JPH10207908A - Network service access managing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network service access managing device in which a uniform resource locator(URL) can be easily inputted and designated while using equipment having an input means with extremely a little figures, etc. SOLUTION: A figure correspondence information storage part 12 stores the correspondence between URL and alphabets describing that URL and a character string converting specified characters to figures, this is always updated by a figure correspondence information update part 13, and the URL corresponding to the character string inputted from the user is retrieved by a specified character control part 11, figure correspondence information retrieval part 14 and retrieval part 15. Then, when the plural coincident URLs are retrieved, any one is selected among them by the user so that the URL can be easily designated from the equipment having the limited means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information communication apparatus for providing information using a network called the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an interconnected network called the Internet, a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) has been used to search for information around the world.
Information (eg, http: // ntintf)
o. ntt. jp) indicates the position of the information. The URL consists of protocol information, node information, and additional information. The URL is based on an Internet protocol originally conceived in the United States. In order to uniquely identify the URL around the world, generally, an alphabet and ":" are used.
(Colon), "." (Period), and "/" (slash).

[0003] On the other hand, as the Internet has become widespread, devices such as an Internet TV that access the Internet and search for information between tea rooms have begun to be put into practical use. In this case, the URL is accessed by inputting a URL using a TV remote controller or the like, and the user directly operates the numeric keys to input the URL, or uses an arrow (cursor) key and a key having a meaning such as selection and execution. It is common to operate in combination to select a screen or an item in it, or to operate a virtual keyboard displayed on the screen for input.

FIG. 1 shows an outline of a conventional device of this type. In response to an instruction from a control unit 1, a communication processing unit 2 receives access information (URL) from a user and sends it to a URL access unit 3. . After the reception, the URL access unit 3 creates an access command on the network from the information, and transmits the access command to the communication processing unit 2. The communication processing unit 2 transmits the command to a computer on the network specified by the URL information via the network and transmits a reception result to the response unit 4 according to an instruction of the control unit 1. After receiving, responder 4
Converts information from a computer on the network into a reply command to the user and returns it to the user.

[0005]

However, in the above-described configuration, the conversion for inputting the URL described by the alphabet and the specific character from a device having only numeric keys and arrow (cursor) keys is performed. There was a problem that the function was not sufficient and URL input was inconvenient.

[0006] In the United States and the like, numbers and alphabets are written side by side on telephones, and the numbers corresponding to telephone numbers are memorized in the alphabet. Since the correspondence between numbers and alphabets is not one-to-one, there is a technique for converting information input by numbers into alphabets. However, since this is also assumed to be a normal English word, there is a drawback that it is not possible to sufficiently cope with the input of specific characters frequently used in the URL described above.

An object of the present invention is to provide a network service access management apparatus which can easily input and designate a URL using a device having a very small number of input means such as numbers.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a network service access management apparatus for accessing information having a URL designated by a user via a network and providing the information to the user. , A URL corresponding to an alphabet describing the URL and a character string obtained by converting a specific character to a number according to a preset rule, and a number correspondence information storage unit for storing information having a new URL. A number correspondence information updating unit that stores a character string corresponding to a URL in the number correspondence information storage unit, and, when a search target character string is input, retrieves a URL corresponding to the character string from the number correspondence information storage unit. And a character string input by the user to specify a URL is sent to the numeral corresponding information search unit, and when there is no search result, Notifies the person without the user was and a retrieval section for selecting one of them to the user when plural.

According to the present invention, a URL is stored as a character string converted into a number in accordance with a preset rule, and this is constantly updated, and a character string designating a URL input from a user based on the character string is updated. Search for a matching URL
If multiple searches are made, the user can select one of them to access information on the Internet widely from devices that have input means limited to only numeric keys or only a few special keys. It is possible to provide a highly convenient information access environment.

[0010]

FIG. 2 shows an example of an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 11 denotes a specific character control unit, 12 denotes a numeral correspondence information storage unit, 13 denotes a numeral correspondence information update unit, and 14 denotes a numeral correspondence information update unit. Is a number correspondence information search unit, 15 is a search unit, 16 is a URL access unit, 17 is a response unit, 18 is a communication processing unit, and 19 is a control unit.

The specific character control unit 11 includes “:” (colon), “.” (Period),
Set correspondence for three specific characters of "/" (slash). For example, ":" is set as "*", "." Is set as "0", and "/" is set as "#". Alternatively, all of these characters may be set to “#”. In addition, it can be easily analogized that the setting can be made for each specific user. After the setting, whether a specific character is uniquely identified, or whether the specific character has a plurality of correspondences and is ambiguous is determined by comparison and stored.

The numeric correspondence information storage unit 12 stores the URL and the U
The correspondence between the alphabet describing the RL and a character string obtained by converting a specific character into a number according to a preset rule is stored. When information having a new URL is registered in the network, the numerical correspondence information updating unit 13
The character string corresponding to L is stored in the number correspondence information storage unit 12.

When a character string to be searched is inputted, a numeral corresponding information retrieval unit 14 reads out a numeral corresponding to a specific character from the specific character control unit 11, and stores a URL corresponding to the character string in the numeral correspondence information. Search from the storage unit 12. The search unit 15 sends the character string input by the user to specify the URL to the numerical information correspondence search unit, and notifies the user that there is no search result when there is no search result. Let the user choose one.

The URL access unit 16 and the response unit 17
The communication processing unit 18 is basically the same as a conventional device, and the control unit 19 controls each circuit including these.

In the above configuration, when the communication processing unit 18 receives access information by a number from a user using a telephone, a remote controller of a TV, an input device of a portable terminal, or the like via a network, the control unit 19 issues an instruction. Then, the information is transmitted to the search unit 15. After receiving the information, the search unit 15 responds to the instruction from the control unit 19 to search for the numeric corresponding information search unit 14.
Send to After the reception, the numeral corresponding information search unit 14 reads information of a specific character from the specific character control unit 11 according to an instruction of the control unit 19. Further, the numerical correspondence information search unit 14 determines whether a specific character is uniquely identified from the specific character control unit 11 and can be distinguished at an initial stage according to an instruction of the control unit 19.
A signal is received as to whether a search is needed to resolve ambiguity, including specific characters.

After receiving, the numerical correspondence information search unit 14 searches the character string stored in the numerical correspondence information storage unit 12 according to the instruction of the control unit 19, and reads out the corresponding URL. At this time, if there is no matching search result, the user is notified via the search unit 15 that there is no match, prompting termination or re-input, and when a plurality of matches are found, the user is allowed to select one of them. .

If the URL is determined to be one as a result of the above search, the number corresponding information search unit 1
4 transmits the URL to the URL access unit 16. After the reception, the URL access unit 16
Transmits URL information to the communication processing unit 18 based on the received information.

After reception, the communication processing unit 18 accesses the URL via the network and transmits the received search result information to the response unit 17 according to an instruction from the control unit 19.
After receiving, the response unit 17 transmits the reception result to the communication processing unit 18 according to an instruction of the control unit 19. The communication processing unit 18 returns search result information to the user via the network in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 19.

Here, as a method of dealing with numbers to alphabets, as is common in Europe and the United States, A, B, and C are used.
Characters are "1", D, E, F are "2", G, H, I are "3", J, K, L are "4",
M, N, O are "5", P, R, S are "6", T, U, V
Can be assigned as "7", W, X and Y as "8", and Q and Z as "9". In addition, the URL needs information representing specific characters such as ":", "/", and ".", And "0" can be assigned to this.

For example, "http: // nttinf"
o. ntt. jp ”is“ 3776000577352 ”
50577046 "and" http: //
/ Www. infosphere. ad. jp "
`` 377780888032565663262012
046 ".

At this time, for example, “http: // ntti”
nfo. ntt. jp "but also" http: // nssi "
nfo. nss. jp ", the same" 377760005 "
773525057746 ". If a plurality of URLs match as described above, a method of selecting any one of these URLs may be used as described above.

Such a method cannot be used in the case of an advanced use method such as sending a complicated parameter because it is not known what character should be converted. For the starting address, it is possible to narrow the search range by searching from preset ones, and to convert from a number to a homepage address with a high probability.

When a specific character is represented by a special symbol, for example, “#” having a key corresponding to a touch phone or the like,
“Http://nttinfo.ntt.jp” is
It is expressed as "3776 #### 5773525 # 577 # 46".

Here, as described above, "3776 ## 57"
When a specific character is distinguished from the others by a special symbol “#” as in “73525 # 577 # 46”, the number of sets of character strings (here, numerals) other than the special symbol, here (4,
It is also possible to classify in advance according to (7, 3, 2), and to speed up the search by searching only the classified areas.

In the URL, "http: //
/ "Or" http: // www "or" http:
// www. It is needless to say that removing a general prefix character string such as "" and performing a search as if there is no such character string can be easily applied in the present invention.

The character string corresponding to the new URL is stored in accordance with the instruction from the control unit 19, and the numeral correspondence information updating unit 1 stores the character string.
3 transfers the URL search information to the network via the communication processing unit 18 and, after receiving the result, inquires the numeric correspondence information storage unit 12 according to the instruction of the control unit 19. This is done by storing it according to an instruction. In this case, both a specific character expressed by a special symbol and a general number (for example, 0) are stored.

FIG. 3 shows the flow of the search process in the present apparatus.

It can be easily analogized that the present invention can be realized by software. Furthermore, when the present invention uses a secure network processing language such as Java which is transferred on the Internet, if the user terminal has a function of executing Java, predetermined processing is performed from the server side to the network. It can be easily inferred that the data can be transferred and used.

Although the above description has been limited to addresses of services using http, other services having URLs on the Internet, for example, ftp (File
It is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to services using Transfer Protocol).

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The URL is stored as a character string converted into a number in accordance with a preset rule, and this is constantly updated, and a character string specifying the URL, which is input by the user, is searched from these URLs. When a search is made, the user is allowed to select one of them, so that information on the Internet can be widely accessed from a remote controller having an extremely small number of input means such as numbers and used for an Internet TV, which is highly convenient. An information access environment can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional device.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

11: Specific character control unit, 12: Numeric correspondence information storage unit, 1
3 Numerical information update unit, 14 Numerical information search unit,
15 Search unit, 16 URL access unit, 17 Response unit, 18 Communication processing unit, 19 Control unit.

Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI G06F 15/403 310B

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A network service access management device for accessing information having a URL designated by a user via a network and providing the information to the user, wherein the URL, an alphabet describing the URL and specific characters are stored in advance. A number correspondence information storage unit for storing a correspondence with a character string converted into a number in accordance with a set rule; and when information having a new URL is registered, a character string corresponding to the URL is stored in the number correspondence information storage unit. A corresponding character information update unit, and when a search target character string is input, a U corresponding to the character string
And a character string input by the user to specify the URL is sent to the numeral corresponding information search unit, and if there is no search result, there is no match. A network service access management device, comprising: a search unit for notifying a user and, when there are a plurality, selecting one of them. 2. A system according to claim 1, further comprising a specific character control unit for managing a correspondence between a specific character and a number, wherein a character string to be searched is input.
2. The numeric character corresponding to a specific character is read from the specific character control unit, and a URL corresponding to a character string excluding the numeral representing the specific character is retrieved from a numeric correspondence information storage unit. Network service access management device. 3. The network service access management device according to claim 2, wherein URL-compatible character strings are classified in advance based on the number of character string sets excluding a numeral representing a specific character. . 4. The network service access according to claim 1, wherein the numerals include some symbols together with the numerals from 0 to 9, and the some symbols correspond to specific characters. Management device.