JP3249994B2 - Server-client type information providing method and system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a server-client type information providing method and system, and more particularly, to a server connected to a computer network and comprising a server for holding information and a client for acquiring and displaying information. The present invention relates to a client type information providing method and system.

More specifically, the present invention relates to a server-client type information providing method and system for providing information suitable for individual users in an information providing system using the Internet called WWW (World-Wide Web).

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a server-client type information providing system comprising a computer (server) which is connected via a computer network and holds information, and a client which operates and obtains and displays information by a user. The following techniques are known.

[0004] A first conventional technique will be described. FIG.
1 shows a configuration of an information providing system according to a first related art. This technology has been developed by T. Berners-Lee and others, "The World-Wide Web",
Communications of the ACM, vol. 37 (8), pp. 76-82. The system shown in FIG.
00, server 200, computer network 300
Consists of Client 100 and server 200
May be connected to a plurality of devices. The server 200 includes a provided information file 209 storing information to be provided, and a receiving unit 2 for receiving an information providing request from the client 100.
01, provided information file 209 based on information providing request
And a transmission unit 206 that sends the searched information to the client 100.

FIG. 11 shows the structure of information provided by the server. In the figure, page 400 is server 2
From 00 is a unit of information provided to the client 100. The page 400 includes arbitrary multimedia data such as characters, images, and sounds, and the client 100 can display and reproduce such information. As a remarkable feature of the first related art, a page can include, in addition to the multimedia data, anchors and links indicating association between pages. The anchor is used to indicate that there is a relationship between pages, and is represented as an underlined character string as shown in FIG. 11, for example. The link is paired with the anchor and includes the name of the server 200 and the page where the associated page is stored. Anchors and links make it possible to associate terms and emblems on a page with other pages. For example, in FIG. 11, the term “e-mail” in the text of page A (400A) stored in server A is associated with page C (400C) of another server B, and the user has “ When the anchor of "E-mail" is selected, the client 100 next displays the page 400C. Page 4
00C further includes an anchor, so that the user can sequentially browse information stored in a plurality of servers 200 connected to the network. In addition, the information provider can efficiently provide a wealth of information by creating a new page that refers to a page stored in another information providing server other than the information providing server operated by the information provider. is there.

FIG. 12 is a sequence chart of the operation of the first conventional technique. Step 11) The user selects an anchor in the page displayed on the client 100. Step 12) The client 100 analyzes the link corresponding to the selected anchor, and determines the server 200 to request the page.

Step 13) The client 100
The page name included in the anchor is transmitted to the determined server 200. Step 14) The server 200
Receive the page name via. Step 15) The server 200 selects a page corresponding to the received page name from the provided information file 209.

Step 16) The server 200 sends the page selected via the network 300 to the client 10
Send to 0. Step 17) The client 100 receives and displays the page. The point to note here is that the client 100 and the server 2
The communication during 00 is that one page request and transfer, that is, the processing is completed in steps 13 to 17, and the connection and disconnection of the communication path are performed every time.
Thus, the same communication is performed regardless of whether the user again points to the server 200 having the link destination page corresponding to the anchor selected from the page, or another computer connected to the network 300. Exchange of the client 100 and the server 200 is performed in the processing procedure.

By repeating the above operations, the user can successively retrieve information from a plurality of servers connected to the network. Next, a second conventional technique will be described. In the first related art, as described above, the connection and disconnection of the communication path are performed every time, and therefore, the content of the provided information that is adapted to the communication content history of the user until then cannot be changed. This technology makes it possible to provide information according to the communication history of a user while using exactly the same client and communication processing procedure as the first conventional technology. Provision Method and Information Provision System ”(Koike, Nakabayashi, Maruyama).

[0010] The second conventional technique is that the client 100
The configuration of the network 300 is the same as that of the first related art. The configuration of the server 200 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 shows a configuration of a server of an information providing system according to a second conventional technique. The server 200 includes the receiving unit 2
01, information distribution unit 202, history information management unit 203, history information storage unit 204, provided information search unit 205, transmission unit 20
6, a timer 207, a request monitoring unit 208, and a history information storage control unit 209.
The history information file 210 is connected, and the provided information search unit 2
05 is connected to a provided information file 211.

The receiving unit 201 receives a request from the client 100. The request may or may not include the user name. The information distribution unit 202
If the request does not include the user name, a page prompting the user to input the user name is sent to the client 100 via the transmission unit 206.
Send to If the user name is included, the request is sent to the history information management unit 203. History information management unit 203
Retrieves the history information of the user from the history information storage unit 204. If there is no history information in the history information storage unit 204, the history information file 210 is further searched,
The history information is read into the history information storage unit 204.

Next, the history information management unit 203 updates the history information and writes it back to the history information storage unit 204. Further, a page name to be actually sent back is determined from the history information and the page name included in the request from the user, and this is determined by the provided information search unit 2.
Send to 05. The determination of the page name will be described later. The provided information search unit 205 extracts the specified page from the provided information file 211 and sends the page back to the client 100 via the transmission unit 206.

At this time, the provided information search unit 205 assigns a user name to the page. Specifically, the link corresponding to the anchor included in the page includes the user name. Thus, when the user next selects an anchor included in this page, the user name is sent to the server 200 together with the requested page name. The timer 207 sends a signal to the request monitoring unit 208 periodically. The request monitoring unit 208 counts the signal from the timer 207, and when the count reaches a certain value or more before the request from the user, the history information storage unit 204
Is written to the history information file 210. As a result, the history information of the user who does not send the next request for a certain period of time after once sending the request to the server 200 is stored in a file, and the released area of the history information storage unit 204 becomes a new area from another user. It is used to respond to various requests.

Next, determination of the next page name in the history information management unit 203 will be described. This operation is performed by the server 20.
For example, the following is performed according to the content of the information provided by 0. Suppose that the user has selected the “email” anchor. As a result of referring to the history information of the user, if the user has never seen the page of “E-mail”, a page with the simplest content for beginners is sent back to the user.

[0015] As another example, in a server for educational purposes, a user is presented with a page including an exercise and one of a plurality of anchors is selected as an answer. History information management unit 203
Then, it is determined whether the obtained page name is correct or not. In the case of an error, a page serving as a hint to solve an exercise problem is set to 2 in the case of the first error according to the history information.
In the case of a second error, submit the correct answer page for the exercise.

As described above, according to the second conventional technique, information can be provided according to the situation of the user by managing the history information of the user in the server. FIG.
Is a sequence chart of the operation of the second conventional technique. Step 21) In the initial state, the user is the client 1
Enter the user name from the 00 screen. Client 10
If the value is 0, the process proceeds to step 24, where the same operation as a general operation is performed.

Step 22) The user selects an anchor in the page displayed on the client 100. Step 23) The client 100 analyzes the link corresponding to the selected anchor and determines the server 200 to request the page. Step 24) The client 100 transmits the page name and the user name to the determined server 200. here,
The user name is included in the link in advance or input by the user in step 21.

Step 25) The server 200 receives the page name and the user name via the network 300. Step 26) The server 200 displays the page to be transmitted from the received page name and the user name in the provided information file 211.
Choose from At this time, as described above, the link corresponding to the anchor in the page includes the user name in addition to the server name and the page name.

Step 27) The server 200 transmits the page to the client 100 via the network 300. Step 28) The client 100 receives and displays the page. As described above, once the user name is first input in the client 100, the information can be provided using the history information of the user in the same communication processing procedure as in the first conventional technique. .

[0020]

However, in the first prior art, the communication between the client and the server is completed by one page request and transfer, and each time,
Since the connection and disconnection of the communication path are performed, and the request sent from the client to the server includes only the page name, there is a problem that information provision using the history information of the user cannot be performed.

In the second prior art, since the request sent from the client to the server is configured to include the user name, the communication processing procedure and the same procedure as in the first prior art are used. It is possible to provide information utilizing the history information of the user by using the client.
However, this configuration has a problem that the processing speed is reduced when requests from many users are received at the same time. That is, on the same server, in addition to simply returning the requested page, a complicated process of determining an optimal page to be returned from the user's history information is performed. In such a case, the response speed may be extremely reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides information utilizing user history information without causing a decrease in response speed even when a large number of users make requests at the same time. It is an object of the present invention to provide a server client type information providing method and system that can be performed.

[0023]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention. According to the present invention, at least one client and at least one transmission / reception server are connected via a computer network, and communication is cut off each time an information request from the client to the transmission / reception server is made and a response to the request is made. A server / client type information providing method for exchanging information in a communication processing procedure, referring to user history information by including a user name in a request from the client, and providing information suitable for the user , Manages the user's history information and
The right page for a request based on historical information
Log information management server
User name and page name at the sending / receiving server
Is received from the client (step
1), multiple users to multiple history information management servers
Holding the allocation correspondence table and the request frequency table (step 2), one
At regular time intervals, the number of users assigned to multiple history information
The request frequency is checked (step 3), and a plurality of history information management services are checked.
Select one of the servers based on the request frequency (step
Step 4), User name and page name received from client
Is transferred to the selected history information management server (step
5), requesting the page obtained from the history information management server
(Step 6).

FIG . 2 is a diagram showing the principle of the present invention. Departure
Ming has at least one client 100 and at least
And one transmission / reception server 220 and the client 10
0 and a computer connecting the transmission / reception server 220.
In an information provision system composed of networks,
One time from the client 100 to the sending / receiving server
An information request and a communication that disconnects communication each time a response to the request is made.
Exchange of information in the communication processing procedure, the client 100
By including the user name in the request from
A service that refers to history information and provides information appropriate for the user.
A server-client information providing system, user
Manages history information and requests based on user history information
Select the appropriate page for and forward it to the sending / receiving server
A plurality of history information management server 221, transmitting and receiving service
Server 220 includes a plurality of history information management servers of a plurality of users.
A correspondence relationship that holds the assignment correspondence table to the server and the request frequency table
Holding means 240 and a plurality of history information management services
The client 100 checks the request frequency of the user
From the plurality of history information management servers 2
History for selecting one of the 21 based on the request frequency
Information management server allocating means 250 and history information management server
History information management server 221 selected by allocation means 250
For the user name received from client 100
The request transfer means 230 for transferring the page name, history information tube
Client that has requested the page obtained from the management server 221
And a page return means 206 for transmitting to the client 100
You.

[0025]

[0026]

[0027]

[0028]

As described above, since requests from users are distributed to a plurality of history information management servers and processed, even when there are many requests from users, the load on each history information management server is reduced. As a result, it is possible to prevent a decrease in response speed.

[0030]

FIG. 3 shows the configuration of a server according to the present invention. 13, the same components as those of FIG. 13 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. The system shown in the figure includes a transmission / reception server 220 that communicates with a client connected to a network (not shown), and receives a user request via the transmission / reception server 220 and responds to the user's history information. It is composed of history information management servers 221A and 221B that select and send back an appropriate page.

The history information file 210 and the provision information file 211 are the same as those described in the second conventional technique, and are connected so that a plurality of history information management servers 221 can read and write in common. Transmission / reception server 22
0 is the receiving unit 201, the information distributing unit 202, the transmitting unit 20
6, a timer 207, a request monitoring unit 208, and a server selecting unit 212.

Among the components of the transmission / reception server 220, the reception unit 201, the information distribution unit 202, the transmission unit 206, the timer 207, and the request monitoring unit 208 are the same as those described in the second related art. Perform the operation. Server selector 21
2 determines to which history information management server 221 the request from each user received from the information distribution unit 202 is assigned.

The history information management server 221 includes a history information management unit 203, a history information storage unit 204, and a provided information search unit 2.
05 and a history information storage control unit 209. The history information management unit 203, the history information storage unit 204, and the provided information search unit 20, which are components of the history information management server 221
5. The operation of the history information storage control unit 209 is the same as the operation described in the second related art.

It should be noted that, in FIG.
Although 1 indicates the configuration of two units, it is also possible to configure with more units. FIG. 4 shows a configuration of a user / history information management server correspondence table (No. 1) included in the server selection unit of the present invention. In the table shown in the figure, the left column is the user name, and the right column is a history information management server that currently manages the history information of the user, that is, the history information of the user is stored in the history information file 210 from the history information file 210. The history information management server 221 read and held in the information storage unit 204 is shown.

FIG. 5 is a sequence chart of a first operation when a request is issued from a user of the present invention. In the sequence chart shown in the figure, the operation on the client side is the same as that of the second conventional technique. Steps 25 to 27 shown in FIG. 5 will be described with reference to FIG. Step 25) The transmission / reception server 220 receives a request including the user name and the page name from the client.

Step 261) Transmission / reception server 220
Checks whether the user name is included in the user / history information management server correspondence table. If it is included, the process moves to step 264. Step 262) If not included, the history information of the user is not assigned to any history information management server, so the history information management server 2 with the lightest load
Select 21. Here, the history information management server 221 with the lightest load is, for example, a server to which the number of assigned users is the smallest.

Step 263) Since the history information management server 221 to which the user is assigned is determined, the user name and server name are registered in the user / history information management server correspondence table. Step 264) Select the history information management server 221 corresponding to the user name and transmit the user name and the requested page name to the history information management server 221. Step 265) Selected history information management server 22
1 receives a user name and a page name.

Step 266) It is checked whether or not the history information of the user exists in the history information storage unit 204. If there is, go to step 268. Step 267) History information file 21 of the user
0 is read out to the history information storage unit 204. Step 268) An appropriate page is selected with reference to the history information in the history information storage unit 204, and transmitted to the transmission / reception server 220. At this time, the link corresponding to the anchor in the page includes the user name in addition to the server computer name and the page name.

Step 269) Transmission / reception server 220
Receives a page from the history information management server 221. Step 27) The transmission / reception server 220 transmits the page to the client via the network. Next, the operation at the time of timeout will be described.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the operation at the time of timeout according to the present invention. Step 31) The transmission / reception server 220 sets the timer 207
And waits until the count value becomes a certain value or more. Step 32) When the count value exceeds a certain value, it is checked for each user whether or not there is a request during that time.

Step 33) For the user who has not made a request, the history information is written to the history information management server 221 in the history information file 210, and the history information storage unit 204
To release. Step 34) Thereby, the history information management server 22
1 writes the history information to the history information file 210,
The history information storage unit 204 is released.

Step 35) The transmission / reception server 220
The correspondence between the user name and the history information management server is deleted from the user / history information management server correspondence table. As described above, by assigning the user to the one with the least load among the plurality of history information servers 221,
Even when a request is received from a large number of users, the load on the history information management server 221 is distributed so as to equalize it, thereby preventing a reduction in response speed.

Next, the operation of selecting the history information server based on the request frequency will be described. In the following description, the transmission / reception server 220 and the history information management server 22
1 is the same as the configuration shown in FIG. FIG. 8 shows the configuration of the user / history information management server correspondence table (part 2) of the server selection unit of the present invention. In the table shown in the figure, the left column is a user name, and the right column is a history information management server that currently manages the history information of the user. The right column shows the request frequency of each user per unit time. The request frequency is calculated, for example, as the reciprocal of the average of the time intervals in which the past five requests of each user have occurred.

The operation when a request is issued from a user will be described below. This sequence is different from the above-described step 262 shown in FIG. 6 in that the above-mentioned sum of the user request frequency for each server is used as a criterion for selecting the server with the lightest load. FIG. 9 is a sequence chart of a load equalizing operation according to the present invention.

Step 41) The transmission / reception server 220
It waits until the count value of the timer 207 reaches a certain value or more. Step 42) The user / history information management server correspondence table is checked to find a history information management server with the highest load and a history information management server with the lowest load. Step 43) The load on the history information management server having a high load and the history information management server having a low load are considered to be equalized, and the process returns to step 41.

Step 44) The most frequently used user of the history information management server with the highest load is searched for. Step 45: Instruct the history information management server to write the history information of the user in the history information file 210. Step 46) The history information management server 221 writes the history information of the user in the history information file 210.

Step 47) The transmission / reception server 220
The history information management server 221 corresponding to the user in the user / history information management server correspondence table is rewritten to the history information management server with the lowest load selected in step 42. Step 48) The history information management server 221 instructs the history information of the user to be read from the history information file 210 to the history information storage unit 204.

Step 49) The history information management server 221 stores the history information of the user in the history information file 2
10 to the history information storage unit 204. As described above, the load on the history information management server 221 is measured based on the frequency of use of the user, and the load is equalized at regular time intervals. The load of the system is not equalized so that the response speed does not decrease.

[0049]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. [First Embodiment] Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In the configuration shown in FIG. 3, an example will be described in which the transmission / reception server 220 selects a history information management server with reference to the user / history information management server correspondence table shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 4, three history information management servers 221A,
Although 221B and 221C are set, each history information management server 221 has the same configuration as that shown in FIG.

The transmission / reception server 220 receives a request including the user name (Mr.A) and the page name (X) from the client (step 25). Step 261) The transmission / reception server 220 checks whether or not the user name is included in the user / history information management server correspondence table (Step 261), so that the transmission / reception server 220 corresponds to the user name (Mr.A). History information management server 221
A, and transmits the user name (Mr.A) and the requested page name (X) to the history information management server 221A (step 264).

The selected history information management server 221A
Receives the user name (Mr.A) and the page name (X) (step 265). The history information management server 221A
Checks whether the history information of the user (Mr. A) exists in the history information storage unit 204 (step 266).
Here, assuming that the page exists, an appropriate page is selected with reference to the history information in the history information storage unit 204 and transmitted to the transmission / reception server 220 (step 268).

The transmission / reception server 220 receives the page from the history information management server 221 (step 269), and the transmission / reception server 220 transmits the page to the client (Mr.A) via the network (step 2).
7). Also, a case where the name of the user who issued the request (Mr.E) in step 261 is not included in the user / history information management server correspondence table will be described.

If not included, the user (M
r. If the history information of E) is not assigned to any history information management server, and there is a user using each history information management server as follows, history information management server A: 20 history information management server B: 18 History information management server C: 4 History information management server D: 29 History information management server 221 as the lightest load server
C is selected (step 262).

The history information management server 221C selected in the user / history information management server correspondence table and the user name (Mr.
E) is registered (step 263). Subsequent processing is the same as in the above example, and a description thereof will be omitted. [Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment will be described using an example in which the transmission / reception server 220 selects a history information management server using a request frequency.

The transmission / reception server 220 transmits the user (Mr.
E) when the request is issued, the user (Mr.E)
If the user is not registered in the user / history information management server correspondence table, the user / history information management server correspondence table shown in FIG. The server 221C is selected, and the user name (Mr.E) and the history information management server 221C are registered in the user / history information management server correspondence table. Subsequent processing is the same as in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will not be repeated.

In the above embodiment, the calculation of the load on the history information management server 221 is not limited to the above-described method. For example, when the processing capabilities of the plurality of history information management servers 211 are different, By dividing the use frequency of the number of assigned users in the first embodiment or the use frequency of the number of assigned users in the second embodiment by a numerical value representing the processing capacity, it can be normalized and used as a degree representing the load. Instead of the number of assigned users, the CPU usage rate of each history information management server 221 can be used.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be variously modified and applied within the scope of the claims.

[0058]

As described above, according to the present invention, server / client type information for providing information utilizing the history information of each user using a communication processing procedure in which communication between the client and the server is disconnected every time. In the provision system, the processing corresponding to the request from the user is distributed to the plurality of computers constituting the history information management server, so that even if requests from many users occur at the same time, the response speed is reduced. Can be prevented. Here, as is clear from the above description, the configuration on the client side is the same as that of the conventional technology, and the standard configuration already used by the user can be used as it is.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a principle configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a server of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a user / history information management server correspondence table (No. 1) of the server selection unit of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sequence chart of a first operation when a request is issued from a user of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sequence chart of an operation between the transmission / reception server and the history information management server of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sequence chart of a correspondence table updating operation at the time of timeout according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a user / history information management server correspondence table (part 2) of the server selection unit of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a sequence chart of a load equalizing operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of an information providing system according to a first conventional technique.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a structure of information provided by a server.

FIG. 12 is a sequence chart of the operation of the first conventional technique.

FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram of a server of an information providing system according to a second conventional technique.

FIG. 14 is a sequence chart of the operation of the second conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 100 client 110 request issuing unit 201 receiving unit 202 information distribution unit 203 history information management unit 204 history information storage unit 205 provided information search unit 206 transmission unit 207 timer 208 request monitoring unit 209 history information storage control unit 212 server selection unit 220 server 221 history information management server 230 request transfer means 240 correspondence holding means 250 history information management server allocation means 260 page return means 2211 page transfer means

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-5-324436 (JP, A) JP-A-8-241278 (JP, A) JP-A-6-3322782 (JP, A) JP-A-6-259308 (JP) , A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 13/00 G06F 17/30

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] At least one client and at least one
At least oneSend / receive serverThe computer network
Connection from the client, andThe transmission / reception server
BaCommunication for each information request and response to the request
Information is exchanged in the communication processing procedure for disconnecting
Use by including the user name in the request from the ant
Provide information suitable for the user by referring to the user's history information
Server-client type information providing method,The user's history information is managed, and based on the user's history information.
And select the appropriate page for the request
There are multiple history information management servers to transfer to the sending / receiving server.
And In the transmitting / receiving server, The request with the user name and page name set by the client
Accept Assignment of a plurality of users to the plurality of history information management servers
Holds correspondence table and request frequency table, The allocation rate of the plurality of history information management servers is
Examine the user's request frequency, Requesting one of the plurality of history information management servers to the request
Select based on frequency, The user name and page name received from the client
To the selected history information management server, The page acquired from the history information management server is
A server class characterized by sending to a client
Client-type information provision method. (2)At least one client and few
At least one sending / receiving server, the client and the sending
From the computer network connecting the receiving server
In the information providing system to be configured,
One information request to the transmission / reception server from the
Information exchange by communication processing procedure that disconnects communication each time a response is received
And include the user name in the request from the client.
This makes it possible to refer to the user's history information and
Server / client type information providing system that provides
The stem, Manages the history information of the user, and manages the history information of the user;
Selecting an appropriate page for the request based on the
A plurality of history information management servers for transferring to the transmission / reception server
Has, The transmitting / receiving server, Assignment of a plurality of users to the plurality of history information management servers
Correspondence relationship holding means for holding a correspondence table and a request frequency table; Allocate and use the plurality of history information management servers at regular intervals
Check the request frequency of the client and receive the request from the client.
And assigning one of the plurality of history information management servers to the
History information management server allocator to select based on request frequency
Steps and History information selected by the history information management server allocating means
Before receiving from the client to the management server
Request transfer means for transferring the user name and the page name; The page acquired from the history information management server is
Have a means for returning the page to be sent to the client
Server-client type information providing system
M