Information providing device

• US 20040181546A1
• Filed: 04/19/2004
• Published: 09/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Seimiya, Hiroshi
• Granted Patent: US 7,487,156 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

An information providing apparatus for re-distributing to a mobile phone (113) an information image in which image information and at least related information defining a unique process are integrated as a single operation unit, the information image having been distributed to a client (103) connected via a network (106), includes an information image separation unit (110) for separating the information image that has been distributed to and registered in the client (103) into image information and related information; and a re-distribution unit (111) for distributing to the mobile phone (113) the image information and the related information that have been separated by the information image separation unit (110).

Claims

1. An information providing apparatus for re-distributing an information image in which image information and at least related information defining a unique process are integrated as a single operation unit to an information terminal or to a portable terminal connected via a network, said information providing apparatus comprising:

an input unit for receiving a request for distributing the information image from the portable terminal; and

a distribution unit for distributing the information image to the information terminal or to the portable terminal in response to the request for distributing the information image, received by said input unit.

2. An information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information terminal and the portable terminal are used by a same user,

said information providing apparatus further comprises a user identification unit for identifying the user of the portable terminal, and

said distribution unit distributes the information image to the information terminal or to the portable terminal that is used by the user identified by said user identification unit.

3. An information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information image is an information image that has been distributed to the information terminal, and

said information providing apparatus further comprises:

an information image separation unit for separating the information image that has been distributed to and registered in the information terminal into image information and related information; and

a re-distribution unit for re-distributing the image information and the related information that have been separated by said information image separation unit to the portable terminal.

4. An information providing apparatus according to claim 3, comprising:

a user identification unit for identifying a user of the information terminal; and

a registration information recording unit for registering the user of the information terminal and the information image that has been distributed to the information terminal in association with each other;

wherein said re-distribution unit distributes the image information and the related information of the information image that has been registered in said registration information recording unit to the user identified by said user identification unit.

5. An information providing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said information image separation unit separates the information image into image information and related information immediately after the information image has been distributed to the information terminal, converts the image information and the related information into a distribution format, and records the results.

6. An information providing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said information image separation unit separates the information image into image information and related information immediately after the information image has been distributed to the information terminal, records the image information and the related information, and converts the image information and the related information into a distribution format when a request for distributing the information image is received from the portable terminal.

7. An information providing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said information image separation unit records the information image immediately after the information image has been distributed to the information terminal, separates the information image into image information and related information when a request for distributing the information image is received from the portable terminal, and converts the image information and the related information into a distribution format.

8. An information providing apparatus according to claim 3, comprising a registration information recording unit for outputting an instruction to an information image providing server, for providing another information image related to the information image to the portable terminal, when a message is received that the information image has been distributed to the information terminal, registering the another information image, and based on a database that associates a user of the information terminal with a portable terminal of the user, transmitting a message to the portable terminal that the another information image has been distributed.

19. An information providing apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:

first storage means storing the information image, which serves as second information regarding a plurality of information distributing entities, respectively associated with first information that is assigned for identifying the information distributing entities; and

information providing means for extracting, in response to a distribution instruction accompanied with first information input from a portable terminal that is allowed to communicate via the network, second information associated with the first information from said first storage means, and for distributing the extracted second information to the information terminal.

20. An information providing apparatus according to claim 19, further comprising first input screen providing means for providing the portable terminal with input screen information for inputting the first information and issuing the distribution instruction from the portable terminal.

21. An information providing apparatus according to claim 19, further comprising second storage means prestoring third information for identifying an information terminal to which the second information is to be distributed according to the distribution instruction from the portable terminal.

22. An information providing apparatus according to claim 19, further comprising second input screen providing means for providing the portable terminal with input screen information for inputting third information for identifying an information terminal to which the second information is to be distributed according to the distribution instruction from the portable terminal.

9. An information providing method for re-distributing an information image in which image information and at least related information defining a unique process are integrated as a single operation unit to an information terminal or to a portable terminal connected via a network, said information providing method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request for distributing the information image from the portable terminal; and

distributing the information image to the information terminal or to the portable terminal in response to the received request for distributing the information image.

10. An information providing method according to claim 9, wherein the information terminal and the portable terminal are used by a same user,

said information providing method further comprises the step of identifying the user of the portable terminal, and

in the distributing step, the information image is distributed to the information terminal or to the portable terminal that is used by the identified user.

11. An information providing method according to claim 9, wherein the information image is an information image that has been distributed to the information terminal, and

said information providing method further comprises the steps of:

separating the information image that has been distributed to and registered in the information terminal into image information and related information; and

re-distributing the image information and the related information that have been separated to the portable terminal.

12. An information providing method according to claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

identifying a user of the information terminal; and

registering the user of the information terminal and the information image that has been distributed to the information terminal in association with each other;

wherein, in the re-distributing step, the image information and the related information of the information image that has been registered are re-distributed to the identified user.

13. An information providing method according to claim 10, wherein, in the information image separating step, the information image is separated into image information and related information immediately after the information image has been distributed to the information terminal, the image information and the related information are converted into a distribution format, and the results are recorded.

14. An information providing method according to claim 10, wherein, in the information image separating step, the information image is separated into image information and related information immediately after the information image has been distributed to the information terminal, the image information and the related information are recorded, and the image information and the related information are converted into a distribution format when a request for distributing the information image is received from the portable terminal.

15. An information providing method according to claim. 10, wherein, in the information image separating step, the information image is recorded immediately after the information image has been distributed to the information terminal, the information image is separated into image information and related information when a request for distributing the information image is received from the portable terminal, and the image information and the related information are converted into a distribution format.

16. An information providing method according to claim 10, comprising the step of outputting an instruction to an information image providing server, for providing another information image related to the information image to the portable terminal, when a message is received that the information image has been distributed to the information terminal, registering the another information image, and based on a database that associates a user of the information terminal with a portable terminal of the user, transmitting a message to the portable terminal that the another information image has been distributed.

23. An information providing method according to claim 9, wherein, in the information image distributing step, in response to a distribution instruction accompanied with first information for identifying an information distributing entity, input from the communication terminal, the information image, which serves as second information associated with the first information, is distributed to the information terminal.

24. An information providing method according to claim 23, wherein the information terminal is capable of displaying the image information of the information image and executing a process in accordance with the related information of the information image.

25. An information providing method according to claim 23, wherein the first information is displayed at a business facility of the information distributing entity, such as a shop or an advertisement facility.

17. An information providing program for re-distributing an information image in which image information and at least related information defining a unique process are integrated as a single operation unit to an information terminal or to a portable terminal connected via a network, said information providing program lets a computer execute the following operations when read by the computer:

receiving a request for distributing the information image from the portable terminal; and

distributing the information image to the information terminal or to the portable terminal in response to the received request for distributing the information image.

18. An information providing program according to claim 17, wherein the information terminal and the portable terminal are used by a same user,

said information providing program further lets the computer execute an operation for identifying the user of the portable terminal, and

in the distributing operation, the information image is distributed to the information terminal or to the portable terminal that is used by the identified user.

26. An information providing apparatus for providing information to an information terminal that is connected via a network, said information providing apparatus comprising:

first storage means storing second information regarding a plurality of information distributing entities, respectively associated with first information that is assigned for identifying the information distributing entities; and

information providing means for extracting, in response to a distribution instruction accompanied with first information input from a portable terminal that is allowed to communicate via the network, second information associated with the first information from said first storage means, and for distributing the extracted second information to the information terminal.

27. An information providing method for providing information to a terminal that is connected via a network, wherein, in response to a distribution instruction accompanied with first information for identifying an information distributing entity, input from a first terminal, second information associated with the first information is distributed to a second terminal that is different from the first terminal.