JP2005149433A - Web service provision system, web service server and web service control program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide Web service from a business owner without holding equipment for executing the Web service and to provide Web service trusted by a user. <P>SOLUTION: A Web service provision system is disclosed to which a client 10, a Web service server 20 of a manager, a plurality of Web service providers 30 and an authentication center 40 are connected via the Internet 100, wherein the Web service 31 to be provided from the Web service provider 30 is transmitted to the Web service server 20 via the Internet 100 and the Web service 31 is opened to the user by the Web service server 20. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for providing a Web service, which is an information communication service using the Internet, and in particular, can provide a Web service from a business operator who does not have facilities for implementing the Web service and is trusted by the user. The present invention relates to a web service providing system, a web service server, and a web service control program.

  With the spread of the Internet in recent years, anyone can use a web service anywhere, and a system and environment for publishing the web service have been established. However, in order to provide Web services that users can use with peace of mind, services by guaranteeing Web service authentication, establishing security, establishing server availability, durability, robustness, expanding network bandwidth, etc. It is necessary to operate in consideration of various things such as improvement of the level. In such a case, the operation cost of the Web service becomes enormous. On the other hand, business expansion by Web services is inevitable, and there is an urgent need to establish a service that can provide Web services at low cost.

  As a service corresponding to such a situation, an example of a system that can provide a Web service without a server or the like necessary for the Web service is described in, for example, JP-A-2002-230188 (Patent Document 1). Yes. In this system, an administrator of a Web service facility provides a service providing environment to a business operator who does not have a web service facility, and the business operator provides a service to a user using a unique domain name. The service provider pays the administrator a part of the sales related to the communication network.

Further, an example of a system related to such a service is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-99865 (Patent Document 2). In this system, when a user accesses a store server established on the network and makes a purchase, the purchase price is collected from the user and the product is managed by a price management device that manages the payment to the store. The purchase price is collected by the administrator's server, and the product purchase price collected by proxy is managed for each user, thereby managing the payment price to the store.
JP 2002-230188 A JP 2002-99865 A

  All of the conventional techniques described above have the following problems.

  In the case of the method of Patent Document 1 that enables provision of a web service even if there is no server or the like necessary for publishing the web service, a plurality of companies that do not have the facilities for the web service contract with the administrator. This is not the case, and one business operator who does not have facilities for Web services makes a contract with one administrator. For this reason, there is a problem that the fee paid by the operator to the manager is higher than when one manager contracts with a plurality of operators. In addition, the fee paid by the business operator to the manager is higher than that in the case where a plurality of business operators contract with one manager, and there is a drawback that the burden increases.

  Further, in the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, guarantee by authentication of Web service contents is not particularly performed. For this reason, even a Web service with low information reliability or low quality can be provided. In such a case, there is a problem that the user cannot receive the service with peace of mind.

  Next, in the method of Patent Document 2, which is a billing method when shopping is performed by accessing a Web server of a store on a network, a price management method for managing payment to the store is provided. In this method, when the user makes a purchase, the information is transmitted to the store's Web server, then collection request information is transmitted from the Web server to the price management server, and then from the price management server to the DNS server (Domain Name System). Server) is transmitted to the server, and then the provider information of the user is transmitted from the DNS server to the purchase price management server. The product purchase price is collected at the same time as the connection fee of the provider.

  As described above, in the case of the method disclosed in Patent Document 2, it is necessary to perform communication between five terminals, and since all are performed via the Internet, there is a problem that the cost of communication increases. In addition, since user information is transmitted to many terminals, there is a disadvantage that information is likely to be leaked.

  The first object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art and provide a Web service providing system and a Web service server that can provide a Web service at a low cost even for a business operator that does not have a Web service facility. And providing a Web service control program.

  A second object of the present invention is to provide a Web service providing system, a Web service server, and a Web service control program that enable a Web service that can be used with peace of mind because of its high reliability and high quality. There is to do.

  A third object of the present invention is to provide a Web service providing system, a Web service server, and a Web service control program, which are provided with an accounting system that does not easily leak user information.

  The present invention for achieving the above object is a web service providing system in which a user's client, a provider's web service server, a plurality of web service providers, and an authentication center are connected via the Internet, The Web service provided by the Web service provider is transmitted to the Web service server via the Internet, and the provider makes the Web service public to the user by the Web service server. And

  The Web service providing system of the present invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the Web service provider is a Web service provider that does not have a facility for publishing a Web service.

  The Web service providing system of the present invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the Web service provided by the Web service provider is the Web service registered in the authentication center.

  The Web service providing system of the present invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the Web service provided by the Web service provider is the Web service registered in the Web service server.

  The Web service providing system of the present invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the user is a user registered in the Web service server.

  The Web service providing system of the present invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that the Web service server charges the usage fee for the user according to the usage time of the Web service.

The present invention according to claim 7 is a Web service server of a provider that performs a Web service by connecting to a client of a user, a plurality of Web service providers, and an authentication center via the Internet, and the Web service provider Receiving the web service provided from the Internet,
The Web service server publishes the Web service to the user.

  The Web service server of the present invention according to claim 8 is characterized in that the Web service provider is a Web service provider that does not have facilities for publishing the Web service.

  The Web service server of the present invention according to claim 9 is characterized in that the Web service to be disclosed to the user is the Web service authenticated and registered in the authentication center.

  The Web service server of the present invention according to claim 10 is characterized in that the Web service disclosed to the user is the Web service registered in the Web service server.

  The Web service server of the present invention according to claim 11 is characterized in that the user is the user registered in the Web service server.

  The Web service server of the present invention according to claim 12 uses the Web service server to charge a usage fee to the user according to the usage time of the Web service disclosed to the user. And

  A web service server according to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention includes a web service engine, an access processing unit, and a billing processing unit. The web service engine publishes the web service provided by the web service provider, and the access processing The user information is registered in a billing unit, and the billing processing unit bills the user for a usage fee.

  The Web service server of the present invention according to claim 14 includes an authentication unit in addition to the Web service engine, the access processing unit, and the accounting processing unit, and the Web provided by the Web service provider in the authentication unit. It is characterized by authenticating the service.

  The present invention of claim 15 is executed on a user service, a plurality of Web service providers, and a Web service server connected to an authentication center via the Internet to perform the Web service, and controls the Web service. A web service control program to be executed, wherein the web service provided from the web service provider is received via the internet, and the web service engine provided in the web service server provides the web service to the user. It is characterized by executing a function to be disclosed.

  According to the Web service providing system, Web service server, and Web service control program of the present invention, the following effects are achieved.

  First, in order to publish a web service transmitted from a web service provider via the Internet in the web service engine provided in the web service server of the present invention, the user wants to publish the web service, but possesses equipment for that purpose. Even if there is no company, it will be possible to publish Web services. In particular, by publishing the Web services of a plurality of business operators, the administrator can obtain a fee from a plurality of business operators and increase profits, and the fee per business operator can be reduced. is there.

  Second, all the web services published on the web service server have been authenticated and registered, and the quality of the user is improved because the user is also registered, and the web content is of high quality. And become reliable. As a result, Web service users can use high-quality Web services with peace of mind.

  Third, the accounting unit for the web service published by the web service engine is provided in the web service server, and the user information database is also provided in the web service server. Billing can be performed, and billing processing can be performed quickly and with few errors.

  Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a Web service providing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  Referring to FIG. 1, in the Web service providing system of this embodiment, a client 10 is connected to a Web service server 20 via the Internet 100. The authentication service center 40 and a plurality of Web service providers 30 that do not have Web service facilities are connected to the Web service server 20 via the Internet.

  A user can access the Web service server 20 from the client 10 via the Internet 100. The client 10 is an information processing apparatus such as a computer, and can communicate information via the Internet.

  The Web service provider 30 is configured by an information processing apparatus such as a workstation server or a computer, and has a function of providing Web information, but cannot publish a Web service. Therefore, the Web service provider 30 registers the Web service 31 in the Web service server 20, and the administrator of the Web service server 20 publishes the Web service 31 on the Web service server 20. The business operator pays a registration fee for the Web service 31 to the administrator.

  The authentication center 40 performs authentication registration of the Web service 31 of the Web service provider 30 and a reply to the authentication inquiry.

  The Web service server 20 according to the present embodiment is configured by an information processing apparatus such as a workstation server, and includes a Web service engine 21, a Web service unit 22, an access processing unit 23, a charging processing unit 24, a Web service database 25, and user information. A database 26, an accounting information database 27, and a Web service control program 28 are provided.

  The web service engine 21 publishes the web service 31 of the web service provider 30 registered in the web service server 20. Information transmitted to the Web service server 20 via the Internet is first processed by the Web service engine 21 and processed by the Web service unit 22, the access processing unit 23, or the billing processing unit 24 as necessary.

  The Web service server 20 accepts a request from the client 10 via the Internet 100 and activates the Web service in the Web service unit 22. The Web service engine 21 stores the Web service 31 stored in the Web service database 25. By publishing, the web service 31 provided by the web service provider 30 can be provided to the client 10. Further, the web service 31 provided by the web service provider 30 can be downloaded from the web service provider 30.

  Further, the Web service server 20 controls access to the client 10 in the access processing unit 23 when executing the Web service 31. In addition, the charge processing unit 24 charges the usage fee for executing the Web service.

  Next, the operation of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to the drawings.

  In this embodiment, first, the web service provider 30 registers the web service 31 in the authentication center 40 and the web service server 20. Next, the user registers user information in the Web service server 20. After the registration of the Web service 31 to the authentication center 40 and the registration of the user to the Web service server 20 are completed, the user can receive the Web service 31 from the Web service server 20.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining registration of the Web service 31 to the authentication center 40 and the Web service server 20 according to this embodiment.

  Referring to FIG. 2, the web service provider 30 who desires to publish the web service 31 creates and prepares the web service 31 to be published (step 201).

  When the preparation of the web service 31 is completed, the web service provider 30 makes an authentication application from the web service provider 30 to the authentication center 40 (step 202).

  After confirming that there is no problem in the Web service 31, the authentication center performs authentication registration (step 203).

  Next, the Web service provider 30 applies a registration application procedure to the administrator in order to register the Web service 31 in the Web service server 20 (step 204). At that time, a registration fee is paid to the administrator.

  When the registration of the web service 31 to the web service server 20 is completed (step 205), the web service provider 30 transmits information data (file) of the web service 31 to the web service server 20 (step 206).

  The Web service server 20 stores the sent information data of the Web service 31 in the Web service database 25, thereby completing preparation for providing the Web service (step 207).

  This completes the registration of the Web service 31 with the authentication center 40 and the Web service server 20.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining registration of user information to the Web service server 20 according to the present embodiment.

  Referring to FIG. 3, the user makes a user registration application from the client 10 (step 301).

  The Web service server 20 creates user information based on the received user registration application and stores it in the user information database base 26 (step 302).

  The user information database base 26 includes a user's name or organization name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, basic information on transfer information of the Web service usage fee, a user name for using the Web service 31, Password information and the like are stored.

  This completes the registration of user information with the Web service server 20. The user whose user information is registered can receive the web service 31 created by the web service provider 30 from the web service server 20.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the provision of the Web service according to the present embodiment. The description will be made with reference to FIG. 3 as necessary.

  Referring to FIG. 4, the user accesses the Web service server 20 from the client 10 via the Internet 100, and starts the Web service unit 22 by the Web service engine 21 (step 401).

  The Web service engine 21 requests a user name and password as user information in response to the transmitted activation request (step 402).

  The user returns the user name and password registered in steps 301 and 302 of FIG. 3 from the client 10 to the Web service server 20 as user information (step 403).

  The Web service engine 21 activates the access processing unit 23 and compares the transmitted user information with the information stored in the user information database 26 (step 404).

  If the sent user information is not registered in the user information database 26 as a result of the comparison, a message to that effect is returned to the client 10 and the process is terminated (step 411).

  If the sent user information is registered in the user information database 26, the authentication center 40 is requested for authentication information of the Web service to be started (step 406).

  The authentication center 40 determines the authentication information of the requested Web service 31, and returns the determination result to the Web service engine 21 (step 407).

  If the determination result is that there is no authentication registration, the Web service engine 21 sends a message to that effect to the client 10 and ends the service (step 412).

  If the determination result is that there is authentication registration, the Web service engine 21 activates the Web service unit 22 (step 408).

  Next, in order to charge the usage fee according to the usage time of the web service, the web service engine 21 activates the accounting processing unit 24 (step 409), and charging is performed according to the time when the web service unit 22 is activated. The information database 27 is updated (step 410).

  According to the embodiment described above, the Web service 31 transmitted from the Web service provider 30 via the Internet 100 can be disclosed by the Web service engine 21 provided in the Web service server 20 of the present invention. However, even a business operator who does not have the equipment for this purpose can publish the Web service. In the present embodiment, in particular, in order to publish the Web services 31 of a plurality of businesses, the administrator can obtain a fee from a plurality of businesses and increase profits. On the other hand, the fee per business operator is low. There is also an effect that can be made.

  The function of the Web service server 20 in the Web service providing system of the present invention is realized by software by executing the Web service control program (application) 28 for executing the above-described functions on the Web service server 20 that is a computer processing apparatus. can do. The Web service control program 28 is stored in a magnetic disk, semiconductor memory, or other recording medium, loaded from the recording medium to the Web service server 20 that is a computer processing apparatus, and controls the operation of the computer processing apparatus to Each function is realized.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where a provider who does not have a facility for Web service provides Web information has been described. However, information provided by a general operator who has a facility for Web service is used. Thus, a similar Web service can be provided. In such a case, since the information provided by the provider is disclosed after being authenticated by the authentication center 40, it is possible to provide a high-quality and reliable Web service, and the user can receive the Web service with peace of mind. be able to.

  Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the Web service provision system by the 1st Example of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating registration of the Web service by 1st Example of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating registration of the user information by 1st Example of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating provision of the Web service by the 1st Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10: Client 20: Web service server 21: Web service engine 22: Web service part 23: Access processing part 24: Charge processing part 25: Web service database 26: User information database 27: Charge information database 28: Web service control program 30: Web service provider 31: Web service 40: Authentication center 100: Internet

Claims (21)

A web service providing system in which a user client, a provider web service server, a plurality of web service providers, and an authentication center are connected via the Internet,
Sending a web service provided by the web service provider to the web service server via the internet;
The provider provides the Web service providing system, wherein the Web service server exposes the Web service to the user.   The Web service providing system according to claim 1, wherein the Web service provider is a Web service provider that does not have a facility for publishing a Web service.   The web service providing system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the web service provided by the web service provider is the web service registered in the authentication center.   The Web service providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the Web service provided by the Web service provider is the Web service registered in the Web service server.   The Web service providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the user is a user registered in the Web service server.   6. The Web service providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the Web service server charges a usage fee for the user according to the usage time of the Web service. . A web service server of a provider that performs web services by connecting to a client of a user, a plurality of web service providers, and an authentication center via the Internet,
Receiving the web service provided by the web service provider via the internet;
A web service server, wherein the web service server publishes the web service to the user.   8. The web service server according to claim 7, wherein the web service provider is a web service provider that does not have a facility for publishing a web service.   The Web service server according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the Web service to be disclosed to the user is the Web service that has been authenticated and registered with the authentication center.   The Web service server according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the Web service to be disclosed to the user is the Web service registered in the Web service server.   The web service server according to claim 7, wherein the user is the user registered in the web service server.   12. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 11, wherein the web service server charges a usage fee to the user according to a usage time of the web service disclosed to the user. The Web service server according to Item 1. A web service engine, an access processing unit, and a billing processing unit;
Publishing the web service provided by the web service provider on the web service engine;
Register the user information in the access processing unit,
13. The Web service server according to claim 12, wherein the charging processing unit charges the user with a usage fee.   14. The apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising an authentication unit in addition to the web service engine, the access processing unit, and the billing processing unit, wherein the authentication unit authenticates the web service provided by the web service provider. Web service server described in 1. A Web service control program that is executed on a Web service server that performs a Web service by connecting to an authentication center via a user client, a plurality of Web service providers, and performing control of the Web service. ,
Receiving the web service provided by the web service provider via the internet;
A Web service control program for executing a function of publishing the Web service to the user in a Web service engine provided in the Web service server.   16. The Web service control program according to claim 15, wherein the Web service provider is a Web service provider that does not have a facility for publishing the Web service.   The Web service control program according to claim 15 or 16, wherein a function of registering the Web service with the Web service server is executed.   The Web service control according to any one of claims 15 to 17, wherein a function of registering the user information in a user information database of an access processing unit of the Web service server is executed. program.   When the user requests the Web service server to start the Web service from the client, if the user is registered in the user information database, the authentication center stores the user An inquiry is made regarding the presence or absence of authentication related to the Web service, and when the Web service is not registered for authentication, the user is informed that the Web service is not registered, and when the Web service is registered for authentication. The Web service control program according to any one of claims 15 to 18, wherein a function for starting a Web service is executed.   If the user is not registered when the user requests the Web service server to start the Web service from the client, the user is not registered with the user. The Web service control program according to any one of claims 15 to 18, characterized in that a function of returning a response is executed.   20. The function according to claim 15, wherein a function of charging a usage fee to the user according to a usage time of the Web service is performed by a charging unit of the Web service server. The Web service control program described in 1.

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