JP2002215497A - Device and method for internet connection, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To down-load data at higher speed even if the data quantity of a request file is vast in an Internet connection device such as a provider device for connecting individual communication terminals to various Web sites on the Internet. SOLUTION: When connection from the personal computer(PC) 12 of a contract member through a general telephone public line 15 is received and connection from the terminal (PC) 12 through a digital portable telephone public line 16 by a portable telephone set (PHS) 13 is received, a data transfer mode with respect to the user terminal (12) connected by using the two lines is set to be a division mode. When the file F which is to be down-loaded on the user terminal (12) in accordance with access with a WWW server 17 on the Internet 10 is received, the file F is divided into two files Fa ad Fb, they are transmitted to the jointly used and connected lines 15 and 16 in parallel and are down-loaded on the user terminal (12).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an Internet connection device such as a provider device for connecting individual communication terminals to various Web sites on the Internet, an Internet connection method, and a program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in order to connect an individual communication terminal such as a personal computer or a mobile phone of each individual to the Internet, first, an Internet service provider (ISP) that provides a connection service with the Internet via a public line. ) Must be connected.

The provider device of the Internet service provider (ISP) is connected to each of the individual communication terminals via a public line, while being connected to the Internet via a dedicated line. When there is a request for access to the Internet from the member's communication terminal via the public line, the connection between the communication terminal having made the access request and the Internet connected via the dedicated line is established.

[0004] The user of the communication terminal can access by specifying an arbitrary Web site on the Internet and its Internet address, and receive various services provided by the accessed Web site.

[0005] The services provided by various Web sites on the Internet are various, such as various information providing services, merchandise sales, and distribution (download) services of documents, images, and music files accompanying the services. The time required for downloading is proportional to the communication speed of the public line connecting with the communication terminal of the access source.

For example, the communication speed of a general telephone public line is 56
The communication speed of a digital mobile phone public line by kbps and PHS (Personal Handyphone System) is 64 kbps.

[0007]

However, music files, image files, and long document files have an enormous amount of data. For example, files are transferred to a personal computer connected via a public telephone public line. In either the case of downloading or the case of downloading a file to a PHS connected via a digital mobile phone public line, there is a problem that a long time is required although there is a difference in the communication speed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has an Internet connection apparatus, an Internet connection method, and a program that enable faster download even when the data amount of a requested file is enormous. The purpose is to provide.

[0009]

That is, an Internet connection device according to the present invention is an Internet connection device for connecting the Internet to a communication terminal, and connection receiving means for receiving a connection from the communication terminal via a communication line. Connection detecting means for detecting that a plurality of terminals are connected from the same user in the connection receiving means, and detecting the connection when downloading data received from a server device on the Internet to the communication terminal. When the connection of the plurality of terminals is detected by the means, the transmission means divides the data and transmits each divided data to a plurality of connection lines.

[0010] In the Internet connection apparatus according to the present invention, it is determined by the connection detecting means that a plurality of terminals are connected by the same user in the connection receiving means for receiving the connection from the communication terminal via the communication line. If it is detected, when downloading the data received from the server device on the Internet to the communication terminal, the data is divided and each divided data is transmitted to a plurality of connection lines. The time to download data to the terminal can be greatly reduced.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an Internet access system provided with a provider device (Internet service provider: ISP) 11 according to an embodiment of the Internet connection device of the present invention.

The Internet 10 is an individual communication terminal such as a personal computer (PC) 12 or a mobile phone (PH) by a provider device (ISP) 11.
S) 13 is connected.

The Internet 10 and the provider device (I
SP) 11 and a dedicated network line 14 capable of high-speed communication
Between the provider device (ISP) 11 and the personal computer (PC), for example, at a communication speed of 5.
6 kbps general telephone public line 15
Provider device (ISP) 11 and mobile phone (PHS) 1
3 is connected by a digital mobile phone public line 16 having a communication speed of 64 kbps, for example.

[0015] On the Internet 10, various W
A large number of WWW servers 17 for providing web sites are connected to the personal computer (PC) 12.
The mobile phone (PHS) 13 is provided with a WWW browser program, and access to each server 17 on the Internet 10 is controlled according to the browser program.

The personal computer (PC) 1
2 and a provider device (ISP) 11 are connected via a public telephone public line 15 and a mobile phone (PH).
S) The connection via the digital mobile phone public line 16 using 13 is selected as necessary.

The provider device (ISP) 1
1 is that when the file F to be downloaded from the WWW server 17 to the personal computer (PC) 12 via the Internet 10 is a file having a huge amount of data, access from the personal computer (PC) 12 is generally Telephone public line 15 and mobile phone (PH
S) It is determined whether the connection is made via two lines 15 and 16 to a digital mobile phone public line 16 using the file 13, and the file F is divided into two files Fa and Fb, and each of the lines 15 and 16 is divided. It has a function of transferring data in parallel via the PC 16.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the provider device (ISP) 11 in the Internet access system.

The computer of the provider device (ISP) 11 includes a member database (DB) 21, a management server 22, and a DNS (Domain Name System) server 23.
Are connected via an access server 25 to public lines 15 and 16 which are connected to individual communication terminals of the personal computer (PC) 12 and the portable telephone (PHS) 13.

FIG. 3 shows the provider device (ISP) 11.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the contents of data stored by a member database (DB) 21 provided in the system.

The member database (DB) 21 includes:
Personal information such as a user ID, a password, a name, an address, a telephone number, and an e-mail address corresponding to each member who has contracted with the Internet service provider (ISP) is registered.

The management server 22 has a communication terminal (12, 1
3) performs connection management with the Internet 10 via the router 24 in response to an access request with the Internet 10 received by the access server 25 via the public line (15, 16) from the public line (15, 16). In response to individual network access requests from the communication terminals (12, 13), access information of each terminal is stored as management data.

FIG. 4 shows the provider device (ISP) 11.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing contents of management data stored in a management server 22 provided in the server.

The management server 22 has a terminal ID, a communication start time, an IP address, and a file transfer (download) corresponding to the provider device (ISP) 11 and the communication terminals (12, 13) currently being accessed.
Transfer mode that indicates whether to perform normal transfer or split transfer
The communication speed of the connection line is stored and managed, and the transfer mode is set to the division mode when there is a parallel access via two lines with the same terminal ID.

The DNS server 23 has a table in which the host name and the IP address of each computer connectable to the provider device (ISP) 11 on the network are associated with each other. According to the IP address of each WWW server 17 obtained in the server 23, the communication terminal (12, 1
The connection management with the Internet 17 according to the access request from 3) is performed.

Next, the operation of the provider device (ISP) 11 in the Internet access system having the above configuration will be described.

FIG. 5 shows the provider device (ISP) 11.
5 is a flowchart showing provider processing accompanying access from a communication terminal in FIG.

First, in a user-side personal computer (PC) 12, a WWW browser program is started in connection with an operation of connecting to the Internet 10, and a provider device (ISP) is connected via a public telephone public line 15.
11 is connected to the access server 25, the user ID and password transmitted from the access source personal computer (PC) 12 are registered in the member database (DB) 21 in the provider device (ISP) 11. (Step S1 → S
2).

Here, when it is confirmed that the access is from the member's personal computer (PC) 12, the user ID, access start time, and assigned I
The P address and the communication speed (56 kbps) of the connected line (in this case, the general telephone public line 15) are stored as management data in the management server 22 in association with each other.

Then, the ID list of the communication terminal already connected is checked on the management data of the management server 22 (step S3), and it is determined whether there is already a connection with the same user ID (step S3). S4).

Here, the same user ID is not stored in the management data, and if it is determined that there is no connection of the same user, the Internet 10 connected from the router 24 via the dedicated network 14 is connected. The personal computer (PC) 12 of the access source is connected (step S4 → S5).

At this time, the transfer mode on the management data corresponding to the access source personal computer (PC) 12 is set to the normal transfer mode.

Thus, the personal computer (P
In C) 12, by specifying a desired Internet address, it becomes possible to access the WWW server 17 of the desired site from various Web sites opened on the Internet 10.

Thereafter, the provider device (ISP) 11
When a user accessing the WWW server 17 on the Internet 10 via the Internet 10 downloads a file F having a large amount of data such as a music file in a divided manner at high speed, the personal computer (PC) 12 The mobile phone (PHS) 13 is connected to the PC 10 and the connection operation with the Internet 10 is performed again by the connected mobile phone (PHS) 13. And the mobile phone (P
When the HS (HS) 13 is connected to the access server 25 of the provider device (ISP) 11 via the digital mobile phone public line 16, the provider device (ISP) 11 similarly accesses the access source mobile phone (PHS) 13 as described above. The user ID and password sent from the member database (D
B) It is confirmed whether the member belongs to the member registered in 21 (step S1 → S2).

Here, when it is confirmed that the access is from a user who is a member, the user ID, the access start time, the IP address, and the connected line (in this case, the digital cellular telephone public line 16) Is stored as management data in the management server 22 in association with each other.

Then, the ID list of the communication terminal already connected is checked on the management data of the management server 22 (step S3), and the same user ID is used to change a different line using another terminal. If it is determined that there is a parallel connection via the network (step S4), each of the transfer modes on the management data corresponding to the same user who is accessing in parallel is set to the split transfer mode, and the split transmission mode in FIG. Is transferred to (Step SA).

FIG. 6 shows the provider device (ISP) 11.
6 is a flowchart showing a division transmission mode process accompanying the provider process in FIG.

The data of the transfer file F to be downloaded to the personal computer (PC) 12 that is accessing the WWW server 17 on the Internet 10 via the provider device (ISP) 11 is transmitted from the Internet 10 to this provider. When received by the device (ISP) 11 (step A1), the data amount of the received transfer file F is a huge data amount exceeding a predetermined data amount (for example, 150 MB) or a fixed amount. (Step A2).

Here, it is determined that the file F to be downloaded to the personal computer (PC) 12 received from the WWW server 17 is, for example, screen data relating to page display or the like and is not a large file having a predetermined data amount or less. In the case of ordinary telephone public line 1
5, the transfer file F
Is transmitted to the personal computer (PC) 12 and downloaded (step A2 → A3).

On the other hand, the file F to be downloaded to the personal computer (PC) 12 received from the WWW server 17 is, for example, a huge data file exceeding a certain amount of video and audio data related to movie distribution or the like. When it is determined that the public telephone line 15 and the digital mobile telephone public line 16 are connected to a plurality of terminals indicated by the same user ID, based on the management data recorded and managed in the management server 22, It is determined whether or not a parallel line using the combination of is maintained or a line connection state via only a single line (step A2 → A
4).

If it is determined that the parallel line is maintained, the transfer file F is divided and sent to both lines 15 and 16 for downloading.
Is transferred to the file division sending process in step (step A4 → AB).

FIG. 7 shows the provider device (ISP) 11.
9 is a flowchart showing a file division transmission process in the division transmission mode processing of FIG.

FIG. 8 shows the provider device (ISP) 11.
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a division state of a transfer file F by the file division transmission processing of FIG.

When the process is shifted to the file division transmission process, the transfer file F to be downloaded to the personal computer (PC) 12 received from the WWW server 17 is transmitted.
Is temporarily stored in the management server 22 (step B1).

The communication speed (56 kbps) of the general telephone public line 15 which is stored as management data in the management server 22 and is in parallel connection with the download destination personal computer (PC) 12 in parallel.
And the communication speed of the digital mobile phone public line 16 (64 kb
is calculated (step B).
2).

Then, the transfer file F temporarily stored in the management server 22 is divided according to the transmission speed ratio of the combined connection line, as shown in FIG. The header information is added (step B3), and the divided file Fa having a divided data amount corresponding to the transmission speed ratio of the general telephone public line 15 as the first connection line and the digital portable telephone as the second connection line. The divided files Fb of the divided data amount corresponding to the transmission speed ratio of the telephone public line 16 are transmitted in parallel to the corresponding public lines 15 and 16 respectively (step B4).

The portable telephone (PHS) 13 transmits the received file data to a personal computer (PC).
The personal computer (PC) 12 outputs the first divided file Fa downloaded from the provider device (ISP) 11 via the general telephone public line 15 and the second divided file Fa output from the mobile phone (PHS) 13. By combining and restoring the divided file Fb based on the header information, a desired file from the accessing WWW server 17 can be obtained.

Therefore, the provider device (ISP) 11 in the Internet access system having the above-described configuration.
According to the contract member's personal computer (PC)
When a connection via the general telephone public line 15 is received from the mobile telephone 12 and a connection via the digital mobile telephone public line 16 is received by the mobile telephone (PHS) 13, the user connected using the two telephone lines together The data transfer mode for the terminal (12) is set to the division mode. Then, the WWW server 17 on the Internet 10
When the file F to be downloaded to the user terminal (12) is received in response to the access, the file F to be transferred is divided into two files Fa and Fb, and each of them is connected to the general telephone public line. 15 and downloaded to the user terminal (12) in parallel to the digital mobile phone public line 16, so that even if the download file from the Internet site has a huge amount of data such as video and music, The user can download the desired file to the user terminal (12).

Further, according to the provider device (ISP) 11 in the Internet access system having the above configuration, when the file F to be downloaded to the user terminal (12) is divided according to the division transfer mode, the user of the download destination is The data is divided into data amounts corresponding to the transmission speed ratio between the public telephone line 15 and the digital cellular telephone line 16 connected in parallel to the terminal (12), and header information such as a file name, an attribute, and the number of divisions. Is added and the data is divided and transferred, so that the time required for the data transfer of each of the divided files Fa and Fb sent via each of the lines 15 and 16 is substantially equal, and a faster file download with good transfer efficiency is realized. it can.

In the above embodiment, the number of divided transmissions of the file F to be downloaded depends on whether the user terminal (12) has the public telephone line 15 and the digital cellular telephone line 16 or not.
Is connected via the two lines of
Although the transmission is performed by dividing the file into two parts, when the connection is performed by using another line, the number of divisions can be increased and the file can be downloaded more quickly.

It should be noted that the processing method in the provider device (ISP) 11 described in the above embodiment, that is, the provider processing accompanying the access from the communication terminal shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5 and the division accompanying the provider processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. Each of the methods such as the transmission mode processing and the file division transmission processing in the division transmission mode processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7 is a program that can be executed by a computer, such as a memory card (ROM card, RAM card, etc.), a magnetic disk, or the like. (Floppy disk, hard disk, etc.), optical disk (C
D-ROM, DVD, etc.), and can be stored and distributed on an external recording medium 30 such as a semiconductor memory. Then, the computer of the provider device (ISP) 11 stores the program stored in the external storage medium 30 into each storage medium 30.
By reading the data into the internal memory of the management server 22 by the reading device and controlling the operation by the read program, the divided file transmission function according to the number of connection lines from the user terminal described in the above embodiment is realized. Then, the same processing according to the above-described method can be executed.

Also, data of a program for realizing each of the above methods can be transmitted on a network (10) in the form of a program code, and the computer terminal connected to the network (10) transmits the program data. It is also possible to take in the data and realize the above-described divisional transmission function of the download file according to the number of connection lines from the user terminal.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be variously modified in the practical stage without departing from the gist thereof. Further, the embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some components are deleted from all the components shown in the embodiments or some components are combined, the problem described in the section of the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved. In the case where the effect described in the section of the effect can be obtained, a configuration in which this component is deleted or combined can be extracted as an invention.

[0054]

As described above, according to the Internet connection apparatus of the present invention, a plurality of terminals are connected by the same user in connection accepting means for accepting a connection from a communication terminal via a communication line. If the connection is detected by the connection detecting means, when downloading the data received from the server device on the Internet to the communication terminal, the data is divided and each divided data is transmitted to a plurality of connection lines. Therefore, the time for downloading data to the communication terminal can be significantly reduced.

Therefore, even when the data amount of the requested file is enormous, it is possible to download the file at a higher speed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an Internet access system including a provider device (Internet service provider: ISP) according to an embodiment of the Internet connection device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a provider device (ISP) in the Internet access system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the contents of data stored in a member database (DB) provided in the provider device (ISP).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing contents of management data stored in a management server provided in the provider device (ISP).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing provider processing accompanying access from a communication terminal in the provider device (ISP).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a division transmission mode process accompanying the provider process in the provider device (ISP).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a file division transmission process in the division transmission mode process of the provider device (ISP).

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a division state of a transfer file F by a file division transmission process of the provider device (ISP).

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Internet 11 ... Provider device (ISP) 12 ... Personal computer (PC) 13 ... Mobile telephone (PHS) 14 ... Net private line 15 ... Public telephone public line 16 ... Digital mobile telephone public line 17 ... WWW server 21 ... Member database (DB) 22 ... management server 23 ... DNS server 24 ... router 25 ... access server 30 ... external recording medium F ... transfer file Fa ... first divided file Fb ... second divided file

Claims (5)

[Claims] An Internet connection device for connecting the Internet to a communication terminal, comprising: a connection accepting unit for accepting a connection from the communication terminal via a communication line; and a plurality of terminals connected by the same user in the connection accepting unit. Connection detection means for detecting that the connection has been made, when downloading the data received from the server device on the Internet to the communication terminal, when the connection of the plurality of terminals is detected by the connection detection means An internet connection device, comprising: division transmission means for dividing the data and transmitting each divided data to a plurality of connection lines. 2. The data transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the division transmission unit includes a data division unit configured to divide the data by a division amount according to a data transmission speed of each of a plurality of connection lines with the communication terminal. An internet connection device according to item 1. 3. An Internet connection method for connecting the Internet to a communication terminal, comprising: a connection receiving step of receiving a connection from the communication terminal via a communication line; A connection detection step of detecting that a terminal is connected, and when downloading data received from a server device on the Internet to the communication terminal, the connection of the plurality of terminals is detected in the connection detection step. And transmitting the divided data to a plurality of connection lines, respectively. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the dividing and transmitting step includes a data dividing step of dividing data by a dividing amount according to a data transmission speed of each of the plurality of connection lines with the communication terminal. Internet connection method described in. 5. A program for controlling a computer to connect the Internet to a communication terminal, the computer comprising: a connection receiving unit for receiving a connection from the communication terminal via a communication line; Connection detecting means for detecting that a plurality of terminals are connected to a plurality of users, when the communication terminal downloads data received from a server device on the Internet, the connection detecting means connects the plurality of terminals. Is detected, is a computer-readable program functioning as division sending means for dividing the data and sending each divided data to a plurality of connection lines.