JPH0991215A - Document reading system having advertisement display function and advertisement document display method applied to the reading system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain an advertisement document display function while maintaining the same facility as a conventional system and with no excessive time required when an advertisement document is displayed via a display screen of a document reading client. SOLUTION: When it is detected that an advertisement document cache 24 should be updated based on the display priority shown in a display candidate list that is stored in a display candidate list storage part 291 of a document reading client 2, a document display management part 29 gives a request to an intermediate server 4 to transfer a desired advertisement document by means of the idle time of transfer of the hypermedia documents. At the same time, the advertisement documents transferred from the server 4 are stored in the cache 24. The part 29 selects a document to be displayed out of those advertisement documents stored in the cache 24 and displays it on a display device 20 in a period when the documents are sent to the client 2 from a hypermedia document management server 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document browsing system in which a document browsing client can relay a mediation server on a network to access a document management server on a network. A document management function is provided, and the advertisement document provided by the intermediary server is transferred to the document browsing client while the document browsing client is not communicating with the document management server, and the client browses to the document management server. The present invention relates to a document browsing system with an advertisement display function for displaying an advertisement document transferred from an intermediary server on the client side while using a communication period, and an advertisement document display method applied to the system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a document browsing system for efficiently browsing a document distributed on a computer connected to a network (in particular, a document in which texts, images, voices and the like are associated with each other, a so-called hypermedia document) has been developed. It is becoming available.

An example of such a system is "Mo
saic and the World-Wide Web (IEEE Computer, 1994-1
World Wide Web (WWW) as described in "0)"
Etc. are known.

The WWW can be easily used even by a general household having a computer connected to a telephone line or the like. For example, when using the WWW from a general household, by applying for the use to an organization that provides a network service, which is called an Internet provider (hereinafter referred to as IP), and connecting to the WWW through a document browsing client provided by the IP. , You can easily access and browse documents (hypermedia documents).

[0005]

However, when a document on a network is accessed from (a document viewing client of) each home through a telephone line, each home (user) conventionally pays the line usage fee. From what I was doing
Under such a usage form, there is a disadvantage that the burden on each home increases when the communication time is prolonged. For this reason, each home may refrain from using the network, which may hinder the spread of the system.

[0006] Therefore, it is considered to adopt a system of eliminating (or reducing) the burden on each home (user) by covering the line usage fee with the advertisement cost from the company like the current television broadcasting. To be

[0007] For that purpose, for example, the IP to which each home is connected forms an advertising tie with a company and collects the advertising cost, while each home runs a personal computer which executes the software for the document browsing client provided by the IP. Using the document browsing client realized by using a computer, etc., connect to IP using the toll free service etc.
For example, the advertisement document may be displayed on the document browsing client side at the time of receiving such a service.

By adding such an advertisement display function (advertisement document providing function) to the document browsing system, the communication cost can be covered by the advertising cost from the company, and the burden of the communication cost of each home can be eliminated (or reduced). ) Is possible.

However, in realizing the function of displaying the advertisement document, extra time is required, and it is not likely that the convenience conventionally provided is impaired, and it is necessary to consider this point.

For that purpose, the advertisement document is transferred in advance by utilizing the time interval for transferring the document to the document browsing client, and the advertisement document is displayed on the document browsing client side using the document transfer time. Just do it.

However, if unnecessary advertisement document transfer is performed, an extra burden is placed on the operating environment of the network and the document browsing client. In addition, if the transfer amount of the advertisement document is small, if the transfer of the document is prolonged, etc., in the advertisement document that has been transferred to the document browsing client side in advance,
Poor display of advertising documents can occur.

For that purpose, a transfer management mechanism is required to realize efficient transfer of the advertisement document without imposing a burden on the operating environment of the network or the document browsing client. In addition, the time required to transfer the document may change depending on the load state of the network and the size of the document to be transferred. Therefore, when an advertisement document is displayed using the transfer time of this document, the display time of the advertisement document varies. For this reason, it is difficult to apply a fixed advertisement document providing method such as an advertisement at a fixed time, such as an advertisement in a television broadcast or a radio broadcast. It is necessary to control the average display based on the contract with the company.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a mediation server for mediating access from a document browsing client to a document management server on a network via the network. The server is provided with an advertisement document management function for providing an advertisement document to each document browsing client, and is provided by the mediation server during the period when the document browsing client is not communicating with the document management server. By transferring the advertisement document to the document browsing client and displaying the advertisement document transferred from the intermediary server on the client side by utilizing the period during which the client and the document management server communicate with each other. , It is possible for users to cover at least a portion of the line usage fees, etc. required for viewing documents with advertising costs from companies. In addition, since the advertisement document can be displayed by using the display screen of the document browsing client that was not used during the document transfer in the past, the advertisement document can be displayed without extra time. An object of the present invention is to provide a document browsing system with an advertisement display function that can realize the function of presenting an advertisement document while maintaining the same convenience as the system, and an advertisement document display method applied to the system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a document browsing system with an advertisement display function which can efficiently transfer an advertisement document without imposing a burden on the operating environment of the network or the document browsing client.

Still another object of the present invention is to dynamically determine the display order and the display time of the advertisement document based on the display time of the past advertisement document, the predicted transfer time of the next document, etc. An object of the present invention is to provide a document browsing system with an advertisement display function that can average the display time based on the contract.

[0016]

A document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to a first aspect of the present invention provides an intermediary for accessing a document management server on each network from each document browsing client to browse a document. In addition to providing an intermediary server for managing the advertisement document provided to each document browsing client, each of the document browsing clients uses the idle time of communication with the document management server in the client, The advertisement document provided by the mediation server is transferred to the client in response to the advertisement document transfer request from the client, and the communication period between the client and the document management server is used,
It is characterized in that document display management means for displaying the advertisement document already transferred from the mediation server on the client side is provided.

In such a system, the intermediary server is used to access the document browsing client during a period in which communication is not performed between the document browsing client and the document management server (period in which the browsed document is not transferred). Since the advertisement document that has been transferred to is displayed on the client side using the period during which the client and the document management server are communicating (the period during which the browsing document is being transferred), It becomes possible for the user to cover at least part of the line usage fee and the like required for browsing the document by the advertising cost from the sponsor. Moreover, the transfer of the advertisement document is performed between the communication between the document browsing client and the document management server, and the display of the advertisement document is displayed on the display screen of the document browsing client during the document transfer which has not been used in the past. Since it is performed by using the advertisement document, the function of presenting the advertisement document can be realized while maintaining the same convenience as that of the conventional system without requiring extra time for displaying the advertisement document.

Next, the document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to the second aspect of the present invention, each advertisement document managed by itself in the intermediary server of the document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to the first aspect. While providing an advertisement document display setting information storage unit in which advertisement document display setting information including display time zone information regarding each display time zone and display time information regarding a time to be displayed is previously stored, on each document browsing client side, The advertisement document storage means for storing the advertisement document transferred from the intermediary server is provided, and the document display management means of each client allows the client (corresponding client) corresponding from the intermediary server at the time of connection with the intermediary server. ) After reading the advertisement document display setting information,
Based on the display time zone information and the display time information for each advertisement document included in the advertisement document display setting information and the information regarding the time when each advertisement document is displayed on the client side, the display target is displayed. A process of creating a display candidate list, which is a list of advertisement documents to be displayed, in an order in which the ratio of undisplayed time is large is performed almost regularly, and each time, the display candidate list and the advertisement document storage unit store the display candidate list. It is characterized in that the advertisement document requested to be transferred to the mediation server and the advertisement document to be discarded from the advertisement document storage means on the client side are decided based on the advertisement document.

In such a system, an appropriate advertisement document to be displayed can be cached in advance in the advertisement document storage means having a limited storage capacity without waste. Next, in the document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to the third aspect of the present invention, the document display management means of each document browsing client of the document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to the second aspect stores the browsed document. When a transfer request is made, the transfer time of the document is predicted, and based on this predicted transfer time and the undisplayed time of each advertisement document indicated by the display candidate list at that time, the difference between the predicted transfer time and the undisplayed time is the largest. It is characterized in that it has a function of determining a small number of advertisement documents to be displayed by using the transfer time of the transfer-requested document.

In such a system, in displaying an advertisement document using the document transfer time, it is prevented that the display time of the advertisement document is halfway or that the same advertisement document is displayed continuously or close to each other. It becomes possible.

Further, the document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to the fourth aspect of the present invention includes a document display management means of each document browsing client of the document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to the second aspect. The urgency of the advertisement document transfer is determined based on the amount of the advertisement document stored in the advertisement document storage means of the client or the ratio of the non-display time of the advertisement document, and affects the urgency and the operating environment of the client. It is characterized in that it is provided with a function of almost periodically performing processing for determining the timing of the next advertisement document transfer request to the mediation server based on the load state.

As described above, in the document browsing system with the advertisement display function according to the fourth aspect, a sufficient advertisement document is cached in the advertisement document storage means while reducing the load on the operating environment of the document browsing client. Since the timing of the next advertisement document transfer request is determined so that it can be done, if a certain amount of advertisement document is cached in the document viewing client side and the urgency is low, the client side It is possible to suppress the advertisement document transfer request to the intermediary server until the load is reduced, and when the advertisement documents cached on the document browsing client side become extremely small, the transfer of the advertisement document can be requested to some extent priority. .

In the document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the operating environment of each document browsing client in the document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to the fourth aspect is multitask or It is based on the assumption that it is in a pseudo multi-tasking operating environment, and the advertisement document transfer request of The threshold value is determined, and the timing of the next advertisement document transfer request is determined based on the urgency and the transfer request threshold value.

In such a system, the document browsing client is in the foreground execution state,
When the load on the document browsing client side is large, such as when the input device is not in the idle state, the transfer request threshold is set high, and the document browsing client waits for the next advertisement document transfer request unless the urgency is extremely high. If the load on the document viewing client side is relatively small, such as in the background execution state or the input device is in the idle state, lower the transfer request threshold to make the next advertisement even if the urgency is somewhat high. A document transfer request can be issued. That is, in this system,
Normally, the ad document is transferred by using the time when the load on the client side is low, and when the number of ad documents cached on the client side is insufficient, the urgency is raised to give priority to the ad document. Can be transferred.

Next, in the document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the operating environment of each document browsing client in the document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to the second aspect is the window system. This is based on the assumption that it is an operating environment. In each client, the process of obtaining the degree of variation in the display time of each advertisement document cached on the client side is performed almost regularly. Is above the predetermined threshold, at least the client is in the background execution state, and the window for the client is cached by using the time that can be confirmed over a certain area. The minimum ratio of display time to display time or time to display for each advertisement document And displaying a tell document preferentially.

In such a system, when the degree of variation in the actual display time of each advertisement document cached on the document browsing client side becomes large, the client is operating in the background. , By displaying the advertisement document with the minimum display time to the display time or the time to be displayed by utilizing the state that a part of the window for the client can be seen, the variation of the display time of each advertisement document can be reduced. It is possible to reduce the degree. At this time, by confirming whether or not the viewer is present, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of the problem that the advertisement document is displayed while no one is looking at the screen.

[0027]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a concept of a network configuration of a document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, a document browsing client 2 realized by using a computer such as a personal computer placed in a general home 1 is connected to a network 3 such as a telephone line. This document viewing client 2
Is configured to relay various mediator servers 4 connected to the network 3 to access various hypermedia document management servers 5.

The intermediary server 4 is the document browsing client 2
To mediate access to the document management server 5 on the network 3 via the network 3, and in response to the document browsing request from the document browsing client 2, manages the requested hypermedia document to hypermedia document management. It has a function of transferring from the server 5 to the requesting document browsing client 2, that is, an intermediary function of hypermedia document transfer. The mediation server 4 also has an advertisement document management function of managing all advertisement documents that are contracted to be displayed with various companies, and an advertisement document requested in response to an advertisement document transfer request from the document browsing client 2. It has an advertisement document transfer function for transferring to the requesting document browsing client 2.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the document browsing client 2, the mediation server 4, and the hypermedia document management server 5 in the document browsing system with the advertisement display function of the network configuration shown in FIG.

The document browsing client 2 is a display device 2
0, input device 21, input state management unit 22, advertisement document list storage unit 23, advertisement document cache 24, cache management unit 25, communication history storage unit 26, communication history management unit 27,
A congestion status inspection unit 28 and a document display management unit 29 are provided.

The display device 20 is, for example, a CRT display device or a liquid crystal display device, and is used for displaying hypermedia documents, advertisement documents and the like. Input device 21
Is composed of a keyboard, a mouse and the like, and is used for input operation such as a request for browsing a hypermedia document.

The input state management unit 22 manages the input from the input device 21, and particularly monitors the idle time of the input from the input device 21. Advertising document list storage unit 23
Is for registering and storing a list of all advertisement documents managed by the mediation server 4. This list of advertisement documents is a copy of the advertisement document display setting file 421 described later.

The advertisement document cache 24 is stored in the mediation server 4
It is used to copy (cache) some of the advertisement documents managed by the document viewing client 2 for display.

The cache management unit 25 manages the advertisement document cache 24. The communication history storage unit 26 is used to store the communication history of hypermedia documents in the document browsing client 2. This communication history is
The file name of the transferred hypermedia document, the communication date and time, the transfer time of the hypermedia document, the congestion status of the communication line at the time of transfer, and the file size of the hypermedia document are included.

The communication history management unit 27 manages the storage of communication history of hypermedia documents in the document browsing client 2. The congestion status inspection unit 28 controls the congestion degree of the communication line (network 3) (here, the congestion degree at the time of transferring the hypermedia document).

The document display management unit 29 causes the mediation server 4 to transfer the hypermedia document requested by the user from the hypermedia document management server 5 to display the display device 2.
Manages the display of hypermedia document display to 0. The document display management unit 29 also transfers the advertisement document in advance from the intermediary server 4 to the document browsing client 2 by using the interval between the transfer of the hypermedia document from the hypermedia document management server 5 to the document browsing client 2. In addition, it also manages the advertisement document display management for displaying the advertisement document on the display device 20 by using the time of the hypermedia document transfer.

The document display management unit 29 is a list of advertisement documents to be displayed on the display device 20 (advertisement document display candidate list).
Advertisement document display candidate list storage unit 291 for storing
have. As shown in FIG. 3, this advertisement document display candidate list is a file name (advertisement document file name) that is an identifier of a corresponding advertisement document for each advertisement document to be displayed.
And the size of the advertisement document, the time zone (display time zone) in which the advertisement document should be displayed, the advertisement document contract display time ratio described later, and whether the advertisement document is cached in the advertisement document cache 24. Has table information in which is set a flag (cash flag) and a time when the advertisement document is actually displayed (advertisement document display time).

Next, the mediation server 4 includes the document transfer mediation unit 4
1, an advertisement document storage unit 42, and an advertisement document management unit 43. The document transfer intermediary unit 41 responds to the transfer request of the hypermedia document from the document browsing client 2.
In addition to acting as an intermediary for transferring the requested hypermedia document from the hypermedia document management server 5 to the document browsing client 2, the requested advertisement document is transferred in response to the transfer request of the advertising document from the document browsing client 2. Transfer to the document browsing client 2.

The advertisement document storage unit 42 stores (files of) all advertisement documents that are contracted to be displayed with various companies. This advertisement document storage unit 4
In 2, in addition to the advertisement document, an advertisement document display setting file 421 for the advertisement document is stored. This advertisement document display setting file 421, as shown in FIG. 4, for each advertisement document stored in the advertisement document storage unit 42, the file name of the corresponding advertisement document, the size of the advertisement document, and the advertisement thereof. Time zone in which the document should be displayed (display time zone)
And table information in which an advertisement document contract display time ratio described later is set. Advertising document display setting file 421
Further has a transfer request threshold value, a standard transfer time per byte, a display time variation threshold value, a background weight, an idle time weight, and initial setting area setting information, which will be described later.

The advertisement document management unit 43 includes the advertisement document storage unit 4
Manages the advertising documents stored in 2. Next, the hypermedia document management server 5 includes a hypermedia document storage unit 51 and a hypermedia document management unit 52.

The hypermedia document storage unit 51 stores the hypermedia document used for browsing by the user. The hypermedia document management unit 52 manages the hypermedia documents stored in the hypermedia document storage unit 51, and also stores the hypermedia documents requested according to the mediation of the mediation server 4 (the document transfer mediation unit 41 therein). Control transfer.

If the mediation server 4 and the hypermedia document management server 5 are connected to the network 3, their physical locations are arbitrary and not limited to this embodiment.

Next, the basic processing flow in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. First, it is assumed that the hypermedia document 501 (document # 1) is displayed on the display device 20 of the document browsing client 2.

In this state, the advertisement document display candidate list storage unit 291 of the document display management unit 29 of the document browsing client 2 shows a candidate list of advertisement documents to be displayed in the corresponding time zone in FIG. It is assumed that the advertisement document is stored in such a table format, and that some of the advertisement documents indicated by the advertisement document display candidate list are stored in the advertisement document cache 24.

Here, when the advertisement document cache 24 needs to be updated, the document browsing client 2 (the document display management unit 29 therein) is in communication with the hypermedia document 501 (document # 1) being displayed. The advertisement document transfer request 502 is sent to the intermediary server 4 via the network 3 by utilizing the free time (free time of the hypermedia document transfer).

Intermediary server 4 (internal document transfer intermediary section 41)
Is the document browsing client 2 (the document display management unit 2 in the
When receiving the advertisement document transfer request 502 from 9), the advertisement document transfer 503 is performed to transfer the requested advertisement document (taken from the advertisement document storage unit 42 via the advertisement document management unit 43) to the document browsing client 2. .

The document browsing client 2 (the document display management unit 29 therein) performs a cache update 504 in which the advertisement document transferred from the mediation server 4 is stored in the advertisement document cache 24 (through the cache management unit 25). The method of updating the cache here will be described later.

Then, the document browsing client 2 (document display management unit 29 therein) sends a hypermedia document transfer request 505 to the intermediary server 4 in response to a hypermedia document browsing request from the user. , The requested hypermedia document (#) from the hypermedia document management server 5 to the document browsing client 2 by the mediation of the mediation server 4 according to the transfer request 505.
Using the period of the hypermedia document transfer 506 in which 2) is transferred, the advertisement document 507 to be displayed is selected and read from the advertisement documents stored in the advertisement document cache 24, and the advertisement document 507 is read. The advertisement document displayed on the display device 20 is displayed. The method of selecting the advertisement document here will be described later.

Thereafter, the hypermedia document transfer 506 is performed.
Is completed and the requested hypermedia document 508 (document # 2) is transferred to the document browsing client 2, the hypermedia document 508 (document # 2) is displayed on the display device 20.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the advertisement document is transferred in advance by using the interval (time when the hypermedia document transfer is available) during which the hypermedia document is transferred to the document browsing client 2, Basically, the advertisement document is displayed on the document browsing client 2 side by using the time for transferring the media document.

At this time, it is necessary to display the advertisement document in an appropriate distribution for each advertisement document managed by the mediation server 4. An outline of a management method in the document browsing client 2 for that purpose will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the advertisement document contract display time ratio 601 and the advertisement document display time 602 for each advertisement document. Here, the advertisement document contract display time ratio 601 represents the ratio of the difference in the contract display time of the advertisement document due to, for example, the difference in the contract charge of each advertisement document. The document indicates that it will be displayed for a longer period of time for advertisement documents with a low contract fee. Here, the advertisement document contract display time ratio 601 of each advertisement document is set on the basis of the longest contract display time, that is, the ratio of the longest contract display time is 100%. In the example of FIG. 6, advertisements (advertisement documents) # 1 and # 2 are displayed for the longest time, and advertisements (advertisement document) # 6 are displayed for the shortest time.

On the other hand, the advertisement document display time 602 indicates the time when the corresponding advertisement document is actually displayed up to the present.
In FIG. 6, the display time 6 of the advertisement document displayed for the longest time 6
02 (the length on the graph) is shown to match the contract display time ratio 601 (the length on the graph) of the advertisement document. Further, in FIG. 6, advertisement (advertisement document)
The black circles shown corresponding to # 1, # 3, and # 5 indicate that the corresponding advertisement document is cached in the advertisement document cache 24.

When the graph of FIG. 6 is normalized so that the advertisement document contract display time ratio 601 of each advertisement document becomes the same, it becomes as shown in FIG. Furthermore, when the graph of FIG. 7 is rearranged in the order of the longest non-display time, it becomes as shown in FIG. Here, the undisplayed time is the longest advertisement document display time 602.
(In the example of FIG. 7, advertisement document display time 602 of advertisement # 5)
From each of the other advertisement documents (in the example of FIG. 7, advertisements # 1, #
2, # 3, # 4, # 6) advertising document display time 602 is subtracted.

In the document browsing client 2, the arrangement of the advertisement documents rearranged in the ascending order of the non-display time as shown in FIG. 8 is set as the priority of the updated new advertisement document display order, and the priority and the advertisement are displayed. An advertisement document to be newly cached in the cache 24 is determined from a display candidate threshold value described later that corresponds to the size of the advertisement document that fits in the document cache 24.

Then, according to this determination, the document browsing client 2 requests the transfer of the advertisement document to be newly cached to the mediation server 4, and discards the unnecessary advertisement document. In this example, the mediation server 4 is requested to transfer the advertisement # 4 having the highest priority and the advertisement # 2 having the second highest priority, and the advertisements # 1 and # 3 cached in the advertisement document cache 24 at that time. , # 5, the advertisement # 5 having the lowest priority and the advertisement # 3 having the next lowest priority are discarded. Then, when the requested advertisements # 4, # 2 are transferred from the mediation server 4 to the document browsing client 2, the advertisements # 4, #
2 is cached in the advertising document cache 24. As a result, the graph of FIG. 8 becomes as shown in FIG. 9, and advertisements # 5, #
In place of 3, advertisements # 4 and # 2 are newly cached.

With this processing, in the present embodiment, in order to display the advertisement document in an appropriate distribution according to the setting of the advertisement document display time ratio, the necessary advertisement document is cached on the document browsing client 2 side. Can be set.

Next, the outline of the display of the advertisement document cached in the advertisement document cache 24 on the document browsing client 2 side will be described. First, when the document display management unit 29 in the document browsing client 2 requests the transfer of the hypermedia document to the intermediary server 4 according to an instruction from the user (document viewer), the transfer of the requested hypermedia document is performed. The time is requested by the communication history management unit 27 for past communication history managed and stored in the communication history storage unit 26, the congestion degree of the current communication line detected by the congestion status inspection unit 28, and transfer. It is predicted (estimated) from the size of the hypermedia document. This prediction method differs depending on whether the hypermedia document requested to be transferred this time was previously requested to be transferred or not.

First, when the same hypermedia document is previously requested to be transferred, the document display management unit 29
Predicts the transfer time from the congestion degree of the communication line at that time and the congestion degree of the current communication line. On the other hand, in the case of the first transfer request, the document display management unit 29 obtains the transfer time for each unit size (here, bytes) from the past communication history, and this and the hypermedia document requested this time. Predict the transfer time from the size of However, if the past communication history is less than a certain amount, the standard transfer time per byte set in the display setting file 421 transferred from the intermediary server 4 in advance is used.

As described above, the document display management unit 29 predicts the transfer time of the hypermedia document when requesting the transfer of the hypermedia document. As a result, it is assumed that the predicted transfer time (hypermedia document predicted transfer time) indicated by reference numeral 1001 in FIG. 10 is obtained. In this case, the document display management unit 29 compares the hypermedia document predicted transfer time 1001 with the non-display time of each advertisement document cached in the advertisement document cache 24, and calculates (the transfer time of the requested transfer request hypermedia document). Select the best advertising document to display this time. Here, the advertisement (advertisement document) # 2 having the smallest difference between the two times is selected and displayed on the display device 20 using the requested transfer time of the hypermedia document.

As described above, in the present embodiment, based on the prediction of the transfer time of the hypermedia document, the priority is high, and the optimum undisplayed time is the most effective use of the transfer time of the hypermedia document. You can view the remaining advertising documents.

As the number of candidates for the advertisement document to be displayed next decreases as the advertisement document cached in the advertisement document cache 24 of the document browsing client 2 is displayed, the urgency of the advertisement document transfer request increases. . Therefore, in the present embodiment, the ratio of the total of (normalized) non-display time to the total of (normalized) contract display time (contract display time ratio) of all the advertisement documents cached in the advertisement document cache 24. (In the example of FIG. 9, advertisements # 4, # 2,
The urgency of the next advertisement document transfer request is determined based on the ratio of the total height of the white part to the total of the value obtained by adding the heights of the white part and the shaded part of # 1.

A request for transferring an advertisement document is made from the operating state of the document browsing client 2 and the state of the computer environment (computer environment) which implements the document browsing client 2 (and other clients). The threshold (transfer request threshold) is determined.

Here, the higher the load on the computer, the higher the transfer request threshold, and the lower the transfer request threshold, the lower the transfer request threshold is. If the urgency of the advertisement document transfer request exceeds this transfer request threshold, the advertisement document The transfer is requested to the mediation server 4.

With such management, the advertisement document is normally transferred by utilizing the time when the computer load is low, and the advertisement document cache 2 on the document browsing client 2 side is normally used.
When the ratio of the non-display time of the advertisement document cached in 4 decreases, the advertisement document can be preferentially transferred by increasing the urgency. That is, in the present embodiment, a sufficient amount of advertisement document can be cached on the document browsing client 2 side while considering the computer load.

Although the accuracy is lowered, the urgency is determined based on the amount (size) of all the advertisement documents cached in the advertisement document cache 24, and when the advertisement document amount becomes small, the urgency is determined. The processing may be simplified by increasing the frequency and preferentially transferring the advertisement document.

By the way, in the (normalized) undisplayed time of the advertisement document, due to the bias of the display order of the advertisement document display due to the difference in the transfer time of the hypermedia document requested by the viewer, the display order shown in FIG. As shown, large variations may occur. In the example of FIG. 11, only the advertisement (advertisement document) # 1 is displayed with almost no display.

In such a case, if the display priority is simply determined and displayed according to the undisplayed time of the advertisement document, the display ratio of the advertisement # 1 inevitably increases, and in some cases, only the advertisement # 1 is displayed. Can be displayed several times in succession. In addition, as described above, when the advertisement document having the non-display time with a small difference from the predicted transfer time 1101 of the hypermedia document is preferentially displayed, in some cases, the advertisement # 1 may be displayed.
Occasionally, there will be very few chances of being displayed. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the case where the non-display time of the advertisement document varies greatly.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when the degree of variation in the (normalized) non-display time of the advertisement document exceeds a certain threshold value, the hypermedia document is also used outside the transfer time as described below. Then, the advertisement document such as the advertisement # 1 is preferentially displayed. However, the operating environment of the window system as shown in FIG. 12 is a prerequisite here.

First, in the operating environment of the window system, other applications than the document browsing client 2 (an application that realizes the same) can operate, and a part of the window 1201 for the document browsing client is operated by another application. In some cases, even if the window 1202 for the application is displayed, it may be possible to see it. Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the degree of variation in the (normalized) undisplayed time of the advertisement document exceeds a certain threshold, the document browsing client 2 is not used (the document browsing client 2 is backed up). By displaying the advertisement document by using the state where a part of the window 1201 for the document viewing client is visible, the normalized non-display time variation (thus, normalized) is performed. We are trying to reduce the variation of advertisement document display time). In addition, at this time, the input state management unit 22 monitors the idle state of the input device 21, or confirms the presence or absence of the viewer by using a surveillance camera or the like, so that no one is looking at the screen. It also prevents the occurrence of the problem of displaying advertisement documents.

Next, the details of the above processing will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 13 to 18. First, in the present embodiment, when the document browsing client 2 is started up and connected to the mediation server 4 via the network 3, the document transfer mediation unit 41 in the mediation server 4 is stored in the advertisement document storage unit 42. The display setting file 421 is displayed by the advertisement document management unit 43 and transferred to the document browsing client 2.

When the document display management unit 29 in the document browsing client 2 receives the display setting file 421 transferred from the intermediary server 4, the table information having the structure shown in FIG. Is stored in the advertisement document list storage unit 23 as an advertisement document list.

At the same time, the document display management unit 29 determines that the file 4
The transfer request threshold value set in No. 21, standard transfer time per byte, display time variation threshold value, background weight, idle time weight, and initial setting area setting information are also stored in the advertisement document list. It is stored in the unit 23.

Further, the document display management unit 29 uses the framework of the table structure as shown in FIG. 3 corresponding to the received display setting file 421 (the advertisement document list stored in the advertisement document list storage unit 23) as the advertisement document display candidates. It is stored in the advertisement document display candidate list storage unit 291 as a list framework. The value of each advertisement document display time in the advertisement document display candidate list at this point is all “0”.

After that, the document display management unit 29 in the document browsing client 2 executes the processing according to the flowcharts of FIGS. 13 and 14 at, for example, substantially constant intervals. First, the document display management unit 29 reads out the advertisement document list stored in the advertisement document list storage unit 23 and stores the advertisement document display candidate list in the table format shown in FIG. 3 in the advertisement document display candidate list storage unit 291. Pre-processing for registration in the corresponding area of the framework is performed (step S1).

Next, the document display management unit 29 executes a loop of steps S2 to S5 described below in order of priority for each advertisement document indicated by the advertisement document display candidate list registered in the advertisement document display candidate list storage unit 291. repeat.

That is, if there is (unprocessed) advertisement document which has not been processed (this is not processed) in this loop in the advertisement document display candidate list (step S2), the document display management unit 29 With the advertisement document as the processing target advertisement document, the current time is the display time zone set in the advertisement document display candidate list corresponding to the processing target advertisement document (that is, the display time previously allocated to the processing target advertisement document). It is checked whether or not it is in the band (step S3).

If the current time is out of the display time zone of the advertisement document to be processed, the document display management unit 2
9 determines that the processing target advertisement document is not displayed for the time being, and deletes the information regarding the processing target advertisement document from the advertisement document display candidate list (step S4).

On the other hand, if the current time is within the display time zone of the target advertisement document to be processed, the document display management unit 29 selects the contract display time of the target advertisement document to be processed from the advertisement document display candidate list. 7 is obtained by obtaining the ratio and the actual display time of the processing target advertisement document at the present time and dividing this display time (advertisement document display time) by the contract display time ratio of the processing target advertisement document. As described above, the normalization processing for calculating the normalized advertisement document display time for comparison is performed (step S5).

The document display management unit 29 executes the above step S.
2 to S5, the (advertisement document display candidate list storage unit 2
This is repeated for all the display candidates (advertisement documents) indicated by the advertisement document display candidate list (registered in 91).

Next, the document display management unit 29 uses the advertisement document display candidate list at that point in time to determine each advertisement document remaining in the list, that is, the set display time zone, in order to determine the priority of the advertisement document display. Sort each ad document in the ascending order of the normalized ad document display time (step S
6). The normalized advertisement document display time of each advertisement document used here is calculated in step S5.

Next, the document display management unit 29 performs steps S7 to S13 described below for each candidate (advertisement document) indicated by the advertisement document display candidate list currently registered in the advertisement document display candidate list storage unit 291. Repeat the loop.

That is, if there is (unprocessed) advertisement document that has not been processed in this loop (unprocessed) in the advertisement document display candidate list (step S7), the document display management unit 29 It is checked whether or not the value obtained by adding the size of the advertisement document to be processed to the total advertisement document size at the present time is larger than the preset display candidate threshold value, using the advertisement document as the advertisement document to be processed (step S8).
This display candidate threshold is determined from the size of the advertisement document cache 24. The size of the advertisement document cache 24 may be fixed or may be arbitrarily set by the user depending on the state of computer resources such as a disk or memory used for the cache 24.

If the value obtained by adding the size of the advertisement document to be processed to the total advertisement document size is equal to or smaller than the display candidate threshold, the document display management unit 29 sets the total advertisement document size to the size of the advertisement document to be processed. After the added value is set as the new advertisement document total (step S9), it is checked whether the advertisement document to be processed is already cached in the advertisement document cache 24 (step S10). If the processing target advertisement document is not cached, the document display management unit 29 requests the transfer of the advertisement document from the intermediation server 4, and then reads the advertisement document transferred from the intermediation server 4 to read the advertisement document. The cache is cached in the cache 24 and the corresponding cache flag in the advertisement document display candidate list is turned on (step S11), and thereafter, the process returns to step S7 for processing the next display candidate in the advertisement document display candidate list. On the other hand, if the advertisement document to be processed is already cached, the process directly returns to step S7.

On the other hand, if the value obtained by adding the size of the advertisement document to be processed to the total advertisement document size is larger than the display candidate threshold, the document display management unit 29 indicates that the advertisement document to be processed has already been cached in the advertisement document cache 24. It is checked whether or not there is (step S12). Then, the document display management unit 29 determines that the advertisement document to be processed is the advertisement document cache 2
4 is cached, the corresponding cache flag in the advertisement document display candidate list is turned off and the advertisement document in the cache 24 is discarded (step S1).
3) Return to step S7 to process the next display candidate in the advertisement document display candidate list. On the other hand, if the advertisement document to be processed is not cached, the process directly returns to step S7.

In this way, the document display management section 29 repeats the loop of steps S7 to S13 for each display candidate in the advertisement document display candidate list in order of priority, and newly caches it by comparing it with the display candidate threshold value. An advertisement document candidate is determined, and if necessary, the intermediary server 4 is requested to transfer the advertisement document and the advertisement document is cached, or the already cached advertisement document is discarded.

Next, details of the processing for displaying the advertisement document cached in the advertisement document cache 24 on the side of the document browsing client 2 will be described.
When requesting the transfer of a hypermedia document, the document display management unit 29 of the document browsing client 2 executes the process according to the flowchart of FIG. 15 as follows to display the advertisement document using the transfer time of the hypermedia document. To do.

First, the document display management unit 29 checks the past communication history managed and saved in the communication history storage unit 26 by the communication history management unit 27, and transfers the same hypermedia document in the past. It is determined whether or not (step S21), and the transfer time of the requested hypermedia document is predicted according to the determination result.

That is, when the same hypermedia document is transferred in the past, the document display management unit 29 compares the past transfer time of the hypermedia document with the average value of the congestion degree of the past communication lines. , (Congestion status inspection section 2
Multiply by the ratio of the congestion degree of the current communication line (monitored by 8), and obtain the result as the transfer time (predicted transfer time) of the requested hypermedia document (step S22). If the same hypermedia document has not been transferred in the past, the document display management unit 29 determines the size (unit: byte) of the requested hypermedia document to be 1 byte obtained from the past communication history. The transfer time per hit is multiplied, and the result is obtained as the transfer time (predicted transfer time) of the requested hypermedia document (step S23). However, if the past communication history is less than a certain amount, 1 byte in the setting information stored in the advertisement document list storage unit 23 (based on the display setting file 421 transferred from the intermediary server 4) The standard transfer time per hit is used.

When the document display management unit 29 obtains the estimated transfer time of the transfer requesting hypermedia document in step S22 or S23, it initializes a variable called the minimum time difference (step S24). It is advisable to set the maximum value that can be handled by the computer that implements the document browsing client 2 as the initial value of this minimum time difference.

Next, the document display management unit 29 executes a loop of steps S25 to S28 described below in order of priority for each advertisement document indicated by the advertisement document display candidate list registered in the advertisement document display candidate list storage unit 291. Repeatedly, the undisplayed time (before normalization) of each advertisement document and the predicted transfer time of the hypermedia document (obtained in step S22 or S23) are compared, and the one with the smallest difference should be displayed next. Select as advertisement document.

That is, if there is (unprocessed) advertisement document that has not been processed (unprocessed) in this loop in the advertisement document display candidate list (step S25), the document display management unit 29 determines that As an advertisement document to be processed,
It is checked whether or not the absolute value of the difference between the non-display time of the advertisement document and the predicted transfer time of the hypermedia document is smaller than the minimum time difference at that time (step S2).
6).

If the absolute value of the difference between the undisplayed time of the advertisement document and the predicted transfer time of the hypermedia document is smaller than the minimum time difference, the document display management unit 29 sets the absolute value of the difference as a new minimum time difference. The document to be processed is set and the current document to be processed is determined as the advertisement document to be displayed next (steps S27 and S28). At this time, if the advertisement document to be displayed next is already determined, the advertisement document to be displayed next is updated to the current processing target document. Then, the document display management unit 29 returns to step S25 to process the next display candidate in the advertisement document display candidate list. In contrast,
If the absolute value of the difference between the non-display time of the advertisement document and the predicted transfer time of the hypermedia document is the minimum time difference or more, the process directly returns to step S25.

As described above, the document display management unit 29 performs step S for each display candidate in the advertisement document display candidate list.
By repeating the loop of 25 to S28, the candidate (advertisement document) having the smallest absolute value of the difference between the non-display time of the advertisement document and the predicted transfer time of the hypermedia document is selected as the advertisement document to be displayed next. You can The selected advertisement document is displayed on the display device 20 using the requested transfer time of the hypermedia document.

Next, the control of the transfer request of the advertisement document according to the transfer request threshold by the document display management unit 29 will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. The document display management unit 29 executes the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 16 almost regularly.

First, the document display management unit 29 determines that the (normalized) contract display time (contract display time ratio) of all the advertisement documents cached in the advertisement document cache 24 is not (normalized). The urgency of the next advertisement document transfer request is obtained by subtracting the total display time ratio from 1 (step S31). Obviously, this urgency increases as the number of undisplayed advertising documents decreases.

Next, the document display management unit 29, based on the advertisement document display setting file 421, the advertisement document list storage unit 23.
The transfer request threshold value stored therein is read (step S32). This transfer request threshold takes a value within the range of 0 to 1. By setting this value to a somewhat high value, it is possible to prevent the advertisement document transfer from occurring when the computer load is large as described below. However, if the value is set too high, the transfer request for the advertisement document may not be issued even if the urgency is high. Therefore, depending on the environment, set a value of about 0.8, for example. Appropriate.

Next, the document display management unit 29 asks the execution state of the document browsing client 2, that is, whether the document browsing client 2 is operating in the foreground or the background (that is, the document browsing client 2 is the client 2 concerned). (Whether or not the window for focus has a focus) is checked (step S33).

If the document browsing client 2 is operating in the background (that is, if another application is operating), the document display management unit 29
From the transfer request threshold (stored in the advertisement document list storage unit 23 based on the advertisement document display setting file 421)
The value obtained by subtracting the background weight is set as a new transfer request threshold value (step S34), and thereafter, step S35.
Proceed to. On the other hand, if the document browsing client 2 is operating in the foreground, the document display management unit 29
Goes to step S35 as it is. Here, the background weight is a value that determines the influence of the execution state of the document browsing client 2 on the change of the transfer request threshold, and is 0.
It takes a value within the range of ˜1.

In step S35, the document display management unit 29 checks through the input state management unit 22 whether the input device 21 is in the idle state. If the input device 21 is in the idle state, the document display management unit 29
Is, for example, the following expression: transfer request threshold = transfer request threshold − [{1- (1 / exp
(Idle time)} × weight of idle time] to determine a new transfer request threshold (step S3
6) Then, the process proceeds to step S37. In contrast,
If the input device 21 is not in the idle state, the document display management unit 29 proceeds directly to step S37. Here, the idle time weight (which is stored in the advertisement document list storage unit 23 based on the advertisement document display setting file 421) has an influence on the change of the transfer request threshold of the idle time of the input device 21. It is a value to be determined and takes a value within the range of 0 to 1. As is apparent, the decrease range of the transfer request threshold due to the idle state becomes larger as the idle time becomes longer.

In step S37, the document display management unit 29 compares the transfer request threshold determined at that time with the urgency. If the urgency is higher, the advertisement document does not exist in the advertisement document cache 24. Is sent to the intermediation server 4 in accordance with the advertisement document display candidate list stored in the advertisement document display candidate list storage unit 291.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the execution state of the document browsing client 2 and the idle state of the input device 21 are checked, and when the document browsing client 2 is in the background execution state, the transfer request threshold value is lowered, When the input device 21 is in the idle state, the transfer request threshold value is lowered exponentially as the idle time is longer. Therefore, in an appropriate state where the computer load is low, the transfer request of the advertisement document can be actively issued.

Next, when the degree of variation in the non-display time of the advertisement document exceeds a certain threshold, the document browsing client 2 is in the background execution state, and a part of the window for the document browsing client 2 is displayed. If it can be seen, the process of displaying the advertisement document having the shortest (normalized) advertisement document display time using the window will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 17 and 18.

The document display management unit 29 is shown in FIGS.
The process shown in the flowchart of is executed almost regularly. First, the document display management unit 29 initializes both variables called the maximum advertisement document display time and the minimum advertisement document display time (step S41). In this embodiment, 0 is used as the initial value of the maximum advertisement document display time, and the maximum value that can be handled by the computer that implements the document browsing client 2 is used as the minimum advertisement document display time.

Next, the document display management unit 29 executes the loop of steps S42 to S46 described below in order of priority for each advertisement document indicated by the advertisement document display candidate list registered in the advertisement document display candidate list storage unit 291. By repeating, the normalized maximum advertisement document display time and the minimum advertisement document display time are obtained.

In other words, if there is (unprocessed) advertisement document that has not been processed in this loop (unprocessed) in the advertisement document display candidate list (step S42), the document display management unit 29 determines that As an advertisement document to be processed,
It is checked whether the normalized display time of the advertisement document is longer than the maximum advertisement document display time at that time (step S43).

If the normalized display time of the processing target advertisement document is longer than the maximum advertisement document display time, the document display management unit 29 sets the normalized display time of the processing target advertisement document to the new maximum advertisement. The document display time is set (step S44), and then the process proceeds to step S45. On the other hand, if the normalized display time of the processing target advertisement document is equal to or less than the maximum advertisement document display time, the document display management unit 29
Goes to step S45 as it is.

In step S45, the document display management unit 29 checks whether the normalized display time of the advertisement document to be processed is shorter than the minimum advertisement document display time at that time.

If the normalized display time of the processing target advertisement document is smaller than the minimum advertisement document display time, the document display management unit 29 sets the normalized display time of the processing target advertisement document to the new minimum advertisement. The document display time is set (step S46), and thereafter, the process returns to step S42 for processing the next display candidate in the advertisement document display candidate list.
On the other hand, if the normalized display time of the processing target advertisement document is equal to or longer than the minimum advertisement document display time, the document display management unit 2
9 directly returns to step S42.

As described above, the document display management unit 29 performs step S for each display candidate in the advertisement document display candidate list.
By repeating the loop of 42 to S46, the maximum advertisement document display time (and the corresponding advertisement document) and the minimum advertisement document display time (and the corresponding advertisement document) can be obtained.

Next, the document display management section 29 determines in step S4.
The difference between the maximum advertisement document display time and the minimum advertisement document display time acquired by repeating the loop of 2 to S46 is calculated to obtain the variation of the advertisement document display time (step S47),
It is checked whether the variation is larger than the variation threshold (stored in the advertisement document list storage unit 23 based on the advertisement document display setting file 421) (step S48).

If the variation in the obtained advertisement document display time is larger than the variation threshold, the document display management unit 2
9 checks whether or not the viewer is present, for example, by checking whether or not the input device 21 is in an idle state (step S49),
When the viewer is present, the document browsing client 2 does not have the focus, that is, the document browsing client 2 is in the background execution state (step S50), and the window for the document browsing client 2 is present. If the area of the display area that can be viewed by the viewer is larger than the initially set area (stored in the advertisement document list storage unit 23 based on the advertisement document display setting file 421) (step S51) , The document browsing client 2 for the advertisement document with the shortest normalized advertisement document display time
Is displayed in the window for (step S52).

As described above, in this embodiment, when the variation of the advertisement document display time is larger than the variation threshold, the normalized advertisement document display time (that is, the ratio of the display time to the time to be displayed) is the minimum. Although the advertisement document is determined as the next display target, the advertisement document having the shortest actual display time itself may be determined as the next display target.

[0115]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the advertisement document provided by the intermediary server is transferred to the document browsing client while the document browsing client is not communicating with the document management server. Then, the advertisement document transferred from the intermediary server is displayed on the client side during the period of communication between the client and the document management server, so that the user can browse the document. It is possible to realize a document browsing system with an advertisement display function that covers the required line usage fee with the advertisement cost from the sponsor. Moreover, using the display screen of the document browsing client that was not used during the document transfer in the past Since the advertisement document can be displayed, it does not require extra time for displaying the advertisement document, and while maintaining the same convenience as the conventional system, the advertisement document can be displayed. Shows it is possible.

Further, according to the present invention, since an appropriate advertisement document to be displayed can be cached in advance on the document browsing client side, an appropriate advertisement document can be displayed in the advertisement document display using the document transfer time. Can be displayed on the document viewing client side.

Further, according to the present invention, when a certain amount of the advertisement document is cached on the document browsing client side, until the load on the client side becomes low,
Restricts the transfer of new advertisement documents to the mediation server, and requests the transfer of advertisement documents to some extent in an emergency when the number of undisplayed advertisement documents cached on the document browsing client side is low Therefore, it is possible to efficiently transfer the advertisement document without burdening the operating environment of the network and the computer for realizing the document browsing client, and it is possible to prevent the shortage of the advertisement document on the document browsing client side. .

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to average the display time of the advertisement document which is varied due to the difference in the time required for the document transfer requested from the document browsing client to the document management server.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a concept of a network configuration of a document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configurations of a document browsing client 2, a mediation server 4, and a hypermedia document management server 5 in the document browsing system with the advertisement display function of the network configuration of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an advertisement document display candidate list storage unit 291 in FIG.
Showing an example of the main data structure of the advertisement document display candidate list stored in FIG.

4 is a diagram showing an example of a main data structure of a display setting file 421 in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a basic processing flow according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing a ratio of advertisement document contract display time and an actual advertisement document display time for a plurality of advertisement documents.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state after normalization so that the advertisement document contract display time ratio in FIG. 6 becomes the same.

FIG. 8 is a diagram in which the graphs of the advertisement documents in FIG. 7 are rearranged in order of priority.

9 is a diagram showing a state in which an advertisement document to be newly cached is determined from the graph of FIG. 8 and cached.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a state in which a predicted transfer time of a hypermedia document and a non-display time of a cached advertisement document are compared.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a state in which the non-display time of the advertisement document has a large variation.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a state in which a part of the window for the document browsing client is hidden by windows for other applications.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a part of a flowchart of a processing procedure for determining an advertisement document requested to a mediation server and an advertisement document unnecessary on the document browsing client side.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the rest of the flowchart of the processing procedure for determining an advertisement document requested to the mediation server and an advertisement document unnecessary on the document browsing client side.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for determining an advertisement document to be displayed using the document transfer time.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for determining the next advertisement document transfer request timing so that a sufficient amount of advertisement document can be secured in consideration of the operating environment of the document browsing client.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a part of a flowchart showing a processing procedure for preferentially displaying an advertisement document having a short display time.

FIG. 18 is a view showing the rest of the flowchart showing the processing procedure for preferentially displaying an advertisement document that has been displayed for a short time.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... General household, 2 ... Document browsing client, 3 ... Network, 4 ... Mediation server, 5 ... Hypermedia document management server, 20 ... Display device, 21 ... Input device, 22 ... Input state management unit, 23 ... Advertising document list Storage unit, 24 ... Advertisement document cache (advertisement document storage unit), 25 ... Cache management unit, 26 ... Communication history storage unit, 27 ... Communication history management unit, 28 ... Congestion status inspection unit, 29 ... Document display management unit, 41 ... document transfer intermediary section, 42 ... advertisement document storage section (advertisement document display setting information storage means), 43 ... advertisement document management section, 51 ... hypermedia document storage section, 52 ... hypermedia document management section, 291 ... advertisement document display Candidate list storage unit 421 ... Advertisement document display setting file (advertisement document display setting information).

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An intermediary server is provided for performing an intermediary for accessing a document management server on a network from each document browsing client to browse a document and managing an advertisement document provided to each document browsing client. A document browsing system with an advertisement display function adapted to cover at least a part of the communication cost required for document browsing on the side of each document browsing client by the advertisement cost from the provider of the advertisement document managed by the mediation server, Each of the document browsing clients is caused to transfer an advertisement document managed by the intermediary server to the client by utilizing the idle time of communication with the document management server in the client, and the transferred advertisement document. Using the period during which the client communicates with the document management server. Ad function document browsing system characterized in that a document display management means for displaying at client side. 2. An advertisement in which advertisement document display setting information including display time zone information regarding a display time zone for each advertisement document managed by itself and display time information regarding a time to be displayed is stored in advance in the mediation server. A document display setting information storage means is provided, and each of the document browsing clients is
An advertisement document storage unit for storing the advertisement document transferred from the intermediary server is provided, and the document display management unit of each of the document browsing clients displays the advertisement document from the intermediary server when connecting to the intermediary server. After reading the setting information, display time zone information and display time information for each advertisement document included in the advertisement document display setting information, and information regarding the time when each advertisement document is displayed on the document browsing client side Based on the above, the process of creating a display candidate list, which is a list of advertisement documents that should be displayed, in an order in which the ratio of undisplayed time is high is performed almost regularly. Based on the advertisement document stored in the advertisement document storage means, an advertisement document requesting transfer to the intermediary server, and an advertisement document storage on the document browsing client side The document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement document to be discarded is determined from the means. 3. The document display management means of each of the document browsing clients predicts a transfer time of the document when a transfer request of the browsed document is made, and the predicted transfer time and each advertisement document indicated by the display candidate list at that time. The advertisement document having the smallest difference between the predicted transfer time and the non-display time is determined as the one to be displayed by using the transfer time of the document requested to be transferred, based on the non-display time of the document. Document viewing system with advertisement display function described in 2. 4. The document display management means of each of the document browsing clients urgently transfers the advertisement document based on the amount of the advertisement document stored in the advertisement document storage means or the ratio of the non-display time of the advertisement document. The degree of urgency, and based on this urgency and the load on the operating environment of the client,
The document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to claim 2, wherein the process of determining the timing of the next advertisement document transfer request to the intermediary server is performed almost regularly. 5. The operating environment of each of the document browsing clients is a multitasking or pseudo-multitasking operating environment, and the document display management means of each of the document browsing clients is an advertisement stored in the advertisement document storage means. The urgency of the advertisement document transfer is determined based on the amount of documents or the ratio of the non-display time of the advertisement document, and the operation state of whether the client is in the background execution state and the idle state of the input device are determined. The threshold value of the advertisement document transfer request is determined according to at least one, and the process of determining the timing of the next advertisement document transfer request to the intermediary server based on the urgency and the transfer request threshold value is performed almost regularly. The document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to claim 2. 6. The operation environment of each document browsing client is an environment in which a window system operates, and the document display management means of the client has a variation in display time of each advertisement document stored in the advertisement document storage means. When the degree of this variation exceeds a predetermined threshold value, at least the client is in the background execution state, and the window for the client can be confirmed for a certain area or longer for a certain area or more. By using the advertisement document storing means, the process of preferentially displaying the advertisement document having the smallest ratio of the display time to the display time or the time to be displayed among the advertisement documents stored in the advertisement document storage means is performed almost regularly. The document browsing system with an advertisement display function according to claim 2. 7. A mediation server is provided, which performs mediation for accessing a document management server on a network from each document browsing client to browse a document, and manages an advertisement document provided to each document browsing client. It is applied to a document browsing system with an advertisement display function that covers at least a part of the communication cost required for document browsing on the side of each document browsing client by the advertising cost from the provider of the advertisement document managed by the mediation server. A method for displaying an advertisement document, wherein an advertisement document is transferred from the client to the intermediation server in advance by utilizing the idle time of communication with the document management server in the document browsing client, and the transferred advertisement Documents will be stored using the period during which the client communicates with the document management server. Advertisement document display method is characterized in that so as to display on the client side.