JPH11212931A - Program cooperation method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a means which detects a proper program as the opposite party of cooperation in its execution mode and a means which can effectively perform the communication among plural programs in a system where a task is carried out by these programs working in cooperation with each other. SOLUTION: A cooperation promoter 101 is prepared to support the cooperation processing among programs and can detect a program that can attain a specific function or a combination of other programs in their execution modes via a retrieval processing part 103, a command analysis part 105, a program management part 104 and the command extension parts 108, 109 and 110. A communication control part 102 has a function to execute the communication processing related to cooperation among those programs.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a method of linking programs, and more particularly to a method of linking programs when a plurality of programs on one or more computers cooperate to perform one task.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A major problem in a system in which a plurality of programs are linked to perform one task is a method of finding a program to be linked and a method of performing communication processing between the programs.

Conventionally, as a method of finding a program to be a cooperating partner, the simplest case, that is, a method of describing information of the cooperating partner in a program when a cooperating partner has been determined in advance, has been adopted. If the location of the partner to be linked is not known in advance, it is common to ask the server that manages the program information for the partner to link using some information as a key.

[0004] For example, in the field of research on multi-agent systems, "~ Basic and application of agents ~
Agent-Oriented Computing ”, Tetsuo Kinoshita, Kenji Sugawara, Soft Research Center pp.103-109 (Facilitator
It introduces a method of linking a plurality of agents, that is, programs, via a mechanism that supports cooperative processing called itator)).

[0005] Also, a method called a contract net is introduced in pp.46-51 of the same book. This is a module called manager that divides a task into partial tasks (task division)
Then, a module (contractor) that can execute a partial task is solicited, a contractor that actually executes the process is determined from the bidders, and a contract is concluded and the process is executed.

[0006] However, in any method, for example, how to execute task division, find a combination of programs that can execute a certain task, and perform a cooperative process is a specific general method. No method is given.

[0007] Further, the cooperative processing between programs has to be described in each program. Therefore, when cooperating with multiple programs that have similar functions but different levels of provided functions due to different versions, the processing requester is aware of the partner's version, and in some cases, the processing differs depending on the partner's version Had to be described. For this reason, even if the development of the client program becomes complicated or the function of a certain server program is expanded, the client program must be significantly modified, and there is a problem that it is difficult to expand the system.

Further, transmission of messages to a plurality of programs, queuing of messages from a plurality of programs, and the like also need to be described in each program. This complicates the development of individual programs and causes the size of the programs to increase. This is especially true when the system is operated in a distributed network environment, programs that need to cooperate with multiple other programs are executed on computers with relatively low computing power, such as mobile terminals, and the communication speed of the connected network This is a problem when the speed is slow.

Further, when a plurality of developers extend the system, there is no means for dynamically knowing what kind of function is currently provided as a whole system at the time of execution. Was not effectively utilized.

No method has been proposed to solve these problems.

[0011]

As described above, when constructing a system in which a plurality of programs cooperate to perform one task, a method for finding a cooperating partner and a method for describing cooperative processing are problems. Become.

A first object of the present invention is to provide a system that performs a task in cooperation with a plurality of programs, in which a certain program can realize a specific function, or can realize the function. An object is to provide a means for efficiently finding a combination of a plurality of programs at the time of execution and cooperating with each other.

[0013] A second object of the present invention is to link a server program with another program when the server program does not provide the function, so that the server program provides the function. It is an object of the present invention to provide a program linking means that enables a client program to link in the same way as a server program providing its function.

[0014] A third object of the present invention is to provide a method for separating complicated processing relating to program cooperation from individual programs and facilitating the development of a program cooperating with a plurality of programs.

A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a program which can continue processing even if communication between a processing requesting program and another program is cut off when it takes time to cooperate with a plurality of programs. It is to provide cooperation means.

A fifth object of the present invention is to provide a means for a program developer to know a list of functions that can be realized on a system at a certain point in time.

[0017]

According to the present invention, the above object is attained by a coordinator which comprises a search processing section, a program management section, a command analysis section and a communication control section.

The program management section manages what functions each program provides, and provides means for searching for a program that executes a certain function and a combination of a plurality of programs in cooperation with a search processing section. .

The command analysis unit analyzes what command can be processed by a certain program, and when a certain function can be executed in cooperation with a plurality of programs, the command analysis unit determines the cooperation method. Provides a means to analyze and execute. Further, the command analysis unit, when receiving a processing request for a task that cannot be executed by a single program, complements a missing function by cooperating with another program, and enables the task to be completed. Provide a means.

The communication control unit provides a function for performing complicated processes related to program cooperation, such as transmitting a message to a plurality of programs and waiting for a message.

Further, the communication control section provides a function for executing a task on behalf of the task. The side requesting the substitution can request the substitution processing by notifying the contents of the task, and can acquire the result later.

The command analysis unit provides a means for checking what functions can be used on the system in cooperation with the program management unit.

[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an example of a system configuration when the present invention is implemented. The outline of the function of each component will be described below.

A plurality of programs 1, 2 and N are connected to the computer network 114. The cooperation facilitator 101 is a special program that provides a function necessary for performing cooperation between programs. Each of these programs has means for sending a message to another program via the computer network 114 and receiving a message from the other program. Computer network 114
Above, any number of programs can be provided.

The programs other than the coordinator 101 notify the coordinator 101 of information on their own programs, such as services provided by the coordinator 101 and commands that can be executed in the service, at the time of startup. .
The contents of this information will be described later with reference to FIG.

The coordination facilitator 101 searches for a program that provides a specific function from the computer network 114 with respect to other programs, and transmits a message to those programs to cooperate with each other. Provides various functions necessary for flexible operation.

For example, by using the coordination facilitator 101, the existence of a program providing a certain function can be known at the time of execution, so that each program does not need to know in advance the program used by itself. Therefore, even if the configuration of the program on the computer network 114 is changed, the configuration information of the program does not need to be fixedly described in the program, so that each program can be operated without being modified.

When requested by a client to process a certain task, the cooperation facilitator 101 divides the task into a plurality of subtasks and distributes each subtask to a separate server program, When the function is not enough, you can supplement the function and execute the task with the help of the command extension. Even in this case, the client program can obtain a desired result simply by notifying the request to the cooperation facilitator 101 and receiving the answer.

The coordination facilitator 101 is used when a plurality of programs are involved in execution of a certain task and the coordination pattern between the programs is complicated such as when a plurality of communications must be performed. Provide a function to perform the processing of. For this reason, the client can execute the process with a minimum communication amount.

Next, the configuration of the cooperation promoting device 101 will be described.
The cooperation facilitator 101 includes a communication control unit 102, a search processing unit 1
03, program management unit 104, command analysis unit 105
Consists of

The communication control unit 102 provides basic functions related to inter-program communication, such as a function of transmitting a message to a certain program and waiting for a message from the certain program.

The search processing unit 103 provides a function for searching for a program that provides a certain function.

The program management unit 104 manages information on programs notified from each program as the program information 106 as described above. The format of the program information 106 will be described later with reference to FIG.

The command analysis unit 105 is a module for analyzing what commands a certain program can process. In order to realize this function, the command analysis unit 106
Manage 7. Details of the content of the command information 107 will be described later with reference to FIG. With the operation of the system, a command required for a certain service may be newly added. The command extension unit can extend the function of a program that does not support a new command, and can execute a newly added command. In FIG. 1, there are three command extension units: a command extension unit 1 indicated by reference numeral 108, a command extension unit 2 indicated by reference numeral 109, and a command extension unit 3 indicated by reference numeral 110.

When a certain program makes an inquiry to the coordinator 101 for a program which can execute the newly added command, the coordinator 101 issues a command
Then, through an appropriate command extension, it is determined whether or not a program that has not conventionally supported the command cannot execute the command.

When a program receives a request to execute a command that the program does not support, the coordinator 101
To determine if there is a command extension for enabling the command to be executed, and if so, the command can be executed through the command analyzer 105 and the appropriate command extension.

The command analysis unit 105 and the command extension unit extend the function of the existing program, and allow other programs to make the newly added command appear as if the existing program could be executed from the beginning. Things. With the functions of the command analysis unit 105 and the command extension unit, a newly developed program on the client side (the side that uses a certain function) can use a new command regardless of the version of the program on the server side (the side that provides a certain function). Can be used. Further, the server can receive a new command without changing the program. This allows for dynamic expansion of the system.

The cooperation between the coordinator 101 and the command extension unit may use the same computer network 114 as other programs, or may use another dedicated means. Any number of command extensions can be provided.

Next, details of each component will be described.

FIG. 2 shows the contents of the program information 106 managed by the program management unit 104.

The communication address indicates a receiving point of a message in communication of each program via the computer network 114.

The service name indicates the name of the service provided by each program. The service name can be arbitrarily given to a unit of a certain service, such as “electronic shopping” and “sales management”. Service names are not always defined. For example, since the program 1 does not provide any service to other programs, no service name is specified.
Since the program 1 may receive a response message from another program, the communication address is specified.

The command specifies which command of each service can be executed by each program.
For example, a program that realizes electronic shopping includes:
There are three programs: Program 2, Program 4, and Program 6. The Program 2 and Program 6 include a "price" command for returning the price of a product, a "list" command for returning a stock list of products, and an "add" command for adding a product. This indicates that the program 4 can additionally execute a “buy” command for actually performing a buying and selling operation, in addition to a “delete” command for removing a product.

The feature list is a list of features defined for each service. The feature list is used to indicate each feature of the running program. For example, in an electronic shopping service, two features of “product” and “store name” are defined, and different values can be assigned to each instance of a program. For example, although the program 2 and the program 6 in FIG. 2 are the same as the program, the difference is that the program 2 is running for “store A” and the program 6 is running for “store C”. The feature list does not need to be defined. For example, it is not specified in the program 6. In this example, one coordination promoter 101 manages information of a program that implements a plurality of services, but a system configuration in which one coordination promoter is provided for each service may be used.

These pieces of information, which are notified by the programs to the cooperation facilitator 101 at the time of startup, are stored as they are, and are used when searching for a program providing a certain function.

FIG. 3 shows the contents of the command information 107 managed by the command analysis unit 105. Commands are managed for each service.

The configuration indicates which command can be executed when a certain command can be executed in combination with another command. Nothing is specified for basic commands. For example, a "price" command in an electronic shopping service, "query", "info",
The "add" and "delete" commands are basic commands that cannot be further decomposed. The command "year_sum" in the sales management service can be realized by combining the "query" and "info" commands.
This indicates that any program that can execute the "query" and "info" commands can be executed without explicitly declaring that it supports the "year_sum" command. However, this case indicates that execution requires the help of the command extension unit 2. "Buy" in electronic shopping service
The symbol “*” in the configuration of the command indicates that this command is a complicated command related to a plurality of programs, and whether the command can be executed only from a command supported by one program. Indicates that it cannot be determined.

The search section indicates the name of a command extension section necessary for searching for a program that can execute the command. For example, in an electronic shopping service, "b
To find a program that can execute the "uy" command,
Indicates that "command extension 1" is used.

The execution section indicates the name of a command extension section necessary for executing the command. For example, if the “buy” command in the electronic shopping service is not a program that explicitly supports the “buy” command, it indicates that it can be executed with the help of the “command extension unit 1”. In addition, the "year_sum" command in the sales management service can be executed if the "query" and "info" commands are supported. In this case, it is indicated that the help of the "command extension unit 2" is required. I have.

The communication control section 102 is an interface between the cooperation facilitator 101 and another program.

FIG. 4 is a list of operations supported by the communication control unit 102. It shows what information is required for the input of each operation, and what information is obtained as the output. These operations are
Programs and command extensions other than the coordinator 101 can be called.

The "register" operation is:
Each program is used to notify the coordinator 101 of the information of the program at the time of startup. The input is information of each program and there is no output.

The “register_command” operation is used by each command extension to notify the coordinator 101 of its own information. The input is the information of each command extension, and there is no output.

The "send" operation is to send the same request to a plurality of programs and receive a reply from the program that sent the request.

The "send_async" operation differs from the "send" operation in that the response to the request is received asynchronously. The answer is "ge
t "," wait_one "," wait_som "
e "and" wait_all ". When receiving a message, specify the message number to identify which request is answered. The responding party specifies this number when responding. This allows the request transmitting side to associate the request with the answer.

The "send_oneway" operation is used when sending a message unilaterally.
I do not expect to receive a response.

The "get" operation is used when utilizing the message reception proxy function of the cooperation facilitator 101, and is used when asynchronously receiving a message.

The “wait_one” operation is
"Send_async" or "broker_as
Used when only one response to the request sent by the "sync" operation is received. "Send_asyn
c "or the message number specified by" broker_async ". After performing this operation, the remaining answers are discarded.

The "wait_some" operation returns "wa_some" in that it receives the specified number of answers.
It is different from the "it_one" operation.

The "wait_all" operation is
"Send_async" operation or "br
Used to get all answers corresponding to the request sent in the "oker_async" operation. "S
"end_async" or "broker_asyn"
c) Specify the message number specified in the operation.

The "find" operation is used to search for a program that realizes a certain function. For the input, specify the service name, feature, and command of the program to be sought. Features and commands need not be specified.

"Broker", "broker_as"
The “sync” and “broker_oneway” operations are “send” and “send_as, respectively, except that the number of destinations is specified instead of the destinations.
"sync", "send_oneway" operations. In these operations, the caller does not explicitly specify the program of the transmission destination, but leaves the transmission destination to be selected by the coordinator 101. The cooperation facilitator 101 realizes selection of a message transmission destination by calling a function of the search processing unit 103 with a message received from a client as an input.

The "resolve" operation is performed when the program that has received a command execution request does not know how to execute the command.
Call if running with the help of one. The coordinator 101 resolves the command execution method by calling the appropriate command extension.

The search processing unit 103 includes the program management unit 1
By calling the function of the command analysis unit 105 and the command analysis unit 105, a program that realizes a certain function can be searched.

FIG. 5 shows the structure of a message between the cooperation facilitator 101 and another program. (A) is a coordinator 1
01 is the structure of a request message. (B)
It is a structure of a reply message from the cooperation promotion device 101 when there is a reply.

The request message is composed of an operation, an attribute of the message, and the content of the message. For the operation, one of the operations in FIG. 4 is specified. In the attribute of the message, a list of attributes attached to the message, such as a service name, a sender, and a message number, is specified. In the message content, specify a command to be executed by another program and its argument according to the language specified in the attribute of the message.

The answer message is composed of message attributes and message contents. The message content specifies a list of attributes such as the origin of the message and a response number indicating which request was answered. The content of the message describes the content of the answer.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a message.

FIG. 6A shows a request message when the program 1 requests the cooperation promotion device 101 to inquire of five electronic shopping servers about the price of “product A”. The sender of the attribute part of the message is "Program 1" which is the name of the user's own program, "5" is the number of destinations, "E-shopping" is the service name, and the message number which is the identifier of the request is Is specified as "1". In the content part of the message, a message for inquiring about the price of the product A is described. The content part of the message is composed of a command and its arguments. In this case, the command is "pric
e ”and the argument is“ Product A ”.

FIG. 6B shows a response message from the program 2 to FIG. 6A. The source of the message is “program 2”, the destination is “program 1” as the request source, the service name is “electronic shopping”, and the response number indicating the response to which message is the same as the request number "1" is specified. In the content part of the message, the price of the product A at the store managed by the program 2 is described. This message is delivered to the requesting program, Program 1, through the cooperation promoting device 101. In this case, since answers are returned from the five programs, a list including five elements in the format of FIG. 5B is returned.

The format of the message exchanged between the cooperation facilitator 101 and another program is the same as that of FIG. 5B for the reply message. The request message is obtained by removing the operation unit from FIG.

Next, the cooperation promoting device 101 described so far.
Shows an outline of how a system using. Operates. The operation for the cooperation facilitator 101 can be broadly divided into two operations, that is, an operation of registering a program and a command extension unit and an operation of using another program registered in the cooperation facilitator 101.

First, the program registration operation will be described. At the time of startup, each program notifies the communication control unit 102 of the coordination facilitator 101 of what service it can provide by using a “register” operation. For example, the program 2 transmits a message as shown in FIG. "Regis
communication control unit 1 receiving the "ter" operation request
02 requests the program management unit 104 to add a new entry to the program information 106.
When a request as shown in FIG. 7A is received, an entry of the program 2 in FIG. 2 is added.

Next, the registration operation of the command extension unit will be described. Each command extension is initialized by the
01 to the communication control unit 102 of “register_
Use the "command" operation to notify your function. For example, the command extension unit 2 is configured as shown in FIG.
Send a message like The command extension unit 2
In the sales management service, an execution method of a command “year_sum” for inquiring the annual sales amount of a certain product is described. Even if a program originally does not support the "year_sum" command, the command extension unit 2 can issue a command "query" for inquiring how much a certain product has been sold in a certain period and a command "inf" for inquiring about the price of a certain product.
If "o" is supported, the "year_sum" command can be executed. The communication control unit 102 that has received the “register_command” operation requests the command analysis unit 105 to add a new entry to the command information 107. When the request as shown in FIG. 7B is received, an entry of the “year_sum” command of the “sales management” service in FIG. 3 is added.

In the example of FIG. 2, originally, only the program 7 can execute the “year_sum” of the “sales management” service. However, by registering the command extension unit 2, the program 3 can execute the “year_sum” command. Can be executed. This execution method will be described later.

Next, the operation in the case of using the program and the command extension registered in the cooperation facilitator 101 will be described. In such a case, functions provided by the cooperation facilitator 101 include a program search, a message transmission to another program, a message reception from another program, a message transfer to another program, There is a solution for how to execute the command.

First, the program search function will be described. To use the program search function, select "fin
d) operation. FIG. 8 shows the operation of the coordination promoting device 101 when the "find" operation is received. In the state where the program information 106 is as shown in FIG.
And the command information is as shown in FIG.
The flow of operation will be described using an example of searching for a program that can execute the "year_sum" command of the service.

(Step 1001) The communication control unit 102 receives a “find” request. FIG. 7C shows an example of the message at this time. This is a program in which the program 1 provides a “sales management” service to the coordinator 101 and handles “books” as commodities.
This is a message for searching for an item that can execute the "year_sum" command.

(Step 1002) The search request is transferred to the search processing unit 103. The search processing unit 103. First, the search key is set to “empty”, and “sales management: yea”
r_sum ”is set.

(Step 1003) It is checked whether there is a command to be checked. At this point, there is “sales management: year_sum”, so step 1004
Proceed to. If there is no command to be checked, the process proceeds to step 1008.

(Step 1004) The structure of the head element of the command to be checked is checked. Check the command information 107,
Check whether the configuration is specified in the command to be checked. Here, referring to FIG. 3, since the “query” and “info” commands have been designated, step 1
Proceed to 005. If the configuration has not been specified, the process proceeds to step 1007.

(Step 1005) The components obtained in Step 1004 are added to the survey target. In this case, the “sales management: query” and “sales management: info” commands are added.

(Step 1006) From the survey target, the current command, ie, in this case, “sales management: year_
sum ”. At this point, the “sales management: query” and “sales management: info” commands remain in the survey target. As long as the command to be investigated remains
Step 1003 and subsequent steps are repeated.

Returning to step 1003, if the command to be investigated remains, step 1004 and subsequent steps are performed. In this case, first, step 1004 and subsequent steps are performed for the “sales management: query” command. Since this command has no component specified in the command information 107, the process proceeds to step 1007.

(Step 1007) The command under investigation is added to the search key. In this case, sales management: q
query command. Next, the routine proceeds to step 1006.

At this point, in step 1006, the “sales management: query” command is excluded from the survey target.
The “sales management: info” command remains. Continuing from step 1003 onward, the “sales management: qu
steps 1004 to 100
Proceeding to step 7, a "sales management: info" command is added to the search key. At this point, the “sales management: query” and “sales management: info” commands are specified as search keys.

Next, from step 1006 to step 100
When the process proceeds to step S3, since nothing remains in the investigation target at this time, the process proceeds to step S1008.

(Step 1008) It is checked whether or not a search extension is specified in the command information 106 for the command for which a search request has been made. Since no search extension is specified in the “year_sum” command of the “sales management” service, the process proceeds to step 1009.
If it is specified, the process proceeds to 1010.

(Step 1009) Program information 10
6, a program that can execute the command specified by the search key and that satisfies the other contents specified by the search request message is searched. In this case, the search keys include “sales management: query” and “sales management:
Since the “info” command is specified, the program 3 and the program 7 are searched in the state of FIG.
In the message shown in FIG. 7C, a product that handles "books" is specified. Looking at the feature list of Program 3 and Program 7, both are "books"
Because these two programs are used, the two programs are the search results.

(Step 1010) When the search extension is designated, the search key and the program information are passed to the designated search extension and searched. The search extension is
The specified command is not always executable by a combination of simple commands as described above, and is used in a complicated case where it is necessary to check a feature list of a program. An example using the search extension will be described later.

As described above, originally "year_su
It can be seen that, in addition to the program 7 supporting the "m" command, the program 3 can also execute the "year_sum" command.

The coordination facilitator 101 holds a set of programs that can realize a certain function searched in this way for a certain period of time, and then reuses the same search when requested by another program. It is also possible to increase the speed.

Next, a proxy function of message transmission, a message transfer function, and a proxy function of message reception of the cooperation facilitator 101 will be described. If you know the programs to which you want to send messages and want to use the proxy function for sending messages when sending messages to those programs, use "send" or "send_
Use the "sync" or "send_oneway" operation. If for some reason the client does not specify the program to send the message to, but wants the coordinator 101 to select an appropriate recipient and forward the message, then "broker" or "br
"oker_async" or "broker_one"
use the "way" command. To use the message reception proxy function, use “get” or “wait_on”.
e "or" wait_some "or" wait_
all "command. FIG. 9 shows a flow of operation when these functions are used. In the following, the client program uses “year_s” of the “sales management” service.
An example of a flow when causing another program to execute the “um” command will be described.

(Step 1101) The communication control unit 102 of the coordination promoting device 101 receives a message transmission request or a message transfer request. The message transmission request is
Specified by a “send” or “send_async” or “send_oneway” operation. The message transfer request is “broker” or “broker_async” or “broker_
oneway "command.

FIG. 7D shows an example of a message transfer request. This is because the program 1
For all "sales management" service programs that can execute the "year_sum" command, "1995"
A request is made to transfer a message requesting the total sales of “product A” of “year”. The response to this message indicates that message number "3" is specified.

(Step 1102) If the message transmission request specifies the destination of the message, Step 1
Proceed to 104. In the case of a message transfer request in which the destination of the message is not specified, the process proceeds to step 1103.

(Step 1103) A program that can receive a request from a client is searched.
When the cooperation facilitator 101 receives the message of FIG. 7D, the search processing unit 103 searches based on the attribute part of the message and the content part of the message of FIG. 7D. The search method is the same as that shown in FIG. In this case, the program 3 and the program 7 are searched as destinations.

(Step 1104) Command analyzer 10
Step 5 checks whether the command requested by the client can be directly executed for all the programs to which the message is to be sent. In the example of the message shown in FIG. 7D, the program 7 includes the program information 1 shown in FIG.
According to 06, this request can be directly executed because the "year_sum" command is directly supported. Therefore, the process proceeds to step 1105. According to the program information 106 shown in FIG.
This request cannot be performed directly because it does not directly support the "sum" command. Therefore, the process proceeds to step 1106.

(Step 1105) Communication control section 102
A request is sent to the program according to the communication address in the program information 106 shown in FIG. FIG.
In the case of the request (d), a message is transferred to the program 7 here. At this time, the message may be transmitted directly to the partner program, or, if the partner program uses the message receiving function of the coordinator 101, the communication control unit 102 transmits the message until the partner program issues a message acquisition request. This message may be held.

(Step 1106) If the partner program cannot directly execute the command, the command analysis unit 10
5 requests the corresponding command execution extension unit for processing.
In this case, the program 3 cannot directly execute the "year_sum" command of the "sales management" service. Looking at the command information 107 shown in FIG. 3, it can be seen that the program 3 can also execute this command when the command extension unit 2 is used, so the processing is requested to the command extension unit 2. The processing method in the command extension unit will be described later.

(Step 1107) When the command to the coordination facilitator 101 is not a two-way communication, that is, “sen
"d_oneway" or "broker_oneway"
In the case of the "y" operation, the process ends. Step 11 for any other message transmission or transfer request
Proceed to 08.

(Step 1108) Wait for a reply message to the message transmitted in step 1105 or step 1106. If the operation specified in step 1101 is “send” or “broker”, the client that has requested the operation is synchronously waiting for a response, so that the coordinator 1010 immediately returns the response from the server program. Transfer to client. "Send_async" or "b
In the case of a "roker_asynchronous" operation, the client may at any time "get" or "wait"
_One "or" wait_some "or" wa
An answer is received by "it_all". The “get” operation is used when receiving messages addressed to the user one by one from the coordinator 101. "Wait_
The "one" operation is used when a request is received by a plurality of servers at once, and if only one response is received, only the response is received, and subsequent messages are not received. Which request is waiting for a response is designated by writing the same number as the "message number" used when issuing the request in the "response number" in the "wait_one" operation. "Wait_s
The "home" operation is similar to "wait_except" except that the number of received messages is not one but arbitrary.
Equivalent to the "one" operation. "Wait_a
The "ll" operation is used when waiting for all answer messages corresponding to the designated message number. Here, an example is shown in which the client obtains an answer from the coordinator 101 from the client itself.
A response may be transmitted from the cooperation promotion device 101 to the client. In this case, an event-driven system can be constructed, and the amount of messages can be reduced.

As described above, the client program is provided with the service as long as it knows the existence of the coordinator 101 and the address on the network without knowing the existence of the program for providing the service or the address on the network. be able to.

The cooperation facilitator 101 holds the processing result of a certain task executed for a certain program in this way for a certain period of time, and then reuses the result when the same task is requested by another program. By doing so, it is possible to speed up the execution of the task.

Also, in some cases, the coordinator 101 does not immediately execute a task even when requested to execute a task from a certain program, but waits for a certain period of time while requesting another program to execute the same task. In such a case, it is possible to reduce the load on the server and the traffic by performing the processing collectively.

Next, an example of the command extension unit will be described. The command extension unit uses the function of the cooperation facilitator 101 shown in FIG. 4 to extend a function of a certain service or flexibly search for a program that can execute a certain function. is there. FIG. 10 shows “yes” of the “sales management” service which has been cited as an example in the above description.
The operation of the command execution unit of the command extension unit 2 for executing the “ar_sum” command will be described.

(Step 1201) Step 11 in FIG.
As shown at 06, a request is made to execute a certain command from the cooperation promotion device. The message from the client is passed to the command extension as it is. At this time, the program to be executed (execution target program) may be specified, or the search may be requested. The following example is a case where the program 3 is requested to execute. If the program to be executed is not explicitly specified, the search is performed as shown in FIG.

(Step 1202) A “query” request is issued to the designated program, and the number of sales of a certain product in a certain year is obtained. When sending a message to the program, the “send” or “send_async” operation of the coordinator 101 is used. FIG. 7E shows the message. This is for obtaining the number of sales of the product A in 1995 for the program 3.

(Step 1203) An answer to the request transmitted in step 1202 is obtained. When the request is made by "send", an answer is obtained as a return value of the operation. When a request is made by a “send_async” operation, a response is obtained by a “get” operation or the like.

(Step 1204) The “info” command is transmitted to obtain the unit price of the product. in this case,
A request for the unit price of the product A is issued to the program 3. The request transmission method is the same as that in step 1202.

(Step 1205) An answer to step 1204 is received. Step 12 is how to get the answer
Same as 03.

(Step 1206) The number of sales obtained in step 1203 is multiplied by the unit price of goods obtained in step 1205 to obtain the annual sales amount.

(Step 1207) The sales amount obtained in step 1206 is returned to the requestor.

The above operation is performed when the client operates the cooperation promotion device 1
01 when requesting to mediate the processing, but also applied to the operation when the client directly requests the server program for the command when the server does not support the command. can do.

That is, when a command that the server program does not support is requested, the server program inquires of the coordination facilitator 101 about the execution method of the command using the "resolve" operation.

For example, the program 3 for executing the “sales management” service does not support “year_s
When the “um” command request is received, a message shown in FIG.

The coordination facilitator that has received this message performs the same processing as in FIG. 10 with the program 3 as the program to be executed in step 1201, and executes “res
answer ”operation,“ year_
sum ".

As described above, the function of a certain service can be extended by using the command extension unit. Older servers that don't support the new features can still make the command extension appear to support the new features. Even when a server that supports the new function and a server that does not support the new function are mixed in the system, the client can use the new function without being aware of the support status of the server command.

Although the description so far has been directed to the case where a new command can be executed by combining the commands of one program providing one service, the new command can be executed even when the command extends over a plurality of services or a plurality of programs. The coordinator 101 can respond.
An example is shown below.

In FIG. 2, in a program 2 and a program 6 for providing an electronic shopping service, a “list” command indicating a stock of a product, a “price” command indicating a price of a stocked product, and a command for adding a stock are provided. An "add" command and a "delete" command for notifying that inventory has been reduced are supported. In addition to the program 4, the program 4 supports a "buy" command for actually buying and selling goods.
A method for realizing a command extension for enabling “buy” to be executed even in the program 2 and the program 6 will be described.

FIG. 11 shows the operation of the retrieval unit of the command extension unit for retrieving a combination of programs for realizing "buy". In order to execute “buy”, a program for an “electronic shopping” service and a “sales management” service is required. At this time, the program on the “electronic shopping” service side needs to support the “price” command and the “delete” command. In addition, the “sales management” service program must be running for the same store as the “electronic shopping” service program, and the “add” command must be supported on the “sales management” service program side. is there.

(Step 1301) The command extension receives a search request for a program that can execute the “buy” command in the “electronic shopping” service. The message from the client is passed as is.

(Step 1302) The result set is initialized.

(Step 1303) The “electronic shopping” service is provided, and a program supporting the “price” command and the “delete” command or a program supporting the “buy” command is searched. For this, a “find” operation provided by the coordinator 101 is used. The search operation on the cooperation facilitator side is the same as that shown in FIG. The search results are included in the electronic shopping service set. In the example of FIG. 2, the electronic shopping service set includes the program 2
And a program 4 and a program 6.

(Step 1304) If the electronic shopping service set is empty, the flow advances to step 1311. If not empty, go to step 1305.

(Step 1305) The first element is obtained from the electronic shopping service group.

(Step 1306) If the head element is “bu
Check if the "y" command is supported. If so, the process proceeds to step 1309. If not, the process proceeds to step 1307. In the example of FIG. 2, when the leading element is the program 4, the process proceeds to step 1308. When the first element is the program 2 or the program 6, the process proceeds to step 1307.

(Step 1307) “Shop name” of head element
Is searched for a service that supports the "add" command from among the "sales management" service programs operating for the same store as the value of "." The search operation is the same as in FIG.

(Step 1308) The combination of the “electronic shopping” service program and the “sales management” service program obtained in step 1307 is put into a result set. In the example of FIG. 2, for example, a combination of the program 2 and the program 7 is obtained.

(Step 1309) A program that can execute the “buy” program alone is put into the result set by itself.

(Step 1310) The head element is removed from the electronic shopping service set, and the process returns to step 1304.

(Step 1311) Return the result set,
finish.

Next, the operation of the command execution unit of the command extension unit when executing the “buy” command of the “electronic shopping” service will be described with reference to FIG.

(Step 1401) A “buy” command execution request for the “electronic shopping” service is received. At this time, a program (eg, program 4) or a combination of programs (eg, program 2 and program 7) for executing the program is received.

(Step 1402) It is checked whether or not the program received in step 1401 supports the “buy” command. If it is supported, the process proceeds to step 1403. If not, the process proceeds to step 1404.

(Step 1403) The “buy” command of the “electronic shopping” service is executed, and the processing ends.

(Step 1404) If the “buy” command of the “electronic shopping” service is not supported, the “price” command is executed to acquire the price of the product. Program 2 and Program 7 above
When the “buy” is executed for the combination of “”, the “price” command is executed for the program 2.

(Step 1405) With the purchase of the product,
In order to reduce inventory data, a "delete" command is executed for the same program as in step 1404.

(Step 1406) Steps 1404 and 1405 are used to indicate that sales have occurred.
The “add” command is sent to the “sales management” service program that is running for the same store as the electronic shopping program that has executed the item name, the quantity, the price, and the sales date. In the above example, “ad
d) command.

In the above example, a new service or command is created by combining different commands or different services. However, a new service is provided by using a plurality of programs that provide the same service. It can be extended.

In the following, in electronic shopping,
An example in which a command for executing a bid is newly added when there are a plurality of programs that execute the “price” command.

In the example so far, “electronic shopping”
As shown in FIG. 6A, “pr
"ice product A"
An example in which a response is made as shown in FIG. Here, "pr
As a method of inquiring the price using the "ice" command, if the product A can be provided at a price lower than 1000 yen, such as "price product A underer 1000 yen", the price can be returned. .

The line of the “action” command of the “electronic shopping” service in FIG. 3 is a command extension unit 4 for enabling a bid to be executed by using the existing “electronic shopping” service program. Is present.

By utilizing this, the program can cause the cooperation facilitator 101 to execute a bid for a certain product. The operation of the command extension unit at this time will be described with reference to FIG.

(Step 1501) The command analysis section 105 of the coordination promoting device 101 receives a request for executing an “action” command of the “electronic shopping” service. For example, a request is made to execute a bid for "Product A", such as "action Product A".

(Step 1502) Using the “find” operation of the cooperation promotion device 101, a set of programs for executing the “price” command of the “electronic shopping” service is obtained. The search method is the same as in FIG.

(Step 1503) The successful bidder and the price are initialized.

(Step 1504) For the program set obtained in step 1502, the “p_psync”
rice A ".

(Step 1505) The response to the request transmitted in step 1504 is sent to the “w
Wait using the "ait_all" operation.

(Step 1506) In response to the price inquiry at step 1505, it is checked whether there is a program with a price. If there is, the process proceeds to step 1507. If not, the process proceeds to step 1510.

(Step 1507) “wait_al
Once the value for the "l" operation is obtained, the program with the lowest price and the price are selected from all the answers. The answer is obtained in a format as shown in FIG.

(Step 1508) The program selected in step 1506 is set as the successful bidder, and the price obtained in step 1506 is set as the successful bid price.

(Step 1509) To determine whether a price lower than the successful bid price set in step 1508 can be set, a message “price goods A underder successful bid price” is sent to the program set acquired in step 1502, as a “send_async” message. And the process returns to step 1505.

(Step 1510) The successful bidder and the successful bid price are returned.

In this way, when executing a task that needs to perform a plurality of communications with a plurality of programs, the cooperation facilitator 101 can search for a server program and perform processing related to inter-program communication. . At this time,
The inter-program communication performed by the client program may be performed only when notifying the request to the coordinator 101 and when receiving a response from the coordinator 101.

As described above with reference to the example, by adding the command extension unit to the system, the service provided by the system can be flexibly extended without affecting the existing program. .

The command extension unit and the program can be placed on any computer as long as they are connected to the computer network 114. The command extension unit and the program can be freely installed by any developer. .
Even in such a case, information on services and commands provided by the system is managed by the command information 107 of the cooperation facilitator 101. Accordingly, by providing the command analysis unit of the coordination facilitator 101 with a function of checking what service is provided on the system and what command is provided for a certain service, You can know what functions to use. As a result, it is possible for another developer to know the command extended by another developer and to develop a program using the command.

[0159]

According to the present invention, as described above, the cooperation facilitator 101 dynamically finds a combination of programs necessary for realizing a specific function or substitutes for processing of a certain task. Provides functions.

By using this function, the client program can inquire the coordination facilitator 101 at execution time for information such as a method of combining server programs for realizing a certain task and the network address of those server programs at the time of execution. Since it is possible to request the coordination facilitator 101 for the processing substitution, it is not necessary to know in advance. Therefore, it is possible to flexibly change the arrangement of server programs and the like during system operation.

Further, when an old version and a new version of a certain program coexist, the cooperation promoting device 101 provides a function for absorbing the difference in cooperation with the command extension unit.

Therefore, the system can be dynamically expanded, for example, by upgrading a part of the program or changing the provided function during the operation of the system. At this time, there is no need to change existing programs such as clients and other servers. Further, even when the server of the new version and the server of the old version are mixed, the client program does not need to be aware of the difference, and can use the new function for the server of any version. In addition, the server program can execute a function that is not originally provided with the help of the coordinator 101.

Further, since the coordinator 101 collectively manages the functions provided by a service, even if a plurality of developers separately extend the functions of the service, the coordinator 101 inquires of the coordinator 101 to obtain the service. You can know the whole function. Therefore, another developer can know the function extended by a certain developer, and can develop a program using the function.

The cooperation promoting device 101 provides a communication control function for easily creating a complicated cooperation operation.

For this reason, there is no need to describe complicated processing associated with inter-program communication in the client program.
Therefore, a client-side program can be developed relatively easily, and the size of the program can be reduced. Further, the task can be normally terminated even if the line with the client is disconnected while the server is processing the task in cooperation with the server. These functions are effective when the client program operates on a computer having a low processing capability such as a portable terminal and is connected via a low-speed network.

Further, the cooperation promoting device 101 can be used for speeding up the processing.

For example, the coordination facilitator 101 can speed up a response when a similar search request is received by holding a search result of a program providing a certain function for a certain period of time. Also, by retaining and reusing the processing result of a task received from a certain program for a certain period of time, waiting for a certain time even if a request is received, and processing it collectively when receiving the same task request from another program, It can speed up processing and reduce the load on the server.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the contents of program information.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the contents of command information.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a list of functions of a communication control unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a structure of a message.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a message response.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating examples of messages in various situations.

FIG. 8 is an operation flowchart of the cooperation facilitator when searching for a program.

FIG. 9 is an operation flow diagram of the cooperation facilitator when transmitting and receiving a message.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the command extension unit.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing another example of the operation of the command extension unit.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing another example of the operation of the command extension unit.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing another example of the operation of the command extension unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

101: Cooperation promoter, 102: Communication controller, 1
03: search processing unit, 104: program management unit, 105: command analysis unit, 106: program information, 107: command information, 108, 109,
110: command extension unit; 111, 112, 113: program; 114: computer network.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Toshihiro Nakanan 890 Kashimada, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Information and Communication Development Division, Hitachi, Ltd.

Claims (9)

[Claims] A server program for providing a coordination promoter capable of communicating with another program through inter-program communication, and providing a specific function to another program through inter-program communication, When the content is notified to the coordination promoter, and a client program using a certain function requests a function to be used for the coordination promoter, the coordination promoter,
A method of searching for a server program that provides the function according to the function is stored, a server program that provides the function is searched using the search method, and the presence of the server program is notified to the client program. Presenting or the coordinator has stored a method of performing the function in response to the function, using the method to transfer a request from the client program to the server program, and A program cooperation method, comprising: receiving a response to the request from the server program; and transferring the response to the client program. 2. A program linking method according to claim 1, wherein when a certain function can be divided into a plurality of partial functions,
The coordination facilitator has means for storing a function division method, and when a client program requests the function, searches for a plurality of server programs capable of executing each part of the partial function. A method of presenting the plurality of server programs to the client program, or executing the function using the plurality of server programs, and transferring a result to the client program. 3. The program cooperation method according to claim 2, wherein the storage means of the function division method stores configuration information indicating which combination of a certain function can be executed and a plurality of functions. A program linking method which stores a method of linking and executing respective programs to be executed. 4. The program cooperation method according to claim 2, wherein, when a certain function can be executed by cooperation of a plurality of server programs, the cooperation facilitator is selected from the plurality of server programs. A program linking method, wherein one representative server program serving as a contact is selected and the existence of the server program is notified to the client program. 5. The program cooperation method according to claim 4, wherein when the representative server program does not know how to realize the function requested by the client program, the representative server program inquires the cooperation facilitator about the realization method,
The method according to claim 1, wherein the coordinator promotes the realization method to the representative server program or substitutes the function. 6. The program coordination method according to claim 1, wherein the coordination facilitator provides a function of acting to send a message to another plurality of programs and a function of waiting for a message from another plurality of programs. A program linking method characterized in that: 7. A program cooperation method according to claim 6, wherein when a certain function is realized, when communication between the client program and one or a plurality of server programs used by the client program is performed a plurality of times, By combining the message transmission function of the coordinator and the message waiting function, the coordinator is taught a method of transmitting and receiving a message for executing the function to the coordinator. A communication method between the server program and the server program. 8. The program cooperation method according to claim 7, wherein the coordinator has means for storing a method of transmitting and receiving the message and a name of the method, and the client program stores the name of the method. A program coordination method, wherein the process is performed by the coordination facilitator by designating. 9. The program cooperation method according to claim 1, wherein the cooperation facilitator presents a list of functions executable by one server program alone or by combining a plurality of server programs. A program linking method characterized in that it can be performed.