Information provision apparatus, format separation apparatus, information provision method and program

• US 20050033738A1
• Filed: 08/02/2004
• Published: 02/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Open-Circuit Limited
• Original Assignee: Open-Circuit Limited
• Inventors: Nakano, Takashi
• Granted Patent: US 7,647,301 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

An information-provision apparatus that is capable of easily changing the format of display data without the risk due to changes of the program since it is not necessary to change the program. A format-separation unit separates basic format data, to which part information is attached that indicates a starting position and ending position of each structural unit of the format, according to the part information, and stores the format of a format database in a format-memory unit. Next, a format-acquisition unit receives search conditions from an information terminal, and acquires each of the structural units corresponding to those search conditions from the format-memory unit. A display-data-generation unit inputs the data from the search results acquired from the database into the variables of the structural units acquired by the format-acquisition unit and generates display data, and a send unit sends the generated display data to the information terminal.

Claims

1. An information-provision apparatus that acquires data from a database according to a request from an information terminal, correlates that data with a specified format to create display data, and then sends that display data to said information terminal, and comprising:

a format-separation unit that is operable to separate basic format data, to which part information is attached that indicates a starting position and ending position of each structural unit of the format, into said structural units based on said part information;

a format-memory unit that is operable to store said structural units that were separated by said format-separation unit;

a format-acquisition unit that is operable to acquire structural units from said format-memory unit that correspond to a request from an information terminal; and

a display-data-generation unit that is operable to correlate data acquired from said database with the structural units acquired from said format-acquisition unit and generate display data.

2. The information-provision apparatus of claim 1 wherein said format-separation unit is operable to store the type of structural unit that is contained in said part information and that corresponds to said part information in said format-memory unit,

3. The information-provision apparatus of claim 2 wherein said display-data-generation unit determines the types of said structural units, correlates the data acquired from said database with the structural units and generates display data for only specified types.

4. The information-provision apparatus of claim 3 further comprising:

an item-number-judgment unit that is operable to determine the number of data that were acquired from the database according to a request from said information terminal and select the structural units to be used based on that number; and

wherein

said format-acquisition unit acquires the structural units set by said item-number-judgment unit.

5. The information-provision apparatus of claim 4 wherein said item-number-judgment unit selects different structural units when the number of acquired data is greater than one and less than a specified number, and when the number of items is greater than a specified number.

6. The information-provision apparatus of claim 3 further comprising:

a load-judgment unit that is operable to determine the load on the CPU of said information-provision apparatus, and select structural units to be used based on that load, and wherein

said format-acquisition acquires structural units that are set by said load-judgment unit.

7. The information-provision apparatus of claim 3 further comprising:

a load-judgment unit that is operable to determine the load on the network to which said information-provision apparatus is connected, and select structural units to be used based on that load, and wherein

said format-acquisition acquires structural units that are set by said load-judgment unit.

8. The information-provision apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a sending unit that is operable to send data for input to an information terminal for selecting said structural units and/or display order of said structural units, and wherein

said format-acquisition unit acquires structural units based on the results of the selections that were input into the data for input.

9. The information-provision apparatus of claim 1 wherein said format-acquisition unit selectively acquires structural units based on information obtained through communication with said information terminal.

10. The information-provision apparatus of claim 1 that selectively acquires structural units based on verification information for the user using said information terminal.

11. The information-provision apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a format-separation apparatus that is operable to separate including commands that are contained in said part information and that are executed when using structural units that correspond to that part information, and store them in said format-memory unit; and

a command-execution unit that is operable to execute commands when using structural units if commands are contained in the structural units acquired by said format-acquisition unit.

12. The information-provision apparatus of claim 11 further comprising:

a use-condition-judgment unit that is operable to determine whether or not structural units are allowed to be used based on condition information and information related to said information terminal or based on the condition information and information about the user using said information terminal, if said commands are commands that restrict conditions when using said structural units and contain said condition information which are the restriction conditions, and wherein

said display-data-generation unit generates display data based on the judgment results from said use-condition-judgment unit.

13. The information-provision apparatus of claim 11 wherein if said commands are commands that indicated that another structural unit is to be inserted when using a structural unit,

said command-execution unit acquires other structural unit from said format-memory unit based on said command that indicates that the other structural unit is to be inserted, and inserts that other structural unit in the specified location.

14. A format-separation apparatus comprising:

a receiving unit that is operable to receive basic format data to which part information is attached that indicates a starting position and ending position of each of the structural units of the format;

a format-separation unit that is operable to separate said received basic format data into structural units based on said part information; and

a memory unit that is operable to store said structural units that were separated by said format-separation unit.

15. An information-provision method of acquiring data from a database according to a request from an information terminal, correlates that data with a specified format to create display data, and then sends that display data to said information terminal, and comprising:

a format-separation step of separating basic format data, to which part information is attached that indicates a starting position and ending position of each structural unit of the format, into said structural units;

a memory step of storing said structural units that were separated in said format-separation step in a format-memory unit;

a format-acquisition step of acquiring structural units from said format-memory unit that correspond to a request from an information terminal; and

a display-data-generation step of correlating data acquired from said database with the structural units acquired in said format-acquisition step, and generating display data.

16. A program that is executed by a computer that acquires data from a database according to a request from an information terminal, correlates that data with a specified format to create display data, and then sends that display data to said information terminal, and comprising:

a format-separation step of separating basic format data, to which part information is attached that indicates a starting position and ending position of each of the structural units of the format, into said structural units;

a memory step of storing said structural units that were separated in said format-separation step in a format-memory unit;

a format-acquisition step of acquiring structural units from said format-memory unit that correspond to a request from an information terminal; and

a display-data-generation step of correlating data acquired from said database with the structural units acquired in said format-acquisition step, and generating display data.

17. A memory medium that can be read by a computer that stores a program that is executed by a computer that acquires data from a database according to a request from an information terminal, correlates that data with a specified format to create display data, and then sends that display data to said information terminal, and comprising:

a format-separation step of separating basic format data, to which part information is attached that indicates a starting position and ending position of each of the structural units of the format, into said structural units;

a memory step of storing said structural units that were separated in said format-separation step in a format-memory unit;

a format-acquisition step of acquiring structural units from said format-memory unit that correspond to a request from an information terminal; and

a display-data-generation step of correlating data acquired from said database with the structural units acquired in said format-acquisition step, and generating display data.