Information communication system

• US 6,975,283 B2
• Filed: 03/21/2001
• Issued: 12/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Yamaguchi, Tsuyoshi, Matsui, Toshio
• Primary Examiner(s): Shankar, Vijay
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dharia, Prabodh
• Application Number:
  US10/239,406
• Publication Number:
  US 20030105869A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,728 Days
• Field of Search: 345/2.1, 345/732, 345/764, 345/781, 345/810, 345/835, 345/841, 345/778, 455/457, 455/427, 455/552, 455/566, 455/557, 455/432, 455/456.5, 455/414.3, 705/1, 705/21, 709/217, 707/217, 707/10, 707/3, 725/110, 369/29, 369/29.01, 382/100
• US Class Current: 345/2.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2871 Implementation details of single intermediate entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

An example information communication system is provided in which a user has access to a data communication network through a communication device. Titles of content and summary of information on the communication network, for example, are displayed on a display screen of the communication device so that the user can check for the presence of desired data. When the user has found desired data, the user inputs instructions for downloading the data through a control portion to start the downloading of the data to an information device. When no desired data is found, the user can continue to search for desired data or disconnect from the data communication network.

Claims

1. An information communication system comprising:

a communication device including a communication unit for connection to a communication network, a small display screen and a control portion;

an information device including a large display screen, a storage memory and a control portion; and

a connecting means for enabling data exchange between the communication device and the information device, wherein the connecting means provides an electrical connection between the communication device and the information device, enables data exchange between them and enables the information device to send request information to the data communication network via the communication device;

the communication device enables content data and/or summary of information to be checked on the display screen thereof when content data and/or information is downloaded via the communication network, and the data body of the content and/or detailed information of which download is wanted is downloaded to the information device utilizing the connecting means so that the data and/or the information is stored in the storage memory of the information device and displayed on the display screen thereof; and

a piece of content information is designated through the communication device, and while the content information is downloaded to the information device, the content information is displayed on the display screen of the information device at the same time as the content information is downloaded to the information device.

2. The information communication system according to claim 1, wherein based on the information included in the downloaded information, it is determined whether the information should be displayed on the display screen of the communication device or should be displayed on the display screen of the information device.

3. The information communication system according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether the received information should be displayed on the display screen of the communication device or should be displayed on the display screen of the information device based on the size of the received information.

4. The information communication system according to claim 1, wherein, when the size of information being downloaded to the information terminal exceeds a predetermined level, the information is determined to be displayed on the information device.

5. An information communication system comprising:

a communication device including a communication unit for connection to a communication network, a small display screen and a control portion;

an information device including a large display screen, a storage memory and a control portion; and

a connecting means for enabling data exchange between the communication device and the information device, wherein the connecting means provides an electrical connection between the communication device and the information device, enables data exchange between them and enables the information device to send request information to the data communication network via the communication device;

the communication device enables content data and/or summary of information to be checked on the display screen thereof when content data and/or information is downloaded via the communication network, and the data body of the content and/or detailed information of which download is wanted is downloaded to the information device utilizing the connecting means so that the data and/or the information is stored in the storage memory of the information device and displayed on the display screen of the information device; and

a piece of content information is designated through the communication device and the downloading is requested by the communication device, and when the data is downloaded to the information device using the connecting means, only the data displayable on the display screen of the communication device is extracted from the downloaded content information so as to be displayed on the display screen on the communication device while the whole data is downloaded to the information device and stored into the storage memory in the information device.

6. An information system comprising:

a communication terminal including a communication section for connecting to a communication network, a display screen of a first size and a control section;

an information terminal including a display screen of a second size larger than the first size, a storage section and a control section; and

a communication link between the communication terminal and the information terminal,

wherein, in response to a first request, the communication terminal receives summary information transmitted over the communication network and displays the received summary information on the display screen thereof,

wherein, in response to a second request generated based on the displayed summary information, the communication terminal receives detailed information transmitted over the communication network and sends the detailed information to the information terminal over the communication link, and

wherein the information terminal receives the detailed information sent from the communication terminal and the control section of the information terminal performs one or both of a storing operation for storing the detailed information in the storage section of the information terminal and a display operation for displaying the detailed information on the display screen of the information terminal.

7. The communication system according to claim 6, wherein the communication link comprises a wired communication link.

8. The communication system according to claim 6, wherein the communication link comprises a wireless communication link.

9. The communication system according to claim 6, wherein the control section of the communication terminal selectively extracts one or more portions of the detailed information and controls the display screen of the communication terminal to display the extracted portions.

10. The communication system according to claim 9, wherein the extracted portions comprise text portions of the detailed information.

11. The communication system according to claim 6,

wherein the summary information is transmitted with a summary information tag and the detailed information is transmitted with a detailed information tag, and

wherein the control section of the communication terminal identifies the summary information and the detailed information based on the summary information tag and the detailed information tag.

12. The communication system according to claim 6, wherein the control section of the communication terminal identifies the summary information and the detailed information based on an information size threshold.

13. The communication system according to claim 6,

wherein the control section of the communication terminal sends an available storage request over the communication link to the information terminal and, in response to the available storage request, the control section of the information terminal determines the amount of storage available in the storage section and sends the determined amount to the control section of the communication terminal, and

wherein the communication terminal sends the detailed information to the information terminal only if the amount of the detailed information is less than the amount of available storage.

14. The communication system according to claim 13, wherein the control section of the communication terminal controls the display screen of the communication terminal to display indicia if the amount of detailed information exceeds the amount of available storage.

15. The communication system according to claim 6, wherein the control section of the communication terminal causes the display screen thereof to display status information while the detailed information is sent to the information terminal over the communication link.

16. An information system comprising:

a communication terminal including a communication section for connecting to a communication network, a display screen and a control section;

an information terminal including a display screen, a storage section and a control section; and

a communication link between the communication terminal and the information terminal,

wherein the information terminal is itself not connectable to any communication network except via the communication terminal,

wherein, in response to a first request, the communication terminal receives first information transmitted over the communication network, displays the received first information on the display screen thereof, but does not send the first information to the information terminal,

wherein, in response to a second request generated based on the displayed first information, the communication terminal receives second information transmitted over the communication network and sends the second information to the information terminal over the communication link, and

wherein the information terminal receives the second information sent from the communication terminal and the control section of the information terminal performs one or both of a storing operation for storing the second information in the storage section of the information terminal and a display operation for displaying the second information on the display screen of the information terminal.

17. The information system according to claim 16, wherein the first information comprises summary information and the second information comprises detailed information.

18. The information system according to claim 16, wherein the first and second information is identified via tags respectively associated therewith.

19. The information system according to claim 16, the sending of the second information to the information terminal over the communication link is conditioned upon availability of sufficient storage in the storage section of the information terminal for storing all of the second information.

20. The information system according to claim 16, wherein the control section of the communication terminal selectively extracts one or more portions of the second information and controls the display screen of the communication terminal to display the extracted portions.