JP2004348666A - Client server system, server, and information processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow a server to control a timing for conducting pull by a client in a pull type client server system. <P>SOLUTION: The server 10 comprises: a Web server 11; a sequence control section 12; and a client management section 13. The Web server 11 honors a request from the client 20 and returns a response to the request addressed to the client 20. The Web server 11 or the sequence control section 12 generates a command making the client 20 raise the given request. The client management section 13 transmits the generated command to the client 20. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a technique for controlling a sequence of screens displayed on a client, and more particularly to a technique for controlling a sequence of a Web application from a server.
[0002]
[Prior art]
With the spread of Web technology, there are many client-server systems using a Web server and a Web browser. As a feature of this system, a system described in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and the like can be easily constructed, and furthermore, it is excellent in customizability.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) used in this system is a very simple protocol in which a server returns a response to a request from a client. Therefore, an application using HTTP is usually a pull-type system in which a client actively acquires necessary information.
[0004]
For this reason, there is a case where a response cannot be immediately returned to a request from a client because some processing must be performed in a server. Further, there is a case where the client wants to display any screen regardless of the operation of the client due to the application managed by the server. In these cases, the client always makes a request to the server at regular intervals, and receives a predetermined response when the conditions of the server are satisfied.
[0005]
An object of the present invention is to provide a technique in which a server controls the timing at which a client performs a pull in a pull-type client-server system.
[0006]
Another object of the present invention is to perform sequence control of a screen displayed on a client in a client-server system.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A client-server system according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a client including a browser, and a server that receives an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) request from the browser and returns an HTTP response to the request; The server, in response to a connection establishment request from the client, a connection unit for establishing a connection using the client and a socket, a unit for generating a command for causing the browser to make a predetermined request, the connection Means for transmitting the generated command to the client using the connection established by the means. As a result, even in a client-server system that performs communication using HTTP, the server can control client requests.
[0008]
In a preferred embodiment, the connection unit may further include a storage unit that stores an IP address of a client that has established a connection. At this time, the generation unit may generate a command for a client whose IP address is stored in the storage unit, and the transmission unit may transmit the generated command with reference to the storage unit. Good.
[0009]
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a server receives a request from a client, returns a response to the request to the client, and generates a command for causing the client to perform a predetermined request. Means for transmitting the generated command to the client. This allows the server to control the request made by the client.
[0010]
In a preferred embodiment, a means for storing content having a plurality of pages whose display order is predetermined, and, when a request for acquiring any of the plurality of pages is received from the client, Means for determining whether the request follows the display order. Then, when the obtained request does not follow the display order, the command generation unit may generate a command for causing the client to make a request according to the display order. This allows the server to control the display order of the pages displayed on the client.
[0011]
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a server receives a request from a first client, returns a response to the request to the first client, and receives a request from the first client. Means for generating a command for causing the second client to make a predetermined request; and means for transmitting the generated command to the second client. This allows the first client to control the display screen of the second client using this server.
[0012]
An information processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a Web server that receives an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) request from a Web browser of a client and returns an HTTP response to the request, and establishes a connection from the client. Connection means for establishing a connection using the socket with the client in response to the request, means for generating a command for causing the Web browser to make a predetermined HTTP request to the Web server, and establishment by the connection means Means for transmitting the generated command to the client using the established connection.
[0013]
In a preferred embodiment, the command may include a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a Web page to be displayed on the Web browser.
[0014]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a client-server system according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration diagram of a client-server system 1 according to the present embodiment. The system 1 includes a server 10 and a client 20. Although one client 20 is shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of clients 20 may be provided. The server 10 and the client 20 are connected via a network (not shown) such as the Internet and a LAN (Local Area Network).
[0015]
Each of the server 10 and the client 20 is configured by, for example, a general-purpose computer system. Individual components or functions in the server 10 and the client 20 described below are realized, for example, by executing a computer program. .
[0016]
The client 20 has a Web browser 21 and a socket communication unit 25 mounted thereon. The client 20 can acquire various information from the Web server using the Web browser 21 and display it on a display device (not shown, the same applies hereinafter). At this time, the Web browser 21 sends an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) request to the Web server, and acquires various information described in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) as an HTTP response to the request. Therefore, the present system 1 is a so-called pull type system that actively acquires information from the client 20.
[0017]
In the present embodiment, the Web browser 21 further includes a request issuance instruction unit 22. The request issuance instructing unit 22 receives a page switching command (details will be described later) from the server 10, and issues a request issuance instruction in accordance with the received page switching command. For example, the page switching command includes a URL, and the request issuance instructing unit 22 instructs to issue a request for acquiring a Web page specified by the URL. The request issuance instructing unit 22 can be realized by, for example, loading application software called an applet.
[0018]
The server 10 includes a Web server 11, a sequence control unit 12, a client management unit 13, a state notification processing unit 14 for notifying the state of the Web server 11 to the sequence control unit 12, a client management unit 13, the Web server 11, It includes a relay processing unit 15 that relays information notified to the sequence control unit 12, a socket communication unit 16, and a content storage unit 17 that stores a plurality of Web pages. The status notification processing unit 14 and the relay processing unit 15 can be realized as, for example, a DLL (Dynamic Link Library).
[0019]
The state notification processing unit 14 notifies the sequence control unit 12 of the state of the Web browser 21 based on the response returned by the Web server 11 to the Web browser 21.
[0020]
The Web pages stored in the content storage unit 17 include those in which the display order (sequence) is determined in advance. For example, a Web page related to user authentication is displayed on the Web browser 21 in the order of an idle screen, an authentication start screen, an authentication confirmation screen, and an individual screen.
[0021]
The Web server 11 receives an HTTP request from a Web browser and returns an HTTP response according to the request. For example, based on the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) included in the HTTP request, the Web page stored in the content storage unit 17 is acquired and returned as a response.
[0022]
The sequence control unit 12 controls the display order of Web pages displayed on the display device of the client. For example, the sequence control unit 12 stores the display order of Web pages whose sequence is determined in advance as described above. Then, the sequence control unit 12 determines whether the Web page displayed on the Web browser 21 follows this sequence. When the sequence is not followed, a page switching command for making a request according to the sequence is generated. The page switching command generated here includes the URL of the next Web page to be displayed according to the sequence. Then, the page switching command is notified to the client management unit 13 via the relay processing unit 15.
[0023]
Further, the Web server 11 generates a page switching command based on the request from the client, and notifies the client management unit 13 via the relay processing unit 15. For example, if a page switching command is sent to a client different from the client that sent the request, one client can control the display screen of another client. At this time, the request includes the URL of the page to be displayed and the IP address of the client to display the page. This processing can be realized as a thread in the Web server 11.
[0024]
In other words, the present system 1 is basically based on a pull operation in which the client 20 actively acquires information from the server 10, and the sequence control unit 12 generates a page switching command and pushes the page switching command to the client 20. 20 can be forced to perform a pull operation.
[0025]
The timing for generating the page switching command may be any timing other than the above. For example, the sequence control unit 12 may generate a page switching command based on a notification from an application program (not shown) or the like.
[0026]
The socket communication units 16 and 25 are connection means for establishing a connection using a socket with each other. Therefore, the client 20 and the server 10 can establish a connection using a socket using the socket communication units 16 and 25 and perform communication in addition to the communication using the HTTP.
[0027]
The socket communication unit 16 establishes a connection using a socket, for example, in response to a request from the socket communication unit 25 of the client. In the client table 19, the IP address of the client that has established the connection may be registered. Then, the client management unit 13 transmits the page switching command generated by the sequence control unit 12 using this connection.
[0028]
The client management unit 13 manages a client to which the server 1 performs sequence control. The client management unit 13 has a client table 19 in which a sequence control target client is registered. The client table 19 includes, for example, an IP address 191 of the client and an ID 192 for identifying the client in the server, as shown in FIG. By referring to this table, the client whose sequence is to be controlled can be known.
[0029]
Next, a processing procedure when the server 10 forcibly causes the client 20 to switch pages in the present system 1 having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.
[0030]
First, the sequence control unit 12 requests the client management unit 13 to acquire an ID via the relay processing unit 15, and acquires the ID of the client registered in the client table 19 (S11). Then, the sequence control unit 12 generates a page switching command and notifies the client management unit 13 via the relay processing unit 15. (S12). The page switching command is provided with a destination ID. The client management unit 13 converts the ID into an IP address, and transmits a page switching command from the socket communication unit 25 to the client 20.
[0031]
In the client 20, the request issuance instructing unit 22 acquires the page switching command via the socket communication unit 25, and instructs the Web browser 21 to issue a request for acquiring the page of the URL included in the page switching command. (S14). The Web browser 21 issues a request to the server 10 according to the instruction (S15). In the server 10, the Web server 11 returns a response based on the request (S16). The Web browser 21 receives this response and switches the page to be displayed on the display device (S17). As a result, the server 10 can force the client 20 to switch pages.
[0032]
Next, a process of the sequence control unit 12 when displaying a content whose sequence is predetermined will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. Here, the exemplified sequence is an authentication sequence including page 1 (idle screen) → page 2 (authentication start screen) → page 3 (authentication confirmation screen) → page 4 (individual screen). In this sequence, if the display does not transition to the next screen even if the display time of the page 2 and the page 3 has passed a certain time, the process returns to the page 1 as a timeout.
[0033]
The sequence control unit 12 generates a page switching command for displaying page 1 and sends it to the client 20 to display page 1 (S21). The sequence control unit 12 monitors the status change of the client 20 and determines whether the page has been switched (S22). When the page is switched (S22: Yes), it is determined whether the newly displayed page is page 2 (S23). Here, when the page is not switched to page 2 (S23: No), the sequence is not followed, and the process returns to step S21, and page 1 is forcibly displayed.
[0034]
When the page is switched to page 2 (S23: Yes), since the sequence is followed, the process proceeds to the next step, and it is determined whether or not the page 2 is displayed for a predetermined time (S24). If the display time of page 2 exceeds the predetermined time (S24: Yes), the process returns to step S21, and page 1 is forcibly displayed. If the predetermined time has not elapsed (S24: No), the sequence control unit 12 monitors the state change of the client 20, and determines whether the page has been switched (S25). When the page has been switched (S25: Yes), it is determined whether the newly displayed page is page 3 (S26). Here, when the switching to the page 3 is not performed (S26: No), the sequence does not follow the sequence, so the sequence control unit 12 generates a page switching command for displaying the page 2 and sends it to the client 20 to display the page 2. Then, the process returns to step S24 (S31).
[0035]
When the page is switched to page 3 (S26: Yes), since the sequence is followed, the process proceeds to the next step, and it is determined whether or not the page 3 is displayed for a predetermined time (S27). If the display time of page 3 exceeds the predetermined time (S27: Yes), the process returns to step S21, and page 1 is forcibly displayed. If the predetermined time has not elapsed (S27: No), the sequence control unit 12 monitors the status change of the client 20 and determines whether the page has been switched (S28). When the page is switched (S28: Yes), it is determined whether the newly displayed page is page 4 (S29). Here, when the page is not switched to the page 4 (S29: No), the sequence does not follow the sequence, so the sequence control unit 12 generates a page switching command for displaying the page 3 and sends it to the client 20 to display the page 3. Then, the process returns to step S27 (S32). When the page is switched to page 4 (S29: Yes), the sequence is followed, and the personal screen is displayed as it is. Thereby, the sequence of the screen displayed by the server 10 on the client 20 can be controlled.
[0036]
Next, a processing procedure when the server 10 accepts an order for a product or the like from the client 20 in the present system 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
[0037]
First, an order screen for inputting an order is displayed on the Web browser 21 of the client 20. The user using the client 20 inputs necessary information on this screen and sends a request to the server 10 (S41). When the Web server 11 receives the request, a confirmation screen indicating that the order has been received is returned to the Web browser 21 as a response (S42).
[0038]
Then, the Web server 11 instructs the order processing unit 30 that performs predetermined order processing such as checking of stock to perform processing (S43). When the order processing unit 30 completes the predetermined process, the order processing unit 30 notifies the sequence control unit 12 of the completion (S44). The sequence control unit 12 generates a page switching command for displaying the order result screen indicating the order result, and transmits the command to the client 20 via the client management unit 13 (S45, S46).
[0039]
In the client 20, the request issuance instructing unit 22 receives this, and instructs the Web browser 21 to issue a request for acquiring the page 3 (S47). In response to this, the Web browser 21 makes a request to the Web server 11 to acquire the order result screen, and acquires and displays the request.
[0040]
As described above, since some processing must be performed after receiving the request, a temporary response (S42) to the request (S41) is returned even when the processing result cannot be returned immediately. Alternatively, the server can notify the client of the processing end timing and cause the client to acquire a page on which the processing result is displayed. That is, according to the present embodiment, in the pull-type client-server system, the server can perform a push for forcibly causing the client to perform the pull.
[0041]
The embodiments of the present invention described above are exemplifications for describing the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to those embodiments. Those skilled in the art can implement the present invention in various other modes without departing from the gist of the present invention.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a client-server system according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a client table.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a forced page switching process.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process performed by a sequence control unit 12.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a processing sequence when order processing is performed.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Client server system, 10 ... Server, 11 ... Web server, 12 ... Sequence control part, 13 ... Client management part, 16, 25 ... Socket communication part, 20 ... Client, 21 ... Web browser, 22 ... Request issue instruction Department.

Claims (11)

A client with a browser,
A server that receives an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) request from the browser and returns an HTTP response to the request;
The server comprises:
Connection means for establishing a connection using a socket with the client in response to a connection establishment request from the client;
Means for generating a command for causing the browser to make a predetermined request;
Means for transmitting the generated command to the client using the connection established by the connection means. Storage means for storing an IP address of a client with which the connection means has established a connection,
The generation unit generates a command for a client whose IP address is stored in the storage unit,
2. The client-server system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit transmits the generated command with reference to the storage unit. Means for receiving a request from a client and returning a response to the request to the client;
Means for generating a command for causing the client to make a predetermined request,
Means for transmitting the generated command to the client. Means for storing content having a plurality of pages whose display order is predetermined,
From the client, when receiving a request to acquire any of the plurality of pages, further comprising means for determining whether the request follows the display order,
When the obtained request does not follow the display order,
The server according to claim 3, wherein the command generation unit generates a command for causing the client to make a request according to the display order. Means for receiving a request from a first client and returning a response to the request to the first client;
Means for receiving a request from the first client and generating a command for causing the second client to make a predetermined request;
Means for transmitting the generated command to a second client. A Web server that receives an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) request from a Web browser of the client and returns an HTTP response to the request;
Connection means for establishing a connection using a socket with the client in response to a connection establishment request from the client;
Means for generating a command for causing the Web browser to make a predetermined HTTP request to the Web server;
Means for transmitting the generated command to the client using a connection established by the connection means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the command includes a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a Web page displayed on the Web browser. Receiving a request from a client and returning a response to the request to the client;
Generating a command for causing the client to make a predetermined request;
Sending the generated command to the client. Receiving an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) request from a Web browser of the client and returning an HTTP response to the request;
Establishing a connection using a socket with the client in response to a connection establishment request from the client;
Generating a command for causing the Web browser to make a predetermined HTTP request to the Web server;
Sending the generated command to the client using the established connection. When executed on a computer,
Receiving an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) request from a Web browser of the client and returning an HTTP response to the request;
Establishing a connection using a socket with the client in response to a connection establishment request from the client;
Generating a command for causing the Web browser to make a predetermined HTTP request to the Web server;
Transmitting the generated command to the client using the established connection; and causing the client to perform the request to make a request. When executed on a computer,
Receiving an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) request from a Web browser of the client and returning an HTTP response to the request;
Establishing a connection using a socket with the client in response to a connection establishment request from the client;
Generating a command for causing the Web browser to make a predetermined HTTP request to the Web server;
Transmitting the generated command to the client using the established connection; and causing the client to perform the request.

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