JP2001333062A - Web PAGE SHARING SYSTEM - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a Web page sharing system where a Web page sharing function, by which a plurality of terminals can browse the same Web page at the same time, can reduce quantity of information transferred between the terminals and prevent a firewall from causing a defect of interrupting communication between the terminals. SOLUTION: In the case of sharing a Web page between a 1st terminal 2 connected to a public communication channel network and a 2nd terminal 4 connected to a private communication channel network, URL information of the Web page shared in common is sent/received via a URL transfer server 7, the 1st terminal 2 directly accesses a Web server 5 on the basis of the URL information and the 2nd terminal 4 indirectly accesses the Web server 5 via a proxy server 6 on the basis of the URL information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a Web page sharing system that allows a plurality of terminal devices to simultaneously browse the same Web page.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a Web page sharing system such as a net meeting (Netmeeting) which enables a plurality of terminal devices to simultaneously browse the same Web page. This Web page sharing system is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the first terminal device 101 (and the second terminal device 102) is connected to, for example, an IP network (IP: Internet Protocol).
l), the first terminal device 101 and the second terminal device 102 are directly connected to each other via, for example, an IP network or an intranet network. I have.

In this system, for example, the first terminal device 101 attempts to connect to the Web server 103 and
The information of the Web page fetched from the web server 103 is displayed on the display unit of the first terminal device 101 and transferred to the second terminal device 102. Second terminal device 1
02 is the W transferred from the first terminal device 101 side.
The information of the web page is displayed on the display unit of the second terminal device 102.

[0004] Thereby, the same Web page can be browsed simultaneously by each of the terminal devices 101 and 102. In this system, application information such as mouse operation and cursor position information is also transmitted to each of the terminal devices 101 and 1.
02 so that the cursor and the like of the other terminal device can be operated from the operation of one terminal device.

[0005] A Web page sharing system as shown in FIG. 6 has been conventionally known. In the case of this system, for example, the first terminal device 101
When the web page information is acquired by accessing the Web page, the URL information (Uniform Resource Locato
r) is transmitted to the second terminal device 102 side. Then, the second terminal device 102 attempts to access the Web server 103 based on the URL information transmitted from the first terminal device 101, and fetches Web page information. As a result, the same Web page can be browsed simultaneously by each of the terminal devices 101 and 102.

[0006]

However, in the conventional Web page sharing system shown in FIG. 5, in addition to the URL information of the Web page, application information such as mouse operation and cursor position information is transmitted between terminal devices. Therefore, there is a problem in that the amount of information increases, the load on the network increases, the amount of information processed by each terminal device also increases, and the load on each terminal device also increases.

Further, since application information such as mouse operation and cursor position information is transmitted and received between the terminal devices, when the terminal devices 101 and 102 perform a mouse operation or the like at the same time, interference or the like may occur between the two. As a result, there is a problem that the web pages cannot be operated simultaneously by the terminal devices 101 and 102. For this reason, there has been a problem that the operation of the Web page is left to one terminal device, and the other is merely looking at the display screen without operating the terminal device.

When the first terminal device 101 is connected to a public line network such as the Internet, for example, and the second terminal device 102 is connected to an intranet or the like inside a firewall, The communication of the above information is interrupted by the firewall,
There was also a problem that it was not possible to share page b.

In the conventional Web page sharing system shown in FIG. 6, only the URL information of the Web page is transmitted / received to / from the terminal device of the other party, so that the amount of information to be transmitted / received is small. However, since a session is directly formed for transmitting and receiving URL information between the terminal devices 101 and 102, if a firewall exists between the terminal devices 101 and 102, The communication of the URL information is interrupted by the firewall, and there is a problem that the Web page cannot be shared.

[0010] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and enables sharing of a Web page even when a firewall is provided between terminal devices. An object of the present invention is to provide a Web page sharing system capable of reducing the load on a network and each terminal device by reducing the amount of information transmitted and received between the terminal devices at the time of sharing.

[0011]

A Web page sharing system according to the present invention includes, as means for solving the above-mentioned problems, a first server for providing an information file specified by address information; A plurality of terminal devices for transmitting address information corresponding to a desired information file to one server for access, and capturing an information file returned from the first server in response to the address information; And a second server for transferring address information when any one of the terminal devices accesses the first server to another terminal device, via a communication network.

The terminal device to which the address information has been transferred from the second server accesses each of the first servers based on the transferred address information, and responds to the address information. Each of the information files returned from the first server is taken.

[0013] Further, the Web page sharing system according to the present invention, as means for solving the above-mentioned problem, provides the terminal device with the terminal device based on the address information transferred from the second server. There is provided switching means for switching between a mode for always accessing one server and a mode for accessing as necessary when address information is transferred from the second server.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a Web page sharing system according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

[Configuration of Embodiment] First, FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a Web page sharing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. The system is, for example, an IP network (I
Public communication network 1 such as P (Internet Protocol)
, A second terminal device 4 connected to a private communication network 3 such as an intranet, and a public communication network 1. W that provides Web page information
eb server 5.

[0016] Further, this Web page sharing system includes:
Proxy server 6 that enables second terminal device 4 connected to private communication network 3 to access Web server 5 connected to public communication network 1
URL information (Uniform Resource Locator) of a desired Web page between the first terminal device 2 connected to the public communication network 1 and the second terminal device 4 connected to the private communication network 3 UR that mediates sending and receiving
And an L transfer server 7.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a connection relationship between the terminal devices 2 and 4 and the servers 5 to 7 omitting the communication line networks 1 and 3, and as can be seen from FIG. The second terminal device 4 connected to the communication network 3
Via a proxy server 6 and a URL transfer server 7, it is connected to a first terminal device 2 and a Web server 5 which are directly connected to the public communication network 1. For this reason, the proxy server 6 and the URL transfer server 7 play the role of a firewall 8, so to speak,
Connection from the terminal device 4 to the public communication network 1
This is possible only through the proxy server 6 and the URL transfer server 7.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of each of the terminal devices 2 and 4 excluding the proxy server 6 and the URL transfer server 7. As can be seen from FIG.
A browser for accessing the web server 5 and URL information of a desired web page are stored in each terminal device 2.
URL sharing software for transmitting and receiving between the four is installed in advance.

The URL transfer server 7 is provided with a shared memory for storing connection data described later, as well as an information providing program and a CGI program (CG).
I: Common Gateway Interface) and each terminal device 2, 4
A proxy application program (URL sharing service program) for controlling transmission / reception of URL information between them is stored in advance.

[Operation of the Embodiment] The Web page sharing system according to the embodiment having the above-described configuration is always linked to the terminal devices 2 and 4 to share the Web page. Switching means (for example, selecting (setting) a mode by operating a changeover switch or a mouse device) for sharing a Web page only when necessary.
The user operates this switching means to switch between the "always on sharing mode" and the "on demand sharing mode".

(Always-Shared Mode) First, the always-shared mode is selected in each terminal device. For example, a system operation in a case where a Web page browsed by the first terminal device 2 is simultaneously browsed by the second terminal device 4 Are as shown in the time arrow of FIG.

First, in step S1 of the time arrow shown in FIG. 4, the second terminal device 4 shown in FIG.
TCP between the URL transfer server 7 and the proxy application based on the RL sharing software program
/ Establish an IP connection.

When the TCP / IP connection with the second terminal device 4 is established, the URL transfer server 7 determines the connection identifier with the second terminal device 4 and the second terminal in step S2. The terminal state of the device 4 (in this case, data indicating that the second terminal device 4 can be connected) is stored (registered) in the shared memory as connection data.

Next, the first terminal device 2 executes step S3
, A transfer request for a connection destination list is made to the URL transfer server 7. The URL transfer server 7 responds to the transfer request of the connection destination list with the information providing program and the CGI.
The program is started, and in step S4, the connection data registered in the shared memory is read and transmitted to the first terminal device 2 side.

Since this connection data is data registered when the TCP / IP connection between the URL transfer server 7 and the second terminal device 4 is established as described above, this connection data is By transmitting to the first terminal device 2 side, the first terminal device 2
It is possible to recognize that connection with the terminal device 4 is possible.

Next, since the first terminal device 2 can recognize that the connection with the second terminal device 4 is possible, the first terminal device 2 sends this URL to the URL transfer server 7 in step S5. A connection request to the second terminal device 4 is made.
Upon receiving the connection request, the URL transfer server 7 changes the terminal state of the second terminal device 4 from “connectable state” to “connecting” in step S6 based on the information providing program and the CGI program. In step S8, the connection data “connected” registered in the shared memory is returned to the first terminal device 2 in step S8.

Next, in step S9, in response to the connection request from the first terminal device 2, the URL transfer server 7 performs TCP / IP connection with the first terminal device 2 based on the proxy application program. To establish.
Then, when this TCP / IP connection is established, in step S10, a connection identifier indicating the terminal device with which this TCP / IP connection has been established, that is, in this case, the first
The connection identifier of the terminal device 1 is stored (registered) in the shared memory as connection data. As a result, the URL between the first and second terminal devices 2 and 4 via the URL transfer server 7 is
Information can be transmitted and received.

In this way, the first and second terminal devices 2 and 4 communicate with each other via the TCP / IP via the URL transfer server 7 as described above.
When the connection is established, the monitoring of the change (change of URL) of the Web page being browsed (shared) by the URL sharing software of each of the terminal devices 2 and 4 is started.

Next, in a state where the first and second terminal devices 2 and 4 are connected to each other via the URL transfer server 7 as described above, in order to browse a desired Web page, for example, the first In step S11, the terminal device 2
The server 5 is accessed, and in step S12, the Web server 5 responds to the URL information from the first terminal device 2 with an HTML document of a Web page (HTML: Hy).
per Text Markup Language), and the download is performed on the first terminal device 2 side. In step S13, the browser of the first terminal device 2 recognizes the URL change, and in step S14, the URL is changed. Based on the shared software program, the first terminal device 2
Is currently browsing the URL transfer server 7
Transfer the URL information of page b.

The URL transfer server 7 is connected to the first terminal device 2
When the URL information is received, the connection data stored in the shared memory is referred to in step S15 based on the proxy application program. In step S16, the connection identifier indicating the connection destination of the first terminal device 2 from the shared memory. To recognize the connection destination.

In this case, the first terminal device 2 transmits the TCP / I
Since the P-connected terminal device is the second terminal device 4, the URL transfer server 7 notifies the second terminal device 4 of the URL notified from the first terminal device 2 in step S17. .

In step S18, the second terminal device 4 starts up a browser based on the URL notified from the first terminal device 2, and in step S19, the browser starts.
An attempt is made to access the eb server 5, and step S20
, The HTM of the Web page corresponding to this URL
Download the L document from the Web server.

Thus, the first terminal device 2 and the second terminal device 4 can simultaneously browse (share) the same Web page. The above description is based on the first
In the case where the Web page designated for browsing by the second terminal device 2 is shared by the second terminal device 4, the Web page designated for browsing by the second terminal device 4 is conversely shared by the first terminal device 2. You can also share with. In this case, the second terminal device 4 performs the same system operation as described above except that the second terminal device 4 accesses the Web server 5 via the proxy server 6. See the system operation above for details.

(Necessary Sharing Mode) Next, when the necessary sharing mode is selected for the above-mentioned constant sharing mode, both the terminal devices 2 and 4 are operated until specified by the user (when necessary). ), Each accesses the Web server 5 independently and independently browses the Web page.

Then, when it becomes necessary, a desired Web is transmitted between the terminal devices 2 and 4 in the same manner as in the above-mentioned constant sharing mode.
The URL information of page b is transmitted and received, and each of the terminal devices 2 and 4 accesses the Web server 5 based on the URL information and downloads the HTML document, thereby sharing the same Web page at the same time.

[Effects of the Embodiment] As is clear from the above description, the Web page sharing system of the present embodiment transmits and receives URL information between the terminal devices 2 and 4 via the URL transfer server 7. At the same time, based on the URL information, each of the terminal devices 2 and 4 accesses the Web server 5 directly or via the proxy server 6 and downloads the HTML file of the same Web page, thereby simultaneously Share the same Web page.

Such a Web page sharing system is
Since the information transmitted and received between the terminal devices 2 and 4 is only URL information, the amount of information transmitted and received between the terminal devices 2 and 4 can be reduced, and the load on the network can be reduced. The amount of information processed by each of the terminal devices 2 and 4 can also be reduced, and the load on each of the terminal devices 2 and 4 can be reduced.

Further, since application information such as mouse operation and cursor position information is not transmitted / received between the terminal devices, the terminal devices 101 and 102 operate independently of each other without causing any interference or the like due to mouse operations or the like. We
The b page can be made sharable.

The transmission and reception of URL information between the terminal devices 2 and 4 are performed via the URL transfer server 7, and the first terminal device 2 directly accesses the Web server 5 and Terminal device 4 indirectly accesses the Web server 5 via the proxy server 6, so that even if a firewall 8 exists between the terminal devices 2 and 4, As a result, Web pages can be shared without interrupting communication between the terminal devices 2 and 4.

Further, a switching means is provided for switching between a "constant sharing mode" for always sharing a Web page by always linking to each of the terminal devices 1 and 2, and a "necessary sharing mode" for sharing a Web page only when necessary. Therefore, the user can select the “always-on sharing mode” or the “on-demand sharing mode” as necessary by operating the switching unit.

Finally, each of the above embodiments is an example of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, in the description of the above-described embodiment, the first and second two terminal devices 2 and 4 are provided as terminal devices,
Although sharing of a Web page is attempted between these terminal devices 2 and 4, this is achieved by using three or more terminal devices.
Pages may be shared. In addition, it goes without saying that various modifications can be made according to the design and the like even in a form other than the above-described embodiment within a range not departing from the technical idea according to the present invention. .

[0042]

The Web page sharing system according to the present invention can share a Web page even when a firewall is provided between the terminal devices.

Further, the amount of information transmitted and received between the terminal devices when sharing a Web page can be reduced, and the load on the network and each terminal device can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a Web page sharing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a main part of a Web page sharing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of each unit of a Web page sharing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a time arrow for explaining the operation of the Web page sharing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a conventional Web page sharing system for sharing an application.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conventional Web page sharing system for transmitting and receiving URL information.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Public communication network 2 First terminal device 3 Private communication network 4 Second terminal device 5 Web server 6 Proxy server 7 URL transfer server 8 Firewall

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Shigeru Ishii 3-19-2 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo East Japan Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Masao Nihei 3-19 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo No. 2 East Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Toshio Konan 3-15 Babacho, Chuo-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture Inside Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Daisuke Tatsumi Osaka, Osaka 3-15, Babacho, Ward Nishi-Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takahiro Kanbara 2-3-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo F-term within Mitsubishi Electric Corporation 5B082 HA08 5K030 GA03 HA08 HC01 HC01 HC13 HD06 JA11 JT02 LD08 LD11

Claims (2)

[Claims] A first server for providing an information file specified by the address information; and transmitting address information corresponding to a desired information file to the first server for access. A plurality of terminal devices for taking in an information file returned in response to the address information from one server, and address information obtained when any one of the terminal devices accesses the first server is transmitted to another terminal device. A second server for transferring to the terminal device is connected to each other via a communication network, and the terminal device to which the address information has been transferred from the second server is based on the transferred address information. Accessing the first server and taking in the information file returned from the first server in accordance with the address information; Characteristic W
Web page sharing system. 2. A mode for constantly accessing the first server based on the address information transferred from the second server, and a mode in which address information is transferred from the second server to each of the terminal devices. 2. The Web page sharing system according to claim 1, further comprising a switching unit that switches between a mode in which access is performed as needed when the operation is performed.