Patent Grant
6876661
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable terminal such as PHS (Personal Handyphone System), a portable telephone and an information processing terminal such as a desktop type computer and a content data acquiring system using these terminals, and particularly to an information processing terminal and a content data acquiring systems adaptive for acquiring content data such as various music or image.
2. Conventional Technique
With spread of portable terminals such as a PHS or a portable telephone, transmission rate of data and quality of communication due to radio have been improved. The PHS and portable telephone mainly functions as a telephone set in the beginning and have been recently highly improved in functions. That is, these portable terminals can handle E-mail and access the Internet as an ordinary computer arranged in a home or an office.
There is a reasonable restriction that the size of the portable terminal must be a portable size. Therefore, the processing speed of CPU (Central Processing Unit) is limited in relation with batteries to be carried. Since various components must be arranged within a little volume, the mount of storage is limited and a mass storage cannot be used. The size of a display screen and the size of a speaker for sound output are also largely limited based on same reason. Therefore, it is attempted to substantially improve the functions of the portable terminal by transferring load of data processing on the side of the portable terminal to another device with reference to CPU or memory described above. One of the attempts is WAP (wireless application protocol) which is a protocol for obtaining Internet information from the portable telephone or the portable information terminal by radio.
In this way, if a supplementary circuit or device represented by the WAP is used, the portable terminal 104 can expand the range of data for reproduction. However, as described above, mounting of output devices for reproduction of image or sound in the portable terminal 104 is limited due to limitation of the outer shape. Accordingly, there is a problem that even if the function for reproduction is improved, the improved function cannot be fully used.
In an example, it is supposed that the portable terminal 104 can receive sound data in an MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) format, and reproduce sound in a predetermined frequency range in a stereophonic form. In this case, however, most portable terminal 104 can contain only a single small speaker. Accordingly, sound cannot be reproduce stereophonically. Moreover, even if downloaded sound data is high quality sound, it is impossible to output sound so as to generate high quality sound. Therefore, when content data is acquired from the content data server 102, data property such as sound quality is checked, and then a peripheral device adaptive for the property is connected with the portable terminal 104 for the reproduction. In the foregoing example, if the portable terminal 104 is provided with line output terminals, an amplifier is connected with the line output terminals to amplify audio output stereophonically and a couple of speakers are connected with the amplifier to reproduce music. However, for this purpose, it is necessary to select peripheral device after the check of the acquired data, and this is complicate. In addition, there is a problem that only a person having specialized knowledge can select the peripheral device corresponding to content data, and it is not economic if people buy unnecessarily expensive device.
The portable terminal is described as the example hereinbefore. However, there is a same problem with respect to a computer such as a laptop computer or desktop computer for office use or home use in relation to the physical size and quality of content data, for example. In case of most laptop computers or wearable computers, enough sound quality or resolution of image cannot be obtained almost. In case of the computers such as a desktop computer, the same problem is caused more or less as the quality of content data is improved.
In conjunction with the above description, a data delivery system is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 11-136365). In this reference, the system is composed of a communication provider system for delivering various data to a user, an end user terminal for receiving and storing the data delivered from the content data provider system, and a communication network for transferring data between the communication provider system and the end user terminal. The communication provider system is composed of a memory section which stores a menu of the data desired by each end user and desired delivery timings of the data. The data is delivered to the end user terminal at the desired delivery timings based on the data registered on the memory means. The end user terminal receives the data delivered from the communication provider system, stores in order in a memory provided for the end user terminal, and outputs the stored data in accordance to an instruction from the end user.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing terminal which can acquire content data from an Internet server and a WAP server, and a content data acquiring system using the same.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing terminal which can select a peripheral device adaptive for acquired content data, and a content data acquiring system using the same.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing terminal which can extract an identifier from content data to determine a peripheral device adaptive for the content data, when the content data contains the identifier, and a content data acquiring system using the same.
Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing terminal which can inquire a peripheral device adaptive for content data to an inquiry server, and a content data acquiring system using the same.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing terminal which can select a peripheral device corresponding to content data and a content data acquiring system using the same.
In an aspect of the present invention, a content data acquiring system includes a portable terminal, a gateway, a first server and a second server. The portable terminal issues a content data request for content data desired by a user, and receives a desired content data file to reproduce the desired content data from the desired content data file. The first server is provided on a first network and can provide first content data files written in a first language. The first server transmits a desired one of the first content data files via the first network in response to the content data request when the content data request is destined to the first server. The second server is provided on a second network as the Internet and can provide second content data files written in a HTML (hypertext markup language) language. The first language is different from the HTML language. The second server transmits desired one of the second content data files via the second network when the content data request is destined to the second server. The gateway is operatively connected with the portable terminal and the first and second servers, and transfers the content data request from the portable terminal to the first or second server based on the content data request, and transfers the desired content data file from the first or second server to the portable terminal.
Here, the first server may be a WAP (wireless access protocol) server, the first language may be WML (wireless markup language) language, and the first network may be a WAP network.
Also, the portable terminal may be a portable phone or a portable computer.
Also, the gateway is composed of a base station and a control unit. The base station transfers the content data request from the portable terminal, and transfer the desired content data file to the portable terminal. The control unit transfers the content data request transferred from the base station to the first or second server based on the content data request, and transfers the desired content data file to the base station. The control unit may include a WML converting section and a data converting section. The WML converting section converts the desired content data file having a HTML data format and transmitted from the second server to have a WML data format. Also, the WML converting section converts the content data request having a WAP data format and transmitted from the base station to have an HTML data format and transmits the content data request having the HTML data format to the second server based on the content data request. The data converting section converts the desired content data file having the WML data format and transmitted from the first server or the WML converting section to have a WAP data format and transmits the desired content data file to the base station. Also, the data converting section converts the content data request having the WAP data format and transmitted from the base station to have the WML data format and transmits the content data request having the WML format to the first server based on the content data request.
Also, the desired content data file includes an identifier indicating a category of the desired content data file. In this case, the desired content data file may be classified into the category based on a size of the desired content data file, or based on a file format of the desired content data file.
Also, the content data acquiring system may further include a peripheral device corresponding to the identifier. The portable terminal transmits the desired content data file to the peripheral device such that the peripheral device reproduces the desired content data from the desired content data file.
Also, the content data acquiring system may further include a plurality of peripheral devices respectively allocated with identifiers which are different from each other. The portable terminal may include a storage section which stores relations of one identifier and one peripheral device and a control section. The control section extracts at least an identifier from the desired content data file, determines whether the extracted at least an identifier is stored in the storage section. Then, the control section transmits the desired content data file to at least one of the plurality of peripheral devices corresponding to the extracted at least an identifier such that the at least one peripheral device reproduces the desired content data from the desired content data file, when it is determined that the extracted at least an identifier is stored in the storage section.
Also, the portable terminal transmits the desired content data file to the peripheral device or the at least one of the plurality of peripheral devices through a radio channel.
In this case, the portable terminal reproduces the desired content data from the desired content data file, when it is determined that the extracted at least an identifier is not stored in the storage section. In this case, the portable terminal may further include a display section. In this case, the control section controls the display section to display a menu screen in a peripheral device setting mode, the control section controls the display section to display the stored relations of the identifier and the peripheral device when a confirmation item of the menu screen is selected, and the control section stores a new relation of the identifier and the peripheral device in the storage section when a new registration item of the menu screen is selected. Also, the control section controls the display section to display the relations of the identifier and the peripheral device when a change item of the menu screen is selected, and stores a changed relation of the identifier and the peripheral device in the storage section when the displayed relation is changed, and the control section deletes all the stored relations of the identifier and the peripheral device when a all-deletion item of the menu screen is selected.
Also, the content data acquiring system may further include a plurality of peripheral devices connectable to the portable terminal, and a third server. The third server is provided on the first or second network and transmits information of the most adaptive peripheral device to the portable terminal based on reception data of the plurality of peripheral devices and the identifier corresponding to the desired content data file, when any of the plurality of peripheral devices is adaptive. The portable terminal transmits the reception data to the third server and receives the information of the most adaptive peripheral device and transmits the desired content data file to the most adaptive peripheral device based on the information.
When the portable terminal transmits only the identifier or when there is no adaptive peripheral device in the reception data, the third server transmits a list of adaptive peripheral devices to the portable terminal.
In another aspect, a data processing terminal connectable a plurality of peripheral devices, includes a transmitting section, a receiving section, a storage section, a reproducing section, an interfacing section and a control section. The transmitting section transmits a radio signal to a base station, and the receiving section receives a radio signal from the base station. The storage section stores relations of an identifier and a peripheral device, and the reproducing section can reproduce desired content data from a desired content data file. The interfacing section can transmit and receive a signal, and a control section which controls the transmitting section to transmit a content data request to the base station, and extracts at least an identifier from the desired content data file received by the receiving section in response to the content data request. Also, the control section searches the storage section to determine whether the extracted at least an identifier is stored in the storage section, and transmits the desired content data file to the peripheral device adaptive for the al least an identifier without reproduction of the desired content data by the reproducing section, when it is determined that the extracted at least an identifier is stored in the storage section.
Also, the control section may control the reproducing section to reproduce the desired content data from the desired content data file when it is determined that the extracted at least an identifier is not stored in the storage section.
Also, the interfacing section may be detachable. Also, the interfacing section transmits the desired content data file to the adaptive peripheral device through a radio channel.
Also, the identifier may indicate a category of the desired content data file. In this case, the desired content data file may be classified into the category based on a size of the desired content data file, or based on a file format of the desired content data file.
Also, the data processing terminal may have a portable phone function.
Also, the control section controls a display section of the reproducing section to display a menu screen in a peripheral device setting mode, and control the display section to display the stored relations of the identifier and the peripheral device when a confirmation item of the menu screen is selected. Also, the control section may store a new relation of the identifier and the peripheral device in the storage section when a new registration item of the menu screen is selected, and the new relation is inputted. Also, the control section may control the display section to display the relations of the identifier and the peripheral device when a change item of the menu screen is selected, and may store a changed relation of the identifier and the peripheral device in the storage section when the displayed relation is changed, and the control section may delete all the stored relations of the identifier and the peripheral device when a all-deletion item of the menu screen is selected.
In this case, the control section may transmit device data indicating the peripheral devices connected to the data processing terminal an inquiry server and may receive information of the most adaptive peripheral device in response to the device data. Also, the control section may transmit the desired content data file to the most adaptive peripheral device based on the information.
In still another aspect, a content data acquiring system includes a peripheral device corresponding to an identifier, a portable terminal, a gateway and a server. The portable terminal issues a content data request for content data desired by a user, and receives a desired content data file to extract the identifier from the desired content data file and controls the peripheral device to reproduce the desired content data from the desired content data file. The server is provided on a network and which transmits a desired content data file via the network in response to the content data request. The gateway is connected to the parable terminal and the server and transfers the content data request from the portable terminal to the server, and transfers the desired content data file from the server to the portable terminal.
Also, the server may be a WAP (wireless access protocol) server, the desired content data file may be written in a WML (wireless markup language) language, and the network may be a WAP network. In this case, the control unit may include a data converting section which converts the desired content data file having the WML data format and transmitted from the server to have a WAP data format and transmits the desired content data file having the WAP data format to the base station, and converts the content data request having the WAP data format and transmitted from the base station to have the WML data format and transmits the content data request having the WML format to the server based on the content data request.
Also, the server may be an Internet server, the desired content data file may be written in an HTML (Hypertext markup language) language, and the network may be the Internet.
In this case, the gateway is composed of a base station and a gateway control unit. The base station transfers the content data request from the portable terminal, and transfers the desired content data file to the portable terminal. The gateway control unit transfers the content data request transferred from the base station to the server, and transfers the desired content data file from the server to the base station. The gateway control unit may include a converting section which converts the desired content data file having a HTML data format and transmitted from the server to have a WML data format, converts the desired content data file having the WML data format to have a WAP data format and transmits the desired content data file having the WAP data format to the base station, and converts the content data request having the WAP data format and transmitted from the base station to have an HTML data format and transmits the content data request having the HTML data format to the server based on the content data request.
Also, the portable terminal may be a portable phone, or a portable computer.
Also, the desired content data file may be classified to have the identifier based on a size of the desired content data file, or based on a file format of the desired content data file.
Also, the content data acquiring system may further include a plurality of peripheral devices connectable to the portable terminal, and an inquiry server. The inquiry server may be provided on the network and may transmit information of peripheral device the most adaptive for reproduction of the desired content data to the portable terminal based on device data of the plurality of peripheral devices and the identifier extracted from the desired content data file, when any of the plurality of peripheral devices is adaptive. The portable terminal may transmit the device data to the inquiry server and receives the information of the most adaptive peripheral device and transmits the desired content data file to the most adaptive peripheral device based on the information. In this case, when the portable terminal transmits only the identifier or when there is no adaptive peripheral device in the device data, the inquiry server may transmit a list of adaptive peripheral devices to the portable terminal.
Hereinafter, a portable terminal as a data processing terminal and a content data acquiring system of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the attached drawings.
Here, the plurality of radio base stations 2121, 2122, . . . basically have same configuration. Each radio base station 212 is composed of a receiving section 214 provided with a receiving antenna 214A for receiving data from the portable terminal 206 (only one antenna is shown in
The WAP server 204 is the server which contains content data described in a WML (Wireless Markup Language) language, which is determined in WAP Forum as a content data description language for a portable terminal. The WAP server 204 is connected with a WAP network 203 for a server containing content data described in such a WML. On the other hand, the Internet server 202 contains content data described in a HTML (Hypertext markup language) language and is similarly connected with the Internet network 201 together with servers (not shown).
When the portable terminal 206 receives delivery of content data from the WAP server 204, the data converting section 218 encodes the content data described in the WML language into WAP data which is binary data, to transfers to the switching control section 217. Further, the WAP data transmitted from the portable terminal 206 to the switching control section 217 is decoded to be transmitted to the WAP server 204.
On the other hand, the Internet server 202 is the server which contains content data described in the HTML language. In case of a computer for business use or home use (not shown) connected with the Internet network 201, the computer directly acquires and interprets content data described in the HTML language. Thus, the content data can be displayed as image or outputted as sound. In case of the portable terminal 206 represented by a portable telephone in the invention, it is necessary to receive the content data after conversion of the content data described in the HTML language into WAP data. Therefore, the content data acquired from the Internet server 202 are transferred to the WML converting section 219 to convert into the WML description. The content data converted into the WML description are transferred to the data converting section 218 through the switching control section 217 to convert into WAP data as described above. Then, the WAP data is transmitted from the switching control section 217 to the portable terminal 206 through a corresponding one of the plurality of radio base stations 2121, 2122, . . . .
Conversely, the WAP data transmitted from the portable terminal 206 to the radio base stations 212 is converted into the HTML description in the WML converting section 219, and transmitted to the internet server 202 or the WAP server 204 through the data converting section 218.
In this way, in the content data acquiring system of the invention, two kinds of servers of the WAP server 204 and the internet server 202 are provided as the servers from which the portable terminal 206 can receive delivery of content data. When the address specified as the server from which the portable terminal 206 can receive the delivery of content data indicates the WAP server 204, the switching control section 217 transfers the data to the WAP server 204. When the address specified as the server from which the portable terminal 206 can receive the delivery of content data indicates the Internet server 202, the data converted by the WML converting section 219 is transmitted to the Internet server 202. In addition, usual computers (not shown) such as a desktop type computer are also connected with the Internet server 202. In this case, of course, the computer is connected with the Internet server 202 not through the WAP gateway 205.
Here, the input section 238 is a portion which is composed of various keys such as ten-key for input of various data such as dial information in the portable terminal 206. The display section 235 is a portion which displays an image, like the liquid crystal display.
The interface card 261 described in
The WAP data encoder 256 is the circuit for encoding input data into WAP data, and the encoded WAP data is transferred from the transmitting section 253 to the antenna 251 and transmitted to the radio base station 212 (shown in
A variety of categorizing techniques exist depending on peripheral devices. For example, the technique shown in
Some examples of reproduction in obtaining various content data using the portable terminal 206 in the content data acquiring system in the embodiment will now be described.
FIG. 12 and
After each mode is set so that the operation in the mode is carried out, a question display is displayed to indicate whether the operation is ended (Step S314 in FIG. 13). For example, when the operation such as new registration or change of a peripheral device is continued, the item of “continue” is selected (N). In this case, the control operation returns to the Step S306, the selecting operation can be carried out the operation for the peripheral device. When the item of “end of operation” is selected, the control operation returns to the menu display as the initial display again (Step S301 in FIG. 12).
In the embodiment, the portable terminal 206 is connected with each peripheral device to carry out a radio system data transfer of 2.4 GHz and max 1 Mbps (megabit/sec.) specified in the Bluetooth specification. Thus, when the portable terminal 206 receives content data from the Internet server 202 or the WAP server 204 through the radio base station 212 shown in
In case of the terminal 206 in which no peripheral device is not registered, the received data is reproduced by use of the sections provided in the terminal 206, as described in FIG. 9. Accordingly, in case of a file having a special data format (for example, audio data of stereo music or color image data in case that the display section 235 can display only a black-and-white image), sometimes the reproduction of data is limited, or sometimes the data cannot be reproduced when the terminal 206 cannot manipulate the data having the special file form.
Modification of the Invention
The personal computer 401 accesses the server 402 to download content data from a desired URL. At this time, the computer 401 acquires an identifier contained in the content data for reproduction of various the file as in the foregoing embodiment. In the case of the foregoing embodiment, an owner of the computer 401 registers a relation between a peripheral device that the owner can use and various data (file). Therefore, if the registration is erroneously carried out, the ability of the peripheral device cannot be used fully, or the reproduction of the content data cannot be carried out fully. In addition, in case that the computer 401 has excellent portability as a laptop computer, a useable peripheral device is sometimes different, as in case where the owner goes to a party held in friend's home and uses a peripheral device there. There is a same problem with respect to the portable terminal 206 described in the foregoing embodiment.
For a person who intends to buy a peripheral device newly, if the peripheral device adaptive for reproduction of the content data of favorite homepages can be known, downloaded data is temporarily stored to be able to reproduce in the ideal state. Furthermore, as the case may be, reproduction of data of content data can be enjoyed by providing an ideal peripheral device from next time of download.
Therefore, in the content data acquiring system of the modification, the identifier acquired by the computer 401 is transmitted to the peripheral device inquiring server 403 such that the server 403 searches an adaptive peripheral device or the optimal peripheral device is selected from among the peripheral devices 4111, 4112, . . . , 411N which are capable of radio transmission and reception of data at present.
It should be noted that the modification is applicable to the first embodiment. In this case, the peripheral device inquiring server 403 may be provided on the WAP network as a WAP server or the Internet as an Internet server. Also, the personal computer 401 may be a portable terminal as a data processing apparatus.
On the other hand, when the identifier which is material for reproduction of a file can be extracted (Step S432; Y), the personal computer 401 collects data (peripheral device data) such as a type number of peripheral device, to be used to know reproduction ability of the peripheral device, with respect to various peripheral devices 4111, 4112, . . . , 411N which are capable of transmission and reception in radio standards such as Bluetooth (Step S434). This collection can be carried out by transmitting a predetermined radio signal for requesting peripheral device data from the personal computer 401 and by acquiring the data from the peripheral device which responds the radio signal. When the collection of the peripheral device data is ended (Step S435; Y), the personal computer 401 carries out an inquiring operation by transmitting the data such as a type number of the responding peripheral device 4111, 4112, . . . , 411N and the identifier extracted from the content data to the peripheral device inquiring server 403 (Step S436).
When a reply for the inquiry is sent from the peripheral device inquiring server 403 (Step S437; Y), the personal computer 401 determines whether any peripheral device adaptive for reproduction of the file of content data is present in various peripheral devices 4111, 4112, . . . , 411N for which the computer 401 has transmitted the request (Step S438). A peripheral device adaptive for the reproduction is existed (Y), the computer 401 sets the peripheral device adaptive for the reproduction as a reproducing device (Step S439) and the reproduction of the content data is carried out by use of the set peripheral device 411 (Step S440). At this time, if a plurality of peripheral devices adaptive for the reproduction exist, the device most adaptive for the reproduction is selected.
On the other hand, when peripheral device adaptive for the reproduction is not existed (Step S438; N), a recommendable peripheral device for the reproduction of the content data is displayed on the personal computer 401 (Step S441). For example, data is displayed in which there are two products, i.e., a product of X X of an A company and a product of ◯◯ of a B company with respect to reproduction frequency, and how much of these products, and which of the products is earlier offered on the market. The peripheral device inquiring server 403 may carries out the inquiring operation as business. The server 403 may be also operate based on cooperation money from the companies. The peripheral device inquiring server 403 widely stores data from old products to the latest products and renews these data. Therefore, the peripheral device more adaptive for reproduction may be directed based on an instruction issued previously, even if the peripheral devices adaptive for reproduction are set at the Step S439.
When a recommendable peripheral device is displayed under the absence of any peripheral device adaptive for reproduction at the Step S441, the reproduction of the content data is carried out by use of the personal computer 401 itself and a peripheral device such as speakers or CRT connected with the computer 401 at present (Step S433).
In the embodiment and modifications described above, the case is described in which that identifier for selection of a peripheral device is incorporated in content data. However, the present invention can also be applied to the case that such identifier is absent. For example, a server such as a peripheral device decoding server is provided and the file of the content data are once transferred to this server, which analyzes the file to generate an identifier corresponding to the file. In this case, the server acquiring the content data and the server acquiring the identifier for reproduction are different.
Furthermore, in the embodiment and modifications described above, the identifier incorporated in the content data is acquired. However, it is not necessary that the identifier is directly incorporated into the content data. In this case, a table is provided to indicate relation between the content data and the identifier for reproduction of the content data, and when the content data is acquired, the corresponding identifier is read out from the table.
As described above, according to the present invention, when the content data requesting means of the data processing terminal requests and acquires the desired content data from the content data server, the peripheral device adaptive for reproduction can be determined and selected, because the property which is requested for reproduction of the file of the content data is determined by use of the content data itself based on the determined property. Therefore, more excellent reproduction rather than reproduction by the data processing terminal itself can be carried out.
Also, according to the present invention, when the content data requesting means of the data processing terminal requests the desired content data from the content data server, the data processing terminal can easily determine the peripheral device adaptive for reproduction based on the identifier, because the means requests not only content data but also an identifier corresponding to the peripheral device adaptive for reproduction of reproduction the file of the content data. In addition, it is not necessary that the identifier is directly incorporated into the content data. Therefore, it is possible to flexibly comply with future specification changes.
Further, according to the present invention, when the content data requesting means of the data processing terminal acquires the desired content data from the content data server, the means simultaneously acquires not only the content data but also an identifier which is incorporated into the content data, and corresponds to peripheral device adaptive for reproduction of reproduction the file of the content data. Therefore, a peripheral device adaptive for reproduction of the content data can be easily determined by only acquiring the content data.
Further, according to the present invention, when the content data requesting means of the data processing terminal requests the desired content data from the content data server, the means requests data of a pair of the content data and an identifier adaptive for reproduction of the content data, and the property which is requested for reproduction of the reproduction the file of the content data is determined based on the acquired identifier. Therefore, the peripheral device adaptive for reproduction of the content data can be easily determined. In addition, it is not necessary that the identifier is directly incorporated into content data. Therefore, it is possible to flexibly comply with future specification changes.
Further, according to the present invention, when the content data requesting means of the data processing terminal acquires the desired content data from the content data server, the means simultaneously acquires not only the content data but also an identifier which is incorporated into the content data, and corresponds to the peripheral device adaptive for reproduction of the content data. Therefore, the data processing terminal can easily determine the peripheral device adaptive for reproduction of the content data by extracting the identifier from the content data.
Further, according to the present invention, the data processing terminal can transmit reproduction data to the peripheral device, because selection of the peripheral device can be carried out through provision of peripheral device selecting means for selecting the peripheral device having property determined by property determining means.
Further, according to the present invention, the data processing terminal can transmit reproduction data to the peripheral device because selection of the peripheral device can be carried out by the data processing terminal.
Moreover, according to the present invention, a data providing server is provided in a network, and a specific peripheral device can be retrieved when the category of the peripheral device is specified. Therefore, the peripheral device adaptive for reproduction of reproduction the file of the content data can be selected accurately, for example, from various products from old products to new products in environment where new products will be produced.
Further, according to a content data reproducing system of the present invention, the data processing terminal is connected with the peripheral device based on data concerning the peripheral device acquired by peripheral device data obtaining means. Therefore, most adaptive peripheral device can be selected from various peripheral device useable at the present time and the selected peripheral device can carry out reproduction of data.
Moreover, according to the present invention, when the side of the data processing terminal requests the data providing server to retrieve a specific peripheral device, the terminal searches peripheral devices capable of connecting with the terminal itself previously to transmit its data. Therefore, the most adaptive peripheral device can be selected from various peripheral devices searched by the peripheral device searching means. Thus, the decision of selection of the peripheral device can be trusted to the data providing server even if it is difficult to decide the most adaptive peripheral device for reproduction from various peripheral devices.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, a server for radio transmitting such as WAP server is provided, which compresses a description language of the content data to transmit the compressed description language on a radio to the terminal which has requested acquisition of the content data. The transmission of the description language to the portable terminal can be simplified. In addition, the portable terminal is provided with data acquiring means for acquiring the content data together with the identifier corresponding to the content data to be acquired, and peripheral device selecting means for selecting the peripheral device adaptive for reproduction of the acquired content data based on the identifier acquired by data acquiring means. Therefore, the content data can be reproduced excellently using the peripheral device.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000-070405 | Mar 2000 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6490291 | Lee et al. | Dec 2002 | B1 |
| 6509913 | Martin et al. | Jan 2003 | B2 |
| 6615130 | Myr | Sep 2003 | B2 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| H07-36679 | Feb 1995 | JP |
| H11-134264 | May 1999 | JP |
| 11-136365 | May 1999 | JP |
| WO 9836344 | Aug 1998 | WO |
| WO 9935595 | Jul 1999 | WO |
| WO 9961966 | Dec 1999 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20010024444 A1 | Sep 2001 | US |
