Patent ID: 8156003

Claim:
A method of transferring a structured document including at least a first and a second document element from a first computer to a second computer via a communication line, comprising the steps of: said first computer receiving a request to send the structured document from said second computer; said first computer acquiring amounts of data of the first document element and the second document element; said first computer checking on a communication band in the communication line; the communication band is checked on by said first computer transferring a part of data of the first document element in said checking step; said first computer distributing the communication band in proportions calculated on the basis of the communication band, a specific period of time, and the amounts of data of the acquired first and second document elements, thereby determining a first transfer rate for the first document element and a second transfer rate for the second document element so that a period of time from a completion of transferring the first document element to a completion of transferring the second document element is equal to or longer than the specific period of time; a remaining amount of data acquired by subtracting the part of data from the total data of the first document element is used as the amount of data of the first document element for use by said first computer in calculating the proportions in said determination step; and simultaneously transferring from said first computer the first document element and the second document element until the completion of transferring the first document element, said first computer transferring the remaining amount of data of the first document element at the determined first transfer rate and the second document element at the determined second transfer rate to said second computer, the second transfer rate remaining unchanged until at least the completion of transferring the first document element in said determination step.