JP2002290438A - Communication method and device by domain for relay - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication method, which accepts demands from all terminals accessible to the Internet, relays communication from a terminal to a site desired by the terminal regardless of the kind of the terminal with reference to the request and other circumstances of the terminal or the site, and serves as a relay server, and to provide a communication device using the communication method. SOLUTION: The communication device accepts a communication demand including address of communication destination with a domain for relay added to domain of the opposite party by a terminal device accessible to the Internet, transmits the communication demand obtained by removing the domain for relay from the communication demand receives a reply to the communication demand, and sends the reply to the terminal device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication method and apparatus for relaying between a terminal that has issued a connection or communication request on the Internet and a connection or communication partner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When sending / receiving e-mail or browsing a homepage from a terminal device that can be connected to the Internet, an address including a name (domain) for specifying a destination of connection or communication in a terminal device such as a personal computer. Alternatively, it is necessary to input or set a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). For example, in the case of e-mail, "info@clime.ne.j
p ”, if the destination is a specific site, the URL is“ htt
It needs to be specified, such as “p: //www.clime.ne.jp”.

[0003]

According to the conventional Internet connection method, when the address or URL of the destination to be connected is specified in the terminal device as described above, the route to the connection destination is automatically determined by the routing information. It is a mechanism that is done. If you want to explicitly specify the connection destination from the terminal side, if using the HTTP protocol, use a Proxy (proxy) server or SMTP (Simple Mail Transf
er Protocol) protocol, it is necessary to set the server to be passed on the terminal side like an SMTP server, but that setting must be changed every time the destination is changed. May not be possible.

For example, a terminal that does not have an SMTP server or a function of setting source information (source address, source name, etc.) can handle only one mail address.

On the other hand, a terminal which cannot set a proxy server cannot use functions provided by the proxy server (cache, connection source information filter, data exchange, translation, etc.).

[0006] It is an object of the present invention to receive requests from all terminals that can be connected to the Internet, relay communication with a site to be connected regardless of the type of terminal, and request the terminal or site as a relay server. It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication method and apparatus capable of providing a service according to the circumstances.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A method of the present invention is a method for relaying communication between a terminal device connectable to the Internet and a destination, wherein a relay domain is transferred from the terminal device to a destination domain. Receiving a communication request including the added connection destination address; transmitting a communication request obtained by removing the relay domain from the communication request; receiving a response to the communication request; and transmitting the response to the terminal device. Transmitting.

An apparatus according to the present invention is a server apparatus having a relay domain for relaying communication between a terminal apparatus connectable to the Internet and a destination, wherein the relay apparatus transmits the relay from the terminal apparatus to the destination domain. Means for receiving a communication request including a connection destination address to which a relay domain is added, and communication means for transmitting a communication request excluding the relay domain to a destination having the destination domain, and receiving a response to the communication request. Response means for transmitting a response received by the communication means to the terminal device.

[0009] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the server device utilizes a mechanism for sequentially interpreting the connection destination address on the Internet from the rear (right side). Therefore, it is assumed that the connection destination address from the terminal device is obtained by adding the relay domain after the destination domain.

[0010]

According to the present invention, by adding the relay domain to the domain of the connection destination or destination address as described above, the relay server recognizes the address with the relay domain having the highest priority.

The relay server which receives the inquiry with the highest priority notifies the terminal side to transmit the data (of the communication request) to the relay server (site). Then, after the relay server receives the communication request, the relay domain is removed from the connection destination address, and a proxy connection is made to the original connection destination. Also,
When a response is received from the connection destination, the content is relayed and a response is sent to the terminal as result data.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG.
Shows how to relay data. This is the connection source device
The relay server 2 receives a connection request from the (client) 1, converts it into connection destination information, makes a proxy connection from the relay server 2 to the connection destination site 3 of the information, and obtains a result corresponding to the connection request. Then, it is transmitted from the relay server 2 to the client 1.

The communication procedure according to the present invention is as follows. (1) When communicating from the terminal 1 through the relay server 2, a communication domain (for example, “set.fm” or “gw.jp”) is added to the end of the communication (recipient) destination domain for communication. (2) By adding the relay domain as described above, the communication destination domain belongs to the relay domain. Therefore, when referring to the communication destination IP address from the domain, the DNS (Domain Name Sys- tem) of the relay domain is used.
tem) The server is queried. (3) The DNS server that manages the relay domain replies to the above inquiry with the IP address of the relay server regardless of the subdomain name and the host name in all (left side) of the relay domain. (Specify a wildcard for the host name). (4) The terminal 1 connects to and communicates with the IP address of the relay server 2 obtained from the reply. (5) The relay server 2 acquires the communication destination address from the header information. (6) The relay domain is omitted from the acquired communication destination address, and the address is converted to the original address. (7) A proxy connection is made from the relay server 2 to the converted address, and a response result is received. (8) Transmit the received response result to the terminal 1.

Next, a specific example will be described.

1) When a connection destination (URL, mail address, etc.) is specified from the client 1, a relay domain (for example, "set.fm") is added to the end as shown in the following example.

(A) The destination mail address is info@clime.n
e.jp: info@clime.ne.jp.set.fm (B) If the connection destination URL is http://www.clime.ne.jp: http://www.clime.ne.jp. set.fm (C) When the connection destination URL is http://www.clime.ne.jp/index.html: http://www.clime.ne.jp.set.fm/index.html (D) The connection URL is http: //www.clime.ne.jp.80/index.htm
In the case of l: http://www.clime.ne.jp:80.set.fm/index.html 2) The connection request from the client 1 is once accepted by the server 2 having the relay domain.

For example, info@clime.ne.jp.se of the above (A)
If sent to t.fm, the server holding the relay domain “set.fm” accepts it.

3) The connection destination information is converted in the relay server 2. For example, (A) the destination email address is info@clime.ne.jp.set.fm
For: info@clime.ne.jp (B) When the connection destination URL is http://www.clime.ne.jp.set.fm: http://www.clime.ne.jp (C) Connection The destination URL is http://www.clime.ne.jp.set.fm/inde
For x.html: http://www.clime.ne.jp/index.html (D) The connection destination URL is http://www.clime.ne.jp.80.set.fm/in
In the case of dex.html: http://www.clime.ne.jp:80/index.html 4) By proxy connection to the converted connection destination site 3 from the relay server 2, obtain the request result.

For example, if the connection request is an e-mail, a result such as "transmission completed" or "transmission error" is obtained. If the connection request is a Web connection, an html document or the like is obtained.

5) The result is transmitted from the relay server 2 to the client 1.

FIG. 2 shows a procedure in the case of the above (B) (the URL is only a domain).

First, the terminal sets the connection destination address to "http: /
/www.clime.ne.jp.set.fm ”and connect (ST
21). Next, it connects to a relay server (site) having a relay domain “set.fm” and requests site information (ST
22). On the relay server, the connection destination address "http: // ww
w.clime.ne.jp.set.fm ”and converts it to the connection destination address“ http://www.clime.ne.jp ”excluding the relay domain (ST23). http: // w
ww.clime.ne.jp ”and send a terminal request (S
T24). HT from the connection destination “http://www.clime.ne.jp”
The terminal receives the response of the TP and replies to the terminal (ST25).

FIG. 3 shows the procedure in the case of the above (C) (the URL includes designation of a file name).

First, from the terminal, enter “http: //www.clime.ne.j
p.set.fm/test/index.html ”and connect (ST
31). Next, it connects to a relay server having a relay domain “set.fm” and requests site information (ST32).
On the relay server, the connection destination address "http: //www.clime.n
e.jp.set.fm/test/index.html ”and the connection address excluding the relay domain“ http://www.clime.ne.jp
/test/index.html ”(ST33). Connect to the address“ http://www.clime.ne.jp ”from the relay server,
A terminal request is transmitted (ST34). Connection destination “http: // w
ww.clime.ne.jp "and receives a response to the terminal (ST35).

FIG. 4 shows the procedure in the case of the above (D) (URL includes port designation).

First, from the terminal, enter “http: //www.yahho.co.j
p.80.gw.jp "(ST41).
It connects to a relay server having a relay domain “gw.jp” and requests site information (ST42). On the relay server, the connection destination address "http: //www.yahho.co.jp.80.gw.j
p ", and excludes the connection domain" htt
p: //www.yahho.co.jp: 80 ”(ST43) Connect from the relay server to port 80 of“ http://www.yahho.co.jp ”and send the terminal request (ST44), receives an HTTP response from the connection destination “http://www.yahho.co.jp”, and replies to the terminal (ST45).

FIG. 5 shows a procedure when a service such as data translation is provided by the relay server.

First, from the terminal, enter “http: //www.yahho.com.g
(ST51), and connects to a relay server having a relay domain "gw.jp" to request site information (ST52). Get “http://www.yahho.com.gw.jp”
Connection address excluding the relay domain "http: //www.y
ahho.com "(ST53). The relay server connects to" http://www.yahho.com "and transmits a terminal request (ST54). The connection destination" http: //www.yahho. co.jp ”
And performs an automatic conversion process such as translating the acquired data (ST55). Then, the converted data is transmitted to the terminal as response data (ST
56).

FIG. 6 shows the procedure in the case of the above (A) (mail is transmitted by SMTP via the relay server).

First, from the terminal, enter “info@clime.ne.jp.set.f
m ”(ST61).
Via connection provider or standard SMTP server, etc.
The relay SMTP server having the relay domain “set.fm” receives the mail (ST62). Here, the destination address “info@clime.ne.jp.set.fm” is obtained and converted to the address “info@clime.ne.jp” excluding the relay domain (ST63). SM of "clime.ne.jp" from relay server
It connects to the TP server and sends a mail (ST64).
At this time, if an error occurs, the content is sent to the terminal (ST65).

FIG. 7 shows a procedure in the case where the reply mail also passes through the relay server.

First, "info@clime.ne.jp.gw.j
The connection is made by specifying "p" (ST71). Next, the relay SMTP server having the relay domain "gw.jp" receives the mail via the connection provider or the standard SMTP server (ST72). Where the source address "test
@ hitmail.com ”and converts it to the address“ test@hitmail.com.gw.jp ”including the relay domain“ gw.jp ”(ST73), and furthermore, the destination address“ info@clime.ne.
jp.gw.jp ”and converts it to the address“ info@clime.ne.jp ”excluding the relay domain (ST74).
The relay server connects to the SMTP server of "clime.ne.jp" and sends an e-mail (ST75). According to the above embodiment in which the source address is “test@hitmail.com.gw.jp”, the following effects can be obtained.

Even for terminals that cannot use Proxy, Pr
Can provide the function of an oxy (proxy) server.

[0034] Even from a terminal that cannot specify an SMTP server, it is possible to make an SMTP call via a specific server.

It is possible to connect to an arbitrary port from a network environment in which a specific TCP port is filtered.

Using the relay system according to the present invention, various A
Build an SP (Application Service Provider).

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an HTT in a system using the method of the present invention.
The figure which shows the procedure which relays P data.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure when a URL is only a domain.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure when a URL includes designation of a file name.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure when a URL includes a port designation.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure when a service such as data translation is provided by the relay server.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a procedure for sending an SMTP mail via a relay server.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure when a reply mail also passes through a relay server.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1. Connection source terminal, 2. Relay server, 3. Connection destination site.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method for relaying communication between a terminal device connectable to the Internet and a destination, wherein the terminal device receives a communication request including a destination address obtained by adding a relay domain to a destination domain. Receiving, transmitting a communication request obtained by removing the relay domain from the communication request, receiving a response to the communication request, and transmitting the response to the terminal device. how to. 2. A server device having a relay domain for relaying communication between a terminal device connectable to the Internet and a partner, wherein the relay domain is added from the terminal device to the partner domain. Means for receiving a communication request including the connected destination address, a communication means for transmitting a communication request excluding the relay domain to a destination having the destination domain, and receiving a response to the communication request; and the communication means. And a response unit for transmitting the response received by the terminal device to the terminal device. 3. The server device according to claim 2, wherein the connection destination address is obtained by adding the relay domain after the destination domain.