JP2015088156A - Server and method for displaying video image on client terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a load of displaying a video image, such as game screen images, on a client terminal using HTTP communication.SOLUTION: A server is configured to be capable of running a program that includes; a game progression module 51 for progressing a game; a generation module 52 for generating frame information for displaying one of a plurality of successive frames constituting a game screen in order of succession; a determination module 53 for determining whether to transmit the generated frame information to a terminal device or not; a compression module 54 for compressing the generated frame information; and a transmission control module 55 for transmitting a plurality of pieces of compressed frame information, in order of succession, to the terminal device as an HTTP response to an HTTP request from the terminal device.

Description

  The present invention relates to a server and method for displaying a moving image on a client terminal, and more particularly to a server and method for displaying a moving image composed of a plurality of continuous frames on a client terminal using HTTP communication.

  Conventionally, a server that provides an online game played by a plurality of users to a plurality of client terminals such as a smartphone or a game dedicated terminal connected via a communication line such as the Internet is known (for example, , See Patent Document 1). In such an online game, for example, since it is necessary to display game screens (moving images) updated in response to operations by a plurality of users on the client terminals of the plurality of users, so-called server push type communication is required. . Further, when such an online game is provided using a web browser, it is necessary to display a game screen on the client terminal by server push type communication using HTTP. As a technique for realizing server push type communication using HTTP, for example, a TCP connection is maintained without returning an HTTP response to an HTTP request from a client terminal, and an HTTP response is sent from the server side at an arbitrary timing. A technique such as long polling that returns is known.

JP 2013-066654 A

  However, even when such a long polling technology is applied, one HTTP response is returned for one HTTP request. For example, information about one frame of the game screen is converted into one HTTP response. When transmitting to the client terminal in correspondence, transmission / reception of an HTTP message (HTTP request and HTTP response) occurs each time information on one frame is transmitted. As a result, communication such as header information of each message frequently occurs and the amount of communication increases, and processing of each message may increase the CPU load on the server side and the client terminal side.

  An object of the embodiment of the present invention is to reduce a load when a moving image such as a game screen is displayed on a client terminal using HTTP communication. Other objects of the present invention will become apparent by referring to the entire specification.

  A server according to an embodiment of the present invention is a server that displays a moving image composed of a plurality of consecutive frames on a client terminal using HTTP communication, wherein one frame of the plurality of consecutive frames is the client terminal Generating means for generating frame information to be displayed on the client according to the continuous order; and a plurality of the frame information as the first HTTP response to the first HTTP request from the client terminal according to the continuous order. Transmission control means for transmitting to the terminal.

A method according to an embodiment of the present invention is a method for displaying a moving image including a plurality of continuous frames on a client terminal using HTTP communication by one or a plurality of computers. Frame information for causing the client terminal to display one frame is generated in accordance with the continuous order, and a plurality of the frame information is used as the first HTTP response to the first HTTP request from the client terminal. Transmit to the client terminal according to the order.

  According to various embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to reduce a load when a moving image such as a game screen is displayed on a client terminal using HTTP communication.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing a network configuration of a system 1 including a server 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram which shows roughly the module structure of the program 50 in one Embodiment. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the statistical information management table in one Embodiment. The flowchart which shows an example of the frame information production | generation / transmission process in one Embodiment. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the screen 60 for games in one Embodiment. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the frame information in one Embodiment. Explanatory drawing which shows the other example of the frame information in one Embodiment. The flowchart which shows an example of the statistical information acquisition process in one Embodiment. The sequence diagram which shows the mode of the HTTP communication between the server 10 and the terminal device 30 in one Embodiment.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a network configuration of a system 1 including a server 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a server 10 according to an embodiment is connected to a terminal device (client terminal) 30 configured as a general computer so as to be communicable via a communication network 20 such as the Internet. Various games can be provided to a user who operates the device 30. Note that a terminal device (not shown) other than the terminal device 30 is connected to the server 10 so as to be communicable. In addition, the server 10 can provide various digital contents other than games (for example, moving images, music, etc.) to the user who operates the terminal device 30 and provides various Internet services other than the provision of digital contents. Furthermore, it is possible to provide a platform service that realizes various communications among a plurality of users who operate a plurality of terminal devices 30.

  As illustrated, the server 10 includes a CPU (computer processor) 11, a main memory 12, a user I / F 13, a communication I / F 14, an external memory 15, and a disk drive 16. Are electrically connected to each other via a bus 17. The CPU 11 loads various programs such as a control program for controlling the progress of the operating system and the online game from the external memory 15 to the main memory 12 and executes instructions included in the loaded program. The main memory 12 is used for storing a program executed by the CPU 11, and is constituted by, for example, a DRAM.

  The user I / F 13 includes, for example, an information input device such as a keyboard and a mouse that accepts an operator input, and an information output device such as a liquid crystal display that outputs a calculation result of the CPU 11. The communication I / F 14 is implemented as hardware, firmware, communication software such as a TCP / IP driver or a PPP driver, or a combination thereof, and is configured to be able to communicate with the terminal device 30 via the communication network 20.

  The external memory 15 is composed of, for example, a magnetic disk drive, and stores various programs such as a control program for controlling the progress of the online game. The external memory 15 can also store various data used in the game. Various data that can be stored in the external memory 15 may be stored in a database server that is physically separate from the server 10 that is communicably connected to the server 10. The disk drive 16 reads data stored in various storage media such as CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and DVD-R, or writes data to these storage media. For example, data such as game applications and game data stored in the storage medium is read by the disk drive 16 and installed in the external memory 15.

  In one embodiment, the server 10 is a web server that manages a website composed of a plurality of web pages having a hierarchical structure, and can provide a game service to the terminal device 30. The terminal device 30 can acquire HTML data for displaying a web page from the server 10, analyze the acquired HTML data, and present the web page to the user (game player) of the terminal device 30. . A game provided through such a web page may be referred to as a browser game. The external memory 15 also stores HTML data for displaying this web page. The HTML data is composed of an HTML document described in a markup language such as HTML, and various images are associated with the HTML document. A program written in a script language such as ActionScript or Javascript (registered trademark) can be embedded in the HTML document.

  The external memory 15 can also store game applications that are executed on the terminal device 30 in an execution environment other than browser software. The game application can include various data such as a game program for executing the game and image data referred to when the game program is executed. The game program is created in an object-oriented programming language such as Objective-C or Java (registered trademark). The created game program is stored in the external memory 15 as application software together with various data. The application software stored in the external memory 15 is distributed to the terminal device 30 in response to the distribution request. The application software distributed from the server 10 is received by the terminal device 30 via the communication I / F 34 under the control of the CPU 31, and the received game program is transmitted and stored in the external memory 35. This application software is activated in response to an operation of the terminal device 30 by the user, and is executed on a platform such as NgCore (trademark) or Android (trademark) installed in the terminal device 30. The server 10 provides various data necessary for the progress of the game to the game application executed on the terminal device 30. Moreover, the server 10 can manage the progress of the game for each user by storing various data transmitted from the terminal device 30 for each user.

As described above, the server 10 can progress the game by managing the website that provides the game service and distributing the web pages that constitute the website in response to a request from the terminal device 30. Further, the server 10 can advance the game based on communication with a game application executed on the terminal device 30 in place of or in addition to the browser game. The server 10 can store data necessary for the progress of the game for each piece of identification information for identifying each user, regardless of the manner in which the game is provided. Although detailed description is omitted, the server 10 can also have a function of performing user authentication processing at the start of the game and billing processing that occurs in accordance with the progress of the game. The games provided by the server 10 include arbitrary games such as action games, role playing games, sports battle games, and card games. The types of games realized by the website of the server 10 or the game application are not limited to those specified in this specification.

  In one embodiment, the terminal device 30 is an arbitrary information processing device that displays a web page of a game website acquired from the server 10 on a web browser and implements an application execution environment for executing a game application. Smartphones, tablet terminals, game-dedicated terminals, and the like may be included.

  As illustrated, the terminal device 30 includes a CPU (computer processor) 31, a main memory 32, a user I / F 33, a communication I / F 34, and an external memory 35, and each of these components is a bus 36. Are electrically connected to each other.

  The CPU 31 loads various programs such as an operating system from the external memory 35 to the main memory 32 and executes instructions included in the loaded program. The main memory 32 is used for storing a program executed by the CPU 31, and is constituted by, for example, a DRAM.

  The user I / F 33 is an information input device that accepts user input and an information output device that outputs the calculation result of the CPU 31, and includes a display device such as a liquid crystal display including a touch panel.

  The communication I / F 34 is implemented as hardware, firmware, communication software such as a TCP / IP driver or a PPP driver, or a combination thereof, and is configured to be able to communicate with the server 10 via the communication network 20.

  The external memory 35 is configured by, for example, a magnetic disk drive, a flash memory, or the like, and stores various programs such as an operating system. Further, when a game application is received from the server 10 via the communication I / F 34, the external memory 35 stores the received game application.

  The terminal device 30 having such an architecture includes, for example, browser software for interpreting an HTML format file (HTML data) and displaying it on the screen, and HTML data acquired from the server 10 by the function of the browser software. And a web page corresponding to the received HTML data can be displayed. Further, the terminal device 30 includes plug-in software (for example, Flash Player provided by Adobe Systems) incorporated in browser software, and acquires a SWF format file embedded in HTML data from the server 10. The SWF format file can be executed using browser software and plug-in software.

  When the game is executed on the terminal device 30, for example, an animation or an operation icon specified by the program is displayed on the screen of the terminal device 30. The user can input an instruction for progressing the game using the input interface of the terminal device 30. An instruction input from the user is transmitted to the server 10 through a browser function of the terminal device 30 or a platform function such as NgCore (trademark).

Next, the program 50 executed by the CPU 11 of the server 10 in the embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a module configuration of the program 50 according to an embodiment. The program 50 is stored in the external memory 15 or the like, and as shown in the drawing, a game progress module 51 that progresses the game in accordance with input information transmitted from the terminal device 30 and a game screen (moving image) are continuously formed. A generation module 52 that generates frame information for displaying one frame of a plurality of frames on the terminal device 30 according to the continuous order, and determines whether or not the generated frame information is transmitted to the terminal device 30 Transmission control for transmitting a plurality of compressed frame information to the terminal device 30 according to a sequential order as an HTTP response to the HTTP request from the terminal device 30 as a determination module 53, a compression module 54 for compressing the generated frame information And a module 55. By executing such a program 50, the server 10 in one embodiment functions as a means or unit corresponding to the function of each module included in the program 50.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of information managed by a statistical information management table configured in the external memory 15 or the like of the server 10. As shown in the figure, the statistical information management table in one embodiment is associated with a “terminal ID” for identifying the terminal device 30, and “transmission time” indicating the time when the terminal device 30 is requested for drawing execution time information. "Drawing execution time information" transmitted from the terminal device 30 in response to this request, and "Reception time" indicating the time at which the server 10 received the drawing execution time information transmitted from the terminal device 30 in response to this request. Information such as “frame rate upper limit value” indicating the upper limit value of the frame rate (the number of frames per unit time) for the terminal device 30 is managed. Here, in one embodiment, the “drawing execution time information” is an average value of the time required to execute a plurality of drawing commands described in the frame information corresponding to one frame of the game screen ( For example, it is necessary for the terminal device 30 to execute a plurality of drawing commands described in frame information corresponding to a predetermined number of frames (for example, 10) most recently. It is a moving average value for a given time. The operation of setting information managed in these statistical information management tables will be described later.

  Next, the operation of the server 10 in the embodiment configured as described above will be described. As described above, the server 10 in one embodiment can provide various games, but as an example suitable for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, a multi-user online game played simultaneously by a plurality of users. The operation related to the provision of will be described.

  Here, first, an outline of a multi-user online game in one embodiment will be described. In a multi-user online game according to an embodiment, a plurality of users move their own characters and the like in a common game space to advance the game. As a more specific example of the multi-user online game, various games such as a role playing game, a shooting game, and an action game can be exemplified. The process of progressing such a game is performed mainly by executing the game progress module 51. Specifically, for example, as input information from the terminal device 30, various information such as information related to a movement operation of a character or the like or information related to an execution instruction of a predetermined action (for example, attack, conversation, acquisition of an item, etc.) In response to the received input information, the current position in the game space of a character or the like corresponding to the user operating the terminal device 30 is calculated, or a process (for example, other processing) according to the instructed action is performed. (E.g., a battle process with a character corresponding to the user or a non-player character, a conversation process, an item acquisition process, etc.), or a score obtained by the user is calculated.

Next, an operation related to the display on the terminal device 30 of the game screen according to the progress of the game described above will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of frame information generation / transmission processing for causing the terminal device 30 to display a game screen corresponding to the progress of the multiuser online game. This process is repeatedly executed by the server 10 at predetermined time intervals (for example, every 40 milliseconds). In the frame information generation / transmission process, first, as shown in the figure, frame information corresponding to one frame of the game screen is generated (step S110). This frame information is generated for each of a plurality of users who play the multiuser online game (that is, for each terminal device 30). An example of one frame of the game screen 60 displayed on the terminal device 30 is shown in FIG. In the game screen 60 according to the embodiment, a screen corresponding to the current position of the user character operated by the user in the game space is displayed. As illustrated, the user character 70 operated by the user, etc. Various objects such as a user character 72 operated by the user, an item 74, and a score display object 76 for displaying the score acquired by the user as text are superimposed and displayed. As shown in the drawing, the background 62 has a plurality of tile images (unit objects) having a predetermined length (for example, 16 pixels vertically × 16 pixels horizontally) having the same shape (rectangular shape in this example) in the vertical direction. For example, the upper left corner area of the background 62 includes the image files I1-I3 continuously arranged in the horizontal direction and the horizontal direction on the lower side thereof. And image files I4-I6 arranged in succession. The user character 70 is composed of image files I7, I8, and I9, the user character 72 is composed of image files I10, I11, and I12, and the item 74 is composed of an image file I13.

  A plurality of drawing commands executed in the terminal device 30 to display one frame of the game screen 60 configured as described above is described in the frame information. The drawing command is a command that can be executed by the browser of the terminal device 30, for example. FIG. 6 is an example of frame information 80 in which a drawing command for displaying one frame of the game screen 60 illustrated in FIG. 5 on the terminal device 30 is described. As shown in the drawing, a drawing command for drawing the background 62 is described in the upper area 82 of the frame information 80, and a lower area 84 below the upper area 82 is superimposed on the background 62. A drawing command for drawing each object to be placed (specifically, the user character 70, the user character 72, the item 74, and the score display object 76) is described. There are a plurality of types of drawing commands. For example, a “drawImage” command for drawing an image file, a “fillText” command for drawing text, a “rotate” command for setting the rotation angle of an object to be drawn, etc. There is a drawing command. In one embodiment, the drawing command “drawImage” includes, as arguments, a file name that specifies an image file and coordinate information that specifies coordinates for drawing the image file, and the file is stored in the coordinates specified by the coordinate information. This is a command for drawing an image file specified by a name. The drawing command “fillText” is a command for drawing text at the coordinates specified by the coordinate information, including the text to be drawn and coordinate information for specifying the coordinates for drawing the text as arguments. . Furthermore, the drawing command “rotate” includes the rotation angle of the object as an argument, and is used in combination with the above-described drawing commands for drawing an object such as “drawImage” and “fillText” (for example, a drawing command for drawing an object). This is a command for setting a rotation angle of an object to be drawn by a drawing command used in combination. Note that the types and usages of such drawing commands are merely examples, and other types of drawing commands can be applied. For example, other types and usages of drawing commands according to the HTML5 canvas element, and types and usages of drawing commands according to other standards can be applied.

FIG. 7 shows frame information 90 which is another example of the frame information. The frame information 90 is generated based on the frame information 80 described above. Specifically, the frame information 90 is obtained by coordinating the difference between the coordinate information included in the drawing command “drawImage” and the coordinates specified by the coordinate information included in the same type of drawing command “drawImage” described immediately before. It has been converted to include as information. For example, as shown in the figure, the drawing command “drawImage (“ I2 ”, 13, −4)” is represented by the coordinate information of the drawing command “drawImage (“ I1 ”, −3, −4)” described immediately before. It is converted to “drawImage (“ I2 ”, 16, 0 )” so as to include the difference from the specified coordinates as coordinate information. Similarly, the drawing command “drawImage (“ I3 ”, 29, −4)” is converted to “drawImage (“ I3 ”, 16, 0 )”. Here, since the plurality of tile images constituting the background 62 have the same shape having a predetermined length in the vertical and horizontal directions, the difference in coordinates between two tile images that are continuous in the vertical or horizontal direction is the same in any combination. (In the example of FIG. 7, the difference in the coordinates of the tile images that are continuous in the horizontal direction is “ 16,0 ”). The frame information 90 indicates the difference between the rotation angle information included in the drawing command “rotate” and the rotation angle specified by the rotation angle information of the same type of drawing command “rotate” described immediately before. Has been converted to include. For example, as illustrated, a drawing command “rotate (45)” for setting the rotation angle of the image file “I8” and a drawing command “rotate (45)” for setting the rotation angle of the image file “I9” are respectively “ rotate (0) ". Here, for example, as the image files I7 to I9 constituting the user character 70, a plurality of image files constituting one object tend to have the same rotation angle in the frame. The difference from the rotation angle specified by the rotation angle information of the drawing command “rotate” described in “1” tends to be the value “0” continuously. Both the frame information 80 and the frame information 90 do not depend on the frame information of the immediately preceding frame, and the information necessary for drawing one frame is included in the frame information. That is, it can be said that both the frame information 80 and the frame information 90 are information for causing the terminal device 30 to display one frame without using the frame information of the preceding frame.

  Once the frame information is generated in this way, it is next determined whether or not the generated frame information is transmitted to the terminal device 30 (step S112). In one embodiment, whether or not it is necessary to transmit frame information is determined so that the frame information is transmitted within the range of the “frame rate upper limit value” for each terminal device 30 managed in the statistical information management table described above. Is done. For example, if this frame information generation / transmission process is repeatedly executed every 40 milliseconds, the frame rate is 25 fps (1000/40 milliseconds) when the frame information is transmitted as it is, so the set upper limit value Is 20 fps, which is smaller than 25 fps, for example, 5 frames out of the 25 frames (5 times of executing frame information generation / transmission processing 25 times) so that the upper limit value is within 20 fps. Is determined not to transmit frame information. Further, for example, the latest actual frame rate is calculated for each terminal device 30 and managed using a table such as a statistical information management table, and the frame information is updated until the actual frame rate falls within the upper limit range. You may make it determine with not transmitting. Note that the method for transmitting the frame information within the range of the upper limit value of the frame rate is not limited to these. Further, when the value “0” is set in the “frame rate upper limit value” of the statistical information management table, it is always determined that the frame information is not transmitted. A method of setting the “frame rate upper limit value” will be described later.

If it is determined that frame information is to be transmitted, this frame information is compressed and transmitted to the terminal device 30 (step S114). If it is determined that frame information is not to be transmitted, this frame information is transmitted. Is skipped (step S116), and the frame information generation / transmission process is terminated. The compression of the frame information can be performed using various compression algorithms, and for example, can be performed using a reversible compression algorithm such as “deflate”. Here, as described above, in the case of using the frame information converted so that the coordinate information and the rotation angle information are different from the previous coordinates and the rotation angle as in the frame information 90 illustrated in FIG. Since the coordinate information and the rotation angle information (drawing command argument) contain many of the same values, the compression rate when compressing the frame information becomes higher. Further, the compression of frame information can be performed across a plurality of frames. For example, compression using a dictionary can be performed across frames. When such frame information generation / transmission processing is repeatedly executed, the terminal device 30 decodes the received frame information and executes a drawing command described in the frame information on, for example, a browser, so that the frame of the game screen 60 is displayed. Are repeatedly displayed in order. In the case where the coordinate information and the rotation angle information are frame information converted so as to be different from the immediately preceding coordinates and rotation angles, as in the frame information 90 described above, the terminal device 30 uses the coordinate information and The drawing command is executed after reversely converting the rotation angle information into information for directly specifying coordinates and rotation angles.

  The operation related to the display on the terminal device 30 of the game screen according to the progress of the game has been described above. Next, an operation related to acquisition of statistical information related to the performance (processing capability) of the terminal device 30 will be described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of statistical information acquisition processing for acquiring statistical information in order to specify the processing capability of the terminal device 30. This process is repeatedly executed by the server 10 at predetermined time intervals (for example, every 100 milliseconds). In the statistical information acquisition process, first, as shown in the drawing, the terminal device 30 is requested for drawing execution time information (step S200). This request is made for each terminal device 30 operated by a plurality of users who play the multi-user online game. In one embodiment, the drawing execution time information is requested by transmitting to the terminal device 30 the current time managed by the server 10 and information instructing transmission of the drawing execution time information. The terminal device 30 that has received the information transmits the received current time (the time at which the server 10 requested the drawing execution time information) and the drawing execution time information in the terminal device 30 to the server 10. Here, in one embodiment, a program described to perform processing for managing drawing execution time information (for example, an average value of time required to draw one frame) is executed in the terminal device 30. The drawing execution time information managed by executing is transmitted to the server 10.

  Subsequently, the information received from the terminal device 30 is registered in the statistical information management table (step S210). Specifically, the received current time is set as “transmission time”, the received drawing execution time information is set as “drawing execution time information”, and the time when these pieces of information are received is set as “reception time”. The

Then, an upper limit value of the frame rate for the terminal device 30 is set (step S220), and this statistical information acquisition process is terminated. The setting of the upper limit value of the frame rate can be performed by various methods. For example, the frame rate that can be processed by the terminal device 30 can be set as the upper limit value based on the drawing execution time information. Specifically, for example, when the drawing time (average value) of one frame in the terminal device 30 is 50 milliseconds, the number of frames that can be drawn per second is 20, so the upper limit of the frame rate Can be set to 20 fps (Frames Per Second) or a smaller value (for example, 20 fps × 0.8 = 16 fps). Further, as another method for setting the upper limit value of the frame rate, for example, the elapsed time (round trip) from when the drawing execution time information is requested to the terminal device 30 until the drawing execution time information is received from the terminal device 30 Based on the time (RTT) and the transmission time and reception time of the statistical information management table), the frame rate that can be processed by the terminal device 30 can be set as the upper limit value. Specifically, for example, the upper limit value of the frame rate can be set to “3000 / RTT (milliseconds)” based on an experimental value or the like. In this case, for example, when the RTT is 100 milliseconds, the upper limit value of the frame rate is 30 fps, and when the RTT is 150 milliseconds, the upper limit value of the frame rate is 20 fps. By setting the upper limit of the frame rate based on the RTT in this way, the frame rate can be increased when the RTT temporarily increases, for example, when a base station is switched (handover) in the mobile network. Since the upper limit value is reduced and the frame information transmitted to the terminal device 30 is reduced, the frame information to be processed after the communication status in the terminal device 30 is recovered is reduced, and an early restoration to normal processing is performed. Can be planned. Further, when the RTT exceeds a predetermined threshold (for example, 500 milliseconds), a value “0” may be set as the upper limit value of the frame rate. By so doing, it is possible to stop the transmission of frame information when the communication status in the terminal device 30 is extremely bad, so that it is possible to achieve an earlier recovery to normal processing. The setting of the upper limit value of the frame rate in step S220 may be performed at a timing different from the statistical information acquisition process. As described above, the server 10 according to the embodiment requests the terminal device 30 to transmit the drawing execution time information (predetermined information / statistical information), and responds to the transmission of the drawing execution time information from the terminal device 30. It is determined whether or not to transmit frame information to the terminal device 30 based on the specified drawing time and RTT (processing capability) of the terminal device 30, and the frame information determined to be transmitted is transmitted to the terminal device 30. Send. Therefore, since the presence / absence of transmission of frame information is controlled according to the processing capability of the terminal device 30, the game screen can be transmitted at a more appropriate frame rate according to the processing capability of the terminal device 30.

  The operation related to acquisition of statistical information related to the performance of the terminal device 30 has been described above. Next, the state of HTTP communication performed with the terminal device 30 when executing the above-described frame information generation / transmission process and statistical information acquisition process will be described. The frame information transmitted by the frame information generation / transmission process is transmitted as an HTTP response to the HTTP request from the terminal device 30. In one embodiment, one HTTP response includes a plurality of pieces of frame information corresponding to a plurality of frames, and the plurality of pieces of frame information are sequentially transmitted according to a sequence of frames. In order to transmit a plurality of pieces of frame information in order as one HTTP response, for example, a chunk transfer function in HTTP / 1.1 may be applied. That is, for example, frame information of one frame repeatedly generated (and compressed) by the above-described frame information generation / transmission process can be sequentially transferred (transmitted) to the terminal device 30 as one chunk.

  FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram illustrating a state of HTTP communication between the server 10 and the terminal device 30 according to an embodiment. As shown in the figure, when receiving an HTTP request 1 (first HTTP request) accompanied by a request for frame information from the terminal device 30, the server 10 responds to the HTTP request 1 and responds to the HTTP request 1 with an HTTP response 1 ( As a first HTTP response), a plurality of pieces of frame information corresponding to a plurality of frames are sequentially transmitted to the terminal device 30. And the request information which requests | requires statistical information as a HTTP response 1 mentioned above at the timing which requests | requires statistical information (drawing execution time information) with respect to the terminal device 30 from the server 10 according to execution of a statistical information acquisition process. Transmit to device 30. In the example of FIG. 9, after the server 10 transmits the frame information of “frame 30”, request information for requesting statistical information is transmitted to the terminal device 30. The terminal device 30 that has received the request information transmits a new HTTP request 2 (third HTTP request) including statistical information to the server 10 as illustrated. Here, in one embodiment, as illustrated, the server 10 continues to transmit frame information as the HTTP response 1 even after transmitting the above-described request information to the terminal device 30 (in the example of FIG. 9). The frame information of “frame 31” and “frame 32” is continuously transmitted), and when a new HTTP request 2 including statistical information is received from the terminal device 30, the HTTP response 1 is terminated (for example, When the chunk transfer function is applied, a zero-length chunk is transferred). In order to enable the terminal device 30 to transmit a new HTTP request 2 before ending the HTTP response 1 for the HTTP request 1, for example, a pipeline function in HTTP / 1.1 may be applied. Here, while a plurality of pieces of frame information are sequentially transmitted as the HTTP response 1, the terminal device 30 needs to store the received frame information or the like in the main memory 32 or the like. However, when the HTTP response 1 ends. The frame information received as the HTTP response 1 does not need to be stored, and resources such as the main memory 32 are released.

When receiving the HTTP request 2 including the statistical information, the server 10 transmits an HTTP response 2 for notifying receipt of the statistical information to the terminal device 30. Thereafter, when a new HTTP request 3 (second HTTP request) accompanied by a request for frame information is received from the terminal device 30, the server 10 responds to the HTTP request 3 and responds to the HTTP request 3 with an HTTP response 3 ( As the second HTTP response), a plurality of frame information is sequentially transmitted to the terminal device 30. As shown in the figure, the frame information transmitted here is a frame (“frame 32” in the example of FIG. 9) that follows the frame information (“frame 32” in the example of FIG. 9) corresponding to the frame information last transmitted to the terminal device 30 as the HTTP response 1 described above. In the example of FIG. 9, the frame information of “frame 33” and subsequent frames).

  Thereafter, similarly, request information for requesting statistical information is transmitted from the server 10 to the terminal device 30 at the timing of requesting statistical information, and an HTTP response is received when an HTTP request including the statistical information is received from the terminal device 30. The communication of repeatedly transmitting the frame information of the subsequent frame in response to a new HTTP request accompanied by a request for frame information from the terminal device 30 is repeatedly executed. Note that the above-described HTTP communication between the server 10 and the terminal device 30 is performed using the same TCP connection. Transmission / reception of a plurality of HTTP requests and HTTP responses using the same TCP connection can be realized, for example, by applying a persistent connection function in HTTP / 1.1. As described above, the server 10 according to an embodiment transmits a plurality of frame information corresponding to a plurality of frames as one HTTP response to the terminal device 30, and therefore transmits one frame information as one HTTP response. Compared with (when only one frame information is included in one HTTP response), the frequency of transmission and reception of HTTP messages can be reduced. As a result, it is possible to suppress an increase in communication amount due to transmission / reception of the header information of each message and an increase in CPU load on the terminal device 30 and the server 10 due to processing of each message.

  In the server 10 in the embodiment described above, frame information for displaying one frame of a plurality of consecutive frames constituting the game screen 60 (moving image) on the terminal device 30 is generated according to the sequential order, and the terminal device As an HTTP response to the HTTP request from 30, a plurality of pieces of frame information are transmitted to the terminal device 30 according to a sequential order. Therefore, compared with the case where only one frame information is transmitted as an HTTP response, the frequency of transmission and reception of HTTP messages can be reduced. As a result, it is possible to reduce the amount of communication due to transmission / reception of the header information of each message, and to reduce the CPU load due to the processing of each message.

  Further, in the server 10 according to the embodiment, the statistical information is transmitted as an HTTP response at a timing (second timing) at which the server 10 requests the statistical information from the server 10 in accordance with the execution of the statistical information acquisition process. The request information to be requested is transmitted to the terminal device 30, and when a new HTTP request including statistical information is received from the terminal device 30 (first timing), the HTTP response is terminated, and a new HTTP request from the terminal device 30 is received. As a new HTTP response, the frame information of the frame subsequent to the frame corresponding to the frame information last transmitted to the terminal device 30 as the completed HTTP response is transmitted. Therefore, the HTTP response is terminated at the timing of requesting / acquiring statistical information, and the resources of the terminal device 30 necessary for storing the frame information and the like transmitted as the HTTP response are released along with the termination of the HTTP response. Can do. That is, by switching the HTTP session in response to the request / acquisition of statistical information, it is possible to suppress resource tightness on the terminal device 30 side due to reception of frame information.

In one embodiment, the HTTP response is terminated at the timing of obtaining the statistical information, but the timing of terminating the HTTP response is not limited to this. For example, the HTTP response may be terminated at a timing at which information other than the statistical information (for example, various input information for proceeding with the game) is acquired. In addition, it is not necessary to acquire the information. For example, the HTTP response is terminated periodically at a predetermined time interval, and the subsequent frame information is transmitted as a new HTTP response for a new HTTP request. good.

  In the embodiment, the aspect of generating and transmitting frame information for displaying one frame of the game screen on the terminal device 30 has been described. However, the format of the frame information is not particularly limited, and the drawing command described above is described. Other formats than the above format may be used. In addition, it is possible to generate and transmit frame information of frames constituting a moving image of content other than the game.

  The processes and procedures described in this specification are implemented by software, hardware, or any combination thereof other than those explicitly described in the embodiments. More specifically, the processes and procedures described in this specification are performed by mounting logic corresponding to the processes on a medium such as an integrated circuit, a volatile memory, a nonvolatile memory, a magnetic disk, or an optical storage. Realized. Further, the processes and procedures described in this specification can be implemented as a computer program and executed by various computers.

  Even if the processes and procedures described herein are described as being performed by a single device, software, component, or module, such processes or procedures may be performed by multiple devices, multiple software, multiple Component and / or multiple modules. In addition, even though the data, tables, or databases described herein are described as being stored in a single memory, such data, tables, or databases are provided on a single device. Alternatively, the data can be distributed and stored in a plurality of memories or a plurality of memories arranged in a plurality of devices. Further, the software and hardware elements described herein may be implemented by integrating them into fewer components or by decomposing them into more components.

  In the present specification, when the constituent elements of the invention are described as one or a plurality, or when they are described without being limited to one or a plurality of cases, they should be understood separately in context. The component may be either singular or plural.

1 System 10 Server 20 Communication Network 30 Terminal Device 51 Game Progress Module 52 Generation Module 53 Determination Module 54 Compression Module 55 Transmission Control Module 60 Game Screen 80, 90 Frame Information

Claims (7)

A server that displays a moving image composed of a plurality of continuous frames on a client terminal using HTTP communication,
Generating means for generating frame information for displaying one frame of the plurality of continuous frames on the client terminal according to the continuous order;
Transmission control means for transmitting a plurality of the frame information to the client terminal according to the continuous order as a first HTTP response to the first HTTP request from the client terminal;
A server comprising   The server according to claim 1, wherein the frame information is information for causing the client terminal to display the one frame without using frame information of a preceding frame.   The server according to claim 1, wherein the frame information includes a plurality of drawing commands executed in the client terminal in order to display the one frame on the client terminal.   The transmission control unit terminates the first HTTP response at a first timing, and sends the second HTTP response to the client terminal as the first HTTP response to the second HTTP request from the client terminal. 4. The server according to claim 1, wherein frame information of a frame subsequent to a frame corresponding to the frame information transmitted last is transmitted to the client terminal.   The transmission control means transmits request information requesting transmission of predetermined information as the first HTTP response to the client terminal at a second timing, and includes a third information including the predetermined information from the client terminal. The server according to claim 4, wherein the first HTTP response is terminated at the first timing according to the HTTP request. The server according to claim 5, wherein
A determination unit for determining whether or not to transmit the generated frame information to the terminal device based on the processing capability of the client terminal specified in response to transmission of the predetermined information from the client terminal; Prepared,
The transmission control means transmits the frame information determined to be transmitted to the client terminal to the client terminal;
server. A method of displaying a moving image composed of a plurality of continuous frames on one or more computers on a client terminal using HTTP communication,
Generating frame information for displaying one frame of the plurality of consecutive frames on the client terminal in accordance with the sequential order;
As a first HTTP response to the first HTTP request from the client terminal, a plurality of the frame information is transmitted to the client terminal according to the continuous order.
Method.

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