Service providing system, service providing terminal, client terminal, and storage medium

• US 7,328,253 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2001
• Issued: 02/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Kayahara, Naoki
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, THONG H
• Application Number:
  US09/983,737
• Publication Number:
  US 20020062448A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,294 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 709/217, 709/203, 709/213, 709/216, 709/206, 709/223, 709/231, 715/500, 715/501, 715/764, 715/705, 705/51, 455/414, 718/100, 707/3, 707/10
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/60 Protecting data

Abstract

The invention provides a service-providing system that is suited to increase security of a user'"'"'s privacy by preventing a user'"'"'s personal information from be externally leaked out. A service-providing terminal sends a content list to a client terminal in response to a service-providing request, and when receiving a selection result of the digital content from the client terminal, selects the digital content to distribute from a plurality of digital content based on the selection result, and distributes the selected digital content to the client terminal. The client terminal is provided with a user information registration, in which user information is registered, and when receiving the content list from the service-providing terminal, selects a content-ID from the content list based on the user information in the user information registration, and sends a selection result to the service-providing terminal.

Claims

1. A service-providing system, comprising:

a service-providing terminal that provides a service; and

a client terminal that receives a service, the service-providing and client terminals being connected and capable of communication, and a service corresponding to service content selected from a plurality of service contents being provided in response to a service-providing request from the client terminal;

the service-providing terminal including;

a list-sending device that sends a list of service-selection information which is to be a factor of selecting the service content in response to the service-providing request;

a service-selection device that selects a service content to provide from the plurality of service contents based on a selection result of the service-selection information when receiving the selection result from the client terminal;

a service-providing device that provides the client terminal with a service corresponding to the service content selected by the service-selection device; and

a service-reference information sending device that sends service-reference information indicating references of a plurality of service content included in the list of the service-selection information to the client terminal; and

the client terminal including;

a user-information storing device that stores user information regarding a user;

an information-selecting device that selects the service-selection information from the list of the service selection information based on the user information of the user-information storing device when receiving the list of the service-selection information from the service-providing terminal;

a selection-result sending device that sends a selection result of the information-selecting device to the service-providing terminal; and

a user-information update device that updates the user information of the user-information storing device based on the service-reference information when receiving the service-reference information from the service-providing terminal,

the user information including interest information regarding a user'"'"'s interest or preferences, the user-information update device adding new interest information to the user information, automatically updating the interest information in the user information to new interest information, or deleting the interest information in the user information based on the service-reference information.

2. The service-providing system according to claim 1, the service-providing terminal including:

a service-reference information storing device that stores service-reference information indicating references of a plurality of service contents included in the list of the service-selection information; and

a service-reference information update device that updates the service-reference information of the service-reference information storing device based on the selection result of the service-selection information when receiving the selection result from the client terminal.

3. The service-providing system according to claim 2, the service-reference information update device adding a new reference to the service-reference information, updating a reference of the service-reference information to a new reference, or deleting the reference of the service-reference information based on the selection result.

4. A computer-readable storage medium for storing a service-providing program which is connected and capable of communication with the client terminal according to claim 1, and provides a service corresponding to service content selected from a plurality of service contents in response to a service-providing request from the client terminal, the storage medium comprising:

a list-sending program for sending a list of service-selection information which is to be a factor of selecting the service content in response to the service-providing request to the client terminal;

a service-selection program for selecting service content to provide from the plurality of service content based on the selection result of the service-selection information when receiving the selection result from the client terminal; and

a service-providing program for providing the client terminal with the service content selected by the service-selection program.

5. A computer-readable storage medium for storing a service-providing request program which is connected and capable of communication with the service-providing terminal according to claim 1, and requests the service-providing terminal to provide a service corresponding to service content selected from a plurality of service contents, the storage medium comprising:

a user-information storing program for storing user information regarding a user;

an information-selecting program for selecting the service-selection information from the list of the service information based on the user information of the user-information storing program when receiving the list of the service-selection information from the service-providing terminal; and

a selection-result sending program for sending a selection result of the information-selecting program to the service-providing terminal.

6. The service-providing system according to claim 1, wherein the user-information storing device mathematically calculates an importance of new interest information by calculating an importance of selected content and an importance of related content.

7. The service-providing system according to claim 1, wherein the service-providing terminal further includes a service-reference information update device that updates a degree of relevance of selected content based upon content simultaneously selected by the client terminal.

8. A service-providing terminal which is applied to a service-providing system that comprises

the service-providing terminal that provides a service;

and

a client terminal that receives a service, the service-providing and client terminals being connected and capable of communication, and a service corresponding to service content selected from a plurality of service contents being provided in response to a service-providing request from the client terminal;

the client terminal including;

a user-information storing device that stores user information regarding a user;

an information-selecting device that selects the service-selection information from the list of the service selection information based on the user information of the user-information storing device when receiving the list of the service-selection information from the service-providing terminal; and

a selection-result sending device that sends a selection result of the information-selecting device to the service-providing terminal; and

wherein the service-providing terminal comprises;

a list-sending device that sends a list of service-selection information which is to be a factor of selecting the service content in response to the service-providing request to the client terminal;

a service-selection device that selects the service content to provide from the plurality of service content based on the selection result of the service-selection information when receiving the selection result from the client terminal; and

a service-providing device that provides the client terminal with the service corresponding to the service content selected by the service-selection device.

9. The service-providing terminal according to claim 8, further comprising a service-reference information sending device that sends service-reference information indicating references of a plurality of service content included in the list of the service-selection information to the client terminal.

10. The service-providing terminal according to claim 8, further comprising a service-reference information storing device that stores service-reference information indicating references of a plurality of service content included in the list of the service-selection information;

and

a service-reference information update device that updates the service-reference information of the service-reference information storing device based on the selection result of the service-selection information when receiving the selection result from the client terminal.

11. The service-providing terminal according to claim 10, the service-reference information update device adding a new reference to the service-reference information, updating a reference of the service-reference information to a new reference, or deleting the reference of the service-reference information based on the selection result.

12. A client terminal which is applied to a service-providing system that comprises

a service-providing terminal that provides a service;

and

the client terminal that receives a service, the service-providing and client terminals being connected and capable of communication, and a service corresponding to service content selected from a plurality of service contents being provided in response to a service-providing request from the client terminal;

the service-providing terminal including;

a list-sending device that sends a list of service-selection information which is to be a factor of selecting the service content in response to the service-providing request;

a service-selection device that selects a service content to provide from the plurality of service contents based on a selection result of the service-selection information when receiving the selection result from the client terminal; and

a service-providing device that provides the client terminal with a service corresponding to the service content selected by the service-selection device; and

wherein the client terminal comprises;

a user-information storing device that stores user information regarding a user;

an information-selecting device that selects the service-selection information from the list of the service selection information based on the user information of the user-information storing device when receiving the list of the service-selection information from the service-providing terminal; and

a selection-result sending device that sends the selection result of the information-selecting device to the service-providing terminal.

13. The client terminal according to claim 12, further comprising a user-information update device that updates the user information of the user-information storing device based on the service-reference information when receiving the service-reference information from the service-providing terminal.

14. The client terminal according to claim 13,

the user information including interest information regarding a user'"'"'s interest or preferences, and the user-information update device adding new interest information to the user information, updating the interest information of the user information to new interest information, or deleting the interest information of the user information based on the service-reference information.