JP2002163142A - Information relaying method and program storage medium used for realizing information relaying method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information relaying method realizing the reduction of network traffic and a high-speed response to information terminal equipment while reducing a disk resource when relaying information between an information providing server device and the information terminal equipment. SOLUTION: The last update date information of the information provided to the information terminal equipment is stored, and whether the information distribution-requested from the information terminal equipment is the information stored with the last update date information or not is determined. If the distribution-requested information is determined to have no stored last update date information, the distribution-requested information is acquired from the information providing server device and provided to the information terminal equipment issuing the distribution request, and the distributed information is not stored.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information relay method for relaying information between an information providing server device and an information terminal device, and a program recording medium used for realizing the information relay method. The present invention relates to an information relay method for realizing a reduction in network traffic and a high-speed response to an information terminal device while reducing resources, and a program recording medium used for realizing the information relay method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 9, a relay device called a PROXY server is provided between a client that develops a browser and a WWW server.

The PROXY server acquires a content (HTML document, image, or the like) indicated by a URL selected by a browser from a WWW server, provides the acquired content to the browser, and caches the provided content on a disk. Do.

[0004] With the provision of the PROXY server, if another browser requests content cached on the disk of the PROXY server, the content is immediately provided to the browser without having to retrieve the content from the WWW server. This will reduce network traffic and provide a faster response to browsers.

A conventional PROX that performs such a relay process
The Y server caches all the content obtained from the WWW server on the disk.

[0006]

However, if all the contents obtained from the WWW server are cached on the disk as in the prior art, there is a problem that a large amount of disk resources is required.

[0007] Then, a huge content obtained from a WWW server by a specific user may remain on the cache disk without being referred to by anyone. In such a case, another cache is required. An inefficient phenomenon that the content cannot be saved occurs.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a new information relay method for realizing a reduction in network traffic and a high-speed response to an information terminal device while reducing disk resources. And a new program recording medium used for realizing the information relay method.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, an information relay device prepared to realize the present invention employs a configuration for relaying information between an information providing server device and an information terminal device. Sometimes, the last update date and time information of the information provided to the information terminal device is stored, and it is determined whether the information requested to be provided by the information terminal device is information for which the last update date and time information is not stored. , When it is determined that the request information does not store the last update date and time information,
The provision request information is acquired from the information provision server device and provided to the information terminal device that issued the provision request, and the provided information is processed so as not to be stored.

[0010] Then, when it is determined that the information is the provision request information storing the last update date and time information, it is determined whether or not there is a notification of the update date and time information from the information terminal device that has issued the provision request. When determining the notification of the update date / time information, the time order relationship between the update date / time information and the last update date / time information of the stored provision request information is determined, and the provision request issuer is determined according to the time order relationship. Processing is performed so as to determine whether it is necessary to provide the provision request information to the information terminal device.

At this time, when it is determined that there is no notification of the update date and time information, processing is performed so as to determine that it is necessary to provide the provision request information to the information terminal device that issued the provision request.

[0012] When this processing configuration is adopted, for information that is frequently requested to be provided from the information terminal device, when the provided request information is obtained from the information providing server device, the information is processed to be stored.

The information relay device prepared to realize the present invention thus configured does not store the last update date and time information, and thus obtains the information requested from the information terminal device from the information providing server device. If it is determined that the information has not been obtained, as shown in FIG. 1A, the information is obtained from the information providing server device and provided to the information terminal device, and the information is not stored and stored. At least processing is performed to save the last update date and time information of the information.

Thereafter, when the information terminal device requests the provision of the information, it is determined whether the information is the information storing the last update date and time information, and the last update date and time information is stored. When it is determined that the information is present, it is determined whether or not there is a notification of the update date and time information of the information from the information terminal device, considering that the information has been obtained from the information providing server device before. I do.

When it is determined that there is no notification of the update date and time information, it is determined that the information has previously been obtained from the information providing server device but has not been provided to the information terminal device. Then, FIG. 1 (b)
As shown in (1), the information is obtained from the information providing server device and provided to the information terminal device.

At this time, if the last update date / time information of the information obtained from the information providing server device has been changed from the stored last update date / time information, the stored last update date / time information is adjusted accordingly. Process to update. In addition, in consideration of the fact that the frequency of requesting the provision of the information is high, there is a case where the information is processed to be stored.

On the other hand, when it is determined that there is notification of the update date and time information, it is determined that the information requested by the information terminal device has been provided to the information terminal device before, and the notified update date and time is notified. The time order relationship between the information and the stored last updated date and time information is determined, and when it is determined that the two match, the information is provided to the information terminal device as shown in FIG. It determines that the information is valid, and notifies the information terminal device to that effect.

When it is determined in response to a provision request from another information terminal device that the stored last updated date and time information is newer, as shown in FIG. 2B. In the case where the information of the offer request is stored in
The stored information is provided to the information terminal device. If the information of the provision request is not stored, the information is obtained from the information providing server device and provided to the information terminal device.

At this time, if the last update date / time information of the information obtained from the information providing server device has been changed from the stored last update date / time information, the stored last update date / time information is adjusted accordingly. Process to update.

As described above, according to the present invention, when adopting a configuration for relaying information between the information providing server device and the information terminal device, by storing the last update date and time information of the information, Since the configuration for realizing the information relay is adopted, it is possible to reduce the network traffic and achieve a high-speed response to the information terminal device while reducing the disk resources.

[0021]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail according to embodiments.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the PROXY server 1 equipped with the present invention.

As shown in this figure, the P having the present invention
The ROXY server 1 includes a disk 2 prepared for cache, and a browser 3
The content information pointed to by the URL 0 is obtained from the WWW server 4 and provided to the browser 30.

The PROXY server 1 according to the present invention comprises:
The relay program 10 includes a relay program 10 that performs a relay process between the client 3 and the WWW server 4, and a deletion program 11 that performs a process of deleting data (content information and content attribute information) cached on the disk 2 by the relay program 10.

Here, the relay program 10 and the deletion program 11 can be stored in an appropriate recording medium such as a computer-readable semiconductor memory.

Disk 2 of PROXY server 1
Has an attribute information storage area 20 for storing content attribute information cached by the relay program 10, and a content storage area 21 for storing content information cached by the relay program 10.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the content attribute information stored in the attribute information storage area 20.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the attribute information storage area 20 stores the URL of the WWW server 4 from which the content information provided to the client 3 is obtained, and the URL of the client who first requested the content information. The IP address, the cache collection time of the attribute information of the content information, the last update date and time of the content information (the date and time when the WWW server 4 was last updated), and the last reference date and time of the content information (any client 3 Is last referred to) and, if the content information is cached, content attribute information composed of a pointer to the content information is stored.

Further, the attribute information storage area 20 contains FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4B, in addition to the information shown in FIG. 4A, the content attribute information in a form in which the IP address of the reference client of the content information is added may be stored.

FIGS. 5 to 7 show an embodiment of a processing flow executed by the relay program 10. FIG. next,
The present invention will be described in detail according to this processing flow.

When the relay program 10 receives a request for providing content information by designating a URL from the client 3, first, as shown in the processing flow of FIGS. Upon receiving the provision request, in a subsequent step 2, it is searched whether or not the URL specified by the provision request is registered in the attribute information storage area 20.

Subsequently, in step 3, it is determined whether or not a search result that a URL is registered is obtained by this search processing, and it is determined that a search result that the URL is not registered is obtained. When making a decision, step 4
Then, it connects to the WWW server 4 pointed to by the URL specified in the provision request, and acquires the content information requested to be provided from the WWW server 4.

Subsequently, in step 5, the obtained content information is transmitted to the client 3 which has issued the provision request. Subsequently, in step 6, the attribute information of the transmitted content information is stored (cached) in the attribute information storage area 20, and the transmitted content information itself is not stored in the content storage area 21. To process.

That is, when the content attribute information stored in the attribute information storage area 20 has a data structure as shown in FIG. 4A, the provision request is first associated with the URL specified in the provision request. The IP address of the issuing client 3, the cache time of the content attribute information, and the last update date and time of the transmitted content information (recorded as header information of the content information)
Are stored in the attribute information storage area 20.

Subsequently, in step 7, the current date and time are registered in the entry field of the last reference date and time included in the registered content attribute information, and the process is terminated.

In this way, the relay program 10
If there is a content information provision request for which there has been no provision request, the content information of the provision request is acquired from the WWW server 4, and the last update date and time of the content information are saved, and the content information is saved. Instead, the process is performed so as to transmit the request to the client 3 that has provided the request.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step 3 that the URL specified by the provision request is registered in the attribute information storage area 20 (the content information registered in the attribute information storage area 20 with the last update date and time is determined). If a provision request is made), the process proceeds to step 8 and it is determined whether or not the update request is notified in the provision request.

That is, when the client 3 that issues the content information provision request holds the content information by itself (there is a request again because the WWW server 4 may have updated the content information). , Update date and time of the content information held by the user (last update date and time)
Is provided at the time of the provision request, and it is determined whether or not there is the notification.

When it is determined that an update date and time is to be notified when a request for providing content information is made according to this determination process, the process proceeds to step 9 where the content information is stored in the attribute information storage area 20 indicated by the URL specified in the request for provision. The last updated date and time is read, and it is determined whether or not the read last updated date and time coincide with the notified update date and time.

According to this determination processing, the attribute information storage area 2
If it is determined that the last update date and time read from 0 and the notified update date and time match, the process proceeds to step 10 to the effect that the content information of the provision request is valid for the client 3 that has issued the provision request. In the subsequent step 11, the last reference date and time stored in the attribute information storage area 20 indicated by the URL specified in the provision request is updated to the current date and time, and the process ends.

In this way, the relay program 10
When it is determined that the content information of the provision request held by the client 3 has not been updated by the WWW server 4, the content information of the provision request is transmitted to the client 3 without transmitting the content information of the provision request. The processing is performed so as to transmit the validity.

On the other hand, in step 9, the attribute information storage area 20
When it is determined that the last update date and time read from the server does not match the notified update date and time, the process proceeds to step 12 and the content information of the provision request is stored in the content storage area 2.
1 is determined.

As will be described later, when there is a request to provide the registered content information from a client 3 other than the client 3 that triggered the registration of the content attribute information in the attribute information storage area 20. Performs processing to store the content information in the content storage area 21 in consideration of the high use frequency. When this process is performed, the latest update date and time read from the attribute information storage area 20 is later than the notified update date and time.

In step 12, when it is determined that the last update date and time read from the attribute information storage area 20 does not match the notified update date and time, the content information of the provision request is stored in the content storage area 21. It is determined whether or not it is.

When it is determined that the content information of the provision request is stored according to this determination processing, the process proceeds to step 13, where the content information of the provision request is read from the content storage area 21 and transmitted to the client 3. In the following step 14, the U specified in the provision request
The last reference date and time stored in the attribute information storage area 20 indicated by the RL is updated to the current date and time, and the process ends.

As described above, the relay program 10
When the content information of the provision request held by the client 3 is updated by the WWW server 4 and the content information is stored in the content storage area 21, the content information of the provision request is stored in the content storage area 21. The processing is performed so that the data is read out and transmitted to the client 3 that has issued the provision request.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 12 that the content information of the provision request is not stored in the content storage area 21, the process proceeds to step 15 to connect to the WWW server 4 indicated by the URL specified in the provision request. Then, the content information requested to be provided is acquired from the WWW server 4.

As will be described later, the deletion program 11
Of the content information stored in the content storage area 21, the content information whose specified date and time has passed since the last reference date and time and the content information whose specified date and time has passed since the cache collection date and time have been used less frequently or have become older. It may be processed to delete.

In accordance with the deletion processing by the deletion program 11, the last update date and time read from the attribute information storage area 20 is newer than the notified update date and time, but the content information is not stored.

Therefore, in such a case, step 1
Proceeding to step 5, WWW indicated by the URL specified in the provision request
It connects to the server 4 and acquires content information requested to be provided from the WWW server 4.

Subsequently, in step 16, the obtained content information is transmitted to the client 3 which has issued the providing request. Subsequently, in step 17, the content attribute information stored in the attribute information storage area 20 is updated, and the transmitted content information itself is updated in the content storage area 2.
1 so that it is not saved.

That is, the last update date and time of the content information acquired from the WWW server 4 is stored in the attribute information storage area 20.
When the date is newer than the last update date and time stored in the attribute information storage area 20, the last update date and time stored in the attribute information storage area 20 is updated accordingly.

Subsequently, in step 18, the last reference date and time of the updated content attribute information is updated to the current date and time, and the process ends.

As described above, the relay program 10
When the content information of the provision request held by the client 3 is updated by the WWW server 4 and the content information is not stored in the content storage area 21, the content of the provision request is transmitted from the WWW server 4. The information is obtained and processed so as to be transmitted as it is to the client 3 that has provided the request without storing the information.

At this time, the content information to be provided to the client 3 may be stored in the content storage area 21.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step 8 that there is no notification of the update date and time in the provision request from the client 3, that is, although there is a provision request for the content information of the provision request from another client 3, When it is determined that the content information of the provision request is not provided to the client 3 (therefore, the update date and time is not notified), the process proceeds to step 19,
It is determined whether or not the content information of the provision request is stored.

When it is determined that the content information of the provision request is not stored by this determination processing, the process proceeds to step 20, where the connection to the WWW server 4 pointed to by the URL specified in the provision request is made, and the WWW server 4 to obtain the content information requested to be provided.

Subsequently, in step 21, the obtained content information is transmitted to the client 3 which has issued the provision request. Subsequently, in step 22, when the last update date and time of the transmitted content information is later than the last update date and time stored in the attribute information storage area 20,
In response to this, the latest update date and time stored in the attribute information storage area 20 is updated, and the transmitted content information is processed to be stored in the content storage area 21.

In other words, following this route means that there is a request to provide the same content information from different clients 3, and such frequently used content information is stored in the content storage area 21. That's how it works.

Subsequently, in step 23, the last reference date and time of the updated content attribute information is updated to the current date and time, and the process ends.

In this way, the relay program 10
When there is a request for providing the content information from a client 3 that does not have the content information provided to another client 3, and when the content information is not stored, the WWW server 4 transmits the content information of the provision request. It obtains it, saves it, and processes it to send it to the client 3 that has requested the provision.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step 19 that the content information of the provision request is stored, the process proceeds to step 24, where the content information of the provision request is read from the content storage area 21 and transmitted to the client 3. In the following step 25, the UR specified in the provision request
The last reference date and time stored in the attribute information storage area 20 indicated by L is updated to the current date and time, and the process ends.

In this way, the relay program 10
When there is a request to provide the content information from a client 3 having no content information provided to another client 3 and the content information is stored, the content information of the provision request is stored in the content storage area 21. Is read and transmitted to the client 3 that is the source of the provision request.

As described above, the relay program 10 stores the last update date and time information of the content information so as to prevent transmission of the previously provided content information when the content information is requested to be provided again. Thus, unnecessary transmission processing is not required, and processing is performed so as to eliminate useless use of disk resources.

When the relay program 10 follows the processing flow shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, is there a request to provide the same content information from a plurality of clients 3 by using the presence / absence of the update date and time notified from the client 3? It is determined whether or not the content information requested to be provided by the plurality of clients 3 is stored in the content storage area 21 in consideration of the high use frequency. When the content attribute information as shown in FIG. 4B is stored for 20, more detailed control can be used.

That is, when the content attribute information shown in FIG. 4B is stored, processing is performed so as to manage the IP address of the client 3 which has requested to provide the same content information. Fine control such as storing requested content information in the content storage area 21 can be realized.

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of the processing flow executed by the deletion program 11.

In accordance with this processing flow, when the specified time at midnight or the usage amount of the disk 2 reaches the specified amount, for example, the deletion program 11 executes the final operation of the content attribute information stored in the attribute information storage area 20. By searching for the reference date and time, the stored content information that is not referred to for a long time is specified, and the specified content information is deleted.

That is, when the deletion program 11 stores content information that has not been referred to for a long time,
In order to efficiently use the capacity of the disk 2, processing is performed to delete the content information.

This content information deletion processing is performed by specifying the stored content information that has been updated a long time ago according to the last update date and time and deleting the specified content information. According to the cache collection time, identify the stored content information that was stored a long time ago and delete the identified content information, or count the number of references in a certain period In some cases, content information with a low usage frequency is detected, and the detected content information with a low usage frequency is deleted.

When deleting the content information, processing may be performed to delete the content attribute information of the content information to be deleted stored in the attribute information storage area 20.

Further, even when the content information is not stored, the deletion program 11 can process the stored content attribute information so as to delete an old one or an infrequently used content attribute information. is there.

This content attribute information deletion processing may be performed by, for example, identifying stored content attribute information that has not been referenced for a long time and deleting the identified content attribute information according to the last reference date and time. According to the last update date and time, by specifying the stored content attribute information whose content information was updated a long time ago and deleting the specified content attribute information, or according to the cache collection time, Identify the stored content attribute information that was stored a long time ago and delete the identified content attribute information. Low-level content information is detected, and the content attribute information associated with the detected infrequently-used content information is detected. It will be performed by deleting the.

When the content attribute information is deleted, even if a request for providing the content information is made from the client 3 by specifying the update date and time, the last update date and time of the content information of the provision request may not be stored.

In such a case, the relay program 10
Treats it as a new content information provision request, connects to the WWW server 4 pointed to by the URL specified in the provision request, obtains the content information requested to be provided from the WWW server 4, and sends it to the client 3. Then, the attribute information of the content information is stored in the attribute information storage area 20, and the content information itself is not stored.

(Supplementary Note 1) An information relay method for relaying information between an information providing server device and an information terminal device, wherein the information terminal device stores last update date and time information of the information provided to the information terminal device, and It is determined whether the information requested to be provided is information storing the above-mentioned last update date and time information. An information relay method characterized by acquiring the provision request information from a server device and providing the obtained information to an information terminal device that has issued the provision request, and processing the information to be provided so as not to store the information.

(Supplementary Note 2) An information relay method for relaying information between an information providing server device and an information terminal device, wherein the information terminal device stores the last update date and time information of the information provided to the information terminal device, and transmits the information to the information terminal device. It is determined whether the information requested to be provided is information storing the above-mentioned last update date and time information. It is determined whether or not there is a notification of the update date / time information from the information terminal device of the issuer. When the notification of the update date / time information is determined, the update date / time information and the last update date / time information of the provided provision request information are stored. And determining in accordance with the time order relationship to determine whether it is necessary to provide the offer request information to the information terminal device that issued the offer request. , Features and That information relay method.

(Supplementary Note 3) An information relay method for relaying information between an information providing server device and an information terminal device, wherein the information terminal device stores last update date and time information of the information provided to the information terminal device, and It is determined whether the information requested to be provided is information storing the above-mentioned last update date and time information. It is determined whether or not there is a notification of the update date / time information from the information terminal device of the issuing source. Processing to determine that information needs to be provided,
Characteristic information relay method.

(Supplementary Note 4) In the information relay method according to any one of Supplementary notes 1 to 3, information storing the last update date and time information is obtained from the information providing server device and provided to the information terminal device. If the stored last update date / time information has been changed, processing is performed so that the stored last update date / time information is updated accordingly. .

(Supplementary Note 5) In the information relaying method described in any one of Supplementary Notes 1 to 4, when a certain time lapse condition is satisfied, the stored last updated date and time information is deleted. An information relay method characterized by processing.

(Supplementary Note 6) In the information relay method described in any one of Supplementary notes 1 to 5, for information frequently requested to be provided from an information terminal device, processing is performed to save the information. Information relaying method.

(Supplementary Note 7) A program recording medium on which a program for relaying information between an information providing server device and an information terminal device is recorded, and a process of storing last update date and time information of the information provided to the information terminal device. Determining whether the information requested to be provided by the information terminal device is the information storing the last update date / time information, and providing request information not storing the last update date / time information. When it is determined that the information providing server device obtains the providing request information from the information providing server device and provides the obtained information to the information terminal device that issued the providing request, and executes a process of not storing the provided information. A program recording medium characterized by recording a program to be recorded.

[0083]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When adopting a configuration for relaying information between an information providing server device and an information terminal device, a configuration is adopted in which attribute information of content information to be provided is stored to realize the information relay. While reducing resources, it is possible to realize reduction of network traffic and high-speed response to the information terminal device.

By employing a configuration in which frequently used content information is stored when employing this information relay configuration, this network traffic reduction and a high-speed response to the information terminal device can be further improved. Can be realized in a practical way.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an example of an embodiment of a PROXY server equipped with the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an embodiment of content attribute information to be stored.

FIG. 5 is an embodiment of a processing flow executed by a relay program.

FIG. 6 is an embodiment of a processing flow executed by a relay program.

FIG. 7 is an embodiment of a processing flow executed by a relay program.

FIG. 8 is an embodiment of a processing flow executed by a deletion program.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a PROXY server.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 PROXY server 2 Disk 3 Client 4 WWW server 10 Relay program 11 Deletion program 20 Attribute information storage area 21 Content storage area 30 Browser

Continuation of the front page F term (reference) 5B005 JJ11 KK02 LL17 NN25 5B082 AA01 EA10 GA20 HA02 HA05 5B085 AC05 BG07 CA04

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An information relay method for relaying information between an information providing server device and an information terminal device, wherein the information terminal device stores last update date and time information of the information provided to the information terminal device, and provides a provision request from the information terminal device. The information providing server device determines whether or not the information to be updated is information that stores the last update date and time information. And acquiring the provision request information from the information terminal apparatus and providing the information to the information terminal device that issued the provision request, and processing the information to be provided so as not to store the information. 2. An information relay method for relaying information between an information providing server device and an information terminal device, wherein the information terminal device stores last update date and time information of the information provided to the information terminal device, and requests the information terminal device to provide the information. It is determined whether or not the information to be provided is the information that stores the last update date and time information. If it is determined that the information is the request information that stores the last update date and time information, It is determined whether or not there is a notification of the update date and time information from the information terminal device.When determining the notification of the update date and time information, when the update date and time information is compared with the last update date and time information of the stored provision request information, Determining a time order relation between the information terminal apparatuses, and determining whether it is necessary to provide the request information to the information terminal device that issued the provision request according to the time order relation. Information Broadcast method. 3. An information relay method for relaying information between an information providing server device and an information terminal device, wherein the information terminal device stores last update date and time information of the information provided to the information terminal device, and requests a provision from the information terminal device. It is determined whether or not the information to be provided is the information that stores the last update date and time information. If it is determined that the information is the request information that stores the last update date and time information, It is determined whether there is a notification of the update date and time information from the information terminal device of the above, when it is determined that there is no notification of the update date and time information,
An information relay method, characterized by processing to determine that it is necessary to provide provision request information to an information terminal device that has issued a provision request. 4. The information relay method according to claim 1, wherein information that is frequently requested by the information terminal device is processed to be stored. Information relay method. 5. A program recording medium on which a program for relaying information between an information providing server device and an information terminal device is recorded, wherein a process of storing last update date and time information of the information provided to the information terminal device; A process of determining whether or not the information requested to be provided from the information terminal device is the information that stores the last update date and time information; and a determination that the information is the request to provide that does not store the last update date and time information. A program that causes the computer to execute the process of obtaining the provision request information from the information provision server device, providing the provision request information to the information terminal device that issued the provision request, and not storing the provided information. A program recording medium characterized by recording.