JP2015191305A - content control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily introduce a system which controls the provision of content.SOLUTION: A content server receives a request of the provision of content from a user terminal, and transmits the content corresponding to the request to the user terminal, and transmits inquiry information including user identification information for identifying a user and undertaker identification information for identifying an undertaker who manages the content server to a control device. The control device extracts user information corresponding to the undertaker identification information and the user identification information of the inquiry information on the basis of mapping information from a multi-tenant database, and transmits control information based on the user information to the content server as an inquiry source. The content server provides the content on the basis of the control information.

Description

  This case relates to a technology for controlling provision of content.

  In recent years, there has been a control in which content such as images, moving images, music, documents, and programs provided on a website is provided only to a specific user or is provided only to a user who has purchased the content.

  For example, on a major newspaper company website, there are places where paying members are allowed to view full articles and non-paying members are allowed to view only a part of the articles.

JP 2011-221600 A JP 2009-205319 A JP 2007-213446 A JP 2005-107831 A

  When content provision is controlled as described above, for example, it cannot be realized simply by building a website with static html pages. In this case, for example, a system such as a CMS (Contents Management System) is introduced into the web server in order to realize a function of confirming the authority of the user and dynamically determining whether or not the content can be provided according to the authority. You need to develop your own control functions.

  However, since the introduction and development of these systems require a great deal of cost and high technical capabilities, there is a problem that it is difficult to control the content provision. Therefore, it is difficult for small and medium businesses whose initial investment is higher than the scale for handling content to enter a business that provides content for a fee.

  Furthermore, for personal information media such as blogs, there seems to be a potential need to charge content, but the same system is required for controlling content even if it is small. The introduction of a system for controlling content in an individual-based information medium has not been realistic.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a technique that enables easy introduction of a system for controlling the provision of content.

The content control system according to the present invention includes:
A plurality of content servers that provide content to a user terminal, and a control device that controls the provision of the content by connecting to the plurality of content servers via a network;
The content server is
A request receiving unit for receiving a content provision request from the user terminal;
A content transmission unit that transmits content corresponding to the request to the user terminal;
An inquiry unit for transmitting inquiry information including user identification information for identifying the user and operator identification information for identifying an operator operating the content server to the control device;
A control information processing unit that receives control information as an answer to the inquiry from the control device, and that does not transmit the content in response to the request when the content cannot be provided based on the control information;
With
The control device is
An inquiry receiver for receiving inquiry information from the content server;
Based on the mapping information that defines the correspondence between the logical table column defined for each tenant and the physical table column for each tenant, sharing the physical table among the tenants with the operator as the tenant. From the multi-tenant database that stores the operator identification information, the user identification information, and the user information in association with each other, based on the mapping information, the operator identification information and the user identification information corresponding to the inquiry information An extraction unit for extracting user information;
An answer transmission unit configured to transmit control information based on the user information to the content server as an inquiry source.

The content control system includes:
The inquiry unit transmits, as the inquiry information, content identification information for identifying the requested content in addition to the user identification information and the operator identification information,
The control apparatus may further include a determination unit that determines whether or not the user information satisfies a content provision condition according to the content identification information, and uses at least a result of the determination as the control information.

Moreover, the content control system according to the present invention includes:
A plurality of content servers that provide content to a user terminal, and a control device that controls the provision of the content by connecting to the plurality of content servers via a network;
The control device is
A plurality of content servers that provide content to a user terminal, and a control device that controls the provision of the content by connecting via a network,
A request for providing content from the user terminal, and content identification information for identifying the content, user identification information for identifying the user, and the content server that provides the requested content based on the request A request receiving unit for acquiring business operator identification information for identifying a business operator;
Based on the mapping information that defines the correspondence between the logical table column defined for each tenant and the physical table column for each tenant, sharing the physical table among the tenants with the operator as the tenant. From the multi-tenant database that stores the operator identification information, the user identification information, and the user information in association with each other, based on the mapping information, the operator identification information and the user identification information corresponding to the inquiry information An extraction unit for extracting user information;
A determination unit that determines whether the content can be provided based on the user information;
A content transmission unit that acquires the content from the content server based on the result of the determination and transmits the content to the requesting user terminal;
Is provided.

The content control system includes:
Based on the mapping information, the control device disassembles the record in the logical table into a first record and a second record in the physical table, and a connection relationship between the first record and the second record A registration unit for registering with information indicating
The extraction unit may read the first record and the second record from the physical table based on the mapping information and information indicating the connection relationship, and output the combined record.

The content control method according to the present invention includes:
A content control method executed by a plurality of content servers that provide content to a user terminal, and a control device that controls the provision of the content by connecting to the plurality of content servers via a network,
The content server is
Receiving a content provision request from the user terminal;
Transmitting content corresponding to the request to the user terminal;
Transmitting inquiry information including user identification information for identifying the user and operator identification information for identifying an operator operating the content server to the control device;
Receiving control information as an answer to the inquiry from the control device, and not providing the content in response to the request when the content cannot be provided based on the control information, ,
The control device is
Receiving inquiry information from the content server;
Based on the mapping information that defines the correspondence between the logical table column defined for each tenant and the physical table column for each tenant, sharing the physical table among the tenants with the operator as the tenant. From the multi-tenant database that stores the operator identification information, the user identification information, and the user information in association with each other, based on the mapping information, the operator identification information and the user identification information corresponding to the inquiry information Extracting user information;
Transmitting control information based on the user information to the content server of the inquiry source;
Execute.

In the content control method,
The content server transmits, as the inquiry information, content identification information for identifying the requested content in addition to the user identification information and the operator identification information,
The control device may determine whether or not the user information satisfies a content provision condition according to the content identification information, and at least a result of the determination may be used as the control information.

Moreover, the control method according to the present invention includes:
A content control method executed by a control device connected to a plurality of content servers that provide content to a user terminal via a network and controlling the provision of the content,
A request for providing content from the user terminal, and content identification information for identifying the content, user identification information for identifying the user, and the content server that provides the requested content based on the request Obtaining operator identification information for identifying the operator;
Based on the mapping information that defines the correspondence between the logical table column defined for each tenant and the physical table column for each tenant, sharing the physical table among the tenants with the operator as the tenant. From the multi-tenant database that stores the operator identification information, the user identification information, and the user information in association with each other, based on the mapping information, the operator identification information and the user identification information corresponding to the inquiry information Extracting user information;
A determination unit that determines whether the content can be provided based on the user information;
Acquiring the content from the content server based on the result of the determination and transmitting the content to the requesting user terminal;
Execute.

In the content control method,
Based on the mapping information, the control device disassembles the record in the logical table into a first record and a second record in the physical table, and a connection relationship between the first record and the second record Register with information indicating
Based on the mapping information and the information indicating the connection relationship, the first record and the second record may be read from the physical table, combined and output.

The contents of the means for solving the above problems can be combined as much as possible without departing from the problems and technical ideas of the present invention. Further, the present invention may be a program for causing a computer to execute the method. The program may be provided by being recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. A computer-readable recording medium refers to a recording medium that stores information by electrical, magnetic, optical, mechanical, or chemical action and can be read by a computer. Among such recording media, those removable from the computer include, for example, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, flexible disks, magnetic tapes, memory cards, and the like. Also, HDD (Hard Disk Drive), SSD (Solid State Drive), ROM (Read
Only Memory).

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the technique which enables introduction of the system which controls provision of a content easily can be provided.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a content control system. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of a content server. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of the control device. FIG. 4 is an apparatus configuration diagram illustrating an example of a computer. FIG. 5 is a table showing an example of a “user” table managed by the tenant A. FIG. 6 is a table showing an example of the “employee” table managed by the tenant B. FIG. 7 is a table showing an example of a “purchase history” table managed by the tenant C. FIG. 8 shows an example of the data structure of the physical table and stored data. FIG. 9 is a table showing an example of contents registered as metadata. FIG. 10 is a table showing an example of content provision conditions. FIG. 11 is a table showing an example of contents registered in the fee storage unit as fee information. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of processing for registering user information. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a top page of a website provided by the content server. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a web page for membership. FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of a process for authenticating a user. FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of processing for providing content. FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of content provided to the user terminal 3. FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of a web page indicating that content cannot be provided. FIG. 19 is a process flowchart illustrating an example of the setting process. FIG. 20 is a process flow diagram illustrating an example of a setting process for setting metadata and the like. FIG. 21 is a diagram for explaining the correspondence between data types. FIG. 22 is a table showing an example of the index table. FIG. 23 is a diagram for explaining the table space. FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a content control system according to the second embodiment. FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating a content providing method according to the second embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The configuration of the following embodiment is an exemplification, and the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the embodiment.
Embodiment 1
<System configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a content control system 100 according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, a content control system 100 is connected to a plurality of content servers 2 that provide content to a user terminal 3 and a plurality of content servers 2 via a network N, and controls the provision of the content. 1.

  The content server 2 is a so-called web server that provides content such as images, moving images, music, documents, and programs on a website. The content server 2 provides a simple website configured by, for example, a static HTML file. The content server 2 may have a simple CMS (Contents Management System) that does not have a member management function or a browsing control function.

  The user terminal 3 accesses the content server 2 through the network N and requests the content server 2 to provide content by user operation. For example, when a user activates a web browser to the content server 2 and selects a link to designate a web page to browse, the user terminal 3 uses the URL of the web page and a method for requesting the web page. Is transmitted to the content server 2. Here, the content control system 100 according to the first embodiment hooks the request received by the content server 2, and the control device 1 determines whether or not to provide the content, that is, the web page, and sends the control information to the content server 2. Send. Based on this control information, the content server 2 transmits the web page to the user terminal 3 if it can be provided, and does not provide the web page to the user terminal 3 if it cannot be provided. As described above, the content control system 100 according to the first embodiment is a system in which the control device 1 controls whether or not content can be provided in response to a content request to the content server 2 that does not have the browsing control function. That is, in the content control system 100 according to the first embodiment, the control device 1 provides a browsing control function to the content server 2 as a so-called SaaS (Software as a Service).

<Content server>
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of the content server 2. The content server 2 in FIG. 2 includes a request receiving unit 21, a content transmitting unit 22, an inquiry unit 23, and a control information processing unit 24. Among these, the inquiry unit 23 and the control information processing unit 24 are provided by the plug-in module PM for this embodiment as described later.

The request receiving unit 21 receives a content provision request from the user terminal 3. Based on the received request, the request receiving unit 21 stores information indicating the requested content, such as a URL, in a memory.
The content transmission unit 22 transmits content corresponding to the request received by the request reception unit 21 to the user terminal 3.

  The inquiry unit 23 transmits inquiry information including user identification information for identifying the requested user and company identification information for identifying the company that operates the content server, to the control device 1. Here, the business is an individual or an organization that provides content using the content server 2, for example.

The control information processing unit 24 receives control information as an answer to the inquiry from the control device 1, and does not transmit the content in response to the request when content cannot be provided based on the control information. . For example, instead of the requested content, a web page (error page) indicating the content of the error is output. Specifically, when the content transmission unit 22 acquires the URL of the requested content from a predetermined memory area, the control information processing unit 24 invalidates the request by replacing the URL of the memory area. In this way, the control information processing unit 24 replaces the URL so that the content transmission unit 22 does not acquire the content and does not transmit the content. Further, the control information processor 24 may replace the URL so that the content transmitter 22 transmits another web page indicating an error message or the like, that is, the requested content may not be transmitted.
On the other hand, when the content can be provided, the control information processing unit 24 transmits the requested content as usual in response to the request.

The request reception unit 21 and the content transmission unit 22 have the same function as a general web server. In other words, an existing web server configured by causing an information processing device to execute web server software such as Apache HTTP Server of Apache Software Foundation or IIS (Internet Information Service) of Microsoft Corporation receives a request from a user terminal. The function of distributing content according to the request corresponds to the request receiving unit 21 and the content transmitting unit 22.

Then, by providing the existing web server with a module format unique to each web server and a program module PM (hereinafter also simply referred to as a plug-in module) such as JAVA (registered trademark) ServletFilter, the inquiry unit 23 and the content server 2 including the control information processing unit 24 can be configured. That is, the content server 2 according to the first embodiment can be configured simply by adding the plug-in module for the present embodiment to an existing web server.

<Control device>
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of the control device 1. 3 includes a data operation unit 10, a physical table 11, a metadata storage unit 12, a setting unit 13, a request reception unit 14, a conversion unit 15, a result response unit 16, and a determination unit. 17, a condition storage unit 18, a settlement unit 19, and a fee storage unit 91.

  The physical table 11 is a storage device that stores data records as physical files with a predetermined data structure (schema). In the first embodiment, a plurality of tenants share the physical table 11 having the same data structure. That is, data of different tenants is held in the same physical table 11.

  In addition, the data operation unit 10 performs operations such as record insertion (registration), record selection (search), record update, and record deletion on the physical table 11.

  Further, the metadata storage unit 12 stores metadata indicating the correspondence between the data structure of the logical table and the data structure of the physical table 11 defined by each tenant according to the business. In the first embodiment, the physical table 11 is common to each tenant and has a general data structure. In the metadata, one column of the physical table 11 is assigned to one column (also referred to as “row”, “item”, or “field”) of the logical table. At this time, a column of a corresponding data type is assigned. The metadata is also referred to as “mapping information”.

  Here, one record of the logical table defined by each tenant may not be held by one record of the physical table 11. For example, if the number of columns in the physical table 11 is smaller than the number of columns in the logical table, a record in the logical table cannot be held by one record in the physical table. Further, even when the number of columns of a certain data type prepared in the physical table 11 is smaller than the number defined in the logical table, the logical table record cannot be held by one record in the physical table. . In such a case, one record in the logical table is divided into two or more records in the physical table 11 and held. For this reason, the physical table 11 includes a column indicating a connection relationship (also referred to as “page”) of a plurality of records. The metadata associates the values of the logical table columns with the columns and pages of the physical table 11 in a one-to-one correspondence.

  The setting unit 13 receives a command for setting metadata from the manager terminal 4 of each business operator via the network N and stores the command in the metadata storage unit 12. The administrator terminal 4 may be any information processing apparatus that can input a command for setting metadata, and may be, for example, the content server 2. Further, the operator of the control device 1 may listen to the setting contents from the operator side and directly input a command for setting the metadata to the control device 1. In addition, the setting unit 13 receives a command for setting a content provision condition from the manager terminal 4 of each business operator via the network N, and stores the command in the condition storage unit 18.

  The request receiving unit 14 receives a request for performing a data operation from another device such as the content server 2, the administrator terminal 4, and the user terminal 3 via the network N and passes the request to the conversion unit 15. Therefore, the request receiving unit 14 is also an inquiry receiving unit that receives inquiry information from the content server 2 in the first embodiment.

  Based on the metadata stored in the metadata storage unit 12, the conversion unit 15 converts the data operation request received from the tenant terminal into a data operation command (also referred to as “query” or “query”) for the physical table 11. And transmitted to the data operation unit 10. For example, when the registration of the operator identification information, the user identification information, and the user information is requested from another device, the conversion unit 15 associates the information based on the metadata and passes the information to the data operation unit 10. And stored in the physical table 11.

  In addition, the conversion unit 15 receives the result of the data operation acquired from the data operation unit 10, converts it into an item in the logical table of each tenant, and passes it to the result response unit 16 and the determination unit 17. Therefore, in the first embodiment, the conversion unit 15 is also an extraction unit that extracts, from the physical table 10, user information corresponding to the provider identification information and user identification information of the inquiry information based on the mapping information.

The determination unit 17 reads the content provision condition according to the business operator identification information from the condition storage unit 18, determines whether the user information passed from the conversion unit 15 satisfies the content provision condition, and at least the The determination result is passed to the result response unit 16 as control information. When the content provision conditions are set for each content, the determination unit 17 reads out the content provision conditions according to the provider identification information and the content identification information from the condition storage unit 18, and is passed from the conversion unit 15. It may be determined whether or not the user information satisfies the content provision condition, and the result of the determination may be passed to the result response unit 16 as control information.

  The result response unit 16 transmits the result of the data operation request received from the content server 2, the administrator terminal 4, the user terminal 3, or the like to the requesting device. Therefore, in the first embodiment, the result response unit 16 is also a response transmission unit that transmits control information based on user information to the content server 2 that is an inquiry source.

  The settlement unit 19 receives a membership fee when the user joins and a cost for purchasing content, and performs a process for settlement. For example, the credit card information is received from the user terminal 3, the card company server (not shown) is accessed via the network, the credit card information and the amount are notified, and the credit card is requested to be used. Can be used, that is, payment can be made, user information is registered in the multi-tenant database, and content can be provided.

  The payment unit 19 is not limited thereto, and receives information on a prepaid card (system) and electronic money from the user terminal 3, and a server of a company (not shown) that operates the prepaid card (system) and electronic money via the network. ), Request the use by notifying the information and amount of the prepaid card (system) and electronic money, and if this use is possible, that is, if payment is possible, the user information is registered in the multi-tenant database. Content may be provided.

  In addition, the settlement unit 19 transmits and displays a number and the like for postpayment by convenience store payment or bank transfer to the user terminal 3 to temporarily register the user information in the multi-tenant database, User information may be permanently registered when payment is confirmed by accessing a managed server or the like.

<Device configuration>
FIG. 4 is an apparatus configuration diagram illustrating an example of a computer. The control device 1, content server 2, user terminal 3, and administrator terminal 4 are computers as shown in FIG. A computer 1000 shown in FIG. 4 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 1001, a main storage device 1002, an auxiliary storage device 1003, a communication IF (Interface) 1004, an input / output IF (Interface) 1005, a drive device 1006, and a communication bus 1007. ing. The CPU 1001 performs processing according to the present embodiment by executing a program (also referred to as “software” or “application”). The main storage device 1002 caches programs and data read by the CPU 1001 and develops a work area of the CPU.

  Specifically, the main storage device is a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), or the like. The auxiliary storage device 1003 stores programs executed by the CPU 1001, setting information used in the present embodiment, and the like. Specifically, the auxiliary storage device 1003 is an HDD (Hard-disk Drive), an SSD (Solid State Drive), a flash memory, or the like. The main storage device 1002 and the auxiliary storage device 1003 function as means for storing the physical table 11 and the metadata storage unit 12 of the control device 1 and other temporary data. The communication IF 1004 transmits / receives data to / from other computers. The communication IF 1004 is specifically a wired or wireless network card or the like. The control device 1 and the content server 2 are connected to a network N such as the Internet via a communication IF 1004.

The input / output IF 1005 is connected to the input / output device and accepts an operation from the user or presents information to the user. Specifically, the input / output device is a keyboard, a mouse, a display, a touch panel, or the like. The drive device 1006 reads data recorded on a storage medium such as a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, and an optical disk, and writes data to the storage medium. The above components are connected by a communication bus 1007. A plurality of these components may be provided, or some of the components (for example, the drive device 1006) may not be provided. Further, the input / output device may be integrated with the computer. In addition, the program executed in this embodiment is provided via a portable storage medium readable by the drive device 1006, a portable auxiliary storage device 1003 such as a flash memory, a communication IF 1004, and the like. It may be. Then, when the CPU 1001 executes a predetermined program, the computer shown in FIG. 4 is operated as the control device 1, the content server 2, the user terminal 3, the administrator terminal 4, or the like.

<Data structure>
Next, an example of the correspondence relationship between the data structure of the physical table 11 and the data structure of the logical table will be described. The tables shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 are examples of logical tables and stored data that the tenants A to C hold in the control device 1. FIG. 5 is a table showing an example of column names and registered records of the “user” table managed by the tenant A. The “user” table shown in FIG. 5 has columns of “name”, “sex”, “user ID”, “member type”, and “date of membership”. The data types are, for example, “name” and “gender” are character string types, “user ID” and “member type” are numeric types, and “enrollment date” is a date type. In the “user” table, “user ID” is user identification information for uniquely identifying a user.

  FIG. 6 is a table showing an example of data registered in the “employee” table managed by the tenant B. The “employee” table shown in FIG. 6 has columns of “employee number”, “department name”, and “position”. For example, “Department name” and “Position” are character string types, and “Employee number” is a numeric type. In the “employee” table, “employee number” is user identification information for uniquely identifying a user.

  FIG. 7 is a table showing an example of data registered in the “purchase history” table managed by the tenant C. The “purchase history” table shown in FIG. 7 has columns of “customer ID”, “content name”, “content type”, “URL”, “price”, “release date”, and “purchase date”. The data type is, for example, “content name”, “content type”, “URL” is a character string type, “customer ID” and “price” are numeric types, and “release date” and “purchase date” are date types. It is. In the “purchase history” table, “customer ID” is user identification information for uniquely identifying a user.

As shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, in the first embodiment, since information to be held, control conditions, and the like can be made different for each tenant, various browsing control methods can be handled.
For example, in the “user” table of tenant A, a member type is defined as an attribute, and the range of contents that can be referred to is controlled according to the member type.

In the “employee” table of tenant B, a department name and job title are defined as attributes, and the range of contents that can be referred to is controlled according to the job department name and job title.
Further, in the “purchase history” table of the tenant C, information such as a purchase date is defined as an attribute, and the range of contents that can be referred to is controlled according to the purchase date or the like.

The table shown in FIG. 8 is an example of the data structure of the physical table 11 and stored data. The physical table of FIG. 8 includes columns such as “TenantID”, “TypeID”, “DataID”, “PageID”, “Char1”, “Char2”, “Num1”, “Num2”, “Date1”, “Date2”, etc. Have. The data types are, for example, “TenantID”, “TypeID”, “Char1” and “Char2” are character string types, “Num1” and “Num2” are numeric types, and “Date1” and “Date2” are date types. is there. The data size of each column (also referred to as “data length”) may be a variable length or a fixed length. Although not explicitly shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of columns having the same data type and different data sizes may be provided.

  In the “TenantID” column, identification information for identifying a tenant who is a user of the control device 1, that is, business operator identification information is registered. In the first embodiment, when inputting data from the user terminal 3 or the administrator terminal 4 or the like, first, identification information (for example, “TenantID”) of the tenant is input to identify the business operator. Note that “TenantID” is not limited to being directly input by a user or an administrator. For example, “TenantID” can be identified in a URL when accessing the control device 1 from the user terminal 3 or the administrator terminal 4. Is incorporated.

For example, as described below, “TenantID” such as tenant_a and tenant_b may be incorporated as a server name or path information of a domain, and this may be extracted to specify the business operator.
Domain server name: https: //tenant_a.domain.co.jp/hoge / ...
Path information: https://wwww.domain.co.jp/tenant_b / hoge / ...

  Basically, the data operation related to each tenant is performed on the record in which the identification information of the tenant is registered in the “TenantID” column among the records registered in the physical table 11. Further, when the data of each tenant is inserted as a new record in the physical table 11, the identification information of the tenant is registered in the “TenantID” column. By doing in this way, SaaS which shared from a hardware resource to an application and a database structure is realizable.

  Identification information for identifying a logical table in each tenant is registered in the “TypeID” column. In the column “DataID”, identification information for uniquely specifying a record in each logical table is registered. By assigning (numbering) the value of “DataID” so that the record can be uniquely identified in each logical table, the record in each tenant's logical table is uniquely identified by the composite key of “TenantID”, “TypeID”, and “DataID” Can be specified. Note that, as shown in FIG. 8, a value of “DataID” may be assigned so that a record can be uniquely specified in all logical tables.

  In the “PageID” column, information indicating a connection relationship (connection order) when one record in the logical table is divided into a plurality of records and registered in the physical table 11 is registered. In the example of FIG. 8, a serial number is registered as information representing the connection relationship. In the example of FIG. 8, the columns of the logical table can be specified by “DataID” and “PageID”, so that one record in the logical table can be restored from a plurality of records in the physical table 11. Note that the records of the physical table 11 may be uniquely identified using the “TenantID”, “TypeID”, “DataID”, and “PageID” columns as composite keys.

In addition, the values of each column of the logical table are registered in the columns “Char1”, “Char2”, “Num1”, “Num2”, “Date1”, “Date2”,. That is, these are columns that independently hold values held in a plurality of columns of the logical table. For example, “Char1” and “Char2” are character string type columns. “Num1” and “Num2” are numeric type columns. “Date1” and “Date2” are date type columns. FIG. 8 is an example in which the column configuration is simplified. The physical table 11 may further include columns of other data types, or may include three or more columns of each data type. Also good. Further, the number of columns of each data type provided in the physical table 11 may not be the same. For example, the physical table 11 can be defined to have 30 character string columns, 10 numeric columns, and 5 date columns. However, since multi-tenant systems require versatility, the number of columns for each data type may be determined on average, or the number of columns for each data type may be determined based on tenant needs, actual usage, etc. . The association between the data structure of the logical table and the data structure of the physical table 11 is previously defined in the metadata for each tenant.

  FIG. 9 is a table showing an example of contents registered as metadata. 9A shows metadata relating to the user table of tenant A, FIG. 9B shows metadata relating to the employee table of tenant B, and FIG. 9C shows purchase history of tenant C. The metadata concerning a table is shown.

  The metadata is stored as a table on the DBMS or a file on the file system for each tenant, for example. In the first embodiment, a combination of a tenant (eg, “tenant A”, “tenant B”, “tenant C”, etc.) and a logical table (eg, “user” table, “employee” table, “purchase history” table, etc.) are used. On the other hand, “TypeID” of the physical table 11 is uniquely assigned. Further, the metadata indicates the correspondence between the columns of the logical tables shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 and the columns of the physical table shown in FIG.

  In the first embodiment, one record in the logical table may be decomposed into a plurality of records in the physical table 11 and registered. Therefore, the “column name” of the logical table is associated with the “corresponding column name” of the physical table 11 and “PageID” for uniquely identifying each decomposed record. When “PageID” is only 1 for a certain “DataID” like the records of “001” to “004” in FIG. 8, the logical table record is not decomposed and the physical table 11 is not decomposed. It can be seen that On the other hand, when there is a record having the same “DataID” value and a “PageID” value of 2 or more, such as the “DataID” value “005” and “006” in FIG. It can be seen that the table records are divided into a plurality of pieces and stored in the physical table 11. Thus, the “PageID” column can be said to be data indicating a connection relationship between a plurality of records in the physical table 11.

  In the first embodiment, a logical table and metadata are basically defined for each tenant. However, master data shared by each tenant may be prepared. For example, a postal code master that stores a postal code and a part of an address in association with each other may be held with metadata common to each tenant. Since the contents of such a zip code master are determined by the standard of the postal system, it is more efficient that each tenant uses it in common. The common metadata may be centrally managed by the administrator of the control apparatus 1 as a file on the file system, and the metadata of each tenant may be managed in association with “TenantID” as a record on the DBMS.

  FIG. 10 is a table showing an example of contents registered in the condition storage unit 18 as content provision conditions. 10A shows provision conditions related to the user table of tenant A, FIG. 10B shows provision conditions related to the employee table of tenant B, and FIG. 10C shows purchase history of tenant C. The provision conditions concerning a table are shown.

  In the example of FIGS. 10A to 10C, the content ID, that is, the content identification information and the provision condition are registered in association with each other. In the first embodiment, the content identification information uses the URL of the content. The content identification information is not limited to the URL, and may be a file name, a serial number, an arbitrary symbol, or the like as long as the information can uniquely identify the content within the website.

  The determination unit 17 of the control device 1 reads the provision condition from the condition storage unit 18 and determines whether or not the content can be provided.

In FIG. 10A, when the content ID corresponds to / memberarea / ^* , the provision condition is that the user is a member. In the first embodiment, ^* indicates that ^* all contents included in the following layers are applicable. When the member is in the provision condition as described above, the determination unit 17 determines whether or not the content can be provided based on, for example, whether or not user information corresponding to the user identification information of the inquiry information has been extracted. The determination unit 17 may determine whether or not the content can be provided based on whether or not the membership date of the user information corresponding to the user identification information is within a predetermined period (valid period) from the current date and time.

  In FIG. 10A, when the content ID corresponds to / contents? Cid = 12343326, the provision condition is that the member type is “2”. This member type is set for each member type, such as “1” for normal members, “2” for gold members, “3” for platinum members, etc. The

  In this way, when the member type is the provision condition, the determination unit 17 provides the content depending on whether the member type of the user information corresponding to the user identification information of the inquiry information matches the member type of the provision condition, for example. Determine whether or not. Note that the value of the user information, in this example, the member type is not limited to the provision condition, and the order of the user information is determined and stored in the condition storage unit as 3> 2> 1, Whether or not the content can be provided may be determined based on whether or not the information value (member type) is higher than the provision condition.

In FIG. 10B, when the content ID corresponds to / management / ^* , the provision condition is whether or not the title is greater than or equal to the general manager. Note that the position values are determined in the order of president> senior management>department> section manager> chief.

  As described above, when the title is the provision condition, the determination unit 17 determines whether or not the content can be provided depending on whether the title of the user information corresponding to the user identification information of the inquiry information satisfies the provision condition. For example, in the case of job title ≧ department manager, the determination unit 17 determines that the content can be provided when the job title of the user information is greater than or equal to the job manager, that is, the president, senior managing director, or job manager, and the job title of the user information is less than the job manager. If it is a section manager or chief, it is determined that content cannot be provided.

Similarly, in FIG. 10B, when the content ID corresponds to / product / ^* , whether the user identification information of the inquiry information and the user information corresponding to the user information satisfy the provision condition, for example, whether they match Whether or not the content can be provided is determined based on the result.

In FIG. 10C, when the content ID corresponds to / paidcontents / ^* , whether or not the content can be provided is determined by whether or not the URL (content identification information) of the inquiry information matches the purchased URL of the user information. judge.

The provision condition may be not only user information but also a combination with other information. For example, in FIG. 10C, when the content ID corresponds to / data / ^* , whether or not the content can be provided is determined based on whether or not the purchase date of the user information is within one week. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be used on the condition that the number of times content is provided is less than a predetermined number, the amount of information provided within a predetermined period is within a predetermined amount, or a predetermined time zone such as daytime or midnight.

Various patterns can be considered for these provision conditions, and the provision conditions may be customized on a tenant basis. For example, input of provision conditions may be received and registered in the condition storage unit 18 using a domain-specific language (DSL) or a general-purpose script language (javaScript, Groovy, etc.) of existing technology.

  FIG. 11 is a table showing an example of contents registered in the fee storage unit 91 as fee information. As shown in FIG. 11, the fee information stores information for identifying a charging object such as content identification information and membership type, a fee (amount), and a period.

<Registration of user information>
FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of processing for registering user information. First, when the user terminal 3 accesses the content server 2 for membership registration (step S10), the content server 2 displays a web page on which a link for connecting to the web page for membership of the control device 1 is posted. 3 is transmitted and displayed (step S15).

  When the user selects this link, the user terminal 3 requests a membership web page by transmitting a URL to the control device 1 in accordance with the description of the link (step S20).

  The control device 1 transmits a web page (input form) for membership to the user terminal 3 for display (step S25).

  When the user inputs user information in the input form and selects transmission, the user terminal 3 transmits the input user information and business operator identification information to the control device 1 (step S30). The business operator identification information may be input by the user, but may be transmitted to the control device as a parameter when a web page for membership is requested in step S20. Further, it may be determined from which provider's content server the URL of the calling page of the page. For example, as shown below, information indicating the content server 2 or the operator such as server_a and tenant_b may be incorporated as the server name or path information of the domain, and this may be extracted to specify the operator identification information.

Domain server name: https: //server_a.domain.co.jp/hoge / ...
Path information: https: //wwww.domain.co.jp/tenantB/hoge / ...
Alternatively, a different URL may be prepared for each tenant for the membership web page, and the called membership web page may register the respective business entity identification information.

  Then, the control device 1 transmits to the user terminal 3 and displays the received user information and a web page (confirmation screen) for confirming payment of the fee accompanying payment (step S35). The control device 1 uses the input unique information such as an email address as user identification information, or generates information unique to each user as user identification information, and adds it to the user information. Moreover, the control apparatus 1 reads the charge according to the inputted member classification from the charge memory | storage part 91, and reflects it on the said web page (confirmation screen).

  When the user confirms the input information and payment information by selecting an option (not shown) such as a confirmation button on the confirmation screen, the user terminal 3 transmits information indicating the confirmation to the control device 1 ( Step S40).

  The control device 1 that has received the confirmation information performs a settlement process based on the user information and the fee (step S45), and confirms whether payment is possible (step S50). For example, the credit card information is received from the user terminal 3, the card company server (not shown) is accessed via the network, the credit card information and the amount are notified, and the credit card is requested to be used. Confirm whether the use of is OK.

  If the use of the credit card is OK, that is, payment is possible (step S50, Yes), the control device 1 registers the user information in the multi-tenant database (step S55). In the case of post-payment, it is possible to register that the user information is before the receipt of the fee and make a provisional registration, and register the fact that the fee has been received when the payment can be confirmed and make the main registration.

  Then, as a result of the registration process, for example, when the registration in step S55 is completed or the payment in step S45 is not possible (No in step S50), the control device 1 displays a web page describing that fact on the user terminal. 3 (step S60) and display (step S65).

  As described above, in the first embodiment, the content server 2 can perform user registration and settlement by simply describing a link that guides the user terminal 3 to the control device 1 without having a user registration function or a settlement function. I am doing so.

  In FIG. 12, when registering a user free of charge, the processing of steps S45 and S50 may be omitted. For example, when the member type input in the input form is a general member, the user information is registered by omitting steps S45 and S50 (step S55), and the member type is a gold member or a platinum member. Alternatively, the payment process may be performed in steps S45 and S50.

  In the above example, the process at the time of enrollment is shown, but the purchase of content can also be performed by the same process. For example, when the user accesses the content server 2 for content purchase (step S10), the content server 2 sends a web page on which a link for connecting to the web page for content purchase of the control device 1 is posted to the user terminal 3. Transmit and display (step S15).

  When the user selects this link, the user terminal 3 requests a web page for content purchase by transmitting a URL to the control device 1 according to the description of the link (step S20).

  The control device 1 transmits a content purchase web page (input form) to the user terminal 3 for display (step S25).

When the user inputs information for purchase in the input form, for example, user identification information of the user to be purchased, payment method, content identification information, use period when the use period is limited, and selects transmission, the user terminal 3 transmits the input information to the control device 1 (step S30). The content identification information may be input by the user, but may be described as a URL parameter of the link and transmitted to the control device 1 in step S20. Note that the user identification information may be held in the user terminal 3 in the form of a Web browser cookie or the like during a prior login process and automatically transmitted.

  And the control apparatus 1 transmits the web page (confirmation screen) which confirms payment of the received information and the fee accompanying payment to the user terminal 3, and displays it (step S35). In addition, the control apparatus 1 reads the fee according to the input content identification information from the fee storage unit 91 and reflects it on the web page (confirmation screen).

When the user confirms the input information and payment information by selecting an option (not shown) such as a confirmation button on the confirmation screen, the user terminal 3 transmits information indicating the confirmation to the control device 1 ( Step S40).

  The control device 1 that has received the confirmation information performs a settlement process based on the user information and the fee (step S45), and confirms whether payment is possible (step S50). Here, if payment is possible (step S50, Yes), the control device 1 adds content identification information of the purchased content, purchase information such as a purchase date and a usage period to the user information. Register in the multi-tenant database (step S55). In the case of post-payment, it is possible to register that the user information is before the receipt of the fee and make a provisional registration, and register the fact that the fee has been received when the payment can be confirmed and make the main registration.

And the control apparatus 1 transmits to the user terminal 3 the web page which described that the registration of step S55 was completed or the payment of step S45 was impossible (step S60), and made it display (step S65) ).

  FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a top page of a website provided by the content server 2, and a web page on which a link for connecting to a web page for membership provided by the content server 2 in step S15 of FIG. 12 is posted. It is also an example.

  As shown in FIG. 13, the web page 61 includes a link 62 for requesting content, a link 63 for connecting to a web page for membership, and a link 64 for login. For example, the link 63 is described in html as follows.

<a href="http://www.00000.com/entry/admi.html?gid=012345"> Register as a member </a>
In the example of the link 63, http://www.00000.com/entry/admi.html is the URL of the web page for membership, and 012345 is the operator identification information.

  FIG. 14 shows an example of a web page for membership. As shown in FIG. 14, the web page 65 includes user information input fields 66 such as the user's name, user identification information (email address in the example of FIG. 14), authentication password, and membership type options. ing. When the user inputs user information in these input fields 66 and selects the transmission button 67, the user terminal 3 transmits the input user information to the control device 1 for registration.

<User authentication>
FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of a process for authenticating a user. First, when the user selects a login link 64 on the web page 61 of FIG. 13, the user terminal 3 requests a login web page by transmitting a URL to the control device 1 according to the description of the link 64. (Step S110).

  On the other hand, the control device 1 transmits a login web page (input form) to the user terminal 3 for display (step S115). When the user inputs authentication information such as user identification information and password in the input form and selects transmission, the user terminal 3 transmits the input authentication information to the control device 1 (step S120).

The control device 1 that has received this authentication data (step S123) reads the password registered in the multi-tenant database as the user information of the user corresponding to the user identification information of the received authentication information (step S125), and the received password And the registered password match, that is, whether the authentication information matches (step S130).

When the received password matches the registered password (step S130)
, Yes), the control device 1 transmits the user identification information to the user terminal 3 as an HTTP Cookie or a session ID (step S135) and stores it (step S140).

  On the other hand, if the received password does not match the registered password (No at Step S130), the control device 1 transmits an error message to the user terminal 3 to display it, and ends the authentication process (Step S145). , S150).

<Control of content provision>
A web page 61 shown in FIG. 13 includes a plurality of article headings, and each article heading is a link 62 for requesting content. That is, when the headline of each article is selected, the article text is provided as the content. FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of processing for providing this content.

First, when the user selects a link 62 (FIG. 13) for requesting content, the user terminal 3 transmits the URL of the article text, that is, the content identification information of the requested content, to the content server 2 in accordance with the description of the link 62. Further, the user terminal 3 transmits the user identification information to the content server 2 as an HTTP Cookie or a session ID. Thus, the user terminal 3 requests the provision of content by transmitting the content identification information and the user identification information to the content server 2 (step S210).

When the content server 2 receives the request for the content (step S215), the content server 2 adds the operator ID and the secret key (secret key) to the content identification information and user identification information of the request to obtain inquiry information. Transmit (step S220). The secret key is information for indicating the validity of the content server 2 and is registered in the content server and the control device 1 in advance.

  The control device 1 that has received the inquiry information in step S230 compares the received secret key with the registered secret key, and if they match, corresponds to the business ID and user identification information of the inquiry information. User information is extracted from the multi-tenant database (step S235). If the secret keys do not match, it is not a valid inquiry, and the process ends without extracting user information. The determination of the validity of the content server 2 is not limited to collation of the secret key, but may be based on collation of an electronic certificate or the IP address of the content server 2.

  And the control apparatus 1 reads the provision conditions corresponding to the content identification information of the inquiry information received at step S230, and determines whether the user information extracted at step S235 satisfies the provision conditions (step S240).

  As a result of the determination, the control device 1 generates control information that allows the provision of content if the user information satisfies the provision condition, and prohibits the provision of content if the user information does not satisfy the provision condition. Control information is generated (step S245), and the control information is transmitted to the content server 2 (step S250).

The content server 2 that has received the control information determines whether or not content can be provided based on the control information (step S255). When the control information is information that allows content provision, the content server 2 provides (transmits) the content requested in step S215 to the user terminal 3 (step S260). On the other hand, when the control information received from the control device 1 is information that prohibits the provision of content, the content server 2 displays a web page (hereinafter also referred to as a provision impossible page) indicating that the content cannot be provided. Provide (transmit) to the user terminal 3 (step S265). For example, the control information processing unit 24 of the content server 2 provides the URL of the content that the content transmission unit 22 acquires as a request for the request in step S215 when the control information prohibits the provision of content. By updating to the URL, the provision impossible page is transmitted to the user terminal 3. That is, the content requested in step S215 is not provided (transmitted). Note that if the control information is such that the content cannot be provided, the content server 2 may simply transmit the error status 403, 404, or the like instead of the unavailable page.

  The user terminal 3 receives the web page from the content server 2 and outputs such as display (step S270).

  FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of content provided to the user terminal 3. As shown in FIG. 17, the web page 71 provided to the user terminal 3 displays a moving image 72 and a text 73 related to the article.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of a web page indicating that content cannot be provided. As shown in FIG. 18, on the web page 74 transmitted when provision is not possible, a message 75 indicating that provision is not possible and a link 63 to a member registration page are displayed.

<Multitenant database data operations>
Registration of user information in step S55 in FIG. 12 and extraction of user information in step S235 in FIG. 13 will be described in detail below.

  The request receiving unit 14 of the control device 1 receives a request relating to data operation from the content server 2 (FIG. 19: S301). The request is accepted as, for example, a query (for example, a query language such as SQL) that requests the logical table to insert, select, update, and delete records. Then, the request reception unit 14 transmits the request to the conversion unit 15. For example, when a user information registration (insertion) or update request is received from the user terminal 3 or when a user information inquiry (selection request) is received from the content server 2, the request reception unit 14 of the control device 1. Generates a request for data manipulation.

  The conversion unit 15 of the control device 1 converts the request received from the request reception unit 14 into a request for the physical table 11 based on the metadata stored in the metadata storage unit 12 (S302). Here, the content of the query is corrected based on the metadata shown in FIG. That is, one or two or more records are virtually handled as one record based on the value held in the column “PageID” of the physical table, which is information indicating the connection relationship between records. More specifically, a condition is added in which a record whose value of “TenantID” matches the identification information of the requesting tenant is targeted. Also, the operation target table is changed to the physical table 11 and the specification of the operation target logical table in the request before conversion is replaced with the specification of the value of the column “TypeID”. Further, the column specification in the request before conversion is replaced with the column of the physical table 11 and the specification of “PageID”.

For example, an example in which the following query 1A is transmitted for the tenant C to perform a search will be described.
(Query 1A)
SELECT customer ID, content name, content type, URL, price, release date, purchase date FROM purchase history WHERE customer ID = '1010999';
In this example, a record whose value of “customer ID” is “1010999” is extracted from the logical table “purchase history”, “customer ID”, “content name”, “content type”, “URL”, “price”, This is a request for displaying the value of each item of “release date” and “purchase date”. Then, the query 1A is converted into the following query 1B by the conversion unit 15. It is assumed that the physical name of the physical table 11 is “DataTable”.
(Query 1B)
SELECT p1.Num1, p1.Char1, p1.Char2, p2.Char1, p1.Num1, p1.Date1, p2.Date2
FROM DataTable p1 LEFT OUTER JOIN DataTable p2
ON p1.DataID = p2.DataID and p2.PageID = 2
WHERE p1.Char2 = '1010999'
AND p1.TenantID = 'B' AND p1.TypeID = 'Purchase history' AND p1.PageID = 1;
In this example, a record having a “PageID” value of 1 and a record having a “PageID” value of 2 are self-joined. Further, based on the metadata in FIG. 9, the “content type” of the logical table is converted to “Char2” (that is, p1.Char2) whose “PageID” is 1 in the physical table 11. Note that the data operation unit 10 may obtain a record with “PageID” of 1 and a record of 2, respectively, and the conversion unit 15 may be combined into one virtual record. Further, when there is a record having a “PageID” value of 3 or more, it is possible to self-join three or more records in the converted query.

Next, an example in which the tenant C transmits the following query 2A in order to count the number of records will be described.
(Query 2A)
SELECT COUNT (*) FROM Purchase history WHERE Content type = 'Language';
The query 2A is converted into the following query 2B by the converter 15.
(Query 2B)
SELECT COUNT (*)
FROM DataTable p1 LEFT OUTER JOIN DataTable p2
ON p1.DataID = p2.DataID and p2.PageID = 2
WHERE p1.Char2 = 'Language'
AND p1.TenantID = 'B' AND p1.TypeID = 'Purchase history' AND p1.PageID = 1;
Also in this example, a record with “PageID” of 2 is self-joined, and a record with “PageID” of 1 is selected (SELECT). Further, based on the metadata of FIG. 9, the “content type” of the logical table is “Char2” (ie, p1.Char2) whose “PageID” is 1 in the physical table 11.
). Note that the data operation unit 10 may obtain a record with “PageID” of 1 and a record of 2, respectively, and the conversion unit 15 may combine and count the virtual record.

Next, an example in which the tenant C transmits the following query 3A to insert a record (INSERT) will be described.
(Query 3A)
INSERT INTO Purchase History VALUES ('101999', 'English Conversation', 'Language', '/data/eng/lan.mpg', 30000, 2014/06/06, 2014/07/29);
The query 3A is converted into the following query 3B and query 3C by the converter 15. At the time of receiving the request, if up to 004 records with “DataID” are registered in the physical table 11, “005” is assigned to “DataID” of the newly inserted record. .
(Query 3B)
INSERT INTO DataTable (TenantID, TypeID, DataID, PageID, Char1, Char2, Num1, Num2, Date1)
VALUES ('B', 'Purchase History', 005, 1, 'English Conversation', 'Language', 30000, 2014/06/06);
(Query 3C)
INSERT INTO DataTable (TenantID, TypeID, DataID, PageID, Char1, Date2)
VALUES ('B', 'Purchase History', 005, 2, '/data/eng/lan.mpg', 2014/07/29);
In the case of record insertion, the conversion unit 15 refers to the metadata, and generates a query for insertion for each “PageID” when one record in the logical table is associated with a plurality of records in the physical table 11. In the above example, a query 3B for inserting a record (first record) with “PageID” “1” and a query 3C for inserting a record (second record) with “PageID” “2” are generated. ing.

  In the foregoing, an example of the data operation in the case where the record of the logical table is decomposed and associated with the plurality of records of the physical table 11 in the metadata has been described. When the record in the logical table is registered without being disassembled in the physical table 11 like the record of the tenant A, the conditions of “TenantID” and “TypeID” are added and the column name is converted. “PageID” is only “1”, and it is not necessary to combine or decompose.

  As for the record update, the request is converted in the same manner as the selection, and a query for updating the record corresponding to the condition is generated. As for the record deletion, for example, a query for deleting a record having the same “DataID” value as that of the record corresponding to the condition is generated.

  Thereafter, the data operation unit 10 of the control device 1 performs data operation on the physical table 11 (S303). In this step, the data operation unit 10 issues a converted query to the physical table 11 to perform data operations such as insertion, selection, update, and deletion, and outputs the execution result to the conversion unit 15. As described above, the conversion unit 15 and the data operation unit 10 function as a “registration unit”, “extraction unit”, “update unit”, “deletion unit”, and the like according to the received request. Further, S302 to S304 of the data operation process function as a “registration step”, “extraction step”, “update step”, and “deletion step” according to the received request.

  Next, the conversion unit 15 converts the output result based on the metadata in the metadata storage unit 12, and outputs the result to the result response unit (S304).

  And the result response part 16 of the control apparatus 1 transmits a result with respect to the content server 2 of a request origin via the network N (S305). Note that the result response unit 16 may pass the result to an application (not shown) of the control device 1.

<Setting process>
FIG. 20 is a process flow diagram illustrating an example of a setting process for setting metadata and the like. Before the data operation process described above, a setting process as shown in FIG. 20 is performed.

  The setting unit 13 of the control device 1 receives the request from the administrator terminal 4 and sets the correspondence between the columns of the logical table and the columns of the physical table 11 in the metadata storage unit 12 (FIG. 20: S411). In this step, metadata as shown in FIG. 9 is registered.

The first embodiment is characterized in that columns of various data types are prepared in the physical table 11. In this way, functions such as search and aggregation can be applied according to the data type of the column. Note that the data types set in the columns of the logical table and the data types set in the columns of the physical table do not necessarily have a one-to-one correspondence. For example, the data type between columns may be set as shown in FIG. Here, the “option type” in the logical table is a data type that can specify any one of a plurality of predefined options. For example, in the item indicating the priority, any one of predefined options such as “highest”, “high”, “medium”, “low”, etc. can be designated. The “reference type” in the logical table is a data type that represents a reference to another data. Further, the “binary data type” in the logical table is a type that handles binary data such as the BLOB type. In the control device 1, a binary data storage means (for example, a file system or a storage service on a cloud service) is separately prepared,
You may make it store LobID used as the pointer to a storage means in the column in a physical table. Then, the storage means may be switchable to a DB or a file system depending on the setting. The “long text type” in the logical table is a data type that can store a character string that exceeds the upper limit of the data size of the character string type column. For example, it is possible to use CLOB and switch it in the same manner as the binary data type.

  Note that all the columns of the physical table 11 may be of a character string type. In this case, the data operation unit 10 stores all numerical values and dates in the physical table 11 as character strings. Then, for example, processing such as aggregation is executed by an application (not shown) of the control device 1. If multiple columns of various data types are prepared in advance in the physical table 11, there may be an increase in the number of columns of data types that are not used. For example, if all the columns are character string types, the columns of the physical table are changed. It can be used effectively. Even in such a case, if each column in the logical table is registered in an independent column in the physical table, a function provided by the DBMS such as search for each column can be used.

  Further, as described above, a plurality of columns having the same data type and different data sizes may be provided. For example, the physical table 11 is provided with a character string type (maximum length: 256 characters) column and a character string type (maximum length: 2000 characters) column. For example, the short character string type column of the logical table is mapped to the character string type (maximum length: 256 characters) column of the physical table 11, and the long character string type column of the logical table is mapped to the character string of the physical table 11. Map to column of type (maximum length: 2000 characters). By providing the physical table 11 with a plurality of columns having the same data type and different data sizes, the user can select a column having the maximum length according to the stored data and is stored in the table. The amount of data can be reduced, and the buffer memory used during data processing can be saved.

  In the physical table 11, an index (INDEX) may be assigned to some columns in advance. The index can be assigned using the function of the data operation unit 10. In this case, in S411, a column that is assumed to be used for many of the logical table columns is mapped to an indexed column in the physical table 11. By doing so, it is possible to speed up the search process in the data operation process shown in FIGS.

  Depending on the data management method, an index may be assigned to the null value to occupy the data area. Although the columns of the logical table are not necessarily mapped to the columns of the physical table according to the first embodiment, it is not preferable to add an index in such a method. In such a case, an index table as shown in FIG. 22 may be provided separately. As the index table, for example, an index table for a character string type, an index table for a numeric type, and the like are provided according to the type of data type. Then, for the column to which index assignment is set in the metadata, the column value is copied (that is, synchronized) to the index table and used for the search.

  Further, when receiving a request from the content server 2, the setting unit 13 sets a table space in the metadata storage unit 12 (S412). Here, the table space is a concept indicating each of a plurality of prepared physical tables. By preparing a plurality of table spaces, physical tables can be distributed like so-called partitioning.

FIG. 23 is a diagram for explaining the table space. As shown in FIG. 23, in the metadata, an association is set for which logical space each logical table uses. In addition, as many physical tables as the number of table spaces are prepared, and records of logical tables associated with metadata are registered. In the example of FIG. 23, “Default”
A physical table “DataTable_Default” is associated with the table space, and partitioning is performed using “TenantID” and “TypeID” as keys. In addition, a physical table called “DataTable_DateBase” is associated with the “DateBase” tablespace, and “Date1”
And partition with “TenantID” as a key.

  In such an example, it is assumed that the “DateBase” table space stores transaction data having items such as order dates and records increasing daily. In general, the response decreases as the number of records in the physical table increases. However, logical tables that are expected to increase in the number of records to be held can be managed separately on the physical table.

  Further, for each table space, the number of columns of each data type may be differentiated. For example, a table space giving priority to character storage (character storage priority type) and a table space giving priority to numerical value storage (numerical value storage priority type) are defined. In the character storage priority type physical table, for example, 80 character string columns, 10 numeric columns, and 10 date columns are provided. Also, the numeric storage priority type physical table is provided with, for example, 10 character string columns, 80 numeric columns, and 10 date polymorphic columns. When a user defines a logical table, the stored data has a clear view, so it is possible to select an appropriate table space, reduce the amount of data stored in the table, and use a buffer for data processing Memory can be saved.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, it is possible to easily realize a system that controls content provision such as providing content only to members.

  In particular, in the first embodiment, the control device 1 has functions for managing member information, settlement processing, and content provision, so that a plug-in module can be installed without greatly changing an existing content server. Control of content provision can be realized simply by providing the content.

<< Embodiment 2 >>
In the first embodiment described above, the functions of the inquiry unit 23 and the control information processing unit 24 are realized by providing the plug-in module to the content server 2, but these functions are provided in the control device, and the content is similar to a proxy server. It is good also as a structure which provides. That is, in the first embodiment, the example in which the provision of content is controlled by the plug-in type has been described, but in the second embodiment, the provision of the content is controlled by the proxy type. Since other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a content control system according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 24, the control device 1 according to the second embodiment functions as a proxy server that relays a request from the user terminal to the content server 2 and relays the content provided from the content server 2 to the user terminal 3. .

  The request reception unit 14 according to the second embodiment receives a content provision request from the user terminal 3, and based on the request, content identification information for identifying the content, user identification information for identifying the user, and the requested The operator identification information for identifying the operator of the content server 2 that provides the content is acquired. That is, the request receiving unit 14 according to the second embodiment receives a request for providing content directly from the user terminal 3, instead of the request receiving unit 14 according to the first embodiment receiving inquiry information from the content server 2.

In addition, the request receiving unit 14 according to the second exemplary embodiment stores content identification information and the like, for example, a URL domain indicating the requested content in association with the business operator, and stores the business operator based on the requested content. Identify identification information.

  The configuration for authenticating the user and specifying the user identification information of the request source is the same as in the first embodiment.

  The result response unit 16 in the second embodiment is also a content transmission unit that acquires content from the content server 2 based on the determination result by the determination unit 17 and transmits the content to the requesting user terminal 3.

  FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a content providing method according to the second embodiment. First, when the user terminal 3 accesses the content server 2 (step S510), the content server 2 transmits a web page 61 on which a link 62 for providing content is posted to the user terminal 3 as shown in FIG. (Step S515).

  When the user terminal 3 receives the web page 61 from the content server 2 and the user selects the link 62, the user terminal 3 accesses the control device 1 according to the description of the link, and the content identification information, user identification information, and business By transmitting the person identification information as inquiry information, the provision of content is requested (step S520).

  When the control device 1 receives this inquiry information (step S525), the control device 1 extracts the user identification information and the user information corresponding to the user identification information from the multi-tenant database (step S530).

  And the control apparatus 1 reads the provision conditions corresponding to the content identification information of the inquiry information received at step S525, and determines whether the user information extracted at step S530 satisfies the provision conditions (step S540).

  As a result of this determination, if the user information satisfies the provision condition, the control device 1 permits the provision of the content, and requests the content server 2 for the content corresponding to the content identification information (step S550).

  The content server 2 that has received the request for content transmits the content corresponding to the content identification information to the control device 1 (step S555), and the control device 1 transmits this content to the user terminal 3 (step S560).

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S540 that the user information does not satisfy the provision condition, a web page indicating that the content cannot be provided (hereinafter also referred to as a provision impossible page) is provided (transmitted) to the user terminal 3. (Step S560).

  The user terminal 3 receives the web page from the control device 1 and performs display or other output (step S565).

  As described above, also in the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, it is possible to easily realize a system that controls content provision such as providing content only to members.

<Others>
The present invention is not limited to the above-described examples, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

For example, as the physical table 11, a main physical table and an auxiliary physical table may be provided. In this case, for example, the column of the first page (PageID is 1) is stored in the main physical table (main table), and the column of the second page and later (PageID is 2 or more) is an auxiliary physical table (auxiliary table). Remember me. In this way, the record of the main table and the record of the logical table are associated with each other one-to-one, and a unique index can be set for the column “DataID” of the main table. For example, when the user directly refers to the physical table 11 using SQL or the like without using the conversion unit 15 in FIG. 2, the number of records in the main table becomes the number of records in the logical table, so that maintenance and the like are easy to perform. Become.
The content control system 100 according to the present invention has the configurations of the first embodiment and the second embodiment, and the control device 1 controls the content in the SaaS type with respect to some content servers 2, and the other part. The content server 2 may be configured to control content in a proxy type.

1 Multi-tenant system 11 DBMS
111 Physical table 112 Data operation unit 12 Metadata storage unit 13 Logical structure setting unit 14 Request reception unit 15 Conversion unit 16 Result response unit 2 Content server 3 User terminal

Claims (7)

A plurality of content servers that provide content to a user terminal, and a control device that controls the provision of the content by connecting to the plurality of content servers via a network;
The content server is
A request receiving unit for receiving a content provision request from the user terminal;
A content transmission unit that transmits content corresponding to the request to the user terminal;
An inquiry unit for transmitting inquiry information including user identification information for identifying the user and operator identification information for identifying an operator operating the content server to the control device;
A control information processing unit that receives control information as an answer to the inquiry from the control device, and that does not transmit the content in response to the request when the content cannot be provided based on the control information;
With
The control device is
An inquiry receiver for receiving inquiry information from the content server;
Based on the mapping information that defines the correspondence between the logical table column defined for each tenant and the physical table column for each tenant, sharing the physical table among the tenants with the operator as the tenant. From the multi-tenant database that stores the operator identification information, the user identification information, and the user information in association with each other, based on the mapping information, the operator identification information and the user identification information corresponding to the inquiry information An extraction unit for extracting user information;
An answer transmitter that transmits control information based on the user information to the content server of the inquiry source;
A content control system comprising: The inquiry unit transmits, as the inquiry information, content identification information for identifying the requested content in addition to the user identification information and the operator identification information,
2. The control device according to claim 1, further comprising: a determination unit that determines whether or not the user information satisfies a content provision condition according to the content identification information, and uses at least a result of the determination as the control information. Content control system. Based on the mapping information, the control device disassembles the record in the logical table into a first record and a second record in the physical table, and a connection relationship between the first record and the second record A registration unit for registering with information indicating
The content according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the extraction unit reads the first record and the second record from the physical table based on the mapping information and the information indicating the connection relation, and outputs the combined record. Control system. A plurality of content servers that provide content to a user terminal, and a control device that controls the provision of the content by connecting via a network,
Inquiry reception for receiving inquiry information including user identification information for identifying the user and operator identification information for identifying the operator operating the content server from the content server that has received the content provision request from the user terminal. And
Based on the mapping information that defines the correspondence between the logical table column defined for each tenant and the physical table column for each tenant, sharing the physical table among the tenants with the operator as the tenant. From the multi-tenant database that stores the operator identification information, the user identification information, and the user information in association with each other, based on the mapping information, the operator identification information and the user identification information corresponding to the inquiry information An extraction unit for extracting user information;
An answer transmitter that transmits control information based on the user information to the content server of the inquiry source;
A control device comprising: A plurality of content servers that provide content to a user terminal, and a control device that controls the provision of the content by connecting via a network,
A request for providing content from the user terminal, and content identification information for identifying the content, user identification information for identifying the user, and the content server that provides the requested content based on the request A request receiving unit for acquiring business operator identification information for identifying a business operator;
Based on the mapping information that defines the correspondence between the logical table column defined for each tenant and the physical table column for each tenant, sharing the physical table among the tenants with the operator as the tenant. From the multi-tenant database that stores the operator identification information, the user identification information, and the user information in association with each other, based on the mapping information, the operator identification information and the user identification information corresponding to the inquiry information An extraction unit for extracting user information;
A determination unit that determines whether the content can be provided based on the user information;
A content transmission unit that acquires the content from the content server based on the result of the determination and transmits the content to the requesting user terminal;
A control device comprising: A content control method executed by a plurality of content servers that provide content to a user terminal, and a control device that controls the provision of the content by connecting to the plurality of content servers via a network,
The content server is
Receiving a content provision request from the user terminal;
Transmitting content corresponding to the request to the user terminal;
Transmitting inquiry information including user identification information for identifying the user and operator identification information for identifying an operator operating the content server to the control device;
Receiving control information as an answer to the inquiry from the control device, and not providing the content in response to the request when the content cannot be provided based on the control information, ,
The control device is
Receiving inquiry information from the content server;
Based on the mapping information that defines the correspondence between the logical table column defined for each tenant and the physical table column for each tenant, sharing the physical table among the tenants with the operator as the tenant. From the multi-tenant database that stores the operator identification information, the user identification information, and the user information in association with each other, based on the mapping information, the operator identification information and the user identification information corresponding to the inquiry information Extracting user information;
Transmitting control information based on the user information to the content server of the inquiry source;
Content control method for executing. A content control program executed by a control device connected to a plurality of content servers for providing content to a user terminal via a network and controlling the provision of the content,
Receiving inquiry information including user identification information for identifying the user and business operator identification information for identifying the business operator operating the content server from the content server that has received the content provision request from the user terminal; ,
Based on the mapping information that defines the correspondence between the logical table column defined for each tenant and the physical table column for each tenant, sharing the physical table among the tenants with the operator as the tenant. From the multi-tenant database that stores the operator identification information, the user identification information, and the user information in association with each other, based on the mapping information, the operator identification information and the user identification information corresponding to the inquiry information Extracting user information;
Transmitting control information based on the user information to the content server of the inquiry source;
A content control program for causing the control device to execute.

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