated. The communication control unit 31 is instructed to do so. Then, the communication control unit 31 transmits the update message to the terminal device 2 via the network 4.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram functionally explaining the terminal device 2. Referring to FIG. 8, the terminal device 2
Communication control unit 21, information collection processing unit 22, WWW browser unit 23, control unit 24, input unit 25, display unit 2
6, a storage unit 27, and a bus 28.

The communication control unit 21 exchanges data between the bus 28 and the network 4.

In response to the update message received from the support server 3, the information collection processing unit 22 acquires the information 112 from the information providing server 11 using the component and meta information which are the support information received from the support server 3. , Only the information in the area 112A is obtained. In addition, the information collection processing unit 22 processes the obtained information of the area 112A into information of a format suitable for the display characteristics of the terminal device 2, and outputs the processed information of the area 112A to the WWW browser unit 23.

The WWW browser section 23 displays the information of the area 112A acquired and processed by the information collection processing section 22 on the display section 26 by a browser. Also, WWW
When setting the meta information, the browser unit 23 sequentially displays the information 112 transmitted from the support server 3 on the text unit on the display unit 26 based on the area selection program acquired in advance. Then, the WWW browser section 23 stores in the storage section 27 the area information that the user of the terminal device 2 has selected and input from the input section 25 and wishes to obtain, and notifies the control section 24 that the area information has been set. Notice.

The control section 24 gives operation instructions to the communication control section 21, the information collection processing section 22 and the WWW browser section 23. When the control unit 24 receives the area information setting notification from the WWW browser unit 23, the control unit 24 instructs the communication control unit 21 to transmit the meta information to the support server 3.

The input unit 25 accepts input of meta information and user information set by the user of the terminal device 2.

The display unit 26 displays the information for each area of the information 112 when setting the meta information, the information of the area 112A acquired from the information providing server 11 using the component, and the like.

The storage unit 27 stores meta information set by the user of the terminal device 2, components received from the support server 3, and the like.

The bus 28 exchanges data among the communication control unit 21, the information collection processing unit 22, the WWW browser unit 23, the control unit 24, the input unit 25, the display unit 26 and the recording unit 27.

The communication control unit 21 uses the network 4
And a communication control device that performs data communication according to a predetermined protocol. The information collection processing unit 22, the control unit 23, and the WWW browser unit 23 operate on the CPU by using the RAM as the work memory. In addition, the programs of the above-mentioned units are stored in the ROM and are taken out by the CPU as needed to operate. The input unit 25 is realized by an input device including a keyboard and a mouse. Display unit 2
6 is realized by a display device that displays various data. The storage unit 27 is realized by a recording device such as a hard disk.

In the terminal device 2, when the user of the terminal device 2 requests the support server 3 to send the support information, the user inputs the request to send the support information from the input unit 25. When the control unit 24 receives the support information transmission request from the input unit 25, the control unit 24 instructs the communication control unit 21 to notify the support server 3 of the support information notification request. Then, the communication control unit 21 transmits a request for notification of support information to the support server 3 via the network 4. When the user of the terminal device 2 is not registered in the support server 3, the control unit 2
4 instructs the communication control unit 21 to transmit the user information input from the input unit 25 by the user of the terminal device 2 to the support server 3. Then, the communication control unit 21 transmits the user information to the support server 3 via the network 4.

Further, the communication control unit 21 sends a data transmission request for user authentication from the support server 3 to the network 4.
When received via the control unit 24, the control unit 24 outputs the received data transmission request to the display unit 26 and displays it on the display unit 26, and a user identifier and an authentication code for user authentication for the user of the terminal device 2. Prompting the input and transmission to the support server 3. When the control unit 24 receives the user identifier and the authentication code input from the input unit 25 by the user of the terminal device 2, the control unit 24 instructs the communication control unit 21 to transmit the user identifier and the authentication code to the support server 3. . Then, the communication control unit 21 transmits the user identifier and the authentication code to the support server 3 via the network 4.

Furthermore, the control section 24 is operated by the user of the terminal device 2 for the purpose of setting meta information.
Upon receiving the link destination (URL) of the information 112 of the information providing server 11 input from the link destination (URL)
The communication control unit 21 is instructed to transmit. And
The communication control unit 21 transmits the link destination (URL) of the information 112 to the support server 3 via the network 4.

Further, when the communication control unit 21 sequentially receives the information 112 from the support server 3 via the network 4, the control unit 24 sequentially outputs the received information 112 to the WWW browser unit 23. When the WWW browser unit 23 receives the information 112 from the control unit 24, the WWW browser unit 23 displays the information 112 by using the area selection program acquired in advance.
Text-based display. Then, the WWW browser unit 23 performs a selection process of an area desired to be acquired for each tag included in the information 112, and an area 1 desired to be acquired.
Determine the 12A range.

When receiving the information 112 from the support server 3, the control unit 24 monitors the resources of the terminal device 2 (memory free space, etc.), and when it determines that there are free resources, A transmission enable notification is transmitted to the support server 3 to request transmission of the information 112. On the other hand, the control unit 2
4 determines that there is no available resource, the information 112
Information is sent from the support server 3 until the support server 3 is notified that the transmission of
2 transmission is interrupted.

When the range of the area 112A is confirmed, the WWW browser section 23 notifies the control section 24 that the setting of the area information is completed. Then, the control unit 24 instructs the communication control unit 21 to transmit the meta information including the area information to the support server 3, and the communication control unit 21 causes the network 4 to operate.
The meta information is transmitted to the support server 3 via. After the meta information is transmitted to the support server 3, when the communication control unit 21 receives the component which is the support information and the meta information from the support server 3 via the network 4, the control unit 24
Stores the received component and meta information in the storage unit 27.
Remember.

After the reception of the components and the meta information is completed, the communication control unit 21 sends an update message notifying that the information content of the area 112A set as the meta information has been updated from the support server 3 via the network 4. Upon reception, the control unit 24 notifies the information collection processing unit 22 to acquire information based on the previously received component and meta information. Upon receiving the notification, the information collection processing unit 22 acquires the component from the storage unit 27, activates the component, and instructs the communication control unit 21 to transmit the transmission request for the information 112 to the information providing server 11 based on the meta information. To do. Then, the communication control unit 21 transmits a transmission request for the information 112 to the information providing server 11 via the network 4.

When the communication control unit 21 receives the information 112 from the information providing server 11 via the network 4, the information collection processing unit 22 acquires only the information in the area 112A from the information 112 using the component based on the meta information. Then, the information is processed into a format suitable for the display characteristics of the terminal device 2. Then, the information collection processing unit 22 notifies the control unit 24 that the acquisition of the update information from the information providing server 11 is completed. The control unit 24 that has received the notification outputs the information of the area 112A processed by the information collection processing unit 22 to the WWW browser unit 23. And the WWW browser section 23
Outputs the information in the area 112A to the display unit 26 and displays it on the browser.

Next, in the support system 100, the terminal device 2 receives the support from the support server 3 and the terminal device 2
A process flow for acquiring the information of the area 112A of the information 112 from 1 will be described.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart regarding the registration processing of the terminal device 2 in the support server 3. Referring to FIG. 9, the terminal device 2 requests the support server 3 to transmit the support information via the network 4 (step S).
1). When the support server 3 receives the support information transmission request from the terminal device 2 (step S2), the support server 3 searches the user information stored in the user information database 382 to determine whether the user of the terminal device 2 is registered. Is confirmed (step S3).

If the support server 3 determines in step S3 that the user of the terminal device 2 is not registered, the terminal device 2 will be contracted in advance with the user of the terminal device 2.
The user information including the user identification code and the authentication code given to the user, and the attribute information of the terminal device 2 is requested to the terminal device 2 (step S4). When the terminal device 2 receives the user information transmission request from the support server 3 via the network 4, the user of the terminal device 2 creates the user information described above and the terminal device 2 via the network 4 supports the server. 3 (step S5). Upon receiving the user information from the terminal device 2, the support server 3 stores the received user information in the user information database 382 (step S6), and proceeds to step S7.

On the other hand, when the support server 3 determines in step S3 that the user of the terminal device 2 is already registered, it requests the terminal device 2 to transmit the user identifier and the authentication code (step S7). When the terminal device 2 receives the request for transmitting the user identifier and the authentication code from the support server 3 via the network 4, the terminal device 2 transmits the user identifier and the authentication code given at the time of the contract to the support server 3 via the network 4. (Step S8). Upon receiving the user identifier and the authentication code from the terminal device 2, the support server 3 searches the user information database 382 for user information corresponding to the received user identifier, and collates the received authentication code (step). S9).

When there is no user information that matches the user identifier and the authentication code received from the terminal device 2 (step S10), the support server 3 sends a usage disapproval notice to the terminal device 2 via the network 4. It is transmitted (step S11). Then, the terminal device 2 receives the use disapproval notice from the support server 3 (step S12), and the user of the terminal device 2 confirms the user registration, whether there is an input error, or the like.

On the other hand, if there is user information that matches the user identifier and the authentication code received from the terminal device 2 in step S10, the support server 3 permits the access to the terminal device 2, The process proceeds to the setting process shown in (step S13).

FIGS. 10 and 11 are flowcharts relating to the meta information setting process and the support information transmitting process to the terminal device 2. With reference to FIG. 10, the terminal device 2 sets the link destination (URL) of the information 112 on the information providing server 11 desired by the user of the terminal device 2 via the network 4 for the purpose of setting meta information. It transmits to the support server 3 (step S21). When the support server 3 receives the link destination (URL) of the information 112 from the terminal device 2 (step S22), the information providing server 11 receives the information 112.
Is requested to be transmitted (step S23).

When the information providing server 11 receives the transmission request for the information 112 from the support server 3 via the network 4 (step S24), the information providing server 11 sends the information 112 to the network 4.
Is transmitted to the support server 3 via (step S25).
Upon receiving the information 112 from the information providing server 11 (step S26), the support server 3 turns on the transmission status.
Yes (step S27). Here, the transmission status is
This is a flag for the support server 3 to determine whether or not information can be transmitted to the terminal device 2. The support server 3, when the transmission status is ON (step S28), the information providing server 1
The information 112 received from 1 is transmitted to the terminal device 2 via the network 4 (step S29).

The terminal device 2 receives the information 11 from the support server 3.
When 2 is received (step S30), the terminal status is turned on (step S31). Here, the terminal status is a flag indicating whether or not the terminal device 2 can afford to receive the information 112 in the resource, and the terminal status is turned off when the resource is full. Subsequently, the terminal device 2 displays the received information on the display unit 26 on a text basis (step S32). Then, the user of the terminal device 2 uses a program for area selection acquired in advance,
An area of information desired to be obtained is selected from the information displayed on the display unit 26 (step S33). As a method of selecting the area, for example, when a character included in the area desired to be obtained is input, the tag unit information including the character is highlighted, and the user of the terminal device 2 is confirmed and selected.
The information of the selected area is temporarily stored in the storage unit 27 of the terminal device 2.
Memorized in.

The terminal device 2 receives the information 11 from the support server 3.
When receiving 2, the terminal status is turned off (step S35) when it is determined that the resources are full and reception is impossible (step S34). On the other hand, the terminal device 2
When the resource is not full (step S34),
Do not operate the terminal status. Then, the terminal device 2
The terminal status is transmitted to the support server 3 via the network 4 (step S36).

Subsequently, the terminal device 2 reads the information of the selected area from the storage unit 27 and displays it on the display unit 26 (step S37). Then, the user of the terminal device 2
It is confirmed whether the displayed area is the area 112A desired to be obtained (step S38). When the user of the terminal device 2 determines that the area is not the desired area, the terminal device 2 returns to step S32 and displays the received information on the display unit 26.
Is displayed again and the area designation processing is performed. On the other hand, when it is confirmed by the user of the terminal device 2 in the desired area in step S38, the terminal device 2 sets END to the terminal status and transmits the terminal status to the support server 3 via the network 4. Yes (step S3
9).

On the other hand, when the support server 3 receives the terminal status from the terminal device 2 via the network 4 in step S36 or S39 (step S40),
The received terminal status is set as the transmission status (step S41), and the process returns to step S28. Support server 3
When the transmission status is not ON in step S28, checks whether or not the transmission status is END (step S42). When determining that the transmission status is not END, the support server 3 determines in step S40.
Go to. On the other hand, when the support server 3 determines that the transmission status is END in step S42, the support server 3 illustrated in FIG.
Go to step S43 shown in.

As described above, the support server 3 uses the terminal device 2
Information 112 until the terminal status received from the terminal device 2 is turned off.
Send to. Then, the support server 3 transmits the information 112 to the terminal device 2 again when the resources of the terminal device 2 are available and the terminal status received from the terminal device 2 is turned ON. Further, when the terminal status received from the terminal device 2 becomes END, the support server 3 determines that the designation of the area desired to be acquired in the terminal device 2 is completed,
Proceed to the component setting process shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 11, the support server 3 operates as shown in FIG.
If it is determined that the transmission status is END in step S42 shown in 0, the user information database 3
The user information corresponding to the user of the terminal device 2 is acquired from 82, and the component 3814 that matches the attribute information of the terminal device 2 included in the acquired user information is searched from the support information database 381 (step S43). Then, the support server 3 acquires the component 3814 that matches the attribute information of the terminal device 2. Then, the support server 3 further acquires the meta information stored in the collected information database 383, and transmits the meta information together with the component 3814 to the terminal device 2 via the network 4 (step S44).

Upon receiving the component 3814 and the meta information from the support server 3 (step S45), the terminal device 2 sets the received component 3814 (step S46). Then, the terminal device 2 is in a state of waiting for the update message from the support server 3.

12 and 13 are flowcharts relating to a series of processes of collecting update information by the support server 3, notifying the update message from the support server 3 to the terminal device 2 and obtaining update information in the terminal device 2.

With reference to FIG. 12, in the support server 3, a series of information collection processing is activated by the timer 37 that prompts collection of information from the information providing server 11 at predetermined fixed intervals (step S51). When the information collecting process is started in response to the timing when the information collecting unit 33 collects the information from the timer 37, the support server 3 transmits the information 112 to the information providing server 11 based on the meta information stored in the collected information database 383. Request to do so (step S52).

When the information providing server 11 receives the transmission request for the information 112 from the support server 3 via the network 4 (step S53), the information 112 is in the database in the information providing server 11, and at that time as well. Confirm whether information is being provided (step S
54). When the information providing server 11 determines that the information 112 does not already exist or the information providing has been completed, the information providing server 11 transmits error information to the support server 3 via the network 4 (step S55). On the other hand, the information providing server 11
If it is determined in step S54 that the information 112 exists and information is still being provided, the information 112 is transmitted to the support server 3 via the network 4 (step S56).

When the support server 3 receives the information 112 from the information providing server 11 (step S57), the information 11
The information of the area 112A designated by the meta information is acquired from 2. Then, when the support server 3 acquires the information of the area 112A, it searches the collection information database 383 and checks whether there is previous information of the area 112A (step S58). When determining that there is no previous information in the area 112A, the support server 3 proceeds to step S65.

When the support server 3 determines in step S58 that the previous information of the area 112A is present, the information of the area 112A acquired this time is compared with the previous information, and whether the information of the area 112A acquired this time has been updated. It is checked whether or not (step S59). Then, when the support server 3 determines that the information in the area 112A has not been updated, the processing ends.

When the support server 3 determines in step S59 that the information in the area 112A has been updated, it checks whether the page structure of the information 112 has been changed (step S60). The support server 3 uses the information 11
If it is determined that the page configuration of No. 2 has been changed, the notification requesting the resetting of the meta information is transmitted to the terminal device 2 via the network 4 (step S61). Then, when the terminal device 2 receives the meta information reset request notification from the support server 3 (step S62), the meta information is reset again by the setting process shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 (step S63). .

On the other hand, when the support server 3 determines in step S60 that the page structure of the information 112 has not been changed, it sends an update message via the network 4 notifying that the information 112A of the information 112 has been updated. It transmits to the terminal device 2 (step S64). Then, when the support server 3 transmits the update message to the terminal device 2, the support server 3 stores the updated information of the area 112A in the collected information database 383 as the previous information (step S65).

On the other hand, when the terminal device 2 receives the update message from the support server 3 via the network 4 (step S66), the process proceeds to step S67 shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 13, upon receiving the update message from support server 3, terminal device 2 activates the component set in step S46 shown in FIG. 11 (step S67). Then, the terminal device 2 transmits a transmission request for the information 112 to the information providing server 11 using a component based on the meta information (step S6).
8).

When the information providing server 11 receives the transmission request for the information 112 from the terminal device 2 via the network 4 (step S69), the information providing server 11 transmits the information 112 to the terminal device 2 via the network 4 (step S70).

When the terminal device 2 receives the information 112 from the information providing server 11, it acquires only the information of the area 112A from the information 112 by using the component based on the meta information (step S71). Then, the terminal device 2
The acquired information of the area 112A is processed into information of a format suitable for the display characteristics of the terminal device 2 by using a component (step S72), and the processed information of the area 112A is displayed on the display unit 26 (step S73).

In this way, the terminal device 2 receives the support from the support server 3 and displays only the latest information of the desired area 112A on the display unit 26 using the component (support information) received from the support server 3. can do.

In the first embodiment, the case where the terminal device 2, the information providing servers 11 to 13 and the support server 3 are connected to each other using the network 4 as the Internet has been described. The support system 100 may be configured using a network or an intranet.

Further, the terminal device 2 is a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone or the like which can be connected to the network 4 having limited resources as compared with a personal computer, but the personal computer which does not cause a resource problem is also updated. It may be used as the terminal device 2 for the purpose of sometimes obtaining the update information immediately or preventing access to unnecessary information providing servers 11 to 13.

According to the first embodiment of the present invention, the support information suitable for the terminal device 2 is transmitted to the terminal device 2, and the terminal device 2 uses the support information to obtain only the desired information from the information providing server 11. As a result, the terminal device 2 can obtain only the necessary information from the information providing server 11 without being restricted by resources.

Further, according to the first embodiment of the present invention,
The information of the area 112A designated based on the meta information acquired from the terminal device 2 is checked for update, the terminal device 2 is notified when there is an update, and the terminal device 2 uses the support information to notify the information providing server. Since only the information of the desired area 112A is obtained from the terminal device 2, the terminal device 2 can immediately obtain only the necessary information from the information providing server 11 at the time of updating.

Furthermore, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the support information suitable for the terminal device 2 is transmitted from the support server 3 to the terminal device 2, and the terminal device 2 uses the support information to send information from the information providing server 11 to the terminal device 2. Since only the desired information is obtained, it is the personal terminal device 2 that processes the information provided by the information providing server 11, and the copyright of the provided information is protected.

[Second Embodiment] In the second embodiment, a user who wants to obtain information at the terminal device 2 uses a resource instead of the terminal device 2 having resource restrictions in the meta information setting process. The meta information is set by another terminal device having a margin. Since other terminal devices that set the meta information have sufficient resources, GUI (Grap)
Select an area based on the hical User Interface). Then, the terminal device 2 acquires the support information from the support server 3 and the information providing server 11 based on the meta information set in the other terminal device described above.

Also in the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the terminal device 2 uses the information 112 of the information providing server 11.
Information of the area 112A included in
The information provided by the information providing server 11 is the information shown in FIG. 2, as in the first embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the support system according to the second embodiment. Referring to FIG. 14, support system 100A further includes terminal device 2A in addition to support system 100. The terminal device 2A is mutually connected to the information providing servers 11 to 13, the terminal device 2 and the support server 3 via the network 4.

A user who desires to obtain information in the terminal device 2 (hereinafter simply referred to as “user”) sets meta information regarding the information providing server 11 in the terminal device 2A, and the set meta information is used by the support server 3 Send to.

When setting the meta information, the terminal device 2A acquires the information 112 from the information providing server 11 via the network 4. Then, the user displays the acquired information 112 on the display unit of the terminal device 2A with a browser,
The area 112A acquired in the terminal device 2 is selected and set as meta information.

The set meta information is transmitted from the terminal device 2A to the support server 3. Then, the support server 3 collects the information in the area 112A based on the meta information and checks the update of the content. When the content is updated, the support server 3 transmits an update message to the terminal device 2.

The terminal device 2 receives from the support server 3 the support information for obtaining only the information of the area 112A included in the information 112 from the information providing server 11 and the meta information set by the terminal device 2A. Set. And
As in the first embodiment, the terminal device 2 requests the information providing server 11 to provide the information 112, and the information providing server 11
From the information 112 using the support information and the meta information.

The support server 3 has the same configuration as in the first embodiment.
Based on the meta information, the information 112 is collected from the information providing server 11 at predetermined intervals, and whether or not the information in the area 112A designated by the meta information in the collected information 112 is updated is checked.

Also, the support server 3 is the information providing server 3
When it is determined that the page configuration of the information 112 collected from the information 112 has been changed, the terminal device 2A is notified to reset the meta information.

Next, the processing flow in the support system 100A will be described. The difference in processing between the support system 100 described in the first embodiment and the support system 100A in the second embodiment is only the part related to the meta information setting processing. Therefore, the meta information setting process will be described below, and the description of the other processes will not be repeated.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart relating to the meta information setting process and the support information transmission process to the terminal device 2 in the support system 100A. The process flow in FIG. 15 is the same as the process flow shown in FIG. 10 described in the first embodiment, steps S21 to S23.
Instead of step S81, and steps 82 to S86 are performed instead of steps S26 to S41. In the second embodiment, the terminal device 2
This is because the area selection of the area 112A desired to be acquired in 1 is performed in the terminal device 2A different from the terminal device 2.

The changed step S81 and steps S82 to S86 will be described below. Terminal device 2A
Directly requests the information providing server 11 via the network 4 to transmit the information 112 desired to be obtained in the terminal device 2 for the purpose of setting meta information (step S81).

When the terminal device 2A receives the information 112 from the support server 3 (step S82), it displays the received information 112 on the browser (step S83).
Here, since the terminal device 2A has sufficient resources,
The information 112 is displayed as a GUI based browser. Then, the user selects the area 112A from the information 112 displayed in the browser by using the area selection program acquired in advance in the terminal device 2A (step S8).
4). As a method of selecting the area, for example, when a character included in the area desired to be obtained is input, the tag unit information including the character is highlighted, and the user is allowed to confirm and select the area. The information on the selected area is stored in the storage unit of the terminal device 2A.

When the selection of the area is completed, the terminal device 2A reads the information of the selected area from the storage unit and displays it for confirmation to the user (step S85).
After the confirmation, the meta information including the link destination of the information 112 of the information providing server 11 and the area information of the area 112A desired to be obtained is transmitted to the support server 3 via the network 4 (step S86).

16 and 17 relate to a series of processes of collecting update information by the support server 3, notifying the update message from the support server 3 to the terminal device 2 and obtaining update information in the terminal device 2 in the support system 100A. It is a flowchart.

The processing flow in FIGS. 16 and 17 is step S9 instead of steps S61 to 63 in the processing flow shown in FIG. 12 described in the first embodiment.
The processes of 1 to S93 are performed. This is because in the second embodiment, the meta information is also reset not by the terminal device 2 but by the terminal device 2A.

Hereinafter, the modified steps S91 to S93.
Will be described. Referring to FIG. 17, support server 3
When determining that the page configuration of the information 112 has been changed in step S60, transmits a notification requesting the resetting of the meta information to the terminal device 2A via the network 4 (step S91). When the terminal device 2A receives the meta information reset request notification from the support server 3 (step S92), the meta information is reset again by the setting process shown in FIG. 15 (step S93).

As described above, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the information 112 desired to be obtained at the terminal device 2 is obtained.
Since the area setting of the area 112A is performed in the terminal apparatus 2A having the resource in place of the terminal apparatus 2 having the resource restriction, the area can be set by the GUI-based simple operation. In addition to the effects described in the first embodiment, the support system 100
This has the effect of improving convenience when using A.

The embodiments disclosed this time must be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is shown not by the above description of the embodiments but by the claims, and is intended to include meanings equivalent to the claims and all modifications within the scope.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a support system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing information provided by an information providing server in the support system shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram functionally explaining a support server in the support system shown in FIG.

4 is a diagram showing a configuration of data stored in a support information database of a support server in the support system shown in FIG.

5 is a diagram showing a configuration of data stored in a user information database of a support server in the support system shown in FIG.

6 is a diagram showing a configuration of data stored in a collection information database of a support server in the support system shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a method of designating a partial area of information provided in the support system shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram functionally explaining a terminal device in the support system shown in FIG.

9 is a first flowchart for explaining a process in the support system shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a second flowchart for explaining a process in the support system shown in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a third flowchart for explaining a process in the support system shown in FIG.

FIG. 12 is a fourth flowchart for explaining a process in the support system shown in FIG.

FIG. 13 is a fifth flowchart for explaining a process in the support system shown in FIG.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a support system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a first flowchart for explaining a process in the support system shown in FIG.

16 is a second flowchart for explaining the process in the support system shown in FIG.

FIG. 17 is a third flowchart for explaining a process in the support system shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

2, 2A terminal device, 3 support server, 4 networks, 11-13 information providing server, 21, 31 communication control unit, 22 information collection processing unit, 23 WWW browser unit, 24, 36 control unit, 25 input unit, 26 display Section, 27 storage section, 28, 39 bus, 32 user management section, 33 information collection section, 34 information collection setting section, 35
Judgment part, 37 timer, 100,100A support system, 381 support information database, 382 user information database, 383 collection information database.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G06F 17/30 110 G06F 17/30 110G 240 240A H04M 11/08 H04M 11/08 F term (reference) 5B019 GA10 5B075 KK07 KK24 NR02 NR20 PQ02 PQ20 UU40 5B082 GA04 GA14 GB06 5B085 AA03 BC02 BG07 5K101 KK16 LL01 LL12 MM07 NN01 NN11

Claims (18)

[Claims] 1. A client-server system for providing information held by the information providing server to the terminal device via a communication network from the information providing server in response to a request from the terminal device, A support method for assisting acquisition by a computer system, including position information of the information providing server, and area information that is a part of the information and that specifies an area of partial information that the terminal device desires to acquire. A first step of receiving and setting meta information including the meta information from the terminal device, and assisting the terminal device to obtain only the partial information from the information providing server based on the meta information and the meta information. A second step of transmitting information to the terminal device, and transmitting the information from the information providing server at a predetermined frequency based on the meta information. A third step of acquiring, and comparing the partial information included in the acquired information with the previously acquired partial information, and determining whether the acquired partial information has been updated based on a comparison result. 4 and when it is determined that the content of the partial information has been updated,
A fifth step of notifying the terminal device to obtain the partial information from the information providing server using the support information. 2. The method further comprises a sixth step of receiving attribute information about the terminal device from the terminal device, wherein in the second step, the support information matching the terminal device is based on the attribute information. The support method according to claim 1, wherein the support method is transmitted to a terminal device. 3. The support method according to claim 2, wherein the attribute information includes information display capability and processing capability of the terminal device. 4. The support method according to claim 1, wherein the support information includes a program for extracting the partial information from the information received from the information providing server. 5. The support information includes information for processing the information received from the information providing server into information suitable for the terminal device based on the attribute information.
Alternatively, the support method according to claim 3. 6. The support information further includes information for processing the partial information into information suitable for the terminal device based on attribute information about the terminal device received from the terminal device. Support method. 7. A seventh step of comparing the information acquired in the third step with the previously acquired information and determining whether or not the configuration of the acquired information is changed based on the comparison result. And an eighth step of notifying the terminal device to reset the area information when it is determined that the configuration of the information has been changed. The support method described in. 8. The terminal device is any one of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, and a portable personal computer.
The support method according to any one of 1 to 7. 9. A client / server system for providing information held by the information providing server to the terminal device via the communication network from the information providing server in response to a request from the terminal device, A support method for assisting acquisition by a computer system, including position information of the information providing server, and area information that is a part of the information and that specifies an area of partial information that the terminal device desires to acquire. A first step of receiving and setting meta-information including the meta-information from another terminal device, the terminal device obtaining only the partial information from the information providing server based on the meta-information and the meta-information The second step of transmitting the support information of the information to the terminal device, and the information providing server at a predetermined frequency based on the meta information. A third step of acquiring information, comparing the partial information included in the acquired information with the previously acquired partial information, and determining whether the acquired partial information has been updated based on a comparison result. A fourth step of performing, and when it is determined that the content of the partial information is updated,
A fifth step of notifying the terminal device to obtain the partial information from the information providing server using the support information. 10. A client / server system that provides the information to the terminal device via a communication network from an information providing server that provides information in response to a request from the terminal device, and obtains the information at the terminal device. A support server for supporting, a communication unit for exchanging data with the terminal device and the information providing server, a storage unit for storing meta information, support information, and partial information, and a predetermined unit from the information providing server. A determination that compares the partial information included in the information acquired at a frequency with the previously acquired partial information stored in the storage unit to determine whether the acquired partial information has been updated And a control unit, wherein the meta information is a region of the partial information desired by the terminal device and the position information of the information providing server. Area information to specify, the support information includes information for the terminal device to obtain only the partial information from the information providing server based on the meta information, the control means, in the terminal device The specified meta information is received from the terminal device via the communication means and stored in the storage means, the meta information and the support information are acquired from the storage means, and the terminal is accessed via the communication means. The information is transmitted to the device, the information is obtained from the information providing server at a predetermined frequency based on the meta information, the partial information included in the obtained information is given to the determining unit, and the partial information is obtained by the determining unit. When it is determined that the content of the partial information is updated, the communication unit is configured to obtain the partial information from the information providing server using the support information. To the terminal device via
A support server for storing the acquired partial information in the storage means. 11. The storage means further stores attribute information about the terminal device received from the terminal device, and the control means stores the support information suitable for the terminal device based on the attribute information. 2. Obtained from the means and transmitted to the terminal device via the communication means.
The support server described in 0. 12. The support server according to claim 11, wherein the attribute information includes information display capability and processing capability of the terminal device. 13. The support server according to claim 10, wherein the support information includes a program for extracting the partial information from the information received from the information providing server. 14. The method according to claim 11, wherein the support information includes information for processing the information received from the information providing server into information suitable for the terminal device based on the attribute information. Support server. 15. The support information further includes information for processing the partial information into information suitable for the terminal device based on attribute information about the terminal device received from the terminal device. Support server. 16. The storage unit further stores the information acquired from the information providing server based on the meta information, and the determination unit stores the acquired information in the storage unit last time. It is determined whether or not the configuration of the acquired information is changed by comparing with the acquired information, the control unit gives the acquired information to the determination unit, and the acquired information is obtained by the determination unit. When it is determined that the configuration of the information has been changed, the terminal device is notified via the communication means to correct and reset the meta information, and the acquired information is stored in the storage means. The support server according to any one of claims 10 to 15. 17. The support server according to claim 10, wherein the terminal device is any one of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, and a portable personal computer. 18. In a client / server system that provides the information to the terminal device via a communication network from an information providing server that provides information in response to a request from the terminal device, the acquisition of the information in the terminal device is performed. A support server for supporting, a communication unit for exchanging data with the terminal device, another terminal device, and the information providing server; a storage unit for storing meta information, support information, and partial information; Whether the partial information included in the information acquired from the information providing server at a predetermined frequency is compared with the previously acquired partial information stored in the storage unit to update the acquired partial information. The meta information includes the position information of the information providing server and the terminal device that the terminal device desires to obtain. Area information specifying an area of the partial information, the support information includes information for the terminal device to obtain only the partial information from the information providing server based on the meta information, the control means Receives the meta information specified by the other terminal device from the other terminal device via the communication means, stores the meta information in the storage means, and stores the meta information and the support information in the storage means. From the information providing server at a predetermined frequency based on the meta information, and the partial information included in the acquired information is obtained from the information providing server. When the determination means determines that the content of the acquired partial information is updated, the information providing server uses the support information to determine whether the partial information has been updated. A support server, which notifies the terminal device via the communication unit to obtain the partial information, and stores the acquired partial information in the storage unit.