JP2002123445A - Information distribution server, information distribution system, and information distribution method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To deliver information using a plurality of communication channels. SOLUTION: In an information distribution server 100, a content received from a content server is divided into data and audio corresponding to the data in page units 120. Then, the information distribution server 100 creates data index information 120. Then, the voice, data and index information are transmitted from information distribution server 100 to portable terminal 200 via another communication channel.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information distribution server, an information distribution system, and an information distribution method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a third generation mobile communication network such as IMT-2000, multi-call is adopted, and a mobile station can perform simultaneous communication using a plurality of communication channels, for example, a voice channel and a packet channel. Becomes

[0003]

However, in a conventional mobile communication network, an information distribution service for distributing information from a content server or the like to a portable terminal is not provided.
Each communication channel is independently provided with a service, and divides a data group composed of continuous different data (for example, audio data and image data) into a file of data that can be displayed on one screen of the mobile terminal, A problem that it is not possible to provide a service for sequentially distributing using a plurality of communication channels to control cueing, skipping, rewinding, page movement, etc. based on the index information (link information, etc.) of the divided files. There is a point.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to divide a data group composed of continuous different types of data into data files that can be displayed on one screen of a portable terminal in information distribution using different communication channels, An object of the present invention is to provide an information distribution server, an information distribution system, and an information distribution method capable of providing services for controlling cueing, skipping, rewinding, page movement, and the like based on index information of a divided file.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, the content received from a content server providing the content is transmitted to a portable terminal by using a plurality of communication channels. An information delivery server for transmitting, wherein the means for dividing the content received from the content server into data and audio corresponding to the data in page units, means for creating index information of the data, And transmitting the data and the index information to the portable terminal via another communication channel.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information distribution method using a portable terminal, a contents server for providing contents, and an information distribution server for transmitting the contents to the portable terminal using a plurality of communication channels. Wherein the information distribution server divides the content received from the content server into data and audio corresponding to the data in page units, and the information distribution server creates index information of the data. And transmitting the voice, the data, and the index information from the information distribution server to the portable terminal via another communication channel.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information distribution system including a portable terminal, a contents server for providing contents, and an information distribution server for transmitting the contents to the portable terminal using a plurality of communication channels. So,
In the information distribution server, means for dividing the content received from the content server into data and audio corresponding to the data in page units, in the information distribution server, means for creating index information of the data, Means for transmitting the voice, the data and the index information from the information distribution server to the portable terminal via another communication channel.

According to the information distribution server, the information distribution system, and the information distribution method of the present invention, the information distribution server divides the content received from the content server into data and audio corresponding to the data in page units. Then, the information distribution server creates data index information. Then, the voice, the data, and the index information are transmitted from the information distribution server to the mobile terminal via another communication channel. As a result, a data group composed of continuous different types of data is divided into data files that can be displayed on one screen of the mobile terminal, and the cueing is performed based on the index information of the divided files.
A service for controlling skip, rewind, page movement, and the like can be provided.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration of an information distribution system to which the present invention is applied, and conceptually shows only a portion related to the present invention in the configuration of the present system.

The information distribution system includes at least a portable terminal 200 for receiving contents and an information distribution server 100 for providing contents received from a content server (not shown) for storing various contents to the portable terminal 200. And a communication network 300 interconnecting them.

The information distribution server 100 provides various contents received from a content server or the like to the portable terminal 200 using different communication channels. For example, audio data is provided via an audio line channel and image data is provided via a packet channel. At that time, the central processing unit (control means, hereinafter abbreviated as CPU) 102 which controls the distribution control of the information distribution server 100 sets a heterogeneous data group corresponding to one content as one set,
A data group consisting of continuous heterogeneous data is
Divide the data into page files that can be displayed on the screen,
It has a function of providing a service for controlling cueing, skipping, rewinding, page movement, etc., based on the link information of the divided page files.

The portable terminal 200 is a known PHS terminal, a portable telephone terminal, a mobile communication terminal, or an information processing terminal such as a PDA having a mobile communication function, and makes the terminal realize browsing of web information. The present invention may be implemented by implementing software (including programs, data, and the like). In particular, the mobile terminal may be a terminal having an e-mail function and an Internet access function (for example, an i-mode (service name) terminal provided by NTT DoCoMo, Inc. (company name), etc.). ).

The content server (not shown) is a server having a function of storing various contents and providing the contents to a third party, and may be realized as a WEB server or an ASP server.

The communication network 300 has a function of interconnecting the information distribution server 100, the portable terminal 200, and the content server, and includes, for example, the Internet, an intranet, and a LAN (including both wired / wireless). , VAN, public telephone network (including both analog and digital), CATV network, PDC / PDC-P system, IMT2000 system, etc. Any of a local wireless network, a PHS network, a satellite communication network, and the like may be included.

An example of the operation in the mobile communication network system according to the present embodiment thus configured will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, as an example, using a WEB information service such as the Internet, the content stored in the content server is transmitted via the information distribution server 100 and the data such as an image is transmitted by packet communication. At the same time, the voice information is transmitted to the portable terminal 200 by voice call. At this time, the mobile terminal 200 may request the content server from the content server (pull-type information distribution), or the content server may automatically distribute the content to the mobile terminal 200 (push). Type information delivery). The information distribution server 100 receives a content transmission request from the mobile terminal 200 or the content server at any occasion, and provides various contents received from the content server to the mobile terminal 200 using different communication channels. Also, the mobile terminal 200 directly requests the content from the information distribution server 100,
The information distribution server 100 may be configured to request the content server from the content server in a background process.

The CPU 102 of the information distribution server 100
A page file is created with one set of composite data as data that can be displayed on one display screen of the mobile terminal 200 and stored in the storage device 120. Here, as the data that can be displayed on one display screen of the mobile terminal 200, information such as the maximum number of display characters and the maximum number of display dots may be obtained from each mobile terminal 200 in advance, or a standard The number of display characters, the number of display dots, and the like may be recorded in the storage device 120 as default values. In addition, it creates content index information (for example, URL information of all created pages). Then, via the 300, the text / page is transmitted to the portable terminal 200 for each page.
Transmits image data and audio data while synchronizing. In addition, the content index information is also transmitted.

The user of the portable terminal 200 displays the displayed 1
Image data 212 and text data 21 for each page
4, the user can hear the corresponding audio data from the speaker.

Further, the user performs a key operation of the portable terminal 200 by pressing a button 204 for returning to the top of the page, a button 206 for returning to the previous page, a button 208 for proceeding to the next page, and a button for proceeding to the last page. When instructed,
Accessing the received index information, the mobile terminal 2
From 00, control data (for example, URL information corresponding to the corresponding page) corresponding to each button is transmitted to the information distribution server 100. Then, in CPU 102 of information distribution server 100, the data of the corresponding page is read from storage device 120 based on the received control data, and transmitted to portable terminal 200.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the information distribution server 100 to which the present invention is applied, and conceptually shows only those parts of the configuration relating to the present invention.

The information distribution server 100 of the present invention includes at least a programmed CPU 102 for controlling the entire system as a whole, a storage device 120 connected to the CPU 102 via a bus, a communication line (wired / wireless, LA
N / Internet, analog / digital (including analog / digital), etc., a communication interface (not shown) connected to a communication device such as a modem or a terminal adapter, a DSU or a router; various pointing devices such as a mouse; a keyboard; an image scanner; An input device (not shown) including a digitizer, a display device (not shown) used to monitor input data, and an output device (not shown) such as a printer for outputting various processing results and other data. Is done. Further, the input device, the display device, and the output device may be connected to the CPU 102 via input / output interfaces (not shown). The CPU 102
It has a control program such as an OS (Operating System), a program defining various processing procedures and the like, and an internal memory for storing required data, and information processing for executing various processes by these programs and the like. I do. The storage device 120 is a RAM, a ROM
Such as a memory device, a fixed disk device such as a hard disk, a flexible disk, a storage means such as an optical disk, and stores various tables, files, databases, and the like used for various processes, at least, data and voice divided into pages, and , And store the index information. Here, an input device such as a mouse, a keyboard, and an image scanner, a display device such as a display device, and an output device such as a printer device are connected to the information distribution server 10.
0 is used by a maintenance person who maintains and monitors the information distribution server 100 to maintain and monitor the device.
It is not mandatory in the configuration of. The communication interface has a function of communicating data with another terminal via a communication line.
Here, the information distribution server 100 may be configured as various exchanges, a WEB server, an ASP server, or the like in a network, and the hardware configuration thereof is generally the same as an information processing apparatus such as a commercially available workstation, a personal computer, and the like. You may comprise with an attachment device.

In FIG. 2, each block inside the CPU 102 shows an example of a block of a function executed by the CPU 102, and conceptually shows only a part related to the present invention among the functions of the CPU 102. Each functional block described here corresponds to the information distribution server 10 described in FIG.
0 is realized by a program or the like executed by the CPU 102 in the hardware configuration diagram of FIG.

The CPU 102 analyzes at least content data received from the content server, which is a mixture of data such as text, voice, and image data, and separates the data into a voice part and a non-voice data part. 104, an audio generation unit 106 for generating audio from the audio part of the content, and an audio output unit 108 for outputting the generated audio to the portable terminal 200 via an audio channel.
A data generation unit 114 that generates data other than audio from the data part of the content, a data output unit 118 that outputs the generated data to the mobile terminal 200 via a packet channel, and divides the audio and data into one page. An index processing unit 110 that stores a data set and an audio set corresponding to each data indexed in the storage device 120, and reads the data set and the audio set stored in the storage device 120, and performs audio output and data output. An output control unit 112 for controlling, and a control data receiving unit 11 for receiving control data from the portable terminal 200
And 6.

Next, an example of the operation of the information distribution server 100 according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.
This will be described in detail below.

First, the input data analysis / separation unit 104 obtains, for each set, composite data in which data such as text, audio, images, and the like are received from the content server, and analyzes these data groups. , A voice part and a data part other than the voice. When text data is read aloud, the text data may be included in the voice part.

Next, the sound generator 106 generates an appropriate sound for the separated sound part. In addition,
When text data is included, speech is generated by performing speech synthesis or the like. In the separated data section, the data generation section 114 performs
At 00, image data and the like are generated by editing so as to be appropriately displayed.

Next, in the index processing section 110, the data is divided into the size of one page of the display screen of the portable terminal 200 to create a data set, and a sound set corresponding to each data set is created and divided. Data and voice index information are created and stored in the storage device 120. As shown in FIG. 1, the image stored in the storage device 120 stores the divided text / image data and the corresponding audio data so as to correspond to each other.

Next, the output control section 112 controls the outputs of the audio output section 108 and the data output section 118 based on the data set and the audio set stored in the storage device 120, and outputs the audio output section 108 and the data output section. 1
At 18, the output is performed to the mobile terminal 200 using a different channel. At this time, data index information, for example, information indicating the first page, previous page, subsequent page, and last page of the provided content (for example, information indicating an address such as URL information) is transmitted together.

Next, it is determined whether or not all data sets have been completed. If there is a next data set, that is, if there is a next content received from the content server, the process returns to the beginning.

As a result, a group of continuous heterogeneous data can be sequentially distributed to the portable terminal 200 while being divided into data that can be displayed on one screen. Content can be referenced.

Next, an example of the operation of the information distribution server 100 when the user of the portable terminal 200 transmits the control data in the present embodiment configured as described above will be described in detail below.

As shown in FIG. 1, a user who browses the web information (sound, image, text data) received from the information distribution server 100 receives a button 204 for returning to the top of the page, a button 206 for returning to the previous page, When the user designates the button 208 for proceeding to the page 208 and the button for proceeding to the final page by performing a key operation on the portable terminal 200, the portable terminal 200 instructs the information distribution server 100 to correspond to each button based on the index information. Is transmitted. Here, in the following embodiment, a case where the control data is a URL indicating a storage address of a corresponding page will be described as an example.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of information distribution server 100 according to the present embodiment.

First, the control data receiving section 116 of the information distribution server 100 receives a URL from the portable terminal 200 (step S302). The URL is previously transmitted from the information distribution server 100 to the portable terminal 200, and includes a button 204 for returning to the top of the page, a button 206 for returning to the previous page, a button 208 for proceeding to the next page, and a button for proceeding to the last page. Respectively. When the user designates one of the buttons, the URL corresponding to the designated button is transmitted to the information distribution server 100 based on the index information transmitted to the mobile terminal 200.

Next, a URL is transmitted from the control data receiving unit 116 of the information distribution server 100 to the output control unit 112, and the URL is determined with reference to the storage device 120 (steps S304, S308, S312, Steps S316 and S320).

Then, the output control unit 112 extracts the data set of the corresponding URL and the voice set corresponding to the data set from the storage device 120 and transmits the data set to the voice output unit 108 and The data output unit 118 is controlled.

Thus, in the information distribution server 100, the data of the corresponding page is read from the storage device 120 based on the received control data, and
Sent to 0.

(Other Embodiments) In the above-described embodiment, the mobile communication network has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this case. The present invention may be applied to a satellite communication network or a fixed telephone network.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where information distribution server 100 is installed outside communication network 400 has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this case. If the information delivery server 100 is used, the information distribution server 100 is placed inside the network (for example, when it is realized as an exchange or a network control device).
It is obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention can be implemented in any case where the device is installed outside.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the information distribution server 100 and the content server are realized as an independent configuration has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this case. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that these can be configured and implemented in combination with each other as appropriate.

As the data communication system, any of a circuit switching system and a packet switching system may be adopted.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where each embodiment is realized independently has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this case. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that the embodiments can be combined as appropriate.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the service and system system of NTT DOCOMO (company name) have been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this case. Instead, in other embodiments, the present invention may be applied to other companies' services and system systems having the same functions.

Further, in the above embodiment, the portable terminal 2
Although the information distribution server 100 provided information to the server 00 using a technique for browsing the display on a web page, the information may be transmitted and received by e-mail and other known communication methods. Equipment, for example, telephones,
FAX may be used, and a communication mode may use a communication method other than the Internet.

Various modifications other than those described above are possible. However, as long as the modification is based on the technical idea described in the claims, the modification falls within the technical scope of the present invention.

[0047]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, in the information distribution server, the content received from the content server is divided into data and audio corresponding to the data in page units. Then, the information distribution server creates data index information. Then, the voice, the data, and the index information are transmitted from the information distribution server to the mobile terminal via another communication channel. As a result, a data group consisting of continuous different types of data is divided into data files that can be displayed on one screen of the mobile terminal, and cueing, skipping, rewinding, page movement, etc. are performed based on the index information of the divided files. Can provide services to be controlled.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration of an information distribution system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of an information distribution server 100 to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of information distribution server 100 according to the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 information distribution server 102 CPU 104 input data analysis / separation unit 106 sound generation unit 108 sound output unit 110 index processing unit 112 output control unit 114 data generation unit 116 control data reception unit 118 data output unit 120 storage device 200 mobile terminal 202 mobile terminal Image of the display screen 204 The button for returning to the top of the page 206 The button for returning to the previous page 208 The button for proceeding to the next page 210 The button for proceeding to the last page 212 Image data 214 Text data 300 Communication network

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5C064 BA01 BB05 BC16 BC20 BD07 BD16 5K067 BB04 BB21 DD51 EE02 FF02 HH23 KK15

Claims (3)

[Claims] An information distribution server for transmitting the content received from a content server that provides the content to a mobile terminal using a plurality of communication channels, wherein the content received from the content server is stored in a page unit as data. Means for dividing the data into voice corresponding to the data; means for creating index information of the data; transmitting the voice, the data and the index information to the portable terminal via another communication channel An information distribution server comprising: 2. An information distribution method using a portable terminal, a content server that provides contents, and an information distribution server that transmits the contents to the portable terminal using a plurality of communication channels, wherein the information distribution is performed. A step of: dividing the content received from the content server into data and audio corresponding to the data in page units at the server; and creating index information of the data at the information distribution server; Transmitting the data and the index information from the information distribution server to the portable terminal via another communication channel. 3. An information distribution system comprising: a mobile terminal; a content server that provides content; and an information distribution server that transmits the content to the mobile terminal using a plurality of communication channels. A means for dividing the content received from the content server into data and voice corresponding to the data in page units; a means for creating index information of the data in the information distribution server; Means for transmitting the data and the index information from the information distribution server to the mobile terminal via another communication channel.