Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-31
2004-09-21
Corrielus, Jean M. (Department: 2172)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000, C709S201000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06795827
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a broadcasting information service system, and more specifically relates to an information service system which can achieve the broadcasting information service to individual information terminals and to an information terminal through which a user can select and obtain desired information from common information broadcasted from the information service system.
RELATED BACKGROUND ART
The information service using a portable or mobile information terminal (e.g., a portable telephone) includes two types; one using two-way communication, and one using broadcast communication. Generally, in a two-way communication type of information service, a user can perform a search freely, and therefore can search for desired information. However, it has such a disadvantage that the communication cost becomes expensive because the communication line is occupied for the search.
In a broadcast type of information service, on the other hand, since information is broadcasted, the information can be provided to a user without highly burdening the mobile telecommunication network and the host, and therefore the information is expected to be provided at a low cost.
When using a mobile information terminal, a user often accesses to an information service while moving. In this case, a broadcasting type of information service which requires fewer operations for input and so on would be desirable. This is because a free search function in a broadcasting type, which is an advantage of a two-way communication type, requires complicated input operations for a search and so on, which may be disadvantageous in a mobile information terminal. However, a broadcasting type information service has such drawbacks that the provision of information is undifferentiated as compared with a two-way communication type one and it is difficult to provide information which meets the requirements of individual users.
To improve the drawbacks, it may be preferred to prepare information for each user and supply it to the user. However, this method causes the increase in amount to be processed on the part of the information supplier and the increase in load on the communication network. For the purpose of reducing the redundancy caused by data common among users, data which is needed by every user may be broadcasted as a common data file to every user. A data manipulation file for selecting desired information from the common data file may be prepared for and broadcasted to every user. However, such a type of broadcasting information service has the following disadvantages.
(1) Although the data necessary for a user is only a portion of the common data file, it is needed to store the whole of the common data file, which may be a burden particularly on a mobile equipment with a small memory capacity.
(2) Provision of a data manipulation command file customized for every user may result in complicated management of the file. In order to lessening this problem, if the data manipulation command file is designed to execute a complicated processing, then the amount to be processed by the mobile information terminal may be increased.
(3) The size of a data file which is presented in tabular form tends to become large, and therefore the load on the mobile telecommunication network is increased.
(4) Even when non-uniform radio environments are assumed, little consideration is given to a temporary breakdown of communications.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a broadcasting information service system which can overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks and which is capable of timely and flexible generation, management, broadcasting and utilization of information which has little redundancy and fits the needs of every user.
Among users who have access to the same service regardless of whether or not they obtain service, information needed is mostly common to the users. Further, the whole of the information is not always updated. According to the present invention, the information service system comprises: an information broadcasting system for broadcasting to users one or more data files in which data is presented in tabular form and a data manipulation command file which specifies the data manipulation of the data file; and a mobile or portable information terminal (hereinafter, simply referred to as an “information terminal”) which executes the data manipulation of the received data file in accordance with the specification of the data manipulation command file.
The information terminal according to the present invention comprises: a memory unit for attribute/value which stores names and values of one or more variables in pairs; and a unit which, upon the processing of the received data manipulation command file, when a constraint value of an attribute used for processing of data presented in tabular form is designated as a previously defined specific character string or an attribute name appended with a predetermined specific character string, employs the value of the stored variable as the constraint value of the corresponding attribute. Upon receiving the data manipulation command file, the information terminal processes a data file which has already broadcasted in accordance with the command described in the data file description file. For example, a modification, insertion or deletion may be made to a portion of the data file to update the data file, or it may be possible to compute the join, the selection and the projection of a set of data files which have already broadcasted to generate a new data file. In the data manipulation command file, there may be described a command for modification, insertion or deletion of the contents of the memory unit which stores therein the name and the value of the variable in a pair. Upon receiving the command through the data manipulation command file, the information terminal executes the modification of the value of the variable stored in the memory unit or the insertion or deletion of the variable itself in accordance with the command. When the received file contains information on the constraint for selecting a portion of the data as the information for data manipulation in addition to data presented in tabular form, there are provided a unit for selecting the portion of the data in accordance with the constraint and a unit for storing the selected portion of the data. In this case, the receiver can store only the necessary information by a simple processing procedure. In addition, since information on the variables are provided through the data file common to all users and the data manipulation command file, necessity of individual information processing for every user can be eliminated and management can be performed readily.
The information service system comprises: a unit for storing an ID number of a data file to be newly broadcasted and information of a data file which has been broadcasted last time; a unit for detecting the number of updated tuples by comparing the contents between the data file to be newly broadcasted and the data file which has been broadcasted last time; a unit for updating the ID number and assigning the updated ID number as an ID number of the file to be newly broadcasted, if any change is needed; and a unit for controlling the broadcasting of either the whole of the contents of the new data file or only the changed portion thereof depending on the number of updated tuples. A unit may be provided which achieves the broadcasting of only the changed portion of the new file by supplying a data manipulation command file containing a command for making a modification, insertion or deletion to the data file which has been broadcasted last time. In this case, load on the communication network can be reduced and the processing procedure on the receiver's part can be simplified, since the processing can be performed through the data manipulation command file. When the broadcasting of only the changed portion of a file is performed consecutively, there may be provided a unit
Corrielus Jean M.
Hwang Joon Hwan
LandOfFree
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