JPH11191082A - Service repeating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a server repeating device which secures excellent operability at a client even when a service provided by a server includes images by performing repeating between the server and client which are connected through a network. SOLUTION: A Web page description HTML(hypertext markup language) obtained from the server 2 is edited by the service repeating device 8 so that the load on a portable information terminal 6 is lightened. When a discrimination image display instruction detection part 24 detects an instruction for pasting an image for discriminating a link definition area, a text information acquisition part 26 acquires text information representing a link destination according to link definition information, A content document conversion part 28 edits the HTML document so that the discrimination image is not displayed and the text information is displayed in the link definition area instead of the discrimination image. The HTML document having being edited suppresses the transmission of image files to the portable terminal 6 to reduce the memory and the load on the CPU of the portable information terminal 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a service relay device for relaying a service from a server to a client via a network or the like. In particular, the present invention relates to relaying when a content document describing a service includes image information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the Internet, WWW (World Wide)
Various types of services are provided mainly on the Web). When using WWW, the server sends HTML (Hy
Information and services are provided in the form of a document such as a text (hereinafter referred to as an HTML document) described in a per text markup language (HTML). This HTML document is interpreted by software called a viewer or a browser running on the client, and screen display content is generated. This content is displayed on the screen of a computer or information terminal as a client. An image file can be specified in the HTML document, and the image file can be read and displayed as an image on the content.

[0003] Images displayed on a Web page are displayed as a table of contents indicating links to other Web pages and objects indicating respective link destinations in a map, in addition to the purpose of transmitting the image information itself. , Some are used. Which of the former and the latter cases is the most common depends on the type of service, but it is generally considered that the latter form is frequently used. In the latter usage mode, an area associated with the link destination is defined on the screen, and an image corresponding to the area is displayed. The user can call a linked Web page by performing a selection operation on the screen with the image as a target. In this case, the image will display a picture or character that helps to recognize what the corresponding link destination is.

[0004] By accessing the WWW using the above-mentioned viewer or browser, it is not necessary to prepare a dedicated application for each service, and the burden on the user is greatly reduced. Therefore, PDA (Person
al Digital Assistance) and other portable information terminals compatible with networks are rapidly spreading.

[0005] The convenience of the portable information terminal is exhibited when the portable information terminal uses a wireless line of a portable telephone or a PHS. As described above, the communication line between the portable information terminal and the server generally includes a relatively low-speed public telephone line in addition to a high-speed communication line such as a digital leased line. Although the communication speed of such a public telephone line has been improved, it is still not enough to transmit a large amount of data such as image information. Therefore, W
If an image is included in a part of the eb page, there arises a problem that a turnaround time (TAT) from a service request to a portable information terminal to acquisition thereof becomes longer, thereby causing a problem that communication costs increase.

[0006] Further, since the portable information terminal is required to be miniaturized so as to be portable, the screen size is limited as compared with a general small general-purpose computer. Therefore, some image information created and provided from the server assuming a display of a general-purpose computer such as a personal computer cannot be displayed on the screen of the portable information terminal at a time.

[0007] Due to the limitations of the line speed and the screen size, some conventional portable information terminals only browse other content portions without importing image files from a server.

In order to solve the problem that the screen size is small, there has been a portable information terminal having a function of reducing and displaying received image data.

[0009]

However, depending on the method of not importing an image file, the information of the image whose display is omitted may be large, and what is the link destination in the table of contents or the map provided by the Web page. Is difficult to identify in advance, which is very inconvenient for the user.

In the method of reducing an image in a portable information terminal, the image data itself needs to be transmitted through a communication line, and the problems of TAT and communication cost remain. Rather, performing the reduction process with the limited CPU capacity and memory capacity of the portable information terminal worsens the TAT.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and is intended for a case where a service provided from a server includes an image by connecting the server and a client via a network or the like and relaying the two. It is another object of the present invention to provide a service relay apparatus which ensures good operability in a client.

[0012]

A service relay apparatus according to the present invention is based on a content document and a server for providing a content document in which an identification image is pasted to a link definition area so that the link definition area can be recognized. A service relay device that relays a client having a browser for displaying a screen, a server access unit that obtains a server-provided content document from the server, and analyzes the server-provided content document, and uses the identification image to Link definition information acquisition means for acquiring link definition information about the displayed link definition area; text information acquisition means for acquiring text information representing the link destination of the link definition area based on the link definition information; The server-provided content document is displayed with the text information instead of the identification image. Configured to include a content document conversion means for converting the client content for the document to allow recognition of the link definition area displays, and a client access means for sending the client's content document to the client.

[0013] According to this configuration, the content document describing the screen display content is acquired from the server by the server access means. In the content document provided from this server, a link definition area can be defined. The link definition area is a screen area in which a link to another document or the like is defined, and the link definition information is information indicating a correspondence between the link definition area and a link destination linked thereto. Here, the link definition area itself is a range on the screen defined by the link definition information, and is basically a concept that is not related to the screen display. In other words, the link definition area does not have the property of being visible on the screen,
It is necessary to separately "paste" the image information to make it visible. The identification image is image information that is pasted on the link definition area to allow the arrangement of the link definition area in the screen to be recognized, and is defined in a screen area corresponding to the link definition area. Thereby, the user can recognize the existence of the link definition area in the area where the identification image is displayed. Further, the identification image can also function to allow the user to recognize the link destination of the corresponding link definition area according to the display content. For example, when the user performs a mouse operation or the like with the identification image as a target and specifies a screen position in the link definition area, another content specified as a link destination of the link definition area is displayed on the screen. In addition, as a specific form of the relationship between the link definition area and the identification image, one of
In some cases, the designation of the identification image is performed independently. For example, H
An image map in a TML document corresponds to this.
As another form, there is a form in which, when an identification image is pasted on a screen, its display range is automatically designated as a link definition area. For example, this is a case where an image file is set as a button in link setting in an HTML document. In this case, the image file is irrelevant to the link definition area until it is pasted on the screen. The link definition area is defined by designating the position where the image file is pasted, and is generated at the same time when the image file is pasted on the screen.

[0014] The link definition information acquiring means analyzes the content document acquired from the server and acquires link definition information described in the content document. The text information obtaining means obtains text information that allows the user to recognize the link destination based on the link definition information. For example, in one preferred aspect of the present invention, a link destination document is specified as a link destination in the link definition information, and the text information acquisition unit performs a process based on a character based on a document title described in the link destination document. A column is the text information. Further, in another preferred aspect of the present invention, the text information obtaining means sets a character string based on a link destination name designating a link destination document in the link definition information as the text information. For example, the content document conversion unit deletes a description for pasting the identification image in the server-provided content document to the link definition area,
Editing such as adding a description for pasting text information to the link definition area is performed to convert the server-provided content document into a client-oriented content document.
The converted content document is transmitted to the client. Note that, for a plurality of link definition areas in the same screen, a configuration in which a larger image including some identification images therein is displayed on the screen is also possible.

[0015] Another service relay device according to the present invention includes a server access unit for obtaining a server-provided content document from the server, an identification image information obtaining unit for obtaining identification image information to be pasted into the link definition area, Text information extracting means for extracting text information from the identification image information, and contents for the client, wherein the server-provided content document is displayed on the screen with the text information instead of the identification image so that the link definition area can be recognized. Content document conversion means for converting into a document,
Client access means for sending the client-specific content document to the client.

A method of displaying not only image information but also text information as an identification image to allow the user to recognize the contents of the link destination and the like is often used. According to this configuration,
The identification image information acquiring means recognizes the identification image instructed to be attached to the link definition area in the server-provided content document, and acquires the image information.
The text information extracting means performs image processing on the identification image information to extract text information shown in the identification image. The content document conversion means converts the server-provided content document so that the acquired text information is displayed in the link area instead of the identification image, and generates a client-oriented content document. In the case where a plurality of identification images are included in a larger image, for example, the identification image obtaining unit may specify the link definition area from the comprehensive image based on the area specification of the link definition area specified in the definition information. Acquire the corresponding identification image information.

In another service relay device according to the present invention, in the service relay device, the content document conversion means defines a screen area on which the text information is displayed as a new link definition area.

The link definition area represented by the server-provided content document has, for example, a shape such as a circle, rectangle, or other polygon, and may have various sizes. An identification image having a shape and a size corresponding to the identification image is used. Generally, the identification image information and the text information replacing it have different screen display shapes and sizes. According to the configuration of the service relay device, the information for causing the user to recognize the link definition area is changed from the identification image to the text information, and the shape and size of the link definition area are changed according to the display area of the text information. Is done. For example, in a client content document,
A description that causes the text displayed on the screen to function as a button is added.

[0019]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a server / client system using a service relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Server 2 sends We to client
This is a Web server that provides services using page b. Although only one server 2 is shown in the figure, a plurality of servers exist on the network 4 and can provide different services, for example. Clients that request and use services provided by the server 2 include general-purpose computers such as general so-called personal computers,
It is a portable information terminal that has been spreading rapidly in recent years. In the present system, the service of the server 2 is converted into a form suitable for the portable information terminal 6, and then the portable information terminal 6 is processed.
In order to provide the service to the
And relays between the server 2 and the portable information terminal 6. The service relay device 8 is a proxy server called a proxy, and a computer having specifications such as a sufficient CPU speed and a sufficient memory capacity is generally used to perform the relay process. In the portable information terminal 6, when requesting a service, the URL (Uniform Resource Loc
ator), but the URL of the service relay device 8 is specified. Therefore, the service relay device 8 appears to the user as one server. The service relay device 8 accesses the server 2 in response to a request from the portable information terminal 6, and acquires an HTML document describing a Web page. Then, the service relay device 8 relays the service to the portable information terminal 6 by, for example, editing an HTML document and controlling communication. Thereby, the service can be improved in the portable information terminal 6 in which the screen size, the CPU capacity, and the communication line speed are limited.

Although only one portable information terminal 6 is shown in the figure, a plurality of portable information terminals 6 can access the service relay device 8 using the communication line 10. In addition, the server 2 and the service relay device 8 are connected using a high-speed communication line such as a digital leased line. On the other hand, the communication line 10 between the portable information terminal 6 and the service relay device 8 is not always high-speed, and a mobile phone, a PHS, and other relatively low-speed public telephone lines are often used.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic block configuration of a service relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The service relay device 8 is roughly composed of a terminal-side communication unit 20 that exchanges necessary information with a client, and a server-side communication unit 22 that exchanges necessary information with a server.
And a portion for performing additional processing and the like in the service relay device 8.

In FIG. 1, a server-side communication unit 22 has a function as a server access unit for acquiring a content document describing screen display content from the server 2. Here, the content document is, for example, a document described in HTML.

On the other hand, the terminal side communication section 20 has a function as a client access means for transmitting a service to the portable information terminal 6, such as sending out a content document edited by the service relay device 8. Further, a portion for performing the additional processing and the like according to the present invention is configured to include an identification image display command detection unit 24, a text information acquisition unit 26, and a content document conversion unit 28.

Next, the function of each section will be described. The terminal side communication unit 20 receives the service request from the portable information terminal 6,
In addition, the service is transmitted to the portable information terminal 6. On the other hand, the server-side communication unit 22 accesses a Web page requested by the portable information terminal 6, and acquires a content document. Here, the content document is, for example, HT
This is a document described in ML.

The identification image display command detecting section 24 receives the HTML document acquired from the server from the server side communication section 22. Then, is there a command description that defines a screen area (link definition area) in which the link destination is defined in the document and pastes an identification image for allowing the user to recognize the screen area in the link definition area? Check whether or not. When the corresponding command description is used, the link definition information is extracted from the document and passed to the text information acquisition unit 26 (link definition information acquisition means).

The text information acquiring section 26 calculates the link definition information itself acquired by the identification image display command detecting section 24 from the link definition information itself.
Alternatively, the link destination is accessed based on the link definition information, and text information representing the link destination is obtained or extracted from information included in the web page of the link destination or from the identification image (text information obtaining means, text information Extraction means). It is desirable that the text information is such that the user can easily recognize what the link destination is. Note that the text information acquisition unit 26 also has a function as an identification image information acquisition unit that acquires an identification image as necessary when executing the processing.

The content document conversion unit 28 performs a process of rewriting a content document described in HTML obtained from the server to make it a content document for the portable information terminal 6. Specifically, the identification image used to make the user recognize the link definition area is not displayed, and instead, the text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit 26 is displayed in association with the link definition area. To H
Change the description of the TML document. Note that the content document conversion unit 28 of the present apparatus performs conversion such that the link definition area itself matches the display area of the text information, as described later. This means that before the conversion, the link definition area was set in a sense in accordance with the identification image, and if the identification image is not displayed, it is meaningful that only the link definition area is left as it is. Because there is no. Another reason is that the link definition area set in accordance with the identification image generally occupies a large area, and is inappropriate for display on the portable information terminal 6.

Next, the operation of the present apparatus will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a schematic process from when the service request is received from the portable information terminal 6 to when the corresponding content document is transmitted to the portable information terminal 6. Terminal side communication unit 2
When the mobile information terminal 6 is requested to access a certain Web page (S50), the request is passed to the server-side communication unit 22. The server-side communication unit 22 transmits this request to the corresponding server 2 (S55), and receives an HTML document (a server-provided content document) describing a Web page (S60). FIG. 4 shows an example of an HTML document received as a server-provided content document in order to make the following process description easy to understand based on a specific example. In FIG. 4, the numbers shown on the left side of each row are row numbers added for convenience of explanation. FIG. 5 shows the HT shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a Web page screen described in an ML document.

The received data of the HTML document is passed to the identification image display command detecting section 24. The identification image display command detecting unit 24 sequentially analyzes the HTML reception data, defines a screen area (link definition area) in which a link destination is defined, and pastes an identification image for allowing the user to recognize the screen area in the link definition area. Check if there is a command description that specifies that the command is to be attached. Specifically, the apparatus detects a description of an image map or a description of a link setting in which an image file is specified as a button object (S65).

For example, the description shown on the 12th to 18th lines in FIG. 4 is an example of the description of the image map. Twelfth
The <IMG> tag in the line defines the pasting of the image file, the image file “map.gif” specified in the SRC option is pasted, and the image 100 (FIG. 5) is displayed on the screen. The link definition area is described by a map file specified by another option USEMAP. The map file corresponding to line 12 is from line 13
This is described on line 18. For example, in lines 14 and 15 <
AREA> tag describes one link definition area 102, the area has a rectangular shape, upper left and lower right coordinates according to the value of the COORDS option, and a link destination address “http: //” according to the value of the HREF option. www.north-area /
index.html ”is described. The 16th and 17th lines similarly describe another link definition area 104. Incidentally, in the image map, as in the example shown here, the SR
Multiple link definition areas can be placed in the image specified in the C option. In this case, the identification image is
In the image of “map.gif”, these are portions to be pasted on the link definition areas 102 and 104 specified by the <AREA> tag.

By the way, the texts 106 and 108 are link buttons displayed according to the link setting (the ninth and tenth lines in FIG. 4) in which the text is designated as the button object, respectively.
By clicking on 6, 108 with a mouse, for example,
You can jump to the link destination.

Although not shown in FIG. 4, the description of the link setting in which the image file is designated as the button object is, for example, “<A HREF =" http: //www.technic ”
al / index.html "><IMG SRC =" construc.gif "></A>"
That is. In this example, the image file “construc.gif” specified in the <IMG> tag is displayed on the screen as the identification image, and the display range is the link definition area.

The identification image display command detecting unit 24 detects the HTML description part for displaying the identification image on the screen as described above, and finds the link destination address specified by the HREF option as link definition information therefrom. Take it out and pass it to the text information acquisition unit 26.

The text information acquisition section 26 receives the link definition information and starts a process of extracting text information based on the link definition information (S110).

FIG. 6 is a processing flowchart for explaining the processing of the text information obtaining unit 26. Text information acquisition unit 26
Receives the link definition information from the identification image display command detection unit 24 (S120), the Web specified as the link destination
The b page is acquired (S125). The text information acquisition unit 26 is an HT describing the acquired link destination Web page.
Check whether the ML document has a <TITLE> tag. The title generally describes text that briefly represents the content of the page. Therefore, the text information acquisition unit 26
If a <TITLE> tag is used in the HTML document and a title is specified therein (S130), the title character string is effective for allowing the user to recognize what page the link destination is. (S135). FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a part of the HTML content document to which the link definition area 102 is linked. In the document of FIG. 7, the title “North-area Branch Office” is set in the fourth line by the <TITLE> tag, and the text information acquisition unit 26 extracts this as text information.

On the other hand, when the title is not described in the link destination Web page, the text information acquisition unit 26
Acquires the identification image pasted in the link definition area via the server-side communication unit 22 (communication 140) (S1).
45). For example, in the case of an image map, <IMG>
An image file specified by the SRC option of the tag is acquired, and an area specified by the COORDS option of the <AREA> tag in the image is referred to as an identification image in the next process. In the case of a link setting using an image file as a button, an image file serving as the button is acquired as an identification image. With respect to the identification image information thus obtained, the text information acquisition unit 26
Character recognition processing such as (Optical Character Reading) technology is performed (S150). As a result of the character recognition, it is determined whether or not a character string is described in the image (S155). If the character string is described, the character string is extracted as text information effective for identifying a link destination. (S16
0).

If the character string cannot be recognized in the identification image (S155), the text information acquisition unit 26 recognizes the Web page from the link destination address passed from the identification image display command detection unit 24 itself. Try to extract useful text. For example, a remaining character string, which is obtained by removing a fixed prefix part and a suffix part which are not included in the character string describing the address and are unrelated to the contents of the Web page, is extracted as target text information (S16).
5). Specifically, the address is, for example, "http: //www.nor
th-area / index.html ”(line 15 in FIG. 4), of which the character string“ http: // www. ”is used as a standard prefix and the character string“ / index.html ”is removed as a standard suffix, and the remaining string“ nort
h-area "is used as text information representing the Web page. Note that the character strings to be removed are not limited to those shown here, but a plurality of types are registered in advance.
If any of them is satisfied, the structure can be removed.

Note that text information acquisition processing is similarly performed for the description of the link setting in which the image file is specified as the button object. For example, the above “<A
HREF = "http: //www.technical/index.html"><IMG SRC
For the example "=" construc.gif "><//A>", first, the link destination specified by the HREF option "http: // w
An attempt is made to acquire the title of "ww.technical / index.html" (S130). If that is not possible, character recognition is attempted for the image information "construc.gif" specified by the SRC option (S155). If the text information cannot be obtained by this, the character string "technical" included in the link destination address "http: //www.technical/index.html" is extracted as the text information (S165).

Here, three methods for obtaining text information are described, but the order of performing the methods is not limited to the above. For example, the order may be such that character recognition is performed first and then the title is referred to.

The content document conversion unit 28 receives the original HTML content document obtained from the server and the text information obtained by the text information obtaining unit 26. Then, the description of the content document is changed so as not to display the identification image, and the description is changed so that the text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit 26 indicates the link definition area (S180).

For example, when a description for displaying an image map is detected by the identification image display command detecting unit 24, the description part is removed, and the text is changed for each link definition specified by the <AREA> tag. A change is made to provide a description of a link setting as a button. At this time, the text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit 26 is used as the text used as the button. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an HTML document obtained by subjecting the HTML document obtained from the server shown in FIG. 4 to conversion processing by the content document conversion unit 28. Specifically, for example, the twelfth
The description from the line to the eighteenth line is deleted, and a link button is newly generated for each link definition defined therein. In other words, for the link defined in <AREA> on lines 14 and 15 in FIG. 4, “<A HREF =" http: //www.north-area/index.ht
A tag such as "ml"> [North-area Branch Office] </A><BR>"is generated and inserted into the content document (line 11 in FIG. 8). Here, the text "North-area Branch Office" indicating the button in the description is text information acquired by the text information acquisition unit 26 from, for example, the title of the linked document shown in FIG. Similarly, the first of FIG.
For the link defined in <AREA> on line 6, line 17, "<A HREF =" http: //www.south-area/index.html ""
> [South-area Branch Office] <// A><BR> ”is generated and inserted into the content document (line 12 in FIG. 8).

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a Web page screen described in the converted HTML document shown in FIG. After the conversion, the image 100 specified in the <IMG> tag in the twelfth line in FIG. 4 is not displayed because the <IMG> tag is deleted. The identification image of the link definition areas 102 and 104 is image 1
Since the image is a part of the image No. 00, the identification image is not displayed. In addition, the link definition areas 102 and 104 themselves disappear due to the deletion of the <AREA> tag on the 14th to 17th lines in FIG. Instead, the link setting corresponding to the original link definition is changed to the eleventh link in FIG.
This is done on line 12, line 12, which are displayed as text 200, 202 on the screen. These text 2
00 and 202 are link buttons. That is, the display range of this text on the screen is the link definition area 10
A new link definition area corresponding to 2, 104 is newly set.

The description of the link setting in which the image file is specified as the button object is also changed. In this case, for example, the above "<A HREF ="
http: //www.technical/index.html "><IMG SRC =" const
If the text information “Technical div.” has been acquired for the link definition “ruc.gif”></A>, change the button object from the identification image file to the text information, and change the “<A HREF = "http: //www.technical/inde
x.html "> [Technical div.] </A>" is generated and replaced with the original description.

The HTML document modified in the content document conversion section 28 is passed to the terminal side communication section 20 as a client-side content document and transmitted to the portable information terminal 6 (S220). Portable information terminal 6
Displays this client-side content document on the screen. The client content document does not refer to the image file related to the identification image. That is, transmission of the image file from the service relay device 8 to the portable information terminal 6 is suppressed.

In the above-described service relay apparatus of the present invention, the converted content document is transmitted to the client. However, the content document is transmitted to the client without conversion in response to an operation instruction from the client (not shown). You may do so. For example, when the client gives an instruction with a button on the browser screen,
The mode is switched from the default display mode for displaying the converted content document to the mode for displaying the content document as it is. By switching the display mode in this manner, the converted content document can be displayed and confirmed even if the content is unknown.

Buttons are provided in the vicinity of the text information representing the link definition area to be transmitted to the client, and when the client instructs the button corresponding to the text information, the information before conversion based on the text information is obtained. May be displayed as it is. By displaying only the necessary portion with the original information in this way, the time required for display can be reduced as compared with the case where the original content document is redisplayed for confirmation.

The service relay apparatus may fetch a new content document from the server according to the display mode switching display information from the client, or may hold the original content document when converting the content document, By reading this and sending it to the client, the time required for newly retrieving the content document from the server may be omitted.

[0049]

According to the service relay device of the present invention, when a server provides a content document that allows a user to recognize a link definition area using an identification image, instead of the identification image, text information representing a link destination is used. The content document is rewritten to indicate the link definition area. This eliminates the need to send an image file relating to the identification image to the client, and reduces the communication load between the service relay device 8 and the portable information terminal 6. Also, the load on the CPU and memory of the client is reduced. As a result, on the client side, the link destination of the link definition area is indicated by text, thereby securing the user interface, and providing the effect of promptly providing the service and the effect of reducing the communication cost.

By changing the description so that the link definition area is changed to a screen area on which text information is displayed, the size of the link definition area is generally reduced, and the display size itself of the entire content is also reduced. As a result, even for clients with limited screen sizes,
The effect is obtained that it is easy for the user to grasp the content of the screen display content such as a Web page.

Further, by editing the content document, it is possible to display the content which cannot be displayed as it is on a browser such as a portable information terminal or the like, whose functions are limited due to miniaturization of the client. This also has the effect of widening the range of services that can be received on the side.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a server / client system using a service relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic block configuration of a service relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a schematic process from when the service relay device 8 receives a service request from the portable information terminal 6 to when a corresponding content document is transmitted to the portable information terminal 6.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an HTML document received as a server-provided content document.

FIG. 5 shows a Web described in the HTML document shown in FIG.
It is a schematic diagram which shows a page screen.

FIG. 6 is a process flowchart illustrating a process of a text information acquisition unit 26.

FIG. 7 shows the HTML of the link destination in the link definition area 102.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a part of a content document.

8 is an explanatory diagram showing an HTML document obtained by subjecting the HTML document obtained from the server shown in FIG. 4 to conversion processing by a content document conversion unit 28.

9 is a schematic diagram showing a Web page screen described in the converted HTML document shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 servers, 4 networks, 6 portable information terminals, 8
Service relay device, 10 communication line, 20 terminal side communication unit, 22 server side communication unit, 24 identification image display command detection unit, 26 text information acquisition unit, 28 content document conversion unit, 100 image, 102, 104 link definition area.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A server that provides a content document in which an identification image is pasted in a link definition area so that the link definition area can be recognized and a client that has a browser that displays a screen based on the content document is relayed. A service relay device, a server access unit for acquiring a server-provided content document from the server; and analyzing the server-provided content document to acquire link definition information regarding the link definition area displayed in the identification image. Link definition information obtaining means, text information obtaining means for obtaining text information representing the link destination of the link definition area based on the link definition information, and the server-provided content document, instead of the identification image, Display text information on the screen to enable recognition of the link definition area A content document conversion means for converting the client content for the document, the service relaying apparatus characterized by having a client accessing means for sending the client's content document to the client. 2. The text information obtaining means accesses a linked document based on the link definition information, and obtains a character string based on a document title described in the linked document as the text information. The service relay device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The service relay device according to claim 1, wherein the text information acquisition unit uses a character string based on a link destination name specified in the link definition information as the text information. 4. A server that provides a content document enabling the recognition of the link definition area by pasting an identification image in the link definition area and a client having a browser that displays a screen based on the content document is relayed. A service relay device, a server access unit for obtaining a server-provided content document from the server, an identification image information obtaining unit for obtaining identification image information to be pasted into the link definition area, and text information from the identification image information Text information extracting means for extracting the document information, and converting the server-provided content document into a client-oriented content document capable of displaying the text information on the screen instead of the identification image and enabling recognition of the link definition area. Means, the content document for the client Service relaying apparatus characterized by comprising: a client access means for delivering to the client, the. 5. The service according to claim 1, wherein the content document conversion unit defines a screen area on which the text information is displayed as a new link definition area. Relay device.