JP2010283759A - Network system, computer program, and communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network system securing a bandwidth required for a terminal computer trying to perform communication even when a band is saturated as the whole of a network. <P>SOLUTION: This network system includes a plurality of terminals 100-150 including agents 101-151. Each of the agents 101-151 is provided with: a request information generation part 3 for generating request information for requesting restriction of communication via the network, and transmitting the request information to the other terminals. Each agent is also provided with: a reception part 4 for receiving the request information as one of the other terminals and acquiring acceptance/rejection information showing whether the restriction of communication requested by the request information is accepted or not; and a band control part 5 for restricting its own communication when the acceptance/rejection information acquired by the reception part 4 shows that the restriction of communication is accepted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a network system, a computer program, and a communication method for performing bandwidth control between a plurality of computers on a network.

  In communication between terminal computers using a network, the communication speed in data transmission / reception changes depending on the bandwidth of the network route through which the computer passes and the degree of congestion. For example, when a terminal computer on a certain network transmits / receives a large amount of data, it may not be a problem if it is a high-speed communication line with a wide bandwidth of the network path related to the transmission / reception. In a wide communication line environment, the large-capacity data transmission / reception compresses the bandwidth available to other terminal computers. For this reason, other terminal computers cannot secure a necessary and sufficient bandwidth for communication, and a problem arises that a lot of time is required for data transmission / reception.

  For such a problem, a method has been proposed in which a route that can secure the widest bandwidth is selected and data is transmitted / received through the selected route to obtain a communication speed as high as possible (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2007-209014 A

However, even when trying to select a route that can secure a wide bandwidth as in the above conventional example, the bandwidth of the entire network is limited, so if the bandwidth of the entire network is saturated, the result Therefore, there is a possibility that a bandwidth sufficient to obtain a sufficient communication speed cannot be ensured.
In addition, it may be possible to control so that the bandwidth allocated to each terminal computer is efficiently distributed by the relay device or server, but in this case as well, the bandwidth of the entire network is limited. For this reason, if the degree of congestion is high or a large amount of data is being transferred, the terminal computer that is about to start communication cannot receive the necessary bandwidth allocation, and sufficient communication is possible. There was a possibility that the speed could not be obtained.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and a network system capable of ensuring the bandwidth required by a terminal computer to communicate even when the bandwidth of the entire network is saturated, It is an object to provide a computer program and a communication method.

  (1) The present invention is a network system for performing communication between a plurality of terminal computers on a network. When one terminal computer starts communication, request information for requesting restriction of communication via the network is provided. Generating request information generating means for transmitting the request information to the other terminal computer, and obtaining permission / inhibition information indicating whether or not to accept the restriction of communication by the other terminal computer requested by the request information And a communication restriction means for restricting communication by the other terminal computer when the permission information acquired by the permission information acquisition means indicates that the restriction of communication by the other terminal computer is accepted. It is characterized by having.

  According to the network system having the above-described configuration, communication restriction of other terminal computers is performed based on the acceptance / rejection information on whether to accept the restriction of communication requested by the request information acquired by the acceptance / rejection information acquisition unit. Therefore, even if the bandwidth of the entire network is saturated, the use bandwidth can be released to the other terminal computer according to the acceptance / rejection information. As a result, the bandwidth required for one terminal computer can be ensured. The communication by another terminal computer includes not only the communication performed by the request of the other terminal computer itself but also the communication performed by the request of the other terminal computer.

(2) In the network system, when the one terminal computer terminates communication, the network system further includes a termination notification unit that transmits a termination notification indicating that to the communication limitation unit, and the communication limitation unit transmits the termination notification. Upon reception, it is preferable that the restriction on communication by the other terminal computer is canceled.
In this case, when the communication of one terminal computer is completed, the communication in the other terminal computer can be quickly returned to the state before the one terminal computer started the communication.

(3) Further, the request information generation unit may generate the request information including attribute information indicating an attribute relating to communication performed by the one terminal computer.
(4) Further, it is preferable that the attribute information is user identification information for identifying a priority of communication performed by the one terminal computer and / or a user using the one terminal computer.
In this case, it is possible to reflect the priority related to the communication of one terminal computer or the information about the user who uses the one terminal computer in the approval / disapproval information regarding the approval / disapproval regarding the communication restriction based on the request information. It is possible to cause the communication restriction unit to perform communication restriction according to the above.

  (5) The acceptance / rejection information acquisition unit receives the request information for selecting whether to accept the restriction of communication by a user using the other terminal computer in response to the request indicated in the request information. It may be obtained and stored in advance as acceptance / rejection information. In this case, the selection of acceptance / rejection of communication restriction on the request information can be reflected in the selection of the user who uses another terminal computer, and the request information can be reflected in the request information. The corresponding acceptance / rejection information can be set based on a predetermined standard and reflected in the communication restriction.

(6) The network system further includes communication status grasping means for grasping communication statuses of the plurality of terminal computers, and the request information generating means is requested based on the communication status grasped by the communication status grasping means. It is preferable to generate information.
In this case, based on the communication status of a plurality of terminal computers, it is possible to appropriately identify other terminal computers that are communication restriction request targets, and it is possible to generate request information corresponding thereto.

(7) The communication status grasping means may be provided in a management terminal computer connected so as to be communicable with the plurality of terminal computers.
In this case, it is not necessary for each of the plurality of terminal computers to grasp the communication status of other terminal computers other than itself, and the communication status of the plurality of terminal computers can be collectively managed by the management terminal computer.

  (8) Further, the present invention is a computer program for causing a single terminal computer to execute in a network system that performs communication between a plurality of terminal computers on a network, and the single terminal computer starts communication. A request information generating step for requesting restriction of communication via the network, and transmitting the request information to another terminal computer; and when the one terminal computer ends communication, An end notification step of transmitting an end notification to the other terminal computer.

  According to the computer program having the above-described configuration, as described above, even if the bandwidth of the entire network is saturated, it is possible to transmit the request information for restricting communication to the other terminal computer, so that other terminals The computer can restrict communication, and a necessary bandwidth can be allocated to one terminal computer. Further, when the communication of one terminal computer is completed, the communication in the other terminal computer can be quickly returned to the state before the one terminal computer started the communication.

  (9) Further, according to the present invention, in a network system in which communication is performed between a plurality of terminal computers on a network, when one terminal computer starts communication, request information for requesting restriction of communication via the network Is a computer program for causing another terminal computer to receive the request from the one terminal computer, and indicates whether or not to accept the restriction on communication by the other terminal computer requested by the request information. When the acceptance / rejection information acquisition step for acquiring information and the acceptance / rejection information acquired at the acceptance / rejection information acquisition step indicate that the restriction of communication by the other terminal computer is accepted, the communication by the other terminal computer is restricted. And a communication restriction step.

  According to the computer program having the above configuration, as described above, even if the bandwidth of the entire network is saturated, according to the acceptance / rejection information, it is possible to restrict communication to the other terminal computer. A necessary bandwidth can be secured for one terminal computer.

  (10) The present invention is a communication method in a network system that performs communication between a plurality of terminal computers, and when one terminal computer starts communication, request information that requests restriction of communication through the network Request information generation step for transmitting the request information to the other terminal computer, and permission / rejection information indicating whether or not to accept the restriction of communication by the other terminal computer requested by the request information. Acknowledgment information acquisition step to be acquired and communication for restricting communication by the other terminal computer when the approval / disapproval information acquired in the acceptance / rejection information acquisition step indicates that the restriction of communication by the other terminal computer is accepted And a limiting step.

  According to the communication method of the above configuration, as described above, even if the bandwidth of the entire network is saturated, according to the acceptance / rejection information, communication can be restricted to the other terminal computer. A necessary bandwidth can be secured for one terminal computer.

  As described above, according to the network system, computer program, and communication method of the present invention, even if the bandwidth of the entire network is saturated, the bandwidth required by the terminal computer that is to perform communication is ensured. Can do.

1 is a configuration diagram of a network system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a functional block diagram of the agent with which each terminal is provided. It is a figure for demonstrating the process regarding the control of the bandwidth which a communication control part performs. It is a figure which shows the present communication condition in the whole network system. It is a figure which shows the aspect of the inquiry of the present communication condition with respect to the agent of each terminal. It is a figure which shows the aspect of grasping | ascertaining the present communication condition. It is a figure which shows the aspect which transmits request information to another terminal and another terminal receives a user's selection. It is a figure which shows the aspect in which another terminal releases a bandwidth based on request information, and a requesting terminal starts data transmission. It is a figure which shows the aspect from which the terminal of a request origin complete | finishes data transmission, and another terminal returns the original bandwidth. It is a block diagram which shows a part of network system which concerns on 2nd embodiment of this invention. (A) is a functional block diagram of the agent with which the management terminal is provided, (b) is a figure which shows an example of a management table. It is a functional block diagram of the agent with which each terminal is provided. It is a figure which shows the reference | standard table stored in the memory | storage part of the agent with which each terminal is provided. It is a figure which shows the aspect which transmits communication request information to a management terminal. It is a figure which shows the aspect from which the management terminal transmits request information and the terminal which received the request information acquires a user's selection. It is a figure which shows the aspect in which a bandwidth is released based on request information and a requesting terminal starts data transmission. It is a figure which shows the aspect from which the terminal of a request origin complete | finishes data transmission, and another terminal returns the original bandwidth.

[First embodiment]
[Overall system configuration]
Next, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a network system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The network system in FIG. 1 has a plurality of terminal computers 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 150.
This network system is a system used in a company, for example, and includes a first subnet N1 including terminal computers (hereinafter also simply referred to as “terminals”) 100, 110, 120, and terminals 130, 140, 150. And the second subnet N2. Both of these subnets N1 and N2 are arranged in different offices, and are connected to each other via the relay terminal 200 and the firewall 400. The communication path L1 including the firewall 400 and interposed between the subnets N1 and N2 connects the subnets N1 and N2 with a bandwidth of 10 Mbps.

  The terminals 100 to 150 are configured by a computer on which an OS is installed. Each of the terminals 100 to 150 includes an agent computer program (hereinafter also simply referred to as “agent”) serving as an operation base of various application programs (hereinafter also simply referred to as “applications”) 102, 112, 122, 132, 142, and 152. 101, 111, 121, 131, 141, 151 are installed. These agents are usually resident in each terminal 100-150.

The agents 101 to 151 of each terminal realize a band securing function in the network system according to the present embodiment by operating in cooperation with the agents of other terminals while communicating.
Further, the agents 101 to 151 of each terminal are also a framework that provides functions necessary for the operation of one or a plurality of applications 102 to 152 installed in the terminal.

Examples of the applications 102 to 152 operating on the agents 101 to 151 include an information tracking system and a file transfer system that track the flow of information in the network.
In these applications, an application installed in one terminal performs inter-application communication via the agents 101 to 151 in order to execute cooperative processing in cooperation with the same or different types of applications installed in other terminals. Is done.
The relay terminal 200 is also configured by a computer on which an OS is installed, like the terminals 110 to 150. Further, the relay terminal 200 has an agent 201 and an application 202 operating on the agent 201 installed. Examples of the application 202 include an information tracking system, a file transfer system, and a system for controlling communication between subnets.

[Agent configuration]
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of an agent for realizing the bandwidth securing function according to the present embodiment. The function shown in FIG. 2 is a function that is exhibited when the agent computer program is executed in each terminal.
In FIG. 2, the agent 101 installed in the terminal 100 is shown, but the agents in the other terminals 110 to 150 and the relay terminal 200 have the same configuration.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the agent 101 includes a communication control unit 1, a communication status grasping unit 2, a request information generation unit 3, a reception unit 4, and a bandwidth control unit 5 as functional units.
The communication control unit 1 is a function for controlling the bandwidth used in network communication between the application 102 of the terminal 100 and a terminal (application) other than itself as a communication target based on a command to the bandwidth control unit 5 In addition, it has a function of controlling the communication performed between the agent 101 (each of the above functional units) and another agent.
Further, the communication control unit 1 transmits request information to be described later to another terminal so that communication in the other terminal is restricted, and when communication is performed on that terminal, the communication ends. Then, it has the function to transmit the completion notification which shows that to another terminal.

  When the application 102 of the terminal 100 as “one terminal” tries to perform network communication (for example, data transmission) with a terminal other than itself, the communication status grasping unit 2 It has a function to grasp the communication status on the network route to the terminal. Specifically, in order to specify “another terminal” that uses a route that overlaps the network route to the communication target terminal, the communication status grasping unit 2 determines the current agent for each terminal agent. It has a function of inquiring the communication status and requesting to transmit status information indicating the current communication status. Further, it has a function of receiving the status information transmitted from each terminal in response to the request and giving it to the request information generation unit 3.

The request information generating unit 3 is based on the status information of each terminal given from the communication status grasping unit 2, and one or more other terminals using a route that overlaps the network route from the terminal 100 to the communication target terminal In addition, in order to secure the bandwidth required by the terminal 100, the bandwidth that requires the other terminal to release the bandwidth used by the other terminal. It has a function to determine. It also has a function of determining whether to request other terminals that are not communicating to refrain from communication.
Further, the request information generation unit 3 generates request information for requesting a restriction on communication via the network in order to secure the bandwidth required by the terminal 100, and the request information is transmitted to the other terminal. It has the function to transmit to.
This request information is information relating to communication restrictions such as requesting the other terminal to refrain from communication, and, if communication is being performed, of the bandwidth used to request release. In addition, user identification information for identifying a user who uses the terminal 100, and attribute information indicating attributes related to communication that the terminal 100 is going to perform, such as priority of communication that the terminal 100 is going to perform Is generated.
The priority is an attribute that is appropriately set for communication performed by each terminal. For example, the priority is a value for determining business priority, and here, the larger the numerical value, the higher priority is given to the communication. . This priority can be set for each communication performed by each terminal according to the degree of urgency and importance.

When the terminal 100 receives the request information as the “other terminal”, the reception unit 4 receives the request information and determines whether to accept the request based on the request information in response to the request information. It has a function as permission / rejection information acquisition means for acquiring permission / rejection information indicating.
Specifically, when the reception unit 4 receives the request information, the reception unit 4 includes information related to communication restriction requested by the “one terminal” and user identification information of the user who uses the “one terminal”. The communication priority that the “one terminal” is going to perform is output to an output device such as a monitor screen of the terminal 100 so that the user of the terminal 100 can recognize the request information.
Furthermore, the reception unit 4 monitors a selection screen that allows the user of the terminal 100 to select whether or not to accept the request indicated in the request information from “one terminal” using an input device such as a mouse. It has a function to output to the screen. Thereby, the reception unit 4 inputs the selection about whether or not to accept the request indicated in the request information, so that the receiving unit 4 determines whether or not to accept the request indicated in the request information. The selection by the user can be acquired as acceptance / rejection information indicating whether or not to accept the restriction of communication requested by the request information.
The accepting unit 4 gives the acquired permission / denial information together with the request information to the bandwidth control unit 5.

Based on the request information and acceptance / rejection information given from the accepting unit 4, the bandwidth control unit 5 determines whether or not to perform communication restriction according to the request for the request information, and performs communication restriction based thereon. It has a function as communication restriction means. If the selection of the user of the terminal 100 is to accept the request, the bandwidth control unit 5 controls the communication control unit 1 so as to realize communication restriction according to the request indicated in the request information. On the other hand, when the selection of the user of the terminal 100 does not accept the request, it does not release the bandwidth used by itself or refrain from starting communication.
In addition, the bandwidth control unit 5 also has a function of canceling the currently restricted communication upon receiving the end notification transmitted from a terminal other than itself.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an example of processing related to communication band control performed by the communication control unit 1.
FIG. 3 shows processing when the application 102 transmits data to the application of the communication target terminal. The application 102 transmits data to the communication target terminal via the agent 101 (the communication control unit 1). Therefore, the application 102 gives the transmission data to be transmitted to the agent 101 and requests the agent 101 to transmit the transmission data.
The agent 101 that has received the transmission data gives the transmission data to its own communication control unit 1. The communication control unit 1 divides the transmission data into a plurality of data blocks of a predetermined size, and sequentially stores the data blocks in a transmission queue 1a configured by its own FIFO or the like.
The communication control unit 1 sequentially extracts data blocks from the transmission queue 1a at regular time intervals and performs transmission to the communication target terminal. At this time, for example, the communication control unit 1 adjusts the bandwidth of the transmission data by adjusting the time interval when the data block is extracted from the transmission queue 1a. This time interval is determined according to a control command from the bandwidth control unit 5, and the communication control unit 1 performs bandwidth control of transmission data based on the control command of the bandwidth control unit 5.

[Specific example of bandwidth control according to the first embodiment]
Next, specific examples of bandwidth allocation control in the network system will be described with reference to FIGS.
4 to 9, the terminal 120 in the first subnet N1 is described as “one terminal”, and the terminal 100 and the terminal 110 are described as “other terminals”.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a current communication state in the entire network system. In FIG. 4, the terminal 100 transmits data to the terminal 150 in the second subnet N2 using the bandwidth 5 Mbps via the communication path L1. The terminal 110 transmits data to the terminal 140 in the second subnet N2 using the bandwidth 4 Mbps via the communication path L1.
Here, it is assumed that an event occurs in the application 122 of the terminal 120 that is a “one terminal”, in which data transmission requiring a bandwidth of 5 Mbps occurs to the terminal 130 of the second subnet N2.

Then, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the agent 121 of the terminal 120 causes the communication status grasping unit 2 to grasp the communication status on the route to the terminal 130 in order to reliably perform communication.
The communication status grasping unit 2 transmits inquiry information for inquiring the current communication status to the agent of each terminal in a multicast packet that can be received only by the agent in the first subnet N1 (in FIG. 5, S1).
In this embodiment, since the terminal 120 is going to communicate with the terminal 130 of the second subnet N2, the agent 121 uses the bandwidth of the communication path L1 interposed between both subnets N1 and N2. In order to grasp the situation, only the agent in the first subnet N1 is inquired, but depending on the communication route that the terminal 120 is going to perform, the communication status is sent to the agent of each terminal in the second subnet N2. You may also ask. The agent 121 can also make an inquiry using a management agent (not shown) of a server or the like that manages and grasps the entire network system.

The communication control unit 1 of each terminal has a function of transmitting current status information to an inquiry source agent upon receiving communication status inquiry information from a terminal other than itself.
Therefore, when the agents 101 and 111 of the terminals 100 and 110 receive the inquiry information from the terminal 120, as shown in FIG. 6, the agents 101 and 111 send their own communication control unit 1 to the current communication status of the terminal. Is sent to the agent 121 (S2-1, S2-2 in FIG. 6).
The status information includes information on the bandwidth usage of the terminal, the communication destination terminal, the communication priority, and the like. Also, if a terminal that is not communicating receives the inquiry information, the terminal returns status information indicating that communication is not being performed.

The agent 121 of the terminal 120 that has received the status information from the agents 101 and 111 determines, based on this status information, other terminals that use a route that overlaps the network route from the terminal 100 to the terminal 130. The request information generation unit 3 is specified.
Here, the request information generation unit 3 of the agent 121 uses the status information from the agent 101 to indicate that the terminal 100 is transmitting data to the terminal 150 with a bandwidth of 5 Mbps, and that the terminal 110 has a bandwidth to the terminal 140. Recognize that data is being transmitted with a width of 4 Mbps.
For example, by storing that the maximum bandwidth of the communication path L1 is 10 Mbps, the request information generation unit 3 can grasp from the above information that the available bandwidth in the communication path L1 is 1 Mbps. . Further, the request information generation unit 3 also recognizes that the “other terminals” using the communication path L1 that is the data transmission path that the terminal 120 is going to perform are the terminals 100 and 110.
As a result, the request information generation unit 3 of the agent 121 determines that 5 Mbps, which is a bandwidth necessary for data transmission that the terminal 120 is going to perform, cannot be secured in the current communication state (step S3 in FIG. 6). .
Here, the case where the request information generation unit 3 stores that the maximum bandwidth of the communication path L1 is 10 Mbps is illustrated, but the user using the terminal 120 informs the request information generation unit 3 to that effect. It may be recognized.

The request information generating unit 3 of the agent 121 determined as described above, as shown in FIG. 7, each of the terminals 100 and 110 in order to secure a bandwidth of 5 Mbps necessary for data transmission to be performed by the terminal 120. The contents related to the communication restriction to be requested to the agents 101 and 111, for example, the bandwidth that is requested to be released among the used bandwidths used by the agents 101 and 111 are determined.
At this time, the request information generation unit 3 compares the priority of communication requested by the terminal 120 with the priority of communication performed by another terminal. Then, it is determined that a request to release the used bandwidth is made to another terminal that performs communication with a priority lower than the communication priority requested by the terminal 120, and the bandwidth that requests the release. To decide. As described above, when there are a plurality of terminals in communication, the bandwidths required to be released from each terminal can be made different according to the bandwidth used by each terminal.

  In addition, for example, when there is a terminal that is not currently communicating other than the terminals 100 and 110, the request information generation unit 3 determines to request the terminal to refrain from communication. You can also

Here, the request information generation unit 3 shows a case where it is determined to request either release of the entire bandwidth used by the agents 101 and 111 or release of half of the used bandwidth. ing.
Further, the request information generation unit 3 generates request information for requesting to release the bandwidth determined above, and transmits this request information to the agents 101 and 111 of the terminals 100 and 110 (in FIG. 7). Step S4).
In the request information, as described above, in addition to the information about the bandwidth requesting the release determined by the request information generation unit 3, user specifying information for specifying the user who uses the terminal 120, the terminal 120 The priority of the communication that is going to be included.

  Next, the agent 101 (111) of the terminal 100 (110) that has received the request information from the terminal 120 provides the request information to the reception unit 4. In response to the request information, the reception unit 4 performs information on the bandwidth requested by the terminal 120 to be released, user identification information of the user who uses the terminal 120, and the terminal 120. A notification screen for notifying about the priority of communication is output to an output device such as a monitor screen of the terminal 100 (110), and the request information is displayed for each user who uses the terminal 100 (110). This notification screen notifies the user who uses the terminal 100 (110) that the request information has been received.

Furthermore, the reception unit 4 displays a selection screen that allows the user of the terminal 100 (110) to select whether or not to accept the request indicated in the request information from the terminal 120 using an input device such as a mouse. The information is displayed on the monitor screen together with the notification screen (steps S5-1 and S5-2 in FIG. 7).
In the present embodiment, this selection screen displays three items of “release all used bandwidth”, “release half of used bandwidth”, and “reject open use bandwidth” to the user of the terminal 100 (110). Is displayed so that can be selected. With this selection screen, the reception unit 4 prompts the user who uses the terminal 100 (110) to make a determination on the request from the terminal 120.
The accepting unit 4 accepts a selection by the user using the terminal 100 (110) as to whether or not to accept the request included in the request information in response to an operation on the selection screen by the user using the terminal 100 (110). The selection is acquired as acceptance / rejection information (steps S6-1 and S6-2).
In the present embodiment, a case where both the users using the terminal 100 (110) agree and select to “release half of the used bandwidth” is shown.

In addition, since the notification screen displayed together with the selection screen by the reception unit 4 displays attribute information such as the priority of communication and user identification information that the terminal 120 that is the transmission source of the request information is to perform, the reception unit The priority and the information about the user using the terminal 120 can be reflected in the selection received by the user using the terminal 100 (110).
That is, since the reception unit 4 can receive the selection determined after the user of the terminal 100 (110) recognizes the request indicated in the request information, the terminal 100 (110) corresponding to the current communication status can be received. It is possible to acquire permission information reflecting the intention of the user to use.

The reception unit 4 of each of the agents 101 (111) of the terminal 100 (110) gives information regarding selection to the bandwidth control unit 5 together with the request information to the user of the received terminal 100 (110).
The bandwidth control unit 5 of each of the agents 101 (111) to which the request information and the permission information of the terminal 100 (110) are given from the reception unit 4 responds to the request for the request information based on these pieces of information. Bandwidth control is performed by determining whether to release the bandwidth.
The bandwidth control unit 5 controls the bandwidth used by itself according to the user's selection of the terminal 100 (110). In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the user of the terminal 100 (110) consents (selects) to “release half of the used bandwidth” and acquires information to that effect. 101 (111) each bandwidth control unit 5 determines to release half of the currently used bandwidth, and performs bandwidth control to release half of the used bandwidth (in FIG. 8, Steps S7-1 and S7-2). Specifically, the use bandwidth of the terminal 100 is controlled to 2.5 Mbps, and the use bandwidth of the terminal 110 is controlled to 2 Mbps.
Even if the user of the terminal 100 (110) does not consent to the release of the used bandwidth, the bandwidth control unit 5 makes a user's determination based on the user identification information and the priority included in the request information (for example, It is also possible to forcibly decide to release the used bandwidth according to the case where the request information is information indicating that the used bandwidth is forcibly released.

  Thereafter, the agent 101 (111) transmits information indicating that the use bandwidth is controlled to be released according to the request information with the consent of each user to the agent 121 of the terminal 120 that is the transmission source of the request information. (Steps S8-1 and S8-2 in FIG. 8).

The agent 121 that has received information indicating that control has been performed to release the used bandwidth starts data transmission toward the terminal 130 of the second subnet S2 (step S9 in FIG. 8).
Even when there is a terminal that is not communicating, and the terminal is requested to refrain from its own communication and decides to refrain from communication, the agent of the terminal temporarily suspends its own communication. Information indicating that it is reserved is transmitted to the agent 121 of the terminal 120 that is the transmission source of the request information.

  When the data transmission of the terminal 120 is completed, the agent 121 sends an end notification indicating that the data transmission is completed to the agents 101 and 111 of the terminals 100 and 110 that have released the used bandwidth, as shown in FIG. Is transmitted (step S10 in FIG. 9).

The agents 101 and 111 of the terminals 100 and 110 that have received the end notification from the agent 121 of the terminal 120 then perform bandwidth control so as to cancel the communication restriction and perform communication with the original bandwidth (in FIG. 9, Steps S11-1, S11-2).
As described above, since the agent 120 transmits an end notification to the terminals 100 and 110 in response to the end of the communication of the terminal 120, the communication before the terminal 120 starts the communication at the terminals 100 and 110. Can be quickly returned to.

  According to the network system configured as described above, the communication in the terminal 100 (110) is performed based on the approval / disapproval information about whether to accept the communication restriction requested by the request information acquired by the reception unit 4. Since the restriction is performed, even if the bandwidth of the entire network is saturated, the use bandwidth can be released to the terminal 100 (110) according to the acceptance / rejection information. As a result, the necessary bandwidth for the terminal 120 can be secured.

  Further, the network system of the present embodiment includes a communication status grasping unit 2 that grasps the communication status of each terminal, and the request information generation 3 is based on the communication status of each terminal grasped by the communication status grasping unit 2. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately specify the terminal 100 (110), which is another terminal that is a request target for releasing the used bandwidth, and to generate request information corresponding to the terminal 100 (110).

Further, in the present embodiment, as described above, the agent 101 of the terminal 100 and the agent 111 of the terminal 110 that have released the use band with respect to the terminal 120 will restrict communication with the terminal 120 in the future. When a request is made or a request is received, a point indicating the title that can increase the priority for the terminal 120 is acquired.
Agents 101 and 111 can increase the priority of communication with the terminal 120 by using these points when exchanging requests regarding communication restrictions with the terminal 120 in the future. With regard to communication restrictions with the terminal 120, it is possible to prioritize own communication. As a result, the agents 101 and 111 can receive a price for having handed over the use band to the terminal 120 in the past.

Further, in the present embodiment, in response to the reception of the end notification from the agent 121 of the terminal 120, the agents 101 and 111 of the terminals 100 and 110 cancel the communication restriction and perform communication with the original bandwidth. For example, the agents 101 and 111 of the terminals 100 and 110 set a period for performing communication restriction, restrict communication within the period, and cancel the communication restriction when the period elapses. It can also be configured to.
In this case, the communication restriction period for performing communication restriction can be requested from the terminal 120 side as a period necessary for its own communication, and can be set within a range in which the terminals 100 and 110 can be set according to their own communication conditions. It can also be set.

[Second Embodiment]
FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram showing a part of a network system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a management terminal computer 300 for performing management in the network is provided in the first subnet S1.

  The management terminal computer 300 (hereinafter also referred to as the management terminal 300) has the agent 301 installed and is resident. In addition, an application for realizing a system for performing various managements related to the network is installed.

FIG. 11A is a functional block diagram of an agent provided in the management terminal. The agent 301 includes a communication control unit 11, a communication status grasping unit 12, and a request information generation unit 13 as functional units.
The communication control unit 11 has a function of controlling communication performed by the application 302 installed in the management terminal 300 and communication performed with other agents.

The communication status grasping unit 12 has a function of constantly managing the communication status of each of the terminals 100 to 120 included in the first subnet S1. Specifically, the communication status grasping unit 12 includes a management table for storing and managing the current communication status of each of the terminals 100 to 120.
FIG. 11B is a diagram showing an example of the management table. In this management table, information such as whether or not communication is being performed, user identification information of a terminal that has requested communication in the case of communication, priority of communication, and bandwidth usage is stored in the first subnet S1. Each of the terminals 100 to 120 is stored.
As shown in FIG. 10, the communication status grasping unit 12 receives status information indicating the current communication status transmitted from each of the terminals 100 to 120 in the first subnet S1, and is stored in the management table. Get various information. Note that the status information transmitted by each terminal 100 to 120 includes information on whether or not the terminal is communicating, information on a communication destination terminal, communication priority, and bandwidth usage when the terminal is communicating. It is out. When receiving the status information of each terminal, the communication status grasping unit 12 stores various information included in the status information in the management table, and manages the communication status of each terminal 100 to 120.

When the agent 301 receives communication request information (to be described in detail later) transmitted from each of the terminals 100 to 120, the request information generation unit 13 transmits the communication request information from the communication table based on the information stored in the management table. One or a plurality of other terminals using a route that overlaps the network route from the terminal of the source to the communication target terminal with which the terminal of the source of communication is trying to communicate, and the terminal of the request source In order to secure the required bandwidth, the other terminal has a function of determining a bandwidth for requesting release from the used bandwidth used by the other terminal. It also has a function of determining whether to request other terminals that are not communicating to refrain from communication.
Further, the request information generating unit 13 generates request information for requesting a restriction on communication via the network in order to secure the bandwidth required by the terminal that is the transmission source of the request information. Is transmitted to the other terminal.

FIG. 12 is a functional block diagram of an agent included in each terminal. FIG. 12 shows the agent 101 of the terminal 100, but the configuration is the same in other terminals.
The agent 101 shown in FIG. 12 is basically configured in the same manner except that it does not have the communication status grasping unit 2 and the request information generating unit 3 included in the agent shown in the first embodiment.
The communication control unit 1 of the agent 101 is configured to transmit status information indicating the current communication status to the agent 301 of the management terminal 300 every time the communication status of the agent 101 is changed (see FIG. 10). For this reason, the current communication status is always stored in the management table of the agent 301.
In addition, when the application 102 of the terminal 100 tries to perform network communication (for example, data transmission) with a terminal other than itself, the communication control unit 1 can communicate with a communication target terminal that the application 102 requests communication with, Communication request information including attribute information indicating attributes related to communication that the terminal 100 is going to perform, such as user identification information of a user who uses the terminal 100, communication priority, and the like, in addition to information on a necessary bandwidth. It has a function of generating and transmitting to the management terminal 300.

In addition, the agent 101 according to the present embodiment acquires and stores in advance information on approval / disapproval based on the user's selection acquired by the reception unit 4, and when the request information is received, Therefore, it has a function of acquiring permission / denial information corresponding to the request indicated in the request information.
The reception unit 4 of the agent 101 includes a storage unit 4a for storing approval / disapproval information indicating whether or not to accept a request indicated in the request information, which is acquired in advance.
In this storage unit 4a, as shown in FIG. 13, the priority set for the communication to be performed by the request information transmission terminal and the user of the request information transmission terminal are specified. A reference table indicating the selection of the user of the own terminal when determining whether or not to accept in accordance with the user specifying information is stored.

Basically, the priority of each communication is determined only by the priority value, but depending on the attribute of the user of its own terminal, the priority needs to be changed according to the user who sent the request information. There is also a case.
This reference table is input by the user of the own terminal, and when the request information is received when the own terminal is in communication (during transmission), the priority table is based on the priority related to the communication during the communication of the own terminal. The priority order determined is compared with the priority set for the communication to be performed by the terminal that is the source of the request information, and the priority determined by the user of the terminal that is the source of the request information. The user's selection such as whether to do is stored.

For example, when the user's terminal is transmitting at the priority “3”, the user specified by the user specifying information receives the request information with “XX department manager” and the priority “3”. From FIG. 13, since the communication according to the request information has a higher priority, in this case, the accepting unit 4 makes a request regarding the communication restriction indicated in the request information in order to prioritize the communication according to the request information. Choose to accept.
As described above, the user of his / her terminal inputs the request information about the selection of whether or not to accept the request when the agent of his / her terminal receives the request information by inputting in the reference table in advance. In addition to the communication priority, the reception unit 4 can acquire a selection based on the user's own intention of his / her terminal, taking into account the user who transmitted the request information.

  As described above, since the accepting unit 4 of the agent 101 according to the present embodiment acquires in advance permission / denial information based on the user's selection of the terminal corresponding to the request information and stores it as the reference table, Regarding the selection of acceptance / rejection of communication restriction on information, the user's selection can be reflected, and the acceptance / rejection information corresponding to the request information can be set based on a predetermined criterion and reflected on the communication restriction.

[Specific example of bandwidth control according to the second embodiment]
Next, a specific example of bandwidth allocation control in the network system will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a current communication state in the entire network system. In FIG. 14, the terminal 100 transmits data to the terminal 150 in the second subnet N2 using a bandwidth of 5 Mbps via the communication path L1. Further, the terminal 110 receives data from the terminal 140 of the second subnet N2 using the bandwidth of 5 Mbps via the communication path L1.
As described above, the agent 301 of the management terminal 300 indicates the current communication status of each terminal 100 to 120 based on the management table in which various information obtained from the status information transmitted from each terminal 100 to 120 is stored. I know.

Here, in the application 122 of the terminal 120 that is “one terminal”, it is assumed that an event occurs in which a highly urgent data transmission requiring a bandwidth of 5 Mbps occurs to the terminal 130 of the second subnet N2.
The agent 121 of the terminal 120 first has information indicating that the communication target terminal requested by the application 122 is the terminal 130, information indicating that the necessary bandwidth is 5 Mbps, and the terminal 100 Communication request information including attribute information indicating an attribute related to the communication to be performed is generated and transmitted to the management terminal 300 (step S101 in FIG. 14).
In this case, since the urgency level of the data transmission is high, the agent 121 sets the priority level to be high, for example, “5” based on the user's own determination or the instruction of the user of the terminal 120.

The agent 301 of the management terminal 300 that has received the communication request information determines whether the communication requested by the terminal 120 is possible based on the information stored in the management table as described above. The agent 301 refers to the management table, identifies one or a plurality of other terminals that use a route that overlaps the network route from the terminal 120 to the terminal 130 that is the communication target terminal, and the agent 121 requests. Determine whether bandwidth can be secured.
In this embodiment, since the terminal 100 is transmitting data with a bandwidth of 5 Mbps to the terminal 150 and the terminal 110 is receiving data with a bandwidth of 4 Mbps from the terminal 140, the agent 301 Among the paths to be used, the communication path L1 overlaps with the usage paths of the terminal 100 and the terminal 110, and it is recognized that the remaining bandwidth in the communication path L1 is 1 Mbps.

Therefore, the agent 301 determines that the bandwidth requested by the terminal 120 cannot be secured at present (step S102 in FIG. 14).
Next, in order to secure the bandwidth required by the terminal 120, the agent 301 releases the use bandwidth used by the terminal 100 and the terminal 110 as the content of the communication restriction requested to the terminal 100 and the terminal 110. Determine the requested bandwidth.
At this time, the agent 301 refers to each piece of information stored in the management table, and compares the priority of communication requested by the terminal 120 with the priority of communication performed by another terminal. Then, it is determined that a request to release the used bandwidth is made to another terminal that performs communication with a priority lower than the communication priority requested by the terminal 120, and the bandwidth that requests the release. To decide.
In addition to the priority, for example, the agent 301 compares the user identification information of the terminal 120 with the user identification information of each terminal, or requests the release of the used bandwidth in consideration of the communication time of each terminal. It is also possible to determine a terminal to perform.

  In FIG. 14, since the terminal 110 has received data from the terminal 140, the terminal 110 cannot request the terminal 110 to release the used bandwidth. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the agent 301 can request the use bandwidth to be released only to the terminal 100 that performs data transmission with a bandwidth of 5 Mbps.

Therefore, the agent 301 compares the priority of communication performed by the terminal 100 with the priority of communication performed by the terminal 120. As a result, in the present embodiment, the communication of the terminal 120 is set to a priority “5” as a highly urgent communication, and the priority “3” of the communication performed by the terminal 100 (FIG. 11B). Since the agent 301 is set to a value higher than that of (see)), the agent 301 uses the terminal 100 that performs communication with the bandwidth of 5 Mbps in order to secure the bandwidth of 5 Mbps requested by the terminal 120. Decide that you want to release all of the bandwidth.
Based on the above determination, the agent 301 generates request information requesting to release all of the used bandwidth as a communication restriction for the terminal 100, and transmits the request information to the terminal 100 as shown in FIG. (Step S103 in FIG. 15).
In addition to the information on the communication restriction determined by the request information generating unit 3, the request information includes user specifying information for specifying a user who uses the terminal 120, the terminal, The priority of the communication 120 is going to do is included.

The agent 101 of the terminal 100 that has received the request information from the management terminal 300 gives the request information to the reception unit 4. When accepting the request information, the accepting unit 4 obtains approval / disapproval information corresponding to the request indicated in the request information, which has been accepted in advance, based on the reference table (see FIG. 13) stored in the storage unit 4a. (Step S104 in FIG. 15).
In this embodiment, the priority of the communication performed by the user of the terminal 100 is “3”, the priority of the requested communication is “5”, and the user of the terminal 120 is assumed to be “○” in FIG. Assuming that it is “director”, the reception unit 4 of the agent 101 refers to the reference table, and the selection of the user of the terminal 100 in this case is indicated in the request information from the management terminal 300 rather than the own communication. It can be recognized that the determination is to prioritize the communication related to the request, and the receiving unit 4 selects to accept the communication restriction indicated in the request information in order to prioritize the communication related to the request information.
As described above, the accepting unit 4 can obtain permission / denial information indicating that the communication restriction indicated in the request information is accepted by referring to the reference table reflecting the selection of the user of the terminal 100.

In this case, as described in the first embodiment, the reception unit 4 responds to the request information and includes information on the communication restriction requested by the terminal 120 included in the request information, and the terminal The user identification information of the user who uses 120, the notification screen for notifying about the priority of communication that the terminal 120 is going to perform are output to an output device such as a monitor screen of the terminal 100, and the request information is output to the user of the terminal 100 A selection screen that allows the user to select whether to accept the request indicated in the request information from the terminal 120 using an input device such as a mouse may be displayed on the monitor screen.
In this case, the user of the terminal 100 may select whether or not he / she directly accepts the request on the selection screen, or can cause the reception unit 4 to process.

The agent 101 of the terminal 100 uses the bandwidth used by itself to perform communication restriction according to the request for the request information based on the approval / disapproval information indicating that the request indicated in the request information is accepted, which is acquired by the reception unit 4. Bandwidth control is performed so as to release the width.
Based on the request of the request information, the agent 101 determines to release all of the currently used bandwidth, and performs bandwidth control so as to release all of the used bandwidth as shown in FIG. This is performed (step S105 in FIG. 16).

  Thereafter, the agent 101 transmits information indicating that the use bandwidth is limited according to the request information to the agent 301 of the management terminal 300 (step S106 in FIG. 16).

The agent 301 that has received the information indicating that communication restriction has been performed notifies the agent 121 that the bandwidth necessary for communication has been secured (step S107 in FIG. 16).
The agent 121 that has received the above notification from the agent 301 starts data transmission toward the terminal 130 of the second subnet S2 (step S108 in FIG. 16).

  When the data transmission of the terminal 120 is completed, the agent 121 transmits a notification indicating that the data transmission is completed to the agent 301 of the management terminal 300 as shown in FIG. 17 (step S109 in FIG. 17). ).

The agent 301 of the management terminal 300 that has received the notification indicating the end of data transmission from the agent 121 transmits an end notification indicating that the communication of the terminal 120 has ended to the agent 101 of the terminal 100 (step in FIG. 17). S110).
The agent 101 of the terminal 100 that has received the end notification indicating that the communication of the terminal 120 from the agent 301 has ended, then performs bandwidth control so as to cancel the communication restriction and perform communication with the original bandwidth (in FIG. 17). Step S111).

According to the network system having the above configuration, since the management terminal 300 including the agent 301 having the communication status grasping unit 12 is provided, each terminal needs to grasp the communication status of other terminals other than itself. The management terminal 300 can collectively manage the communication status of each terminal.
For this reason, each terminal 100-120 does not need to be provided with the function part for grasping | ascertaining the communication condition of terminals other than self, respectively, and can simplify the structure of each terminal which comprises a system.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. In the present embodiment, the case where the entire configuration of the network system is two subnets connected by a relay terminal and a firewall is exemplified, but the present invention is not limited to this, and may be a network system including a plurality of terminal computers. The present invention can be applied.
In addition, the bandwidth requested to be released to other terminals based on the request information, when there are a large number of other terminals, appropriately varies depending on the priority of communication performed by these other terminals. Is set. For this reason, it becomes easier for one terminal, which is a request source to request the release of the bandwidth, to obtain consent from the other terminals in response to the request to release the used bandwidth.
Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, it is configured to specify the transmission source terminal of the communication among other terminals currently performing communication, and to restrict the communication. However, the transmission destination terminal of the communication is specified. Thus, it is possible to obtain information related to communication and perform communication restriction.

  With respect to the present invention, the embodiments disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is not meant to be described above, but is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the scope of the claims.

1 Communication control unit (end notification means)
2 Communication status grasping unit (communication status grasping means)
3 Request information generator (request information generator)
4 Reception Department (Acceptance information acquisition means)
4a Storage unit 5 Band control unit (communication limiting means)
12 Communication status grasping unit (communication status grasping means)
13 Request information generation unit (request information generation means)
100 to 150 terminal 300 management terminal

Claims (10)

A network system for communicating between a plurality of terminal computers on a network,
When one terminal computer starts communication, request information for requesting restriction of communication through the network is generated, and request information generating means for transmitting the request information to the other terminal computer;
Permission information acquisition means for acquiring permission / rejection information indicating whether or not to accept the restriction of communication by the other terminal computer requested by the request information;
Communication restriction means for restricting communication by the other terminal computer when the consent information acquired by the permission information acquisition means indicates that the restriction of communication by the other terminal computer is accepted. A network system characterized by When the one terminal computer ends communication, the terminal computer further includes an end notification unit that transmits an end notification indicating that to the communication restriction unit,
The network system according to claim 1, wherein the communication restriction unit releases the restriction of communication by the other terminal computer when receiving the end notification.   The network system according to claim 1, wherein the request information generation unit generates the request information including attribute information indicating an attribute related to communication performed by the one terminal computer.   4. The network system according to claim 3, wherein the attribute information is user identification information for identifying a priority of communication performed by the one terminal computer and / or a user who uses the one terminal computer.   The acceptance / rejection information acquisition means selects in advance whether or not to accept the restriction of communication by the user using the other terminal computer in response to the request indicated in the request information before receiving the request information. The network system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, which is acquired and stored as acceptance / rejection information. Further comprising a communication status grasping means for grasping the communication status of the plurality of terminal computers,
The network system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the request information generation unit generates the request information based on a communication state grasped by the communication state grasping unit.   The network system according to claim 6, wherein the communication status grasping unit is provided in a management terminal computer that is communicably connected to the plurality of terminal computers. In a network system for communicating between a plurality of terminal computers on a network, a computer program for causing a single terminal computer to execute,
When the one terminal computer starts communication, it generates request information for requesting restriction of communication via the network, and a request information generating step for transmitting the request information to another terminal computer;
A computer program comprising: an end notification step of transmitting an end notification to the other terminal computer when the one terminal computer ends communication. In a network system in which communication is performed between a plurality of terminal computers on a network, when one terminal computer starts communication, request information requesting restriction on communication via the network is received from the one terminal computer. A computer program for causing another terminal computer to execute,
Acknowledgment information acquisition step for acquiring approval / disapproval information indicating whether or not to accept the restriction of communication by the other terminal computer requested by the request information;
A communication restriction step for restricting communication by the other terminal computer when the acceptance / rejection information acquired in the permission information acquisition step indicates that the restriction of communication by the other terminal computer is accepted. A computer program characterized by the above. A communication method in a network system for performing communication between a plurality of terminal computers,
When one terminal computer starts communication, a request information generation step for generating request information for requesting restriction of communication through the network and transmitting the request information to the other terminal computer;
Acknowledgment information acquisition step for acquiring approval / disapproval information indicating whether or not to accept the restriction of communication by the other terminal computer requested by the request information;
A communication restriction step for restricting communication by the other terminal computer when the acceptance / rejection information acquired in the permission information acquisition step indicates that the restriction of communication by the other terminal computer is accepted. A communication method characterized by the above.

Images