INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM, TERMINAL, INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, AND MANAGEMENT SERVER

• US 20080104683A1
• Filed: 09/28/2007
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Mizoguchi, Yukinobu, Noda, Fumio, NAGAMI, Akihisa
• Granted Patent: US 8,141,135 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/5
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/50 Address allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0861 using biometrical features, e.g. fingerprint, retina-scan cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using biological data H04L9/3231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/08 specially adapted for terminal emulation, e.g. Telnet

Abstract

An information processing system has an information processing apparatus and a terminal that are coupled to each other through a network. The terminal has an address acquiring unit that reads storage information of a portable storage medium used by a user of the terminal to acquire the address of the information processing apparatus that is a utilization allocation destination of the terminal that is included in the storage information, and stores the data of the address in a memory. A connection is established between the information processing apparatus and the terminal through the network. A remote controlling unit transmits operating information input at an input interface of the terminal to the address of the information processing apparatus and receives video information corresponding to the operating information from the information processing apparatus to display the video information on an output interface of the terminal.

Claims

1. An information processing system having an information processing apparatus and a terminal that are coupled to each other through a network,

the terminal comprising:

an address acquiring unit that reads storage information of a portable storage medium used by a user of the terminal, acquires the address of the information processing apparatus that is a utilization allocation destination of the terminal that is included in the storage information, and stores the data of the address in a memory;

a connection establishing unit that transmits a connection establishment request including at least authentication information of the terminal or the user thereof to the address of the information processing apparatus stored in the memory, the connection establishing unit executing a process of establishing connection between the information processing apparatus and the terminal through the network according to response data that the information processing apparatus returns in response to the connection establishment request; and

a remote controlling unit that, associated with the execution of the connection establishing process, transmits operating information input at an input interface of the terminal to the address of the information processing apparatus, receives video information corresponding to the operating information from the information processing apparatus, and displays the video information on an output interface of the terminal,

the information processing apparatus comprising;

a connection management table having stored thereon authentication information of the terminal or of the user thereof, that is allocated for utilization to the information processing apparatus;

an establishment determining unit that receives the connection establishment request transmitted from the terminal, compares the authentication information of the terminal or the user thereof included in the connection establishment request with the connection management table, determines to permit or reject acceptance of the connection establishment request, and returns the determination result to the terminal as response data; and

a remote operation accepting unit that, associated with the execution of the connection establishing process with the terminal in response to the determination result, receives the operating information from the terminal, executes information processing according to the contents of operations indicated by the operating information, and transmits the video information indicating the result of the information processing to the terminal.

2. The information processing system of claim 1,

the terminal comprising:

an authentication information acquiring unit that acquires the storage information of the portable storage medium that includes the address of a management server that executes a utilization allocating process between the terminal and the information processing apparatus from a reader of the portable storage medium, and stores the storage information in an appropriate memory;

a utilization allocation request transmitting unit that transmits the storage information of the portable storage medium read from the memory to the address of the management server read from the memory including the storage information in the utilization allocation request of the information processing apparatus; and

an address storage processing unit that receives from the management server the address of the information processing apparatus to be allocated to this terminal, and stores the address of the information processing apparatus in the portable storage medium, and

the management server comprising;

an allocation management table having stored thereon the correlation between the storage information of the portable storage medium that the user of each terminal uses and the address of the information processing apparatus that is a utilization allocation destination of the terminal correlated with the portable storage medium; and

an address notifying unit that receives from the terminal the utilization allocation request that includes the storage information of the portable storage medium, compares the storage information of the portable storage medium included in the utilization allocation request with the allocation management table, identifies the address of the information processing apparatus, and notifies the terminal that is the transmission origin of the utilization allocation request of the identified address.

3. The information processing system of claim 2,

the terminal comprising:

a reallocation request transmitting unit that transmits a reallocation request of the information processing apparatus input at the input interface of the terminal, together with the storage information of the portable storage medium, to the address of the management server, wherein

the address storage processing unit receives from the management server the address of an available information processing apparatus that is reallocated to the terminal and executes a process of storing the address of the information processing apparatus in the portable storage medium,

the management server comprising;

a reallocation processing unit that, when the reallocation processing unit receives the reallocation request that includes storage information of the portable storage medium from the terminal, identifies in the allocation management table an available information processing apparatus that is not allocated for utilization to another terminal, and stores the address of the available information processing apparatus and the storage information included in the reallocation request correlating each other in the allocation management table, wherein

the address notifying unit notifies the terminal that is the transmission origin of the reallocation request of the address of the available information processing apparatus.

4. The information processing system of claim 3, wherein

the reallocation request transmitting unit of the terminal executes a process of transmitting the reallocation request by detecting that at least one of the connection establishing process by the connection establishing unit to the information processing apparatus, the transmitting process of the operating information addressed to the information processing apparatus by the remote controlling unit, and the receiving process of the video information from the information processing apparatus becomes not executable.

5. The information processing system of claim 1,

the information processing apparatus comprising:

a biometrics authentication information storage unit having stored thereon biometrics authentication information for the user of the terminal allocated for utilization to the information processing apparatus, wherein

the establishment determining unit compares the biometrics information of the user included in the connection establishment request received from the terminal with the biometrics authentication information storage unit, determines to permit or reject acceptance of the connection establishment request, and returns the determination result to the terminal as response data.

6. The information processing system of claim 2,

the information processing apparatus comprising:

a biometrics authentication information storage unit having stored thereon biometrics authentication information for the user of the terminal allocated for utilization to the information processing apparatus, wherein

the establishment determining unit compares the biometrics information of the user included in the connection establishment request received from the terminal with the biometrics authentication information storage unit, determines to permit or reject acceptance of the connection establishment request, and returns the determination result to the terminal as response data.

7. The information processing system of claim 3,

the information processing apparatus comprising:

a biometrics authentication information storage unit having stored thereon biometrics authentication information for the user of the terminal allocated for utilization to the information processing apparatus, wherein

the establishment determining unit compares the biometrics information of the user included in the connection establishment request received from the terminal with the biometrics authentication information storage unit, determines to permit or reject acceptance of the connection establishment request, and returns the determination result to the terminal as response data.

8. The information processing system of claim 4,

the information processing apparatus comprising:

a biometrics authentication information storage unit having stored thereon biometrics authentication information for the user of the terminal allocated for utilization to the information processing apparatus, wherein

the establishment determining unit compares the biometrics information of the user included in the connection establishment request received from the terminal with the biometrics authentication information storage unit, determines to permit or reject acceptance of the connection establishment request, and returns the determination result to the terminal as response data.

9. A terminal coupled to an information processing apparatus through a network, comprising:

an address acquiring unit that reads storage information of a portable storage medium used by a user of the terminal, acquires the address of the information processing apparatus that is a utilization allocation destination of the terminal that is included in the storage information, and stores the data of the address in a memory;

a connection establishing unit that transmits a connection establishment request including at least authentication information of the terminal or the user thereof to the address of the information processing apparatus stored in the memory, and executes a connection establishing process between the information processing apparatus and the terminal through the network according to response data that the information processing apparatus returns in response to the connection establishment request; and

a remote controlling unit that, associated with the execution of the connection establishing process, transmits operating information input at an input interface of the terminal to the address of the information processing apparatus, receives video information corresponding to the operating information from the information processing apparatus, and displays the video information on an output interface of the terminal.

10. An information processing apparatus coupled to a terminal through a network, comprising:

a connection management table having stored thereon authentication information of the terminal, or the user thereof, that is allocated for utilization to the information processing apparatus;

an establishment determining unit that receives the connection establishment request transmitted from the terminal, compares the authentication information of the terminal or the user thereof included in the connection establishment request with the connection management table, determines to permit or reject acceptance of the connection establishment request, and returns the determination result to the terminal as response data; and

a remote operation accepting unit that, associated with the execution of the connection establishing process with the terminal in response to the determination result, receives the operating information from the terminal, executes information processing according to the contents of operations indicated by the operating information, and transmits the video information indicating the result of the information processing to the terminal.

11. A management server coupled to an information processing apparatus and a terminal that uses the information processing apparatus, comprising:

an allocation management table having stored thereon the correlation between the storage information of the portable storage medium that the user of each terminal uses and the address of the information processing apparatus that is a utilization allocation destination of the terminal correlated with the portable storage medium; and

an address notifying unit that receives from the terminal the utilization allocation request that includes the storage information of the portable storage medium, compares the storage information of the portable storage medium included in the utilization allocation request with the allocation management table, identifies the address of the information processing apparatus, and notifies the terminal that is the transmission origin of the utilization allocation request of the identified address.