JP2006139399A - Content providing system, content providing method, program for executing the method and recording medium with the program stored therein - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a content providing system, a content providing method, a program for executing the method and a recording medium stored with the program for improving the convenience of a user when connected to contents on a network. <P>SOLUTION: Content servers 31 to 33 for providing contents as Web sites 41 to 45 and a CID server 39 for recording connection information to these content servers are connected to a network 13 which can be connected by user terminals 11 and 12 operated by a user 10. In a CID server 39, CID records 392 in which a plurality of CIDs 398 or the like(exclusive contents codes) for each terminal are associated with a CID 399 being a common content code is stored in a CID database 391, and a terminal kind is specified according to an output medium code, so that optimal contents can be designated. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a content providing system, a content providing method, a program for executing the method, and a recording medium storing the program.

Conventionally, many websites have been established on the so-called Internet. Various contents are disclosed on each website using the WWW (World Wide Web) format, and users connected to the Internet can freely browse the contents of websites around the world.
In a website, a series of files constituting the website is stored in a server connected to the Internet, and contents recorded in each file are returned in response to an external browsing request.

  In general, such website content is used by using general-purpose browsing software such as a web browser that operates on a so-called personal computer. However, in recent years, the diversification of devices for using contents has progressed. For example, in-vehicle devices such as a home television device, a fixed telephone with a display function, a facsimile device, a mobile phone with a data communication function, or a car navigation device. It can also be used from a computer system.

By the way, in order to reach an enormous amount of content published on each website on the Internet, information specifying a file location and a protocol generally called URL (Universal Resource Locator) is used.
This URL generally includes designation of a reference protocol such as “http:”, server identification information such as “www.server.co.jp”, and file identification information such as “index.htm”. "http://www.server.co.jp/index.htm" etc. are well known on a daily basis.

  Such URLs are not only described in contents published on the network, but also described in brochures of companies, business cards of employees, etc., or displayed in magazine advertisements and TV program promotions, etc. It has become very popular as a driver for connecting to corporate websites.

By the way, as described above, the URL is information for designating the position of the file storing the content, and is not for designating the content itself. In other words, it is designated as “a file called C placed in the B section of the A server”, and not as “a page describing the E service of company D”.
For this reason, when the file position is moved on the server side, a user connected in the past may not be able to capture even when searching for a file at the same position, or different contents with the same file name may be viewed. And the user must search for the intended content anew.

  To solve such a problem, the CID (content identifier) set for each content, not the file position of the content, is stored in the CID server, and the user refers to the CID as appropriate. A system that allows easy and reliable browsing of desired content has been developed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In such a CID server, a CID is assigned to the content based on a request from the content server, a CID record including the content, its URL, etc. is created under a unique CID, and these are stored.
Then, when the file position of the registered content is changed in any content server, the CID server updates the corresponding part of the CID record based on the change information.

  As a result, when the user needs some content, by referring to the CID recorded in the past, the latest URL corresponding to the corresponding CID can always be obtained from the CID server, and the desired content can be browsed easily and reliably. can do.

JP 2002-14969 A

However, the above-described conventional CID utilization system has the following problems.
That is, the CID server sets the CID only for the content requested from the content server providing the content. For this reason, the CID may not be registered for any content desired by the user, and the convenience of the CID may not be sufficiently obtained.

Also, in recent years, despite the diversification of devices for using content, CID cannot be efficiently used between devices.
For example, when browsing the content that is a personal computer and then browsing the same content again on the personal computer, the CID remaining in the history of the computer can be used as it is. However, if the same content is to be used on a mobile phone, for example, an operation such as writing down the CID from the computer and sending it by e-mail is required. As described above, a system using a conventional CID has not sufficiently satisfied user convenience.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a content providing system, a content providing method, a program for executing the method, and a recording medium storing the program, which can improve user convenience when connecting to content on a network. .

The content providing system of the present invention is a content providing system that provides a user with a plurality of dedicated contents having common contents and adapted for each output medium, and an output medium code set for each output medium, , A common content code set for the common content and a dedicated content code set for each dedicated content, the dedicated content code being unambiguous based on a combination of the common content code and the output medium code It is determined by this.
The content providing method of the present invention is a content providing method for providing a user with a plurality of dedicated contents having common contents and adapted for each output medium, and an output medium code set for each output medium, , Using a common content code set for the common content and a dedicated content code set for each of the dedicated content, and uniquely identifying the dedicated content code based on a combination of the common content code and the output medium code It is characterized by determining.
A content providing program of the present invention causes a computer to execute the above-described content providing method of the present invention.
The recording medium for the content providing program of the present invention stores the above-described content providing program of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 and 2 show the overall configuration of the content providing system of the present embodiment.
In FIG. 1, the content providing system includes a personal computer 11 and a mobile phone 12 with a data communication function as user terminals operated by a user 10.
The personal computer 11 and the mobile phone 12 are connected to a wide area network 13 such as the Internet that can be connected from these user terminals.

The network 13 is connected to content servers 31 to 33 that provide content in response to requests from the personal computer 11 and the mobile phone 12.
The content server 31 stores a website 41, and the website 41 includes contents 411 and 412 specified by unique URLs 411 A and 412 A indicating positions on the network 13.
The content server 32 stores a website 42. The website 42 similarly includes contents 421 and 422 specified by URLs 421A and 422A.

The content server 33 stores three websites 43 to 45.
Similarly, the websites 43 to 45 include contents 431 to 453 specified by unique URLs 431A to 453A, respectively.
The above-described contents 411 to 453 are established assuming that a part of the contents 411 to 453 is viewed on the personal computer 11 or the like, and are therefore described in general html (hyper text markup language). On the other hand, the other part is opened on the assumption that browsing is performed with the mobile phone 12 or the like, and is described in chtml (compact html) suitable for them.

For example, the contents 411, 421, 431, 441, 451 are edited for a personal computer. On the other hand, the contents 412, 422, 432, 442, and 452 are edited for mobile phones. The other contents 433, 443, and 453 are, for example, for a personal computer and may be a version including a higher definition image.
Here, the contents 412 to 453 are dedicated contents in the present invention, and the URLs 411A to 453A uniquely set for the contents are dedicated contents codes in the present invention.

Each of these contents is given an existing CID (content identifier) so as to flexibly cope with a change in URL or the like. The websites 41 and 43 to 45 displayed with house-shaped marks in FIG. 1 indicate that the CID has been set as will be described later, and the websites 42 displayed in different shapes have this CID not set. Indicates.
Further, each content described above has the same content for each site, but the user terminal which is a corresponding output medium is set differently. A common content code based on the present invention is set in each site in order to comprehensively specify the content having the same content regardless of the difference between these output media. In the present embodiment, the common content code set for each site (common content) is processed in the same format as the CID set for each content.

Connected to the network 13 is a CID server 39 for assigning a CID to each of the websites 41 to 45 having content.
The CID server 39 sets a unique CID for each content provided as the websites 41 to 45 by the content servers 31 to 33 described above.

For example, the content 421 of the website 42 is assigned the CID 421B. The CID 421B points to the URL 421A of the content 421, and the content 422 can be reached by connecting using the CID 421B.
When the website 42 is changed and the URL 421A of the content 421 is changed, the new URL 421A is associated with the CID 421B. Therefore, if the connection is made using the CID 421B, the intended content 421 can be reliably reached even if the website 42 is changed.
Further, CIDs 41B to 45B are set as common content codes for the respective websites 41 to 45, and URLs 41A to 45A of the respective sites are applied as the respective codes.
In this way, the contents of each site are specified by CIDs 411B to 453B, and the common content of each content is specified by CIDs 41B to 45B of each site. Here, the CIDs 41B to 45B of the respective sites are common contents in the present invention, and the URLs 411A to 453A of the respective contents are uniquely determined based on the CID and a terminal type D23 (the output medium code of the present invention) to be described later. It has come to be decided.

The CID used in this way is managed by a CID server described below. Here, the CID server of this embodiment also serves as the content code server of the present invention.
As described above, the CID server 39 sets a unique CID for each of the websites 41 to 45 and the contents 411 to 453 and accumulates these CIDs in the CID database 391.
The CID database 391 has a basic unit of a CID record 392 including CID 399 (corresponding to CID 41B to 45B) of each site, which is a common content code, and connection information 398, 397 and the like (CID 411B to 453B) of the corresponding content. A large number of the CID records 392 are stored. These CIDs are described in rdf (Resource Description Framework) format in addition to html and chtml.

  In the content servers 31 to 33 described above, the contents 411 to 453 of the websites 41 to 45 include the CIDs 41B to 45B of the sites set by the CID server 39 described above in order to present a common content code when referring to the content. Incorporated.

As the CID of the site, the CID given to the entrance of the site or the top-level content (content called “homepage” or “top”, content given a file name such as “index.html” as standard)) Can be used. Alternatively, the top-level URL where the site content is stored can be used. It should be noted that the above-described “homepage” and each content need not be contained in a series of file structures that are vertically related, and may be linked to each other in different tree structures.
Thus, the CID incorporated in each of the websites 41 to 45 is provided together with the content when the requested content is provided to the user 10.

Connected to the network 13 is a history server 38 that records the history when the user 10 connects to the websites 41 to 45.
The history server 38 monitors the terminal to which the user 10 logs in, and captures the CID of the content when the content is provided from the content servers 31 to 33. Then, the captured CID is organized for each user, and the CID of the site, which is a common content code of each content, is extracted and stored in the history database 381 as a history record 382 in time series.

  For example, when the user 10 connects to any website with the personal computer 11, the personal computer 11 reads necessary contents 401 to 404 of the designated website 40. At this time, the history server 38 reads the CID 40B of the website 40 of the content viewed from the personal computer 11, and the CID 40B is stored in the history database 381.

  When there is a request from the user 10, the history server 38 can refer to the history database 381 and provide the user 10 with the CID (common content code) accumulated as the history of the user 10. The common content code uniquely identifies a dedicated content code (CID of each content) indicating specific content by combining with information specifying the user terminal (output medium code of the present invention, terminal type D23 described later). It will be specified.

In FIG. 2, when the user 10 requests a connection history from the personal computer 11, the history server 38 searches the history database 381, collects history data related to the user 10, and sends it as a history list 383 to the personal computer 11.
The history list 383 includes a history record 382 relating to content that has been browsed in the past. When any of the history records 382 is selected, the CID recorded in the record is obtained, and reconnection to the content connected in the past is performed based on the CID. can do.

  For example, assuming that the one selected by the history server 38 is the CID 41B, the CID 41B is sent from the personal computer 11 to the CID server 39. The CID server 39 captures the corresponding CID record 392 by searching the CID database 391 using this CID as a key. Then, from the record of this record, for example, the website 41 is supplemented, the CID 411B of the content 411 is designated so as to be compatible with the personal computer 11 as the terminal type, and the URL 411A indicated by this CID is determined. As a result, it is possible to connect to the website 41 using the URL 411A checked from the history and browse the content 411 for the personal computer 11 again.

Similarly, when the user 10 requests a history from the mobile phone 12, the history server 38 returns a history list 383 regarding the user 10. Therefore, when the CID 459 connected in the past is selected, the CID 452B of the content 452 suitable for the mobile phone 12 is specified from the content of the corresponding website 45 from the CID server 39, and the URL 451A indicated by this CID is obtained, and the content 452 Can be reconnected to.
Thus, in the history server 38 and the CID server 39 of this embodiment, content selection according to the terminal type is automatically performed.
In the history database 381, it is desirable to record a title and the like together with the CID in order to grasp the contents of each content, and display them in parallel in response to a request from the user 10. For the title, for example, the title tag in the header part of the html format content may be referred to.

Next, the data structure of each database used in this embodiment will be described.
In the system of the present embodiment, in order to perform logon management of the user 10 to the network 13, a logon management server is set in any of the content servers 31 to 33, and records and records relating to the user 10 are stored and referred to as appropriate. It is desirable to be able to do so.
In addition, in the logon management server, in order to identify which user terminal (11, 12) the user 10 is logged on from, information related to the terminal of the user 10 is stored and used when there is a login. It is desirable to record which terminal is being used so that it can be referred to as appropriate.

  In FIG. 3, the user record D10 related to the user 10 may include a mail address D11, a user ID D12, a user name D13, and a login password D14. It is also desirable to record information on the last logon date and time D15 and the last connected record D16.

In FIG. 4, the terminal record D20 related to the user terminal includes a user ID D22 of the user 10, a terminal ID D21 which is a fixed identification number of the device itself of the user terminal (11, 12), and a type of user terminal (computer or mobile phone). The terminal type D23 indicating the other) may be provided.
Among these, the user ID D22 is linked to the user ID D12 of the user record D10.

In FIG. 5, the session record D30 indicating the connection status of the currently logged-on user 10 includes a session ID D31 for specifying the connection service, a user ID D35 indicating the logged-on user 10, and the previous access date and time D32 of this user 10. , Timeout record D34, terminal ID D36, and terminal type D33.
Among these, the user ID D35 is linked to the user ID D12 of the user record D10. The terminal ID D36 and the terminal type D33 are set with reference to data (D21, D23) corresponding to the user ID D35 in the terminal record D20.

On the other hand, in the CID database 391, the following data structure can be used.
In FIG. 6, the CID database D40 may include a site CID D41 serving as a common content code, corresponding content connection information D42 to D44, a position D45, a content entity D46, and an update date D47. The connection information D42 to D44 corresponds to a dedicated content code indicating content for each terminal type included in the corresponding site, and normally stores the CID of each content. However, the URL of each content may be directly recorded as a dedicated content code (example of D42), a URL by chtml may be recorded for a mobile phone (example of D43), or may be recorded by RDF (example). Example of D44).
Among these, CID D41 is CID 399 in FIG. 1, connection information D42 to D44 corresponds to connection information 398 and 397, and one set of these corresponds to CID record 392.

In the history database 381, the following data structure can be used.
In FIG. 7, the history database D70 includes an operation ID D71 that identifies a content connection of the user 10, an operation execution date and time D72, a connection target CID D73, and a user ID D74 and a terminal ID D75 of the user 10. be able to.
Among these, the user ID D74 is linked to the user ID D12 of the user record D10. Further, the user ID D74 and the terminal ID D75 in the session record D30 are transferred to the user ID D74 and the terminal ID D75.
One set of these corresponds to the history record 382.

The history server 38 accumulates arbitrary data created by the user and can be recalled arbitrarily.
Specifically, when a document file created by a user using a text editor or the like or an image file imported from the outside is designated and the storage position is sequentially transmitted to the history server 38, the transmitted storage position is stored in the CID D73. At the same time, information D71 to D75 related to the user is recorded.
When the user designates a history record 382 in which such an arbitrary file is registered, the corresponding file is called up and displayed. Therefore, it is possible to register a file with one personal computer and call it up with another computer to display or edit it. In particular, when calling, since it is possible to select from a list of user histories output by the history server 38, operations can be performed efficiently.

Next, a processing procedure in each server executed in the present embodiment will be described.
In the system of the present embodiment, a CID (common content code) is set in advance for the websites 41 to 45 by the CID server 39, and each content for each terminal included in each site is assigned a CID (dedicated content code). Code) is set. The CID of each content is uniquely determined by designating the site CID (common content code) and the terminal type (output medium code).
Here, if a CID is set for each site and content, the user 10 can connect to the website using the CID. Of course, it is possible to connect with a normal URL for a site where the CID is not set or a site where the CID is not known. The CID is normally set based on a request from the website side.

8 to 10 show CID setting and content incorporation processing according to the present embodiment.
Of these, FIG. 8 is a process for issuing a CID to a website, and FIG. 10 is a process for changing the URL registered in the previously issued CID, which is executed by the CID server 39. FIG. 9 is a process for registering the URL of each content in response to a CID issuance request from the website side to the CID server 39 and the issued CID, which is executed in the content servers 31 to 33.

  In FIG. 8, when there is a CID issue request from a website (S11), the CID server authenticates this website (S12). If the website that issued the request is not registered in this system, it is not recognized as a CID issuance target, and the process is completed as it is. When a website is registered in this system, a CID for the site (a CID of a site that is a common content code and a CID of each content included in the site) is issued (S13), and this is transmitted to the website. (S14). Also, each issued CID is registered in the CID database 391.

In FIG. 9, the content server side makes a CID issue request (S21) to the CID server for the website provided by this server. When the CID is given from the CID server, it is read (S22) and incorporated into the target content page such as the home page of this website (S23). Specifically, a meta tag or the like is used in the header portion of the html document of the home page, and for example, <meta contents-id = CID0001> is embedded.
If this website contains contents of different formats for each of a plurality of terminals (contents for personal computers, contents for mobile phones, etc.), these other content pages are examined (S24), and if there are other content pages The CID server is requested to register the content in association with the previously issued CID (S25).
When there is no other content in which the CID is not incorporated, the fact that the CID incorporation process is completed is transmitted to the CID server (S26). As a result, the CID (dedicated content code) of all contents by format is comprehensively associated with the CID (common content code) of the previously issued site. Then, by specifying the site CID together with the terminal type, the CID of each content is uniquely determined, and the content corresponding to the terminal type is specified from the URL indicated by the CID of each content.

In FIG. 10, the CID server performs URL change processing to an arbitrary CID in response to a request from the website after issuing the CID to the website (see FIG. 8).
When there is a request for changing the URL registered in the CID from the website, the CID server waits for URL information to be changed (such as a set of old URL and new URL) (S31). When URL information is received from this website, the corresponding CID (issued to the website in FIG. 8) is confirmed from the received old URL (S32), and the corresponding CIDDB (CID database 391) corresponds. The CID is searched (S34). Here, if there is no CID corresponding to the CIDDB, the process ends as an unissued error (S35). If there is a corresponding CID in the CIDDB, a new URL is recorded in the CID record including this CID (S36).
Such URL changing process is repeated until the completion of the process to the CID is notified from the website (S37).

11 to 15 show content connection processing using a CID in the present embodiment.
FIG. 11 shows a normal content connection procedure by the user 10, and FIG. 12 shows a procedure when the user 10 connects content using the history list 383.

  In FIG. 11, when browsing a website in a normal procedure, a user 10 connects to the websites 41 to 45 of the content servers 31 to 33 from a user terminal (such as the personal computer 11 or the mobile phone 12), and the user terminal The content of each site is browsed using an operating browser (browsing software) (S41). At this time, it is checked whether or not the CID is incorporated in each content page to be browsed (S42). If it is not incorporated, the browsing is continued as it is, but if it is incorporated, the history is registered. That is, the detected CID is sent to the history server 38, recorded in the history database 381 (S43), and also recorded on the user terminal being used (S44). Then, it returns to process S41 and continues browsing a website suitably. As a result, the history server 38 accumulates the user 10 and its connection history CID.

In FIG. 12, when browsing the website from the past connection record, the user 10 sends a history reference request to the history server 38 (S51), and when the history server 38 returns the history list 383, this history list is returned. The CID (site CID as a common content code) displayed in 383, the accompanying title, and the like are referred to (S52), and the CID to be browsed is selected (S53).
The user 10 sends the selected CID to the CID server 39 (S54), receives a URL related to the CID (S55), and displays the corresponding content on the user terminal by connecting with this URL (S56).
At this time, the type (output medium code) of the currently operated user terminal is automatically added to the CID of the site as the common content code, and the CID of each content as the dedicated content code specified by this is selected. And the content is displayed.

FIG. 13 schematically shows a state of content connection using the history list 383 described above.
In this figure, for example, when the user 10 requests a history reference from the personal computer 11, the past connection history of the user 10 is sent from the history server 38 to the personal computer 11, and a history list 383 is displayed on the display of the personal computer 11. Is displayed.
What is sent from the history server 38 is a set of the CID and the title of the corresponding content, and what is displayed on the display as the history list 383 is the title of the content. Of course, the CID may be displayed together, but what is meaningful to the user 10 is a title or the like.

  Viewing the displayed history list 383, the user 10 selects any content (more precisely, an item indicating the content). For selection, use the keyboard of the personal computer 11 or the like to move a so-called highlight portion and press an execution key with a desired item, or highlight a desired item with a pointing device such as a mouse and click a reference button. Existing operations can be used.

When an item indicating any content is selected in this way, the CID of the corresponding content is sent from the personal computer 11 to the CID server 39. The CID server 39 refers to the CID database 391 and searches for the URL of the content corresponding to the selected CID. At this time, the CID server 39 is also notified that the user terminal to which the user 10 is logged on is the personal computer 11. Based on this information, the CID server 39 selects a personal computer URL from the CID record 392 corresponding to the selected CID, and returns it to the personal computer 11. The personal computer 11 connects to the returned URL and displays the corresponding content.
As a result, the user 10 can easily browse the content selected from the history list 383.

FIG. 14 shows processing of the history server 38 and the CID server 39 in content connection using the history list 383 described above.
In this figure, when the user 10 issues a connection request from the user terminal (S61), the history server 38 authenticates the user 10 (S62). If the user 10 cannot be authenticated, an authentication error is notified to the user 10 (S63). ), The process is terminated. On the other hand, if the authentication is successful, a history request from the user 10 is received (S64), and the history database 381 is inspected to confirm whether there is a history corresponding to the user 10 (S65). If the history cannot be searched here, the process is terminated by notifying the user 10 to that effect. If the history can be searched, the following processing such as creation of the history list 383 is performed.

  First, the history server 38 takes out a set of CID and title from the history record 382 corresponding to the user 10 captured in the history database 381, and sends it as a history list 383 to the user terminal. In the user terminal, the sent history list 383 is displayed as in the example of FIG. 13 described above, and the user 10 waits for selection (S67). Here, when the user 10 selects any CID (actually a title corresponding to the CID, etc.), this CID is sent to the CID server 39 (S68), and the URL associated with this CID is returned to the user. (S69) The content corresponding to this CID can be referred to in the user terminal.

FIG. 15 shows processing of the CID server 39 in content connection using the history list 383 described above (corresponding to processing S68 to S69 in FIG. 14).
In this figure, when the user 10 issues a connection request from the user terminal (S71), the CID server 39 authenticates the user 10 (S72), and if the authentication fails, notifies the user 10 of an authentication error. And the process ends. On the other hand, when authentication is completed, the CID selected by the user 10 is received (S73), the type of the user terminal to which the user 10 is logged in is confirmed, and the corresponding type code (output medium code) is selected (S74). The CID database 391 is inspected and a CID record 392 corresponding to the designated CID (common content code) is searched (S65). If the corresponding record is not found here, an error process (S76) such as notifying the user 10 to that effect is performed and the process is terminated. If the corresponding record can be searched, among the plurality of CIDs (dedicated content codes) registered in the CID record 392, the type of the current user terminal (output medium code) of the user 10 confirmed previously is changed to this type. The corresponding CID is selected and transmitted to the URL user terminal indicated by the CID (S77).
As a result, if the user 10 simply designates the CID of the site, the URL of the content most suitable for the terminal can be automatically obtained even if the user terminal is different.

According to this embodiment described above, there are the following effects.
That is, the CID set in the CID server 39 can realize connection to content that is not restricted by the URL, and in the present invention, the setting of the CID is not limited to the request from the content servers 31 to 33 that provide the content, but the user Can be registered as appropriate for the content requested by the user, and the convenience of the CID can be improved.

In the CID server 39, a CID record 392 for associating a CID with a URL of a content associates a plurality of CIDs (dedicated content codes) with a CID (common content code) of a site and is currently used by a user for a specified CID. It is possible to obtain an appropriate content CID corresponding to the type of user terminal (identified by the output medium code).
For this reason, the CID of the present invention can efficiently use the same CID between devices such as the personal computer 11 or the mobile phone 12.

The history server 38 can accumulate the browsing history of the user 10. For this reason, when the user 10 wants to connect again to the content connected in the past, the connection can be easily made by referring to the record of the history server 38.
At this time, since the CID is recorded in the history server 38, the desired content can be surely reached even if the URL has been changed from the past reference.

Since the history server 38 is set on the network 13, the user 10 can freely refer to the history from different user terminals.
In particular, as described above, since the CID server 39 corresponds to the type of user terminal in the present invention, if the user 10 refers to the history from different types of user terminals such as the personal computer 11 and the mobile phone 12, the terminal type A corresponding URL is automatically obtained every time.
By connecting to the obtained URL, it is possible to automatically select and refer to a plurality of contents that have the same contents but may have different description formats.

  For this reason, in order to use the same content with a mobile phone as in the past, for example, there is no need for an operation such as writing down the CID from the computer and sending it by e-mail, and the user's convenience is sufficiently satisfied as a system using the CID. can do.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and modifications, improvements, and the like within the scope that can achieve the object of the present invention are included in the present invention.
For example, in the above embodiment, the personal computer 11 and the mobile phone 12 are used as user terminals used by the user 10, but a personal information terminal (PDA) with a communication function, a car navigation device, a fixed telephone with a data communication function or A facsimile device, a television device, or the like may be used.

In FIG. 16, the content server system 100 is represented as a whole that provides content to the user 10, and includes, for example, the functions of the content servers 31 to 33, the CID server 39, and the history server 38 in the above-described embodiment. .
The content server system 100 is configured as a system that takes a wide range of output media 200 that provides content, and can provide content in the form of electronic information to user terminals 210 to 240 connected to the network. Can be output to the print publication medium 250, the bulletin board advertisement medium 260, and the like.
For this reason, the content server system 100 is not limited to the network or the information equipment connected to the network as a whole, and part of the content server system 100 includes human elements such as printing equipment or editing work.

As user terminals, a personal computer 210, a mobile phone 220 (including a PDA; including a personal information terminal), a television broadcast receiver 230 (limited to voice but also a radio broadcast receiver), a car navigation device with a communication function 240) is set, and the content is in the form of a still image, moving image, character display, voice, music, or the like.
Examples of the print publishing medium 250 include newspapers, magazines, and brochures, and the contents are printed and posted mainly as articles such as photographs and sentences.
Examples of the posted advertisement medium 260 include street posters, sign boards, and suspensions in trains, and the content is printed or handwritten and displayed mainly as articles such as photographs and sentences.
In these print publishing medium 250 and bulletin board advertising medium 260, the content can include a character display indicating a URL or CID in another medium, a bar code or other information readable by an information terminal.

In order to cope with such various output media, the content server system 100 performs content setting for each output medium.
In the content server system 100, a common content body 101 based on a specific theme or the like is set, and the dedicated content bodies 121 to 161 for each output medium are edited based on the contents of the common content body 101.
For example, when the common content main body 101 includes a moving image, the dedicated content main bodies 111, 131, and 141 of the personal computer 210, the television broadcast receiver 230, and the car navigation device 240 are maintained as they are. The dedicated content main body 121 is replaced with one having a low resolution in consideration of the size of the display data, and the dedicated content main bodies 151 and 161 of the print publication medium 250 and the posted advertisement medium 260 are replaced with several still images. Will be dealt with.

A common content code 102 is set in the common content body 101.
As the common content code 102, for example, the common content code “CCC” is set to “C001”. In this case, C001 is a code specific to the common content body 101.
The common content code 102 is recorded in each of the dedicated content bodies 111 to 161 edited from the common content body 101.
The dedicated contents 111 to 141 serving as electronic information may be displayed in a part of the display image or transmitted in a form that can be appropriately extracted by the user who is browsing. In the dedicated contents 151 to 161 that are printed or the like and become non-electronic information, if they are described as a character string or the like in a part of the article, the user can separately identify and use them. Further, if it is displayed as a barcode, it can be read and converted into electronic information by other information devices. Thereby, the user 10 can know the common content code 102 from any of the output media.

Dedicated content codes 112 to 162 are set in the dedicated content bodies 111 to 161, respectively.
The dedicated content codes 112 to 162 may be a dedicated content code ECC that is uniquely determined from the common content code CCC and the output medium code MC. It may be a composite of columns.

For example, in the personal computer 210, the output medium code “MC = PC” is set (see FIG. 17). If the common content code “CCC = C001” is assumed, the output medium code “MC = PC” is synthesized and “ECC = C001PC1” (the last one is a version number or the like) is combined with the dedicated content code. Become.
The same applies to the other output media (210 to 260). From the common content code (CCC) 102 and the output media codes (MC) 113 to 163, dedicated content codes (ECC) 112 to 162 are used. Can be defined uniquely.
By specifying these dedicated content codes 112 to 162, the dedicated content bodies 111 to 161 can be specified.

In the content server system 100 having such content and content code system, the user 10 browses the dedicated content bodies 111 to 161 on any one of the output media 200 (210 to 260).
If the user is interested in the browsed dedicated content bodies 111 to 161, he / she tries to browse the dedicated content body again.
Here, when browsing with the same output medium, for example, if the personal computer 210 is used, it is possible to use a history function provided in general browsing software, and the content server system 100 can implement the above-described implementation. If there is a function of the history server 38 in the form, this can be used.

Furthermore, in the content server system 100, the dedicated content body 111 is checked from the dedicated content body 111 displayed on the personal computer 210, and the dedicated content body 111 is browsed again by requesting the display of the dedicated content corresponding thereto. be able to.
In FIG. 17, when the personal computer 210 requests that the common content code 102 is “CCC = C001”, the output medium code 113 (MC = PC) is added unless the output medium code is specified. The code 112 (ECC = C001PC1) is sent to the content server system 100. As a result, the dedicated content body 111 is displayed again on the personal computer 210.

On the other hand, the content server system 100 can browse with different output media. For example, if the personal computer 210 is used, the common content code 102 is checked from the displayed dedicated content main body 111, and a desired output medium code together with the common content code 102 (CCC = C001) is checked with respect to the content server system 100. By specifying 123 to 163, predetermined dedicated content codes 122 to 162 are specified, respectively, and corresponding dedicated content bodies 121 to 161 can be viewed on the personal computer 210.
That is, when the common content code 102 is “CCC = C001” in the personal computer 210 and the output medium code 133 (MC = TV) of the television broadcast receiver 230 is added thereto, the dedicated content code 132 (ECC = C001TV1) Is specified and sent to the content server system 100. As a result, the dedicated content body 131 being broadcasted on television is displayed on the personal computer 210.

As described above, in order to specify a desired output medium code together with the common content code, it is necessary to prepare dedicated operation software. Can be easily created in the form of plug-ins.
In addition, the print publication medium 250 and the bulletin board advertisement medium 260 are not originally electronic information, but the dedicated content bodies 151 and 161 that have become the respective print originals may be viewed on the personal computer 210.
Thus, the personal computer 210 can freely browse up to other output medium versions.

In the content server system 100, the same processing is performed when the content found on the print publication medium 250 and the posted advertisement medium 260 is browsed again on another output medium.
That is, the common content code CCC is embedded in the contents (dedicated content bodies 151 and 161) seen on the print publication medium 250 and the posted advertisement medium 260, and the common content code CCC and an arbitrary output medium code MC are arbitrary. The dedicated content code ECC is designated. For example, the barcode published in the articles of the print publication medium 250 and the posted advertisement medium 260 is read by the mobile phone 220, the common content code 102 (CCC = C001) is acquired, and the output medium code MC is not specified (automatically If a browsing request is issued to the content server system 100 as MC = MP), the corresponding dedicated content main body 121 is displayed.
As described above, according to the present invention, the same content can be easily browsed even in different output media by specifying the dedicated content code by the common content code and the output medium code. The system configuration, common, dedicated, and setting of each code such as an output medium are not limited to a specific mode.

In the present invention, the content is not limited to the http format common to so-called websites, and other file formats may be used, and the connection designation is not limited to URL but may be RDF or the like.
The content servers 31 to 33 that provide the content are not limited in any form or form, and may be anything connected to the network 13 and connectable to the user 10.

In the present invention, for example, when a CID is not incorporated in a content page to be browsed, an ID that can be a CID can be extracted from the URL using a template and stored as a CID in a history server.
As a template, a part that does not change even if the content differs in the content provision URL of the content provision site, text matching the text information of this part and the URL of the content page, and using the different part as CID You can also take
Here, the content providing site uses the same ID for the content itself even if the providing medium is different, so that the content can be shared on different media.

In the present invention, the format and form of the CID server 39 and the history server 38 are not limited in any way. The CID server 39 and the history server 38 are connected to the network 13 so that the user 10 can connect to them. Any device that can provide necessary functions for each of the devices may be used.
These functions may be realized using existing computer technology, software technology, or electronic circuit technology, and specific forms may be appropriately designed for implementation.

[Effects of Embodiment]
As described above, in the present embodiment, it is possible to easily refer to content of common contents even in different output media, and by using the CID server 39 and the history server 38, it is possible to reliably connect to desired content using the CID and And can automatically cope with the type of user terminal to be used.

1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a content providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram which shows the state from which the whole structure of the content provision system of the said embodiment differs. The schematic diagram which shows the data structure of the user record of the said embodiment. The schematic diagram which shows the data structure of the terminal record of the said embodiment. The schematic diagram which shows the data structure of the session record of the said embodiment. The schematic diagram which shows the data structure of the CID database of the said embodiment. The schematic diagram which shows the data structure of the history database of the said embodiment. The flowchart which shows the CID issue process to the website of the said embodiment. The flowchart which shows the process which registers URL of each content to CID issue of the said embodiment and issued CID. The flowchart which shows the process which registers URL of each content into issued CID of the said embodiment. The flowchart which shows the procedure of the normal content connection by the user of the said embodiment. The flowchart which shows the procedure in which the user of the said embodiment connects a content using a history list. The schematic diagram which shows the normal content connection by the user of the said embodiment. The flowchart which shows the process of the log | history server and CID server in the content connection using the log | history list of the said embodiment. The flowchart which shows the process of the CID server in the content connection using the log | history list of the said embodiment. The block diagram which shows other embodiment of this invention. The block diagram which shows other embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 User 11 Personal computer which is a user terminal 12 Mobile phone which is a user terminal 13 Network 31 to 33 Content server 38 History server 381 History database 382 History record 383 History list 39 Server 391 Database 392 Record 398, 397 Connection information 399 CID
40-45 Website 401-452 Content 415, 433-453 CID
411-451 URL
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Content server system 101 Common content main body 102 Common content code 1111-161, CCC exclusive content main body 112-162, ECC exclusive content code 113-163, MC Output medium code 200 Output medium 210 Personal computer 220 which is an output medium 220 Output medium A certain mobile phone 230 A television broadcast receiver as an output medium 240 A car navigation device as an output medium 250 A print publication medium as an output medium 260 A posting advertisement medium as an output medium

Claims (20)

A content providing system that provides a user with a plurality of dedicated contents having common contents and adapted for each output medium,
An output medium code set for each output medium, a common content code set for the common content, and a dedicated content code set for each dedicated content,
The content providing system, wherein the dedicated content code is uniquely determined based on a combination of the common content code and the output medium code. The content providing system according to claim 1,
The output medium includes a user terminal connected to a communication network and capable of inputting and outputting information by a user. The user terminal is a computer system, a mobile phone, a mobile information terminal, a communication device, a car navigation device, a broadcast program receiver. Any one of the above, The content provision system characterized by the above-mentioned. The content providing system according to claim 2,
The content providing system, wherein the output medium includes a publication, a street distribution, or a street notice. In the content providing system according to claim 2 or 3,
A content code server that determines the dedicated content code based on an operation of the user and the dedicated content corresponding to the dedicated content code determined by the content code server are provided to the user terminal on the communication network A content providing system characterized by being connected to a content server. In the content provision system in any one of Claims 2-4,
The user terminal can specify any common content code by the user,
The content code server obtains the output medium code preset in the user terminal, and determines the dedicated content code based on the output medium code and the common content code specified by the user terminal A content providing system characterized by that. In the content provision system in any one of Claims 2-5,
The user terminal can allow the user to specify any common content code and any output medium code,
The content code server determines the dedicated content code based on the output medium code designated by the user terminal and the common content code. In the content provision system in any one of Claims 2-6,
A history database for storing the common content code designated by the user, and a history server capable of outputting any of the common content codes stored in the history database in response to a request from the user. To provide content. The content providing system according to claim 7,
The content providing system, wherein the history server is installed integrally with the content code server. In the content provision system according to claim 7 or 8,
The content providing system, wherein the history server can store arbitrary data created by the user. A content providing method for providing a user with a plurality of dedicated contents having common contents and adapted for each output medium,
Using an output medium code set for each output medium, a common content code set for the common content, and a dedicated content code set for each dedicated content,
The content providing method, wherein the dedicated content code is uniquely determined based on a combination of the common content code and the output medium code. The content providing method according to claim 10,
The output medium includes a user terminal connected to a communication network and capable of inputting and outputting information by a user. The user terminal is a computer system, a mobile phone, a mobile information terminal, a communication device, a car navigation device, a broadcast program receiver. Any one of the above, a content providing method. The content providing method according to claim 11,
Any one of a publication, a street distribution, and a street notice is used as the output medium. The content providing method according to claim 11 or 12,
A content code server that determines the dedicated content code based on an operation of the user and the dedicated content corresponding to the dedicated content code determined by the content code server are provided to the user terminal on the communication network A content providing method characterized in that a content server is connected. In the content provision method in any one of Claims 11-13,
The user terminal can specify any common content code by the user,
The content code server obtains the output medium code preset in the user terminal, and determines the dedicated content code based on the output medium code and the common content code specified by the user terminal A content providing method characterized by the above. In the content provision method in any one of Claims 11-14,
The user terminal can allow the user to specify any common content code and any output medium code,
The content code server determines the dedicated content code based on the output medium code designated by the user terminal and the common content code. In the content provision method in any one of Claims 11-15,
A history database for storing the common content code designated by the user, and a history server capable of outputting any of the common content codes stored in the history database in response to a request from the user. To provide content. The content providing method according to claim 16, wherein
The content providing method, wherein the history server is installed integrally with the content code server. The content providing method according to claim 16 or 17,
The content providing method, wherein the history server can store arbitrary data created by the user.   A content providing program that causes a computer to execute the content providing method according to any one of claims 10 to 18.   A recording medium for a content providing program, wherein the content providing program according to claim 19 is stored.

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