JPH1168744A - Control method for information distribution system and information distribution system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To distribute information such as multimedia information to pluralities of terminal equipments without increasing a load on an information network and a server. SOLUTION: A terminal management server 20 receiving a delivery request of desired contents C1 from a multimedia terminal equipment 30 (T1) requests delivery of the contents C1 to the multimedia terminal equipment 30 (T1) to a contents server 10 and stores that the contents C1 are in existence in the multimedia terminal equipment 30 (T1). When a delivery request of the same contents C1 is received from other multimedia terminal equipment 30 (T2), the terminal management server 20 requests deputy delivery of the contents C1 to the multimedia terminal equipment 30 (T1) that stores the contents C1 at present to avoid the concentration of the delivery request processing to the contents server 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information distribution technique, and more particularly, to an information distribution technique for distributing information such as moving image data stored in a server in real time in response to requests from a large number of remote terminal devices. Related to effective technology applied to

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, as typified by services such as video-on-demand in CATV and the like, digitized color moving pictures have been requested in response to requests from a plurality of terminals installed in each home. 2. Description of the Related Art Multimedia information such as audio and voice is supplied from a server of a distribution center. For example, ASCII Corporation, published on July 1, 1996, "Standard ATM Textbook" P213-P22
References 0 and the like describe a video server connected to an ATM communication network or the like and delivering video (moving image) data to a client (terminal device) via the network.

[0003] Further, with the development of a global digital information communication network represented by the Internet and the like, it has become common for distribution centers and terminal devices to be located at remote locations across national borders and the sea.

[0004]

By the way, in a method of distributing multimedia information stored in a server of a distribution center in response to a distribution request from a terminal device, if a distribution request is issued from a large number of terminal devices simultaneously, However, there is a technical problem that the load on the server increases, making it difficult to deliver multimedia information in real time, resulting in a decrease in service.

[0005] Further, when a wide area information network is used for distribution, the load on a network path connected to a server becomes excessively large, and real-time distribution becomes more difficult due to a reduction in communication speed. Also, when the server and the terminal device are located at remote locations via an international communication line, the communication cost associated with the delivery of the duplicated multimedia information from the server increases, and the waste of network resources also increases. .

As a countermeasure against such a problem, it is conceivable to set the processing capacity of a server or a network in accordance with the expected peak of the load. Then, such a solution by increasing the processing capacity of a server or a network is practically difficult and not practical.

[0007] Further, a plurality of servers are arranged, and the same multimedia information is retained by these servers in duplicate,
Although it is conceivable to reduce the load at the peak time by distributing the distribution sources, there is another technical problem that the management becomes complicated and the installation cost of the server increases.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an information distribution technique capable of distributing multimedia information and the like to a plurality of terminal devices without increasing the load on an information network or a server.

Another object of the present invention is an information distribution technique capable of real-time distribution of multimedia information at low cost without increasing the installation cost of a server or the use cost of an information network. Is to provide.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an information distribution technique capable of improving the availability of resources such as hardware and software of a terminal device.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an information distribution system including a server for holding desired information and a plurality of terminal devices for receiving and using information from the server via an arbitrary information network. In the control method, the step of distributing and holding the information to at least one first terminal device, and when an information distribution request is issued from a second terminal device other than the first terminal device to the server, The first terminal device holding the information distributes the information to the second terminal device instead of the server.

[0012] Further, a management server is interposed between the server and the plurality of terminal devices. When the management server receives a distribution request for information issued from the second terminal device, the management server holds the information. Check the presence or absence of a terminal device, and hold the first
When there is a terminal device, the first terminal device distributes information to the requesting second terminal device.

If there are a plurality of first terminal devices holding the same information, the requesting second terminal device is geographically closer to the requesting second terminal device, or the requesting second terminal device is located close to the requesting second terminal device. And selecting the first terminal device having the smallest resource usage and load of the information network in the communication during the communication between the first terminal device and the first terminal device to distribute information to the second terminal device.

Further, according to the present invention, in an information distribution system including a server holding desired information and a plurality of terminal devices which receive and use information from the server via an arbitrary information network, Provided in the terminal device,
A storage unit for storing information distributed from the server, a management information storage unit for storing the presence or absence of information in each terminal device and a type of information, and an information distribution request generated from an arbitrary first terminal device When the second terminal device holding the information is searched by the management information storage means,
And distribution control logic for distributing the information held by the second terminal device to the requesting first terminal device from the first terminal device.

Further, a management server interposed between the server and the terminal device is arranged, and the management server is provided with management information storage means and distribution control logic.

[0016] Further, when there are a plurality of first terminal devices holding the same information, the control logic determines whether the first terminal device is geographically closer to the requesting second terminal device or the requesting second terminal device. An operation of selecting the first terminal device having the smallest resource usage and load of the information network in communication with the first terminal device and distributing information from the first terminal device to the second terminal device. Is what you do.

Further, the management information storage means includes at least
The storage unit stores identification information of each terminal device and identification information of information held by the terminal device, and information including at least one of an installation location of the terminal device and an operation time zone of the terminal device. .

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the configuration of a management server constituting an information distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a terminal management table used in the management server. It is a conceptual diagram showing an example. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the configuration of a multimedia terminal constituting the information distribution system according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a content server configuring an information distribution system according to the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of the entire configuration of the information distribution system according to the present embodiment.

As exemplified in FIG. 5, the information distribution system according to the present embodiment includes a content server 10, a terminal management server 20, and a plurality of multimedia terminals 30 (T1
To Tn) are interconnected via an information network 40 such as a digital network. For convenience, only one content server 10 and terminal management server 20 are illustrated, but a plurality may be used. The content server 10 and the terminal management server 20 are managed by a content supply organization such as multimedia information, and each of the plurality of multimedia terminals 30 is installed in, for example, each home contracted with the supply organization. .

As shown in FIG. 4, a content server 10 includes, via a system bus 11, a central processing unit 12 for controlling the entire system, a main memory 13 for storing a program for controlling the central processing unit 12, It comprises a computer system to which a database 14, an operation I / F unit 15, a scrambler 16, a network I / F unit 17 and the like are connected, and functions as a video server, for example.

The main memory 13 stores a resident operating system 13a (OS), a database management program 13b and a server program 13c operating under the operating system 13a (OS), and controls the central processing unit 12. .

The content database 14 stores, for example, content composed of video data of a plurality of titles such as digitized movies and music, and is managed by the database management program 13b.

The operation I / F unit 15 includes the content server 1
0, a display and a keyboard that provide a user interface for performing maintenance and the like.

The network I / F 17 performs interface control such as protocol control for exchanging information with the external information network 40.

When distributing the content of a desired title stored in the content database 14 via the network I / F 17 in response to an external request, the scrambler 16 It has a function of performing scrambling processing such as desired coding and modulation processing.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the terminal management server 20 includes, via a system bus 21, a central processing unit 22 for controlling the whole, a main memory 23 for storing a program for controlling the central processing unit 22, External storage device 24, operation I
/ F unit 25, a network I / F unit 26, and the like.

The main memory 23 stores information such as a resident operating system 23a (OS), a server program 23b that runs under the operating system 23a and performs security management such as user authentication, and a terminal management table 50. By controlling the central processing unit 12, a control operation as described later is performed.

The external storage device 24 stores a terminal management file 24a for managing registration information, security information, and the like of a plurality of multimedia terminals 30 connected to the information network 40. Information is stored in the main storage 2 as a terminal management table 50 as necessary.
3 is loaded.

The operation I / F unit 25 is a terminal management server 20
A user interface including a display, a keyboard, and the like for maintaining and managing the server is provided.

The network I / F 26 performs interface control such as protocol control for exchanging information with the external information network 40.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, each of the plurality of multimedia terminals 30 is connected via a system bus 31 to
A central processing unit 32 for controlling the whole; a main memory 33 for storing a program for controlling the central processing unit 32; a content storage device 34; an operation I / F unit 35;
It is composed of a computer system to which the F section 36 and the like are connected.

The content storage device 34 includes, for example, a magnetic disk device (HDD) and a magneto-optical disk device (M
O), an optical disk device (OD), a rotary storage medium such as a digital video disk (DVD), or a DRAM,
SRAM, FRAM (ferroelectric memory), batch erase type E
This is a storage device provided with an arbitrary semiconductor memory such as an EPROM as a storage medium.

The operation I / F unit 35 comprises an arbitrary information input device such as a keyboard, a mouse, a remote controller, and the like.

The main memory 33 includes a resident operating system 33a (OS), a server access program 33b which operates under the operating system 33a and performs security management such as user authentication, and a security management program 3.
Information such as 3c is stored, and a predetermined control operation described later is performed by controlling the central processing unit 12.

For example, the server access program 33
b requests the content server 10 or the terminal management server 20 to distribute the content desired by the user, and transmits the content to its own content storage device 34 in response to a distribution request from another multimedia terminal 30 as described later. An operation such as distributing the held content by proxy is performed.

The system bus 31 is provided with a descrambler 37 for canceling the scrambled state by performing decoding and demodulation processing on the content which has been subjected to scrambling such as encoding and modulation processing, and a scrambled state. A multimedia I / F unit 38 that performs an operation of separating information such as video and audio from the content whose content has been canceled and outputting the information to the display 39a and the speaker 39b is connected.

The security management program 33c controls the operation of the descrambler 37 to release the scrambled state of the content stored in the content storage device 34 and present it only to a legitimate user who has gone through a predetermined procedure. Do. As a result, it is possible to prevent unauthorized secondary use of content that is proxy-distributed from the content server 10 or another multimedia terminal 30 and stored in the content storage device 34 as described later.

By the way, as exemplified in FIG. 2, in the case of the present embodiment, the terminal management table 50 in the terminal management server 20 includes terminal ID information 51 uniquely assigned to each multimedia terminal 30, The terminal storage content ID information 52 for identifying the currently available and usable content in the content storage device 34 of the multimedia terminal 30 of the terminal ID information 51 and the state of the content of the terminal storage content ID information 52 A management flag 53 for identification, a terminal installation location 54,
Information such as a terminal operation time zone 55 (GMT: Greenwich Mean Time) is stored.

Hereinafter, an example of the operation of the information distribution system of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 6, 7, 8, and 9.

First, the operation of the terminal management server 20 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The terminal management server 20 waits for a distribution request for an arbitrary content from each of the multimedia terminals 30 (step 101).
Referring to the terminal management table 50 (step 102),
The multimedia terminal 3 currently holding the content
It is checked whether or not 0 exists (step 103).

At first, since the content is not distributed to any of the multimedia terminals 30, it is determined that there is no possession terminal, and the distribution request is attached to the upper-level content server 10, and the target content is requested from the content server 10. The distribution is requested to the original multimedia terminal 30 (step 106), and upon receiving a signal such as the completion of distribution from the content server 10, the terminal management table 50 receives the received distribution of the content. The terminal ID information 51 of the media terminal 30, the terminal-stored content ID information 52 of the content, and information such as the management flag 53 are set (step 107).

At this time, the content server 10 reads the designated content from the content database, performs encoding and modulation processing by the scrambler 16, and then sends the requested multimedia via the information network 40. Deliver to terminal 30. In the multimedia terminal 30 that has received the distribution, the received content is stored in a scrambled state in the content storage device 34, and the content is decrypted and demodulated through the descrambler 37. Output from the display 39a and the speaker 39b via the I / F unit 38,
Multimedia information such as video and audio information is presented to the user.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 103 that there is a multimedia terminal 30 that has received the distribution from the content server 10 and holds the content, the multimedia terminal 30 of the terminal ID information 51 30 to the requesting multimedia terminal 30 (step 10).
4) It is determined whether or not the distribution request has succeeded (step 105).
The management flag 53 of the corresponding entry is updated while "2" is being used (step 107). Note that the terminal management server 20
Always keeps track of a plurality of multimedia terminals 30 holding the same content, and if the distribution by the multimedia terminal 30 that first requested the proxy distribution is interrupted, immediately the next candidate multimedia terminal 30 Performs a control operation of causing the agent to take over the proxy distribution. At this time, the multimedia terminal 30 that has taken over the proxy distribution starts the proxy distribution from the beginning of the content being distributed or from where the content was interrupted.

If the process fails in step 105, step 106 is executed, and a distribution request is transferred to the upper content server 10.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of processing of a distribution request from the terminal management server 20 in the step 104 in the multimedia terminal 30.

Each multimedia terminal 30 waits for a proxy distribution request from the terminal management server 20 (step 20).
1) It is determined whether the requested content is held in a re-distributable state (step 202). If the requested content is held, the requested content is sent to another multimedia terminal 30 that has requested the content. The content held in the scrambled state is transmitted to the storage device 34 (steps 203 and 204). As a result, the multimedia terminal 30 receiving the distribution can receive the distribution of the target content without being conscious of whether the transmission source is the content server 10 or the multimedia terminal 30 at all.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart exemplifying the entire flow of the above series of processing. That is, when a distribution request for the predetermined content C1 is generated from the arbitrary multimedia terminal 30 (in this case, T1) to the terminal management server 20 (step 301), the terminal management server 2
0 checks the terminal management table 50 and finds the content C
It is checked whether or not there is a multimedia terminal 30 that holds 1 (step 302). If it does not exist, a distribution request is transferred to the upper-level content server 10 and the terminal management table 50 is updated (step 303).

Content server 10 receiving distribution request
Reads out the target content from the content database 14 and requests the multimedia terminal 30 (T1) as the request source.
The content C1 is scrambled and transmitted (step 304, step 305). The multimedia terminal 30 (T1) that has received the content C1,
The content is stored in its own content storage device 34 and descrambled via the descrambler 37 or the like, and then presented to the user (step 306).

Thereafter, when the terminal management server 20 receives a distribution request for the same content C1 from another multimedia terminal 30 (in this case, T2) (step 30).
7) Since the multimedia terminal 30 (T1) has the content C1 by checking the terminal management table 50 (step 308), the multimedia terminal 30 (T1) receives It requests the multimedia terminal 30 (T2) to distribute the content C1 by proxy (step 309).

The multimedia terminal 30 (T1) that has received the proxy distribution request reads the content C1 owned by itself from the content storage device 34 (step 31).
0), and distribute to the requesting multimedia terminal 30 (T2) (step 311).

The multimedia terminal 30 (T2) that has received the distribution of the content C1 stores the received content C1 in its own content storage device 34 in a scrambled state, and also descrambles the descrambler 37 and the multimedia I / O. Output to the user via the F unit 38 (step 312).

Thereafter, similarly, when a distribution request for the content C1 is issued from a multimedia terminal 30 (for example, Tn) other than the multimedia terminal 30 (T1, T2), the terminal management server 20 sets the content A plurality of multimedia terminals 30 (T
1, T2), the current time is included in the terminal operating time zone 55, and from the information of the terminal installation location 54, the geographically closer to the requesting multimedia terminal 30 (Tn);
Alternatively, the user selects the multimedia terminal 30 that is expected to consume less resources of the information network 40 and requests proxy distribution. That is, even if they are geographically distant, an advantageous multimedia terminal 30 is selected according to the status of the information network 40 between the two, and a request for proxy distribution is made.

As described above, according to the information distribution system control method and the information distribution system of the present embodiment, the contents distributed in the past from the content server 10 between the multimedia terminals 30 are used as much as possible. Since the proxy distribution is performed, distribution requests from a large number of multimedia terminals 30 to the content server 10 do not concentrate. For example, when several hundred or more multimedia terminals 30 are connected to the content server 10, the probability that the desired content is held in one of the multimedia terminals 30 increases, and the content server 10 or The content can be distributed extremely efficiently without increasing the load on the information network 40.

As a result, it is possible to construct the content server 10 at a low cost without setting the processing capacity of the content server 10 to an unnecessarily large value. For example, real-time distribution of multimedia information and the like can be performed at a low cost. Can be realized. Further, it is not necessary to set the bandwidth of the information network 40 connected to the content server 10 to be larger than necessary, so that the communication cost can be reduced and the load on the information network 40 can be reduced.

Further, the resources such as hardware and software such as a storage device provided in each multimedia terminal 30 can be effectively used, and the availability of the equipment is improved.

In the above description, the case where the terminal management server 20 is used has been described as an example. However, as shown in the flowchart of FIG.
0 may be performed by the content server 10 itself. Also in this case, if there is a content for which a distribution request has been received by any external multimedia terminal 30, the content server 10 does not need to handle the content itself having a large amount of information, and the terminal management server 20 is installed. The same effect as in the case can be obtained.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be variously modified without departing from the gist thereof. Needless to say, there is.

For example, it is not always necessary to scramble the content distributed from the server to each multimedia terminal depending on the security level of the content. Also, the proxy distribution by each multimedia terminal is not limited to the content distributed from the server,
MO or D externally loaded into the content storage device 34
Content stored in a portable storage medium such as a VD may be read and distributed by proxy.

[0061]

According to the information distribution system control method of the present invention, multimedia information and the like can be distributed to a plurality of terminal devices without increasing the load on an information network or a server. Is obtained.

Further, there is an effect that real-time distribution of multimedia information can be realized at a low cost without making the installation cost of the server or the use cost of the information network harder.

Further, there is an effect that the availability of resources such as hardware and software of the terminal device can be improved.

According to the information distribution system of the present invention, it is possible to distribute multimedia information and the like to a plurality of terminal devices without increasing the load on an information network or a server.

In addition, there is an effect that real-time distribution of multimedia information can be realized at low cost without increasing server installation cost and information network use cost.

Further, there is an effect that the availability of resources such as hardware and software of the terminal device can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a management server configuring an information distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of control information used in the information distribution system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a multimedia terminal included in an information distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a content server included in an information distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of an overall configuration of an information distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of the terminal management server included in the information distribution system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of the multimedia terminal included in the information distribution system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of the information distribution system according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of the information distribution system according to the embodiment of the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Content server 11 System bus 12 Central processing unit 13 Main memory 13a Operating system 13b Database management program 13c Server program 14 Content database 15 Operation I / F unit 16 Scrambler 17 Network I / F unit 20 Terminal management server 21 System bus 22 Central Processing device 23 Main storage 23a Operating system 23b Server program 24 External storage device 24a Terminal management file 25 Operation I / F unit 26 Network I / F unit 30 Multimedia terminal 31 System bus 32 Central processing unit 33 Main storage 33a Operating system 33b Server Access program 33c Security management program 34 Content storage device 35 Operation I / F unit 36 Network C I / F unit 37 Descrambler 38 Multimedia I / F unit 39a Display 39b Speaker 40 Information network 50 Terminal management table 51 Terminal ID information 52 Terminal storage content ID information 53 Management flag 54 Terminal installation location 55 Terminal operating time zone

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A method for controlling an information distribution system, comprising: a server holding desired information; and a plurality of terminal devices that receive and use the information from the server via an arbitrary information network. Distributing the information to at least one first terminal device and holding the information; and when a distribution request for the information is issued to the server from a second terminal device other than the first terminal device, Controlling the first terminal device holding the information to distribute the information to the second terminal device instead of the server. 2. The control method for an information distribution system according to claim 1, wherein a management server is interposed between the server and the plurality of terminal devices, and the management server is issued from the second terminal device. When the distribution request of the information is received, the presence / absence of the first terminal device that holds the information is checked, and if the first terminal device that holds the information is present, the first terminal device A control method for an information distribution system, wherein the information is distributed from a terminal device to the requesting second terminal device. 3. The information distribution system control method according to claim 1, wherein when a plurality of the first terminal devices holding the same information are present, the requesting second terminal device is provided. Selecting the first terminal device which is geographically closer to the terminal device or has the smallest resource usage and load of the information network in information communication with the requesting second terminal device; And transmitting the information from the terminal device to the second terminal device. 4. An information distribution system comprising: a server holding desired information; and a plurality of terminal devices that receive and use the information from the server via an arbitrary information network. A storage unit provided in the terminal device for holding the information distributed from the server; a management information storage unit for storing whether the information is held in each of the terminal devices and a type of the information; When a distribution request for the information is generated from the first terminal device, the management information storage unit searches for another second terminal device that holds the information, and the second terminal device searches for the second terminal device. And a distribution control logic for distributing the information held by the device to the first terminal device requesting the information. 5. The information distribution system according to claim 4, wherein a management server is provided between said server and said terminal device, and said management information storage means and said distribution control logic are provided in said management server. Characteristic information distribution system. 6. The information distribution system according to claim 4, wherein the control logic is configured such that, when there are a plurality of the first terminal devices holding the same information, the requesting second terminal. Selecting the first terminal device that is geographically closer to the device or has the smallest resource usage and load of the information network in information communication with the requesting second terminal device; An information distribution system, wherein the information is distributed from a first terminal device to the second terminal device. 7. The information distribution system according to claim 4, wherein the management information storage means includes at least identification information of each of the terminal devices, identification information of the information held by the terminal device, and the terminal device. An information distribution system for storing information comprising at least one of an installation location of the terminal device and an operation time zone of the terminal device.