JP7533001B2 - Information processing device, content distribution method and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device, a content distribution method, and a program.

In recent years, with the advent of work style reforms and the introduction of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in the field of education, electronic whiteboards (also known as interactive whiteboards) are increasingly being used during meetings and classes. When exchanging content with an electronic whiteboard, a dedicated driver or application is used to obtain the electronic whiteboard content.

In the network system, when content is acquired, a content acquisition request is made. When distributing electronic whiteboard content, the destination client sends a content acquisition request to the source server to maintain the freshness of the content. However, in the conventional technology system, every time a destination client requests electronic whiteboard content from the source server, the source server must access the electronic whiteboard and acquire the content, which is insufficient in that it increases the communication load. For example, if the content has not yet been updated at the time of the request, and the same content is acquired again even though the content has not been updated, the request packet and the packets transmitting the content data will put a strain on the network bandwidth.

In relation to the above-mentioned communication load, the prior art of JP 2013-97749 A (Patent Document 1) is known. Patent Document 1 discloses a teaching material storage server equipped with a caching control unit that determines the range of teaching material data to be cached by the learner's terminal for each of multiple pieces of lesson progress data. However, in the prior art of Patent Document 1, the cache control policy is insufficient, which increases the amount of calculations to be processed by the information processing terminal, making it insufficient.

This disclosure has been made in consideration of the above points, and aims to provide an information processing device that can reduce the amount of data communication on a network when distributing electronic whiteboard content to a terminal device.

In order to solve the above problems, the present disclosure provides an information processing device having the following characteristics. The information processing device includes a storage unit that stores content for an electronic whiteboard, a receiving unit that receives a content acquisition request from a terminal device, a determination unit that determines whether to acquire content from the storage unit or from an external device based on the received content acquisition request, and a transmission unit that transmits the acquired content to the terminal device according to the result of the determination by the determination unit.

The above configuration makes it possible to reduce the amount of data communication on the network when distributing electronic whiteboard content to terminal devices.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a network environment in which a system for distributing contents of an interactive whiteboard according to the present embodiment is constructed. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the electronic whiteboard according to this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of a personal computer that can be used as an information processing device in this embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing functional blocks of the information processing device according to the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram for explaining the flow of a content cache periodic update process executed in a network environment according to this embodiment. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram for explaining the flow of processing in response to a content acquisition request, which is executed in a network environment according to this embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a setting screen for reflecting the parent-child relationship between the electronic whiteboards in the information processing devices in this embodiment. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a parent-child relationship determination process executed by the information processing device in this embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the statuses represented by buttons displayed on the setting screen in this embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a comparison between the content distribution method of the prior art and the content distribution method according to this embodiment.

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention, but the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described below. Note that the embodiment described below will be described with reference to information processing devices 26, 56 connected to electronic whiteboards 24, 54 as an example of an information processing device.

Figure 1 shows an outline of the overall configuration of a network environment 10 in which a system for distributing electronic whiteboard content according to this embodiment is constructed. The network environment 10 shown in Figure 1 includes a number of bases 20, 50, each of which is connected to the Internet 12 using, for example, a gateway or the like, and which are connected to each other via the Internet 12. Each base 20 (or 50) (hereinafter, the first base 20 will be described as a representative, but the same applies to the second base 50 unless otherwise specified) is equipped with an electronic whiteboard 24 (or 54), an information processing device 26 (or 56), and a user terminal device 28 (or 58), which are connected to each other via an intra-base network 22 (or 52).

The electronic whiteboard 24 is a so-called interactive whiteboard that allows users to write on the image in the display area with a touch pen or by hand while displaying an image of a specified content. The electronic whiteboard 24 may also have various functions, such as a handwriting recognition (OCR) function that converts handwritten characters into text, a drawing and editing function that writes shapes such as stamps, lines, circles, and ellipses, and a copy-and-paste function that copies a specified range on the display area and pastes it in another location. The written content is stored as data in a memory area of the electronic whiteboard 24 or in a memory area of a device attached to the electronic whiteboard 24, or transmitted to another device, when a user gives an instruction or when a specified time has passed.

The information processing device 26 is a device that distributes the contents of the electronic whiteboard 24 to one or more user terminal devices 28 on the same network 22. The information processing device 26 according to this embodiment acquires the latest content from the electronic whiteboard 24 at an appropriate timing, and distributes the contents of the electronic whiteboard 24 to one or more user terminal devices 28 present on the same intra-site network 22. The information processing device 26 is configured as a general-purpose computer such as a personal computer, tablet computer, or smartphone, or a dedicated device that performs distribution processing of the contents of the electronic whiteboard, although it is not particularly limited thereto.

The information processing device 26 may also have a mechanism for transmitting (uploading) display content to the electronic whiteboard 24. Normally, dedicated software is used to transmit display content to the electronic whiteboard 24, but by providing the information processing device 26 with a function for transmitting display content, even guests can transmit display content to the electronic whiteboard 24 without the trouble of installing dedicated software. In this way, when transmitting display content to the electronic whiteboard 24, the content to be distributed initially remains display content, but when writing is performed on the display content as the conference progresses, the content to be distributed is a file in which the original display content and the writing result are combined and output. In addition, when content stored in the electronic whiteboard 24 (for example, content that has saved past writing) is used for display, the content to be distributed initially becomes display content including the past writing result, and when further writing is performed as the conference progresses, the file in which the original display content and the new writing result are combined and output becomes the content to be distributed.

The user terminal device 28 is a terminal device that displays the contents of the electronic whiteboard 24 distributed from the information processing device 26 on a display device such as its own display. The user terminal device 28 is not particularly limited, but may be configured as a personal computer, a tablet computer, a smartphone, or the like.

An application for displaying the contents of the electronic whiteboard 24 may be installed in the user terminal device 28, and the user terminal device 28 may display the contents of the electronic whiteboard 24 using the application. Alternatively, the user terminal device 28 may display the contents of the electronic whiteboard 24 using a general-purpose browser. In the example shown in FIG. 1, two user terminal devices 28 are shown for each base, but the number of terminals may be one or three or more, and the number of terminals may be the same or different between bases.

The network 22 is typically a wired or wireless LAN (local area network), where the electronic whiteboard 24, the information processing device 26 and the user terminal device 28 are connected to the same network.

Figure 1 shows multiple locations 20, 50. In the first mode of use, each location 20 (or 50) can independently distribute the contents of the electronic whiteboard 24 (or 54) to a user terminal device 28 (or 58) via an information processing device 26 (or 56) within the same network 22 (or 52).

In the second usage mode, the screen can be shared and projected between multiple locations 20, 50. For example, the electronic whiteboard 24 at the first location 20 can be the "parent" and the electronic whiteboard 54 at the second location 50 can be the "child", and the content of the parent electronic whiteboard 24 can be displayed on the display area of the child electronic whiteboard 54. The information processing device 26 on the same network 22 as the parent electronic whiteboard 24 acquires and distributes the content of the parent electronic whiteboard 24 to the user terminal device 28 on the same network 22 as the parent electronic whiteboard 24. Meanwhile, the information processing device 56 on the intra-location network 52 of the child electronic whiteboard 54 acquires the content of the parent electronic whiteboard 24 via the Internet 12 and distributes it to the user terminal device 58 on the same network 52 as itself. When forming a parent-child relationship between multiple locations, one or more child electronic whiteboards can be provided for one parent electronic whiteboard.

In a system for distributing electronic whiteboard content constructed as described above, the challenge is how to efficiently distribute electronic whiteboard content to multiple user terminal devices, which may be located at different locations in some cases. In response to this, the information processing devices 26, 56 of this embodiment are equipped with a mechanism for acquiring the latest content of the electronic whiteboards 24, 54 at the appropriate time and distributing the content to the user terminal devices 28, 58 linked to them while reducing duplicate data transmission as much as possible.

Before describing the mechanism for distributing content according to this embodiment, the hardware configurations of the electronic whiteboards 24, 54 and the information processing devices 26, 56 provided in the network environment 10 will be described below.

Figure 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of an electronic whiteboard in this embodiment. As shown in Figure 2, the electronic whiteboard 2 (corresponding to electronic whiteboards 24, 54 in Figure 1) includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 201, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 202, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 203, an SSD (Solid State Drive) 204, a network I/F (Interface) 205, and an external device connection I/F (Interface) 206.

Of these, the CPU 201 controls the overall operation of the electronic whiteboard 2. The ROM 202 stores the CPU 201 and programs used to drive the CPU 201, such as an IPL (Initial Program Loader). The RAM 203 is used as a work area for the CPU 201. The SSD 204 stores various data, such as programs for the electronic whiteboard. The network I/F 205 controls communication with the communication network. The external device connection I/F 206 is an interface for connecting various external devices. In this case, the external devices are, for example, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory 230 and external devices (a camera 240, a speaker 242, a microphone 244).

The electronic whiteboard 2 also includes a capture device 211, a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) 212, a display controller 213, a contact sensor 214, a sensor controller 215, an electronic pen controller 216, a short-range communication circuit 219, an antenna 219a for the short-range communication circuit 219, a power switch 222, and selection switches.

Of these, the capture device 211 displays video information as still images or moving images on the display of an external PC (Personal Computer). The GPU 212 is a semiconductor chip that specializes in graphics. The display controller 213 controls and manages the screen display to output the output image from the GPU 212 to the display 220, etc. The contact sensor 214 detects that the electronic pen P or the user's hand H has contacted the display 220. The sensor controller 215 controls the processing of the contact sensor 214. The contact sensor 214 inputs and detects coordinates using an infrared blocking method. The method of inputting and detecting the coordinates is a method in which two light receiving and emitting devices installed at both ends of the upper side of the display 220 emit multiple infrared rays parallel to the display 220, and receive the light that is reflected by a reflecting member installed around the display 220 and returns along the same optical path as the optical path of the light emitted by the light receiving element. The contact sensor 214 outputs the ID of the infrared light emitted by the two light receiving and emitting devices that is blocked by the object to the sensor controller 215, and the sensor controller 215 identifies the coordinate position that is the contact position of the object. The electronic pen controller 216 communicates with the electronic pen P to determine whether the pen tip or the pen tail is touching the display 220. The short-range communication circuit 219 is a communication circuit such as NFC (Near Field Communication) or Bluetooth (registered trademark). The power switch 222 is a switch for switching the power of the electronic whiteboard 2 ON/OFF. In addition, for example, a group of switches for adjusting the brightness and color of the display 220 may be provided.

Furthermore, the electronic whiteboard 2 is equipped with a bus line 210. The bus line 210 is an address bus, a data bus, etc., for electrically connecting each component such as the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 2.

The contact sensor 214 is not limited to an infrared blocking type, and may use various detection means such as a capacitive touch panel that identifies the contact position by detecting changes in capacitance, a resistive film touch panel that identifies the contact position by voltage changes in two opposing resistive films, or an electromagnetic induction touch panel that identifies the contact position by detecting electromagnetic induction caused by a contacting object touching the display unit. The electronic pen controller 216 may also determine whether or not the tip and end of the electronic pen P have been touched, as well as the part of the electronic pen P that the user holds or other parts of the electronic pen.

The hardware configuration of the information processing devices 26 and 56 will be described below. Figure 3 shows the hardware configuration of a personal computer that can be used as the information processing devices 26 and 56 according to this embodiment. Here, the hardware configuration of the personal computer 500 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3, the personal computer 500 is constructed using a general-purpose computer, and as shown in FIG. 3, it is equipped with a CPU 501, a ROM 502, a RAM 503, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 504, a HDD controller 505, a display 506, an external device connection I/F 508, a network I/F 509, a data bus 510, a keyboard 511, a pointing device 512, a DVD-RW (Digital Versatile Disk Rewritable) drive 514, and a media I/F 516.

Of these, the CPU 501 controls the overall operation of the personal computer 500. The ROM 502 stores programs used to drive the CPU 501, such as IPL. The RAM 503 is used as a work area for the CPU 501. The HDD 504 stores various data such as programs. The HDD controller 505 controls the reading or writing of various data from the HDD 504 according to the control of the CPU 501. The display 506 displays various information such as a cursor, menu, window, character, or image. The external device connection I/F 508 is an interface for connecting various external devices. In this case, the external device is, for example, a USB memory or a printer. The network I/F 509 is an interface for data communication using a communication network. The bus line 510 is an address bus, a data bus, or the like for electrically connecting each component such as the CPU 501 shown in FIG. 3.

The keyboard 511 is a type of input means equipped with multiple keys for inputting characters, numbers, various instructions, etc. The pointing device 512 is a type of input means for selecting and executing various instructions, selecting a processing target, moving the cursor, etc. The DVD-RW drive 514 controls the reading and writing of various data from the DVD-RW media 513, which is an example of a removable recording medium. Note that this is not limited to DVD-RW, and may be DVD-R, etc. The media I/F 516 controls the reading and writing (storing) of data from the recording media 515, such as a flash memory.

Note that while personal computers that can be used as the information processing devices 26, 56 have been described with reference to FIG. 3, the user terminal devices 28, 58 can also be configured in a similar manner to that shown in FIG. 3 by adding and deleting hardware components as appropriate.

The functions of the information processing device according to this embodiment for distributing the contents of the electronic whiteboard will be described in more detail below with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 shows a functional block 100 of the information processing device 26 in this embodiment.

In addition, FIG. 4 also shows functional blocks 140, 150 of the electronic whiteboard 24 and user terminal device 28 as peripheral configurations of the information processing device 26. Also, FIG. 4 shows multiple sets (first set (100A, 140A, 150A) and second set (100B, 140B, 150B)) consisting of the electronic whiteboard 140, information processing device 100, and user terminal device 150 provided at different locations, but the following description will focus on the first set (100A, 140A, 150A) first. Also, please note that some of the functional blocks for the second set (100B, 140B, 150B) have been omitted.

As shown in FIG. 4, the functional block 100 of the information processing device 26 includes a web server 110, a judgment unit 116, a query unit 118, an acquisition unit 120, and a memory unit 130.

The storage unit 130 stores the contents of the electronic whiteboard 140. The storage unit 130 operates as a cache for the contents to be distributed to one or more user terminal devices 150. The storage unit 130 is a storage area provided by the HDD 504, RAM 503, and other storage devices such as SSDs shown in FIG. 3.

The query unit 118 and the acquisition unit 120 are configured to query the electronic whiteboard 140 and acquire the latest content of the electronic whiteboard 140 based on a predetermined schedule. The predetermined schedule is not particularly limited, but may be at regular intervals.

Before requesting the content to be cached, the query unit 118 queries the electronic whiteboard 140 for information about the content of the electronic whiteboard 140. Here, the information about the content is information for determining whether the latest content of the electronic whiteboard 140 is identical to the content that the electronic whiteboard 140 holds as a cache in the storage unit 130. The information about the content is not particularly limited, but may include at least one type of information selected from the group consisting of the size of the content stored in the electronic whiteboard 140, the update date and time of the content, the hash of the content, and a comparison result thereof.

When the information processing device 100 queries the electronic whiteboard 140 for size, update date and time, or hash, the information processing device 26 compares the size, update date and time, or hash obtained as the query result from the electronic whiteboard 140 with the size, update date and time, or hash of the content stored in the memory unit 130, and obtains a comparison result indicating whether there is a difference or a match. On the other hand, when the information processing device 100 queries the electronic whiteboard 140 by providing the size, update date and time, or hash of the content stored in the memory unit 130, the comparison process is performed on the electronic whiteboard 140 side, and the information processing device 100 obtains the obtained comparison result.

When the information on the content indicates that the content stored in the electronic whiteboard 140 has been updated since it was previously acquired and stored in the memory unit 130, the acquisition unit 120 acquires the latest content from the electronic whiteboard 140 and stores it in the memory unit 130. The above-mentioned comparison result indicates whether or not the content has been updated later, and if there is a difference in size, update date and time, or hash between the contents, it indicates that the content has been updated, and if there is a match, it indicates that the content has not been updated.

The web server 110 is a server function that receives HTTP requests from web clients such as browsers, performs the corresponding processing, and transmits HTTP responses. More specifically, the web server 110 includes a transmitting unit 112 and a receiving unit 114.

The receiving unit 114 receives a request to acquire content for the electronic whiteboard 140 sent from a browser 152 provided in the user terminal device 150. The transmitting unit 112 transmits the acquired content for the electronic whiteboard 140 as a result of a predetermined process to the user terminal device 150 that made the request.

Based on the received content acquisition request, the judgment unit 116 judges whether to acquire the content from the internal memory unit 130 or to acquire the content again from the external electronic whiteboard 24 in order to perform the above-mentioned transmission.

Here, the judgment by the judgment unit 116 can be based on whether the content stored in the electronic whiteboard 140 and the content stored in the storage unit 130 satisfy a predetermined relationship. The predetermined relationship is a relationship in which there is no difference between the content stored in the electronic whiteboard 140 and the content stored in the storage unit 130. If the relationship of no difference is satisfied, the judgment unit 116 judges that the content stored in the storage unit 130 should be read and acquired, whereas if the relationship of no difference is not satisfied, the judgment unit 116 judges that the content stored in the electronic whiteboard 140 should be acquired again. In order to judge whether there is a difference, the inquiry unit 118 inquires about information on the content from the electronic whiteboard 140, and the judgment unit 116 makes the above judgment based on the information on the obtained content. If the judgment by the judgment unit 116 determines that the predetermined relationship is not satisfied, the acquisition unit 120 makes a request to the electronic whiteboard 140 and acquires the stored content.

As with scheduled updates, whether or not a specified relationship is satisfied can be based on the difference between the contents in at least one type of information selected from the group consisting of size, update date and time, and hash. Furthermore, the determination by the determination unit 116 can be based on the time (or time) when the content was stored in the storage unit 130 and the time (or time) when the content acquisition request was received, in addition to the difference between the contents. For example, if the time when the content was stored in the storage unit 130 and the time when the content acquisition request was received are within a specified time, it is unlikely that the content has been updated, or even if it has been updated, the difference is likely to be small, so it can be determined that the content in the storage unit 130 is maintained in the latest state, and the content stored in the storage unit 130 should be read and acquired.

The transmission unit 112 transmits the content acquired based on the result of the determination by the determination unit 116 to the user terminal device 150.

The browser 152 of the user terminal device 150 is not particularly limited, but may be a general web browser. In the embodiment described below, the browser 152 is used to display the contents of the electronic whiteboard 140, but this does not prevent the contents from being displayed using a dedicated application. The browser 152 transmits a content acquisition request to the information processing device 100 in response to an operation from the user, and receives the content in response. The received content is stored in the storage area 154 provided in the user terminal device 150. In this manner, in this embodiment, the information processing device 100 acquires and caches the content from the electronic whiteboard 140, and the user terminal device 150 only needs to transmit a content acquisition request using the browser 152. Therefore, the user terminal device 150 does not need to install a dedicated driver or application, and can acquire the content without a driver.

In this way, the information processing device 100 checks the content on the electronic whiteboard 140 in response to a content acquisition request from the browser 152 or the like. If the check shows that there has been sufficient update content, the information processing device 100 acquires the content from the electronic whiteboard 140 and stores it as a cache in the storage unit 130. On the other hand, if the content has not been updated, the browser 152 acquires the content that has already been stored in the storage unit 130 of the information processing device 100. As a result, when there is no update, communication between the electronic whiteboard 140 and the information processing device 100 is not performed, and communication is performed only between the information processing device 100 and the user terminal device 150, making it possible to reduce the amount of communication on the network. Here, the farther the distance in the network, the greater the amount of communication that is reduced.

In the above, the content distribution of the electronic whiteboard 140 at each single location has been described. However, in a specific embodiment, as described above, remote projection can be performed between the electronic whiteboards 140 at multiple locations. Here, it is assumed that the electronic whiteboard 140A operates as a child electronic whiteboard, and the electronic whiteboard 140B operates as a parent electronic whiteboard. In this case, the information processing device 100A operates as a child information processing device, and the information processing device 100B operates as a parent information processing device. The parent information processing device 100B and the child information processing device 100A can communicate with each other via the Internet 12.

In this case, the parent information processing device 100B caches the content of the parent electronic whiteboard 140B in the storage unit 130B and distributes the content to the user terminal device 150B on the same network, just as when the parent information processing device 100B is operating independently. At the same time, the parent information processing device 100B transmits the cached content not only to the user terminal device 150B on the same network, but also to the child information processing device 100A via the Internet in response to a request. On the other hand, in order to distribute the content of the parent electronic whiteboard 140B, the child information processing device 100A requests the content not from the child electronic whiteboard 140A, nor from the parent electronic whiteboard 140B directly, but from the parent information processing device 100B, caches the content of the parent electronic whiteboard 140B received from the parent information processing device 100B in the storage unit 130A, and distributes the cached content to the user terminal device 150A on the same network.

In this way, by storing the content of the parent electronic whiteboard 140B in the parent information processing device 100B, the content is placed as close to the user as possible, which makes it possible to shorten the delivery time. Also, the storage unit 130A of the child information processing device 100A stores the content stored in the parent information processing device 100B. This makes it possible to reduce the number of requests to the parent electronic whiteboard 140B and prevent a decrease in processing speed. When the child information processing device 100A obtains the content of the parent electronic whiteboard 140B from the parent information processing device 100B, it can obtain the size, update time, or hash of the content cached in the parent information processing device 100B and use the results of comparison with this.

A parent-child relationship is also formed between the electronic whiteboards 140A and 140B, and a parent-child relationship is also formed between the information processing devices 100A and 100B, but it is desirable that these parent-child relationships are consistent. Therefore, preferably, the information processing device 100 can determine whether it will be a parent or a child based on the parent-child relationships between the electronic whiteboards 140 connected to itself on the same network and other electronic whiteboards 140.

The content distribution method according to this embodiment will be described in more detail below with reference to Figures 5 and 6.

Figure 5 is a sequence diagram that explains the flow of the content cache periodic update process executed in the network environment 10 according to this embodiment.

In the process shown in FIG. 5, the repetitive process indicated by the "loop: file periodic update" composite fragment indicates a periodic update process that is repeatedly executed according to the schedule described above. In step S101, the information processing device 100 queries the electronic whiteboard 140 for information related to the content (content file information; at least one of update date and time, size, and hash). In step S102, the electronic whiteboard 140 responds to the information processing device 100 with the file information of the content in question.

The composite fragment "alt: file transmission request" represents a branching process based on the query result. If the query result indicates that there is a difference between the content stored in the storage unit 130 of the information processing device 100 and the content stored in the electronic whiteboard 140, the process branches to step S103.

In step S103, the information processing device 100 issues a content file transmission request to the electronic whiteboard 140. In step S104, the electronic whiteboard 140 transmits the file to the information processing device 100, and processing proceeds to step S105. On the other hand, if the result of the inquiry indicates that there is no difference between the content stored in the memory unit 130 of the information processing device 100 and the content stored in the electronic whiteboard 140 and they are identical, there is no need to update the cache of the content in the memory unit 130, and processing proceeds directly to step S105.

In step S105, the process waits for a predetermined time (e.g., N seconds). After that, the process indicated by the "loop: periodic file update" composite fragment is repeated again.

Figure 6 is a sequence diagram explaining the flow of processing executed in the network environment 10 according to this embodiment in response to a content acquisition request. Note that Figure 6 shows the flow of processing for distributing content while updating the content stored in the storage unit 130 as necessary in response to receiving a content acquisition request.

The process shown in FIG. 6 is started in response to a content file acquisition request being sent from the user terminal device 150 in step S201. The "alt: file update check" fragment represents a branching process depending on whether or not a condition for performing an update check is met. Here, the condition for performing an update check can be a time-based condition, such as m seconds having passed since the last update. By using a time-based condition, it is possible to reduce the amount of data communication due to the query itself when an update is unlikely, such as when a request is received immediately after a cache update, or when an update is likely to have occurred with only a small difference.

If the update confirmation condition is met, the process branches to step S202. In step S202, the information processing device 100 queries the electronic whiteboard 140 for information related to the content (file information of the content). In step S203, the electronic whiteboard 140 responds to the information processing device 100 with the file information of the content in question.

The composite fragment "alt: file transmission request" represents a branching process based on the query result. If the query result indicates that there is a difference between the content stored in the storage unit 130 of the information processing device 100 and the content stored in the electronic whiteboard 140, the process branches to step S204.

In step S204, the information processing device 100 issues a content file transmission request to the electronic whiteboard 140. In step S205, the electronic whiteboard 140 transmits the content file to the information processing device 100, and processing proceeds to step S206. On the other hand, if the inquiry determines that there is no difference between the content stored in the memory unit 130 of the information processing device 100 and the content stored in the electronic whiteboard 140, there is no need to update the content in the memory unit 130, and processing proceeds directly to step S206.

In step S206, the information processing device 100 transmits to the user terminal device 150 a file of the appropriate content between the content received in step S205 and the content stored in the memory unit 130.

As described above, when a user (user terminal device 150) requests to acquire content, if the content of the information processing device 100 has just been updated, the content can be acquired from the storage unit 130 without issuing a content request to the electronic whiteboard 140. This makes it possible to acquire the content in a short time. On the other hand, if a predetermined time has passed since the content of the information processing device 100 was updated, the information processing device 100 first inquires of the electronic whiteboard 140 whether there is a difference in the content and determines whether to acquire it. This prevents communication from occurring even when the content is the same, thereby preventing unnecessary communication.

In addition, when a user (user terminal device 150) requests to acquire content, if it is immediately after the cache has been updated in response to a previous request from another user, the content can be delivered as is. This makes it possible to acquire content in a short time while reducing the processing load and communication load on the electronic whiteboard 140.

Furthermore, by adopting a configuration in which the information processing device 100 periodically retrieves content from the electronic whiteboard 140, fresh content is cached in the information processing device 100 that is closer to the user, thereby improving response speed.

Below, we will explain in more detail the case where a parent-child relationship is formed between the electronic whiteboards of multiple locations as described above, with reference to Figures 7 to 9.

As described above, when a conference is held using electronic whiteboards 140 between remote locations, a parent-child relationship exists between the electronic whiteboards 140. It is preferable that this parent-child relationship between the electronic whiteboards 140 is also reflected in the relationship between the information processing devices 100A and 100B. On the other hand, individually setting the parent-child relationship between the information processing devices 100 is cumbersome, and there is a risk that the parent-child relationship will not match the relationship on the electronic whiteboard 140 side. Therefore, in this embodiment, the information processing device 100 can determine whether it will be a parent or a child based on the parent-child relationship between an electronic whiteboard 140 at the same location connected to itself on the same network and another electronic whiteboard 140 at another location.

Figure 7 illustrates an example of a setting screen for reflecting the parent-child relationships between electronic whiteboards 140 between information processing devices 26 in this embodiment. The setting screen 300 shown in Figure 7 is displayed on the display of an external terminal device by accessing the web server 110 of the information processing device 100 shown in Figure 3 from the external terminal device. When multiple electronic whiteboards 140 are linked, the multiple information processing devices 100 can be linked using the setting screen 300 shown in Figure 7.

The setting screen 300 shown in FIG. 7 shows a state in which a tab 302 for calling up settings for collaboration (box collaboration) between information processing devices 100 is selected, and further, a tab 304 for calling up settings for registering the other information processing device 100 is selected. The setting screen 300 also shows a table 310 for registering the information processing device 100, and has columns for inputting a label 310a, an IP address 310b, a password 310c, and details 310d.

In the setting screen 300 shown in FIG. 7, regardless of the parent-child relationship of the electronic whiteboard 140, the link setting of the information processing device 100 only requires setting one record 312 in the above table 310. In this setting screen 300, in order to identify the other information processing device 100, the items shown in the following Table 1 are set.

A communication test can be performed by pressing the button located in the details column 310d of the setting screen 300. By performing a communication test, in response to the start of communication between the electronic whiteboards, the information processing terminals can determine the parent-child relationship of the electronic whiteboards, and the parent-child relationship of the electronic whiteboards can be reflected between the information processing terminals. Note that the parent-child relationship here refers to the parameters when referencing the state held by the remote projection function used by the electronic whiteboard. The states include unused/open/participating, where the "parent" corresponds to the state "open" and the child corresponds to the state "participating." When the setting button 320 is pressed on the setting screen shown in FIG. 7, the current setting contents are reflected.

In addition, by selecting tab 301 that calls up the settings for collaboration between the information processing device 100 and the electronic whiteboard (whiteboard collaboration), it is possible to check the connection with the electronic whiteboard connected to the information processing device 100 itself.

Figure 8 is a flowchart showing the parent-child relationship determination process executed by the information processing device 100 in this embodiment. The process shown in Figure 8 starts from step S300 in response to pressing a button in column 310d after the label, IP address, and password of the other party's information processing device 100 are entered in table 310 of the setting screen 300 shown in Figure 7.

In step S301, the information processing device 100 determines whether the input label, IP address, and password exist. If it is determined in step S301 that any of the input label, IP address, and password is missing or incorrect and does not exist (NO), the process branches to step S306 and retains the result of "failure." If it is determined in step S301 that the input label, IP address, and password exist (YES), the process branches to step S302.

In step S302, the information processing device 100 performs a connection check based on the input IP address and password, and branches the process depending on whether the check succeeds or fails. If the connection check in step S302 fails, the process branches to step S306, and the information processing device 100 retains the result of "failure" in step S206. On the other hand, if the connection check in step S302 is successful, the process branches to step S303.

In step S303, the information processing device 100 branches the process depending on the status result obtained by the connection confirmation. Here, it is assumed that information indicating the status of the other party's information processing device 100 (the electronic whiteboard 140 to which it is connected) is obtained at the time of connection confirmation. If the status result in step S303 indicates "Open" (Open), the information processing device 100 retains the results of "Success" and "Open" in step S304. If the status result in step S303 indicates "Participate" (Participate), the information processing device 100 retains the results of "Success" and "Participate" in step S304. On the other hand, if the status result in step S303 indicates some other status (Other), the process branches to step S306, and the information processing device 100 retains the result of "Failure".

In step S305, the information processing device 100 displays the results, and in step S307, the process ends.

9 is a diagram for explaining the status represented by the button displayed on the setting screen 300 in this embodiment. The table shown in FIG. 9 explains the result display state displayed in step 305 shown in FIG. 8 when the button in column 310d shown in FIG. 7 is pressed. As shown in FIG. 9, if the connection check is successful, the notation on the button changes depending on whether the other party's information processing device (and the electronic whiteboard on the same network) is a parent (status of "host") or a child (status of "participation"). If the other party's information processing device is a parent, it is notated as "connected (host)", while if it is a child, it is notated as "connected (guest)". On the other hand, if the connection check has not been performed, it is notated as "not connected". If the status is other than "host"/"participation", if it is not possible to connect to the electronic whiteboard connected to the other party's information processing device, it is notated as "connection failed".

In this way, by pressing the "button" in column 310d in table 310 on the setting screen 300, the status of the information processing device 100 to be connected (the electronic whiteboard 140 connected to it) can be obtained, and the parent-child relationship can be determined based on the status result obtained from this connection confirmation, whether it is "hosted" or "participated."

The advantages of the content distribution method according to this embodiment over the content distribution method of the related art will be described below with reference to FIG. 10. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining and comparing (A) the content distribution method of the related art and (B) the content distribution method of this embodiment.

10 shows an electronic whiteboard, an information processing device, and a user terminal device. In the conventional content distribution method shown in FIG. 10(A), every time the user terminal device 928 requests content acquisition, the electronic whiteboard 924 must send the content to the information processing device 926, and the information processing device 926 must send the received content to the user terminal device 928. In the conventional content distribution method, the electronic whiteboard 924 must distribute content as many times as the number of requests, so if the number of user terminal devices to which content should be distributed increases, the load on the electronic whiteboard 924 and the amount of network traffic will increase accordingly. In addition, from the user's perspective, since content is distributed via the electronic whiteboard 924 and the information processing device 926, if the network on the route is congested, the content may not be acquired or acquisition may be delayed. In addition, in the conventional content distribution method, when content acquisition requests are made from multiple locations, the line may be strained by the download of content, and it may be difficult to send requests even for other communications of high importance or urgency.

In contrast, according to the content distribution method of this embodiment shown in FIG. 10(B), the content is cached in the information processing device 100, eliminating the need to repeatedly send the same file content, and thus reducing the amount of communication exchanged. This in turn reduces the amount of data communication flowing within the network that shares the display content of the electronic whiteboard, thereby reducing the load. Furthermore, when caching, a policy is applied that determines the time and whether the previous file has been updated, and only goes to retrieve the content file if it has been updated. In other words, rather than caching all content, a policy that eliminates communication that is considered unnecessary and allows for efficient content exchange is introduced into the communication mechanism.

As described above, this embodiment can provide an information processing device, a content distribution method, and a program that can reduce the amount of data communication on the network when distributing electronic whiteboard content to a terminal device.

Note that the apparatus according to the above-described embodiment illustrates only one of several computing environments for implementing the embodiments disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the information processing apparatus may include a plurality of computing devices, such as a server cluster. The plurality of computing devices are configured to communicate with each other via any type of communication link, including a network, shared memory, etc., and perform the processes disclosed herein. Each element of the information processing apparatus may be integrated into one server apparatus or may be separated into multiple apparatuses.

Furthermore, each function of the embodiments described above can be realized by one or more processing circuits. Here, the term "processing circuit" in this specification includes a processor programmed to execute each function by software, such as a processor implemented by an electronic circuit, and devices such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), DSP (digital signal processor), FPGA (field programmable gate array), and conventional circuit modules designed to execute each function described above.

Although the embodiments and examples of the present invention have been described above, the embodiments and examples of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments and examples, and may be modified within the scope of what a person skilled in the art can imagine, such as other embodiments, other examples, additions, modifications, deletions, etc., and any aspect is within the scope of the present invention as long as it provides the functions and effects of the present invention.

10...Network environment, 12...Internet, 20, 50...Base, 22, 52...Intra-base network, 24, 54...Electronic whiteboard, 26, 56...Information processing device, 28, 58...User terminal device, 100...Function block of information processing device, 110...Web server, 112...Transmitter, 114...Receiver, 116...Judgment unit, 118...Query unit, 120...Acquisition unit, 130...Storage unit, 140...Function block of electronic whiteboard, 150...Function block of user terminal device, 152...Browser, 154...Storage area, 300...Setting screen, 302, 304...Tab, 310...Table, 312...Record, 320...Setting button

JP 2013-97749 A

Claims (11)

An information processing device,
A storage unit that stores the contents of the electronic whiteboard;
A receiving unit that receives a content acquisition request from a terminal device;
a determination unit that determines whether to obtain the content from the storage unit or the external device according to a comparison result between the content stored in the external device and the content stored in the storage unit based on the received content obtaining request;
a transmitting unit configured to transmit to the terminal device the content acquired in accordance with a result of the determination made by the determining unit. 2. The information processing device of claim 1, wherein the comparison result is based on information regarding the content stored in the external device and information regarding the content stored in the memory unit, and the content is acquired from the memory unit when the comparison result indicates a match between the contents. An information processing device,
A storage unit that stores the contents of the electronic whiteboard;
A receiving unit that receives a content acquisition request from a terminal device;
a determination unit that determines to acquire content from the storage unit when a relationship that there is no difference between the content stored in the external device and the content stored in the storage unit is satisfied based on a received content acquisition request , and that determines to acquire content from the external device when the relationship that there is no difference is not satisfied;
a transmitting unit that transmits the content acquired according to the result of the determination by the determining unit to the terminal device;
An information processing device comprising : The information processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein whether or not the relationship is satisfied is based on a difference between the contents in at least one type of information selected from the group consisting of a size, an update date and time, and a hash. An information processing device,
A storage unit that stores the contents of the electronic whiteboard;
A receiving unit that receives a content acquisition request from a terminal device;
a determination unit that determines to acquire the content from the storage unit when a time when the content was stored in the storage unit is within a time period when the content acquisition request was received based on the received content acquisition request, and that determines whether to acquire the content from the storage unit or from an external device when the time period is not within the time period;
a transmitting unit that transmits the content acquired according to the result of the determination by the determining unit to the terminal device;
An information processing device comprising : An information processing device,
A storage unit that stores the contents of the electronic whiteboard;
a query unit for querying an external device for information related to content based on a schedule;
an acquisition unit that acquires the latest content from the external device in order to update the content stored in the storage unit when the information about the content indicates that the content stored in the external device has been updated after being stored in the storage unit;
A receiving unit that receives a content acquisition request from a terminal device;
a determination unit that determines whether to obtain the content from the storage unit or the external device based on a received content obtaining request;
a transmitting unit that transmits the content acquired according to the result of the determination by the determining unit to the terminal device;
An information processing device comprising : An information processing device,
A storage unit that stores the contents of the electronic whiteboard;
A receiving unit that receives a content acquisition request from a terminal device;
a determination unit that determines whether to obtain the content from the storage unit or from an external device based on the received content obtaining request;
a transmitting unit that transmits the content acquired according to the result of the determination by the determining unit to the terminal device;
the external device is the electronic whiteboard, the information processing device is connected to the electronic whiteboard as the external device and is capable of communicating with another information processing device connected to another electronic whiteboard that is in a child relationship with the electronic whiteboard, and in response to a request from the other information processing device, the transmission unit further transmits content acquired in accordance with the result of the judgment by the judgment unit to the other information processing device . An information processing device,
A storage unit that stores the contents of the electronic whiteboard;
A receiving unit that receives a content acquisition request from a terminal device;
a determination unit that determines whether to obtain the content from the storage unit or from an external device based on the received content obtaining request;
a transmitting unit that transmits the content acquired according to the result of the determination by the determining unit to the terminal device;
an information processing device that includes: the information processing device is connected to another electronic whiteboard that is in a child relationship with the electronic whiteboard and is capable of communicating with the other information processing device connected to the electronic whiteboard; the external device is the other information processing device; and the determination unit determines, based on a received content acquisition request , whether to acquire content from the memory unit or acquire content for the electronic whiteboard from the other information processing device as the external device. The information processing device according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the information processing device determines whether to become a parent or a child based on the relationship of the electronic whiteboard connected to the information processing device to other electronic whiteboards. A content distribution method for distributing content of an electronic whiteboard, comprising:
receiving a content acquisition request from a terminal device;
determining whether to acquire the content from the storage unit or the external device according to a comparison result between the content stored in the external device and the content stored in the storage unit based on the received content acquisition request;
acquiring the content related to the content acquisition request from the storage unit in response to a determination that the content is to be acquired from the storage unit;
acquiring the content related to the content acquisition request from the external device in response to a determination that the content should be acquired from the external device;
and transmitting the acquired content to the terminal device. Computer,
A storage unit for storing the contents of the electronic whiteboard;
A receiving unit that receives a content acquisition request from a terminal device;
A program for causing the program to function as a judgment unit that judges whether to acquire content from the storage unit or the external device depending on a comparison result between the content stored in an external device and the content stored in the storage unit based on a received content acquisition request, and a transmission unit that transmits the content acquired depending on the result of the judgment by the judgment unit to the terminal device.