Multiplex communications – Communication techniques for information carried in plural... – Combining or distributing information via time channels
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-17
2001-05-08
Ton, Dang (Department: 2732)
Multiplex communications
Communication techniques for information carried in plural...
Combining or distributing information via time channels
Reexamination Certificate
active
06229825
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a store-and-forward type of electronic conference system, and particularly to a technique for automatically judging or correcting, when occurred, an inconsistency in the contents of informations to be exchanged.
(2) Related art of the Invention
Generally, an “electronic conference system” designates or specifies those systems constituted for information-exchange between unspecified number of users. In a large-scale electronic conference system, the users of the electronic conference system are registered at each of geographically separated areas (hereinafter called “site”). The registered user can use only the site at which he has been registered.
In such an electronic conference system, there is generally adopted a store-and-forward type of communication system, such as in view of transmission speed of communication lines connecting between the sites. That is, the information generated at each of the sites is once stored into a transmission queue which stores informations to be transmitted, and then collectively or batch transmitted at each of a predetermined time of period. The information received at each sites other than the transmitting sites is once stored into a reception queue for storing received informations, and then processed by that background which has processing ability to spare.
Typically, electronic conference systems utilize those unit containers named “forum” established in a hierarchy structure. In turn, each of the forums includes hierarchical messages as informations, also in a hierarchy structure.
However, in such an electronic conference system, there is adopted the store-and-forward type of communication system, so that there may occur inconsistency in the informations to be transmitted. For example, it is now assumed that the informations are exchanged between a forum A of a site A and a forum A of a site B, and forums B, B are established at the lower levels of sites A, A, respectively. Under this state, there may be lost the forum A and its lower level of forum B both at the site B, due to a certain cause (for example, cut-off of power such as due to power failure). Then may occur such a situation that the forums in site B are recovered based on the contents of a recovery disk, to cause the state in which the forum B had not been established at the lower level of the forum A in site B, due to the oldness of the recovery disk. Under such a state, if it is tried by the site A to write (i.e., create) a message into the vanished forum B of site B, an informational operation is performed at site B for the not existing forum B. Thus, inconsistency in information contents should occur.
In the conventional technique, it has been difficult to find out such an information inconsistency even when it happened, resulting in such a situation that the administrator of the electronic conference system could not get aware of it for a long time. This situation is not so problematical, insofar as the exchangee-information to be exchanged between each of the sites is not so important. However, the situation is problematic if the information is extremely important or a prompt treatment is required, since an inconsistency, if any, in the transmittee information may result in that the transmitted information is not correctly reflected at the site which receives this information.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the aforementioned problems in the conventional technique, it is therefore a purpose of the present invention to automatically judge or correct an inconsistency, when occurred, in the informations to be transmitted, so that the transmitted informations are correctly reflected, to thereby improve the reliability of the electronic conference system.
It is another purpose of the present invention to distribute those mediums which are recorded with the information inconsistency judgment program and those mediums which are recorded with the information inconsistency correction program, both according to the present invention, to thereby promote those persons, who have obtained such mediums, to easily constitute, an information inconsistency judgment apparatus and an information inconsistency correction apparatus.
A first solution for achieving the above purposes is constituted by an information inconsistency judgment apparatus in a store-and-forward type of electronic conference system in which operational informations representing operations performed for hierarchical objects are stored and the stored operational informations are batch transmitted between information administrating devices which register and administrate the hierarchical objects, wherein the operational information includes a higher-level-information which specifies an object at the higher level of the treatee object, and the apparatus comprising an inconsistency judgment device for judging as to whether an inconsistency has occurred in the transmitted operational information or not, at the time of treatment of the received operational information, based on the object which is specified by the higher-level-information and that object which is registered in the information administrating device.
According to such a constitution, the operational information to be transmitted and received between the information administrating devices includes a higher-level-information which specifies an object at the higher level of the treatee information. Further, at the information administrating device which has received the operational information, it is judged as to whether an inconsistency has occurred in the transmitted operational information or not, at the time of treatment of the received operational information, based on the object which is specified by the higher level information and the object which is registered in the information administrating device. As such, it is automatically detected that an inconsistency has occurred in the transmitted information. Thus, such as an administrator of the store-and-forward type of electronic conference system can, at an early stage, find out an occurrence of inconsistency, so that the maintenance therefor can be also performed at an early stage. As a result, the transmitted operational information can be correctly reflected, so that the reliability of the electronic conference system can be improved.
The inconsistency judgment device may be constituted to judge that an inconsistency has occurred in the transmitted operational information, when the object which is specified by the higher-level-information is not registered in the information administrating device.
According to such a constitution, it is judged that an inconsistency has occurred in the transmitted operational information, when the object which is specified by the higher-level-information is not registered in the information administrating device. Namely, the objects are to be registered in a hierarchy manner, which basically necessitates an object at a higher level of those objects to be registered. As such, it is possible to judge as to whether an inconsistency has occurred in the operational information or not, by the constitution noted just above. Therefore, it can be easily judged that an inconsistency has occurred in the transmitted operational information, so that an increase of load in the system can be restrained to the utmost.
Further, the apparatus may further comprise a deletion information registration device for registering deletion information which specifies the object which has been deleted from the information administrating device, wherein the inconsistency judging device may be constituted to judge as to whether an inconsistency has occurred in the transmitted operational information or not, when the object which is specified by the higher-level-information is not registered in the deletion information registration device.
According to such a constitution, it is judged as to whether an inconsistency has occurred in the transmitted operational information or not, when the object which is speci
Katsuchi Toshimoto
Murai Hiroyuki
Nitta Minoru
Oba Takayo
Tomita Katsuhiko
Fujitsu Limited
Staas & Halsey , LLP
Ton Dang
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