JP2002133302A - Content distribution system, server, and recording medium recording program thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide a technology that manages contents in a contents receiving server collectively from a contents transmitting server side, and enables billing that reflects the concept of the number of receiving servers. In a content distribution system having a transmission server and a reception server, based on a distribution request, the transmission server distributes the content to the reception server by multicast, and the reception server that has completed reception of the content transmits a reception notification to the transmission server. And the transmission server tallies up the reception notification and notifies the distribution request source of the tallied result.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a content distribution technique using multicast on the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A satellite Internet system will be described as an example of an Internet system for delivering contents. The satellite Internet system is an asymmetric network system that uses a satellite only for communication from a content transmission server that transfers content to a content reception server, and has a feature that a broadband Internet line can be provided immediately in a wide range.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic configuration of a satellite Internet system. As shown in the figure, content is distributed by multicast from a content transmission server 1 to a plurality of content reception servers (only one content reception server 3 is shown in FIG. 6) via a satellite 2. Data transmission from the content receiving server 3 to the content transmitting server 1 is performed via the ground network 4. By applying the multicast technology, it is possible to transfer the contents to distributed reception points in a lump. Note that each of the content receiving server and the content transmitting server has an antenna and the like for transmitting and receiving data via a satellite.

[0004]

In the above-described conventional technique, the content receiving server deletes and deletes the content.
Management such as updating is performed on the content receiving server side.
That is, the contents transmitted by multicast cannot be actively updated or deleted from the content transmission server in a batch. Also, in the conventional technology, the charge for the content transmission is based on the amount of the transmitted content, or
Calculated based on the usage fee of the line occupied when sending the content, the concept of the number of receiving stations was not reflected in the fee. Therefore, the advantage of the multicast transmission that a large number of receptions are possible by one transmission cannot be reflected in the fee.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has been made in such a manner that contents are managed in a contents receiving server collectively from a contents transmitting server, and a charge bill reflecting the concept of the number of receiving servers is provided. The purpose is to provide technology that enables it.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention can be configured as follows.

[0007] The invention according to claim 1 is a content distribution system having a transmission server and a reception server,
Based on the distribution request, the transmitting server distributes the content to the receiving server by multicast, the receiving server that has completed receiving the content transmits a reception notification to the transmission server, and the transmission server totals the reception notification, and a totaling result thereof To the distribution request source.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, a bill is transmitted to the distribution request source together with the totaling result.

According to the above invention, since the reception notifications from the reception servers that have completed the reception are totaled, the number of reception servers that can receive the content can be ascertained, and the billing according to the number of reception servers can be performed. Becomes possible.

[0010] The invention according to claim 3 is a content distribution system having a transmission server and a reception server,
Based on a predetermined processing request for the content, the transmitting server transmits a processing request to the receiving server by multicast,
The receiving server that has received the processing request executes the processing according to the processing request.

According to the present invention, since the transmitting server transmits the processing request by multicasting, it is possible to collectively perform the processing in the receiving server. For example, it is possible to collectively perform disk management such as content deletion. Becomes possible.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect, the receiving server transmits the processing result of executing the processing to the transmitting server, and the transmitting server totals the processing result, and totals the processing result. Notify the processing requester of the result.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect, a charge request is transmitted to the distribution request source together with the aggregation result.

According to the above-mentioned invention, it becomes possible to charge a fee in accordance with, for example, the number of reception servers for which the processing has been successful.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transmission server in a content distribution system having a transmission server and a reception server, wherein: means for distributing content to the reception server by multicast based on a distribution request; Means for receiving the reception notification indicating that the reception of the content has been completed, totalizing the reception notification, and notifying the distribution request source of the totalization result.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the sixth aspect, a bill is transmitted to the distribution request source together with the totaling result.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the sixth aspect, there is further provided means for transmitting a processing request to the receiving server by multicast based on a predetermined processing request for the content.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in accordance with the eighth aspect of the present invention, when the processing result of executing the processing is received from the receiving server, the processing result is totalized and the totaling result is notified to a processing request source. And means for performing the following.

According to each of the sixth to ninth aspects of the present invention, it is possible to provide a transmission server suitable for implementing the content distribution system of the present invention.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a receiving server in a content distribution system having a transmitting server and a receiving server, wherein a processing request transmitted by multicast from the transmitting server based on a predetermined processing request relating to content is provided. Receiving means for determining whether or not to execute the processing based on the group name included in the processing request, and transmitting the processing result to the transmission server when the processing is executed;

According to the present invention, a receiving server suitable for implementing the content distribution system of the present invention can be provided.

Each of the inventions according to claims 11 to 14 is a computer-readable recording medium in which a program for causing a computer to execute a process of a transmission server is recorded.
The same effects as the respective inventions of claims 6 to 9 can be obtained.

According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to execute a process of a receiving server is recorded.
0 has the same effect as the invention.

[0024]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the processing in the first embodiment of the present invention. The processing for distributing contents and billing according to the number of receiving servers is described. It is shown. As shown in FIG. 1, a satellite Internet system in this embodiment includes a content transmission server 1, satellite 2, the content receiver server 3 ₁ to 3 _3, ground network 4, a content provider 5.
The content reception server ₃ 1 to 3 _3, the reception server group A consisting of the content receiving server ₃ 1, _{3 2}
And content receiving servers 3 ₂ , 3 ₃ .

[0026] First, when the delivery request from the content provider 5 is made to the contents transmission server 1 (step 1), the contents transmission server 1 performs delivery notice in multicast to the content reception server 3 ₁ to 3 ₃ ( Step 2). In the present embodiment, a delivery notice having the content “Groom A receives content β” is issued.
The delivery notice also includes the time at which the content is to be delivered.

Next, each content receiving server determines whether or not the server itself receives the content from the contents of the distribution notice, and the content receiving server that has determined that the content is to be received sends a reception request to the content transmitting server 1. Transmit via the ground network 4 and prepare for reception (step 3). For Figure 1, the content receiving server ₃ 1, _{3 2} sends out the received request. Then, the content transmission server 1
Transmits the content by multicast at the time designated in the distribution notice (step 4). The content reception server that has completed the reception is the content transmission server 1
Is notified of reception completion (step 5).

Next, the content transmission server 1 totals the reception notification and notifies the content provider 5 of the total (step 6). A bill may be transmitted together with the result of the tallying.

FIG. 2 shows an example of data collected by the content transmission server 1. In the figure, the delivery file name is the name of the delivered file, and the delivery completion rate is a value obtained by dividing the number of delivery completion servers by the number of delivery servers. The distribution start time is the time when the distribution is started, and the distribution completion time is the time when the distribution is completed. The number of distribution groups is the number of groups for which distribution is specified.
L enters. The distribution group name is a group name for which distribution is specified, and need not be specified when the number of distribution groups is ALL. The number of distribution servers is the number of servers for which distribution is specified, and the number of distribution completed servers is the number of servers that have completed distribution. The distribution completion server name is the name of a server that has completed distribution, the number of distribution completion servers is the number of servers that have not completed distribution, and the cause of distribution incompletion is a cause of distribution incompletion.

By obtaining the result of the aggregation as described above, for example, it is possible to make a bill reflecting the number of distribution completion servers. In other words, in the past, you could only charge based on the amount of line occupation or the amount of content,
According to the present invention, it is possible to perform charging that reflects the characteristics of multicast. Further, it is also possible to designate all the groups, distribute advertisements and the like by multicast, and charge a fee based on the number of content receiving servers that have returned the reception notification.

[Second Embodiment] FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a process in a second embodiment of the present invention, and shows a process of deleting content from the content transmission server at once. is there.

First, the content provider 5 makes a deletion request to the content transmission server 1 (step 1).
1). The deletion request is made, for example, when the content has expired. In this embodiment, a deletion request to “delete the content α of the server group B” is made. Next, the content transmission server 1 receives the deletion request,
Send a delete request by multicast (step 1
2). Content reception server ₃ 2 belonging to server group B, _{3 3} performs deletion processing based on the deletion request (step 13). After completion of the deletion, the content reception server ₃ 2, 3
₃ notifies the content transmission server 1 of the completion of the deletion (step 14). The content transmission server 1 totals the completion of the deletion and notifies the content provider 5 (step 15). Here, the totalization can be performed with a data structure similar to the data structure shown in FIG. That is, for example, the number of servers whose distribution is completed in FIG. 2 is the number of servers whose deletion is completed, and the number of servers whose distribution is not completed is the number of servers whose deletion is not completed. This makes it possible to charge a fee based on the number of content receiving servers that have actually been deleted.

FIG. 4 shows an example of data for a delete request transmitted by multicast. The command name here is “delete”, the destination group name is the name of the receiving group to be deleted, the number of deleted files is the number of files to be deleted, and the deleted file name is the name of the file to be deleted. The content receiving server performs a deletion process based on the deletion request.

FIG. 5 shows a deletion processing flow in the content receiving server. First, when the content receiving server receives the deletion request (step 21), it is determined whether or not the server itself is a server from which data should be deleted (step 2).
2). This is determined based on whether the server belongs to the destination group name shown in FIG. If the server is not a server to be deleted, the process is terminated (step 25). If the server is a server to be deleted, the corresponding file is deleted (step 2).
3). Thereafter, the content reception server sends a deletion notification to the content transmission server 1 (step 24), and ends the deletion processing. The deletion notification includes information indicating that the specified file exists and the deletion was successful, and that the file could not be deleted due to the absence of the file.

The request that the content transmission server makes to the content reception server is not limited to the above-described deletion. For example, by using the delete command as a file update command or a command for confirming the content of the disc, the content receiving server can manage the discs collectively on the content transmitting server.

In the satellite Internet system according to the present invention, the content transmission server can be configured as a computer having means for performing data communication via satellite. The same applies to the content receiving server. The satellite Internet system of the present invention can be configured by installing a program for executing the above processing in each computer. Each of these programs can be stored in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, and can be installed via a CD-ROM drive or the like of a computer.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be variously modified and applied within the scope of the claims. For example, the present invention can be applied not only to a satellite Internet system but also to a network without a satellite.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, the contents transmission server can collect the notifications from the respective contents reception servers, and can grasp the number of contents reception servers that have successfully received the contents. Billing can be performed in consideration of not only the amount but also the number of receiving servers.

Further, since a command such as deletion is transmitted to each content receiving server using multicast, it is possible to manage disks and the like in the content receiving server collectively. In addition, the notification of the command execution result can be totaled, and a fee can be charged to the management of the disk or the like according to the number of receiving servers that have successfully executed the command for management.

[0040]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining processing in a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of data collected by a content transmission server.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining processing in a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of data for a deletion request transmitted by multicast.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a deletion processing flow in the content receiving server.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of a satellite Internet system according to a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 content transmission server 2 satellite 3 content reception server 4 terrestrial network 5 content provider

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) G06F 13/00 540 G06F 13/00 540S H04H 1/00 H04H 1/00 H 7/00 7/00 9/00 9 / 00 (72) Inventor Ryoji Yasui F-term (reference) 5B049 AA06 EE02 GG00 in NTT Communications, Inc. 1-6-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A content distribution system having a transmission server and a reception server, wherein the transmission server distributes the content to the reception server by multicast based on the distribution request, and the reception server that has completed the reception of the content notifies the reception notification. To the transmission server, and the transmission server totals the reception notification, and notifies the distribution request source of the total result. 2. The content distribution system according to claim 1, wherein a charge request is transmitted to said distribution request source together with said total result. 3. A content distribution system having a transmission server and a reception server, wherein the transmission server transmits a processing request to the reception server by multicast based on a predetermined processing request related to content,
A content distribution system in which a receiving server that receives the processing request executes a process according to the processing request. 4. The processing method according to claim 3, wherein the receiving server transmits a processing result of executing the processing to the transmitting server, the transmitting server totals the processing result, and notifies the processing request source of the totaling result. Content distribution system. 5. The content distribution system according to claim 4, wherein a charge request is transmitted to said distribution request source together with said totaling result. 6. A transmission server in a content distribution system having a transmission server and a reception server, wherein: means for distributing the content to the reception server by multicast based on the distribution request; and completion of reception of the content from the reception server. Receiving the reception notification indicating the above, and summing up the reception notification, and notifying the distribution request source of the result of the collection. 7. The content distribution system according to claim 6, wherein a charge request is transmitted to the distribution request source together with the aggregation result. 8. The transmission server according to claim 6, further comprising means for transmitting a processing request to the receiving server by multicast based on a predetermined processing request related to the content. 9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising: when receiving a processing result of executing the processing from the receiving server, summing up the processing result and notifying the processing requester of the totaling result.
The transmission server according to 1. 10. A receiving server in a content distribution system having a transmitting server and a receiving server, wherein the receiving server receives a processing request transmitted by multicast from a transmitting server based on a predetermined processing request related to content.
A receiving server comprising: means for determining whether or not to execute a process based on a group name included in the process request, and transmitting the processing result to the sending server when the process is executed. 11. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a process of a transmission server in a content distribution system having a transmission server and a reception server, wherein the content is received on a multicast basis based on a distribution request. And a step of, when receiving a reception notification indicating that the reception of the content has been completed from the receiving server, summing up the reception notification and notifying the distribution request source of the result of the totaling, to the computer. A computer-readable recording medium on which is recorded. 12. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 11, further comprising a step of transmitting a charge request to the distribution request source together with the aggregation result. 13. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 11, further comprising a step of transmitting a processing request to the receiving server by multicast based on a predetermined processing request related to the content. 14. The computer-readable computer according to claim 13, further comprising a step of, upon receiving a processing result of executing the processing from the receiving server, totalizing the processing result and notifying the processing request source of the totaling result. Recording medium. 15. A computer-readable recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to execute a process of a receiving server in a content distribution system having a transmitting server and a receiving server is recorded. Receives the processing request sent by multicast from the server,
A computer-readable recording program for causing a computer to execute a procedure of determining whether or not to execute processing based on a group name included in the processing request and transmitting the processing result to the transmission server when the processing is executed. Possible recording medium.