WO2025037419A1 - Information provision device, information collection device, information collection system, information provision method, and information collection method - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is an information provision device in an information collection system having an information collection device and at least one information provision device, the information provision device comprising: a request reception unit that receives a request message transmitted from the information collection device and requesting a report of communication quality; a report interval update unit that acquires information indicating the measured communication quality, and updates a transmission interval of a report message including the information indicating the communication quality according to the communication quality; and an information report unit that periodically transmits the report message to the information collection device at the transmission interval.

Description

Information providing device, information collecting device, information collecting system, information providing method, and information collecting method

The present invention relates to an information providing device, an information collecting device, an information collecting system, an information providing method, and an information collecting method.

In some cases, a server may collect information from a remote device, such as when collecting information indicating communication quality. Conventionally, methods (telemetry) by which a server collects information from a remote device can be broadly divided into request-type telemetry and model-driven telemetry. Request-type telemetry is used, for example, in SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1). Model-driven telemetry is used, for example, in streaming telemetry (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 2).

In model-driven telemetry, there are two types of timing for information collection: periodic reports and event reports. In the case of periodic reports, information is collected periodically at a predetermined cycle. In the case of event reports, information is collected when the information changes. In both periodic reports and event reports, the remote device reports by returning a Report message according to conditions specified in a Subscribe message transmitted from the server. When the information being collected is information that changes frequently, such as communication quality, it is desirable to collect information frequently.

RFC1157, "A Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)," May 1990, [Retrieved August 9, 2023], Internet (URL: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc1157) “Model-Driven Telemetry”, Cisco Systems, Inc., [Retrieved August 9, 2023], Internet (URL: https://www.cisco.com/c/ja_jp/td/docs/dcn/nx-os/nexus3000/103x/programmability/cisco-nexus-3500-series-nx-os-programmability-guide_103x/m_n3500_model_driven_telemetry_9x.pdf)

However, in the case of periodic reporting, the remote device continuously reports to the server at a predetermined cycle, which can result in a larger number of report transmissions than necessary. On the other hand, even in the case of event reporting, when collecting information that changes frequently, such as communication quality, the remote device will constantly report to the server, which can result in a larger number of report transmissions than necessary. For this reason, in the past, even when, for example, network quality was good and frequent report transmissions were not necessary, a larger number of report transmissions than necessary could be transmitted. This posed the problem of wasting bandwidth and increasing the network load.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention aims to provide an information providing device, an information collecting device, an information collecting system, an information providing method, and an information collecting method that can reduce the network load when making periodic reports.

One aspect of the present invention is an information providing device in an information collecting system having an information collecting device and at least one information providing device, the information providing device including: a request receiving unit that receives a request message transmitted from the information collecting device requesting a report of communication quality; a report interval updating unit that acquires information indicating the measured communication quality and updates the transmission interval of a report message including the information indicating the communication quality according to the communication quality; and an information reporting unit that periodically transmits the report message to the information collecting device at the transmission interval.

Another aspect of the present invention is an information collection system having an information collection device and at least one information providing device, the information collection device including a report receiving unit that receives a report message periodically transmitted from the information providing device and that includes information indicating communication quality, a report interval updating unit that determines the transmission interval of the report message according to the communication quality, and a report requesting unit that transmits a request message to the information providing device that includes information indicating the transmission interval of the report message.

Another aspect of the present invention is an information collection system having an information collection device and at least one information providing device, the information collection device comprising a report request unit that transmits a request message requesting a report of communication quality to the information providing device, and a report receiving unit that receives a report message transmitted from the information providing device and including information indicating the communication quality, the information providing device comprising a request receiving unit that receives the request message transmitted from the information collection device, a report interval updating unit that acquires information indicating the measured communication quality and updates the transmission interval of the report message in accordance with the communication quality, and an information reporting unit that periodically transmits the report message to the information collection device at the transmission interval.

Another aspect of the present invention is an information collection system having an information collection device and at least one information providing device, the information collection device comprising a report receiving unit that receives a report message including information indicating communication quality transmitted from the information providing device, a report interval updating unit that determines a transmission interval of the report message according to the communication quality, and a report request unit that transmits a request message including information indicating the transmission interval of the report message to the information providing device, and the information providing device comprises a request receiving unit that receives the request message transmitted from the information collection device, and an information reporting unit that updates the transmission interval of the report message according to information indicating the transmission interval of the report message contained in the request message, obtains information indicating the measured communication quality, and periodically transmits the report message including the information indicating the communication quality to the information collection device at the transmission interval.

Another aspect of the present invention is an information providing method by an information collecting system having an information collecting device and at least one information providing device, the information providing device having a request receiving step in which the information providing device receives a request message transmitted from the information collecting device requesting a report of communication quality, a report interval updating step in which the information providing device acquires information indicating the measured communication quality and updates the transmission interval of a report message including the information indicating the communication quality according to the communication quality, and an information reporting step in which the information providing device periodically transmits the report message to the information collecting device at the transmission interval.

Another aspect of the present invention is an information collection method by an information collection system having an information collection device and at least one information providing device, the information collection method including a report reception step in which the information collection device receives a report message including information indicating communication quality, which is periodically transmitted from the information providing device, a report interval update step in which the information collection device determines a transmission interval of the report message according to the communication quality, and a report request step in which the information collection device transmits a request message including information indicating the transmission interval of the report message to the information providing device.

The present invention makes it possible to reduce network load when making periodic reports.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a conventional information collecting system 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of control of a report interval by the information collection system 1a according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an information collecting system 1a according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of an information collecting system 1a according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of policy information used in the information collecting system 1a according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a relationship between a quality value of communication quality and a report interval in the first embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the information collecting system 1a according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of an information collecting system 1b according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of an information collecting system 1b according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of an information collecting system 1c according to a third embodiment of the present invention. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation of an information collecting system 1c according to a third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of an information collecting system 1d according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation of an information collecting system 1d according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Below, the information providing device, information collecting device, information collecting system, information providing method, and information collecting method of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. For ease of understanding, an example of the configuration of a conventional information collecting system will be described first as a comparison.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a conventional information collection system 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the information collection system 1 includes a server 10 and a remote device 20. The information collection system 1 is a system in which the server 10 collects information from the remote device 20 by model-driven telemetry.

The server 10 is configured to include a report request unit 11 and a report receiving unit 12. The report request unit 11 generates a Subscribe message. The Subscribe message includes information indicating the condition settings for the report from the remote device 20 to the server 10 (hereinafter referred to as "report condition information"). The condition settings here refer to the type of information that the server 10 requests from the remote device 20, the method of reporting, etc. The method of reporting is, for example, a periodic report or an event report. The report request unit 11 transmits the generated Subscribe message to the remote device 20. The report receiving unit 12 receives the Report message transmitted from the remote device 20.

The remote device 20 includes a request receiving unit 21 and an information reporting unit 22. The request receiving unit 21 receives a Subscribe message sent from the server 10. The request receiving unit 21 outputs the report condition information included in the received Subscribe message to the information reporting unit 22. The information reporting unit 22 acquires the report condition information output from the request receiving unit 21. The information reporting unit 22 generates a Report message based on the acquired report condition information. The Report message includes information of a type specified by the report condition information included in the Subscribe message (hereinafter referred to as "report information"). The information reporting unit 22 transmits the generated Report message to the server 10.

By having such a configuration, the conventional information collection system 1 can realize the function of the server 10 collecting information from the remote device 20 using model-driven telemetry.

The following describes embodiments of the present invention. Components that have the same functions in each embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and repeated explanations of those functions may be omitted.

First Embodiment
An information collection system 1a according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The information collection system 1a described below is a system that realizes a function in which a server 10 collects information from a remote device 20a by model-driven telemetry, similar to the conventional information collection system 1 shown in Fig. 1. In the information collection system 1a according to this embodiment, information is transmitted from the remote device 20a to the server 10 by periodic reporting.

In addition to the functions of the conventional information collection system 1 shown in FIG. 1 described above, the information collection system 1a in the first embodiment further includes a report interval update function that automatically determines an appropriate report interval and updates the report interval setting.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of control of the reporting interval by the information collection system 1a in the first embodiment of the present invention. The information collection system 1a in this embodiment adaptively determines the interval of reports from the remote device 20a to the server 10 by using a reporting interval update function. The reporting interval is determined based on information indicating communication quality obtained in the past (hereinafter referred to as "quality information"). The reporting interval may also be determined based on the priority class of the type of traffic flowing, etc.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the information collection system 1a of this embodiment, for example, when the communication quality is high, the report interval is set to a relatively long interval. As a result, Report messages are sent from the remote device 20a to the server 10 at a low frequency. On the other hand, in the information collection system 1a of this embodiment, for example, when the communication quality is low, the report interval is set to a relatively short interval. As a result, Report messages are sent from the remote device 20a to the server 10 at a high frequency.

[Overall configuration of information collection system]
The system configuration of the information collection system 1a in the first embodiment will be described below. Fig. 3 is an overall configuration diagram of the information collection system 1a in the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 3, the information collection system 1a includes one server 10 (information collection device) and multiple remote devices 20a (information provision devices).

The remote device 20a is a device installed at a location far away from the server 10. However, the location at which the remote device 20a is installed does not have to be far away from the server 10. There may be only one remote device 20a. In the following explanation, the configuration of one remote device 20a will be explained, but the other remote devices 20a have the same configuration.

The server 10 communicates with each remote device 20a and collects report information from each remote device 20a. Note that in this embodiment, the report information is quality information (e.g., a quality value) indicating communication quality. Note that the report information does not have to be quality information indicating communication quality, as long as it is information used as an index for communication control, for example, in the server 10 or a device (not shown) connected at a higher level.

The server 10 sends a Subscribe message to each remote device 20a. Each remote device 20a generates a Report message based on the report condition information included in the received Subscribe message. Each remote device 20a reports to the server 10 by sending a Report message including the report information to the server 10.

[Functional configuration of information collection system]
The functional configuration of the information collection system 1a in the first embodiment will be described below. Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the information collection system 1a in the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 4, the information collection system 1a includes a server 10 and a remote device 20a. The information collection system 1a is a system in which the server 10 collects information from the remote device 20a by model-driven telemetry. The remote device 20a periodically reports to the server 10 at a predetermined cycle by periodic reporting.

The server 10 includes a report request unit 11 and a report receiving unit 12. The report request unit 11 generates a Subscribe message. The report request unit 11 transmits the generated Subscribe message to the remote device 20. The report receiving unit 12 receives the Report message transmitted from the remote device 20.

The Subscribe message includes report condition information indicating the condition settings for reporting from the remote device 20 to the server 10. The condition settings here refer to the type of information that the server 10 requests from the remote device 20a, the method of reporting, etc. Furthermore, the report condition information included in the Subscribe message in this embodiment differs from the report condition information included in the Subscribe message in the conventional information collection system 1 shown in FIG. 1 above, and includes policy information used in the report interval update unit 23 described below.

The remote device 20a includes a request receiving unit 21, an information reporting unit 22a, and a report interval updating unit 23. In this way, the remote device 20a in the first embodiment is different in configuration from the remote device 20 in the conventional information collection system 1 shown in FIG. 1 described above in that it further includes the report interval updating unit 23.

The request receiving unit 21 receives a Subscribe message sent from the server 10. The request receiving unit 21 outputs the report condition information included in the received Subscribe message to the report interval update unit 23.

The reporting interval update unit 23 acquires the reporting condition information output from the request receiving unit 21. The reporting interval update unit 23 also acquires quality information indicating communication quality output from the information reporting unit 22a described below. The reporting interval update unit 23 adaptively determines the reporting interval based on the policy information included in the reporting condition information acquired from the request receiving unit 21 and the quality information acquired from the information reporting unit 22a. The reporting interval update unit 23 outputs information indicating the determined reporting interval and the reporting condition information to the information reporting unit 22a.

The information reporting unit 22a acquires information indicating the reporting interval and the reporting condition information output from the reporting interval updating unit 23. The information reporting unit 22a generates a Report message based on the acquired reporting condition information. The Report message includes the type of reporting information specified by the reporting condition information included in the Subscribe message. The information reporting unit 22a transmits the generated Report message to the server 10 at the reporting interval (transmission interval) determined by the reporting interval updating unit 23. The information reporting unit 22a also outputs quality information to the reporting interval updating unit 23.

In this embodiment, policy information is information based on past quality information for determining future reporting intervals. For example, if the communication quality indicated by the quality information is poor, there is a high possibility that settings will be changed on the server 10 side, and therefore it is necessary to improve the real-time nature of reporting. Therefore, if the communication quality indicated by the quality information is poor, the reporting interval update unit 23 sets the reporting interval to be relatively short.

On the other hand, for example, if the communication quality indicated by the quality information is good, the server 10 is unlikely to change the settings. Therefore, if the communication quality indicated by the quality information is good, the report interval update unit 23 sets the report interval to a relatively long value. This reduces bandwidth consumption.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of policy information used in the information collection system 1a in the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, for example, a relatively short reporting interval value is associated with a situation in which the quality value representing the communication quality based on the quality information is less than a predetermined threshold. Also, for example, a relatively long reporting interval value is associated with a situation in which the quality value representing the communication quality based on the quality information is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between the quality value of communication quality and the reporting interval in the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, the reporting interval is set to be shorter as the quality value is lower, and longer as the quality value is higher. However, as shown in FIG. 6, for example, the length of the reporting interval may be set so that it does not become shorter than a certain length when the quality value becomes smaller than a certain value, and so that it does not become longer than a certain length when the quality value becomes larger than a certain value. This makes it possible to prevent extremely short and long reporting intervals from being set.

[Operation of information gathering system]
An example of the operation of the information collecting system 1a in the first embodiment will be described below. Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the information collecting system 1a in the first embodiment of the present invention.

The report request unit 11 of the server 10 generates a Subscribe message. The report request unit 11 transmits the generated Subscribe message to the remote device 20 (step S001). The request receiving unit 21 of the remote device 20a receives the Subscribe message transmitted from the server 10 (step S002). The request receiving unit 21 outputs the report condition information contained in the received Subscribe message to the report interval update unit 23.

The reporting interval update unit 23 acquires the reporting condition information output from the request receiving unit 21. The reporting interval update unit 23 also acquires quality information indicating the communication quality output from the information reporting unit 22a described below (step S003). The reporting interval update unit 23 adaptively determines the reporting interval based on the policy information included in the reporting condition information acquired from the request receiving unit 21 and the quality information acquired from the information reporting unit 22a (step S004). The reporting interval update unit 23 outputs information indicating the determined reporting interval and the reporting condition information to the information reporting unit 22a.

The information reporting unit 22a acquires the information indicating the reporting interval and the reporting condition information output from the reporting interval updating unit 23. The information reporting unit 22a updates the reporting interval setting based on the acquired information (step S005). The information reporting unit 22a generates a Report message including the reporting information based on the acquired reporting condition information (step S006). The information reporting unit 22a transmits the generated Report message to the server 10 at the updated reporting interval (transmission interval) (step S007). The report receiving unit 12 of the server 10 receives the Report message transmitted from the remote device 20a (step S007).

This completes the operation of information collection system 1a from the transmission of the Subscribe message until the transmission of the first Report message.

The past quality information used in the policy information may be information based on the most recent communication quality, or may be statistical information based on communication quality at multiple points in the past.

In addition, instead of or in addition to the quality information, the reporting interval may be determined based on the type of traffic flowing (e.g., priority class). Specifically, for example, the reporting interval update unit 23 may set the reporting interval to be relatively short when traffic of a high priority class is flowing, and set the reporting interval to be relatively long when traffic of a low priority class is flowing. In this case, the information reporting unit 22a outputs information indicating the traffic type (or information indicating the priority class) to the reporting interval update unit 23 instead of the quality information.

When the reporting interval is updated, the remote device 20a may output information indicating that the update has been performed as an internal log. When the reporting interval is updated, the remote device 20a may notify the operator by turning on a notification lamp (not shown).

In addition, in a configuration in which the reporting interval update unit 23 is provided in the remote device 20a, as in the information collection system 1a in this embodiment (i.e., in a configuration in which the reporting interval is determined on the remote device 20a side), information indicating the determination criteria for determining the reporting interval may be transmitted in advance from the server 10 to each remote device 20a, for example, by using a Subscribe message.

By having such a configuration, the information collection system 1a in the first embodiment can realize the function of the server 10 collecting information from the remote device 20a using a model-driven information collection method. Furthermore, by having such a configuration, the information collection system 1a can reduce the increase in network load by setting the transmission frequency of report messages low, for example, when the network quality is good and frequent report transmission is not necessary. Furthermore, by having such a configuration, the information collection system 1a can increase the transmission frequency of report messages, for example, when the network quality fluctuates frequently and frequent report transmission is necessary, thereby improving the real-time nature of the collection of quality information.

Second Embodiment
An information collection system 1b according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The information collection system 1b described below is a system that realizes a function in which a server 10b collects information from a remote device 20 by model-driven telemetry, similar to the conventional information collection system 1 shown in Fig. 1 described above. In the information collection system 1b according to this embodiment, information is transmitted from the remote device 20 to the server 10b by periodic reporting.

In the second embodiment, the information collection system 1b further includes a reporting interval update function that automatically determines an appropriate reporting interval and updates the reporting interval setting, in comparison with the conventional information collection system 1 shown in FIG. 1 described above.

In addition, in the information collection system 1a in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the remote device 20a is provided with a report interval update unit, whereas in the information collection system 1b in the second embodiment described below, the server 10b is provided with a report interval update unit (i.e., the report interval is determined on the server 10b side).

The overall configuration of the information collection system 1b in the second embodiment is similar to the overall configuration of the information collection system 1a in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3 above, so a description thereof will be omitted.

[Functional configuration of information collection system]
The functional configuration of the information collection system 1b in the second embodiment will be described below. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the information collection system 1b in the second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 8, the information collection system 1b includes a server 10b (information collection device) and a remote device 20 (information providing device). The information collection system 1b is a system in which the server 10b collects information from the remote device 20 by model-driven telemetry. The server 10b requests the remote device 20 to periodically report at a predetermined cycle by periodic reporting.

Server 10b includes a report request unit 11b, a report receiving unit 12b, and a report interval updating unit 13. Report request unit 11b generates a Subscribe message. Report request unit 11b transmits the generated Subscribe message to remote device 20. Report receiving unit 12b receives a Report message transmitted from remote device 20. In addition, report receiving unit 12b outputs quality information indicating communication quality contained in the Report message to report interval updating unit 13.

The report interval update unit 13 acquires the quality information output from the report receiving unit 12b. The report interval update unit 13 also acquires policy information stored in a storage medium (not shown) provided in the server 10b, for example. The report interval update unit 13 adaptively determines the report interval based on the acquired policy information and the quality information acquired from the report receiving unit 12b. The report interval update unit 13 outputs information indicating the determined report interval to the report request unit 11b.

As mentioned above, policy information is information based on past quality information for determining future reporting intervals. For example, if the communication quality indicated by the quality information is poor, there is a high possibility that settings will be changed on the server 10b side, and therefore it is necessary to improve the real-time nature of reporting. Therefore, if the communication quality indicated by the quality information is poor, the reporting interval update unit 13 sets the reporting interval to be relatively short.

On the other hand, for example, if the communication quality indicated by the quality information is good, the server 10b is unlikely to change the settings. Therefore, if the communication quality indicated by the quality information is good, the report interval update unit 13 sets the report interval to a relatively long value. This reduces bandwidth consumption.

The report request unit 11b acquires information indicating the reporting interval output from the report interval update unit 13. If the reporting interval based on the acquired information differs from the current reporting interval (i.e., if it is necessary to update the reporting interval), the report request unit 11b generates a new Subscribe message and transmits it to the remote device 20, thereby requesting the remote device 20 to change the reporting interval.

The Subscribe message includes report condition information indicating the condition settings for reporting from the remote device 20 to the server 10b. The condition settings here refer to the type of information that the server 10b requests from the remote device 20, the method of reporting, etc. Also, as described above, in the information collection system 1b of the second embodiment, the Subscribe message may include information indicating the updated reporting interval in addition to the report condition information.

The remote device 20 includes a request receiving unit 21 and an information reporting unit 22. The request receiving unit 21 receives a Subscribe message sent from the server 10. The request receiving unit 21 outputs the reporting condition information included in the received Subscribe message to the information reporting unit 22. Furthermore, if the received Subscribe message includes information indicating the reporting interval, the request receiving unit 21 outputs the information indicating the reporting interval to the information reporting unit 22.

The information reporting unit 22 acquires the reporting condition information output from the request receiving unit 21. The information reporting unit 22 generates a Report message based on the acquired reporting condition information. The Report message includes the type of reporting information specified by the reporting condition information included in the Subscribe message.

In addition, when the information reporting unit 22 acquires information indicating the reporting interval from the request receiving unit 21, it updates the setting of the reporting interval. The information reporting unit 22 transmits the generated Report message to the server 10b at the determined reporting interval (i.e., at the updated reporting interval if the reporting interval has been updated).

[Operation of information gathering system]
An example of the operation of the information collecting system 1b in the second embodiment will be described below. Fig. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the information collecting system 1b in the second embodiment of the present invention.

The report receiving unit 12b of server 10b outputs quality information indicating the communication quality, which is included in the received Report message, to the report interval updating unit 13. The report interval updating unit 13 acquires the quality information output from the report receiving unit 12b. The report interval updating unit 13 also acquires policy information stored, for example, in a storage medium (not shown) provided in server 10b (step S101). The report interval updating unit 13 adaptively determines the report interval based on the acquired policy information and the quality information acquired from the report receiving unit 12b (step S102). The report interval updating unit 13 outputs information indicating the determined report interval to the report requesting unit 11b.

The report request unit 11b acquires information indicating the reporting interval output from the report interval update unit 13. If the reporting interval based on the acquired information is different from the current reporting interval (i.e., if it is necessary to update the reporting interval), the report request unit 11b generates a new Subscribe message and transmits the generated Subscribe message to the remote device 20 (step S103).

The request receiving unit 21 of the remote device 20 receives the Subscribe message sent from the server 10b (step S104). The request receiving unit 21 outputs the report condition information and the information indicating the report interval contained in the received Subscribe message to the information reporting unit 22. The information reporting unit 22 acquires the report condition information and the information indicating the report interval output from the request receiving unit 21.

The information reporting unit 22 generates a Report message based on the acquired reporting condition information (step S105). The Report message includes the type of reporting information specified by the reporting condition information included in the Subscribe message. The information reporting unit 22 also updates the reporting interval setting based on the acquired information indicating the reporting interval (step S106). The information reporting unit 22 transmits the generated Report message to the server 10b at the updated reporting interval (step S107). The report receiving unit 12b of the server 10b receives the Report message transmitted from the remote device 20.

This completes the operation of information collection system 1b from when quality information is acquired until the first Report message is transmitted.

As in the first embodiment described above, the past quality information used in the policy information may be information based on the most recent communication quality, or may be statistical information based on communication quality at multiple points in the past.

As in the first embodiment described above, the reporting interval may be determined based on the type of traffic flowing (e.g., priority class) instead of or in addition to the quality information. Specifically, for example, the reporting interval update unit 13 may set the reporting interval to be relatively short when traffic of a high priority class is flowing, and set the reporting interval to be relatively long when traffic of a low priority class is flowing. In this case, the report receiving unit 12b outputs information indicating the traffic type (or information indicating the priority class) to the reporting interval update unit 13 instead of the quality information.

When the reporting interval is updated, the server 10b may output information indicating that the update has been performed as an internal log. When the reporting interval is updated, the server 10b may notify the operator by turning on a notification lamp (not shown).

In addition, in the information collection system 1b of this embodiment, the reporting interval update unit 13 is provided in the server 10b (i.e., the reporting interval is determined on the server 10b side), so each time the reporting interval is updated, the server 10b uses a Subscribe message to transmit information indicating the updated reporting interval to each remote device 20.

With such a configuration, the information collection system 1b in the second embodiment can realize the function of the server 10b collecting information from the remote device 20 using a model-driven information collection method. Furthermore, with such a configuration, the information collection system 1b can reduce the increase in network load by setting the transmission frequency of Report messages low, for example, when the network quality is good and frequent Report transmission is not necessary. Furthermore, with such a configuration, the information collection system 1b can increase the transmission frequency of Report messages, for example, when the network quality fluctuates frequently and frequent Report transmission is necessary, thereby improving the real-time nature of the collection of quality information.

Third Embodiment
An information collection system 1c according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The information collection system 1c described below is a system that realizes a function in which a server 10c collects information from a remote device 20 by model-driven telemetry, similar to the conventional information collection system 1 shown in Fig. 1 described above. In the information collection system 1c according to this embodiment, information is transmitted from the remote device 20 to the server 10c by periodic reporting.

The overall configuration of the information collection system 1c in the third embodiment is similar to the overall configuration of the information collection system 1a in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3 above, so a description thereof will be omitted.

In the information collection system 1b in the second embodiment described above, the server 10b is configured to determine the reporting interval for each remote device 20 based on the quality information acquired from each remote device 20. That is, in the information collection system 1b in the second embodiment, the reporting interval is determined individually for each remote device 20. In contrast, in the information collection system 1c in the third embodiment described below, the multiple remote devices 20 are grouped, and the server 10c is configured to determine the reporting interval for each group. That is, the same reporting interval is set for the remote devices 20 that belong to the same group.

[Functional configuration of information collection system]
The functional configuration of the information collection system 1c in the third embodiment will be described below. Fig. 10 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the information collection system 1c in the third embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 10, the information collection system 1c includes a server 10c (information collection device) and a plurality of remote devices 20 (information provision devices).

The multiple remote devices 20 are grouped in advance, and remote device 20-1 and remote device 20-2 are remote devices 20 that belong to the same group.

Note that in order to make the drawing easier to understand, FIG. 10 illustrates only two remote devices 20, remote device 20-1 and remote device 20-2, but it is assumed that the number of remote devices 20 is greater. For example, there may be 30 remote devices 20 connected to server 10c, and the 30 remote devices 20 are grouped into three groups of 10 devices each.

The information collection system 1c is a system in which the server 10c collects information from the remote device 20 using model-driven telemetry. The server 10c requests the remote device 20 to report periodically at a specified interval using periodic reporting.

Server 10c includes report request units 11c-1 and 11c-2, report receiving units 12c-1 and 12c-2, and a report interval update unit 13c.

The report request unit 11c-1 generates a Subscribe message and transmits the generated Subscribe message to the remote device 20-1. The report request unit 11c-2 generates a Subscribe message and transmits the generated Subscribe message to the remote device 20-2.

The report receiving unit 12c-1 receives a Report message sent from the remote device 20-1. The report receiving unit 12c-2 receives a Report message sent from the remote device 20-2. The report receiving units 12c-1 and 12c-2 output quality information indicating the communication quality contained in the Report message to the report interval update unit 13c.

The report interval update unit 13c acquires the quality information output from the report receiving unit 12c-1 and the quality information output from the report receiving unit 12c-2. The report interval update unit 13c also acquires policy information stored in a storage medium (not shown) provided in the server 10c, for example. The report interval update unit 13 adaptively determines the report interval based on the acquired policy information and the quality information output from the report receiving unit 12c-1 and the report receiving unit 12c-2, respectively. The report interval update unit 13c outputs information indicating the determined report interval to the report request unit 11c-1 and the report request unit 11c-2, respectively.

In other words, in the information collection system 1c in the third embodiment, the quality information collected from remote device 20c-1 and remote device 20c-2 belonging to the same group is used to determine a reporting interval that is commonly applied to all remote devices 20 in the group. Note that, although the present embodiment is configured as described above, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. The quality information used to determine the reporting interval may be one piece of quality information collected from any one remote device 20, or may be multiple pieces of quality information collected from any part of the remote devices 20 in the group.

As mentioned above, policy information is information based on past quality information for determining future reporting intervals. For example, if the communication quality indicated by the quality information is poor, there is a high possibility that settings will be changed on the server 10c side, and therefore it is necessary to improve the real-time nature of reporting. Therefore, if the communication quality indicated by the quality information is poor, the reporting interval update unit 13c sets the reporting interval to be relatively short.

On the other hand, for example, if the communication quality indicated by the quality information is good, the server 10c is unlikely to change the settings. Therefore, if the communication quality indicated by the quality information is good, the report interval update unit 13c sets the report interval to a relatively long value. This reduces bandwidth consumption.

The report request units 11c-1 and 11c-2 acquire information indicating the reporting interval output from the report interval update unit 13c. If the reporting interval based on the acquired information differs from the current reporting interval (i.e., if the reporting interval needs to be updated), the report request unit 11c-1 generates a new Subscribe message and sends it to the remote device 20-1, thereby requesting the remote device 20-1 to change the reporting interval. Also, if the reporting interval based on the acquired information differs from the current reporting interval (i.e., if the reporting interval needs to be updated), the report request unit 11c-2 generates a new Subscribe message and sends it to the remote device 20-2, thereby requesting the remote device 20-2 to change the reporting interval.

The Subscribe message includes report condition information indicating the condition settings for reporting from the remote device 20 to the server 10c. The condition settings here refer to the type of information that the server 10c requests from the remote device 20, the method of reporting, and the like. Also, as described above, in the information collection system 1c of the third embodiment, the Subscribe message may include information indicating the updated reporting interval in addition to the report condition information.

Remote device 20-1 and remote device 20-2 are configured to include a request receiving unit 21 and an information reporting unit 22. The request receiving unit 21 receives a Subscribe message transmitted from server 10c. The request receiving unit 21 outputs the reporting condition information included in the received Subscribe message to the information reporting unit 22. Furthermore, if the received Subscribe message includes information indicating the reporting interval, the request receiving unit 21 outputs the information indicating the reporting interval to the information reporting unit 22.

The information reporting unit 22 acquires the reporting condition information output from the request receiving unit 21. The information reporting unit 22 generates a Report message based on the acquired reporting condition information. The Report message includes the type of reporting information specified by the reporting condition information included in the Subscribe message.

In addition, when the information reporting unit 22 acquires information indicating the reporting interval from the request receiving unit 21, it updates the setting of the reporting interval. The information reporting unit 22 transmits the generated Report message to the server 10c at the determined reporting interval (transmission interval).

[Operation of information gathering system]
An example of the operation of the information collecting system 1c in the third embodiment will be described below. Fig. 11 is a flowchart showing the operation of the information collecting system 1c in the third embodiment of the present invention.

The report receiving units 12c-1 and 12c-2 of the server 10c each output quality information indicating the communication quality contained in the received Report message to the report interval update unit 13c. The report interval update unit 13c acquires the quality information output from the report receiving units 12c-1 and 12c-2. In addition, the report interval update unit 13c acquires policy information stored, for example, in a storage medium (not shown) provided in the server 10c (step S201).

The report interval update unit 13c adaptively determines the report interval based on the acquired policy information and the quality information acquired from the report receiving unit 12c-1 and the report receiving unit 12c-2 (step S202). The report interval update unit 13c outputs information indicating the determined report interval to the report request unit 11c-1 and the report request unit 11c-2. The report request unit 11c-1 and the report request unit 11c-2 each acquire the information indicating the report interval output from the report interval update unit 13c.

If the report interval based on the acquired information differs from the current report interval (i.e., if the report interval needs to be updated), the report request unit 11c-1 generates a new Subscribe message and transmits it to the remote device 20-1 (step S203).

The request receiving unit 21 of the remote device 20-1 receives the Subscribe message sent from the server 10c (step S204). The request receiving unit 21 outputs the report condition information and information indicating the report interval contained in the received Subscribe message to the information reporting unit 22. The information reporting unit 22 acquires the report condition information and information indicating the report interval output from the request receiving unit 21.

The information reporting unit 22 generates a Report message based on the acquired reporting condition information (step S205). The Report message includes the type of reporting information specified by the reporting condition information included in the Subscribe message. The information reporting unit 22 also updates the report interval setting based on the acquired information indicating the report interval (step S206). The information reporting unit 22 transmits the generated Report message to the server 10c at the updated report interval (transmission interval) (step S207). The report receiving unit 12c-1 of the server 10c receives the Report message transmitted from the remote device 20-1 (step S208).

On the other hand, if the reporting interval based on the acquired information is different from the current reporting interval (i.e., if the reporting interval needs to be updated), the report request unit 11c-2 generates a new Subscribe message and transmits it to the remote device 20-2 (step S209).

The request receiving unit 21 of the remote device 20-2 receives the Subscribe message sent from the server 10c (step S210). The request receiving unit 21 outputs the report condition information and information indicating the report interval contained in the received Subscribe message to the information reporting unit 22. The information reporting unit 22 acquires the report condition information and information indicating the report interval output from the request receiving unit 21.

The information reporting unit 22 generates a Report message based on the acquired reporting condition information (step S211). The Report message includes the type of reporting information specified by the reporting condition information included in the Subscribe message. The information reporting unit 22 also updates the reporting interval setting based on the acquired information indicating the reporting interval (step S212). The information reporting unit 22 transmits the generated Report message to the server 10c at the updated reporting interval (transmission interval) (step S213). The report receiving unit 12c-2 of the server 10c receives the Report message transmitted from the remote device 20-2 (step S214).

This completes the operation of the information collection system 1c from the time when the quality information is acquired from each remote device 20 until the first Report message is transmitted.

As in the first embodiment described above, the past quality information used in the policy information may be information based on the most recent communication quality, or may be statistical information based on communication quality at multiple points in the past.

As in the first embodiment described above, the report interval may be determined based on the type of traffic flowing (e.g., priority class) instead of or in addition to the quality information. Specifically, for example, the report interval update unit 13c may set the report interval to be relatively short when traffic of a high priority class is flowing, and set the report interval to be relatively long when traffic of a low priority class is flowing. In this case, the report receiver 12c-1 and the report receiver 12c-2 output information indicating the traffic type (or information indicating the priority class) to the report interval update unit 13c instead of quality information.

When the reporting interval is updated, the server 10c may output information indicating that the update has been performed as an internal log. When the reporting interval is updated, the server 10c may notify the operator by turning on a notification lamp (not shown).

In the information collection system 1c of this embodiment, the report interval update unit 13c is provided in the server 10c (i.e., the report interval is determined on the server 10c side), so each time the report interval is updated, the server 10c uses a Subscribe message to transmit information indicating the updated report interval to the remote devices 20-1 and 20-2.

With such a configuration, the information collection system 1c in the third embodiment can realize the function of the server 10c collecting information from the remote device 20 using a model-driven information collection method. Furthermore, with such a configuration, the information collection system 1c can reduce the increase in network load by setting the transmission frequency of report messages low, for example, when the network quality is good and frequent report transmission is not necessary. Furthermore, with such a configuration, the information collection system 1c can increase the transmission frequency of report messages, for example, when the network quality fluctuates frequently and frequent report transmission is necessary, thereby improving the real-time nature of the collection of quality information.

Furthermore, by having such a configuration, the information collection system 1c in the third embodiment does not control the report interval for each remote device 20 individually, but controls the report interval for each group of multiple remote devices 20 collectively, thereby reducing the processing load related to the control of the report interval.

Fourth Embodiment
An information collection system 1d according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The information collection system 1d described below is a system that realizes a function in which a server 10d collects information from a remote device 20 by model-driven telemetry, similar to the conventional information collection system 1 shown in Fig. 1 described above. In the information collection system 1d according to this embodiment, information is transmitted from the remote device 20 to the server 10d by periodic reporting.

The information collection system 1d in the fourth embodiment, compared to the conventional information collection system 1 shown in FIG. 1 above, further includes a report interval update function that automatically determines an appropriate report interval and updates the report interval setting.

In addition, the information collection system 1d in the fourth embodiment further includes an analysis and control function that periodically performs quality evaluation of the resources being used and (if necessary) determines the switching destination using the collected quality information.

The overall configuration of the information collection system 1d in the fourth embodiment is similar to the overall configuration of the information collection system 1a in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3 above, so a description thereof will be omitted.

[Functional configuration of information collection system]
The functional configuration of the information collection system 1d in the fourth embodiment will be described below. Fig. 12 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the information collection system 1d in the fourth embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 12, the information collection system 1d includes a server 10d (information collection device) and a remote device 20 (information providing device). The information collection system 1d is a system in which the server 10d collects information from the remote device 20 by model-driven telemetry. The server 10d requests the remote device 20 to periodically report at a predetermined period by periodic reporting.

The server 10d includes a report request unit 11d, a report receiving unit 12d, a report interval update unit 13d, and an analysis and control unit 14. The report request unit 11d generates a Subscribe message and transmits it to the remote device 20. The report receiving unit 12d receives a Report message transmitted from the remote device 20. In addition, the report receiving unit 12d outputs quality information indicating the communication quality to the report interval update unit 13d and the analysis and control unit 14.

The report interval update unit 13d acquires the quality information output from the report receiving unit 12d. The report interval update unit 13d also acquires policy information stored in a storage medium (not shown) provided in the server 10b, for example. The report interval update unit 13d adaptively determines the report interval based on the acquired policy information and the quality information acquired from the report receiving unit 12d. The report interval update unit 13d outputs information indicating the determined report interval to the report request unit 11d and the analysis and control unit 14.

As mentioned above, policy information is information based on past quality information for determining future reporting intervals. For example, if the communication quality indicated by the quality information is poor, there is a high possibility that settings will be changed on the server 10d side, and therefore it is necessary to improve the real-time nature of reporting. Therefore, if the communication quality indicated by the quality information is poor, the reporting interval update unit 13d sets the reporting interval to be relatively short.

On the other hand, for example, if the communication quality indicated by the quality information is good, the server 10d is unlikely to change the settings. Therefore, if the communication quality indicated by the quality information is good, the report interval update unit 13d sets the report interval to a relatively long value. This reduces bandwidth consumption.

The analysis and control unit 14 acquires the quality information output from the report receiving unit 12d. The analysis and control unit 14 also acquires information indicating the report interval output from the report interval updating unit 13d. Using the acquired quality information, the analysis and control unit 14 periodically executes an analysis and control process that evaluates the quality of the resources to be used and (if necessary) determines the switching destination. The analysis and control unit 14 aligns the execution interval of this process to the report interval based on the information acquired from the report interval updating unit 13d.

The report interval update unit 13d may measure in advance the RTT (Round Trip Time) from when a Subscribe message instructing the remote device 20 to update the report interval to when the update of the report interval of the Report message containing the quality information is completed, and output the measured RTT value to the analysis and control unit 14. This allows the analysis and control unit 14 to synchronize the update timing of the report interval of the Report message and the update timing of the execution interval of the analysis and control process by delaying the application of the updated report interval by the RTT value.

The report request unit 11d acquires information indicating the report interval output from the report interval update unit 13d. If the report interval based on the acquired information differs from the current report interval (i.e., if the report interval needs to be updated), the report request unit 11d generates a new Subscribe message and transmits it to the remote device 20, thereby requesting the remote device 20 to change the report interval.

The Subscribe message includes report condition information indicating the condition settings for reporting from the remote device 20 to the server 10d. The condition settings here refer to the type of information that the server 10d requests from the remote device 20, the method of reporting, and the like. As described above, in the information collection system 1d of the fourth embodiment, the Subscribe message may include information indicating the updated reporting interval in addition to the report condition information.

The remote device 20 includes a request receiving unit 21 and an information reporting unit 22. The request receiving unit 21 receives a Subscribe message sent from the server 10d. The request receiving unit 21 outputs the reporting condition information included in the received Subscribe message to the information reporting unit 22. In addition, if the received Subscribe message includes information indicating the reporting interval, the request receiving unit 21 outputs the information indicating the reporting interval to the information reporting unit 22.

The information reporting unit 22 acquires the reporting condition information output from the request receiving unit 21. The information reporting unit 22 generates a Report message based on the acquired reporting condition information. The Report message includes the type of reporting information specified by the reporting condition information included in the Subscribe message.

In addition, when the information reporting unit 22 acquires information indicating the reporting interval from the request receiving unit 21, it updates the setting of the reporting interval. The information reporting unit 22 transmits the generated Report message to the server 10d at the determined reporting interval (transmission interval).

[Operation of information gathering system]
An example of the operation of the information collecting system 1d in the fourth embodiment will be described below. Fig. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation of the information collecting system 1d in the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

The report receiving unit 12d of the server 10d outputs quality information indicating the communication quality contained in the received Report message to the report interval update unit 13 and the analysis and control unit 14. The report interval update unit 13d acquires the quality information output from the report receiving unit 12d. The report interval update unit 13d also acquires policy information stored, for example, in a storage medium (not shown) provided in the server 10d (step S301). The report interval update unit 13d adaptively determines the report interval based on the acquired policy information and the quality information acquired from the report receiving unit 12d (step S302). The report interval update unit 13d outputs information indicating the determined report interval to the report request unit 11 and the analysis and control unit 14.

The analysis and control unit 14 acquires the quality information output from the report receiving unit 12d. The analysis and control unit 14 also acquires information indicating the report interval output from the report interval updating unit 13d. Using the acquired quality information, the analysis and control unit 14 periodically executes an analysis and control process that evaluates the quality of the resources to be used and (if necessary) determines the switching destination (step S303). The analysis and control unit 14 aligns the execution interval of this process to the report interval acquired from the report interval updating unit 13d.

The report request unit 11d acquires information indicating the reporting interval output from the report interval update unit 13d. If the reporting interval based on the acquired information differs from the current reporting interval (i.e., if it is necessary to update the reporting interval), the report request unit 11d generates a new Subscribe message and transmits it to the remote device 20 (step S304).

The request receiving unit 21 of the remote device 20 receives the Subscribe message sent from the server 10d (step S305). The request receiving unit 21 outputs the reporting condition information and the information indicating the reporting interval contained in the received Subscribe message to the information reporting unit 22. The information reporting unit 22 acquires the reporting condition information and the information indicating the reporting interval output from the request receiving unit 21.

The information reporting unit 22 generates a Report message based on the acquired reporting condition information (step S306). The Report message includes the type of reporting information specified by the reporting condition information included in the Subscribe message. The information reporting unit 22 also updates the report interval setting based on the acquired information indicating the report interval (step S307). The information reporting unit 22 transmits the generated Report message to the server 10d at the updated report interval (transmission interval) (step S308). The report receiving unit 12d of the server 10d receives the Report message transmitted from the remote device 20 (step S309).

This completes the operation of the information collection system 1d from when the quality information is acquired until the first Report message is transmitted.

As in the first embodiment described above, the past quality information used in the policy information may be information based on the most recent communication quality, or may be statistical information based on communication quality at multiple points in the past.

As in the first embodiment described above, the report interval may be determined based on the type of traffic flowing (e.g., priority class) instead of or in addition to the quality information. Specifically, for example, the report interval update unit 13d may set the report interval to be relatively short when traffic of a high priority class is flowing, and set the report interval to be relatively long when traffic of a low priority class is flowing. In this case, the report receiving unit 12d outputs information indicating the traffic type (or information indicating the priority class) to the report interval update unit 13d instead of the quality information.

When the reporting interval is updated, the server 10d may output information indicating that the update has been performed as an internal log. When the reporting interval is updated, the server 10d may notify the operator by turning on a notification lamp (not shown).

In the information collection system 1d of this embodiment, the reporting interval update unit 13d is provided in the server 10d (i.e., the reporting interval is determined on the server 10d side), so each time the reporting interval is updated, the server 10d uses a Subscribe message to transmit information indicating the updated reporting interval to each remote device 20.

By being provided with such a configuration, the information collection system 1d in the fourth embodiment can realize a function in which the server 10d collects information from the remote device 20 using a model-driven information collection method. Furthermore, by being provided with such a configuration, the information collection system 1d can reduce an increase in network load by setting the transmission frequency of report messages low, for example, when the network quality is good and frequent report transmission is not necessary. Furthermore, by being provided with such a configuration, the information collection system 1d can increase the transmission frequency of report messages, for example, when the network quality fluctuates frequently and frequent report transmission is necessary, thereby improving the real-time nature of the collection of quality information.

Furthermore, by being provided with such a configuration, the information collection system 1d in the fourth embodiment can periodically execute a process of evaluating the quality of the resources to be used and (if necessary) determining the switching destination using the collected quality information. Furthermore, the information collection system 1d can execute a process of evaluating the quality of the resources to be used and (if necessary) determining the switching destination in accordance with the timing of the periodic collection of information from the remote device 20.

According to the above-described embodiment, the information collection system has an information collection device and at least one information providing device. For example, the information collection system is information collection system 1a in the embodiment, the information collection device is server 10 in the embodiment, and the information providing device is remote device 20a in the embodiment. The information collection device includes a report request unit and a report receiving unit. For example, the report request unit is report request unit 11 in the embodiment, and the report receiving unit is report receiving unit 12 in the embodiment. The report request unit transmits a request message requesting a report of communication quality to the information providing device. For example, the request message is a Subscribe message in the embodiment. The report receiving unit receives a report message including information indicating the communication quality transmitted from the information providing device. For example, the report message is a Reprt message in the embodiment. The information providing device includes a request receiving unit, a report interval update unit, and an information reporting unit. For example, the request receiving unit is the request receiving unit 21 in the embodiment, the report interval updating unit is the report interval updating unit 23 in the embodiment, and the information reporting unit is the information reporting unit 22a in the embodiment. The request receiving unit receives a request message transmitted from the information collecting device. The report interval updating unit acquires information indicating the measured communication quality and updates the transmission interval of the report message according to the communication quality. For example, the information indicating the communication quality is quality information in the embodiment (e.g., a quality value of the communication quality). The information reporting unit periodically transmits the report message to the information collecting device at the above transmission interval.

Furthermore, according to the above-described embodiment, the information collection system has an information collection device and at least one information providing device. For example, the information collection system is information collection system 1b to 1d in the embodiment, the information collection device is server 10b to server 10d in the embodiment, and the information providing device is remote device 20 in the embodiment. The information collection device includes a report receiving unit, a report interval updating unit, and a report requesting unit. For example, the report receiving unit is report receiving unit 12b to 12d in the embodiment, the report interval updating unit is report interval updating unit 13, 13c, and 13d in the embodiment, and the report requesting unit is 11b to 11d in the embodiment. The report receiving unit receives a report message including information indicating communication quality transmitted from the information providing device. For example, the information indicating communication quality is quality information in the embodiment (for example, a quality value of communication quality), and the report message is a Reprt message in the embodiment. The report interval updating unit determines the transmission interval of the report message according to the communication quality. The report request unit transmits a request message including information indicating the transmission interval of the report message to the information providing device. For example, the request message is a Subscribe message in the embodiment. The information providing device includes a request receiving unit and an information reporting unit. For example, the request receiving unit is the request receiving unit 21 in the embodiment, and the information reporting unit is the information reporting unit 22 in the embodiment. The request receiving unit receives the request message transmitted from the information collecting device. The information reporting unit updates the transmission interval of the report message according to information indicating the transmission interval of the report message included in the request message, obtains information indicating the measured communication quality, and periodically transmits a report message including the information indicating the communication quality to the information collecting device at the above transmission interval. For example, the information indicating the communication quality is quality information in the embodiment (for example, a quality value of the communication quality).

In addition, in the above information collection system, the report interval update unit may set the transmission interval to a relatively long interval when the communication quality is relatively good, and set the transmission interval to a relatively short interval when the communication quality is relatively poor.

The information collection systems 1a to 1d in the above-mentioned embodiments may be realized in part or in whole by a computer. In this case, a program for realizing this function may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on the recording medium may be read into a computer system and executed to realize the function. Note that the term "computer system" here includes hardware such as an OS and peripheral devices. Furthermore, the term "computer-readable recording medium" refers to portable media such as flexible disks, optical magnetic disks, ROMs, and CD-ROMs, and storage devices such as hard disks built into a computer system. Furthermore, the term "computer-readable recording medium" may include a medium that dynamically holds a program for a short period of time, such as a communication line when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line, and a medium that holds a program for a certain period of time, such as a volatile memory inside a computer system that is a server or client in such a case. Furthermore, the above-mentioned program may be a program for realizing part of the above-mentioned function, or may be a program that can realize the above-mentioned function in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system, or may be a program that is realized using a programmable logic device such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array).

　Although an embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and includes designs that do not deviate from the gist of the present invention.

1, 1a to 1d... Information collection system, 10, 10b to 10d... Server, 11, 11b to 11d... Report request unit, 12, 12b to 12d... Report receiving unit, 13, 13c, 13d... Report interval update unit, 14... Analysis and control unit, 20, 20a, 20c... Remote device,
21: request receiving unit, 22, 22a: information reporting unit, 23: report interval updating unit

Claims (8)

An information providing device in an information collecting system including an information collecting device and at least one information providing device,
a request receiving unit that receives a request message requesting a report of communication quality transmitted from the information collecting device;
a report interval update unit that acquires information indicating the measured communication quality and updates a transmission interval of a report message including the information indicating the communication quality in accordance with the communication quality;
an information reporting unit that periodically transmits the report message to the information collecting device at the transmission interval;
An information providing device comprising: The information providing device according to claim 1 , wherein the report interval update unit sets the transmission interval to a relatively long interval when the communication quality is relatively good, and sets the transmission interval to a relatively short interval when the communication quality is relatively poor. An information collection device in an information collection system having an information collection device and at least one information providing device,
a report receiving unit for receiving a report message including information indicating communication quality periodically transmitted from the information providing device;
a report interval update unit that determines a transmission interval of the report message in accordance with the communication quality;
a report request unit configured to transmit a request message including information indicating a transmission interval of the report message to the information providing device;
An information collecting device comprising: The information collection device according to claim 3 , wherein the report interval update unit sets the transmission interval to a relatively long interval when the communication quality is relatively good, and sets the transmission interval to a relatively short interval when the communication quality is relatively poor. An information collection system having an information collection device and at least one information providing device,
The information collecting device includes:
a report request unit that transmits a request message requesting a report of communication quality to the information providing device;
a report receiving unit for receiving a report message including information indicating the communication quality transmitted from the information providing device;
Equipped with
The information providing device includes:
a request receiving unit that receives the request message transmitted from the information collecting device;
a report interval update unit that acquires information indicating the measured communication quality and updates a transmission interval of the report message in accordance with the measured communication quality;
an information reporting unit that periodically transmits the report message to the information collecting device at the transmission interval;
An information gathering system. An information collection system having an information collection device and at least one information providing device,
The information collecting device includes:
a report receiving unit for receiving a report message including information indicating communication quality transmitted from the information providing device;
a report interval update unit that determines a transmission interval of the report message in accordance with the communication quality;
a report request unit configured to transmit a request message including information indicating a transmission interval of the report message to the information providing device;
Equipped with
The information providing device includes:
a request receiving unit that receives the request message transmitted from the information collecting device;
an information reporting unit that updates a transmission interval of the report message according to information indicating the transmission interval of the report message included in the request message, acquires information indicating the measured communication quality, and periodically transmits the report message including the information indicating the communication quality to the information collecting device at the transmission interval;
An information gathering system. An information providing method by an information collecting system having an information collecting device and at least one information providing device,
a request receiving step of receiving, by the information providing device, a request message requesting a report of communication quality transmitted from the information collecting device;
a report interval update step in which the information providing device acquires information indicating the measured communication quality and updates a transmission interval of a report message including the information indicating the communication quality in accordance with the communication quality;
an information reporting step in which the information providing device periodically transmits the report message to the information collecting device at the transmission interval;
A method of providing information having the above-mentioned features. An information collection method by an information collection system having an information collection device and at least one information providing device, comprising:
a report receiving step in which the information collecting device receives a report message including information indicating communication quality, the report message being periodically transmitted from the information providing device;
a report interval update step in which the information collection device determines a transmission interval of the report message in accordance with the communication quality;
a report request step of transmitting a request message including information indicating a transmission interval of the report message to the information providing device by the information collecting device;
An information gathering method having the above.

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