JP2012073674A - Information processing apparatus, communication control method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is an information processing apparatus capable of performing exclusive communication control when a login with the same account is performed in the same communication application without changing an existing communication application.
An information processing apparatus that can use an application for performing network communication and can perform network communication with another terminal having a personal firewall, and is held in the other terminal, and network communication is performed by the personal firewall. The other terminal communication control means for changing the setting information indicating the application to be disconnected, the other terminal communication control means obtains the other terminal information indicating the other terminal registered in advance by the user, and registered in advance by the user Acquires application information indicating an application, acquires setting information of another terminal registered in other terminal information, and adds the application to the setting information when the application registered in the application information is not included in the setting information .
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a communication control method, and a program that can control network communication of an application in another terminal.

  Currently, information processing apparatuses such as PCs (Personal Computers) and mobile phones are provided with a plurality of applications (hereinafter referred to as applications). Some of these applications use communication of a client / server type network (for example, Patent Document 1) and communication of a P2P (Peer To Peer) type network (for example, Patent Document 2). Hereinafter, an application that uses network communication in this way is referred to as a “communication application”.

  On the other hand, it is becoming common for a single user to use a plurality of information processing apparatuses including a communication application. For example, when one user is in an environment where two terminals A and B can be used, both the terminal A and the terminal B may use the same communication application. In such a case, if the user logs in to the predetermined communication application with the predetermined account at the terminal A and logs in to the same communication application with the same account at the terminal B, the operation of the terminal B is not performed. The problem of becoming stable arises.

JP 2002-366857 A JP 2008-217769 A

  In order to cope with the above-described problem, communication exclusive control such as prohibiting communication of the terminal or application that has logged in first can be considered. However, since the number of existing communication applications is enormous, it is not realistic to change the communication exclusive control to be performed on all communication applications.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and performs communication exclusive control when login with the same account is performed in the same communication app without changing the existing communication app. It is an object to provide an information processing apparatus, a communication control method, and a program.

  In order to achieve such an object, the first aspect of the present invention is an information processing apparatus that can use an application that performs network communication and can perform network communication with another terminal having a personal firewall. There is another terminal communication control means for changing the setting information indicating the application that is held in the terminal and disconnects the network communication by the personal firewall, and the other terminal communication control means indicates the other terminal registered in advance by the user. Other terminal information is acquired, application information indicating an application registered in advance by the user is acquired, setting information of the other terminal registered in the other terminal information is acquired, and the application registered in the application information is included in the setting information If not, the application is added to the setting information.

  A second aspect of the present invention is a communication control method performed by an information processing apparatus capable of using an application that performs network communication and having a personal firewall and an information processing apparatus capable of network communication, and is registered in advance by a user. A step of acquiring other terminal information indicating the other terminal, a step of acquiring application information indicating an application registered in advance by the user, and a personal firewall stored in the other terminal registered in the other terminal information. Obtaining setting information indicating an application that disconnects network communication, and adding the application to the setting information when the application registered in the application information is not included in the setting information. And

  A third aspect of the present invention is a program that can be executed by a computer that can use an application that performs network communication and that can perform network communication with another terminal having a personal firewall, and is registered in advance by the user in the computer. A process for acquiring other terminal information indicating the other terminal that has been registered, a process for acquiring application information indicating an application registered in advance by the user, and a personal firewall stored in the other terminal registered in the other terminal information. Processing to acquire setting information indicating an application to be disconnected from the network communication, and processing to add the application to the setting information when the application registered in the application information is not included in the setting information. Features.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to perform communication exclusive control when login with the same account is performed in the same communication application without changing the existing communication application.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the terminal which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence chart which shows the operation example between the terminals which concern on one Embodiment of this invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments (embodiments) for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  First, the configuration of a terminal (information processing apparatus) according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the terminal 1 and the terminal 2 can be connected to a network 3. Examples of the network 3 include a client / server network, a P2P network, and a LAN (Local Area Network). Further, the terminal 1 and the terminal 2 can communicate by, for example, P2P communication.

  The terminal 1 includes an application 10, communication means 11, communication control means 12, own terminal FW (Fire Wall) setting information 13, other terminal communication control means 14, other terminal FW setting information 15, control target other terminal information 16, control target It has application information 17. Similarly, the terminal 2 includes the application 20, the communication unit 21, the communication control unit 22, the own terminal FW setting information 23, the other terminal communication control unit 24, the other terminal FW setting information 25, the control target other terminal information 26, the control target application. It has information 27. Hereinafter, each unit and each information will be described using the terminal 1 as an example.

  The application 10 is one of a plurality of applications provided in the terminal 1, and is a communication application that uses communication of a client / server type network or a P2P type network. An example of a communication application that uses communication on a P2P network is Skype (registered trademark). In the present embodiment, the terminal 1 is described as having a plurality of applications (including the application 10). However, the plurality of applications are not necessarily built in (installed) in the terminal 1, for example, the network 3 As long as it can be used (operated) by the terminal 1 by downloading from the network. In the present embodiment, the terminal 1 is described as being able to use a plurality of applications (including the application 10). However, it is sufficient that at least one communication application (the application 10) can be used. Since the description of the application 10 described above also applies to the application 20 of the terminal 2, the description of the application 20 is omitted.

  The communication unit 11 is hardware that enables communication via the network 3. With this communication means 11, the terminal 1 can communicate with a server and other terminals (including the terminal 2) connected to the network 3. Since the description of the communication means 11 described above also applies to the communication means 21 of the terminal 2, the description of the communication means 21 is omitted.

  The communication control unit 12 performs exclusive control of network communication performed by the application 10 via the communication unit 11. In the present embodiment, the communication control unit 12 will be described by taking an application level firewall (personal firewall, terminal firewall) provided in the terminal 1 as an example. As such a firewall, an existing technology (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-207783) is applied. When the application 10 tries to start communication, the communication control unit 12 permits or prohibits communication of the application 10 according to the setting of the own terminal FW setting information 13 described later. Since the description of the communication control means 12 described above also applies to the communication control means 22 of the terminal 2, the description of the communication control means 22 is omitted.

  The own terminal FW setting information 13 (an example of setting information) is information that the communication control unit 12 refers to when performing exclusive control of communication of the application provided in the terminal 1, and as its content, communication permission is permitted for each application. Or prohibition is set. In the terminal FW setting information 13, for example, when “application 10 = permitted” is set, the communication control unit 12 permits communication of the application 10. For example, when “application 10 = prohibited” is set, communication is performed. The control unit 12 prohibits (excludes) communication of the application 10. The own terminal FW setting information 13 is held in a predetermined storage means (for example, a non-volatile memory) provided in the terminal 1, and the user can perform the setting in the own terminal FW setting information 13 at any time. The local terminal FW setting information 13 applies an existing technology as in the communication control unit 12. Since the description of the own terminal FW setting information 13 described above also applies to the own terminal FW setting information 23 of the terminal 2, the description of the own terminal FW setting information 23 is omitted.

  The other terminal communication control means 14 has a configuration that is a feature of the present embodiment, and is realized by, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The other terminal communication control unit 14 requests the terminal 2 to rewrite the setting of the own terminal FW setting information 23 held in the terminal 2 through network communication (for example, P2P communication) via the communication unit 11. Upon receiving this request, the other terminal communication control means 24 of the terminal 2 rewrites the setting of the own terminal FW setting information 23 in response to the request. After this rewriting, the communication control means 22 performs exclusive control of communication of the application provided in the terminal 2 in accordance with the setting of the rewritten own terminal FW setting information 23. In addition, although this embodiment demonstrates the example in which the other terminal communication control means 14 performs the said rewriting request with respect to the terminal 2, other terminal communication control means 14 is the terminal 2 other than the terminal 2 simultaneously with the rewriting request to the terminal 2. A similar rewrite request may be made to another terminal (not shown). Since the description of the other terminal communication control means 14 described above also applies to the other terminal communication control means 14 of the terminal 2, the description of the other terminal communication control means 14 is omitted.

  The other terminal FW setting information 15 is the same information as the own terminal FW setting information 23 held in the terminal 2. In other words, the other terminal FW setting information 15 is information that the communication control unit 22 of the terminal 2 refers to when performing exclusive control of communication of the application provided in the terminal 2, and as its contents, communication permission or Prohibition is set. In FIG. 1, for convenience of explanation, the other terminal FW setting information 15 is illustrated, but the terminal 1 does not hold the other terminal FW setting information 15 from the beginning. For example, when the other terminal communication control means 14 requests the terminal 2 to transmit the own terminal FW setting information 23 at a predetermined timing, or the user manually inputs the own terminal FW setting information 23 into the terminal 1 (or the terminal 2 is transmitted to the terminal 1), it is held in a predetermined storage means (for example, a non-volatile memory) provided in the terminal 1. In the present embodiment, the other terminal FW setting information 15 is described as being the same as the own terminal FW setting information 23 of the terminal 2, but in addition to the other terminal FW setting information 15 (own terminal FW setting information 23), the terminal By holding the own terminal FW setting information held in other terminals other than 2, it is also possible to hold a plurality of other terminal FW setting information for each other terminal. Since the description of the other terminal FW setting information 15 described above also applies to the other terminal FW setting information 25 of the terminal 2, the description of the other terminal FW setting information 25 is omitted.

  The control target other terminal information 16 is information indicating another terminal to which the other terminal communication control unit 14 makes the rewrite request. The control target other terminal information 16 may be information that can identify another terminal on the network, and examples thereof include an IP address and a terminal name. In the present embodiment, an example of the control target other terminal information 16 will be described as the IP address of the other terminal 2. In FIG. 1, the control target other terminal information 16 is illustrated for convenience of explanation, but the terminal 1 does not hold the control target other terminal information 16 from the beginning. For example, when the user manually inputs (registers) the control target other terminal information 16 to the terminal 1, the information is held in a predetermined storage unit (for example, a non-volatile memory) included in the terminal 1. In the present embodiment, the control target other terminal information 16 is described as the IP address of the terminal 2. However, in addition to the control target other terminal information 16 (IP address of the terminal 2), the IP address of other terminals other than the terminal 2 is also described. It is also possible to hold a plurality of control target other terminal information. Since the description of the control target other terminal information 16 described above also applies to the control target other terminal information 26 of the terminal 2, the description of the control target other terminal information 26 is omitted.

  The control target application information 17 is information indicating a target application for which exclusive control of communication is performed by the communication control unit of another terminal. The control target application information 17 may be any information that can be recognized by the other terminal communication control unit 14, and examples thereof include an application name. In the present embodiment, an example of the control target application information 17 will be described as the name of the application 20 (communication application) provided in the other terminal 2. In FIG. 1, the control target application information 17 is illustrated for convenience of explanation, but the terminal 1 does not hold the control target application information 17 from the beginning. For example, when the user manually inputs (registers) the control target application information 17 to the terminal 1, the information is held in a predetermined storage unit (for example, a non-volatile memory) included in the terminal 1. In the present embodiment, the control target application information 17 is described as the name of the application 20 of the terminal 2, but in addition to the control target application information 17 (the application name of the application 20), other terminals (including the terminal 2) By holding other application names provided, it is also possible to hold a plurality of pieces of control target application information. Since the description of the control target application information 17 described above also applies to the control target application information 27 of the terminal 2, the description of the control target application information 27 is omitted.

  In the above description, the method in which the other terminal communication control unit 14 uses only the control target other terminal information 16 as an example of the method of specifying the other terminal to which the rewrite request is made is described as an example. Assuming that other users are using it, the following method may be used to identify the other terminal that is the target of the rewrite request. That is, the user registers in advance user information (for example, a user name) indicating the user of the terminal in the terminal 1 and another terminal group including the terminal 2 and other terminals other than the terminal 2 (not shown). As a result, the user information is held in the predetermined storage means of the terminal 1 and the other terminal group (including the terminal 2). Thereafter, the other terminal communication control means 14 has other terminals (assumed to be plural) indicated by the control target other terminal information 16 at a predetermined timing (for example, when each other terminal is requested to transmit other terminal FW setting information). In response to the request, transmission of user information held in each other terminal is requested using network communication. And the other terminal communication control means 14 will acquire the user information currently hold | maintained at the predetermined memory | storage means of the terminal 1, if user information is received from each other terminal. Next, the other terminal communication control means 14 compares the user information acquired from the storage means of the terminal 1 with the user information received from each other terminal. As a result of this comparison, the other terminal communication control means 14 makes only the other terminal with the matching user information the target of the rewrite request.

  Next, operations between terminals (information processing apparatuses) according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, as an example, terminal 1 and terminal 2 are described as being used by the same user.

  In the stage before S1, the other terminal FW setting information 15, the control target other terminal information 16, and the control target application information 17 are not held in the terminal 1, and the other terminal FW setting information 25 and the control are also stored in the terminal 2. It is assumed that the target other terminal information 26 and the control target application information 27 are not held. Therefore, the user registers the control target other terminal information and the control target application information in the terminal 1 and the terminal 2 as advance preparation. Thus, the control target other terminal information 16 and the control target application information 17 are stored in the predetermined storage unit of the terminal 1, and the control target other terminal information 26 and the control target application information 27 are stored in the predetermined storage unit of the terminal 2. Stored (S1). As described above, in the example here, the control target other terminal information 16 is the IP address of the terminal 2, and the control target application information 17 is the application name of the application 20. Further, the control target other terminal information 26 is the IP address of the terminal 1, and the control target application information 27 is the application name of the application 10.

  After the preliminary preparation in S1, the user uses a desired application in the terminal 1 and the terminal 2, but here, the following case is taken as an example. That is, it is assumed that the user logs in with a predetermined account when using the application 20 at the terminal 2 placed at home, and then goes to work while the terminal 2 is activated without logging out. Thereafter, the user intends to log in and use the app 10 (same as the app 20) with the same account as the above account on the terminal 1 located in the company.

  In order to use the application 10, the user activates the terminal 1 and logs in to an OS (Operating System). Thereafter, the application 10 is automatically activated or activated by a user operation. The other terminal communication control unit 14 acquires the control target other terminal information 16 from a predetermined storage unit. And the other terminal communication control means 14 of the own terminal FW setting information 23 hold | maintained at the terminal 2 via the communication means 11 based on the acquired control object other terminal information 16 (IP address of the terminal 2). The terminal 2 is requested for transmission (S2). This transmission request is made at any timing when the terminal 1 is activated, when the user logs in to the OS, or when the application 10 is activated. Further, this transmission request is made by P2P communication.

  The terminal 2 receives the transmission request from the terminal 1 via the communication unit 21. The other terminal communication control means 24 returns the own terminal FW setting information 23 via the communication means 21 in accordance with the received transmission request (S3). This reply is made by P2P communication.

  The terminal 1 receives the terminal FW setting information 23 from the terminal 2 via the communication unit 11. The other terminal communication control means 14 stores the received own terminal FW setting information 23 in the predetermined storage means as the other terminal FW setting information 15 (S4).

  Here, the other terminal communication control unit 14 acquires the control target application information 17 and the other terminal FW setting information 15 from a predetermined storage unit. Then, the other terminal communication control unit 14 sets the application 20 whose application name is indicated as the control target application information 17 to a setting in which communication is permitted in the other terminal FW setting information 15 (for example, “application 20 = permitted”). Judge whether it is. As a result of the determination, if the setting is such that the communication of the application 20 is prohibited (for example, “application 20 = prohibited”), the other terminal communication control means 14 does not perform any particular processing. On the other hand, if it is determined that the communication of the application 20 is permitted as a result of the determination, the other-terminal communication control unit 14 determines that the terminal 2 whose IP address is indicated as the control-target other-terminal information 16 acquired previously is The terminal FW setting information 23 is requested to be rewritten to a setting for prohibiting communication of the application 20 (S5). This rewrite request is made by P2P communication via the communication means 11.

  The terminal 2 receives the rewrite request from the terminal 1 via the communication unit 21. The other terminal communication control unit 24 rewrites the communication setting of the application 20 in the own terminal FW setting information 23 from “permitted” to “prohibited” in accordance with the received rewriting request (S6). After this rewriting, the communication control means 22 performs communication exclusive control of the application according to the rewritten own terminal FW setting information 23. Therefore, the communication of the application 20 whose login state is maintained by the rewriting of S6 is excluded by the communication control unit 22. As a result, in the terminal 1 and the terminal 2, it is possible to avoid the state where the application 20 and the application 10 are logged in with the same account, and it is possible to prevent the operation from becoming unstable.

  As described above, according to the operations of S1 to S6, the setting of the existing firewall that operates on the terminal 2 can be rewritten from the terminal 1. Thereby, it is possible to perform communication exclusion control when login is performed with the same account in the same communication app without changing the existing communication app. As a result, it is possible to prevent the operation of the terminal from becoming unstable.

  Next, additional operations in the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to S7 to S11 of FIG.

  After S6, when an application other than the application 20 (hereinafter referred to as application X) tries to start communication in the terminal 2, the communication control means 22 notifies the other terminal communication control means 24 of the name of the application X. It is assumed that the application X is not registered in the terminal 1 and the terminal 2 as control target application information. The other terminal communication control unit 24 transmits notification information indicating the application name (the name of the application X) notified from the communication control unit 22 to the terminal 1 (S7). This transmission is performed by P2P communication via the communication means 21. In addition, the following example is given as a method for specifying the terminal to which the other terminal communication control unit 24 should notify the application name (send notification information). That is, when the rewrite request is received in S6, the other terminal communication control means 24 controls the other target terminal information 26 (the terminal 1 in the above example) indicating the terminal (terminal 1 in the above example) that is the source of the rewrite request. A flag is set for (IP address). Then, after receiving the notification of the application name from the communication control means 22 after S6, the other terminal communication control means 24 refers to the control target other terminal information 26, and the control target other terminal information 26 for which the flag is set. The application name is notified to the terminal indicated by (IP address of terminal 1 in the above example) (terminal 1 in the above example).

  The terminal 1 receives the notification information from the terminal 2 via the communication unit 11. The other terminal communication control unit 14 indicates the application name of the application X indicated in the received notification information to the user and inquires of the user whether to prohibit communication of the application X (S8). An example of the inquiry method is screen display on the terminal 1.

  As a result of the inquiry, when receiving an instruction not to prohibit (permit) communication of the application X, the other terminal communication control means 14 does not perform any particular processing. Thereby, in the terminal 2, the communication of the application X is started. On the other hand, when an instruction to prohibit the communication of the application X is accepted as a result of the inquiry, the other terminal communication control unit 14 rewrites the terminal 2 to a setting for prohibiting the communication of the application X in the own terminal FW setting information 23. (S9). This rewrite request is made by P2P communication via the communication means 11.

  The terminal 2 receives the rewrite request from the terminal 1 via the communication unit 21. The other terminal communication control unit 24 rewrites the communication setting of the application X in the own terminal FW setting information 23 from “permitted” to “prohibited” in accordance with the received rewriting request (S10). After this rewriting, the communication control means 22 performs communication exclusive control of the application according to the rewritten own terminal FW setting information 23. Therefore, the communication of the application X that is about to start communication is rewritten by the communication control means 22 by rewriting S10. After S10, the process returns to S7 and the above operation is repeated.

  After transmitting the rewrite request (S9), the other terminal communication control means 14 adds the notified application name (name of the application X) to the predetermined storage means as control target application information and stores it (S11). Further, the other terminal communication control unit 14 rewrites the communication setting of the application X from “permitted” to “prohibited” in the other terminal FW setting information 15. After S11, the process returns to S8 and the above operation is repeated.

  As described above, according to the operations of S7 to S11, when an application that is not held in each terminal as control target application information tries to start communication in the terminal 2, the user communicates with the application in the terminal 1. Can be instructed to ban. In addition, the name of the application instructing to prohibit communication can be automatically added as control target application information (without the user performing manual registration operation).

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, it is not limited to the said embodiment, A various deformation | transformation is possible in the range which does not deviate from the summary.

  For example, the operation in the above-described embodiment can be executed by hardware, software, or a combined configuration of both.

  When executing processing by software, a program in which a processing sequence is recorded may be installed and executed in a memory in a computer incorporated in dedicated hardware. Or you may install and run a program in the general purpose computer which can perform various processes.

  For example, the program can be recorded in advance on a hard disk or a ROM (Read Only Memory) as a recording medium. Alternatively, the program is stored on a removable recording medium such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), an MO (Magneto Optical) disc, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory, a magnetic disc, and a semiconductor memory. It is possible to store (record) temporarily or permanently. Such a removable recording medium can be provided as so-called package software.

  The program may be wirelessly transferred from the download site to the computer in addition to being installed on the computer from the removable recording medium as described above. Or you may wire-transfer to a computer via networks, such as LAN (Local Area Network) and the internet. The computer can receive the transferred program and install it on a recording medium such as a built-in hard disk.

  In addition to being executed in time series in accordance with the processing operations described in the above embodiment, the processing capability of the apparatus that executes the processing, or a configuration to execute in parallel or individually as necessary Is also possible.

1, 2 terminal 3 network 10, 20 communication application 11, 21 communication means 12, 22 communication control means 13, 23 own terminal FW setting information 14, 24 other terminal communication control means 15, 25 other terminal FW setting information 16, 26 control Target other terminal information 17, 27 Control target application information

Claims (8)

An information processing apparatus that can use an application that performs network communication and can perform network communication with other terminals having a personal firewall,
Other terminal communication control means for changing setting information indicating an application that is held in the other terminal and disconnects network communication by the personal firewall,
The other terminal communication control means includes
Other terminal information indicating other terminals registered in advance by the user is acquired,
Acquire application information indicating an application registered in advance by the user,
Obtain setting information of other terminals registered in the other terminal information,
An information processing apparatus that adds an application to the setting information when the application registered in the application information is not included in the setting information. The other terminal communication control means includes
Others registered in the other terminal information at any timing when the information processing apparatus is activated, when a user logs in to the OS of the information processing apparatus, or when a predetermined application is activated on the information processing apparatus The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the setting information held in the other terminal is requested and received from the terminal using the network communication. The other terminal communication control means includes
Obtaining user information registered in advance by the user and indicating the user of the information processing apparatus;
For other terminals registered in the other terminal information, request the user information indicating the user of the other terminal using the network communication,
The acquired user information is compared with the user information received from the other terminal, and the other terminal with which the user matches is registered in the application information in the setting information held in the other terminal. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an additional application is added. The other terminal communication control means includes
When notification information indicating an application for which communication has started on the other terminal is received from the other terminal registered in the other terminal information by the network communication, the user is asked whether to prohibit communication of the application indicated by the notification information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an inquiry is made. The other terminal communication control means includes
As a result of the inquiry, when an instruction to prohibit communication of the application indicated by the notification information is received, the setting information held in the other terminal is stored in the other terminal registered in the other terminal information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the application is added. The other terminal communication control means includes
6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein when an instruction to prohibit communication of an application indicated by the notification information is received as a result of the inquiry, the application is additionally registered as the application information. . It is a communication control method performed by an information processing apparatus that can use an application that performs network communication and that can perform network communication with other terminals having a personal firewall,
Acquiring other terminal information indicating other terminals registered in advance by the user;
Obtaining application information indicating an application registered in advance by the user;
Acquiring setting information indicating an application that is held in the other terminal registered in the other terminal information and disconnects network communication by the personal firewall; and
A step of adding the application to the setting information when the application registered in the application information is not included in the setting information;
A communication control method characterized by comprising: A program that can be used by an application that performs network communication and that is executed by a computer that can perform network communication with another terminal having a personal firewall,
In the computer,
Processing for acquiring other terminal information indicating other terminals registered in advance by the user;
Processing for obtaining application information indicating an application registered in advance by the user;
A process for acquiring setting information indicating an application that is held in the other terminal registered in the other terminal information and disconnects network communication by the personal firewall;
A process of adding the application to the setting information when the application registered in the application information is not included in the setting information;
A program characterized by having executed.

Images