JP2008158589A - Updated information notification device, and updated information notification program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an updated information notification device for returning to a client only updated information and efficiently storing necessary information even when a response of RSS data from a Web server is fluctuated. <P>SOLUTION: The updated information notification device 100 comprises: an updated information data acquisition unit 101 for periodically acquiring updated information data of Web data from a specified Web server 120; an updated information storage unit 103 for storing the previously acquired updated information data; an updated information comparison unit 104 for comparing the acquired each item of updated information data with the already stored updated information data and determines whether or not the acquired each item of the updated information data should be added to the storage unit 103; an updated information update unit 105 for storing the updated information data which has been determined to be added to the storage unit 103 therein; and an updated information notification data transmission unit 106 for transmitting the updated information data added to the storage unit 103 to a client computer 130. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an update information notification device and an update information notification program, and more particularly to an update information notification device and update information notification for notifying update information of Web data acquired from a Web server in response to a Web data acquisition request from a client computer. Regarding the program.

  Conventionally, various methods have been proposed for improving response by reducing network traffic when accessing a Web server or the like on a network. For example, a method using a proxy server is most commonly used in companies. The proxy server provides a function of proxying an access response to the same Web site from within the company by passing the server through the server during Web access. The proxy server temporarily holds a cache of a web page, and if the information has not been updated, the proxy server responds by proxy to a request for web page data from a client computer (hereinafter simply referred to as a client). It works to reduce traffic during access and increase response.

  Also, RSS (RDF Site Summary) data provided from the website side is used to acquire only updated web data. RSS data is data for representing update information of a Web page, and is in a format as shown in FIG. 4 according to a document description standard called RDF (Resource Description Framework) compliant with the XML (extensible Markup Language) standard. Described. Here, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of RSS data returned from the Web server. As shown in FIG. 4, in the RSS data 400, update information of each resource (article, document, etc.) in the Web site is described in units called items surrounded by tags <item> </ item>. . Each item includes items such as <date>, <title>, and <description>. Each item of <date>, <title>, and <description> represents a resource update date and time, a resource title (heading), a resource summary, and a summary description.

  In order to acquire such RSS data from a Web server, software called an RSS reader is generally used. The RSS reader is software for periodically acquiring and browsing RSS data from a Web server on the network. The user can periodically check the update information of the Web site where the RSS data is placed by using the RSS reader. Furthermore, only RSS data that has been updated can be acquired by acquiring RSS data via the proxy server described above.

  If fluctuation is given to the response of the RSS data on the Web server side, it becomes possible to cause the client to receive the read information every time. Here, the fluctuation of the response of the RSS data means that when the Web server responds with 10 update information per response, it does not always respond with the latest 10 update information but instead with the second to 11th update information. The update information to be responded is changed according to the access timing from the client, such as 10 cases up to the 10th and 10 cases from the 3rd to the 12th.

  The fluctuation of the RSS data response will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional method for accumulating RSS data returned from a Web server on the client side. It is assumed that the Web server holds RSS data composed of items 1 to 10, for example.

  First, in response to a request from the first client, the Web server responds with RSS data 501 consisting of items 1 to 5. The client causes the RSS reader to display items 1 to 5 included in the RSS data 501 as update information, and stores the RSS data 501. Next, at the time of a request from the client for the second time, the Web server responds with RSS data 502 consisting of items 2 to 6. The client compares the stored RSS data 501 with the responded RSS data 502, displays the item 6 as a difference as update information on the RSS reader, and stores the RSS data 502.

  Further, at the time of a request from the third client, the Web server responds again with RSS data 503 consisting of items 1 to 5. The client compares the stored RSS data 502 with the responded RSS data 503, and causes the RSS reader to display item1 which is the difference again as update information. As described above, when the output of RSS data is controlled on the Web server side, the read information may be displayed as new arrival information in the RSS reader of the client.

  Patent Document 1 describes a method capable of appropriately storing acquired information in the above case. According to the method described in Patent Literature 1, when difference information C between the acquired information B and the already-stored information A is detected, only the difference information C is added to the information A as new additional information. And a method for accumulating is described. In this case, the stored information A is updated to information A + C. As a result, it is possible to prevent a large amount of information from being redundantly stored on the information collecting side, to reduce the amount of information accumulated in the storage device, and to update only information that is actually updated. You can be notified.

JP 2005-159398 A

  As described above, when RSS data is stored, if the method described in Patent Document 1 is used, data can be stored so as not to overlap, and appropriate update information can be notified. However, in the case of data that does not have specific information such as a category and position, such as an item of RSS data, in order to delete the accumulated old item, a method of sequentially deleting old information based on a judgment criterion of time is taken. There is a need. As a result, the information contained in the RSS data is necessary because it accumulates all data for a certain period, even though there is a mix of information that needs to be stored for a long time and that that can be stored for a short time. Information cannot be stored efficiently.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to update only updated information even when there is a fluctuation in the response of RSS data from a Web server. It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved update information notification device and an update information notification program capable of responding to a client and efficiently storing necessary information.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, according to an aspect of the present invention, an update information notification device that notifies update information of Web data acquired from a Web server in response to a Web data acquisition request from a client computer is designated. An update information data acquisition unit for periodically acquiring update information data including at least update information indicating update contents of web data and update date and time from a Web server, and an update information storage for storing update information data acquired in the past Update information acquired by the update information storage unit and each update information data acquired by the update information data acquisition unit is compared with stored update information data stored in the update information storage unit, and whether to add to the update information storage unit The update information stored in the update information storage unit is stored in the update information storage unit by the comparison unit and the update information comparison unit. Update information comprising: an update information update unit; and an update information notification data transmission unit that generates update information notification data using the update information data added to the update information storage unit by the update information update unit and transmits the update information notification data to the client computer A notification device is provided.

  With this configuration, even if there is a fluctuation in the response of the RSS data from the Web server, it is possible to notify the user of only the information that has been really updated (added). Further, when updating information is stored, necessary information can be stored effectively without storing overlapping information, and the amount of information stored in the storage device can be reduced.

  The update information comparison unit compares the update information of each update information data acquired by the update information data acquisition unit with the update information of the stored update information data, and updates the update information data if the update information does not match. You may make it add to an information storage part. As a result, it is possible to prevent information having the same update contents from being accumulated repeatedly even if the update date and time are different.

  In addition, when the update information does not match, the update information comparison unit performs update of the update information data when the independent word is extracted by performing morphological analysis on the difference between the two update information to be compared. You may make it add to. As a result, it is possible to accumulate only updated data contents as update information, and update information related to correction of descriptions that are not related to the substantial contents of data is accumulated. Can be avoided.

  The update information storage unit may sort and store the update information data in the order of update date and time. Thus, when new update information data is added or old update information data is deleted, it becomes easy to manipulate the data using the update date and time as a key.

  Further, when the number of stored update information data exceeds a predetermined threshold, the update information update unit deletes the number of stored update information data exceeding the threshold from the update information storage unit in order of update date and time. Also good. As a result, the accumulated update information is appropriately deleted, so that the capacity of the update information storage area can be kept below a certain level. In addition, it is possible to avoid storing information that is older than necessary for a long time.

  The threshold value may be the sum of the number of update information data acquired by one response from the Web server and the maximum response fluctuation width of the update information data. The maximum response fluctuation width may be the maximum value of the difference between the response start position of the update information data to which the Web server responds and the response start position of the update information data that was previously responded. As a result, the amount of update information to be stored can be controlled according to the update information returned from the Web server, and only necessary information can be effectively stored.

  Further, the threshold value may be set for each Web server from which update information data is acquired. Thereby, it is possible to control the amount of update information to be stored corresponding to each Web server.

  In order to solve the above problem, according to another aspect of the present invention, an update information notification program for causing a computer to function as the update information notification device as described above is provided.

  As described above, according to the present invention, even if there is a fluctuation in the response of RSS data from the Web server, only the updated information is responded to the client and necessary information is efficiently stored. It becomes possible.

  Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, in this specification and drawing, about the component which has the substantially same function structure, duplication description is abbreviate | omitted by attaching | subjecting the same code | symbol.

  First, an update information notification apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an update information notification apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an update information notification apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes a Web server 120 that provides RSS data that is update information of a Web site, and a client computer 130 (hereinafter referred to as a client 130) used by a user. To each other via a network 110. The update information notification apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment operates as a proxy server for the Web server 120 and notifies the client 130 of Web site update information acquired from the Web server 120 in response to a Web data acquisition request from the client 130. . As a result, the traffic between the client 130 and the Web server 120 is reduced, and even when the response from the Web server 120 fluctuates, only the updated information is accurately responded to the client 130.

  The Web server 120 accumulates Web data including HTML documents and images in a storage area, and transmits the Web data through the network 110 in response to a request from the client 130 or the like. Further, the Web server 120 accumulates RSS data in which update information of Web data is described, and transmits RSS data in response to a request from the update information notification device 100, the client 130, or the like. The RSS data transmitted from the Web server 120 is, for example, data such as the RSS data 400 illustrated in FIG. 4, and includes a plurality of items indicating update information of each resource (article, document, etc.) in the Web site. . Further, each item includes items such as <date> indicating the resource update date and time, <title> indicating the resource title, and <description> indicating the resource summary and outline description. Here, each item includes at least information such as <date> indicating the update date and time, and information such as <title> and <description> indicating the update content.

  In addition, when transmitting the RSS data to the update information notification apparatus 100, the client 130, or the like, the Web server 120 controls a response so as to give fluctuation to the RSS data. Here, the fluctuation of the response of the RSS data means that when the Web server 120 responds with 10 update information per response, it does not always respond with the latest 10 update information, but from the second. The update information to be responded is changed according to the access timing from the client 130 or the like, such as 10 cases up to the 11th and 10 cases from the 3rd to the 12th.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the update information notification device 100 according to the present embodiment includes an update information data acquisition unit 101, an update information data division unit 102, an update information storage unit 103, an update information comparison unit 104, an update information An information update unit 105 and an update information transmission unit 106 are included. The update information notification device 100 is connected to the network 110 through the update information data acquisition unit 101 and the update information transmission unit 106. Hereinafter, each part of the update information notification device 100 will be described.

(Update information data acquisition unit 101)
The update information data acquisition unit 101 is a functional unit for periodically acquiring RSS data that is update information data from a Web server designated by a client. The update information data acquisition unit 101 requests RSS data from the Web server 120 specified by the client 130, acquires the RSS data returned from the Web server 120, and passes it to the update information data division unit 102. The update information data acquisition unit 101 may periodically request the RSS data from the Web server 120 or may be performed in accordance with the request timing from the client 130.

(Update information data division unit 102)
The update information data division unit 102 is a functional unit for dividing the acquired RSS data into item units. The update information data division unit 102 receives the RSS data from the update information data acquisition unit 101, extracts each item from the RSS data based on the <item></item> tag, and generates divided data. Each divided item data is transferred to the update information comparison unit 104.

(Update information storage unit 103)
The update information storage unit 103 is a storage unit for storing the acquired RSS data. The update information storage unit 103 receives the data of the item selected by the update information comparison unit 104 among the items included in the acquired RSS data, and merges and stores the data with the data stored up to the previous acquisition time. Further, the update information storage unit 103 sorts and stores the items in the order of update date and time.

(Update information comparison unit 104)
The update information comparison unit 104 compares the item data divided by the update information data division unit 102 with the item data stored in the update information storage unit 103, and determines whether or not to add to the update information storage unit 103. It is a functional part for judging. The update information comparison unit 104 determines that the item is an updated item when each acquired item does not match any item already stored in the update information storage unit 103. Also, after the comparison process, the update information comparison unit 104 passes the item determined to be updated to the update information update unit 105.

  For example, if each item contains three elements <date>, <title>, and <description>, the item that has been updated when the value of either <title> or <description> is different You may make it judge that it is. If only the value of <date> is different and the values of <title> and <description> are the same, it may be determined that the item has not been updated. Alternatively, whether or not the item is updated may be determined by performing the same comparison as described above including elements other than <date>, <title>, and <description> included in each item.

  Also, in the comparison of the values of <title> and <description>, if the character string does not completely match between the acquired data and the stored data, it may be determined that the item has been updated, or A morphological analysis is performed on the character string extracted as the difference between the two, and when a meaningful character string is acquired, it may be determined that the item has been updated. Here, the meaningful character string is determined based on a predetermined standard, and may be, for example, an independent word such as a noun or a verb, or any of the words designated in advance. May be.

(Update information update unit 105)
The update information update unit 105 is a functional unit for storing the items determined to be added to the update information storage unit 103 by the update information comparison unit 104 in the update information storage unit 103. In addition, the update information update unit 105 deletes an item having an old update date and time among items already stored in accordance with fluctuations in the response of the Web server. When the number of stored items exceeds a predetermined threshold, the update information update unit 105 deletes the number of items exceeding the threshold from the update information storage unit 103 in order of the update date and time of the item, that is, the value of <date>. To do.

  Here, the threshold for determining whether or not to delete a stored item may be determined for each Web server by observing RSS data returned from each Web server. For example, if the number of items that a certain Web server responds to once is N, the threshold is a value obtained by adding a maximum response fluctuation width ΔN that is the maximum value of the fluctuation width of the response from the Web server (N + ΔN). ) May be set.

  Here, the response fluctuation width from the Web server refers to the difference between the start position of the RSS data responded from the Web server at each response and the start position of the RSS data responded from the Web server at the previous response. . Here, an example in which a certain Web server has RSS data including 10 items and responds with RSS data including 5 items at one response will be described with reference to FIG. . FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a method for accumulating RSS data according to the present embodiment on the client side.

  First, it is assumed that RSS data 201 including four items 2 to 5 is stored in the update information storage unit 103 first. Hereinafter, an example in which RSS data is requested to the Web server 120 four times in total will be described. First, in the first data acquisition, the RSS data 202 including items 3 to 7 is returned from the Web server 120. Here, the RSS data 201 and the RSS data 202 are compared by the update information comparison unit 104, and RSS data 203 obtained by adding the items 6 and 7 as the differences to the RSS data 201 is stored in the update information storage unit 103.

  Next, at the time of data acquisition for the second time, RSS data 204 including items 1 to 5 is returned from the Web server 120. Here, the RSS data 203 is compared with the RSS data 204 by the update information comparison unit 104, and the RSS data 205 obtained by adding item1 as a difference to the RSS data 203 is stored in the update information storage unit 103. Here, comparing the item start position between the RSS data 202 and the RSS data 204 at the previous acquisition, the item start position of the RSS data 202 is 3, and the item start position of the RSS data 202 is 1. Thus, it can be seen that the difference is 2. This is the fluctuation width of the response of the RSS data, and the above threshold (N + ΔN) can be set by calculating the maximum value of this value for each RSS data acquisition.

  In the example of FIG. 2, since ΔN = 2, when the threshold is set as N + ΔN, the threshold is 5 + 2 = 7. When the RSS data is acquired for the second time, the number of items stored in the update information storage unit 103 is 7, so it is determined that it is not necessary to delete the items yet.

  At the time of data acquisition for the third time, RSS data 206 including items 2 to 5 is returned from the Web server 120. Here, when the RSS data 205 and the RSS data 206 are compared, there is no item to be newly added, and therefore the stored RSS data remains 205. Also, the maximum response fluctuation width remains ΔN = 2 at the time of previous data acquisition.

  Next, the RSS data 207 including items 4 to 8 is returned from the Web server 120 at the time of the fourth data acquisition. The RSS data 205 obtained by adding the item 8 to the RSS data 205 by comparing the RSS data 205 and the RSS data 207 is stored in the update information storage unit 103. Here, since the number of items stored in the update information storage unit 103 exceeds the threshold value = 7, the update information update unit 105 transmits the number of items exceeding the threshold value (8-7 = 1) from the update information storage unit 103. Judge to delete. Accordingly, the update information update unit 105 deletes item 1 with the oldest update date and time from the update information storage unit 103.

(Update information transmission unit 106)
The update information transmission unit 106 is a functional unit for generating update information notification data including items that are update information data added to the update information storage unit 103 by the update information update unit 105 and transmitting the update information notification data to the client 130. The update information transmission unit 106 receives the same item data stored in the update information storage unit 103 from the update information update unit 105, and generates RSS data in which the items are described. The generated RSS data is transmitted to the client 130 via the network 110.

  The configuration of the update information notification device has been described above. The update information data acquisition unit 101, the update information data division unit 102, the update information comparison unit 104, the update information update unit 105, and the update information transmission unit 106 include program modules that can execute the functions described above. May be configured by software installed in the information processing apparatus, or may be configured by hardware such as a processor capable of executing each function described above. Further, the update information storage unit 103 may be configured by various storage media such as a semiconductor memory, an optical disk, and a magnetic disk, for example.

  Next, an example of the update information notification process executed by the update information notification apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described based on FIG. Here, FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of update information notification processing executed by the update information notification device 100 according to the present embodiment.

  First, in step S300, the update information data acquisition unit 101 accesses the Web server 120 with the URL specified by the client 130, and acquires RSS data. Note that the access to the Web server in step S300 may be performed periodically, or may be performed in accordance with the request timing from the client 130. The acquired RSS data is transferred from the update information data acquisition unit 101 to the update information data division unit 102. The processes in steps S302 to S316 after step S300 are executed every time RSS data is acquired.

  Next, in step S302, the update information data dividing unit 102 divides the acquired RSS data into item units. The divided RSS data in item units is transferred from the update information data division unit 102 to the update information comparison unit 104.

  Next, in step S304, the update information comparison unit 104 compares the RSS data stored in the update information storage unit 103 with the acquired RSS data in item units. Hereinafter, the processing of steps S306 to S314 is executed for each item of the acquired RSS data.

  First, in step S306, the update information comparison unit 104 compares the <title> value of the acquired item with the <title> value of each stored item. If the <title> value of the acquired item is different from the <title> of any stored item, it is determined that it is an updated item, and the process proceeds to step S310.

  On the other hand, if there is an item having the same value of <title> in the comparison in step S306, the process proceeds to step S308. In step S308, the update information comparison unit 104 compares the <description> value of the item having the same <title> value with the <description> value of the acquired item. Here, if the value of <description> is different from any item, it is determined that it is an updated item, and the process proceeds to step S310.

  If the value of <description> is the same as a result of the comparison in step S308, it is determined that the item has not been updated, and the process proceeds to step S314.

  In the comparison processing in steps S306 and S308, when the character string does not completely match between the acquired data and the stored data, it may be determined that the item has been updated, or as the difference between the two A morphological analysis is performed on the extracted character string, and when a meaningful character string is acquired, it may be determined that the item has been updated. Here, the meaningful character string is determined based on a predetermined criterion, and may be determined based on whether it is an independent word such as a noun, a verb, or the like. Judgment may be made based on whether or not one of the words is applicable.

  In this embodiment, when any item <title> or <description> has a different value, it is determined that the item is an updated item. May be used. For example, it may be determined whether the item is updated by comparing the values of <date>, or the same comparison as above is performed, including elements other than <date>, <title>, and <description>. You may judge.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the acquired item is an updated item as a result of the comparison processing in steps S <b> 306 and S <b> 308, the item is transferred from the update information comparison unit 104 to the update information update unit 105. Thereafter, in step S <b> 310, the update information update unit 105 compares the <date> values of the items stored in the update information storage unit 103, arranges the updated items in order of new date, and stores them in the update information storage unit 103. Store. Further, the update information update unit 105 passes the updated item to the update information transmission unit 106.

  Next, in step S312, the update information update unit 105 checks the number of items stored in the update information storage unit 103. If the number of items is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, the <date> value is in order from the oldest item. delete.

  Here, the threshold for determining whether or not to delete a stored item may be determined for each Web server by observing RSS data returned from each Web server. For example, if the number of items that a certain web server responds to once is N, the threshold is set to a value (N + ΔN) obtained by adding ΔN that is the maximum value of the fluctuation width of the response from the web server to N. May be.

  In step S314, it is determined whether or not all items included in the acquired RSS data have been compared. If not, the process returns to step S304, and steps S304 to S314 are repeated. When the comparison processing for all items is completed, the process proceeds to step S316.

  In step S316, the update information transmission unit 106 generates RSS data from the item newly added to the update information storage unit 103 as an updated item, and transmits the RSS data to the client 130 as update information. If there is no updated item, no data may be transmitted, or it may be notified that there is no update.

  The update information notification process executed by the update information notification device 100 has been described above.

  With this configuration, even if there is a fluctuation in the response of the RSS data from the Web server, it is possible to notify the user of only the information that has been really updated (added). Further, when updating information is stored, necessary information can be stored effectively without storing overlapping information, and the amount of information stored in the storage device can be reduced.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described referring an accompanying drawing, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not limited to the example which concerns. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and these are naturally within the technical scope of the present invention. Understood.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the update information notification apparatus concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the method for accumulating RSS data concerning this embodiment by the client side. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the update information notification process performed in the update information notification apparatus concerning this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the RSS data responded from a Web server. It is explanatory drawing which shows the conventional method for accumulate | storing the RSS data responded from a Web server by the client side.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Update information notification apparatus 101 Update information data acquisition part 102 Update information data division part 103 Update information storage part 104 Update information comparison part 105 Update information update part 106 Update information transmission part 110 Network 120 Web server 130 Client computer (client)

Claims (8)

In an update information notification device for notifying update information of Web data acquired from a Web server in response to a Web data acquisition request from a client computer,
An update information data acquisition unit that periodically acquires update information data including at least update information indicating update contents of the Web data and update date and time from a specified Web server;
An update information storage unit for storing the update information data acquired in the past;
An update for comparing each update information data acquired by the update information data acquisition unit with stored update information data stored in the update information storage unit and determining whether to add to the update information storage unit An information comparison unit;
An update information update unit for storing in the update information storage unit the update information data determined to be added to the update information storage unit by the update information comparison unit;
An update information notification data transmission unit that generates update information notification data using the update information data added to the update information storage unit by the update information update unit, and transmits the update information notification data to a client computer;
An update information notification device comprising:   The update information comparison unit compares the update information of each update information data acquired by the update information data acquisition unit with the update information of the stored update information data, and if the update information does not match, The update information notification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the update information data is added to the update information storage unit.   When the update information does not match, the update information comparison unit performs morphological analysis on the difference between the two update information to be compared and extracts an independent word, and updates the update information data. The update information notification device according to claim 2, wherein the update information notification device is added to the information storage unit.   The update information notification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the update information storage unit sorts and stores the update information data in order of the update date and time.   When the number of stored update information data exceeds a predetermined threshold, the update information update unit deletes the number of stored update information data exceeding the threshold from the update information storage in order from the oldest update date and time The update information notification device according to claim 1, wherein: The threshold is a sum of the number of the update information data acquired by one response from the Web server and the maximum response fluctuation width of the update information data,
The maximum response fluctuation width is a maximum value of a difference between a response start position of the update information data to which the Web server responds and a response start position of the update information data responded last time. Item 6. The update information notification device according to Item 5.   The update information notification device according to claim 5, wherein the threshold is set for each Web server from which the update information data is acquired.   An update information notification program for causing a computer to function as the update information notification device according to claim 1.

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