Electronic leaflet distribution/browsing method and electronic leaflet system

• US 7,197,532 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2001
• Issued: 03/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Hori, Noriyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia; Rupal
• Assistant Examiner(s): Taylor; Nicholas R.
• Application Number:
  US09/911,718
• Publication Number:
  US 20020013816A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,071 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 434/365, 705/14, 705/27
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/00 Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications user-to-user messaging H04L51/00; network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

The electronic leaflet system includes an electronic leaflet generation unit for making contents data related to leaflets of chairs and lecture meetings into electronic information to generate and output an electronic leaflet, a selection supporting unit for selecting at least one electronic leaflet optimum for various conditions presented by the side of one who wants sending of a leaflet and presenting the selected electronic leaflet to a client terminal on the side of the one who wants sending of a leaflet through an internet, and an electronic leaflet browsing supporting unit for automatically reproducing contents of the selected electronic leaflet in question to promote understanding.

Claims

1. An electronic leaflet distribution/browsing method comprising:

generating by a server an electronic leaflet by making contents data related to leaflets concerning a plurality of educational organizations into an electronic information through designation of various kinds of selection items set in a web site of the server;

organizing said generated electronic leaflet into a predetermined layered structure;

storing said structured electronic leaflet in a database;

selecting from the database at least one electronic leaflet optimum for various conditions presented by a user;

transmitting by the server via an internet to the user the selected electronic leaflet;

presenting the selected electronic leaflet on a client terminal to the user; and

automatically reproducing on the client terminal the contents contained in a sub-menu prepared in advance in the selected electronic leaflet in response to a request from the user;

charging the educational organization according to volume of data at new registration or updating of contents data of an electronic leaflet conducted during the generation of the leaflet,

wherein the sub-menu promotes understanding of the contents in the selected electronic leaflet, and

at least one optimum electronic leaflet is selected from electronic leaflets according to various conditions provided by the user, where the user specifies the various conditions via selecting various kinds of items related to icons on the web site of said servers,

wherein the organizing of said electronic leaflet into the predetermined layered structure comprises generating menu options for the generated electronic leaflet and grouping contents data of the generated leaflet into a respective menu option.

2. The electronic leaflet distribution/browsing method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said electronic leaflet relates to at least one of lecture, school for attending-school education or correspondence course of a plurality of educational organizations.

3. The electronic leaflet distribution/browsing method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

when the user accesses the web site, checking user rights for access and when the user is authorized to access the website, informing the web site of said server that the client terminal of the user is allowed to access the web site of said server.

4. The electronic leaflet distribution/browsing method as set forth in claim 3, wherein said selection of the at least one optimum electronic leaflet further comprises:

receiving various conditions presented by the authorized user by clicking an icon on the web site to designate each kind of selection items related to the icon, and

searching said electronic leaflet data base based on the received various conditions to select at least one electronic leaflet that most closely matches the various conditions input by the user and present, for the user, the selected electronic leaflet on said client terminal of the user.

5. The electronic leaflet distribution/browsing method as set forth in claim 3, wherein said selection of the at least one optimum electronic leaflet further comprises:

receiving through the internet various conditions provided by the authorized user by clicking an icon on the web site to designate each kind of selection items related to the icon,

searching said electronic leaflet data base based on the received various conditions to select a predetermined number of electronic leaflets in a descending order of suitability for the various conditions input by the user, and

presenting the selected electronic leaflets to the client terminal of the user.

6. The electronic leaflet distribution/browsing method as set forth in claim 4, wherein the automatic reproduction of the contents of the selected electronic leaflet in the sub-menu comprises:

when the selected electronic leaflet contains as prepared contents at least one of moving picture data, voice data, and document data, automatically reproducing the contents on the display of the client terminal of the user facilitating understanding of the contents prepared in the selected electronic leaflet.

7. The electronic leaflet distribution/browsing method as set forth in claim 6, wherein said at least one of moving picture data, voice data, and document data comprise data generated by editing scenes of recorded school lessons attended by students or online classes and lecture meetings held by the educational organizations.

8. The electronic leaflet distribution/browsing method as set forth in claim 6, wherein said at least one of moving picture data, voice data and document data comprise data generated by editing previously recorded interview scenes of lecturers in charge of attendance or online classes and lecture meetings held by educational organizations.

9. The electronic leaflet distribution/browsing method as set forth in claim 6, wherein said at least one of moving picture data, voice data and document data comprise data generated by recording and editing interview scenes of students who previously attended school or online classes and lecture meetings held by educational organizations.

10. The electronic leaflet distribution/browsing method as set forth in claim 6, wherein said at least one of moving picture data, voice data, and document data comprise data generated by editing teaching materials and transcripts of lectures presented in attending-school education or correspondence course of educational organizations.

11. The electronic leaflet distribution/browsing method as set forth in claim 4, wherein the various kinds of selection items designated by the user comprise a condition related to at least one of ability, qualification, budget, school lesson schedule and qualifying schedule for lecture in attending-school education or correspondence course of educational organizations.

12. The electronic leaflet distribution/browsing method as set forth in claim 11, wherein said designating by the user of the various kinds of selection items comprises:

clicking by the authorized user a mock examination icon enabling selection of a mock examination for supporting self-determination of at least one of basic scholastic ability and aptitude, required for attending-school or online classes and lecture meetings held by educational organizations;

sending via the internet question data of the mock examination to the client terminal of the user;

receiving answer data from the user to mark the answer data;

generating the various conditions, where the various conditions comprise current ability of the user, ability required for taking an online class or a lecture meeting, a kind of the online class or the lecture meeting recommended, and a specific name of the recommended online class or the recommended lecture meeting based on the marking result; and

outputting the conditions to said automatic reproduction of the contents of the electronic leaflet.

13. The electronic leaflet distribution/browsing method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said charging the educational organization according to the volume of data at new registration or at updating of contents data of an electronic leaflet in said electronic leaflet data base.

14. The electronic leaflet distribution/browsing method as set forth in claim 1, wherein:

when the user accesses the web site of said server, checking whether the user has a right to access the electronic leaflets, and if the user has a chargeable right to access, informing for said charging of the educational organization and for said selection of the at least one optimum electronic leaflet that the user is allowed to access at least one of chargeable moving picture data, chargeable voice data and chargeable document data;

for said selection of the at least one optimum electronic leaflet, receiving said various conditions presented by the user, who is allowed to access the electronic leaflets, where said conditions are selected by clicking the icon on the web site to designate said each kind of selection items related to the icon, and searching said electronic leaflet data base based on the received various conditions to select a chargeable electronic leaflet, from the chargeable electronic leaflets accumulated in the electronic leaflet data base, that most closely matches the various conditions inputted by the user and presenting the user with the selected electronic leaflet via said client terminal of the user, and

charging the user according to conditions of access to a chargeable electronic leaflet.

15. The electronic leaflet distribution/browsing method as set forth in claim 1, wherein when at least one moving picture data, voice data and document data are sent via the internet to the user, the user is charged for the sent data.

32. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the plurality of educational organizations comprise at least one of universities, preparatory schools, professional schools, cultural schools and private schools for elementary/junior high/high schools.

33. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the charging unit charges the educational organization at updating of the contents data of the electronic leaflet previously generated by the electronic leaflet generation unit.

34. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 1, wherein, when the charging unit charges the educational organization during the new registration, the charging unit charges the educational organization based on the volume of data in the electronic leaflet.

35. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the menu options are generated based on the contents data.

16. An electronic leaflet system, comprising:

an electronic leaflet generation unit making contents data related to leaflets concerning a plurality of educational organizations into electronic information after the educational organizations register the content data through designation of various kinds of selection items set using icons on a web site;

an electronic leaflet data base management unit creating for said generated electronic leaflet predetermined layered structure and storing the structured electronic leaflet into a data base;

a selection supporting unit selecting at least one electronic leaflet optimum for various conditions provided by the user and presenting via an internet the selected electronic leaflet to a client terminal on a user side and to select at least one optimum electronic leaflet from electronic leaflets according to the various conditions provided by the user, where the user specifies the various conditions via selecting various kinds of items related to icons on the web site of a server; and

an electronic leaflet browsing supporting unit, which in response to a request from the user automatically reproduces on a display of the client terminal the contents contained in a sub-menu prepared in advance in the selected electronic leaflet to facilitate understanding of the contents prepared in the selected electronic leaflet,

wherein the electronic leaflet data base management unit creates, for said generated electronic leaflet, the predetermined layered structure by generating menu options for the generated electronic leaflet and by grouping contents data of the generated leaflet into a respective menu option.

17. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 16, wherein said electronic leaflet relates to at least one of lecture, school for attending-school education or correspondence course of a plurality of educational organizations.

18. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 16, further comprising a user access authentication unit for, when said client terminal of the user accesses the web site of said server, checking user right to access the electronic leaflets and when the user is authorized, informing the system that the user is authorized to access the electronic leaflets.

19. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 18, wherein said selection supporting unit further comprises:

a question unit receiving the various conditions presented by the authorized user by clicking an icon on the web site of said server to designate each kind of the selection items related to the icon; and

an electronic leaflet presenting unit searching said electronic leaflet data base based on the received various conditions to select at least one electronic leaflet, from the electronic leaflets accumulated in the electronic leaflet data base, that most closely matches the various conditions input by the user and present through the internet the selected electronic leaflet to the client terminal on the side of the user.

20. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 18, wherein

said selection supporting unit further comprises:

a question unit for receiving, via the internet, various conditions presented by the authorized user by clicking an icon on the web site of said server side to designate each kind of the selection items related to the icon, and

an electronic leaflet presenting unit for searching said electronic leaflet data base based on the various conditions received from said question unit to select a predetermined number of electronic leaflets in descending order based on suitability for the various conditions input by the user and present the selected electronic leaflets to the client terminal on the side of the user.

21. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 19, wherein said electronic leaflet browsing supporting unit comprises a movie reproduction unit for, when an electronic leaflet, in which at least one of moving picture data, voice data and document data are prepared as contents, is selected by the user, said electronic leaflet browsing unit automatically reproduces the at least one of moving picture data, voice data and document data on the display of the client terminal on the side of the user to promote understanding of the contents prepared in the selected electronic leaflet.

22. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 21, wherein said at least one of moving picture data, voice data and document data comprise data generated by editing scenes of school lessons previously recorded or online classes and lecture meetings held by the educational organizations.

23. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 21, wherein said at least one of moving picture data, voice data and document data comprise data generated by editing previously recorded interview scenes of lecturers in charge of attending-school or online classes and lecture meetings held by the educational organizations.

24. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 21, wherein said at least one of moving picture data, voice data and document data comprise data generated by recording and editing interview scenes of students who previously attended school or online classes and lecture meetings held by the educational organizations.

25. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 21, wherein said at least one of moving picture data, voice data and document data comprise data generated by editing teaching materials and transcripts of lectures for attending school or online classes previously presented by the educational organizations.

26. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 19, wherein various kinds of selection items set in advance in said question unit comprise a condition related to at least one of ability and qualification required for attending school or online class chairs and lecture meetings held by the educational organizations, budget, class schedule and qualifying schedule.

27. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 26, wherein

said question unit comprises:

a mock examination icon, which enables selection of a mock examination for supporting self-determination of at least one of basic scholastic ability and aptitude required for attending-school or online classes and lecture meetings held by the educational organizations,

a mock examination sending unit for, when the authorized user clicks the mock examination icon on the web site of said server side, sending through the internet question data of the mock examination to the client terminal on the side of the user, and

a mock examination determination unit receiving answer data from said client terminal of the user to mark the answer data, generating the various conditions comprising user'"'"'s current ability, ability required for taking an online class or a lecture meeting, a kind of the online class or lecture meeting recommended and a specific name of the recommended online class or the recommended lecture meeting based on the marking result, and outputting the conditions to said electronic leaflet browsing supporting unit.

28. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 16, further comprising a charging unit for charging an educational organization according to the volume of data at new registration or at updating of contents data of an electronic leaflet at said electronic leaflet generation unit.

29. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 28, wherein said charging unit charges the educational organization according to the volume of data at the new registration or at the updating of contents data of the electronic leaflet, made in said electronic leaflet data base.

30. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 28, wherein

when said client terminal on the user side accesses the website of said server user access rights are checked, if the user has chargeable right to access the electronic leaflets, said user access authentication unit informs said charging unit and said selection supporting unit that access of the user to at least one of chargeable moving picture data, chargeable voice data and chargeable document data is allowed,

said selection supporting unit receives, through said question unit, the various conditions presented by the user by clicking an icon on the web site of said server to designate each kind of the selection items related to the icon, and searches said electronic leaflet data base based on the various conditions received through said electronic leaflet presenting unit to select a chargeable electronic leaflet, from chargeable electronic leaflets accumulated in the electronic leaflet data base, that most closely matches the various conditions input by the user and present via the internet the selected electronic leaflet to said client terminal on the user side, and

said charging unit charges the user according to conditions of access to a chargeable electronic leaflet.

31. The electronic leaflet system as set forth in claim 28, wherein when at least one of chargeable moving picture data, chargeable voice data and chargeable document data are sent via the internet to said client terminal on the chargeable user side, the charging unit executes processing of charging the user for said at least one of chargeable moving picture data, chargeable voice data and chargeable document data.