WO2003034232A1

WO2003034232A1 - Server, service site, service system and content providing device

Info

Publication number: WO2003034232A1
Application number: PCT/JP2001/009054
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tetsuya Yamashita
Original assignee: Btoc Usa Incorporated
Priority date: 2001-10-16
Filing date: 2001-10-16
Publication date: 2003-04-24

Abstract

A service system comprises a client such as a personal computer, a Web site of each company sponsor having the users of the client as members, and a service Web site for providing actual services to the users in behalf of the Web site of the sponsor. The Web page provided to the users by the Web site of the sponsor shows an image created by the sponsor and the results of the service executed by the service Web site combinedly.

Description

Description Servers, service sites, service systems and content providing devices

The present invention relates to a service technology via a network. In particular, the present invention relates to a server for providing services to a client, a service site, a service system including a client and a service site, and an apparatus for providing, to a client, content obtained from the service site. About. Background art

As the use of the Internet has become popular, it has become common for companies to build sites on the World Wide Web (WWW). These sites are equipped with WWW servers, and various corporate information is transmitted to an unspecified number of consumers via the Internet. Recently, sites that distribute not only information but also music, video, and game software as digital content, for example, have increased the number of sites that are able to interact with users and segment according to user preferences. Services with high tasting properties are spreading. While developing marketing for unspecified large numbers, companies are fixing users as members on the network, and are looking for ways to effectively and effectively transmit necessary product and service information in the evening.

For the purpose of retaining users, companies sometimes provide unique services as sponsors of services of interest to users. For example, the company may post “Today's Fortune”, stock prices, weather forecasts, etc. on its Web page, or record companies may publish new music introductions with sound. As a company, we would like to attract as many users as possible to our site and, if possible, register as a member, so that we can secure access routes to individuals using e-mail or other methods called opt-in mail. It is.

When trying to increase the sense of unity with users through the network and to retain users, Companies need to continue to provide more innovative services. However, the environment surrounding companies is changing every day due to the development of network technology and computer terminals, diversification and complexity of communication services, and diversification of user preferences. Under such circumstances, the labor and cost of building, maintaining and improving network-based services in-house are increasing.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and anticipates the progress of site-related role sharing software in the field of providing services to users through a network, and provides a smoothing technology for that in advance. The purpose is to provide. Disclosure of the invention

The server of the present invention is located at a service site acting for a service to be performed by a sponsor site having a user. “Hold” means, for example, that the user is maintained as a member, but in general, it is only necessary that some kind of relationship be established with the user. “Sponsor” refers to an entity such as a company that does some kind of transaction with a user, such as providing services via a network or providing products offline. Sponsor site of, on the network, for example, _c, for example, behave with respect to the user of the client as providing entity of the service, record companies and distributed the online schedule software free of charge to Interview one The who bought me a CD. The record company, as a sponsor of the user, manages the user's schedule entered into the software. The user's schedule is registered on the sponsor's site, and the user can check his / her own schedule from whereabouts.

The present invention relates to a service at a site of a sponsor, that is, a service site acting on behalf of a schedule, for example, in such a situation. The service site has a server. The server includes a communication unit that communicates with the client of the user via a network, and an authentication unit that authenticates the user when a service request is received from the client. Including. Further, the authentication unit searches a table storing user information to find a site of a sponsor holding the user. Includes sponsor identification section to identify.

Therefore, while the service site acts as a service agent, it can grasp the site of the sponsor who should originally provide the service to the user. Therefore, the user's personal information can be fed back to the sponsor's site, or the service can be provided to the user by pretending to be the sponsor's site. As a result, the sponsor site is freed from real service efforts while retaining users.

The sponsor specifying unit may have a function of changing a connection destination of the client to a site of the specified sponsor. Further, when the client is connected to the specified sponsor's site, the server includes a main service unit for providing service to the client in response to a function call from the sponsor's site. May be included.

According to this configuration, for example, while the sponsor site displays a page having an image unique to the company to the user, the result of the actual service by the service site can be reflected as the content of the page. Therefore, it can be seen from the user that the service is actually being provided from the sponsor's site.

Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a service site. This service site provides an actual service to the client on behalf of the sponsor's site, so that a table describing the correspondence between the user and the sponsor's site, And a sponsor-specification unit that specifies the site of the sponsor corresponding to the user of the client by referring to the table. An example of a "response" is the relationship between a sponsor and the users it owns. Still another embodiment of the present invention relates to a service system. This system provides a real service to the client on behalf of a user's client, a sponsor's site that apparently acts as a service provider for the client, and the sponsor's site. Includes service site.

The client has a function for connecting to the service site when requesting the service. When the service is requested by the client, the service site is provided with a sponsor corresponding to the user of the client. It has a function of specifying a site and changing the connection destination of the client to the site of the specified sponsor. In addition, the sponsor site has a function of providing a service form to the connected client by itself, a function of substituting the actual service at the service site, and a result of the actual service. Receiving and reflecting this in the service form. “Service Form” means data or its format that can be created for each sponsor or sponsor site and presented in a manner recognizable to the user. For example, screens, audio, or HTML that describes them Page. Hereinafter, the service form is also referred to as “page form”.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is an apparatus possessed by a sponsor's site. This device has a function of providing the content obtained from the service site to the client. In order to realize this function, the apparatus comprises: a request unit for requesting a server acting as a service for the client to transmit a content provided to the client; and a receiving unit for receiving the content data from the server. A combining unit that generates a page data including the received content data, and a providing unit that transmits the page data to the client. "Contents overnight" is information provided from a service site acting as a service. This device processes this information and provides it to the user. For example, the content data of the weather forecast service is weather information of each place.

The apparatus further includes a first storage unit that stores the page form, and a determination unit that determines whether a command for instructing acquisition of the content is incorporated in the page form. May request content data from the server when the command is embedded, and the combining unit may combine the received content data into a page form to generate page data. “Page De-Ichi” is a display for displaying the results of the service on the client's display device. ) Is described in a text description language. A page form is a template for page data. Specify the destination of the content to be included in the data and the display position of the data.

The apparatus further includes: a receiving unit that receives a request for page data from the client; and a selecting unit that reads out a page form for generating the page data requested by the client from the storage unit. Alternatively, the page form read by the selection unit may be a determination target. The command may include information for specifying a super, and the request unit may request the server specified by the information for the content.

The apparatus further includes a second storage unit for storing authentication information necessary for accessing the server, wherein the request unit accesses the server using the authentication information, and performs a content May be requested. The apparatus further includes an authentication unit for authenticating the user, and when requesting the server for content data to be provided for each user such as a schedule, the request unit requests a content for a successfully authenticated user. You may. The page form may include synthesis information used when synthesizing content data. The “synthesis information” is information that specifies data to be extracted from the content data, a synthesis position of the extracted data, and the like. The apparatus further includes an extraction unit that extracts necessary data from the received content based on the synthesis information, and the synthesis unit synthesizes the extracted data based on the synthesis information. You may.

The above are some aspects of the present invention, and any combination or rearrangement of those features, or any combination or rearrangement with another feature that will become apparent below is another aspect of the present invention. is there. In addition, the above configuration can be generally realized by hardware, software, or a combination thereof. Therefore, the term "function" may be replaced with a unit of a program module, a unit of hardware, other means as a part of a device, or a step as a part of a method. The processing of the present invention may be performed by a computer-executable program, or may be provided by a recording medium on which the program is recorded. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a service system according to the first embodiment. Figure 2 shows the internal configuration of the service site.

Figure 3 shows the service form provided by the sponsor site.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an initial screen displayed by the service site to authenticate the user before starting the service.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a service system according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an internal configuration diagram of the content providing device of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a page form stored in the page form storage unit of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure based on the service site data in FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of content data received by the acquisition unit in FIG. FIG. 10 is an internal configuration diagram of the service providing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram between devices in the service system of FIG. FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram between devices in the service system according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing hardware components of each device according to each embodiment. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a service system 10 according to the first embodiment. Here, we take the user's schedule management service as an example.

The service system 10 includes personal computers (PCs) 12 and 14 functioning as a client on the user side and a mobile phone 16. In addition, as a sponsor site, the company X site 20 and the company Y site 22 and their support for users are provided. Includes a service site 24 for one service. These configurations are connected via a network 18. Network 18 can be wired, wireless, or any other format, but here we consider the Internet.

Schedule management software provided by Company X on PC 12 and Company Y on PC 14 is implemented. These programs are WWW browsers, plug-in viewers, Java applets, and any other forms of programs. These software have the URLs of company X and company Y sites 20 and 22 pre-installed, respectively, and PCs 12 and 14 must first use the sponsor sites when they receive the schedule service. Is connected to sites 20 and 22 of company X and company Y.

On the other hand, the mobile phone 16 has a simple WWW browser. This function has been implemented in mobile phones 16 from the beginning. Schedule management software is not implemented. Therefore, when a schedule confirmation request is received from the mobile phone 16, it is not clear which sponsor holds the user. Therefore, the service site 24 is connected to the service site 24 first by registering it as, for example, an i-mode (trademark) service provider. Then, the service site 24 is used as described later. Site 24 identifies the sponsor's site.

After that, the service site 24 and the sponsor sites 20 and 22 share the role of the service site 24, while the service site 24 plays the role of real service. An environment is formed as if the site of the user's sponsor was doing it.

The internal configuration of sites X and Y of Company X and Company Y is assumed to be the same, and Site X of Company Y is described below. Company Y site 22 has a server 26 that implements arbitrary functions including a WWW server, a database 28 that stores user information owned by company Y, and a user owned by company Y that checks schedules. First, it has a file of the top page 30 which is a service form to be displayed on the client screen of the user. It should be noted here that the database 28 does not store user schedule information. Schedule is service site 24 It is managed collectively.

The top page 30 includes an image area 32 unique to the company Y and an active area 34 on which the result of the service provided by the service site 24 is reflected. The HTML source file on the top page 30 executes the CGI (Common Gateway Interface) program implemented on the service site 24 in order to obtain the schedule-related information requested by the user from the service site 24. The tag is embedded o

The service site 24 is a server 40 that implements arbitrary functions including a WWW server, and a database 42 that stores information on all users owned by company X, company Y, and all other companies that provide schedule services. And a user table 44 that holds the correspondence between each sponsor and the users under its ownership.

FIG. 2 shows the internal configuration of the service site 24. The server 40 includes not only a communication unit 50 that communicates with the client, a user authentication unit 52 that authenticates a user who has requested access to the schedule from the mobile phone 16, and a mobile phone 16, but also all of them. And a main service unit 54 that manages schedules in an integrated manner for all users.

The user authentication unit 52 identifies a sponsor of the user who has accessed from the mobile phone 16 based on information unique and reliable to the user, for example, an ID and a passcode. With. The sponsor-specific part 60 is equipped with a CGI program (not shown) for changing the connection destination of the client to the specified sponsor's site, and the URL of the sponsor's site is transmitted to the client. Is sent to the client, and the connection destination is changed on the client side.

In the user table 44, the user's ID 70, password 72, and sponsor 74 are recorded for each user.

The main service unit 54 includes a user management unit 62 for collectively managing schedule information, personal information, past access information, consumption history, and the like of all users in the database 42, and a user schedule Schedule registration section 6 4 responsible for registration or renewal, and database 4 2 includes a schedule reading unit 66 for reading from 2 and sending it to the communication unit 50. The service procedure with the above configuration will be described.

First, it is assumed that a request for a schedule service is received from PC 14 incorporating the schedule management software of Company Y. At that time, PC 14 is connected to Y company site 22. Therefore, users who have their own schedule management software can reach their sponsor's site from the beginning. Conversely, users owned by other companies do not enter their own site, so each company can manage its own users as members.

Now, suppose that the user of PC 14 arrives at the Y company site 22. The server 26 of the company Y site 22 transmits a top page 30 including the image region 32 unique to the company Y to the client.

Figure 3 shows the initial screen 82, and the image area 32 contains information related to Company Y. On the other hand, in the active area 34, the schedule screen 84 of the user is displayed by the CGI function of the service site 24. Naturally, to display the schedule of the user, the server 26 of the Y company site 22 authenticates the user owned by the company. This authentication may be performed using an ID and a password, or may be automatically determined from unique information such as a serial number of the schedule management software implemented in the PC 14.

By the above processing, the user can be in a situation as if he / she is receiving the schedule service from his sponsor, Company Y. Company Y can accumulate any user information other than the schedule on its site's data base 28, and use it for future sales promotion and other sales activities. Similarly, at other companies' sites, it is possible to independently collect information on users owned by each site. Next, consider a case where the user requests the schedule service from the mobile phone 16. Since the access of the mobile phone 16 is connected to the service site 24, the server 40 of the service site 24 transmits an initial screen for authenticating the user. Figure 4 shows the initial screen 90. On this initial screen 90, the user inputs an ID and a password. However, the ID is the subscriber number of the mobile phone 16 It may be omitted. At the stage when the initial screen 90 is displayed, the initial screen 90 does not have any site characteristics because the user is still uncertain in which supporter it is held. May be used.

The user authentication unit 52 specifies the validity and sponsor of the user by referring to the user table 44 with the input ID and password. The URL of the specified sponsor site is set in the browser of the mobile phone 16, and the connection destination is the user's sponsor site. Subsequent processing is the same as that of PC, and the schedule service screen customized for the sponsor site in Fig. 3 is displayed. As described above, according to this embodiment, since the site of the sponsor is released from the load of the service, it is possible to actively perform service sourcing at the service site. Therefore, the service site develops a so-called “^: 111-; 111- ¥; 111” business model by introducing elements that contribute to its own profits into actual services. In other words, the user can obtain the desired service from the interested sponsor site, the sponsor site can keep the user as a member for a long time, and the service site can reduce the profit of the company with the service agency. Increase. For example, you can get commissions from advertisers by pasting ads when delivering the schedule.

The first embodiment has, for example, the following modifications and improvements.

First, PC 12 and 14 and mobile phone 16 are mentioned as the user's client here, but needless to say, they are not limited to them. There is no problem if the initial screen shown in Fig. 4 is displayed when access is made from PCs 12 and 14.

Although the schedule was mentioned as a service, it is not limited to this. Users can recognize stock prices, weather forecasts, real-time movies, TV and other videos, music, advertisements, recruitment information, quizzes, games, fortune-telling, cooking recipes, GPS (Global Positioning System) and other location information. It may be any service provided in the form of, for example, images, sounds, touch, etc.

The server 40 of the service site 24 specified the site 22 of the user's sponsor, and then switched the connection destination of the user to the site 22 of the sponsor. But, The entire site 22 of the sponsor may be replaced by the service site 24. For example, the company site of the sponsor site 22 as shown in FIG. 3 may be held in the service site 24 and displayed to the user.

Although the service site 24 manages all the schedules, it goes without saying that there is no problem even if the sponsor site maintains or manages a part of the schedule by, for example, copying it.

The outline of the present invention has been described above using the service for managing a schedule as an example. Hereinafter, a more specific configuration for implementing the present invention will be described. FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a service system 300 according to the second embodiment. The service providing devices 200a and 200b are devices that transmit content data for providing a predetermined service, and provide, for example, content data such as a weather forecast, fortune-telling, and schedule management. This corresponds to the service site 24 in FIG. The content providing apparatus 100 acquires the content data from the service providing apparatus 200 and operates as if the service itself is being provided. This corresponds to the sponsor sites 20 and 22 in FIG. In the network 302, there are service providing devices 200 that provide various services, and the content providing device 100 sends content data from the service providing device 200 that provides necessary services. Get the evening.

The user viewing server 304 is a client of the content providing apparatus 100 and is operated by the user. The user computer 304 may be a stationary type such as a desktop computer or a mobile terminal. This corresponds to PCs 12 and 14 and the mobile phone 16 in FIG. These devices are connected via a network 302. The network 302 need only be capable of transmitting and receiving information regardless of wired, wireless, or other forms.

FIG. 6 is an internal configuration diagram of the content providing apparatus 100. The page form storage unit 120 holds a page form that is a template of page data. The receiving unit 102 receives a content transmission request from the user convenience 304. Selector 104 provides a page form for providing the requested content. Ohm storage section Select from 120. The service site database 122 holds information necessary for accessing the service providing apparatus 200. For example, the service site data base 122 uses the address of the service providing apparatus 200 in the network 302, the ID used for authentication, the password, and the like as information for identifying the service providing apparatus 200. Stored in association.

The determination unit 106 determines whether the selected page form includes a command instructing acquisition of content data. When the command is included, the determination unit 106 instructs the request unit 112 to request the content overnight. In this embodiment, the command includes information for specifying the service providing apparatus 200, and the request destination of the content data is specified based on the specified information. The requesting unit 112 requests the service providing device 200 specified by the specific information to perform a content overnight. If the access to the service providing apparatus 200 requires authentication, the request unit 112 uses the authentication information stored in the service site database 122.

The acquiring unit 114 receives the content overnight from the service providing device 200. The extraction unit 110 extracts necessary data from the content data. This extraction is performed based on the information contained in the page form. The synthesizing unit 108 generates page data by synthesizing the extracted data at a specified position in the page form. The providing unit 1 16 transmits the page data to the user computer 304. The user viewer 304 displays the page data using a program such as a web browser that performs display processing.

Some service providing devices 200 provide services for each user, such as user schedule management. In order to obtain the content data for each user from such a device, it is necessary to authenticate the user. The user database 124 stores IDs and passwords used for user authentication. The user authentication unit 118 authenticates the user based on the information held in the user database 124, and when the authentication is successful, requests the request unit 112 for content. Instruct. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the page form 150. In this embodiment, the page form 150 has a unique command 152a, 152b, and a content command for instructing acquisition of content data in a part of a group of codes described in HTML. Includes original commands 154a and 154b to specify the data to be extracted from the data. The server specifying information 156 included in the command 152a is information for specifying the service providing apparatus 200. The determination unit 106 determines whether the page form selected by the selection unit 104 includes the command 152 a. The requesting unit 112 requests the service providing apparatus 200 specified by the server specifying information 156 for the content. The input commands 154a and 154b described in the range between the command 152a and the command 152b indicate the data extracted from the content and the position of the command. Specifies that data is to be inserted into In this example, the requesting unit 112 requests the service providing apparatus 200 called "Weather" for the content overnight. The acquisition unit 114 acquires weather information as content overnight. The extraction unit 110 extracts weather information of “Tokyo” and “Kanagawa” from the acquired weather information. Then, the synthesizing unit 108 synthesizes the weather information of Tokyo at the position of the insertion command 154a, and synthesizes the weather information of Kanagawa at the position of the insertion command 154b. Then, when the combining is completed, the combining unit 108 deletes the command 152 a and the command 152 b. Thus, page data is generated.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the service site data base 122. As shown in FIG. The server specifying information column 160 holds information for specifying the service providing apparatus 200. The ID column 162 and the pass-code column 1664 hold an ID used as authentication information and a password when accessing the service providing apparatus 200. The service flag column 166 holds information indicating the type of service provided by the service providing apparatus 200. In this embodiment, as the types of services, there are services provided for each user such as schedule management, and services provided in common such as weather forecast. In the service flag column 166, “1” indicates a service provided for each user, and “0” indicates a service provided in common.

The request unit 1 1 2 in FIG. 6 is a service in which “1” is held in the service flag field 16 6. — When accessing the service providing device 200, the user authentication unit 118 is instructed to authenticate the user. Then, after the user is successfully authenticated, the requesting unit 112 requests the content data for the user. When accessing the service providing apparatus 200 in which “0” is held in the service flag column 166, the request unit 112 does not instruct the user authentication unit 118 to perform authentication. The address column 168 holds the address of the service providing apparatus 200 in the network 302.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the content server 170 obtained from the service providing apparatus 200. In this embodiment, the service providing apparatus 200 transmits a file in which the content is described in XML. This example is a content server 170 from a service providing apparatus 200 that provides a weather forecast. Day evening column 1 7 4a holds the weather information of "Tokyo". Day 1 1 4 4 b holds the weather information of “Kanagawa”. Such weather information of each place is described in a range surrounded by a tag 172a and a tag 172b.

The extracting unit 110 extracts necessary data from the content server 170 having such a data structure. In this embodiment, the extraction unit 110 extracts necessary data based on the insertion command 154 described in the page form 150. With such a data structure, the content data acquired from the service providing apparatus 200 can be appropriately included in the page data. In addition, since the manner of displaying the content overnight can be set by a page form, different display can be performed for each content providing apparatus 100, and the uniqueness of each site can be maintained. In the present embodiment, the content is described in XML, but in other embodiments, the content is not limited to XML and may be transmitted using, for example, a dedicated communication protocol.

FIG. 10 is an internal configuration diagram of the service providing apparatus 200. The receiving unit 202 receives a signal requesting content data from the content providing device 100. The sponsor database 2 14 holds information used when authenticating a sponsor who can provide content data. This information is the ID and passcode assigned to each sponsor. The sponsor authentication unit 204 Based on the data stored in the source 2 14, the content providing apparatus 100 that has requested the service is authenticated.

The content generation section 206 generates content data to be provided to the content providing apparatus 100 that has been successfully authenticated. The transmitting unit 208 transmits the generated content data to the content providing device 100. The counting unit 210 counts the number of transmissions of the content overnight for each content providing apparatus 100. The counting result storage unit 2 16 holds the counting result. In the present embodiment, each time the transmitting unit 208 transmits the content, the counting unit 210 increments the number of transmissions stored in the counting result storage unit 16. The billing unit 2 12 performs a process of charging a usage fee to the operator of the content providing apparatus 100 based on the counting result held in the counting result storage unit 2 16. For example, the billing process may be a process of transmitting an e-mail to the operator of the content providing apparatus 100. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram between devices in the service system 300. This sequence diagram is a sequence diagram when a schedule is provided to a user. The user sends the authentication information to the content providing device 100 using the user computer 304 (S10). The content providing apparatus 100 performs authentication based on the authentication information (S12). If the authentication is successful (Y in S12), the service providing apparatus 200 is requested to transmit the schedule of the user (S16).

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The service providing device 200 authenticates the content providing device 100 (S18). If the authentication is successful (Y in S18), the service providing apparatus 200 generates a content data including the user's schedule (S22), and transfers it to the content providing apparatus 100. (S24). The content providing device 100 extracts necessary information from the content data and generates a page data content (S26). The content providing device 100 transmits the generated page data to the user combination 304 (S28). If the user authentication fails in S12 (N in S12), the user is authenticated again (S14). If the authentication of the content providing apparatus 100 fails in S18 (N in S18), re-authentication processing is performed (S20). Sa The service providing device 200 transmits the content data and then counts it (S30). With such a system, the content providing apparatus 100 can receive the content from the service providing apparatus 200 and provide it to the user.

FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram of each device in the service system 300 according to the third embodiment. In the processing procedure according to the second embodiment described with reference to FIG. 11, the user computer 304 did not directly access the service providing apparatus 200. This figure shows a processing procedure of a mode in which the user computer 304 accesses the service providing apparatus 200 to acquire content data. In this processing procedure, a user used when providing a service for each user such as a schedule transmits authentication information to the content providing apparatus 100 using the user computer 304 (S400). . The content providing apparatus 100 performs authentication based on the authentication information (S42). If the authentication is successful (Y in S42), the user computer 304 requests transmission of an access code required to access the service providing apparatus 200 (S46).

The service providing device 200 authenticates the content providing device 100 (S48). If the authentication is successful (Y in S48), the service providing apparatus 200 generates an access code associated with the user (S50) and transmits it to the content providing apparatus 100. Yes (S54). The content providing apparatus 100 generates a page data including the access code (S56). For example, the access code is included in a tag for executing the CGI program of the service providing apparatus 200 as an argument when the program is executed.

The content providing device 100 transmits the page data to the user computer 304 (S57). The user convenience 304 starts display processing using the page data (S588). In the process, the user convenience 304 connects to the service providing device 200 and requests a schedule as a content de-scheduling (S600). At the time of this request, the user computer 304 The access code included in the evening is transmitted to service providing apparatus 200. The service providing apparatus 200 determines whether the access code is valid (S62). When the access code is valid (Y in S62), the schedule of the user associated with the access code is transmitted to the user view 304 as content overnight (S60). If the authentication fails in S42 (N in S42), the content providing apparatus 100 performs a re-authentication process (S44). If the authentication fails in S48 (N in S48), the service providing apparatus 200 performs a re-authentication process (S48). If the authentication fails in S62 (N in S62), the service providing apparatus 200 notifies the content providing apparatus 100 that the content data cannot be provided (S64). This sequence is implemented. To this end, the service providing apparatus 200 includes a unit for generating an access code, a unit for holding the generated access code in association with the user, and a unit for receiving the access code from the user convenience 304. And a unit for judging the validity of the access code.

The access code generated by the service providing apparatus 200 is a code for temporarily permitting access to the service providing apparatus 200, and after a certain period of time has elapsed, or after the content has been transmitted. Preferably, it will be disabled.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing hardware components of a convenience store 350 constituting each device in the first embodiment, the second embodiment, and the third embodiment. The convenience store 350 includes a CPU 352, an input device 354, a display device 356, a hard disk 358, a memory 360, a drive device 362, and a network connection interface 368. These components are electrically connected by a signal transmission path such as a bus 366.

The recording medium 364 is a computer-readable medium such as a CD-ROM, a DVD, and an FD. The recording medium 364 stores a program to be executed by the CPU 352. The drive device 362 reads the program from the recording medium 364 and stores the program in the hard disk 358 or the memory 360. In this embodiment, the program is stored on the hard disk 358. When running the program, Is read from the hard disk 358 to the memory 360. In another embodiment, the program may be stored on hard disk 358 via a network.

The CPU 352 fetches an instruction from the memory 360, issues an operation command to each device of the convenience based on the analysis result, and executes the program. The network connection interface 368 connects to a network such as an internet. The convenience store 350 connects to the network via the interface 368 to input and output information.

The hard disk 358 is, for example, a magnetic storage device, and stores programs and various databases. The input device 354 is a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, etc., and accepts an operation from a user. The display device 356 displays the execution status of the program and various information.

The functional blocks described in the respective embodiments are realized by executing software using these hardware components. Industrial applicability

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide the client computer with the content data obtained from the service providing device.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. A server placed at a service site acting as a service to be performed by a sponsor site that owns the user,

A communication unit that communicates with the user's client via a network;

An authentication unit for authenticating the user when receiving a service request from the client,

The authentication unit includes a sponsor identification unit that searches a table storing user information and identifies a site of a sponsor that holds the user.

The server, wherein the service site is provided separately from the site of the sponsor.

2. The server according to claim 1, wherein the sponsor specifying unit specifies the site of the sponsor based on an ID and a password of the user.

3. The server according to claim 1, wherein the sponsor-specifying unit has a function of changing a connection destination of the client to a site of the specified sponsor.

4. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a main service unit that provides a service to the client in response to a function call from the sponsor's site when the client is connected to the specified sponsor's site. The server according to any of the above.

5. A service site that provides a real service to the client on behalf of the sponsor site acting as a provider of the service to the client of the user,

A table describing the correspondence between the user and the site of the sponsor, and a sponsor for specifying a site of the sponsor corresponding to the user of the client by referring to the table when a service is requested from the client. Parts and

The service site, wherein the service site is provided separately from the site of the sponsor.

6. User's client and

A sponsor site that apparently acts as a service provider to the client;

A service site provided separately from the site of the sponsor and providing actual services to the client on behalf of the site of the sponsor,

The client has a function for connecting to the service site when requesting the service,

When the service is requested by the client, the service site specifies a sponsor site corresponding to the user of the client, and specifies a connection destination of the client with the specified sponsor site. Built-in function to change to

The sponsor site is:

A function of providing a page form to the connected client by itself, a function of substituting the actual service at the service site, and receiving a result of the actual service and reflecting the result on the page form Features and

A service system comprising:

7. A request unit for requesting a server acting as a service for the client to transmit content data to be provided to the client;

A receiving unit that receives the content data from the server;

A combining unit that generates a page data including the received content data, a providing unit that transmits the page data to a client,

A content providing device comprising:

8. A first storage for storing page forms,

A determining unit for determining whether a command for instructing acquisition of the content data is incorporated in the page form;

Further comprising The request unit requests the server for content data when the command is embedded,

8. The content providing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the synthesizing unit synthesizes the received content data and a page form to generate a page data.

9. A receiving unit that receives a request for a page from the client, a selecting unit that reads a page form for generating the page data requested by the client from the first storage unit,

Further comprising

9. The content providing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the determination unit sets the page form read by the selection unit as a determination target.

10. The command contains information identifying the server,

10. The content providing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the request unit requests the content data from a server specified by the information.

1 1. A second storage unit for storing authentication information required to access the server is further provided.

10. The content providing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the requesting unit accesses the server using the authentication information and requests for the content.

1 2. An authentication unit for authenticating the user is further provided.

12. The content providing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the request unit requests a content for a user who has been successfully authenticated.

1 3. The page form contains synthetic information used when synthesizing content.

An extracting unit that extracts necessary data from the received content data based on the synthesis information,

13. The content providing device according to claim 7, wherein the combining unit combines the extracted data.