JPH08298505A - Broadcast communication processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To facilitate the data communication processing of a broadcast type. CONSTITUTION: In the case of transmitting the same message to unspecified processes operating on plural computers 11 and 12, processes 31, 32 and 33 previously generate broadcast communication objects 41, 42 and 43. The transmitter/receiver for the message executes a procedure by issuing a transmission/reception request to the broadcast communication objects. When the broadcast communication object 42 receives the message transmission request from the process 32, for example, it requests a processing to a broadcast communication management server 3. Then, tube braodcast communication management server 3 transmits the message to the processes 31 and 33 having the objective braodcast communication objects 41 and 43. The procedure on the reception of the message can be executed by issuing the reception request to the braodcast communication objects 41 and 43 by the processes 31 and 33.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is applied to a case where a message is simultaneously distributed by broadcast type communication to an unspecified number of processes on a plurality of computers connected to each other via a network and parallel processing is performed. The present invention relates to a broadcast communication processing device between processes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Broadcast type communication means that one process sends the same message to another unspecified process. When sending a message to a process on a plurality of computers connected via a network and a process on a certain computer, conventionally, TCP /
Communication protocols called IP and UDP / IP are used. The TCP / IP method is a data exchange method called Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol. The UDP / IP method is a data exchange method called a user datagram program / Internet protocol. To send a message to different processes using these protocols, a mechanism called a socket is used, for example. When one process sends a message to another process, one process opens a socket and the other process issues a binding request to the socket. Then, after the combination is completed, send a message /
Start processing such as reception. Such a technology has been put into practical use as a basic function of network communication in a conventional computer operating system (for example, "UNI
X network programming: W. See Richard Stevens / Yo Shinoda-Translation, Toppan ”).

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned conventional techniques have the following problems. That is, when a process P1 in a computer environment that realizes a target application sends a message to a plurality of other processes P2 and P3 by broadcast communication, the communication procedure is complicated as follows.
When sending a message, the process P1 first opens a socket. Then, the process P2 and the process P3
Other processes, including, will bind to this socket. After that, the process P1 had to detect the two addresses of the process P2 and the process P3 connected to the socket, and specify both addresses to perform the message transmission process. Further, when the process (for example, the process 3) connected to the socket is released and disappears, there is a constraint that the message transmission process should not be executed for the process 3. Similarly, when a new process is created, broadcast communication must send a message to that process as well. In other words, in order to perform broadcast-type communication using the socket mechanism, it is necessary for the program creator to make all decisions regarding the broadcast target process. As described above, in the broadcast communication, it is very difficult to specify the destination of the message and it is very difficult to create the program.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the broadcast communication processing device of the present invention is characterized by the following points. (1) That is, the configuration is such that a message is transmitted from an arbitrary process in a computer environment, which is connected to each other via a network, to an unspecified number of processes operating on any computer by broadcast communication. In this case, it is assumed that a broadcast communication object is set for a process that performs message transmission / reception by broadcast communication, and a process having the broadcast communication object can perform broadcast communication type message reception. On the other hand, a broadcast communication management server for managing a broadcast communication object is provided on an arbitrary computer among a plurality of computers connected by a network, and this broadcast communication management server sends a message to a plurality of processes.

(2) In (1), a broadcast communication management server and a communication process management server for mediating each process are provided on all computers, and the communication process management server broadcasts when a process disappears. Notify the communication management server. As a result, the disappeared process is deleted from the broadcast communication target, and the broadcast type communication in which no trouble such as the message transmission to the nonexistent process does not occur is performed. Further, the communication process management server notifies the broadcast communication management server when the process is created. As a result, the generated process is added to the broadcast communication target, and the broadcast type communication that does not cause message transmission omission to the existing process is performed.

[0006]

[Action]

(1) When the same message is transmitted to an unspecified number of processes operating on a plurality of computers, the process requesting the broadcast communication service creates a broadcast communication object on each process in advance. The message transmission / reception procedure is performed by issuing a transmission / reception request to this broadcast communication object. Upon receiving the message transmission request, the broadcast communication object requests the broadcast communication management server for communication processing. Then, the broadcast communication management server sends a message to the process that owns the broadcast communication object. Receiving a message is also performed by the receiving process by issuing a reception request to the broadcast communication object. As described above, the broadcast-type message transmission / reception process is realized by the broadcast communication management server, the communication process management server, and the broadcast communication object. As a result, the program creator can write a transmission processing program for the broadcast communication object owned by the own process without paying attention to the process that is the target of the broadcast type communication when sending a message. Transmission can be easily realized.

(2) In (1), as a result of the communication process management server on each computer notifying the broadcast communication management server when a process disappears or is created,
The process on the sending side can write a send processing program for the broadcast communication object owned by its own process without being aware of the disappearance and creation of the process on the receiving side, making broadcast type message sending processing even easier. Can be realized.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a broadcast communication processing device of the present invention. The illustrated apparatus includes communication process management servers 1 and 2 and a broadcast communication management server 3.

The communication process management servers 1 and 2 have a plurality of computers, for example, two computers 11 and 12 in this embodiment.
It is provided in each. The computers 11 and 12 are mutually connected by the network 10. Each computer has an arbitrary number of processes 31 and 32, 3 respectively.
3 and broadcast communication objects 41, 42, 43 for performing broadcast type communication between them.
Are provided. In each of the computers 11 and 12, the communication process management server 1 manages the broadcast communication object 41, and the communication process management server 2 manages the broadcast communication objects 42 and 43.

The broadcast communication management server 3 is connected to the network 10 and serves as an overall management server for broadcast type data communication. That is, the broadcast communication management server 3 manages all data communication, and the data transmission request issued to a certain broadcast communication object is transmitted by the broadcast communication management server 3. It also manages message transmission to the process that owns the broadcast communication object having the same name as the broadcast communication object. Such a broadcast communication management server 3 may be provided inside one of the computers 11 and 12.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of preprocessing until the start of broadcast type communication processing. First, in FIG. 2, it is assumed that the process 31 generates the broadcast communication object 41 when the message is transmitted by the broadcast communication. In this case, as a process in the generated broadcast communication object, a process I indicating the object name and the owner of the object
Notify D to the communication process management server 1. Further, the communication process management server 1 notifies the broadcast communication management server 3 of the information and puts it under the management of the broadcast communication management server 3. Thereby, the broadcast communication object 41 is identified on the network.

On the other hand, when the process 32 receives a message from the process 31 by broadcast type communication, it generates a broadcast communication object 42. In this case, as the process in the generated broadcast communication object 42, the process ID of the process 32 that is the owner of the object is notified to the communication process management server 2. Then, the communication process management server 2 sends the information to the broadcast communication management server 3
F will notify you. As a result, the process targeted for the broadcast type message transmission / reception is determined. with this,
The processes 31 and 32 are now ready for broadcast communication.

Further, when the process 33 also participates in the broadcast communication, the process similar to the above is executed by the process 33. As a result, in the broadcast communication management server 3, the processes 31, 32, and 33 are grouped as a process group that performs broadcast communication. When the above-described preprocessing is completed and a process group for performing broadcast communication is determined, message transmission by broadcast communication is started.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the concept of broadcast communication. As shown in FIG. 3, it is assumed that the process 32 is a message sending process and the processes 31 and 33 are broadcast receiving message receiving processes.
In this case, the process 32 issues a message transmission request to the broadcast communication object 42.
Further, the process 31 issues a message reception request to the broadcast communication object 41 and the process 33 issues to the broadcast communication object 43.
As a result, the message transmission request from the process 32 is notified to the broadcast communication management server 3.
Then, the transmission message is sent to the broadcast communication objects 41 and 43 owned by the process having the process ID managed as the broadcast target by the broadcast communication management server 3. On the other hand, the broadcast communication objects 41 and 43 can receive the message transmission event from the broadcast communication management server and receive the message transmitted from the process 32.

When a process participating in the broadcast communication disappears, the process is deleted from the broadcast communication targets by the broadcast communication management server 3 or the like. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of post-processing when a process disappears and when it is created. First, in FIG. 4, it is assumed that the process 33 disappears. In this case, process 33
Is notified to the communication process management server 2. Then, the communication process management server 2
Notifies the broadcast communication management server 3 that the broadcast communication object 43 owned by the process 33 no longer exists. Based on this information, the broadcast communication management server 3 sets the group of broadcast communication to the broadcast communication object 4
Change to 1 and 42. As a result, the broadcast communication after the process 33 disappears will not be performed by the processes 31 and 3.
Only 2 can proceed.

On the contrary, in FIG. 4, it is assumed that the process 33 is newly generated. In this case, the event that the process 33 has been generated is notified to the communication process management server 2. Then, the communication process management server 2 notifies the broadcast communication management server 3 that the broadcast communication object 43 owned by the process 33 is newly present. Based on this information, the broadcast communication management server 3 changes the target of broadcast communication to the broadcast communication objects 41, 42, and 43. As a result, the broadcast communication after the process 33 is generated is advanced in the processes 31, 32, and 33.

In this way, the load on the program creation side can be reduced, and the creation of a program for broadcast type communication processing can be made very simple. In addition, even if the process group targeted for broadcast communication changes due to process creation / deletion, the program on the message sending side can be used without modification. Therefore, the program creator can handle exception processing such as error handling. No need to describe. Accordingly, it becomes possible to develop a high quality program. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and can be variously modified. For example, in FIG. 1, the broadcast communication management server 3 is a separate entity, but when it is provided inside one of the computers 11 and 12, it may be integrated with the communication process management server 1 or 2.

[0018]

As described above, according to the broadcast communication processing device of the present invention, the broadcast communication processing device broadcasts to a plurality of processes operating on any one of a plurality of computers coupled via a network. When a message is sent by type communication, a broadcast communication object is provided in each process, and data is sent and received to and from the broadcast communication management server via the broadcast communication object. The number of programs can be reduced, and the creation of a program for broadcast type communication processing can be made very easy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a broadcast communication processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of preprocessing until the start of communication processing.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a broadcast communication concept.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of post-processing when a process disappears and when it is generated.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 2 Communication process management server 3 Broadcast communication management server 41, 42, 43 Broadcast communication object

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a communication system in which a process operating on any of a plurality of computers coupled via a network transmits the same message to a plurality of other processes by broadcast type communication, a broadcast transmission request of a process is issued. In contrast, a communication process management server that creates a broadcast communication object that acts as a proxy for the broadcast reception of each process in all processes in the system, and a broadcast communication management that manages message communication by the broadcast communication object created by the communication process management server. A broadcast communication processing device comprising a server. 2. The communication process management server, when the process disappears, issues a request to the broadcast communication management server in the process to stop message transmission to the broadcast communication object, and the broadcast communication management The server stops sending the message to the broadcast communication object, while the communication process management server sends a request to the broadcast communication object in the process to start sending the message when the process is created. The broadcast communication processing device according to claim 1, wherein the broadcast communication management server issues the message to the broadcast communication management server, and the broadcast communication management server starts message transmission to the broadcast communication object.