JPH10107850A - Information communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize an information communication system that allows a terminal equipment to utilize effectively a time till reception of data sent from a site is finished. SOLUTION: A terminal equipment 20 makes a call to a provider 50 in the step 100, and when the provider 50 detects an incoming call from the terminal equipment 20 in the step 110, commercial data are read from an HDD 52 in the step 120 and sent to the terminal equipment 20 and the terminal equipment 20 receives the data in the step 200. The terminal equipment 20 accesses a site 80 in the step 300 and displays the commercial data on a monitor 21 in the step 500 till the reception of the data sent from the site 80 is finished in the step 400. When the reception of data is finished, the terminal equipment 20 displays the received data on the monitor in the step 600 in place of the data having been displayed when the reception of the data is finished.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information communication system in which computers are connected by a communication line via a relay device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as the information communication system,
The Internet (internetwork) shown in FIG. 8 is known. The Internet has a configuration in which a computer terminal (hereinafter, abbreviated as a terminal) for receiving information and a computer (hereinafter, abbreviated as a site) having information are connected by a communication line via a provider for connecting the line. It is. For example, the typical W of the Internet
When accessing a WWW server which is a site of WW (World Wide Web), a terminal calls a provider, connects a line to the provider, and connects a desired browser displayed on a monitor screen provided in the terminal. Specify and click with the mouse. Then, the line is connected to the site, and the site designates the specified HTML (Hyper Text Markup Lap).
data (hereinafter referred to as HTML)
Is transmitted to the terminal and displayed on the monitor of the terminal. If the user wants to obtain more detailed data from the displayed data, the user can click on a desired browser to receive and display more detailed data from the WWW server.

[0003]

However, in the above-described conventional Internet, it takes time to connect a terminal to a site and transfer data from the site to the terminal, so that the time until data is received is wasted. There is. In addition, there is a problem that a line connection fee until data is received becomes high.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a method in which predetermined information is transmitted from a relay unit to one computer until the information is received from another computer, and the predetermined information is reproduced by the one computer. It is an object of the present invention to realize an information communication system capable of effectively utilizing a standby time until receiving the information.

[0005]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a plurality of computers connected via a communication line and one of the plurality of computers are provided. Connection means for connecting the one computer and the other computer via the communication line when a transmission request signal indicating a transmission request of information is transmitted from the computer to another computer. The other computer that has received the transmission request signal, the information communication system that transmits request information corresponding to the received transmission request signal to one computer that has transmitted the transmission request signal, wherein the connection unit includes: Detecting that the transmission request signal has been transmitted from one computer to the other computer, and responding to the transmission request signal. Information transmission means for transmitting predetermined information to the one computer before the request information to be transmitted from the other computer to the one computer, wherein the one computer has the information Technical means is employed in which an information reproducing means for reproducing predetermined information transmitted from the transmitting means is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the information communication system according to the first aspect, when the predetermined information is reproduced by the information reproducing means, the other computer has the other computer. When the reception of the request information transmitted from the computer is completed, a technical means is provided in which first reproduction switching means for switching from reproduction of the predetermined information to reproduction of the received request information is provided.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the information communication system according to the first or second aspect, the connecting means stores the predetermined information transmitted from the information transmitting means. Wherein the one computer has first information reading means for reading predetermined information stored in the information storage means at predetermined time intervals, and the first information reading means When the information is read out, the reproduction of the request information by the information reproducing means is switched to the reproduction of the read out predetermined information.
And the technical means that the reproduction switching means is provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the information communication system according to the third aspect, the one computer is configured to transmit the request information from the reproduction of the request information by the second reproduction switching means. Request information storage means for storing request information reproduced by the information reproduction means before switching to reproduction, wherein the information reproduction means reproduces the request information stored in the request information storage means It adopts the technical means of:

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the information communication system according to the fourth aspect, the one computer has a second information reading means for reading request information stored in the request information storage means. A third reproduction switching unit that, when the reproduction of the predetermined information by the information reproduction unit is completed, switches the reproduction by the information reproduction unit to the reproduction of the request information read by the second information read unit; The technical means that was provided.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the information communication system according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the predetermined information is transmitted from the information transmitting means to the one computer. In this case, a technical means that a charging means for charging a predetermined amount is provided is employed.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the information communication system according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, a technical means is adopted in which the predetermined information is information indicating an advertisement. I do.

[0012]

According to the invention described in any one of the first to seventh aspects, the information transmission means provided in the connection means for connecting the one computer and the other computer allows the information transmission means provided from the one computer to the other computer. When it is detected that the transmission request signal has been transmitted, the request information corresponding to the transmission request signal is transmitted to the one computer before a predetermined information is transmitted from the other computer to the one computer. Information is sent. Then, the transmitted predetermined information is reproduced by information reproducing means provided in one computer. In other words, until the request information is received by one computer, the predetermined information transmitted from the information transmission means provided in the connection means can be reproduced. Time can be effectively utilized.

In particular, according to the second aspect of the present invention, when predetermined information is reproduced by the information reproducing means by the first reproduction switching means provided in the one computer, the information is transmitted from another computer. When the received request information has been received, the reproduction of the predetermined request information can be switched to the reproduction of the received request information. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the reproduction of the predetermined information from continuing even though the reception of the request information has been completed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when a predetermined time is reached, the first information reading means provided in the one computer reads the predetermined information from the information storage means provided in the connection means. Is read, and the reproduction of the requested information by the information reproducing means is switched to the reproduction of the read predetermined information by the second reproduction switching means provided in one computer. That is, even if one computer is reproducing the request information, the predetermined information can be reproduced every predetermined time.
In particular, when the predetermined information is information indicating an advertisement as described in claim 7, the advertisement can be reproduced periodically while the request information is being reproduced.

Further, in the invention according to claim 4, the request information storage means provided in the one computer causes the second reproduction switching means to switch from reproducing the request information to reproducing the predetermined information. When switching, the request information reproduced by the information reproducing unit before the switching is stored. Then, the stored request information is reproduced by the information reproducing means. Therefore, after the reproduction of the predetermined information is completed, the request information that has been reproduced until the switching to the predetermined information can be reproduced.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the request information stored in the request information storing means is read by the second information reading means provided in the one computer, and the third reproduction switching means reads the request information. When the reproduction of the predetermined information by the information reproducing means is completed, the reproduction by the information reproducing means is switched to the reproduction of the read request information. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the user from forgetting to switch to the reproduction of the request information when the reproduction of the predetermined information is completed.

Still further, in the invention according to claim 6,
Charging means for charging a predetermined amount when the predetermined information is transmitted from the information transmitting means to the one computer is provided. Therefore, when the predetermined information is information indicating an advertisement, a predetermined amount of money is charged each time the predetermined information is transmitted to the one computer, and the charging is performed. The paid fee can be collected from the advertiser as the advertising cost.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the information communication system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiments, the Internet will be described as a representative information communication system. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the Internet according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a terminal.

As shown in FIG. 1, the Internet 10 is provided with a plurality of terminals 20. The plurality of terminals 20 are connected via a telephone line 12 to an exchange (hereinafter referred to as an exchange) for controlling a destination of data (packet). , Called collective modem)
40. The collective modem 40 is connected by a telephone line 12 to a provider 50 for connecting the telephone line.
2, it is connected to another provider 60. The provider 60 is connected to a router 70 by a dedicated line 13, and the router 70 is connected to a site 80 that is a provider of information. The provider 50 includes a CPU 52 that performs communication control and transmission of commercial data (hereinafter abbreviated as CM data),
A hard disk memory (hereinafter abbreviated as HDD) 54 as information storage means in which data is stored is provided. By the way, the terminal 20 corresponds to one computer of the present invention, the site 80 corresponds to another computer, and the provider 5
0 corresponds to the connection means.

Next, the main configuration of the terminal 20 will be described with reference to FIG. The terminal 20 includes a computer 30. Inside the computer 30, a CPU 31 that controls dialing to the provider 50, a data transmission request to the site 80, reception of data from the site 80, and the like is provided. Have been. This CPU 31
A ROM 32 storing a control program executed by the CPU 31 and the like; an EEPROM 33 storing telephone number data indicating the telephone number of the terminal 20;
R for temporarily storing the processing and calculation results of the CPU 31
The AM 34 is connected to an HDD 35 serving as a request information storage unit for storing a communication program and a control program executed by the CPU 31 and received data.

The CPU 31 has an audio circuit 36 for generating an audio signal that can be reproduced by the speaker 37 based on the data read from the HDD 35, and a display signal that can be displayed on the monitor 21 based on the data read from the HDD 35. A display circuit 38 to be created and a communication modem 39 for receiving data transmitted from the collective modem 40 through the telephone line 12 are connected. Further, the CPU 31
Is connected to a keyboard 22 for inputting data and a mouse 23 for clicking a browser or the like displayed on the screen of the monitor 21 as information reproducing means.

Next, the contents of the communication control of the terminal 20, the provider 50 and the site 80 when the terminal 20 makes a data transmission request to the site 80 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining the above communication control contents, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the communication control contents of the terminal 20, the provider 50 and the site 80.

First, the power of the terminal 20 is turned on, the communication software is started, and a call is made to the provider 50 (step 100). Subsequently, upon detecting the incoming call (step 110), the provider 50 reads the CM from its own HDD 52.
The data is read and transmitted to the terminal 20 (step 12
0), the transmitted CM data is received by the terminal 20 (step 200). Subsequently, when the terminal 20 specifies the site 80 for which data transmission is requested (step 300), the provider 50 connects the terminal 20 to the specified site 80 (step 130). Note that the CM data corresponds to predetermined information of the present invention.

When the terminal 20 is connected to the site 80 (step 140) and transmits a transmission request signal indicating a data transmission request from the terminal 20 to the site 80, the site 80 transmits the data (request) indicated by the transmission request signal. Information) from its own HDD or the like (step 150), and transmits the read data to the terminal 20 (step 16).
0). Subsequently, the terminal 20 displays the CM data on the monitor 21 until the reception of the transmitted data is completed (steps 400 and 500).
The display on the monitor 21 is switched from the display of the CM data to the display of the received data (step 600).

As described above, according to the Internet of the first embodiment, the terminal 20 receives the CM data transmitted from the provider 50 until the reception of the data transmitted from the site 80 is completed. Since the information can be displayed on the monitor 21, it is possible to show a commercial to a user of the terminal using the time until the end of data reception.

Next, the Internet according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The Internet according to the second embodiment is characterized in that CM data is read from a provider at regular intervals and displayed on a monitor. First, when displaying the data transmitted from the site 80 (step 600), when a preset time T1 has elapsed (step 610), the CM data is read from the provider 50 (step 620). Display C
The display is switched to the display of the M data (step 630).

When the reception of the CM data is completed (step 640), the display on the monitor 21 is switched to the display of the data transmitted from the site 80 (step 65).
0). As described above, according to the Internet of the second embodiment, the data transmitted from the site 80 is monitored by the monitor 21.
, The CM data can be streamed periodically. Therefore, the advertising effect can be enhanced.

Next, the Internet according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The Internet of the third embodiment is characterized in that data transmitted from a site before switching to CM data can be displayed on a monitor after completion of reception of CM data. First, when the reception of the data transmitted from the site 80 ends (step 400),
The received data is stored (step 410), and the display on the monitor 21 is switched from the display of the CM data to the display of the received data (step 600).

Then, after the elapse of the time T1, the display is switched to the display of the CM data (steps 610 to 630).
When the reception of the M data is completed (step 640), the data stored in step 410 is read out (step 64).
2) The display on the monitor 21 is switched from the display of the CM data to the display of the read data (step 650).
As described above, according to the Internet of the third embodiment, the data transmitted from the site before switching to the CM data can be displayed on the monitor again after the reception of the CM data.

Next, the Internet according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The Internet according to the fourth embodiment is characterized in that a predetermined amount is charged when a provider transmits CM data. First, upon detecting an incoming dialing signal from the terminal 20 (step 110), the provider 50 transmits CM data to the terminal 20 (step 120), and charges a preset amount (step 122). The billing data indicated by the billing is stored in the HDD 52 of the provider 50 or the like, and the stored billing data is presented to a commercial sponsor, for example, on a monthly basis. Pay to the owner.

As described above, according to the Internet of the fourth embodiment, the provider charges a predetermined amount when transmitting the CM data, so that the provider can collect a commercial fee from the sponsor.
By the way, when the terminal 20 accesses the site 80, it takes time until the terminal 20 finishes receiving the data transmitted from the site 80, and the call charge during that time is:
Although the user of the terminal 20 must pay, the burden on the user of the terminal 20 can be reduced by allocating the commercial fee collected from the sponsor to the call fee.

In the above embodiments, the Internet has been described as a representative information communication system. However, the present invention can be suitably used for other information communication systems such as a WAN (Wide Area Network). Incidentally, steps 110 and 120 executed by the provider 50 function as the information transmitting means of the present invention, and step 122 functions as the charging means. Step 40 executed by the CPU 31
0 and step 600 function as first switching means, steps 610 and 620 executed by the CPU 31 function as first information reading means, and step 630 functions as second switching means. Further, Step 642 executed by the CPU 31 is the second
Step 650 functions as a third reproduction switching unit.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, predetermined information is transmitted from the relay means to one computer until the information is received from another computer, and the predetermined information is transmitted to one computer. As a result, an information communication system that can effectively utilize a standby time until information is received can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of the Internet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of a terminal.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating communication control contents of a terminal, a provider, and a site when a data transmission request is made from the terminal to the site.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing communication control contents of a terminal, a provider, and a site.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing control contents of a CPU 31 according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing control contents of a CPU 31 according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing control contents of a CPU 31 according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional Internet.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Internet 12 Telephone line 13 Dedicated line 20 Terminal 21 Monitor 31, 52 CPU 35 HDD 40 Collective modem 70 Router 50, 60 Provider 80 Site

Claims (7)

[Claims] An information processing apparatus comprising: a plurality of computers connected via a communication line; a transmission request signal indicating a transmission request of information transmitted from one of the plurality of computers to another computer; Connecting means for connecting the one computer and the other computer via the communication line, wherein the other computer receiving the transmission request signal transmits request information corresponding to the received transmission request signal. To the one computer that has transmitted the transmission request signal, wherein the connection unit detects that the transmission request signal has been transmitted from the one computer to the other computer. Request information corresponding to the transmission request signal is transmitted from the other computer to the one computer. Previously, there is provided information transmitting means for transmitting predetermined information to the one computer, and the one computer is provided with information reproducing means for reproducing predetermined information transmitted from the information transmitting means. An information communication system, characterized in that: 2. The computer according to claim 1, wherein, when the predetermined information is being reproduced by the information reproducing means, the reception of the request information transmitted from the other computer is completed, 2. The information communication system according to claim 1, further comprising a first reproduction switching unit that switches from reproducing information to reproducing the received request information. 3. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the connection unit includes an information storage unit configured to store predetermined information transmitted from the information transmission unit, and the one computer stores the information in the information storage unit. First information reading means for reading predetermined information at predetermined time intervals; and when the predetermined information is read by the first information reading means, reproduction of requested information by the information reproducing means is read out. And a second reproduction switching means for switching to reproduction of the predetermined information.
Or the information communication system according to claim 2. 4. The computer according to claim 1, wherein the second reproduction switching means stores the request information reproduced by the information reproducing means before switching the reproduction of the request information to the reproduction of the predetermined information. 4. The information communication system according to claim 3, further comprising request information storage means for storing the request information, wherein the information reproduction means reproduces the request information stored in the request information storage means. 5. The computer according to claim 1, wherein: the second information reading means for reading the request information stored in the request information storage means; and when the reproduction of the predetermined information by the information reproducing means is completed, 5. The information communication system according to claim 4, further comprising: third reproduction switching means for switching reproduction by said information reproducing means to reproduction of request information read by said second information reading means. . 6. A system according to claim 1, further comprising a charging unit for charging a predetermined amount when said predetermined information is transmitted from said information transmitting unit to said one computer. 5. The information communication system according to any one of 5. 7. The information communication system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined information is information indicating an advertisement.