JP2015135592A - Information processing system and information processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processing system and an information processing method that can flexibly cope with increase in category of processing.SOLUTION: An information processing system composed of one information processing device or more comprises: a plurality of execution means for executing prescribed processing, respectively; processing division means for dividing processing pertain to an execution request into a plurality of processing allowing two execution means or more to execute the processing, respectively when receiving the execution request of the processing; storage means for storing the plurality of processing divided through the processing division means; and change request storage means for storing a change request. Before executing the processing supposed to be executed by oneself out of the plurality of processing stored in the storage means, each of the plurality of execution means is configured to check whether the change request is stored in the change request storage means, and when the change request is not stored, execute the processing supposed to be executed by oneself, and when the change request is stored, rewrite the plurality of processing stored in the storage means on the basis of the change request.

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing system and an information processing method.

  Conventionally, a cloud computing system that provides services such as image processing by linking a device, a web service, and a platform that provides a distributed environment is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Such a cloud computing system receives a job processing request from a device and performs processing corresponding to the job.

  Conventionally, a program is known that divides a job into a processed part and an unprocessed part when an error occurs during execution of a job composed of a plurality of processing steps (see, for example, Patent Document 2). ).

  For example, when converting from one data format to another data format, a data conversion engine (data conversion program or data conversion library) that converts the data format may be used in order to increase the independence and maintainability of the program.

  In addition to data format conversion, when executing some process, a process execution engine (process execution program or process execution library) that executes some process may be used to improve the independence and maintainability of the program.

  However, when there are many types of data formats, a data conversion engine for a pair of input data format types and output data format types is required. For example, if there are three types of data format candidates before conversion and three types of data format candidates after conversion, it is necessary to prepare nine types of data conversion engines corresponding to the respective patterns. That is, the more data format options before or after conversion, the more data conversion engines that must be prepared. As described above, when there are a large number of types of processing to be executed, processing execution engines corresponding to the types of processing are required.

  In summary, it is expected that the more types of processing to be executed, such as data conversion processing, the more processing execution engines that must be prepared. However, the problem is that the increase in the types of processing cannot be flexibly handled. It is.

  Embodiments of the present invention have been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide an information processing system and an information processing method that can flexibly cope with an increase in types of processing.

  In order to achieve the above object, an embodiment of the present invention is an information processing system constituted by one or more information processing apparatuses, and includes a plurality of execution means for executing predetermined processes, and a process execution request. When received, a process dividing unit that divides the processing related to the execution request into a plurality of processes to be executed by at least two or more of the plurality of executing units, and a plurality of processes divided by the process dividing unit A storage unit that stores the process; and a change request storage unit that stores the change request when the change request for changing the process for the execution request is received, and each of the plurality of execution units stores the change request in the storage unit Before executing the process to be executed by itself among the plurality of stored processes, it is confirmed whether the change request is stored in the change request storage means, and the change request When the change request is stored, the plurality of processes stored in the storage unit are rewritten based on the change request while the change request is stored. And

  According to the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to flexibly cope with an increase in types of processing.

It is a schematic diagram showing an example of the cloud service according to the present embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the information processing system which implement | achieves the cloud service which concerns on this embodiment. It is a flowchart showing an example of the procedure of the cloud service which concerns on this embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the data conversion system which concerns on this embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the conversion means which concerns on this embodiment. It is a sequence diagram which shows an example of operation | movement of the asynchronous conversion server which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the information of the request which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the task division | segmentation definition which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the information of the request before and behind the division | segmentation which concerns on this embodiment. It is a sequence diagram which shows the other example of operation | movement of the asynchronous conversion server which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the information of the change request which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the information of the job after the task rewriting which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the flow of task processing. It is a sequence diagram which shows the other example of operation | movement of the asynchronous conversion server which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the other example of the flow of task processing. It is a sequence diagram which shows an example of operation | movement of the asynchronous conversion server which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the information of the request before and behind the division | segmentation which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of translate definition which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the change request which concerns on this embodiment.

[First Embodiment]
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a cloud service according to the present embodiment. The cloud service uses cloud computing to provide various services such as data format conversion, document file translation, and printing. In step S <b> 1, a PC (personal computer) 12 as an example of an input side device uploads an electronic document file created by, for example, a word processor application to the server 11 on the cloud 10. The file uploaded to the server 11 on the cloud 10 is not limited to an electronic document file, and may be various electronic data such as an image file, a moving image file, and an audio file.

  In step S2, the server 11 converts the uploaded electronic document file into another data format such as PDF or RPCS (page description language developed by Ricoh Co., Ltd.) or translates the electronic document file into another language (data). Conversion process). In step S <b> 3, the PC 13 as an example of the output side device acquires data that has been subjected to data conversion processing on the cloud 10. The acquired data may be printed using, for example, an MFP (multifunction peripheral) as another example of the output side device.

  When viewed from the cloud 10 side, the PC 12 and the PC 13 are clients. The clients PC 12 and PC 13 communicate with the server 11 on the cloud 10 to achieve a given purpose.

  In the cloud service of the present embodiment, since data conversion processing is performed on the cloud 10, it is not necessary to have a data conversion engine in the PC 12 that is a client. However, the data conversion engine prepared on the cloud 10 side needs to support various electronic document files. In addition, there is a possibility that the types of electronic document files will continue to increase. Regarding output, the data conversion engine may support output to an MFP (multifunction peripheral), a projector, or a completely unknown device in addition to the case where the output side device is the PC 13. In addition, the data conversion engine may support data formats that can be used by other cloud services.

  Such a situation can be said to be a common problem on the side of the cloud 10 that executes some processing, as in the data conversion processing. For example, using an MFP (multifunction peripheral) as an input side device, an image scanned by this MFP (multifunction peripheral) is processed by the OCR (Optical Character Reader) on the cloud 10 side, and used as an online storage provided by another cloud service. Saving also has a common problem.

  In addition, there is a common problem when a file is read from an online storage provided by another cloud service and data conversion processing such as conversion to print data (print file) or OCR processing is performed.

  Hereinafter, a cloud service that performs data conversion processing on the cloud 10 will be described as an example. As described above, a print service (cloud print) using an MFP (multi-function peripheral) on the output side or an image scanned by the MFP (multi-function peripheral) is OCR processed on the cloud 10 side to obtain another cloud service. It can also be applied to storage processing etc. in online storage provided by. Further, as described above, the present invention can also be applied to processing for reading a file from an online storage provided by another cloud service and performing conversion to another data format, OCR processing, or the like.

  The cloud service shown in FIG. 1 includes a cloud computing type information processing system as shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an information processing system that realizes a cloud service according to the present embodiment.

  There are PCs 12 and 13 on the local side. The PC 12 and the PC 13 are connected to a network such as the Internet via a firewall 103 installed in a gateway on a network such as a LAN. In the cloud service of the present embodiment, the PC 12 and the PC 13 may or may not be on the same network. In the following description, it is assumed that the PC 12 and the PC 13 are not on the same network.

  In FIG. 2, the cloud side has a configuration including a data conversion system 100, a job management server 102, a reverse proxy 104, an authentication server 105, and an authentication database 106.

  The data conversion system 100 includes an asynchronous conversion server 101, a shared file storage 107, a job information management database 108, and a change management database 109. The shared file storage 107 may be designed to be placed outside the data conversion system 100. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, the job information management database 108 and / or the change management database 109 may be included as part of the asynchronous conversion server 101.

  The data conversion system 100 and the job management server 102 manage / register jobs uploaded by the PC 12, which is a local device. When there is a file acquisition request from the PC 13 that is a local device, the data conversion system 100 and the job management server 102 transmit the file for which the acquisition request has been made to the PC 13.

  The job includes an electronic document file created by a word processor application or the like. The data conversion system 100 converts an electronic document file included in a job from, for example, a text format to PDF format electronic data. At this time, for example, an electronic document file can be translated and converted from Japanese to English. When the cloud service of this embodiment is applied to cloud print, the data conversion system 100 print data that is electronic data in a data format (page description language (PDL)) that can be output by an MFP that is an output side device. Convert to

  A usage example of the information processing system shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the procedure of the cloud service according to the present embodiment.

  In step S101, the user logs in to the cloud service according to the present embodiment from the PC 12. Authentication processing is executed by the authentication server 105. In step S102, the user uploads an electronic document file to be converted in data format or language translation from the PC 12 to the cloud service according to the present embodiment. The process of step S102 is job registration. The job management server 102 executes job registration processing. This is the procedure performed from the PC 12.

  When a job is registered, the cloud service according to the present embodiment performs data conversion processing in the background. That is, the cloud service according to the present embodiment realizes data conversion processing as an example of asynchronous processing.

  In step S103, the job management server 102 requests the data conversion system 100 to convert the data of the registered electronic document file. Further, when the job management server 102 receives a request for changing the data conversion of the registered electronic document file (for example, change of data format to be converted or change of language after translation), the data conversion system 100 performs the data conversion after the change. To ask. Details of the data conversion processing performed here will be described later.

  When the user acquires a file after data conversion, the user performs the following series of procedures on the PC 13. In step S104, the cloud confirms whether the PC 13 is a device compatible with the cloud service. It is authentication as a device. This is because, for example, when the output side device is an MFP, the MFP may not support the cloud service. Next, in step S105, the user operates the PC 13 to log in to the cloud service. It is authentication as a user.

  After the authentication, the PC 13 acquires a job list from the cloud service in step S106 and displays it on a display screen or the like. Next, in step S107, the user selects a desired job from the displayed job list.

  When a job is selected by the user, the PC 13 acquires a job from the cloud service in step S108. The cloud service does not need to prepare a data conversion engine (for example, a data format conversion program or a translation program) in the PC 12. Similarly, when the cloud service according to the present embodiment is applied to cloud print, it is not necessary to prepare a printer driver (data conversion engine) for the MFP (multifunction peripheral) that is the output side device on the PC 12, for example, This is effective for applications such as creating / uploading conference materials in advance and printing them locally on a business trip abroad.

≪Data conversion system≫
The data conversion system 100 according to the present embodiment has a configuration described below in order to respond to a wide variety of data conversion requests and to flexibly respond to an increase in the types of data conversion requests. FIG. 4 shows a functional configuration of the data conversion system 100. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the data conversion system according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the data conversion system 100 includes a front-end application 102a, a shared file storage 107, and an asynchronous conversion server 101. The front end application 102 a is a function of the job management server 102. The asynchronous conversion server 101 provides an asynchronous conversion service. The asynchronous conversion server 101 includes a data conversion request management unit 111, a message queue 112, a job information management database 108, a change management database 109, and a plurality of conversion units 120.

  The job management server 102 has a function of receiving a job transmitted from the PC 12 as an example of an input side device and registering an electronic document file included in the job in the shared file storage 107. In addition, the job management server 102 determines necessary file conversion and performs control for causing the data conversion system 100 to execute conversion.

  The data conversion system 100 defines a task that is a unit of processing, and handles a plurality of tasks as jobs. The data conversion system 100 registers jobs in the message queue 112, and the conversion unit 120 processes the jobs one by one. The conversion unit 120 is realized by, for example, a worker.

  The file after data conversion is registered in the shared file storage 107. For example, when a file acquisition request is received from the PC 13 as an example of the output side device, the job management server 102 transmits the converted file registered in the shared file storage 107 to the PC 13.

  The front-end application 102a has a function of determining necessary data conversion. For example, when the job transmitted from the PC 12 requests data conversion from image data to PDF data, the front-end application 102a determines that data conversion from the image data format to the PDF data format is necessary. Further, when the cloud service according to the present embodiment is applied to cloud print, for example, when the electronic file is a document file and the output side device is an RPCS-compliant output device, the front-end application 102a It is determined that data conversion from the data format to the RPCS data format is necessary.

  The front-end application 102a uses the determined data format type as a parameter such as ““ type ”:“ ocr2pdf ”, and embeds it in a request (job) to be transmitted to the asynchronous conversion server 101.

  Similarly, a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) of data to be converted is embedded as a parameter in a request (job). The URI is information on a location where data exists in the shared file storage 107.

  In the asynchronous conversion server 101 that has received a request including at least the data conversion type and the data URI, the data conversion request management unit 111 receives the request. The data conversion request management unit 111 analyzes a request related to data conversion and places a job (message) in the message queue 112 that matches the type of data conversion.

  The data conversion request management unit 111 registers the information of the request (job) in the job information management database 108 in parallel with putting the job (message) in the message queue 112. At this time, the data conversion request management unit 111 assigns an ID that uniquely identifies the information of the request (job) and registers it in the job information management database 108.

  When the data conversion request management unit 111 receives a change request (change request) for information registered in the job information management database 108 from the front-end application 102 a, the data conversion request management unit 111 registers the change request information in the change management database 109. . The change request includes an ID for uniquely identifying information of the request to be changed in addition to the type of data conversion after the change. The change request may include a URI.

  Note that the data conversion request management unit 111 determines whether the information received from the front-end application 102a is a request or a change request based on the presence or absence of an ID. That is, when the information received from the front-end application 102a does not specify an ID that uniquely identifies job information, the data conversion request management unit 111 determines that the request is a request, and the ID is specified. Judge that it is a change request.

  Information registered in the job information management database 108 includes an ID for uniquely identifying job (request) information, a file location (URI on the shared file storage 107), a type of data conversion included in the job (request), The status of the request. The request status includes “data conversion in progress”, “data conversion relaying”, “data conversion complete”, and the like. The status of the request represents a status indicating the data conversion processing status.

  Information registered in the change management database 109 includes an ID for uniquely identifying information of a request to be changed, a type of data conversion included in the change request, and the like. For example, when changing data to be converted, a URI may be included. By registering the ID in the change management database 109, it is possible to associate which job (request) information registered in the job information management database 108 is the change.

  The message queue 112 has queues corresponding to a plurality of conversion means 120. Although FIG. 4 shows an example in which the conversion unit 120 and the queue of the message queue 112 correspond one-to-one, they may correspond to many-to-many.

  Each conversion unit 120 monitors a queue corresponding to the conversion unit 120. When a message (job) enters the queue, each conversion unit 120 registers a job (job) corresponding to the message (job) registered in the job information management database 108. Request) information. Further, each conversion unit 120 checks whether there is change request information corresponding to the request information acquired from the job information management database 108 with reference to the change management database 109. Each conversion unit 120 acquires data on the shared file storage 107 based on the URI included in the request information acquired from the job information management database 108.

  Each conversion unit 120 converts the acquired data based on the request information and the change request information. Each conversion unit 120 registers the converted data on the shared file storage 107, and rewrites and updates the request information (specifically, the request status) registered on the job information management database 108. When data conversion is performed in cooperation as will be described later, after each data conversion, each conversion unit 120 puts a new message into the queue of the conversion unit 120 that performs the next data conversion.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the plurality of conversion means 120 are configured to include a conversion processing library 120a and a conversion engine 120b. The conversion processing library 120a refers to the process for monitoring the queue corresponding to the conversion unit 120, the process for registering the converted data on the shared file storage 107, and the change management database 109 to check whether there is a change request. Execute processing.

  Also, the conversion processing library 120a performs processing for rewriting and updating the information of the request registered on the job information management database 108. Also, the conversion processing library 120a executes processing for putting a new message after data conversion into a queue of the conversion means 120 that performs data conversion next when data conversion is performed in cooperation.

Examples of the conversion engine 120b include the following.
Ocr2txt: an engine that converts image data such as JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) into text format data txt2doc: an engine that converts text format data into document file format data txt2pdf: text format data in PDF format Txt2eng: an engine that translates and converts Japanese into English txt2dut: an engine that translates and translates Japanese into Dutch Next, the flow of an asynchronous conversion service by the asynchronous conversion server 101 will be described. First, processing when a user does not make a change request after registering a job on the cloud 10 will be described. Further, a case where the user makes a request (processing execution request) requesting conversion of the data format will be described (the case where the user makes a request requesting translation conversion of the language of the electronic document file is described in the second embodiment. Will explain.) FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the operation of the asynchronous conversion server according to the present embodiment.

  In step S <b> 11, the front-end application 102 a makes a data conversion request (job registration request) for the data registered in the shared file storage 107 to the data conversion request management unit 111 of the asynchronous conversion server 101. That is, the asynchronous conversion service starts when a data conversion request (request) for data registered in the shared file storage 107 by the front-end application 102a is transmitted to the data conversion request management unit 111.

  The request transmitted in step S11 is information as shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 7A, ““ type ”:“ ocr2pdf ”” indicating that the data format is a request for data conversion from image data to PDF format is described. Also, in the request shown in FIG. 7A, the URI of the data to be converted is ““ file ”:” http: // example. com / sample. jpg "".

  In step S12, the data conversion request management unit 111 that has received the job (request) analyzes the job and determines whether there is a conversion unit 120 that matches the type of data conversion. If there is a conversion unit 120 that matches the type of data conversion, the data conversion request management unit 111 registers a job (message) in the queue of the message queue 112 corresponding to the conversion unit 120. At this time, the data conversion request management unit 111 registers the request information (job information) received from the front-end application 102 a in the job information management database 108. FIG. 7B shows request information registered in the job information management database 108. The data conversion request management unit 111 assigns an ID that uniquely identifies request information, and registers the ID after embedding the ID in the request information. In the example shown in FIG. 7B, the ID is described as ““ _ID ”: 12345”.

  In step S13, the data conversion request management unit 111 returns the job registration result to the front end application 102a. Here, the description will be continued assuming that the job is registered in the queue of the message queue 112 corresponding to the first conversion unit 121.

  In step S14, the first conversion unit 121 monitoring the queue corresponding to the job that can be processed by itself detects that the job is registered in the queue.

  In step S <b> 15, the first conversion unit 121 refers to the change management database 109 and confirms whether there is a change request (change request). For example, the first conversion means 121 determines whether or not the information of the change request corresponding to ““ _ID ”: 12345” is registered in the change management database 109. to decide.

  In step S <b> 16, the first conversion unit 121 acquires job information (request information) registered in the queue from the job information management database 108.

  The first conversion unit 121 analyzes the contents of the task included in the acquired job information (request information) and divides the task into tasks of a type that can be converted by the conversion unit 120. The task division in step S16 is performed based on the task division definition. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an example of the task division definition according to the present embodiment. In the task division of FIG. 8, “ocr2pdf” indicates that the task can be divided into a task “ocr2txt” for converting image data into text format data and a task “txt2pdf” for converting text format data into PDF format data. . Similarly, in the example of FIG. 8, “ocr2doc” indicates that the task can be divided into a task “ocr2txt” that converts image data to text format data, and a task “txt2doc” that converts text format data to document format data. ing.

  Therefore, the first converting unit 121 uses the information “jobr2txt” as shown in FIG. 9B to obtain the request information (job information) including the task “ocr2pdf” as shown in FIG. The information is divided into request information (job information) including a task and a task “txt2pdf”. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that image data cannot be converted into PDF data by one conversion unit 120.

  As a result, the front-end application 102a performs data conversion of “ocr2pdf” in cooperation with the plurality of conversion means 120. That is, for example, the front-end application 102a registers a job in the message queue 112 corresponding to the first conversion unit 121 that divides the task “ocr2pdf” into two tasks “ocr2txt” and “txt2pdf”. The first conversion unit 121 divides the task “ocr2pdf” into two tasks “ocr2txt” and “txt2pdf”. The first conversion unit 121 re-registers a job including each task in a queue corresponding to a task to be performed next (ie, “ocr2txt”), thereby performing data conversion in which a plurality of conversion units 120 are linked. It becomes possible. In the present embodiment, there is a second conversion unit 122 capable of data conversion of the data conversion type “ocr2txt” and a third conversion unit 123 capable of data conversion of the data conversion type “txt2pdf”. Will be described.

  Therefore, the first conversion means 121 is a data conversion type task that can be converted by the second conversion means 122 and the third conversion means 123 from a job including a data conversion type task that cannot be converted by one conversion means 120. Create a job that contains The first conversion unit 121 generates a job including a task of the type of data conversion that can be converted by the second conversion unit 122 and the third conversion unit 123, so that the second conversion unit 122 and the third conversion unit 121 Data conversion in cooperation with the means 123 is realized.

  For example, the second conversion unit 122 may perform task division performed by the first conversion unit 121. That is, each conversion unit 120 may be allowed to divide tasks, and the conversion unit 120 corresponding to the task to be processed first may divide tasks.

  Returning to FIG. In step S <b> 17, as in step S <b> 15, the first conversion unit 121 refers to the change management database 109 and checks whether there is a change request (change request). In step S18, the first conversion unit 121 registers a job including the divided task in a queue corresponding to the type of data conversion of a task to be performed next (for example, ocr2txt). In step S19, the second conversion unit 122 that monitors the queue corresponding to the job that can be processed by itself detects that the job is registered in the queue.

  In step S20, as in step S15, the second conversion unit 122 refers to the change management database 109 and checks whether there is a change request (change request). In step S <b> 21, the second conversion unit 122 acquires information on the job registered in the queue from the job information management database 108. The second conversion means 122 analyzes the job information, acquires data on the shared file storage 107 based on the URI included in the head task information, and converts the data into the type of data conversion included in the head task information. Perform data conversion accordingly.

  The second conversion unit 122 registers or updates the converted data on the shared file storage 107. Further, the second conversion unit 122 updates the job information registered in the job information management database 108 to indicate that the data has been converted. At this time, the status of the request is updated to, for example, “data conversion relay in progress”. In step S22, as in step S20, the second conversion unit 122 refers to the change management database 109 and checks whether there is a change request (change request).

  In step S23, the second conversion unit 122 deletes the information of the first task (processed) from the job information and remains in the queue corresponding to the data conversion type of the next task (for example, txt2pdf) to be performed. Register a job that contains the task.

  In step S24, the third converter 123 monitoring the queue corresponding to the job that can be processed by itself detects that the job is registered in the queue. In step S25, as in step S22, the third conversion unit 123 refers to the change management database 109 and checks whether there is a change request (change request). In step S <b> 26, the third conversion unit 123 acquires job information registered in the queue from the job information management database 108.

  The third conversion unit 123 analyzes the job information, acquires the data on the shared file storage 107 based on the URI included in the head task information, and converts the data into the type of data conversion included in the head task information. The data is converted accordingly.

  The third conversion unit 123 registers or updates the converted data on the shared file storage 107. Further, the third conversion unit 123 updates the job information registered in the job information management database 108 to indicate that the conversion has been performed. At this time, the status of the request is updated to “data conversion completed”, for example. In step S27, as in step S25, the third conversion unit 123 refers to the change management database 109 and checks whether there is a change request (change request).

  In step S28, the third conversion unit 123 deletes the first task (processed) information from the job information, and the next task is not included in the job information. The process ends without registering.

  Each conversion unit 120 confirms whether there is a change request by referring to the change management database 109 before and after performing task division or data conversion, but is not limited thereto. For example, each conversion unit 120 may check whether there is a change request either before the task is divided or after the task is divided. Similarly, each conversion unit 120 may check whether there is a change request either before data conversion or after data conversion.

  By the above-described operation, instead of preparing the conversion unit 120 that satisfies the request for the conversion request in which the conversion unit 120 for direct conversion does not exist in the present embodiment, by combining a plurality of existing conversion engines 120 in combination, The conversion request can be processed.

  Next, a case where a change request is made after a user registers a job on the cloud 10 will be described. In other words, for example, after the user registers a job on the cloud 10, the data format to be converted is changed. For example, the user registers a job for converting image data into PDF on the cloud 10 and then makes a change request to convert the job from image data to document data.

  As described above, when converting image data to PDF, “ocr2pdf” is divided into two tasks “ocr2txt” and “txt2pdf”, and conversion means for performing the conversion performs the conversion in cooperation with each other. Also, “ocr2doc”, which is a change request when converting image data into document data, is divided into “ocr2txt” and “txt2doc”. In this embodiment, it is assumed that one conversion unit 120 cannot convert image data into document data.

  First, the case where the task before the conversion unit 120 of the asynchronous conversion server processes is changed will be described. That is, for example, a case where the user makes a change request before processing the task “txt2pdf” and “txt2pdf” is changed to “txt2doc” will be described. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating another example of the operation of the asynchronous conversion server according to the present embodiment.

  The processes in steps S31 to S41 are the same as the processes in steps S11 to S21 in FIG. In step S42, when a change request for a job registered by the user is made, the front-end application 102a makes a data conversion change request (job information change request) to the data conversion request management unit 111 of the asynchronous conversion server 101. .

  In step S43, the data conversion request management unit 111 registers the change request in the change management database 109. Here, the information of the change request registered in the change management database 109 will be described. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of change request information according to the present embodiment. In the change request shown in FIG. 11, ““ _id ”” and ““ type ”” are designated. “_Id” is information for specifying information (job information) of a request to be changed that is registered in the job information management database 108. "" Type "" is the change content. In the example illustrated in FIG. 12, the data conversion of the request (job) whose ““ _id ”” is “12345” is changed to “ocr2doc” (conversion from image data to document data).

  In step S44, the data conversion request management unit 111 sends the registration result to the front end application 102a.

  In step S <b> 45, the second conversion unit 122 refers to the change management database 109 to check whether there is a change request (change request). For example, the second conversion unit 122 determines whether or not the information of the change request corresponding to ““ _ID ”: 12345” is registered in the change management database 109. to decide.

  In step S46, when it is determined that there is a change request (change request) in step S45, the second conversion unit 122 acquires change request information from the change management database 109, and rewrites the task in the job. That is, for example, the job information shown in FIG. 9B is rewritten to the job information shown in FIG. Specifically, the task (txt2pdf) to be processed second is rewritten to “txt2doc”. Accordingly, the subsequent processing can be requested not to the third conversion unit 123 (the conversion unit 120 that performs txt2pdf) but to the fourth conversion unit 124 (the conversion unit 120 that performs txt2doc). After the job information is rewritten, the rewritten job information is registered or updated in the job information management database 108, and the change request information is deleted from the change management database 109.

  In step S47, the second conversion unit 122 deletes the information of the first task (processed) from the job information, and queues corresponding to the type of data conversion of the next task (for example, txt2doc) (ie, the fourth task). The job including the remaining tasks is registered in the queue corresponding to the conversion means 124.

  In step S48, the fourth conversion unit 124 monitoring the queue corresponding to the job that it can process detects that the job is registered in the queue. In step S <b> 49, the fourth conversion unit 124 refers to the change management database 109 to check whether there is a change request (change request).

  In step S <b> 49, the fourth conversion unit 124 acquires job information (job information rewritten in step S <b> 46) registered in the queue from the job information management database 108.

  The fourth conversion unit 124 analyzes the job information, acquires data on the shared file storage 107 based on the URI included in the head task, and according to the type of data conversion included in the head task information. Perform data conversion.

  The fourth conversion unit registers or updates the converted data on the shared file storage 107. Further, the fourth conversion unit 124 updates the job information registered in the job information management database 108 to indicate that the conversion has been performed. At this time, the status of the request is updated to “data conversion completed”, for example. In step S51, as in step S49, the fourth conversion unit 124 refers to the change management database 109 to check whether there is a change request (change request). In step S52, the fourth conversion unit 124 deletes the first task (processed) information from the job information, and the next task is not included in the job information. End the task without registering.

  With the above-described operation, even when a job change request is made, it is not necessary to process a task that has already been processed (ocr2txt in the example described with reference to FIG. 10) again.

  That is, according to the above-described operation, as shown in FIG. 13, for a job including task A, task B, task C, and task D, for example, task D (unprocessed) is completed at the timing when task A and task B are completed. ) Is deleted and task E is added, there is no need to process task A and task B again unlike the conventional system. Therefore, when the user makes a job change request, the waiting time of the user regarding the conversion process is shortened.

  Next, a case where a task that has already been processed by the conversion unit 120 of the asynchronous conversion server is changed will be described. That is, for example, a case where “ocr2txt” is changed to “doc2txt” after the task “ocr2txt” is processed will be described. FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram illustrating another example of the operation of the asynchronous conversion server according to the present embodiment.

  The processing of steps S61 to S73 is the same as the processing of steps S31 to S41, step S45, and step S47 in FIG. Moreover, since the process of step S74-S76 is the same as the process of step S42-S44 of FIG. 10, respectively, description is abbreviate | omitted. Note that the change request in the process of step S74 is to change the data conversion of the request (job) whose “_id” is “12345” to “doc2pdf” (conversion from document data to document data). . That is, this change request is divided into two tasks, “doc2txt” and “txt2pdf”.

  The process in step S77 is the same as the process in step S24 in FIG. In step S <b> 78, the third conversion unit 123 refers to the change management database 109 and checks whether there is a change request (change request). For example, the third conversion unit 121 determines whether or not the information of the change request corresponding to ““ _ID ”: 12345” is registered in the change management database 109. to decide.

  In step S79, when the third conversion unit 123 determines in step S78 that there is a change request (change request), the third conversion unit 123 acquires change request information from the change management database 109 and rewrites the task in the job. That is, for example, the first task in the job information shown in FIG. 9B is rewritten from “ocr2txt” to “doc2txt”. In this case, since the conversion source data of the data conversion is also changed, the URI is also changed to, for example, ““ file ”:” http: // example. com / sample. doc "". After the job information is rewritten, the rewritten job information is registered or updated in the job information management database 108, and the change request information is deleted from the change management database 109.

  In step S80, the third conversion unit 123 includes a job that includes a task in a queue corresponding to the type of data conversion of a task to be processed next (for example, doc2txt) (that is, a queue corresponding to the fifth conversion unit 125). Register. At this time, if the top task of the job information has been processed, the top task information is deleted.

  In step S81, the fifth conversion unit 125 monitoring the queue corresponding to the job that can be processed by itself detects that the job is registered in the queue. In step S <b> 82, the fifth conversion unit 125 refers to the change management database 109 to check whether there is a change request (change request).

  In step S <b> 83, the fifth conversion unit 125 acquires the job information registered in the queue (the job information rewritten in step S <b> 79) from the job information management database 108.

  The fifth conversion unit 125 analyzes the job information, acquires data on the shared file storage 107 based on the URI included in the head task, and according to the type of data conversion included in the head task information. Perform data conversion.

  The fifth conversion unit registers or updates the converted data on the shared file storage 107. Further, the fifth conversion unit 125 updates the job information registered in the job information management database 108 to indicate that the conversion has been performed. At this time, the status of the request is updated to, for example, “data conversion relay in progress”. In step S84, as in step S82, the fifth conversion unit 125 refers to the change management database 109 to check whether there is a change request (change request).

  In step S85, the fifth conversion unit 125 deletes the information of the first task (processed) from the job information, and remains in the queue corresponding to the data conversion type of the next task (for example, txt2pdf) to be performed. Register a job that contains the task.

  The processes in steps S86 to S90 are the same as the processes in steps S24 to S28 in FIG.

  With the above-described operation, even when a job change request is made, there is no need to process a task that has already been processed. That is, according to the above-described operation, as shown in FIG. 15, for example, for a job including task A, task B, task C, and task D, task B (processed) is completed at the timing when processing of task A and task B is completed. ) Is deleted and task E is added, there is no need to process task A again unlike the conventional system. Therefore, when the user makes a job change request, the waiting time of the user regarding the conversion process is shortened.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to flexibly cope with an increase in data conversion requests. In addition, according to the present embodiment, the front-end application 102a registers a job including one task of the conversion unit 120, thereby executing a plurality of tasks without being conscious of processing by the plurality of conversion units 120. it can.

  Further, according to this embodiment, when a user makes a job change request after registering a job, even if the task changed by the job change request is an unprocessed task, it has already been processed. This task does not need to be processed again for a task that has already been processed before the change request, and the waiting time of the user regarding the conversion process is reduced.

The type of conversion means 120 is not limited to that of the above embodiment. In addition to the conversion means for performing data conversion, for example, conversion means for converting barcode image data into character data, conversion means for performing OCR processing from image file data, and converting the data into character string data; As described in the embodiment, various means such as conversion means for translating and converting a language into another language are conceivable. Further, the above-described embodiments can be applied in appropriate combination within a consistent range.
[Second Embodiment]
Since the second embodiment is the same as the first embodiment except for a part, the description of the same parts will be omitted as appropriate. This embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 16, the processes other than those specifically mentioned are the same as the corresponding processes in FIG. 10 of the first embodiment, and thus description thereof is omitted.

  It is assumed that the job information registered in the job information management database 108 by the data conversion request management unit 111 in step S202 is information as shown in FIG. In other words, in this embodiment, in addition to the data format conversion “type”: “ocr2pdf”, translation conversion ““ translate ”:“ english ”” (translation conversion from Japanese to English) into another language is performed. include. Such job information is divided into three tasks as shown in FIG. 17B in step S206. That is, conversion from image data to text format data (“ocr2txt”), conversion from text format data to PDF format data (“txt2pdf”), and translation conversion from Japanese to English (“txt2eng”) Divided into tasks.

  Such division of tasks including translation conversion is performed based on a translate definition as shown in FIG. 18, for example. That is, for example, when ““ translate ”:“ english ”” is designated, the job is divided into jobs including a “txt2eng” task for translating Japanese into English.

  It is assumed that the change request in the process of step S212 is change request information as shown in FIG. That is, the designation of ““ translate ”:“ dutch ”” is a change request for requesting translation translation from Japanese to Dutch. At this time, in the process of step S216, the translation conversion “txt2eng” from Japanese to English is rewritten to the translation conversion “txt2dut” from Japanese to Dutch. Then, in S222, for example, the Japanese-to-Dutch translation conversion “txt2dut” task is processed instead of the queue corresponding to the sixth conversion unit 126 that processes the Japanese-to-English translation conversion “txt2eng” task. A job including a task is registered in a queue corresponding to the seventh conversion unit 127.

  In step S <b> 225, the seventh conversion unit 127 acquires information about the job registered in the queue from the job information management database 108. Further, data on the shared file storage 107 is acquired, and data conversion (translation conversion from Japanese to Dutch) according to the type of data conversion is performed.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, a job including various processes other than data format conversion can be divided into tasks by introducing a definition for dividing a task as shown in FIG.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment specifically disclosed, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the claims. The converting unit 120 is an example of an executing unit and a process dividing unit. The message queue 112 is an example of a storage unit. The change management database 109 is an example of a change request storage unit. The shared file storage 107 is an example of a data storage unit.

10 Cloud 11 Server 12, 13 PC
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Data conversion system 101 Asynchronous conversion server 102 Job management server 102a Front end application 103 Firewall 104 Reverse proxy 105 Authentication server 106 Authentication database 107 Shared file storage 108 Job information management database 109 Change management database 111 Data conversion request management means 112 Message Queue 120 Conversion means 120a Conversion processing library 120b Conversion engine

JP 2011-192250 A JP 2007-164454 A

Claims (7)

An information processing system including one or more information processing devices,
A plurality of execution means for respectively executing predetermined processes;
Receiving a process execution request, a process dividing unit that divides the process related to the execution request into a plurality of processes to be executed by at least two or more of the plurality of execution units;
Storage means for storing a plurality of processes divided by the process dividing means;
Upon receiving a change request for changing the processing for the execution request, a change request storage means for storing the change request;
Have
Each of the plurality of execution means
Before executing a process to be executed by itself among a plurality of processes stored in the storage unit, it is confirmed whether the change request is stored in the change request storage unit, and the change request is stored. If not, the process executed by itself is executed. On the other hand, when the change request is stored, the plurality of processes stored in the storage means are rewritten based on the change request. Processing system. Each of the plurality of execution means
After executing the process to be executed by itself, it is confirmed whether the change request is stored in the change request storage means. When the change request is stored, a plurality of processes stored in the storage means are stored. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the information processing system is rewritten based on the change request. Each of the plurality of execution means
The information processing system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when a plurality of processes stored in the storage unit are rewritten based on the change request, the change request is deleted from the change request storage unit. Having data storage means for storing electronic data;
Each of the plurality of execution means
The information processing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the electronic data is stored in the data storage means after the processing to be executed by the electronic data is executed on the electronic data. . The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of execution units execute different processes. The plurality of execution means include a plurality of conversion means for executing predetermined data conversion from one data format to another data format,
The process dividing unit executes the process in response to the execution request for converting the electronic data in the first data format into the electronic data in the second data format, to at least two conversion units among the plurality of conversion units. The information processing system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the information processing system is divided into a plurality of processes to be performed. An information processing method that is executed in an information processing system that includes a plurality of execution units configured to include one or more information processing apparatuses and that respectively execute predetermined processing.
Receiving a process execution request, a process dividing unit that divides the process related to the execution request into a plurality of processes to be executed by at least two or more of the plurality of execution units;
Have
Change request storage means,
Have
Each of the plurality of execution means
Before executing the process to be executed by itself among the plurality of processes stored in the storage unit that stores the plurality of processes divided by the process dividing unit, a change request for changing the process for the execution request is issued. When received, the change request is stored in the change request storage means for storing the change request. If the change request is not stored, the change request is executed while the change request is stored. Is stored, the plurality of processes stored in the storage means are rewritten based on the change request.

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