JPH11219329A - Information reception/distribution system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To manage the update/deletion of information which is once distributed from a server in a client in an information reception/distribution system. SOLUTION: The server 100 is provided with an article registration part 1 registering an article which is to be redistributed to the client 200, a registration control part 5 generating registration control information 4 for designating a processing on the registered article and an article distribution part 2 distributing the registered article and registration control information 4 to the client 200. The clients 200 are provided with article management parts 17 executing the prescribed processing of update and deletion on the article distributed from the server 100 and the article registered in the client 200 based on the article of registration control information 4 distributed from the server 100.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information receiving / distributing system, and more particularly, to an information receiving / distributing system for integrally receiving and distributing information based on the content of information, which is used to update information once distributed by a client. The present invention relates to an information receiving / distributing system for managing deletion and the like from a server.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent development of computer networks, various types of publicly available information (contents) have been received and distributed via computer networks between users and individual walls of companies and individuals. I have.
On the other hand, for example, in a company or the like, an intra-company network (intranet) for connecting a branch, a sales office, a factory, a research laboratory, and the like in the company by a computer network is being performed.

[0003] In such an information receiving and distributing system for receiving and distributing information via such a computer network, a tree-like connection form is generally adopted for distributing information because of the large number of terminals and the like. It consists of a server and a client that receives information. Servers are configured in multiple stages, information is propagated from upper servers to lower servers,
Further, the information is propagated to the clients connected to each server.

[0004]

For example, according to a news system on the Internet, which is an example of an information receiving / distributing system, newspaper articles distributed by (a host computer of a newspaper company, that is, a server) an individual (client user). ) Can be read from the information terminal (ie, client). In this case, the client user can freely select the news that he / she wants to subscribe to in group units and subscribe only to the news group.

[0005] In such an information receiving / distributing system, the information distributing side (server or content server) finds an error in certain information (hereinafter referred to as information A) once distributed, for example, due to an error. You may want to delete or update A. However, in such an information receiving and delivering system, since the information A has already been delivered to the client, it is meaningless to recover it. Therefore, it is necessary for the client to delete or update the information A.

However, conventionally, the information distributor on the server side sends the user on the client side "deletion of information A" by another means (for example, telephone, facsimile, electronic mail, communication between the server and the client). Or an update is needed. " That is, deletion or update of the erroneous information A in the client could not be controlled from the server. Also,
The deletion or update of the actual information A had to be performed by the user of the client. For this reason, the burden on the server-side information distributor who informs a large number of users of deletion and the like is great, and the burden on the client-side user who actually performs the work such as deletion is large.

[0007] On the other hand, when the server distributes the updated correct information A 'to the client again, the server individually knows history information on the information A in the client (user-specific information such as storage period and unread / read). This cannot be taken over because it is impossible. In order to take over this history information, the update is eventually notified by other means, and it depends on the processing performed by the client user.

[0008] Further, the client receiving the information A,
Regarding the information A, the history information is “deletion impossible”.
Alternatively, "save" may be set. Even in this case, since information A is incorrect and we want to delete information A,
It is necessary for the server to have means for forcibly deleting such information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an information receiving / distributing system for managing, from a server, updates and deletions of information once distributed by a client. Another object of the present invention is to provide an information receiving / distributing system that manages updates of information once distributed in a client from a server and inherits the history of the updated information.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of the present invention, showing the configuration of an information receiving / distributing system according to the present invention. This information receiving / distributing system includes a server 100 and a plurality of clients 200 connected to the server 100. The information distributed from the server 100 is transmitted to the client 2
00 receives.

The server 100 includes an article registration unit 1 for registering an article to be delivered to the client 200, a registration control unit 5 for creating registration control information for designating a process for the registered article, and a client And an article distribution unit 2 that distributes articles and registration control information registered with respect to the article 200. Each of the clients 200 determines whether the article distributed from the server 100 or the article distributed from the server 100 and held (registered) in the client 200 is registration control information distributed from the server 100 and related to the article. An article management unit 17 that performs predetermined processing based on the information is provided.

According to the information receiving / distributing system of the present invention, the server 100 can control the processing in the client 200 for an article distributed from the server 100 or an article distributed from the server 100 and held in the client 200. it can. For example, if the registration control information is set to “update”, an article corresponding to the registration control information held in the client 200 can be updated,
If "delete", the article corresponding to the registration control information held in the client 200 can be deleted from the registration. Thus, deletion or update of information (article) in the client 200 can be controlled from the server 100 without any burden on the information distributor of the server 100 and the user of the client 200.

[0013]

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of an information receiving / distributing system to which the present invention is applied. This information receiving / distributing system includes a plurality of servers 100 and a plurality of clients 200 having a multi-stage configuration. The client 200 is connected to one of the servers 100. The servers 100 and between the server 100 and the client 200 are connected via a dedicated line, a public network, or another connection line.

In the following description, when the servers 100 are to be distinguished from each other, S representing the server 100 is denoted by a symbol such as A or B, and is represented as a server SA or SB. When distinguishing each of the clients 200, C representing the client 200 is represented by
Clients C1, C2, etc. are represented by adding codes 1, 2, etc.

The server 100 creates or receives information and transmits it to another server 100 or a client 200. The server 100 to which the client 200 is connected is called a parent server 100 (of the client 200).
The client 200 is at the end of the information propagation route and only receives information.

In this specification, information is created in the server 100 and the information is created in another server 100 or the client 20.
The content server 100 is called a content server 100. In addition, when viewed from a certain server 100 or a client 200, a server 100 that is on a route (information propagation path) connecting the server 100 or the client 200 and the content server 100 and is closer to the content server 100 is referred to as a higher-level server 100. Say more client 2
The server 100 on the 00 side is called a lower-level server 100.
Further, the server 100 between the content server 100 and the client 200 is referred to as an intermediate server 100. The intermediate server 100 is a server at the same time as the client 200 for the higher-level server 100.

In FIG. 2, the server SA is the content server 100. For example, server SG is server SH
, And the server SH is a lower server of the server SG. Similarly, one or more clients 200 are connected to servers other than the server SH.

Content server 100 (server SA)
Is, for example, a server located at the highest level of a computer network (intranet) within one company, or a WWW server on the Internet.
When an intranet is connected to the Internet, both the top server and the WWW server of the intranet are the content servers 100. Seen from the WWW server,
The highest server in the intranet is a lower server.

Information (distribution information) is stored in the content server 1
From 00, it is distributed to the lower server 100, further distributed to the lower server 100, and further distributed to the client 200. Thus, the information is propagated from the content server 100 to the terminal client 200.

Information is distributed by being divided into categories called "channels". A channel is a group of a plurality of articles and is a unit of information distribution control.
The channel includes, for example, a sports channel, a weather forecast channel, a news channel, and the like. Along with this information, various control information for controlling the distribution of the information and the like are similarly distributed.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show distribution of information in the information receiving / distributing system to which the present invention is applied. The information receiving / distributing system to which the present invention is applied is a system that performs pseudo push type distribution. In the pseudo push type distribution system, the lower-level server 100 or the client 200 automatically requests information distribution without input of a distribution request instruction to the higher-level server 100 by the user.
Reference numeral 00 denotes a system for distributing information to the lower-level server 100 or the client 200 when the distribution request is made.

Although the following description of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 relates to the delivery of information between the server 100 and the client 200, the description between the server 100 and the lower-level server 100 is almost identical. A similar relationship holds. That is, in this description, the client 200 may be replaced with the lower-level server 100.

Each server 100 or client 20
0 is actually executed by the control programs (or operating systems) 101 and 201 of the server 100 or the client 200. That is,
Control program 101 of server 100 and client 2
The control program 201 communicates with each other to receive and distribute information, and each executes predetermined processing.

As shown in FIG. 3A, a client C1 is connected to servers SA and SB. The servers SA and SB are parent servers of the client C1, and even if the content server 100 is the intermediate server 10
It may be 0. The server SB is another server 100 related to the server SA, and can be separated or integrated with the server SA depending on a source and / or content of information.

The server SA transmits the user list 102 and the channel list information 1 to perform distribution to the client C1.
03, an article archive 104 is provided. User list 1
02 is for registering the client 200 (and the lower order server 100) that receives information distribution from the server SA. The channel list information 103 is the server S
A is management information indicating a channel that is currently open to the public.
It should be noted that the channel list information 103 is actually a part of a management table including information about channels and other control information. The article archive 104 stores individual information on the channel that the server SA currently discloses, that is,
An article (the content of the information is referred to as an “article”), which is archived and compressed in a predetermined unit.

The channel list information 103 and the article archive 104 are both distributed to the client C1 connected to the server SA. The channel list information 103 is locally stored in the client C1 to which the channel list information 103 has been distributed, and is used as local (client C1) channel list information 203. The channel list information 203 is a management table of the client C1. On the other hand, according to the present invention, mirroring of the article archive 104 from the channel at the client C1 to which the article archive 104 has been distributed is not allowed unless there is special permission. When considering the lower server 100 instead of the client C1, the distributed article archive 104 is distributed to the lower server 100.

Information distribution between the server SA and the client C1 in the pseudo push type distribution system having such a configuration is performed according to the procedure shown in FIG. First, the client C1 requests the server SA for user registration (procedure). This user registration request is executed in accordance with server name registration (input) of the client C1 to the client user. Server S that received the user registration request
In response, A registers the client C1 as a user in the user list 102 held by the server SA. Thus, when there is a connection request from the client C1, the connection is made.

Next, the client C1 makes a connection request to the server SA (a dotted line in the procedure). This connection request is issued by the control program 201 of the client C1 at a predetermined time interval or at a predetermined timing (for example, a predetermined operation input by the user at the information terminal serving as the client C1) without an instruction input by the user of the client C1. Do it automatically.

Upon receiving the connection request, the server SA responds to the request by listing the channels of the information that the server SA currently discloses (channel list information 10 shown in FIG. 4A).
3) is changed to the client C1 which is the transmission source of the connection request.
(Distribution) (the solid line in the procedure). As a result, the client C1 obtains the channel list information 103 distributed from the server SA, stores it in a predetermined position of a storage device managed by itself, and stores the channel list information 203 of its own.
(Shown in FIG. 4B).

In this response, the user does not operate the client C1 as the terminal, and is not aware that the connection request has been made. The fact that the user cannot see the connection request is indicated by using a dotted line in the procedure. The same applies to the following procedures. Thus, from the user's point of view, it appears that the channel list information 103 has automatically flowed from the server SA without any apparent appearance.

FIG. 4A shows an example of the channel list information 103 distributed from the server SA. The channel list information 103 includes a channel ID, a channel name, a source, and various types of control information. In FIG. 4A, browsing attribute information is shown as an example of the control information (in the figure, “browsing”). The browsing attribute information is control information for controlling reception of information distributed by the upper server SA in the client C1 (and the lower server 100).

The channel ID is an ID for identifying a channel, and is unique in the system. The channel name is the name of the channel, and indicates a category of information included in the channel having the corresponding channel ID. The acquisition source is the name (or server I) of the server 100 that can acquire (distribute) the information of the channel.
D).

The channel list information 103 includes various types of control information including browsing attribute information for each channel. That is,
Various control information including browsing attribute information and the like for each channel is added (written) to the channel list information 103 by the server SA (firstly, the content server 100) that is the distribution source. After adding browsing control information and the like to the channel list information 103, the server SA distributes the channel list information 103 in that state to the client C1. As a result, the contents of the channel list information 203 of the client C1 can be set from the server SA (the first content server 100) that is the distribution source.
(Or the content server 100).

The client C1 refers to the distributed channel list information 103 and performs processing based on various kinds of control information therein to create the channel list information 203 shown in FIG. 4B.

When the server SA sets "required" or "impossible" for browsing for an existing channel, the client C1 inherits this attribute as it is.
“Indispensable” and “impossible” cannot be changed by the client C1. "Free" can be selected depending on whether or not the client C1 browses. Then, the client C1 displays the channel list information 103 in this state and allows the user to refer to it. The user who sees this display can see the channel list information 1
The various control information added to 03 is updated. This update in the client C1 is preset in a case where it is permitted by the server SA and a case where it is not permitted.

For example, the client C1 inputs “free” for the channel “XX newspaper news” set as “free” if it is actually necessary to browse, and inputs “impossible” if it is not necessary. . This allows
The channel list information 203 to which the instruction input by the client user of the client C1 is added is created. An example of the channel list information 203 is shown in FIG. According to the present invention, the control information set in the channel list information 203 is inherited as it is by the lower-level server 100 or the client 200 as its attribute.

If the client C1 already has the channel list information 203, the client C1
The contents of the existing channel list information 203 are stored in the server S
Update (rewrite) based on the contents of the latest channel list information 103 distributed from A. This processing is not conscious of the user.

Next, in order to receive the distribution of the “essential” and “free” articles, the client C 1 requests the server SA to list the “essential” and “free” channels based on the channel list information 203. (Dotted line in the procedure). This list request is also automatically made by the client C1 without inputting an instruction by the user of the client C1.

In response to this request, the server SA sends the article data (archive) list 103 ′ of the information currently published by the server SA to the client C 1 that has transmitted the list request. Send (distribute) (solid line of procedure). This article data list 103 'is also actually a part of the channel information list (management table) 103. As a result, the client C1 obtains the article data of the information designating that the client C1 wants to browse and distributed from the server SA. In this response, the user also
No operation is performed on the client C1, which is the terminal, and the user is not aware that a list request is required.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the article data list 103 '.
It is shown in (C). The article data list 103 'includes an article ID of each article of the channel and its data name. The article ID is composed of the date and time of creation of the article (more precisely, 13 digits of year, month, day, hour and minute and other numbers). Therefore, the creation date and time of the article can be known from the article ID. The data name is obtained by adding a symbol indicating that the article is an archive to the article ID.

For example, “19980201a” has information of 19
This is an article name indicating that the article was created a-th on February 1, 1998. The data name is "19" with the symbol "arc" added to the article name to indicate that it is an archive file.
980201a.arc ".

Next, the client C1 makes a request to obtain an article archive (archive acquisition request) based on the latest distributed article data list 103 '(dotted line in the procedure). This acquisition request is also automatically made by the client C1 without inputting an instruction by the user of the client C1.

The acquisition request is made for an article missing in the client C1, that is, an article newly added as an article in the server SA. For this reason, the client C1 compares the latest article data list 103 ′ shown in FIG. 4C with the article data list 203 ′ stored at that time, and finds the latest article data list 103 ′ in the article data list 103 ′. Then, an article that does not exist in the article data list 203 'is obtained. For the obtained article, an acquisition request using, for example, a data name is made.

In response to this, the server SA that has received the acquisition request sends the specified information in the article archive 104 of the information currently published by the server SA to the client C1 that has transmitted the acquisition request. Send (distribute) (solid line of procedure). As a result, the client C1 receives the distribution of the article archive 104 of the information designating that the user wants to browse and published from the server SA. This article archive 104 is displayed to the user and the user will see it.

Also in this response, the user does not operate the client C1, which is the information terminal, and does not recognize that the acquisition request is necessary. Thus, from the user's point of view, it appears as if the article has automatically flowed from the server SA without doing anything. Therefore, the user can browse the article only by the initial registration request and the selection input of the article to be browsed.

The client C1 updates the article data list 203 '. That is, the client C1 deletes the list information of the old articles whose predetermined expiration dates have expired from the article data list 203 ′. Note that such old article list information is also deleted from the article data list 103 'in the server SA. Further, the client C1 adds the article data list information of the article archive 104 distributed from the server SA to the article data list 203 'as described above. As a result, the client C1 receives its latest article data list 2
Get 03 '.

FIG. 4D shows an example of the article data list 203 'held by the client C1 before the execution of the procedure. For example, if the user of client C1 is 1998
It is assumed that the information terminal has not been activated at all since February 1, 2002. At this point, the article data list 203 'of the client C1 includes, as shown in FIG. 4D, the articles "19980128" and "1998" published by the server SA before that date.
0131 ”has the article data list 203 ′, and the article“ 19 ”published by the server SA after that date.
980201a, 19980201b, and 19980202 do not have the article data list 103 '.

The client C1 adds “19980201a”, “19980201b” to the article data list 203 ′ shown in FIG.
And "19980202" are added. As a result, the article data list 203 'of the client C1 becomes as shown in FIG.

Note that this procedure is repeatedly executed for an article determined to be insufficient as described above based on the article data list 103 'shown in FIG. 4C. For example, the aforementioned missing articles "19980201a" and "19980201
b) and "19980202" are obtained, and no article is obtained for the existing "19980131". In this case, first, a request for obtaining the article "19980201a" from the client C1 (a dotted line in the procedure) and
The corresponding article archive 10 from the server SA corresponding to this
4 (the solid line of the procedure) is performed. Next, similarly, an acquisition request (dotted line of the procedure) for obtaining the articles “19980201b” and “19980202” and the article archive 1 corresponding thereto
04 (the solid line of the procedure) is repeated.

The procedure or procedure is described in the channel list information 203 shown in FIG.
Is repeatedly executed for each of the channels that need to be viewed. For example, the above-mentioned procedure is the channel “company (internal notice)” of the channel list information 203.
Is executed. In this case, the procedure is similarly executed for the next channel “XX newspaper news”. Also in this case, the procedure is repeatedly executed for the articles that are determined to be insufficient. Further, the same procedure is repeated for each channel after the "weather forecast".

As described above, the server S does not seem to do anything.
Although it looks as if information was distributed from A, on the other hand, a distribution request or the like from the client 200 to the server 100 is actually made. Therefore, such an information receiving / distributing system is called a pseudo push type distribution system.

The information receiving / distributing system of the present invention may be a system for performing push-type distribution. In the push-type distribution, a higher-level server 100 receives a request for information distribution from a lower-level server 100 or a client 200.
This is a system that distributes information to a lower-level server 100 or a client 200. Therefore, the system for performing the push-type distribution is the same as the pseudo-push-type distribution system described above except for the procedure shown in FIG.
This is a system in which various requests from the client 200 to the server 100 indicated by dotted lines are omitted, and various information is distributed from the server 100 to the client 200 without this request.

In such a pseudo push type (or push type) information receiving / distributing system, the browsing attribute information includes:
Although not shown, as described above, it is either “essential”, “free” or “impossible”. “Required” requires the lower-level server 100 or the client 200 to receive (browse or subscribe) the information. "Free" entrusts the reception of the information to the lower-level server 100 or the client 200. "No" means that the reception of the information is
Or, the client 200 is not allowed. For each piece of information to be distributed, the server 100 adds any one of “required”, “free” or “impossible” distribution control information.

Although the viewing attribute information is not shown,
It is distributed together with distribution change permission / prohibition information indicating whether the viewing attribute information can be rewritten. The distribution changeability information is either “changeable” or “unchangeable”. “Changeable” allows the lower-level server 100 to change the browsing attribute information. "Unchangeable" indicates that the change of the browsing attribute information is to be performed on the lower server 1
00 is not allowed. The server 100 adds distribution changeability information for each piece of browsing attribute information (accordingly, for each piece of distributed information).

Basically, the browsing attribute information and the distribution changeability information can be freely changed by each server 100. However, the browsing attribute information can be mutually changed between "essential", "free" and "impossible" only when the distribution change permission / prohibition information is "changeable". The change of the delivery change availability information,
If the information is “unchangeable”, it is not allowed, and only if the information is “changeable”, it can be changed only to “unchangeable”. Since the client 200 is located at the end, it has no meaning to approve the change, and therefore has no function of the change (not allowed).

The upper-level server 100 sets various types of control information in the channel information list 103 and passes the information to the lower-level server 100 or the client 200. Thereby, the upper server 100 controls the processing of the information distributed by the upper server 100 in the lower server 100 or the client 200 connected to the server 100 from the server 100. That is, the upper server 100 controls the control programs 101 and 201 of the lower server 100 or the client 200 with respect to the distribution process of the information distributed by the upper server 100.

The upper server 100 is connected to the lower server 10.
0 or the client 200 to distribute the viewing attribute information and the distribution changeability information. This distribution is performed by the procedure and the distribution of the channel list information 103 in which the information is written by executing the procedure, as described above.
The lower server 100 and the client 200 receive the information distributed by the upper server 100 according to the browsing attribute information. For example, the higher-level server 100 sets the browsing attribute information to “required”, thereby setting the lower-level server 10
0 or the client 200 can always receive the information having the browse attribute information.

Since this system is a pseudo-push type (or push type), actually, as described above, the distribution request from the lower-level server 100 to the higher-level server 100 is always required according to the procedure, that is, the browsing attribute information. By being executed, the article archive 104 as the information is distributed.

On the other hand, the intermediate server 100 between the upper server 100 and the client 200 is
0 rewrites various types of control information permitted to be changed, and distributes the information to a lower-level server 100 or client 200. Thereby, the intermediate server 1
00 is also a lower server 100 or client 20
0 various modes can be set and managed.

As described above, in the information receiving / distributing system of the present invention, there are extremely many choices as to which client 200 the article archive 104 is actually distributed, and other methods (telephone, facsimile, etc.) as in the past. It is extremely troublesome (substantially impossible) to request the user of the client 200 to update or delete an article.

Therefore, in the pseudo push type (or push type) distribution system described above, the update processing and the deletion processing of the distributed information in the client 200 are automatically performed under the control of the server 100 according to the present invention. Done in

FIG. 5 shows the configuration of an information receiving / distributing system to which the present invention is applied. In this system, the server 100 controls article registration processing, update processing, and deletion processing in the client 200.

The following description with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8 relates to the process of updating and deleting an article between the server 100 and the client 200.
Almost the same relationship is established between 00 and the lower-order server 100. That is, in this description, the client 200 may be replaced with the lower-level server 100.

As shown in FIG. 5, the server 100 includes an article registration unit 1 for registering an article in the server holding unit 3, an article distribution unit 2 for distributing an article to the client 200, and an article registration unit 1.
A server holding unit 3 for holding the articles registered by the client 200, registration control information 4 created by the registration control unit 5, and a registration control unit 5 creating registration control information 4 for controlling the registration of articles in the client 200. .

On the other hand, the client 200 includes an information browsing unit 11 for browsing information,
0, a client holding unit 16 for holding the articles registered in the client 200, and an article management unit 17 for performing registration processing, update processing, and deletion processing of articles in the client 200 according to the distributed registration control information 4.

The article registration unit 1 registers an article to be delivered to the client 200. The article distributor uses the input device (not shown) of the server 100 to
Is input to the article registration unit 1 of the article. The article registration unit 1 registers the input article in the server holding unit 3. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, an article ID is given to the inputted article, the contents of the article are archived to create an archive file, and a data name is given to this. At the same time, the registration control unit 5 registers the above-described predetermined items, for example, the registration control information 4, in the channel list information 103 and the article list 103 'of the channel to which the article belongs.

The registration control section 5 creates registration control information 4 for designating a process for a registered article. The registration control information 4 is a part of the article list 103 'described above. Note that the article list 103 'is information for managing article distribution, and is therefore also referred to as article distribution management information. Therefore, the registration control information 4 is stored in the article list 10 by the registration control unit 5.
3 ', that is, set as part of the article distribution management information.
Since the registration control information 4 is written in the article list 103 ', it is individually specified for each article. Since update and deletion of an article are set for each article by the article distributor, the registration control information 4 is also determined for each article.

The registration control information 4 includes “new” indicating that the article is an article to be registered as a new article, “update” indicating that the article is to be registered as an updated article of an existing article, Alternatively, it is either “delete” indicating that the existing article is to be deleted. When the information is “update”, the registration control information 4 further includes pass-through information indicating the version number of the update. Although the pass-through information is not shown in FIG. 4, it is included in a part of the article ID unique to the article, so that the version number of the article can be known.

The registration control information 4 is input by the registration control unit 5 when the article distributor registers his / her article in the server 100. The registration control unit 5 sets the entire registration control information 4 (update, delete, etc.) to which the article ID (article A, article B, etc.) added to the input registration control information 4 (update, delete, etc.) as registration control information 4 for each article. , Article list 10
Write to part of 3 '.

Since "new" is the most ordinary registration control, its description is omitted, and the registration control information 4 is described only with the article ID. For example, only "article A" is described. “Update” is registration control information 4 to which both the article ID before update and the article ID after update are added before and after the arrow together with the registration control information. For example,
It is described as "update article A → article A '". The “delete” is the registration control information 4 to which the article ID is added together with the registration control information. For example, “delete article A” is described (see FIGS. 6 to 8).

As described above, since the registration control information 4 (and the article list 103 ') is usually set for each article when the article is registered, the registration control unit 5 and the article registration unit 1 are integrated. May be configured. On the other hand, since the channel list information 103 is set for each channel,
For example, the setting is made by the administrator of the server 100.

The registration control unit 5 controls the updating process and the deleting process of the information distributed by the server 100 in the client 200. That is, the registration control unit 5 sets and manages the article update / delete mode in the client 200. For this purpose, the registration control unit 5 (actually, the article distribution unit 2) distributes, to the client 200, the registration control information 4 for controlling the update and deletion processing of the article distributed by the server 100. After the registration control information 4 is written in the article list 103 ′ by the registration control unit 5, when the article distribution unit 2 distributes the article list 103 ′ in the solid line communication processing of the above-described procedure, the article list 103 ′ And written to the client 200.

As described above, by distributing the registration control information 4 to the client 200, the server 100 can control the article update and deletion processing in the client 200 from the server 100. The server 10
The update process and the delete process of the article in the server holding unit 3 of 0 are also determined based on the registration control information 4. Therefore, the article distributor can control not only the client 200 but also the server 100 for the update processing and the deletion processing of the article (only) registered by the article distributor. Article distribution section 2
Distributes various articles and registration control information 4 registered in the server holding unit 3 to the client 200. That is, the article distribution unit 2 executes the procedures shown in FIG. 3B with the article management unit 17 of the client 200 in order to distribute information on the registered articles. The article management unit 17 executes requests to various servers 100 indicated by dotted lines in the procedures and steps illustrated in FIG. 3B in order to receive distribution of information from the server 100, and processes the information distributed from the server 100. Let the user browse.
In response to the various requests, the article distribution unit 2 distributes information such as the channel information list 103, the article list 103 ', and the article archive 104 to the client 200 as indicated by the solid lines in the procedures and the like.

That is, when there is a connection request from the article management unit 17 of the client 200 registered in the user list 101 of FIG. 3A (dotted line in the procedure of FIG. 3B), the article distribution unit 2 of the server 100 Distributes the channel list information 103 to the article management unit 17 (solid line in the procedure). Further, when there is a list request from the article management unit 17 (dotted line in the procedure),
The article distribution unit 2 stores the article list 103 'in the article management unit 17
(To the solid line in the procedure). At this time, the registration control information 4
Is written in the article list 103 'and distributed. Further, when there is an acquisition request from the article management unit 17 (dotted line in the procedure), the article distribution unit 2 distributes the article archive 104 for which the acquisition request was made to the article management unit 17 (solid line in the procedure). The article management unit 17 receives the article from the article archive 104, restores the article, and holds the article in the client holding unit 16.

The article management unit 17 manages an article distributed from the server 100 or an article distributed from the server 100 and held in the client 200.
A predetermined process is performed based on the registration control information 4 distributed from the company and related to the article.

When the registration control information 4 is “new”, the article management section 17 holds the article distributed from the server 100 in the client holding section 16 in the client 200. In this case, since it is “new”, the article management unit 17
The history information at 00 is completely new.

That is, the article management unit 17 stores the registration control information 4
Request to obtain an article described only by the article ID (eg, article A) in the article archive 10
In response to the distribution of No. 4, this is restored to an article and newly registered in the client holding unit 16. For example, assuming that the registration control information is “article A”, the article A is distributed from the server 100 and newly registered.

The history information is information in which the client 200 or the user himself / herself records the browsing state of the article with respect to the article. For example, “save period”, “unread / read”, “save”, etc. are recorded. Is what is done.

The “retention period” designates a period for retaining the article in the client retaining unit 16 of the client 200, and is set by the client 200. In a push type (or pseudo push type) system, the server 100
Since the information is distributed from time to time, the amount of storage is enormous, and the article is automatically deleted by the client 200 after a certain period of time. The “retention period” indicates a valid period of the article in the client 200. “Unread / read” indicates whether the user has viewed the article or not, and is set by the client 200. “Save” indicates that the article is to be saved regardless of the setting even after the “save period” has elapsed, and the user sets the article to be saved.

Therefore, when the setting of the history information is “new”, the “storage period” is newly started (the upper limit value or the longest value), and “unread / read” is set at the time of registration. “Unread” is set, and “Save” is not set.

When the registration control information 4 is “update”, the article management unit 17 updates the article corresponding to the registration control information 4 distributed from the server 100 and held in the client 200. In this case, unlike “new”, the article management unit 17 takes over the history information of the article corresponding to the registration control information 4 in the client 200 as the history information of the updated article.

That is, the article management unit 17 stores the registration control information 4
In the registration control information "update", the article I of the article
With respect to the article described by adding D, the article is deleted from the client holding unit 16, a request to obtain the article is made, the article archive 104 is distributed, and this is restored to the article, and the client holding unit 16 16 is newly registered.

For example, if the registration control information is “update article A
→ Article A ′ ”, the client holding unit 16
Deletes the article A stored in the server 100.
And distributes the article A ′ from the client holding unit 16 instead of the article A. The article A 'is stored in an area different from the area where the article A was stored, instead of overwriting the article A.

In the setting of the history information, in the case of “update”, the “retention period” is taken over the retention period of the article A before the update and is set to the remaining period (shorter period),
"Unread / read" and "save" inherit the contents at that time.

"Update" may be repeated a plurality of times. Therefore, as described above, the registration control information 4
Contains pass-through information indicating the version number of the update. Article management unit 17
Is an article corresponding to the registration control information 4 distributed from the server 100 and held in the client 200,
Update to the newest version. In addition, the history information about the article targeted for the update is taken over as the history information about the updated article.

For example, it is assumed that there are two updates. That is, it is assumed that the registration control information is “updated article A → article A ″” after “updated article A → article A ′”. In this case, the article management unit 17 deletes the article A ′ (or the article A) held in the client holding unit 16, and receives the distribution of the article A ″ from the server 100 and changes it to the article A. Register instead. As for the history information, the contents of the article A ′ (or the article A) are taken over. Since this is equal to the content of the article A, as a result, the "retention period" always takes over the content of the oldest article A and is set as the remaining period.

If the registration control information 4 is “delete”, the article management unit 17 deletes the article corresponding to the registration control information 4 distributed from the server 100 and held in the client 200 from the registration. In this case, the article management unit 17 also deletes the history information of the article corresponding to the registration control information 4 in the client 200 together with the information, and does not record any information.

That is, the article management unit 17 stores the registration control information 4
In the registration control information "delete", the article I of the article
For an article described with D added, the article is deleted from the client holding unit 16. For example, when the registration control information is “delete article A”, the article A stored in the client storage unit 16 is deleted. The history information is also deleted.

Note that, contrary to “deletion” of the information indicated by the registration control information 4, the user may specify “save” of the information in the history information of the information. In this case, the article management unit 17 deletes the article held in the client 200 from the registration in the client holding unit 16 irrespective of the history information “save” of the article at that time. That is, the registration control information 4 which is the instruction information of the server 100 has priority over the history information of the information which is the instruction information of the client 200.

When the user inputs a browsing instruction (display instruction), the information browsing unit 11 displays the information held in the client holding unit 16 in response to the input.
The displayed information is information held in the client holding unit 16, and the history information does not change. Therefore, the user of the client 200 does not have any awareness that the above-described article update processing and article deletion processing have been performed. As described above, in push-type (and pseudo-push-type) distribution, the user does not need to be conscious of the registration process of a new article.

Next, the article registration processing, update processing, and deletion processing in the client 200 will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8 are a series of diagrams showing these processes in order.

First, as shown in FIG. 6A, the article distributor newly inputs articles A, B and C to the server 100,
The article registration unit 1 registers this in the server holding unit 3. At the same time, the article distributor determines that the articles A, B and C are “new”
Is input to the server 100, and based on this, the registration control unit 5 creates registration control information 4 (and the article list 103 ') for the articles A, B, and C. Since the articles A, B, and C are “new”, the registration control information 4 includes only the article ID. Therefore, the registration control information 4 is “article A, article B, article C” as shown in FIG. 6A, and control information such as “update” is not added.

These articles A, B and C are shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.
To the client 200. That is, the registration control information 4 is distributed to the article management unit 17 according to the procedure as described above. This registration control information 4 contains articles A and B
The article management unit 17 knows that the articles A, B, and C are "new" registrations. Therefore, the article management unit 17 determines that the article A,
Since B and C are not stored, an acquisition request is made for these with respect to the server 100 indicated by the dotted line in the procedure. The registration control information 4 is held in the client 200 as a part of the article list 203 ′.

Next, on the next day, for example, as shown in FIG. 6B, distribution of a new article is repeated in the same manner. That is, new articles D and E are stored in the server
And registration control information 4 containing "new" for them is created. As a result, the registration control information 4 becomes “article A, article B, article C, article D, article E” (updated) as shown in FIG. 6B.

Upon receiving the distribution of the new registration control information 4 (article list 103 '), the article management unit 17 compares the new registration control information 4 with the registration control information 4 (article list 203') held by itself. Then, the article management unit 17 requests acquisition of the articles D and E (only) that are not held by the article management unit 17 and receives distribution of these, and the client holding unit 16
To hold. Accordingly, articles A to E are stored in the client storage unit 16.

Next, on the next day, as shown in FIG. 7A, the article distributor finds an error in the article B distributed by himself and tries to update the article B to a correct article B '. I do.

In this case, first, as shown in FIG. 7A, the article distributor inputs the article B ′ into the article registration unit 1,
The article registration unit 1 registers this in the server holding unit 3. Further, the article distributor inputs to the registration control unit 5 that the article B ′ is “update” of the article B. Based on this, the registration control unit 5 registers the registration control information 4 on the article B ′.
(And an article list 103 ′). Registration control information 4
Means that the article B ′ is “updated” as shown in FIG.
Therefore, "Article B" which is no longer distributed is deleted,
"Update article B → article B '" indicating update is added.

The article B ′ and the registration control information 4 are:
As shown in FIG. 7A, the server 1
00 to the client 200. That is, as described above, the registration control information 4 in which “article B” has been deleted and “update article B → article B ′” has been added is distributed to the article management unit 17 in a procedure. Since the registration control information 4 includes the registration control information “update”, the article management unit 17 knows that the article B ′ is a “update” registration.
Therefore, the article management unit 17 makes a request for obtaining the article B 'to the server 100 indicated by the dotted line in the procedure, receives the distribution from the server 100 indicated by the solid line in the procedure, and stores the distribution in the client holding unit 16 separately from the article B. The registration control information 4 is held in the client 200 as a part of the article list 203 ′.

At this time, the article management unit 17 deletes the article B stored in the client storage unit 16. As shown in FIG. 7A, the article B ′ distributed from the server 100 is not overwritten with the article B but stored in an area different from the area where the article B was stored.

Further, the article management unit 17 takes over the history information “history B” of the article B corresponding to the registration control information 4 as the history information of the updated article B ′. That is, as the history information, the “storage period” is the remaining period of the storage period of the article B before updating, and “unread / read” and “save” take over the contents of the article B. Therefore, “history B” is added to article B ′. With this, the user can read article B
You do not need to be aware of updates.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7B, it is assumed that the article distributor discovers an error in the article D distributed by himself and tries to delete the article D the next day. In this case, as shown in FIG. 7B, the article distributor inputs to the registration control unit 5 that the article D is “deleted”. Based on this, the registration control unit 5 creates the registration control information 4 (and the article list 103 ') for the article D. In the registration control information 4, as shown in FIG. 7B, since the article D is "deleted", "article D" which is no longer distributed is deleted, and "delete article D" for instructing deletion is added. It will be.

The registration control information 4 is distributed from the server 100 to the client 200 according to the procedure and the like as shown in FIG. That is, as described above,
The registration control information 4 in which “article D” has been deleted and “delete article D” has been added is distributed to the article management unit 17 by a procedure. This registration control information 4 is registration control information "delete"
, The article management unit 17 knows that the article D is “deleted”. Therefore, the article management unit 17 deletes the article D from the client holding unit 16. The registration control information 4 is held in the client 200 as a part of the article list 203 ′. At this time, the article management unit 17 also deletes the history information of the article D.

Next, as shown in FIG. 8A, the article distributor again discovers an error in the article B 'distributed by himself, and converts the article B' into a correct article B '', as shown in FIG. Suppose you try to update.

In this case, first, as shown in FIG. 8A, the article distributor inputs the article B ″ into the article registration section 1 and the article registration section 1 registers this in the server holding section 3. .
Further, the article distributor inputs to the registration control unit 5 that the article B ″ is “update” of the article B ′. Based on this, the registration control unit 5 creates the registration control information 4 (and the article list 103 ') for the article B''. Since the article B ″ is “update” as shown in FIG. 8A, the registration control information 4 indicates “update article B” instructing the update.
→ "Article B '" will no longer be delivered in "Article B'"
Is deleted, and “updated article B → article B ″” to which “article B ″” to be distributed is added.

These articles B ″ and registration control information 4
Is distributed from the server 100 to the client 200 through the procedure and the like as shown in FIG.
That is, the registration control information 4 indicating “update article B ′ → article B ″” is distributed to the article management unit 17 in a procedure. Since the registration control information 4 includes the registration control information “update”, the article management unit 17 knows that the article B ″ is an “update” registration. Therefore, the article management unit 17 makes a request to obtain the article B ″ and receives the distribution, and the article B ′
Separately, it is held in the client holding unit 16. The registration control information 4 is held in the client 200 as a part of the article list 203 ′.

At this time, the article management unit 17 deletes the article B ′ held in the client holding unit 16. The article B ″ distributed from the server 100 is not overwritten with the article B ′, but is stored in an area different from the area where the article B ′ was stored. In FIG. 8A, for convenience of illustration, it is shown at the same position as the article B ′.

Further, the article management unit 17 stores the history information “history B” of the article B ′ (accordingly, of the article B) corresponding to the registration control information 4 with the history information of the updated article B ″. Take over as. That is, as the history information, the “storage period” is the remaining period of the storage period of the article B before updating, and “unread / read” and “save” take over the contents of the article B. Therefore, “history B” is added to article B ″.
Thus, the user is not conscious of updating the article B.

When the “update” is repeated a plurality of times as described above, the article management unit 17 always updates the article B ″ having the latest version number using the edition information included in the registration control information 4, Further, the history information “history B” of the first article B is always taken over as the history information. Therefore, in this case, regardless of whether the client holding unit 16 holds the article B or the article B ′, “history B” is added to the article B ″ after the update, regardless of this.

Next, the next day, as shown in FIG. 8 (B), the article distributor again found that there was no error in the article D distributed by himself and tried to distribute the article D. And

In this case, first, as shown in FIG. 8B, the article distributor newly inputs an article D to the article registration section 1, and the article registration section 1 registers this in the server holding section 3.
At the same time, the article distributor inputs to the registration control unit 5 that the article D is "new", and the registration control unit 5 creates registration control information 4 on the article D (and the article list 103 '). The registration control information 4 includes, as shown in FIG.
Since the article D is "new", the "article D" to be distributed is added, and the "delete article D" instructing deletion is deleted.

As shown in FIG. 8B, the article D and the registration control information 4 are distributed from the server 100 to the client 200 according to the above-described procedures.
That is, the registration control information 4 is distributed to the article management unit 17 according to the procedure. The registration control information 4 indicates that the article D is “new”
Know that it is a registration. Since the article management unit 17 does not hold the article D, the article management unit 17 requests acquisition of the article D, receives the distribution, and stores the article D in the client storage unit 16. The registration control information 4 is held in the client 200 as a part of the article list 203 ′.

Here, since the article D is a “new” registration again (it is a re-registration), there is no old information to be deleted (the article D in FIG. 7A or the like) and history information to be taken over. Nor. Therefore, the history information is completely new. That is, it is exactly the same as the new registration shown in FIG.

Although the present invention has been described as an information receiving / distributing system, the present invention also includes a program for realizing the information receiving / distributing system, which is stored in a program storage medium. That is, the program may be described on a storage medium such as a flexible disk or a CD-ROM, or may be loaded on a storage medium such as a hard disk by download, all of which fall within the technical scope of the present invention. It should be understood.

[0114]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In the information receiving / distributing system, the server distributes registration control information for specifying processing of an article from the client to the client, so that the client can update the article distributed from the server or the article held in the client. Since processing such as deletion can be controlled from the server, deletion and update processing of information (article) in the client can be controlled from the server without burdening the information distributor of the server and the user of the client. Information deletion and update processing can be performed by giving priority to server instruction information over information, and processing of history information on information that has been updated or deleted can be controlled from the server. In this way, if the information once distributed is incorrect, It is possible to control the deletion or update of the erroneous information in clients.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an information receiving / distributing system.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an information receiving / distributing system.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of information reception / delivery.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an information receiving / distributing system.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a deletion update process.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a deletion update process.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a deletion update process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Article registration part 2 Article distribution part 3 Server holding part 4 Registration control information 5 Registration control part 11 Information browsing part 16 Client holding part 17 Article management part 100 Server 200 Client

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Toshi Hamano ▲ Kuni ▼ 98 Uno-Ki-nu, Unoki-cho, Hebei-gun, Ishikawa Pref. No. 2 in PFU Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Koki Karube 98, Unoki-nu, Unoki-cho, Kawakita-gun, Ishikawa Pref.

Claims (9)

[Claims] An information receiving / distributing system comprising a server and a plurality of clients connected to the server, wherein the server receives information distributed from the server, wherein the server distributes the information to the client. An article registration unit for registering an article to be registered; a registration control unit for creating registration control information for designating a process for the registered article; and distributing the registered article and registration control information to the client. An article distribution unit, wherein each of the clients is the registration control information distributed from the server for an article distributed from the server or an article distributed from the server and held in the client. An article management unit that performs a predetermined process based on an article is provided. Information receiving and distribution system. 2. The registration control information is “new” indicating that the article is an article to be registered as a new article, “update” indicating that the article is to be registered as an updated article of an existing article, or In the case where the registration control information is “new”, the article management unit holds the article distributed from the server in the client. In the case of “update”, the article corresponding to the registration control information distributed from the server and held in the client is updated, and in the case of “delete”, the article distributed from the server and held in the client The information receiving / distributing system according to claim 1, wherein an article corresponding to the registration control information is deleted from the registration. 3. When the registration control information is “update”, the article management unit takes over history information about an article corresponding to the registration control information as history information about the updated article. The information receiving / distributing system according to claim 2, wherein 4. The information receiving / distributing system according to claim 3, wherein the registration control information further includes pass-through information indicating a version number of the update when the information is “update”. 5. The article management unit, when the registration control information is “update”, sets the article corresponding to the registration control information distributed from the server and held in the client to the latest version. The information receiving / distributing system according to claim 4, wherein the update is performed, and the history information of the article targeted for the update is taken over as the history information of the updated article. 6. The article management unit, when the registration control information is “delete”, deletes an article distributed from the server and held by the client regardless of history information of the article at that time. The information receiving / distributing system according to claim 2, wherein the information is deleted from the registration. 7. The server in the information receiving / distributing system includes a plurality of servers having a multi-stage configuration, wherein the client is connected to any one of the plurality of servers, and the client is either directly from the higher-level server or Receiving information distributed from an upper-level server among the plurality of servers via a lower-level server among the plurality of servers connected to the upper-level server. Information delivery system described. 8. The information receiving / distributing system automatically transmits an information distribution request without inputting an instruction that the lower-order server or client registered in advance should execute a distribution request to the upper-level server. A system for performing push-type distribution in which said higher-level server distributes information to said lower-level server or client when said lower-level server or client requests said distribution. Item 9. An information receiving / distributing system according to item 7. 9. The information receiving / distributing system according to claim 1, wherein the upper-level server distributes information to the lower-level server or client registered in advance in response to an information distribution request from the lower-level server or client. The information receiving / distributing system according to claim 7, wherein the information receiving / distributing system is a system for performing type distribution.