Data converter and terminal contained in network

Details Data converter and terminal contained in network Data converter and terminal contained in network

1999-03-24

2002-09-17

Le, N. (Department: 2858)

Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput

Computer conferencing

Demand based messaging

C709S217000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06453340

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a data converter and a terminal, and more particularly, to a terminal and a converter for converting data, which are attached to an E mail (electronic mail) routed to the terminal, into data in a format which can be processed by the terminal.
2. Description of the Background Art
As the Internet techniques have progressed in recent years, the environment in which an E mail can be transmitted and received, or the environment in which WWW (World Wide Web) can be accessed have been prepared in offices, homes, and so forth. A terminal which is represented by a personal computer (hereinafter abbreviated as PC) is used for the transmission and receiving of the E mail and the access to the WWW.
As high-density packaging technology and wireless communication technology have progressed, a portable terminal which is represented by a notebook-sized PC and a personal digital assistant has spread. If a user uses the portable terminal, the user can transmit or receive an E mail or refers to information stored in the WWW through a subscriber line even from the place where he or she has gone. The portable terminal is connected to a network on the basis of a protocol which is represented by PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) , and accesses a mail server or the WWW through the network, to acquire the E mail or the information.
In the present specification, the mail server means an equipment contained in the network for delivering the E mail to the terminal or the portable terminal. SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) or POP
3
(Post Office Protocol
3
) are generally used for transmission or receiving of the E mail between the mail server and the terminal or the portable terminal. That is, examples of the mail server include one for processing the E mail transmitted from the terminal or the portable terminal in accordance with the SMTP (a so-called SMTP server) and one for processing the E mail received by the terminal or the portable terminal in accordance with the POP
3
(a so-called POP server). The SMTP server and the POP server may, in some cases, be independent equipments. However, the same equipment may, in some cases, combine the functions of the SMTP server and the POP server. Whether or not the SMTP server and the POP server are independent of each other is not directly related to the present invention. In the specification, however, the mail server shall have the functions of both the SMTP server and the POP server for convenience.
When the terminal acquires the E mail from the mail server, the name of the mail server or an IP address assigned by the mail server, and a user ID and a password for accessing the mail server are required. When the terminal transmits the E mail to the mail server, a message ID is assigned to the E mail. The message ID may, in some cases, be used for specifying whether the E mail has already been acquired or has not been acquired yet between the terminal and the mail server because it uniquely specifies the E mail.
At the beginning, only a character in a text format has been transmitted or received as data by the E mail. However, data other than the character in the text format has been generally attached to the E mail using MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) in recent years. Attached to the E mail is data generated by various types of application software which are represented by image processing, document processing, or spreadsheet or data generated in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) as an example.
In order to realize the above-mentioned function of the E mail, software referred to as a mailer is installed in the terminal or the portable terminal. The installed mailer performs processing which is represented by transmission or receiving, display, editing, or arrangement of the E mail in accordance with an instruction from the user. Almost all mailers for the terminal correspond to MIME, and can process the E mail to which data is attached. In the terminal, when the data attached to the E mail is selected by the user, the application software which is related to the attached data is started, to display the attached data. Further, the application software of the document processing may, in some cases, have the function of not displaying the attached data as it is but analyzing the attached data, and then converting the analyzed attached data into data in a text format and displaying the data in the text format.
An example of a device constituting the WWW is a Web server. The Web server gets a request from the terminal or the portable terminal, and retrieves document data designated by the request from an internal storage area. Thereafter, the Web server transmits the retrieved document data to the terminal or the portable terminal which has issued the request through the WWW. HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) is used as a transfer protocol between the terminal or the portable terminal and the Web server. The document data which is handled by the terminal or the portable terminal and the Web server is typically generated in HTML. Uniqueness in the WWW of the document data is maintained. The uniqueness is realized by a character representing an address referred to as URL (Uniform Resource Locator). URL may, in some cases, be referred to as a URL address, an address, and an Internet address. URL is constituted by portions called a scheme, a host, a port, a path, a parameter, a query, and a fragment, as illustrated as an example in FIG.
14
.
The Web server may, in some cases, have the function of executing a computer program referred to as CGI (Common Gateway Interface). In many cases, CGI is a script described in a language represented by Perl or typically a computer program in an execute format described in a C language. CGI can be thus constituted by a script or a program. The Web server performs, when it can execute CGI, processing conforming to the program referred to as CGI on the basis of information transmitted from the terminal or the portable terminal, to transmit document data representing the results of the processing to the terminal which has transmitted the information.
The following are examples of a method of forwarding information required to execute CGI (i.e., a factor) from the terminal or the portable terminal:
(1) A method of the terminal setting the factor in the query included in URL assigned to CGI, and transmitting the factor to the Web server (corresponding to the use of a request method referred to as GET in the HTTP).
(2) A method of the terminal setting the factor in an entity body (contents displayed by the terminal), and transmitting URL assigned to CGI to the Web server (corresponding to the use of a request method referred to as POST in the HTTP).
Judgement as to which of the above-mentioned methods (1) and (2) should be employed by the Web server depends on the description of CGI.
The Web server starts, when URL assigned to CGI is designated by the factor transmitted by the terminal using the method (1) or (2), the designated CGI. The Web server executes CGI in accordance with the information transmitted from the terminal. The Web server executes CGI, to retrieve a data base previously holding data, for example, and transmit to the terminal document data, generated in HTML, representing the results of the retrieval.
Application software referred to as a user agent or a browser is installed in the terminal. The application software requests the Web server to transmit a Web page, and interrupts and displays the Web page transmitted from the Web server. Such application software is hereinafter merely referred to as a browser.
The browser has various functions. The typical functions include:
(1) The function of analyzing the document data generated in HTML and an image which are transmitted from the Web server, displaying the data and the image on a display of the terminal, and voice-outputting the data and the image when required.
(2) The function of requiring, when the user of the terminal selects Hot Spot embedded in the

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Data converter and terminal contained in network does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Data converter and terminal contained in network, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Data converter and terminal contained in network will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2852883