JPH11175539A - Method for obtaining substitute information and system therefor and storage medium for storing substitute information obtaining program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce various costs to be paid by a user, and to suppress an access load to be imposed on an information source. SOLUTION: Periodic access is requested to a system existing on a network instead of direct access from a user through the network to an information source whose data are periodically updated. Then, the system obtains information by periodically performing access to the information source, and transmits it to the user. The information is obtained from the system and stored at the user's side.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a proxy information acquisition method and system, and a storage medium storing a proxy information acquisition program. In particular, a user accesses information that is updated periodically to acquire information. The present invention relates to a proxy information acquisition method and system for causing a proxy system on a network to perform work on behalf of a user, and a storage medium storing a proxy information acquisition program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 11 shows a conventional mode for accessing an information providing apparatus via a network for each user. In the configuration shown in FIG. 3, each user terminal directly accesses the information providing apparatus via a network, thereby acquiring updated information in the information providing apparatus.

(1) Information that is periodically updated is obtained by a user accessing an information providing apparatus from a terminal according to an update cycle. Recently, terminal software that automatically accesses by setting an access destination, an access time, and a cycle in advance has been sold. (2) In networks with firewalls, the cache function of the proxy server is used to improve the access speed of information acquisition and reduce the access load of information sources.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional method (1), access to an information source is almost always performed for each user. Therefore, when a user tries to manually obtain information of an information source that is updated periodically from a terminal, the terminal and the network must always be operated and the information must be monitored in accordance with the information update cycle. . In recent years, software that automatically accesses set information sources has been developed to reduce the effort of monitoring information, but even in this case, the terminal must always be running and the network must be connected Therefore, these costs are still incurred.

[0005] Further, a situation in which access is made for each user from the viewpoint of an information source causes an extremely high access load to an information source having a high access frequency. As a result, users increasingly take time to obtain information,
Not only is the cost of the network expensive, but information may not be available. Further, in the above-mentioned conventional method (2), the cache function of the proxy server has only a function of temporarily accumulating the accessed information and erasing the oldest one after exceeding a certain amount. Has not been managed. Since the cache function of a general proxy server does not check whether the information of the information source is updated / unupdated, there is a possibility that the information stored in the cache is already outdated. Therefore, since the user cannot trust the information stored in the cache, the user must send a command to clear the cache and access the information source again from the terminal. You will have direct access to the source. Such information sources that are updated frequently have little effect on caching.

[0006] Although the cache is a temporary sharing function, it is not desirable to delete shared information as long as there is a user who needs the information. As described above, since the cache function of the proxy server does not manage each piece of accumulated information, the information may be deleted even though there is a user who still needs the information.

As a result of accessing the information source, the information is transferred to the transfer information (for example, <METAHTT in HTML).
P-EQUIV = "REFRESH" CONTENT = "0, U
RL = transfer destination URL "). In recent WWW browsers, if information indicating the transfer destination is obtained, the access destination is immediately changed to the transfer destination address. Although the specification is such that information is acquired, there is also a case where transfer information is further indicated in the information of the transfer destination, and the transfer destination indicates the transfer source. And access will be continued alternately forever. In the case of manual access from a WWW browser, even if such a phenomenon occurs, the access is intentionally stopped and the loop is cut. However, automatic access is problematic if the system does not have such a loop detection function.

[0008] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and a proxy information acquiring method and system capable of suppressing various costs to be borne by a user and suppressing an access load on an information source. And a storage medium storing a proxy information acquisition program.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention. A first invention is a proxy information acquiring method for a user to access and acquire an information source that is updated periodically, wherein the user directly accesses an information source that periodically updates data via a network. Instead, it requests periodic access to a system existing on the network (step 1), and the system periodically accesses an information source to acquire information (step 2) and transmits it to the user side. Then, the user acquires information from the system on the user side (step 4) and accumulates the information (step 5).

A second aspect of the present invention detects an overlapping request condition from a plurality of users to the system and optimizes the processing. According to a third invention, in a system, information obtained by periodically accessing an information source is stored only when the information has been updated. According to a fourth aspect, information acquired from an information source is deleted when there is no longer a reference source.

A fifth invention detects an infinite loop when transferring information acquired from an information source. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention. A sixth invention is a proxy information acquisition system for accessing and acquiring an information providing apparatus having an information source that is periodically updated by a request from a user, and is an information providing apparatus that periodically updates data. 300
Instead of directly accessing from a user via a network, an information providing device 3 existing on the network
00, a user terminal 100 that requests periodic access and stores the acquired information, an access unit 203 that periodically accesses the information providing apparatus 300 based on a request from the user terminal 100, A proxy information obtaining apparatus 2 having information obtaining means 202 for obtaining corresponding information from the information providing apparatus 300 and transfer means 201 for transferring the information obtained by the information obtaining means 202 to the user terminal.
00.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided the proxy information acquiring apparatus 2 described above.
00 includes a duplicate condition detection unit 222 that detects duplicate request conditions from a plurality of user terminals 100 and optimizes the processing. According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, only when the information acquired by the proxy information acquiring apparatus 200 by periodically accessing the information providing apparatus has been updated, the storage unit 220
And an update judging means 221 for saving the information.

A ninth invention is a proxy information acquisition device 200
Includes an information deleting unit 204 that deletes the information acquired from the information providing apparatus 300 and deletes the information stored in the storage unit 220 when there is no reference source. The tenth invention includes an infinite loop detecting unit 212 that detects an infinite loop due to execution of a transfer command when the transfer unit obtaining device 200 transfers information obtained from the information providing device 300 to the user terminal 100.

[0014] An eleventh invention is a storage medium storing a proxy information acquisition program for allowing a user to access and acquire an information source that is periodically updated. Instead of direct access from a user via a network, an access request process for requesting periodic access to a system on the network, and an information source on behalf of the user based on the request by the access request process It has a proxy access process for accessing, an information transmission process for transmitting information obtained by the proxy access process to the user side, and a storage process for storing information obtained by the information transmission process.

The twelfth invention includes an optimizing process for detecting a duplicate request condition from a plurality of users to the system and optimizing the processing. The thirteenth invention includes an update determination process in which information acquired by periodically accessing an information source is stored only when the information has been updated. A fourteenth invention includes an information erasing process for erasing information obtained from an information source when there is no reference source.

A fifteenth invention includes an infinite loop detection process for detecting an infinite loop when transferring information obtained from an information source. As described above, in the first, sixth, and eleventh inventions, a proxy information acquisition device is arranged on a network,
A user passes a condition for acquiring information to this system, acquires information based on a given condition in the system, and stores the obtained result in an information storage area.

The second, seventh and twelfth inventions have a table for managing information acquisition conditions given to the system by a user, thereby managing a requester, an access destination and an access cycle, and By avoiding duplication of access to a network and performing scheduling to optimize the access, it is possible to reduce the load on the network and the information source.

According to the third, eighth and thirteenth inventions, the information obtained by the current access is compared with the information obtained last time, and if the contents are updated, the information obtained this time is stored. If not, it stores information stating that the information has not been updated, and notifies the user. As a result, it is possible to reduce stored information. According to the fourth, ninth, and fourteenth aspects, a name that can be uniquely identified in a shared storage area for acquired information is assigned and information is stored. Further, data that can identify the presence or absence of a reference to the shared information stored in the shared storage area is checked. As long as the reference source exists, the shared data is retained. delete. Share information stored in the shared area,
A counter that is added each time the reference source is increased is stored in the target table, and the number of references to the shared information is managed. Conversely, when the reference source terminates the reference, the reference number is subtracted, and when the reference number becomes “0”, it is determined that there is no reference source referring to the shared information, and the corresponding shared information and management Delete table records. The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problem by managing information as to whether or not a referrer exists for shared information.

According to the fifth, ninth and fourteenth aspects of the present invention, when the acquired information includes transfer information, the transfer information is stored, and further, the information acquired following the transfer destination is replaced with new transfer information. Is included, the new transfer information is compared with the traced address, and if there is a match,
Since a loop is configured, the processing can be interrupted here, information indicating this fact can be stored, and the user can be notified.

[0020]

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a shared information management system to which the present invention is applied. In the system shown in the figure, when each user terminal accesses the proxy information acquisition device on the network, the proxy information acquisition device acquires information from the information providing device. In this configuration, the proxy information acquisition device acquires the information of the information providing device that is periodically updated, and returns the information to the user terminal that has made the request.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of a shared information management system to which the present invention is applied. The system shown in FIG. 1 includes a user terminal device 100, a proxy information acquisition device 200, and an information providing device 300. The user terminal device 100
Network interface 103 and network 4
The input unit 101 and the display unit 102 are connected to the proxy information acquisition device 200 via the “00”.

The proxy information acquiring device 200 is connected to the user terminal 100 and the information providing device 300 via the network interface 201 and the network 400,
Information acquisition unit 202, access schedule table 21
1, a loop detection unit 212, a personal information storage area 205, a cache table 213, a shared information storage area 207, and a shared information management table 206 for managing the information.

The information providing apparatus 300 is connected to the proxy information acquiring apparatus 200 via the network interface 301 and the network 400, and
Two.

[0024]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, a WWW browser is used as the display unit 102 of the user terminal device 100, an HTTP client is used as the network interfaces 103 and 203, an HTTP server is used as the network interfaces 201 and 301, and an information source is used as a search key of the shared information management table 206. Will be described as an HTML document including a reference to an object such as an image as information provided by the information providing apparatus 300.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining an information acquisition method according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is an example of request data from a user according to one embodiment of the present invention. 9 is an example of an access schedule table according to an embodiment of the present invention. Step 101) First, the user uses the input unit 101 to input a URL of required information, an access start time, and an access cycle, and additionally registers the information in the access schedule table 211. Here, the access schedule table 211 receives a request from the user in a format as shown in FIG. 6, converts the request into a format as shown in FIG. 7 sorted by the access destination and the access cycle, and stores it.

Step 102) The information acquisition unit 202
Referring to the access schedule table 211, each registered URL is accessed periodically. Step 103) It is determined whether or not the information acquired by accessing includes transfer information. If the transfer information is included, the process proceeds to step 104, and if not, the process proceeds to step 107. .

Step 104) If the transfer information is included, the transfer destination is accessed again according to the transfer information. At this time, the transfer information is further included in the transfer destination information. However, if it indicates the original address, an infinite loop occurs. In order to avoid such a phenomenon, when transfer information is included, the loop detection unit 212 stores the transfer source address.

Step 105) It is checked whether the address of the transfer destination does not match the traced address. If the address matches, the process proceeds to step 106. If the address does not match, the process proceeds to step 102. Access first. Step 106) If there is a match, it is a loop, so the loop detection unit 212 stores information indicating that fact in the user's personal information storage area 205.
In addition, in consideration of a case where the transfer source information is continuously transferred, a plurality of transfer source information are stored and the transfer source information is compared with each other.

Step 107) After accessing the target access destination and obtaining the information, the information is compared with the information stored in the cache table 213 and obtained immediately before by each user, and the information is updated. Check if it is. Step 108) If not updated, information indicating that fact is stored in the user's personal information storage area 205.

Step 109) If the information has been updated in the cache table, the acquired information is stored in the personal information storage area 205.
It will be described later along. After the information is stored, the access is performed again when the access time arrives based on the access schedule table (move to step 102). FIG.
9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when an HTML document is added to a personal information storage area according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Step 201) The information acquisition unit 202
The acquired HTML document is analyzed, and all reference objects to be expanded inline are checked. Step 202) The following operation is repeated by the number of reference objects as a result of the check in step 201. First,
The information acquisition unit 202 acquires the entity of the reference object from the information providing device 300.

Step 203) Next, using the URL of the reference object as a key, for example, a search is made in the shared information management table 206 as shown in FIG. 9 to check whether or not this object has already been registered. If registered, the process proceeds to step 204; otherwise, the process proceeds to step 207. Step 204) If the object is registered, the object is stored in the shared information storage area 2
Remove from 07.

Step 205) The object obtained in step 202 and the data are collated, and if they are the same, the process proceeds to step 206;
Shift to 07. Step 206) If the acquired object and the data are the same, the HTML may refer to the object in the shared information storage area 207, and there is no need to store the newly acquired object. In order to record that the number of HTMLs referring to this object has increased, 1 is added to the item of the reference number of the record related to this object in the shared information management table 206.

Step 207) On the other hand, the HTML document also stores the reference information of the object in the shared information storage area 207.
Rewrite to refer to the object stored in. If the object data is not the same in the comparison in step 205,
In the confirmation of the object, the shared information storage area 207
Is not registered in the shared information storage area 20.
7 must be registered. In this case, a new shared file name is given to the acquired object and stored in the shared information storage area 207.

Step 208) Further, a new record for this object is created in the shared information management table 206. Step 209) After these processes, the reference information of the object on the HTML document side is rewritten so as to refer to the object newly stored in the shared information storage area 207.

Step 210) If the processing of the reference object has been completed, the processing shifts to step 211, and if not completed, the processing shifts to step 202, and the processing is performed by the number of objects referenced by this HTML document. Just repeat. Step 211) Finally, the above H in which the reference information is rewritten
An HTML document including the TML is generated, stored in the personal information storage area 205, and the process ends.

Next, a case where the user wants to delete the HTML document stored in the personal information storage area 205 will be described below. FIG. 10 is a flowchart for deleting information in the personal information storage area according to one embodiment of the present invention. The user uses the input unit 101 to delete the HTM to be deleted.
The user inputs the URL of the L document and requests the information deletion unit 204 of the proxy information acquisition device 200 to delete the information. This allows
The proxy information acquisition device 200 performs the following operation.

Step 301) The information deleting unit 204
Receive the URL sent by the user. Step 302) The HTML document indicated by the URL is extracted from the personal storage area 205. Step 303) Included in this HTML document,
From the reference information, the information whose reference destination is in the shared information storage area 207 is extracted.

Step 304) In order to indicate that the number of references to these objects has decreased by 1, 1 is subtracted from the number of references of each corresponding record in the shared information management table 206. Step 305) At this time, the shared information management table 2
If the reference number of 06 becomes 0, the process proceeds to step 306; otherwise, the process proceeds to step 307.

Step 306) When the number of references becomes 0, it is considered that all references to this object have been lost, and the entity of the object stored in the shared information storage area 207 and the shared information management table 206
Delete the record for this object inside. Step 307) If the processing of the reference object has been completed, the process proceeds to Step 308; otherwise, the process proceeds to Step 303.

Step 308) Thereafter, the HTML requested to be deleted stored in the personal information storage area 205
Delete a document. In the above embodiment, the description has been given based on the configuration shown in FIG. 4. However, the functions of the information acquisition unit 202, the loop detection unit 212, the information deletion unit 204, and the like in the proxy information acquisition device 200 are constructed as a program. Proxy information acquisition device 2
The present invention can be easily realized by storing the program in a portable storage medium such as a disk device, a floppy disk, or a CD-ROM connected to the computer 00, and installing the program when the system is executed.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be variously modified and applied within the scope of the claims.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention, various costs to be borne by a user can be suppressed by requesting a system existing on a network to acquire information that is periodically updated. Not only can reduce the access load on the information source, but also contribute to reducing the access load on the information source.

In the proxy information acquisition device, the information storage area can be saved by sharing the overlapping objects. Further, by managing the number of references to the shared objects, it is possible to grasp the timing of deleting unnecessary objects, and it is possible to always manage the optimal information storage area.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a principle configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a shared information management system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a shared information management system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an information acquisition method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an example of request data from a user according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an example of an access schedule table according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows an HT to a personal information storage area according to an embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when an ML document is added.

FIG. 9 is an example of an information management table according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for deleting information in a personal information storage area according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a conventional mode of accessing an information providing apparatus via a network for each user.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 100 user terminal device 101 input unit 102 display unit 103 network interface 200 proxy information acquisition device 201 network interface, transfer unit 202 information acquisition unit, information acquisition unit 203 network interface, access unit 204 information deletion unit, information deletion unit 205 personal information Storage area 206 Shared information management table 207 Shared information storage area 211 Access schedule table 212 Loop detection unit, infinite loop detection unit 213 Cache table 220 Storage unit 221 Update determination unit 222 Duplication condition detection unit 300 Information providing device 301 Network interface 302 Provided information Storage area 400 networks

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A proxy information acquisition method for a user to access and acquire an information source that is updated periodically, instead of a user directly accessing an information source that periodically updates data via a network. Requesting periodic access to a system existing on the network, the system periodically accesses the information source to acquire information, transmits the information to the user, and the system on the user side. A method for acquiring proxy information, comprising: acquiring information from a server and storing the information. 2. The surrogate information acquisition method according to claim 1, wherein a duplicate condition among request conditions from a plurality of users to the system is detected and processing is optimized. 3. The proxy information acquiring method according to claim 1, wherein the information acquired by accessing the information source periodically in the system is saved only when the information has been updated. 4. The proxy information acquiring method according to claim 1, wherein the information acquired from the information source is deleted when the reference source is lost. 5. The proxy information acquiring method according to claim 1, wherein an infinite loop is detected when the information acquired from the information source is transferred. 6. A proxy information acquisition system for accessing and acquiring an information providing apparatus having an information source that is periodically updated by a request from a user, wherein the information providing apparatus updates data periodically. Instead of a user directly accessing via a network, a user terminal that requests periodic access to the information providing device existing on the network and stores the acquired information, Access means for periodically accessing the information providing apparatus based on the request, information obtaining means for obtaining information corresponding to the request from the information providing apparatus, and information for obtaining the information obtained by the information obtaining means to the user. A proxy information acquisition system, comprising: a proxy information acquisition device having a transfer unit that transfers the information to a terminal. 7. The proxy information acquisition system according to claim 6, wherein the proxy information acquisition device includes a duplicate condition detection unit that detects a duplicate request condition from a plurality of user terminals and optimizes processing. . 8. The proxy information acquisition system according to claim 6, wherein the proxy information acquisition device includes an update determination unit that saves information acquired by periodically accessing the information providing device only when the information has been updated. . 9. The proxy information acquisition system according to claim 6, wherein the proxy information acquisition device includes an information deletion unit that deletes information acquired from the information providing device when there is no reference source. 10. The proxy information acquiring system according to claim 6, further comprising an infinite loop detecting means for detecting an infinite loop due to execution of a transfer command when transferring information obtained from said information providing device to said user terminal. 11. A storage medium storing a proxy information acquisition program for allowing a user to access and acquire an information source that is periodically updated, wherein the information source for periodically updating data includes a user. Instead of direct access via a network, an access request process for requesting periodic access to a system existing on the network, and accessing the information source on behalf of the user based on a request by the access request process A proxy access process for transmitting the information obtained by the proxy access process to the user side; and a storage process for storing the information obtained by the information transmission process. A storage medium that stores an acquisition program. 12. The storage medium storing the proxy information acquisition program according to claim 11, further comprising an optimization process for detecting a duplicate request condition from a plurality of users to the system and optimizing the processing. . 13. A storage medium storing a proxy information acquisition program according to claim 11, further comprising an update determination process for storing information obtained by periodically accessing said information source when the information has been updated. 14. The storage medium according to claim 11, further comprising an information erasing process for erasing information obtained from said information source when there is no reference source. 15. The storage medium according to claim 11, further comprising an infinite loop detection process for detecting an infinite loop when transferring information obtained from said information source.