JP2004139566A - Communication equipment, communication system, method for controlling communication equipment, program and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the efficiency of communication when a plurality pieces of communication equipment transmit and receive an operation request and an operation response to the received operation request to/from each other. <P>SOLUTION: In an HTTP client 11, a transmission message collecting means 45 collects an operation request to be transmitted to an HTTP server and an operation response to an operation request from the HTTP server, and an HTTP request transmitting means 46 collectively transmits the operation request and the operation response to the HTTP server. In addition, an HTTP response receiving means 47 collectively receives an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the HTTP server and an operation request from the HTTP server, and a received message dividing means 48 divides and stores the operation response and the operation request. When the operation request is received from the HTTP server, a server command execution result generating means 44 executes an operation concerning the operation request to generate an operation response to the operation request as an execution result. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

The present invention relates to a communication device for transmitting and receiving an operation request and an operation response to and from another communication device as a communication partner, a communication system including a plurality of such communication devices, and a control method for such a communication device. The present invention relates to a program for causing a computer to function as such a communication device, and a computer-readable recording medium on which such a program is recorded.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a communication system in which communication devices are connected via a network, messages have been exchanged between the communication devices to notify or notify a communication partner device. In such a system, a device transmits a command as an operation request to another device to execute an operation, and a transmission partner returns an operation execution result as an operation response.

Such a technique is disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example, in which a remote processor transmits a message indicating a command to be executed to a local processor, and receives a response to the command. Is described.
Further, in this document, when a local processor is arranged inside a firewall, a communication request is transmitted from the local processor to a remote processor outside the firewall, and the remote processor sends a communication request to the local processor as a response to the communication request. A technique has also been disclosed in which a command can be transmitted from the outside to the inside of the firewall by transmitting the command.
JP 2001-273221 A

In addition, the technology related to such an operation request can be applied to a system that remotely controls the operation of a device connected to a communication device. Patent Literature 2 discloses a remote operation system that operates a blind and a lighting by transmitting a command from a remote operation device having a function of receiving an operation from a user to a remotely operated device having a function of operating a blind and a lighting. An example in which such a technique is applied is described. However, this document does not show that a response to a command is transmitted.
JP-A-2002-135858

By the way, when exchanging messages between a plurality of communication devices, the number of communication devices that transmit commands is not limited to one. It is also possible for a plurality of communication devices to transmit a command to each other, and in this case, the communication device that has received the command is caused to return an execution result to the transmission source of the command. It is required to be. When such an operation is performed, information transmitted from a certain communication device to a communication partner device may be a command for the communication partner device and an execution result of a command received from the communication partner device.

Conventionally, these commands and the execution result have been transmitted separately. However, in such a method, it is necessary to separately establish a communication connection when transmitting a command and when transmitting an execution result for a received command. Therefore, communication overhead becomes large and there is a problem in efficiency.
At present, there are still many environments in which communication via a network is performed by a dial-up connection, and in such an environment, the above point is particularly problematic. In such an environment, it may take several tens of seconds to establish a connection, and a fee is charged each time a connection is established. is there.
An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem and to improve communication efficiency when a plurality of communication devices mutually transmit and receive an operation request and an operation response to a received operation request.

In order to achieve the above object, a communication device according to the present invention is a communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner, wherein an operation request to be transmitted to the communication partner and an operation response to an operation request from the communication partner Transmitting means for collectively transmitting the operation request to the communication partner, and receiving means for receiving, from the communication partner, an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner and an operation request from the communication partner, Means for executing an operation related to an operation request from a communication partner and generating an operation response to the operation request as a result of the execution.
In such a communication device, the operation request may be a function call, and the operation response may be an execution result of a function called by the function call.

Also, the present invention provides a communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner, a first storage means for storing an operation request from the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request, Second storage means for storing an operation request and an operation response to the operation request, request generation means for generating an operation request for the communication partner and storing the operation request in the second storage means, and first storage means And reads out the operation request from the communication partner, executes an operation related to the operation request, generates an operation response to the operation request as a result of the execution, and associates the operation response with the read operation request to associate the first operation request with the first operation request. A response generation unit to be stored in the storage unit, and an operation response to the operation request from the communication partner read out from the first storage unit; Collecting means for reading the corresponding operation request from the second storage means; transmitting means for collectively transmitting the operation response and the operation request read by the collecting means to the communication partner; Receiving means for collectively receiving an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner and an operation request from the communication partner; and storing the operation request from the communication partner received by the receiving means in the first storage means And distribution means for storing, in the second storage means, an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner received by the reception means in association with the operation request transmitted to the communication partner. A communication device is also provided.

In such a communication device, the transmitting means transmits an operation response and an operation request to be transmitted to the communication partner as a SOAP message, respectively, and the receiving means transmits the operation response and the operation request received from the communication partner. The operation request may be received as a SOAP message.
Further, means for assigning priorities to the operation requests stored in the first storage means and the second storage means is provided, and the response generation means is provided with a means for assigning a higher priority to the operation requests from the communication partner. Means for reading in order from the operation request, generating an operation response to the operation request, and storing the generated operation response in the first storage means, wherein the collection means responds to the operation request having the higher priority among the operation requests from the communication partner. Means may be read from the first storage means in order from the operation response, and read from the second storage means in order from the operation request with the highest priority among the operation requests to the communication partner.

According to the present invention, in a communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner, a SOAP request to be transmitted to the communication partner and a SOAP response to a SOAP request from the communication partner are described in one message. Transmitting means for transmitting to the communication partner, receiving means for receiving a SOAP response to the SOAP request transmitted to the communication partner and a SOAP request from the communication partner in a single message from the communication partner, There is also provided a communication apparatus provided with means for executing an operation requested by a SOAP request from a communication partner and generating an execution result to be described in a SOAP response to the SOAP request.
In such a communication device, a function call may be described in the SOAP request, and an execution result of the function called by the function call may be described in the SOAP response.

Furthermore, the present invention relates to a communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner, wherein the first storage means for storing an operation request from the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request; Second storage means for storing an operation request for the communication request and an operation response to the operation request, request generation means for generating an operation request for the communication partner and storing the operation request in the second storage means, and the first storage Means for reading an operation request from the communication partner, executing an operation related to the operation request, generating an operation response to the operation request as a result of the execution, and associating the operation response with the operation request from the communication partner. A response generation unit that stores the operation response to the operation request from the communication partner from the first storage unit; Collecting means for reading an operation request to the communication partner from the second storage means; a SOAP response describing the content of the operation response read by the collection means to the communication partner; and an operation request read by the collection means Means for transmitting a SOAP request describing the contents of the request in one message, and a SOAP response describing the contents of an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner from the communication partner, and Receiving means for receiving a SOAP request describing the contents of the operation request in a single message, and transmitting the contents of the operation request from the communication partner described in the SOAP request received by the receiving means to the first message. 1 and stored in the SOAP response received by the receiving unit. The, the contents of the operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner, also provides a communication device provided with a dispensing means in association with the operation request sent to the communication partner to be stored in said second storage means.

In such a communication device, means for assigning priority to the operation requests stored in the first storage means and the second storage means is provided, and Means for reading out the operation requests in descending order of the priority, generating an operation response to the operation request, and storing the generated operation response in the first storage means; The operation request may be read from the first storage unit in order from the operation response to the operation request with the highest priority, and may be read from the second storage unit in order from the operation request with the highest priority among the operation requests to the communication partner.

Also, in a communication system according to the present invention, in a communication system constituted by a plurality of communication devices capable of communicating with each other as communication partners, an operation request to be transmitted to the communication partner and an operation request from the communication partner may be given to each communication device. Transmitting means for collectively transmitting an operation response to the communication partner to the communication partner, and receiving means for collectively receiving, from the communication partner, an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner and an operation request from the communication partner. And means for executing an operation related to the operation request from the communication partner and generating an operation response to the operation request as an execution result.
In such a communication system, the operation request may be a function call, and the operation response may be an execution result of a function called by the function call.

According to the present invention, in a communication system constituted by a plurality of communication devices capable of communicating with each other as a communication partner, a first operation in which an operation request from the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request are stored in each communication device. Storage means for storing an operation request to the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request, and request generation for generating an operation request to the communication partner and storing the operation request in the second storage unit Means for reading an operation request from the communication partner from the first storage means, executing an operation relating to the operation request, generating an operation response to the operation request as a result of the execution, and reading the operation response. A response generating means for storing in the first storage means in association with the operation request; and an operation response to the operation request from the communication partner in the first storage means. Collecting means for reading the operation request for the communication partner from the second storage means while reading from the storage means, and collectively transmitting the operation response and the operation request read by the collection means to the communication party. Transmitting means, receiving means for collectively receiving, from the communication partner, an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner and an operation request from the communication partner, and receiving from the communication partner received by the receiving means An operation request is stored in the first storage unit, and an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner received by the receiving unit is associated with the operation request transmitted to the communication partner in the second storage. There is also provided a communication system provided with distribution means for storing in the means.

In such a communication system, the transmitting unit transmits an operation response and an operation request to be transmitted to the communication partner as a SOAP message, and the receiving unit transmits the operation response and the operation request received from the communication partner. The operation request may be received as a SOAP message.
Further, each of the communication devices is provided with a means for assigning a priority to the operation request stored in the first storage means and the second storage means, and the response generation means of each of the communication devices is transmitted from the communication partner. Among the operation requests, the operation requests are read in order from the operation request having the highest priority, and an operation response to the operation request is generated and stored in the first storage means. From the first storage means in order from the operation response to the operation request having the higher priority among the operation requests from the second storage means, and sequentially read out the operation request from the operation request having the higher priority in the operation request to the communication partner. It is preferable to use a means for reading out from the.

Also, the control method of a communication device according to the present invention is a control method of a communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner. A transmission procedure of transmitting the operation request from the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner collectively from the communication partner; A step of executing an operation related to an operation request from a communication partner and generating an operation response to the operation request as an execution result.
In such a communication device control method, the operation request may be a function call, and the operation response may be an execution result of a function called by the function call.

According to the present invention, in a control method of a communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner, a procedure for providing a first storage area for storing an operation request from the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request. Providing a second storage area for storing an operation request to the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request; and generating a request for generating an operation request to the communication partner and storing the operation request in the second storage area. A procedure and an operation request from the communication partner are read from the first storage area, an operation related to the operation request is executed, an operation response to the operation request is generated as an execution result, and the operation response is read. A response generation procedure for storing the response in the first storage area in association with the operation request; and an operation response to the operation request from the communication partner in the first storage area. And a transmission procedure for collectively transmitting the operation request and the operation request read out in the collection procedure to the communication partner while reading the operation request to the communication partner from the second storage area. A receiving procedure for collectively receiving, from the communication partner, an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner and an operation request from the communication partner; and an operation request from the communication partner received in the receiving procedure. Is stored in the first storage area, and an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner received in the reception procedure is associated with the operation request transmitted to the communication partner in the second storage area. Also provided is a communication device control method that causes the communication device to execute a distribution procedure to be stored.

In such a control method of the communication device, in the transmission procedure, the operation response and the operation request to be transmitted to the communication partner are transmitted as SOAP messages, and the receiving unit receives the operation response and the operation request from the communication partner. The operation response and the operation request may be respectively received as SOAP messages.
Further, the communication device is caused to execute a procedure for assigning a priority to the operation request stored in the first storage area and the second storage area, and the response generation procedure includes: The operation requests having the highest priority are read out in order, and an operation response to the operation request is generated and stored in the first storage area. It is preferable to read out from the first storage area in order from the operation response to the operation request with the highest priority, and read out from the second storage area in order from the operation request with the highest priority among the operation requests to the communication partner.

Further, the program of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to function as a communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner. Transmitting means for transmitting an operation response to the operation request from the other party to the communication partner at a time, and an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner and the operation request from the communication partner at the And a program for executing an operation related to an operation request from the communication partner and generating an operation response to the operation request as an execution result.
In such a program, the operation request may be a function call, and the operation response may be an execution result of a function called by the function call.

In addition, the present invention is a program for causing a computer to function as a communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner, the computer comprising: an operation request from the communication partner; and an operation response to the operation request. , A second storage means for storing an operation request to the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request, and an operation request to the communication partner for generating the second request. Request generation means for storing the operation request from the communication partner from the first storage means, perform an operation related to the operation request, generate an operation response to the operation request as a result of the execution, Response generating means for storing the operation response in the first storage means in association with the read operation request, and an operation request from the communication partner Collecting means for reading an operation response to the communication partner from the first storage means and reading an operation request for the communication partner from the second storage means; and an operation response and an operation read by the collection means to the communication partner. Transmitting means for collectively transmitting a request to the communication partner, receiving means for receiving an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner, and receiving the operation request from the communication partner. Storing the operation request received from the communication partner in the first storage means, and transmitting an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner received by the receiving means to the communication partner. Also, a program for functioning as distribution means stored in the second storage means in association with the program is provided.

In such a program, the function of the transmitting means is a function of transmitting, as a SOAP message, an operation response and an operation request to be transmitted to the communication partner, and the function of the receiving means is received from the communication partner. The function may be a function of receiving an operation response and an operation request as SOAP messages.
Such a program further includes a program for causing the computer to function as means for assigning priorities to the operation requests stored in the first storage means and the second storage means. A function for reading out the function in order from the operation request having the highest priority among the operation requests from the communication partner, generating an operation response to the operation request, and storing the operation response in the first storage unit; Are read from the first storage means in order from the operation response to the operation request with the higher priority among the operation requests from the communication partner, and the operation requests with the higher priority are sequentially read out from the operation requests to the communication partner. The function may be a function of reading from the second storage means.

The recording medium of the present invention is a computer-readable recording medium that records any of these programs.

According to the communication device, the communication system, and the communication device control method of the present invention as described above, when a communication system is configured in which a plurality of communication devices mutually transmit and receive an operation request and an operation response to a received operation request, Communication efficiency can be improved. Further, according to the program of the present invention, the features can be realized by causing a computer to function as the communication device described above, and a similar effect can be obtained. According to the recording medium of the present invention, the above effects can be obtained by causing a computer that does not store the above programs to read and execute the programs.

Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
First, FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a communication system of the present invention configured using the communication device of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, this communication system is configured by connecting a first communication device 1 and a second communication device 2 which are communication devices of the present invention by a network 10.
The first communication device 1 and the second communication device 2 can be configured as various electronic devices having a communication function and an information processing function, including a computer such as a PC having a communication function. As the network 10, various communication paths capable of network communication can be used regardless of wired or wireless, including the Internet and a LAN (local area network).

In addition, the first communication device 1 and the second communication device 2 are equipped with application programs for performing mutual control and management. Each of these nodes transmits an “operation request”, which is a request for processing to a method of an application program to be mounted, by RPC (Remote Procedure Call), and an “operation response” that is a result of the requested processing. "Can be obtained. That is, the first communication device 1 generates a request for the second communication device 2 (hereinafter, referred to as a first communication device side request), transfers the request to the second communication device 2, and responds to the request. On the other hand, the second communication device 2 generates a request to the first communication device 1 (hereinafter, referred to as a second communication device-side request) and delivers the request to the first communication device 1, A response to this request can be obtained.
Here, it is assumed that the method is defined as a logical function that defines input and output formats. In this case, the operation request is a function call (Procedure Call) for calling this function, and the operation response is an execution result of the function called by the function call.

FIG. 2 shows the relationship between these operation requests and operation responses.
FIG. 2A shows a case where an operation request for the second communication device 2 is generated in the first communication device 1. In this case, the first communication device 1 generates a first communication device-side operation request and transmits it to the second communication device 2, and the second communication device 2 that has received this generates an operation response to the request. It becomes a model of returning.

FIG. 2B shows a case in which an operation request for the first communication device 1 is generated in the second communication device 2. In this case, the second communication device 2 generates a second communication device-side request and transmits it to the first communication device 1, and the first communication device 1 that has received the request returns an operation response to the request. Model.
Here, SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is adopted as a protocol for transferring arguments and return values by RPC, and the above operation request and operation response are described here as SOAP messages.

The feature of the present invention is that, when a plurality of communication devices transmit and receive an operation request and an operation response to the received operation request to each other, an operation request to be transmitted to a communication partner device and an operation request to be transmitted from the communication partner device are received. The point is that the operation response to the operation request is transmitted collectively.
As a communication protocol for actually transferring an operation request or an operation response, an appropriate protocol can be adopted according to the system configuration. For example, HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) or SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) Can be adopted.
Therefore, an embodiment in which HTTP is used as a communication protocol will be described first, and then, an embodiment in which SMTP will be used will be described.

[Example in which HTTP is adopted: FIGS. 3 to 21]
FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of a communication system to which the embodiment adopting HTTP is applied.
This communication system is configured by connecting an HTTP server 12 and an HTTP client 11 via the Internet 13, as shown in FIG. However, in order to improve security, the HTTP client 11 connects to the Internet 13 via the firewall 14. The HTTP server 12 is a communication server and corresponds to a first communication device, and the HTTP client 11 is a communication client and corresponds to a second communication device.

When communication is performed using HTTP, a node inside the firewall 14 cannot be freely accessed from outside the firewall 14, and a communication response (HTTP request) to a communication request (HTTP request) from the node is not possible. Response). Therefore, in this communication system, the node inside the firewall 14 is the HTTP client 11, and the node outside the firewall 14 is the HTTP server 12. Therefore, the function of each of these nodes does not need to be limited to the client or server except for the communication between them.

Also, the HTTP server 12 and the HTTP client 11 have installed application programs for performing mutual control and management, similarly to the case of the first communication device 1 and the second communication device 2 shown in FIG. . Then, by RPC (Remote Procedure Call), an “operation request”, which is a request for processing to a method of an application program to be mounted on each other, is transmitted, and an “operation response” as a result of the requested processing is obtained. I can do it.

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between these operation requests and operation responses.
FIG. 4A shows a case where the HTTP client 11 has issued an operation request to the HTTP server 12. In this case, the HTTP client 11 generates a client-side operation request (corresponding to a client request; hereinafter, also referred to as a “client command”), transmits the generated request to the HTTP server 12, and the HTTP server 12 that has received this generates a request for the command. This is a model that returns an operation response (hereinafter, also referred to as “command response” or simply “response”).

FIG. 4B shows a case where an operation request to the HTTP client 11 is generated in the HTTP server 12. In this case, the HTTP server 12 generates a server-side operation request (corresponding to a server request; hereinafter, also referred to as a “server command”) and transmits it to the HTTP client 11. The model returns an operation response.
As described above, the operation request and the operation response are handled symmetrically between the HTTP client 11 and the HTTP server 12 at the RPC level. However, it is not symmetric at the level of communication.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a communication sequence in this communication system.
As shown in this figure, in this communication system, communication always transmits an HTTP request as a communication request from the HTTP client 11 to the HTTP server 12, and transmits an HTTP response from the HTTP server 12 as a communication response to the communication request. 11 is performed. For example, the HTTP server 12 returns an HTTP response X to the HTTP request X transmitted by the HTTP client 11, and also returns an HTTP response Y to the HTTP request Y.

In the HTTP request, a client command which is an operation request transmitted from the HTTP client 11 to the HTTP server 12 and a response (command response) to the server command transmitted from the HTTP server 12 to the HTTP client 11 are described. I try to send. In the HTTP response, a server command which is an operation request transmitted from the HTTP server 12 to the HTTP client 11 and a response (command response) to the client command transmitted from the HTTP client 11 to the HTTP server 12 are described. I try to send.

Therefore, for example, the client command A can be transmitted by describing it in the HTTP request X, and the command response can be transmitted by describing the command response in the HTTP response X corresponding to the HTTP request X. However, the server command C is described and transferred in the HTTP response X corresponding to the HTTP request X, and the command response is described and transferred in the HTTP request Y which is the next HTTP request.

Further, in the case of FIG. 4A, the HTTP client 11 can establish a connection with the HTTP server 12 immediately after the client command is generated, and deliver the HTTP request including the HTTP command. In the case B), the firewall 14 installed on the HTTP client 11 blocks the HTTP request from the HTTP server 12, so that the HTTP server 12 cannot access the HTTP client 11 and immediately transfer the server command.

Note that an arbitrary number (or 0) of responses to the client command and the server command can be described in one HTTP request, and an arbitrary number of (1 may be 0) each of the responses to the server command and the client command. HTTP response. Then, the contents described in one HTTP request or HTTP response are logically and collectively transferred.
By doing so, the number of connections required to transfer necessary information is reduced, overhead is reduced, and communication efficiency is improved.

FIG. 6 shows another example of a communication sequence in this communication system.
For the sake of explanation, FIG. 5 shows an example of a very simple sequence, but FIG. 6 shows an example in which the number of commands and command responses described in each HTTP request or HTTP response is not constant.
Further, when a command is received, it is not necessary to return a response at the next transmission opportunity. For example, like a client command B shown in FIG. 6, a response is described in an HTTP response X 'corresponding to an HTTP request X' in which the command is described, and a response is described in a subsequent HTTP response Y '. You may do so.
Of course, the same applies to the server command, and there is no need to describe the response to the command in the HTTP request next to the HTTP response describing the server command. Then, it may be transferred in a later HTTP request.

By the way, since each command and command response are generated independently and should be provided for processing, in order to perform the batch transfer as described above, these commands and command responses must be transmitted before the transfer. It is necessary to perform processing for combining and separating after transfer. Next, a description will be given of a hardware configuration of the HTTP client 11 and the HTTP server 12, a functional configuration for performing such processing, and a procedure of the processing.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the HTTP client 11 and the HTTP server 12.
As shown in this figure, the HTTP client 11 and the HTTP server 12 each include a CPU 31, a ROM 32, a RAM 33, an SD (Secure Digital) card 34, and a network interface card (NIC) 35, which are connected by a system bus 36. ing.

To describe these components more specifically, first, the CPU 31 is a control unit that controls the entire HTTP client 11 or the entire HTTP server 12 by a control program stored in the ROM 32. The ROM 32 is a read-only memory that stores various fixed data including a control program used by the CPU 31.
The RAM 33 is a temporary storage memory used as a work memory or the like when the CPU 31 performs data processing. The SD card 34 is a non-volatile memory that retains stored contents even when the power of the apparatus is turned off. The NIC 35 is a communication unit for transmitting and receiving information to and from a communication partner via a network such as the Internet 13.

FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a function for performing processing relating to a command and a command response among functions of the HTTP client 11.
Among the functions shown in FIG. 8, the client command pool 41 and the server command pool 42 are provided in any rewritable storage means. For example, it can be provided in the SD card 34, but may be provided in the RAM 33 or an HDD (hard disk drive) not shown. The functions of the client command generation unit 43, the server command execution result generation unit 44, the transmission message collection unit 45, and the reception message distribution unit 48 are realized by the CPU 31. The functions of the HTTP request transmitting unit 46 and the HTTP response receiving unit 47 are realized by the CPU 31 and the NIC 35.

These functions will be described in more detail.
First, the client command pool 41 corresponds to a second storage area provided in the HTTP client 11, and is a pool for registering a client command, a response to the command, and identification information of the command in association with each other. The server command pool 42 corresponds to a first storage area provided in the HTTP client 11, and is a pool for registering a server command, a response to the command, and identification information of the command in association with each other. In these pools, a command sheet in a table format is created for each command and the information is stored, so that the command is associated with information such as identification information and a response. It is also assumed that storage means provided with these pools correspond to the second and first storage means of the HTTP client 11, respectively.

The client command generation means 43 corresponds to a request generation means. Then, a client command is generated, identification information (ID) for identifying the command is assigned, management information for managing the command is added, and the information is associated with the client command as a client command sheet in a table format. It has a function of registering in the pool 41. Among these, the portion that generates the client command corresponds to, for example, an application provided in the HTTP client 11. Further, the client command generation unit 43 may be provided with a function of assigning a priority order when the HTTP server 12 executes each command to the generated client command.

Here, FIG. 9 shows an example of a data structure in the client command sheet of the HTTP client 11.
As shown in this figure, in the HTTP client 11, the client command sheet includes “command ID”, “method name”, “input parameter”, “state”, “notification destination of client command execution result”, and “ An area for storing data of “output parameters” is provided. The “command ID”, the “method name”, and the “input parameter” correspond to the client command (and the ID attached thereto), and the “status” and the “report destination of the execution result of the client command” are managed. Applicable to information. The “output parameter” is the content of the command response received from the HTTP server 12.

Next, the contents of each item will be described.
First, the “method name” is the content of a request to the HTTP server 12 and indicates the type of function to be called in the HTTP server 12. The “input parameter” is data accompanying the “method name”, and is an argument when calling a function. “Command ID” is identification information for identifying a client command. The “state” is data indicating the progress of the process related to the client command, and transitions from “not transmitted” to “response wait” to “response received” as the process proceeds.

"Notification destination of client command execution result" is reference information indicating a module that, when a response to the client command described in the sheet is received, notifies that effect and executes necessary processing. The referenced module is often, but not necessarily, the application that generated the client command. In the “output parameter”, the content of the command response is stored when the command response is received. It is empty until a command response from the HTTP server 12 is received.

<< Returning to the description of FIG. 8, the server command execution result generating means 44 corresponds to the response generating means. The application reads a server command from the server command pool 42 and executes it. Then, it has a function of generating a response to the server command and registering it in the server command pool 42 in association with the command ID of the server command. It should be noted that the server command received from the HTTP server 12 is registered in the server command pool 42 as a server command sheet in a table format in association with an ID for identifying the command and management information for managing the command. ing. Then, the command response generated by the server command execution result generation unit 44 is also registered in the server command sheet for the executed server command.

It is also conceivable to provide the server command execution result generation means 44 with a function of reading a plurality of types of server commands from the server command pool 42 and generating a response to each server command. Further, when the server command includes information on the execution priority for causing the HTTP client 11 to execute the processing in priority, it is conceivable to provide a function of reading and executing the server command with higher priority.
Note that the server command execution result generation unit 44 may be a module that calls up an application necessary for executing the server command and executes the command, instead of the application itself.

Here, FIG. 10 shows an example of the data structure in the server command sheet of the HTTP client 11.
As shown in this figure, in the HTTP client 11, the server command sheet includes "command ID", "method name", "input parameter", "status", "output parameter", and "server command notification destination". Is stored in the storage area. The “command ID”, the “method name”, and the “input parameter” correspond to the server command (and the ID attached thereto), and the “status” and the “notification destination of the server command” are included in the management information. Applicable. The “output parameter” is the execution result of the server command, and is the content of the command response returned by the HTTP client 11.

Next, the contents of each data will be described.
First, “method name” is the content of a request to the HTTP client 11 and indicates the type of function to be called in the HTTP client 11. The “input parameter” is data accompanying the “method name”, and is an argument when calling a function. “Command ID” is identification information for identifying a server command. “Status” is data indicating the status of the process related to the server command. As the process proceeds, “Unprocessed” → “Processed” → “Responded” or “Unprocessed” → “Processing” → “Processed” It transitions from “Completed” to “Responded”. In the “output parameter”, a response generated by the server command execution result generating unit 44 is stored. It is empty until the execution of the server command ends and the above “state” becomes “processing completed”. “Notification destination of server command” is reference information indicating a module that executes the server command.

Returning to the description of FIG. 8 again, the transmission message collecting unit 45 corresponds to the collecting unit. Then, the command response generated by the server command execution result generation unit 44 and the command ID of the server command corresponding to the command response are read out from the server command pool 42 in association with each other, and the client command generated by the client command generation unit 43 and the It has a function of reading out from the client command pool 41 in association with the command ID of the command and generating a transmission message from these.
If the execution priority is specified in the command response or the client command, the transmission message collecting unit 45 may read the transmission priority in descending order of the execution priority.

Here, the transmission message describes the command response, the command, and the command ID as a SOAP message in XML (Extensible Markup Language), which is a structured language. Then, the transmission message collecting unit 45 generates one SOAP message as a transmission message for one command response or command. At this time, the command ID of each command is described in the SOAP header, and the contents of the command response and the client command are described in the SOAP body. In communication by SOAP, a message called a SOAP envelope (envelope) including a SOAP header and a SOAP body is described in XML, and exchanged by a protocol such as HTTP.
The generation of a SOAP message from such a command or command response can be performed by executing a required conversion program (serializer) generated based on WSDL (Web Service Description Language) and serializing the data. .

The HTTP request transmitting unit 46 corresponds to the transmitting unit, and has a function of generating an HTTP request including the transmission message generated by the transmission message collecting unit 45 and transmitting the generated HTTP request to the HTTP server 12. At this time, any number of transmission messages may be included in one HTTP request, or a transmission message relating to a command response and a transmission message relating to a client command may be arbitrarily mixed.
Therefore, the HTTP request transmitting unit 46 transmits all the transmission messages generated by the transmission message collecting unit 45 in one HTTP request regardless of which of these transmission messages. However, it is also conceivable to set an upper limit on the number of transmission messages included in one HTTP request.

By the way, the transmission of the HTTP request is performed when the transmission message collecting unit 45 attempts to read a client command or a command response, etc., when there is no data to be read and, as a result, a SOAP message to be transmitted is not generated. Also do. Then, this reading attempt is performed periodically. For example, it is conceivable to read out every 60 minutes using a timer.
This is because, as described above, even if there is information to be transmitted from the HTTP server 12 to the HTTP client 11, the information cannot be transmitted unless the HTTP client 11 requests communication. Even if there is no data to be transmitted from the HTTP client 11, a communication request is periodically transmitted to the HTTP server 12 to give an opportunity to transmit information from the HTTP server 12 to the HTTP client 11. Can be prevented from staying in the HTTP server 12 for a long time.

Note that the reading by the transmission message collecting unit 45 and the subsequent transmission of the HTTP request by the HTTP request transmitting unit 46 may be performed at an appropriate time other than the regular timing. For example, when information that needs to be transmitted urgently is registered in one of the pools, the client command generation unit 43 or the server command execution result generation unit 44 notifies the transmission message collection unit 45 of the fact and reads the information. You may make it do.

Next, the HTTP response receiving unit 47 corresponds to a receiving unit, and has a function of receiving an HTTP response from the HTTP server 12. Here, in the HTTP response, a received message including a server command and a command ID associated with the command, and a received message including a response to the client command and a command ID associated with the command are arbitrarily mixed. Included.
Here, the received message describes the command or response and the command ID as a SOAP message.

The received message distribution unit 48 corresponds to a distribution unit. Then, it has a function of distributing and registering data included in the HTTP response received by the HTTP response receiving means 47 to the client command pool 41 and the server command pool 42.
More specifically, a server command and a command ID associated with the command are registered in a server command pool 42 by providing a server command sheet. The corresponding client command is specified by comparing it with the command ID of the client command sheet stored in the command pool 41, and registered as an “output parameter” for the client command.
At this time, the HTTP response is divided and each received message included therein is taken out, and the data is converted into a format required for registration in the table. This can be performed by executing a program (deserializer).

Next, an example of an HTTP request transmitted from the HTTP client 11 having such a function to the HTTP server 12 is shown in FIG.
In the HTTP request, as shown in FIG. 11, a multi-part message in accordance with MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) is described as a body part. Although not shown, a SOAP envelope is embedded. In the example of FIG. 11, in the HTTP body of the HTTP request, each element divided by “MIME_boundary” forms independent first part, second part, third part, and fourth part. The number of parts that can be included in the body is not limited to four. Any number is acceptable, including zero.
The SOAP envelope embedded and delivered in the HTTP request includes a description of a client command and a description of a response to a server command.

FIG. 12 shows an example of an HTTP response received from the HTTP server 12 by the HTTP client 11 having such a function.
As shown in FIG. 12, this HTTP response is different only in the format of the HTTP header shown in FIG. 11 from the HTTP request shown in FIG. 11, and detailed description is omitted in the body as in the case of the HTTP request. However, a multi-part SOAP envelope according to MIME is described. The contents of the SOAP envelope naturally differ according to the contents of the command and the command response.
The SOAP envelope embedded and delivered in the HTTP response includes a description of a server command and a description of a response to a client command.

Next, specific examples of the parts described in the HTTP request or the HTTP response are shown in FIGS.
FIG. 13 shows an example of a part describing a client command.
In this example, first, information indicating whether the SOAP message described in this part is a SOAP request or a SOAP response is described in the “X-SOAP-Type” header of the entity header portion. . In this example, the value “Request” indicates that the request is a SOAP request, that is, a SOAP message describing a command.
The "SOAPAction" header indicates the content of the SOAP request. In this example, the content of the request is indicated by a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) "http: // www ....". Since the "SOAPAction" header is not added when the SOAP message is a SOAP response, the message receiving side determines whether the SOAP message is a SOAP request or a SOAP response based on the presence or absence of this header. You can also.

Then, the namespace is declared as an attribute of the "Envelope" tag. And here, in addition to the namespace defined as a standard in SOAP, it is specified by URIs of "http://www.foo.com/header" and "http://www.foo.com/server". To declare a namespace. Therefore, the XML tag with the namespace prefix “n” is found to belong to the namespace specified by the URI “http://www.foo.com/header”, and “ns” It can be understood that the XML tag to which the namespace prefix of "" is attached belongs to the namespace specified by the URI of "http://www.foo.com/server".

$ Also, in the SOAP header, "12345" which is the ID of this client command is described as the content of the XML tag of "request ID". In the SOAP body, an “abnormal notification” tag is described as information for specifying the method stored in the “method name” of the client command sheet, and the lower-order tags “error ID” and “description” Is described as an argument stored in the “input parameter”. Here, the notification contents of the abnormality notification are described.

FIG. 14 shows an example of a part describing a response to a client command.
In this example, first, the value of the “X-SOAP-Type” header in the entity header is described as “Response”, so that the SOAP message described in this part is a SOAP response, This indicates that the message is a SOAP message describing a response.
Also in this example, the declaration of the name space is the same as in the example shown in FIG. In the SOAP header, “12345”, which is the ID of the client command that generated the response, is described as the content of the “command ID” XML tag. The SOAP body is provided with an "abnormal notification response" tag for indicating a response to the "abnormal notification" command, and the tag below the "abnormal notification response" describes the content of the command response. Here, information indicating that the abnormality notification has been normally received is described. Then, this information is stored in the item “output parameter” of the client command sheet.

FIG. 15 shows an example of a part describing a server command.
Also in this example, as in the case of FIG. 13, “Request” of the value of the “X-SOAP-Type” header indicates that the SOAP envelope described in this part is a SOAP request, and “SOAPAction” The information of the header indicates the content of the SOAP request.

In addition, the fact that a namespace is declared as an attribute of the “Envelope” tag is the same as in the case of FIG. And here, in addition to the namespace defined as a standard in SOAP, it is specified by URIs of "http://www.foo.com/header" and "http://www.foo.com/client". To declare a namespace.
In the SOAP header, “98765” which is the ID of this client command is described as the content of the XML tag of “request ID”. In the SOAP body, a “temperature sensor value acquisition” tag is described as information for specifying a method to be stored in the “method name” of the server command sheet, and as an element of a lower tag “sensor ID”, Arguments to be stored in "input parameters" are described. Here, the ID of the sensor for acquiring the sensor value is described.
As a case where the server transmits such a command, for example, a case where an abnormality notification is received from a client and an attempt is made to identify the cause of the abnormality is considered.

FIG. 16 shows an example of a part describing a response to a server command.
In this example, as in the case of FIG. 14, the value of the “X-SOAP-Type” header in the entity header is described as “Response”, so that the SOAP message described in this part Is shown.
Also in this example, the declaration of the name space is the same as in the example shown in FIG. In the SOAP header, “98765”, which is the ID of the server command that generated the response, is described as the content of the “command ID” XML tag. The SOAP body is provided with a “Temperature Sensor Value Acquisition Response” tag for indicating that it is a response to the “Temperature Sensor Value Acquisition” command, and its lower tag describes the content of the command response. Here, information on the temperature value indicated by the sensor for which the value acquisition was requested is described.

Next, the processing executed in the HTTP client 11 having the above-described configuration and function will be described with reference to the flowcharts in FIGS. The processing shown in these flowcharts is performed by the CPU 31 of the HTTP client 11 executing a required control program.

First, FIG. 17 shows a flowchart of the basic operation of message collection and distribution processing.
The CPU 31 of the HTTP client 11 starts the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 17 when the transmission message collecting unit 45 tries to read a client command, a command response, or the like.
Then, first, a client command collection process is performed (S11). This process is a process of collecting client commands to be transmitted from the client command pool 41 to the HTTP server 12, and includes a process of generating a SOAP envelope part from the collected data.

Next, a collection process of a server command execution result, which is a response to the server command, is performed (S12). This process is a process of collecting a command response to be transmitted to the HTTP server 12 from the server command pool, and also includes a process of generating a part based on the SOAP envelope from the collected data.
Thereafter, the parts generated in the processes of steps S11 and S12 are merged into one, an HTTP request including all parts is generated (S13), and the HTTP request is transmitted to the HTTP server 12 (S14).
In the processing so far, the CPU 31 functions as the transmission message collection unit 45 in steps S11 and S12, and functions as the HTTP request transmission unit 46 in steps S13 and S14.

Next, an HTTP response is received from the HTTP server 12 as a communication response to the HTTP request (S15). Then, the HTTP body of the received HTTP response is divided into each part (S16). Here, division into each part is to divide into elements divided by “MIME_boundary”, and here, division is performed for all parts.
After that, the processing of steps S17 to S19 is repeated for all the parts obtained by division in order. In this processing, first, it is determined whether or not the target part is a part describing the server command (S17). If it is a server command, server command registration processing is performed (S18). If it is not a server command, it is a part in which a response to the client command is described, so that a response notification process is performed (S19).

After step S18 or S19, the process returns to step S17, and the process is repeated for the next part. Then, when these processes have been performed for all parts, the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 17 ends.
In the processing so far, the CPU 31 functions as the HTTP response receiving unit 47 in steps S15 and S16, and functions as the received message distribution unit 48 in steps S17 to S19.

Next, the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 17 will be described with reference to a flowchart showing in detail part by part.
FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing the processing of steps S11 to S14 in FIG. 17 in more detail.

In this process, the CPU 31 of the HTTP client 11 first sends, from the client command pool 41, the contents of the “method name” and the “input parameter” of the client command sheet whose “status” is “not sent” to the client to be sent. It is collected as a command, and the contents of “command ID” are also collected as the command ID of the command (S21). Since the “state” of “not transmitted” indicates that the command has not been notified to the HTTP server 12 after the command has been generated by the client command generation unit 43, the command is transmitted to the HTTP server 12 based on this. Command to be extracted.

(4) Thereafter, the processing of steps S22 to S24 is repeated for all the client commands collected in step S21. In these processes, first, a target client command and its command ID are converted into an XML document whose information is included in the SOAP body and the SOAP header, respectively (S22), and a SOAP envelope which is a part related to the target command is converted. Is generated (S23). Then, the “status” of the client command sheet describing the target client command is changed to “waiting for response” (S24). The “state” of “waiting for response” indicates that the command has been notified to the HTTP server 12.

After all of these steps are completed, the CPU 31 collects, from the server command pool 42, the contents of the “output parameters” of the server command sheet whose “status” is “processing completed” as a command response to the server command to be transmitted. Then, the content of the “command ID” is also collected as the command ID of the corresponding server command (S25). The “state” of “processing completed” indicates that the processing corresponding to the server command has been generated by the server command execution result generating unit 44 and has not been notified to the HTTP server 12 yet. A command response to be transmitted to the HTTP server 12 can be extracted.

Thereafter, the processing of steps S26 to S28 is repeated for all command responses collected in step S25. In these processes, first, the target command response and the command ID collected together with the response are converted into an XML document whose information is included in the SOAP body and the SOAP header, respectively (S26). This is the process of generating a SOAP envelope (S27). These processes are the same as the processes in steps S22 and S23 except that the targets are different. Then, the “status” of the server command sheet describing the target command response is changed to “responded” (S28). The “status” of “responded” indicates that the command response has been notified to the HTTP server 12.

Then, after all the processes up to this point are completed, the CPU 31 merges the respective parts generated in step S23 or S27, generates a multi-part HTTP request as shown in FIG. 11, and sends it to the HTTP server 12. (S29).
Note that the change of the “state” performed in step S24 or S28 may be performed after the transmission is actually finished. By doing so, even if a communication error occurs, the command and command response to be transmitted can be targeted for transmission again, so that the reliability of the system is improved.
Thus, the process related to the transmission of the HTTP request is completed, and the process proceeds to a process corresponding to step S15 and subsequent steps in FIG.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing in more detail the processing of the portion following step S15 in FIG. The processing subsequent to step S29 in FIG. 18 corresponds to step S31 in this figure.
In this process, the CPU 31 of the HTTP client 11 first waits for an HTTP response to the transmitted HTTP request, and receives it from the HTTP server 12 (S31). When this is received, the HTTP body is analyzed and divided into each part (S32).
After that, the processing of steps S33 to S39 is repeated for each of the parts obtained by division.

In the processing of this part, first, it is determined whether or not the target part is a server command (S33). As described above, since the HTTP response may include a server command and a response to a client command, it is determined whether the target part is one of them. This determination can be made based on whether or not a SOAPAction header exists in the target part, or on the content of the X-SOAP-Type header.

If it is not a server command in step S33, since the part is a response to the client command, the XML document of the part is analyzed and converted into data in a format that can be registered in the client command sheet (S34). The client command corresponding to the command response is searched, and the data of the command response is registered in the item of “output parameter” of the client command sheet for the client command (S35). It is assumed that the command response has the same command ID as that given when the client command was transmitted as information of the “command ID”, and the client command search can be performed using this information as a key. .

When the data registration is completed, the "status" of the client command sheet in which the data is registered is changed to "response received" to indicate that (S36). Then, a notification is sent to the notification destination registered in the “notification destination of the client command execution result” (S37). By this notification, the application or the like that has generated the client command recognizes that there has been a response to the generated command, and can perform processing according to the response.

For example, when an application that issues an abnormality notification generates a client command for notifying the HTTP server 12 of an abnormality, when the command is transmitted to the HTTP server 12, the HTTP server 12 responds to the command response that the HTTP server 12 has correctly received the command. Will be returned. Upon receiving this command response, the HTTP client 11 searches for a response to which client command based on the command ID included in the command response, and registers the command response in association with the found client command. . Then, an application that issues an abnormality notification, which is registered as an execution result notification destination of the command, is notified that there is a response. If the application receives this notification and refers to the client command sheet, the application can obtain the execution result of the generated command from the item of “output parameter”.
When the processing up to step S37 is completed, the processing from step S33 is repeated for the next part, if any.

On the other hand, if the command is a server command in step S33, the XML document of the part is analyzed and converted into data in a format that can be registered in the server command sheet (S38), and a server command sheet corresponding to the server command is created. It is registered in the server command pool together with the command ID (S39). Here, the content of the server command is registered in the item of “method name” and “input parameter” of the server command sheet, and the command ID described in the part is registered in the item of “command ID”. In the item of “server command notification destination”, reference information to an application or the like for executing the method stored in the “method name” is stored. Browse and register. The initial value of “state” is “unprocessed”, and the initial value of “output parameter” is NULL.

When the processing up to step S39 is completed, the processing from step S33 is repeated for the next part, if any.
When the processing of steps S33 to S39 is completed for all parts, the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 19 ends.
By performing the above processing, the HTTP client 11 can transmit the operation request to be transmitted to the HTTP server 12 and the operation response to the operation request received from the HTTP server 12 to the HTTP server 12 collectively. . Further, an operation request from the HTTP server 12 and an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the HTTP server 12 can be collectively received from the HTTP server 12 and processed.

Here, it has been described that all parts to be transmitted are generated and then merged and transmitted, and that all parts are received and then divided into individual parts for processing. You don't have to do this.
Regarding transmission, an HTTP header may be transmitted first, and thereafter, each time a part is generated, the part may be transmitted sequentially, and when transmission of all the parts is completed, data indicating the transmission may be transmitted. Even in this case, if the data transmitted in these processes is one logically continuous HTTP request having only one HTTP header, it can be transferred in one session, and the negotiation process is performed once. Therefore, it is possible to obtain the same effect as in the case of transmitting by merging. Further, since the memory capacity required for the buffer of data to be transmitted can be reduced, large data can be handled by a low-cost communication device.
Also, the receiving side can sequentially perform the processing for each part each time each part is received. The capacity can be reduced in this case as in the case of the transmission side.

Next, processing relating to execution of a server command will be described.
FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing an example of this processing.
As the processing relating to the execution of the server command, first, the processing illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 20 may be performed after the processing of step S39 illustrated in FIG. 19, that is, immediately after the server command is registered in the server command pool 42. . In this process, the CPU 31 of the HTTP client 11 functions as a server command execution result generation unit 44.

In this process, first, an application or the like is called based on the information of “server command notification destination” in the server command sheet for the registered server command, and data of “method name” and “input parameter” is passed to the server. A command-related process is executed (S41). It should be noted that the processing relating to the server command is not shown in this flowchart, but is executed separately by the CPU 31.
When this is completed, the execution result is registered in the "output parameter" item of the server command sheet (S42), and the "status" of the server command sheet is changed to "processing completed" to indicate that the processing is completed. (S43), and returns to the original processing of FIG.
By performing the above processing, the server command is executed, and the result can be transmitted to the HTTP server 12 as a command response.

In addition, as the processing related to the execution of the server command, the processing illustrated in FIG. 21 may be performed independently of the processing illustrated in FIG. Also in this processing, the CPU 31 of the HTTP client 11 functions as the server command execution result generation unit 44.
In this case, the CPU 31 starts the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 21 at an appropriate timing.

In this process, first, it is determined whether or not there is a server command sheet whose “status” is “waiting for processing” in the server command pool (SX1). If not, the process waits until such a server command sheet is added. I do. When such a server command sheet is found, one of the server command sheets is set as a processing target, and the “state” of the server command sheet is changed to “processing” (SX2).
After that, the processes in steps S41 to S43 similar to those in FIG. 20 are performed to execute the server command described in the server command sheet to be processed, and when this is completed, the process returns to step SX1 to repeat the process.

The above processing may be performed simultaneously by a plurality of threads (for example, 4 threads). Since the “state” of the server command sheet to be processed is not “waiting for processing”, even if processing is performed simultaneously by a plurality of threads, one server command sheet is not redundantly processed.

By performing the above processing, the server command can be executed at an arbitrary timing, so that even if there is a command that takes a long time to execute, the subsequent processing is not interrupted. The results can be sequentially transmitted to the HTTP server 12 as a command response in the order from the end of execution.
This concludes the description of the processing relating to the transfer of each command and the command response executed in the HTTP client 11.

Next, the functional configuration of the HTTP server 12 will be described. As the hardware, as described with reference to FIG. 7, the same hardware as the HTTP client 11 can be used. Therefore, in the following description of the HTTP server 12, when referring to hardware components, the same reference numerals as those of the HTTP client 11 are used.
FIG. 22 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a function for performing a process related to a command and a command response among functions of the HTTP server 12.
Among the functions shown in FIG. 22, the server command pool 141 and the client command pool 142 are provided in any rewritable storage means. For example, it can be provided in the SD card 34, but may be provided in the RAM 33 or an HDD (hard disk drive) not shown. The functions of the server command generation unit 143, the client command execution result generation unit 144, the transmission message collection unit 145, and the reception message distribution unit 148 are realized by the CPU 31. The functions of the HTTP response transmitting unit 146 and the HTTP request receiving unit 147 are realized by the CPU 31 and the NIC 35.

These functions will be described in more detail.
First, the server command pool 141 corresponds to a second storage area provided in the HTTP server 12, and is a pool for registering a server command, a response to the command, and identification information of the command in association with each other. The client command pool 142 corresponds to a first storage area provided in the HTTP server 12, and is a pool in which a client command, a response to the command, and identification information of the command are registered in association with each other. It is also assumed that the storage units provided with these pools correspond to the second and first storage units of the HTTP server 12, respectively.

The server command generation means 143 corresponds to a request generation means. Then, a server command is generated, identification information (ID) for identifying the command is assigned, management information for managing the command is added, and the information is associated with the server command as a server command sheet in a table format. It has a function of registering in the pool 141. Among these, the part that generates the server command corresponds to, for example, an application provided in the HTTP server 12. In addition, the server command generation unit 143 may be provided with a function of assigning a priority to the generated server command when causing the HTTP client 11 to execute each command.

Here, FIG. 23 shows an example of the data structure in the server command sheet of the HTTP server 12.
As shown in this figure, the server command sheet of the HTTP server 12 is slightly different in that the command described in the server command sheet is a server command, and the transmission destination and the transmission source of the command response are the HTTP client 11. However, an area for storing data substantially similar to the client command sheet of the HTTP client 11 shown in FIG. 9 is provided. Regarding the “server command execution result notification destination”, the names of the items differ according to the fact that the command described in this sheet is a server command, but the content is “client command execution result notification destination” in FIG. Is similar to

{Returning to the description of FIG. 22, the client command execution result generation unit 144 corresponds to a response generation unit. The application reads a client command from the client command pool 142 and executes it. Then, it has a function of generating a response to the client command and registering the response in the client command pool 142 in association with the command ID of the client command. The client command received from the HTTP client 11 is registered in the client command pool 142 as a client command sheet in a table format in association with an ID for identifying the command and management information for managing the command. ing. Then, the command response generated by the client command execution result generation unit 144 is also registered in the client command sheet for the executed client command.

Further, it is conceivable to provide the client command execution result generation means 144 with a function of reading a plurality of types of client commands from the client command pool 142 and generating a response to each client command. Further, when the client command includes information on the execution priority for causing the HTTP server 12 to execute the processing with priority, it is conceivable to provide a function of reading and executing the command with the highest priority.
Note that the client command execution result generation unit 144 may be a module that calls up an application necessary for executing a client command and executes the command, instead of the application itself.

Here, FIG. 24 shows an example of the data structure in the client command sheet of the HTTP server 12.
As shown in this figure, the client command sheet of the HTTP server 12 is slightly different in that the command described in the client command sheet is a client command, and the source of the command and the destination of the command response are the HTTP client 11. However, an area for storing data substantially similar to the server command sheet of the HTTP client 11 shown in FIG. 10 is provided. Regarding the “client command notification destination”, the names of the items differ according to the fact that the command described in this sheet is a server command, but the content is the same as the “server command notification destination” in FIG. It is.

Returning to the description of FIG. 22 again, the transmission message collecting unit 145 corresponds to the collecting unit. Then, the command response generated by the client command execution result generation unit 144 and the command ID of the client command corresponding to this command response are read out from the client command pool 42 in association with each other, and the server command generated by the server command generation unit 143 and the It has a function of reading out the server command pool 141 in association with the command ID of the command and generating a transmission message from these.
When the execution priority is specified in the command response or the server command, the transmission message collection unit 145 may read out the transmission message in descending order of execution priority.
The format of the transmission message is the same as that of the HTTP client 11.

The HTTP response transmission unit 146 corresponds to the transmission unit, generates an HTTP response including the transmission message generated by the transmission message collection unit 145 as a communication response to the HTTP request received from the HTTP client 11, and sends the HTTP response to the HTTP client 11. It has a function to send. At this time, any number of transmission messages may be included in one HTTP response, or a transmission message relating to a command response and a transmission message relating to a server command may be arbitrarily mixed.
Therefore, the HTTP response transmission unit 146 transmits all transmission messages generated by the transmission message collection unit 145 in one HTTP response, regardless of which of these transmission messages. However, it is also conceivable to set an upper limit on the number of transmission messages included in one HTTP response.

Incidentally, the transmission of the HTTP response is performed even when the transmission message collection unit 145 attempts to read a server command, a command response, or the like, when there is no data to be read, and as a result, when the SOAP message to be transmitted is not generated. Is what you do. The reading attempt is performed when an HTTP request from the HTTP client 11 is received.
This is because the HTTP request cannot be transmitted from the HTTP server 12 to the HTTP client 11 across the firewall 14 as described above.

The HTTP request receiving unit 147 corresponds to a receiving unit, and has a function of receiving an HTTP request from the HTTP client 11. Here, in the HTTP request, a received message including a client command and a command ID associated with the command, and a received message including a response to the server command and a command ID associated with the command are arbitrarily mixed. Included.
Here, the received message describes the command or response and the command ID as a SOAP message.

The received message distribution means 148 corresponds to the distribution means. Then, it has a function of distributing and registering data included in the HTTP request received by the HTTP request receiving unit 147 to the server command pool 141 and the client command pool 142.
Specifically, a client command and a command ID associated with the command are registered in a client command pool 142 by providing a client command sheet. In response to a server command, a command ID associated with the command is registered in the server A server command corresponding to the command ID of the server command sheet stored in the command pool 141 is identified, and the corresponding server command is specified, and registered as an “output parameter” for the server command.

At this time, the HTTP request is divided, each received message included therein is extracted, and the data is converted into a format required for registration in a table. This conversion is performed by a required conversion generated based on WSDL. This can be performed by executing a program (deserializer).
Since the HTTP request received by the HTTP server 12 having such a function is transmitted from the HTTP client 11, it is described with reference to FIG. 11 in the description of the function of the HTTP client 11, for example. The HTTP response transmitted by the HTTP server 12 is also transmitted to the HTTP client 11 and received by the HTTP client 11, and thus is described with reference to FIG. 12, for example. The contents of the parts included therein are also as described with reference to FIGS.

Next, the processing executed in the HTTP server 12 having the above-described configuration and function will be described with reference to the flowcharts in FIGS. The processing shown in these flowcharts is performed by the CPU 31 of the HTTP server 12 executing a required control program.

First, FIG. 25 shows a flowchart of the basic operation of message collection and distribution processing.
When the HTTP request is transmitted from the HTTP client 11, the CPU 31 of the HTTP server 12 starts the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG.
Then, first, the HTTP request is received (S111). Then, the HTTP body of the received HTTP request is divided into each part (S112). Here, division into each part is to divide into elements divided by “MIME_boundary”, and here, division is performed for all parts.

{Circle around (4)} Then, the processing of steps S113 to S115 is repeated for all the parts obtained by the division in order. In this processing, first, it is determined whether or not the target part is a part in which a client command is described (S113). If it is a client command, a client command registration process is performed (S114). If the received command is not a client command, it is a part in which a response to the server command is described, so that a response notification process is performed (S115).

After step S114 or S115, the process returns to step S113, and the process is repeated for the next part. Then, when these processes are performed for all parts, the process proceeds to the next step S116.
In the processing so far, the CPU 31 functions as the HTTP request receiving unit 147 in steps S111 and S112, and functions as the received message distribution unit 148 in steps S113 to S115.

Next, the CPU 31 performs a server command collection process (S116). This process is a process of collecting server commands to be transmitted to the HTTP client 11 from the server command pool 41, and includes a process of generating a SOAP envelope part from the collected data.
Next, a collection process of a client command execution result, which is a response to the client command, is performed (S117). This process is a process of collecting a command response to be transmitted to the HTTP client 11 from the client command pool, and also includes a process of generating a SOAP envelope part from the collected data.

Thereafter, the parts generated in the processes of steps S116 and S117 are merged into one, an HTTP response including all the parts is generated (S118), and the HTTP response is used as a communication response to the HTTP request received in step S111. The data is transmitted to the HTTP client 11 (S119), and the process ends.
In the processing so far, the CPU 31 functions as the transmission message collection unit 145 in steps S116 and S117, and functions as the HTTP response transmission unit 146 in steps S118 and S119.

Next, the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 25 will be described with reference to a flowchart showing a part of the processing in more detail.
FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing the processing of steps S111 to S115 in FIG. 25 in more detail.
In this process, the CPU 31 of the HTTP server 12 first receives an HTTP request transmitted from an HTTP client (S121). Then, when this is received, the HTTP body is analyzed and divided into each part (S122).
After that, the processing of steps S123 to S129 is repeated for each of the parts obtained by division.

In the processing of this part, first, it is determined whether or not the target part is a client command (S123). As described above, since the HTTP request may include a client command and a response to a server command, it is determined which of the target parts is the HTTP command. This determination can be made based on whether or not a SOAPAction header exists in the target part, or on the content of the X-SOAP-Type header.

If it is not a client command in step S123, since the part is a response part to the server command, the XML document of the part is analyzed and converted into data in a format that can be registered in the server command sheet (S124), and the server command pool The server command corresponding to the command response is searched for from 141, and the data of the command response is registered in the item of "output parameter" of the server command sheet for the server command (S125). It is assumed that the command response has the same command ID as that given at the time of transmission of the server command as information of “command ID”, and the search for the server command can be performed using this information as a key. .

When the data registration is completed, the “status” of the server command sheet in which the data is registered is changed to “response received” to indicate that (S126). Then, a notification is sent to the notification destination registered in "notification destination of server command execution result" (S127). By this notification, the application or the like that has generated the server command recognizes that there has been a response to the generated command, and can perform processing according to the response.

For example, when an application corresponding to the occurrence of an abnormality in the HTTP client 11 generates a server command for acquiring a sensor value of a temperature sensor of the HTTP client 11, when the command is transmitted to the HTTP client 11, the HTTP client 11 issues a request. A command response including the obtained sensor value is returned. When the HTTP server 12 receives the command response, the HTTP server 12 searches for a response to the server command based on the command ID included in the command response, and registers the command response in association with the found server command. . Then, the application corresponding to the occurrence of the abnormality registered as the execution result notification destination of the command is notified that there is a response. If the application receives the notification and refers to the server command sheet, the application can obtain the execution result of the generated command from the item of “output parameter”.
When the processing up to step S127 is completed, the processing from step S123 is repeated for the next part, if any.

On the other hand, if it is a client command in step S123, the XML document of the part is analyzed and converted into data in a format that can be registered in the client command sheet (S128), and a client command sheet corresponding to the client command is created. It is registered in the client command pool together with the command ID (S129). Here, the content of the client command is registered in the item of “method name” and “input parameter” of the client command sheet, and the command ID described in the part is registered in the item of “command ID”. In the item of “client command notification destination”, reference information to an application or the like that executes the method stored in the “method name” is stored, and information on the correspondence between the previously prepared method and the application is stored. Browse and register. The initial value of “state” is “unprocessed”, and the initial value of “output parameter” is NULL.

When the processing up to step S129 is completed, the processing from step S123 is repeated for the next part, if any.
When the processing of steps S123 to S129 is completed for all parts, the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 26 ends.
Thus, the processing related to the reception of the HTTP request is completed, and the process proceeds to the processing corresponding to step S116 and subsequent steps in FIG.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing in more detail the processing of the part after step S116 in FIG. The processing subsequent to step S127 or S129 in FIG. 26 corresponds to step S131 in this figure.
In this process, the CPU 31 of the HTTP server 12 first transmits, from the server command pool 141, the contents of the “method name” and the “input parameter” of the server command sheet whose “status” is “not transmitted” to the server to be transmitted. It is collected as a command, and the contents of “command ID” are also collected as the command ID of the command (S131). In the HTTP server 12, the "status" of "not sent" indicates that the command has not been notified to the HTTP client 11 after the command has been generated by the server command generating means 143. A command to be transmitted to the HTTP client 11 can be extracted.

(4) Thereafter, the processing of steps S132 to S134 is repeated for all the server commands collected in step S131. In these processes, first, the target server command and its command ID are converted into an XML document in which the information is included in the SOAP body and the SOAP header, respectively (S132), and the SOAP envelope which is a part related to the target command is converted. Is generated (S133). Then, the "status" of the server command sheet describing the target server command is changed to "waiting for response" (S134). Here, the “state” of “waiting for response” indicates that the command has been notified to the HTTP client 11.

After completing these, the CPU 31 collects the contents of the “output parameters” of the client command sheet whose “status” is “processing completed” from the client command pool 142 as a command response to the client command to be transmitted. Then, the contents of the “command ID” are also collected as the command ID of the corresponding client command (S135). In the HTTP server 12, the “state” of “processing completed” indicates that the processing corresponding to the client command has been generated by the client command execution result generating unit 144 and has not yet been notified to the HTTP client 11. Therefore, a command response to be transmitted to the HTTP client 11 can be extracted based on this.

Thereafter, the processing of steps S136 to S138 is repeated for all command responses collected in step S135. In these processes, first, the target command response and the command ID collected together with the response are converted into an XML document in which the information is respectively included in the SOAP body and the SOAP header (S136). This is the process of generating a SOAP envelope (S137). These processes are the same as the processes of steps S132 and S133 except that the targets are different. Then, the “status” of the client command sheet describing the target command response is changed to “responded” (S138). The “state” of “responded” indicates that the command response has been notified to the HTTP client 11 here.

Then, after all the processes up to this point are completed, the CPU 31 merges the parts generated in step S133 or S137, generates a multi-part HTTP response as shown in FIG. 12, and transmits the multi-part HTTP response to the HTTP client 11. .
Note that the change of the “state” performed in step S134 or S138 may be performed after the transmission is actually finished. By doing so, even if a communication error occurs, the command and command response to be transmitted can be targeted for transmission again, so that the reliability of the system is improved.

Here, it has been described that all parts to be transmitted are generated and then merged for transmission, and that all parts are received and then divided into individual parts for processing. You don't have to. It is the same as the case of the HTTP client 11 that the transmission may be sequentially performed each time each part is generated, or the processing regarding each part may be sequentially performed each time each part is received.

Next, processing relating to execution of a client command will be described.
FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing an example of this processing.
As the processing related to the execution of the client command, first, the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 28 may be performed after the processing of step S129 shown in FIG. 27, that is, immediately after the client command is registered in the client command pool 42. . In this process, the CPU 31 of the HTTP server 12 functions as a client command execution result generation unit 144.

In this process, first, an application or the like is called based on the information of the “client command notification destination” in the client command sheet for the registered client command, and data of the “method name” and the “input parameter” is passed to the client. The processing related to the command is executed (S141). Although not shown in the flowchart, the processing related to the client command is separately executed by the CPU 31.

When this is completed, the execution result is registered in the “output parameter” item of the client command sheet (S142), and the “state” of the client command sheet is changed to “processing completed”, indicating that the processing is completed. (S143), and returns to the original process of FIG.
By performing the above processing, the client command is executed, and the result can be transmitted to the HTTP client 11 as a command response.

Further, as the processing relating to the execution of the client command, it is also conceivable to execute the processing shown in FIG. 29 independently of the processing shown in FIG. Also in this processing, the CPU 31 of the HTTP server 12 functions as the client command execution result generation unit 144.
In this case, the CPU 31 starts the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 29 at an appropriate timing.

In this process, first, it is determined whether or not there is a client command sheet whose “status” is “waiting for processing” in the client command pool (SY1). I do. When such a client command sheet is found, one of the client command sheets is set as a processing target, and the “state” of the client command sheet is changed to “processing” (SY2).
After that, the processes in steps S141 to S143 similar to those in FIG. 28 are performed to execute the client command described in the client command sheet to be processed, and when this is completed, the process returns to step SY1 to repeat the process.
The above processing may be performed simultaneously by a plurality of threads as in the case of the HTTP client 11.

By performing the above processing, the client command can be executed at an arbitrary timing, so that even if there is a command that takes a long time to execute, the subsequent processing is not interrupted. The results can be sequentially transmitted to the HTTP client 11 as a command response in the order from the end of the execution.
This concludes the description of the processing relating to transfer of each command and command response, which is executed in the HTTP server 12.

The HTTP client 11 and the HTTP server 12 are provided with the respective functions as described above, and by performing the respective processes, an operation request to be transmitted from the transmission source to the communication partner and an operation for the operation request received from the communication partner are performed. Since the response and the response can be transmitted to the communication partner at the same time, it is not necessary to negotiate separately the transmission of the operation request and the transmission of the operation response to establish a communication connection, thereby reducing the communication overhead. Communication efficiency.

The reason why the operation request and the operation response can be transmitted collectively is that they are converted into serialized data and converted into a transmission message described in a structured language format. With this configuration, the operation request and the operation response having different formats can be easily combined and logically transmitted as one transmission content.
In addition, the receiving side collectively receives the operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner and the operation request from the communication partner, and easily separates the received content into individual messages. However, appropriate processing can be performed depending on whether the request is an operation request or an operation response.

Furthermore, if a communication request is always issued from one device to perform communication, and the transmission of an operation request or the like from the communication partner to the communication request source is performed as a response to the communication request, the communication requesting side can send the request. Even in a communication system in which a device (communication client) is provided inside a firewall, an operation request and an operation response can be transmitted and received without being aware of the existence of the firewall. Further, since the communication request corresponds to the communication response, timing management at the communication level is easy.

In this case, if a communication request is periodically transmitted from the one device to the communication partner, transmission of information from the outside to the inside of the firewall may be stagnated for a long time. Can be prevented.
In addition, by providing a client command pool and a server command pool and accumulating operation requests and operation responses generated by each application and the like in these pools, generation of operation requests and operation responses can be performed with respect to a communication partner. This can be performed without considering the transmission timing. Therefore, processing performed by an application or the like can be simplified, and design and development are facilitated.

Even in such a case, the information to be transmitted can be transmitted without fail when communication is performed by providing a collection unit for reading out an operation request and an operation response to be transmitted to the communication partner from the pool.
Also, by providing distribution means for separating received operation requests and operation responses from each other and storing them in an appropriate pool, and by storing received information in the pool, execution of the operation related to the received operation request is performed. Alternatively, the processing after receiving the operation response can be performed without considering the reception timing from the communication partner. Therefore, processing performed by an application or the like can be simplified, and design and development are facilitated.

Also, identification information such as an ID is attached to the generated operation request so that the operation request is stored and transmitted in association with the identification information, and an operation corresponding to the operation response is stored and transmitted. If a plurality of operation requests and operation responses are included in one message (here, an HTTP message), the correspondence between the operation request and the operation response can be obtained through the identification information. Can be easily recognized.
Furthermore, by assigning priorities to operation requests and executing the requests in descending order or transmitting a response, it is possible to execute urgent operations with priority and return the response with priority. Can be.

[Example in which SMTP is adopted: FIGS. 30 to 35]
Next, an embodiment in which SMTP is adopted as a communication protocol will be described. This embodiment has many points in common with the above-described embodiment in which the HTTP is adopted. Therefore, the description of the common points will be omitted or simplified, and differences will be mainly described.
First, FIG. 30 shows a configuration example of a communication system to which an embodiment employing SMTP is applied.

As shown in FIG. 30, the communication system includes a LAN_A connecting the communication device A and the mail server A ', and a LAN_B connecting the communication device B and the mail server B'. And is connected to the Internet 13 via the Internet. Further, a mail server A is provided on the LAN_A side and a mail server B is provided on the LAN_B side at positions accessible from the outside via a firewall. The communication device A corresponds to the first communication device, and the communication device B corresponds to the second communication device.

When communication is performed using SMTP, information transfer between the communication device A and the communication device B is performed by e-mail. For example, when transmitting information from the communication device B to the communication device A, the communication device B transmits an e-mail addressed to the communication device A as shown by a broken line in FIG. '. Then, the e-mail is transferred to the mail server A 'directly accessed by the communication device A via the respective mail servers B', B, A in order. Although illustration is omitted, transfer is usually performed between the mail server B and the mail server A via another mail server.

Then, as shown by the one-dot chain line, the communication device A can periodically access the mail server A 'to receive an electronic mail addressed to the communication device A. Information transfer is completed. The information transfer from the communication device A to the communication device B can be performed in the reverse order, and the information transfer is symmetric between the communication device A and the communication device B. However, it is not essential to provide the mail servers A 'and B'. The communication device A may directly communicate with the mail server A, and the communication device B may directly communicate with the mail server B. Also, the mail server for receiving mail and the mail server for sending mail may be different.

In such a communication system, each LAN is provided with a mail server at a position accessible from the outside, so that e-mail can be transferred through a firewall.
Note that, in this embodiment, the communication device A and the communication device B do not perform communication after directly negotiating with each other, but can transfer information to each other.

{Circle around (1)} Similarly, the communication device A and the communication device B also have application programs for performing mutual control and management, as in the case of the first communication device and the second communication device shown in FIG. Then, the RPC transmits an "operation request" as a request for processing to a method of an application program to be mounted on each other, and an "operation response" as a result of the requested processing can be obtained. I have.

FIG. 31 shows the relationship between the operation request and the operation response. At the operation request level, the relationship between the communication device A and the communication device B is the same as the relationship between the HTTP client 11 and the HTTP server 12 already described. In addition, it is symmetric. However, in the case of SMTP, the communication device A and the communication device B have a symmetrical relationship even at the communication level, which is different from the case of HTTP.

FIG. 32 shows an example of a communication sequence in this communication system.
As described above, in this communication system, communication between the communication device A and the communication device B is performed using electronic mail. The electronic mail has a transmission source and a destination, and it is possible to send a reply from the destination to the transmission source. However, the initial e-mail and the reply are completely independent, and do not have a relationship such as a communication request and a communication response as in the case of HTTP.
Therefore, either of the communication devices may perform the communication first, and it is not necessary to send the e-mail alternately. Here, the e-mail is first sent from the communication device A to the communication device B. An example is shown in which three e-mails are transmitted and transmitted alternately in total.

These e-mails are transmitted by describing an operation request (command) to the transmission destination (destination) and an operation response (command response or simply “response”) to the command received from the transmission destination. This is the same regardless of which of the communication device A and the communication device B is the transmission source.
Therefore, for example, the command a on the communication device A side can be transferred in the form of an e-mail x, and the command response from the communication device B can be transferred in the subsequent e-mail y. Also, the command c on the communication device B side can be transferred in an e-mail y, and the command response from the communication device A can be transferred in an e-mail z.

An arbitrary number (or may be zero) of responses to the operation request and the operation response can be described in one e-mail. The content described in one e-mail is one message, which is logically and collectively transferred. By doing so, the number of electronic mails for transferring necessary information is reduced, overhead is reduced, and communication efficiency is improved.
Also, the fact that the command response need not be described in the e-mail transmitted first after receiving the command is the same as in the case of HTTP described with reference to FIG.

Next, a description will be given of a functional configuration for combining and separating commands and command responses in the communication devices A and B and a procedure of the processing. Regarding the hardware configuration, the same hardware configuration as that of the HTTP client 11 shown in FIG. 7 in the description of the embodiment using HTTP can be used.

FIG. 33 is a functional block diagram corresponding to FIG. 8 showing a configuration of a function for performing a process related to a command and a command response among the functions of the communication device A.
33, the communication device A command pool 51, the communication device B command pool 52, the communication device A command generation means 53, and the communication device B command execution result generation means 54 are shown in FIG. This is a function corresponding to the client command pool 41, the server command pool 42, the client command generation unit 43, and the server command execution result generation unit 44, and the name is changed due to a different device name.

The transmission message collection unit 45 and the reception message distribution unit 48 correspond to the units of the same name shown in FIG. However, it differs from the example shown in FIG. 8 in that the format of data to be transmitted and received is a format corresponding to SMTP. However, individual SOAP messages corresponding to commands and command responses are the same as those in FIG.
The mail transmitting unit 56 and the mail receiving unit 57 correspond to the transmitting unit and the receiving unit, respectively. However, the HTTP request transmitting unit 46 and the HTTP response receiving unit shown in FIG. It is different from 47.

That is, the mail transmitting unit 56 has a function of generating an electronic mail including the transmission message generated by the transmission message collecting unit 45 and addressed to the communication device B, and transmitting the generated electronic mail to the mail server A ′. The communication device A is not involved in the subsequent transfer of the e-mail. FIG. 8 shows that one electronic mail may include any number of transmission messages, and a transmission message relating to a command response and a transmission message relating to a command on the communication device A side may be arbitrarily mixed. This is the same as in the case of the above example.

The mail receiving means 57 has a function of periodically accessing the mail server A 'to check whether there is any new mail addressed to the communication device A, and receiving the new mail if any. Here, the received e-mail includes a received message including the command on the communication device B side and the command ID associated with the command, and a reception message including the response to the command on the communication device A side and the command ID associated with the command. Message is arbitrarily mixed.

Next, FIG. 34 shows an example of an electronic mail transmitted from the communication device A having such a function to the communication device B.
As in the case of the HTTP request shown in FIG. 11, a multi-part message according to MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) is described in the body of this e-mail, and a SOAP envelope is embedded in each part. Have been. That is, the body part is similar to the case of the HTTP request.

However, unlike the case of the HTTP request, the header portion describes information such as From indicating the source address of the e-mail, To indicating the destination address, and Subject indicating the title.
The e-mail transmitted from the communication device B to the communication device A is obtained by exchanging the contents of From and the contents of To in the header.
The contents of the SOAP envelope described in these e-mails are the same as those in the case of the HTTP request and the HTTP response. However, a part of the entity header part of each part is different from the case of HTTP because the data encoding method is different.

Next, processing executed in the communication device A having the above-described configuration and function will be described with reference to the flowcharts in FIGS. 35 and 36. The processing shown in these flowcharts is performed by the CPU of the communication device A executing a required control program.

First, FIG. 35 shows a flowchart of the basic operation of the process at the time of message transmission.
The CPU of the communication device A starts the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 35 when the transmission message collection unit 45 tries to read the communication device A-side command and the command response.
Then, first, a communication device A-side command collection process is performed (S51). This process is a process of collecting a communication device A command to be transmitted to the communication device B from the communication device A command pool 51, and includes a process of generating a SOAP envelope part from the collected data.

Next, a process of collecting a communication device B command execution result, which is a response to the communication device B command, is performed (S52). This process is a process of collecting a command response to be transmitted to the communication device B from the communication device B-side command pool 52, and also includes a process of generating a SOAP envelope part from the collected data.
Thereafter, the parts generated in the processing of steps S51 and S52 are merged into one, an e-mail including all parts is generated (S53), and the e-mail is transmitted to the communication device B (S54). , And the process ends.

In the above processing, the CPU 31 functions as the transmission message collecting unit 45 in steps S51 and S52, and functions as the mail transmitting unit 56 in steps S53 and S54.
These processes correspond to the processes of steps S11 to S14 shown in FIG. 17, but in the case of SMTP, there is a relationship such as a communication request and a communication response between transmission and reception of an e-mail. Therefore, the process is temporarily terminated here, and when an e-mail is received, the process shown in FIG. 36 is separately performed.

FIG. 36 shows a flowchart of the basic operation of the process when receiving a message.
The CPU of the communication device A periodically accesses the mail server A ', and when there is a new electronic mail addressed to the communication device A, starts the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG.
In this process, first, a new electronic mail is received (S61). Then, the body (body) of the received e-mail is divided into each part (S62). Here, the division into each part is to divide into elements divided by “MIME_boundary”, and here, all parts are decomposed.

Then, the processing of steps S63 to S65 is repeated for all the parts in order. In this process, first, it is determined whether or not the target part is a part in which the communication device B side command is described (S63). If the command is the communication device B side command, the communication device B side command registration processing is performed (S64). If the command is not the command for the communication device B, the response notification process is performed because the response is a part in which a response to the command for the communication device A is described (S65).

After step S63 or S64, the process returns to step S63, and the process is repeated for the next part. Then, when these processes are performed for all parts, the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 36 ends.
In the above processing, the CPU 31 functions as the mail receiving unit 57 in step S61, and functions as the received message distribution unit 48 in steps S62 to S65.
These processes correspond to the processes of steps S15 to S19 shown in FIG.

The processing related to the execution of the command on the communication apparatus B side is the same as the processing related to the execution of the server command described with reference to FIGS.
This concludes the description of the processing relating to transfer of each command and command response, which is executed in communication device A.
Note that the functions of the communication device B and the processing executed by the communication device B are exactly the same as those of the communication device A, except that the meanings of the communication device A-side command and the communication device B-side command are reversed. Therefore, the description is omitted.

As described above, the present invention can be applied to a case where communication is performed using a protocol such as SMTP, which does not necessarily support transmission and return of information. Also in this case, the operation request to be transmitted from the transmission source to the communication partner and the operation response to the operation request received from the communication partner can be transmitted to the communication partner at a time. It is not necessary to perform transfer in separate units for transmission of the operation response and the transmission of the operation response, and it is possible to reduce communication overhead and increase communication efficiency.
In addition, if electronic mail is used for communication, information can be easily transferred to the inside of a firewall.

[Modification of Each Embodiment: FIG. 37]
Next, a modification of each of the above-described embodiments will be described.
First, in each of the above-described embodiments, the present invention has been described by taking a communication system including two communication devices as an example for the sake of simplicity of description. Naturally, it is also possible to apply the present invention to a communication device constituting a simple communication system.
For example, the embodiment employing HTTP can be applied to a communication system as shown in FIG.

In this communication system, a management device 102, which is a communication device having a communication function, and a managed device 100, which is also a communication device having a communication function, are connected via a network including the Internet 13, and the management device 102 It is configured as a remote management system that manages the managed device 100.
Here, specific examples of the managed device 100 include an image processing apparatus such as a printer, a scanner, a copier, or a digital multifunction peripheral having these functions, a network home appliance having a communication function, and a vending machine. Various types of electronic devices having a communication function, including medical devices, power supply devices, air conditioning systems, measuring systems for gas, water, electricity, and the like, and computers that can be connected to a network can be considered.

Further, in this remote management system, an intermediary device 101 which is a communication device for mediating communication between the management device 102 and the managed device 100 is provided, and the management device 102 and the managed device 100 Communication is performed via 101.
Then, the mediation device 101 and the managed device 100 form various hierarchical structures according to the usage environment. For example, in the installation environment A shown in FIG. 37, the mediation device 101a that can establish a connection with the management device 102 by HTTP has a simple hierarchical structure that follows the managed devices 100a and 100b. Since one managed device 100 is installed, the load is increased if only one intermediary device 101 is installed.

Therefore, the mediation device 101b that can establish a connection with the management device 102 by HTTP follows not only the managed devices 100c and 100d but also another mediation device 101c, and the mediation device 101c can further follow the managed devices 100e and 100f. It forms a hierarchical structure. In this case, the information issued from the management device 102 for remotely managing the managed devices 100e and 100f is transmitted to the managed device 100e or 100f via the mediation device 101b and the mediation device 101c which is a lower node thereof. Will be reached. In each installation environment, a firewall 14 is installed in consideration of security.

Also in such a remote management system, the present invention can be applied by treating the mediation apparatus 101 as an HTTP client and the management apparatus 102 as an HTTP server.
In this case, in the case where a command is to be transmitted from the management apparatus 102 to the managed apparatus 100, a command “send a command to the managed apparatus 100” is transmitted to the mediation apparatus 101, and As another operation, a command may be transmitted to the managed device 100. In addition, a command is transmitted to the mediation device 101 by designating any one of the managed devices 100 as the destination, and the mediation device 101 is caused to transfer a command having a destination other than itself to the destination. Is also conceivable.

When sending and receiving commands and command responses among three or more nodes, include these information in the command and command response messages and also in the command sheet so that the source and destination of the command can be grasped. It is good to describe and manage.
If a mail server is provided, the embodiment in which SMTP is adopted can be applied to such a communication system.

Further, modifications other than those described above can be applied to the present invention. For example, a client command sheet and a server command sheet registered in the client command pool 41 and the server command pool 42 may be described as an XML document. The “input parameters” may be stored as an XML document before deserialization, or the “output parameters” may be stored as an XML document after serialization.
Further, a limit may be imposed on the information amount of a command to be transmitted / received or a command response. In particular, if the information amount of the command to be received is limited, the memory usage can be reduced when the receiving side is a device having a limited memory capacity.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, SOAP is adopted as an upper protocol for realizing RPC, and the application directly operates the pool to realize RPC. However, a CORBA (Common Object Request Broker) is provided between the application and the pool. Architecture) or a bridge (message conversion function) with JAVA (registered trademark) RMI (Remote Method Invocation) may further improve application development efficiency.
That is, in the above-described embodiment, the exchange of the command and the response to the command between the HTTP client 11 and the HTTP server 12 is performed by the SOAP message described in XML, but is not limited thereto. Instead, it may be described in another format.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, not only the SOAP standard protocol but also a unique protocol combining SOAP and MIME multi-part is additionally adopted, so that the SOAP envelope included in the HTTP request or the HTTP response can be used. Although it is treated as completely independent, the links to the SOAP envelopes of the second and subsequent parts are embedded in the SOAP envelope of the first part included in the HTTP response by the SOAP attachment defined as the SOAP related specification. May be delivered in association with each other. The same applies to an e-mail using SMTP.

Furthermore, an example in which HTTP or SMTP is adopted as a data communication protocol located below a higher protocol such as SOAP has been described here, but other protocols such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol) are also used for this lower protocol. May be adopted.
Furthermore, the configuration of the communication system is not limited to that described above.

Also, the program according to the present invention causes a computer to function as a device such as the HTTP client 11, the HTTP server 12, or the communication devices A and B, which is a communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner. It is a program, and the above-described effects can be obtained by causing a computer to execute such a program.

Such a program may be stored in a storage means such as a ROM or an HDD provided in the computer from the beginning, but may be stored in a non-volatile storage medium such as a CD-ROM or a flexible disk, an SRAM, an EEPROM, or a memory card as a recording medium. It can also be provided by recording it on a medium (memory). Each of the above-described procedures can be executed by installing the program recorded in the memory in the computer and causing the CPU to execute the program, or reading and executing the program from the memory by the CPU.
Further, the program can be downloaded from an external device provided with a recording medium storing the program or an external device having the program stored in the storage means and executed.

As described above, by using the communication device, the communication system, the control method of the communication device, the program, and the recording medium of the present invention, a communication in which a plurality of communication devices mutually transmit and receive an operation request and an operation response to the received operation request. When configuring a system, communication efficiency can be increased.
Therefore, by applying the present invention to such a communication system or a communication device configuring such a communication system, a communication system with a small communication load can be configured.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a communication system of the present invention configured using the communication device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between an operation request and an operation response in the communication system illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a communication system when HTTP is adopted as a communication protocol. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between an operation request and an operation response in the communication system illustrated in FIG. 3. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a communication sequence in the communication system illustrated in FIG. 3. It is a figure showing another example. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of an HTTP client and an HTTP server illustrated in FIG. 3. FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration of a function for performing processing relating to a command and a command response among functions of the HTTP client illustrated in FIG. 3. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure in a client command sheet stored in the client command pool illustrated in FIG. 8. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure in a server command sheet stored in the server command pool illustrated in FIG. 8;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an HTTP request transmitted from the HTTP client illustrated in FIG. 3 to an HTTP server. FIG. 4 illustrates an example of an HTTP response received by the HTTP client illustrated in FIG. 3 from an HTTP server. It is a figure showing the example of the part which described the client command. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a part describing a response to a client command. It is a figure showing the example of the part in which the server command was described. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a part describing a response to a server command. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a basic operation of message collection and distribution processing in the HTTP client illustrated in FIG. 3. 18 is a flowchart showing the processing of steps S11 to S14 in FIG. 17 in more detail. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the part after step S15 of FIG. 17 in more detail. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing related to execution of a server command in the HTTP client illustrated in FIG. 3.

It is a flowchart which shows the other example. FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration of a function for performing a process related to a command and a command response among functions of the HTTP server illustrated in FIG. 3. FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure in a server command sheet stored in the server command pool illustrated in FIG. 22. FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure in a client command sheet stored in the client command pool illustrated in FIG. 22. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a basic operation of message collection and distribution processing in the HTTP server illustrated in FIG. 3. FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating the processing of steps S111 to S115 in FIG. 25 in more detail. 26 is a flowchart showing in more detail the processing of the part after step S116 in FIG. 25. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing related to execution of a client command in the HTTP server illustrated in FIG. 3. It is a flowchart which shows the other example. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a communication system of the present invention when SMTP is adopted as a communication protocol.

FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between an operation request and an operation response in the communication system illustrated in FIG. 30. FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating an example of a communication sequence in the communication system illustrated in FIG. 30. FIG. 31 is a functional block diagram corresponding to FIG. 8, showing a configuration of a function for performing processing relating to a command and a command response among the functions of the communication device A shown in FIG. 30. FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating an example of an electronic mail transmitted from the communication device A illustrated in FIG. 30 to the communication device B. 31 is a flowchart showing a basic operation of a process at the time of message transmission in communication device A shown in FIG. 30. 6 is a flowchart showing a flowchart of a basic operation of a process at the time of receiving a message. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating another configuration example of the communication system of the present invention.

Explanation of reference numerals

1: First communication device 2: Second communication device 10: Network 11: HTTP client 12: HTTP server 13: Internet 14: Firewall 31: CPU
32: ROM 33: RAM
34: SD card 35: NIC
41, 142: client command pool 42, 141: server command pool 43: client command generation unit 44: server command execution result generation unit 45, 145: transmission message collection unit 46: HTTP request transmission unit 47: HTTP response reception unit 48, 148: Received message distribution unit 51: Communication device A side command pool 52: Communication device B side command pool 53: Communication device A side command generation unit 54: Communication device B side command execution result generation unit 56: Mail transmission unit 57: Mail Receiving unit 100: Managed device 101: Mediation device 102: Management device 143: Server command generation unit 144: Client command execution result generation unit 146: HTTP response transmission unit 147: HTTP request reception unit

Claims (25)

A communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner,
A transmission unit that collectively transmits an operation request to be transmitted to the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request from the communication partner to the communication partner,
Receiving means for collectively receiving from the communication partner an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner and an operation request from the communication partner,
Means for executing an operation related to the operation request from the communication partner and generating an operation response to the operation request as an execution result. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein
The operation request is a function call,
The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the operation response is an execution result of a function called by the function call. A communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner,
First storage means for storing an operation request from the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request;
Second storage means for storing an operation request to the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request;
Request generation means for generating an operation request for the communication partner and storing the operation request in the second storage means;
An operation request from the communication partner is read from the first storage unit, an operation related to the operation request is executed, an operation response to the operation request is generated as an execution result, and the operation request that has read the operation response is A response generation unit for storing the response in the first storage unit in association with the response generation unit;
Collecting means for reading an operation response to the operation request from the communication partner from the first storage means and reading an operation request for the communication partner from the second storage means;
Transmission means for collectively transmitting the operation response and the operation request read by the collection means to the communication partner,
From the communication partner, receiving means for collectively receiving an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner and an operation request from the communication partner,
An operation request from the communication partner received by the receiving unit is stored in the first storage unit, and an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner received by the receiving unit is transmitted to the communication partner. And a distribution unit for storing in the second storage unit in association with the operation request. The communication device according to claim 3, wherein
The transmitting unit transmits an operation response and an operation request to be transmitted to the communication partner as SOAP messages, respectively.
A communication device, wherein the receiving means receives an operation response and an operation request received from the communication partner as SOAP messages. The communication device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein
Means for assigning priorities to the operation requests stored in the first storage means and the second storage means,
The response generation means, the operation request from the communication partner, read out in order from the operation request of the higher priority, and means for generating an operation response to the operation request and storing it in the first storage means,
The collecting means reads out from the first storage means in order from an operation response to the operation request having the higher priority among the operation requests from the communication partner, and reads the operation request having the higher priority among the operation requests to the communication partner. A communication device which reads out from the second storage means in order from the first storage means. A communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner,
Transmitting means for writing a SOAP request to be transmitted to the communication partner and a SOAP response to the SOAP request from the communication partner in one message and transmitting the message to the communication partner;
Receiving means for receiving a SOAP response to the SOAP request transmitted to the communication partner and a SOAP request from the communication partner from the communication partner in a state described in one message;
Means for executing an operation requested by a SOAP request from the communication partner and generating an execution result to be described in a SOAP response to the SOAP request. The communication device according to claim 6, wherein
Describe the function call in the SOAP request,
The communication device according to claim 1, wherein an execution result of the function called by the function call is described in the SOAP response. A communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner,
First storage means for storing an operation request from the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request;
Second storage means for storing an operation request to the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request;
Request generation means for generating an operation request for the communication partner and storing the operation request in the second storage means;
An operation request from the communication partner is read from the first storage unit, an operation related to the operation request is executed, and an operation response to the operation request is generated as a result of the execution, and the operation response is transmitted from the communication partner. Response generation means for storing in the first storage means in association with the operation request;
Collecting means for reading an operation response to the operation request from the communication partner from the first storage means and reading an operation request for the communication partner from the second storage means;
A transmission in which a SOAP response describing the contents of the operation response read by the collection unit and a SOAP request describing the contents of the operation request read by the collection unit are described in one message and transmitted to the communication partner. Means,
A SOAP response describing the contents of an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner and a SOAP request describing the contents of the operation request from the communication partner are received from the communication partner in a state described in one message. Receiving means;
The content of the operation request from the communication partner described in the SOAP request received by the receiving unit is stored in the first storage unit, and the content of the operation request described in the SOAP response received by the receiving unit is transmitted to the communication partner. A communication device, further comprising: a distribution unit that stores the content of an operation response to the transmitted operation request in the second storage unit in association with the operation request transmitted to the communication partner. The communication device according to claim 8, wherein
Means for assigning priorities to the operation requests stored in the first storage means and the second storage means,
The response generation means, the operation request from the communication partner, read out in order from the operation request of the higher priority, and means for generating an operation response to the operation request and storing it in the first storage means,
The collecting means reads out from the first storage means in order from an operation response to the operation request having the higher priority among the operation requests from the communication partner, and reads the operation request having the higher priority among the operation requests to the communication partner. A communication device which reads out from the second storage means in order from the first storage means. A communication system configured by a plurality of communication devices that can communicate with each other as a communication partner,
For each communication device,
A transmission unit that collectively transmits an operation request to be transmitted to the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request from the communication partner to the communication partner,
Receiving means for collectively receiving from the communication partner an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner and an operation request from the communication partner,
Means for executing an operation related to the operation request from the communication partner, and generating an operation response to the operation request as an execution result. The communication system according to claim 10,
The operation request is a function call,
The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the operation response is an execution result of a function called by the function call. A communication system configured by a plurality of communication devices that can communicate with each other as a communication partner,
For each communication device,
First storage means for storing an operation request from the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request;
Second storage means for storing an operation request to the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request;
Request generation means for generating an operation request for the communication partner and storing the operation request in the second storage means;
An operation request from the communication partner is read from the first storage unit, an operation related to the operation request is executed, an operation response to the operation request is generated as an execution result, and the operation request that has read the operation response is A response generation unit for storing the response in the first storage unit in association with the response generation unit;
Collecting means for reading an operation response to the operation request from the communication partner from the first storage means and reading an operation request for the communication partner from the second storage means;
Transmission means for collectively transmitting the operation response and the operation request read by the collection means to the communication partner,
From the communication partner, receiving means for collectively receiving an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner and an operation request from the communication partner,
An operation request from the communication partner received by the receiving unit is stored in the first storage unit, and an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner received by the receiving unit is transmitted to the communication partner. And a distributing means for storing in the second storage means in association with the requested operation request. The communication system according to claim 12,
The transmitting unit transmits an operation response and an operation request to be transmitted to the communication partner as SOAP messages, respectively.
A communication system, wherein the receiving means receives an operation response and an operation request received from the communication partner as a SOAP message. The communication system according to claim 12 or 13, wherein
In each of the communication devices,
Means for assigning priorities to the operation requests stored in the first storage means and the second storage means,
Means for generating a response to the operation request in response to the operation request from the communication partner in order from the operation request having the highest priority, and storing the operation response in the first storage means age,
The collection unit of each communication device reads out from the first storage unit in order from the operation response to the operation request having the higher priority among the operation requests from the communication partner, and reads the priority order among the operation requests to the communication partner. A communication unit that reads out from the second storage unit in order from the operation request having the highest operation request. A method of controlling a communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner,
A transmission procedure of collectively transmitting an operation request to be transmitted to the communication partner and an operation response to an operation request from the communication partner to the communication partner,
A receiving step of collectively receiving, from the communication partner, an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner and an operation request from the communication partner,
Controlling the communication device to execute an operation related to the operation request from the communication partner and generating an operation response to the operation request as an execution result. The control method of a communication device according to claim 15, wherein
The operation request is a function call,
The method according to claim 1, wherein the operation response is an execution result of a function called by the function call. A method of controlling a communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner,
Providing a first storage area for storing an operation request from the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request;
Providing a second storage area for storing an operation request to the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request;
A request generation procedure for generating an operation request for the communication partner and storing the operation request in the second storage area;
An operation request from the communication partner is read from the first storage area, an operation related to the operation request is executed, an operation response to the operation request is generated as a result of the operation, and an operation request that has read the operation response includes A response generation procedure for associating and storing the response in the first storage area;
Collecting an operation response to the operation request from the communication partner from the first storage area, and collecting an operation request to the communication partner from the second storage area;
To the communication partner, a transmission procedure for collectively transmitting the operation response and the operation request read in the collection procedure,
A receiving step of collectively receiving, from the communication partner, an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner and an operation request from the communication partner;
An operation request from the communication partner received in the receiving procedure is stored in the first storage area, and an operation response to the operation request sent to the communication partner received in the receiving procedure is transmitted to the communication partner. And distributing the communication device in the second storage area in association with the requested operation request. The control method for a communication device according to claim 17, wherein
In the transmission procedure, an operation response and an operation request to be transmitted to the communication partner are transmitted as SOAP messages, respectively.
The control method of a communication device, wherein the receiving means receives an operation response and an operation request received from the communication partner as a SOAP message. It is a control method of the communication apparatus of Claim 17 or 18, Comprising:
Causing the communication device to execute a procedure of assigning priorities to the operation requests stored in the first storage area and the second storage area;
In the response generation procedure, among the operation requests from the communication partner, read out in order from the operation request with the higher priority, generate an operation response to the operation request and store the operation response in the first storage area,
In the collecting procedure, the operation request is read from the first storage area in order from the operation response to the operation request with the higher priority among the operation requests from the communication partner, and the operation request with the higher priority is selected from the operation requests to the communication partner. A method of controlling the communication device, wherein the data is read from the second storage area in order from the first storage area. A program for causing a computer to function as a communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner,
Said computer,
A transmission unit that collectively transmits an operation request to be transmitted to the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request from the communication partner to the communication partner,
Receiving means for collectively receiving from the communication partner an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner and an operation request from the communication partner,
A program for executing an operation related to an operation request from the communication partner and causing the unit to function as a unit that generates an operation response to the operation request as an execution result. The program according to claim 20, wherein
The operation request is a function call,
The program is characterized in that the operation response is an execution result of a function called by the function call. A program for causing a computer to function as a communication device capable of communicating with another communication device as a communication partner,
Said computer,
First storage means for storing an operation request from the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request;
Second storage means for storing an operation request to the communication partner and an operation response to the operation request;
Request generation means for generating an operation request for the communication partner and storing the operation request in the second storage means;
An operation request from the communication partner is read from the first storage unit, an operation related to the operation request is executed, an operation response to the operation request is generated as an execution result, and the operation request that has read the operation response is A response generation unit for storing the response in the first storage unit in association with the response generation unit;
Collecting means for reading an operation response to the operation request from the communication partner from the first storage means and reading an operation request for the communication partner from the second storage means;
Transmission means for collectively transmitting the operation response and the operation request read by the collection means to the communication partner,
From the communication partner, receiving means for collectively receiving an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner and an operation request from the communication partner,
An operation request from the communication partner received by the receiving unit is stored in the first storage unit, and an operation response to the operation request transmitted to the communication partner received by the receiving unit is transmitted to the communication partner. A program for functioning as distribution means to be stored in the second storage means in association with the requested operation request. 23. The program according to claim 22, wherein
The function of the transmitting means, a function of transmitting an operation response and an operation request to be transmitted to the communication partner as a SOAP message, respectively,
A program according to claim 1, wherein the function of said receiving means is a function of receiving an operation response and an operation request received from said communication partner as a SOAP message. The program according to claim 22 or 23,
A program for causing the computer to function as means for assigning priorities to the operation requests stored in the first storage means and the second storage means,
A function of the response generation unit, a function of reading out the operation requests of the communication partners in order from the operation request with the highest priority, generating an operation response to the operation request and storing the operation response in the first storage unit,
The function of the collection unit is read from the first storage unit in order from the operation response to the operation request with the higher priority among the operation requests from the communication partner, and the operation request with the higher priority among the operation requests to the communication partner is A program having a function of reading from the second storage means in order from an operation request. A computer-readable recording medium on which the program according to any one of claims 20 to 24 is recorded.

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