Patent ID: RE44208

Claim:
An information providing system which is connected to a communications network, and which individually provides web page data segments representing a plurality of pages which include successive description to respective individual user terminals at respective individual timings via the communications network, said system comprising: a web page storage unit which stores the web page data segments; an ID information managing unit which stores ID information corresponding to each of the user terminals and additional information corresponding to each of the user terminals, said additional information comprising information indicating a web page data segment most recently transmitted to the corresponding user terminal; a web page providing unit which, in response to designation of continuous provision by one of the user terminals, retrieves at least one web page data segment subsequent to the most recently transmitted web page data segment from the web page storage unit, based on the additional information stored in the ID information managing unit corresponding to the user terminal, and individually transmits the retrieved at least one web page data segment to the user terminal at an individual timing based on the ID information corresponding to the user terminal; and an additional information managing unit which, when the web page providing unit transmits the at least one web page data segment following the most recently transmitted web page data segment, updates the additional information corresponding to the user terminal to indicate a last transmitted web page data segment as the most recently transmitted web page data segment; wherein the additional information further comprises date/time information representing a date and time when the additional information was last updated; and wherein, if the designation of continuous provision by the user terminal is made after a predetermined time has elapsed after the date and time indicated by the date/time information, the at least one web page data segment transmitted to the user terminal comprises a plurality of sequential said web page data segments beginning at a head page of the web page data segments and extending to a web page data segment that is a predetermined number of web page data segments subsequent to the most recently transmitted web page data segment indicated by the additional information corresponding to the user terminal.