JP2001202384A - Server system and method for communication network information service - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a server system capable of providing sufficient communication network information services to a personal terminal owned by an individual. SOLUTION: Plural server machines 3A, 3B, 3C... are provided for providing communication network information services and server machines are assigned one by one to each of users. Each of server machines collects information desired by one user, to which that server machine is assigned, from the internet 11 on the basis of the taste or attribute of that user, caches that information and transmits it to one personal terminal used by that user.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a server computer for facilitating an individual to obtain and exchange various electronic information through a communication network such as the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is becoming increasingly popular for individuals to use personal computer terminals to acquire various types of digitized information through communication networks such as the Internet and exchange information with others. In particular, mobile phones and PDAs
2. Description of the Related Art Ultra-small and lightweight portable personal computer terminals such as (personal digital assistants) have been remarkably developed and spread in recent years.

When the personal terminal is used, for example, on the Internet, a server machine for providing an Internet connection service, a mail transmission / reception service, and the like is usually provided between each personal terminal and the Internet. According to the prior art, a large number of personal terminals share a limited number of server machines, and the small number of server machines provide communication services for a large number of terminals.

[0004]

There is a demand that one portable personal terminal possessed by an individual can cover most of the information that the individual wants to use. Or,
There is a demand that one personal terminal located at home can cover most of the information required by the family.

[0005] One technique that can be employed in the prior art to meet these demands is to provide individual personal terminals with many processing functions. Also,
Another approach is to increase the size of the server machine and improve the service of the server machine.

However, in any case, the communication volume of the server machine which has to provide services to many terminals increases, and the current communication line cannot provide the service. Further, even if an individual terminal is to be provided with many processing functions, it is difficult to achieve both the demand for a smaller and lighter terminal and this. Further, even if the size of the server machine is increased, there is a limit in providing a sufficient service to each of a large number of terminals sharing the server machine.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a server system capable of providing a sufficient communication network information service to individual personal terminals.

[0008]

A server system for a communication network information service according to the present invention comprises a plurality of server machines which are respectively assigned to a plurality of users and which can be connected to a communication network. Each server machine provides an information service using a communication network only for personal terminals used by the user to which the server machine is assigned.

In a preferred embodiment, each server machine
It has user information specific to the user to which it is assigned and uses this user information to provide a communication network information service specific to the user to which it is assigned.

A communication network information service method according to the present invention comprises the steps of: preparing a plurality of server machines connectable to a communication network; allocating one server machine to each of a plurality of users; Providing an information service using a communication network only for the personal terminal used by the user to which the user is assigned.

[0011] In a preferred embodiment, the method further comprises the step of setting on each server machine user information specific to the user to whom it is assigned. Then, each server machine uses the preset user information to provide a communication network information service specialized for the user to which the server machine is assigned.

[0012]

FIG. 1 shows a server system for providing a personal terminal with a communication network information service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The server system 1 comprises a number of personal server machines 3A, 3B, 3C,.
Each of these personal server machines 3A, 3B, 3C,... Is a computer independent of the other server machines in terms of hardware, and is a storage device 5 used as a place where data is cached or an e-mail mailbox.
A, 5B, 5C,... Can be connected to a communication network such as the Internet 11, a wireless telephone network 13, or a wired telephone network 15.

For each of a large number of users (basically individuals, but also parties like homes) (accurately for each user account), the server machine 3A described above. , 3B, 3C,... Are assigned one by one. Each of the server machines 3A, 3B, 3C,... Is a personal terminal (for example, a PDA, a mobile phone, a personal computer, or a combination thereof, which has a network communication function) used by the user to which it is assigned. 7A, 7B, 7C,... Can be communicated through, for example, a wireless or wired telephone network 13 or 15, and used by the assigned user (more precisely, logged in with the assigned user account). For only one terminal 7A, 7B, 7C, ...
The communication network information service set in advance is performed.
Therefore, each of the server machines 3A, 3B, 3C,... Can provide an information service specialized for only one specific user. For example, the Internet 11
And collects and caches digital contents that match preset user preferences from the Internet 11 or searches for cached data or data on the Internet 11 in response to a request from the personal terminal 7. To the personal terminal 7. Since one server machine is assigned to one user in this way, the server machine can exhibit the highest performance.

The server machines 3A, 3B, 3C,... May be installed in any location. Each server machine 3A, 3B, 3C,... May be operated by an individual user, but in reality, one company operates these many server machines 3A, 3B, 3C,. 1 car 1 car 1 person
It will be rented out to other users for a fee.

FIG. 2 shows one personal server machine 3
2 shows an example of the functions of software provided by.

The personal server machine 3 has, for example, a map server 21, a content server 23, a CM server 25, and a mail server 27 as software.

The map server 21 has user location information 31 and periodically or as needed provides map data of the area related to the user location information 31 to a predetermined map for providing a map through the Internet 11 or a telephone network. The map data obtained from the server 51 is cached in the storage device 33, and the map data desired by the user is retrieved from the storage device 33 and transmitted to the personal terminal 7 in response to a request from the personal terminal 7.

The user position information 31 may be information indicating the current position of the user, or may be a home or work address set in the map server 21 by the user in advance. In order to obtain the information on the current position of the user, for example, if the personal terminal 7 has a GPS function, the latitude / longitude information determined by the GPS function may be received from the personal terminal 7. May have the PHS function, the PHS base station may be identified when communicating with the personal terminal 7 by PHS or information on the location of the PHS base station may be received and used as the current position.

The content server 23 has information 35 indicating the user's preference (for example, a URL indicating the location of digital content such as news, weather forecasts and images desired by the user on the Internet) 35, and periodically or At any time, based on the user preference information 35, digital contents (for example, news, weather forecast, images, etc.) desired by the user are collected from the servers 53, 55,. The collected content is cached in the storage device 37, and a content desired by the user is searched from the storage device 35 and transmitted to the personal terminal 7 in response to a request from the personal terminal 7. User preference information 3
5 can be set in advance in the content server 23 by the user from the personal terminal 7 or the like.

The CM server 25 stores user attributes (for example,
Information 39 indicating the user's age, gender, occupation, address, model of the personal terminal being used, etc.). And selectively collects only the commercial advertisement data conforming to the user attribute information 39 from the CM database 57 owned by the company operating the, and caches the collected advertisement data in the storage device 41. In response to a request from the terminal 7 or periodically, the advertisement data in the storage device 35 is transmitted to the personal terminal 7. User attribute information 3
9 can be set in advance in the CM server 25 by the user from the personal terminal 7 or the like.

The mail server 27 stores a user's mailbox 43 in a storage device 43, similarly to a known mail server.
And mediates transmission and reception of e-mail performed by the user.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above.
This embodiment is merely an example for explaining the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention to only this embodiment. Therefore, the present invention can be implemented in various modes other than the above-described embodiment without departing from the gist thereof.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a server system for providing a communication network information service to a personal terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of software functions of one personal server machine 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 server system 3 personal server 5 storage device 7 personal terminal 11 Internet 13 wireless telephone network 15 wired telephone network 21 map server 23 content server 25 CM server 27 mail server

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A system comprising: a plurality of server machines assigned to each of a plurality of users, each server machine being connectable to a communication network, each server machine comprising only a personal terminal used by a user to which the user is assigned; Server system for providing an information service using the communication network. 2. Each server machine has user information unique to the user to which it is assigned, and uses this user information to provide a communication network information service specific to the user to which it is assigned. 1. The server system according to 1. Preparing a plurality of server machines connectable to a communication network; allocating one server machine to each of a plurality of users, wherein each server machine is used by a user to which the server machine is assigned; Providing an information service using the communication network only for a personal terminal to be provided. 4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: setting, in each server machine, user information specific to a user to which the server machine is assigned; The communication network information service method according to claim 3, wherein a communication network information service specialized for a user to which the user is assigned is provided.