Joint information processing system comprising a plurality of terminal apparatuses guaranteeing identicalness of data processing results

• US 5,208,912 A
• Filed: 11/15/1990
• Issued: 05/04/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/1989
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Mori, Kenjiro, Nakayama, Yoshiyuki, Yamamitsu, Tadashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Shaw, Dale M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SMITH, DIANE
• Application Number:
  US07/614,087
• Time in Patent Office: 901 Days
• Field of Search: 384/200, 384/600, 395/800, 395/200, 364/283.3, 364/283.4, 364/284.4
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission

Abstract

In a conferencing system including a plurality of workstations each having a multiwindow function connected to each other via a network, programs loaded in the respective workstations to control a conference are linked with each other through a logical circular control program'"'"'s path. A data item inputted from a workstation not having a data effectuation floor qualification is transmitted as a data item in an ineffective state to a next workstation. When received by a workstation possessing the effectuation floor qualification, the data in the ineffective state is converted into an effective data. In each station, application programs and utility programs are responsive only to the data in the effective state, which guarantees the identity of results of data processing achieved in the respective workstations.

Claims

1. A joint information processing system, including a plurality of terminal stations connected to each other via a communication network, wherein each of said terminal stations comprises:

input means for inputting at least one of data and commands for information processing;

a communications interface connected with said communication network for transmitting data and/or commands to and receiving data and/or commands from said communication network;

data process means coupled to said input means and said communication interface for performing data processing operations for at least one of input data and input commands supplied from said input means and said communication network; and

display means coupled with said data process means for displaying a result of data processing performed by said data process means;

said data process means including;

(a) storing means for storing status information indicating whether the terminal station possesses an effectuation floor qualification which is assigned to only one of said plurality of terminal stations;

(b) control means, operative in response to status information stored in said storing means, for setting data and/or commands received from said input means into an ineffective state and supplying said data and/or commands to said communication interface when said status information indicates possession of no effectuation floor qualification by the terminal station, and for supplying said communication interface with input data and/or input commands received from said input means and said communication network after converting said data and/or commands into an effective state when said status information indicates possession by the terminal station of the effectuation floor qualification; and

(c) means for executing data processing operations for input data and/or commands only when the input data and commands are in an effective state.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein said control means in each of said terminal stations includes means operatively connected to supply said communication interface with a control command for transferring the effectuation floor qualification to another terminal station in conformity with a predetermined condition and to update the status information stored in said storing means after the transferring of the effectuation floor qualification.

3. A system according to claim 1, wherein said data process means in each terminal station includes memory means for storing application programs for conducting data processing operations respectively associated with the input data and/or commands;

and

said control means comprises;

(i) means for appending an identifier to input data and input commands received from said input means for specifying an application program stored in said memory means; and

(ii) means for distributing input data and input commands received from said input means and said communication network, when the input data and commands are in the effective state, to an application program specified by the identifier attached to the received data and commands, thereby to execute the program.

4. A joint information processing system, including a plurality of terminal stations connected to each other via a communication network, wherein each of said terminal stations comprises:

input means operated by a user to input data and/or commands;

communication interface means connected to said communication network for receiving data and/or commands from another one of said terminal stations and for transferring the data and/or commands to said other one of said terminal stations;

data process means coupled to said input means and said communication interface means for executing predetermined data processing operations using application programs for input data and/or input commands supplied from said input means and said communication interface means; and

display means coupled with said data process means for displaying a result of data processing conducted by said data process means;

said data process means including;

(a) means for receiving data and/or commands from said input means;

(b) means for selectively distributing data and commands to said application programs; and

(c) communication control means operatively connected to receive input data and/or commands from said receiving means and said communication interface means and to selectively supply input data and/or commands to said distribution means and said communication interface means;

said communication control means having;

(i) first means for storing information to indicate whether said terminal station possesses an effectuation floor qualification to set data and/or commands into a particular category; and

(ii) second means operatively connected to said first means, for adding a status identifier to received input data and commands when the information stored in said first means indicates that said terminal station has an effectuation floor qualification for input data and commands and when said received input data and commands are in an ineffective state, said status identifier denoting that the input data and commands are in the effective state, and for thereafter delivering the resultant data and commands with the added status identifier to both said communication interface means and said distributing means, and for delivering received input data and commands with no status identifier to said communication interface means when said information indicates that the terminal station has no effectuation floor qualification for the input data and commands;

said data processing means in each terminal station operating so that only the input data and commands having a status identifier added thereto are subjected to data processing for joint information processing.

5. A system according to claim 4, wherein:

said terminal stations are interconnected to each other via a logical circular path formed by said communication network under control of said communication control means and only one of said terminal stations temporarily possesses the effectuation floor qualification at any time; and

said communication control means in each terminal station includes means responsive to a status satisfying a predetermined transfer condition for generating a control command for a terminal station to pass the effectuation floor qualification to another one of said terminal stations on said logical circular path and for transmitting the control command to said communication network through said communication interface means.

6. A system according to claim 4, wherein said terminal stations are interconnected to each other via a logical circular path formed by said communication network under control of said communication control means;

and

said first means in each terminal station stores information for indicating the presence or absence of a plurality of effectuation floor qualifications, each associated with a predetermined category, each effectuation floor qualification being temporarily possessed by a respective one of said terminal stations;

said communication control means in each terminal station including means responsive to a status satisfying a predetermined transfer condition for anyone of said effectuation floor qualifications possessed by a terminal station for generating a control command for passing an effectuation floor qualification to another one of said terminal stations on said logical circular path and for transmitting the control command to said communication network through said communication interface means.

7. A conferencing system, including a plurality of terminals connected to each other via a network, wherein each terminal comprises:

input means for inputting commands;

communication means, connecting said plurality of terminals to each other to form a logical circular path in said network, for transmitting commands to a particular one of said terminals on a downstream side thereof, and for receiving commands from a particular one of said terminals on an upstream side thereof;

data process means, connected to said input means and said communication means, for processing commands inputted from said input means and said communication means; and

display means, connected to said data process means, for displaying a result of data processing conducted by said data process means;

said data process means including;

first means operatively connected to receive input commands from said input means, for adding a header to each command inputted from said input means, said header having a field including a first status information designating whether the command is ineffective;

second means operatively connected to receive commands from said first means and said communication means, for setting second status information into the header of each ineffective command received from said first means and said communication means, when an effectuation floor qualification is assigned to the terminal associated with the data process means, to convert the command to an effective command, and for thereafter delivering the converted effective command to said communication means to transmit said command to other terminals;

third means, operatively connected to receive commands from said second means and responsive only to commands having a header which includes second status information, for executing a data processing program related to the command;

said second means operating to deliver ineffective commands received from said first means and said communication means to said communication means without adding the second status information to the header of each command, whereby ineffective commands are transmitted from station to station by said communication means without being executed by the data process means in the respective stations until the ineffective commands arrive at a terminal possessing the effectuation floor qualification and are converted to an effective command therein.

8. A system according to claim 7, wherein:

said first means sets into the header of each command an identifier of a program to be executed in response to the command, an identifier of a resource to be used by the program, and an identifier of a source generating the command; and

said second means determines the presence or absence of the effectuation floor qualification with respect to a category specified by the program identifier and the resource identifier in the header of the command.

9. A data processing method for use in a conferencing system including a plurality of terminals connected to each other via a network in which each of the terminals is assigned with a data reception partner and a data transmission partner to form a logical circular path on the network, the method comprising the steps of:

assigning an effectuation floor qualification to one of the plural terminals;

inputting data and/or a command by an operator at any one of said terminals;

circulating the data and/or command from said one of said terminals at which the data and/or command is inputted to a next terminal at a subsequent position on the circular path as ineffective data and/or a command without executing a data processing program associated with the input data and/or command if said one terminal does not possess the effectuation floor qualification;

adding in the next terminal, when the next terminal possesses the effectuation floor qualification, information for converting the ineffective data and/or command received from the network to an effective state and circulating the converted data and/or command to a further next terminal on the circular path;

transmitting, when the next terminal does not possess the effectuation floor qualification, the data and/or command received from the network to the further next terminal on the circular path without making any change in the ineffective status of the data or command; and

executing in each of the terminals a data processing program in response to a converted data and/or command to which information denoting an effective state has been added.