DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING SYSTEM, DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING METHOD AND IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS

• US 20070094458A1
• Filed: 10/18/2006
• Published: 04/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Suwabe, Takeshi
• Granted Patent: US 8,095,791 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/154
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2166 for mass storage, e.g. in document filing systems information retrieval G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2183 the stored images being distributed among a plurality of different locations, e.g. among a plurality of users
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32363 at the transmitter or at the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32502 in systems having a plurality of input or output devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32545 Distributing a job or task among a plurality of input devices or a plurality of output devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/329 Storage of less than a complete document page or image frame

Abstract

A distributed storage system implements high-speed data reconstitution processing while ensuring a high security level. Devices (63) in a device group (51) with security level “low” distributedly store fragmented data. When a process requesting device (60) belonging to a device group (50) with security level “high” instructs devices (62) belonging to the same group to reconstitute the data, the devices (62) collect and reconstitute part of the fragmented and stored data. After that, the process requesting device (60) collects the data partially reconstituted by the devices (62) and completely reconstitutes the data.

Claims

1. A distributed processing system which includes a plurality of device groups with different security levels, where object data is fragmented and the fragmented data are distributedly stored in devices in the device groups, wherein

a first device in a first device group instructs at least two second devices in a second device group to reconstitute intermediate data constructing a part of the object data,

each of the second device collects the fragmented data from devices in the system and reconstitutes intermediate data upon receiving the data reconstitution instruction from the first device, and

the first device collects the intermediate data from each of the second devices and reconstitutes the object data.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the second device collects the fragmented data from devices belonging to a third device group with a security level lower than that of the second device group.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first device group and the second device group have the same security level.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first device comprises a single device.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein

devices that exist in an intranet are categorized in the first device group, and

devices that exist in the Internet are categorized in the second device group.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein devices registered in a grid computing network in advance are set as the first device group and the second device group.

25. A computer program controlling an information .processing apparatus to make the information processing apparatus operate as a first device of claim 1.

26. A computer program controlling an information processing apparatus to make the information processing apparatus operate as a second device of claim 1.

27. A computer readable medium recording a computer program of claim 25.

3. A distributed processing system which includes a plurality of device groups with different security levels, wherein

a first device in a first device group instructs at least two second devices in a second device group to execute data processing,

the second device fragments the data processing upon receiving the data processing instruction,

the second device instructs devices in the device groups to execute the fragmented data processing,

the devices that have received the fragmented data processing instruction execute the fragmented data processing,

the second device collects a fragmented data processing result from the devices, and

the first device collects the data fragmented processing result collected by the second device.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein devices belonging to a third device group with a security level lower than that of the second device group execute the fragmented data processing.

5. The system according to claim 3, wherein the data processing is image processing.

6. The system according to claim 3, wherein the data processing is large-scale arithmetic processing.

7. A distributed processing system which includes a plurality of device groups with different security levels, wherein

a first device in a first device group instructs at least two second devices in a second device group to store object data,

the second device fragments the object data upon receiving the data storage instruction,

the second device instructs devices in the device groups to store the fragmented data, and

the devices that have received the instruction to store the fragmented data store the fragmented data.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein devices belonging to a third device group with a security level lower than that of the second device group store the fragmented data.

13. A distributed processing method in a system which includes a plurality of device groups with different security levels, where object data is fragmented and the fragmented data are distributedly stored in devices in the device groups, comprising:

a data reconstitution instruction step of causing a first device in a first device group to instruct at least two second devices in a second device group to reconstitute intermediate data constructing a part of the object data;

an intermediate reconstitution step of causing each of the second device to collect the fragmented data from devices in the system and to reconstitute intermediate data upon receiving the instruction in the data reconstitution instruction step; and

a complete reconstitution step of causing the first device to collect the intermediate data from each of the second devices and to reconstitute the object data.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein in the intermediate reconstitution step, the fragmented data are collected from devices belonging to a third device group with a security level lower than that of the second device group.

21. The method according to claim 13, wherein the first device group and the second device group have the same security level.

22. The method according to claim 13, wherein the first device comprises a single device.

23. The method according to claim 13, wherein

devices that exist in an intranet are categorized in the first device group, and

devices that exist in the Internet are categorized in the second device group.

24. The method according to claim 13, wherein devices registered in a grid computing network in advance are set as the first device group and the second device group.

15. A distributed processing method in a system which includes a plurality of device groups with different security levels, comprising:

a data processing instruction step of causing a first device in a first device group to instruct at least two second devices in a second device group to execute data processing;

a data processing fragmentation step of causing the second device to fragment the data processing upon receiving the instruction in the data processing instruction step;

a partial processing instruction step of causing the second device to instruct devices in the device groups to execute the fragmented data processing fragmented in the data processing fragmentation step;

a partial processing step of causing the devices that have received the fragmented data processing instruction in the partial processing instruction step to execute the fragmented data processing;

an intermediate collection step of causing the second device to collect a fragmented data processing result in the partial processing step; and

a complete collection step of causing the first device to collect the fragmented data processing result collected by the second device in the intermediate collection step.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein in the partial processing step, devices belonging to a third device group with a security level lower than that of the second device group execute the fragmented data processing.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the data processing is image processing.

18. The method according to claim 15, wherein the data processing is large-scale arithmetic processing.

19. A distributed processing method in a system which includes a plurality of device groups with different security levels, comprising:

a data storage instruction step of causing a first device in a first device group to instruct at least two second devices in a second device group to store object data;

a data fragmentation step of causing the second device to fragment the object data upon receiving the instruction in the data storage instruction step;

a partial storage instruction step of causing the second device to instruct devices in the device groups to store the fragmented data fragmented in the data fragmentation step; and

a partial storage step of causing the devices that have received the instruction to store the fragmented data in the partial storage instruction step to store the fragmented data.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein in the partial storage step, devices belonging to a third device group with a security level lower than that of the second device group store the fragmented data.

28. A distributed processing method in a system which includes a plurality of device groups with different security levels, comprising:

a first step of causing a device group with a first security level to process first fragmented data;

a second step of causing a device group with a second security level higher than the first security level to process data which contains a plurality of first fragmented data and has a quantity larger than that of the first fragmented data; and

an acquisition step of acquiring the data processed in the second step.

29. An image processing apparatus which executes reconstitution processing, wherein

the apparatus receives a reconstitution processing request from an external device,

requests, in accordance with the request, a plurality of devices with a security level lower than that of the image processing apparatus to execute reconstitution processing,

receives image data of a first data amount from the plurality of devices with the lower security level, and

reconstitutes the image data of the first data amount into image data of a second data amount larger than the first data amount and transmits the image data of a second data amount to the external device.

30. An image processing apparatus, wherein

the apparatus receives a distributed processing request from an external device,

requests, in accordance with the request, a plurality of devices with a security level lower than that of the image processing apparatus to process an image data of a first data amount,

receives processed image data of the first data amount from the plurality of devices with the lower security level, and

generates image data of a second data amount larger than the first data amount from the processed image data of the first data amount and transmits the image data of a second data amount to the external device.