JP2006287626A - Information providing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable an information providing device to provide information to a user terminal through a communication interface without occupying the communication interface. <P>SOLUTION: The portable information providing device 20 comprises: a female connector 22 coupled with a connector 31 of a cable 30 connected to a communication network 40; and a male connector 21 directly coupled with the communication interface 11 provided in the user terminal 10. A DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) client part 211 receives the allocation of an address of the information providing device 20, and an address allocating part 212 allocates an address of the user terminal 10. A data transferring part 213 transfers data transmitted and received between the user terminal 10 and the communication network 40. When a providing information acquisition request receiving part 214 receives a providing information acquisition request from the user terminal 10, a providing information transmitting part 215 transmits to the user terminal providing information stored in a providing information storing part 252. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus.

In recent years, USB (Universal Serial Bus) memories have become widespread as external memories of computers. The USB memory stores data for each user, and is inserted into a USB port of a computer to be operated so that the data can be read from the computer. Patent Document 1 proposes an authentication method using authentication information stored in such a USB memory.
JP 2002-31326 A

  However, when a USB memory is used, the USB port of the computer is occupied by the USB memory, so that it may not be possible to connect another USB device. For example, in a company or the like, there is a case where the USB port of the computer itself cannot be used for security against taking out data from the USB memory. On the other hand, almost all recent computers are equipped with a communication interface such as a LAN terminal.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and provides an information providing apparatus and an information providing system capable of providing information to a user terminal via a communication interface without occupying the communication interface. With the goal.

  The invention described in claim 1 of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is a portable information providing apparatus arranged between a user terminal and a communication network, wherein a cable connected to the communication network is provided. A first connector for coupling with a connector, a second connector for directly coupling with a communication interface included in the user terminal, an address setting unit for setting an address of the information providing device in the communication network, An address assignment unit that assigns an address of the user terminal used for communication with the user terminal to the user terminal, a data transfer unit that transfers data transmitted and received between the user terminal and the communication network, and the user terminal A provision information storage unit that stores provision information that is information to be provided; A command receiving unit that receives a command for obtaining provision information, a provision information transmitting unit that reads the provision information from the provision information storage unit according to the command, and transmits the read provision information to the user terminal; It shall be provided with.

  According to the information providing apparatus of the present invention, the second connector can be directly coupled to the communication interface provided in the user terminal, and an address can be assigned to the user terminal to perform communication with the user terminal. Therefore, information can be provided to a user terminal having a communication interface via the communication interface. Therefore, for example, even a user terminal that does not have a device for reading a portable recording medium, such as a USB port, floppy disk drive, or CD-ROM drive, directly couples the information providing device of the present invention to the communication interface. To receive information. Further, in the information providing apparatus of the present invention, since data transmitted and received between the user terminal and the communication network is transferred, the communication interface of the user terminal is not occupied.

  The invention according to claim 2 of the present invention is the information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the provided information includes authentication information for accessing a computer connected to the communication network. Is included.

  Moreover, invention of Claim 3 is an information provision apparatus of Claim 1, Comprising: The power supply part which receives supply of electric power from the said cable couple | bonded with the said 1st connector is provided. To do. Thereby, the portability of an information provision apparatus can be improved.

  Moreover, invention of Claim 4 among this invention is the information provision apparatus of Claim 3, Comprising: The said 1st connector is a shape standardized by IEEE802.5, The said power supply part is Suppose that power is supplied by a method standardized by IEEE 802.3af.

Moreover, invention of Claim 5 among this invention is the information provision apparatus of Claim 1, Comprising: The transfer conditions which memorize | store the conditions with respect to the data transmitted / received between the said user terminal and the said communication network A storage unit is provided, and the data transfer unit transfers only the data that meets the conditions.
In this case, it is possible to realize a so-called firewall that not only provides information to the user terminal but also filters data transmitted and received between the user terminal and the communication network.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable information providing apparatus disposed between a user terminal and a communication network in which communication is performed in accordance with the Internet protocol, and connected to the communication network. A first connector for coupling with a connector of a cable to be connected, a second connector for directly coupling with a communication interface provided in the user terminal, and an address of the information providing device in the communication network in accordance with a DHCP protocol An address setting unit that sets the address of the user terminal used for communication with the user terminal according to the DHCP protocol, and a transmission / reception between the user terminal and the communication network. Transfer unit that converts the address of the data to be transferred A provision information storage unit that stores provision information that is data for displaying a Web page, a command reception unit that receives a command for acquiring a Web page from the user terminal, and the provision information according to the command A provision information transmitting unit that transmits the information to the user terminal.

  The invention according to claim 7 of the present invention is the information providing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the provided information is authenticated with respect to another Web server connected to the communication network. It is assumed that link information is included to perform access involving.

  The invention according to claim 8 of the present invention is a system for providing information to a user terminal, and is a portable information providing device disposed between the user terminal and a communication network, and the communication network. A server device connected to the information providing device via the server, and the server device includes a provision information storage unit that stores provision information that is information to be provided to the user terminal. A first connector for coupling with a connector of a cable connected to the communication network, a second connector for directly coupling with a communication interface provided in the user terminal, and an address of the information providing device in the communication network And an address setting unit for setting the address of the user terminal used for communication with the user terminal to the user terminal An address assigning unit to be assigned, a data transfer unit for transferring data transmitted and received between the user terminal and the communication network, and a first command for obtaining the provision information transmitted from the user terminal. A first command receiver for receiving, and a first command transmitter for transmitting to the server device a second command for acquiring the provision information in response to reception of the first command; The server device reads and reads the provided information from the provided information storage unit according to the second command receiving unit that receives the second command transmitted from the information providing device, and the second command. A first provision information transmission unit that transmits the provision information to the information provision apparatus, and the information provision apparatus receives the provision information transmitted from the server apparatus. And further comprising a providing information receiver signal to, the second providing information transmitter that transmits the provided information received to the user terminal.

  The invention according to claim 9 is the information providing system according to claim 8, wherein the information providing apparatus includes an identification information storage unit that stores identification information of the information providing apparatus. The provision information storage unit provided in the server device stores the provision information in association with the identification information, and the first command transmission unit provided in the information provision device includes the identification in the second command. The information is appended to the server device and transmitted to the server device, and the first provision information transmission unit included in the server device includes the provision information corresponding to the identification information attached to the second command. It is assumed that the provided information read out from the storage unit is transmitted to the information providing apparatus.

  According to the present invention, information can be provided to a user terminal via a communication interface without occupying the communication interface.

=== System configuration ===
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an information providing system 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the information providing system 1 according to this embodiment includes a user terminal 10, an information providing device 20, and a DHCP server device 50. The information providing device 20 and the DHCP server device 50 are connected via a communication network 40 and can communicate with each other. The communication network 40 is, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network) or the Internet. In the communication network 40, TCP / IP communication is performed.

  The DHCP server device 50 assigns addresses by DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) to devices connected to the communication network 40. As the DHCP server device 50, for example, a personal computer or a workstation can be used.

  The information providing apparatus 20 is a computer that is arranged between the user terminal 10 and the communication network 40 and transfers data between the user terminal 10 and the communication network 40. As a result, the user terminal 10 can perform communication via the communication network 40.

  The user terminal 10 is, for example, a personal computer or a workstation operated by a user. The user terminal 10 executes an application program that implements a Web browser, and the user uses the Web browser to the information providing apparatus 20 or another computer (not shown) such as a Web server connected to the communication network 40. You can access and browse various information.

=== Information Providing Device ===
FIG. 2 shows a state where the information providing apparatus 20 is arranged between the user terminal 10 and the communication network 40. As shown in FIG. 2, the information providing apparatus 20 of the present embodiment has a small connector shape, and includes a male connector 21 (corresponding to the second connector of the present invention) and a female connector 22 (of the present invention). Corresponding to the first connector). The male connector 21 is directly inserted into the communication interface 11 of the user terminal 10, and the male connector 31 of the cable 30 for connecting to the communication network 40 is inserted into the female connector 22. For example, RJ45-shaped connectors can be employed as these connectors.

  FIG. 3 shows a hardware configuration of the information providing apparatus 20. As shown in FIG. 3, the information providing apparatus 20 includes a male connector 21, a female connector 22, a CPU 23, a memory 24, a storage device 25, and a power supply unit 26. The storage device 25 is, for example, NVRAM, EEPROM, flash memory or the like that stores programs and data. The CPU 23 implements various functions by reading the program stored in the storage device 25 into the memory 24 and executing it. The power supply unit 26 receives power supply from the cable 30 inserted into the female connector 22. The power supply unit 26 accepts the supply of power from the cable 30 by PoE (Power over the Ethernet) standardized by IEEE 802.3af, for example. The power supply unit 26 may receive power supply from a connector such as a USB or a power adapter, for example.

=== Function block ===
FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the information providing apparatus 20. As shown in FIG. 4, the information providing apparatus 20 includes a DHCP client unit 211, an address assigning unit 212, a data transfer unit 213, a provided information acquisition request receiving unit 214, and a provided information transmitting unit 215, and transfer condition storage. Part 251 and each storage part of provided information storage part 252.

  The DHCP client unit 211 (corresponding to the address setting unit of the present invention) receives the address assignment in the communication network 40 from the DHCP server 50 in accordance with the DHCP protocol, and sets the address of the information providing apparatus 20.

  The address assignment unit 212 assigns the address of the user terminal 10 used for communication between the information providing apparatus 20 and the user terminal 10 to the user terminal 10. In the present embodiment, the address assignment unit 212 assigns an address to the user terminal 10 according to the DHCP protocol. Note that the address of the information providing apparatus 20 used for communication with the user terminal 10 is always the same “192.168.0.1”. As a result, the Web browser operating on the user terminal 10 can always access the information providing apparatus 20 with the same address.

  The data transfer unit 213 transfers data between the user terminal 10 and the communication network 40 while converting addresses by NAT (Network Address Translation), for example. By the data transfer unit 213, the information providing apparatus 20 functions as a so-called router.

  The transfer condition storage unit 251 stores conditions for data transferred by the data transfer unit 213 (hereinafter referred to as transfer conditions). In the transfer condition, for example, whether to transfer data is specified according to a TCP / IP port number to which data is communicated, a communication protocol, or the like. Whether the data transfer unit 213 can transfer the data with reference to the transfer condition stored in the transfer condition storage unit 251 when transferring the data between the user terminal 10 and the communication network 40. To judge. Thus, the data transfer unit 213 causes the information providing device 20 to function as a so-called firewall between the user terminal 10 and the communication network 40.

  The provided information storage unit 252 stores information provided to the user terminal 10 (hereinafter referred to as provided information). In the present embodiment, the provision information storage unit 252 stores provision information as a Web page described in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). In the present embodiment, the provided information includes a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) in which a user ID and a password necessary for logging in to another Web site are set.

  The provided information acquisition request receiving unit 214 (corresponding to the command receiving unit and the first command receiving unit of the present invention) is a command (hereinafter referred to as providing information acquisition) transmitted from the user terminal 10 for acquiring provided information. Request). In the present embodiment, the provision information acquisition request is realized by a file acquisition request by HTTP.

  The provision information transmission unit 215 transmits the provision information stored in the provision information storage unit 252 to the user terminal 10 in response to the provision information acquisition request. On the user terminal 10, provided information is displayed by a Web browser or the like. An example of provided information displayed by the user terminal 10 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the provided information includes a link destination in which authentication information is set, and the user can easily access a website requiring authentication by following the link. ing.

  The functional units 211 to 215 are realized by the CPU 23 executing a program stored in the storage device 25. Each storage unit 251 to 252 is realized in a storage area provided by the memory 24 or the storage device 25.

=== Information provision processing ===
FIG. 6 shows a flow of processing in which the information providing apparatus 20 provides provided information to the user terminal 10.

  The male connector 21 of the information providing device 20 is inserted into the communication interface 11 of the user terminal 10, the male connector 31 of the cable 30 is inserted into the female connector 22 of the information providing device 20, and the information providing device 20 is connected to the communication network 40. Then, the information providing apparatus 20 receives an address setting in the communication network 40 from the DHCP server 50 in accordance with the DHCP protocol (S602). Further, the information providing apparatus 20 assigns an address used for communication with the user terminal 10 to the user terminal 10 in accordance with the DHCP protocol (S603). At this time, the information providing apparatus 20 instructs to set a fixed “192.168.0.1” as the gateway address of the user terminal 10 as the gateway address. Note that the address setting process of the information providing apparatus 20 in the above (S601) to (S602) and the address assignment process for the user terminal 10 in (S603) can be performed regardless of the order.

  When the user designates “192.168.0.1” fixed to the information providing apparatus 20 as an access destination on the Web browser, an HTTP request that is a provision information acquisition request is transmitted from the user terminal 10 to the information providing apparatus 20. (S604). The information providing apparatus 20 receives an HTTP request from the user terminal 10 and transmits a Web page that is provided information stored in the provided information storage unit 252 to the user terminal 10 (S605). On the user terminal 10, a screen as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the Web browser.

  In this way, the user can easily access the provision information stored in the information provision apparatus 20. Thereby, for example, when the setting is such that the USB port of the user terminal 10 cannot be used, or the user terminal 10 is a portable recording medium such as a USB port, floppy disk drive, CD-ROM drive, or MO disk drive. Even if the system does not have a mechanism for reading information from the user terminal 10, the user terminal 10 can access the provided information by connecting the information providing apparatus 20 to the communication interface 11 generally provided in the computer. it can.

  In addition, the information providing apparatus 20 occupies the interface of the user terminal 10 in providing provided information to the user terminal 10 in order to transfer data transmitted and received between the user terminal 10 and the communication network 40. There is no end to it.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the information providing apparatus 20 of the present embodiment has a small connector shape, and further receives power from the cable 31 by PoE. Therefore, the information providing apparatus 20 has high portability. It can be easily arranged between the user terminal 10 and the communication network 40.

  Further, in order to access the provision information stored in the information provision apparatus 20 of the present embodiment, no special driver program or application program is required on the user terminal 10 side, and it is easy to use a general Web browser. You can access the information provided.

  In addition, the provision information provided by the information provision apparatus 20 of the present embodiment can include link information for accessing another computer connected to the communication network 40. In this case, the user of the user terminal 10 can use the provided information as a so-called bookmark.

  Note that the information providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment may include a hub having a plurality of female connectors instead of the male connector 21. In this case, it is possible to accept access to the provision information from the plurality of user terminals 10 by connecting the hub provided in the information provision apparatus 20 and the communication interface of the user terminal 10 with a cable. In addition, a function as a router or a firewall can be provided to a plurality of user terminals 10.

=== External management of provided information ===
In the above embodiment, the provision information is managed by the information provision apparatus 20, but may be managed by a server apparatus 60 different from the information provision apparatus 20. The configuration of the information providing system 2 in this case is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the information providing system 2 has a configuration in which a server device 60 that manages the provided information is added to the configuration of the information providing system 1 in FIG. The server device 60 is communicably connected to the information providing device 20 via the communication network 40, and the provided information is managed in the server device 60. In the communication providing system 2 of the present embodiment, the server device 60 manages information including a URL to be accessed by the user (hereinafter referred to as link information), and the information providing device 20 uses the link information. Create advertisements.

  The hardware configuration of the server device 60 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 8, the server device 60 includes a CPU 601, a memory 602, a storage device 603, and a communication interface 604. The storage device 603 stores programs and data, such as a hard disk or a CD-ROM. The CPU 601 implements various functions by reading the program stored in the storage device 603 into the memory 602 and executing it. The communication interface 604 is connected to the communication network 40, for example, an Ethernet (registered trademark) adapter or a modem.

  FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of the server device 60. As shown in the figure, the server device 60 includes a link information acquisition request reception unit 611, a link information transmission unit 612, and a link information storage unit 613.

  The link information acquisition request 611 receives a command for acquiring link information managed by the server device 60 (hereinafter referred to as a link information acquisition request) from the information providing device 20. In the link information acquisition request, identification information (hereinafter referred to as key information) of the information providing apparatus that is the transmission source of the link information acquisition request is set. Note that the identification information may include authentication information for authenticating the information providing apparatus 20.

  The link information storage unit 613 stores link information for each information providing device 20. FIG. 10 shows the structure of link information. As shown in FIG. 10, the link information includes a title that explains the link destination and the URL that becomes the link destination using the key information as a key.

  The link information transmission unit 612 reads link information corresponding to the key information set in the link information acquisition request from the link information storage unit 613, and transmits the read link information to the information providing apparatus 20.

  The link information acquisition request receiving unit 611 and the link information transmitting unit 612 are realized by the CPU 601 of the server device 60 executing a program stored in the memory 602. The link information storage unit 613 includes the memory 602 and the link information storage unit 613. This is realized in a storage area provided by the storage device 603.

  FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of the information providing apparatus 20 in the information providing system 2. As shown in the figure, in the information provision system 2, the information provision apparatus 20 omits the provision information storage unit 252 from the configuration of FIG. 4 described above, and provides a link information acquisition request transmission unit 221, a link information reception unit 222, and a provision. An information creation unit 223 and a key information storage unit 261 are added.

The key information storage unit 261 stores key information that is identification information of the information providing apparatus 20.
In response to receiving the provision information acquisition request, the link information acquisition request transmission unit 221 creates a link information acquisition request in which the key information stored in the key information storage unit 261 is set, and sends the generated link information acquisition request to the server To device 60.
The link information receiving unit 222 receives link information transmitted from the server device 60 in response to a link information acquisition request.
The provision information creation unit 223 creates provision information based on the link information. For example, when the login information in the example of FIG. 10 is received, the provision information creation unit 223 displays “<A HREF=“http://www... ”> for displaying the title with a URL link attached thereto. The provided information can be created by describing the HTML of “Login </A><BR>” in A.

=== Operation ===
FIG. 12 shows a flow of processing in which provision information is provided to the user terminal 10 in the information provision system 2. In the process of FIG. 12, when the information providing apparatus 20 is arranged between the user terminal 10 and the communication network 40, the above-described processes (S601) to (S604) shown in FIG. 6 are executed.

  Upon receiving the provision information acquisition request from the user terminal 10 in (S604), the information providing apparatus 20 reads the key information from the key information storage unit 261 (S611), and sends the link information acquisition request in which the read key information is set to the server. The data is transmitted to the device 60 (S612).

  The server device 60 receives the link information acquisition request transmitted from the information providing device 20, and reads the link information corresponding to the key information set in the received link information acquisition request from the link information storage unit 613 (S613). . The server device 60 transmits the read link information to the information providing device 20 (S614).

  The information providing apparatus 20 receives the link information transmitted from the server apparatus 60 in response to the link information acquisition request, and creates a Web page that is the provided information based on the received link information (S615). The information providing apparatus 20 transmits the created Web page to the user terminal 10 in (S605).

  As described above, in the information providing system 2 of the present embodiment, the provided information is managed by the server device 60, and the information providing device 20 can extract link information from the server device 60 as necessary. Therefore, although the storage capacity is limited in the small connector-shaped information providing device 20 as in the present embodiment, a large amount of link destinations are provided to the user terminal 10 by storing the link information in the server device 60. can do.

  In this embodiment, for simplicity, the server device 60 manages only link information. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and arbitrary information to be provided to the user terminal 10 is stored. Can do. Thereby, provision information with a higher degree of freedom can be provided to the user terminal 10. Here, for example, the link information is set so that arbitrary information is described according to HTML, and the provision information creation unit 223 of the information provision apparatus 20 creates the provision information by connecting the link information. Arbitrary information can be easily provided to the user terminal 10.

  Further, the server device 60 may manage the provided provision information. In this case, the information provision apparatus 20 can omit the provision information creation unit 223. Therefore, since the processing capability required for the information providing apparatus 20 can be limited, the information providing apparatus 20 can be created more easily and inexpensively.

  When the authentication information is included in the key information, the server device 60 may authenticate the information providing device 20 using the key information prior to transmission of the link information. Thereby, the security with respect to the link information provided to a user can be strengthened.

  Although the present embodiment has been described above, the above examples are for facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention. The present invention can be changed and improved without departing from the gist thereof, and the present invention includes equivalents thereof.

2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an information providing apparatus 20. FIG. It is a figure which shows a mode that the information provision apparatus 20 which concerns on this embodiment is arrange | positioned. It is a figure which shows the whole structure of the computer system by which the information provision apparatus 20 is arrange | positioned. 3 is a functional block diagram of the information providing apparatus 20. FIG. 4 is an example of a Web page provided from the information providing apparatus 20 to the user terminal 10. 4 is a diagram illustrating a flow of processing in which the information providing apparatus 20 provides providing information to a user terminal 10. FIG. It is a figure which shows the whole structure of the information provision system 2 made to manage provision information in the server apparatus. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a server device 60. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a server device 60. FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of link information. 3 is a functional block diagram of an information providing apparatus 20 in the information providing system 2. FIG. It is a figure which shows the flow of the process in which provision information is provided to the user terminal in the information provision system.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 User terminal 11 Communication interface 20 Information provision apparatus 21 Male connector 22 Female connector 23 CPU
24 memory 25 storage device 26 power supply unit 211 DHCP client unit 212 address allocation unit 213 data transfer unit 214 provision information acquisition request reception unit 215 provision information transmission unit 221 link information acquisition request transmission unit 222 link information reception unit 223 provision information generation unit 251 Transfer condition storage unit 252 Provided information storage unit 261 Key information storage unit 30 Cable 31 Male connector 40 Communication network 50 DHCP server device 60 Server device 601 CPU
602 Memory 603 Storage device 604 Communication interface 611 Link information acquisition request reception unit 612 Link information transmission unit 613 Link information storage unit

Claims (9)

A portable information providing device arranged between a user terminal and a communication network,
A first connector for coupling with a connector of a cable connected to the communication network;
A second connector for directly coupling to a communication interface included in the user terminal;
An address setting unit for setting an address of the information providing device in the communication network;
An address assignment unit for assigning an address of the user terminal used for communication with the user terminal to the user terminal;
A data transfer unit for transferring data transmitted and received between the user terminal and the communication network;
A provision information storage unit that stores provision information that is information to be provided to the user terminal;
A command receiving unit that receives a command for acquiring the provision information transmitted from the user terminal;
A provision information transmitting unit that reads the provision information from the provision information storage unit in response to the command and transmits the read provision information to the user terminal;
An information providing apparatus comprising: The information providing device according to claim 1,
The provision information includes authentication information for accessing a computer connected to the communication network;
An information providing apparatus characterized by the above. The information providing device according to claim 1,
A power supply unit that receives power from the cable coupled to the first connector;
An information providing apparatus characterized by the above. The information providing device according to claim 3,
The first connector has a shape standardized by IEEE 802.5,
The power supply unit is supplied with power according to a method standardized by IEEE 802.3af;
An information providing apparatus characterized by the above. The information providing device according to claim 1,
A transfer condition storage unit that stores conditions for data transmitted and received between the user terminal and the communication network;
The data transfer unit transfers only the data that meets the conditions;
An information providing apparatus characterized by the above. A portable information providing device arranged between a user terminal and a communication network in which communication is performed according to the Internet protocol,
A first connector for coupling with a connector of a cable connected to the communication network;
A second connector for directly coupling to a communication interface included in the user terminal;
An address setting unit configured to set an address of the information providing device in the communication network according to a DHCP protocol;
An address assignment unit that assigns an address of the user terminal used for communication with the user terminal to the user terminal in accordance with a DHCP protocol;
A data transfer unit that converts an address and transfers data transmitted and received between the user terminal and the communication network;
A provision information storage unit that stores provision information that is data for displaying a Web page;
A command receiving unit for receiving a command for acquiring a Web page from the user terminal;
A provision information transmitting unit that transmits the provision information to the user terminal in response to the command;
An information providing apparatus comprising: The information providing device according to claim 6,
The provided information includes link information for performing access with authentication to another Web server connected to the communication network;
An information providing apparatus characterized by the above. A system for providing information to a user terminal,
A portable information providing device disposed between a user terminal and a communication network, and a server device connected to the information providing device via the communication network;
The server device includes a provision information storage unit that stores provision information that is information to be provided to the user terminal,
The information providing apparatus includes:
A first connector for coupling with a connector of a cable connected to the communication network;
A second connector for directly coupling to a communication interface included in the user terminal;
An address setting unit for setting an address of the information providing device in the communication network;
An address assignment unit for assigning an address of the user terminal used for communication with the user terminal to the user terminal;
A data transfer unit for transferring data transmitted and received between the user terminal and the communication network;
A first command receiving unit that receives a first command for obtaining the provision information transmitted from the user terminal;
A first command transmission unit configured to transmit a second command for acquiring the provision information to the server device in response to reception of the first command;
The server device
A second command receiving unit for receiving the second command transmitted from the information providing device;
A first provision information transmission unit that reads the provision information from the provision information storage unit in response to the second command and transmits the read provision information to the information provision device;
The information providing apparatus includes:
A provision information receiving unit for receiving the provision information transmitted from the server device;
A second provision information transmitting unit that transmits the received provision information to the user terminal;
An information provision system characterized by The information providing system according to claim 8,
The information providing apparatus includes an identification information storage unit that stores identification information of the information providing apparatus,
The provision information storage unit included in the server device stores the provision information in association with the identification information;
The first command transmission unit included in the information providing apparatus transmits the identification information to the second command and transmits it to the server apparatus,
The first provision information transmission unit included in the server device reads the provision information corresponding to the identification information attached to the second command from the provision information storage unit, and reads the read provision information. Sending to the information providing device,
An information provision system characterized by

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