JP2003141002A - Url length conversion system and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow the access, in a client terminal limited in treatable URL length, to the content designated by a URL exceeding the limitation and the process thereof. SOLUTION: In this system comprising a content server, the client terminal and a Proxy server, the Proxy server comprises a means for determining the length of a URL character string described in a content when receiving the content from the contents server, and converting it to the character string of the URL length treatable by the client terminal; a means for storing and managing the conformation of the conversion; and a means for referring to a URL character string in a message when receiving a content request from the client terminal, and returning it to the original URL when it is a contracted character string.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for transmitting and receiving contents using a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) in a network and a program therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The existence of not only PCs but also functionally restricted clients such as mobile terminals (cell phones, etc.) and PDAs as clients that refer to contents published on the Internet has increased to a non-negligible level. There is. When publishing contents on the Internet, in order to enable reference from these functionally restricted clients, the function of the client terminal must be
It is necessary to create content that considers ability.

One of the restrictions on the functions of the client terminal is the URL (Un
There is a limit to the length of the iform Resource Locator) character string. For example, the maximum URL length that can be handled is 128 bytes or 20
There are mobile terminals that are limited to 0 bytes. Therefore, if the URL length of a link or the like included in the content exceeds the limit (such as when the URL contains many parameter character strings for dynamically generated content), the URL cannot be traced. There is a problem.

A URL or a UR of a superordinate concept
I (Uniform Resource Identifier) is a system (description method) for uniquely identifying and accessing a resource (object) on a network. UR
In the case of L, the description is a character string in which the protocol used for access, the position (address) of the target resource, etc. are described in a predetermined grammar. Further, for example, in the HTTP protocol, the URL length is not particularly limited, but in a mobile terminal or the like, the URL length that can be handled is often limited due to restrictions of the installed memory.

In the conventional system, there are problems such as an increase in the number of man-hours for content creation and an increase in the burden on the content publishing server on the side of content creation / publication, and on the side of content usage, on the side of the terminal. There was a problem that content usage was limited by the ability.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and even in a client terminal having a limited URL length that can be handled, contents specified by a long URL character string exceeding the limitation. It is a first object of the present invention to provide a URL length conversion system capable of accessing the process and its process and reducing the load on the content publishing server side.

Further, it is a first object of the present invention to provide a URL length conversion system capable of performing a URL length conversion process according to the capability of the client terminal by referring to information describing the terminal type and function of the client terminal. The purpose is 2.

[0008]

In order to achieve such an object, the invention according to claim 1 discloses a server which publishes contents, a client terminal which is a client to the server, and has a maximum URL length that can be handled. P that proxy / relays access to contents by clients
URL on the system including the roxy server
In the length conversion system, when the proxy server receives the content from the content server, the proxy server determines the length of the URL character string described in the content and converts the URL character string into a character string of the URL length that can be handled by the client terminal. Conversion means, conversion correspondence storage means for storing and managing the correspondence of URL character string conversion in a table, and when a content access request message is received from a client terminal, the URL character string in the message and the table are referred to When the character string is a character string converted by the reducing means, it has a restoring means for returning to the original URL.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the proxy server further has terminal information management means for storing and managing terminal type information or maximum URL length information for a plurality of client terminals. However, the reducing means is characterized in that, during the URL conversion processing, the threshold value is determined based on the information managed by the terminal information managing means to make a determination.

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
In the invention described in (1), the proxy server determines means for acquiring terminal type information or maximum URL length information of the client terminal from the request message from the client terminal, and a threshold for judgment in the URL conversion processing by referring to the information. And a means for reducing,
The feature is that determination and conversion processing are performed based on a threshold value.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a server which publishes contents, a client terminal for the server, which has a limited maximum URL length that can be handled, and a proxy server which proxy / relays access to the contents by the client. , Which is a program on a system having a proxy server, when the proxy server receives the content from the content server, determines the length of the URL character string described in the content, and the character string of the URL length that the client terminal can handle. When the content access request message is received from the client terminal, the URL character string and the table in the message are received when the content access request message is received from the client terminal. Refer to the URL
When the character string is a character string converted by the reducing process, the computer is caused to perform a restoring process of returning to the original URL.

[0012] According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in the invention of the fourth aspect, in the proxy server, terminal type information or maximum URL for a plurality of client terminals.
The terminal information management process of storing and managing the long information is further executed by the computer, and in the reduction process, a threshold value is determined based on the information managed by the terminal information management process at the time of URL conversion to make a judgment. It is characterized by doing.

The invention according to claim 6 is the invention according to claim 4 or 5.
In the invention described in (3), the proxy server determines the threshold for judgment in the URL conversion process by referring to the process of obtaining the terminal type information or the maximum URL length information of the client terminal from the request message from the client terminal. The processing for performing the above is further executed by the computer, and the reduction processing is characterized in that the determination and the conversion processing are performed based on the threshold value.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a URL length conversion system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In this system, a Pro that proxies and relays access to client terminals such as mobile terminals and PDAs that refer to content published on a server on the Internet and that has a limited URL length that can be handled.
The xy server (proxies / proxies / proxy servers) performs processing for reducing the URL length as necessary, and enables those client terminals to access the content.

The first embodiment of the present invention comprises a client terminal 10, a proxy server 20, and a content server 30. Each of these nodes is connected to the Internet. The client terminal 10 is, for example, a mobile terminal, is equipped with a predetermined wireless communication function and the client program 1, and is provided by a carrier.
It has the ability to connect to the content server 30 via the xy server 20. The content server 30 has a server program 3 and content to be published. As an example,
The content is assumed to be Web content described in HTML and exchanged by the HTTP protocol.

The client terminal uses the client program (Web browser) 11 to send a request (content access request message or the like) to the content server and receive the content as a response thereto. At that time, the proxy server 20 performs a relay process. This client terminal 10 has a limitation on the URL length that can be handled by the client program 11. The upper limit of the URL length that can be handled (maximum URL length) is x (byte).

In the client terminal 10, the address of the proxy server 20 used when making a content request is set in advance. At the time of content request, the set Proxy server address is referred to, and the content request is first transmitted to the Proxy server 20.

The content server 30 processes the request message from the client terminal 10 (Proxy server 20) in the server program 31 and sends the content to the client terminal 10 (Proxy server 20) as a response.

The proxy server 20 acts as a server for the client terminal 10 on the network, receives a content request message and other messages from the client terminal 10, and performs access control processing for the content server 30. Further, the content server 30 behaves as a client, and performs a process of transmitting (transferring) a content request or other message from the client terminal 10. Proxy server 2
0 receives the content as a response from the content server 30 and transmits the content to the client terminal 10. The proxy server 20 includes a network processing unit 1, a URL conversion processing unit 2, and a URL conversion correspondence storage unit 3.

The network processing unit 1 is the above-mentioned Prox.
It includes a Proxy program that performs main processing as a y-server. The network processing unit 1 uses the content server 30.
When content is received from the client and when a content access request is received from the client terminal 10,
The URL conversion processing unit 2 is requested to perform processing.

The URL conversion processing unit 2 is called from the network processing unit 1 as necessary and performs processing. URL
The conversion processing unit 2 checks the contents of the content as a content access request from the client terminal 10 and the response from the content server 30,
A process of determining whether or not the URL conversion process is necessary is performed.

The URL conversion processing unit 2 writes the URL (link U of the content) described in the content.
RL) and check the URL length of the client terminal 1
A process of converting (reducing) a URL character string having a length that can be handled by 0 and performing replacement is performed. A module that performs this reduction processing is referred to as a reduction processing unit 4. Also, the URL conversion processing unit 2
Checks the URL included in the content request from the client terminal 10 and finds that the URL was previously
If the URL character string has been reduced in size by the server 20, the original URL is restored. A module that performs this restoration processing is referred to as a restoration processing unit 5. Each U above
In the RL conversion process, the URL conversion correspondence storage unit 3 is referred to.

The URL conversion correspondence storage unit 3 stores the original URL character string of the content and its process and its U
The correspondence between the RL character string and the character string obtained as a result of conversion by the reduction processing unit 4 is stored in a table and managed.

The conversion method of the URL character string in the reduction processing unit 4 is not particularly limited. The condition is that the URL string length after conversion is within the length that can be handled by the client terminal 10.

The URL in the URL conversion processing unit 2
As a method of determining whether or not to perform the length conversion, for example, the target U
A method of comparing the RL with a predetermined URL length threshold value and performing conversion when the length exceeds the threshold value can be considered. As this threshold, the maximum URL length x (Byte) of the client terminal 10
To make the length of the converted character string within x.

FIG. 2 shows how the URL character string is converted. The URL length conversion processing unit 2 sets the maximum URL length x that can be handled by the client terminal 10 in the threshold value L for determination and makes a determination at the time of conversion. A standard URL falls within the threshold L for judgment. For URLs that exceed the threshold,
A conversion (reduction) operation is performed to make a character string having a length of L or less.

3 and 4 are flowcharts showing the operation of the URL length conversion system in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows the URL in the proxy server 20.
Of the reduced U, and FIG.
It is a flow shown about the restoration process of RL.

In FIG. 3, when the network processing unit 1 of the proxy server 20 receives content from the content server 30 as a response to the content access request from the client terminal (step S1), U
The RL conversion processing unit 2 checks whether the content includes a URL to be reduced (step S
2), if such a URL exists, its URL
Is reduced by the reduction processing unit 4 and the character string is replaced in the content (step S
3). If it does not exist, it is transmitted to the client terminal 10 without performing any processing (step S5).

The URL conversion correspondence storage unit 3 stores the correspondence between the reduced URL character string and the original URL in the table (step S4).

The network processing unit 1 transmits the content subjected to the URL reduction processing to the client terminal 10 as a result of the initial content access request. This content is received by the client terminal 10 (step S5).

In FIG. 4, first, the client terminal 1
0 makes a content access request to the content associated with a predetermined URL or its process. P by client program 1 according to the setting
A content access request (hereinafter referred to as request) is transmitted to the roxy server 20. Then, the transmitted request is received by the network processing unit 1 in the proxy server (step S11).

The URL conversion processing unit 2 checks the URL character string included in the request, and checks whether the URL character string is a character string that has been previously reduced in size by the Proxy server 20 (step S12).

If the URL is not a character string that has been previously reduced in size by the Proxy server 20 (that is, a standard URL), the request is transmitted from the network processing unit 1 to the content server 30 as it is. (Step S14).

The URL was previously used for this Proxy server 2
If the character string has been reduced in size 0, the restoring processing unit 5 restores the original URL (step S13). At that time, the table stored in the URL conversion correspondence storage unit 3 is referred to, and the original URL is searched using the received URL as a key. The network processing unit 1
A request is transmitted to the content server 30 using the original URL (step S14).

Content server 3 that received the request
0 returns the requested content to the proxy server 20 as a response to the content access request. The content is received by the network processing unit 1 of the proxy server 20.

Next, a specific example will be described with reference to FIG. U of the representative content A on the content server 30
RL, here a = "http://www.example.com/toppag
e / ". In this content A, a link to another content (or process) B is described,
The URL is b = ”http://www.example.com/secondp
age? parameter1 = thisparameterisverylong & parameter2 =
It is assumed that this is a long character string "thisparameterisalsotoolong" that exceeds the maximum URL length x that the client terminal 10 can handle.

First, the client terminal 10 transmits an access request (hereinafter referred to as a request) for the content A. This is done using the GET method "GET a
It is expressed in the form of ~ ". This URLa is within the URL length x that can be handled by the client terminal 10. Pr
The oxy server 20 receives the request from the client terminal 10. The URL conversion processing unit 2 checks the URL included in the request, and checks whether the URL is a character string that has been previously reduced in size by the Proxy server. Here, since this URLa is not a character string that has been previously reduced, the network processing unit 1
The request is transmitted to the content server 30 as it is.

Content server 3 that received the request
0 is Pr with requested content A as a response
It is transmitted to the oxy server 20. Proxy server 20
Receives the content A.

The URL conversion processing unit 2 of the proxy server 20 checks the URL described in the content A, and reduces the URL having a length exceeding the maximum URL length x that the client terminal 10 can handle. Here, as an example, the original URL b = “http: //www.ex
ample.com/secondpage?parameter1=thisparameterisver
ylong & parameter2 = thisparameterisalsotoolong ", but b '=" http: //www.example.
com / url? id = ZZSHORTENDED "(length less than or equal to x). b'is the client program 1
A string that satisfies the minimum grammar in 1.
Here, the latter half of the character string is replaced.

The above-mentioned reduced URLb 'and original URLb
The correspondence with is stored in the URL conversion correspondence storage unit 3. A URL having a length exceeding x in the content A is replaced with a character string having a length of x or less by the above process.
The network processing unit 1 transmits the content A, which has undergone the necessary reduction processing and replacement, to the client terminal 10 as a response to the initial request.

The client terminal 10 receives the content A as a response. The user can link the content B (URL
It is possible to make a content access request to b '). This is because the URL length is reduced and stays within x. Next, the user and client program 11
Suppose that the content access request is made for the link URLb '.

The request (in the form of "GET b'-") transmitted from the client terminal 10 is received by the network processing unit 1 of the proxy server 20. U
The RL conversion processing unit 2 checks the URL in the request to see if the URL is a character string that has been previously reduced in size by the Proxy server 20. Here, this URLb 'is a previously reduced character string. The restoration processing unit 5 refers to the URL conversion correspondence storage unit 3 and refers to the original URL.
Restore processing to. Here, the original URLb is searched from the table using the URLb 'as a key. Then, the network processing unit 1 uses the original URL b to make a request (“GET b”) to the content server 30.
~ "Form). The subsequent operation is the same as that described above.

If this system does not exist, the URLb included in the result of the first content access remains unreduced. When content access is attempted from the client terminal 10 to this link b, the URL character string in the content access request message is cut off due to the limitation of the URL length in the client program 11 (for example, maximum URL length x Is 64 bytes, the above URLb is "http: // ww
w.example.com/secondpage?parameter1=thisparameteri
As a result, appropriate content cannot be returned in the content server 30 or the content server 30 itself cannot be accessed in the first place.

Next, another embodiment will be described. Figure 6
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of a URL length conversion system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the second embodiment, the first
In addition to the configuration of the above embodiment, the Proxy server 20 further includes a terminal information management unit 6. In the second embodiment, Pr
The URL conversion processing unit 2 of the oxy server 20 determines the threshold L used when determining whether or not to perform the URL length conversion by referring to the terminal information about the client terminal 10.
This terminal information is information in which the type of the client terminal 10 (the type of the client program 11, the type of hardware, etc.), functions, capabilities, etc. are described in a predetermined format. What is the maximum URL length of the client terminal 10 in this terminal information?
Information about whether or not it is te is associated with or included. The terminal information management unit 6 includes a plurality of client terminals 10
About this, the terminal information is managed.

During the conversion process, the URL conversion processing unit 2 refers to the terminal information stored in the terminal information management unit 6 to check the maximum URL length x corresponding to each client terminal 10 to make the above conversion judgment. It is used as a threshold L in processing.
Each client terminal 10 can be identified by referring to the request message.

In the proxy server 20, the terminal information can be acquired as the information described in the request message when the request message is received from the client terminal 10. Also, Proxy
It may be acquired from the server 20 side to the client terminal 10 by requesting acquisition of terminal information. Also, in advance,
Maximum UR of each client terminal 10 in the terminal information management unit 6
It is also possible to set the L length x.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a flow of URL reduction processing in the second embodiment. When the proxy server 20 receives the content from the content server 30 as a response to the request from a certain client terminal 10 (step S21), the URL conversion processing unit 2 stores the terminal of the client terminal 10 stored in the terminal information management unit 6 in the terminal information management unit 6. The maximum URL length x is checked by referring to the information and set to the judgment threshold L (step S2).
2). Then, the URL conversion processing unit 2 uses the threshold value L to determine whether to perform URL conversion. The subsequent processing is the same as in the first embodiment.

In the case of the second embodiment, the URL conversion process is
Due to the difference in the function (maximum URL length x) of each client terminal 10, it differs for each client terminal 10. The correspondence between the original URL and the post-conversion character string in the URL conversion correspondence storage unit 3 is managed for each client terminal 10.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above. The above-described embodiment shows an example of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto, and within a range not departing from the gist thereof,
Various modifications can be made.

[0050]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the content publishing server does not need the trouble of creating content in consideration of the capability of the client terminal. Even if the content includes a URL that is too long for the client terminal to support, Prox
This is because the y server automatically performs URL conversion processing to reduce the URL to a length that the client terminal can support.

Further, in a client terminal having a limited URL length to be supported, it is possible to refer to a content which has not been created in consideration of such a limited terminal. The reason is the same as above.

Further, the amount of data transmitted / received by the client terminal is reduced. Since the proxy server performs URL reduction processing, the client terminal and Proxy
This is because the size of data that goes to and from the server becomes smaller.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a URL length conversion system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a URL length conversion process.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of a URL conversion process of the URL length conversion system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of a URL restoration process of the URL length conversion system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing a specific example of processing in the URL length conversion system of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a URL length conversion system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation of a URL conversion process of the URL length conversion system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 client terminal 20 Proxy Server 30 content server 11 Client Program 31 Server Program 1 Network processing unit (Proxy program) 2 URL conversion processing unit 3 URL conversion compatible storage unit 4 Reduction processing section 5 Restoration processing section 6 Terminal information management section

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A server that publishes contents, a client terminal that is a client for the server and has a maximum URL length that can be handled, and a Prox that proxy / relays access to the contents by the client.
A URL length conversion system on a system having a y server, wherein the Proxy server, when receiving the content from the content server, determines the length of the URL character string described in the content, Reducing means for converting into a character string of URL length that the client terminal can handle, conversion correspondence storing means for storing and managing the correspondence of the URL character string conversion in a table, and a content access request message received from the client terminal. At this time, referring to the URL character string in the message and the table, if the URL character string is a character string converted by the reducing means, the original URL
A restoring means for returning to the URL length conversion system. 2. The Proxy server further includes a terminal information management unit that stores and manages terminal type information or maximum URL length information for a plurality of the client terminals, and the reduction unit includes the URL conversion processing. 2. The URL according to claim 1, wherein the threshold is determined based on the information managed by the terminal information management means to make the determination.
Long conversion system. 3. The proxy server, based on a request message from the client terminal, terminal type information or maximum URL of the client terminal.
The information processing apparatus further includes: a unit for obtaining length information; and a unit for referring to the information to determine a threshold for determination in the URL conversion process, wherein the reducing unit performs the determination and the determination based on the threshold. The URL length conversion system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein conversion processing is performed. 4. A server which publishes contents, a client terminal which is a client for the server and has a limited maximum URL length that can be handled, and a Prox which proxy / relays access to the contents by the client.
a program on a system having a y server, the proxy server, when the content is received from the content server, determines the length of a URL character string described in the content, and determines the client terminal. A reduction processing for converting into a character string having a URL length that can be handled by :, a conversion correspondence storing processing for storing and managing the correspondence of the URL character string conversion in a table, a content access request message when receiving from the client terminal, Referring to the URL character string in the message and the table, if the URL character string is a character string converted by the reduction processing, the original URL
A program characterized by causing a computer to execute a restoration process to be returned to. 5. The proxy server further causes a computer to execute terminal information management processing for storing and managing terminal type information or maximum URL length information for a plurality of client terminals, and in the reduction processing, the URL The program according to claim 4, wherein a threshold value is determined based on the information managed by the terminal information management process when the conversion is performed. 6. In the proxy server, from the request message from the client terminal, terminal type information or maximum URL of the client terminal
The computer is caused to further execute a process of acquiring the length information and a process of referring to the information and determining a determination threshold value in the URL conversion process. The program according to claim 4 or 5, which performs a determination and a conversion process.