Contents management method

#The present invention relates to an information delivery system that delivers information through a network, and particularly relates to a contents management method for managing information to be delivered in view of a life cycle of the value of the information.

#With the advance of information technique, the servicing of network infrastructures and the popularization of personal computers, information delivery services through networks represented by WWW (World Wide Web) have spread rapidly.

#Information delivery services through networks are roughly classified into two according to their forms. One is a service taking such a form that a transmitter side has the initiative of delivery. Mail magazines and so on sent through electronic mails apply to this. This is suitable for delivery of information which is small in the data amount and which demands promptitude. The other is a form such as WWW in which information is accumulated on a server machine in an information delivery site, and delivered in response to a request from a user as a trigger. This form can deal with a comparatively large amount of data. In some services belonging to this form, client software may take out information without any user's specific request so that the information externally looks as if it is delivered automatically. In such information delivery services, text or expression of the information is processed and edited into a unity called contents before it is provided for users. For example, in WWW, a page or a unity of pages, an independent corner in a page, etc. are all contents.

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of configuration of an information delivery system in an embodiment of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is an illustration of a data structure of a contents management table 200 in the embodiment;

#FIG. 3 is an illustration of a data structure of an advertisement management table 300 in the embodiment;

#An embodiment of the present invention will be described under with reference to the drawings.

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of configuration of an information delivery system in this embodiment. In FIG. 1, a contents server 100 is a computer delivering information. In the contents server 100, the reference numeral 102 represents contents data to be delivered, and a contents manager performs management operations such as registration, maintenance, etc. of the contents data 102 through input/output devices such as a display 104, a keyboard 106 and a mouse 108. A communication device 110 is connected with a network 130, and communicates with clients 140 so as to transmit and receive data. Various programs are stored in a storage unit 112 as a memory (main memory). A control unit 114 reads the programs and controls various devices while performing delivery and management of the contents data 102.

#In this embodiment, it is assumed that information is delivered to the clients 140 by use of functions as a WWW server. When a user accesses information, a request is first issued from a client 140 which is an information requester. When the contents server 100 which is an information maintainer receives the request, the contents server 100 selects, from the contents data 102, contents to be sent corresponding to the request, and sends the selected contents to the requester. Thus, the client 140 displays and outputs the received data.