Information processing apparatus and information processing method, network system, recording medium, and computer program

• US 20030126021A1
• Filed: 12/03/2001
• Published: 07/03/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture LLP (Accenture PLC), Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Accenture LLP (Accenture PLC), Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Koyama, Eumio, Fukuta, Yukihiro, Mizushima, Yasumasa, Kinugasa, Masami, Hagioda, Koji, Endo, Haruyo, Mori, Masakatsu, Watanabe, Zenta, Katsuya, Nobuaki
• Granted Patent: US 7,359,942 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

An information processing apparatus that executes processing of a message transmitted among a plurality of sites connected to one another via a network can be provided. The information processing apparatus comprises a message reception part that receives a message to thereby execute a prescribed piece of reception processing, a rule accumulation part for accumulating rules therein to execute message processing, a message conversion part for executing conversion processing of a message according to the rules accumulated in said rule accumulation part, and a message transmission part for executing a prescribed piece of transmission processing of the post-conversion message.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus for processing a transmission message among a plurality of sites that are connected to one another via a network, comprising:

a message reception part that receives a message to thereby execute a prescribed piece of reception processing;

a rule accumulation part that accumulates therein rules for executing message processing;

a message conversion part that executes message conversion processing according to the rules that have been accumulated in said rule accumulation part; and

a message transmission part that executes a prescribed piece of transmission processing of the post-conversion message.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in case no suitable rules exist in said rule accumulation part, it further includes a part that starts a corresponding application to thereby execute message conversion processing.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said message conversion part converts the message into a prescribed format according to a transmission origin of the message and/or the contents of the message.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said message conversion part specifies the transmission destination of the message according to a transmission origin of the message and/or the contents of the message.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said message conversion part performs automatic protocol conversion according to the message transmission destination that has been specified according to the transmission origin of the message and/or the contents of the message.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said message conversion part executes encryption processing that corresponds to the message transmission destination that is specified according to the transmission origin of the message and/or the contents of the message.

7. An information processing apparatus for processing a transmission message among a plurality of sites that are connected to one another via a network, comprising:

a message broker that commits to an application processing of data that becomes necessary when message conversion is performed among the respective sites;

a message translator that in response to the arrival of the field serving as a trigger in a message format performs mutual conversion between the message formats according to a prescribed conditional sentence;

a message router that according to a prescribed piece of identification information contained in a message adds a destination address to the message;

a B2B connector that provides a message exchange interface between the system and a site outside the system; and

a gateway that provides a message exchange interface between the system and a local site inside the system.

8. An information processing method processing a transmission message among a plurality of sites that are connected to one another via a network, comprising:

receiving a message to thereby execute a prescribed piece of reception processing;

accumulating rules therein for executing pieces of message processing;

executing message conversion processing according to the rules accumulated by said step of accumulating rules; and

executing a prescribed piece of transmission processing of the post-conversion message.

9. The information processing method according to claim 8, further including:

a step that starts a corresponding application to thereby execute message conversion processing in case no suitable rules are accumulated by accumulating rules.

10. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein in the message conversion processing the message is converted into a prescribed format according to the transmission origin of the message and/or the contents of the message.

11. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein in the message conversion processing a message transmission destination is specified according to the transmission origin of the message and/or the contents of the message.

12. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein in the message conversion processing automatic protocol conversion is performed in correspondence with the message transmission destination that has been specified according to the transmission origin of the message and/or the contents of the message.

13. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein in the message conversion processing encryption processing is executed in correspondence with the message transmission destination that has been specified according to the transmission origin of the message and/or the contents of the message.

14. An information processing method for processing a transmission message among a plurality of sites that are connected to one another via a network, comprising:

a message brokering step that commits to an application processing of data that becomes necessary when message conversion is performed among the respective sites;

a message translating step that in response to the arrival of the field serving as a trigger in a message format performs mutual conversion between the message formats according to a prescribed conditional sentence;

a message routing step that according to a prescribed piece of identification information contained in the message adds a destination address to the message;

a B2B connecting step that provides a message exchange interface between the system and a site outside the system; and

a mutual connection step that provides a message exchange interface between the system and a local site inside the system.

15. A network system including a plurality of sites each two of which are connected to each other via a communication network, wherein message exchange between arbitrary sites are controlled by a prescribed server, and wherein the network system, as its interior processing parts on said prescribed server, the network system comprises:

a message reception part that receives a message to thereby execute a prescribed piece of reception processing;

a rule accumulation part that accumulates rules therein for executing pieces of message processing;

a message conversion part that according to the rules accumulated in said rule accumulation part executes message conversion processing; and

a message transmission part that executes a prescribed piece of transmission processing of the post-conversion message.

16. The network system according to claim 15, wherein it further includes a part that in case no suitable rules exist in the rule accumulation part starts a corresponding application on the prescribed server to thereby execute message conversion processing.

17. The network system according to claim 15, wherein said message conversion part converts the message into a prescribed format according to the transmission origin of the message and/or the contents of the message.

18. The network system according to claim 15, wherein said message conversion part specifies a message transmission destination according to the transmission origin of the message and/or the contents of the message.

19. The network system according to claim 15, wherein said message conversion part performs automatic protocol conversion according to the message transmission destination that has been specified according to the transmission origin of the message and/or the contents of the message.

20. The network system according to claim 15, wherein said message conversion part performs encryption processing in correspondence with the message transmission destination that has been specified according to the transmission origin of the message and/or the contents of the message.

21. A network system including a plurality of sites each two of which are connected to each other via a communication network, wherein message exchange between arbitrary sites is controlled by a prescribed server, and wherein the network system, as its interior processing parts on said prescribed server, the network system comprises:

a message broker that commits to a prescribed application on the server processing of data that becomes necessary when message conversion is performed between the sites;

a message translator that in response to the arrival of the field serving as a trigger in a message format performs mutual exchange between the message formats according to a prescribed conditional sentence;

a message router that according to a prescribed piece of identification information contained in a message adds a destination address to the message;

a B2B connector that provides a message exchange interface between the system and a site outside the system; and

a gateway that provides a message exchange interface between the system and a local site inside the system.

22. A recording medium having physically stored in a computer-readable form a computer software that has been described so that the processing of a transmission message among a plurality of sites connected to one another via a network may be executed on a computer system, wherein the computer software comprises:

a message reception step that receives a message to thereby execute a prescribed piece of reception processing;

a rule accumulation step that accumulates rules therein for executing the message processing;

a message conversion step that according to a corresponding one of the rules accumulated by the rule accumulation step executes message conversion processing; and

a message transmission step that executes a prescribed piece of transmission processing of the post-conversion message.

23. A computer program for executing on a computer system the processing of a transmission message among a plurality of sites connected to one another via a network, comprising:

a message reception routine that receives a message to thereby execute a prescribed piece of reception processing;

a rule accumulation routine that accumulates rules therein for executing the message processing;

a message conversion routine that according to a corresponding one of the rules accumulated by said rule accumulation step executes message conversion processing; and

a message transmission routine that executes a prescribed piece of transmission processing of the post-conversion message.

24. An information processing apparatus for processing a signal including message information, comprising:

means for receiving said signal to thereby execute a prescribed piece of reception processing;

means for accumulating rules therein, which must be used for processing message information included in said received signal;

means for executing said message information conversion processing using rules accumulated by said rule accumulation means; and

means for executing a prescribed piece of transmission processing of said post-conversion message information.

25. An information processing method for processing a signal including message information, comprising the steps for:

receiving said signal to thereby execute a prescribed piece of reception processing thereof;

accumulating rules in a rule accumulation part, which must be used for processing message information included in said received signal;

executing conversion processing of said message information using rules accumulated in said rule accumulation part; and

executing a prescribed piece of reception processing of said post-conversion message information.