JPH10285162A - Group communication method/system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To transmit multiple kinds of messages which are frequently generated to a terminal group in accordance with the registration situation of the source name of a user by managing a relationship between the source name indicating the type of information and the participating group of the terminal and referring to the relationship with a server in transmitting the message. SOLUTION: The server 100 manages the information type of the message, the registration situation of the terminal 300 to the information type and a group address in a management table 40, based on a registration request obtained from the terminal 300. The message is transmitted to the terminal belonging to the group of a transmission destination decided by a transmission destination deciding means 103 deciding the group of the transmission destination based on the record in the management table 40. In the case of executing group communication by using the multiple address communication of multicasting, the message of the information type, which the user has registered, is supplied to the terminal group and it is not transmitted to the terminal group to which transmission is not requested. Then, the communication load of transmission is reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a group communication method and system, and more particularly to various news information such as market information, economic information and sports information and various topic information such as music and travel from a server via a network. The present invention relates to a group communication method and system for efficiently delivering information desired by a user from a server to terminals in an information delivery system for delivering to a large number of terminals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a group communication technique, a group is formed by terminals having the same group address.
The server has a method of delivering a message to a group of terminals by a group address. For example, in the Internet technology, there is a technology in which a message is divided and stored in one or a plurality of IP packets provided with an IP class D address, and the message is delivered to a large number of terminals.
In this case, a delivery method to a terminal group using an IP class D address is used. References on this delivery method include “Internet Participation Guide, WIDE Project,
Kyoritsu Shuppan, 1995, pp. 245-257].

FIG. 16 shows a configuration of a group communication system. The system shown in the figure includes a plurality of transmitting devices 500 ₁ ,
500 ₂ , 500 _n , server 100 is network 40
0, and the server 100 and the terminal 30
0 ₁ , 300 ₂ , and 300 _n are connected via the network 200. In this configuration, for example, are transferred from the originating device 500 ₂ message to the server 100 via the network 400, the server 100, to be delivered message is generated, the server 100, the message via the network 200 terminal 300
Delivery to groups such as ₁ , 300 ₂ and 300 _n .

FIG. 17 is a diagram (part 1) for explaining a conventional group communication method. Note that the numbers in the circles in the figure correspond to the numbers in the circles below. In the method shown in the figure, when a terminal subscribes to a message delivery service, it subscribes to one group AG corresponding to the service. When a message occurs in the server S, the server S delivers the message to a single group AG.

[0005] For example, in FIG. 1, for a terminal P who has subscribed to the service and subscribed to the group AG,
When a desired message occurs in the server S, the server S broadcasts the message to the group AG in ', the message is delivered to the terminal P, and all the other subscriber terminals subscribed to the group AG. The message is delivered to.

In the server S, when a message that the terminal P does not want occurs in the server S, the message is delivered to the terminal P when the server S delivers the message to the group AG in '. Hereinafter, a communication method using the single group address will be described. FIG. 18 shows a first conventional example.
2 shows the communication sequence and the operation of each device. In the figure, for the processing of the transmitting device 500, the description of the steps will be described using g, and for the processing of the server 100,
The description of the steps will be described using v, and the processing of the terminal 300 will be described using r as the description of the steps.

[0007] A user requests registration at the terminal R1 (step r2), and the terminal R1 is registered with the group address A. In the server S, if there is at least one registration request from the terminal R1, the service is turned on (step v).
3). Thereafter, when a message is generated (step v4), the server S adds the message group address A and delivers the message to a group of terminals (step v5). In the example shown in the figure, messages C1, C3, C5
Is received by the server S. Thereby, the server S delivers all these messages to the group address A (step v5). As a result, the packet is delivered to the terminal that has joined the group having the group address A.

FIG. 19 is a diagram (part 2) for explaining a conventional group communication method. Note that the numbers in the circles in the figure correspond to the numbers in the circles below. In the figure, when one group address A is assigned to the whole service, the method shown in the figure is:
Using the plurality of group addresses, the server S manages the registration status of the terminal to the plurality of group addresses, and the terminal specifies the group address and makes a registration request to the server S. In this case, the terminal can acquire only a message to the specified group address.

In FIG. 1, for example, a terminal P issues a request for registration to a group Ai to a server S in order to deliver a message of information type Sj, and designates a group address Ai in 'and becomes a member of AiG. . In the server S, the fact that the terminal P has requested delivery is recorded in the terminal registration column for the group address as in the G address table in FIG. When a message of the information type Sj occurs in, the server S
Since the terminal P is registered in the registration column with reference to the address table, the message is delivered to the terminal group AiG using the group address Ai.

Hereinafter, a communication method using the plurality of group addresses will be described. FIG. 20 shows a conventional second communication sequence and the operation of each device. In FIG.
For the processing of 00, the description of the steps will be described using g, for the processing of the server 100, the description of the steps will be described using v, and for the processing of the terminal 300, the description of the steps will be described using r. explain.

FIG. 1 shows a case where delivery is performed using a plurality of group addresses. The terminal R1 has a group address G
1 to request registration of message delivery to the server S (step r2), and join the group of the designated group address. The server S records the registration of the terminal R1 for each group address (step v3). In the figure, when the server S receives a message of the group address G1 from the transmitting device (step v3), the server R assigns the group address G1 to the terminal R1 because the terminal R1 is registered in the group address G1.
(Step v5).

When the server S receives the message of the group address G2 from the transmitting device (step v)
6) In the server S, since R3 is registered in the table, the message is given a group address G2 and delivered to the group G2 registered at the address (step v7). The terminal R1 does not receive this message since it has not joined the group G2.

Further, the server S receives the message of the group address G1 from the transmitting device (step v8).
And the server S sends the terminal R1,
Since R3 is registered, the message is given a group address G1 and delivered to the group having the group address G1 to which the terminal R1 joins (step v).
9).

[0014]

However, the above prior art has the following problems. FIG. 17 described above,
As shown in FIG. 18, in the method using a single group address, registration and management of a terminal can be performed only by a group address, so that a message of an information type that the terminal does not want is also received. For example, in FIG.
When a message undesired by the terminal P is generated in the server S, if the server S delivers the message to the group AG in ', the message is also delivered to the terminal P. Further, in FIG. 18, the terminal R1 has the content C1.
I subscribed to the service hoping to deliver the message
C3 and C5 messages that are not expected to be delivered are also delivered.

In the method using a plurality of group addresses, as shown in FIGS. 19 and 20, the undesired message of the terminal P is delivered to the terminal P with respect to the group address Ai in FIG. And the terminal P
As a result, the convenience of the communication is deteriorated and an extra communication load is applied to the network. Further, in FIG.
The terminal R1 does not receive the message C3 because it has not subscribed to the group address G2, but because it has subscribed to the group address G1,
The message C3 sent to No. 1 is received although it is not desired.

As described above, in the above-mentioned conventional method, if one group address is assigned to the entire service, the terminal group is fixed corresponding to the entire service regardless of the information type. The unwanted message is distributed to the terminals of users who have subscribed to the service. In addition, since the message is distributed to all terminals that have subscribed to the service, the convenience for the user is low and the communication load on the network increases.

[0017] Even when information delivery management is performed using only a plurality of group addresses, a message of an information type that is not desired to be delivered is delivered to the terminal, which is inconvenient for the user and an extra load on the network. It will take. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and performs registration management of a relationship between an information type and a group address using a limited number of group addresses and a request for delivery to the information type. While enabling the delivery of a large number of frequently occurring messages to desired users, reducing the delivery of undesired messages to users, and enjoying the delivery efficiency of broadcast devices by multicasting, etc. An object of the present invention is to provide a group communication method and system capable of reducing useless communication load on a network.

[0018]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention. According to the present invention, in a group communication method for distributing various types of information as messages to a group including at least one terminal from a server via a communication network, a terminal issues an information type registration request to a server. , Join the group (step 1), and determine the destination group based on the information type of the message, the registration status of the terminal to the information type, and the record of the group address (step 2). The message is delivered to the terminal belonging to the determined delivery destination group (step 3).

Further, according to the present invention, when a server acquires a registration request from a terminal, the server registers the registration request in a management table in association with the information type included in the registration request, and when a message to be transmitted occurs, With reference to the registration status of the terminal in the information type of the table, whether or not the delivery is possible and the group of the delivery destination are determined. Further, the present invention provides a method in which a terminal issues a registration request to a server for an information type of information to be obtained, and when a response to the registration request is obtained from the server, a group address specified in the response is stored in the terminal. Record in the management table.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the principle of the present invention. The present invention relates to a communication system including a server and a plurality of terminals connected via a communication network, and a group communication for delivering various kinds of information as a message from the server to a group including at least one terminal. In the system, the terminal 300
A registration request issuing unit 303 for issuing a registration request of an information type for joining the group to the group, and a receiving unit 302 for receiving a message delivered from the server 100 to the group. A registration management unit 104 that manages the information type of the message, the registration status of the terminal 300 to the information type, and the group address in the management table 40 based on the registration request acquired from the registration request.
A delivery destination determining unit 103 for determining a delivery destination group based on the record of the management table 40, and a delivery unit 101 for delivering a message to a terminal belonging to the delivery destination group determined by the delivery destination determination unit 103. Have.

Further, the delivery destination determining means 103 of the server 100, when a message to be transmitted occurs,
It includes a group determination unit that determines whether or not delivery is possible and a group of delivery destinations with reference to the registration status of the terminal in the information type of the management table 40. Further, the terminal 300 issues a registration request to the server for the information type of the information to be acquired, and when a response to the registration request is acquired from the server 100, records the group address specified in the response. Includes group address management table.

As described above, according to the present invention, in the server,
A management table is provided for recording the relationship between the information type and the group address and the registration status of the terminal in the information type. For each terminal, the relationship between the information type and the group address and the registration status of the terminal in the information type are recorded. By providing a management table, when performing group communication using broadcast communication such as multicast, provide a message of the information type registered by the user to the terminal group, improve the convenience, In addition, it is possible to reduce the communication load of delivery without delivering to a group of terminals that have not requested delivery.

[0023]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The group communication system has the same configuration as that shown in FIG. In the following, as in the example of FIG. 16, the transmitting device 500 exists separately from the server 100, and transmits a message to the server 1 via the network 400.
00 will be described based on the mode of transmission to
00 and the server 100 are not provided separately.
There may be a form in which a message is generated when information is input to the.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the group communication method of the present invention. In the figure, the numerals in the circles and the numerals in the circles described below correspond to each other. First, an operation when the terminal 300 delivers a desired message from the server 100 will be described. When the terminal 300P issues a registration request to the server 100 using the source name Si indicating the type of information, the server 100 returns a response to the registration request to the terminal 300P.

'The terminal 300P is registered in the group address Ai corresponding to the source name Si and becomes a member of the terminal group AiG. In particular, the terminal 300P receives the group address Ai notified in the response from the server 100.
To become a member of AiG. In this case, terminal 3
00P also records the group address in its own management table.

The message with the source name Sj is the server 1
Occurs at 00. 'The server 100 refers to its own management table and delivers the generated message to the terminal group AiG. Next, an operation in non-delivery of a message that the terminal does not desire will be described. The terminal 300Q makes a registration request to the server 100 using the source name Sm indicating the type of information. Server 10
From 0, a response to the registration request is returned to terminal 300Q.

The terminal 300Q becomes a member of the terminal group AkG having the group address Ak corresponding to the source name Sm. In this case, the terminal 300Q also records the group address in its own management table. In the server 100, a message with the source name Sm is generated. 'The server 300 refers to its own management table, and the terminal 300Q is registered on the terminal registration side.
The message is delivered to the terminal group AkG. Terminal 30
0Q receives the message, but the terminal 300P
Does not belong to the terminal group AkG,
The message of information type Sm that is not desired in 00P is not delivered to terminal 300P.

In the server 100, the source name St
(Terminal 300P does not request St registration). 'The server 100 refers to its own management table, and the terminal is not described in the terminal registration column, so the generated message corresponds to the group corresponding to AtG,
No delivery to group AtG. That is, an undesired message of the type St is not delivered to the terminal 300P.

Next, the configurations of the server and the terminal will be described.
FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the server of the present invention. The server 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes a communication control unit 101, a reception management unit 102, a delivery management unit 103, and a table management unit 104. The communication control unit 101 receives a message from the transmission device 500x via the network 400 and passes the message to the reception management unit 102. Also, a message is sent to the network 200 from the group address. Note that the communication control unit 101 is implemented by an operating system (OS), and the reception management unit 102, the delivery management unit 103, and the table management unit 104 are configured as middleware or application programs.

The table management unit 104 holds and manages the management table 40 shown in FIG. 5, and when receiving a registration request from the terminal 300x via the network 200 from the communication control unit 101, records the terminal ID in the terminal registration column 43. I do. In the initial state where no registration request is received from any terminal,
The terminal ID is not described in the terminal registration column 43 at all. The management table 40 shown in FIG. 5 is a table for managing the correspondence between a source name and a group address, and includes a source name 41, a group address 42, and a terminal registration column 43.

Upon receiving the message from the communication control unit 101, the reception management unit 102 passes the message to the delivery management unit 103,
Transmission message queue 1 of delivery management section 103 shown in FIG.
031. As shown in FIG. 6, the delivery management unit 103 includes the transmission message queue 1031 and the delivery control unit 1.
032. The delivery control unit 1032 reads a message from the transmission message queue 1031. If the terminal is described in the terminal registration column 43 by referring to the management table 40 of the table management unit 104 from the source name of the message, the corresponding group address is extracted.
The message to be delivered to the terminal 300 is configured by adding the group address to the source name and information content of the message.
If the terminal is not described in the line corresponding to the source name in the management table 40, the message is not delivered and discarded.

Next, the structure of a packet of a message from transmitting device 500 to server 100 will be described. FIG. 7 shows a packet structure of a message to the server according to the present invention. The packet 50 shown in FIG. 3 includes a server address 51, a packet type 52, a source name 53, and information contents 54. In the configuration example of this message, the source name 53
Is added by the transmitting device 500. Transmission device 5
If the relationship between 00 and the source name is one-to-one and the server 100 can identify the message sending device, the source name 53 is omitted. The packet type 52 indicates a distinction between a message, a registration request, a response, and a withdrawal request.

Next, the structure of a packet of a message to terminal 300 will be described. FIG. 8 shows a packet structure of a message to a terminal according to the present invention. The packet 60 shown in FIG.
Is composed of a group address 61, a packet type 62, a source name 63, and information contents 64. The packet type 62 indicates a distinction between a message, a registration request, a response, and a withdrawal request, similarly to the packet 50.

Next, the configuration of terminal 300 will be described. FIG.
Shows the configuration of the terminal of the present invention. Terminal 30 shown in FIG.
0 includes a communication control unit 301, a reception management unit 302, a source registration processing unit 303, a table management unit 304, and a message storage unit 305. Source registration processing unit 30
3 is one indicating the type of information desired by the user, or
When a plurality of source names are specified, the communication control unit 101
Issues a registration request to the server 100 via the network 200. Further, for example, when a response corresponding to the registration request is returned from the server 100, the request column 73 corresponding to the source name 71 of the management table 70 of the table management unit 304 shown in FIG. Especially,
When the notification including the group address is received in the response from the server 100, the group address is recorded in the group address column 72 of the table 70. Here, the management table 70 of the terminal 300, as shown in FIG.
It comprises a source name 71, a group address 72, and a request column 73. Note that a plurality of source names 71 may be specified.

FIG. 11 shows the structure of a registration request packet according to the present invention. A packet 90 shown in the figure is a packet transmitted from the terminal 300 to the server 100, and includes a server address 91, a packet type 92, a terminal ID 9
3, a source name (1) 94, a source name (2) 95,... More than one source name may be specified.

FIG. 12 shows a structure of a packet of a response from the server according to the present invention. A packet 80 shown in the figure includes a terminal address 81, a packet type 82, a source name (1) 8
3, group address (1) 84, source name (2) 8
5, group address (2) 86. Source names and group addresses are paired. A plurality of pairs of a source name and a group address may be included as shown in FIG. The source name is the same as that included in the registration request from terminal 300. The group address is notified by the response from the server 100, is recorded, and is deleted when leaving the source name. The packet is
It is off in an unregistered initial state, and turns on when a registration request is made to the server 100 and the group address is notified. Also, when the terminal 300 issues a withdrawal request to the server 100, it is turned off.

FIG. 13 shows the structure of a leave request packet according to the present invention. The packet 10 shown in FIG. 7 includes a server address 11, a packet type 12, a terminal ID 13, a source name (1) 14, a source name (2) 15, and so on, like the registration request packet 90. It is also possible to designate a special code such as "ALL" as the source name of the withdrawal request and to withdraw from all registered groups.

FIGS. 7, 8, 11, 12 and 1 described above.
The address of the packet configuration of No. 3 is configured as the address of the IP packet when the Internet protocol is used, and the other portions are stored in the data portion which is the payload of the IP packet. Server 10 shown in FIG.
If the message packet 50 to 0 and the message size to the terminal 300 in FIG. 8 are large, the message is stored in a plurality of IP packets and transferred.

Next, reception of a message from server 100 in terminal 300 is performed as follows. The reception management unit 302 receives a message via the network 200 and the communication control unit 301. Referring to the management table 70 of the table management unit 304, if the registration field corresponding to the source name of the message is ON, the received message is stored in the message storage unit 305. If off, discard.

As described above, while delivering the message of the desired information type to the user, the delivery of the undesired message is suppressed, the convenience of the information delivery is improved, and the extra message delivery communication is performed. The load can be reduced.

[0041]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiment, description will be given along the communication sequence shown in FIG. The management table shown in FIGS. 5 and 10 is used as an example. In the sequence chart shown in FIG. 14, g is added to the head of the step number for the processing of the transmitting device 500, v is added to the head of the step number for the processing of the server 100, and the processing of the terminal 300 is A description will be given by adding r to the head of the step number.

First, the management table 40 is given to the server 100 in advance (step v101). Further, the management table 70 is given to the terminal 300. The management table 70 may include only the source name.
For example, the management table 40 of the server 100 is distributed from the server 100 to the terminal 300 subscribed to the service via the network 200 (step r10).
1).

Next, when a user requests a message delivery by designating a source name, the terminal 300
A registration request packet 90 including (R1) and the source name (S1, S2) is transmitted to the server 300 (step r10).
2). Upon receiving the registration request packet 90 from the terminal 300, the server 100 returns a response indicating whether or not the registration request is possible to the terminal 300 (Step v102).

The server 100 records the terminal ID (R1) of the registration request in the terminal registration column 43 of the management table 40 (Step v103). If the response from the server 100 is “OK”, the terminal 300 turns on the request column 73 of the management table 70. Further, the group address written in the management table 70 is passed to the communication control unit 301 (step r103). Thereafter, the communication control unit 301 receives the packet designated with the group address when the packet arrives from the server 100.

The following is an example of message delivery. [Example 1 of message delivery] From transmission device 500 to server 1
00, the message is transferred to the server 100 (step g101). For example, as a message, source name = S1 and information content = C1.

If the terminal name is registered in the terminal registration column corresponding to the source name (S1) of the message with reference to the management table 40, the server 100 instructs the delivery by the group address in the group address column 42. . Specifically, the delivery control unit 1032 of the delivery management unit 103 instructs the communication control unit 101. In this example, the server 10 in FIG.
0 in the management table 70 of the message
Since the terminal ID (R1) is registered in the terminal registration column 43 corresponding to No. 1, the delivery is instructed by “G1” in the corresponding group address column 42 (step v104).

Next, the communication control unit 101 of the server 100 transmits the group address “G” specified in step v104.
The message is transmitted to the terminal 300 by "1". The message is stored in one or a plurality of packets 60 and delivered. Group address 61 of each packet 60
Have the same group address. Specifically, the packet 60 includes information content 64 = C1, source name 6
3 = S1 and group address 61 = G1 are set (step v105).

When the message arrives at terminal 300 (R1) and the group address is registered in management table 70 of terminal 300, it is received. Specifically, the terminal 30
The communication control unit 301 of 0 receives the message of the group address registered in the management table 70 in step r103. Specifically, the packet 60
Whether reception is possible is determined by the group address. Note that this is an existing technology and will not be described in detail.

[Example 2 of Message Delivery] Transmission Device 500
From the server 10 to the server 100
A message occurs at 0. At this time, the message has source name = S3 and information content = C3 (step g10).
2) Next, the delivery management unit 103 of the server 100 refers to the management table 40, and if a terminal name is registered in the terminal registration column 43 corresponding to the source name of the message, the delivery management unit 103 uses the group address in the group address column 42. The delivery is instructed to the communication control unit 101 (step v106). In this example, since the terminal = R3 is registered in the terminal registration column 43 corresponding to the source name S3 of the message in the management table 40 of the server shown in FIG. 5, delivery by G2 in the corresponding group address column is instructed. .

Next, the communication control unit 101 of the server 100 sends a message to the terminal 300 using the group address specified in step v106. Packet 60 in this case
, The information content 64 = C3, the source name 63 = S3, and the group address 61 = G2. As shown in the management table 70 of the terminal 300 shown in FIG.
Since 00 (R1) has not joined the group address G2, the above message is not delivered to the terminal 300 (R1).

[Example 3 of Message Delivery] Transmission Device 500
From the server 10 to the server 100
A message occurs at 0. At this time, in the packet 50 transferred from the transmitting device 500, the source name 53 = S
5. Information content 54 = C5 is set (step g)
103).

In the server 100, the management table 40 is referred to, and the terminal registration column 43 corresponding to the source name of the message is registered.
If the terminal name is registered in the group address field 42,
Is instructed to the communication control unit 101 by the group address (step v108). If registered, the message will not be delivered. For example, discard. In this example,
In the management table 40 of the server 100 shown in FIG.
Terminal registration column 43 corresponding to message source name = S5
No message is delivered because no terminal has been registered with.

In the above-described message delivery examples 1, 2, and 3, the message to which the source name is assigned by the transmitting device 500 is transferred to the server 100. However, the transmitting device 500 and the source name have a one-to-one relationship. If there is, and the server 100 can identify the transmitting device, the source name may be omitted.
In the above message delivery, as shown in Example 1, a message of the registered information type (source name) is delivered to the terminal 300. As shown in Examples 2 and 3, unregistered messages are Not delivered. In this manner, the message can be delivered according to the user's request.

Further, as shown in the above example 2, the message is not delivered to the terminal group (G2 in the example) where there is no applicant. As shown in Example 3, a message with a source name for which no applicant is registered is not delivered to any group. As described above, since unnecessary message delivery is not performed, the load on the network can be reduced.

Next, a method for synchronizing the management tables 40 and 70 between the server 100 and the terminal 300 will be described. Update the group address in response to the registration request: in order to use the latest group address held in the server, the latest group address held in server 100 is included in the response in step v102 and transmitted to the terminal. In r103, the terminal 300 may describe the group address received in the response in the group address column 72 of the management table 70 corresponding to the source name.

According to this method, even when the group address is changed during the service, the terminal can use the latest group address in response to the registration request.
Further, such a change of the group address can be realized by periodically sending, for example, once a day, a message notifying that the server makes a registration request again to all terminals.

Next, a method of associating the source name of the management table with the group address will be described. The correspondence between the source name and the group address in the management table 40 in the server 100 can be managed as follows. (A) Assigning the same group in advance for each registration request: For example, in the management table 40 shown in FIG.
Is overseas air ticket information, S2 is overseas hotel information, S3 is securities company interest rate information, S7 is Japan weather information, S8
Is the weather information of major cities in the world.

As shown in FIG. 5, (G1: S1, S
2), (G2: S3, S4), (G3: S5, S6),
As in (G4: S7, S8), information source names having similar information types can be assigned to the same group address. If a different group address is associated with each source name, the number of group addresses is required by the number of source names, which is very large. For example, the IP class D address is finite, and it is effective to divide a plurality of source names into groups and associate them with group addresses.

However, in this method, the terminal 30
If the registration request of 0 does not correspond to the group, exception processing is performed. In the example of the source names S7 and S8, the terminal 300 (R1) registers only the source name S7 and does not want the source name S8. Here, since the source names S7 and S8 are in the same group, the source name S8
Is also delivered to the terminal 300 (R1) which is a member of G4. In such a case, the following processing is performed. The terminal 300 refers to the management table 70 and discards the message if the message is not desired.

Specifically, the communication control unit 30 of the terminal 300
1 is received, the reception management unit 302
The request table 73 corresponding to the source name field 71 shown in FIG. 10 is checked in the management table 70 of the table management unit 304, and if it is off, the message is discarded. (B) A method of updating the management table 40 in accordance with the use status after the information delivery service starts: For example, in the server 100, a source having a high similarity of a delivery request from the same terminal based on the registration request status of the terminal 300 Names can be grouped and assigned group addresses.
In particular, when the registration request of the terminal 300 does not correspond to a group, the group is subdivided.

Using the above (a) and (b) together, at the start of the service, the source names are divided into groups according to the similarity of the information types, and the subsequent message types are added and the status of the registration request from the terminal is changed. Can change the grouping of the source names according to. For example, (G4: S7, S
In 8), the source names S7, S
8 was initially in the same group, but since it is no longer desired by the same terminal, (G4: S7), (G5:
S8) and subdivide the group.

Finally, the system configuration of the present invention will be described. FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining a case where the system according to one embodiment of the present invention is applied. The group communication method of the present invention can be realized as a message control module on a server computer such as a workstation and a terminal 300 such as a personal computer.

The terminal 300 sends a “JOI” to the server 100 based on a request from the application 340 of the terminal 300.
N "(step 201), the terminal ID is registered with respect to the source name in the management table 40 of the message control module 110 of the server 100. The group address is determined by the response" JACK "from the server 100. Is notified to the terminal 300, and the terminal 300 joins the group (step 202).

When the server 100 receives a message from the information source (the transmitting apparatus 500) via the network 400 (step 203), the message control module 110 refers to the management table 40 to determine whether or not the message can be delivered and to determine whether the message can be delivered. Determines the group address of the delivery destination. When the message is to be delivered, multicast delivery is performed using the RMTPr module 120 having a retransmission function for transmission data loss (step 204). The multicast itself is performed by an operation system (OS) and a network function.

The details of the above procedure are as in the above-described embodiment. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified and applied within the scope of the claims.

[0066]

As described above, according to the group communication method and system of the present invention, the server and the terminal manage the relationship between the source name indicating the type of information and the participation group of the terminal. By referring to this relationship, it is possible to deliver a large number of messages that frequently occur to terminal groups according to the registration status of the user's source name using a limited number of group addresses. Become.

Further, since the delivery of a message without a requester is suppressed while enjoying the delivery efficiency of the broadcast communication by the multicast or the like, the communication load on the network can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

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

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a group communication method according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a server of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an example of a management table of the server of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a delivery management unit of the server of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a packet configuration of a message to a server according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a message packet to a terminal according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of a terminal of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an example of a terminal management table according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a packet configuration of a registration request according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a packet configuration of a response from a server according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a packet configuration of a leave request according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a communication sequence and an operation of each device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining a case where the system according to one embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 16 is a configuration diagram of a group communication system.

FIG. 17 is a diagram (part 1) for describing a conventional group communication method.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a conventional first communication sequence and the operation of each device.

FIG. 19 is a diagram (part 2) for describing a conventional group communication method.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a conventional second communication sequence and the operation of each device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Departure request packet 11 Server address 12 Packet type 13 Terminal ID 14 Source name (1) 15 Source name (2) 40 Server management table 41 Source name 42 Group address 43 Terminal registration column 50 Message packet to server 51 Server Address 52 Packet type 53 Source name 54 Information content 60 Message packet to terminal 61 Group address 62 Packet type 63 Source name 64 Information content 70 Terminal management table 71 Source name 72 Group address 73 Request column 80 Response packet from server 81 Terminal Address 82 packet type 83 source name (1) 84 group address (1) 85 source name (2) 86 group address (2) 90 registration request packet 91 server address 92 packet Type 93 Terminal ID 94 Source name (1) 95 Source name (2) 100 Server 101 Communication control unit, delivery unit 102 Reception management unit 103 Delivery management unit, delivery destination determination unit 104 Table management unit, registration management unit 110 Message control module 120 RMTPr 130 OS (Operating System) 140 Message receiving module 200 Network 300 Terminal 301 Communication control unit 302 Reception management unit, Reception unit 303 Source registration processing unit, Registration request issuing unit 304 Table management unit 305 Message storage unit 310 Message control module 320 RMTPr 330 OS (Operating System) 340 Terminal application 400 Network 500 Transmitting device 1031 Transmission message queue 1032 Delivery control unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A group comprising at least one terminal from a server via a communication network,
In a group communication method for distributing a large variety of information as a message, a registration request for an information type is issued from the terminal to the server, and the terminal joins the group. In the server, an information type of the message and a terminal for the information type A group communication method comprising: determining a group of a delivery destination based on the registration status of the server and a record of the group address; and delivering a message to a terminal belonging to the group of the delivery destination determined by the server. 2. When the server obtains a registration request from the terminal, the server registers the registration request in a management table in association with an information type included in the registration request, and when a message to be transmitted occurs, the management table 2. The group communication method according to claim 1, wherein the permission / prohibition of the delivery and the group of the delivery destination are determined with reference to the registration status of the terminal in the information type. 3. The terminal issues a registration request to the server for an information type of information to be obtained, and when a response to the registration request is obtained from the server, sets a group address specified in the response. 2. The group communication method according to claim 1, wherein the group communication method is recorded in a management table in the terminal. 4. In a communication system including a server and a plurality of terminals connected via a communication network, a group that delivers a great variety of information as a message from the server to a group including at least one terminal. A communication system, wherein: the terminal is a registration request issuing unit that issues a registration request of an information type for joining a group to the server; and a receiving unit that receives a message delivered from the server to the group. Registration management means for managing an information type of a message based on the registration request acquired from the terminal, a registration status of the terminal to the information type, and a group address in a management table, Delivery destination determining means for determining a group of delivery destinations based on the record of the management table; Group communication system; and a delivery means for delivering the message to belong terminal to the determined destination of the group by constant means. 5. The delivery destination determining means of the server, when a message to be transmitted is generated, refers to a registration status of a terminal in the information type of the management table, and determines whether or not delivery is possible and a delivery destination. 5. The group communication system according to claim 4, further comprising group determination means for determining a group. 6. The terminal issues a registration request to the server for an information type of information to be acquired, and when a response to the registration request is acquired from the server, the terminal specifies a group address specified in the response. The group communication system according to claim 4, further comprising a group address management table for recording.