JPH1141588A - Access history managing system for video server system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate the trace of processing executed by a user through history data analysis and the development of an application for executing history data analysis such as charge processing or statistical processing by collecting the contents of video data access processing executed by a client as access history data. SOLUTION: Clients 103 and 104 request access to video data 102 through a network 105 to a video server 101 and receive the distribution of the video data 102. The clients 103 and 104 notify the access processing contents of the video data 102 to a history server device 106 as access history data at the time point, when processing is completed, for every processing. The history server device 106 writes the access history data received from the clients 103 and 104 through a relational data base managing device 107 into history data 108 and 109.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an access history management system in a video server system that distributes video data from a video distribution server to a client.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a client-server type video server system comprising a video server for delivering video data and a client for accessing the video data of the server. In such a system, the video server secures a network width necessary for transferring video data to the client and performs data transfer to the client. On the client, the data delivered from the server is played, stopped, frame-by-frame played, paused, and moved to any playback position in the data.
(Seek).

[0003] In a video server system, video data is distributed to a viewer who uses a client. In this process, a secondary effect is to investigate the access frequency to the video data. In addition, it is possible to extract data such as basic data of sociological research and user needs survey by companies.

[0004] Video data is data having continuous position information, and even one piece of video data depends on the position.
It contains completely different information. In this way, unlike the still image data, which is a single picture, the video data is not sufficient as the survey data for the above purpose just to know that the data is displayed. Which locations in the video data were accessed frequently,
It is necessary to collect access depending on continuous video data as a history.

[0005] Further, in consideration of charging processing for file access executed by the client, processing such as charging for only data actually viewed by the user using the client is required.

[0006] The access history data of video data having information such as position information and reproduction mode, which is collected for the above-described applications, has a larger information amount than the access history of still image data. The collected history data is analyzed differently depending on its use, such as research and billing.
The history data analysis application program becomes complicated and the amount of development increases.

[0007]

In a history collection method for accessing a server file from a client used in an access history management system in a conventional video server system, identification of an accessed file and identification of a user are performed. It was possible, and it was possible to record access to a still image file. However, in a video server / client system, processing executed by a client is processed as a more simplified data flow in a server for transferring video data in real time.

For example, since the frame-by-frame playback processing executed by the client is realized by skipping data on the client, the server executes either normal playback or frame-by-frame playback processing on the client. I can't tell you what. As described above, since the processing executed by the server and the processing executed by the client do not correspond one-to-one, it is difficult to record the actual processing performed by the user on the client.

[0009] In addition, if the collection of detailed history data as described above is not taken into consideration, and if the history data becomes enormous, the development of an application for analyzing different history data for each of a variety of uses is also complicated. Become

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem. A video distribution server for distributing video data having a time axis in real time is provided with a history server device having a relational database management device. In the server system, the access processing to the video data executed by the client is stored in a relational database management device (RDBMS) as a history that can be sequentially reproduced later, so that the processing executed by the user through the analysis of the history data can be traced. Another object of the present invention is to provide an access history management system in a video server system having features such as facilitating the development of an application for performing history data analysis such as billing processing and statistical processing.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above object, a first invention of the present invention is to provide at least one
In a video server system in which one video server and at least one client are connected, an access notification unit provided in the client for transmitting the content of video data access processing performed by the client as access history data; Connected
A history server device for receiving the access history data transmitted from the access notification unit, writing and storing the access history data in a history data table managed by a relational database management device, and performing access processing of video data executed by the client. An access history management system in a video server system characterized in that contents are collected as access history data.

[0012] In a second aspect of the present invention, the plurality of video servers are connected to the network, and the history server device accesses a video server name that specifies a video server included in the access history data received from the access notification unit. 2. The access history management system in a video server system according to claim 1, wherein the access history management system writes and stores a part of the history data in a history data table.

[0013] In a third aspect of the present invention, the access notifying section of the client is incorporated in general-purpose multimedia data access means provided by an operating system or the like, and is configured. 2. The access history management system in the video server system described in 2.

[0014] In a fourth aspect of the present invention, the access notification unit transmits an error generated during the video data access processing to the history server device, and the history server device uses the error as a part of the access history data. 4. The access history management system in a video server system according to claim 1, wherein the access history management system writes and stores the history in a history data table.

[0015] In a fifth aspect of the present invention, the history server device may be configured such that a plurality of clients generated asynchronously in the system and a plurality of clients in the same client are synchronized with a series of processing from opening to closing of a video data file in the client. 5. The access history in the video server system according to claim 1, wherein a history communication number capable of identifying access to the video data is written and stored in the history data table as a part of the access history data. In the management system.

[0016] In a sixth aspect of the present invention, the history server device associates a client name, a video server name, and a file full path name, which frequently appear as history data in the access history data, on a one-to-one basis. 6. An attribute table according to claim 1, further comprising: various attribute tables for associating corresponding client identifiers, video server identifiers, and video data identifiers; and an attribute data control unit for converting a name into an identifier according to the attribute tables. An access history management system in the video server system according to any of the above.

[0017] In a seventh aspect of the present invention, the attribute data control unit of the history server device includes a client name, a video server name, and a file full path name that are not registered in the attribute table, and the access notification device transmits the history server device. 7. The video server system according to claim 6, further comprising: a name / identifier conversion unit that converts the name and the identifier by adding correspondence information between the name and the identifier to the attribute table when the information is transmitted to the video server system. Access history management system.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, the attribute data control unit of the history server device further includes a client, a video server, and additional information adding means for adding additional information obtainable from the video data as each attribute record. The access history management system in the video server system according to claim 7, wherein:

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the history server device sets history collection item information for setting execution and stop of history collection in units of processing commands executable by the client, and setting of the history collection item information. A history data control unit that executes / stops each command of history collection with reference to
The access history management system in the video server system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising:

[0020] In a tenth aspect of the present invention, the history data control unit of the history server device fails to write access history data to the history data table managed by the relational database management device due to overflow of the history data area. 10. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising: history collection stop setting means for setting a history collection stop setting for all commands in the history collection item information in which execution of history collection can be specified for each command. An access history management system in a video server system.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, the history data table of the history server device has a plurality of data areas in which access history data is written, and the history data control unit overflows data in the history data area where one history write is performed. 11. The video according to claim 10, further comprising: a history data area changing unit for changing the history write destination to another history data area and continuing to write the access history data when the operation fails. An access history management system in a server system.

The client has access means to the video data as an extended function of the operating system. The access means reads the video data from the storage device and performs display processing on the display device, and absorbs processing dependent on the format of the video data. I do. The access means provides an interface for accessing the video data to the application program. Programmers can create programs without being aware of the data format.

The application program can execute processing such as opening, reproducing, stopping, frame-by-frame reproduction, pausing, moving to an arbitrary reproduction position in data (seek), and the like. In such a client video data access means, by reading data from the video server, the video data on the video server can be accessed.

In the video server system as described above, the client makes a distribution request to the video server in order to access video data. At this time, the video server secures the occupation amount of the network by the data transfer amount necessary for the reproduction of the video data at the client, and distributes the video data to the client from the requested seek position.

However, the access process of the client to the distributed data is various, and the video server cannot know how the client uses the distributed data. This is normal playback if the access means displays all the distributed data, frame-by-frame playback by skipping and displaying the data,
Alternatively, it is also possible to perform a process of discarding all data and not performing display.

According to the present invention, the details of the processing executed by the client, which cannot be known by the video server,
An access notification unit is added to the client to notify the history server. The access notification unit operates inside access means for general-purpose multimedia data provided as an extended function of the operating system,
It is possible to obtain processing information on video data actually performed by a client.

The information obtained by the access notifying unit includes, in addition to the access command to the video data, the position in the accessed video data, the video server in which the accessed video data is stored, and the information of the network used for the access. There are unique ones in accessing video data, such as bandwidth (transfer rate).

The history information stored in the access history acquired by the access notification unit of the client is stored in the history server device as an access history. The history data is analyzed by setting the storage location of the access history data to the RDBMS. Reduce the burden of application development. R
The DBMS supports SQL (Structured Query Language), which is a general-purpose database access language, for searching, referring to, and writing data.

The SQL language allows a simple description of the data search process, and enables inquiries under complicated conditions. This is useful for analyzing a large amount of data. In addition, general RDBMS products are equipped with data analysis tools that analyze and report data using the SQL language, and by using these tools, it is easier to develop complex and large-volume history data analysis applications. Become.

[0030]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An access history management system in a video server system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an access history management system in a video server system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 101 is a video server, 1
02 is video data stored in the video server, 103
104 to client, 105 to network, 10 to
6 is a history server device for collecting history, 107 is a relational database management device (RDBMS) for storing history data and attribute data, 108 is history data for recording client access processing, and 109 is video data and client attributes. Attribute data.

Video server 101 and client 103
To 104 and the history server device 106 are connected to the network 105
Are connected to each other. Also, the history server 106
Is connected to the relational database management device 107.

The client 103 is the video server 101
It is assumed that the video data 102 stored in is accessed. The client 103 makes an access request to the video data 102 to the video server 101 via the network 105, and receives the distribution of the video data 102. The client 103 notifies the history server device 106 of the access processing contents of the video data 102 for each processing when the processing is completed. The history server device 106 writes the processing content received from the client 103 to the history data 108 via the relational database management device 107.

In this embodiment, since the access history data is written into the history data 108 via the RDBMS, that is, the relational database management device 107,
The analysis application of the access history data required for each application is converted to SQ which is a general-purpose database access API (application programming interface).
Since it can be created using L and the data search function of the RDBMS can be used, there is an advantage that an analysis application can be easily developed.

The client 103 includes, in the access history data notified to the history server device 106, the name of the video server that has provided the video data service, so that in a system in which a plurality of video servers are connected, It is possible to collect access history.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the module configuration of the client. 103 and 104 are clients, 105 is a network, 201 is an application program, 202
A general-purpose multimedia data access interface for receiving a request for access to multimedia data by an application; an access notification unit 203 for notifying the history server device 106 of a process executed by the client;
04, a video data access driver that provides format-dependent access to video data; 205, a video server access unit that controls data transfer between the video server 101 and clients 103, 104;
Is a network interface, and 207 is an image output unit such as a display for displaying video data.

In the module configuration shown in FIG. 2, the module except for the access notification unit 207 is a module configuration of an ordinary video server client. The access notifying unit 207 can be configured by being incorporated in general-purpose multimedia data access means provided by an operating system or the like, so that the history can be collected without changing the interface provided by the operating system.

The operation of each module of the clients 103 and 104 will be described. The application program 201 issues an access request for video data to a general-purpose multimedia data access interface 202 provided by the operating system. The requests made here are, for example, processing such as opening, reproducing, and stopping the video data file, and closing the video data file when data access is completed.

The access notification unit 203 intercepts the video data access driver 204 and intercepts an access request sent from the general-purpose multimedia data access interface 202 to the video data access driver 204. The access notification unit 203 transfers the received access request to the video data access driver 204,
It is held inside the access notification unit 203. The held data is notified to the history server device 106 via the network interface 206 and the network 105.

The video data access driver 204, which has received the request from the access notification unit 203,
6. Data transfer with the video server 101 via the network 105
The video data is output to the image output unit 207 in response to the request of (1).

Since the application program 201 for accessing the video data accesses the video data via the general-purpose multimedia data access interface 202, the application program 201 does not need to be aware that the access notification unit 203 is interposed. There is an advantage that there is no need to create a special application.

The access notifying section 203 can receive an error report detected by the video data access driver 204 when accessing video data, and report this error report as a history to the history server, so that only successful access processing is performed. In addition, the history of failed processing can be collected.

FIG. 3 shows the clients 103 and 104 of FIG.
3 shows a module configuration of an access notification unit 203 in the middle. The access notification unit 203 hooks a command or data flowing between the general-purpose multimedia data access interface 202 and the video data access driver 204 and issues a notification request to the history server device 106, and a simulated access driver 210 In order to notify the access history data to the history server apparatus 106, the command buffer (1) 211 and the command buffer (1) are used as two buffers (referred to as command buffers) for holding the access requests received from the general-purpose multimedia data access interface 202. 2) History server communication unit 2 that controls communication between 212 and the history server device 106
13 and a history communication number buffer 214 for storing a history communication number for the history server device 106 to identify a connection with the client.

Command buffer of access notifying section 203
The structures of (1) and the command buffer (2) will be described.
FIG. 4 shows the structure of the command buffer. 211 and 212
Are the command buffer (1) and the command buffer, respectively.
(2) is shown. The command 2111 indicates that the application uses the general-purpose multimedia data access interface 20.
2 shows the requested processing content. Video server name 2112
Indicates a video server 101 in which video data to be accessed is stored. The file full path name 2113 indicates a file position where video data to be accessed is stored in the video server 101. The file position is, for example, a combination of a directory name and a file name.

Start address 2114, end address 21
Reference numeral 15 denotes an access position of video data executed by the process indicated by the command 2111. For example, it is represented by the number of elapsed frames or the elapsed time (millisecond) from the head position of the video data.

The address is specified according to the type and processing state of the command to be processed, when only the start address, only the end address, both the start address and the end address are specified, or when neither the start address nor the end address is specified. There is. For example, in the case of video data reproduction processing, since the reproduction processing is performed on consecutive addresses, it is usually necessary to specify a start address and an end address. However, depending on the general-purpose multimedia data access interface 202, a reproduction request with an unspecified start address performs reproduction processing from the access position at that time, and a reproduction request with an unspecified end address performs reproduction processing up to the end position of data. There are defaults, such as:

This embodiment shows an implementation method in consideration of a case where an address from an application is not specified.

The data transfer rate 2116 is a data transfer amount necessary for reproducing video data, and is expressed in units of bits per second, for example. The option flag 2117 indicates an option specification to be performed when the special effect function of the video data access driver is used. In this option specification, it is possible to specify a non-display state or the like on the screen during video data reproduction. The processing result flag 2118 indicates whether the result of executing the command requested from the general-purpose multimedia data access interface 202 is success or failure.

The operation of the access notification unit 203 will be described in detail. FIG. 5 shows the operation of the access notification unit 203. In step S101, the access notification unit 203 stores the command received from the general-purpose multimedia data access interface 202 in the command buffer (2). At the same time, if there is a video server name, a file full path name, an option flag, and a designation from the general-purpose multimedia data access interface 202, a start address and an end address are also stored in the command buffer (2).

Steps S102 to S104 are
This is a process of generating an address when the received command is a command for which a start address needs to be specified, but not specifying an address from the general-purpose multimedia data access interface 202, and storing it in the command buffer (2). Even though execution of a command requiring a start address is requested, the fact that the start address is not specified means that the start address of the process is the address currently being accessed, and the video data access driver 204 requests the current address. To get.

In step S102, a command stored in the command buffer (2) is identified, and it is determined whether or not the command requires a start address. If necessary, in step S103, it is determined whether or not the start address of the command stored in the command buffer (2) is designated by referring to the command buffer (2). If not specified, in step S104, an inquiry is made to the video data access driver 204 about the current address of the video data, and the start address of the command buffer (2) is stored.

Steps S105 to S109 are as follows:
This is a process of notifying the history server device 106 of the previously executed command. In the general-purpose multimedia data access interface 202, since another command can be executed during execution of a command, the end address is not determined until the command is completed correctly or the execution of the next command is started. Therefore, writing of the executed command to the history server device 106 is performed until the next command arrives.

In step S105, the command buffer
With reference to (1), it is determined whether there is a previously executed command or a command being executed. At this point, the contents of the command stored in the command buffer (1) are
The history server device 106 has not been notified. If there is a command, in step S106, the command buffer (1)
, It is determined whether or not the previously executed command is a command requiring an end address. If the end address is required, in step S107, the video data access driver 204 is inquired of the access position in the video data at that time, and the address is written to the command buffer 1 as the end address.

In step S108, the history server device 106 is notified of the contents of the command buffer (1) in which items to be notified to the server as a history are prepared. In step S109, the command buffer (2) including the content received from the general-purpose multimedia data access interface 202 is moved to the cleared command buffer (1).

Steps S110 to S115 are as follows.
General-purpose multimedia data access interface 20
Executes the command received from 2 and performs abnormal processing. After the video data access driver 204 receives the video data access processing request and starts processing, the video data access driver 204 can return the processing to the caller while performing the access processing. In this embodiment, the video data access driver 204 operates in this mode. Call. This means that if the video data access process fails due to some failure,
This is to notify the history server device 106 of the processing failure. Video data access driver 204 initiates execution for the requested operation and reports that its initial operation has failed. If the initial process is successful, the process returns to the calling side while performing the access process.

In this process, the transfer rate of the video data used in the access process to the video data is written in the command buffer (1). The transfer rate of the video data can be calculated from an equation obtained by obtaining the total time and data size of the video data from the video data access driver 204 and dividing the data size by the total time of the video data. The transfer rate of the video data indicates the transfer rate of the network used for distributing the video data from the video server 101.

If the executed command is a video data closing process, the closing process by the video data access driver 204 is completed immediately after the call if there is no error, and whether there is a next command to be executed. Since it is unknown, whether or not the execution of the command is completed is notified to the history server device 106 at that time.

In step S110, the command received from the general-purpose multimedia data access interface 202 is read from the command buffer (1), and a request is made to the video data access driver 204 to execute processing. In step S111, it is determined whether the activation of the video data access driver 204 has been successful.

If successful, in step S112, the data transfer rate used in the command being executed is calculated from the total time and data size of the video data inquired to the video data access driver 204, and the command buffer (1 ) Is written as the data transfer rate. If the operation has failed, in step S113, the command buffer
The failure status is written in the processing result flag of (1).

In step S114, the command buffer
It is determined whether or not the command (1) is a video data closing process. In step S115, the command buffer
If the command of (1) is a close process or the process fails due to an error, the history is notified to the history server device 106.

The history server communication unit 213 stores the history communication number sent from the history server device 106 in the history communication number buffer 214 and, when communicating with the history server device 106, stores its own history communication number. The history server device 106 is notified. The history communication number is stored in the access notification unit 2
03 notifies the history server device 106 of the opening of the video data, the history server device 106 newly generates a number that is not used in the system, and sends it to the history server communication unit 213 of the clients 103 and 104. Send it back.

The history communication number is a number generated by the history server device 106 every time the client accesses the video data. Therefore, the history communication number is used when a plurality of clients are accessing the video data at the same time, or when a plurality of video Even when data is being accessed, the history server device can identify each access process.

The history server communication unit 213 receives the request from the pseudo access driver 210 and
The data format of the access history data to be transmitted to will be described. FIG. 6 shows access history data transmitted to the history server device 106. Reference numeral 301 denotes access history data, reference numeral 302 denotes a history communication number used by the history server device 106 for identification of history communication, and data from the command buffer shown in FIG.

The history server device 106 will be described.
FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of the history server device 106. 103 and 104 are clients, 105 is a network, 106
Is a history server device, 107 is a relational database management device, 108 is stored history data, and 109 is attribute data that supplements the history data 108. 401 is a client communication unit, 402 is an attribute data control unit, 40
3 is a history data control unit, 404 is history collection item information, 4
05 is a client attribute table, 406 is a video server attribute table, 407 is a video data attribute table,
408 is a history data table.

The operation of the modules constituting the history server device 106 is as follows. Client communication unit 40
1 performs communication processing with the clients 103 and 104, receives access history data, generates a history communication number,
The generated history communication number is notified to the clients 103 and 104.

The attribute data control unit 402 stores character string-based attribute data such as a client name, a video server name, and a file full path name of video data in the access history data sent from the client into the attribute tables 405 to 407. Use to convert to an identifier. For names that do not exist in the attribute tables 405 to 407, a new identifier is generated and stored in the attribute tables 405 to 407 for use in later access.

In the history data table 408, data such as a client name, a video server name, and a file full path name appear frequently and have a large data amount.
The data area can be reduced by taking an identifier for converting the attribute data of the character string as a numeric value and referring to the attribute tables 405 to 407 when necessary. Also, an identifier of each attribute is automatically generated, and the attribute table 405
By registering at 407, there is an advantage that it is not necessary to manually register the attribute data manually by the user in order to use the system.

The history data control unit 403 uses the attribute data control unit 402 to convert the history data obtained by converting necessary information into an identifier into the relational database management unit 107.
To the history data table 408 via The history collection item information 404 stores a command type of history data to be collected. This command corresponds to an access command to the video data executed by the client. For example, it is possible to make a setting for collecting the history of only the execution of the playback command.

The history data control unit 403 refers to the history collection item information 404 when writing the history data,
Only commands to be collected are stored in the history data table 40.
Write to 8. The user can stop collection of unnecessary history data by setting a command that requires history collection to the minimum necessary in the history collection item information 404, and can reduce the amount of history data.

In writing the history data to the history data table 408, the history data control unit 403
When the writing of the history data fails due to the overflow of the history data area, the subsequent writing of the history data is stopped, and the occurrence of the error is notified to the user. The user can delete the history data in the history data table 408 or extend the history data area to secure a write area in the history data area, and then resume writing of the history data by the history data control unit 403. it can. As a result, it is possible to suppress a continuous occurrence of errors in the history area overflow.

The operation of the client communication unit 401 of the history server device 106 will be described. Client communication unit 401
Adds the client name to the access history data received from the client. If the executed command is an open process in the access history data sent from the client, a history communication number that can identify the access process between the client and the video data is generated and notified to the client.

The reason why the generation of the history communication number is performed in synchronization with the opening processing of the video data is that the access processing such as the reproduction to the video data and the frame-by-frame reproduction is performed.
This is because first the video data file must be opened, and the video data must be closed at the end of the access process. In this embodiment, a single history communication number is generated for a series of processing from opening to closing of video data, so that continuous access can be performed in video data access processing performed asynchronously by a plurality of clients. It is possible to identify a series of processes performed.

The operation flow of the client communication unit 401 will be described with reference to FIG. In step S201, history data is received from a client. Step S20
In step 2, the client names of the clients 103 and 104 that transmitted the access history data are stored in the access history data received from the client. The client name can be obtained from a network function provided by the operating system.

In step S203, it is determined whether or not the command of the access history data is an open command. If it is an open command, step S204
, A history communication number is newly generated and the history communication number 3 is added to the access history data received from the client.
02 is overwritten. Then, in step S205, the history communication number 302 newly generated is notified to the client. In step S206, data obtained by adding the client name to the access history data received from the client is transmitted to the attribute data control unit 402.

FIG. 9 shows a form of the access history data transmitted from the client communication unit 401 to the attribute data control unit 402. 451 is the client communication unit 4
01 is access history data to be transmitted to the attribute data control unit 402, and 452 is a client name added by the client communication unit 401.

The structure of the client attribute table 405 will be described with reference to FIG. Client attribute data 4
05, one record includes a pair of a client identifier 4051 and a client name 4052.

The structure of the video server attribute table 406 will be described with reference to FIG. Video server attribute data 4
06 indicates that one record is a video server identifier 4061,
It consists of a pair of video server names 4062.

The structure of the video data attribute table 407 will be described with reference to FIG. Video data attribute data 4
07 indicates that one record has a video data identifier 4071,
It consists of a pair of file full path names 4072.

The operation of the attribute data control unit 402 in the history server device 106 will be described. Attribute data control unit 40
2 stores character string data such as a client name, a video server name, and a file full path name of video data in a client attribute table 405, a video server attribute table 4
06, using the video data attribute table 407 to convert to an identifier represented by a numerical value or the like. In addition, identifiers are newly generated for data that does not exist in each attribute table, and the attribute data is written in the attribute tables 405 to 407 (name / identifier conversion unit).

The attribute data control unit 402 can store, as a part of the attribute data, information that can be obtained via a network when writing new attribute data. For example, the data size of the video data file can be obtained by obtaining the video data stored in the storage of the video server 101 using a file access function provided by the operating system,
This can be stored in the video data attribute table 407 as a part of the video data attribute. As similar data, the client operating system type, version information, and the like can be stored in the client attribute table 405 as a part of the client attribute. These additional attribute data can be referred to when analyzing the access history data, like other attribute data (additional information adding means).

The operation of the attribute data control unit 402 will be described with reference to FIG. In step S301, access history data is received from the client control unit 401.
Steps S302 to S305 are processing for converting a client name into a client identifier and processing for generating attribute data relating to an unregistered client. In step S302, the client attribute table 40
5 is retrieved by the client name to obtain the client identifier. In step S303, it is determined whether or not the client identifier has been obtained. If it cannot be obtained, in step S304, an unused client identifier is newly issued in the client attribute table 405. In step S305, the client identifier and the client name are written to the client attribute table 405 as client attributes.

Steps S306 to S309 are as follows:
This is a process of converting a video server name into a video server identifier and a process of generating attribute data relating to an unregistered video server. In step S306, the video server attribute table 406 is searched by the video server name to obtain a video server identifier. In step S307, it is determined whether or not the video server identifier has been obtained. If it cannot be obtained, in step S308, an unused video server identifier is newly issued in the video server attribute table 406. In step S309, the video server identifier and the video server name are written in the video server attribute table 406 as video server attributes.

Steps S 310 to S 313 are as follows:
This is a process of converting a file full path name of video data into a video data identifier and a process of generating attribute data relating to unregistered video data. In step S310, the video data attribute table 407 is searched with the video data full path name to obtain a video data identifier. In step S311, it is determined whether or not the video data identifier has been obtained. If it cannot be obtained, in step S312, an unused video data identifier is newly issued in the video data attribute table 407. In step S313, the video data identifier and the video data full path name are written to the video data attribute table 407 as the video data attribute.

In step S314, the obtained client identifier, video server identifier, and video data identifier are written as identifier-added history data. Then, in step S315, the access history data with the identifier is transmitted to the history data control unit 403.

The operation of the history data control unit 403 in the history server device 206 will be described. The history data control unit 403 performs a process of storing the access history data with the identifier generated by the attribute data control unit in the history data table 408 via the relational database management device 107. If data overflows in the history table area when writing data to the history data table 408, the user is notified of the data area overflow and the subsequent writing of access history data is stopped.
(History collection stop setting means). Writing of the history data follows the content set in the history collection item information 404. The history collection item information 404 indicates settings for executing or suppressing writing of history data for each processing command executed on the client.

Further, by having a plurality of history data areas to which the history data is written, it is possible to continuously write the history data even if the history data area overflows. When the overflow of the history data area is detected, without stopping the history writing setting of the history collection item information 404,
By switching the data write destination to another history data area, the history data area can be switched.
(History data area changing means).

The operation of the history data control unit 403 will be described with reference to FIG. In step S401, access history data with an identifier is received from the attribute data control unit 402. The access history data with the identifier is the data itself to be written in the history data table 408.
In step S402, it is determined with reference to the history collection item information 404 whether or not the command indicated by the received access history data with identifier is to be collected as a history. If the data is to be collected, in step S403, the access history data with the identifier is stored in the history data table 408 of the relational database management device 107.
Write to.

Steps S404 to S406 are as follows:
This is the process when the history data area overflows. Step S404
In the executed access history data writing process, it is determined whether or not the history data area overflowed.
If the data area overflows, in step S405, all the history write settings of the history collection item information 404 are changed to stop, and the subsequent history collection is stopped. In step S406, the client, that is, the user, is notified that the history data table has overflowed and the history data writing process has been stopped.

If a plurality of history data areas to which the access history data is to be written are provided, the process proceeds to step S40.
5, in place of S406, in step S407, the data write destination is transferred to another history data area to perform writing.

[0090]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, in a video server system in which at least one video server and at least one client are connected by a network, access processing of video data performed by a client is performed. An access notification unit provided in the client for transmitting contents as access history data; and history data managed by a relational database management device, connected to the network and receiving the access history data transmitted from the access notification unit. A history server device that writes and stores the contents of the video data access processing executed by the client as access history data, so that the history of video data access executed by the client is collected. In addition, by storing access history data in the history data table managed by the relational database management device, it becomes possible to use the search function of the relational database management device, making it easy to develop applications that analyze access history data. The advantage is that an access history management system can be provided in a simple video server system.

[0091] In the second invention of the present invention, the plurality of video servers are connected to the network, and the history server device accesses a video server name that specifies a video server included in the access history data received from the access notification unit. An access history management system in a video server system capable of collecting an access history for each video server in a system to which a plurality of video servers are connected, since the data is written and stored as a part of the history data in a history data table. Can be obtained.

In the third aspect of the present invention, the access notifying section of the client is configured to be incorporated in general-purpose multimedia data access means provided by an operating system or the like, so that the operating system is provided. An advantage is obtained that an access history management system can be provided in a video server system which enables history collection without changing the interface.

[0093] In the fourth invention of the present invention, the access notifying unit transmits an error occurred during the video data access processing to the history server device, and the history server device regards the error as a part of the access history data. Since the history is written and stored in the history data table, it is possible to provide an access history management system in a video server system capable of collecting not only a successful access process but also a history of a failed process.

[0094] In the fifth invention of the present invention, the history server device synchronizes with a series of processing from opening to closing of the video data file in the client,
A history communication number that can identify multiple clients that occur asynchronously in the system and access to multiple video data in the same client is written and stored in the history data table as a part of the access history data. It is possible to provide an access history management system in a video server system that can identify each access process even when accessing video data simultaneously or accessing a plurality of video data with the same client. The effect of is obtained.

[0095] In the sixth invention of the present invention, the history server device includes a client name, a video server name,
A client identifier, a video server identifier, and a video data identifier that correspond to the file full path names in one-to-one correspondence with various attribute tables; and an attribute data control unit that converts names into identifiers according to the attribute tables. Therefore, it is possible to provide an access history management system in a video server system that can reduce a data area by taking an identifier for converting character string attribute data as a numeric value and referring to the attribute table when necessary. The effect is obtained.

[0096] In the seventh invention of the present invention, the attribute data control unit of the history server device includes a client name, a video server name, and a file full path name that are not registered in the attribute table, and the access notification device specifies a history server device. In addition, a name / identifier conversion unit that converts a name and an identifier by adding correspondence information between the name and the identifier to the attribute table is further provided, so that the attribute data is pre-registered manually by a user of the system. This provides an effect that an access history management system can be provided in a video server system which does not require the above.

In the eighth aspect of the present invention, the attribute data control unit of the history server device further includes a client, a video server, and additional information adding means for adding additional information obtainable from the video data as each attribute record. Therefore, there is an advantage that an access history management system in a video server system can be provided in which these additional attribute data can be effectively used at the time of analyzing the history data, like other attribute data.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the history server device sets history collection item information for setting execution and stop of history collection in units of processing commands executable by the client, and setting of the history collection item information. And a history data control unit that executes / stops each history collection command with reference to the above. Thus, by setting the minimum required history collection required commands, the collection of unnecessary history data is stopped. And an access history management system in a video server system capable of reducing the amount of history data can be provided.

[0099] In the tenth aspect of the present invention, the history data control unit of the history server device fails to write access history data to the history data table managed by the relational database management device due to overflow of the history data area. In this case, history collection stop setting means for setting a history collection stop setting for all commands in the history collection item information which can specify execution of history collection for each command is further provided. An advantage is obtained that an access history management system can be provided in a video server system that can suppress the occurrence.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, the history data table of the history server device has a plurality of data areas in which access history data is written, and the history data control unit determines that the history write has overflowed in one history data area. In the case of failure, the history write destination is changed to another history data area and the history data area changing means for continuously writing the access history data is further provided, so that even if the history data area overflows, An advantage is obtained that an access history management system can be provided in a video server system capable of continuously writing history data.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an access history management system in a video server system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a module configuration diagram of the client of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a module configuration diagram of an access notification unit of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a structural diagram of a command buffer of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of an access notification unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a format of access history data transmitted to a history server device.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a history server device.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a client communication unit of the history server device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a format of access history data transmitted from a client communication unit to an attribute data control unit in the history server device.

FIG. 10 is a structural diagram of a client attribute table.

FIG. 11 is a structural diagram of a video server attribute table.

FIG. 12 is a structural diagram of a video data attribute table.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation of the attribute data control unit.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a history data control unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 video server, 102 video data, 10
3,104 clients, 105 networks, 1
06 history server device, 107 relational database management device, 108 history data, 109 attribute data, 201 application program, 202
General-purpose multimedia data access interface, 2
03 access notification unit, 204 video data access driver, 205 video server access unit, 206
Network interface, 207 image output unit, 2
10 Simulated access driver, 211 Command buffer (1), 212 Command buffer (2), 213 History server communication unit, 214 History communication number buffer, 401
Client communication unit, 402 attribute data control unit, 4
03 history data control unit, 404 history collection item information,
405 client attribute table, 406 video server attribute table, 407 video data attribute table, and 408 history data table.

Claims (11)

[Claims] In a video server system in which at least one video server and at least one client are connected by a network, the video server system is provided in the client for transmitting contents of video data access processing performed by the client as access history data. An access notification unit, and a history server device connected to the network, receiving the access history data transmitted from the access notification unit, writing and storing the access history data in a history data table managed by a relational database management device. An access history management system in a video server system, wherein contents of an access process of video data executed by the client are collected as access history data. 2. The video server, wherein a plurality of the video servers are connected to the network, and the history server uses a video server name for specifying the video server included in the access history data received from the access notification unit as a part of the access history data. 2. The access history management system in a video server system according to claim 1, wherein the access history management system writes and stores the data in a data table. 3. An access notification unit of the client,
3. The access history management system in a video server system according to claim 1, wherein the access history management system is incorporated in general-purpose multimedia data access means provided by an operating system or the like. 4. The access notifying unit transmits an error occurred during the video data access processing to the history server device, and the history server device writes the error as a part of access history data and stores the error in a history data table. The access history management system in the video server system according to claim 1, wherein 5. The history server device identifies, in synchronization with a series of processes from opening to closing of a video data file in a client, asynchronous access in a system and access to a plurality of video data in the same client. 5. An access history management system in a video server system according to claim 1, wherein a possible history communication number is written and stored in a history data table as a part of access history data. 6. The client server according to claim 1, wherein the history server device associates a client name, a video server name, and a file full path name which frequently appear as history data in the access history data with a client identifier and a video server. 6. The video server according to claim 1, further comprising: an attribute table for associating the identifier with the video data identifier; and an attribute data control unit for converting a name into an identifier according to the attribute table. Access history management system in the system. 7. The attribute table, wherein the attribute data control unit of the history server device transmits a client name, a video server name, and a file full path name that are not registered in the attribute table to the history server device. 7. The access history management system in the video server system according to claim 6, further comprising a name / identifier conversion unit for converting the name and the identifier by adding correspondence information between the name and the identifier to the video server system. 8. The attribute data control unit of the history server device further includes an additional information adding unit that adds additional information obtainable from the client, the video server, and the video data as each attribute record. Item 7
3. An access history management system in the video server system according to 1. 9. The history server apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the history server sets history collection item information for setting execution and stop of history collection in units of processing commands executable by the client, and refers to the setting of the history collection item information. 9. The access history management system in a video server system according to claim 1, further comprising a history data control unit that executes / stops each command. 10. The history data control unit of the history server device, when writing of access history data to the history data table managed by the relational database management device fails due to overflow of a history data area, a history for each command. 10. The access history management in the video server system according to claim 9, further comprising history collection stop setting means for setting a history collection stop setting for all commands in the history collection item information for which collection execution can be specified. system. 11. The history data table of the history server device has a plurality of data areas in which access history data is written, and the history data control unit determines whether the history writing has failed due to data overflow in one history data area. 11. The access history management system in the video server system according to claim 10, further comprising a history data area changing means for changing a write destination to another history data area and continuously writing access history data. .