JP2014191433A - Server device, apparatus control system, control method of server device, and control program of server device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a controlled apparatus to be simply controlled from a browser of a terminal.SOLUTION: A server device 20 comprises: a storage unit 21 which stores control information for controlling a controlled apparatus 30; an application program interface 22 which accepts an access from a browser 11 of a terminal device 10 and outputs a control request for controlling the controlled apparatus 30 based on the control information in response to the access; and a real time socket communication server 23 which performs real time socket communication with the terminal device 10 through the application program interface 22 and transmits a control message to the controlled apparatus 30 in response to the output control request.

Description

  The present invention relates to a server device, a device control system, a server device control method, and a server device control program, and more particularly to a server device, device control system, server device control method, and server that accept access from a browser of a terminal device. The present invention relates to a device control program.

  In recent years, with the spread of smartphones and tablet terminals, the terminal application (application) market is expanding. In the terminal application, the Android application for the Android (registered trademark) terminal and the iOS application for the iOS (registered trademark) terminal dominate the market.

  However, in the business of terminal apps, fees for 30% of app sales are collected by communication carriers and payment companies in the case of Android apps, and Apple (registered trademark) in the case of iOS apps. Is not 100%. Furthermore, in the case of an app for iOS, screening is required before the release of the app, so that the degree of freedom of release timing is lowered.

  Against this background, in recent years, there has been a trend to move away from terminal applications and shift to Web applications, but at present there is a problem that it is not possible to directly start terminal devices (local devices) from an Internet browser. ing. For this reason, there are few app providers that are still transitioning to Web apps. Therefore, it is necessary to install a terminal application on the client side (and the user side) or prepare a specific application for device access in advance.

  For example, Patent Documents 1 and 2 are known as related techniques.

JP 2012-253514 A JP 2009-230378 A

  At present, when an information acquisition device (Web camera, microphone, etc., including a device of a data terminal owned by a user) is activated from a data terminal (mobile terminal, PC, smartphone, etc.) possessed by the user, the information acquisition device (terminal Device). In order to access the information acquisition device, a terminal application corresponding to the information acquisition device is installed and can be accessed only from the terminal application. For this reason, the acquired data will be preserve | saved on the terminal device which installed the terminal application. Furthermore, the format of the data stored at this time is often a format unique to the terminal device. (For example, audio recorded with a mobile phone of a Japanese mobile phone company is in a format that cannot be played back by a browser [.3gp, .amc, etc.])

  On the other hand, by preparing an information processing device on the same local network as the information acquisition device, the information acquisition device is started from the Internet browser via this and the data is stored in the server. (For example, patent document 1 etc.).

  However, in an existing system, an information processing apparatus for controlling an information acquisition device must be prepared on a local network, and cannot be realized, for example, when accessing a device in a data terminal. Also, it is necessary for the user to prepare the local environment and information of the information acquisition device in advance, and it cannot be said that anyone with a browser can access it.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a server device, a device control system, a server device control method, and a control program that can easily control a controlled device from a browser of a terminal. It is said.

  The server device according to the present invention receives access from a storage unit that stores control information for controlling a controlled device and a browser of a terminal device, and controls the controlled device based on the control information according to the access. An application program interface unit that outputs a control request to be controlled, and a real-time socket communication between the terminal device via the application program interface unit, and a control message to the controlled device according to the output control request A real-time socket communication server unit for transmitting

  The device control system according to the present invention is a device control system in which a server device, a terminal device, and a controlled device are communicably connected, and the server device has control information for controlling the controlled device. A storage unit that stores information, an application program interface unit that receives access from a browser of the terminal device, and outputs a control request for controlling the controlled device based on the control information in response to the access, and the application program interface A real-time socket communication server unit that performs real-time socket communication with the terminal device via a unit and transmits a control message to the controlled device in response to the output control request.

  A server device control method according to the present invention is a server device control method having a storage unit and an application program interface unit, wherein control information for controlling a controlled device is stored in the storage unit, and the application program The interface unit receives an access from the browser of the terminal device, outputs a control request for controlling the controlled device based on the control information according to the access, and communicates with the terminal device via the application program interface unit. Real-time socket communication is performed, and a control message is transmitted to the controlled device in response to the output control request.

  A control program for a server device according to the present invention is a control program for a server device executed by a server device having a storage unit and an application program interface unit. Control information for controlling a controlled device is stored in the storage unit. And the application program interface unit receives an access from a browser of the terminal device, outputs a control request for controlling the controlled device based on the control information according to the access, and passes through the application program interface unit. Then, real-time socket communication is performed with the terminal device, and a control message is transmitted to the controlled device in response to the output control request.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a server device, a device control system, a control method for a server device, and a control program that can easily control a controlled device from a browser of a terminal.

It is a block diagram for demonstrating the main characteristics of the server apparatus which concerns on embodiment. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an information acquisition system (device control system) according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation of the information acquisition system according to Embodiment 1. FIG.

(Features of the embodiment)
First, an outline of features of the embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 shows a main configuration of a device control system (for example, an information acquisition system) including a server device according to an embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the device control system according to the embodiment includes a terminal device 10, a server device 20, and a controlled device 30. The server device 20 includes a storage unit 21, an application program interface (API) 22, and a real-time socket communication server 23.

  The storage unit 21 stores control information for controlling the controlled device 30. The application program interface 22 receives an access from the browser 11 of the terminal device 10 and outputs a control request for controlling the controlled device 30 based on the control information according to the access. The real-time socket communication server 23 performs real-time socket communication with the terminal device 10 via the application program interface 22 and transmits a control message to the controlled device 30 in response to the output control request.

  As described above, in the embodiment, the control information of the control device is stored in the server instead of the terminal, a request is received from the browser of the terminal with the API of the server, and a real-time socket such as WebSocket is set using the stored control information. The controlled device can be controlled via As a result, information necessary for controlling the controlled device on the terminal side is set in advance, control for controlling the controlled device is provided, and a terminal application for the controlled device is installed. Since it is not necessary, the controlled device can be easily controlled from the browser of the terminal.

(Embodiment 1)
Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, device access is performed without the need for local environment or end user preparation. By preparing a program that can operate on a Web server and having information on the information acquisition device stored therein, a terminal application or an information processing apparatus in the local environment is not required.

  In the present embodiment, an information device can be activated in real time from an Internet browser by a JavaScript (registered trademark) program that operates on a Web server without a user preparing in advance. Since it does not go through a specific terminal application or information processing device, the acquired data is stored in the server in a format that can be recognized by the browser. As a result, device access is possible without requiring a specific information processing apparatus on the local network, and secondary use of data is possible only on the server.

  FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the information acquisition system according to the present embodiment. This information acquisition system is a system for starting a terminal device from an Internet browser and using data in real time.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the information acquisition system includes a data terminal 100, a Web server 200, a database 300, and an information acquisition device 400. The Web server 200, the data terminal 100, the database 300, and the information acquisition device 400 are connected via a network 500 so that they can communicate with each other. The network 500 is a global network such as the Internet, for example. Further, the data terminal 100 has an Internet browser 101. The web server 200 includes an API 210 and a web socket (web socket) server 220, and device information 211 is stored in the API 210.

  For example, the user 110 activates the Internet browser 101 by the data terminal 100 and accesses an arbitrary HTML page. The information acquisition device 400 is activated by pressing an information acquisition button or the like displayed on the HTML page. At this time, the API 210 by JavaScript saved in the Web server 200 is accessed. The API 210 transmits an information acquisition request to the Web Socket server 220 in real time in accordance with an instruction from the data terminal 100. The Web Socket server 220 that has received the request transmits a data acquisition request to the information acquisition device 400. If data acquisition is successful, an object is first returned as raw data, so the Web socket server 220 returns the raw data to the API 210. The API 210 registers the raw data in the database 300 after converting the raw data into a general-purpose format that can be recognized by the Internet browser 101.

  Each configuration of FIG. 2 will be described. The user 110 is an end user who actually operates the data terminal 100. An end user operates a general Internet browser 101 that is installed in the data terminal 100 as a standard, and uses the system of this embodiment. For this reason, it is one of the features of the present embodiment that preparations such as installing a dedicated application on the data terminal 100 or constructing a local network are not required.

  The data terminal 100 is a terminal device that can start an Internet browser (Web browser) 101. The data terminal 100 is, for example, a mobile phone, a PC (personal computer), a smartphone, a tablet terminal, or the like, and is a device that can access the Web server 200 by the Internet browser 101. The Internet browser 101 of the data terminal 100 has a role of transmitting an information acquisition request to the Web server 200 and the API 210 using an information acquisition request according to the operation of the user 110 as a trigger.

  The Web server 200 is a server that provides a Web service (Web page) to the Internet browser 101 of the data terminal 100, and is a server that includes an API 210 and a Web Socket server 220. The information acquisition request transmitted from the data terminal 100 is received by the Web server 200.

  The API 210 is a program that performs internal processing of a Web application (or may be a processing unit that executes an API program). API 210 is a JavaScript API written in the JavaScript language. In this embodiment, a terminal-specific application is not used, and a series of processing instructions are issued on a Web page that can be browsed by the Internet browser 101. The API 210 performs internal processing. The API 210 receives access from the Internet browser 101 of the data terminal 100, performs WebSocket communication with the WebSocket server 220 in response to the access, and transmits an information acquisition request or the like.

  Note that one of the features of the present embodiment is that the API 210 program can be run on the server and that the program has the device information 211 of the information acquisition device 400. Thus, the program is prepared (prepared) on the client side. ) No need. The device information 211 may be included in the API 210, or may be stored in a storage unit or the like as shown in FIG. The device information (control information) 211 is the type of the controlled device 30, the control command for controlling the controlled device 30, the address of the controlled device 30, and the like. The API 210 uses the device information 211 to transmit an information acquisition request for acquiring information from the information acquisition device 400. The API 210 also has a function of converting data acquired by the information acquisition device 400 into a general-purpose format that can be recognized by the Internet browser 101.

  The Web Socket server 220 is a server that actually receives a request via the API 210. The Web Socket server 220 establishes and controls Web Socket communication. Further, the Web Socket server 220 transmits a data acquisition request to the information acquisition device 400 in response to the information acquisition request from the API 210, and acquires information from the information acquisition device 400. In the present embodiment, it is possible to operate the API on the server by using WebSocket. Web Socket communication is established between the Web Socket server 220 and the data terminal 100 via the API 210, and real-time communication is possible between the Web Socket server 220 and the data terminal 100. Further, by connecting the Web Socket server 220 and the information acquisition device 400 by Web Socket communication, real-time communication can be performed between the Web Socket server 220 and the information acquisition device 400.

  The database 300 is a storage unit that stores data after converting raw data acquired from the information acquisition device 400 into a general-purpose format that can be recognized by the Internet browser 101. By storing the data acquired by the information acquisition device 400 in the database 300, it is not necessary to store the data in the storage of the data terminal 100.

  Data stored in the database 300 is data in a general format that can be recognized by the Internet browser 101. For example, mp3, wav for audio, mp4, webm, ogg for moving images, and still images for audio. jpg, gif, png, etc. That is, the API 210 converts data formats that cannot be recognized by the browser into these general-purpose formats. For example, when this data is passed to the search system, the data can be directly searched. At this time, even if the number of users increases, the server load is not applied.

  The information acquisition device 400 is a device that acquires information (moving images, still images, sounds, etc.). The information acquisition device 400 is a device that can connect to the Internet and control acquisition of information by a control command received via the Internet. There are things such as a Web camera, and a camera and a microphone mounted in the data terminal 100 also correspond to this.

  The operation of the present embodiment will be described using the sequence of FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, first, the user 110 activates the Internet browser 101 by operating the data terminal 100 (S10).

  Subsequently, the data terminal 100 accesses the API 210 by Java Script stored in the Web server 200 from the HTML page displayed on the Internet browser 101 (S11). Subsequently, the API 210 establishes Web Socket communication between the data terminal 100 and the API 210 in accordance with an instruction from the data terminal 100 (S12). For example, the web socket is established between the data terminal 100 and the web socket server 220 by requesting establishment of the web socket from the API 210 to the web socket server 220 according to the access of the internet browser 101 and performing a handshake.

  Subsequently, the API 210 transmits an information acquisition request to the Web Socket server 220 in real time by Web Socket communication (S13). At this time, device information for accessing the information acquisition device 400 is concealed and attached. Subsequently, the Web Socket server 220 that has received the request transmits a data acquisition request to the information acquisition device 400 (S14).

  Subsequently, when the data acquisition by the information acquisition device 400 is successful, the object is returned to the Web Socket server 220 as raw data such as an image or sound (S15). Subsequently, the Web socket server 220 returns the received raw data to the API 210 (S16).

  Subsequently, the API 210 converts the received raw data into a general format that can be recognized by the Internet browser 101 (S17). Subsequently, the API 210 passes the data that can be recognized by the browser to the database 300 and stores it (S18).

  Subsequently, the API 210 notifies the Internet browser 101 that data has been acquired (S19). Thereafter, data stored in the database 300 can be freely handled on the Internet browser 101 or the Web server 200. In S19, since the data acquired from the information acquisition device 400 is not transmitted to the data terminal 100, the data of the information acquisition device 400 is not stored in the data terminal 100. Thereafter, the user 110 ends the Internet browser 101 by operating the data terminal 100 (S20).

According to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
-Since the device information of the information acquisition device is stored in the Web server and the information acquisition device can be controlled from the Web server, device activation and access that could only be performed with a terminal application until now can be performed with an Internet browser. The possibility of web application migration from will expand.
Since the data acquired from the information acquisition device is converted into a general-purpose format and stored in the Web server, the stored data can be used in any recognition device (for example, a search system, a conversion device, a recognition device, etc.).
Since the data acquired from the information acquisition device is stored in the database on the network without being stored in the data terminal, it is not necessary to worry about the capacity of the terminal storage, and the load on the terminal can be reduced. Further, since the data of the information acquisition device can be shared, the same information can be accessed from different data terminals.
-In a system that prepares an information processing device in a local network such as Patent Document 1, it is necessary to send a periodic message to a server in order to search for information acquisition devices on the network from a browser. The increase in messages increases the load on the server and network. However, this embodiment eliminates this problem because an information processing device is not required on the local network.
Since the information acquisition device can be accessed by having device information of the information acquisition device, it is possible to access not only the local network but also the information acquisition device on the global network.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  A part of the above embodiment can be replaced as follows, and the present invention also includes this. For example, the connection between the data terminal 100, the API 210, and the information acquisition device 400 may be performed by a communication unit other than Web Socket. However, in order to enable real-time communication, it is preferable to exclude existing HTTP communication [polling, Comet, etc.].

  Further, the device that the user 110 activates the Internet browser 101 may be other than the data terminal 100. For example, a PC or the like may be used.

  The information acquisition device 400 may be other than a device that acquires (captures) video. Accompanying this, the type of data to be acquired may be any data.

  Control other than the data acquisition request may be performed from the data terminal 100 to the information acquisition device 400. For example, an operation of the information acquisition device 400 or information transmission from the data terminal 100 may be performed.

  In addition, the above embodiment may be applied to various fields. For example, a transition from a terminal application to a web application and a proposal of a new service, a real-time information distribution means such as a lecture or a university lecture, a search device based on raw data (for example, search for a song from a voice: a nose song, a still image: Search destinations from tourist spots), image analysis device based on raw data (for example, medical field), audio and image real-time conversion device for hearing-impaired and blind people, TV and other content to be displayed in BML format Remote operation (two-way communication and device access are possible so that data can be transmitted as well as received).

  Each configuration in the above-described embodiment is configured by hardware and / or software, and may be configured by one piece of hardware or software, or may be configured by a plurality of pieces of hardware or software. Each function (each process) of the data terminal, the Web server, and the information acquisition device may be realized by a computer having a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a memory, and the like. For example, a control program for performing the control method according to the embodiment may be stored in the storage device, and each function may be realized by executing the control program stored in the storage device by the CPU.

  The program may be stored using various types of non-transitory computer readable media and supplied to a computer. Non-transitory computer readable media include various types of tangible storage media. Examples of non-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic recording media (for example, flexible disks, magnetic tapes, hard disk drives), magneto-optical recording media (for example, magneto-optical disks), CD-ROMs (Read Only Memory), CD-Rs, CD-R / W and semiconductor memory (for example, mask ROM, PROM (Programmable ROM), EPROM (Erasable PROM), flash ROM, RAM (random access memory)) are included. The program may also be supplied to the computer by various types of transitory computer readable media. Examples of transitory computer readable media include electrical signals, optical signals, and electromagnetic waves. The temporary computer-readable medium can supply the program to the computer via a wired communication path such as an electric wire and an optical fiber, or a wireless communication path.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Terminal apparatus 11 Browser 20 Server apparatus 21 Memory | storage part 22 Application program interface 23 Real-time socket communication server 30 Controlled apparatus 100 Data terminal 101 Internet browser 110 User 200 Web server 210 API (application program interface)
211 Device information 220 WebSocket server 300 Database 400 Information acquisition device 500 Network

Claims (9)

A storage unit for storing control information for controlling the controlled device;
An application program interface unit that receives an access from a browser of a terminal device and outputs a control request for controlling the controlled device based on the control information according to the access;
A real-time socket communication server unit that performs real-time socket communication with the terminal device via the application program interface unit, and transmits a control message to the controlled device in response to the output control request;
A server device comprising: The real-time socket communication server unit receives response data of the control message from the controlled device,
The application program interface unit converts the response data into a data format that can be recognized by the browser.
The server device according to claim 1. A database for storing the converted response data;
The server device according to claim 2. The application program interface unit is an application program interface described in Java Script (registered trademark) language.
The server apparatus as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3. The real-time socket communication server unit is a WebSocket server.
The server apparatus as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 4. The controlled device is an information acquisition device that returns information acquired in response to the control message.
The server apparatus as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 5. A device control system in which a server device, a terminal device, and a controlled device are communicably connected,
The server device
A storage unit for storing control information for controlling the controlled device;
An application program interface unit that receives an access from the browser of the terminal device and outputs a control request to control the controlled device based on the control information according to the access;
A real-time socket communication server unit that performs real-time socket communication with the terminal device via the application program interface unit, and transmits a control message to the controlled device in response to the output control request;
A device control system comprising: A control method of a server device having a storage unit and an application program interface unit,
Storing control information for controlling the controlled device in the storage unit;
The application program interface unit receives access from a browser of the terminal device, and outputs a control request for controlling the controlled device based on the control information according to the access,
Real-time socket communication is performed with the terminal device via the application program interface unit, and a control message is transmitted to the controlled device in response to the output control request.
A method for controlling a server device. A server device control program executed by a server device having a storage unit and an application program interface unit,
Storing control information for controlling the controlled device in the storage unit;
The application program interface unit receives access from a browser of the terminal device, and outputs a control request for controlling the controlled device based on the control information according to the access,
Real-time socket communication is performed with the terminal device via the application program interface unit, and a control message is transmitted to the controlled device in response to the output control request.
Server device control program.

Images