JP2003044470A - Font service system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide a font service system capable of distributing font information via a network as needed. A font server stores information including font information and attribute information indicating attributes of the font information as information about the font, a font database transmitted from a font provider terminal in response to a registration request. Information and attribute information received and stored in a font database, and when registering a font, font location information indicating information on a storage location of font information is generated, and the generated font location information is stored in the registration search server. In response to a request from the user terminal, information on the font corresponding to the request is read from the font database and transmitted to the user terminal.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a font service system, a font server, and a user terminal which provide a service for distributing information about fonts to a user terminal via a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of electronic publishing and document distribution on the Internet, the problem of handling special rarely used Kanji characters has become apparent. For example, when a document that uses characters that are not standard codes is sent and received between computers via the network, characters other than the characters intended by the sender are displayed on the display of the terminal at the receiver. Sometimes. This is because if there is no font expressing the special Kanji on the display of the terminal that receives the document data, it cannot be displayed on that display.

As described above, when the characters cannot be displayed on the display, it is necessary to purchase the software of the font to be displayed, which is a complicated work for the receiving side that receives the document data. In addition, there are JIS first level, second level, third level, and fourth level as kanji code standards, but fonts are provided free of charge up to the first and second levels. The fact that the document data receiving side has all the character fonts of the third level and the fourth level causes a problem that the cost burden increases for the document data receiving side.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide font information as necessary.
It is to provide a font service system that can be distributed via a network.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a font service system in which a user terminal and a font server are mutually connected via a network, wherein the font server is a font A font database for storing information on the font and a font distribution for reading information on the font corresponding to the request from the font database in response to a request from the user terminal and transmitting the read information on the font to the user terminal And means.

Further, the present invention is a font server used in a font service system in which a user terminal and a font server are mutually connected via a network, and is created based on at least one of characters and images. A font database that stores the fonts as information about the font, and, in response to a request from the user terminal, information about the font corresponding to the request from the font database, and the read information about the font to the user terminal. It has a font distribution means for transmitting.

Further, the present invention is a font server used in a font service system, wherein a user terminal and a font server are mutually connected via a network, and the font server and font provider terminal are mutually connected. A font database that stores a font created based on at least one of a character and an image as information about the font; and from the font provider terminal, in response to a registration request for the font information from the font provider terminal. In response to a request from the user terminal, a font registration unit that receives information about a font to be transmitted and stores it in the font database,
It is characterized by further comprising font distribution means for reading information on the font corresponding to the request from the font database and transmitting the read information on the font to the user terminal.

Further, the present invention is a font used in a font service system in which a user terminal, a font server, and a registration search server are mutually connected via a network, and the font server and the font provider terminal are mutually connected. A font database that is a server and stores information including font information for expressing a font created based on at least one of a character and an image and attribute information indicating an attribute of the font information as information about the font. A font registration unit that receives font information and attribute information transmitted from the font provider terminal and stores the font information and attribute information in the font database in response to a font registration information registration request from the font provider terminal; When the font is registered by the font registration means A location information registration unit that generates font location information indicating information about a storage location of font information, and registers the generated font location information in the registration search server, and from the font database in response to a request from the user terminal. And a font distribution unit for reading the information on the font corresponding to the request and transmitting the read information on the font to the user terminal.

Further, according to the present invention, in the above font server, the font distribution means distributes information on a font when information on a new font is registered from the font provider terminal or at predetermined intervals. It is characterized by

According to the present invention, in the above font server, when the font distribution means distributes the font-related information to the user terminal, the font-related information is transmitted based on an instruction from the user terminal. It is characterized in that font information for each designated character or for which the same attribute information is set is collectively transmitted.

Further, the present invention is a user terminal connected to the font server according to any one of claims 4 to 6, for specifying information regarding a font that needs to be distributed. Font location information acquisition control means for transmitting search key information as a keyword of the above to the registration search server and receiving font location information corresponding to the search key information from the registration search server, and a font corresponding to the font location information. Information relating to the font transmitted to the font server and requesting the distribution of the information relating to the font, and a storage unit storing the information relating to the font transmitted from the font server.

The present invention also provides a font distribution method in a font service system in which a user terminal and a font server are mutually connected via a network,
In response to a request from the user terminal, information about a font corresponding to the request is read from a font database that stores information about the font, and the read information about the font is transmitted to the user terminal. .

Further, the present invention is a font distribution program in a font service system in which a user terminal and a font server are connected to each other via a network, and the font information is requested in response to a request from the user terminal. Reading information about a font corresponding to the request from a font database storing
And a font distribution step of transmitting the read-out information about the font to the user terminal.

The present invention also provides a computer-readable recording medium for recording a font distribution program in a font service system in which a user terminal and a font server are mutually connected via a network,
In response to a request from the user terminal, a step of reading information regarding a font corresponding to the request from a font database that stores information regarding fonts, and transmitting the information regarding the read font to the user terminal. A font distribution program for causing a computer to execute the font distribution step is recorded.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A font service system to which a font server and a user terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention are applied will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of a font service system to which a font server and a user terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention are applied. In this figure, the font service system registers a font server 1 connected to a font database 11, a registration search server 2 connected to an index registration information database 21, and a font created by a font creator in the font server 1. The font provider terminal 3 and the user terminal 4 having a browser function are connected to the network. here,
As an example of the network, the case where the Internet 5 is applied is illustrated. The font provider terminal 3 is owned by, for example, a font creator or a font maker, and the user terminal 4 is owned by, for example, an individual user who delivers the font, a document creator, a home page creator, or the like. Own.

Next, the font server 1 and the font database 11 shown in FIG. 1 will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing the configurations of the font server 1 and the font database 11. In this figure, the font database 11 stores a font created based on at least one of a character and an image as information about the font. The information about the font includes font information that is information for expressing the font and attribute information that is information about the attributes of the font information.

Here, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of font information. As shown in this figure, the font information is
It includes information about character codes, baselines, glyphs, etc., and is set for each character. On the other hand, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the attribute information. As shown in this figure, the attribute information includes information about the font name, version, font author, etc., and is set for each character set of the same font in the font information. For example, from a font provider,
If different fonts are set even for the same words / characters, the attribute information is set for each font.

Next, returning to FIG. 2, the communication section 1a is connected to the Internet 5 and transmits / receives various data. The font information management unit 1b includes a font registration unit 1c, a location information registration unit 1d, and a font distribution unit 1e. The font registration unit 1c is used by the font provider terminal 3
The font information and the attribute information transmitted from the font provider terminal 3 are received and stored in the font database 11 in response to the registration request of the information regarding the font from the.

When registering a font, the location information registration unit 1d generates font location information indicating information regarding a storage location of font information, and transmits the generated font location information to the registration search server 2. The font location information will be described later. The font distribution unit 1e reads out information about fonts requested by the user terminal 4 from the font database 11, and the user terminal 4
Send to.

Next, regarding the registration search server 2 of FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of the registration search server 2 and the index registration information database 21 in FIG. In this figure, the index registration information database 21 stores the font location information and the search key information transmitted from the font server 1 in association with each other. FIG. 6 shows an example of information stored in the index registration information database 21. The font location information is, for example, the address of the font server on the network. In FIG. 6, the URI (Uniform Res) is used.
source identifiers). In addition to the URI, the font location information includes a font sample, a method of providing information about the font (for example, communication protocol, etc.), a copyright related right display, a font name, a creator (right owner) name. Etc. are added. On the other hand, the search key information is information that serves as a keyword for specifying the information about the font that is requested to be distributed. neck)
And stroke information for searching in the form of characters. The communication unit 2a of the registration search server 2 is connected to the Internet 5 and sends and receives various data.

The control unit 2b issues, for each font provider, a management ID and a password for registering, updating, and deleting the location information in the font management server when registering information regarding fonts. An ID for management such as updating and deleting of registered fonts is issued for each font. The control unit b also has a registration unit 2c and a search unit 2d. The registration unit 2b receives the font location information from the font server 1 and stores it in the index registration information database 21. The search unit 2d searches the index registration information database 21 for the corresponding font location information for search key information matching the search key information transmitted from the user terminal 4, and transmits the search result to the user terminal 4. .

Next, the user terminal 4 of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
Will be explained. FIG. 7 shows the user terminal 4 in FIG.
3 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of FIG. In this figure,
The communication unit 4a is connected to the Internet 5 and sends and receives various data. The control unit 4b includes a font location information acquisition unit 4c and a distribution control unit 4d, and controls each unit of the device. The font location information acquisition unit 4c transmits the search key information to the registration search server 2, and receives the font location information corresponding to the search key information from the registration search server 2. The distribution control unit 4d transmits information about the font corresponding to the font location information to the font server 1 and requests distribution of the font information. The storage unit 4e stores information about fonts transmitted from the font server 1.

Next, the operation of the font service system having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the drawings. Figure 8
9 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the font service system, and FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the font service system when registering a font. First, when a font registration request is made from the font provider terminal 3, the font server 1
A screen for prompting the font provider terminal 3 to input font information, attribute information, and search key information is displayed. Then, when the font information, the attribute information, and the search key information of the font created by the font creator are input from the font provider terminal 3 and transmitted as the font-related information from the font provider terminal 3, a registration request is made.
The font server 1 receives the font information, the attribute information, and the search key information transmitted from the font provider terminal 3 and registers them in the font database 11 (step S in FIG. 8).
1, step S21 in FIG. 9). And font server 1
Requests the registration of the management ID (step S3 in FIG. 8,
9 step S22).

Upon receipt of the management ID registration request, the registration search server 2 issues the management ID and password to the font provider and sends them to the font server 1 (step S23 in FIG. 9). Upon receiving the management ID and the password, the font server 1 transmits the management ID and the password to the font provider terminal 3.
As a result, the font provider terminal 3 can, if necessary,
Registration search server 2 using the management ID and password
To authenticate, register and update font location information,
Can perform management work such as deletion.

Next, the font server 1 generates font location information (for example, a URI), transmits the generated font location information and the search key information to the search server 2 (step S24 in FIG. 9), and generates them. The font location information is stored in the font database 11 in association with the target font information, the attribute information, and the search key information. At this time, in the registration search server 2, the management ID
The authentication process is performed using the password and the password. The registration search server 2 receives the font location information and the search key information, stores them in the registration information database 21, and generates an index for performing a search based on the search key information. Then, the registration search server 2 issues a font registration ID for the font for which the font location information is registered, and sends it to the font server 1 (step S25 in FIG. 9). The font registration ID is transmitted from the font server 1 to the font provider terminal 3, and is used to manage the registered fonts such as updating and deleting as necessary. As a result, registration of information regarding fonts is performed.

Next, referring to FIGS. 8 and 10, the user terminal 4
The operation of delivering information about fonts to will be described. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an operation of distributing information regarding fonts to the user terminal 4. Here, a case where a user browses a homepage using the user terminal 4 and it is necessary to display characters that have not been introduced on the user terminal 4 on the display screen will be described. When a user needs a font because there is a character that is not normally displayed on the home page viewed on the display screen of the user terminal 4 (FIG. 10, step S3).
1) Then, from the sentences before and after the character that is not normally displayed, the characters to be normally displayed are analogized, and the reading and radical of the analogized characters are set as search key information (step S in FIG. 8).
4), a search request is transmitted from the user terminal 4 to the registration search server 2 (step S5 in FIG. 8, step S3 in FIG. 10).
2).

Upon receiving the search key information from the user terminal 4, the registration search server 2 searches the index registration information database 21 for font location information associated with the search key information that matches the received search key information ( In step S6 in FIG. 8, the font location information corresponding to the search key information requested to be searched is transmitted to the user terminal 4 (step S33 in FIG. 10). The user terminal 4 displays the font location information received from the registration search server 2 as font sample information on the display screen (step S7 in FIG. 8). At this time, on the display screen of the user terminal 4, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, a sample font (FIG. 11A) corresponding to the search key information and its reading (FIG. 11B) )), The reference character is displayed as a related font (FIG. 11 (c)), and the URI of the server in which the information regarding the font is stored is displayed (FIG. 11 (d)). When there is an image font in addition to the character font, the image font is also displayed as a sample (reference numeral (e) in FIG. 11).

When the user selects a font format, confirms the code system, usage conditions, etc., and clicks the "Install" button, the font corresponding to the font location information is sent from the user terminal 4 to the font server 1. A request is made to distribute information regarding the information (step S8 in FIG. 8, step S34 in FIG. 10). For example, by using the URI shown in FIG. 11D, the font server 1
A delivery request is made to. At this time, the approval of the license agreement and the procedure for the usage fee are performed according to the font providing conditions.

When the URI is specified and the distribution request is received, the font server 1 receives the distribution request from the font database 11 based on the URI generated by the location information registration unit 1d that matches the specified URI. The font information and the attribute information are read out, and the information about the font including the read font information and the attribute information is distributed to the user terminal 4 by the font distribution unit 1e (step S9 in FIG. 8, step S35 in FIG. 10). The user terminal 4 uses the ftp (File Transfer P) information regarding the font distributed from the font server 1.
It is received and stored using a protocol etc. Then, according to the instruction from the user, the user terminal 4 installs the information about the font in the kana-kanji conversion dictionary function (step S36 in FIG. 10). As a result, fonts of characters that have not been installed on the user terminal 4 can be used, and characters that have not been normally displayed on the homepage that have been browsed can be displayed normally.

In the above-described embodiment, when it is expected that the characters will not be displayed normally, the search key information may be set in advance on the home page delivered to the user terminal 4. . This eliminates the need for the user to infer a character that is not normally displayed from the preceding and following sentences. Also, from the registration search server 2 to the user terminal 4
As for the information on the fonts to be distributed to, the necessary characters may be distributed in units of one character, or the characters of the same font may be collectively distributed. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the attribute information is created by the font provider has been described, but the attribute information may be automatically set from either the font server 1 or the registration / search server.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the user terminal 4 issues a distribution request to the registration search server 2 when the distribution request is made by the user and the information regarding the font is downloaded has been described. Alternatively, the distribution control unit 4d may be provided with a function of downloading information about fonts even if there is no distribution request from the user. In this case, the newly registered identification information for identifying the information about the newly registered font is stored in the font database 11 and periodically (for example, once a day, once).
Make a request for delivery from the user terminal 4 once a week, etc.,
Information about the newly registered font may be distributed to the user terminal 4 based on the newly registered identification information. As a result, when the user wants to use the font, it is possible to save the trouble of making a distribution request and downloading the information about the font.

Further, the font information may include images such as pictograms, illustrations, and photographic images taken by a camera. As a result, it is possible to display an image installed as a font in advance without receiving the image data on the Web and displaying it on the display screen. Can be faster. This is because while image data requires a session for each image, all the characters can be transferred in one session by treating the image as a character and treating it as a font. The time can be shortened. For example, a banner advertisement or the like can be treated as a font. Further, by storing the image as a font in the user terminal 4 in advance, useless file transfer becomes unnecessary. Also, it becomes possible to deal with word wraps in European languages and Japanese prohibition rules.

Although the font database 11 is connected to the outside of the font server 1 in the above embodiment, the font database 11 may be provided inside the font server 1. Further, although the case where the index registration information database 21 is connected to the outside of the registration search server 2 has been described, the index registration information database 21 is inside the registration search server 2.
May be provided. In addition, in the above-described embodiment, a plurality of font servers 1 may be provided. In addition, a plurality of registration search servers 2 may be provided.

The font registration does not necessarily have to be provided via the network. For example, the font provider terminal 3 and the font database may be connected via an interface to provide font information. . Further, the font information may be stored in the font database 11 using a recording medium in which the font information is recorded.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, when downloading font information from the font server 1 to the user terminal 4, the user terminal 4 uses the registration search server 2 to search for a necessary font. After that, I was downloading information about the font. But,
When the user terminal 4 side knows the necessary font attribute information and the like, the font may be directly downloaded from the font server 1 without using the registration search server 2.

Next, a second embodiment will be described.
In this embodiment, a case will be described in which the font service system of the first embodiment charges a fee for registration and distribution of font information. This charging method includes, for example, the following method. 1. Charge to the font registrant In this case, when the font provider terminal 3 requests registration of information about the font, the font provider charges a registration fee for registering the font in the font server 1. To collect. For example, one's portrait or family crest is registered as a font, a company logo or a banner advertisement is registered as a font, and a registration fee is charged. As a charging method, for example, a predetermined fee is charged monthly or yearly.

2. As a fee for using a charging user terminal or font server for a Web homepage referrer, We
Charge the homepage referrer of b. For example, charges are made for the use of homepages to which a font service system is applied, such as "Portrait portrait club" and "Kamon club".

3. Charge the font referrer Using the user terminal 4, the user accessing the font server 1 and downloading the font is charged. The fonts distributed in this case are, for example,
POP font (POP is Point of Pu
It is an abbreviation of rchase, an advertisement that directly advertises products at the sales floor, and a POP font is a pictogram-like font used in POP etc.), a font registered from the font provider terminal 3. There are fonts created by the manufacturer.

4. When a Web page creator who creates and publishes a charging home page according to the font usage status downloads fonts from the font server 1 using the user terminal 4 and creates a home page , A home page using fonts downloaded from the font server 1 is charged according to the number of times the third party has accessed the home page. For this charge, for example, the number of times the corresponding home page is accessed is counted, and the font server 1 is notified of the count result. Then, the font server 1 notifies the font provider terminal 3 of the font creator who created the used font of the number of counts for a fee. Then, the font provider terminal 3 of the font creator performs a process of charging the user terminal 4 of the Web page creator according to the number of counts. As a result, the web page creator will not be charged just for downloading the font, and will not be charged even if the homepage published using the downloaded font is not viewed by a third party. It is possible to prevent the burden on the person (Web page creator) from paying for the use of the font. Further, the font provider can collect the consideration depending on the usage status of the font. In addition to counting the number of times the home page is viewed, the number of publications is counted when electronic publishing or electronic document distribution is performed.
You may charge.

In the second embodiment described above,
If the fonts registered in the font server 1 are used academically, it is possible not to charge.
Academic use is, for example, the case where documents used for documents such as ancient documents, classical literature, and scriptures are transmitted and received via a network, or published on a homepage.

Next, as a third embodiment, the creation of fonts registered in the font server 1 will be described. As a method of creating a font, for example, there are the following methods. 1. Create the data for expressing the font using a text editor. 2. Use font creation application 1) Using a scanner First, write the shape of a character (or image) on paper by handwriting, etc., and import it into a computer with a scanner. Then, the outline of the character is extracted from the captured character data, and the extracted outline information is converted into a font format using a font creation application. And
Add information such as chords, baselines, and bounding boxes. In addition to capturing the image with the scanner, an existing image may be diverted. That is, JPEG (Joint Photographic)
Experts Group) and GIF (Graph)
A contour may be extracted from an image in a format such as ics Interchange Format) using a contour extraction application, and a font may be created from the extracted contour information.

2) Create an image by using a drawing image creation application with a font format application,
Convert the created image to the font format using a font creation application. Then, information such as a code, a baseline, and a bounding box is added. The created font information may be in a bitmap font format or an outline font format.

The font information management unit 1b of the font server 1 and the control unit 2 of the registration search server 2 shown in FIG.
b, a program for realizing the function of the control unit 4b of the user terminal 4 is recorded in a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded in the recording medium is read into a computer system and executed. The processing of the font service system may be performed.
The “computer system” here means an OS.
And peripheral equipment and other hardware.

The "computer system" is a WW.
If the W system is used, the homepage providing environment (or display environment) is also included. The "computer-readable recording medium" means a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, a CD-
A portable medium such as a ROM or a storage device such as a hard disk built in a computer system. Further, the "computer-readable recording medium" means to hold a program dynamically for a short time like a communication line when transmitting the program through a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. In this case, a volatile memory inside a computer system that serves as a server or a client in that case holds a program for a certain period of time. Also, the program above
It may be for realizing some of the above-mentioned functions, or may be for realizing the above-mentioned functions in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the drawings, the specific structure is not limited to this embodiment, and includes a design etc. within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention. Be done.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention, a font database for storing information about fonts is provided, and in response to a request from a user terminal, information about fonts corresponding to the request is obtained from the font database. Since the information about the read fonts and the read fonts is sent to the user terminal, it can be distributed via the network, which saves the user of the user terminal side the trouble of purchasing the font software. The font can be omitted and the font can be easily used when necessary.

Further, according to the present invention, in response to the registration request of the information on the font from the font provider terminal,
Since the font information and attribute information sent from the font provider terminal are received and stored in the font database, more types of fonts should be provided by the font creator and distributed to users. The effect that can be obtained is obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, when a font is registered by the font registration means, font location information indicating information regarding a storage location of font information is generated, and the generated font location information is stored in the registration search server. Since I tried to register, for the user of the user terminal,
It is possible to easily search for the required font and deliver it.

Further, according to the present invention, when the information about a new font is registered from the font provider terminal or the information about the font is distributed to the user terminal at every predetermined period, the user can The effect that the user can update the information about the font stored in the terminal to the latest information without updating / searching is obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, when the information regarding the font is distributed to the user terminal, the information regarding the font is set for each designated character or the same attribute information based on the instruction from the user terminal. Since all the font information that has been created is transmitted in a batch, it is possible to specify and distribute the required characters.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of a font service system to which a font server and a user terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention are applied.

FIG. 2 Font server 1 and font database 1
2 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of font information.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of attribute information.

5 is a schematic block diagram showing configurations of a registration search server 2 and an index registration information database 21. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in an index registration information database 21.

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram showing a configuration of a user terminal 4.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the font service system.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the font service system when registering a font.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an operation of distributing information regarding fonts to the user terminal 4.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen displayed on the display screen of the user terminal 4.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 font server 2 registration search server 3 font provider terminal 4 user terminal 11 font database 21 index registration information database 1b font information management unit 1c font registration unit 1d location information registration unit 1e font distribution unit 2b, 4b control unit 2c registration unit 2d search unit 4c font location information acquisition unit 4d distribution control unit 4e storage unit

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G06F 17/30 170 G06F 17/30 170Z 17/60 302 17/60 302E ZEC ZEC (72) Inventor Hidehiro Ishizuka 1-2 Kasuga, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, University of Information Sciences, University of Tetsuo (72) Tetsuo Sakaguchi 1-2, Kasuga, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, University of Science (72), University of Library Information (72) Yoshinori Hosoya, 1-5-1, Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo Toppan In Printing Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Fumio Hirabayashi 1-5-1 Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo F-term in Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. (reference) 2C087 AB05 BA05 BA09 EA27 5B009 RA14 VC03 5B075 KK07 ND03 ND20

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A font service system in which a user terminal and a font server are interconnected via a network, wherein the font server stores a font database for storing information about fonts, and a request from the user terminal. According to the above, the font service system further comprising: font distribution means for reading information on the font corresponding to the request from the font database and transmitting the read information on the font to the user terminal. 2. A font server used in a font service system in which a user terminal and a font server are connected to each other via a network, wherein a font created based on at least one of a character and an image is used. And a font database for storing the information regarding the font corresponding to the request from the font database, and transmitting the information regarding the read font to the user terminal in response to a request from the user terminal. A font server having means. 3. A font server used in a font service system, wherein a user terminal and a font server are connected to each other via a network, and the font server and font provider terminal are connected to each other. A font database that stores a font created based on at least one of the following as information regarding fonts; and a font transmitted from the font provider terminal in response to a registration request for information regarding fonts from the font provider terminal. Font registration means for receiving information about the font and storing it in the font database; and, in response to a request from the user terminal, reading information about the font corresponding to the request from the font database, Send to user terminal A font server, comprising: a font distribution means. 4. A font server used in a font service system in which a user terminal, a font server, and a registration search server are interconnected via a network, and the font server and font provider terminal are interconnected. A font database for storing information including font information for expressing a font created based on at least one of a character and an image and attribute information indicating an attribute of the font information as information about the font; A font registration unit that receives font information and attribute information transmitted from the font provider terminal and stores the font information and the attribute information in the font database in response to a registration request for font information from the provider terminal; Font information when the font is registered Location information registering means for generating font location information indicating information on the storage location of the font, and registering the generated font location information in the registration search server; and a request from the font database in response to a request from the user terminal. A font server that reads information related to the font corresponding to the above, and transmits the read information related to the font to the user terminal. 5. The font distribution means distributes the font information when new font information is registered from the font provider terminal or at predetermined time intervals. Font server. 6. The font distribution means, when distributing information about a font to the user terminal, specifies information about the font on a character-by-character basis or the same attribute information based on an instruction from the user terminal. The font server according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the font information in which is set is collectively transmitted. 7. A user terminal connected to the font server according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein search key information serving as a keyword for specifying information regarding a distribution request font is provided. A font location information acquisition control unit that transmits to the registration search server and receives font location information corresponding to the search key information from the registration search server, and information regarding a font corresponding to the font location information to the font server. A user terminal, comprising: a distribution control unit for requesting distribution of font-related information; and a storage unit for storing font-related information transmitted from the font server. 8. A font distribution method in a font service system in which a user terminal and a font server are connected to each other via a network, the font storing information about the font in response to a request from the user terminal. A font distribution method comprising: reading information on a font corresponding to the request from a database from a database; and transmitting the read information on the font to the user terminal. 9. A font distribution program in a font service system in which a user terminal and a font server are connected to each other via a network, the font storing information about the font in response to a request from the user terminal. A font distribution program characterized by causing a computer to execute a step of reading information on a font corresponding to the request from a font database from a database and a font distribution step of transmitting the read information on the font to the user terminal. 10. A computer-readable recording medium recording a font distribution program in a font service system in which a user terminal and a font server are connected to each other via a network, the computer-readable recording medium responding to a request from the user terminal. And causing the computer to execute a step of reading the information on the font corresponding to the request from the font database storing the information on the font, and a font distribution step of transmitting the read information on the font to the user terminal. A recording medium that records a font distribution program.