WO2001098904A1

WO2001098904A1 - Method of web information service and web server

Info

Publication number: WO2001098904A1
Application number: PCT/JP2000/004145
Authority: WO
Inventors: Takehiro Morishige; Daisuke Yokota
Original assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
Priority date: 2000-06-23
Filing date: 2000-06-23
Publication date: 2001-12-27

Abstract

When receiving a client's request for an update notification of a specific WEB content, a WEB server stores the relation between the client's address and the requested WEB content in a management table. The WEB server automatically refers to the management table and sends an update notification to the client's address specified in it as soon as the WEB content are updated.

Description

Specification

WEB information service method and WEB server technical field

The present invention relates to information services on the Internet.

Information service method for web pages published by Book W (World Wide WEB) and ぴ web server. Background art

In recent years, the number of Internet (Internet Protocol) users has rapidly increased,

Network services such as WEB servers are increasing. A WEB server connected to the Internet is a language that describes a reference relationship structure called a hyperlink HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) that describes WEB contents composed of multimedia objects such as documents, images, and voices. Is disclosed to users in units called pages (hereinafter referred to as “Web pages”). Users can access the necessary information by accessing the Easy Easy Server via HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) messages. With the rapid increase of WEB servers and users, the proportion of HTTP messages in Internet traffic is increasing. In addition, the increase in load due to the concentration of accesses on a web server that is displaying popular web pages has contributed to the delay in response to clients.

Under such circumstances, in order to speed up the response of the WEB server to the users, the WEB server side has access to the WEB server by installing multiple duplicate WEB servers that provide duplicate WEB pages. Are distributed. On the other hand, the client terminal operated by the user (hereinafter simply referred to as the client) or the proxy server that accesses the web server on behalf of the client uses the cache function to acquire web content. To reduce network time and traffic. In addition, in order to shorten the response time to the client, before the user issues a request for obtaining the web content, the web content is read ahead from the web server and the web content in the cache area is updated. The method is adopted. Conventional technologies relating to the update of WEB contents by prefetching processing include, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. Hei 9-2004-4747, Hei 11-1200, and Hei 11 Publications such as Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 149405 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-1755539.

However, if duplicate WEB servers are installed in order to distribute the WEB server load, it is necessary for the WEB server administrator to notify each user of the proposal for using the duplicate WEB servers. For guidance on using the duplicate WEB server, for example, how to send an e-mail to each user, or put information on setting up the duplicate WEB server on the WEB page, and when the user accesses the WEB server, It is notified by sending it to the user along with the WEB contents. In this case, the user who has received the notification needs to access the WEB server once to confirm the installation position of the duplicate WEB server, causing unnecessary WEB access. Also, when acquiring WEB contents, users need to be aware of the location of the duplicate WEB server and access the WEB server.

On the other hand, in the method of pre-reading the web content and preparing it in the cache area prior to the acquisition request from the user, when the user actually issues the acquisition request, the web content in the cache area is The latest version cannot be completely guaranteed. For this reason, it is necessary to confirm the update to the WEB server for each WEB content requested by the user.If the WEB server is under heavy load or if the WEB server is installed in a distant place, There is a problem that it takes time to check for updates and the response to the client is delayed. When the user browses the WEB page on a whim, the prefetched WEB content in the cache memory is updated to the next purge line without being used, and as a result, the prefetching process may end in a meaningless manner.

An object of the present invention is to provide a service for confirming an update state of WEB contents. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a web information service method and a web server that can significantly reduce the cost.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a WEB information service method in which each user can selectively issue a request to a WEB server to obtain WEB content having an update content that matches an update condition specified in advance. To provide a server. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a WEB information service method and a WEB server that can promptly provide the latest information from a cache memory without checking the WEB server for the update of WEB content desired by a user. It is in. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a WEB information service method and a WEB server that can notify a user of a server address suitable for acquiring updated WEB contents.

Still another object of the present invention is to dynamically select WEB contents to be stored in a cache memory according to an access trend to a WEB server, and to quickly provide a WEB content with a high degree of attention from a cache memory. The purpose is to provide information service methods and web servers. Disclosure of the invention

In order to achieve the above object, an information service method according to the present invention relates to a specific WEB content from at least one client to the WEB server in a network including a WEB server, a plurality of clients, and a Proxy server. Requesting an update notification; and, when the specific WEB content is updated, transmitting a WEB content update notification from the WEB server to the update notification request source.

When a proxy server is interposed between the web server and the client, the information service method of the present invention includes a step of requesting at least one client from the proxy server to notify the proxy server of an update notification regarding specific web content. The proxy server requesting, on behalf of the client, the web server to notify the web server of an update regarding the specific web content; and A step of transmitting a web content update notification from the web server to the proxy server when the content is updated, and a step of relaying the web content update notification from the proxy server to the client that issued the update notification request And characterized by the following.

More specifically, when receiving the WEB content update notification request, the WEB server of the present invention stores the relationship between the requested WEB content and the update notification request source address in the management table, and updates the WEB content. Then, by referring to the management table, an update notification request source address relating to the updated WEB content is specified, and an update notification of the WEB content is transmitted to the specified address.

In the present invention, each client can request an update notification for a specific WEB content by specifying an update notification condition. In this case, the WEB server stores the relationship between the requested WEB content, the update notification request source address, and the update notification condition in the management table, and when the WEB content is updated, stores the management table. By referring to the update WEB content, the update notification request source address and the update notification condition corresponding to the update WEB content are identified, and when the update WEB content satisfies the update notification condition, the update notification request source address is determined. Sends a web content update notification. If the WEB server determines that the duplicate WEB server is more suitable for acquiring the updated WEB content than itself, it specifies the address of the duplicate WEB server in the WEB content update notification message. This distributes the load on the web server.

In the present invention, the proxy server, upon receiving a web content update notification request from a client, stores the relationship between the requested web content identifier and the address of the client in a management table, and When the content update notification is received, the client address to which the update notification is sent is specified by referring to the management table, and the WEB content update notification is relayed to the specified client address. .

When the above Proxy server receives the WEB content update notification, the WEB server In response to the request, a message for requesting acquisition of the updated WEB content is selectively transmitted, and the updated WEB content received from the proxy server is stored in the cache memory. The proxy server periodically analyzes access histories of the web server by a plurality of clients connected to the proxy server, based on a selection condition specified in advance by a specific client user. Dynamically determine the web content to be mirrored in the cache memory for the specific client, and upon receiving the update notification of the determined web content, requesting the web server to obtain the updated web content. Send a message.

Other objects, features, and effects of the present invention will become apparent from the description of embodiments of the present invention given below with reference to the drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a network configuration to which a first embodiment of the present invention including a web server and a client is applied,

Figure 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the software provided on the web server and client.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a web page provided for an update notification service contract,

Fig. 4 shows the structure of the contractor management information file 24 and the WEB content management information file 25.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a first update notification request designation page provided by the WEB server, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a second update notification request designation page provided by the WEB server, and FIG. 7 is WEB A flowchart showing a user authentication processing routine executed by the server,

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an update notification request registration processing routine executed on the web server,

Fig. 9 is a flowchart showing the update notification condition check processing routine executed on the WEB server. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a format of a WEB content acquisition request message transmitted from a client,

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a format of a response message transmitted from a web server in response to a web content acquisition request,

Fig. 12 is a flowchart showing the main part of the acquisition request reception processing routine executed on the WEB server.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of the branch destination A2 in the acquisition request reception processing routine shown in FIG.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the branch destination C2 in the acquisition request reception processing routine shown in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a client display screen provided for generating a WEB content acquisition request message to which an update notification request is added,

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing another example of a client display screen provided for generating a WEB content acquisition request message to which an update notification request is added. FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the client display screen shown in FIG. A diagram showing an example of WEB server response information output on a client display screen in response to a screen button operation,

Fig. 18 is a diagram showing an example of the format of the update notification message sent from the web server.

Fig. 19 is a flow chart showing the update monitoring routine executed on the web server.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing details of the update notification information creation processing R 210 in the update monitoring routine shown in FIG. 19;

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a network configuration to which a second embodiment of the present invention including a proxy server between a client and a web server is applied,

Fig. 22 is a diagram showing the software configuration of the Proxy server.

Figure 23 shows an example of a service contract WEB page provided by the Proxy server.

Fig. 24 shows the structure of the contractor management information file 43 provided in the Proxy server. Diagram,

Fig. 25 is a diagram showing the configuration of the optimized mirroring information file, Fig. 26 is a diagram showing an example of a web server service confirmation page provided by the Proxy server,

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a configuration of an update notification request WEB content management information file 44 provided in the Proxy server,

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing the configuration of the cache area management information file 42 provided in the Proxy server.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing a service registration processing routine for WEB access executed by the Proxy server.

FIG. 30 is a flowchart showing details of the mirroring registration process R310 in the service registration process routine shown in FIG.

FIG. 31 is a flowchart showing details of the update notification relay registration process R330 in the service registration process routine shown in FIG.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart showing details of the update notification information processing R 350 in the update notification relay registration processing R 330 shown in FIG. 31;

FIG. 33 is a flowchart showing an acquisition request reception processing routine executed by the Proxy server.

FIG. 34 is a flowchart showing details of the update notification request confirmation processing R 420 in the acquisition request reception processing routine shown in FIG. 33;

FIG. 35 is a flowchart showing the details of the update notification condition confirmation process R430 in the update notification request confirmation process R420 shown in FIG.

FIG. 36 is a flow chart showing details of the information acquisition request transmission processing R450 to the WEB server in the acquisition request reception processing routine shown in FIG. 33. FIG. 37 is a proxy server. A flowchart showing an update notification reception processing routine executed in

FIG. 38 is a flowchart showing details of the web content acquisition processing R510 in the update notification reception processing routine shown in FIG. 37; FIG. 39 is a flowchart showing details of update notification relay information creation processing in the update notification reception processing routine shown in FIG. 37;

FIG. 40 is a flowchart showing a prefetch processing routine executed by the Proxy server.

Fig. 41 is a flowchart showing the optimization mirroring processing routine executed by the Proxy server. Fig. 42 is an example of a statistical template of the access history generated by the optimization mirroring processing. FIG.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, a first embodiment of a client 'server' system according to the present invention having a web page update notification service function will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 20.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a network configuration to which the present invention is applied.

The client (user terminal) 1 is connected to a WBE server 2 for publishing a WEB page and a duplicate WEB server 2C via a communication line 5 such as the Internet or LAN. The administrator of WEB server 2 or the provider of WEB content (hereinafter collectively referred to as the administrator) PN2 makes a contract 6 with the client 1 user PN1 in advance for the WEB content reference and update notification service. tie. However, if the WEB contents are released free of charge, the contract for the above update notification service may be omitted, or a paid contract may be made with user PN1 focusing on its usefulness. Good. If WEB server 2 and client 1 are connected to a network within the same company represented by, for example, an intranet, the above-mentioned update notification service is provided by request from user PN 1 to administrator PN2. May be started.

When the contract or application 6 is concluded, the WEB server 2 or the duplicate WEB server 2C will provide basic services in addition to the conventional “Web content provision service”, Γ ΕΒ Page Update Notification Service ”. In the WEB page update notification service, when the WEB content specified in advance by the update notification request REQ1 from the client 1 is updated, the WEB content update notification MSG is transmitted to the requesting client 1.

The WEB server 2 or the duplicate WEB server 2C is provided as an additional service to the client 1 when, for example, the load on the WEB server 2 increases or when a new duplicate WEB server 2C is added. Ideal for acquiring WEB content. "Optimal acquisition location notification service" that notifies the location information of the duplicate WEB server 2C, and supplementary information on the updated content of WEB content added to the WEB content update notification MSG described above. Service ”. The WEB server 2 and the client 1 are composed of a data processing system including a processor, a storage device, a communication interface, and various input / output devices in terms of hardware. The notification service is realized by software executed by the processor.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of software provided in the WEB server 2 and the client 1.

The WEB server 2 receives the WEB page file 20 and the WEB content acquisition request transmitted from the client 1 via the communication line 5 as elements for realizing the “Web content providing service” which is the basic service. An acquisition request reception routine 21 that receives and analyzes the request content, and reads the WEB content 90 specified by the above acquisition request reception routine 21 from the WEB page file 20 ΨΕΒ A content acquisition routine 22 A web content transmission routine 23 for transmitting the read web content 90 to the requesting client 1 as response information to the acquisition request.

In addition, as an element to realize the “Web page update notification service”,

The WEB server 2 receives the contractor management information file 24, the WEB content management information file 25, and the application for the WEB page update notification service from the client, and transmits the personal information and the contract contents of the applicant or the contractor to the contractor. A contractor information management routine 26 managed by the management information file 24; an update monitoring routine 27 monitoring the update of the WEB content with reference to the WEB page file 20 and the WEB content management information file 25; In response to an update notification transmission instruction from the update monitoring routine 27, an update notification transmission routine 28 that creates an update notification and transmits it to the update notification request source with reference to the WEB content management information file 25 is included. .

The WEB content management information file 25 contains management information on each WEB content 90 that composes the WEB page and management information (update notification destination information) on the client (contractor) who requested the WEB content update notification. Are stored in association with each other.

The client 1 sends an acquisition request transmission routine 11 for sending an acquisition request for the web content 90 specified by the user PN 1 to the web server 2, and a response from the web server 2 to the above acquisition request. WEB content reception routine 1 and 2 that receives Web content, update notification reception routine 13 that receives and processes the WEB content update notification sent from WEB server 2, and WEB content that is received by WEB content reception routine 12 File for storing (cache area) 14, file 15 for storing management information on WEB content 91 in cache area 14, and management information for WEB content requested to be updated File 16 for storing the updated Web contents, and an updated Web contents management routine 17 for selectively prefetching the updated Web contents. And updating information output routine 1 8 for outputting the update status of the update notification requested WEB contents, and a display control routine 1-9.

First, a method of contracting the update notification service between the administrator P N2 of the WEB server 2 and the user P N1 of the client 1 and a method of specifying the WEB content to be notified of the update will be described.

The contract method of the renewal notification service includes, for example, a method of applying with contract document 6 (first method) and a method of using a web page on the renewal notification service contract published by WEB server 2 (second method). Method). In addition, service provision When acquiring WEB content 90 that does not require a contract fee, the acquisition request transmission routine 11 of the client 1 adds the information on the update notification request to the content acquisition request message and transmits it to the WEB server 2 There is also a third method.

In the first contract method using contract document 6, the administrator PN2 of WEB server 2 checks the application content described in the contract document, and provides the contract conditions, contract amount, payment method, contract to user PN1. Authorization information including the user's identifier and password is returned. When it is confirmed that the user PN1 has paid the contract money, the contract is concluded, and the administrator PN2 registers the personal information and the contract contents of the contracted user PN1 in the contractor management information file 24. -Figure 3 shows an example of a web page used in the second contract method.

The update notification service contract page 100 includes an applicant information setting area 110, a contract condition setting area 120, and a contract authorization information display area 130. The user specifies the name 1 1 1, address 1 1 2, contact 1 1 3, e-mail address 1 1 4, and notification destination registration method according to the input items displayed in the applicant information setting area 1 1 0 Personal information including the notification method 1 15 to be specified, the relay notification destination 1 16 specified when making a notification request via the Proxy server, and the user notification destination 1 17 indicating the client (terminal) used by the user Enter

The contract condition setting area 120 includes a contract period 122 for specifying the service period of the update notification information, and includes, for example, only the update notification information of the update notification or supplementary information of the update content. Or when a duplicate WEB server is newly installed or when the WEB server is under heavy load, it is notified including the location information of the WEB server that can acquire WEB content in the shortest time Of the notification content type 1 2 2 that specifies the content, etc., and the maximum number of hierarchical levels of the content of the web page that is linked to the update-targeted web page for update notification. A data entry area is displayed for inputting the maximum number of notification layers to specify 1 2 3 and the maximum number of notification web contents 1 2 4 to specify the maximum number of WEB contents to be registered as notification targets. Also, the web content has been updated. The notification exclusion condition 1 2 5 that the notification is not required even in the case of the update, the update size 1 2 6 or 'indicating the data size that is the threshold for the judgment of the update notification necessity, and the update notification included in the web page A data input area for inputting a notification rejection WEB content extension 127 that designates the content of, for example, advertising WEB content is displayed.

When the user who has already contracted presses the contract status confirmation button B10, the contracted condition content is displayed in the contract condition setting area 120. New applicant power After inputting data in each of the above-mentioned contract condition setting area 120 and input fields, pressing the new application button Bl 1 sends an update notification contract message containing these input data to the WEB server. Is done. The WEB server analyzes the contents of the renewal notification contract message using the contractor information management routine 26, creates contract authorization information similar to the procedure described in the contract document 6, and sends it to the client. As a result, the contract authorization information display area 130 displays the contract amount 132, the payment method (transfer destination) 133, and the identifier and password 134 assigned to the contractor. At this time, if the contract conditions are automatically modified on the WEB server side, the modified contract condition information is displayed in the modification information area 13 1.

When the user who has agreed to the contract authorization information presses the contract button B14, the contract is established. However, for users for whom payment of the contract deposit has not been confirmed within the prescribed period after the contract, the contractor management information is deleted from file 14 on the WEB server. The user presses the change button B12 to change the application content, and presses the cancel button B13 to cancel.

In the third contract method of transmitting a content acquisition request message including update notification request information, the contractor information management routine 26 of the web server uses the update notification request information attached to the content acquisition request message. The contract is concluded when client information is extracted from the client and registered in the contractor management information file 24. A method of specifying the update notification target in this case will be described later.

FIG. 4 shows the file structure of the contractor management information file 24 and the WEB content management information file 25 in which information is registered when the contract is concluded. Contractor management information The information file 24 stores a contractor personal information table 240 and an update notification service contract (update notification condition) information record 250 for each contractor. The contractor's personal information table 240 contains, for example, the contractor identifier 2411 and password information 2424 that are automatically assigned at the time of contract for use in subsequent contractor search and authentication, and the contractor's name. 2 4 3, address 2 4 4, contact 2 4 5, e-mail destination address 2 4 6, and update notification service indicating update notification conditions Contract information record 2 50 7 Link information 2 4 7 Including.

The update notification service contract information record 250 relays the update notification service contract period 251, the update notification destination information 252 indicating the destination IP address or domain name of the update notification, and the update notification. Relay flag 25 3 indicating the presence or absence of a proxy server, relay notification destination information 2 54 indicating the IP address or domain name of the above proxy server, update notification type 2 5 5, and content to be notified The maximum number of notification layers 2 5 6 that indicates the limit of the number of layers, the maximum number of registered WEB contents 2 5 7 that indicates the limit of the number of contents to be notified, the number of currently registered WEB contents 2 5 8, Register the update notification size limit 259 that indicates the limit size of WEB content that does not require update notification, the WEB content extension 260 that the user rejected the update notification, and the content that indicates the target content of the update notification request WEB Con And a N'identifier 2 6 1.

On the other hand, in the web content management information file 25, a web content management template 200 and an update notification destination table 220 are stored.

The WEB content management table 200 includes a plurality of records for each WEB content provided by the WEB server. Each record includes a content identifier 201, a WEB content name (path and content name) 202, A public flag 203 indicating whether or not the WEB content has been released, a last update date and time of the WEB content 204 and an update size 205, and a link to the update notification destination table 220 Information 206, the affiliated web content identifier information 207 indicating the identifier of the hyperlinked web content, and the link information to the update supplementary information file 210 that stores supplementary information on the updated content of the web content. Includes 208. The update notification destination table 220 includes a plurality of records corresponding to the client that is the destination of the update notification when the WEB content indicated by each record of the WEB content management table 200 is updated. Each record is an update notification destination 2 21 indicating the IP address or domain information of the client or proxy server that is the destination of the update notification, and 3 o'clock when the client or proxy server last accessed the target WEB content , A contractor management information link information for linking the corresponding contractor record helic in the contractor management table 240, and an update notification condition 224. The above update notification condition 2 24 includes, for example, information such as the address of the relay server of the update notification and the validity period of the update notification.

Next, the method of specifying the WEB contents to be updated is described. As a method of specifying the WEB content, for example, as described later in FIGS. 5 and 6, the WEB content is specified with reference to an update notification request specification page included in a WEB page published by the WEB server 2. Method 1 (first method) and when issuing an acquisition request for the WEB content 90 already contracted, send an acquisition request for Client 1 Routine 1 1 Update notification to the acquisition request described later in FIG. 10 There is a method of adding request information (second method).

First, the first method will be described with reference to FIG. 5 and FIG.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the update notification request designation page 140 included in the WEB page 20.

The user enters the name 151, address 152, contact information 153, e-mail address 154, e-mail address 15 Enter notification method 1 5 5, relay notification 1 5 6, user notification 1 5 7, subscriber identifier 15 8 and password 15 9 assigned at the time of contract, and press the authentication button B 2 1. The authentication information is sent to the web server. .

The WEB server refers to the contractor management information file 24, and if there is a contractor that matches the received authentication information, the client needs to notify the client of the update notification shown in Fig. 6. Request page 1 4 1 is sent. The update notification request designation page 1 4 1 contains the area 1 7 0 on which the web server displays the currently open web page information and the update notification conditions for the web page specified in the web page information display area 1 7 0 above. A notification condition setting area 180 for inputting is displayed.

In the page information display area 170, the URL of the TOP page (Uniform Resource Locator) 171, which is the headline of the public page, the URL 172 of the WEB content included in the TOP page, and the TOP page The number of linked layers that indicate the number of pages linked to the website, the number of linked layers, the size of the WEB content, the last updated date and time, and the update by the contractor (user of the client terminal) Registration status of notification request 1 7 6 is displayed.

The specification of the update notification request is achieved by selecting the URL page 171 or WEB content URL 172 of the update notification target with the cursor and pressing the update notification request registration button B22. As a result, the URL selected by the user is transmitted to the WEB server, and the contractor information and the selected WEB content information are registered in association with each other.

The notification condition setting area 180 has a data input area for a plurality of items 18:! To 187 similar to the conditions set by the user when subscribing to the update notification service. Regarding the WEB content selected in the WEB page information display area 170, the user sets the notification condition setting area 180 to the parameters that are the update notification conditions within the range of the above-mentioned contract setting conditions. When a value is set and the update notification request registration button B22 or the registered data change button B23 is pressed, the above settings are registered on the WEB server as the update notification condition for the specified WEB content.

When deleting the registered data, the user selects the WEB content to be deleted from the WEB contents displayed in the page information display area 170, and then presses the registered data deletion button B24. As a result, the corresponding data already registered on the WEB server side is deleted, and the response information to the user input information is displayed in the response information display area 160. If the notification condition specified by the user If part of is automatically corrected on the WEB server side, the corrected condition 161 of the registration condition is displayed in the response information display area 160. The user confirms the display contents of the above response information display area 1660, and presses the confirmation button B25 to register with the displayed contents, or cancels the registration by invalidating the registration. Press B26.

As a means for the Web server 2 to receive and analyze the information entered by the user in the information input area in the public Web page described above, for example, a CGI (common gateway interface) program is prepared in the Web server 2. The hyperlink that associates the location information of the above CGI program with the startup argument information is described in HTML on each published WEB page. When the user presses the link button for starting CGI on the public WEB page, CGI is started using the input information in the information input area in the public WEB page as argument information, and the CGI program analyzes the above argument information. As a result, the information entered by the user in the information input and input area in the public WEB page is extracted.

When the user requests the update notification of the WEB content using the above-mentioned update notification request specification page published by the WEB server 2, the WEB server 2 executes the contract information management routine shown in FIG. Analyzes the user input information by executing the update notification request analysis program.

When the user presses the authentication button B 21 shown in FIG. 5, the update notification request answering prayer program executes authentication processing for the input information in the authentication information setting area 150 according to the flowchart shown in FIG. .

In the above authentication processing, it is determined whether or not an authentication item exists in the argument information (step S10), and if there is an authentication item, authentication item data is extracted (S11). The extracted authentication item data is compared with the registered information in the contractor management information file 24 (S12), and it is determined whether or not a matching contractor exists (S13). If the applicable contractor does not exist, it creates a WEB content on which display information indicating authentication failure is set (S18) and sends it to the client (S16). If there is a corresponding contractor, this contractor will be the same as the contractor who matched the contractor management information in the previous authentication item. It is determined whether or not they are the same person (S14). If they are not the same, a WEB content indicating authentication failure is created (S18) and transmitted to the client (S16). If the contractor is the same person as the previous one, the number of matching items of the authentication information is maintained (S15), and the process returns to step S10 to repeat the same process for the next authentication item.

All the arguments are checked, and if there are no more authentication items to be checked, it is determined whether the number of matching items of the authentication information exceeds a preset reference value (S17). If the number of matching items is less than or equal to the reference value, or if the password has not been entered even if the number exceeds the reference value (S19), create WEB content indicating authentication failure (S18) and send it to the client. Yes (S16).

If the number of matching items exceeds the reference value and the password has been entered, the user is determined to be a legitimate contractor, the relevant contract information is read from the contractor management information file 24 (S20), and the WEB page file From 20 to 20, the public WEB content information including the update notification request designated page information shown in FIG. 6 is read (S21). Based on this, an update notification request designation page 141 is created (S22) and transmitted to the client (S16). As a result, the update notification request specification page 141 shown in FIG. 6 is displayed on the display screen of the client.

When the client user specifies the WE.B content to be notified of the update on the display screen of the update notification request specification page 14 4 above, and presses the registration button B 22, the WEB server side The update notification request analysis program executes the update notification request registration process shown in FIG.

In the update notification request registration processing, it is determined whether or not the WEB content has been selected as an update notification target based on the argument information (S30). If the WEB content has been selected as the update notification target, the content identifier of the selected WEB content is extracted (S31), and it is determined whether or not the WEB content belongs to the TOP page (S32). If it is a TOP page, it is determined that all the WEB contents included in this TOP page have been selected for the update notification, and the content identifiers of all the relevant WEB contents are extracted. (533), the identifier of the extracted WEB content is stored in the work memory area

(534). Thereafter, the process returns to step S30, and the same determination processing is repeated for the next WEB content.

When the above-described processing is completed for all the WEB contents included in the update notification request specification page 1 41, it is determined whether or not the update notification condition is specified in the notification condition detailed setting area 180 (S 35). . The area 180 is provided for setting individual notification conditions for the WEB content selected as an update notification target. Therefore, if the data indicating the update notification condition has been input in the area 180, it is necessary to confirm whether the condition specified this time is within the range of the update notification condition registered at the time of contract. Execute update notification condition check processing R50.

If no data has been entered in the notification condition detailed setting area 180, the update notification condition information registered by the user at the time of the contract is read from the contractor management information file 24 (S36) and stored in the working memory area. It is determined whether there is an identifier of the WEB content to be notified of the update (S37). If there is a WEB content identifier, it is determined based on the identifier whether the WEB content read from the WEB page file 20 is within the range of the contract notification condition or the update notification condition specified this time. (S38). For example, if the extension of the WEB content specified as the update notification target this time matches the WEB content extension 1887 indicating the update notification rejection specified at the time of the contract, the above WEB content will be registered Excluded from.

If the WEB content is within the range of the update notification conditions at the time of the contract, an update notification destination information record including the update notification destination and the update notification conditions is generated based on the contract information and the update notification condition information Yes (S39). Next, a record that matches the identifier of the registration target WEB content is searched from the public WEB content management table 200, and the update notification destination table 220 indicated by the update notification destination information link 206 is searched for. A new update notification destination information record is added (S40). Process described above for all registered WEB content identifiers stored in the working memory area When the process is completed (S37), a response indicating the result of the registration process is created in HTML and transmitted to the client (S41).

FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of the update notification condition check processing R50. In the update notification condition check processing R 50, first, the registered notification condition of the contractor is read from the contractor management information file 24 (S 51). Next, this time, it is checked whether there is an unprocessed item specified in the notification condition detailed setting area 180 (S52), and if there is an unprocessed item, this is set as a specified notification condition. (S53). The specified notification condition is compared with the notification condition registered at the time of contract (S54). If the condition specified this time is within the range of the contracted notification condition (S55), the process returns to step S52, and the unprocessed Repeat the same process for the next item. If the notification condition specified this time is out of the range of the contracted notification condition, the notification condition data specified this time is corrected to the value within the notification condition range at the time of the contract and stored in the working memory area ( S56).

When the above-mentioned check is completed for all the condition items, it is checked whether or not there is a condition item automatically corrected on the WEB server side by referring to the work memory area (S57). If there is no modified condition item, execute step S37 in FIG. If there is a corrected condition item, the registration condition correction data is transmitted to the client (S58), and a response from the client is waited for (S59). The correction data of the registration condition is output to the response information area 160 shown in FIG. 6 on the display screen of the client. If the confirmation button B25 is pressed on the client side within the predetermined time, a part of the notification condition specified by the user is replaced with the above-mentioned correction data (S60), and the step S37 in FIG. 8 is executed. When the response waiting time from the client exceeds the time limit or when the cancel button B26 is pressed, the process of registering the update notification request ends.

Next, a method of adding update notification request information to a WEB content acquisition request and transmitting it to a WEB server will be described as a second method of specifying the WEB content to be notified of the update.

Figure 10 shows the web content sent from the client to the web content. An example of the message format of the data acquisition request is shown below.

In this embodiment, an HTTP message including a general header 300 and an extension header '310' is used as a WEB content acquisition request REQ1. The general header 300 sets the information necessary for acquiring the WEB content, and the extended header 310 sets the information necessary for the update notification request.

The general header 300 includes a request line 301 that includes a resource identifier indicating the WEB content to be obtained and HTTP version information, and a client that includes the WEB content to be obtained. If the information is stored in the cache area, the update confirmation information 302 that requests the update of the WEB content after the specified date and time (the date and time when the WEB content was created in the cache area), and between the WEB server and the client When a proxy server is interposed, even if the target web content is stored in the cache area, the cache invalidation request to request the web content to be obtained from the web server is specified as 303 and the web content User agent information 304 for identifying the client-side application that is acquiring the data, and the WEB service that is the destination of the HTTP message A domain information 3 0 5 describes the WEB Konten' reception type information 3 0 6 information such as that indicating the type and character code available to the client WEB Konten'.

On the other hand, the extended header 310 includes header information 311 indicating an update notification request, an operation attribute 312 specifying any of registration, deletion, and change of a notification condition of the update notification, and Indicates the expiration date 3 1 3 of the update notification request, the notification content type 3 1 4 that specifies the content of the information to be updated, and the destination IP address and domain name of the relay device when relaying the update notification. Describe the update notification relay attribute 315, the update notification condition 316, and the authentication information 317 indicating the contractor identifier and password assigned to the user at the time of contract. By adding the above extension header 310, when the WEB content acquisition request message REQ1 is transmitted, it is necessary to notify the WEB content that was the acquisition request target when there is a subsequent update. Can be requested.

WEB server 2 receives the above-mentioned WEB content acquisition request message REQ 1 The TCB content acquisition request information (general header 300) and the update notification request information (extension header 310) are analyzed by the acquisition request reception routine 21 and read from the WEB page file 20. A response message RES 1 including the issued request WEB content and the response information to the above update notification request is transmitted to the requesting client. If the WEB server administrator has a policy of permitting all update notification requests at the time of receiving the above-mentioned WEB content acquisition request message REQ1, the WEB server A new record of the update notification request for the above WEB contents is registered, and a subscriber identifier and password are issued to the user.

Fig. 11 shows the response message sent from WEB server 2 to client 1.

An example of the format of RES 1 is shown.

The response to the WEB content acquisition request is also sent in the form of HTTP message, similar to the acquisition request from the client. The response message RES 1 is composed of an HTTP header including a general header 320, an extension header 330, and pod information 340, and a body 350 in which WEB content is set. .

The general header 320 is the response status to the web content acquisition request 321, the date and time the message was issued 322, the application on the web server that processed the request 323, and the last update of the web content The body information 340 includes information such as the date and time 324, and the body information 340 includes information such as the WEB content size 341 and the content type 342.

Response information to the WEB content update notification request is described in the extension header 330. The above extension header 330 includes items 331, 332, 3334 to 338 similar to items 311 to 317 included in the update notification request, and a new The operation status 3 3 3 is included as an item. The operation status 3 3 3 indicates the operation of the WEB server in response to the update notification request, and includes, for example, “registration as requested”, “condition changed”, “already registered”, “no registration authority”,

Operation details such as "registration reception failed" are described. If the update notification condition requested this time is out of the range of the contract update notification condition, the operation status 3 3 3 indicates “Condition change” and describes the changed update notification condition. Also, in the case of new subscribers, subscriber identifiers and Pasuwa one de credentials 3 3 _c first 2 described in FIG. 8 - the first 4 figures receives the WEB content acquisition request dated aforementioned update notification request The flowchart of the acquisition request reception processing routine 21 of the WEB server 2 executed at the time of execution is shown below.

In the acquisition request reception processing routine 21, when the HTTP message of the WEB content acquisition request shown in FIG. 10 is received, first, the general header 300 is analyzed (step S 70), and the request line 30 The management information of the acquisition target WEB content specified in 1 is read from the content management information file 25 (S71). Next, the WEB content management information is compared with the acquisition condition specified in the acquisition request (S72), and it is determined whether or not the transmission of the requested WEB content is necessary (S73). For example, if update confirmation 3002 is specified in the acquisition request, the last update date and time 204 of the acquisition target WEB content extracted from the WEB content management table 200 and the update confirmation 3002 specified above Compared to the date and time, the transmission of WEB content is required only when the update date of WEB content is new.

If it is determined that the WEB contents need to be transmitted, the corresponding WEB contents are read from the WEB page file 20 (S74), and the body information 340 of the HTTP response message is created (S75). The general header of the response message is created as 300 (S76). If it is determined that transmission of the WEB content is unnecessary, information indicating that the WEB content possessed by the client is the latest is added to the general header 300 described above. Next, the extension header 310 of the received message is analyzed to check whether the update notification request 311 has been described (S77). If the update notification request is not described, an HTTP response message is sent to the client (S78), and this routine ends.

When the update notification request is described in the extension header 310, it is checked whether a user identifier or a password is specified as the authentication information 317 (S79). If the authentication information is unspecified, in step S80 shown in FIG. 13, for example, referring to a file storing initial information and restriction information related to the contract, The status of the flag indicating whether or not a new contract is permitted by the update notification request is checked. If the above flag does not allow the new contract, add the information indicating authentication failure (no registration authority) to the operation status of the HTTP response message extension header 3 3 3 (S92), and send the HTTP response to the client. A message is sent (S78), and this routine ends.

If a new contract has been approved by the update notification request, a contractor identifier and password to be assigned to the user are created (S82), and set in the authentication information 338 of the extension header of the HTTP response message (S83). ). Also, the initial setting value of the update notification condition prepared in the WEB server is read (S84), and the contractor management information record corresponding to the above authentication information and the update notification service contract information record are stored in the contractor management table 240. A new code is registered (S85). Next, an update notification destination information record for the contractor is created (S86), and this is linked to the corresponding content record in the content management table 200 (S87), and the HTTP response message is created. The update notification condition 337 registered this time is added to the extension header of the message (S88), an HTTP response message is transmitted to the client (S78), and this routine ends.

If authentication information 317 is set in the update notification request, refer to the contractor management information file 24 and check if a contractor that matches the user identifier indicated by the authentication information 317 above has been registered. It is confirmed whether or not it is (S89). If there is no applicable contractor, information indicating that the authentication has failed is added to the operation status 333 of the extension header of the HTTP response message (S92), and the HTTP response message is transmitted to the client (S78). To end.

If the contractor corresponding to the user identifier has been registered, the contract information of the above user is read from the contractor management information file 24 (S90), and the password indicated by the authentication information 317 and the contract information indicate The user is authenticated by comparing it with the registered password (S91). If the password does not match and authentication of the user fails, information indicating authentication failure is added to the operation status 3 33 of the extended header information of the HTTP response message (S92), and the HTTP response message is sent to the client. Is transmitted (S78), and this routine ends.

If the password matches and the user is successfully authenticated, it is checked whether or not the update notification condition 316 is specified in the extension header as shown in FIG. 14 (S100). If the renewal notice condition 3 16 is specified, one condition item is compared with the renewal notice condition at the time of the contract (S101). If the update notification condition specified this time is within the allowable range at the time of registration (S102), the specified update notification condition is added to the update notification destination information record (S105), and the process returns to step S100 and returns to the next step. The same processing is repeated for the condition item of. If the update notification condition specified this time exceeds the allowable range at the time of registration, the specified value is changed to the value of the update notification condition at the time of contract (S 103), and this is extended header of the HTTP response message. This is set as the notification condition information 337 (S104). Thereafter, the updated update notification condition is added to the update notification destination information record (S105), and the process returns to step S100.

When the above-mentioned check is completed for all the items of the update notification condition, the condition items set in the update notification destination information record are checked (S106), and if there are missing items, the value of the update notification condition at the time of contract is determined. (S107). Thereafter, the update notification destination information record is linked to the corresponding content code in the content management table 200 (S108), and an HTTP response message is transmitted to the client (S78). To end.

Next, a method for adding update notification request information to the WEB content acquisition request message REQ 1 will be described.

In the first method, for example, an update notification request status page 400 as shown in FIG. 15 is displayed on the screen of the client 1. The update notification request status page 400 indicates the update status of each web content for which the user is requesting an update notification, and the update notification request web content management information stored in the file 16 of the client 1 is shown in the update notification request status page 400. Generated based on

The update notification request status page 400 is similar to the update notification request designation page 170 published by the WEB server shown in FIG. It consists of a notification condition detailed setting area 4300 and a response information display area 4400. In the page information display area 400, a list displaying information on the WEB contents for which an update notification is currently requested, an update notification request URL input area 420, and update notification request registration, content change, and registration Button B 4 for specifying data deletion:! To B 4 3 is displayed.

Each entry in the list is explained in Fig. 6. In addition to the TOP page URL, content URL, number of layers, size, last update date and time, the optimal acquisition URL 4 1 1 and the status of the updated content supplementary information 4 12, update confirmation 4 13, and predicted update date 4 14. The above update confirmation 4 1 3 is performed when the update notification is requested to the WEB server without the update notification function or when the update notification is rejected by the WEB server, the WEB content is updated in the prefetch mode of the WEB content. Indicates whether confirmation has been performed. The predicted update date and time 4 1 4 is a value calculated based on the update notification reception date and time and the last update date and time 3 2 4 included in the WEB server response message when acquiring the WEB content. If the update notification is not received even after the elapse, the existence of the WEB server is confirmed, for example, by sending a request to acquire the WEB content.

The user specifies a new WEB content URL in the update notification request URL input area 4200 prepared in the page information display area 410. When setting conditions for update notification, use the notification condition detailed setting area 430. After inputting the update notification request data in these areas and selecting the update notification request registration button B41, an HTTP message in the form of the update request added to the above specified WEB content acquisition request is generated and sent to the web server. Sent. Response information from the web server is displayed in the display area 440.

In the second method for adding the update notification request information to the WEB content request message, for example, as shown in FIG. 16, an application (browser) screen 450 for referring to the WEB content is displayed. An update notification request button B50 is provided in the button display area 451, and when the button B50 is selected, the web content to be acquired is specified and the transmission operation is performed. update The acquisition request message with the notification request should be sent to the WEB server. When the button B550 is selected, a program for monitoring a response from the WEB server displays a WEB server response information display screen 460 as shown in FIG. 17 on the client screen, for example. Generated response information for the update notification request extracted from the WEB server response message is displayed. On the screen 460, for example, the URL 461 and the operation status 462 are displayed for each WEB content subject to the update notification, and if the update notification condition is automatically corrected, the correction result 46 Display 3.

The response message from the WEB server is received by the WEB content reception routine 12, the WEB content extracted from the response message is stored in the cache area 14, and the management information on the WEB content is the cache area management information file. Stored in 16 respectively. The response information to the update notification request extracted from the response message is registered in the update notification request WEB content management information file 16. If the WEB server rejects the update notification request, it may be automatically registered in the file 16 to confirm the update in the prefetching process.

Next, the update monitoring method of TCB contents performed on the WEB server side and update notification are described.

The update monitoring routine 27 of the KB server 1 refers to the content management information file 25 at regular intervals or when a creator (provider) of the web content reports that the web content has been updated. Then, create update notification information for the newly updated WEB content. The message MSG including the update notification information is transmitted to the update notification destination registered in advance by the update notification transmission routine 28.

The update notification message MSG, as shown in Fig. 18, has the update notification destination IP address or domain information 471, the number of newly updated Web contents 472, and the number of Web contents described above. Update notification entry, each update notification entry has a URL 473 of the updated web content and an example For example, to obtain the update attribute 4 7 4 of the WEB content such as deletion or update, the update size 4 75 indicating the size of the updated portion of the WEB content, the update date 4 7 6, and the updated WEB content Address information 478 indicating the most suitable WEB server of the update, and an update supplementary information file name 478 indicating a file 480 in which supplementary information of the update content is stored. The above-mentioned update supplementary information file 480 is an HTML file that describes the specific update contents of the WEB page and the added link information, etc., and is transmitted to each client in a form added to the update notification message. You.

FIG. 19 shows a flowchart of the update monitoring routine 27.

In the update monitoring routine 27, it is determined whether there is an update report from the creator of the WEB content (step S200). If an update report has been received, the URL of the updated WEB content indicated by the update report is extracted (S201), and the corresponding WEB content management information record is read from the content management information file 25 (S202). After that, execute the update notification creation processing R210 shown in Fig. 20. _{c When} there is no update report from the WEB content creator (When the update monitoring routine is started periodically by a timer interrupt) ) Sequentially reads out the management information records of the WEB contents to be monitored from the WEB contents management table 200 of the file 25 (S203). The presence / absence of monitored WEB content is determined from the content identifier 201 of the management information record (S204), and if there is a monitored WEB content, the WEB content size 205 indicated by the management information record is finally updated. The date and time 204 are compared with the data of the corresponding EB content in the web page file 20 (S205). As a result of the comparison, if these data match, it is determined that the WEB content has not been updated (S206), and the process returns to step S203 to read the next management information record from the WEB content management table 200, The same processing is repeated. If the content size and the last update date and time do not match, it is determined that the web content has been updated, and the update notification information creation processing R210 shown in FIG. 20 is performed.

Update notification information creation processing In R210, first, the WEB content management information record The size 205 and the last update date 204 in the code are rewritten to the values of the size and creation date of the corresponding WEB content indicated by the WEB page file 20 (S211). Next, according to the link information 206 of the management information record, the update notification destination table 220 is referred to (S212), and the presence or absence of the update notification destination record to be processed is checked (S213). .

If there is an update notification destination record to be processed in the update notification destination table 220, the update made to the WEB content will be updated to the update notification destination record. It is checked whether the update notification condition defined as above is satisfied (S214). As a result of the check, if the update of the current WEB content does not satisfy the update notification condition specified by the client (S215), the process returns to step S213, and the presence or absence of the next update notification destination record to be processed is checked. If there is a record to be processed, repeat the same process.

If the update of the WEB content satisfies the update notification condition specified by the client, the update notification destination client selects the optimal duplicate WEB server for acquiring the updated WEB content (S216). As the optimal duplication web server, for example, the duplication web server 2C installed at the location closest to the update notification client address 244 found from the contractor personal information table 240 is selected. . The load state of WEB server 2 and the duplicate WEB server 2C may be compared, and a server with a small load may be selected.

Next, an update notification information record in which the IP address 2 21 of the update notification destination record is set to the update notification destination IP address 471 is generated in the work memory area, and the WEB content that has been notified is described in the first place. The data of items 47 2 to 47 7 shown in FIG. 18 are set (S217). When a new WEB content to be notified of an update is found for a notification destination for which an update notification information record has already been generated, the update notification information record 470 has the URL 473 of the new updated WEB content. Add an entry and increment the value for content count 4 7 2. Further, it is determined whether or not the updated supplementary information file is attached to the updated WEB content (S218). If the date and time of the update is newer than the last update date and time of the update supplementary information file 210 linked to the WEB content management information entry, the contents of the above update supplementary information file are updated by the pointer 478. It is added to the update notification information entry (S219). Thereafter, the process returns to step S213 to check whether there is a next update notification destination record to be processed, and if there is a record to be processed, repeats the same processing as described above. If there is no update notification destination record to be processed, the process returns to step S203 in FIG.

In the update monitoring routine of FIG. 19, when the above-mentioned processing is completed for all the records registered in the WEB content management table 200, the update notification information record 470 is sequentially read from the work memory area. The update notification message is edited into an update notification message MSG in the update notification transmission routine 19 and transmitted to the client indicated by the update notification destination IP address 471 (S208). When transmission of all update notification information records prepared in the working memory area is completed (S207), this routine ends.

In order to improve the use of the update notification automatically issued by the WEB server, the number of update notification transmissions and the content acquisition request issued by the client in response to the The number of receptions is counted and the number of unnecessary notifications that did not result in content acquisition exceeds a predetermined value, for example, for clients whose update notification exceeds the threshold set at the time of contract for renewal notification, the WEB content is used. The update notification destination information may be deleted from the management table 200, and the update notification service thereafter may be stopped.

The update notification information message MSG transmitted from the WEB server is received by the update notification reception routine 13 of the destination client 1. The update notification reception routine 13 registers the update notification information extracted from the received message MSG in the update notification request WEB content management information file 16 and then receives a new update notification in the update content management routine 17. Inform.

The update WEB content management routine 17 is registered in the file 16 when the operation mode, for example, the WEB content automatic acquisition mode is specified. Based on the update notification information thus obtained, an acquisition request is generated for the WEB content for which the update notification has been made this time, and transmitted to the WEB server via the acquisition request transmission routine 11. The above-mentioned update Web content management routine 17 periodically requests acquisition of the update-targeted Web contents that have passed the predicted update date and time or the Web contents that should be confirmed for update by prefetching. Is issued and transmitted to the WEB server via the acquisition request transmission routine 11. As a result, the updated WEB content is automatically obtained from the WEB server and stored in the cache area 14 via the WEB content reception routine 12.

The cache area 14 also stores the WEB contents acquired from the WEB server by the acquisition request issued by the user. The cache area management information file 16 stores identification information for determining whether or not the WEB content 91 stored in the cache area 14 is an update notification target. When it is necessary to delete the existing WEB content from the above cache area 14 to store new WEB content, refer to the above identification information and exclude the WEB content 91 of the update notification request from the deletion target. In this way, the latest information on WEB content that users are interested in can be obtained from the cache area14.

When the user P N1 of the client 1 wants to know whether or not the WEB content for which the update notification has been requested has been updated, it activates the update information output routine 18. As a result, the update notification request WEB content management information is read from the file 16 and the update notification information 47 shown in FIG. 18 is displayed on the display screen of the client 1 via the display control routine 19. 0 is output.

For example, if the user wants to see the contents of the updated WEB content, the user selects the desired content URL 473 on the display screen of the update notification information 470. As a result, a request for acquiring the WEB content having the above URL is issued from the update information output routine 18 to the acquisition request transmission routine 11.

The acquisition request transmission routine 11 receives the cache area management information file when receiving a Web content acquisition request from the user or the update information output routine 18 described above. Referring to file 15, if the corresponding WEB content is in cache area 14, it is read out and output to the display screen. If the update WEB content management routine is specified in the WEB content automatic acquisition mode, the user will receive the update notification from the WEB server because the latest information has already been obtained in advance in the cache area 14. PN 1 can immediately refer to the WEB content specified on the display screen of the update notification information 470.

According to the above-described first embodiment of the present invention, when the WEB content published by the WEB server is updated, the WEB server automatically transmits an update notification to a client registered in advance. Therefore, unlike the conventional case, the user does not need to inquire the WEB server about the update status of the WEB content that has not actually been updated yet, thus reducing unnecessary access to the WEB server. It is possible.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the update notification information can be automatically distributed from the WEB server to the client, including the detailed information on the update content or the comment information. In addition, it is only necessary to obtain the contents of the web contents as needed, after grasping the contents of the update of the web contents. Therefore, it is not necessary to access the WEB server to check the updated contents of all the updated WEB contents, and the number of accesses to the TCB server and the communication cost can be reduced. When an acquisition request is automatically issued for the WEB content that has received the update notification and the acquired WEB content is stored in the cache memory, the impact of the WEB server load traffic on the client user is affected. You can immediately refer to the desired WEB content without receiving it. If the client specifies the conditions for update notification in advance and does not send update notifications to clients whose content update does not meet the specified conditions, both the WEB server and the client Unnecessary data transmission / reception processing can be avoided.

In addition, the web server administrator and the web content provider accumulate update notification requests issued by each client as content management information. Then, by analyzing the relationship between the update notification requester and the notification target WEB content, it is possible to grasp the user needs for each WEB content. In the above-described embodiment, the update notification request information is added to the HTTP message issued by the user to acquire the WEB content, so that the acquired WEB content is transmitted to the WEB server. Although the update notification request format has been described, the WEB content update notification request of the present invention may be issued separately from the WEB content acquisition request. For example, in the HTTP message format shown in Fig. 10, "GET" in the request line 301 is replaced with "HEAD", and the request header 300 is replaced with the request line 3 in the general header 300. When only 0 1 and update confirmation information 3 02 are described, the update notification request is sent to the WEB server in a form added to the update confirmation request message. Also, in HTTP, if a new definition is added to the method indicating the execution contents of the resource, it is not impossible to describe the update notification request of the present invention in the general header of the HTTP message.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 21 to FIG.

In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 21, a network configuration in which a proxy server 3 having a cache memory is interposed between a client 1 and a web server 2 or a duplicate web server 2C. It is assumed.

In the second embodiment, when the client 1 issues an update notification request for TCB content, the proxy server 3 issues an update notification request to the WEB server 2 on behalf of the client. When the specified WEB content is updated, WEB server 2 sends an update notification of the WEB content to Proxy server 3 described above. When the proxy server 3 receives the update notification of the WEB contents, it relays the notification to the client 1 of the request source, and also selectively issues a request to the WEB server 2 to obtain the updated WEB contents, and the WEB server By storing the web content obtained from 2 in the cache memory, it prepares for a request to obtain updated web content from the client. 'In the second embodiment, a contract or application 6B regarding the WEB content update notification service is made between the administrator PN2 of the WEB server 2 and the administrator PN3 of the Proxy server 3, and the The service of sending the update notification request received from client 1 to WEB server 2 between client 1 user PN1 and client 1 by proxy server 3 of the update notification received from WEB server 2 Make a contract or application for relay service to 6A. Also, in the contract or application 6A above, the specified page in which the WEB page specified by Client 1 is always kept up-to-date in the cache area by Proxy Server 3 · Mirroring service and Proxy Server 3 include Client 1 Analyze the access trends of the Internet and include provisions on optimal mirroring services that automatically perform optimal mirroring.

FIG. 22 shows a configuration of software provided in the proxy server 3. Since the client 1 and the WEB server 2 have the software shown in FIG. 2 and perform the same operation as in the first embodiment, the configuration and operation of the Proxy server 3 will be described here.

The proxy server 3 includes an acquisition request reception routine 30 for receiving and processing a web content acquisition request from the client 1 and an acquisition request transmission routine 31 for transmitting the received web content acquisition request to the web server 2 on behalf of the client 1. , A WEB content reception routine 32 that receives and processes response information and WEB content from the WEB server 2 to the WEB content acquisition request, and a WEB content received from the WEB server 2 and a proxy server that is read from the WEB page file 40 3 Web content transmission routine 3 that transmits WEB contents 9 2 itself to client 1 3 and cache memory (cache area) 4 Cache area management information file 4 that stores management information related to WEB contents stored in 1 Cache area management routines 3 and 4 managed by The subscriber information management routine 35 that manages the subscriber information related to the update notification relay service and mirroring service provided by the server 3 using the subscriber information file 43, and the update notification relay request from the user PN 1 Yopomi An update notification request that stores management information related to a rolling request A web content management routine 36 that automatically obtains updated web content by referring to the web content management information file 4 4 and a web server 2 Update notification reception routine 37 that receives and processes update notification, update notification relay routine 38 that relays the received update notification to the corresponding client 1, and access of each client stored in the access history file 45 Based on the history information, an optimal mirroring service contract is made, the access trend of Client 1 is analyzed, and an optimized mirroring processing routine 39 that selects the optimal WEB content to be mirrored is executed. Have.

The contract or application for the WEB content update notification service between the administrator PN 2 of WEB server 2 and the administrator PN 3 of Proxy server 3 6 B is the same as the client 1 user PN 1 in the first embodiment. Since this is performed in the same manner as in the contract or application 6 with the administrator PN 2 of the WEB server 2, the description is omitted here.

The contract for the update notification relay service and the web content mirroring service between the administrator PN2 of the proxy server 3 and the user PN1 of the client 1 can be made via the contract documents or the web page published by the proxy server 3. Is done. If Proxy Server 3 and Client 1 are connected via the corporate network and Client 1 can use Proxy Server 3 freely, the above contract is for Proxy Server 3 to receive a Web content update notification request from Client 1 It is automatically established at the point of time.

When the user applies for the service provision by Proxy Server 3 using the contract documents, the administrator PN3 of Proxy Server 3 checks the contents of the application described in the contract documents, and then uses the contract conditions, contract amount, payment method, etc. Return PN1. In this case, when the contract payment is confirmed by the user, the contract is concluded, and when the contract is concluded, the PN3 administrator of the Proxy server 3 manages the personal information and the contract content on the user PN1 by the contractor. Register in information file 43.

Figure 23 shows a proxy server 3 for a service contract for web access. Here is an example of a web page 500 published by. The WEB page 500 described above contains an applicant information setting area 501 for inputting the applicant's personal information, a contract condition setting area 5100, and contract authorization information notified to the user from the Proxy server. It consists of a display area 530.

When the user PN1 applies for the service provision by the Proxy server 3 on the above web page 500, the contractor information management routine 35 analyzes the applicant information and the contract conditions, and the contract amount 5 3 2 and the transfer method 5 Send contract authorization information 5 3 0 including 3 3 to client 1. If it is necessary to modify some of the contract conditions specified by the user, the modified contract conditions 531 are displayed in the contract authorization information display area 5300.

Client 1 user PN1 confirms the terms and conditions of the contract, and if accepted, presses contract completion button B555. The contract information management routine 35 detects that the contract establishment button B 55 has been pressed, and the contract is established when the user's personal information and the contract details are registered in the contractor management information file 43. I do. However, if the deposit of the contract from User PN1 is not confirmed within the specified period after the contract is concluded, the contractor management information of the above user is deleted from File 43 and the contract is terminated. I did not do it. When the proxy server 3 provides the service free of charge, the acquisition request receiving routine 30 receives, for example, an HTTP message including the update notification request information described in FIG. The contract is concluded when the is automatically registered in file 43.

In the web page shown in Fig. 23, the applicant information setting area 501 is the applicant's name 502, address 503, contact information 504, e-mail address 505, and Proxy It includes a data entry area for entering the user identifier 506 and password 507 assigned by the Proxy server when the server usage contract was made, and a contract status confirmation button B51. If a user has already signed a service contract for WEB access, and the user presses the contract status confirmation button B 5 1, the current contract status is displayed in the contract condition setting area 5 10.

The above-mentioned contract condition setting area 5 1 0 is in the service selection area 5 1 1 Service notification area 5 1 2, which includes an update notification relay service setting area 5 1 2 for setting the contract conditions of the relay service, and a mirroring service setting area 5 20 for setting the mirror conditions of the mirror service. Specify the service type with 0, and enter the contract terms in the data setting area 512 or 5200 corresponding to the specified service. If this input operation is for applying for a new service, the user presses the new application button B52 to change a part of the contract conditions for the service already subscribed. If so, press the change button B53, and if it is for canceling the contracted service, press the cancel button B54. In service.selection 5 1 1, both the update notification relay service and the mirroring service may be specified, and the contract terms of the two services may be set at the same time.

The input items in the contract condition setting area 5120 of the update notification relay service are the same as those in the update notification service contract condition setting area 120 described in Fig. 3 in the first embodiment. Detailed description is omitted. The contract condition setting area 520 of the mirroring service has a contract period 521, a mirroring type 522, and the specified Web contents, and a maximum number of layers of Web contents are mirrored in the cache area 41. The maximum number of mirroring tiers 5 2 3 that specifies whether to mirror, the maximum number of mirroring registrations 5 2 4 that specifies the maximum number of WEB contents to be mirrored in the cache area 41, and the mirroring type 5 1 4 Optimizing mirroring condition setting area 5 2 5 for setting detailed information when optimizing mirroring is selected and TCB content acquisition request sent to proxy server with update notification relay request added Data for inputting the update notification request synchronization specification 5 2 9 indicating whether to mirror the WEB content that was the relay of the update notification Contains the input area. The optimized mirroring condition setting area 5 25 contains mirroring selection parameters 52, 7 indicating the parameters used to select the optimal web content for mirroring, and the mirroring selection condition expression. The data input area includes 5 2 7 and the optimization execution time 5 2 9 which specifies the selection cycle of the optimal mirroring WEB content. FIG. 24 shows the structure of the contractor management information file 43. '' The contractor management information file 43 contains the contractor personal information table 400, the update notification service contract information record 550, the mirroring service contract information table 570, and the optimized mirroring conditions. Information table 610 is stored.

The contractor personal information table 400 is a contractor identifier 541, which corresponds to the items 241 to 247 of the contractor personal information table 240 shown in FIG. 542, Name 543, Address 504'4, Contact 545, E-mail address 546, Update notification relay service contract information link 545, and mirroring service Includes contract information link 5 4 8. Here, the update notification relay service contract information 'link 545' is an update notification service that stores the IP address of the relay destination or transfer destination of the update notification received from the WEB server 1 and the subscriber management information. It shows the link (address pointer) information to the contract information file 550, and the update notification service contract information: Isle 550 is the update notification destination information table 22 of FIG. 0 corresponds to the contractor management information file 24. ·

The mirroring service contract information link 548 is for linking the personal information record of the user who has made the mirroring service contract to the mirroring service contract information record 570. The above mirroring service contract information record 570 contains the contract period 571 and a contract for “Designated Page Mirroring Service” that performs mirroring on a specific WEB content (page) specified by the user. Specification indicating presence / absence ぺ Mirroring flag 572, Optimization mirroring flag 573 indicating whether there is an optimized mirroring service contract, and Synchronization flag 5 indicating whether to perform mirroring in synchronization with the update notification request 7 4, the maximum number of mirroring tiers 5 7 5, the maximum number of mirroring registrations 5 7 6, the number of currently registered mirroring 5 7 7 indicating the current number of WEB contents that are mirrored in cache memory, Registered mirroring content identifier 578 indicating the identifier of the WEB content to be mirrored, It includes the execution cycle 579 of the optimized mirroring process and the link information 580 to the optimized mirroring condition information table 610 set by the user at the time of contract for the optimized mirroring service.

The optimization mirroring condition information table 610 includes a parameter setting table 611 and a conditional expression setting table 615 as shown in FIG. The parameter setting table 6 11 is composed of a plurality of entries E 01 to E 0 5 indicating the relationship between the identification number 6 12, the selection item 6 13, and the evaluation reference parameter 6 14.

Here, the selection items 6 13 are parameters of the mirroring optimization algorithm applied to the analysis of the web content access history 45. In this example, the number of accesses for each web content (identification number: 1), the number of referrers for each WEB content (identification number: 2), the amount of transmitted data for each WEB content transmitted in response to the acquisition request (total number of transfer bytes) (identification number: 3), The average acquisition time required for each WEB content (average acquisition time) (ID: 4) and the average update interval for each WEB content (ID: 5) are the selection items. The evaluation criterion parameter 614 indicates the evaluation criterion that must be satisfied by the WEB content selected as a mirror-ring target when analyzing the web content access history 45 according to the above selection items 613. In this example, the range of the WEB content to be mirrored is determined by A: ranking from the top (validity ranking), B: percentage of the whole (valid percentage), and individual measured value (valid value). Is specified.

The user sets the evaluation criterion parameter value of the WEB content to be mirrored in each entry of the parameter setting table 611 above, and selects the above five items in the conditional expression setting table 615. Focusing on an arbitrary number of items out of item 6 1 3 (= 6 1 5), using the identification number 6 1 2 of each selection item, the selection conditional expression of the WEB content to be mirrored 6 1 6 Describe. In addition, a relational expression 618 between the evaluation reference parameters is defined for each selection item included in the above conditional expression 616. In the conditional expression setting table 6 15 shown in the figure, “The number of accesses: 1 is within the top 100 in descending order, the proportion of the total number of accesses is within 3%, and the number of accesses is 100 or more. WEB content that has a track record of access ”or“ Total number of transfer pipes: 3 occupies less than 2% of the total transfer bytes of TCB content from the TCB server, or individual transfer pipes Web content J with a number of 500K bytes or more, and "The number of referrers: 2 is within the top 200 in the descending order, and within 20% of the total number of referrers of the WEB server, or Web content that has been referenced by more than 100 users ”is used as the selection condition for mirroring.

If the user PN 1 of client 1 contracts for optimization mirroring by specifying the above selection condition expression, the proxy server 3 will periodically execute the cycle specified by the user as the optimization execution cycle 579 The stored data in the access history file 45 is deciphered, the WEB contents that satisfy the above conditional expression are selected as mirroring targets, and stored in the cache area 41. Therefore, by giving an appropriate selection condition, it is possible to automatically switch the mirroring target to WEB content that matches the movement of WEB server users that changes over time.

The WEB contents to be relayed for update notification are notified to the Proxy server by using, for example, the extended header of the WEB content acquisition request message described in the first embodiment. Also, if an optimized mirroring service contract has been made, the proxy server determines that the web content to be acquired is the mirrored web content when the web content acquisition request message with the update notification request is received. However, the registration procedure may be performed automatically.

As an alternative notification method, a service confirmation page 620 related to WEB access as shown in FIG. 26 published by the Proxy server may be used. The above-mentioned service confirmation page for WEB access 62 0 is a registered WEB content list display area 6 that shows a list of EB contents for each user who has been registered as an update notification relay request and a mirroring request. 30, a notification condition detailed setting area 651, a mirroring service condition setting area 651, A response information display area 652 from the proxy server is provided.

In the registered web content list display area 630, a plurality of entries corresponding to web content currently registered in the proxy server are displayed. Each entry is the same as the TCB contents list 4 10 shown in Fig. 15, but the top page URL 6 3 1, the content URL 6 3 2, the optimal acquisition URL 6 3 3, the number of layers 6 3 4, and the size 6 3 5, Update last date 6 3 6, Update confirmation 6 3 7, Predicted update date 4 14 Include other items that indicate whether the WEB content is subject to update notification relay It includes an update notification relay display 63 8 and a mirroring display 63 9 indicating whether or not the web content is a target of mirroring. In the above mirroring display 6 39, among the WEB contents targeted for mirroring, the WEB contents selected by optimizing mirroring are “optimized”, and the WEB contents specified by the user are “specified”. It is distinguished by the '' character display.

Along with the registered WEB content list display area 6300, a request type 641 indicating the service requested this time, and a request URL input area 642 for specifying the WEB content targeted for the service And a registration button B61, a change button B62, and a registration data deletion button B63 are displayed.

The user P N 1 selects either the update notification relay service or the mirroring service displayed as the request type 641. These two services may be selected at the same time. Next, the user P N1 inputs the URL of one or more WEB contents to be serviced in the request URL input area 642. To set the conditions for update notification, enter the condition data in the notification condition detailed setting area 650.To set the conditions for the mirroring service, enter the condition data in the mirroring service condition setting area 651. input.

If the above data entry is for a new service request, the user presses the new request registration button B61. To change the conditions of a service that has already been registered, click the registration change button B62. To cancel the registered data, press the registration deletion button B63. With these button operations Then, the service request information set in the WEB page 620 is transmitted to the Proxy server 3, and the response information from the Proxy server is displayed in the response information display area 652.

Fig. 27 shows the structure of the update notification request WEB content management information file 44 accessed by the Proxy server when an update notification relay request or a mirroring request is received from the user.

The file 4 includes an update notification request WEB content management table 660 including a plurality of records generated for each WEB content subject to the update notification request or the mirroring request, and each entry of the management table. An update notification destination table 680 linked from the server is formed.

Update notification request Each record of the WEB content management table 660 is a WEB content identifier 661, a WEB content URL 662, and a URL 663 indicating the WEB content optimal acquisition position notified from the WEB server. , WEB content size 6 6 4, Table 6 8 indicating link to notification of update of WEB content 6 6 5 Link information 6 6 5, and Affiliation content identifier 6 6 indicating the identifier of hyperlinked WEB content 6 and the update confirmation that indicates whether the update confirmation of the WEB content is performed in response to the update notification from the WEB server or by the prefetching processing of the WEB content 6 6 7 and the WEB content is to be mirrored Mirroring flag 668 indicating whether or not the content has been updated, the date and time of the last update of the web content 669, and the changed portion of the web content in the previous update. Size of the previous update 670 indicating the size, the predicted next update date and time 671, a link to the update content supplementary information file 675, and the web server or other proxy at the top Stores the link information to the file 673 that stores the update notification service contract information exchanged with the server 673 6 and the mirroring service contract information exchanged with other higher-level Proxy servers Link information to the file 677 that was created.

The update notification destination table 680 linked by the link information 666 includes a plurality of entries corresponding to the update notification destination, and each entry specifies the update notification destination. The IP address 6 8 1 shown, the last access from the client of the update notification destination 6 8 2, and the link information to the contract management table 5 4 of the update notification destination in the contract management information file 4 3 6 8 3 and the update notification detailed setting information 6 8 4.

Proxy server 3 is a web server 2, a duplicate web server 2C, or another

When the Web content specified by the user in advance for mirroring is received from the Proxy server, the above-mentioned WEB content must be specified for mirroring in the cache area management information file 42 shown in Fig. 28. Is stored. If there is not enough free space in the cache memory and it is necessary to delete part of the stored data from the cache area, the WEB contents specified as mirrored by referring to the cache area management information file 42 By excluding it from the deletion target, it is possible to promptly respond to the acquisition request from the user for the above WEB contents.

In the cache area management information file 42, as shown in FIG. 28, a management information table 690 consisting of a plurality of records corresponding to each WEB content stored in the cache area 41 is formed. ing. Each record includes an identifier 691 of the web content, a URL 692 of the web content, a storage location information 693 of the web content 599-1 in the cache area 41, and a cache area 41. The last storage date and time of the WEB content in the URL, the size of the WEB content, the mirroring attribute flag indicating whether or not the WEB content has been designated for mirroring, and the Includes the number of mirroring requesters 697 for WEB content and the storage expiration date 698.

Hereinafter, the operation of the proxy server 3 will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 29 to 41.

Client 1 user PN 1 specifies the WEB content on the display screen on page 62 of the service confirmation related to WEB access shown in Fig. 26, and performs the update notification request or mirroring request. Perform data input operation, press any of buttons B61, B6, B63, and then instruct transmission to confirm the service. Input data to page 620 is sent to Proxy server 3. On the Proxy server 3 side, the input data to the service confirmation page 620 is extracted by the CGI program function provided in the contract information management routine 35, and the service registration process related to WEB access shown in FIG. 29 is executed.

In the service registration process, first, the personal information record of the current requester is read from the contractor personal information table 400 in the contractor management information file 43 (S300). Next, it is determined whether there is an unprocessed URL in the request URL input area 642 (S301), and if there is an unprocessed URL, a URL character string is extracted (S302), and the request type 641 is obtained. Check. If the mirroring service is specified as the request type 641 (S303), the mirroring registration process R310 shown in Fig. 30 is executed, and the request type 641 is updated. If the notification relay service has been specified (S304), the process returns to step S301 after executing the update notification relay registration process R330 shown in FIG. When the above processing is completed for all URLs input in the request URL input area, a response message indicating the result of the service request registration processing is generated and transmitted to the requesting client 1 (S305). The one screw registration processing routine ends.

In the mirroring registration process R 310, as shown in FIG. 30, first, the request type is determined. If the request is for registration deletion (button B63 pressed) (S311), the contractor management information file 43 refers to the contractor's personal information table 400, and the requester's personal information record is restored. In the completed mirroring service contract information record, the identifier of the designated WEB content is deleted from the registered mirroring content identifier 578, and the number of registered mirroring 577 is subtracted by 1 (S323). Next, via the cache area management routine 34, the number of mirror requesters 6 9 7 of the specified WEB content in the cache area management information file 4 2 was subtracted by 1, and the number of requesters became zero. In this case, the mirroring flag 696 is changed to "0" (S324). Further, referring to the update notification request WEB content management table 660 in the file 44, the mirroring related item in the record of the designated WEB content is corrected (S325), and Finish the ringing registration process R310.

If the request type is new registration (press button B 61) or change registration content (button B 62 pressing) (S312), the contractor management information file 43 3 With reference to the requester's personal information record, the mirroring service contract information record linked to the requester's personal information record is read out (S214). Next, on the service confirmation page 620, it is confirmed whether or not condition data has been input to the mirroring service condition setting area 651 (S314). If the condition data has been input, it is determined whether or not the condition specified this time is within the range of the contract condition registered in the mirroring service contract information record (S315). The identifier of the WEB content requested this time is registered in the above-mentioned mirroring service contract information record, and the number of registered mirroring is updated (S317). If the condition data has not been entered, or if the specified condition data is out of the range of the contract condition, the condition data is automatically corrected to a value within the range of the contract condition (S316), and then step S317 is performed. Execute.

Next, referring to the cache area management information table 690, it is determined whether or not the specified WEB content has been registered (S318). If the WEB content has not been registered, the WEB content with the update notification request is acquired. After issuing the request (S319), a record for the specified WEB content is generated, and this is additionally registered in the cache area management information table 690 (S320). Thereafter, referring to the update notification request WEB content management table 660, the mirroring related items in the record of the specified WEB content are corrected (S321). If the specified WEB content has not been registered in the update notification request WEB content management table 66 ◦, a new record for the specified WEB content is generated and added to the management table 660. If the WEB server 2 does not permit the update notification request, the prefetch mode is registered as the update confirmation 667. Next, a message indicating the result of the registration process is added to the response message to the client (S322), and the mirroring registration process R310 ends.

In the update notification relay registration process R330, as shown in FIG. Determine the type. When the request is for registration deletion (button B63 pressed) (S331), the registration is performed in the update notification service contract information record linked to the requester's personal information record with reference to the contractor management information table 400. The identifier of the designated WEB content is deleted from the content identifiers, and the number of registered contents is reduced by one (S337). Next, the update notification request WEB content management table 660 is referred to, and the notification destination record corresponding to the IP address of the requester is obtained from the notification destination information template 680 linked to the record of the designated WEB content. It is deleted (S338). The number of remaining records in the notification destination information table 680 is determined (S339), and if the notification destination record becomes zero, the update notification of the specified WEB content is deleted from the WEB server. The request message is transmitted, and the record of the specified WEB content is deleted from the update notification request WEB content management table 660 (S340), and the update notification relay registration process R330 ends. .

If the request is a new registration (press button B61) or a change in the registration contents (button B62 pressed) (S332), link from the contractor's personal information table 400 to the requester's personal information record The read update notification service contract information 550 is read (S236). Next, on the service confirmation page 620, it is determined whether or not condition data has been input to the notification condition detailed setting area 650 (S237). If the condition data has been input, the condition specified this time is determined. Is determined to be within the range of the contract condition indicated by the update notification service contract information 550 (S336). If the condition specified this time is within the range of the contract condition, update notification information processing R350 shown in FIG. 32 is executed, and this update notification registration process R330 ends. If the condition data has not been entered, or if the specified condition is out of the range of the contract condition, the condition data is corrected to a value within the range of the contract condition, and the update notification information processing R 350 is executed. Execute.

In the update notification information processing R 350, as shown in FIG. 32, first, referring to the update notification request WEB content management table 660 in the file 44, it is determined whether the designated WEB content has already been registered. Is determined (S351). Designated web container If the link has already been registered, the update notification service contract information file 676 linked by the upper update notification contract link 673 of the management information record of the designated WEB content is referred to (S352). It is determined whether or not the condition data input this time is within the range of the contract conditions with the WEB server 2 as the higher-level device (S353). If the input condition data is within the above contract terms, there is no need to send a new update notification request to the WEB server, so the update notification destination information table linked to the management information record of the specified WEB content 6 A new notification destination record for the requester is added to 800 (S363), and the update notification service contract information record 5 linked to the requester's personal information record in the contractor personal information table 400 is added. The identifier of the WEB content designated this time is added to 50 as the registered content identifier, and the number of registered contents is incremented by 1 (S364). Thereafter, a message indicating the result of the registration process is added to the response message to the client (S365), and the update notification information processing R350 ends.

If the entered condition data is out of the range of the contract terms exchanged with WEB server 2, or if the specified WEB content has not been registered in the update notification request WEB content management table 660, 更新 Update notification to the server You need to request a new registration or change. Therefore, based on the notification condition specified by the requester (or the notification condition automatically corrected by the Proxy server), update notification request information addressed to the WEB server 2 is created (S354), and the update notification request information is generated. A WEB content acquisition request message appended with is transmitted to the WEB server (S355), and a response from the WEB server is waited for. When a response message is received from the WEB server (S356), the WEB content transmitted in the response message is stored in the cache area (S357), and the response information transmitted in the response message is analyzed. (S358). If the update notification request transmitted from the Proxy server is successfully permitted by the WEB server (S359), the processing from step 363 on is executed. If the update notification request is permitted with a restriction (S360), the condition data is changed to the notification condition indicated by the response information from the WEB server (S361), and the processing after step 363 is executed. I do. If the web server does not allow the update notification request, If the WEB server has ignored the update notification request from the Proxy server, after changing the update notification request 667 of the specified WEB content in the update notification request WEB content management table 660 to the prefetch mode (S362), The processing after step 363 is executed.

Next, the operation of Proxy server 3 when receiving a TCB content acquisition request message with an update notification request from client 1 will be described.

The client 1 transmits, for example, the WEB content acquisition request message shown in FIG. The above WEB content acquisition request message is received and processed by the acquisition request reception routine 30 of the proxy server.

As shown in FIG. 33, the acquisition request reception routine 300 analyzes the general header 300 of the received WEB content acquisition request message (S401) and specifies the request line 301 in the request line 301. It is determined whether or not the WEB content that exists is present in the cache area 41 (S402). If it is not in the cache area, a content acquisition request addressed to the WEB server is created (S410), and then an update notification request confirmation process R420 described later with reference to FIG. 34 is executed.

If the specified WEB content exists in the cache area, the update notification is requested by referring to the record corresponding to the above specified WEB content in the update notification request WEB content management table 660 and the update confirmation 667 It is determined whether the WEB content has been requested to be updated (S403). If an update notification request has already been issued, the specified WEB content is read from the cache area since it is guaranteed that the WEB content in the cache area is the latest version (S404). Next, a general header of the HTTP response message to be sent to the client is created (S405), and the read WEB content is added to the response message as body information (S406), and the update notification request is sent. Confirmation processing R 420 is executed. Designation of the management table 660 <<<< Update confirmation corresponding to the contents 660 7 indicates the look-ahead mode, or if there is no record corresponding to the specified WEB content in the management table 660 above The web content currently stored in the cache area is the old version, and the web content specified by the web server It is possible that the new purge has already been updated. Therefore, it is checked whether or not the general header of the message received from the client includes cache invalidation designation information for requesting content acquisition from the WEB server ignoring the cache area (S407). If the cache invalidation information is included, a request to obtain a WEB content to the WEB server is created in step S410, and then an update notification request confirmation process R420 is executed.

If no cache ignore specification information is included in the general header of the received message, it is checked whether or not the update confirmation information is included in the general header (S408). If the update confirmation information is not included, since the WEB contents in the cache area of the proxy server can be transmitted to the client, the specified WEB contents are read from the cache area in step S404. If the general header contains update confirmation information, create a content acquisition request with an update confirmation request addressed to the Web server (S409), and then execute the update notification request confirmation process R420. .

Confirmation processing of update notification request As shown in Fig. 34, in R420, the extended header of the WEB content acquisition request message received from the client contains header information indicating the update notification request in 310. It is checked whether or not is added (S421). If the received message does not include an extension header, or if header information indicating an update notification request is not added to the extension header, the processing of confirming the update notification request is terminated. I do.

If update notification request information has been added to the extension header, it is checked whether or not the extension header contains authentication information 317 (S422). The information indicating the authentication failure is set in the operation status 333 of the response message to be transmitted to the client (S426), and the update notification request confirmation processing R420 ends. If authentication information is included in the extension header, refer to the contractor personal information table 400 in the contractor management information file 43 and correspond to the above authentication information (user identifier, password) It is determined whether a contractor exists (S423). If not, in step S426, the response message Information indicating authentication failure is set in the operation status 3 3 3, and the update notification request confirmation processing R 420 ends.

If there is a contractor corresponding to the above authentication information in the contractor personal information table 400, the update notification service contract information corresponding to the above contractor is read out (S424), and the registered password and the above authentication The requester is authenticated by comparing the password indicated by the information (S425). If the authentication has failed, information indicating the authentication failure is set in the operation status 333 of the response message in step S426, and the update notification request confirmation process R420 ends. If the authentication is successful, the update notification condition confirmation processing R430 is executed, and then the update notification request confirmation processing R420 ends.

In the update notification condition confirmation processing R430, as shown in FIG. 35, it is checked whether or not the update notification condition is specified in the extension header 310 of the received message (S431). If an update notification condition is specified, one condition item is focused on, and the specified update notification condition and the contract indicated by the update notification service contract contract record 550 linked to the requester's personal information table The update notification condition at the time is compared (S432). If the specified update notification condition is within the range of the contract update notification condition, the process proceeds to step S436. If the specified update notification condition is out of the range of the contract update notification condition (S433), the designated update notification condition is changed to a value within the range of the contract update notification condition (S434). ), And adds the changed update notification condition to the response message to be sent to the client (S435). In step S436, the update notification condition specified or modified above and the update notification service contract information record 676 6 linked to the specified WEB content management information record in the update notification WEB content management table 660 are shown. Compare the update notification condition with the WEB server. If the specified or modified update notification conditions are outside the scope of the contract with the WEB server (S437), it is necessary to change the renewal notification contract with the WEB server. Based on the notification conditions, update notification request message information addressed to the WEB server is created (S438). After this, the update notification request WEB content management table A new notification destination information record is generated or data is added (S439), and the process returns to step S431.

By repeating the above steps S431 to S439, each item of the update notification condition included in the extended header 310 of the received message is checked against the notification condition at the time of requester contract and the notification condition at the time of upper server contract. When the above-described matching process is completed for all the condition items indicated by the received message, in the update notification destination information record newly generated in step S439 and the condition data is added one after another, the data of all the items is updated. It is checked whether the setting has been made (S440). If there is an update notification condition item for which data has not been set, data is replenished in accordance with the contract notification condition indicated by the update notification service contract information 550 linked to the contractor personal information table 400 (S441).

Thereafter, the new update notification destination information record is linked to the update notification request WEB content management table 660 (S442), and the identifier of the designated WEB content is registered in the contractor personal information table 40◦. (S443). Next, referring to the mirroring service contract information record 570 linked to the contractor's personal information table 400, the update notification request and the mirroring service are synchronized from the state of the synchronization flag 574. It is checked whether it is necessary (S444). If the contract for synchronizing the update notification request and the mirroring service has been made, the identifier of the specified WEB content is also registered in the mirroring service contract information table 570, and the cache area management table 69 The mirroring information in the record corresponding to the specified WEB content of 0 is updated (S445), and the update notification condition confirmation processing R430 ends.

When the update notification condition confirmation process R430 ends, the update notification request confirmation process R420 ends, and step S411 in FIG. 33 is executed. In step S411, it is determined whether or not there is a message to be transmitted to the web server. If there is a message to be transmitted, an information acquisition request transmission process R450 to the web server is executed. If a response message to the client has been generated in steps S405 and S406, there is no need to request information acquisition from the WEB server. A response message is transmitted to the client (S412), and this routine ends. If an information acquisition request addressed to the WEB server has been generated in steps S409 and S410, a response message is transmitted to the client after executing the information acquisition request transmission process R450 (S412).

FIG. 36 shows a process R450 of transmitting an information acquisition request to a web server.

The process of transmitting the WEB content acquisition request message to the WEB server, the process of receiving the response message from the WEB server, and the process of storing the received WEB content in the cache memory are the acquisition requests shown in Fig. 22 respectively. Routine 31, WEB content reception routine 32, and cache area management routine 34 are performed. Here, for simplicity of explanation, these routines are executed in chronological order. The processing is shown in one flowchart as the information acquisition request transmission processing R450 to the WEB server.

The WEB content acquisition request message is transmitted to the WEB server via the acquisition request routine 31 (S451). The response message to the above-mentioned acquisition request transmitted from the WEB server is received and processed by the WEB content reception routine 32 (S452), and the general header of the response message is analyzed (S453).

As a result of the analysis of the general header, if the received WEB content is the latest version (S454), the content of the cache area management table 690 is updated by the cache territory management routine 34 (S455). Then, the received WEB contents are stored in the cache area 41 (S456). The message received from the WEB server is, for example, a response message to the WEB content acquisition request with update confirmation, and the WEB content currently stored in the cache area 41 of the Proxy server is the latest one. If confirmed, the WEB content to be acquired is read from the cache area 41 (S457).

Next, a general header to be added to the response message addressed to the client is generated based on the general header of the message received from the web server, and includes the web content received from the web server or the web content read from the cache area. The body information of the response message to the client is created (S458). From the extension header of the response message received from the WEB server, it is determined whether or not the update notification request has been approved as requested by the Proxy server (S459). If the request has been approved as requested, the client An extension header to be attached to the response message addressed to is created (S463), and the information acquisition request transmission processing R450 ends.

If the update notification request has not been authorized as requested by the Proxy server, it is determined whether the update notification request has been authorized as a result (S460). If the update notification request is rejected, or if the WEB server does not have the update notification service function and the received message does not include the response information to the update notification request, the update notification request WEB content management table 6 After setting the corresponding web content update confirmation method in step 60 to read-ahead mode (S461), execute step S463. If the update notification request has been approved after the update notification condition has been modified, the update notification request WEB content management table 660 The new notification condition 6 included in the update notification destination information table 680 linked to 680 After changing “4” to the value of the updated update notification condition described above (S462), step S463 is executed. FIG. 37 shows a flowchart of the update notification receiving routine 37 provided in the Proxy server. Upon receiving the update notification message having the contents shown in FIG. 18 from the web server, the update notification reception routine 37 extracts update notification information from the received message (S501), and receives the notified update web content entry. Repeat the following procedure for each trial.

First, it is determined whether or not there is an unprocessed updated WEB content entry of the update notification information (S502). If there is an unprocessed updated WEB content entry, the URL 473 of the updated WEB content is extracted. (S503). Next, the update attribute 474 of the entry is determined (S504), and if the update attribute is “update”, the update notification request WEB content management table 660 is referred to, and It is checked whether or not the WEB content is designated for mirroring (S505). If the mirroring is not specified, the update notification relay information creation processing R 530 described later with reference to FIG. 39 is executed, and the process returns to step S 502 to execute the next unprocessed update. The same process is repeated for WEB content entries. If the WEB content is specified as mirroring, it is necessary to obtain the latest WEB content in the cache area, so the update web content acquisition process R510, described later in Fig. 38, is executed. Thereafter, the update notification relay information creation processing R530 is executed.

If the update attribute of the update WEB content entry currently being processed is not “update”, it is determined whether the update attribute is “delete” (S506). If the update attribute is not “delete”, the process returns to step S502, and the same process is repeated for the next unprocessed updated WEB content. When the update attribute is “delete”, the record of the corresponding WEB content is deleted from the update notification request WEB content management table 660 (S507), and the corresponding WEB content is deleted from the cache area 41 (S508). After the corresponding management information record is deleted from the cache area management table 690 (S509), the update notification relay information creation processing R530 is executed.

Update Web Content Acquisition Processing In R510, as shown in Fig. 38, a specific server address is first obtained as the optimal acquisition and replication WEB server 477 with the update Web content entry currently being processed. It is checked whether or not it has been specified (S51 1). If a specific server address has been specified, a WEB content acquisition request message with an update notification request addressed to the specified server (replicated WEB server) is created (S513), and the acquisition request transmission routine 3 is executed. (1) (S515) _{c If} the specific server address is not specified as the optimal acquisition duplicate Web server 477, a Web content acquisition request message directed to the Web server 2 is created (S514). The transmission is performed via the acquisition request transmission routine 31 (S515).

When a response message to the above acquisition request is received by the reception routine 32 (S516), if the source of the received response message is the WEB server 2, the update notification request WEB corresponding to the WEB content management table 660 is transmitted. The data is updated with items such as the content size 664, the last update date and time 669, the last update size 6700, and the update prediction date and time 671 (S521). After this, the cache area 4 Store the received WEB contents in 1 (S522), and store the WEB contents storage location information 693, last storage date 694, size 695, etc. in the cache area management table 6900 To update the data (S523), and this update WEB content acquisition processing R510 ends.

When the source of the received response message is the duplicate WEB server 2C, the extension header 330 of the received message is analyzed, and it is determined whether or not the update notification request has been approved based on the operation status 33 33 Yes (S517). If the update notification request has been approved, execute step S521. In this case, the address of the duplicate WEB server is set to the optimum acquisition URL 663 of the corresponding WEB content in the update notification request WEB content management table 660. If the update notification request has not been approved, a WEB content acquisition request message with update notification addressed to the WEB server 2 is created (S518) and transmitted via the transmission routine 31 (S519). When a response message to the above acquisition request is received from WEB server 2 (S520), steps S521, S522, and S523 are executed, and the acquisition process R510 of the updated WEB content is ended.

In the update notification relay information creation process R 530, as shown in FIG. 39, first, the update notification request WEB content management table 660 is referred to and corresponds to the currently processed WEB content. The update notification destination information table 680 is read (S531). It is determined whether there is an unprocessed table entry in the table 660 (S532), and if there is an unprocessed entry, the update notification condition of the entry and the update received this time are displayed. The notification information is compared (S533), and it is determined from the comparison result whether update notification to the client is necessary or not (S535). If the update notification is not required, the process returns to step S532, and the same process is repeated for the next unprocessed update notification destination entry.

When it is necessary to notify the client of the update, it is checked whether or not the client's IP address is registered in the update notification destination IP address 681 of the table entry (S535). If the client IP address has been registered, the IP address is set as the destination address (S536), and the destination address is set. After creating an update notification relay message for each dress (S540), the process returns to step S532, and the same processing is repeated for the next unprocessed update notification destination entry. The update notification relay message includes the update WEB content information 473 to 478 indicated by the update notification message received from the WEB server or the duplicate WEB server, and the update notification relay message created in step S540 is included in the update notification relay message. Is temporarily stored in the working memory area. If multiple update notification relay messages are generated for the same destination address, the update Web content information generated later is added to the previous update notification relay message, for example, as shown in FIG. Such a message format including updated WEB content information for multiple entries.

If the client's IP address is not registered in the update notification destination IP address 681, it is determined that the notification destination is a dial-up user who gets on the Proxy server via a public line and accesses the WEB. The contractor ID is extracted from the table entry (S537). From the extracted subscriber ID, it is determined whether or not a dial-up connection is currently in progress (S538). If a connection is being established, the IP address assigned during dial-up connection is set as the destination address (S538). 539), and execute step S540. If the contractor ID is not in dial-up connection, the update notification cannot be relayed, and the process returns to step S532 to repeat the same process for the next unprocessed update notification destination entry. In this case, the update notification that could not be transmitted may be stored in association with the contractor ID, and transmitted when the user makes a dial-up connection.

When the update notification relay message for all the update notification destinations registered in the update notification destination information table 680 is created for one WEB content, this update notification relay information creation processing R 5 3 0 Then, the process returns to step S502 in FIG. 37, and the above-described processing is repeated for the next WEB content indicated by the received message. When the creation of the update notification relay message addressed to the client for all the WEB contents notified from the WEB server or the replicated WEB by the update notification message is completed, the update notification relay message is sent from the working memory area. The update notification reception processing routine is terminated by sequentially taking out and transmitting the update notification relay message to each client via the update notification relay routine 38 (S541). When the transmission of all the update notification relay messages is completed, the update notification reception processing routine ends.

In the second embodiment, if the WEB server 2 receiving the update notification request from the Proxy server 3 refuses the update notification service, or if the WEB server does not have the update notification service function, the Proxy server In order to keep the latest information in the cache area about the update notification target or mirror target WEB contents requested by the client, a predetermined timing is required prior to the client's acquisition request. Issues a web content acquisition request to the web server with. (Look-ahead processing). The web content prefetching process is executed based on, for example, the predicted update date and time 671 stored in the update notification request web content management table 660 corresponding to each web content.

When the Proxy server 3 receives an update notification from the WEB server or when it is determined that the WEB content has been updated by the prefetching process, the update notification request in the WEB content management table 660 The last update date and time of the WEB content 6 6 Rewrite the value of 9 to the current date and time. Assuming that the update of the WEB content is performed periodically, the update cycle of the WEB content is substantially equal to the difference between the old value of the last update date and time 669 previously stored and the current date and time. The value of the predicted update date and time 67 1 is set when the last update date and time is updated, for example, a value obtained by adding the above update cycle to the current date and time. If the WEB content is updated every month at a fixed date and time, only the month display needs to be rewritten at the time of a new forecast update S

For example, in the prefetching process of the WEB content, the update notification request WEB content management table 660 is periodically checked by the update WEB content management routine 36, and the WEB content whose predicted update date and time 671 is passed is targeted. Performed as

In the prefetching process, for example, as shown in Fig. 40, for the WEB content targeted for the prefetching process, a WEB content acquisition request message with an update notification request is sent. A message is created (S551) and transmitted to the WEB server via the acquisition request transmission routine 31 (S552). It waits for a response message from the WEB server to the above acquisition request (S553). If no response message is received within a predetermined time, it refers to the update notification request WEB content management table 660 and acquires it. The update confirmation of the requested WEB content is checked (S562). If the update confirmation 6 6 7 is not in the update notification mode, the prefetch processing ends. If the update confirmation 6 6 7 is in the update notification mode, it is possible that a failure has occurred in the web server, so the pre-stored email address of the web server administrator is read out (S563 ), Sends an e-mail requesting the WEB server administrator to check the status of the WEB server (S564), changes the update confirmation 666 to the prefetch mode (S565), and ends the prefetching process.

When a response message to the acquisition request is received from the WEB server (S553), the content of the response message is analyzed (S554), and it is confirmed whether the update notification request has been approved (S555). If the update notification request has not been approved, it refers to the table 660 and checks the update confirmation 666 of the requested WEB content (S558). If the update confirmation 6 6 7 is in the update notification mode, the process proceeds to step S563. If the update confirmation 667 is not in the update notification mode, it is determined whether or not the WEB content received in the response message is the latest (S559). If the received WEB content is of the same version as the already held WEB content, the prefetching process ends. When the latest WEB content is received, the received WEB content is stored in the cache area 41 as in steps S522 and S523 in FIG. 38, and the corresponding entry in the cache area management table 690 is stored. After the contents of the tree are updated (S560), an update notification message addressed to the client is created and transmitted (S561), and the prefetching process ends. The procedure for creating the update notification message is the same as the update notification relay information creation processing R530 described in FIG.

If an update notification request has been approved in the response message (S555), check the update of the requested WEB content by referring to the table 660. Click (S556). If the update confirmation 6 6 7 is not in the look-ahead mode, proceed to step S559.If the update confirmation 6 6 7 is in the look-ahead mode, perform the update confirmation 6 6 7 in the table 6 60. After changing to the update notification mode (S557), the process proceeds to step S559.

In FIG. 40 described above, the prefetch processing flowchart for one WEB content is shown, but when the updated WEB content management routine 36 checks the update notification request WEB content management table 66 0, the predicted update date and time If more than one WEB content is found, the prefetching process should be executed for each WEB content. For the web contents for which the update confirmation 667 is in the look-ahead mode, the predicted update date / time 671 remains as it is, unless a response message is received from the web server within a predetermined time. Therefore, by the periodic check of the management table 660 performed by the update WEB content management routine 36, transmission of the acquisition request is performed again until it is selected as a prefetch target and a response from the TCB server is obtained. Repeated.

Next, the optimized mirroring service provided by Proxy Server 3 will be described.

Optimized mirroring analyzes the web server access history recorded in file 45, automatically selects web content to be mirrored in cache area 41 in accordance with client access trends, and caches it. This is to optimize the WEB content stored in the area 41. The optimization mirroring processing routine 39 is executed in a time period when the load on the Proxy server is relatively small, according to the optimization execution cycle specified by the client at the time of contract, and is specified by the client user in advance. Based on the parameter setting table 611 and the conditional expression setting table 615 shown in Fig. 6, select the Web contents to be mirrored.

As shown in FIG. 41, the optimization mirroring processing routine 39 reads the set value from the parameter setting table 61 1 (S570), and reads the selected conditional expression from the conditional expression setting tape hole 6 15 as shown in FIG. The parameter relational expression is read (S571). next, The access history data within a predetermined period stored in the access history file 45 is read, statistics are obtained for items corresponding to the selection condition expression 6 16 for each WEB content, and the gun count is analyzed (S572). As a result, for example, as shown in Fig. 42, the number of accesses, the number of referrers, the number of transfer pipes, the average acquisition time, and the average update interval are calculated for each of the URLs 71 As a second, a statistical table 700 including a plurality of entries showing the statistical data of each item (statistical value 703, overall rank 704, percentage of the total 705) is created. A flag 706 prepared for each statistical item of the statistical table is for displaying a check result by a parameter relational expression described later. In the example shown in Fig. 25, the selection conditional expression 6 16 consists of three selection items: 1: number of accesses, 2: number of referrers, and 3: total number of transfer bytes. statistics table created in step S572, each entry is sufficient if it contains statistical data of the three items _ώ

Next, the statistical data of the WEB contents are sequentially read from the above statistical table 700, and WEB contents that do not satisfy the evaluation criteria are sequentially removed from the total table. First, it is determined whether there is an unprocessed entry (WEB content URL) in the statistics table 700 (S573). If there is an unprocessed entry, steps S575 to S576 are performed for each statistical item. When the check processing is executed and the check processing of all the statistical items of one entry is completed (S574), the flow returns to step S573, and the same check processing is repeated for the next unprocessed entry. In each entry, the statistical data (statistics, rank, and ratio) is compared with the value of the evaluation standard parameter 6 14 specified in the parameter setting table 6 11 for each statistical item 7 02 ( S575), it is determined whether or not the statistical data satisfies the parameter relation expression 618 specified in the conditional expression setting table (S576). If the statistical data satisfies the parameter relational expression, the process returns to step S574. If the statistical data does not satisfy the parameter relational expression, the flag 706 of the statistical table is set to "1", and the process proceeds to step S574. Return to S574. For example, if the parameter relational expression of a certain statistical item is defined as A * (B + C), the statistical value 703 corresponding to the parameter A is used as the evaluation base. If the effective rank specified by the quasi-parameter has not been reached, the statistical item will be out of the evaluation criteria indicated by the parameter relational expression regardless of the values of the other parameters B and C. Is set to ".

When all of the entries in the statistics table 700 have been checked by the above-described parameter relational expression, the entries satisfying the selection condition expression 6 16 are selected from the statistical data entries remaining in the statistics table 700. Select as content for learning. First, an unprocessed entry is read from the statistics table 700. When there are no more unprocessed entries in the gun count table 700, this routine ends (S578). It is determined whether or not the statistical item satisfies the selection condition expression 616 by referring to the flag 706 of the read entry (S379). Entries that do not satisfy the selection condition are excluded from mirroring, so return to step S578 and read the next unprocessed entry. If the statistic item satisfies the selection condition, the update notification request WEB content management table 660 is referred to (S580), and the WEB content URL 701 of the above entry is already stored in the management table 660. It is checked whether or not it has been registered to 0 (S581). If it has already been registered, the mirroring enable flag 668 of the management table 660 is set to "1" (S582), and the storage expiration date 696 of the cache area management table is updated (S583). ), And return to step S578.

If the WEB content URL 701 of the above entry is not registered in the management table 660, a WEB content acquisition request with an update notification request is generated and transmitted to the WEB server (S584). When a response message is received from the web server (S585), the received web content is stored in the cache area (S586), and a new record for the web content is added to the cache area management table 690. (S587). Next, a new record for the WEB content is added to the update notification request WEB content management table 660 (S588), and the mirroring service contract information linked to the contractor's personal information template 400 is added. After adding the identifier of the WEB content as the registered mirroring content identifier 5780 of the table 570 (S589), the process returns to step S578. Statistics When the above processing is completed for all the WEB contents entries in one table, the optimization mirror processing ends.

According to the above-mentioned optimization mirroring, the access history to the WEB server is analyzed periodically, and the WEB content that matches the selection condition specified by the contractor is automatically targeted for mirroring. it can. In this case, WEB content that has been subject to mirroring and that is out of the selection condition formula in the newly executed optimized mirroring process is excluded from the mirroring target at an appropriate timing. Need to be removed from the cache area.

Unnecessary WEB contents can be deleted, for example, based on the storage expiration date 698 of each WEB content stored in the cache area management table 690. When the optimizing mirroring process is executed, the storage expiration date is updated for the WEB content that meets the selection condition expression, but it is out of the selection condition expression; As time passes, it expires. If the same WEB content is specified for mirroring by multiple users, even if one of the users is excluded from the mirroring target, it will be mirrored by the selection conditions of other users. As long as is selected, the storage expiration date is updated repeatedly, so it does not expire. Therefore, the cache area management table 690 is periodically checked. Expired WEB contents may be deleted from the cache area. At this time, the corresponding record is deleted from the cache area management table 690, and the mirroring valid flag is rewritten in the corresponding record of the update notification request WEB content management table 660. The above-described unnecessary WEB content deletion processing may be executed as a part of the optimization mirroring processing routine shown in FIG.

In addition, update confirmation is performed on the WEB content selected in the optimization mirroring process, the number of updates of the WEB content is recorded, and there is no acquisition request from the user even when the preset number of updates is reached May be determined to have no mirroring effect and deleted from the cache area. What If the memory capacity of the cache area is insufficient when trying to store the web content obtained by normal web access performed by the user, the oldest stored web content is deleted from the cache area. It is enough to secure the free area.

According to the second embodiment described above, the WEB server automatically notifies the Proxy server interposed between the client and the WEB server of the update of the WEB content, and the Proxy server sends the update notification request to each of the clients requesting the update. By relaying the WEB content update notification, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained. In addition, the Proxy server that receives the update notification from the WEB server automatically issues a request to obtain the updated WEB content, and stores the WEB content obtained from the WEB server in the cache memory of the Proxy server. When a client makes a request to acquire updated WEB content, the Proxy server can immediately send the requested WEB content to the client.

In the second embodiment, since the proxy server interposed between the client and the web server can acquire the web content and confirm the update by prefetching the web content for which there is no update notification, these web servers are used. By issuing update notifications to clients for content, services to users can be further improved. In addition, when the Proxy server has an optimized mirroring function, the user can specify the selection condition formula of the WEB content in advance, and the cache memory can be changed according to the change of the access trend of the user. It is possible to automatically change the WEB contents to be stored in the server. Industrial applicability

As can be understood from the above description, according to the present invention, when the published WEB content is updated, the WEB server notifies the client or the proxy server of the update of the WEB content.

According to the present invention, the web content of interest to the user is updated in advance. If the notification is requested, the update notification is automatically issued from the WEB server, so the number of times of sending the WEB content update confirmation request to the WEB server can be reduced. It is possible to reduce traffic. Also, if notification conditions are specified in the web content update notification request, even if the web content has been updated, the updated web content that does not meet the notification conditions will be excluded from the target of notification, making it unnecessary for users. Update notification can be reduced.

According to the present invention, when the WEB server notifies the Proxy server interposed between the client and the WEB server of the update of the TCB content, the Proxy server that has received the update notification transmits the updated WCB content. An acquisition request is automatically issued, the WEB content acquired from the WEB server is stored in the cache memory of the Proxy server, and when a request for acquisition of the updated WEB content is received from the client, the Proxy server reads out the cache memory. By sending the conference contents to the client, a quick response to the client user is possible.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. An information service method in a network consisting of a WEB (Word fi de WEB) server and a plurality of clients,

Requesting at least one client from the web server to notify the web server of an update notification regarding specific web content;

Transmitting the WEB content update notification from the WEB server to the update notification request source when the specific WEB content is updated.

2. An information service method in a network consisting of a WEB (World Wide Web) server, a plurality of clients, and a proxy server.

Requesting at least one client from the proxy server for an update notification for the specific content;

A step in which the Proxy server requests, on behalf of the client, an update notification regarding the specific WEB content to the WEB server;

A step of transmitting a web content update notification from the web server to the proxy server when the specific web content is updated;

Relaying the WEB content update notification from the Proxy server to the client requesting the update notification.

3. The information service method described in claim 1 or 2,

When receiving a web content update notification request, the web server stores a relationship between the requested web content and an update notification request source address in a management table;

When the WEB content is updated, the WEB server specifies the update notification request source address for the updated WEB content by referring to the management table, and updates the WEB content to the specified address. An information service method comprising sending a notification.

4. In the information service method described in claim 1 or 2, The at least one client specifies an update notification condition and requests an update notification for the specific WEB content;

Upon receiving the WEB content update notification request, the WEB server stores in a management table the relationship between the requested WEB content, the update notification request source address, and the update notification condition,

When the WEB content is updated, the TCB server identifies the update notification request source address and the update notification condition corresponding to the updated WEB content by referring to the management table. An information service method characterized by transmitting a WEB content update notification to the update notification request source address when the update notification condition is satisfied.

5. The information service method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the client transmits the WEB content update notification request in a form added to a WEB content acquisition request message,

An information service method, comprising: a step in which the WEB server that has received the request message transmits a response message including the requested WEB content and response information to the update notification request.

6. In the information service method according to claim 1 or 2, when the WEB content is updated, the WEB server specifies an address of another server suitable for acquiring the updated WEB content. Transmitting an update notification of the WEB content.

7. In the information service method according to claim 1 or 2, when the WEB content is updated, the WEB server attaches supplementary information indicating an outline of the update of the WEB content to the WEB content. An information service method characterized by transmitting an update notification of an information service.

8. The information service method described in claim 2 further includes:

When receiving a WEB content update notification request from a client, the Proxy server stores a relationship between an identifier of the requested WEB content and an address of the client in a management table, When receiving the update notification of the WEB content from the WEB server, the Proxy server specifies the client address to which the update notification is sent by referring to the management table, and specifies the client address to which the update notification is sent. An information service method comprising relaying the update notification of the web content.

9. The information service method according to claim 2 or 7, further comprising, upon receiving the WEB content update notification, the proxy server:

Sending the update web content acquisition request message to the web server, and.

Transmitting the updated WEB content from the WEB server to the proxy server in response to the update web content acquisition request message; and the cache memory storing the updated WEB content received from the proxy server in the cache memory. Storing the information in the information service.

10. The proxy server according to claim 9, wherein the Proxy server transmits a request message for acquiring updated WEB contents to the WEB server for WEB contents designated by a mirroring in advance from a client. Information service method.

1 1. The information service method described in claim 2,

The proxy server periodically analyzes access histories of the web server by a plurality of clients connected to the proxy server based on a selection conditional expression specified in advance by a specific client user, and Dynamically determining the web content to be mirrored in the cache memory for

Transmitting the update request message to the web server when the update notification of the determined web content is received.

1 2. To multiple clients or proxy servers over the network A WEB server that provides WEB (Word Wid WEB) content. When a WEB content update notification request is received from one of the plurality of clients or the proxy server, an identifier of the requested fEB content and First means for storing the relationship with the update notification request source address in the management table;

When the WEB content is updated, the update notification request source address corresponding to the updated WEB content is identified by referring to the management table, and the update notification of the WEB content is transmitted to the specified address. A TCB server, comprising: a second means for transmitting the TCB.

13. The first means includes means for linking with the update notification request source address stored in the management table and storing an update notification condition specified in advance by a client or a proxy server,

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second means includes means for selectively transmitting a web content update notification to the specific address according to the update notification condition. WEB server.