JP3296570B2 - File transfer method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for transferring a plurality of files between distributed computers, workstations, personal computers, and the like via a network, and in particular, efficiently transfers only files that need to be transferred. On how to do it.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a system in which a plurality of computers are connected via a communication line, an operating environment is constructed by transferring a plurality of files from a file management source computer to another computer periodically or upon request. And a system for supplying data. Conventionally, such a system employs either a method of transferring all files periodically or at the time of request, or a method of transferring only necessary files with an identifier indicating whether transfer is necessary for each file. .

[0003] Incidentally, those related to this type of data transfer system include, for example, JP-A-63-301344,
JP-A-62-179027 and the like can be mentioned.

[0004]

In the above prior art, the method of transferring all files unconditionally has a problem that the transfer amount is large and the transfer time is long. Particularly, in recent years, the number of files and the amount of data tend to increase with the sophistication and complexity of the system, and the file transfer time becomes extremely long. As a countermeasure against this, only the necessary files may be transferred. However, the conventional method has problems such as a large operational restriction because each file has an attribute such as a change classification for each transfer destination.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a file transfer method capable of efficiently transferring only files that need to be transferred without giving each file an attribute.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, in a system in which a plurality of processing devices are connected via a communication line, a file providing device including a file group is provided with a file providing device for each file constituting the file group. file name has a file management directory that stores the update date, etc., the file to be provided side device receiving provision of files, the last file
Last change common to each file, indicating the date when the
Holding the sending date , the file-supplied-side device sends a file management list transfer request to the file providing side, receives the file management list from the file providing device, refers to the file management list, and A file transfer request is issued to the file providing apparatus for a file updated after a certain final transfer date, and the file providing apparatus sends the file requested to be transferred to the file providing apparatus.
The device to be transferred and the file providing device
When the file is received from the
It is characterized in that it is updated on the date .

[0007]

The file providing side device issues a file transfer request to the file providing side device periodically and whenever necessary, and receives a file group. Before the file transfer request, a file management list transfer request is sent to the file providing device. Sends the file management list to the providing device. By comparing the file update date in the file management book with the last transfer date held by the user, a transfer request for a file updated after the last transfer date is issued to the file providing apparatus, and the file is provided. Received and update the last transfer date
I do . As a result, only the necessary files can be transferred without giving each file an attribute, and the number of files to be transferred is greatly reduced.

[0008]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a distributed computer system to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, a plurality of computers (processing devices) 10 and 30 are mutually connected by a network 20 to constitute a distributed computer system. Here, the computer 10 is a file providing device and the computer 30 is a file receiving device. The file providing device 10 includes a plurality of files (transfer files) 11 to be transferred,
It has a file management book 12 which stores file names of files, last update dates, deletion categories, and the like. FIG. 2 shows an example of the file management book 12. On the other hand, the file providing device 3
0 has a plurality of files 31 already transferred from the file providing apparatus 10 and a last transfer date memory 32 for managing the date of last file transfer. FIG. 3 shows an example of the last transfer date memory 32.

Hereinafter, the file transfer operation of the present invention in the system configuration of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the processing flow of FIG. 4 and FIG. FIG. 4 shows the file-provided device 30 after receiving the file management book 12 from the file-providing device 10.
FIG. 5 shows a transfer request (file management list transfer request, file transfer request) from the file providing apparatus 30.
7 is a processing flow of the file providing apparatus 10 when receiving the file.

The file providing apparatus 30 generally issues a file transfer request to the file providing apparatus 10 periodically or whenever necessary, and has the latest file group 11 transferred from the file providing apparatus 10. However, prior to the transmission of the transfer request, the file-supplied-side device 30 transmits a file management list transfer request to the file-providing device 10. File providing apparatus 10 determines the transfer request from the file to be provided side instrumentation <br/> location 30 (step 201), requesting a file to be provided side file management list 12 in the case of file management book transfer request To the device 30 (step 2
02), in the case of a file transfer request, the file requested to be transferred in the file group 11 is transmitted to the file providing side device 30 of the request source (step 203).

When receiving the file management book 12 (step 101), the file providing apparatus 30 determines whether or not the file management book has a registration file (step 102). The current date is set in the transfer date memory 32, and the process ends (step 109). If there is a registered file in the file management list, information for one file is extracted from the file management list (step 103), and steps 104, 105, and 10 are extracted.
The determination of No. 6 is sequentially performed. Step 104 is a step of completing the processing of steps 105 to 108 for all the registered files in the file management book, setting the current date in the last transfer date memory 32 (step 109), and determining a condition for ending the file transfer operation. It is.

If the processing for all the registered files in the file management book is not completed, the update date in the information of one file extracted from the file management book (the contents of the registered file are updated last in the file providing apparatus 10). The last transfer date of the registered file is compared with the last transfer date of the last transfer date in the last transfer date memory 32 (the date of the last file transfer by the file providing device 30) (step 105). If no, the process returns to step 103 immediately without performing the processing of steps 106 to 108, and proceeds to the extraction of the next registered file in the file management book. On the other hand, if the update date of the registration file is later than the last transfer date, it is determined whether deletion or other update is set in the registration file (step 106). If an update other than the deletion is set, a file transfer request is transmitted to the file providing device 10, and the file transfer is received from the file providing device 10 (step 107).
After that, the process returns to step 103. If deletion is set, the file having the file name in the file 31 is deleted (step 108), and immediately after step 1
Return to 03.

The processing of steps 103 to 108 is sequentially executed in accordance with the file management list. When the processing for all the registered files in the file management list is completed, step 10 is executed.
In step 9, the current date of the file providing apparatus 30 is set in the last transfer date memory 32, and the transfer process is completed.

In this embodiment, the date set in the file management book 12 and the last transfer date memory 32 employs the date. However, the date is set in accordance with the execution cycle of the apparatus. , Year, month, day, hour, minute, second and so on. The file name does not directly use the physical file name, but may be any one that can uniquely represent the entity such as an identification number and an identifier.

Further, in the processing flow of FIG. 4, when a file transfer is required, the file-supplied device 30 transmits a file transfer request to the file-providing device 10 on a file-by-file basis. Although the file is requested to be transferred from the server 10, a plurality of file names may be designated by a file transfer request, and a plurality of files to be transferred may be transferred collectively.

[0016]

According to the present invention, the file providing side holds the file management book storing the update date of each file to be transferred, and the file receiving side holds the date when the file was provided last (final transfer date). However, when a file transfer is required, the file receiving side requests the file providing side to receive a file management list, and issues a file transfer request to the file providing side for a file changed after the last transfer date. Since the file is acquired, the number of files to be transferred can be reduced without having an attribute for each file, and the file transfer time can be shortened. Further, since the transfer time and the amount of transfer data can be reduced, there is also an effect that the line cost can be reduced.

In addition, the file providing side only has to manage only the update date of the file and transfer only the file requested by the file providing side to the file providing side. Is reduced. In addition, on the file recipient side, common to each file
The file to be updated can be specified simply by receiving the file management book from the file provider by managing only the single last transfer date of the file, and issuing the file transfer request to the file provider to immediately respond Because files can be obtained, the burden on the file recipient is reduced, and
In addition, there is no need to exchange between the file providing side and the file providing side many times, and the line cost can be reduced from this point as well.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system configuration to which a file transfer method of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an example of a file management book of a file providing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an example of a last transfer date memory included in a file providing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a processing flow of a file provision side device.

FIG. 5 is a processing flow of a file providing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 File providing computer 11 File 12 File management book 20 Network 30 File receiving computer 31 File 32 Last transfer date memory

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-318123 (JP, A) JP-A-2-23437 (JP, A) JP-A-3-282745 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A file transfer method in a system in which a plurality of processing devices are connected via a communication line, wherein the file providing device including a group of files to be transferred includes:
A file-provided device that has a file management book that stores at least a file name and an update date of each file constituting the file group , and that receives the file group from the file-providing device, Day
Holding the last transfer date common to each file, the file-supplied-side device sends a file management-book transfer request to the file-providing-side device and receives the file management book from the file-providing-side device, With reference to the file management book, a file transfer request is issued to the file providing apparatus for the file updated after the held last transfer date, and the file providing apparatus transmits the file requested to be transferred to the file providing apparatus. The file is transferred to the file providing device, and the file providing device
Is received, the last transfer date is updated to the current date.
That, the file transfer method, characterized in that.