EP1076889B1 - Speicherung und wiederauffindung von information - Google Patents

Speicherung und wiederauffindung von information Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1076889B1
EP1076889B1 EP99920969A EP99920969A EP1076889B1 EP 1076889 B1 EP1076889 B1 EP 1076889B1 EP 99920969 A EP99920969 A EP 99920969A EP 99920969 A EP99920969 A EP 99920969A EP 1076889 B1 EP1076889 B1 EP 1076889B1
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Prior art keywords
nodes
node
locality
indexing
information
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EP99920969A
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English (en)
French (fr)
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EP1076889A1 (de
Inventor
Richard John Titmuss
Alan Richard Brookland
Delphine Plasse
Robert Peter Moore
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British Telecommunications PLC
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British Telecommunications PLC
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Priority claimed from GBGB9809600.1A external-priority patent/GB9809600D0/en
Application filed by British Telecommunications PLC filed Critical British Telecommunications PLC
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G08—SIGNALLING
    • G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
    • G08G1/00—Traffic control systems for road vehicles
    • G08G1/09—Arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions
    • G08G1/0962—Arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages

Definitions

  • This invention relates to the location-dependent storage and retrieval of information.
  • the invention also relates to apparatus and methods for transmitting information to mobile and roaming users in a telecommunications system. see, for example, EP 0 436 263 and EP 0 798 539.
  • a given user is associated with a given telecommunications terminal (e.g. a conventional telephone, or a computer with a modem, or a facsimile unit).
  • a given telecommunications terminal e.g. a conventional telephone, or a computer with a modem, or a facsimile unit.
  • users have become mobile.
  • other types of portable terminal include pagers (either tone pagers or message pagers which can receive short textual messages and display them); so called “personal digital assistants" (PDA's) and portable facsimile or computer units adapted to communicate via cellular networks using dedicated modems. Users may also move to and from fixed terminals.
  • PDA's personal digital assistants
  • portable facsimile or computer units adapted to communicate via cellular networks using dedicated modems. Users may also move to and from fixed terminals.
  • the volume and types of formats of information which can be transmitted is increasing, and new, so called "multi-media" formats, consisting of single sets of information presented in multiple media (such as for example image, text and audio files) are entering use.
  • multi-media formats consisting of single sets of information presented in multiple media (such as for example image, text and audio files) are entering use.
  • An increasing volume of such information is available via the World Wide Web ("the Web").
  • the telecommunications channels through which information is delivered comprise channels of varying bandwidth, including optical fibre links; coaxial copper links; conventional subscriber telephone lines; infra-red local area networks; and radio frequency channels.
  • radio frequency channels especially are used for mobile communications, although in certain areas infra red links are possible.
  • radio frequency channels which are used in mobile communications generally have available the lowest bandwidth due to demands on the RF spectrum and to the channel conditions within the RF spectrum. Thus the amount of information which a mobile user on a radio frequency link can currently receive and select from is relatively limited.
  • European patent application EP-A-0718784 describes a system for retrieving information based on a user-defined profile.
  • a server acting on behalf of the client identifies information on the basis of the user-defined profile, to generate a personalised newspaper which is delivered to the user.
  • This provides for an automatic sorting of the large volume of data available on the World Wide Web to generate a subset of the information available which is tailored to a users specific interest.
  • the system is only used for providing a personalised newspaper delivered in electronic form to a static user.
  • International patent publication No WO93/01665 describes a telecommunications system in which mobile users are able to receive localised information data from base stations in the system.
  • Each base station is provided with a localised information database, containing information pertaining to the local area, which can be received by a mobile user being served by the base station on request.
  • the user is able to download selected portions of the information contained in the localised information database by stating selections on a mobile terminal.
  • the amount of information available to the user is limited to that stored in the localised information database.
  • all mobile users in a cell receive the same information, and the information is localised only to the extent that the base stations are separated.
  • the model proposed is a flexible addressing system based on a tree-like nodal network, representing a distributed database.
  • routing information is provided by nodes within the network. If a node receives a request for routing information, it first checks a database local to the node to determine whether the requested information is present. If not, the request is passed to a parent of the node. If the information is present, the routing request may be passed to a destination child node whereby eventually the address required is found.
  • the system is implemented in order to allow disassociation between the address of a mobile user, and the routing information whereby the address may be accessed.
  • the second localities may on the one hand be a locality of interest, where information is to be retrieved, or on the other hand, a locality of pertinence, where the information is to be stored.
  • a method of storing location-based information comprising: defining a plurality of indexing nodes each of which is responsible for a predefined locality, said plurality of nodes including a higher level node responsible for a larger locality and lower level nodes responsible for smaller localities which overlap said larger locality, indexing references to information sources containing locality-specific information at said indexing nodes, different information source references being indexed at said higher level node than at said lower level nodes; and transmitting said references from said data access nodes on request, characterised by the step of distributing said indexing nodes amongst a distributed network of data storage devices accessible simultaneously for users at a plurality of remote user terminals.
  • a method of storing location-based information comprising: defining a plurality of indexing nodes each of which is responsible for a predefined locality; indexing references to information sources containing locality-specific information at said indexing nodes, one or more of such references being repeatedly indexed at different of said nodes; and transmitting said references from said data access nodes on request, characterised by the step of distributing said indexing nodes amongst a distributed network of data storage devices accessible simultaneously for users at a plurality of remote user terminals.
  • a method of retrieving information for presentation to a user comprising: defining a locality of interest to the user in dependence on both a location of the user and a speed of travel of the user, and selecting indexing nodes from which locality-specific information may be retrieved, on the basis of the defined locality of interest, characterised by the step of distributing said indexing nodes amongst a distributed network of data storage devices accessible simultaneously for users at a plurality of remote user terminals.
  • relatively remote locations of interest which are predicted to be of interest to the user on the basis of the user's speed may be included in the locality of interest.
  • the invention according to claim 25 provides apparatus for storing location-based information, said apparatus comprising means for storing indexing data defining indexing nodes which are referentially interlinked, each said indexing node being provisioned with a locality for which it is responsible, and means for comparing the size of an input locality in relation to which information storage is to be accessed and a locality for which a said indexing node is responsible, characterised by the step of distributing said indexing nodes amongst a distributed network of data storage devices accessible simultaneously for users at a plurality of remote user terminals.
  • the telecommunications environment of a user U1 in a particular locality comprises a cellular telephone, or a personal digital assistant, T1 which may include a Global Positioning System Receiver and which is carried by the user; a facsimile apparatus T2 and conventional telephone T3; and a computer workstation T4.
  • the various terminals T1-T4 are each capable of receiving different signal formats, as follows:
  • a public land mobile network (PLMN) (e.g. a GSM - compatible digital cellular network) N1 is connected via a base station B1 of the PLMN and a radio interface to terminal T1.
  • the base station B1 provides a cell in the environment of the area within which the user U1 is located.
  • a public switched telephone network (PSTN) N2 is connected via a local line to terminal T3, and via a local line to terminal T4.
  • PSTN public switched telephone network
  • a local area network (LAN) N3, including a LAN server is connected via a data link to terminal T3. Further terminals T6-T9 (not shown) at different distances from the user are also connected in the LAN.
  • the user U1 carries an identifying device interacting with a location update device via which his position within the telecommunications environment may be tracked.
  • the identifying device comprises a chip carrying card or "smart card” carrying data identifying the user, and some or all of the terminals T1-T4 carrying a location update device in the form of a card reader arranged to read the card.
  • the terminals T1-T4 carrying a location update device in the form of a card reader arranged to read the card.
  • it could comprise a 'smart badge' transponder, the location of which is tracked automatically.
  • the terminals T1-T4 may carry such smart card readers to signal tracking information via the networks to which they are connected. Additional smart card readers are installed at access points to a building or area, and are connected, for example to the LAN N3, to signal a user's location.
  • the terminal T1 comprises, in addition to cellphone communicating components, a location update device in the form of a global positioning system (GPS) receiver and is arranged to derive and signal its position, speed and direction from a GPS satellite S1 periodically as disclosed in EP 0467651 (Motorola).
  • GPS global positioning system
  • the cellphone T1 could perform positioning additionally using a land-based positioning signal, such as by differential GPS positioning, or purely using land-based positioning signals, such as differential GSM triangulation signals as described in WO 96/35306 (Telecom Securicor).
  • the terminal T1 signals the user's location, speed and direction via PLMN N1.
  • the position of the user U1 is signalled by one or more of several means; firstly, it may be signalled from the terminal at which he has logged in, for example by password and/or by the insertion of his smart card; secondly, his geographical position may be signalled from a positioning signal receiver; and thirdly, his position within a building or area may be signalled from the access system. His speed and direction may also be signalled from the positioning signal receiver.
  • the user can communicate his location by calling using T1 or T2, in which case he may be identified by Calling Line Identity (CLI).
  • CLI Calling Line Identity
  • Each of the networks N1-N3 is connected, via gateways G1-G3 respectively, to a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, consisting of packet switches PS interconnected by high speed data links, such as asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) links.
  • WAN wide area network
  • ATM synchronous transfer mode
  • the WAN provides connections, via the packet switches PS, to distributed information servers, such as Web servers WS, containing multi-media information sources, such as Web pages.
  • distributed information servers such as Web servers WS
  • the WAN also provides access to distributed processing environment (DPE) Servers DS, which are connected to and distributed between the packet switches PS of the WAN.
  • DPE distributed processing environment
  • the DPE Servers DS provide a distributed processing environment (DPE) which supports the interaction of software objects.
  • the communication between the objects may be handled by object request brokers (ORBs), such as provided by the object management group's common object request broker architecture (CORBA).
  • ORBs object request brokers
  • CORBA common object request broker architecture
  • the DPE Servers DS provide for persistent storage of the software objects held therein. This may be provided for example by ObjectStore's PSE (persistent storage engine) PRO (trademark).
  • Each of the DPE Servers DS stores intelligent software agents, as discussed in further detail below.
  • agent has in the past been used with a number of different senses; here, except where the context makes it clear that this is unnecessarily limiting, it will be understood to mean an independently executing control program under control of which a computer or computer controlled switching centre performs the functions attributed to the "agent".
  • the term is not necessarily limited to control programs which monitor their environment and adapt their behaviour and response thereto, but encompasses such programs.
  • Each agent makes use of data, and it is convenient that the agents should therefore operate in "object-oriented” fashion; that is to say, that the data should be “encapsulated” so as to be accessible and alterable only by associated control programs, acting in response to "messages” (which need not, however, be physically transmitted but could simply be data passed via the stack of a single computer).
  • the agents are embodied by a mobile agent software system, such as IBM's "Aglets” (trademark) system, ObjectSpace's “Voyager” (trademark) system or suchlike. A discussion of mobile agents may also be found in "Mobile Agents", Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Rothermal K.ffy-Zeletin Eds., First Int. Workshop, MA '97, Berlin, April 1997.
  • the agents Being mobile, the agents are able to access information either remotely, via the data links described, or locally, by moving themselves to the location of the information.
  • the software architecture of the system includes a location updater object class 2, a terminal agent object class 4, a personal agent object class 6, an information agent object class 8 and a location index object class 10.
  • Each user in the system has a personal agent operating in the system on its behalf.
  • Each information source in the system has at least one information agent operating in the system on its behalf.
  • Each location update device in the system has a location updater object operating in the system on its behalf and to which its location updating signals are transmitted.
  • Each terminal in the system has a terminal agent operating in the system on its behalf through which the terminal interacts with the distributed processing environment.
  • a location indexing network has location index objects operating on its behalf.
  • Each agent and each of the location index objects includes a software code which is stored in the system.
  • the relative locations of the agents within the system is not critical, since the agents are accessible by means of the networks N1-N3.
  • at least some of the terminal agents 4 may be located on the respective terminals they represent and the location updaters may be held on a DPE server DS at the point of receipt of the location updating information sent via one of the networks N1-N3.
  • the personal agents 6 and information agents 8 may be located on DPE servers holding the respective nodes of the location index with which they are interacting, as will be described in further detail below.
  • Each personal agent has data storage attributes for storing the following data:
  • the personal agent 6 interfaces with each of the location index, information agents 8, terminal agents 4 and location updater 2 as will be described below.
  • the information agent has data storage attributes for storing an item details object for the information source, to be described further below.
  • the terminal agent 4 has attributes for containing the following data:
  • the location updater 2 has data storage attributes for containing the following data:
  • Each location index object derived from the location index object class 10 forms a node of an indexing network, interconnected with related nodes of the indexing network.
  • Each node of the index has a locality index for storing item details objects to be indexed on a locality basis, and a name index for storing item details objects and pointers to item details objects to be indexed by the name of the agent concerned.
  • each node is provided with the following set and stored attributes:
  • Location index objects having different, and in particular spaced, localities of responsibility are stored on different of the DPE servers DS to allow very large scale scalability, by having a large number of DPE servers each handling a fraction of the data storage and retrieval operations of the system.
  • new nodes are created at a particular level, and their attributes are set in accordance with data specified by a party responsible for the indexing network itself, as illustrated in Figure 3.
  • the new nodes are instantiated, step 100.
  • the new nodes are then defined within the indexing network by setting their locality of responsibility (LOR), step 102, setting their level within the network, step 104, and setting the relationships of the new node and setting references to the new node in the previously existing nodes in accordance with their relationship within the network, step 106.
  • the relationships are set by a new node querying its parent for the various adjacent relations which include contenders for relations of the new node.
  • the LORs of the nodes returned by the parent are analysed by the new node in order to decide whether to connect to them, in which case the new node stores the adjacent node in its relations database. It also informs the related node of its presence in order to establish reciprocal connections.
  • An indexing node network is constructed by functionality provided in the location index object class by use of the following rules set:
  • the indexing network includes a root node 110 which has a locality of responsibility corresponding to the entire geographical coverage of the indexing network, illustrated in Figure 4B as outer rectangle 112.
  • the network level of the root node 110 is 1.
  • the root node 110 only has children relationships.
  • the child nodes 114 each have a locality of responsibility which forms a subset of the locality of responsibility of the root node 110, illustrated by inner rectangles 116 in Figure 48.
  • the child nodes are created using rule 2 described above applied to the root node 110.
  • one of the child nodes 114D may be split to provide further child nodes 118A-D, which are grandchildren of the root node 110.
  • the new child nodes 118A-D have localities of responsibility which form sub-localities 120A-D of the locality of responsibility 116D of their immediate parent node 114D, and consequently also form sub-localities of the locality of responsibility 112 of the higher level node 110.
  • the relationships of the new nodes 118A-D are set by defining sibling relationships between each of the new nodes 118A-D, parent/child relationships with the parent node 114D, and, where the localities of responsibility 120A-D of the new nodes 118A-D are adjacent to the localities of responsibility of higher nodes in the network, uncle/nephew relations are set by references to those higher level nodes 114A-C. These uncle/nephew relationships are set in accordance with rule 3 above.
  • a node 114C adjacent to the previously split node 114D may also be split to produce four new children nodes 118E-H.
  • These new children nodes have localities of responsibility which are set to be sub-localities of the locality of responsibillity 116C of their immediate parent node 114C.
  • Their level in the network is set at 3, in accordance with rule 2 above.
  • Their relationships within the indexing network include parent/child relationships with the parent node 114C, uncle/nephew relationships with nodes 114A, B, D at the same level as their parent node 114C and sibling relationships between each of the new nodes 118E-H.
  • new nodes 118E-H which have localities of responsibility 120F, H which adjoin the localities of responsibility of the previously created nodes 118A, C at the same level are defined to have cousin relationships with those previously created nodes, in accordance with rule 6 above.
  • parent/child relationships are illustrated with bold, solid, arrowed lines.
  • Sibling relationships are illustrated with solid, arrowed lines.
  • Uncle/nephew relationships are illustrated with closely spaced dashed, arrowed lines.
  • Cousin relationships are illustrated with spaced dashed, arrowed lines.
  • Figures 4 to 6 illustrate the principle of construction, and the division of the localities of responsibility of an indexing network, by means of nodes at a plurality of levels below the root node level.
  • the localities of responsibility for nodes defined at each next lower level becoming progressively smaller, such that the indexed information, to be described below, at each node becomes increasingly location-specific.
  • This structure allows agents interacting with the indexing network to index information at a certain level of location specificity, and to obtain information at a certain level of location specificity, to thereby provide a level of detail appropriate to the information storage act or information retrieval act being performed.
  • Figure 7 is a flow chart illustrating the functionality provided at each node, by the location index object class, for allowing information agents to index location-specific data in the nodal network.
  • Each information source has a node in the indexing network with which the information agent is set to interact, referred to herein as a gateway node.
  • the information agent transmits an advertise-in-locality request to its gateway node, passing across its item details object with the advertise request.
  • the node When an advertise-in-locality request is received, by a node, step 200, the node applies a heuristic function method to the LOP in the passed item details object, to determine whether the LOP intersects with its locality of responsibility of the node, step 202. If there is no intersection, the node passes the request, along with the item details object, to its parent node; step 204.
  • the node proceeds to apply a further heuristic function to determine whether the LOP of the information source and the LOR of the node are similar in size, step 206.
  • similar in size includes a range of similarity in size, which is dependent primarily on the interval in size between the LORs of nodes at different levels in the indexing network.
  • the similarity function may be arranged such that the size of the LOP may range from midway between the size of the node's LOR and the size of the LOR of the parent node down to midway between the size of the node's LOR and the size of the LOR of the child node of the node in question in order for the LOP and LOR to be considered similar in size.
  • the range in size for which the information source's LOP is considered to be similar in size to that of the node's LOR could range from of the order of twice the size of the LOR down to of the order of half of the size of the LOR.
  • the advertise request along with the item details object, is passed to each of the node's children which have an LOR intersecting with the LOP of the request, step 210. If no children currently exist for the node, the items details are indexed at the current node, to be passed down if the node subsequently divides.
  • the request is passed to the parent of the node, step 212.
  • the parent node has a locality of responsibility which includes that of the upwardly passing node, the parent node, or other parent nodes higher up in the indexing network will be able to accept the advertise-in-locality request.
  • step 206 If in step 206 the locality of pertinence and the locality of relevance are found to be similar in size by the node receiving the advertise request, the node places the item details object in its locality index, to be stored for future retrieval by personal agents interacting with the indexing network, step 214.
  • the item details object for an information source contains an attribute which specifies a propagation characteristic of the information. Namely, this propagation attribute specifies whether the advertise request is to be propagated to a level below the level at which the LOP and LOR are similar in size, and if so, the number of levels to which the item details are to be propagated.
  • this propagation attribute specifies whether the advertise request is to be propagated to a level below the level at which the LOP and LOR are similar in size, and if so, the number of levels to which the item details are to be propagated.
  • the item details are provided with one of the following possible propagation categories:
  • information such as health and safety notices for a building may be defined with a locality of pertinence corresponding with the whole area of the building, and a bounded-propagate property, such that the item details for the information source will be passed down the indexing network until a node covering a more specific locality, such as for example a laboratory room, at which more specific health and safety instructions are required.
  • notices regarding the opening times of a building may be defined to have a locality of pertinence corresponding with that of the building, and with a propagate fully property, so that such a notice is passed down to all nodes having localities of responsibility within the building.
  • high level information such as the location of the building in the context of a larger site, may be defined with a locality of pertinence equal to that of the building, and a normal category, so that the information is only accessible at nodes having localities of responsibility which are relatively large.
  • the item details are propagated down the indexing network in accordance with the specified propagation characteristics, steps 216 and 218.
  • step 220 the node initially in receipt of the advertise request checks the localities of responsibility of its related nodes which have adjacent localities of responsibility, in order to determine whether the LOP specified in the item details object intersects with the LOR or these adjacent nodes. If so, the node passes the advertise request to the adjacent nodes having intersecting LORs, step 222. These adjacent nodes then proceed to step 206 in the procedure illustrated in Figure 7.
  • the indexing network nodes are populated with item details objects at the appropriate locational specificity.
  • the corresponding information sources may be accessed by personal agents in a location-specific manner in accordance with the procedure illustrated in Figure 8.
  • a personal agent In order to access the indexing network, a personal agent transmits a what-is-here? request to a gateway node in the indexing network with which the personal agent is set to interact, passing across data defining a locality of interest (LOI) of the user for which the personal agent is acting.
  • LOI locality of interest
  • the LOI of the user may be obtained in two ways. First, the user may specify a locality of interest via the terminal which the user is currently using, which is then passed on to the user's personal agent. This locality of interest is not necessarily related to the current location of the user.
  • an LOI may be derived from the tracking information received from a location updater device, via the corresponding location updater object, which provides the current location, speed and direction of travel of the user.
  • the LOI may be derived from each of these parameters.
  • the LOI is defined by default to be centred at the current location of the user, and to have a size equal to the locality of responsibility of the lowest level node in the indexing network which covers the current location of the user, thereby to ensure access to the most location-specific information.
  • the stationary user may however request, via their current terminal, a locality of interest which is larger than this default LOI.
  • the LOI of the stationary user is defined by default to have a circular outline.
  • the speed and direction characteristics signalled by the user's location updater device is used to define the user's LOI differently.
  • the LOI is centred at a point offset from the current location of the user in the direction of travel of the user, the distance increasing with the speed of travel of the user.
  • the size of the locality of interest of the user is also increased, to increase the level of generality of the information derived from the indexing network.
  • the shape of the LOI is altered to extend the LOI to a greater extent in the direction of travel of the user then in a direction normal to the direction of travel.
  • the setting of the LOI of the user is carried out by the user's personal agent, which is continually updated with the user's current location, speed and direction of travel.
  • a location update message is transmitted to the personal agent when the user carrying the location updater device moves a predefined threshold distance since a previous location update.
  • the personal agent proceeds to generate a what-is-here? request when the location of the user has altered a significant degree in relation to the size of the user's current LOI.
  • the receiving node on receipt of the what-is-here? request, applies an intersection function method to the LOI passed in the request, to determine whether the LOI intersects with the LOR of the node, step 302. If there is no intersection, the receiving node passes the request, along with the LOI of the request, to its parent node, step 304. Alternatively, if there is no intersection the node may compare the LOI with the LOR of any related adjacent nodes, passing the request to the best locality match, or passing the request to the parent if no good match is found.
  • the node proceeds to apply a similarity function, such as that described in relation to Figure 7, to determine whether the LOI of the user and the LOR of the node are similar in size, step 306.
  • step 308 it is determined whether the LOR is significantly larger. If so, the what-is-here? request, along with the specified LOI, is passed to each of the node's children which have an LOR intersecting with the LOI of the request, step 310.
  • the LOI is significantly larger in size than the LOR, and the request is passed to the parent of the node, step 312.
  • the parent node has a locality of responsibility which includes that of the upwardly passing node, the parent node, or other parent nodes higher up in the indexing network will be able to accept the what-is-here? request.
  • the receiving node further determines whether the user's LOI intersects with the LORs of its related nodes which exist at the same level in the indexing network, being either sibling nodes or cousin nodes, step 314.
  • the receiving node transmits a what-is-here? request to each of the found adjacent nodes, step 316. These selected nodes return an item details list consisting of the item details objects stored in their locality indexes, step 318. The receiving node then proceeds to construct a full item details list which includes the item details objects from adjacent nodes having LORs which intersect with the LOI specified in the original request, and the item details objects held in its own locality index, step 320.
  • the item details list to be transmitted consists of item details objects held solely in the receiving node's locality index.
  • the personal agent On receipt of an item details list, the personal agent performs its selection algorithm, using the user's preference data, in order to filter out information objects representing information sources which are considered to be of low potential interest to the user, and to produce a shortlist of the remaining information objects which are transmitted to the terminal agents of the terminal currently serving the user, for the presentation of summary information to the user at their terminal.
  • the user On reviewing the summary information, the user is able to select information sources which are of interest, and access information held in the information sources, by means of the system address for the information source specified in the corresponding information object now held in the terminal agent.
  • Information agents may be configured to act on behalf of terminals accessible within the geographical area covered by the indexing network.
  • a personal agent acting on behalf of the user may locate terminals, using a what-is-here? request, to identify terminals accessible in the immediate locality of the user.
  • the information stored in the corresponding item details object representing the terminal may specify the formats of data and transmission protocols accepted by the terminal, thereby allowing the personal agent to select a terminal appropriate for a particular type or format of information to be received by the user.
  • each personal agent is provided with an item details object to pass over to the indexing network for indexing at an appropriate level.
  • the item details object for the personal agent include the following data storage attributes:
  • the personal agent transmits an advertise-in-locality request containing the item details object to the personal agent is gateway node, which then proceeds with the steps described in relation to Figure 7 in order to index the user's personal item details object within the indexing network.
  • the indexing network is provided with a name index, consisting of individual databases distributed between the nodes of the network.
  • a name index consisting of individual databases distributed between the nodes of the network.
  • an agent transmits an advertise-by-name request to its gateway node.
  • Figure 9 illustrates the procedure followed by a gateway node in receipt of an advertise-by-name request from an agent previously not indexed in the system.
  • the agent passes its current item details object to the node.
  • the gateway node stores the passed item details object, in its name index, step 402.
  • a request to add a pointer, associated with a unique name for the agent, is passed to the parent node, step 404.
  • the parent node adds this pointer to its name index, and then passes a similar request to its parent node, which repeats the same until the root node is reached.
  • a reference to the gateway node will be present at a directly related node at each level in the indexing network above the gateway node, at which the agent's item details object is held.
  • step 500 the procedure illustrated in Figure 10 is followed by a node requested to find the agent by name, step 500.
  • the request need only contain the unique name of the agent.
  • step 502 If a reference to the agent identified by the unique name in the find-by-name request is not present in the name index of the node receiving the request, step 502, it passes the request directly to its parent, step 504, which proceeds from step 500.
  • step 506 Once a node in receipt of a find-by-name request does have a reference to the identified agent in its name index, unless the node is the gateway node, step 506, it passes the request to the node immediately below it identified by the pointer held in its name index, step 508. Once the request reaches the gateway node, it returns the system address of the agent to the original requesting party, step 510.
  • Figure 11 illustrates the way in which the name index feature operates.
  • a first agent Ag1 is set with a gateway node at level 2, node 114A.
  • Second, third and fourth agents, Ag2, Ag3 and Ag4 are set with gateway nodes at level 3, nodes 118D, 118A and 118E, respectively.
  • Figure 11 illustrates each of agents Ag1, Ag3 and Ag4 attempting to find a reference to agent Ag2 in the network.
  • Agent Ag3 is set with a gateway node which is a sibling node of the gateway node which agent Ag2 is set to, and the find-by-name request transmitted by agent Ag3 to its gateway node is propagated only to its parent node, at which a pointer to agent Ag2 will be found in the name index of the node.
  • the find-by-name request transmitted by agent Ag1 will be passed from its gateway node, node 114A, to the root node 110, at which point a pointer to the item details object of agent 2 is present in a name index.
  • a find-by-name request transmitted by agent Ag4 to its gateway node, node 118E, will be passed on by that node, and the parent node 114A, in turn, which each do not have references to agent Ag2 within their name indexes.
  • the find-by-name request is then passed down from the root node 110 in accordance with the pointers stored in the name indexes of the handling nodes, until it reaches the gateway node of agent Ag2, which returns the system address of agent Ag2 to agent Ag4.
  • each of the categories of agent which interact directly with the indexing network being the information agent, the personal agent and the terminal agent, are set to communicate with a particular gateway node of the indexing network.
  • the indexing network consists of a distributed network which extends over a plurality of distributed computing nodes, such as the DPE Servers DS described in relation to Figure 1, and since the agents in question may be mobile, a procedure is defined whereby an agent may move and alter the gateway node with which the agent is set to communicate.
  • the gateway node moving procedure may be initiated either by the agent itself or by a node of the indexing network. For example, if an agent detects that response delays in communications with the currently set gateway node have become excessive, the agent may initiate a move to a node having a locality of responsibility which is closer to, or intersecting with, the locality of pertinence or locality of interest of the agent. Alternatively, if a particular node of the indexing network detects overloading, it may instruct certain of the agents currently communicating with the node as a gateway node to move to an adjacent node.
  • Figure 12 illustrates the steps carried out by the gateway node of an agent on receipt of a move-node request from the agent, step 400.
  • the gateway node first determines whether the LOI or LOR of the requesting agent intersects with the LOR of an adjacent node, step 402. If no such intersection exists, the gateway node passes the request to its parent node, step 404.
  • the gateway node passes the move-node request to the most appropriate adjacent node having an LOR which intersects with the LOP or LOI of the requesting agent.
  • step 700 when a particular node receives a move-node request for an agent from another node, step 700, the receiving node first determines whether the agent specified in the move-node request is advertising within the indexing network by name, step 702. This information will be found in the item details object passed with the move-node request, which item details object contains a flag indicating whether or not the agent is advertising-by-name.
  • the receiving node places the item details object within its own name index, step 704.
  • the receiving node must also initiate a process whereby the name indexes of other nodes are updated, step 706.
  • the receiving node follows the following rules when updating the name indexes of other nodes:
  • the receiving node applies the intersection function to determine whether the locality passed in the request intersects with the LOR of the receiving node, step 708. This is not necessarily the case, if the request was received from a child node. If no intersection is present, the move-node request is passed on to a more appropriate node, which is determined as per step 602 described in relation to Figure 12, step 710.
  • the receiving node applies a size similarity function to determine whether the locality passed in the move-node request is similar in size to its own LOR, step 712. If not, the node determines whether its LOR is significantly larger than the passed locality, step 714, and if so it passes the move-node request to a child node with an intersecting LOR, step 716. Otherwise, the move-node request is passed upwards to the parent node, step 718.
  • the requesting agent is informed of the system address of the new node with which the agent is now set to communicate, step 720.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)
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Claims (26)

  1. Verfahren zum Speichern und/oder Wiedergewinnen von ortsbasierten Informationen, wobei das Verfahren umfaßt:
    Speichern von Indexierungsdaten, die mehrere Indexierungsknoten (110, 114, 118) definieren, die jeweils unterschiedliche von mehreren ersten Orten (112, 116, 120), in bezug auf die auf einen Informationsspeicher zugegriffen werden kann, repräsentieren; und
    Auswählen eines der Indexierungsknoten (110, 114, 118), um zweite Orte (112, 116, 120) zu repräsentieren, für die Informationen gespeichert und/oder wiedergewonnen werden sollen, derart, daß:
    i) die ersten und zweiten Orte (112, 116, 120) eine vorgegebene räumliche Beziehung haben; und
    ii) die ersten und zweiten Orte (112, 116, 120) eine vorgegebene Größenbeziehung haben,
       gekennzeichnet durch den Schritt des Verteilens der Indexierungsknoten auf ein verteiltes Netz von Datenspeichervorrichtungen (DS, WS), auf die Anwender (U1) an mehreren entfernten Anwenderendgeräten (T1, T2, T3, T4) gleichzeitig zugreifen können.
  2. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, bei dem die ersten Orte in der Weise ausgewählt werden, daß die ersten und zweiten Orte (112, 116, 120) wenigstens einen geographischen Ort gemeinsam haben.
  3. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1 oder 2, bei dem die ersten Orte in der Weise ausgewählt werden, daß die ersten und zweiten Orte eine ähnliche Größe besitzen.
  4. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, 2 oder 3, bei dem die Daten Zugriffsknoten definieren, die einen Knoten (110), der einen verhältnismäßig großen Ort (112) repräsentiert, und einen oder mehrere Knoten (114, 118), die einen oder mehrere in dem relativ großen Ort (112) überlappende, verhältnismäßig kleine Orte (116, 120) repräsentieren, umfassen.
  5. Verfahren nach Anspruch 4, bei dem mehrere der Knoten, die verhältnismäßig kleine Orte (116, 120) repräsentieren, Unterteilungen des verhältnismäßig großen Ortes (112) bilden.
  6. Verfahren zum Speichern von ortsbasierten Informationen, wobei das Verfahren umfaßt:
    Definieren mehrerer Indexierungsknoten (110, 114, 118), wovon jeder für einen im voraus definierten Ort (112, 116, 120) zuständig ist, wobei die mehreren Knoten einen Knoten (110) höherer Ebene, der für einen größeren Ort (112) zuständig ist, sowie Knoten niedrigerer Ebene (114, 118), die für in dem größeren Ort (112) überlappende, kleinere Orte (116, 120) zuständig sind, umfassen,
    Indexieren von Bezugnahmen auf Informationsquellen, die ortsspezifische Informationen enthalten, bei den Indexierungsknoten (110, 114, 118), wobei unterschiedliche Informationsquellen-Bezugnahmen bei den Knoten (110) höherer Ebene statt bei den Knoten (114, 118) niedrigerer Ebene indexiert werden; und
    Senden der Bezugnahmen von den Indexierungsknoten (110, 114, 118) auf Anforderung,
       gekennzeichnet durch den Schritt, bei dem die Indexierungsknoten (110, 114, 118) auf ein verteiltes Netz von Datenspeichervorrichtungen (DS, WS) verteilt werden, auf die von Anwendern (U1) an mehreren entfernten Anwenderendgeräten (T1, T2, T3, T4) gleichzeitig zugegriffen werden kann.
  7. Verfahren nach Anspruch 6, bei dem wenigstens eine Informationsquellen-Bezugnahme auf den Knoten (110) höherer Ebene und auf den Knoten (114, 118) niedrigerer Ebene gemeinsam indexiert wird.
  8. Verfahren zum Speichern von ortsbasierten Informationen, wobei das Verfahren umfaßt:
    Definieren mehrerer Indexierungsknoten (110, 114, 118), wovon jeder für einen vorgegebenen Ort (112, 116, 120) verantwortlich ist;
    Indexieren von Bezugnahmen auf Informationsquellen, die ortsspezifische Informationen enthalten, bei den Indexierungsknoten (110, 114, 118), wobei eine oder mehrere derartige Bezugnahmen an unterschiedlichen der Knoten wiederholt indexiert werden; und
    Senden der Bezugnahmen von den Indexierungsknoten auf Anforderung,
       gekennzeichnet durch den Schritt, bei dem die Indexierungsknoten (110, 114, 118) auf ein verteiltes Netz von Datenspeichervorrichtungen (DS, WS) verteilt werden, auf die von Anwendern an mehreren entfernten Anwenderendgeräten (T1, T2, T3, T4) gleichzeitig zugegriffen werden kann.
  9. Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 4 bis 8, bei dem die Knoten (110, 114, 118) in einer Netzstruktur verknüpft sind.
  10. Verfahren nach Anspruch 9, bei dem die Netzstruktur eine hierarchische Struktur ist.
  11. Verfahren nach Anspruch 10, bei dem die Knoten (110, 114, 118) in Eltern/Kind-Beziehungen verknüpft sind.
  12. Verfahren nach Anspruch 10 oder 11, bei dem die Knoten (110, 114, 118) in Geschwister-Beziehungen verknüpft sind.
  13. Verfahren nach Anspruch 10, 11 oder 12, bei dem die Knoten (110, 114, 118) in Onkel/Neffen-Beziehungen verknüpft sind.
  14. Verfahren nach Anspruch 10, 11, 12 oder 13, bei dem die Knoten (110, 114, 118) in Cousin/Cousin-Beziehungen verknüpft sind.
  15. Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 11 bis 14, bei dem die Verknüpfung einen Knoten umfaßt, der eine Bezugnahme hält, durch die auf den verwandten Knoten zugegriffen werden kann.
  16. Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 4 bis 15, das das Verändern einer Verteilung der Knoten auf die Datenspeichervorrichtungen umfaßt.
  17. Vorrichtung zum Speichern von ortsbasierten Informationen in Übereinstimmung mit dem Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 1 bis 16.
  18. Verfahren zum Wiedergewinnen von Informationen, um sie einem Anwender zu präsentieren, wobei das Verfahren umfaßt:
    Definieren eines interessierenden Ortes für den Anwender in Abhängigkeit sowohl vom Ort des Anwenders (U1) als auch von der Bewegungsgeschwindigkeit des Anwenders (U1); und
    Auswählen von Indexierungsknoten (110, 114, 118), aus denen ortsspezifische Informationen wiedergewonnen werden können, auf der Grundlage des definierten interessierenden Ortes,
       gekennzeichnet durch den Schritt des Verteilens der Indexierungsknoten (110, 114, 118) auf ein verteiltes Netz aus Datenspeichervorrichtungen (DS, WS), auf die von Anwendern (U1) an mehreren entfernten Anwenderendgeräten (T1, T2, T3, T4) gleichzeitig zugegriffen werden kann.
  19. Verfahren nach Anspruch 18, bei dem die Erstreckung des interessierenden Ortes des Anwenders (U1) in Abhängigkeit von der Bewegungsgeschwindigkeit geändert wird.
  20. Verfahren nach Anspruch 19, bei dem die Erstreckung des interessierenden Ortes mit der Bewegungsgeschwindigkeit zunimmt.
  21. Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 18 bis 20, bei dem der interessierende Ort in Abhängigkeit von der Bewegungsrichtung des Anwenders geändert wird.
  22. Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 18 bis 21, das das Ableiten von auf die Bewegung des Anwenders bezogenen Parametern aus einem mit dem Anwender sich bewegenden Positionssignalempfänger umfaßt.
  23. Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 18 bis 22, das das Ausführen der Auswahl in der Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 17 umfaßt.
  24. Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 1 bis 16 oder 18 bis 23, bei dem das Netz aus Datenspeichervorrichtungen mehrere Server umfaßt, die durch Datenverknüpfungen miteinander verbunden sind und eine verteilte Verarbeitungsumgebung bilden.
  25. Vorrichtung zum Speichern von ortsbasierten Informationen, die Mittel zum Speichern von Indexierungsdaten, die Indexierungsknoten (110, 114, 188) definieren, die referentiell verknüpft sind, wobei der Indexierungsknoten mit einem Ort (112, 116, 120) versehen wird, für den er zuständig ist, und Mittel zum Vergleichen der Größe eines eingegebenen Ortes, in bezug auf den auf den Informationsspeicher zugegriffen werden soll, und eines Ortes, für den der Indexierungsknoten zuständig ist, umfaßt,
       dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Indexierungsknoten auf ein verteiltes Netz von Datenspeichervorrichtungen (DS, WS) verteilt sind, auf die von Anwendern (U1) an mehreren entfernten Anwenderendgeräten (T1, T2, T3, T4) gleichzeitig zugegriffen werden kann.
  26. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 25, wobei die Vorrichtung durch die Hinzufügung oder die Entfernung eines oder mehrerer der Indexierungsknoten (110, 114, 118) neu konfiguriert werden kann, um die Zuständigkeit von oder zu einem oder mehreren anderen Knoten zu übertragen, wobei die Zuständigkeitsorte wenigstens einen geographischen Ort gemeinsam haben.
EP99920969A 1998-05-05 1999-05-05 Speicherung und wiederauffindung von information Expired - Lifetime EP1076889B1 (de)

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EP99920969A EP1076889B1 (de) 1998-05-05 1999-05-05 Speicherung und wiederauffindung von information
PCT/GB1999/001394 WO1999057700A1 (en) 1998-05-05 1999-05-05 Storage and retrieval of information

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JP2003523565A (ja) * 1999-12-29 2003-08-05 グローリキアン，ハリー・エイ クライアントの旅行者を地理的に関連するデータに接続するインターネットシステム
US6505123B1 (en) 2000-07-24 2003-01-07 Weatherbank, Inc. Interactive weather advisory system
US6836730B2 (en) 2000-07-24 2004-12-28 Weatherbank, Inc. Interactive weather advisory system
US20060161469A1 (en) 2005-01-14 2006-07-20 Weatherbank, Inc. Interactive advisory system
US8832121B2 (en) 2005-02-02 2014-09-09 Accuweather, Inc. Location-based data communications system and method
US8229467B2 (en) 2006-01-19 2012-07-24 Locator IP, L.P. Interactive advisory system
US8634814B2 (en) 2007-02-23 2014-01-21 Locator IP, L.P. Interactive advisory system for prioritizing content

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GB9606739D0 (en) * 1996-03-29 1996-06-05 British Telecomm Telecommunications apparatus and method
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EP1076889A1 (de) 2001-02-21

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