JP2005189962A - Information processing method, information processor, control program, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display contents of a file in reference to a file outputted as a search result even if reference to the contents of the file cannot be allowed due to stop of a server and the like. <P>SOLUTION: The information processor receiving a transmitted search request acquires a search result of search based on the search request, and reliability showing possibility of acquisition of the information from the information processor, and based on the acquired reliability, the search result is outputted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing method, an information processing apparatus, a control program, a storage medium, and the like in a computer or the like.

  A search system in a conventional distributed environment will be described. FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a search system in a distributed environment according to Prior Art 1.

  A case where the hosts A, B, C, and D exist on the local area network (LAN) will be described. When a search request corresponding to the distributed environment is activated on each host and a search request is issued to the host A, the search request is passed to the search service of the host A and at the same time on the LAN. Similarly, a search request is issued to the hosts B, C, and D in the network.

  The search service on each host executes search processing according to each search request, and returns the search result to the search service of host A, which is the search request destination. In the search service of the host A, the search result returned from the search service on each host is received. As shown in FIG. 6, the search result list for the search request could be displayed. In order to refer to \\ D \ doc3 which is the search result of FIG. 6, the information of doc3 was received from the host D and displayed. As a result, the searcher can search all information files managed by the search service on the network without specifying the search service to execute the search. It was realized.

  As prior art 2, there is an invention of Patent Document 1. In this invention, by outputting compressed information up to the specified size by specifying the compression size in the search request, the addition to the network is reduced, and the resource shortage of the host that issued the search request is solved. There was an effect for.

As a prior art 3, all files are stored as cache information when creating an index of a document that is being searched by Google, and even if the server holding the search result content is stopped By displaying the cache data, it is possible to refer to the information that is the target of the search result.
JP-A-5-274424

  In the prior art 1, when a search service on a host having information to be referred to is stopped or a content server is stopped after a request is issued from the host A and a search result is received, the search is performed even if the search result is referred to. There was a problem that the result could not be referred.

  In the prior art 2, information compressed according to the size is output as the search result. However, the network size is large and the search result is large. The increase in resources and lack of resources on the receiving side of search results are not resolved.

  In Prior Art 3, it is difficult to have cache information of information managed by all search services on the network in all search services existing on the network, and when managed by a small number of highly reliable servers In addition, it is suitable for holding cache information, but it is not highly feasible in a network environment where a large amount of search services exist.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the present invention is an information processing method implemented by one information processing apparatus among a plurality of information processing apparatuses distributed and arranged on a network, and information received from a transmitted search request An acquisition step of acquiring a search result searched by the processing device based on the search request, a reliability acquisition step of acquiring a reliability indicating the possibility of acquiring information from the information processing device, and the reliability acquisition step And an output step of outputting the search result based on the obtained reliability.

  In addition, the present invention is an information processing method implemented by one information processing apparatus among a plurality of information processing apparatuses distributed and arranged on a network, and receiving a search request generated by another information processing apparatus A search step for searching based on the search request, an acquisition step for acquiring a reliability indicating the possibility of providing information to another information processing apparatus, a search result searched for in the search step, and the acquisition step And a transmission step of transmitting the reliability acquired in step 1 to the information processing apparatus that generated the search request.

  Further, the present invention provides an information processing apparatus that is one of a plurality of information processing apparatuses distributed and arranged on a network, and the information processing apparatus that has received the transmitted search request searches based on the search request. Output the search result based on the reliability acquired by the acquisition means for acquiring information, the reliability acquisition means for acquiring the reliability indicating the possibility of acquiring information from the information processing device, and the reliability acquired by the reliability acquisition means Output means.

  Further, the present invention is an information processing apparatus among a plurality of information processing apparatuses distributed and arranged on a network, the receiving means for receiving a search request generated by another information processing apparatus, and based on the search request The search means for searching for, the acquisition means for acquiring the reliability indicating the possibility of providing information to another information processing apparatus, the search result searched for by the search means, and the reliability acquired by the acquisition means And a transmission unit that transmits the request to the information processing apparatus that generated the request.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent a situation where a file cannot be opened when referring to a search result, and it is possible to provide information necessary for the search operator without omission.

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

  Details of the present invention will be described in the examples. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an information processing apparatus necessary for executing an embodiment of the present invention.

  The search service receives a search request from the input unit 1 such as a keyboard, and issues a search request to the search service existing on the network by the search request distribution process 4-1 stored in the storage unit 4.

  Upon receiving the search request, the search service develops the search processing program 4-2 on the CPU 2, thereby executing the search processing with reference to the search data 4-4. The search service that has received the search request outputs the search result to the search service that issued the search request 4-3. Upon receiving the search result, the search service outputs the search result to the output unit 3 such as a display.

  The information processing apparatus according to the present invention operates in the local area network (LAN) environment shown in FIG. 2, and each service has the configuration shown in FIG. In addition, it is possible to cope with the Internet environment as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the present invention. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to flowcharts. Here, a case where the search operator issues a search request “Japan (full text search)” to the search service will be described.

  S101 is processing for receiving a search request. The search service changes operation to a search client and a search server according to the state of receiving a search request. The search service that receives the search request from the search operator operates as a search client. S102 determines whether the search service is operating as a client or a server. When operating as a server, the search process of S104 is executed. When operating as a client, a search request is issued in S103. In step S103, a search request is issued to a search service on the LAN. The search service that has received the search service operates as a search server.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of search request issue processing. The search service of the host A that has received the search request from the search operator issues a search request to the search service of each host existing on the network, and the search service that has received the search request issues the confirmation that the search request has been received to the search request issue destination Return to the search service. A search service that cannot perform a search process for some reason, such as when the search service is stopped or search data is being updated, or the search request cannot be understood does not return a receipt confirmation. For example, if the search request is not returned because the search service of the host E is updating the search data, the host E is excluded from the search target.

  In S104, search processing is executed according to the received search request. In this embodiment, since the search request is “Japan (full text search)”, the full text search process is executed. In S105, information matching the search request is acquired by referring to the search data. All information including the search condition “Japan” is acquired.

  In S106, when the operating condition is a server, the reliability calculation process in S107 is performed. If the operating condition is a client, the process of S109 is executed.

  In S107, the reliability is calculated. The reliability indicates the possibility that the search service is operating normally, and indicates that the higher the reliability, the rarer the service stops. In this embodiment, the reliability is set based on the startup time of the search service. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the daily operating rate of the search service for the hosts B, C, and D. For example, the host B is operated as a server and is always activated. The search service that is active there is always active as well. The operating rate of the search service is almost 100% throughout the day, and this operating rate is taken as the reliability.

  When the host C is a personally managed PC, the PC search service is hardly operated from night to early morning. Therefore, it has the characteristic that the reliability during the day is high but the reliability during the night is low. The host D is operated as a server, and the search service is stopped for maintenance from 20:00 to 22:00. When a search request is made to the above hosts, if search processing is performed during the day, for example, at 14:00, it is possible to obtain information that the search service of the host C is given high reliability.

  In S108, the output result is changed according to the reliability of the search result. When the reliability threshold of the output process change is set to 30%, since the host C is equal to or higher than the threshold, the position information (path, URL, etc.) of the search information that is a normal search result is output as the search result. . Since the hosts B and D have high reliability, the search information path as a normal search result is output. An arbitrary value can be set as the threshold value.

  In S109, the search result is collected from the search service that has received the search request. The host A waits until the search results are returned from the hosts B, C, and D that have been confirmed to have received the search request. In S110, the search results are collected and a search result list is displayed. When the search results are returned from each service, the search service of host A collects the search results and creates a search result list of FIG. In S111, the search result is output to the output unit.

  The search operator can see the search results as shown in FIG. Then, as shown in FIG. 12, by specifying, for example, ¥¥ C ¥ doc1, it is possible to acquire information from the host C and browse the contents of the search information.

  Next, a case where the above search process is performed at 20:00 will be described. Similar processing is performed from S101 to S107.

  In S108, the reliability of the search service of the host C is reduced to about 20%. Therefore, in this state, it is expected that the search service of the host C is in a state that is not abnormal when stopped. Therefore, the search service of the host C outputs the position information of the search information as a search result and outputs the information itself as the search result. Similarly, since the reliability of the host D has decreased to almost 0%, the position information of the search information is output as the search result and the information itself is output.

  In S109, the search result is collected from the search service that has received the search request. The host A waits until the search results are returned from the hosts B, C, and D that have been confirmed to have received the search request. In S110, the search results are collected and a search result list is displayed. When the search results are returned from the respective services, the search service of the host A collects the search results and creates the search result list of FIG. In S111, the search result is output to the output unit.

  The search operator can see the search results as shown in FIG. If the search service of the host C is stopped when the reference of \\ C \ Doc1 is specified as shown in FIG. 13, the search is performed by presenting the information of doc1 existing in the cache area to the user instead. It is possible to prevent a situation in which the resulting information cannot be browsed.

  In the first embodiment, the search service itself evaluates its reliability and changes the output method. However, when performing a search process in an actual distributed environment, a network system failure, a router failure, a network There are various factors that lower the reliability, such as timeout due to congestion of the host and being used in a state where the host itself does not exist in the network. In such a case, it is more accurate for a search service that issues a search request to evaluate search services on other hosts.

  In the case of the network environment as shown in FIG. 14, even when the operation rates of the services of the hosts B, C, and D are the same as in the example in the first embodiment, for example, the router failure rate is high, the LAN− In B, the reliability of the host C or the host D is lowered in a situation such as when daytime congestion is severe. Therefore, the search service of the host A checks the reliability of each search service as seen from the search service of the host A by checking whether the services of the hosts B, C, and D to be searched are activated. Can be grasped. When a search request is issued to each search service, the output from each search service can be specified on the host A side, and a search result based on reliability considering external factors other than the search service, such as network disconnection Can be obtained.

  In the second embodiment, an example has been described in which the output of the search result is changed in consideration of network failure and congestion. However, when the search result is obtained from a search service with low reliability, if it is specified to output the information data itself instead of the location information of the search result, it occurred at a time when the network congestion peaked If this is the case, it will become more crowded. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 15, the search service grasps the network congestion status, and when the congestion is at its peak, it outputs not the information data itself but the compressed information if it is image information or the summarized information if it is document information. Can alleviate congestion.

  In the first to third embodiments, the reliability is determined based on the operating rate of the host machine and the operating rate of the network. In the fourth embodiment, the reliability is determined based on the change frequency of the search target file held by the search service. A method for obtaining the value will be described.

  There is a high possibility that a document file whose search target file is frequently changed is replaced with another file at the next moment when the search is completed. For example, the search request “Japan” should have been searched, but after the search was completed, it was rewritten with content that had nothing to do with Japan, so when you actually looked up the search results, you opened information that has nothing to do with Japan. The possibility that it will be increased. Accordingly, by setting the reliability of such content to be low, the content of the information at the time of retrieval is acquired in the present invention, so that an unrelated file is not referred to when referenced.

It is the structure of the information processing apparatus required in order to implement this invention. It is an example of the operating environment of this invention. It is an example of the operating environment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the Example of this invention. It is a block diagram of a prior art. It is an example of the search result of a prior art. It is an example of search request issuance in the present invention. It is a state diagram of the reliability of the search service in the present invention. It is an example of the search result of this invention. It is a search result output example of this invention. It is an example of search result reference of this invention. It is an example of the search result of this invention. It is an example of search result reference of this invention. It is an example of the network environment in Example 2 of this invention. It is a network congestion condition graph in Example 3 of this invention.

Claims (28)

An information processing method implemented by one information processing apparatus among a plurality of information processing apparatuses distributed and arranged on a network,
An acquisition step of acquiring a search result searched by the information processing apparatus that has received the transmitted search request based on the search request;
A reliability acquisition step of acquiring a reliability indicating the possibility of acquiring information from the information processing apparatus;
An information processing method comprising: an output step of outputting the search result based on the reliability acquired in the reliability acquisition step.   The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the reliability is determined based on an operation time during which the search function operates on the information processing apparatus.   The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the reliability is determined based on an average failure interval of an information processing apparatus having a search function.   The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the reliability is determined based on a change frequency of content managed by the information processing apparatus.   The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the reliability is determined based on network conditions such as network traffic and a failure.   The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the reliability is determined based on a schedule such as maintenance of an information processing apparatus and a search function.   The reliability includes the operating time during which the search function is operating on the information processing apparatus, the average failure interval of the information processing apparatus in which the search function exists, the frequency of change of content managed by the information processing apparatus, network traffic and failures, etc. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the information processing method is determined based on all or some of schedules such as maintenance of the network status of the information processing apparatus and search function.   The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the output step outputs the search result based on the reliability acquired in the reliability acquisition step and a predetermined reliability threshold.   In the output step, when the reliability acquired in the reliability acquisition step is lower than a preset reliability threshold, the search result information is received from the information processing apparatus, and a path to the received information is received. 9. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein the information is output as a search result.   The output step outputs path information to the information of the search result as a search result when the reliability acquired in the reliability acquisition step is higher than a preset reliability threshold. Item 9. The information processing method according to Item 8. An information processing method implemented by one information processing apparatus among a plurality of information processing apparatuses distributed and arranged on a network,
A receiving step of receiving a search request generated by another information processing apparatus;
A search step for searching based on the search request;
An acquisition step of acquiring a reliability indicating the possibility of providing information to another information processing apparatus;
An information processing method comprising: a transmission step of transmitting the search result searched in the search step and the reliability acquired in the acquisition step to the information processing apparatus that generated the search request.   In the transmission step, when the reliability acquired in the reliability acquisition step is lower than a predetermined reliability threshold value, the search result, the reliability, and the information of the search result are transmitted. The information processing method according to claim 11.   The transmission step transmits the search result, the reliability, and path information to the information of the search result when the reliability acquired in the reliability acquisition step is higher than a preset reliability threshold. The information processing method according to claim 11. One information processing device among a plurality of information processing devices distributed on the network,
An acquisition means for acquiring a search result searched by the information processing apparatus that has received the transmitted search request based on the search request;
Reliability acquisition means for acquiring reliability indicating the possibility of acquiring information from the information processing apparatus;
An information processing apparatus comprising: output means for outputting the search result based on the reliability acquired by the reliability acquisition means.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the reliability is determined based on an operation time during which the search function is operating on the information processing apparatus.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the reliability is determined based on an average failure interval of an information processing apparatus having a search function.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the reliability is determined based on a change frequency of content managed by the information processing apparatus.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the reliability is determined based on network conditions such as network traffic and a failure.   15. The information processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the reliability is determined based on a schedule such as maintenance of the information processing apparatus and a search function.   The reliability includes the operating time during which the search function is operating on the information processing apparatus, the average failure interval of the information processing apparatus in which the search function exists, the frequency of change of content managed by the information processing apparatus, network traffic and failures, etc. 15. The information processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the information processing apparatus is determined based on all or some of the schedule of the network status, information processing apparatus, and search function maintenance.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the output unit outputs the search result based on the reliability acquired by the reliability acquisition unit and a preset reliability threshold.   When the reliability acquired by the reliability acquisition unit is lower than a preset reliability threshold, the output unit receives the search result information from the information processing apparatus, and passes the path to the received information. The information search method according to claim 21, wherein the information is output as a search result.   The output means outputs path information to the search result information as a search result when the reliability acquired by the reliability acquisition means is higher than a preset reliability threshold. Item 22. The information search method according to Item 21. One information processing device among a plurality of information processing devices distributed on the network,
Receiving means for receiving a search request generated by another information processing apparatus;
Search means for searching based on the search request;
Acquisition means for acquiring reliability indicating the possibility of providing information to another information processing apparatus;
An information processing apparatus comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit the search result searched by the search unit and the reliability acquired by the acquisition unit to the information processing apparatus that generated the search request.   The transmission unit transmits the search result, the reliability, and the information of the search result itself when the reliability acquired by the reliability acquisition unit is lower than a predetermined reliability threshold value. The information processing apparatus according to claim 24.   The transmission step transmits the search result, the reliability, and path information to the information of the search result when the reliability acquired in the reliability acquisition step is higher than a preset reliability threshold. The information processing apparatus according to claim 25.   A control program for causing a computer to execute the information processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.   A computer-readable storage medium storing the control program according to claim 27.

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