File distribution system and method thereof

Details File distribution system and method thereof File distribution system and method thereof

1999-03-24

2001-03-20

Vu, Kim (Department: 2172)

Data processing: database and file management or data structures

Database design

Data structure types

C707S793000, C707S793000, C709S202000, C709S203000, C709S224000, C709S227000, C709S229000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06205445

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a file distribution system and method thereof, including a function of a host computer in connection with one or more terminals, for distributing data files to the terminals under management of versions of program applications and data files for use in operating the terminals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conventional version up systems for updating program version numbers of data files or applications using networks, there has been used a file distribution system in which copying operations of data files are performed as many times as corresponding to the number of individual terminals and the copied data files are installed to thereby change the old data files and applications into those of new versions in the terminals. Also, there has been used another type of distribution system in which a host computer connected with terminals or an intermediate computer interposed between the host computer and each terminal connected therewith is installed with version management information relating to each terminal and with new data or applications of new versions, so that, based on the version management information, new data files or applications are distributed to a desired terminal requiring a version-up process.
Meanwhile, in the case where only one computer is used, when there is caused a defect due to a hardware or a serious difficulty or trouble such that a system per se is destroyed, the system corresponding to the hardware type thereof must be reinstalled with data files from the initial stage.
FIG. 9
shows an example of a conventional construction of a file distribution system. In this construction, a host computer
100
is connected to a terminal
300
via an intermediate computer
200
interposed between the host computer
100
and the terminal
300
. Otherwise, the host computer
100
may be directly connected to the terminal
300
without using an intermediate computer. The host computer
100
includes a version management portion
101
for managing a program version of a subordinate station and a distribution file storage portion
102
for storing a distribution data file to be distributed to a desired subordinate station.
The intermediate computer
200
includes a version management portion
201
managing a program version of the terminal, distribution file storage portion
202
for storing a distribution data file to be distributed to a desired terminal, a version memory portion
203
for storing a program version of the intermediate computer
200
per se, and a file memory portion
204
. The terminal
300
includes a version management portion
301
for managing a program version of the terminal per se and a version memory portion
302
for memorizing the program version of the terminal
300
per se.
3
In the case where the host computer
100
is directly connected to the terminal
300
without using an intermediate computer, the program version of the terminal
300
is informed to the version management portion
101
of the host computer
100
at the timing of a start of the communication between the host computer
100
and the terminal
300
. Then, in the host computer
100
, the informed version of the terminal is compared with the version of the terminal
300
stored by the version management portion
101
. When the informed version is not coincident with the managed one stored in the version management portion
101
, a version-up file is distributed from the distribution file storage portion
102
of the host computer
100
to the terminal
300
. In the terminal
300
distributed with the version-up file, the distributed version-up file is stored in the version management portion
301
to update the old version of the version memory portion
302
in the terminal
300
.
Similarly, in the case where the intermediate computer
200
is interposed between the host computer
100
and the terminal
300
, the terminal version is compared with the version of the terminal
300
managed by the terminal version management portion
201
in the intermediate computer
200
. When the informed terminal version is not coincident with the managed one, a version-up file is distributed from the intermediate computer
200
to the terminal
300
.
In the conventional file distribution system, however, it is essentially necessary that the information of the program versions of all of the terminals should be held not only in each terminal but also in the host computer and/or intermediate computer Accordingly, as the number of the terminals is increased, the information of the version management of the terminals to be stored in the version management portions
101
and/or
201
of the host and intermediate computers is increased in amount in proportion thereto, which is wasteful of resources.
Moreover, since the number of hardware types of the terminals is generally by far smaller than the number of the terminals connected to the network system, therefore the information of the versions of the terminals are mostly overlapped.
Furthermore, the performance of each terminal is remarkably improved in a short time recently, and accordingly the applications to be installed in each terminal are increased in function and the process thereof tends to be more and more complicated. Therefore, there has been a problem that, even if the same data file is treated, when applications are successively updated, some performance of the terminals can not be used for the newly updated function thereof, otherwise, although the data file of the application of the old version can be used for the newly updated version, the data file of the application of the new version can not be used for the old version application.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been developed with a view towards substantially solving the above described disadvantages. Accordingly, an essential objective of the present invention is therefore to provide a novel file distribution system of a simple construction in which data file versions of each terminal and information of types in hardware of the terminals are directly referenced by a host computer so that a version-up file is distributed only to a terminal requiring the version up. Moreover, the distribution files are ranked in level so that, with regard to the lower ranked files in version up, each terminal side is authorized to determine whether or not the version-up file is to be distributed from the host computer to the terminal.
In order to achieve the above objective, according to an aspect of the present invention, a file distribution system is provided which is a combination of a file distribution device and a plurality of terminals subordinately interconnected thereto, the file distribution device comprises:
management means for receiving information of data file version of a target terminal together with information of hardware type of the terminal transmitted from the terminal and directly referencing thereto, thereby deciding the file version and hardware type of the terminal;
storage means for storing distribution files to be distributed to the terminal when requiring a version up thereof; and
file extracting means for selectively extracting a referenced distribution file from the distribution file storage means, based on the decision result made by the management means.
The file distribution device further includes database means for storing reference versions of the distribution files together with hardware type information of the terminal, without installing the information of the file versions of the terminals in the file distribution device.
The file distribution device further includes rank information storage means for storing rank information of the distribution files and ranking the distribution files in levels.
In another aspect of the present invention, adapted to the case where the distribution data file is dependent on the versions of applications, the file distribution device further includes a data conversion means connected to the file extracting me

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