JP3555564B2 - Communications system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a communication system, and more particularly to a communication system capable of automatically acquiring and controlling a communication status using the Internet.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As a result of the widespread use of the Internet, the Internet has become an important means of communication along with conventional telephones or faxes. In a general communication system using the Internet, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, a terminal device (for example, a computer) 101 accesses a contract provider server 103 via a wired or wireless communication path 102 such as a public telephone line. The contract provider server 103 is connected to the Internet via a number of Web servers 104a to 104n. As a result, the terminal 101 is configured to be able to communicate with many terminal devices connected to the Internet.
[0003]
To connect to the Internet, it is necessary to make a call from the terminal device 101 to the contract provider server 103. Although only one terminal device is shown in FIG. 3, a large number of terminal devices are generally connected to the contract provider server 103. Therefore, access from many terminal devices to the contract provider server 103 may be concentrated. If the access of the terminal device 101 exceeds the capacity of the communication path 102, troubles or inconveniences such as no telephone connection (wasteful waiting time occurs) or a low data transfer speed (high line usage fee) are caused. It is more likely to occur.
[0004]
Therefore, a conventional technique for solving such a problem in a communication system using the Internet is disclosed in, for example, “Traffic management device and traffic management method” in JP-A-10-200579. That is, it is configured to constantly or intermittently monitor the traffic situation in the management network on the provider side and notify the traffic situation to the user (terminal) that has made the connection request.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the conventional communication system as described above, it is necessary to access the contract provider server in order to obtain the traffic condition of the communication path or line. Therefore, there was inconvenience or inconvenience in the operation procedure.
[0006]
[Object of the invention]
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described excessive communication system using the Internet, and an object of the present invention is to provide a communication system that eliminates or reduces the above-described disadvantages of the related art.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The communication system of the present invention is an Internet-connected communication system that connects to a WEB server from a terminal device via a wired or wireless communication path. An information PUSH server is provided separately from a contract provider server . Information from the information PUSH server can automatically grasp the line state of the communication path, and in response to a call operation from the terminal device, determines whether or not the terminal device is designated as “priority call”. Check and check the line congestion status information to the contract provider server to be connected from now on, and if the line is congested and designated as "priority transmission", receive the information of the uncongested communication path If the connection to the uncongested communication path is not designated as “priority transmission” and the communication path is congested, the transmission is restricted, and In the case of, connecting to the access point specified normally.
[0008]
Further, according to the preferred embodiment of the communication system of the present invention, the information push server transmits congestion information of the communication path to the terminal device in real time. The information push server regulates the number of accesses from terminal devices to a predetermined fixed amount or less based on information from the contract provider server, thereby preventing communication channels from being overrun. The information push server determines whether or not the transmission is a predetermined priority transmission, and enables the communication path to be arbitrarily changed. The priority call is given when the terminal device is designated as an emergency disaster area. The information push server receives information from a plurality of web servers and contract provider servers.
[0010]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of a preferred embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0011]
The present invention is a communication system capable of automatically acquiring a congestion state of a communication path on a terminal side in a general Internet communication network and regulating / controlling communication during congestion. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a preferred embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention.
[0012]
The communication system includes a terminal device 1, a contract provider server 3 connected to the terminal device 1 via a wired or wireless communication path (or communication line) 2, and a plurality of WEB servers connected to the contract provider server 3. 4a to 4n and an information push server 5 which receives information from the contract provider server 3.
[0013]
The information push server 5 provides the terminal device 1 with congestion information and the like. Although only one terminal device 1 is shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of terminal devices 1 are present, and a plurality of terminal devices 1 are generally connected to the contract provider server 3 via the communication path 2.
[0014]
By providing the information push server 5 on the provider side, information such as the congestion status of the communication path 2 is transmitted from the information push server 5 to the terminal device 1 in real time. The terminal device 1 can grasp the current information of the communication path 2 without accessing the contract provider server 3.
[0015]
Further, if the communication system 2 according to the present invention is used, when the communication channel 2 becomes congested beyond a predetermined amount, a signal is sent from the information push server 5 to the terminal device 1, and the terminal device 1 accesses the contract provider server 3. It is also possible to regulate access so that it is not possible.
[0016]
Thus, in the communication system of the present invention, it is possible to regulate the number of accesses from the terminal device 1 based on the information from the information push server 5. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the capacity of the communication path 2 from being exceeded or the contract provider server 3 from going down.
[0017]
In the preferred embodiment of the communication system according to the present invention shown in FIG. 1, when trying to connect to the Internet, the terminal device 1 accesses the contract provider server 3 via the communication path 2. Then, the WEB servers 4a to 4n are accessed via the contract provider server 3.
[0018]
The role or function of the information push server 5 is to monitor the congestion state of the communication path 2. The monitoring result is transmitted to the terminal device 1 in real time, and if the congestion exceeds a predetermined standard, information for preventing the terminal device 1 from accessing the contract provider server 3 is transmitted to the terminal device 1. 1 to maintain the communication path 2 in a stable state. Conversely, when the terminal device 1 is located in an area requiring urgency such as when a disaster occurs, the information is sent from the PUSH server 5 to the terminal device 1. In this way, it is possible to provide a mechanism for automatically connecting to another access point in addition to the normal access point.
[0019]
As described above, in the communication system of the present invention, the communication path itself can be secured by keeping the communication path 2 below a certain used capacity, and the speed and quality of information obtained from the contract provider server 3 can be secured. .
[0020]
The preferred embodiment of the communication system according to the present invention has been described above in detail. Here, the components of the communication system shown in FIG. 1 other than the PUSH information server 5 are well-known to those skilled in the art and are not directly related to the present invention, so that the detailed configuration will be omitted.
[0021]
Next, the operation related to the communication system according to the present invention shown in FIG. 1, particularly the push information server 5, will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. In the flowchart of FIG. 2, first, a calling operation is performed from the terminal device 1 (step S1). The terminal device 1 checks information as to whether the terminal device 1 is designated as "priority transmission" (for example, an emergency disaster area) (step S2).
[0022]
Next, line (or communication path 2) congestion status information to the contract provider server 3 to be connected is confirmed (step S3 or step S4). If the emergency is specified (step S2: YES) and the line (communication path 2) is congested (step S3: YES), the information of the uncongested communication path is transmitted to the information PUSH server. 5 and connect to it (step S5). On the other hand, if the emergency is not specified (step S2: NO) and the information 6 indicating that the communication path 2 is congested is obtained from the contract provider server 3 (step S4: YES), the telephone is actually called. The calling is regulated without calling (step S7). In cases other than the cases described above (that is, when there is no line congestion in step S3 and when there is no line congestion in step S4), a connection is made to the designated access point as usual (step S6).
[0023]
The configuration and operation of the preferred embodiment of the communication system according to the present invention have been described above in detail. However, it should be noted that such an embodiment is merely an example for explaining the gist of the present invention and does not limit the present invention in any way. It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes can be made in accordance with the particular application without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, when the information sent from the information push server 5 to the terminal device 1 is changed, a new communication system corresponding to the information can be constructed. For example, instead of using this system for the communication path 2, it is possible to regulate sites that can be connected by using it for a specific server (or a specific URL (Uniform Resource Locator)).
[0024]
【The invention's effect】
As understood from the above description, according to the communication system of the present invention, the following practically significant effects can be obtained. First, since the communication path 2 (usually a telephone line) is kept below a certain load, there is no situation where the capacity of the line is exceeded. Secondly, the data transfer rate from the contract provider server can be kept at a certain level or more by preventing the excessive load from being applied to the communication path 2. Third, by controlling transmission from the terminal device 1, conversely, communication from a district where a disaster or the like has occurred can be preferentially connected. Fourth, the efficiency of the entire communication path can be improved by selecting a vacant communication path from the terminal device 1.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a preferred embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the communication system shown in FIG. 1, particularly, an operation of the information push server in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional communication system.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Terminal equipment 2 Communication path (telephone line)
3 contract provider servers 4a to 4n WEB server 5 information PUSH server

Claims (6)

In an Internet connection communication system for connecting a terminal device to a WEB server via a wired or wireless communication path,
An information push server is provided separately from the contract provider server, and the terminal device can automatically grasp the line state of the communication path based on information from the information push server ,
In response to a call operation from the terminal device, the terminal device checks whether or not the terminal device is designated as "priority call", checks line congestion status information to a contract provider server to be connected from now on, and confirms "priority call". ) And the line is congested, receives the information of the uncongested communication path, connects to the uncongested communication path, is not designated as "priority transmission" and A communication system characterized by restricting outgoing calls when the communication path is congested, and connecting to a designated access point as usual in other cases . The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the information push server transmits the congestion information of the communication path to the terminal device in real time. The information push server restricts the number of accesses from the terminal device to a predetermined fixed amount or less based on information from the contract provider server to prevent the communication path from being overrun. Item 3. The communication system according to item 1 or 2. 3. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the information push server determines whether the terminal device performs a predetermined priority transmission and enables a communication path to be arbitrarily changed. 4. The communication system according to claim 4, wherein the priority transmission is given when the terminal device is designated as an emergency disaster area. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the information push server receives information from a plurality of web servers and a contract provider server.

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