Patent Grant
7711817
The present invention relates to an information processing system in which services are provided to end users of apparatuses connected via a network to each other and an information processing method and a service providing method for use with the information processing system.
There has been generally known a client server system (CSS) including a network and a multiplicity of apparatuses which are connected via the network to each other and which include server machines having resources such as a large-capacity disk and a plurality of client machines to be operated individually by users so as to communicate information between the linked apparatuses. In most applications of the client server system, resources of server machines are shared among the users, for example, a disk resource of a server machine is commonly used to share a file thereon and/or a printer coupled with a printer server is shared among the users. Thanks to the recent development of basic software such as a network operating system (to be simply called network OS herebelow) and hardware including server and client machines, it is possible to implement environments of the client server systems for highly advanced utilizations and applications thereof.
For example, the Open Software Foundation (OSF) established as a standardization committee of computer industries has proposed an OSF DCE (to be abbreviated as DCE herebelow). In a complex network environment including different kinds of apparatuses, DCE provides such services as a directory service, a yellow page service, and an access right service.
In the directory service, a name specified by a user is converted into address information in the actual network system. This service is similar to the telephone number indexing service according to a telephone directory. The yellow page service is an additional function of the directory service. In place of the name, there can be used a function or an attribute to attain address information, which is similar to the indexing service through a classified telephone directory. The certification and access right services are used to conduct a security check when a user subscribes to the system or operates functions of the system, for example, to examine whether or not the user possesses the access right. Namely, these services are supported to control the system.
OSF DCE has been described in detail, for example, in the “Technology of OSF DCE” published by Soft Research Center Inc. on Aug. 25, 1992 (ISBN 4-915778-15-0).
According to services provided in the present CSS environments described above, when receiving a particular service, end users operating client machines are required to pay attention to usage of the service in most cases. For example, when a file is shared between clients, it is necessary to specify the file name assigned by the partner to the shared file and a position of the directory in the own client machine to which the shared file is registered (mounting of the file). Only after the above operations are completed, the file can be shared between the clients.
Some systems can be accessed by the end user without considering any particular service. However, in such systems, the system manager is required to beforehand set the desired services according to the present stage of art. According to DCE, services are enriched primarily for the managers conducting the system management. This consequently leads to a problem that end users can actually access only the information items and services beforehand set by the system manager.
Additionally, as the range of apparatuses and devices connectable to CSS is expanded, there appear various kinds of end users accessing the system. This increases chances in which the system is operated by beginners of the system who are learning information related to operations and functions of information processing apparatuses. In such a case, there arises a problem that the services supported by CSS and available by end users are hardly utilized.
Furthermore, when accessing the system, most end users do not have special knowledge about specifications and characteristics of apparatuses of the system. For example, the users operate apparatuses without recognizing functions and services supported by devices (such as disks), for example, the remaining capacity and transfer performance of each disk and reliability of data storage. Consequently, only the system experts can appropriately utilize the system resources. Namely, the system can be operated only in an inefficient fashion by the ordinary end users.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an information processing system, a method for use with the same, and a service providing method for use in the system which allow users not fully versed in services of the system to appropriate utilize the services of the system, thereby solving the problems above.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system, a method for use with the same, and a service providing method for use in the system which allows users not fully versed in services of CSS to appropriately utilize the services of CSS.
Further another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system, a method for use with the same, and a service providing method for use in the system which guarantees quality of service (QSO) supported for end users by the system.
To solve the problems above according to the present invention, there is provided an agent function including two kinds of agents, namely, a personal agent to control user information so as to relate a service supported by the information processing system to a process requested by the user and a terminal agent to control the apparatuses. The terminal agent supervises information items of functions, performance, and the like of apparatuses connected to the network to convert such information into service information necessary for the user. Moreover, the terminal agent controls terminals and clients operated by users. The personal agent provides data control and service operations customized for each user.
According to the present invention, there is disposed a service information conversion section to transform information of functions, performance, and the like of the respective apparatuses into service information. The conversion section includes a general service conversion table for the terminal agent to convert service information and a personal service conversion table for the personal agent to convert service information customized for the pertinent user.
Moreover, according to the present invention, the terminal agent controls the basic portion of the user interface for the terminal and client operated by the user and converts information of functions and performance of the apparatuses connected to the network into service information for the user interface. The personal agent further supervises such customized functions as information of the security function for each user in relation to the user interface.
According to the present invention, for each of the apparatuses connected to each other via the network, there is arranged a quality of service (QOS) table defining information of functions and performance of the apparatus. The plural QOS tables are controlled by a local directory for each cell corresponding to a small range of the network. All local directories covering the entire network system are controlled by a global directory.
In addition, according to the present invention, when an apparatus is coupled to the network, a QOS table is automatically registered to the local directory. Furthermore, when the contents of registration are modified in the local directory, the changed contents are notified to the global directory.
According to the present invention, there is employed broadcast means as the means for registering the QOS table to the local directory.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, there are disposed in the information processing apparatus state monitoring means for monitoring the state of each section of the apparatus, means for accumulating therein information of the state thus collected by the state monitoring means, and a network interface to be used only by the state monitoring means.
According to the present invention, there is provided an information processing system including a plurality of information processing apparatuses each having a table to which information of functions and performance is registered, a network for connecting the plural information processing apparatuses to each other, a directory connected to the network for controlling the tables of the respective information processing apparatuses, and an agent function operable in either one of the information processing apparatuses for referencing contents of the control operation of the directory and supplying a user with the information of functions and performance of information processing apparatuses registered to the table. Furthermore, in the information processing system, the agent function includes a user associated operation for conducting a customizing operation for each user and thereby supplying the service information to the user, and an operation for supplying the user with service information independent of any particular user. In addition, in the information processing system, the information of functions and performance to be registered to the table includes either one or all of a transfer speed, a random input/output performance, an access time, a bit error ratio, a mean time to data loss (MTTDL), a mean time for data availability (MTDA). Moreover, in the information processing system, the information of functions and performance to be registered to the table includes either one or all of a name of the information processing apparatus and a type, function, performance of an input/output device of the information processing apparatus.
According to the present invention, there is provided an information processing system comprising information processing apparatuses each having a QOS table to which functions and performance to be supplied via a network to a user is registered, wherein the apparatuses are connected to the network.
Additionally, according to the present invention, there is provided an information processing system including a plurality of information processing apparatuses each having a table to which information of functions and performance is registered, a network for connecting the plural information processing apparatuses to each other, and a directory connected to the network for controlling the tables of the respective information processing apparatuses.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, there is provided an information processing system including a plurality of information processing apparatuses each having a table to which information of functions and performance is registered, a network for connecting the plural information processing apparatuses to each other, a local directory connected to the network for controlling the tables of the respective information processing apparatuses, and a global directory for controlling the local directory.
Moreover, according to the present invention, there is provided an information processing system including a plurality of information processing apparatuses each having a table to which information of functions and performance is registered, a network for connecting the plural information processing apparatuses to each other, a directory connected to the network for controlling the tables of the respective information processing apparatuses, and an agent function operable in either one of the information processing apparatuses for referencing contents of the control operation of the directory and converting the information of functions and performance registered to the table into service information, thereby supplying a user with the obtained service information.
In addition, according to the present invention, there is provided an information processing system including a plurality of information processing apparatuses each having a QOS table to which information of functions and performance is registered, a network for connecting the plural information processing apparatuses to each other a local directory connected to the network for controlling a plurality of QOS tables in a unit of local areas, the local area being a set of small-sized areas, a global directory for controlling a plurality of local directories in a global area of the unit of local areas, and an agent function operable in either one of the information processing apparatuses for referencing contents respectively of the global and local directories and converting the information of functions and performance registered to the QOS table into service information representing quality of service, thereby supplying a user with the obtained service information.
Furthermore, in the information processing system, the agent function includes a user associated operation for conducting a customizing operation for each user and thereby supplying the service information to the user and an operation for supplying the user with service information independent of any particular user. According to the present invention, in the information processing system, the agent function includes reading contents of the plural QOS tables registered to the local directory, detecting a plurality of common functions registered to the QOS tables, and creating a service menu therefrom.
In addition, according to the present invention in the information processing system, the agent function further includes generating a QOS menu for each of the services and supplying the user with the QOS menu. Moreover, in the information processing system, the QOS table includes as information of functions and performance of the information processing apparatus either one of a response time, a processing performance per unitary time, and a transfer speed.
Additionally, according to the present invention, there is provided an information processing system including a plurality of information processing apparatuses each having a QOS table to which information of functions and performance is registered, a network for connecting the plural information processing apparatuses to each other, a local directory connected to the network for controlling a plurality of QOS tables in a unit of local areas, the local area being a set of small-sized areas, a global directory for controlling a plurality of local directories in a global area of the unit of local areas and receiving, when contents of the local directory are changed, a notification of change in the contents from the local directory, and an agent function operable in either one of the information processing apparatuses for supplying a user with the information of functions and performance of the apparatus, wherein the agent modifies, according to contents of the change in the global directory, contents of service information to be supplied to the user.
In the information processing system according to the present invention, the local directory reads, when a new information processing apparatus is connected to the network, a QOS table of the new apparatus and registers the QOS table to the system.
According to the present invention, in the local directory of the information processing system deletes, when one of the information processing apparatuses is disconnected from the network, the QOS table of the disconnected apparatus.
Furthermore, there is provided according to the present invention an information processing system including a plurality of information processing apparatuses each having a QOS table to which information of functions and performance is registered, a network for connecting the plural information processing apparatuses to each other, a local directory connected to the network for controlling a plurality of QOS tables in a unit of local areas, the local area being a set of small-sized areas, a global directory for controlling a plurality of local directories in a global area of the unit of local areas, and an agent function operable in either one of the information processing apparatuses for referencing contents respectively of the global and local directories and converting the information of functions and performance registered to the QOS table into service information representing quality of service, thereby supplying the obtained service information to a user via a user interface. The agent changes, according to a utilization frequency of each service of the user and contents of utilization of services, contents of the service information supplied to the user via the user interface.
Additionally, in the information processing system of the present invention, the agent function in the information processing apparatus includes a service access agent for controlling the user interface, a personal agent service for achieving a customization corresponding to each user and supplying the service information to the user and a public agent service for supplying a plurality of services shared among the users.
In the information processing system according to the present invention, the personal agent service is disposed in a client which is a terminal equipment in any one of the plural information processing apparatuses and a copy of the personal agent service is arranged in a server which achieves a control operation in the plural information processing apparatuses.
Moreover, in the information processing system, the agent function in the information processing apparatus includes monitoring a state of each application software initiated by each user and changing, according to a state of operation of the application software, contents of the service information supplied to the user via the user interface.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, there are provided an information processing method and an information processing system using the method including the steps of collecting by an information processing apparatus information of each input/output device connected to a network when the apparatus is activated and notifying the information to other information processing apparatuses via the network.
Additionally, according to the present invention, there are provided an information processing method and an information processing system using the method including the steps of transmitting a request for input/output device information from an information processing apparatus when the apparatus is activated to other information processing apparatuses via a network and thereby collecting input/output information of the information processing apparatuses.
In addition, according to the present invention, there are provided an information processing method and an information processing system using the method including the steps of executing a predetermined bench-mark program for a new information processing apparatus connected to a network and registering a result of the test to a QOS table of a directory.
In the information processing method and the information processing system using the method, the notification is achieved by a broadcast communication.
According to the present invention, there is provided a service supplying method for use with an information processing system including a network and information processing apparatuses connected thereto. The method includes the steps of collecting, when a request for information of a state of each section of the information processing apparatus is received via the network, the information of the state of each section independently of operation of the apparatus and transmitting the information to the network via a network interface of state monitor means for monitoring the state of each section.
According to the present invention, there is provided a service supplying method for use with an information processing system including a network and information processing apparatuses connected thereto. The method includes the steps of collecting, when a request for information of a state of each section of the information processing apparatus is received according to a communication protocol via the network, the information of the state of each section independently of operation of the apparatus, converting the information according to the communication protocol, and transmitting the resultant information to the network via a network interface of state monitor means for monitoring the state of each section.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, there is provided an information processing system including a plurality of information processing apparatuses each having a QOS table to which information of functions and performance is registered and a network for connecting the plural information processing apparatuses to each other, wherein any desired one of the information processing apparatuses includes an agent function for referencing contents of the QOS tables of the plural apparatuses connected to the network and converting the information of functions and performance of the apparatuses registered to the QOS tables into service information representing quality of service, thereby supplying a user with the obtained service information.
Additionally, according to the present invention, there is provided a service supplying method for use with an information processing system in which a plurality of information processing apparatuses each having a QOS table to which information of functions and performance is registered are connected to each other via a network. The method includes the steps of referencing, in an agent function of any desired one of the apparatuses, contents of the QOS tables of the plural apparatuses connected to the network and converting the information of functions and performance of the apparatuses registered to the QOS tables into service information representing quality of service, thereby supplying a user with the obtained service information.
Additionally, according to the present invention, the user interface indicating QOS information representing functions, performance, and services of the information processing apparatus includes either one or all of menu information items respectively related an online storage, a mobile picture quality, and a backup storage.
According to the present invention, the terminal agent inquires of the global and local directories via the network about the QOS table of each apparatus connected to CSS and then converts obtained information of functions and performance of the apparatus into service information necessary for the user, thereby supplying the service information directly to the user.
In case where the terminal agent achieves the conversion of service information, the information of functions and performance of the apparatus is transformed into service information necessary for the user according to the contents of registration in the general service conversion table of the service information conversion section. Consequently, service information to be delivered to the user can be altered according to the contents of registration in the service information conversion section.
Furthermore, the terminal agent supervises the basic portion of the user interface of the client to display common functions and to supply common services to each user. In consequence, when the contents of the terminal agent is varied, the interfaces and service information items can be changed for all users.
The personal agent inquires of the global and local directories in a manner similar to that of the terminal agent about functions and performance of each apparatus linked with CSS to convert the attained information of functions and performance of the apparatus into service information necessary for the user so as to supply the service information to the user. When the service information is delivered from the personal agent to the user, an inquiry is sent to the terminal agent to send the service information to the user such that the terminal agent reports the information via the user interface to the user.
On receiving a service request from the user, the personal agent issues an inquiry for the contents of the QOS table of each apparatus registered to the global and local directories to notify the user's service request to the apparatuses having functions and performance associated with the service request.
Moreover, in case where the personal agent converts information of functions and performance of the apparatuses connected to CSS into service information necessary for the user, the conversion of information is accomplished according to information of conversion registered to the personal service conversion table of the service information conversion section. Consequently, arranging a personal service conversion table for each user, it is possible to supply the user with service information customized for the user.
The personal agent updates the contents of the personal service conversion table according to the frequency of service requests from the respective users and the utilization frequency of each particular service.
As described above, the terminal and personal agents recognize service information of the respective apparatuses connected to CSS. The terminal agent supervises the user interface to notify services to the users, whereas the personal agent controls the contents of user's service requests. Communicating the above information between the terminal and personal agents, the service requests from the users can be mapped onto the system services.
According to the present invention, the state monitor means communicates with the information processing system via the network interface dedicated to the state monitoring means. In response to a request for information related to the state of each section of the information processing apparatus, the state monitor means collects information via the network interface independently of operation of the information processing system, thereby transmitting the attained information to the request source.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:
Referring now to
Description will be now given of a case in which the user operates the apparatus D as a client. When the apparatus is activated, the terminal agent 113 and a personal agent 115 issue an inquiry to the apparatus 107 as a server on LAN 110 for resources on the network registered to a local directory 108. The terminal agent 109 of the apparatus C 107 transmits the contents of the local directory 108 to the information processor D 111.
In case where the user desires to access the processor from the processor D, the user issues a service request and receives the service via the terminal agent 113, personal agent 115, and service menu 116. The terminal agent 113, personal agent 115, and service menu 116 will be described later in detail in paragraphs related to the user interface. On receiving a usage request for computing resources from the user, the terminal agent 113 inquires of the processor C 107 as the server about computing resources. The terminal agent 109 of the processor C accomplishes a retrieval operation for the contents of the local directory 108 to sends information of functions and performance of the registered computing resources via LAN 110 to the processor D 111. On receiving information, the terminal agent 113 converts the information by a service information conversion section 114 into service information for the user to report the service information to the user via the personal agent 115 and service menu 116.
The general service conversion table 307 includes a table 308 to store therein information of functions and performance of resources connected to the network and attained from the local directory 108 of the server and a table 309 to accumulate therein service information to the user corresponding to the functions and performance of the resources. Moreover, there is stored in the personal service conversion table 310 service conversion information for the personal agent 115 to optimize the service menu for the pertinent user according to the service utilization state of the user and the operation state of application software in the processor D 111.
For example,
Next, description will be given of a case in which the information processing apparatus (processor) B 104 is connected to LAN 110 in the embodiment shown in
The terminal agent 109 of the processing apparatus C 107 as the server on the network requests the processor B 104 to transmit thereto the contents of the QOS table 105 (step 403). The terminal agent 106 sends the contents of the QOS table 105. The terminal agent 109 registers the contents of the QOS table 105 to the local directory 108 (step 405). Moreover, the apparatus C 107 reports the modification of the contents of the local directory 108 via a communication server 117 to a global directory 121 controlled by the apparatus F 120 on WAN 123 (step 407). The terminal agent 122 registers the modification of the local directory 108 to the global directory 121 (step 407) and then terminates the operation.
On receiving an inquiry for a resource from a terminal agent, the global directory 121 is accessed such that the resource registration part 316 is first referenced to decide the resource type 317 and connection directory 318 and then the gateway address 315 of the pertinent local directory is transmitted from the local directory registration part 313. The network address of the server supervising the local directory may be transmitted in place of the gateway address 315.
Referring now to
A general service conversion table 173 and a personal service conversion table 172 collectively correspond to the service information conversion part 114 of
The apparatus 160 includes peripheral devices such as a keyboard (K/B) 168, a read-only memory (ROM) 169, and a flash memory 170. These peripheral devices are connected via a system bus 164 to a CPU 161 and a main memory 162.
Ordinarily, the agent is stored in a non-volatile memory such as the ROM 169 or flash memory 170 or in a secondary storage such as a file system 171. After the system operation is started, the agent is loaded in the main memory 162 to be executed by the CPU 161. The QOS tables 102, 105, 112, and 118 of
In
Referring next to
This embodiment is an example of access from a satellite office to a home office. When an arbitrary terminal is activated in the satellite office, the terminal agent of the terminal starts its operation to display a service menu (
When connecting the terminal to the host computer of the home office, the user selects “Connect to host” from the menu and then clicks the pertinent input device. On receiving the notification of operation, the terminal agent of the terminal displays the QOS menu (
In the embodiment, the QOS menu of
When the user selects “Quick even expensive”, the terminal agent establishes a route to carry out communication at an available highest speed. When “Less expensive even slow” is selected, there is chosen a route for communication at a possibly lowest cost. When the user selects “Set details”, the selection of the route is achieved by the user. Assume that the user selects “None” in this embodiment. In this case, the terminal agent selects a route according to the default value to establish connection to the host computer of the home office, and a login screen (
Although the login screen of
In
In the screen of the work-flow software shown in
In this situation, the work-flow software is concealed in the background and a service menu (
When the user chooses “Print circular notice 1”, the personal agent presents a QOS menu screen for printout (
The embodiment shows a case in which the user selects “None”.
In this situation, the printing operation is carried out in the satellite office and the personal agent displays again the service menu screen (
According to the user interface of the present invention described above, the agents re-configure the contents of the service menu and/or the QOS menu according to the utilization frequency of the user or operation contents.
The terminal and personal agents in the embodiment above correspond respectively to the terminal agent 113 and personal agent 115 in the embodiment of the computing service described above.
Referring now to
First, referring to
In the hierarchic structure including zones and domains of
A portion or all of the registration contents of the QOS control server is or are registered to the global QOS control server 204 via the gateway 205 of the global area 202 including the local areas 201 and the basic LAN 207.
Operations of the other sections of
Next, description will be given of the contents of QOS of file service devices.
For QOS of file service devices, there can be considered various levels including classification according to quality of service most close to device characteristics at a lower level and classification closely associated with file characteristics at a higher level. As a favorable embodiment of the present invention, the lower-level and higher-level QOS items are set as follows.
1. Lower-level QOS Items
Next, description will be given of the method of registering the file service devices to the QOS control server. According to the present invention, when a file service device is connected to the computer network or to a computer on the network, it is desired to automatically register the device to the QOS control server. For this purpose, it is only necessary that each device keeps the own QOS in a non-volatile storage so as to notify the QOS information to the control server when the device is linked with the network or computer.
When a device to be directly connected to the network is powered or connected to the network, the own QOS is autonomously reported to the control server. For a device to be connected to the computer, when the computer recognizes that the device is coupled therewith, it is only necessary for the computer to read the QOS information of the device so as to register the QOS information to the control server. For the computer to sense the event of connection the device, there may be periodically conducted a polling operation to recognize presence or absence of the device or there may be employed, for example, an input/output bus capable of sensing the event of connection of the device according to the protocol of input/output buses such as power and signal lines. Notification of QOS from the device to the computer can be accomplished as follows. For example, in response to a Mode Sense command from the computer (initiator in the SCSI), the device (target in the SCSI) issues a response.
In
Subsequently, description will be given of information to be passed from the QOS control server to the user interface.
The information items of file server devices from the QOS control server to the user interface includes the following items.
1. Name or identifier to identify the device on the network
2. QOS at each level
The user interface selectively decides according to a level assigned to the user and a request from the user which one of the levels of QOS is to be presented to the user.
In
Operation of the user interface of
Subsequently, description will be given of an embodiment related to the network.
Next, operation of the present invention will be described. When powered, the information processing apparatus A 601 linked with LAN 612 executes its initial setting operation to load the operating system or monitor program and then initializes the program so as to set up the terminal agent 603, thereby finally establishing the utilization environment.
During the initial setup operation or initialization of the operating system, there is acquired QOS information of input/output devices connected to the system. For example, when the input/output device is connected via SCSI, an Inquiry command is issued to gather information of functions of the device. For another input/output interface, the QOS information is obtained according to an information collecting method supported by the interface. There may be used such interfaces as RS232C, Centronics, bidirectional Centronics, and GPIB.
The QOS information to be gathered includes values of functions and performance, for example, those of the capacity and transfer performance for disks and those of print speed, print line density, color or monochrome, and print form size.
In case where the connected I/O device does not have any interface providing QOS information, the QOS information is manually set to the file or non-volatile memory from an external device such that the contents thereof are read from the storage when the device is activated, thereby gathering the QOS information. When the connected I/O device supplies only partial information, the remaining necessary information is manually set as above or the system default values are loaded in the file or non-volatile memory. When the information processing apparatus is activated, the stored QOS information is obtained from the storage to thereby gather the QOS information.
The collected QOS information is accumulated in a QOS table 602 of the information processing apparatus.
When the QOS table 602 is completely created for the connected I/O devices, the apparatus A 601 notifies initiation of the own system to the other information processing apparatuses. In this operation, the QOS table 602 of the own system is also transferred. For the transfer of the table 602, there is employed a broadcast address on the network to pass the table 602 to the destinations. On receiving the notification, the apparatus C 609 as a control server in the network having a local directory stores the table 602 in the local directory. The other information processing apparatuses store the received QOS table 602 when necessary. Specifically, the terminal agent of the pertinent apparatus makes a check to decide necessity of the information. If necessary, the information is stored as internal data. The decision is conducted according to a predetermined condition or to whether or not there is contained I/O information.
Subsequently, when information of the QOS table 602 requested in the past includes QOS table information of another information processing apparatus, a terminal agent 603 of the apparatus A 601 issues an inquiry to the apparatus for the QOS table information.
For the inquiry, there is adopted, for example, a method using a broadcast address. The apparatus which has received the inquiry and which is connected to a requested I/O device transfers QOS table information thereof to the inquiry source, namely, the apparatus A 601. When receiving QOS table information from a plurality of apparatuses in response to the inquiry, the apparatus A 601 assigns each QOS table information with priority according to a predetermined criterion. The criterion may be related to positional information such as “QOS information belonging to the same network” and/or to difference in I/O performance. In addition, the criterion for decision is specified, for example, according to the system default value or by the system manager.
Furthermore, the inquiry may be issued to the apparatus C 609 having the local directory. When there is missing a server having a global directory in the network, the QOS table in the local directory 610 of the apparatus C 609 is transmitted to the apparatus A 601. When such a server having the global directory (the apparatus E 625 in this case) is connected to the network, QOS table information of the local directory is delivered to the apparatus E 625 having the global directory when the apparatus is activated. On receiving an inquiry for the QOS table from the apparatus A 601, the apparatus C 609 issues an inquiry to the apparatus E 625 so as to send the QOS table obtained in response thereto from the apparatus E 625 and QOS table information of the local directory to the apparatus A 601. As a result, the necessary QOS table information is transmitted to the apparatus A 601.
As already described in conjunction with the apparatus a 601, the QOS table information can be communicated and created in the similar fashion by an information processing apparatus functioning as a server.
Referring next to
Next, referring to
In
In the embodiment, service information includes information related to functions of reliability, availability, and security (RAS) of information processing apparatuses.
In
In the embodiment of
When the communication protocol is TCP/IP in step 1, processing proceeds to step 4 to convert the attained RAS information according to the TCP/IP protocol. Similarly, when the communication protocol is IPX/SPX in step 1, control is transferred to step 5 to transform the RAS information according to the IPX/SPX protocol. Furthermore, when the communication protocol is Apple Talk in step 1, control is passed to step 6 to convert the RAS information according to the Apple Talk protocol. When the step 4, 5, or 6 is completed, control is transferred to step 7 to transmits the RAS information conforming to the pertinent communication protocol to the network.
After step 7 is processed, control is passed to step 1 to repeatedly accomplish the above processing flow.
Written in the first byte of the data area is a code designating the type of RAS information (type 0 denoting system information is written in this example). In the next n-byte field, there are stored information indicating whether or not the system is daily powered 24 hours, information designating whether or not a backup power supply is disposed, information indicating whether or not the power source is duplicated, and the like.
Similarly, written in the first byte of the data area is a code representing the type of RAS information (type 1 denoting power information is stored in this example). In the subsequent p bytes, there are stored information related to the file system, for example, information designating whether or not the file is duplicated, information indicating whether or not there is employed the disk array configuration, and information denoting the type of the file system (representatively, NFS). Analogously, stored in the first byte of the data area is a code representing the type of RAS information (type 2 denoting file information is written in this example).
According to the embodiment above, when a request for information of reliability is issued from an information processing apparatus or the like on the network, there can be transmitted RAS information of the system regardless of the operation state of the terminal.
The multi-protocol translator 189 of the embodiment may be controlled by the DCE support 156 and network I/F 155 of
As can be appreciated from the above description, information related to functions and performance of information processing facilities connected to each other via a network is converted into service information to be supplied to the users. This leads to an advantage that the user can much more directly receive the services.
Since service information is delivered to the users via the agents, the users need only establish interfaces with the agents. It is not necessary for the users to pay attention to constitution of the apparatuses connected to the network.
Moreover, since the services common to the respective users are supplied by the terminal agent, the contents of the services delivered to the users can be altered at once by modifying the functions of the terminal agent.
The personal agent changes the contents of service informations to be supplied via the user interface according to the utilization mode of each user such as the user's operation procedure or the utilization frequency of a particular service. Consequently, there can be provided a user interface optimal to each user.
Since the agents convert information of functions and performance of the apparatuses on the network into service information for the users according to the contents registered to the service information control table, the contents of service information supplied to the users can be varied by modifying the contents of the service information conversion table. Namely, for this purpose, it is unnecessary to change the contents of the QOS table of each apparatus.
According to the present invention, also when a new information processing apparatus is connected to the network, information of functions and performance of the apparatus is automatically registered to the system. Consequently, the user can attain information of services without considering the configuration of the apparatus connected to the network and the change in constitution thereof.
Since a broadcast communication is adopted as means to register the information of functions and performance to the information system, even when a new apparatus is connected to the network, the information of functions and performance can be registered independently of the constitution of the network.
According to the present invention, for an apparatus not having a QOS table, a predetermined benchmark test is executed to create a QOS table according to a result of the test. Consequently, information of functions and performance of the apparatus can be effectively registered to the system regardless of presence and absence of the QOS table.
Moreover, through an operation in which the contents of the benchmark test are altered to execute the test in each apparatus on the network so as to register a result of the test to the QOS table, the QOS criterion of the system is changed and hence the contents of service information are also modified for the users.
Thanks to an operation in which a benchmark test prepared by the user is supplied to the system to execute the test for each apparatus to register a result of the test to the service information conversion table, information of functions and performance of an arbitrary items of each apparatus of the system can be advantageously added as service information to the system.
While the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by those embodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6-094431 | May 1994 | JP | national |
The present application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/054,387, filed Feb. 10, 2005 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,447,708; which is a continuation of Ser. No. 10/336,796, filed Jan. 6, 2003 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,868,446; which is a continuation of Ser. No. 10/082,185, filed Feb. 26, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,519,640; which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/518,147, filed Mar. 3, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,577; which is a divisional of application Ser. No. 09/106,291, filed Jun. 29, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,094,674; which is a divisional of application Ser. No. 08/434,291, filed May 3, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,656, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20090037578 A1 | Feb 2009 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 09106291 | Jun 1998 | US |
| Child | 09518147 | US | |
| Parent | 08434291 | May 1995 | US |
| Child | 09106291 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11054387 | Feb 2005 | US |
| Child | 12243081 | US | |
| Parent | 10336796 | Jan 2003 | US |
| Child | 11054387 | US | |
| Parent | 10082185 | Feb 2002 | US |
| Child | 10336796 | US | |
| Parent | 09518147 | Mar 2000 | US |
| Child | 10082185 | US |
