JP2006178754A - Information processor, information processing method, information processing program and peer-to-peer system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform reference to data at high speed while suppressing the load of a network or resources of each information processor. <P>SOLUTION: The information processor comprises a real-time mode in which all shared data are copied to each peer, a download mode in which only index information such as a file name is shared by each peer and each peer downloads corresponding data in reference to index information when needed, and a reference mode in which part of data or sub-data obtained by contracting the data are shared by each peer, and each peer downloads original data when needed. As the sub-data, a data processing part 72 forms sub-data such as a thumbnail image or index information from original data shared on the P2P network 10, and the data are stored in an application memory 22 managed by a shared data management part 74. In the reference mode, the sub-data are shared by copying them to other peers in logging in the P2P network 10, and the original data are delivered when the original data are requested. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, an information processing program, and a peer-to-peer system. In particular, at least some of a plurality of devices connected to each other via a network directly communicate without going through a dedicated server. The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus connectable to a peer-to-peer system, an information processing method applicable to the information processing apparatus, an information processing program, and the peer-to-peer system.

  Conventionally, there are a client / server system and a peer-to-peer (hereinafter referred to as P2P) system as forms of network systems in which devices such as computers are connected to each other via a network.

  The client / server system is a system in which a server executes services for managing various information resources and providing various applications, which are used by clients, and is a system in which a master-slave relationship is fixed.

  In order for users of a plurality of computers connected via a network to share and utilize each other's information, a server for storing and managing a database or file that can access these information in common is managed. At the core, a method of building and operating a target application system is widely used.

  In this method, it is necessary to collectively manage information to be shared, a special server for information sharing is required, and a large cost is required to construct the sharing system.

  In order to solve this problem, in recent years, information sharing systems of a type that does not centrally manage P2P system type information have appeared, and information sharing systems with low construction costs have been generally recognized.

In the P2P system, a dedicated server is basically not provided, and each peer (for example, a personal computer) connected to the network provides a predetermined service to other peers in some cases as a server. In some cases, the system operates like a client using a service provided by another peer, and each peer is an equivalent system. Various techniques have been proposed for such a P2P system (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).
JP 2002-335269 A JP 2003-256363 A

  However, if data sharing is performed in the P2P system, data is transferred to each peer, so that it takes a long time to transfer, and resources such as a disk of each peer are used.

  In order to solve this, in the P2P system, only index information for specifying data such as file names is shared, and there is a mode such as down mode in which each peer downloads data when necessary, but only index information is available. Since only data is shared, there is a problem that data must be downloaded when actually checking the contents of data, and it takes time to refer to large data.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and an object of the present invention is to perform data reference at high speed while suppressing network load and resources of each information processing apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, an information processing apparatus according to claim 1 is an information processing apparatus that can be connected to a peer-to-peer system in which a plurality of devices are connected and information held for each device can be shared with each other. A creation means for extracting a part of data shared on the peer-to-peer system or creating sub-data obtained by reducing the data; and the sub-data created by the creation means as a shared storage destination on the peer-to-peer system And storing means for storing.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the creating means creates sub-data obtained by extracting a part of data shared on the peer-to-peer system or reducing the data. The creation means, for example, to create a thumbnail image of the image data as sub data, to create an image from the document data as sub data, to create a data obtained by extracting a part of the page of the document data as sub data, For example, sub-data having a smaller size than the original data is created by creating data with a reduced sampling rate of the audio data as sub-data.

  Further, the storage means stores the sub-data created by the creation means in a shared storage destination on the peer-to-peer system. That is, sub-data smaller than the original data can be shared by the peer-to-peer system, and the data content can be confirmed by referring to the sub-data. Therefore, by sharing sub-data smaller than the original data in this way, when information is shared, data can be referred to at high speed while suppressing the network load and resources of each information processing device. Become.

  As described in claim 2, the first mode for sharing all data stored in the shared storage destination on the peer-to-peer system, the second mode for sharing only the index information of the data, and the creation means There may be a third mode for sharing the sub data, and a setting means for setting any one of the first to third modes may be further provided.

  At this time, the setting means may set the mode for each information processing apparatus connected on the peer-to-peer system or for each data, as in the third aspect of the invention.

  The information processing method according to claim 4 is an information processing method in an information processing device that can be connected to a peer-to-peer system in which a plurality of devices are connected and information held for each device can be shared with each other, and the peer-to-peer A creation step of extracting a part of data shared on the system or creating sub-data obtained by reducing the data; and a saving step of saving the sub-data created in the creation step in a sharing destination on the peer-to-peer system; It is characterized by including.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the creating step, sub-data obtained by extracting a part of data shared on the peer-to-peer system or reducing the data is created. In the creation step, for example, a thumbnail image of image data is created as sub-data, an image is created from document data as sub-data, data obtained by extracting a part of a page of document data is created as sub-data, For example, sub-data having a smaller size than the original data is created by creating data with a reduced sampling rate of the audio data as sub-data.

  In the saving step, the sub data created in the creating step is saved in a shared saving destination on the peer-to-peer system. That is, sub-data smaller than the original data can be shared by the peer-to-peer system, and the data content can be confirmed by referring to the sub-data. Therefore, by sharing sub-data smaller than the original data in this way, when information is shared, data can be referred to at high speed while suppressing the network load and resources of each information processing device. Become.

  As described in the fifth aspect, the first mode for sharing all data stored in the shared storage destination on the peer-to-peer system, the second mode for sharing only the index information of the data, and the creation means There may be further provided a setting step of setting any one of the first to third modes, having a third mode for sharing the sub-data.

  At this time, the setting step may set the mode for each information processing apparatus connected on the peer-to-peer system or for each data as in the invention described in claim 6.

  The information processing program according to claim 7 is an information processing program in which a plurality of devices are connected and a computer connectable to a peer-to-peer system capable of sharing information held for each device performs the following information processing. The processing includes a creation step of extracting a part of data shared on the peer-to-peer system or creating sub-data obtained by reducing the data, and the sub-data created in the creation step on the peer-to-peer system. A storage step of storing in a shared destination.

  According to the invention described in claim 7, the information processing method described in claim 4 is applied as an information processing program. In other words, by sharing sub-data smaller than the original data created in the creation step, when information is shared, data can be referenced at high speed while reducing the network load and resources of each information processing device. It becomes possible.

  As in the invention described in claim 8, the first mode for sharing all data stored in the shared storage destination on the peer-to-peer system, the second mode for sharing only the index information of the data, and the creation means There may be further provided a setting step of setting any one of the first to third modes, having a third mode for sharing the sub-data.

  At this time, the setting step may set the mode for each information processing apparatus connected on the peer-to-peer system or for each data, as in the ninth aspect of the invention.

  The peer-to-peer system according to claim 10 is a peer-to-peer system configured by connecting a plurality of peers, and includes the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 as a peer. It is a feature.

  According to the invention described in claim 10, since the peer-to-peer system configured by connecting a plurality of peers includes the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 as a peer. As mentioned above, by sharing sub-data smaller than the original data created by the creating means, when sharing information, it is possible to refer to the data while reducing the network load and resources of each information processing device. It can be performed at high speed.

  As described above, according to the present invention, a part of data shared on a peer-to-peer system is extracted or sub-data obtained by reducing the data is created and stored in a shared destination on the peer-to-peer system. Sub-data smaller than data can be shared and the data content can be confirmed by sub-data, so data can be referred to at high speed while reducing network load and resources of each information processing device. There is an effect that it becomes possible.

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

  FIG. 1 conceptually shows the network configuration of the P2P network 10. As shown in FIG. 1, the P2P network 10 has a configuration in which the peers 12 </ b> A to 12 </ b> G are virtually connected to each other. In practice, for example, the peers 12 </ b> A to 12 </ b> C are peers that are under access restriction by the firewall 14. The peers 12C to 12E may be peers connected to the Internet, and the peers 12E to 12G may be peers whose addresses are translated by NAT (Network Address Translation).

  There are various connection methods between peers, such as using TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) connection using IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) or IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) functions, or using HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol). Or SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) can be used.

  Here, the term “peer” refers to, for example, a computer such as a personal computer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance), a mobile phone, a printer, a copier, a hardware such as a multi-function machine having a plurality of these functions, or these functions. Software. Also, each peer can participate in a P2P network regardless of whether it is of the same type or a different type.

  As a form of the P2P network, as shown in FIG. 2, a pure P2P in which all of the peers 14A to 14K are in an equal relationship and a server 14S as shown in FIG. For other services, there is a hybrid P2P form in which the peers 14A to 14H are realized in an equal relationship with respect to other services, and the present invention can be applied to any form.

  Also, users or peers who log on to each peer that participates in the P2P network can configure groups according to the purpose, as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, all of the peers 12A to 12G belong to the group 1, and the peers 12A, 12C, 12E, and 12F belong to the group 2, and the peers 12B, 12E, 12F, and 12G belong to the group 3. Each user or peer may belong to a single group or may belong to a plurality of groups. Also, a user or peer does not necessarily have to belong to a group.

  FIG. 5 shows the basic configuration of each peer participating in the P2P network 10. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the peer 12 includes a P2P infrastructure configuration unit 16, a P2P infrastructure management data storage unit 18, an application execution unit 20, and an application memory 22.

  The P2P infrastructure configuration unit 16 includes a message control unit 24, a data management unit 26, a transmission unit 28, and a reception unit 30.

  The transmission unit 28 transmits the message received from the message control unit 24 toward the network 32.

  The receiving unit 30 receives data necessary for its own peer among data transmitted and received in the P2P network 10. It is always in a reception standby state, receives various requests and data from other peers of the P2P network 10, and passes them to the message control unit 24. The transmitter 28 operates independently and in parallel.

  FIG. 6 shows a schematic configuration of the message control unit 24. As shown in FIG. 6, the message control unit 24 includes a service execution unit 34 and a message dispatch unit 36.

  The service execution unit 34 includes a peer search service unit 38, a notification information disclosure service unit 40, a notification information acquisition service unit 42, a group management service unit 44, a user management service unit 46, and a peer management service unit 48. Each service unit executes each service while exchanging information with each other.

  The peer search service unit 38 has a function of searching for a peer participating in the P2P network and a function of searching for a peer that can provide a service (function) required by the peer. The search range can be controlled by designating the name and attribute of the required service, the threshold value for the number of hops, and the like. Here, the number of hops is the number of peers through which a message is transmitted.

  The notification information disclosure service unit 40 has a function of publishing information such as services that can be provided by its own peer on the P2P network as notification information. Here, the services that can be provided include, for example, a group management service and a user management service, which will be described later, in addition to an application executed by the application execution unit 20. The announcement information may be disclosed, for example, when there is an inquiry from another peer, when the own peer is activated, or periodically.

  In this way, the announcement information is published on the P2P network by the announcement information disclosure service unit 40 of each peer, so what kind of service each peer participating in the P2P network can use on the P2P network can be determined. I can grasp it.

  The notification information acquisition service unit 42 acquires the notification information transmitted from the peer searched by the peer search service unit 38 or the notification information spontaneously transmitted from another peer, and passes it to the data management unit 26. The data management unit 26 stores the acquired notification information in the P2P infrastructure management data storage unit 18 as peer information. Thereby, the peer can grasp what service is provided by other peers participating in the P2P network.

  The group management service unit 44 has a function of managing participation in or withdrawal from a group composed of peers having the same purpose, creation of a new group, and the like based on group information. The group information is, for example, information representing a correspondence relationship between at least a group ID and a user ID, and is stored in the P2P infrastructure management data storage unit 18. By referring to this group information, it is possible to grasp which user belongs to which group.

  The user management service unit 46 has a function of managing user information. The user information includes, for example, logon information indicating a correspondence relationship between a peer ID and a user ID logged on to the peer, information on the user such as a user name, an IP (Internet Protocol) address, and a mail address. It includes information such as the group ID of the group to which it belongs and is stored in the P2P infrastructure management data storage unit 18.

  The peer management service unit 48 has a function of managing peer information of peers participating in the P2P network.

  The message dispatch unit 36 analyzes a message from the application execution unit 20 and a message transmitted / received to / from another peer, and passes control to a service unit that should perform processing related to the analyzed message in the service execution unit 34.

  The P2P infrastructure management data storage unit 18 stores route information 18A, group information 18B, adjacent information 18C, peer information 18D, and user information 18E.

  The route information 18A includes information on a route in the P2P network, for example, information related to a spanning tree described later.

  As described above, the group information 18B is information representing a correspondence relationship between at least a group ID and a user ID, for example.

  The adjacency information 18C includes information on a peer adjacent to the own peer, for example, information such as a peer ID. Here, the adjacent peer can be, for example, a peer within a predetermined time that is a response time for a packet transmitted from the own peer. The adjacent information can be generated based on, for example, a response time obtained in a process of communicating with another peer, but may be set manually by an operator's operation or the like.

  The peer information 18D is information related to the peer searched by the peer search service unit 38, for example, information such as a peer ID, information related to a service provided by each peer on the P2P network acquired by the notification information acquisition service unit 42, etc. including. Here, for example, an IP address or a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) can be used as the peer ID.

  As described above, the user information 18E includes user logon information, information about the user himself, and the like.

  The application execution unit 20 executes various applications, and transmits and receives messages to and from other peers via the message control unit 24. The application memory 22 is a memory for storing various types of information related to the execution of the application execution unit 20.

  Next, a specific example in the case where the target service is searched and executed in the P2P network will be described.

  First, in a P2P network comprising a peer with a transfer function that has a function of transferring a message to another peer and an end peer that does not have a transfer function and that transmits and receives messages to and from another peer via the peer with a transfer function Processing executed by the peer peer and end peer P2P infrastructure configuration unit 16 will be described. In addition, the peer with a transfer function has a configuration in which the service execution unit 34 includes a transfer function service unit (not shown).

  FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of processing executed by the end peer, and FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of processing executed by the peer with transfer function.

  As shown in FIG. 7, in step 100, the end peer sends a search request for a peer with a forwarding function to, for example, another peer with a forwarding function set in the setting information stored in the peer in advance, It transmits to the peer-to-peer network to other peers with a transfer function by broadcasting. This is executed by the peer search service unit 38.

  In step 102, it is determined whether or not there is a transfer function peer. If there is a transfer function peer, the process proceeds to step 104. If there is no transfer function peer, the process proceeds to step 102. Return, for example, search for a peer with a transfer function again after a predetermined time.

  In step 104, a request is made to the peer with transfer function to acquire notification information of the other peer logged on by the user logged on to the peer or another user belonging to the group to which the peer belongs. This is executed by the notification information acquisition service unit 42.

  In step 106, it is determined whether or not the notification information has been received from the peer with transfer function. If not received, the process proceeds to step 110. If received, the received notification information is changed to step 108 in step 108. It is stored as peer information 18D in the P2P infrastructure management data storage unit 18.

  In step 110, it is determined whether a service request has occurred. For example, when an application is executed by the application execution unit 20 by an operation of a user logged on to the peer and a service request is generated, the service request is notified from the application execution unit 20 to the message control unit 24. In this case, the process proceeds to step 112. If a service request has not occurred, the process proceeds to step 116.

  In step 112, a message corresponding to the generated service request is created and transmitted to the peer with transfer function. For example, when the service request from the application execution unit 20 is a request to acquire a desired file, a file search including information for specifying the desired file such as a file name notified from the application execution unit 20 Send a request message to a peer with forwarding capability.

  In step 114, response processing for the transmitted message is performed. That is, a response message for the transmitted message is received, and processing corresponding to the content of the received response message is performed. For example, if the service request is a request to acquire a predetermined file, if there is a peer that owns the file, the peer information is received as a response message, and this is sent to the application execution unit 20. Notice. In this case, the application execution unit 20 requests the message control unit 24 to transmit a file transmission request to the peer that owns the desired file based on the received peer information. Thereby, a desired file can be acquired.

  In step 116, it is determined whether or not a request message for requesting some service provision or information provision from another peer is received from the peer with transfer function. If the request message has been received, the process proceeds to step 118. If the request message has not been received, the process returns to step 106 and the same processing as described above is repeated.

  In step 118, processing for the request is executed. In step 120, a message corresponding to the processing result is transmitted to the peer with transfer function. For example, when a file search request message is received from another peer, the request message is passed to the application execution unit 20 that executes file search. As a result, the file search is executed in the application execution unit 20 and the search result is notified to the message control unit 24. The message control unit 24 creates a response message based on the search result notified from the application execution unit 20, and transmits the response message to the transmission source peer of the file search request message. For example, if the file can be searched, a response message including information such as the peer ID of the own peer is created and transmitted to the peer that is the transmission source of the file search request message. Thus, the transmission source peer can confirm whether or not a desired file has been searched.

  Next, processing executed by the peer with a transfer function will be described.

  First, in step 200 shown in FIG. 8, the peer with a forwarding function is connected to another peer with a forwarding function set in the setting information stored in advance in its own peer, or another peer with a forwarding function by multicast or broadcast, for example. Requests to transmit various information such as group information and user information, and obtains the information. The acquired information is stored in the P2P infrastructure management data storage unit 18. Thereby, it is possible to obtain information on the peers constituting the P2P network and information on logged-on users.

  In step 202, the adjacent information 18C stored in the P2P infrastructure management data storage unit 18 is notified to all peers with a transfer function adjacent to the peer. The adjacency information 18C includes at least information on a peer with a transfer function next to its own peer, and further includes adjacency information if adjacent information possessed by another peer has already been acquired. .

  In step 204, the neighboring peer with transfer function is requested to acquire the neighbor information and is acquired. In this way, neighbor information is exchanged with a peer with a transfer function next to the peer.

In step 206, configuration information of the spanning tree is generated based on the exchanged adjacent information, and is stored as route information in the P2P infrastructure management data storage unit 18. Here, the spanning tree represents a route in which a message transfer route has a tree structure without a loop. For example, as shown in FIG. 9A, the P2P network has a transfer function that belongs only to group 1, a transfer function peer 50 ₁ that belongs only to group 2, a transfer function peer 50 ₂ that belongs only to group 2, and a transfer function that belongs to any of groups 1 and ₂ . It is assumed that the attached peer 50 ₁₂ , the peer 50 _n with a transfer function that does not belong to any group, and end peers (not shown in FIG. 9) that exist behind these peers with the transfer function. In this case, the spanning tree is a tree-structured path without a loop as shown in FIG.

  In the next step 208, it is determined whether or not a message transmission request from the end peer has been received. If received, the process proceeds to step 210. If not received, the process proceeds to step 212.

  In step 210, the message is transferred based on the path information as the configuration information of the spanning tree. For example, in the case where a network as shown in FIG. 9A is constructed, a case where the end peer belongs to, for example, group 1 and a request message for group 1 is transmitted to the peer with transfer function will be described. In this case, the forwarding peer includes all the forwarding peers responsible for forwarding messages to end peers belonging to group 1, and a spanning tree in which messages are forwarded to all the forwarding peers, for example, A spanning tree as shown in FIG. 9C is calculated based on the path information. Then, the forwarding function peer forwards the request message from the end peer to all the neighboring forwarding function peers based on the calculated spanning tree. As a result, the message is transferred to peers with a transfer function on the spanning tree shown in FIG. 9C, and the message is transferred to all end peers of group 1. When a message transmission request for group 2 is transmitted to a peer with a transfer function, a spanning tree as shown in FIG. 9D is calculated.

  In the next step 212, it is determined whether or not a message has been received from the adjacent peer with transfer function. If received, the process proceeds to step 214. If not received, the process returns to step 208 to return to the above. Similar processing is repeated. Note that it is also possible to periodically return to step 200 and periodically calculate the spanning tree.

  In step 214, if the message needs to be forwarded based on the calculated spanning tree, that is, if there is a peer with forwarding function that does not forward the message among neighboring peers with forwarding function on the spanning tree, The message is transferred to the peer with the transfer function. If the received message is addressed to the same group as the end peer that is responsible for transferring the message, the received message is transferred to the end peer.

  Thus, each peer with a forwarding function calculates a spanning tree and forwards a message according to this spanning tree calculation, whereby it is possible to send and receive messages between end peers in the same group.

  The configuration of transferring a message by a peer with a transfer function as described above is suitable mainly when a P2P network is constructed with a relatively small network such as a LAN (Local Area Network). When configuring a P2P network, messages are transmitted and received between peers connected to different networks via a firewall, a gateway, or the like. Below, the form suitable when constructing a P2P network with such a comparatively large-scale network is demonstrated.

  A P2P network 11 illustrated in FIG. 10 includes a plurality of networks 52 to 58, and the network 52 is connected to the network 54 via routers 60 and 62 and is connected to the network 58 via a router 64. The network 56 is connected to the network 58 via the router 66.

  The network 52 is configured to include end peers 52A and 52B and a queuing function peer 52C, the network 54 is configured to include an end peer 54A, the network 56 is configured to include an end peer 56A, and the network 58 is a relay function peer. 58A is included. Note that the peer with waiting function has a configuration in which a service function unit (not shown) is provided in the service execution unit 34, and the peer 58A with relay function has a configuration in which the service execution unit 34 has a relay function service unit (not shown). .

  In the P2P network 11 configured as described above, the end peer executes substantially the same processing as that shown in the flowchart of FIG. That is, the process executed by the end peer in the P2P network 11 can be considered to execute the process in which the transfer function peer is replaced with the waiting function peer in the description of the flowchart of FIG.

  The peer with a relay function is basically a peer that operates as a so-called gateway. A peer with a relay function first has various information such as group information and user information for other peers set in advance in the setting information stored in its own peer, or for other peers by multicast or broadcast. Is requested to transmit the information. When a message is received from another peer, the message is transferred to the peer designated as the transmission destination.

  Next, processing executed by the peer with a waiting function will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, in step 300, for example, for other peers with transfer function preset in the setting information stored in the own peer, or for various peers such as group information and user information for other peers by multicast or broadcast. Request to send information.

  In step 302, it is determined whether or not any information from other peers, for example, information such as group and user information requested in step 300, announcement information from other peers, etc. is received. If it has not been received, the process proceeds to step 306.

  In step 304, the information received from the other peer is stored in the P2P infrastructure management data storage unit 18. For example, if the received information is group information, it is stored in the P2P infrastructure management data storage unit 18 as group information 18B, and if the received information is user information, it is stored in the P2P infrastructure management data storage unit 18 as user information 18E.

  In Step 306, it is determined whether or not a request message for requesting some service provision or information provision has been received from the end peer. If received, the process proceeds to Step 308. If not received, Step 306 is performed. Returning to 302, the same processing as described above is repeated.

  In step 308, it is determined whether or not information corresponding to the request message is stored in the P2P infrastructure management data storage unit 18 of the own peer. If it is stored, the process proceeds to step 310 and is not stored. If so, the process proceeds to step 312.

  In step 310, information corresponding to the request message is read from the P2P infrastructure management data storage unit 18 and transmitted to the requesting peer.

  On the other hand, in step 312, the request message is transferred to the adjacent peer. As a result, the request message is propagated to other peers. As a result, a response message is transmitted from a peer capable of executing processing corresponding to the request message.

  In step 314, a response message transmitted from a peer capable of performing processing corresponding to the request message is received and transmitted to the requesting end peer.

  Here, a case where the peer 54A of the network 54 makes a search request for notification information will be described. In this case, the peer 54A searches for a peer with a waiting function, and transmits a search request message for notification information to the searched peer 52C with a waiting function. As a result, the peer 52C with the waiting function transmits the notification information of the other peer to the peer 54A if it is stored in its own peer, and if not, for example, notifies the adjacent peers 52A, 52B, etc. Request to send information. At this time, the peer 52A waits for the notification information of its own peer and the notification information of the other peer stored in its own peer, for example, when the notification information of the peer 56A is already stored. To the attached peer 52C. The same applies to the peer 52C. The queuing function-equipped peer 54C accumulates the notification information transmitted from other peers and transmits it to the peer 54A.

  As described above, a peer with a waiting function accumulates various information such as notification information transmitted from other peers in its own peer, and information corresponding to a request from an end peer is stored in its own peer. Sends the information to the end peer. Therefore, the efficiency of message transmission / reception in a large-scale network such as the P2P network 11 can be improved.

  Next, as a specific example of application execution, processing of the application execution unit 20 when the application is a file sharing service will be described.

  In this case, the application execution unit 20 notifies the message dispatch unit 36 of the message control unit 24 of a file search request including at least information for specifying a desired file such as a file name. The message dispatch unit 36 requests the peer search service unit 38 to search for a peer that owns this file. As a result, the peer search service unit 38 searches for a peer that owns the desired file and notifies the application execution unit 20 of it. Then, the application execution unit 20 requests the acquired peer to transmit a file and acquires it. If the information of the peer that owns the desired file has already been acquired and stored in its own peer, a file transmission request is sent directly to that peer without performing peer search. Just get the file.

  As described above, the application execution unit 20 transmits and receives messages to and from other peers via the message control unit 24 to provide services.

  Note that the above is an example of the construction of the P2P network. For example, the protocol described in Patent Document 1, the PX (Peer Discovery Protocol) of the JXTA protocol, the PRP (Peer Resolver Protocol), Known protocols such as PIP (Peer Information Protocol), PMP (Peer Membership Protocol), PBP (Peer Binding Protocol), PEP (Peer Endpoint Protocol) May be used to construct a P2P network.

  By the way, the P2P network configured as described above has a real-time mode and a download mode when information is shared by each peer. The real-time mode is a mode in which all of the shared data is copied to each peer, and the dyne load mode shares only the index information such as the file name with each peer, and each peer acquires the index information when necessary. In this mode, the corresponding data is downloaded by referring to it.

  However, since only the index information is shared in the download mode, the contents of the data are not shared, so in order to confirm the contents, it is necessary to download and confirm the data, which is not convenient, It takes time to download.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, an intermediate mode between the real time mode and the download mode (hereinafter referred to as a reference mode) is set, and data can be referred to at high speed by the reference mode.

  The reference mode is, for example, a mode in which a part of data or sub-data in which data is reduced is shared by each peer, and each peer downloads original data when necessary, whereby a part of data or sub-data in which data is reduced Can be referred to. The reference mode is executed by the application execution unit 20.

  Here, the configuration of the application execution unit 20 that performs the reference mode will be described. FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a P2P network to which a peer including an application execution unit 20 that executes the reference mode and an application memory 22 is connected.

  The application execution unit 20 includes a data sharing unit 70, a data processing unit 72, and a shared data management unit 74. The application memory 22 stores various types of data shared with each peer connected to the P2P network 10. Is done.

  The data sharing unit 70 has a function of sharing various data with each peer connected to the P2P network 10 as described above, and shares the data stored in the application memory 22 with the peer connected to the P2P network 10. . As a sharing method, data sharing according to the above-described mode is performed. That is, in the real-time mode, all of the shared data is shared by being copied to each peer, in the download mode only the index information is shared among the peers, and in the reference mode, one piece of data is shared. Partial or reduced sub-data is shared by each peer.

  The data shared by the data sharing unit 70 can be confirmed by displaying it on the data display unit 76. The display on the data display unit 76 is performed using a shared file reference UI (User Interface) screen 80 (see FIG. 13) described later.

  The data processing unit 72 creates sub-data such as thumbnail images and table of contents information from data (original data) shared on the P2P network 10. For example, the data processing unit 70 performs a process of reducing the resolution of image data, a process of creating a thumbnail image of an image, a process of extracting information such as a shooting date and a shooting location (for example, including GPS information) from a photograph, Processing to create a thumbnail image of the first page of a document, processing to create an image from a document (for example, creating an image by performing extraction, reduction, enlargement, transformation, etc. from an image of the entire document or a part of a page) Sub-data is generated by performing processing for reducing the sampling rate of the audio data, processing for extracting a part of the audio data, and the like. The sub-data created by the data processing unit 72 includes, for example, a thumbnail image, a table of contents, an index, an illustration, a comment, a document outline, a part of audio data (music data with a reduced rate, ), Attribute information such as the creator, date and title, and the like.

  The shared data management unit 74 manages reading / writing of the sub data created by the data processing unit 72 and various data shared on the P2P network 10 to the application memory 22.

  The data stored in the application memory 22 is, for example, as shown in FIG. 12, main data including an attribute indicating the setting of a mode (real time mode, download mode, reference mode), the above-described sub data including the attribute, etc. Is memorized.

  Here, the setting method of the above-mentioned real-time mode, download mode, and reference mode is demonstrated. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a shared file reference UI screen 80 and a mode setting screen 82 for referring to the shared file described above.

  When an operation for designating reference to a shared file is performed by the user, for example, a shared file reference UI screen 80 as shown in FIG. 13 is displayed.

  On the shared file reference UI screen 80, for example, a shared folder and a shared file in the shared folder are displayed, and information in the displayed shared folder is displayed. FIG. 13 shows an example in which information in the shared folder 1 is hierarchically displayed on the left side, and files in the shared folder 1 designated by the user are displayed on the right side.

  For example, the mode setting screen 82 is displayed by specifying a file (files 1 to 5 in FIG. 13) displayed on the shared file reference UI screen 80 and performing an operation such as opening a property. The mode can be set using the mode setting screen 82. For example, FIG. 13 shows an example in which the reference mode is selected on the mode setting screen 82. The reference mode can be set by performing an operation of selecting the “OK” button displayed in this state.

  Although FIG. 13 shows an example in which mode setting is performed for each file, mode setting may be performed for each peer, or both settings may be performed for each peer and each file. Good. In addition, when mode setting is performed for each peer and for each file, for example, a priority order such as giving priority to the setting for each peer may be provided.

  Next, processing of the application execution unit 20 that is performed when registering shared data will be described. FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the flow of processing performed by the application execution unit 20 performed when registering shared data.

  First, in step 400, the application execution unit 20 determines whether registration of a shared file has been instructed. The determination is made, for example, when the application execution unit 20 determines whether or not the data to be shared in the shared folder is copied using the shared file reference UI screen 80 described above, and the determination is denied. If the result is affirmative, the process is terminated and other processes are executed.

  In step 402, the application execution unit 20 acquires index information such as date information and file name from the registration target file, and displays a shared file reference UI screen 80 as shown in FIG. 13 on the data display unit 76.

  Next, in step 404, the application execution unit 20 determines whether or not the reference mode is set. The determination is made by instructing whether to open a property from the shared file reference UI screen 80 and opening the mode setting screen 82, and determining whether or not the reference mode is instructed on the mode setting screen 82. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 406. If the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 410.

  In step 406, the data processing unit 72 creates sub data and proceeds to step 408. That is, as described above, sub-data such as thumbnail images is created from the original data by the data processing unit 72 and stored in the application memory 22 that is a shared storage destination of the P2P network 10.

  In step 408, the shared data management unit 74 sets the original data to the download mode, and sets the sub data created by the data processing unit 72 to the real time mode. That is, when the reference mode is set, each peer can share sub-data when referring to the shared file, so that the contents of the data can be grasped by referring to the sub-data. It becomes possible and the original data can be downloaded only when necessary. Also, since each peer shares only sub-data, data can be referred to at high speed while suppressing the network load and resources of each peer.

  On the other hand, when the process proceeds to step 410 where the determination in step 404 is negative, in step 410, the application execution unit 20 determines whether or not the real-time mode is set. As in the above-described determination of the reference mode, the determination is instructed to open a property or the like from the shared file reference UI screen 80, the mode setting screen 82 is opened, and the real-time mode is selected and instructed on the mode setting screen 82. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 412. If the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 414.

  In step 412, the shared data management unit 74 sets the attribute of the file to be registered to the real-time mode and stores it in the application memory 22, and ends the process when registering the shared file. That is, when sharing the file in the P2P network 10, the data sharing unit 70 copies the file to all peers participating in the P2P network 10. As a result, each peer can refer to the original data.

  On the other hand, if the determination in step 410 is negative, the process proceeds to step 414. In step 414, the application execution unit 20 determines whether or not the download mode is set. As in the determination of the reference mode described above, this determination is instructed to open a property from the shared file reference UI screen 80 and the mode setting screen 82 is opened. On the mode setting screen 82, the download mode is selected and instructed. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 416. If the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 418.

  In step 416, the shared data management unit 74 sets the attribute of the registration target file to the download mode using the index information, stores it in the application memory 22, and ends the process at the time of registering the shared file. That is, when sharing the file in the P2P network 10, the data sharing unit 70 copies only the index information to all peers participating in the P2P network 10. As a result, each peer can download and refer to the original data as necessary.

  On the other hand, if the determination in step 414 is negative and the process proceeds to step 418, in step 418, the application execution unit 20 performs mode setting according to the peer setting. That is, instead of setting for each file, the file is registered according to the mode set for each peer in advance, and the process at the time of registering the shared file is terminated. The mode setting for each peer can be performed by the same method as the mode setting for each file.

  Next, the process of the application execution unit 20 performed when referring to the shared file registered as described above will be described. FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing flow in the application execution unit 20 performed when referring to registered shared data.

  First, the application execution unit 20 determines whether or not a shared file reference is instructed in step 500. The determination is made, for example, by determining whether or not an instruction to display the shared file reference UI screen 80 is given on the data display unit 76. If the determination is negative, processing at the time of referring to the shared file is performed. Exit and do other processing.

  If the determination in step 500 is affirmed, the process proceeds to step 502 where the application execution unit 20 performs a shared file reference UI screen display process and proceeds to step 504. In the shared file reference UI screen display process, a shared file reference UI screen 80 as shown in FIG. 13 is displayed on the data display unit 76, and a file selected according to an instruction is displayed in reverse video. Do.

  In step 504, the application execution unit 20 determines whether a reference file is specified. That is, it is determined whether or not an operation for designating a reference target file has been performed using the shared file reference UI screen 80. If the determination is negative, the process returns to step 502 to select a file, etc. The above-described processing is repeated while the file is inverted in accordance with the above, and when the determination in step 504 is affirmed, the process proceeds to step 506.

  In step 506, the application execution unit 20 determines whether the reference target file is in the download mode. That is, when the shared data management unit 74 reads the attribute (mode) of the file selected as the reference target stored in the application memory 22, makes a determination based on the read attribute, and when the determination is affirmed The process proceeds to step 508, and if the result is negative, the process proceeds to step 514.

  In step 508, the application execution unit 20 displays the index information on the data display unit 76, proceeds to step 510, and determines whether the original data display is instructed. When the reference to the original data is instructed here, the process proceeds to step 512 and is downloaded from the peer holding the original data via the P2P infrastructure configuration unit 16 and displayed on the data display unit 76 and then the process proceeds to step 520. To do. If the determination in step 510 is negative (for example, when another reference file is selected and designated), the process proceeds to step 520 as it is.

  On the other hand, if the determination in step 506 is negative and the process proceeds to step 514, in step 514, the application execution unit 20 determines whether the reference target file is in the reference mode. That is, when the shared data management unit 74 reads the attribute (mode) of the file selected as the reference target stored in the application memory 22, makes a determination based on the read attribute, and when the determination is affirmed The process proceeds to step 518. If the result is negative, the real time mode is determined and the process proceeds to step 516.

  In step 516, the application execution unit 20 displays the original data copied to the P2P network 10 at the time of logon or the like on the data display unit 76 and proceeds to step 520.

  On the other hand, in step 518, the shared data management unit 74 displays the index information and sub data copied to the application memory 22 when logging on to the P2P network 10 on the data display unit 76, and proceeds to step 520. That is, when logged on to the P2P network 10, in the reference mode, only the index information and sub data having a data size smaller than the original data are copied to each peer, but the sub data smaller than the original data is shared. Therefore, it is possible to perform data reference at high speed while suppressing the network load and resources of each peer. At this time, if an operation instructed to download the file to be referenced is performed, the application execution unit 20 downloads the file from the peer holding the file to be referenced via the P2P infrastructure configuration unit 16. To do. That is, as in the download mode, the original data can be referred to only when necessary. In the reference mode, thumbnail images and the like created by the data processing unit 72 are displayed, so that at least a part of the file contents that cannot be confirmed in the download mode can be confirmed.

  In step 520, the application execution unit 20 determines whether to end the file reference. This determination is made, for example, by determining whether or not an operation for closing the shared file reference UI screen 80 has been performed. If the determination is negative, the process returns to step 502 and the above processing is repeated. When the determination in step 520 is affirmed, the process at the time of referring to the shared file is terminated.

  Thus, in the present embodiment, three modes can be set when information is shared in the P2P network 10. In the real-time mode, all data is copied when logging on to the P2P network 10, so the data transfer time becomes long, but all shared data contents can be confirmed. In the download mode, Although it is necessary to infer the data contents from only the index information, only the index information is shared when logging on to the P2P network 10, so that the index information of the shared file can be confirmed at high speed. In the reference mode, sub-data smaller than the original data created by the data processing unit 72 can be confirmed, so that the contents of the data can be grasped. Since the sub-data smaller than the original data is shared, it is possible to refer to the data at high speed while suppressing the network load and the resources of each peer.

  In the above embodiment, the size of the sub data created by the data processing unit 72 may be variable in consideration of the performance of each peer. For example, the size of the sub data may be set by the user, or may be automatically set in consideration of the speed of the P2P network.

It is a network block diagram of a P2P network. It is a network block diagram of pure P2P. It is a network block diagram of hybrid P2P. It is a conceptual diagram for demonstrating the group of a P2P network. It is a block diagram of the basic composition of a peer. It is a block diagram of a message control part. It is a flowchart of the process performed by an end peer. It is a flowchart of the process performed by the peer with a transfer function. It is an image figure of a spanning tree. It is a network block diagram of the other form of a P2P network. It is a flowchart of the process performed by the peer with a waiting function. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the P2P network to which the peer provided with the application execution part which performs reference mode, and an application memory was connected. It is a figure which shows an example of a shared file reference UI screen and a mode setting screen. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the flow of the process performed in the application execution part concerning embodiment of this invention at the time of registering shared data. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the flow of the process performed in the application execution part 20 concerning embodiment of this invention at the time of referring the registered shared data.

Explanation of symbols

10 P2P network 12 Peer 16 P2P infrastructure configuration unit 20 Application execution unit 22 Application memory 70 Data sharing unit 72 Data processing unit 74 Shared data management unit 76 Data display unit 80 Shared file reference UI screen 82 Mode setting screen

Claims (10)

An information processing device that can be connected to a peer-to-peer system in which a plurality of devices are connected and information held for each device can be shared with each other,
Creating means for extracting a part of data shared on the peer-to-peer system or creating sub-data by reducing the data;
Storage means for storing the sub-data created by the creation means in a shared storage destination on the peer-to-peer system;
An information processing apparatus comprising:   A first mode in which all data stored in the shared storage destination on the peer-to-peer system is shared, a second mode in which only the index information of the data is shared, and a third mode in which the sub-data created by the creating means is shared The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising setting means for setting any one of the first to third modes.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the setting unit sets a mode for each of the information processing apparatuses connected on the peer-to-peer system or for each data. An information processing method in an information processing apparatus that can be connected to a peer-to-peer system in which a plurality of apparatuses are connected and information held for each apparatus can be shared with each other,
A creation step of extracting a part of data shared on the peer-to-peer system or creating sub-data obtained by reducing the data;
Storing the sub-data created in the creating step in a shared destination on the peer-to-peer system;
An information processing method comprising:   A first mode in which all data stored in the shared storage destination on the peer-to-peer system is shared, a second mode in which only the index information of the data is shared, and a third mode in which the sub-data created by the creating means is shared 5. The information processing method according to claim 4, further comprising a setting step of setting any one of the first to third modes.   6. The information processing method according to claim 5, wherein the setting step sets a mode for each of the information processing apparatuses connected on the peer-to-peer system or for each data. An information processing program for causing a computer that can be connected to a peer-to-peer system capable of sharing information held for each device to which a plurality of devices are connected, to execute the following information processing:
The process is
A creation step of extracting a part of data shared on the peer-to-peer system or creating sub-data obtained by reducing the data;
Storing the sub-data created in the creating step in a shared destination on the peer-to-peer system;
An information processing program comprising:   A first mode in which all data stored in the shared storage destination on the peer-to-peer system is shared, a second mode in which only the index information of the data is shared, and a third mode in which the sub-data created by the creating means is shared The information processing program according to claim 7, further comprising a setting step of setting any one of the first to third modes.   The information processing program according to claim 8, wherein the setting step sets a mode for each of the information processing apparatuses connected on the peer-to-peer system or for each data. A peer-to-peer system configured by connecting multiple peers,
The peer-to-peer system characterized by including the information processing apparatus of any one of Claim 1 thru | or 3 as a peer.

Images