Information presentation apparatus with meta-information management function

• US 20040193628A1
• Filed: 04/07/2004
• Published: 09/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/1998
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Hiraiwa, Shinichi
• Application Number:
  US10/819,150
• Publication Number:
  US 20040193628A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

A high-speed information collection utilizing a meta-information management unit which manages update information pertaining to documents which are retrieved by web robots. An information presentation apparatus, an information collection apparatus including a web robot, and a client are connected via a network. The information presentation apparatus presents document information stored in a document storage unit to an information collection apparatus. The information presentation apparatus has a meta-information management unit, which generates update information pertaining to individual documents, and a meta-information table which records the update information. When the web robot makes a collection request to the information presentation apparatus, the meta-information management unit references the meta-information table and generates a list of updated documents from all of the stored documents and/or collection targets, and presents the list to the web which subsequently retrieves only the updated documents.

Claims

1. A web page server comprising:

a document storage unit that stores web pages;

a meta-information table that stores information including a status of each web page stored in the document storage unit;

an information collection table that stores names of web robots that monitor the content of the web page server; and

management software that provides the following functions;

monitoring modification of the web pages in the document storage unit;

updating the meta-information table based on the monitoring function;

creating, in response to a collection request by the web robots, a list of web pages in the document storage that have been modified since a previous collection request so that the collection request only retrieves previously unretrieved documents, thereby reducing the load on the web page server; and

retrieving the names of web robots from the information collection table when the monitoring function detects modification of web pages and transmitting a message to each web robot indicating that the web robot should issue a collection request.

2. A web page server, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the monitoring function stores a date and time of modification in the meta-information table when a modification of a web page is detected.

3. A web page server, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the monitoring function stores a current version of each web page in the meta-information table.

4. A web page server, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the monitoring function stores a modification history of the web pages.

5. A web page server, as set forth in claim 4, wherein each entry in the modification history is provided with a serial number indicating an order in the modification history.

6. A web page server, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the list includes names of modified web pages and an indication of the status of each modified web page.

7. A web page server, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the monitoring function monitors for the update, creation or deletion of web pages.

8. An information system comprising:

a client that requests information including web pages;

an information collection apparatus that uses a web robot to retrieve web pages on a web page server, indexes the retrieved web pages, and provides a search facility for the client; and

a web page server comprising;

a document storage unit that stores web pages for access by the client and the web robot;

a meta-information table that stores information including a status of each web page stored in the document storage unit; and

managing software that provides the following functions;

monitoring modification of the web pages in the document storage unit;

updating the meta-information table based on the monitoring function; and

creating, in response to a collection request from the web robot, a list of web pages in the document storage that have been modified since a previous collection request so that the collection request only retrieves previously unretrieved documents, thereby reducing the load on the web page server.

9. A method of operating a web page server, comprising:

storing web pages;

storing status information of each stored web page;

storing names of web robots that monitor the content of the web page server;

monitoring modification of the stored web pages;

updating the status information based on the monitoring of the modification of the stored web pages;

creating, in response to a collection request by one of the web robots, a list of web pages in the document storage that have been modified since a previous collection request so that the collection request only retrieves previously unretrieved documents, thereby reducing the load on the web page server; and

retrieving the names of web robots when the monitoring function detects modification of web pages and transmitting a message to each web robot indicating that the web robot should issue a collection request.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

storing a date and time of modification when a modification of a web page is detected.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

storing a current version of each web page in the web page server.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

storing a modification history of the web pages.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

providing a serial number indicating an order in the modification history.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

including names of modified web pages and an indication of the status of each modified web page in the created list.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

monitoring update, creation or deletion of web pages.

16. A method of collecting information for a client from a web page server using a web robot, the method comprising:

storing web pages in the web page server for access by the client and the web robot;

storing information including a status of each web page stored in the web page server;

collecting information using a web robot to retrieve web pages on the web page server;

indexing the retrieved web pages to provide a search facility for the client;

providing an information request from the client to the web robot, the information request including a request for web pages;

monitoring modification of the web pages stored in the web page server;

maintaining modification information based on the monitoring of the modification of the stored web pages; and

creating, in response to a collection request from the web robot, a list of web pages stored in the web page server that have been modified since a previous collection request so that the collection request only retrieves previously unretrieved documents, thereby reducing the load on the web page server.