JP3083476B2 - Application server system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an application server system which is useful for executing and managing an interactive application service involving reproduction and transmission of a moving image in a network environment. The present invention relates to an application server system capable of distributing loads even when applications having the same application are mixed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of moving image compression technology such as MPEG and ATM and large-capacity data communication technology,
Interactive TV systems using these technologies have begun to be realized. In particular, execution and management of application services that involve reproduction and transmission of moving images, for which real-time guarantees are essential for user requests, are regarded as important.

[0003] An application server system that executes and manages an application service involving such reproduction and transmission of a moving image will be described below.

Conventionally, execution of an application service accompanied by reproduction and transmission of a moving image has been performed by combining a dedicated video server system and an application system built on a general-purpose computer system. If you do not use a dedicated video server system,
This is realized by adding a function of reproducing and transmitting a moving image to an application system built on a general-purpose computer.

[0005] The start and stop of an application for providing a service to a user are started when the application system is started and stopped when the application system is stopped or started when a request from the user arrives. Either stop at the end of.

An application that provides a service to a user receives a request from the user and reproduces and sends a moving image. If the application load increases due to an increase in the number of users, the load can be distributed by adding a video server system if a dedicated video server system is used. In a system constructed on a general-purpose computer, load distribution and processing performance are improved by multiplexing processors and shifting to a computer having higher processing performance.

[0007] Measures against failure of the application system are realized by using a highly reliable computer such as a fault-tolerant machine.

[0008]

However, at present,
With the increase of services involving playback and transmission of moving images, in the same application service system,
It has become necessary to mix services with different load characteristics. The services having different load characteristics mainly include, for example, a video-on-demand service and other services that mainly play or transmit moving images, and interactive operations such as a TV shopping service and a multimedia information search service. Service.

In the prior art, the execution of an application service involving reproduction and transmission of a moving image is performed by combining a dedicated video server system with an application system constructed on a general-purpose computer system, or constructed on a general-purpose computer. This is achieved by adding a function to play and send moving images to the application system that has been implemented, so that the load status related to playing and sending moving images can be managed, and the load and application associated with playing and sending moving images can be controlled. It was difficult to separate from the load.

In determining the load state, the CPU
It is mainly to monitor the load status of hardware such as a network device, a network device, a moving image playback device and a transmission device, and it has been difficult to determine and manage the load status based on the load characteristics inherent to the application.

Further, when starting and stopping an application for providing a service to a user, if the application is started when the application system is started up and stopped when the application system is stopped, resources on a computer such as a CPU and a memory are required. It is difficult to use the service efficiently, and it is difficult to shorten the response time from the user's request to the start of the service by starting when the request arrives from the user and stopping it when the service ends. Was.

Furthermore, in the conventional system,
In order to implement measures against failures in the application server system, reliability is improved by introducing a fault-tolerant computer and implementing a failure management function in the application itself. For this reason, a large system construction cost for troubleshooting is required.

As described above, since the conventional application system is constructed by a dedicated video server system or an application system constructed on a general-purpose computer, load distribution for various application services and flexible measures against failures are performed. Was difficult to achieve.

In order to overcome the difficulty of the application server system as described above, the present invention provides a general-purpose operation environment for an application for reproducing and transmitting a moving image. The purpose of the present invention is to realize an application server system capable of distributing loads even when applications having load characteristics are mixed, and to realize an application server system capable of managing faults of the application server system as well as distributing the load. I do.

[0015]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention clarifies the respective load states by separating a stream control section and an application execution management section for performing application control.
In the determination of the load state, conditions for load determination are designated at the time of application service registration, so that optimum load distribution can be performed even when application services having various load characteristics are mixed.

Further, by controlling the start and end of the application based on the start characteristics of the application, the resources on the computer can be efficiently used.

Furthermore, the application execution management unit is provided with a failure management function, and the state of the server on which the monitored application execution management unit operates is notified to the primary application execution management unit, so that autonomous distributed failure management can be performed. I do it.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a system schematic diagram of an application server system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, an application server system includes a service control unit 100 that processes a service request from a user terminal 106 via a communication unit 105, and an application start request for realizing a service from the service control unit 100. Application execution management unit 101 for receiving and receiving an application, executing a stream transmission request from an application started by the application execution management unit 101,
A stream control unit 103 for controlling a stream, such as a stream transmission request from 6, and a stream transmission unit 104 for transmitting a stream to the user terminal 106
And a content information management unit 102 that manages detailed information of the stream transmitted by the stream transmission unit 104.
It is composed of The stream control unit 103 controls the stream transmission unit 104 in addition to the control regarding the stream.

Next, the logical structure of the application execution status information in the application execution management unit 101 will be described. First, the application execution status information 12
0 is stored by the structure shown in FIG. The application ID 121 is a unique number for specifying an application.

The start characteristic 122 indicates the characteristic of the processing at the time of starting and stopping the application. 123 users
Indicates the number of users using the application. The number of processes 124 indicates the number of processes running for an application in the application execution management unit 101. 125 processes
Indicates the upper limit of the number of processes that can be started for an application in the application execution management unit 101.

The maximum number of users 126 indicates the upper limit of the number of users that can be connected to one process.
The load characteristic 127 indicates the load characteristic of the application. The process information pointer 128 is a pointer for referring to the process execution status information of the activated process.

Next, the logical structure of the process execution status information 142 in the application execution management unit 101 will be described. First, the process execution state information 142 is stored in the structure shown in FIG.

The process information pointer 128 in the application execution status information 120 is composed of a head pointer 140 pointing to the head of the process execution status information 142 list and a last pointer 141 pointing to the end. The next pointer 143 and the previous pointer 144 in the process execution state information 142 are process execution state information pointers for realizing a list structure. The process ID 145 is a number for uniquely specifying a process in the application execution management unit 101. The state 146 indicates the state of the process.

The number of users 147 indicates the number of users connected to the process. The user information pointer 148 is
This is a pointer for referring to the application usage status information of the connected user. The application information pointer 149 is a pointer for referring to the application execution state information 120 of the corresponding application.

Next, the logical structure of usage status information in the application execution management unit 101 will be described. First, the application use status information 162 is stored according to the structure shown in FIG.

The user information pointer 148 in the process execution status information 142 is composed of a head pointer 160 pointing to the head of the list of the application usage status information 162 and a tail pointer 161 pointing to the end of the list. The next pointer 163 and the previous pointer 164 in the application usage information 162 are application usage information reference pointers for realizing the list structure.

The connection parameters 165 store parameters specified at the time of application connection. User I
D166 is an ID for uniquely identifying a user in the application server system. Thread ID
Reference numeral 167 denotes a number for uniquely specifying a thread for waiting for a message from the user in the corresponding process. The connection time 168 indicates the connection time to the process. The process information pointer 169 is a pointer for referring to the process execution state information of the corresponding process.

Next, the outline of the operation of the present embodiment will be described. First, the application server system
As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of general application execution management units 182 and a plurality of general application execution management units 182 are provided.
Application execution management unit 180 that controls
And a secondary application execution management unit 181 that replaces the primary application execution management unit 180 when a failure occurs in the primary application execution management unit 180.

As shown in FIG. 6, the application execution manager 200 includes a primary application execution manager 180 and a secondary application execution manager 18.
1. Application execution state information 201 for controlling the execution of the application 205, such as starting and stopping the application 205, without distinguishing the general application execution management unit 182, and storing the state of the application
, Process execution state information 202 for storing the execution state of a process constituting the application 205, application use state information 203 for storing the use state of a user who uses the application, and a server on which the application execution management unit operates. The load state information 204 which stores the load state of the load is stored.

Primary application execution management unit 18
The load state information 220 of 0 is stored by the structure shown in FIG. The load state information 220 includes, in addition to the load information 221 unique to the primary application execution management unit 180, the load information 222 unique to the secondary application execution management unit 181.
And the load information 223 unique to the general application execution management unit 182. The secondary application execution management unit 181 holds a copy of the load status information 220 of the primary application execution management unit 180.

The load distribution of the application execution management unit will be described with reference to FIG. Upon receiving the application start request from the service control unit 100, the primary application execution management unit 180 (Step 24)
0), refer to the application execution state information 120 (step 241), and further refer to the load characteristic 127 in the application execution state information 120 (step 242) (see related FIG. 2).

Next, referring to the selection condition table 243 based on the load characteristic 127 (step 244), a selection condition for selecting the application execution management unit 101 most suitable for the load characteristic 127 is obtained (step 245). ).

Next, the application execution management section selection routine 247 for evaluating the selection condition is executed (step 246). The application execution management unit selection routine 247 provides load state information 220 (see also FIG. 7).
Is retrieved (step 248), the selection conditions are evaluated, the optimum application execution management unit 101 is selected, and a request for starting the application is made (step 249).

As a result, even when applications having different load characteristics coexist, the most suitable application execution management unit 101 can be selected for each application.

Next, regarding the activation of the application,
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the user terminal 10
The service request from 6 is transmitted to the service control unit 100 via the communication means 105. The service control unit 100 issues an application activation request to the primary application execution management unit 180. The primary application execution management unit 180 selects the most suitable application execution management unit based on the load characteristics 127, and issues an application activation request (step 260) (see FIG. 1).
And FIG. 8).

Upon receiving the start request (step 261), the application execution management unit refers to the start characteristic 122 (see FIG. 2) in the application execution state information 120 (step 261).
262) If the startup characteristic 122 is not the multi-user type, the application is started (step 268), and the started application is connected to the user terminal 106 (step 26).
7).

If the startup characteristic 122 is a multi-user type,
Referring to the process information pointer 128 (see FIG. 2) in the application execution state information 120, the process execution state information 142 (see FIG. 2) in which the number of users 123 is less than the maximum number of users 126 is searched (step 263). . If there is the process execution state information 142 in which the number of users 123 is less than the maximum number of users 126, the application corresponding to the process execution state information 142 is connected to the user terminal 106 (step 267).

If the process execution state information 142 does not exist, the maximum number of processes 125 in the application execution state information 120 is compared with the number of processes 124 (see FIG. 2) (step 265). If it does not exceed 125, start the application (step 26
6) Connect the started application to the user terminal 106 (step 267). 124 processes is the maximum number of processes
If it exceeds 125, the primary application execution management unit selects the next most suitable application execution management unit, and makes an application start request again (step 269).

Next, the stop of the application will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the user terminal 106
Is transmitted to the application running in the application execution management unit 101 by the communication means 105.

The application requests the application execution management unit 101 to stop the application (step 280). Application execution management unit 101
Is the startup characteristic 122 in the application execution state information 120
Referring to FIG. 2 (step 281), if the activation characteristic 122 is the resident type, the application and the user terminal 106 are disconnected (step 285).

If the activation characteristic 122 is of the single user type (step 282), the application is stopped (step 284). If the activation characteristic 122 is a multi-user type and the number of users is one or less (step 28)
3) Stop the application (step 284). If the user is a multi-user type and has two or more users, the application is disconnected from the user terminal 106 (step 28).
Five).

As described above, by controlling the activation of the application by the activation characteristic 122, the system resources such as the CPU and the memory can be used efficiently.

Next, failure management of the application execution management unit will be described.

First, the general application execution management unit 18
The second fault management will be described with reference to FIG. The general application execution management unit 182 performs the primary application execution management unit at a time interval shorter than the failure certification time.
A survival notification message 300 is sent to 180. The primary application execution management unit 180 receives the survival notification message 300 from the general application execution management unit 182.
The interval between arrival times is monitored.

Primary application execution management unit 18
0 indicates that the general application execution management unit 182 does not arrive even if the survival notification message 300 does not arrive even after the failure recognition time.
Message, the disconnection message 301 requesting the secondary application execution management unit 181 to disconnect the general application execution management unit 182.
Send.

Secondary application execution management unit 18
1 receives the disconnection message 301 and disconnects the general application execution management unit 182 (step 30).
2) Send a disconnection completion message 303 to the primary application execution management unit 180. The primary application execution management unit 180 outputs the disconnection completion message 3 from the secondary application execution management unit 181.
After receiving 03, the general application execution management unit 182
Is cut (step 304).

Next, failure management of the secondary application execution management unit will be described with reference to FIG.
The secondary application execution management unit 181 sends a survival notification message 320 to the primary application execution management unit 180 at a time interval shorter than the failure recognition time. The primary application execution management unit 180 monitors the arrival time interval of the existence notification message 320 from the secondary application execution management unit 181.

The primary application execution management unit 18
0 indicates that if the survival notification message 320 does not arrive even after the failure authorization time has elapsed, it is determined that a failure has occurred in the secondary application execution management unit 181 and the general application execution management unit 182 has the highest rank among the general application execution management units 182. Select the application execution manager 182 (step 32
1) Send a transform message 322 to the general application execution management unit 182, requesting a transformation to the secondary application execution management unit 181.

The general application execution management section 182
Transforms the secondary application execution manager 181 after receiving the transform message 322 (step 323), and sends the transform completion message 3 to the primary application execution manager 180.
Send 24.

Next, failure management of the primary application execution manager will be described with reference to FIG.
The primary application execution management unit 180 sends a survival notification message 340 to the secondary application execution management unit 181 at a time interval shorter than the failure recognition time. The secondary application execution management unit 181 monitors the arrival time interval of the existence notification message 340 from the primary application execution management unit 180.

The secondary application execution management unit 18
If the survival notification message 340 does not arrive even after the failure acknowledgment time has elapsed, it is determined that a failure has occurred in the primary application execution management unit 180, and transforms to the primary application execution management unit 180 (step 341).

New primary application execution management unit
180 sends a primary application execution management unit replacement message 342 to the service control unit 100, and outputs the highest rank general application execution management unit 182 from the plurality of general application execution management units 182.
Is selected (step 343), and a transform message 344 requesting a transform to the secondary application execution management unit 181 is sent to the general application execution management unit 182.

The general application execution management section 182
Transforms the secondary application execution manager 181 after receiving the transform message 344 (step 345), and sends a transform completion message 3 to the primary application execution manager 180.
Send 46. Primary application execution management unit 180
Sends a transform completion message 347 to the service control unit 100.

Next, the general application execution management section 18
The configuration management 2 will be described with reference to FIG. When newly connecting the general application execution management unit 182, the general application execution management unit 182 sends a connection request message 360 to the primary application execution management unit 180. Upon receiving the connection request message 360 from the general application execution management section 182, the primary application execution management section 180 receives the latest application execution state information 361 and the process execution state information 3
62, application usage information 363, and load status information 364 are sent to the general application execution management unit 182 that has transmitted the connection request message 360.

After receiving the information, the general application execution management unit 182 that has made a new connection request determines whether connection is possible, and if possible, can become a member of the general application execution management unit. .

In the above, the application execution management section of the application server system has been described. Here, the service control section and the content information (data) management section will be supplementarily described.

The service control unit 100, which processes a service request from the user terminal 106, controls the functions of each unit such as control of activation, execution and stream of an application for realizing a service, management of data, and control of itself. Therefore, an application interface library is held for the application, and the application interface library can be provided according to a request from each unit.

The service control unit 100 also manages the service as a distributed object by
It can be an object distribution system.

Further, a content information (data) management unit
102 can be configured as an object database system to manage the management information and detailed information of stream data as objects.

[0061]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the stream control unit and the application execution management unit for performing application control are separated, it is possible to clarify the respective load states.

Also, in the determination of the load state, by specifying the load characteristics at the time of application service registration, optimum load distribution can be performed even in a case where applications having various load characteristics are mixed. It is possible.

Further, by controlling the starting and stopping of the application based on the starting characteristics of the application, the system resources on the computer can be efficiently used.

Further, the application execution management unit is provided with a failure management function, and the state of the server on which the monitored application execution management unit operates is notified to the primary application execution management unit, thereby enabling autonomous distributed failure management. It is possible to do.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an application server system according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a logical structure of application execution state information according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a logical structure of process execution state information according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a logical structure of application use status information according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an application execution management unit according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing information inside an application execution management unit according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a logical structure of load status information of a primary application execution management unit according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing load distribution by a primary application execution management unit according to the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a procedure for starting an application according to the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a procedure for stopping an application according to the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing fault management of the general application execution management unit according to the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram showing fault management of the secondary application execution management unit according to the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram showing fault management of the primary application execution management unit according to the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram illustrating configuration management of a general application execution management unit according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 Service control unit 101 Application execution management unit 102 Content information management unit 103 Stream control unit 104 Stream transmission unit 105 Communication unit 106 User terminal 120 Application execution status information 142 Process execution status information 162 Application usage status information 180 Primary application execution management unit 181 Secondary application execution manager 182 General application execution manager

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hiroki Shinohara 1006 Kadoma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-8-18947 (JP, A) JP-A-7- 274107 (JP, A) JP-A-9-224044 (JP, A) JP-A-8-163072 (JP, A) JP-A 8-65655 (JP, A) JP-A-6-110851 (JP, A) JP-A-4-172045 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 7/10 H04N ^7/ 14-7/173 H04N ^7/ 20-7/22

Claims (9)

(57) [Claims] 1. A service control unit for receiving and controlling a service request from a user via a communication unit, a plurality of application execution management units for executing and managing an application for realizing a service, and stream data. A plurality of stream transmitting units for storing a stream and transmitting the stream to a user; a stream control unit for controlling the plurality of stream transmitting units; and management information and details of stream data stored in the stream transmitting unit. An interactive TV for providing various services to a user terminal connected via communication means, comprising a content data management unit storing information.
An application server system in the system, wherein the application execution management unit that controls execution of an application such as starting and stopping an application includes application execution state information that stores an execution state of the application, and execution of a process that configures the application. The application having at least process execution status information for storing status, application usage status information for storing usage status of a user using the application, and load status information for storing a load status of an operating server; Performing load distribution among the plurality of application execution management units based on execution state information, the process execution state information, the application use state information, and the load state information. Deployment server system. 2. The plurality of application execution managers, wherein the primary application execution manager controls the plurality of application execution managers and the primary application execution manager when a failure occurs in the primary application execution manager. A secondary application execution management unit that replaces the
The primary application execution management unit is configured by a plurality of general application execution management units other than the primary application execution management unit and the secondary application execution management unit, and the primary application execution management unit executes all of the plurality of application executions including the primary application execution management unit. Owning the configuration information of the management unit, each of the plurality of general application execution management units in the plurality of general application execution management units has one non-overlapping order among the plurality of general application execution management units. The application server system according to claim 1, wherein 3. The plurality of application execution management units further include means for implementing a measure against a failure, wherein the means for implementing the measure against failure include: the secondary application execution management unit; and the plurality of general application execution management units. Means for sending a survival notification message to the primary application execution management unit at a time interval shorter than a predetermined failure recognition time, and the primary application execution management unit Means for sending a survival notification message at a time interval shorter than the failure recognition time, and wherein the primary application execution management unit, from the plurality of general application execution management units, if the survival notification message does not arrive even after exceeding the failure recognition time, The general application from the system Means for disconnecting the application execution management unit, wherein the primary application execution management unit, when the survival notification message does not arrive from the secondary application execution unit even after exceeding the failure authorization time, the plurality of general application execution management units Means for selecting the highest-ranked general application execution management unit from among them, and sending a transform message for transforming the secondary application execution management unit to the general application execution management unit; If the primary application execution management unit does not receive a survival notification message from the primary application execution management unit even after the failure certification time has elapsed, the secondary application execution management unit Transform to an execution management unit, and select the highest-ranked general application execution management unit from the plurality of general application execution management units, and select the secondary application execution management unit for the general application execution management unit. 3. The application server system according to claim 2, further comprising means for sending a transform message for transforming the application server. 4. The primary application execution management unit includes means for storing load statuses of the secondary application execution management unit and the plurality of general application execution management units in load status information of the primary application execution management unit; The execution state information includes means for storing load characteristic information indicating a load characteristic of the application for each application, and further, when starting the application in the primary application execution management unit, refers to the load characteristic information corresponding to the application. 3. The application according to claim 2, further comprising means for retrieving the load state information and selecting an application execution management unit most suitable for the load characteristics, thereby realizing load distribution. Server system. 5. The primary application execution management unit includes means for storing, in the application execution state information, start-up characteristic information indicating an application start-up characteristic for each application. 3. The application server system according to claim 2, further comprising: means for controlling activation of the application based on the activation characteristic information corresponding to the application. 6. The plurality of application execution management units further include a configuration management unit, wherein the configuration management unit is configured such that, when a new connection of the application execution management unit is established, the application execution management unit is configured to include the primary application execution management unit. Means for sending a connection request message to, the primary application execution management unit receives a connection request message from the application execution management unit, the latest application execution state information to the application execution management unit, 3. The application server system according to claim 2, further comprising means for transferring process execution state information, application use state information, and load state information, and performing configuration management. 7. The service control unit provides functions of each unit of an own control unit, the application execution management unit, the stream control unit, and the content data management unit to an application as an application program interface library. 2. The application server system according to claim 1, wherein: 8. The application server system according to claim 1, wherein the service control unit is an object distribution system, and manages services as distributed objects. 9. The application server system according to claim 1, wherein the content data management unit is an object database system, and manages management information and detailed information of the stream data as objects.