Author: claimsbot

1. Hydraulic separator to be fitted between a primary liquid circuit and a secondary liquid circuit, in such a manner that the first and secondary liquid circuits are hydraulically independent, which hydraulic separator has an elongate body with an internal space which is delimited by a wall and in which at least the following are arranged:
a feed port leading to the primary liquid circuit and a discharge port leading from the primary liquid circuit, which are located substantially on one longitudinal side of the hydraulic separator, and
a feed port leading to the secondary liquid circuit and a discharge port leading from the secondary liquid circuit, which are located substantially on a different longitudinal side of the hydraulic separator,
the feed port leading to the primary liquid circuit and the discharge port leading from the secondary liquid circuit being located substantially at a first height region of the hydraulic separator,
and the discharge port leading from the primary liquid circuit and the feed port leading to the secondary liquid circuit being located substantially at a different, second height region of the hydraulic separator,

characterized in that
in the internal space of the hydraulic separator, both at the first height region and at the second height region, there is a set of open filler bodies which have a large surface area in relation to the volume which they take up.
2. Hydraulic separator according to claim 1, characterized in that there is a free space without filler bodies between the first height region and the second height region.
3. Hydraulic separator according to claim 1, characterized in that the open filler bodies are in the form of hollow cylindrical bodies comprising a cylindrical wall provided with openings and projections which extend inwards from the wall.
4. Hydraulic separator according to claim 1, characterized in that the set of open filler bodies is arranged in a cage.
5. Hydraulic separator according to claim 4, characterized in that the cage is block-shaped, with the sides between the feed port and the discharge port being shorter than the other sides.
6. Hydraulic separator according to claim 1, characterized in that a vent is fitted to the hydraulic separator.
7. Hydraulic separator according to claim 1, characterized in that a tap is fitted to the hydraulic separator.
8. System comprising a primary liquid circuit and a secondary liquid circuit, between which there is arranged a hydraulic separator according to claim 1.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method comprising:
coupling an alignment frame with a circuit substrate;
aligning a lens carrier with the alignment frame; and
aligning a ferrule with the alignment frame.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said aligning the lens carrier with the alignment frame comprises mating one or more alignment structures of the alignment frame with one or more corresponding alignment structures of the lens carrier.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein said mating the corresponding alignment structures comprises inserting one or more male members into one or more female members.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein said mating the corresponding alignment structures comprises abutting one or more contoured surfaces of the lens carrier with one or more corresponding contoured surfaces of the alignment frame.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein said aligning the ferrule with the alignment frame comprises inserting the ferrule through an alignment opening in the alignment frame.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein said inserting the ferrule through the alignment opening comprises abutting opposing walls of the ferrule against corresponding guiding walls of the alignment frame.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising aligning the alignment frame to the circuit substrate, wherein said aligning the alignment frame to the circuit substrate includes mating one or more alignment structures of the alignment frame with one or more corresponding alignment structures and the circuit substrate.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein said mating comprises inserting one or more male members into one or more corresponding female members.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising coupling components to the circuit substrate, wherein said coupling the components to the circuit substrate includes using machine vision to position the components based in part on fiducial marks of the alignment frame.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying a ferrule latch to force the ferrule and lens carrier together.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein said applying the ferrule latch comprises:
placing a first end of the ferrule latch over the ferrule; and
placing a second, opposing end of the ferrule latch over the alignment frame.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein said placing the first end of the ferrule latch over the ferrule comprises hooking a hookable structure of the ferrule with a hook of the first end of the ferrule latch, and wherein said placing the second, opposing end of the ferrule latch over the alignment frame comprises extending a spring tab of the second, opposing end of the ferrule over an end of the alignment frame.
13. An apparatus comprising:
a circuit substrate;
an alignment frame coupled with the circuit substrate;
a lens carrier aligned with the alignment frame; and
a ferrule aligned with the alignment frame.
14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising one or more alignment structures of the lens carrier mated with one or more corresponding alignment structures of the alignment frame.
15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the corresponding mated alignment structures comprise one or more male members inserted into one or more corresponding female members.
16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the corresponding mated alignment structures comprise one or more contoured surface of the lens carrier abutting one or more corresponding contoured surfaces of the alignment frame.
17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the ferrule is inserted through an alignment opening of the alignment frame.
18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the alignment opening has guiding walls to abut opposing walls of the ferrule.
19. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising one or more alignment structures of the alignment frame mated with one or more corresponding alignment structures of the circuit substrate.
20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the corresponding mated alignment structures comprise one or more male members inserted into one or more corresponding female members.
21. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a ferrule latch arranged to force the ferrule and lens carrier together.
22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the ferrule latch comprises:
a first end latched to the ferrule; and
a second, opposing end latched to the alignment frame.
23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the first end comprises a hook latched to a hookable structure of the ferrule, and wherein the second, opposing end has a spring tab extended over an end of the alignment frame.
24. A system comprising:
an electronic device having a dynamic random access memory (DRAM);
an optical cable connector having a first end electrically coupled with the electronic device, the first end comprising:
a circuit substrate;
an alignment frame coupled with the circuit substrate;
a lens carrier aligned with the alignment frame; and
a ferrule aligned with the alignment frame.
25. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising one or more alignment structures of the lens carrier mated with one or more corresponding alignment structures of the alignment frame.
26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the ferrule is inserted through an alignment opening of the alignment frame.

1. An active electronically scanned antenna (AESA) array for a phased array radar system, comprising:
a vertically integrated generally planar assembly including,
at least one RF transceiver module having a plurality of signal ports including an RF inputoutput signal port;
beam control means coupled to said RF inputoutput signal port of said at least one transceiver module, said beam control means including a dielectric substrate having an arrangement of dielectric waveguide stripline and coaxial transmission line elements and vias designed to route RF signals to and from the transceiver module and a plurality of RF signal amplifier circuits coupled between a first RF waveguide formed in the substrate and terminating in an RF signal port in a rear face thereof, said RF signal port being coupled to the RF inputoutput signal port of the transceiver module, and a plurality of second RF waveguides also formed in said substrate and terminating in a respective plurality of waveguide ports having a predetermined port configuration in a front face thereof;
an antenna including a two dimensional array of regularly spaced antenna radiator elements having a predetermined spacing and orientation;
waveguide relocator means located between the beam control means and the antenna, said waveguide relocator means including a dielectric substrate having a plurality of waveguide ports formed therein located on a rear face thereof and being equal in number and having a port configuration matching the predetermined port configuration in the front face of said beam control means and a like plurality of waveguide ports formed therein on a front face thereof matching the spacing and orientation of the antenna radiator elements, said waveguide relocator means additionally including a plurality of waveguide transitions which selectively rotate and translate respective waveguides formed in the substrate which couple the waveguide ports on the rear face of the waveguide relocator means to the waveguide ports on the front face of the waveguide relocation means; and
means for providing and ensuring waveguide interconnection between mutually facing waveguide ports and radiator elements of the vertically integrated assembly as well as preventing RF leakage therefrom.
2. The active antenna array according to claim 1 wherein said beam control means comprises a plurality of substantially identical beam control elements.
3. The active antenna array according to claim 2 wherein each beam control element of said plurality of beam control elements includes a branch signal coupler having a first branch coupled to said first RF waveguide formed in the substrate and a plurality of other branches coupled to one end of respective coaxial transmission lines having an opposite end coupled to an RF signal splitter connected to one end of said plurality of RF signal amplifier circuits located on one layer of said substrate, said RF signal amplifier circuits having respective opposite ends connected to said plurality of second RF waveguides formed in the substrate.
4. The active antenna array according to claim 3 wherein said branch signal coupler comprises a signal coupler fabricated in stripline on another layer of said substrate and wherein said coaxial transmission lines each include a center conductor and an outer conductor fabricated by a configuration of metallization and vias traversing multiple layers of said substrate between said one layer and said another layer.
5. The active antenna array according to claim 4 wherein said branch line coupler comprises a four line branch coupler and wherein one of said lines is coupled to said first RF waveguide, two of said lines are coupled to respective coaxial transmission line elements and one of said lines is coupled to a load comprising a tapered segment of resistive material.
6. The active antenna array according to claim 4 wherein the center conductor and outer conductor of said coaxial transmission lines are formed in a swept arcuate configuration in said multiple layers between said one layer and said another layer and additionally including a capacitive impedance matching element located on a layer adjacent said another layer.
7. The active antenna array according to claim 3 and additionally including microstrip to waveguide transition means coupled between the second TR switch and said one waveguide.
8. The active antenna array according to claim 1 wherein said waveguide relocator means comprises a plurality of substantially identical waveguide relocator elements.
9. The active antenna array according to claim 8 wherein said plurality of waveguide transitions in said plurality of waveguide relocator elements include a plurality of mutually offset and incrementally rotated waveguide segments in a selected number of layers of the substrate.
10. The active antenna array according to claim 9 wherein the waveguide segments are rotated in predetermined angular increments.
11. The active antenna array according to claim 9 wherein the waveguide segments are rotated in equal angular increments.
12. The active antenna array according to claim 11 wherein the rotated segments provide a waveguide rotation of substantially 45\xb0.
13. The active antenna array according to claim 9 wherein the offset segments are translated laterally in incremental steps.
14. The active antenna array according to claim 13 wherein a predetermined number of said waveguide transitions also includes an elongated intermediate segment between a selected number of offset segments and a selected number of rotated segments.
15. The active antenna array according to claim 1 wherein said beam control means comprise a plurality of multi-layer beam control tiles and wherein said waveguide relocator elements comprise a plurality of multi-layer waveguide relocator elements.
16. The active antenna array according to claim 1 wherein said at least one RF transceiver module comprises a plurality of transceiver modules, wherein said beam control means comprises a plurality of beam control elements, wherein said waveguide relocator means comprises a plurality of waveguide relocator elements, and wherein said means for providing waveguide interconnection comprises waveguide flange members located between the beam control elements and the waveguide elements.
17. The active antenna array according to claim 16 wherein said plurality of waveguide relocator elements comprises sub-panel sections of a common waveguide relocator panel.
18. The active antenna array according to claim 17 wherein said at least one RF transceiver module comprises four transceiver modules, wherein said beam control means comprises sixteen beam control elements, four beam control elements for each of said four transceiver modules, and wherein said waveguide relocator means comprises sixteen waveguide relocator elements, one waveguide relocator element for each one of said beam control elements.
19. The active antenna array according to claim 18 wherein the antenna elements of the antenna are formed in a faceplate and each of said beam control tiles includes sixteen RF signal amplifier circuits and sixteen second RF waveguides terminating in sixteen waveguide ports on the front face thereof, and wherein said waveguide relocator elements comprise sub-panel sections of a common waveguide relocator panel includes sixteen waveguide ports on both the front and rear faces thereof, the front face of the relocator sub-panel sections facing a rear face of the faceplate of the antenna and rear face of the relocator panel facing the front face of the beam control elements.
20. The active antenna array according to claim 19 where said two dimensional array of radiator elements comprises a grid of sixty four antenna elements respectively coupled to said waveguide relocator panel.
21. The active antenna array according to claim 20 wherein said radiator elements comprise respective elongated slots including waveguide to air transition means arranged in a grid on said faceplate.
22. The active antenna array according to claim 21 wherein said faceplate is comprised of a substantially flat metal plate including an inner layer of foam material and an outer layer of waveguide to air interface matching material located thereon.
23. The active antenna array according to claim 19 wherein said predetermined port configuration of said beam control tiles comprises a predetermined number of waveguide ports selectively located adjacent a pair of opposing side edges of the front face thereof and wherein the plurality of RF signal amplifier circuits are located between said waveguide ports.
24. The active antenna array according to claim 23 wherein said plurality of waveguide ports located adjacent said pair of side edges are linearly arranged in two sets of generally parallel lines of waveguide ports on the front face of the beam control tiles.
25. The active antenna array according to claim 17 wherein said plurality of beam control tiles are arranged side-by-side in a generally planar array and further comprising outer heat sink means and inner heat sink means located on opposite sides thereof.
26. The active antenna array according to claim 25 wherein said outer heat sink means is located between the array of beam control tiles and the waveguide relocator panel.
27. The active antenna array according to claim 26 wherein said outer heat sink means and said inner heat sink member comprises generally planar outer and inner air cooled sink members.
28. The active antenna array according to claim 27 wherein said outer heat sink member includes a plurality of waveguides formed therethrough for coupling the waveguide ports in the front face of the beam control tiles to the waveguide ports in the back face of the waveguide relocator panel.
29. The active antenna array according to claim 28 wherein said inner heat sink member includes RF coupling means and a plurality of waveguide ports for coupling said inputoutput signal port of said transceiver module to a predetermined number of said beam control tiles.
30. The active antenna array according to claim 29 and further comprising means located between the plurality of beam control tiles and the inner heat sink member for powering and controlling the plurality of RF signal amplifier circuits in the beam control tiles.
31. The active antenna array according to claim 29 wherein said means for powering and controlling the RF signal amplifier circuits comprise a DC power control board including solderless interconnects for controlling active electronic circuit components in the RF signal amplifier circuits and a plurality of openings therein for enabling the coupling of the plurality of the waveguide ports in the inner heat sink member to the single RF signal port in the rear face of the beam control tiles.
32. The active antenna array according to claim 31 wherein the RF coupling means in said inner heat sink member includes dielectric waveguide to air waveguide transition means.
33. The active antenna array according to claim 32 wherein said dielectric waveguide to air waveguide means include a relatively wide outwardly facing RF signal input portion and a plurality of intermediate stepped air waveguide matching portions terminating in a relatively narrow output portion including an output port.
34. The active antenna array according to claim 33 wherein each of said RF signal amplifier circuits comprises a transmitreceive (TR) circuit including a controllable multi-bit RF signal phase shifter coupled to said signal splitter, a first TR switch coupled to the phase shifter, a second TR switch coupled to one waveguide of said plurality of second RF waveguides, and a transmit RF amplifier circuit and a receive RF amplifier circuit each including one or more amplifier stages connected between the first and second TR switches.
35. The active antenna array according to claim 34 wherein said multi-bit phase shifter comprises a three bit stripline phase shifter.
36. The active antenna array according to claim 34 wherein said one or more amplifier stages comprises three amplifier stages.
37. The active antenna array according to claim 36 wherein said three amplifier stages comprise amplifier circuits including one or more semiconductor amplifier devices.
38. The active antenna array according to claim 32 wherein the RF coupling means comprise a multi-arm coupler formed in an RF signal manifold body portion of said inner heat sink member.
39. The active antenna array according to claim 29 wherein said means for providing waveguide interconnection comprises first waveguide flange means located between the antenna faceplate and the front face of the waveguide relocator tiles, second waveguide flange means located between the rear face of the waveguide relocator panel and a front face of the outer heat sink member, third waveguide flange means located between a rear face of the outer heat sink and the front face of the beam control tiles, and fourth RF leakage prevention means located between the rear face of the beam control tiles and waveguide ports of the inner heat sink means.
40. The active antenna array according to claim 39 wherein said waveguide flange means comprises generally flat metal spring gasket members.
41. The active antenna array according to claim 40 wherein said spring gasket members include a plurality of elongated holes for enabling the passage of RF energy therethrough and having compressible fingers on inner edges thereof for providing a spring effect.
42. Apparatus for interconnecting signals in an RF antenna assembly of a radar system, comprising:
a beam control tile including,
a plurality of contiguous layers of dielectric material having front and rear faces and including a predetermined arrangement of dielectric waveguides, stripline and coaxial transmission line elements and conductive vias for implementing the routing RF signals between one or more RF signal ports located in said front and rear faces; and,
a plurality of RF signal amplifier circuits coupled at one end to a first RF waveguide formed in a substrate comprised of a plurality of layers of laminate material and terminating in at least one RF signal port in one of said faces and at the other end to a plurality of second RF waveguides also formed in a predetermined number of said plurality of layers of laminate material and terminating in respective RF signal ports in the other face of said faces.
43. The apparatus according to claim 42 wherein the laminate material comprises material selected from a group of materials including low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) material and high-temperature co-fired ceramic (HTCC) material.
44. The apparatus according to claim 42 wherein said second RF waveguides are located in opposing outer side portions of the substrate and wherein said plurality of RF signal amplifier circuits are located in a region between said second RF waveguides.
45. The apparatus according to claim 44 wherein said plurality of RF signal amplifier circuits are located on a common layer of said substrate.
46. The apparatus according to claim 44 wherein said beam control tile additionally includes a branch signal coupler having a first branch coupled to said first RF waveguide and a plurality of other branches coupled to one end of respective RF transmission lines having an opposite end coupled to an RF signal splitter connected to one end of said plurality of RF signal amplifier circuits located on one layer of said substrate, said RF signal amplifier circuits having respective opposite ends connected to said plurality of second RF waveguides.
47. The apparatus according to claim 46 wherein said RF transmission lines comprise coaxial transmission lines each including a center conductor and an outer conductor fabricated by a configuration of metallizations and vias traversing multiple layers of said substrate and formed in an arcuate arrangement between said one layer and said another layer and a capacitive impedance matching member located on a predetermined said substrate.
48. The apparatus according to claim 47 wherein said branch signal coupler comprises a signal coupler fabricated in stripline on another layer of said substrate and comprises a four line branch coupler and wherein one of said lines is coupled to said first RF waveguide, two of said lines are coupled to a respective coaxial transmission line element and one of said lines is coupled to a load.
49. The apparatus according to claim 48 wherein said load comprises a tapered segment of resistive material.
50. The apparatus according to claim 48 wherein each of said plurality of signal amplifier circuits comprise transmitreceive (TR) circuits.
51. The apparatus according to claim 50 wherein each of said TR circuits include a controllable multi-bit RF signal phase shifter coupled to said signal splitter, a first TR switch coupled to the phase shifter, a second TR switch coupled to one waveguide of said plurality of second RF waveguides, and a transmit RF amplifier circuit and a receive RF amplifier circuit each including one or more amplifier stages connected between the first and second TR switches.
52. Apparatus for interconnecting signals in an RF antenna assembly of a radar system, comprising:
waveguide relocator means including,
a substrate including a plurality of waveguide ports located on a rear face thereof having a first multiple port configuration;
a like plurality of waveguide ports located on a front face having a second multiple port configuration; and,
a like plurality of waveguide transitions selectively coupling said waveguide ports of said first port configuration on said rear face to said waveguide ports of said second port configuration on said front face.
53. The apparatus according to claim 52 wherein said substrate is comprised of laminate material selected from a group of laminate materials including a diffusion bonded copper laminate material, low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) material and high-temperature co-fired (HTCC) material.
54. The apparatus according to claim 52 wherein said substrate is comprised of a diffusion bonded copper laminate stack-up with dielectric filling.
55. The apparatus according to claim 54 wherein said waveguide transitions selectively rotate and translate waveguides formed in the substrate so as to couple the waveguide ports of the first configuration on said rear face to respective waveguide ports of the second configuration on said front face, and wherein said first port configuration comprises a first plurality of ports arranged in a rectangular array on said front face and said second port configuration comprises a second plurality of ports located on opposing side portions of said rear face.
56. The apparatus according to claim 55 wherein one half of said second plurality of ports are respectively located on opposing side portions of said rear face.
57. The apparatus according to claim 56 wherein each said half of said second plurality of ports are linearly arranged on said rear face.
58. The apparatus according to claim 57 wherein said second plurality of ports are arranged in opposing pairs of parallel linear sets of ports.
59. The apparatus according to claim 58 wherein said plurality of waveguide transitions in said plurality of waveguide relocator elements include a plurality of mutually offset and incrementally rotated waveguide segments in a selected number of layers of the substrate.
60. The apparatus according to claim 59 wherein the waveguide segments are rotated in predetermined angular increments.
61. The apparatus according to claim 60 wherein the waveguide segments are rotated in equal angular increments.
62. The apparatus according to claim 60 wherein the rotated segments provide a waveguide rotation of substantially 450 between the front and rear faces.
63. The apparatus according to claim 62 wherein the offset segments are translated laterally in incremental steps.
64. The apparatus according to claim 63 wherein a predetermined number of said waveguide transitions also includes an elongated intermediate segments between a selected number of offset segments and a selected number of rotated segments.
65. The apparatus according to claim 64 wherein the waveguide relocator means comprises a plurality of like relocator elements comprising sub-panel sections of a common waveguide relocator panel.
66. A method of transmitting and receiving Ka-band RF signals, comprising the steps of:
coupling an RF inputoutput signal port of at least one RF transceiver module to beam control means of an active electronically scanned antenna;
routing RF signals to and from the transceiver module and a plurality of RF signal amplifier circuits in the beam control means via a first RF waveguide terminating in an RF signal port formed in a rear face thereof, and a plurality of second RF waveguides terminating in a respective plurality of waveguide ports having a predetermined port configuration formed in a front face thereof;
locating waveguide relocator means between the beam control means and an antenna including a two dimensional array of regularly spaced antenna radiator elements having a predetermined spacing and orientation;
coupling the plurality of waveguide ports on the front face of the beam control means to a plurality of waveguide ports located on a rear face of the waveguide relocator means and being equal in number and having a port configuration matching the predetermined port configuration in the front face of said beam control means,
the waveguide relocator means having a like plurality of waveguide ports formed on a front face thereof matching the spacing and orientation of the antenna radiator elements, a plurality of waveguide transitions which selectively rotate and translate respective waveguides coupling the waveguide ports on the rear face of the waveguide relocator means to the waveguide ports on the front face of the waveguide relocation means; and
providing interconnection and preventing RF leakage between mutually coupled signal ports of the beam control means and the waveguide relocator means via gasket means.
67. The method according to claim 66 wherein said beam control means comprises a plurality of substantially identical beam control tiles.
68. The method of according to claim 66 wherein said waveguide relocator means comprises a plurality of substantially identical waveguide relocator elements.
69. The method according to claim 68 wherein said plurality of waveguide means comprises a waveguide relocator panel including a plurality of like sub-sections.
70. The method according to claim 66 and additionally including the step of fabricating the first RF waveguide in a substrate so as to terminate in the RF signal port in the rear face of the beam control means and fabricating the plurality of second RF waveguides in the front face of the beam control means.
71. The method according to claim 66 and additionally including the step of fabricating the plurality of waveguides and waveguide transitions in a substrate and coupling the waveguide ports on the rear face of the waveguide relocator means to the waveguide ports on the front face of the waveguide relocator means.
72. The apparatus according to claim 66 wherein said at least one RF transceiver module comprises four transceiver modules, wherein said beam control means comprises sixteen beam control tiles, four beam control tiles for each of said four transceiver modules, and wherein said waveguide relocator means comprises a waveguide relocator panel including sixteen waveguide relocator sub-panel sections, one waveguide relocator sub-panel section for each one of said beam control tiles.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

What is claimed is:

1. An information distribution system for distributing data from an information processing apparatus to an information terminal device via a network,
said information processing apparatus comprising:
management information generation means for generating management information for managing the distribution of said data when the distribution of said data is instructed from said information terminal device;
transmission data generation means for generating transmission data from said data on the basis of said management information generated by said management information generation means; and
distribution means for distributing said transmission data generated by said transmission data generation means to said information terminal device, and
said information terminal device comprising:
instruction means for instructing the distribution of said data to said information processing apparatus; and
receiving means for receiving said transmission data distributed from said information processing apparatus in response to the instruction from said instruction means.
2. An information processing apparatus for distributing data to an information terminal device via a network, said information processing apparatus comprising:
management information generation means for generating management information for managing the distribution of said data when the distribution of said data is instructed from said information terminal device;
transmission data generation means for generating transmission data from said data on the basis of said management information generated by said management information generation means; and
distribution means for distributing said transmission data generated by said transmission data generation means to said information terminal device.
3. An information processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:
storage means for storing said management information generated by said management information generation means; and
searching means for searching for said management information stored in said storage means when the distribution of said data is instructed from said information terminal device,
wherein, when said predetermined management information is found by said searching means, said transmission data generation means generates said transmission data on the basis of said predetermined found management information.
4. An information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein, when said predetermined management information is not found by said searching means, said management information generation means newly generates said management information.
5. An information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said management information contains time information on said data.
6. An information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said management information contains access information on said data, and said information processing apparatus further comprises updating means for updating said access information when the distribution of said data is instructed from said information terminal device.
7. An information processing apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:
deletion means for deleting said management information on the basis of said access information.
8. An information processing method for use with an information processing apparatus for distributing data to an information terminal device via a network, said information processing method comprising:
a management information generation step of generating management information for managing the distribution of said data when the distribution of said data is instructed from said information terminal device;
a transmission data generation step of generating transmission data from said data on the basis of said management information generated in the process of said management information generation step; and
a distribution step of distributing said transmission data generated in the process of said transmission data generation step to said information terminal device.
9. A recording medium having formed thereon a computer-readable program for controlling an information processing apparatus for distributing data to an information terminal device, said program comprising:
a management information generation step of generating management information for managing the distribution of said data when the distribution of said data is instructed from said information terminal device;
a transmission data generation step of generating transmission data from said data on the basis of said management information generated in the process of said management information generation step; and
a distribution step of distributing said transmission data generated in the process of said transmission data generation step to said information terminal device.
10. A computer-executable program for controlling an information processing apparatus for distributing data to an information terminal device via a network, said program comprising:
a management information generation step of generating management information for managing the distribution of said data when the distribution of said data is instructed from said information terminal device;
a transmission data generation step of generating transmission data from said data on the basis of said management information generated in the process of said management information generation step; and
a distribution step of distributing said transmission data generated in the process of said transmission data generation step to said information terminal device.