Information distribution system, service-providing method for an information distribution system, and a program for the same

• US 9,253,221 B2
• Filed: 04/08/2013
• Issued: 02/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Nakamura, Hideo, Ono, Shoji, Furuhata, Tadashi, Nishimura, Nobuhiko
• Primary Examiner(s): NANO, SARGON N
• Application Number:
  US13/858,414
• Publication Number:
  US 20130238981A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,030 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561

Abstract

The effort of changing an application in conjunction with a change in process content or change in the type or specifications of a receiver can be reduced, and a cooperative process involving a plurality of receivers without going through an application can be achieved. An integrated device control service acquires output data, information related to the address of a first receiver and a first style sheet for the first receiver, and information related to the address of a second receiver and a second style sheet for the second receiver from an application and a style sheet database that stores a plurality of style sheets describing information conversion rules. In accordance with the success or failure of first conversion data distribution, the integrated device control service sends second conversion data, which is the output data converted according to the second style sheet, to the second receiver.

Claims

1. An information distribution server comprising:

a storage unit that stores style sheets describing information conversion rules;

an output data acquisition unit that acquires output data from a transmitter;

a distribution information acquisition unit that acquires distribution information containing first receiver information and second receiver information,

the first receiver information corresponding to a first receiver and including first information specifying a first style sheet defining information conversion rules for the first receiver, and

the second receiver information corresponding to a second receiver to which information is distributed after distribution to the first receiver and including second information specifying a second style sheet defining information conversion rules for the second receiver;

a distribution unit that distributes conversion data converting the output data according to the first style sheet specified by the first receiver information or the second style sheet specified by the second receiver information to the first receiver or the second receiver; and

a distribution decision unit that determines if distribution of the conversion data by the distribution unit was successful;

wherein

the distribution unit distributes the output data to the second receiver in accordance with a result of a distribution success decision of the distribution decision unit, which decides if distribution of first conversion data converted according to the first style sheet to the first receiver was successful.

2. The information distribution server described in claim 1, wherein:

the second receiver is a linked receiver to the first receiver to which the distribution unit transmits second conversion data converted according to the second style sheet when the distribution decision unit determines distribution of the first conversion data was successful.

3. The information distribution server described in claim 2, wherein:

the distribution information includes a second linked receiver information having a priority setting following the first receiver information, the linked receiver information; and

the distribution unit further distributes information based on the second linked receiver information with a lower priority when the distribution decision unit determines that distribution based on the linked receiver information was successful.

4. The information distribution server described in claim 1, wherein:

the second receiver is a substitute receiver for the first receiver to which the distribution unit transmits second conversion data converted according to the second style sheet when the distribution decision unit determines distribution of the first conversion data was not successful.

5. The information distribution server described in claim 1, wherein:

the receiver information includes a time limit used as a distribution error decision standard; and

the distribution decision unit determines that distribution was not successful if distribution is not completed to the first receiver or to the second receiver when the time limit is reached.

6. The information distribution server described in claim 1, wherein:

the first receiver information includes an input style sheet defining information conversion rules according to the transmitter; and

the information distribution server further comprises a response unit that inputs input conversion data acquired by converting input data from the first receiver according to the input style sheet to the transmitter.

7. The information distribution server described in claim 1, wherein:

the output data acquisition unit can acquire output data from a plurality of transmitters; and

the storage unit stores a plurality of different input style sheets corresponding to the plural transmitters.

8. The information distribution server described in claim 1, wherein:

the output data and the first conversion data are markup documents.

9. The information distribution server described in claim 1, wherein:

the first style sheet and the second style sheet are different description languages.

10. A service-providing method comprising:

acquiring output data from the transmitter and distribution information containing first receiver information and second receiver information,

the first receiver information corresponding to a first receiver and including first information specifying a first style sheet defining information conversion rules for the first receiver, and

the second receiver information corresponding to a second receiver to which information is distributed after distribution to the first receiver and including second information specifying a second style sheet defining information conversion rules for the second receiver;

distributing first conversion data converting the output data according to the first style sheet to the first receiver;

determining if the first conversion data was distributed successfully; and

distributing second conversion data converting the output data according to the second style sheet to the second receiver if distribution of the first conversion to the first receiver was successful.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program that when executed causes a computer to execute a service-providing method, the service-providing method comprising:

acquiring output data from the transmitter and distribution information containing first receiver information and second receiver information,

the first receiver information corresponding to a first receiver and including first information specifying a first style sheet defining information conversion rules for the first receiver, and

the second receiver information corresponding to a second receiver to which information is distributed after distribution to the first receiver and including second information specifying a second style sheet defining information conversion rules for the second receiver;

distributing first conversion data converting the output data according to the first style sheet to the first receiver;

determining if the first conversion data was distributed successfully; and

distributing second conversion data converting the output data according to the second style sheet to the second receiver if distribution of the first conversion to the first receiver was successful.