JP3594904B2 - Distributed delivery processing system, distributed delivery processing method, electronic post-office box management method, and recording medium storing the program - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an electronic information delivery system for delivering electronic information provided by an information provider to users who meet delivery conditions, in which individualization and delivery processing of information to be delivered by user information are performed in a distributed manner. The present invention relates to a distributed delivery processing system, a distributed delivery processing method, an electronic post-office box management method, and a recording medium that records the program.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in a system for transmitting and receiving electronic information between users using a computer network, electronic information provided by an information provider is delivered as direct mail to users who meet delivery conditions. There is a delivery system. For sending and receiving electronic information, an electronic post-office box management server is provided on the Internet for each user to receive the electronic information, and the user is sent to himself / herself by accessing the electronic post-office box. To get the information.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above-described electronic information delivery system, when there are many users who want to deliver electronic information, the electronic information delivery system including the electronic post-office box distributes a large amount of electronic information, which increases the load on the system and the network. However, there is a problem that the delivery time increases. In particular, when the same electronic information is sent to multiple users, individualization processing for adding necessary information for each user to the electronic information to be delivered and converting it to a direct mail format requires a lot of processing time. Therefore, there is a problem that the load on the system increases.
In addition, when the number of electronic information handled per user becomes large and the processing is distributed by using multiple electronic post-office boxes, an efficient and effective means of equally assigning users to multiple distributed electronic post-office boxes is required. There was no problem.
[0004]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and in an electronic information delivery system for delivering electronic information provided by an information provider to a user who meets delivery conditions, the electronic information delivery system uses the user information of the information to be delivered. An object of the present invention is to provide a distributed delivery processing system that performs individualization and delivery processing in a distributed manner. More specifically, individualized processing to add necessary information for each user to electronic information to be delivered and convert it to a direct mail format, and delivery processing to allow users to acquire information as an electronic post-office box are made independent. It is an object of the present invention to provide a distributed delivery processing system, a distributed delivery processing method, an electronic post-office box management method, and a recording medium on which the program is recorded, which performs distributed processing suitable for each.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is a distributed delivery processing system for delivering electronic information provided by an information provider to a user designated as an information provider, and the delivery from the information provider. Distribution information management means for receiving and managing the received electronic information and the delivery information including the delivery destination designation information of the electronic information; and the electronic information distributed from the delivery information management means is allocated by the delivery information management means. One or a plurality of individualization processing means for converting into individual information for each user based on the delivered information, and the individual information for each user converted by the individualization processing means are designated as delivery destination designation information. One or more electronic post-office box management means for managing the electronic post-office box accommodated for each user in association with the destination of the user, and at least one of the individualization processing means and the electronic post-office box management means is provided in a plurality. Characterized in that it is kicked.
With the above configuration, electronic information is appropriately distributed to a plurality of individualized processing means or electronic post-office box management means, and the processing amount of each means is equalized so that no load is imposed on the system or network. A large amount of electronic information can be delivered.
In particular, by dividing the individualized processing means that adds necessary information to each user and converts it into the form of direct mail, and the electronic post office box management means, and distributes each according to the load factor of each means, A large amount of electronic information can be delivered without imposing a load on a system or a network.
[0006]
According to the present invention, in the distributed delivery processing system, when a plurality of individualized processing units are provided, the processing is not concentrated on a specific individual processing unit among the plurality of prepared individualized processing units. As described above, the electronic information delivered from the information provider and the delivery information including the delivery destination designation information of the electronic information are allocated to the individualizing means.
[0007]
The present invention is characterized in that, in the distributed delivery processing system, the electronic post-office box management means is provided in the distributed delivery processing system to the power of 2 n (n is an integer of 0 or more).
[0008]
The present invention provides the distributed delivery processing system, wherein the electronic post-office box management means manages each electronic post-office box in a recording area having a directory structure specified by a character string representing an identification number given to the electronic post-office box. It is characterized by.
[0009]
According to the present invention, in the distributed delivery processing system, the character string designating the recording area provided in the electronic post-office box management means is a character string in which the character strings representing the identification numbers given to the electronic post-office box are arranged in reverse order. It is characterized by.
With the above configuration, when the electronic post-office box management means is distributed and processed, the electronic post-office boxes included in the electronic post-office box management means can be easily distributed and managed.
[0010]
The present invention is a distributed delivery processing method for delivering electronic information provided by an information provider to a user designated by the information provider, wherein the electronic information delivered from the information provider and the electronic information A delivery information management process for receiving and managing delivery information including delivery destination designation information; and distributing electronic information distributed by one or more devices based on delivery information allocated by the delivery information management process. Individualization processing for converting into individual information for each user, and electronic information addressed to the user specified in the delivery destination specification information included in the delivery information is accommodated for each user by one or a plurality of devices. Including an electronic post-office box management process for managing an electronic post-office box, at least one of the individualization process and the electronic post-office box management process is provided with a plurality of devices to execute a plurality of processes simultaneously.
[0011]
The present invention provides a distributed delivery processing system for distributing electronic information provided by an information provider to a user designated by the information provider in a distributed manner, and uses the electronic information addressed to the user. Is a method of managing an electronic post-office box for an electronic post-office box accommodated for each user, in which an identification number given to the electronic post-office box is recognized as a character string, and an inverted character string is created by reversing the order of the recognized character strings. Processing, a process of separating an inverted character string into a character string representing a directory structure, a process of newly creating a recording area designated by a character string representing a directory structure, and designating a recording area by the identification number. And processing to be managed as an electronic post-office box.
[0012]
The present invention relates to the electronic post-office box management method, wherein the electronic post-office box management method recognizes division information specified by an arbitrary number of digits from the bottom of a character string in a binary number representation of an identification number, and calculates two or more digits from the number of digits of the division information. A process of designating the new division information that is one digit larger in the base number representation, and setting the number of digits of the new division information to m, and specifying a character that designates the top directory of the recording area represented by the binary number by a power of 2 m A process of newly creating a new recording area for distinguishing a directory by using the remainder after division, distributing the contents of the recording area to the new recording area according to the identification number, and assigning the new recording area to an electronic device designated by the identification number. The method further includes a process of forming a post office box, and the recording area of the electronic post office box to be managed is divided.
With the above configuration, when the electronic post-office box management unit is divided, the management of the electronic post-office box included in the electronic post-office box management unit can be transferred to the electronic post-office box management unit after division on a directory basis.
[0013]
The present invention is a program used for electronic post-office box management in a distributed delivery processing system that distributes electronic information provided by an information provider to designated users in a distributed manner. A computer is configured to execute the electronic post-office box management method according to claim 7 or 8.
[0014]
The present invention relates to a distributed delivery processing system for distributing electronic information provided by an information provider to designated users in a distributed manner, and records a program used for electronic post-office box management. In this case, the program causes a computer to execute the electronic post-office box management method according to claim 7 or 8.
[0015]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a distributed delivery processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
First, an electronic information delivery system in which the distributed delivery processing system of the embodiment can be used will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic information delivery system that delivers electronic information provided by an information provider to users who meet delivery conditions.
In FIG. 7, reference numeral 401 denotes an electronic information delivery system. Reference numeral 402 denotes an information provider that provides information using the electronic information delivery system 401. Reference numeral 403 denotes a user who uses the electronic information delivery system 401, and obtains information provided by the information provider 402 using a Web browser 431 operating on a personal computer and a mobile phone 432 that can be connected to the Internet. Reference numeral 401a denotes a management unit that manages a delivery process of electronic information, and includes an operation management unit 411 that manages operation of the electronic information delivery system 401 and a delivery information management unit 412 that manages electronic information to be delivered. Reference numeral 401b denotes a delivery processing unit. Reference numeral 413 denotes a filter function unit that performs a filtering process on information from the information provider received by the delivery information management unit 412. Reference numeral 414 denotes an individualization function unit that individualizes the information filtered by the filter function unit 413.
[0016]
Reference numeral 415 denotes a delivery distribution unit that distributes and distributes the information individualized by the individualization function unit 414. Reference numeral 416 is a history information file that records a change in the state of the delivered information. Reference numeral 417 denotes a history reference unit that refers to the history information file 416 and notifies the information provider 402 of the state of the delivered information. Reference numeral 418 denotes a user attribute information file in which attribute information of the user 403 is defined, and information on hobbies and preferences is defined for each user 403. Reference numeral 419 denotes an electronic post-office box having a data file provided for each user, and information provided by the information provider 402 is stored in the electronic post-office box by the delivery processing unit 401b. Reference numeral 420 denotes a delivery server that delivers information to the user 403. Reference numeral 421 denotes a mobile phone connection gateway for connecting the mobile phone 432 to the electronic information delivery system 401.
[0017]
Next, a basic operation of the electronic information delivery system 401 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, an example in which the information provider 402 transmits a direct mail to the user 403 will be described.
First, the information provider 402 creates electronic information, which is the content of the direct mail, using a personal computer or the like owned by the information provider 402. The electronic information created here is digital data including document data, image data, sound data, and the like. Then, the information provider 402 transmits a direct mail dispatch request including the created electronic information to the electronic information delivery system 401. At this time, the information provider 402 sends the electronic information to the electronic information delivery system 401 together with the delivery conditions for delivering the electronic information. The delivery condition here is a condition for limiting the delivery destination to which direct mail is delivered, and specifies the age range, hobbies, and preferences of the user, and direct mail is sent only to users who meet this condition. Is used to deliver
[0018]
The electronic information and the delivery conditions transmitted from the information provider 402 are received by the delivery information management unit 412, and the electronic information is held in the delivery information management unit 412. Then, the delivery information management unit 412 outputs the electronic information and delivery conditions held therein to the filter function unit 413. In response to this, the filter function unit 413 refers to the user attribute information file 418 and extracts a user that matches the received delivery condition. Subsequently, the filter function unit 413 outputs the electronic information to the individualizing function unit 414 for each user who matches the delivery condition. The electronic information output here is output by the same number as the number of users that match the delivery conditions.
[0019]
Next, the individualization function unit 414 performs an individualization process of adding necessary information for each user to the electronic information received from the filter function unit 413 and converting the electronic information into a direct mail format. In this individualizing process, information such as destination and sender information is given, and a process of inserting electronic information into a predetermined direct mail format is performed. However, the destination here is a post-office box ID number for specifying the electronic post-office box 419 provided for each user 403.
[0020]
Next, the individualization function unit 414 outputs the electronic information that has been subjected to the individualization process for each user to the delivery distribution unit 415. In response to this, the delivery distribution unit 415 performs distribution based on the destination (post-office box ID number) assigned to the electronic information received from the individualization function unit 414, and outputs the electronic information to the electronic post-office box 419. The electronic post-office box 419 receives this electronic information and stores it in a corresponding data file based on the post-office box ID number. In addition, the delivery distribution unit 415 receives the direct mail via the delivery server 420 to the user 403 owning the post office box that delivered the direct mail, in synchronization with outputting the electronic information to the electronic post office box 419. Notify that.
Upon receiving the notification, the user 403 obtains the electronic information stored in the electronic post-office box 419 by using the Web browser 431 or the mobile phone 432. Thus, the direct mail transmitted from the information provider 402 reaches the user 403.
[0021]
As described above, the information provider 402 can send a plurality of direct mails to the electronic information delivery system 401 only by transmitting the contents of the direct mail and the delivery conditions. In addition, since direct mail is sent only to users who meet the delivery conditions, mail can be sent efficiently.
[0022]
Next, a distributed delivery processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the distributed delivery processing system of the present invention, when a large number of users are delivered in the above-described electronic information delivery system and a large amount of electronic information is delivered, the processes of the individualization function unit 414 and the electronic post-office box 419 are distributed, and the system and the network are distributed. This is a system that reduces the load on and reduces the delivery time.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a distributed delivery processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a distributed delivery processing system. Reference numeral 2 denotes an information provider that transmits information using the distributed delivery processing system. Reference numerals 3 to 10 denote users A to H, respectively, who acquire information from the distributed delivery processing system.
[0023]
The distributed delivery processing system 1 includes a delivery information management server 100, an individualization processing server A101, an individualization processing server B102, an individualization processing server C103, an individualization processing server D104, a post-office box management server A105, And a post office box management server B106.
The delivery information management server 100 receives the registration of the electronic information from the information provider 2, distributes the electronic information to the individualized server determined from the delivery information received from the information provider 2, and transmits the delivery information. The delivery information management server corresponds to a delivery information management unit in the claims.
The individualization processing server A101 individualizes the electronic information distributed from the delivery information management server 100 by using the delivery information of the users A3 and E7 transmitted from the delivery information management server 100. Here, individualization means embedding the name of the user obtained from the delivery information in the distributed electronic information, giving a title according to gender, changing the content according to the user's hobbies, etc. By performing the operation, the electronic information is converted into user-specific information that matches the personal information of the user. For example, the individualization processing server A101 creates two types of information for the user A3 and information for the user E7 from the same electronic information based on the respective delivery information.
Similarly, the individualization processing server B102 individualizes the electronic information distributed from the delivery information management server 100 by using the delivery information of the users B4 and F8 transmitted from the delivery information management server 100. .
Similarly, the individualization processing server C103 individualizes the electronic information distributed from the delivery information management server 100 by using the delivery information of the users C5 and G9 transmitted from the delivery information management server 100. .
Similarly, the individualization processing server D104 individualizes the electronic information distributed from the delivery information management server 100 by using the delivery information of the user D6 and the user H10 transmitted from the delivery information management server 100. .
Here, the individualization processing server is equivalent to the individualization function unit 414 in the electronic information distribution system 401 in FIG. 7 and corresponds to an individualization processing unit in the claims.
[0024]
The post-office box management server A105 is a server that distributes information to the user A3, the user B4, the user C5, and the user D6. Includes multiple electronic post office boxes that receive delivery information and deliver the information to the user in charge. Here, the delivery refers to an act of each user accessing the post-office box management server A105 and acquiring information addressed to each user.
The post-office box management server B106 is a server for delivering information to the user E7, the user F8, the user G9, and the user H10. Includes multiple electronic post office boxes that receive delivery information and deliver the information to the user in charge.
Here, the post-office box management server is equivalent to a group of a plurality of electronic post-office boxes 419 in the electronic information delivery system 401 in FIG. 7, and corresponds to an electronic post-office box management means in claims.
[0025]
Further, in the present embodiment, for simplicity of description, the users are of user A, user B, user C, user D, user E, user F, user G, and user H. Although the number of users will be described as eight, the number of users is not limited to this and may be any number.
Similarly, the individualization processing server will be described as four individualization processing servers A101, individualization processing server B102, individualization processing server C103, and individualization processing server D104, but the number of individualization processing servers is not limited thereto. Any number may be used. In addition, the post office box management server will be described as a post office box management server A105 and a post office box management server B106. However, the number of post office box management servers is not limited to this, and any number of post office box management servers may be used as long as the power is 2 n.
[0026]
Furthermore, the delivery information management server 100, the individualization processing server A101, the individualization processing server B102, the individualization processing server C103, the individualization processing server D104, the post-office box management server A105, and the post-office box management server B106 are respectively It may be realized by dedicated hardware, or may be configured by a memory and a CPU (Central Processing System), and load and execute a program for realizing the function of each unit described above into the memory. , The function may be realized.
[0027]
The delivery information management server 100, the individualization processing server A101, the individualization processing server B102, the individualization processing server C103, the individualization processing server D104, the post-office box management server A105, and the post-office box management server B106 include: An input system, a display system, and the like (both not shown) are connected as peripheral devices. Here, the input system refers to input devices such as a keyboard and a mouse. The display system refers to a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display system, a liquid crystal display system, or the like.
[0028]
Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, the operation of the distributed delivery processing system will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 2 illustrating the operation of the distributed delivery processing system according to the present embodiment.
First, the delivery information management server 100 receives registration of electronic information desired for delivery from the information provider 2 (step S1).
Next, the delivery information management server 100 receives the delivery information including the information specifying the delivery destination of the user who wants to deliver the electronic information registered in step 1 (step S2).
Upon receiving the electronic information and the delivery information, the delivery information management server 100 first copies the electronic information and distributes the same electronic information from the individualization processing server A101 to all the individualization processing servers of the individualization processing server D104 (step S3).
Next, the delivery information management server 100 transmits the delivery information to the individualization processing server that is in charge of personalizing the user recorded in the delivery information (Step S4). For example, if it is the delivery information of the user A3, it is sent to the individualization processing server A101, and if it is the delivery information of the user D6, it is sent to the individualization processing server D104.
Upon receiving the electronic information to be delivered and the delivery information of each user managed by itself, all the individualized processing servers from the individualized processing server A101 to the individualized processing server D104 transmit the electronic information to be delivered to each user. Individualized by the information (Step S5).
[0029]
Then, all the individualized processing servers from the individualized processing server A101 to the individualized processing server D104 record the individualized electronic information in the electronic information together with the delivery information used for individualizing the electronic information. The information is transmitted to the post office box management server in charge of the information delivery of the user (step S6). For example, the personalized electronic information and delivery information of the user A3 are transmitted to the post-office box management server A105, and the personalized electronic information and delivery information of the user E7 are transmitted to the post-office box management server B106.
Next, the post office box management server receives the individualized electronic information to be delivered and the delivery information, and delivers the information to each user according to the delivery information (step S7). For example, post office box A105 delivers information to users A3, B4, C5, and D6, and post office box B106 delivers information to uses E7, F8, G9, and H10. .
[0030]
Next, a procedure for creating a post-office box in the post-office box management server will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG.
First, before explaining the procedure for adding a post-office box, a post-office box ID number for specifying the electronic post-office box 419 in the electronic information distribution system 401 in FIG. 7 will be described. The post-office box ID number is a number for specifying an electronic post-office box provided for each user. For example, it is assumed that a fixed number of digits such as 000000 to ffffff in hexadecimal is fixed and assigned in order from 000000. From the assigned post office box ID numbers, a post office box is created and managed in the post office box management server A 105 and the post office box management server B 106 in the following procedure.
[0031]
That is, in FIG. 3, first, the post office box ID number is recognized as a character string (step S11). For example, if the post office box ID number is “123456” in hexadecimal, this is recognized as a character string “123456”.
Next, the character order of the recognized post office box ID number character string is reversed to create an inverted character string (step S12). If the character string of the post office box ID number is “123456”, the inverted character string is “654321”.
After the creation of the inverted character string, the character string representing the directory path is separated by dividing the character string (step S13). Here, the character strings can be freely delimited, but it is preferable that the upper character string represents a directory name and the lower character string represents a file name therein. For example, when the inverted character string “654321” is converted to a character string representing a directory path, it becomes “/ 6/5/4/321”. Here, “/ 6/5/4” represents a directory structure, and it is possible to divide and manage up to the third power of 1696, that is, 4096, and “/ 321” represents the directory “/ 6/5 / The file name “321” recorded in “4” indicates that 4096 files (electronic post office boxes), which is 16 to the third power, can be recorded in the directory “/ 6/5/4”.
[0032]
When the directory path with the inverted character string is created, a recording area represented by the directory path is created as a post office box directory in the recording area inside the post office box management server A 105 and the post office box management server B 106 (step S14). Here, the directory to be created is: when the post office box ID number is represented by a binary number, when the post office box ID number ends with "0", the post office box management server A105. When the post office box ID number is represented by a binary number, the post office box ID number is a binary number. An ID number ending in "1" is created in the post-office box management server B106.
That is, if the post-office box ID number is “123456” in hexadecimal, it is represented by a binary number and is “0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110”, so that the post-office is managed by the post office box management server A 105 as “0” at the end. According to this, "/ 6" of "/ 6/5/4" is managed by the post-office box management server A105, and similarly, the top-level directories "/ 0", "/ 2", "/ 4" , “/ 6”, “/ 8”, “/ A”, “/ C”, and “/ E” are stored in the post office box management server A 105 in the top-level directories “/ 1”, “/ 3”, “/ 5”. , “/ 7”, “/ 9”, “/ B”, “/ D”, and “/ F” are respectively managed by the post-office box management server B106.
After the directory for the post office box is created in the post office box management server A 105 and the post office box management server B 106, the post office box management information is updated, and the created electronic information addressed to the post office box is recorded in the post office box directory (step S15). Here, the post-office box management information is a database included in the delivery information management unit 412 of FIG. 7 and recording which post-office box management server manages which post-office box group.
[0033]
Next, the procedure for dividing a post-office box when the electronic information handled by each user increases and the post-office box management server is distributed is described in FIG. 5, a flowchart explaining the post-office box division procedure of the embodiment of FIG. 5, and a schematic diagram of FIG. 6 explaining the division of the post-office box management server of the embodiment from four to eight. .
First, the division of the post office box management server from two to four will be described with reference to the schematic diagram described in FIG. The left side of the dotted line shown in the center of FIG. 4 is the configuration of the post office box management server before division. The configuration of the post-office box management server before the division is such that, when the post-office box ID number is represented by a binary number, the post-office box ID number is represented by a binary number. When it is expressed, it is composed of a post-office box management server B106 that manages an electronic post-office box with the end of the post-office box ID number being “1”.
[0034]
On the other hand, the right side of the dotted line shown in the center of FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the post office box management server after division. The structure of the post-office box management server after the division is such that, when the post-office box ID number is represented by a binary number, the post-office box management server AA200 that manages an electronic post-office box with the end of the post-office box ID number being “00”, and the post office box ID number by a binary number In the case of expressing, the post office box management server AB201 which manages the electronic post office box whose end of the post office box ID number is "10", and the electronic post office box whose end of the post office box ID number is "01" in the case where the post office box ID number is expressed in binary. And a post office box management server BB203 that manages an electronic post office box with a post office box ID number ending in "11" when the post office box ID number is represented by a binary number. After the post-office box management server is divided, the post-office box managed by the post-office box management server A105 is the post-office box management server AA200 or AB201, and the post-office box managed by the post-office box management server B106 is the post-office box management server BA202 or post office box. Management is transferred to the management server BB203.
[0035]
Next, the division procedure of the post-office box management server will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
First, the directory structure of the post-office box management server A105 and the post-office box management server B106 is confirmed, and the division information of the post-office box ID number of the managed post-office box and the structure of the directory path are recognized (step S21). Here, as described in step S14 of FIG. 3, when the post-office box ID number is represented by a binary number, the post-office box ID number ending with "0" is transmitted to the post-office box management server A105, and the post-office box ID number is converted into a binary number. When the post office box ID number ending in “1” is created in the post office box management server B 106, the division information of the post office box ID number of the managed post office box is recognized as one digit.
[0036]
Next, the division information of the post office box ID number of the managed post office box is increased by one digit, and new division information is determined (step S22). Now, since the division information of the post-office box ID numbers of the post-office boxes of the post-office box management servers A105 and B106 is recognized as one digit, the new division information has two digits.
When the division information of the new post office box ID number is determined, the post office box ID number is recognized as a character string (step S23).
Next, the order of the characters is reversed to create an inverted character string (step S24). If the character string of the post office box ID number is “123456”, the inverted character string is “654321”.
After the creation of the inverted character string, the character string representing the directory path is divided (step S25). Here, the character strings can be freely delimited, but it is preferable that the upper character string represents a directory name and the lower character string represents a file name therein. For example, when the inverted character string “654321” is converted into a character string representing a directory path, it becomes “/ 6/5/4/321”.
[0037]
When the directory path by the inverted character string is created, a new post-office box management server having a recording area represented by the directory path as a post-office box directory is created (step S26). Here, in the directory to be created, since the division information of the post-office box ID number is determined to be two digits in step S22, when the post-office box ID number is expressed in binary, the post-office box ID number ends with "00". To the post office box management server AA200, the post office box ID number is represented by a binary number, the post office box ID number ending in "10" to the post office box management server AB201, and the post office box ID number is expressed by a binary number. If the number ending in "01" is expressed in the post-office box management server BA202, and the post-office box ID number is expressed in binary, the post-office ID number ending in "11" is generated in the post office box management server BB203.
That is, if the post-office box ID number is “123456” in hexadecimal, it is represented by a binary number and is “0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110”, so that the end is “10” and is managed by the post-office box management server AB201. According to this, “/ 6/6” of “/ 6/5/4” is managed by the post-office box management server AB201, and similarly, the top-level directories “/ 0”, “/ 4”, “/ 8” , “/ C” are in the post-office box management server AA200, and the top-level directories “/ 2”, “/ 6”, “/ A”, and “/ E” are in the post-office box management server AB201, and the top-level directory “/ 1”. , “/ 5”, “/ 9”, and “/ D” are stored in the post-office box management server BA202, and the top-level directories “/ 3”, “/ 7”, “/ B”, and “/ F” are stored in the post-office box management server BB203. Is managed respectively.
After the directory for the post office box is created in each post office box management server, the post office box management information is updated (step S27), and the electronic information included in the directory created in the old post office box management server is copied to the directory of the new post office box management server (step S27). Step S28). Here, the copy of the electronic information from the old post-office box management server to the new post-office box management server can be made by physically creating a directory on a completely different recording medium and copying between the recording media. The directory structure may be changed by changing only the reference area without changing (electronic link change or physical mount change).
[0038]
Further, when the number of electronic information to be handled further increases and the number of post-office box management servers increases from four to eight, it is possible to divide the server in the same manner as described above. The division of the post office box management server from four to eight will be described with reference to the schematic diagram shown in FIG.
The left side of the dotted line shown in the center of FIG. 6 is the configuration of the post-office box management server before division. The configuration of the post-office box management server before the division is such that, when the post-office box ID number is represented by a binary number, the post-office box ID number is represented by a binary number, and the post-office box ID number is “00”. When represented, a post office box management server AB201 that manages an electronic post office box with the end of the post office box ID number being "10", and an electronic post office box with the end of the post office box ID number of "01" when the post office box ID number is expressed in binary. And a post office box management server BB203 that manages an electronic post office box with a post office box ID number ending in "11" when the post office box ID number is represented by a binary number.
[0039]
On the other hand, the right side of the dotted line shown in the center of FIG. 6 shows the configuration of the post office box management server after division. The configuration of the post-office box management server after the division is such that, when the post-office box ID number is represented by a binary number, the post-office box ID number is represented by a binary number, and the post-office box ID number is represented by a binary number. When represented, a post office box management server AAB301 that manages an electronic post office box with the end of the post office box ID number of "100", and an electronic post office box with the end of the post office box ID number of "010" when the post office box ID number is expressed in binary. Box management server ABA302 that manages an electronic post-office box whose end is "110", and a post-office box ID number is expressed by a binary number. In this case, a post office box management server BAA304 that manages an electronic post office box with a post office box ID number ending in “001”, When the box ID number is represented by a binary number, the post office box management server BAB305 that manages an electronic post office box with the end of the post office box ID number being "101", and when the post office box ID number is expressed by a binary number, the end of the post office box ID number is It is composed of a post office box management server BBA 306 that manages an electronic post office box that is “011” and a post office box management server BBB 307 that manages an electronic post office box whose post office box ID number ends with “111” when the post office box ID number is represented by a binary number. You.
[0040]
After the post-office box management server is divided, the electronic post-office box managed by the post-office box management server AAA200 is stored in the post-office box management server AAA300 or AAB301. The electronic post office box managed by the post office box management server BA202 is managed by the management server ABB303, the post office box management server BAA304 or the post office box management server BAB305, and the electronic post office box managed by the post office box management server BB203 is post office box management server BBA306 or post office box management server. The management is shifted to BBB307.
In this way, the post office box management server is divided so that 2 n powers are prepared in the distributed delivery processing system 1.
[0041]
Note that the relationship between the post-office box ID number and the directory path described above is merely an example, and the method of delimiting the character string of the post-office box ID number is not limited to this, and the directory path can be uniquely determined from the post-office box ID number. Any division method may be used as long as the post office box management server can be divided by the power.
[0042]
Also, the delivery information management server, each individualization processing server, and each post-office box management server described in the above-described embodiment respectively record a program for realizing the function on a computer-readable recording medium. The functions of the above-described servers may be realized by causing a computer system to read and execute the program recorded on the recording medium.
[0043]
Here, the “computer system” includes hardware such as an OS and peripheral devices, and further includes a homepage providing environment (or display environment) if a WWW (World Wide Web) system is used. Shall be considered. The “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a portable medium such as a floppy disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, a CD-ROM, and a storage system such as a hard disk built in a computer system. Further, a "computer-readable recording medium" refers to a medium that dynamically stores a program for a short time, such as when a program is transmitted through a computer network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. (Transmission medium or transmission wave), in which case a program holding a program for a certain period of time, such as a volatile memory in a computer system serving as a server or a client, is also included.
[0044]
Further, the program may be for realizing a part of the above-mentioned functions, and may be a program for realizing the above-mentioned functions in combination with a program already stored in the computer system, that is, a so-called difference file ( Difference program).
[0045]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a distributed delivery processing system for delivering electronic information provided by an information provider to a user designated by the information provider, wherein the electronic information delivered from the information provider is provided. And a delivery information management means for receiving and managing delivery information including delivery destination designation information of the electronic information; and distributing the electronic information distributed from the delivery information management means to the delivery information allocated by the delivery information management means. One or a plurality of individualization processing means for converting individual information for each user based on the individual information for each user based on the user information specified in the delivery destination designation information. One or a plurality of electronic post-office box management means for managing the electronic post-office boxes accommodated for each user in association with the destination, and at least one of the individualization processing means and the electronic post-office box management means is provided in plurality. Ri, the difference in load factors individual processing means and the electronic PO Box management means, and configured to separately distributed processing.
In this way, by properly distributing electronic information to a plurality of individualized processing means or electronic post-office box management means and equalizing the processing amount of each means, a large amount of data can be loaded without imposing a load on the system or network. Electronic information can be delivered.
[0046]
Further, according to the present invention, in the distributed delivery processing system, when a plurality of individualized processing units are provided, the delivery information management unit performs processing on a specific individual processing unit among the plurality of prepared individualized processing units. In order to avoid concentration, the electronic information delivered from the information provider and the delivery information including the delivery destination designation information of the electronic information are allocated to the individual processing units.
Further, in the distributed delivery processing system according to the present invention, the electronic post-office box management means manages each electronic post-office box in a recording area having a directory structure specified by a character string representing an identification number given to the electronic post-office box. In this configuration, the character string specifying the recording area provided in the electronic post-office box management means is a character string in which the character strings representing the identification numbers given to the electronic post-office box are arranged in reverse order.
This makes it possible to easily perform distribution and management of the electronic post-office boxes included in the electronic post-office box management means when processing the electronic post-office box management means in a distributed manner.
[0047]
Further, the present invention, in the electronic post-office box management method, a process of recognizing the identification number given to the electronic post-office box as a character string, a process of creating an inverted character string in which the order of the recognized character string is reversed, A process of dividing the inverted character string into a character string representing a directory structure, a process of newly creating a recording area specified by the character string representing the directory structure, and an electronic post-office box designated by a recording area by the identification number , And recognizes the division information specified by an arbitrary number of digits from the bottom of the character string in the binary number representation of the identification number, and adds one digit more in the binary number than the number of digits of the division information. The process of specifying the division information and the directory using the remainder obtained by dividing the character specifying the top directory of the recording area represented by the binary number by m to the power of 2 with the number of digits of the new division information being m. Distinguish And processing for newly creating a new recording area, and processing for distributing the contents of the recording area to the new recording area according to the identification number and making the new recording area an electronic post-office box designated by the identification number. The recording area of the electronic post office box is divided.
Thus, when the electronic post-office box management unit is divided, the management of the electronic post-office box included in the electronic post-office box management unit can be transferred to the electronic post-office box management unit after division on a directory basis.
Therefore, even in the case where the designation of the delivery destination user is biased or the electronic information handled per user increases, the electronic information delivery system that efficiently distributes the processing load and performs the processing is provided. The effect of being able to construct is obtained.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the distributed delivery processing system according to the embodiment;
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for creating a post office box according to the embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating division of the post office box management server according to the embodiment from two to four.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a post-office box division procedure according to the embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating division of the post office box management server according to the embodiment from four to eight.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic information delivery system in which the distributed delivery processing system according to the embodiment can be used.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Distributed delivery processing system
2 information provider
3 User A
4 User B
5 User C
6 User D
7 User E
8 User F
9 User G
10 User H
100 Delivery information management server
101 Individualized processing server A
102 Individualized processing server B
103 Individualized processing server C
104 individual processing server D
105 PO Box Management Server A
106 PO Box Management Server B
200 PO Box Management Server AA
201 PO Box Management Server AB
202 PO Box Management Server BA
203 PO Box Management Server BB
300 PO Box Management Server AAA
301 post office box management server AAB
302 PO Box Management Server ABA
303 post office box management server ABB
304 post office box management server BAA
305 POB management server BAB
306 PO Box Management Server BBA
307 PO Box Management Server BBB
401 Electronic Information Delivery System
401a management unit
401b delivery processing unit
402 Information Provider
403 users
411 Operation Management Department
412 Delivery Information Management Unit
413 Filter function section
414 Individualization Function Unit
415 Delivery sorter
416 History information file
417 History reference section
418 User attribute information file
419 Electronic PO Box
420 delivery server
421 Mobile Phone Connection Gateway
431 Web Browser
432 mobile phone

Claims (10)

A distributed delivery processing system for delivering electronic information provided by an information provider to a user designated by the information provider,
Delivery information management means for receiving and managing electronic information delivered from an information provider and delivery information including delivery destination designation information of the electronic information;
One or more individualization processing means for converting the electronic information distributed from the delivery information management means into individual information for each user based on the delivery information allocated by the delivery information management means,
Managing one or a plurality of electronic post-office boxes for accommodating for each user the personalized information converted by the individualization processing means for each user in association with the destination of the user specified in the delivery destination specification information; Electronic post office box management means;
And
A distributed delivery processing system, wherein a plurality of at least one of the individualization processing means and the electronic post-office box management means are provided. The delivery information management means includes:
In the case where a plurality of the individualization processing units are provided, the electronic information delivered from an information provider is provided so that the processing is not concentrated on the specific individual processing unit among the plurality of the individualization processing units. 2. The distributed delivery processing system according to claim 1, wherein the delivery information including the delivery destination designation information of the electronic information is allocated to each individual processing unit. The electronic post office box management means,
3. The distributed delivery processing system according to claim 1, wherein 2 @ n powers (n is an arbitrary integer of 0 or more) are prepared in the distributed delivery processing system. The electronic post office box management means,
4. The electronic post-office box is managed in a recording area having a directory structure specified by a character string representing an identification number given to the electronic post-office box, 4. Distributed delivery processing system. A character string designating the recording area provided in the electronic post-office box management means,
The distributed delivery processing system according to claim 4, wherein the distributed delivery processing system is a character string in which character strings representing identification numbers given to the electronic post-office box are arranged in reverse order. A distributed delivery processing method for delivering electronic information provided by an information provider to a user designated by the information provider,
A delivery information management process for receiving and managing electronic information delivered from an information provider and delivery information including delivery destination designation information of the electronic information;
An individualization process of converting the electronic information distributed by one or a plurality of devices into individual information for each user based on the delivery information allocated by the delivery information management process;
An electronic post-office box management process for managing an electronic post-office box that accommodates, for each user, electronic information addressed to the user specified in the delivery destination specification information included in the delivery information by one or a plurality of devices;
Including
At least one of the individualization process and the electronic post-office box management process is provided with a plurality of devices and executes a plurality of processes simultaneously. In a distributed delivery processing system that distributes electronic information provided by an information provider to users designated by the information provider in a distributed manner, the electronic information addressed to the user is stored for each user. An electronic post office box management method for an electronic post office box
Processing for recognizing the identification number given to the electronic post-office box as a character string;
Creating an inverted string by reversing the order of the recognized strings;
A process of dividing the inverted character string into a character string representing a directory structure;
Processing for creating a recording area specified by a character string representing the directory structure;
A process of managing the recording area as an electronic post-office box designated by the identification number;
An electronic post-office box management method, comprising: The electronic PO Box management method is as follows:
A process of recognizing division information specified by an arbitrary number of digits from the bottom of the character string of the binary number of the identification number and specifying new division information that is one digit larger in the binary number than the number of digits of the division information;
A new recording area for distinguishing directories by using a remainder obtained by dividing a character designating a top-level directory of the recording area expressed in a binary number by m, where m is the number of digits of the new division information. Processing to create a new
A process of distributing the contents of the recording area to the new recording area according to the identification number, and setting the new recording area as an electronic post-office box designated by the identification number;
Further comprising
8. The electronic post-office box management method according to claim 7, wherein the recording area of the electronic post-office box to be managed is divided. A program used for electronic post-office box management in a distributed delivery processing system that distributes electronic information provided by an information provider to designated users in a distributed manner,
A program for causing a computer to execute the electronic post-office box management method according to claim 7 or 8. In a distributed delivery processing system that distributes electronic information provided by an information provider to designated users in a distributed delivery process, a recording medium recording a program used for electronic post-office box management,
A computer-readable recording medium recording a program for causing a computer to execute the electronic post-office box management method according to claim 7.

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