JP2001237899A - Data communication control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a data communication control method by which a wait time after a user requests information until the user receives the information can be reduced in the case of transferring data information between a plurality of different area networks. SOLUTION: Frequency information as to each of transmission information sets is managed, and after a transmission terminal transmits initial information from a reception terminal, the reception terminal selects specific transmission information as object information on the basis of the frequency information and the reception terminal transfers the object information to one terminal included in an area network in which the reception terminal is contained before the reception terminal transmits a request with respect to the transmission information other than the initial information, and when the reception terminal receives the transmission information other than the initial information, the reception terminal confirms whether the received information has already been received by the reception terminal itself or the terminal in the area network to which the reception terminal belongs as the object information and when the information going to be received by the reception terminal has already been received as the object information, the reception terminal stops the transmission of a transmission request and acquires the object information in the area network.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a data communication control method for controlling a communication system in which a plurality of regional networks are connected to each other via a backbone network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, in a wide area network communication system, a plurality of regional networks are connected to each other via a backbone network, and terminals belonging to each regional network are connected to terminals belonging to other regional networks. Can be accessed. In this type of communication system, for example, IP packets and ATM packets are transferred as data.

[0003] Recently, with the spread of the Internet, I / Os transferred on a wide area network communication system have been developed.
The data amount of P packets and ATM packets is increasing in geometric progression. By the way, for example, browsing information of a so-called homepage on the Internet is generally configured in a hierarchical manner. A specific top page, which is an initial screen, is assigned to the top of the hierarchy, and information of a plurality of pages is sequentially assigned in a tree shape to the hierarchy below the top page.

When a user accesses a homepage, the user first accesses a specific top page located at the top of the hierarchy of the browsing information. Then, after the user actually browses the top page, the user sequentially accesses the lower hierarchical pages linked to the top page by the user's judgment and input operation (usually clicking with a mouse operation). Become.

[0005] In this case, the access means transmits a request from a terminal (reception terminal) operated by a user to a server device (transmission terminal) holding specific browsing information, and transmits the request from the server device to the terminal of the user. Means downloading the data. Therefore, when the receiving terminal and the transmitting terminal belong to different regional networks, it is necessary to transfer data between a plurality of regional networks each time a user accesses.

[0006]

In an actual communication system, after a user browses a top page belonging to an arbitrary homepage on the Internet, the user browses a lower hierarchical page linked to the top page. If you do, it may take a long time before the next page is displayed. Such a delay occurs because it takes time to complete data transmission between the receiving terminal and the transmitting terminal.

For example, when the distance between the receiving terminal and the transmitting terminal is physically large, the above-described delay occurs. However, congestion occurs particularly on a backbone network connecting a plurality of regional networks. In some cases, even greater delays occur. Since each regional network includes a plurality of terminals, if the data transfer speed in the regional network is high and each terminal is transferring a large amount of information via the trunk network, the local network is Congestion is likely to occur.

For example, in the case of a communication system in which a wide area network is configured using an optical router, the communication speed in the local network may be the same as the communication speed of the backbone network, and congestion occurs on the backbone network. It's easy to do. The present invention can reduce the waiting time from when a user requests information to when the user receives information when transferring data between a plurality of different regional networks using the communication system as described above. It is an object to provide a data communication control method.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a communication system in which a plurality of regional networks accommodating a plurality of terminals are connected to each other via a backbone network.
A plurality of transmission information that can be transmitted by at least one transmission terminal provided in at least one regional network is hierarchically formed, and the transmission information is transmitted from the transmission terminal in response to a request from one reception terminal included in one regional network. In the data communication control method for transmitting the transmission information toward the receiving terminal and transmitting the transmission information located at the top of the hierarchy as initial information for the first request from the receiving terminal, For each of the plurality of pieces of transmission information that can be transmitted by the transmitting terminal, frequency information corresponding to the number of times a request has been received from the receiving terminal in the past is managed, and the transmitting terminal responds to the initial request from the receiving terminal by the initial request. After transmitting the information, based on the frequency information, a specific outgoing information that is likely to be requested next by the receiving terminal is selected as candidate information, Before the receiving terminal transmits a request for outgoing information other than the initial information to the transmitting terminal, the candidate information is transferred to any one of the terminals included in the regional network in which the receiving terminal is accommodated, When the receiving terminal receives outgoing information other than the initial information, the outgoing information to be received is already received as the candidate information by the receiving terminal itself or any terminal in the regional network to which the receiving terminal belongs. It is checked whether or not the transmission information to be received by the receiving terminal has already been received as the candidate information, the transmission of the transmission request to the transmitting terminal is stopped, and the It is characterized in that candidate information is obtained and provided to a user.

In the first aspect, frequency information according to the number of times a request has been received from a receiving terminal in the past is always managed for each of a plurality of pieces of transmission information that can be transmitted by a transmitting terminal. As in the conventional case, when the first request from the receiving terminal is input to the transmitting terminal, the transmitting terminal transmits the transmission information located at the top of the hierarchy to the receiving terminal as initial information. Usually, the initial information received by the receiving terminal is displayed on the screen, so the user of the receiving terminal browses the displayed initial information screen and, if necessary, displays the information on the next screen on the screen. Click the position of the desired link information. By this input operation, a transmission request for specific transmission information located lower in the hierarchy than the initial information corresponding to the next screen assigned to the link information is transmitted from the receiving terminal to the transmitting terminal.

According to the first aspect, before the receiving terminal requests outgoing information other than the initial information by the user's input operation for the second time or later, the candidate of the outgoing information is automatically sent to the local network on the receiving terminal side. Will be transferred. That is, in the regional network on the transmitting terminal side, specific outgoing information that is likely to be requested by the receiving terminal is selected as candidate information, and this candidate information is selected from any one of the regional networks in which the receiving terminal is accommodated. Transfer to terminal.

[0012] Of the plurality of pieces of transmission information, information having a large number of transmission requests received in the past is highly likely to be requested again by the current user after browsing the screen of the initial information. You can choose. That is, candidate information is automatically selected based on the managed frequency information. The destination when the candidate information is transferred may be the receiving terminal itself, another specific terminal in the regional network including the receiving terminal, or a base station that manages the regional network.

Therefore, when the receiving terminal receives outgoing information other than the initial information, before transmitting the transmission request to the transmitting terminal, the outgoing information to be received is regarded as the candidate information as the receiving terminal itself. Alternatively, it is confirmed whether or not any of the terminals in the regional network to which the receiving terminal belongs has already been received. Then, when the transmission information to be received by the receiving terminal has already been received as the candidate information, necessary information exists at a position closer to the receiving terminal than the transmitting terminal. The transmission of the transmission request is stopped, and the candidate information in the regional network is obtained and provided to the user.

According to the first aspect, while the user is browsing arbitrary outgoing information such as initial information on the receiving terminal, the outgoing information likely to be viewed next by the user is candidate information. Is transferred from the local network on the sending terminal side to the local network on the receiving terminal side, so if the information requested by the user next matches the candidate information, multiple There is no need to transfer information between regional networks.

[0015] Therefore, in response to a user's request, transmission information can be acquired from within the same regional network as the receiving terminal, so that the time delay from when the user issues the request until the requested information can be browsed is greatly increased. Can be improved. The data communication control method according to claim 1 can be realized by processing on each terminal, but can also be realized by processing of a control device other than the terminal that controls the network.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the data communication control method according to the first aspect, before the receiving terminal transmits a request for transmission information other than the initial information to the transmission terminal, each of the plurality of transmission information is Any one of the candidate information is sequentially selected as the candidate information in descending order of the number of requests received from the receiving terminal in the past, and the selected candidate information is sequentially included in the regional network in which the receiving terminal is accommodated from the transmitting terminal. It is characterized by forwarding to one terminal.

According to the second aspect, each of the plurality of pieces of transmission information is sequentially selected as candidate information in descending order of the number of requests received from the receiving terminal in the past, and is sequentially transferred to the same regional network as the receiving terminal. Therefore, if the user is browsing outgoing information such as initial information for a relatively long time, a large number of outgoing information can be transferred as candidate information before the user makes the next request. Is more likely to be included in the already transferred candidate information.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the data communication control method according to the first aspect, when the receiving terminal receives outgoing information other than the initial information, the outgoing information to be received is already received by the receiving terminal itself. Check if it has been received, if not received, check whether it has already been received by another terminal in the regional network to which the receiving terminal belongs, and already received by another terminal In this case, the transmission of the transmission request to the transmission terminal is stopped.

According to the third aspect, when the transmission information to be received has already been received by the receiving terminal itself,
There is no need to make an inquiry for confirmation to a terminal other than the receiving terminal in the regional network. Therefore, traffic in the regional network can be reduced. Claim 4
2. The data communication control method according to claim 1, wherein when a base station is provided in each of the regional networks and communication between a plurality of regional networks is performed between the base stations, a receiving base belonging to the same regional network as the receiving terminal. When a station receives the candidate information from another regional network, the receiving base station determines one terminal to be a destination of the candidate information, and transfers the candidate information to the determined terminal. .

Each of the plurality of terminals included in the same regional network as the receiving terminal may have a sufficiently large storage area depending on the situation at the time, or some terminals may have a small margin. In the fourth aspect, since the receiving-side base station determines the terminal to which the candidate information is to be transferred, a terminal having a large storage area can be assigned as the transfer destination.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the data communication control method according to the fourth aspect, when the receiving terminal receives outgoing information other than the initial information, the outgoing information to be received includes a local network to which the receiving terminal belongs. Inquires the receiving side base station whether or not any of the terminals has already received the signal. In claim 5, since the receiving base station knows the location of the transmission information received as the candidate information in the local network of the receiving terminal, it is determined whether the transmission information to be received has already been received. Check with the local base station.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the data communication control method of the fourth aspect, a terminal that has received the candidate information from the receiving base station notifies the receiving terminal that the candidate information is held. It is characterized by the following. Claim 6
In, the terminal that has received the candidate information notifies the receiving terminal that it holds the candidate information, so the receiving terminal checks the location of the candidate information without inquiring of other terminals be able to.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the data communication control method according to the first aspect, out of the outgoing information received by the receiving terminal, the number of packets of the outgoing information actually provided to the user by the receiving terminal or the data amount thereof. Is counted for charging. When transferring not only outgoing information actually requested by the user for browsing but also candidate information that may be requested by the user over the network, the user shall be charged for all transferred information. Can not.

In the present invention, the number of packets of the transmission information actually provided to the user by the receiving terminal or the data amount of the transmission information among the transmission information received by the receiving terminal is counted. it can.

[0025]

(First Embodiment) One embodiment of a data communication control method according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. This embodiment corresponds to claims 1 to 5 and claim 7.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the operation on the transmitting side in this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation on the receiving side in this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a wide area network. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a regional network. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a hierarchical structure of transmission information. FIG. 6 is a front view showing a display example of the top page information D1.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that the data communication control method of the present invention is applied to a communication system having a network configuration as shown in FIGS. The wide area network shown in FIG. 3 and the regional network shown in FIG. 4 both constitute an optical wavelength division multiplexing network. Referring to FIG. 3, twelve regional networks 10 (1) to 10 (12) are connected to this wide area network. Actually, base stations 11 provided in each regional network 10 are connected to each other via a high-speed backbone network 20 by a so-called multi-hop method. The backbone network 20 is composed of an optical fiber.

Base station 1 between a plurality of regional networks 10
A signal of a specific wavelength is used for communication between the one. For example, when the base station 11 (5) communicates with the base station 11 (6), a signal having a wavelength of λ1 is used, and the base station 11 (5)
When the base station 11 (5) communicates with the base station 11 (4), the wavelength is λ2 when communicating with (2).
When the base station 11 (5) communicates with the base station 11 (8) using the signal No. 3, a signal having a wavelength of λ4 is used.

Further, for example, the base station 11 (8)
When communicating with (9), a signal having a wavelength of λ1 is used. When the base station 11 (8) communicates with the base station 11 (5), the signal having a wavelength of λ1 is used.
When the base station 11 (8) communicates with the base station 11 (7) using the signal of the base station 11 (8), the base station 11 (8)
Uses a signal having a wavelength of λ4 when communicating with the base station 11 (11).

Therefore, for example, the base station 11 (5)
When transmitting to 1 (7), a signal having a wavelength of λ4 is transmitted from the base station 11 (5) to the base station 11 (8) serving as a relay station. In this case, the base station 11 (8) performs wavelength conversion of the signal received from the base station 11 (5), and transmits the signal having the wavelength of λ3 to the base station 11 (7). Of course, for example, base station 1
If congestion occurs in 1 (8), the relay station is changed to base station 11 (4).
The base station 11 (5) transmits a signal having a wavelength of λ3 to the base station 11 (4), and the base station 11 (4) transmits
The signal can also be transferred to 1 (7).

As shown in FIG. 4, each regional network 1
A plurality of terminals 12 are accommodated in 0. Multiple terminals 1
2 is an optical router 14 of the base station 11 via an optical fiber 13
Is connected to A backbone network 20 is also connected to the optical router 14. The optical router 14 converts only the wavelength of an optical signal not terminated by the base station 11 without converting the received signal into an electric signal, and sends the signal to another path. The base station 11 is provided with a control device 15 for performing various controls.

In each of the regional networks 10, the communication of the plurality of terminals 12 is performed using a signal of a wavelength fixed in advance for each terminal 12. In general, the number of wavelengths available for communication is finite, and the number of wavelengths used for one communication system is often about 32 in many cases. The number of wavelengths is determined by the band of the optical amplifier used in the communication system, the number of ports of the optical wavelength demultiplexer, or the wavelength interval.

In the case of the communication system having the configuration shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, four wavelengths (λ1, λ
2, .lambda.3, .lambda.4), the number of wavelengths available inside each regional network 10 is about 28. That is, about 28 terminals 12 can be accommodated inside each regional network 10. Figure 3,
In the case of the communication system having the configuration shown in FIG. 4, the same optical signal is used for the communication between the regional networks 10 and the communication within the regional network 10, so that the communication speeds of the two are the same. That is, high-speed communication is possible even in each local network 10.

However, since a plurality of terminals 12 are accommodated in each regional network 10, a plurality of terminals 1
2 simultaneously communicate with the other regional networks 10 at a high speed, a large amount of information is transmitted to the backbone network 20 compared to the communication speed of the backbone network 20. Congestion is likely to occur. When congestion occurs, a large time delay occurs in signal transmission.

In the example of FIG. 4, the local network 10 (5)
It is assumed that the terminal 12 (11) accommodated in the server operates as a transmission terminal, specifically, as a Web server on the Internet. Also, in FIG.
The terminal 12 (21) accommodated in (8) is the Web of the terminal 12 (11).
It is assumed that it operates as a receiving terminal that accesses a server.

The transmission information transmitted by the terminal 12 (11) is transmitted from a transmission information DB (database) 2 connected to the terminal 12 (11).
2 above. The transmission information on the transmission information DB 22 is a data file group composed of data in the “html” format and the like, and is hierarchically configured as shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 5, one piece of information D1 is assigned as the information of the top page at the top position of the hierarchy, and three pieces of information D21, D22, D
23 are allocated. Further, three pieces of information D211, D212, and D213 are assigned to a layer below the information D21.

W holding the transmission information having the configuration as shown in FIG.
When a user accesses the eb server from an arbitrary receiving terminal, first, a request signal (for example, a URL address) assigned to the information D1 of the top page is transmitted from the receiving terminal to the transmitting terminal. The terminal transmits the top page information D1 to the receiving terminal. Therefore, the content of the top page information D1 is displayed on the display screen of the receiving terminal as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 6, information D on the top page
1 includes three pieces of information D21 and D
22 and D23 are included. For example, when the user moves the cursor (not shown) on the screen and clicks the position of “Link to D21” with a mouse or the like while the screen of FIG. 6 is displayed, the information located in the lower layer of the top page is displayed. A transmission request for D21 is transmitted from the receiving terminal to the transmitting terminal.

Such a transmission request is transmitted by the user's judgment and input operation after the user actually browses the screen. Therefore, in a general communication system, the transmitting terminal does not transmit information while the user is browsing. However, as shown in FIG. 4, when the transmitting terminal and the receiving terminal are included in different regional networks 10 (5) and 10 (8), communication is performed via the backbone network 20.
In particular, when congestion is likely to occur in the backbone network 20, a large time delay may occur from when the user requests the next information to when the information is displayed on the screen of the receiving terminal.

Therefore, in this example, the control as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is performed, and before the user requests the next information, information which is likely to be requested next by the user is selected as candidate information. Then, the candidate information is transferred from the local network 10 to which the transmitting terminal belongs to the local network 10 to which the receiving terminal belongs. First, the operation on the transmitting side, that is, the local network 10 (5) side in which the terminal 12 (11) serving as the transmitting terminal is accommodated will be described. Each time an information transmission request is received from the terminal 12 (21) in the local network 10 (8) serving as a receiving terminal, steps S1 to S1 in FIG.
Proceed to 1.

In step S11, transmission of information requested by the receiving terminal to the receiving terminal is started. That is,
The requested information is sent from the terminal 12 (11) to the optical fiber 13
(5), base station 11 (5), backbone network 20, base station 11 (8), and transfer to terminal 12 (21) via optical fiber 13 (8).
Usually, the first information requested by the user is the information D1 of the top page located at the top of the hierarchy. Further, the user browses the information transferred to the receiving terminal on the screen in response to the request, and then requests the information of the next screen by clicking the link information included in the screen.

In step S12, step S1
At 0, 1 is added to the value of the frequency counter associated with the specific information requested by the receiving terminal, and the content is updated. Therefore, the value of the frequency counter indicates the number of times that the information associated with the frequency counter has received a transmission request from the receiving terminal. The frequency counter is assigned to each of a large number of pieces of information held in the transmission information DB 22. However, as for the information D1 located at the top of the hierarchy, it is not necessary to check the frequency, so the frequency counter assignment is omitted. The content of each frequency counter is held in the browse frequency DB 21 connected to the terminal 12 (11).

In step S13, the history of the information transmitted to the receiving terminal in step S11 is recorded. By referring to this history, transmitted information and untransmitted information can be distinguished. In Step S14, Step S
It waits until the transmission of one set of information started in step 11 is completed.

In step S15, it is confirmed whether or not a transmission request for the untransmitted information from the receiving terminal has been received. Note that information that has been transmitted as candidate information in step S17 described later is considered to have been transmitted. When receiving a transmission request from the receiving terminal for unsent information,
The process proceeds from step S15 to S11 to transmit information according to the transmission request. If a transmission request has not been received for untransmitted information, the process proceeds to step S16.

In step S16, it is checked whether or not there is untransmitted information that has not been transmitted to the receiving terminal. If there is untransmitted information, step S17
Proceed to. In step S17, transmission of candidate information is started. That is, untransmitted information is sequentially selected as candidate information in descending order of the frequency counter value, and transmission of the selected candidate information from the terminal 12 (11) is started.

The candidate information transmitted by the terminal 12 (11) is transferred to the local network 10 (8) through the optical fiber 13 (5), the base station 11 (5), and the backbone network 20, and the local network 10 (8). 8) One of the terminals (12 (21),
12 (22), 12 (23)). In this example, the base station 11 (5) determines the terminal 12 to which the candidate information is to be transferred. Actually, the terminals 12 (21), 12 (22), 12 (23)
Of those, the one having the largest storage area may be selected as the transfer destination.

In step S18, the history of the candidate information transmitted to the local network 10 of the receiving terminal in step S17 is recorded. By referring to this history, it is possible to distinguish transmitted candidate information from untransmitted information.
In step S19, it is confirmed whether or not a transmission request for the untransmitted information from the receiving terminal has been received. Step S
The information transmitted as the candidate information in 17 is also considered to have been transmitted.

When a transmission request is received from the receiving terminal for untransmitted information, the process proceeds from step S19 to S11, and information is transmitted according to the transmission request. If no transmission request has been received for untransmitted information, the process proceeds to step S14, and waits until transmission of one set of candidate information is completed. If the user who operates the receiving terminal is browsing one piece of information on the screen for a long time, the receiving terminal does not request the information to be viewed next for a long time. Steps S19 to S19 are repeated many times in a loop. As a result, while the user is browsing, a plurality of candidate information items are selected in descending order of the frequency counter value, and the candidate information items are sequentially transferred to one terminal 12 of the regional network 10 (8). .

Next, the operation on the receiving side, that is, on the side of the local network 10 (8) accommodating the terminal 12 (21) serving as the receiving terminal will be described with reference to FIG. Each time a request is generated by an input of the user operating the receiving terminal (such as clicking on link information), the process proceeds from step S30 to S31 in FIG. The information requested by the user in step S30 may have already been received by the receiving terminal itself as candidate information. Therefore, in step S31, the received candidate information is searched from the storage area inside the receiving terminal, and it is confirmed whether the requested information exists. If the requested information has been received as candidate information, the process proceeds from step S31 to S32. If not, the process proceeds to step S33.

In step S32, candidate information on the receiving terminal that matches the requested information is obtained as received information. Even if the receiving terminal does not receive the requested information as candidate information, the same regional network 1
Another terminal 12 belonging to 0 (8) may have received the requested information as candidate information. Further, in this example, the base station 11 (8) determines and grasps the terminal 12 to which the candidate information is transferred. Therefore, in step S33, the receiving terminal sends a request to the base station 11 (8) in order to check whether the requested information is present as candidate information in another terminal 12 in the same regional network 10 (8) as the receiving terminal. Make an inquiry to

The same regional network 10 (8) as the receiving terminal
If the information requested by the other terminal 12 is present, the base station 11 (8)
To the receiving terminal, the receiving terminal can specify one terminal 12 holding necessary information. Therefore, the same regional network 10 as the receiving terminal
If the other terminal 12 in (8) holds necessary information, the terminal 12 requests the terminal 12 to transmit specific information received as candidate information from the receiving terminal (S34).

If the receiving terminal itself and the other terminals 12 in the same regional network 10 (8) have not received the necessary information yet, in step S35, the receiving terminal requests the transmitting terminal to transmit the information. Is sent. That is, the receiving terminal sends an information transmission request to the transmitting terminal only when none of the terminals 12 in the same regional network 10 (8) as the receiving terminal has received necessary information as candidate information. It is.

When the receiving terminal has completed the acquisition of the information requested by the user, the process proceeds from step S36 to S37, where the acquired received information is displayed on the screen of the receiving terminal. Backbone network 2
Even if the delay time of a signal passing through the backbone network 20 increases due to the occurrence of congestion of 0, the user is browsing one piece of information on the screen for a relatively long time.
It is easy to transfer one or more pieces of candidate information between the regional networks 10. If the information requested by the user next matches the already transferred candidate information, the receiving terminal can acquire the necessary information without transferring new information via the backbone network 20, so that the delay time Can be greatly reduced.
That is, the information requested by the user can be acquired and displayed in a short time.

When the control shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is performed, after the user requests the first information, information not requested by the user is automatically transferred as candidate information on the communication system. . However, when charging the user, it is desirable to charge only the communication cost of the information actually used by the user. Therefore, step S3 in FIG.
8, the reception information acquired by the receiving terminal and displayed on the screen,
Alternatively, the accounting information is generated by counting or calculating the data amount or the number of packets of the received information actually requested by the user. This billing information is transmitted to the terminal 12 (21) which is the receiving terminal.
Is stored and managed in the charging information DB 23 connected to the server.

The control of the operation shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 can be performed by the processing of the terminal 12 in each regional network 10. For example, a facility for managing the network such as the base station 11 is used. Can also be realized. FIG. 4 shows a case where the number of transmitting terminals and the number of receiving terminals are one, respectively.
2 are assigned to the transmission terminal or the reception terminal, and the browsing frequency DB 21 and the transmission information DB 2 are assigned to the respective terminals 12.
2. The charging information DB 23 may be connected.

Although FIGS. 3 and 4 assume a communication system for transmitting a signal through an optical communication network, the present invention can be similarly applied to a communication system for transmitting an electric signal. In the case of a communication system for transmitting an electric signal, for example, an electric cable and a switch may be provided instead of the optical fiber 13 and the optical router 14 in FIG.

(Second Embodiment) Another embodiment of the data communication control method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. This embodiment corresponds to claim 6. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation (1) on the receiving side in this embodiment. FIG. 8 shows the operation (2) of the receiving side of this embodiment
It is a flowchart which shows. Note that the configuration of the communication system and the operation on the transmission side assumed in this embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment.

In FIG. 7, the same processes as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same step numbers. The following description of the same processing as in the first embodiment is omitted. In this embodiment, when each terminal 12 of the regional network 10 (8) including the receiving terminal receives the candidate information via the base station 11 (8), the processing of the terminal 12 starts from step S40 in FIG. Proceed to S41.

In step S41, the received candidate information is stored in the storage device of the terminal 12 itself. Here, it is assumed that the candidate information to be received includes identification information for specifying the receiving terminal. Next step S
At 42, the received candidate information is checked to determine whether or not the own station is a receiving terminal. If the own station is the receiving terminal, the process proceeds to the next step S43. In step S43, the terminal 12 that has received the candidate information notifies the receiving terminal that the candidate information has been received.

On the other hand, if the receiving terminal receives a request from the user and does not hold the requested information as candidate information, the process proceeds to step S33B in FIG. In step S33B, the content notified by the other terminal 12 in step S43 in FIG. 8 is checked, and it is determined whether or not the information to be received has already been received by the other terminal 12 as candidate information.

If another terminal 12 is receiving the information, it requests the terminal 12 to transmit the information in step S34. The process of the terminal 12 requested to transmit information from the receiving terminal executing step S34 proceeds from step S45 to S46 in FIG. In step S46, the candidate information requested by the receiving terminal is extracted from the stored information and transmitted to the receiving terminal.

(Third Embodiment) Another embodiment of the data communication control method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation on the receiving side in this embodiment. Note that the configuration of the communication system and the operation on the transmission side assumed in this embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment.

In FIG. 9, the same processes as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same step numbers. The following description of the same processing as in the first embodiment is omitted. In the receiving terminal, when a request is generated by a user input and the own station does not hold the requested information as candidate information, the process proceeds to step S33C in FIG.

In step S33C, an inquiry is made to each of the other terminals 12 included in the same regional network 10 (8) as the receiving terminal, and the information to be received has already been received by the other terminals 12 as candidate information. To identify whether or not If the required information does not exist in the terminal 12 that has made the inquiry, the process proceeds to step S33D, and it is determined whether or not all the terminals 12 included in the same regional network 10 (8) as the receiving terminal have been confirmed. If there is an unconfirmed terminal 12, the process returns to step S33C and the terminal 1
Inquiry is also made to 2.

That is, in the case of FIG. 9, the receiving terminal makes an inquiry to all the other terminals 12 included in the same regional network 10 (8). When the number of terminals 12 included in one local network 10 is relatively small, even if the processing as shown in FIG.

[0066]

As described above, according to the data communication control method of the present invention, information which is likely to be requested next by the receiving terminal is transmitted to the transmitting terminal as candidate information before the receiving terminal actually requests the information. Because the data is transferred from the local network to the local network on the receiving terminal side, even if congestion is likely to occur on the backbone network connecting multiple local networks, the information actually requested is included in the candidate information. In such a case, it is possible to reduce the delay time from when the user requests the content to when the user can browse the content.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an operation on a transmission side according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation on a receiving side according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a wide area network.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a regional network.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a hierarchical structure of transmission information.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a display example of information D1 on a top page.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation (1) on the receiving side according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation (2) on the receiving side according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation on the receiving side according to the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Regional network 11 Base station 12 Terminal 13 Optical fiber 14 Optical router 15 Control device 20 Backbone network 21 Browsing frequency DB 22 Transmission information DB 23 Billing information DB

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Satoko Sato 2-3-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo F-term in Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (reference) 5B089 GA11 GA19 GA21 JA22 JB10 KA05 KB12 KC23 KC28 KC59 5K030 GA02 HA04 HC01 HD05 JT02 LB01 LC05 LC16 LD11 MA06 MB09 MC08 9A001 BB04 BB06 CC02 JJ01 KK16 KK56

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A communication system comprising a plurality of regional networks accommodating a plurality of terminals connected to each other via a backbone network, wherein at least one transmitting terminal provided in at least one regional network transmits. A plurality of possible outgoing information are configured in a hierarchy, and the outgoing information is transferred from the transmitting terminal to the receiving terminal in response to a request from one receiving terminal included in one regional network, and the transmission is performed. In a data communication control method in which a terminal transmits, as initial information, transmission information located at the highest level of a hierarchy in response to a first request from a reception terminal, for each of a plurality of transmission information that can be transmitted by the transmission terminal, Manages frequency information in accordance with the number of times a request has been received from the receiving terminal, After transmitting the initial information, based on the frequency information, a specific outgoing information that is likely to be requested next by the receiving terminal is selected as candidate information, and the receiving terminal requests the outgoing information other than the initial information. Before transmitting to the transmitting terminal, the candidate information is transferred to any one of the terminals included in the regional network in which the receiving terminal is accommodated, and the receiving terminal transmits outgoing information other than the initial information. When receiving, confirm whether or not the transmission information to be received has already been received as the candidate information by the receiving terminal itself or any terminal in the regional network to which the receiving terminal belongs, If the transmission information to be received has already been received as the candidate information, the transmission of the transmission request to the transmitting terminal is stopped, and the local network Data communication control method characterized in that the candidate information of the inner acquires provide it to the user. 2. The data communication control method according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of transmission information is received in the past before the receiving terminal transmits a request for transmission information other than the initial information to the transmission terminal. The candidate information is sequentially selected as the candidate information in descending order of the number of requests received from the terminal, and the selected candidate information is sequentially transmitted from the transmitting terminal to any one of the terminals included in the regional network in which the receiving terminal is accommodated. A data communication control method, wherein the data communication is transferred to an external device. 3. The data communication control method according to claim 1, wherein when the receiving terminal receives outgoing information other than the initial information, whether the outgoing information to be received has already been received by the receiving terminal itself. Check if it is not received, if it is not received, check whether it is already received by another terminal in the regional network to which the receiving terminal belongs, and if it is already received by another terminal A method for controlling data communication, wherein the transmission of a transmission request to the transmitting terminal is stopped. 4. The data communication control method according to claim 1, wherein a base station is provided in each of the regional networks and communication between a plurality of regional networks is performed between the base stations. Receiving the candidate information from another regional network, the receiving base station determines one terminal that is the destination of the candidate information, and transfers the candidate information to the determined terminal. A data communication control method, comprising: 5. The data communication control method according to claim 4, wherein, when the receiving terminal receives outgoing information other than the initial information, the outgoing information to be received is transmitted to any of the local networks to which the receiving terminal belongs. A data communication control method for inquiring of the receiving side base station whether or not the terminal has already received the data. 6. The data communication control method according to claim 4, wherein a terminal receiving the candidate information from the receiving base station notifies the receiving terminal that the candidate information is held. Data communication control method. 7. The data communication control method according to claim 1, wherein, out of the outgoing information received by the receiving terminal, the number of packets of the outgoing information actually provided to the user by the receiving terminal or a data amount thereof is charged. A data communication control method characterized by counting for