Information processing system, information processing apparatus and method, and program

• US 20030154219A1
• Filed: 01/27/2003
• Published: 08/14/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Arai, Tsuyoshi, Yoshihara, Midori
• Application Number:
  US10/351,475
• Publication Number:
  US 20030154219A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A personal computer is disclosed which acquires necessary information from a Web server in order to acquire an installer for various pieces of software. In response to a request from the personal computer, the Web server acquires information necessary to acquire the installer from a database server and supplies the information to the personal computer. The database server manages information necessary to acquire the installer and supplies the information to the Web server in accordance with the request. With this configuration, a file server stores an installer for software to be installed into the personal computer and so forth.

Claims

1. An information processing system, comprising:

a management server;

a software information server;

a terminal;

an install information server; and

a network for interconnecting said management server, software information server, terminal and install information server;

said management server including first transmission means for acquiring apparatus information of said terminal and transmitting the apparatus information to said software information server, second transmission means for producing, based on first software information, transmitted from said software information server, of software corresponding to the apparatus information transmitted by said first transmission means, first designation information for designating the software and transmitting the first designation information to said terminal, third transmission means for transmitting the first software information of the software designated based on the first designation information by said terminal to said software information server, and fourth transmission means for transmitting second software information, transmitted from said software information server, of the software corresponding to the first software information transmitted by said third transmission means;

said software information server including first storage means for storing the first software information in a matched relationship with the apparatus information and storing the second software information in a matched relationship with part or the entirety of the first software information, first search means for searching said first storage means for the first software information matched with the apparatus information transmitted by said first transmission means of said management server, fifth transmission means for transmitting the first software information searched out by said first search means to said management server, second search means for searching said first storage means for the second software information matched with the first software information transmitted by said third transmission means of said management server, and sixth transmission means for transmitting the second software information searched out by said second search means to said management server;

said terminal including first designation means for designating the software based on the first designation information transmitted from said second transmission means of said management server, requesting means for requesting install information corresponding to the second software information transmitted by said fourth transmission means of said management server to said install information server, and install means for installing the software based on the install information transmitted from said install information server in response to the request from said requesting means;

said install information server including second storage means for storing the install information in a matched relationship with part or the entirety of the second software information, third search means for searching said second search means for the install information of the object of the request from said requesting means of said terminal, and seventh transmission means for transmitting the install information searched out by said third search means to said terminal.

2. An information processing system according to claim 1, wherein said network is the Internet and said management server is a Web server while said software information server is a server which can be accessed by said Web server using the SQL and said install information server is a server which can be connected by said terminal using the FTP.

3. An information processing system according to claim 1, wherein said management server further includes eighth transmission means for producing, based on division information, transmitted from said software information server, of the software corresponding to the apparatus information transmitted by said first transmission means, second destination information for designating a division and transmitting the second designation information to said terminal, and ninth transmission means for transmitting the division information of the division designated based on the second designation information by said terminal to said software information server, said second transmission means producing and transmitting to said terminal the first designation information based on the first software information, transmitted from said software information server, of the software belonging to the division corresponding to the division information transmitted by said ninth transmission means, said first storage means of said software information server storing the division information in a matched relationship with the apparatus information while storing the first software information of the software belonging to the division corresponding to the division information in a matched relationship with the division information and storing the second software information in a matched relationship with part or the entirety of the first software information, said first search means being operable to search said first storage means for the division information matched with the apparatus information transmitted by said first transmission means of said server and search said first storage means for the first software information matched with the division information transmitted by said ninth transmission means of said management server, said terminal further including second designation means for designating the division based on the second designation information transmitted by said eighth transmission means of said management server.

4. An information processing system according to claim 1, wherein said first transmission means of said management server acquires the apparatus information of said terminal and state information representative of a state of the software to be installed from said terminal and transmits the apparatus information and the state information to said software information server, and said second transmission means produces the first designation information for designating the software based on the first software information, transmitted from said software information server, of the software corresponding to the apparatus information and the state information transmitted from said first transmission means, said first storage means of said software information server storing the first software information in a matched relationship with the apparatus information and the state information while storing the second software information in a matched relationship with part or the entirety of the first software information, said first search means searching said first storage means for the first software information matched with the apparatus information and the state information transmitted from said first transmission means of said management server.

5. An information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the install information is an installer, and the first software information includes identification information of the software while the second software information includes information representative of a place in said install information server at which the installer is stored.

6. An information processing system according to claim 5, wherein the first software information includes information representative of whether or not the installer is stored in said install information server, and said second transmission means of said management server produces a first designation screen based on the second software information which includes information representing that the installer is stored in said install information server and transmits the first designation screen to said terminal.

7. An information processing system according to claim 6, wherein the second software information includes information representative of whether or not the installer stored in said install information server operates appropriately on said terminal, and said fourth transmission means of said management server transmits the second software information which includes information representing that the installer operates appropriately on said terminal to said terminal.

8. An information processing system according to claim 1, wherein said install means of said terminal does not install the software to be installed based on the install information transmitted from said install information server where the software is installed already.

9. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

a terminal into which software is to be installed;

a server for managing information regarding the software;

first transmission means for acquiring apparatus information of said terminal from said terminal and transmitting the apparatus information to said server;

second transmission means for producing, based on first software information, transmitted from said server, of the software corresponding to the apparatus information transmitted by said first transmission means, designation information for designating the software, the first software information including identification information of the software, and transmitting the designation information to said terminal;

third transmission means for transmitting the first software information of the software designated based on the designation information by said terminal to said server; and

fourth transmission means for transmitting second software information transmitted from said server and corresponding to the first software information transmitted by said third transmission means to said terminal, the second software information including information representative of a place at which information for installing the software exists.

10. An information processing method, comprising:

a first transmission step of acquiring, from a terminal into which software is to be installed, apparatus information of said terminal and transmitting the apparatus information to a server which manages information regarding the software;

a second transmission step of producing, based on first software information, transmitted from said server, of the software corresponding to the apparatus information transmitted by the process at the first transmission step, designation information for designating the software, the first software information including identification information of the software, and transmitting the designation information to said terminal;

a third transmission step of transmitting the first software information of the software designated based on the designation information by said terminal to said server; and

a fourth transmission step of transmitting second software information transmitted from said server and corresponding to the first software information transmitted by the process at the third transmission step to said terminal, the second software information including information representative of a place at which information for installing the software exists.

11. A program for causing a computer to execute a process including:

a first transmission controlling step of controlling acquisition, from a terminal into which software is to be installed, of apparatus information of said terminal and transmission of the apparatus information to a server which manages information regarding the software;

a second transmission controlling step of controlling production, based on first software information, transmitted from said server, of the software corresponding to the apparatus information transmitted by the process at the first transmission controlling step, of designation information for designating the software, the first software information including identification information of the software, and transmission of the designation information to said terminal;

a third transmission controlling step of controlling transmission of the first software information of the software designated based on the designation information by said terminal to said server; and

a fourth transmission controlling step of controlling transmission of second software information transmitted from said server and corresponding to the first software information transmitted by the process at the third transmission controlling step to said terminal, the second software information including information representative of a place at which information for installing the software exists.

12. An information processing apparatus connectable to a terminal and a server through a network, comprising:

first storage means for storing first software information of software which can be installed by said terminal in a matched relationship with apparatus information of said terminal, the first software information including identification information of the software, and storing second software information of the software including information representative of a place at which information necessary for installing the software exists in a matched relationship with part or the entirety of the first software information;

first search means for searching said first storage means for the first software information matched with the apparatus information transmitted from said server;

first transmission means for transmitting the first software information searched out by said first search means to said server;

second search means for searching said first storage means for the second software information matched with the first software information transmitted from said server; and

second transmission means for transmitting the software information searched out by said second search means to said server so that said server may transmit the second software information to said server.

13. An information processing method for an information processing apparatus connectable to a terminal and a server through a network, comprising:

a storage step of storing first software information of software which can be installed by said terminal in a matched relationship with apparatus information of said terminal, the first software information including identification information of the software, and storing second software information of the software including information representative of a place at which information necessary for installing the software exists in a matched relationship with part or the entirety of the first software information;

a first search step of searching for the first software information matched with the apparatus information transmitted from said server from the storage step;

a first transmission step of transmitting the first software information searched out by the process at the first search step to said server;

a second search step of searching for the second software information matched with the first software information transmitted from said server from the storage step; and

a second transmission step of transmitting the software information searched out by the process at the second search step to said server so that said server may transmit the second software information to said server.

14. A program for an information processing apparatus connectable to a terminal and a server through a network, the program causing a computer to execute a process including:

a storage controlling step of controlling storage of first software information of software which can be installed by said terminal in a matched relationship with apparatus information of said terminal, the first software information including identification information of the software, and storage of second software information of the software including information representative of a place at which information necessary for installing the software exists in a matched relationship with part or the entirety of the first software information;

a first search controlling step of controlling search for the first software information matched with the apparatus information transmitted from said server;

a first transmission controlling step of controlling transmission of the first software information searched out by the process at the first search controlling step to said server;

a second search controlling step of controlling search for the second software information matched with the first software information transmitted from said server; and

a second transmission controlling step of controlling transmission of the second software information searched out by the process at the second search controlling step to said server so that said server may transmit the second software information to said server.

15. An information processing apparatus connectable to a first server and a second server through a network, comprising:

designation means for designating, based on designation information transmitted from said first server for designating software corresponding to apparatus information of said information processing apparatus, the software, the designation information being produced based on first software information of the software including identification information of the software;

requesting means for requesting install information indicated by second software information, transmitted from said first server, of the software designated by said designation means to said second server; and

install means for installing the software based on the install information transmitted from said second server in response to the request of said requesting means.

16. An information processing method for an information processing apparatus connectable to a first server and a second server through a network, comprising:

a designation step of designating, based on designation information transmitted from said first server for designating software corresponding to apparatus information of said information processing apparatus, the software, the designation information being produced based on first software information of the software including identification information of the software;

a request step of requesting install information indicated by second software information, transmitted from said first server, of the software designated by the process at the designation step to said second server; and

an install step of installing the software based on the install information transmitted from said second server in response to the request by the process at the request step.

17. A program for an information processing apparatus connectable to a first server and a second server through a network, the program causing a computer to execute a processing including:

a designation controlling step of controlling designation, based on designation information transmitted from said first server for designating software corresponding to apparatus information of said information processing apparatus, of the software, the designation information being produced based on first software information of the software including identification information of the software;

a request controlling step of controlling the request to said second server for install information indicated by second software information, transmitted from said first server, of the software designated by the process at the designation controlling step; and

an install controlling step of controlling installation of the software based on the install information transmitted from said second server in response to the request by the process at the request controlling step.