JP4862346B2 - Download system and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a download system for downloading a program, an information processing apparatus, a control method for the information processing apparatus, and a program.

When updating a control program for an information device, the update program is often downloaded from a server installed at a remote location from the information device. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology in which an information device requests download of the latest program when a new version of a program is stored in a server.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-21060

  However, in the conventional technology, when there are a large number of information devices connected to the server, there is a problem that if a program download occurs simultaneously, the network load between the server and the information device increases.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and one of its purposes is a download system, an information processing apparatus, a control method for the information processing apparatus, and an information processing apparatus capable of reducing a network load when a program is downloaded. To provide a program.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a download system according to the present invention is a download system including a plurality of information processing apparatuses that download a program from a server, and at least one of the plurality of information processing apparatuses includes the server When the program is downloaded from the information processing apparatus, the information processing apparatus includes means for broadcasting the information indicating that the download is ongoing to the plurality of information processing apparatuses. The server is not requested to download a program.

  The information processing apparatus control method according to the present invention is an information processing apparatus control method for downloading a program from a server, and indicates that the download is ongoing when the program is downloaded from the server. Broadcasting information to a plurality of information processing devices is included.

  The program for causing the information processing apparatus according to the present invention to function is a program for causing the information processing apparatus to download the program from the server, and the download is continued when the program is downloaded from the server. This is a program for causing an information processing apparatus to function as means for broadcasting information indicating that the information is being transmitted to a plurality of information processing apparatuses.

  In the present invention, a download system includes a server and a plurality of information processing apparatuses that download programs from the server. In a download system, when one of a plurality of information processing apparatuses downloads a program from a server, it notifies other information processing apparatuses that the program is being downloaded by broadcast communication. The other information processing apparatus that has received the notification waits without requesting the server to download while the notified information processing apparatus is downloading.

  According to the present invention, since the number of information processing apparatuses that can download a program from a server at a time can be limited, the network load when the program is downloaded can be reduced.

  In one aspect of the present invention, in the download system, the information to be broadcast includes information on a program to be downloaded from the server, and the other information processing apparatus that has received the broadcast communication receives the broadcast information. A program indicated by information received by broadcast communication is downloaded from an information processing apparatus that has performed the broadcast communication. In this way, when one of the plurality of information processing apparatuses notifies the other information processing apparatus of the program downloaded from the server, and the program is suitable for the other information processing apparatus, the one information Another information processing apparatus can download the program from the processing apparatus. Thereby, the network load at the time of downloading a program can be reduced.

  The download system according to the present invention is a download system including a server and a plurality of information processing devices, and at least one of the plurality of information processing devices acquires information on the latest update program from the server. Means, a means for searching for an information processing apparatus that holds an update program corresponding to the acquired information, and an information processing apparatus that holds the update program are found by the search. And a means for downloading the update program from the information processing apparatus. According to the present invention, an information processing device searches for whether another information processing device belonging to the same network has a desired update program, and if so, acquires an update program from the information processing device. to download. By doing so, it is possible to reduce the network load between the server and the information processing apparatus.

  The download system according to the present invention is a download system including a server and a plurality of information processing devices, and at least one of the plurality of information processing devices includes each of the server and the plurality of information processing devices. Means for acquiring information of the latest update program to be held, and among the acquired information, one of the plurality of information processing devices is equal to or more up-to-date than the server In some cases, the information processing apparatus includes means for downloading an update program from the information processing apparatus having the information. According to the present invention, when another information processing apparatus belonging to the same network has information on an update program that is equivalent to or more recent than the server, the information processing apparatus holds that information. An update program can be downloaded from the device. By doing so, it is possible to reduce the network load between the server and the information processing apparatus.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a download system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the download system 1 includes a plurality of clients 10 -A, B, C, a router 12, and a server 14. The clients are connected to each other via a network 16 so that they can communicate with each other. Each client 10 -A, B, C is connected to the external network 18 via the router 12 connected to the network 16. The clients 10 -A, B, and C can exchange data with the server 14 connected to the external network 18. Hereinafter, the contents common to each of the clients 10-A, B, and C will be described as the client 10.

  An overview of the download system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described below. In the download system 1, the client 10 downloads an update program from the server 14. As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, three clients 10 are connected on a network 16. While one of the three clients 10 is downloading the update program from the server 14, the other two clients 10 wait for the update program to be downloaded from the server 14.

  The client 10 is a device that downloads an update program from the server 14. The client 10 inquires of the server 14 about the latest update program information. In response to the reply from the server 14, the client 10 calculates the time required to download the latest update program from the server 14. The client 10 broadcasts the calculated time to the other two clients 10 and starts downloading. The other two clients 10 that have received the broadcast communication wait for a request for download to the server 14 for the notified time.

  The router 12 may be a general router. The router 12 is connected to both the network 16 and the external network 18 and plays a role of connecting both networks.

  The server 14 is a server that transfers an update program to the client 10. The server 14 holds an update program, selects an update program suitable for the client 10 in response to a request from the client 10, and transmits information about the update program. Then, in response to the update program download request from the client 10, the server 14 transfers a program that meets the request.

  FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram of each device constituting the download system 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the download system 1 includes a server 14, a router 12, and a client 10.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the server 14 includes a network interface 20, an update program holding unit 22, an update information generation unit 24, and an update program transfer unit 26. Each part will be described below.

  The network interface 20 is an interface for the server 14 to connect to the external network 18. The server 14 receives an inquiry about the latest update program from the client 10 via the network interface 20, and returns update information to the client 10.

  The update program holding unit 22 holds binary data of the update program of the client 10. As shown in FIG. 3, the update program holding unit 22 uses a table (hereinafter referred to as an update program information table) in which the latest update programs are associated with each model (hardware, OS, etc.) of the client 10. I remember it. The update program storage unit 22 includes a storage device such as a hard disk of the server 14.

  The update information generation unit 24 generates update program information to be transmitted to the client 10 in response to an inquiry about the latest update program received from the client 10. Based on the attribute information of the client 10 that has made the inquiry, the update information generation unit 24 refers to the update program information table and acquires the corresponding update program. Then, the update information generation unit 24 generates update information to be transmitted to the client 10 based on the acquired update program. The generated update information includes the program name of the update program, the version of the program, the file size, and the like.

  The update program transfer unit 26 reads binary data of the update program requested from the client 10 from the update program holding unit 22 and transfers it to the client 10.

  The router 12 is a device that relays data flowing on a network to another network. In the present embodiment, the router 12 receives the update information and the update program transmitted from the network interface 20 and transfers them to the target client 10.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the client 10 includes a network interface 30, an update information acquisition unit 32, a scheduled completion time notification unit 34, an update program acquisition unit 36, a storage unit 38, and an update processing unit 40. Each part will be described below.

  The network interface 30 is an interface for the client 10 to connect to the network 16. The client 10 receives the latest update program information and update program binary data from the server 14 via the network interface 30. Further, the client 10 transmits and receives data to and from other clients 10 via the network interface 30.

  The update information acquisition unit 32 acquires the latest update program information suitable for the client 10 from the server 14. The update information acquisition unit 32 transmits a request for downloading update information to the server 14 and also transmits attribute information (hardware, OS information, etc.) of the client 10 together. Moreover, the update information acquisition part 32 is good also as acquiring network setting information from the other client 10, when the connection to the server 14 fails.

  The scheduled completion time notification unit 34 calculates a scheduled time at which the download of the update program is completed based on the update information acquired by the update information acquisition unit 32. The scheduled completion time notification unit 34 calculates the scheduled download completion time from the file size of the update program included in the update information and the communication line speed. Then, the scheduled completion time of download is calculated by adding the estimated completion time calculated to the current time. The scheduled completion time notification unit 34 broadcasts and notifies the calculated completion scheduled time to the client 10 connected to the network 16.

  The update program acquisition unit 36 downloads and acquires an update program from the server 14. The update program acquisition unit 36 waits without requesting the server 14 to download the update program while the scheduled completion time notified from the other client 10 has not elapsed.

  The storage unit 38 stores the update program acquired by the update program acquisition unit 36 and the scheduled completion time notified from other clients 10. The storage unit 38 includes a storage device such as a hard disk of the client 10. As shown in FIG. 2, the storage unit 38 includes an update program storage unit 42 and a scheduled completion time storage unit 44.

  The update program storage unit 42 stores the update program acquired by the update program acquisition unit 36. The update program storage unit 42 may store program information held by the client 10 in a list format.

  The scheduled completion time storage unit 44 stores the scheduled download completion time notified from other clients. The update program acquisition unit 36 refers to the scheduled completion time storage unit 44 and determines whether it is possible to immediately request the server 14 to download the update program.

  The update processing unit 40 performs update processing using the update program stored in the update program storage unit 42. After the update processing unit 40 updates the program, the program information related to the update may be broadcast to the network 16. When another client 10 that has received the broadcast communication determines that the notified program is suitable for itself, the other client 10 may download the program.

  Details of the download operation of the update program in the download system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

  FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram of update program download processing in the download system 1. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the client 10-A inquires the server 14 about information on the latest update program suitable for the client 10-A (S101). In response to the request from the client 10-A, the server 14 refers to the update program information table and transmits update information suitable for the client 10-A (S102). Based on the update information received from the server 14, the client 10-A plans to complete the download of the update program from the file size of the update program to be downloaded and the speed of the communication line used by the client 10-A. Time is calculated (S103). Then, the client 10-A performs broadcast communication with the device connected to the network 16 to which the client 10-A belongs (S104). Upon receiving the broadcast communication from the client 10-A, the client 10-B waits for download until the notified completion scheduled time (S105). After performing the above-mentioned broadcast communication, the client 10-A requests the server 14 to download the update program (S106). Then, the server 14 transfers the update program requested from the client 10-A to the client 10-A (S107). When the scheduled completion time notified from the client 10-A has passed, the client 10-B can inquire about the latest update program information to request the server 14 to download the update program (S107). .

  According to the download system according to the embodiment of the present invention described above, the number of clients that can download a program from the server can be limited even when there are a plurality of clients that download the program from the server. Network load can be reduced.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In the second embodiment, the client 10 acquires update program information from the server 14, and based on the acquired update information, first holds an update program to be downloaded in another client 10 in the same network. Search for what you have. If the client 10 is found by the search, the client 10 downloads the update program from the client 10. If the client 10 is not found by the search, an update program is downloaded from the server 14.

  FIG. 5 is an internal configuration diagram of each device constituting the download system according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 5, the same reference numerals as the blocks described in FIG. 2 have the same functions as those in the first embodiment, and thus description thereof will be omitted below. In contrast to the first embodiment, a search unit 46 is added to the client 10 in the second embodiment.

  The search unit 46 searches for the client 10 that holds the update program corresponding to the update information acquired by the update information acquisition unit 32 from the clients 10 connected to the same network as the client 10. The search unit 46 broadcasts information for identifying an update program to be searched to the network 16 and requests a reply from the client 10 having the update program. Then, when the other client 10 receives the request, it refers to the storage unit 38 of each client 10 to determine whether or not the corresponding update program is held. Reply. When there is a client 10 that has an update program, the search unit 46 notifies the update program acquisition unit 36 of the address of the client 10 based on a reply from another client 10. The search unit 46 notifies the address of the server 14 when there is no client 10 that holds the update program. The update program acquisition unit 36 acquires an update program based on the transferred address.

  According to the second embodiment of the present invention described above, when downloading an update program, the client 10 first searches for devices having the update program in the same network. The update program can be downloaded from the device. By doing so, the network load between the server and the client can be reduced.

  Next, a third embodiment according to the present invention will be described.

  In the third embodiment, the client 10 acquires update program information from other clients 10 in the same network as the server 14. Then, the client 10 compares the acquired update information, and among the acquired information, the information held by any one of the plurality of clients 10 is equal to or more up-to-date than the server 14 Downloads the update program from the client 10 having the information.

  FIG. 6 is an internal block diagram of each device constituting the download system according to the third embodiment. In FIG. 6, the same reference numerals as those shown in FIG. 2 have the same functions as those in the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted below. Compared to the first embodiment, a comparison unit 48 is added to the client 10 in the third embodiment. Further, the update information acquisition unit 32 of the client 10 acquires update information not only from the server 14 but also from the client 10 existing in the same network.

  The comparison unit 48 compares the update information acquired by the update information acquisition unit 32, and among the acquired information, any one of the plurality of clients 10 is equivalent to the server 14 or more than the server 14 It is determined whether or not it is the latest information. The comparison unit 48 may compare the above comparison with the creation date and time stored in the update information, or may compare with the version information of the stored program. The comparison unit 48 transfers the address of the client 10 to the update program acquisition unit 36 when the client 10 holds the latest or equivalent information to the server 14 by the above comparison, and otherwise the server 14 Are transferred to the update program acquisition unit 36. The update program acquisition unit 36 acquires an update program based on the transferred address.

  According to the third embodiment of the present invention described above, the client acquires the update information from the device connected to the same network as the server, and the device connected to the same network is equal to or newer than the server. If the information is held, the update program can be downloaded from the device. By doing so, the network load between the server and the client can be reduced.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment.

  For example, in the first embodiment, the client 10 notifies the other clients 10 of the download completion scheduled time. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the client 10 indicates the start and end of the download. 10 may be notified.

  In the first embodiment, when the type of program downloaded by the client 10 is notified to the other client 10 by broadcast communication, and the program is a program suitable for the other client 10, Another client 10 may download the program.

  Further, in the case where the update of the program in the client 10 fails, the client 10 may perform broadcast communication within the same network and download and recover the update program held by the other client 10.

  In addition, before the program is updated in the client 10, the program before the update is backed up to another client 10, and if the update of the program fails, the backed up program may be downloaded and recovered. Good.

It is a system configuration figure of a download system concerning an embodiment of the invention. It is an internal block diagram of each apparatus which comprises a download system. It is an example of the table which matched those latest update programs for every model of a client. It is a sequence diagram of the download process of the update program in the download system. It is an internal block diagram of each apparatus which comprises the download system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is an internal block diagram of each apparatus which comprises the download system which concerns on 3rd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  1 download system, 10 clients, 12 routers, 14 servers, 16 networks, 18 external networks, 20 network interfaces, 22 update program holding units, 24 update information generation units, 26 update program transfer units, 30 network interfaces, 32 acquisition of update information 34, scheduled completion time notification unit, 36 update program acquisition unit, 38 storage unit, 40 update processing unit, 42 update program storage unit, 44 scheduled completion time storage unit, 46 search unit, 48 comparison unit.

Claims (6)

A download system including a plurality of information processing devices for downloading a program from a server,
At least one of the plurality of information processing devices is
Before downloading the program from the server, calculating means for calculating the expected completion time of the download;
Means for broadcasting the scheduled completion time calculated by the calculation means to another information processing apparatus;
Means for downloading the program after the broadcast communication;
Including
The other information processing apparatus that has received the broadcast communication is:
Means for waiting for the download request of the program until the scheduled completion time elapses;
And a means for requesting the server to download the program after the scheduled completion time has elapsed. The download system according to claim 1,
It said computing means, downloading system and calculates between at the scheduled completion based and file size of the program, to the speed of the communication line. The download system according to claim 1 or 2,
At least one of the plurality of information processing devices is
Before updating the downloaded program, means for backing up the program before update to another information processing device;
The download system further comprising means for downloading and recovering the pre-update program backed up in the other information processing apparatus when the update by the downloaded program fails. A computer that downloads the program from the server,
Before downloading the program from the server, calculating means for calculating the expected completion time of the download;
Means for broadcasting the scheduled completion time calculated by the calculation means to another information processing apparatus;
A program for functioning as means for downloading the program after the broadcast communication,
The other information processing apparatus that has received the broadcast communication is:
Means for waiting for the download request of the program until the scheduled completion time elapses;
Means for requesting the server to download the program after the scheduled completion time has elapsed. The program according to claim 4,
It said calculation means, a program and calculates between at the scheduled completion based and file size of the program, to the speed of the communication line. The program according to claim 4 or 5, wherein
The computer,
Before updating the downloaded program, means for backing up the program before update to another information processing device;
A program for further functioning as a means for downloading and recovering a pre-update program backed up in the other information processing apparatus when the update by the downloaded program fails.

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