Device for transmitting broadcast-program information and allowing other information sources to be accessed

• US 6,230,324 B1
• Filed: 04/11/1997
• Issued: 05/08/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hanger Solutions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Tomita, Yasumasa, Oizumi, Shigeru
• Primary Examiner(s): MILLER, JOHN W
• Application Number:
  US08/840,155
• Time in Patent Office: 1,488 Days
• Field of Search: 348/7, 348/12, 348/906, 348/531-537, 345/327, 707/513, 707/102, 707/501, 707/531, 707/540
• US Class Current: 725/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2898 Subscriber equipments DSL modems H04M11/062; cable modems H04L12/2801
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73

Abstract

A device sends broadcast-program information to a plurality of terminal devices connected via a network so that the plurality of terminal devices display the broadcast-program information on display screens. The device includes a keyword management unit storing correspondence between keywords and addresses of information sources which provide information relevant to the keywords, a check unit checking whether broadcast-program information to be sent to a terminal device contains the keywords, and an addition unit attaching an access button to each of the keywords found in the broadcast-program information by looking up the correspondence stored in the keyword management unit so that the access button specifies an address of a corresponding one of the information sources. The access button is used in the terminal device for accessing the corresponding one of the information sources.

Claims

1. A broadcast-program information sending device for extracting information which a terminal device requests and sending said information, comprising:

a keyword management unit storing correspondences between keywords and addresses of information sources which provide information relevant to respective ones of said keywords;

a check unit that checks whether broadcast program information to be sent to a terminal device contains at least one of said keywords;

an addition unit responding to an indication that a keyword is contained in said broadcast program information by

looking up said correspondence stored in said keyword management unit, and

attaching to said keyword an access button that specifies an address of a corresponding one of said information sources, said access button being used in said terminal device for accessing said corresponding information source; and

a sending unit sending said broadcast program information including said attached access buttons to said terminal device.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a broadcast-program management unit which stores information on broadcast programs;

a shift-button addition unit attaching a shift button to a specified broadcast program appearing on a listing of broadcast programs sent to said terminal device, said shift button issuing a request for program-guide information on said specified broadcast program in response to selection of said shift button at said terminal device; and

an extracting unit extracting said program guide information on said specified broadcast program from said broadcast-program management unit in response to said request,

wherein said addition unit attaches a corresponding access button to each of said keywords found in said program-guide information.

3. The device as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a generation unit extracting information from said broadcast-program management unit with respect to broadcast programs of a date and time indicated by said terminal device, and editing said extracted information to generate said listing of broadcast programs.

4. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said network comprises an information service network, and said addresses of information sources comprise network addresses.

5. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said broadcast-program information comprises text and image data, and each of said keywords comprises one of predetermined text information and predetermined image information.

6. A device for extracting information which a terminal requests and sending said information, comprising:

a keyword management unit storing correspondences between keywords and locations of information sources which provide information relevant to respective ones of said keywords;

a check unit that checks whether a document contains at least one of said keywords; and

an additional unit responding to an indication that a keyword is contained in said extracted information by

looking up said correspondence stored in said keyword management unit, and

attaching to said keyword an access button that specifies an address of a corresponding one of said information sources, said access button being used in said terminal device for accessing said corresponding information source.

7. The device as claimed in claim 6, further comprising an interface unit connected to a network, wherein said locations of said information sources comprise network addresses for information sources on said network and file locations for files stored in said device.

8. The device as claimed in claim 6, wherein said document comprises text and image data, and each of said keywords comprises one of predetermined text information and predetermined image information.

9. The device as claimed in claim 7, wherein said interface unit sends said document to a terminal device connected thereto via said network.

10. The device as claimed in claim 9, wherein for each of said keywords contained in said document, said access button is indicated by display of said keyword with an enhanced appearance within a display of said document by said terminal device on a display screen thereof.

11. The device as claimed in claim 9, wherein said network comprises an information service network.

12. The device as claimed in claim 9, wherein said document includes information on broadcast programs.

13. A method of sending information over a network, said method comprising the steps of:

extracting information which a terminal device requests;

storing correspondences between keywords and addresses of information sources which provide information relevant to respective ones of the keywords;

checking whether extracted information to be sent to a terminal device connected to the network contains at least one of the keywords;

responding to an indication that a keyword is contained in the information by

looking up the correspondence for the contained keyword, and

attaching to the contained keyword an access button that specifies an address of a corresponding information source, the access button being used in said terminal device for accessing said corresponding information source.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

storing, in a database, information on broadcast programs;

extracting information from the database with respect to broadcast programs of a date and time indicated by the terminal device;

editing the extracted information to generate a listing of the broadcast programs for which the information was extracted;

attaching a shift button to broadcast a program appearing on the listing of broadcast programs, the shift button being used in the terminal device for issuing a request for program-guide information on the broadcast program in response to selection of the shift button;

sending the listing of broadcast programs to the terminal device; and

extracting the program-guide information on the broadcast program from the database in response to the request,

wherein the step of access-button attaching includes, for each of the keywords contained in the program-guide information on the broadcast program, attaching a corresponding access button to the keyword.

15. A hypertext document processing device for extracting a document from an information store responsive to a request from a terminal and sending a corresponding hypertext document to the terminal, said device comprising:

a check unit that checks whether the extracted document contains a keyword listed in a keyword list of keywords and corresponding information sources, the information sources linkable to a hypertext document corresponding to the extracted document; and

a code insertion unit that inserts a hypertext code into the hypertext document when said check unit determines that the extracted document contains a keyword listed in the keyword list, the hypertext code providing a link between an occurrence of the keyword in the hypertext document and the information source corresponding to the keyword.