Network management system having access manager for managing access to recording medium apparatus

• US 7,072,954 B1
• Filed: 03/28/2000
• Issued: 07/04/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Godo Kaisha IP Bridge 1 (IP Bridge, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ezaki, Toshihiro, Nishioka, Minoru, Ito, Asanobu
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia, Rupal
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pollack, Melvin H.
• Application Number:
  US09/536,633
• Time in Patent Office: 2,289 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 709/223, 709/224, 709/203, 709/217, 709/218, 709/220, 709225-229, 709/235, 709/249, 713200-202, 370229-232, 370/235, 711/141, 711144-146, 711/150, 707/8
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/28 Restricting access to network management systems or functions, e.g. using authorisation function to access network configuration

Abstract

A network management system is provided in which a transmission band for preceding access is guaranteed even when simultaneous access to shared data is obtained by plural nodes and which does not suffer any problem even in the case of accessing to data that requires real-timeness such as with video data. In order to guarantee an I/O band for a hard disc and a band for the network when simultaneous access by plural nodes to shared data is obtained, an access manager for controlling access bands is provided inside the system, which guarantees a transmission band for preceding access on the occasion of simultaneous access by plural nodes by making mode-of-access judgment, managing the network band and the hard disc I/O transmission band, and judging whether or not to approve the access based on whether or not the bands are saturated.

Claims

1. A network management system comprising:

a plurality of nodes;

a recording medium apparatus operable to store data, said recording medium apparatus being connected to said nodes through a network;

a data manager operable to manage physical information of the data of said recording medium apparatus, distinctive information and security information concerning the data, and system configuration information of the network; and

an access manager operable to manage access to the data of said recording medium apparatus, said access manager being operable to judge whether or not to approve the access from the information of said data manager, a kind of access, a band state of the network and a band state of an interface of said recording medium apparatus, and to secure a transmission band for accessing the data, when the access is approved,

wherein said nodes are operable to query said access manager, in accessing said recording medium apparatus, whether or not the access can be approved, and to act in accordance with the response of said access manager,

wherein said access manager is operable to investigate an access state of said recording medium apparatus and to send access approval to a querying node, if;

(a) a preceding access is a write access, and a present access request is a read access, (b) the preceding access is a read access, or (c) no preceding access exists;

if a first access band is secured in an I/O band of said recording medium apparatus; and

if a second access band is secured in a band of the network, and

wherein the querying node that has received access approval from said access manager is operable to commence access to the data.

3. The network management system of claim 1, wherein said access manager means is further operable to judge, when an access request to data has been received from any one of said nodes, whether or not to approve the access based on information from said access manager, and to send the result of judgment back to said nodes.

5. The network management system of claim 1, wherein said access manager is further operable to send, when sending access approval as a result of judging whether or not to approve the access, the result of judgment to said nodes after securing a transmission band for accessing.

8. The network management system of claim 1, wherein said access manager is operable to control a predetermined node to secure in advance a transmission band required for access to a recording medium apparatus allocated to said predetermined node.

10. The network management system of claim 1, wherein one of said nodes is operable to send, in accessing said recording medium apparatus, an access request to said access manager, and

wherein, upon receiving the access request, said access manager is operable to send to said data manager a request for information pertaining to data or said recording medium apparatus, and upon receiving the requested information from said data manager, said access manager is operable to judge whether or not to approve the access.

12. The network management system of claim 1, wherein said access manager is provided in said recording medium apparatus or one of said nodes.

14. The network management system of claim 1, wherein said data manager is provided in one of said nodes or said recording medium apparatus.

18. A network management system according to claim 1, wherein a predetermined node or said data manager is operable to manage data management information on the data separately from the data thereby to allow deletion of only the data management information when said predetermined node deletes the data.

19. The network management system of claim 18, wherein access to the data deleted by said predetermined node is made accessible from a node other than said predetermined node.

20. The network management system of claim 1, wherein said recording medium apparatus is divided into video and audio sections each of which is operable to respectively use a separate file system.

22. The network management system of claim 18, wherein said recording medium apparatus is divided into video and audio sections each of which is operable to respectively use a separate file system.

23. The network management system of claim 1, wherein said data manager is further operable to receive newly generated management information each time writing or deleting of data on said recording medium apparatus is made, and to internally reflect the newly generated management information.

25. The network management system of claim 18, wherein said data manager is further operable to receive newly generated management information each time writing or deleting of data on said recording medium apparatus is made, and to internally reflect the newly generated management information.

26. The network management system of claim 1, wherein said data manager is further operable to manage and send system configuration information of the network.

28. The network management system of claim 18, wherein said data manager is further operable to manage and send system configuration information of the network.

29. The network management system of claim 1, wherein said data manager is further operable to send management information based on a request from a node.

31. The network management system of claim 18, wherein said data manager is further operable to send management information based on a request from a node.

33. A network management system of claim 1,

wherein the network is comprised of a first network and a second network,

wherein said plurality of nodes are coupled with the first and second networks,

wherein said data manager and said access manager are coupled only with the first network, and

wherein said recording media apparatus is coupled only with the second network.

2. A network management system comprising:

a plurality of nodes;

a recording medium apparatus operable to store data, said recording medium apparatus being connected to said nodes through a network;

a data manager operable to manage physical information of the data of said recording medium apparatus, distinctive information and security information concerning the data, and system configuration information of the network;

an access manager operable to manage access to the data of said recording medium apparatus, said access manager being operable to judge whether or not to approve the access from the information of said data manager, a kind of access, a band state of the network and a band state of an interface of said recording medium apparatus, and to secure a transmission band for accessing the data, when the access is approved; and

an access channel manager operable to establish an access channel by control of said access manager, when access to the data cannot be done by an ordinary channel,

wherein said nodes are operable to query said access manager, in accessing said recording medium apparatus, whether or not the access can be approved, and to act in accordance with the response of said access manager,

wherein said access manager is operable to investigate an access state of said recording medium apparatus and to send access approval to a querying node, if;

(a) a preceding access is a write access, and a present access request is a read access, (b) the preceding access is a read access, or (c) no preceding access exists;

if a first access band is secured in an I/O band of said recording medium apparatus; and

if a second access band is secured in a band of the network, and

wherein the querying node that has received access approval from said access manager is operable to commence access to the data.

4. The network management system of claim 2, wherein said access manager means is further operable to judge, when an access request to data has been received from any one of said nodes, whether or not to approve the access based on information from said access manager, and to send the result of judgment back to said nodes.

6. The network management system of claim 2, wherein said access manager is further operable to send, when sending access approval as a result of judging whether or not to approve the access, the result of judgment to said nodes after securing a transmission band for accessing.

7. The network management system of claim 2, wherein said access manager is further operable to control said access channel manager to establish the access channel, to manage load status of the network, and to acquire a network load status as stored in said access channel manager.

9. The network management system of claim 2, wherein said access manager is operable to control a predetermined node to secure in advance a transmission band required for access to a recording medium apparatus allocated to said predetermined node.

11. The network management system of claim 2, wherein one of said nodes is operable to send, in accessing said recording medium apparatus, an access request to said access manager, and

wherein, upon receiving the access request, said access manager is operable to send to said data manager a request for information pertaining to data or said recording medium apparatus, and upon receiving the requested information from said data manager, said access manager is operable to judge whether or not to approve the access.

13. The network management system of claim 2, wherein said access manager is provided in said recording medium apparatus or one of said nodes.

15. The network management system of claim 2, wherein said data manager is provided in one of said nodes or said recording medium apparatus.

16. The network management system of claim 2, wherein said access manager is further operable to control said access channel manager and to cut off the access channel.

17. The network management system of claim 2, wherein said access channel manager is further operable to control a configuration and access state of the network connected to each port of said access channel manager.

21. The network management system of claim 2, wherein said recording medium apparatus is divided into video and audio sections each of which is operable to respectively use a separate file system.

24. The network management system of claim 2, wherein said data manager is further operable to receive newly generated management information each time writing or deleting of data on said recording medium apparatus is made, and to internally reflect the newly generated management information.

27. The network management system of claim 2, wherein said data manager is further operable to manage and send system configuration information of the network.

30. The network management system of claim 2, wherein said data manager is further operable to send management information based on a request from a node.

32. A network management system according to claim 2, wherein a predetermined node or said data manager is operable to manage data management information on the data separately from the data thereby to allow deletion of only the data management information when said predetermined node deletes the data.

34. A network management system of claim 2,

wherein the network is comprised of a first network and a plurality of second networks,

wherein said plurality of nodes are coupled with the first network and one of the plurality of second networks,

wherein said data manager and said access manager are coupled only with the first network, and

wherein said recording media apparatus is coupled only with one of the plurality of second networks.

35. A network management system of claim 2,

wherein the network is comprised of a first network and a plurality of second networks,

wherein said plurality of nodes are coupled with the first network,

wherein said plurality of nodes are additionally coupled with one of the plurality of second networks or said access channel manager,

wherein said data manager and said access manager are coupled only with the first network, and

wherein said recording media apparatus is coupled only with one of the plurality of second networks or said access channel manager.

36. A node for network connection to a recording medium apparatus operable to store data, said node comprising:

a data manager operable to manage physical information of the data of the recording medium apparatus, distinctive information and security information concerning the data, and system configuration information of the network; and

an access manager operable to manage access to the data of the recording medium apparatus, said access manager being operable to judge whether or not to approve the access from the information of said data manager, a kind of access, a band state of the network and a band state of an interface of the recording medium apparatus, and to secure a transmission band for accessing the data, when the access is approved,

wherein said node is operable to query said access manager, in accessing the recording medium apparatus, whether or not the access can be approved, and to act in accordance with the response of said access manager,

wherein said access manager is operable to investigate an access state of the recording medium apparatus and to send access approval to said node, if;

(a) a preceding access is a write access, and a present access request is a read access, (b) the preceding access is a read access, or (c) no preceding access exists;

if a first access band is secured in an I/O band of the recording medium apparatus; and

if a second access band is secured in a band of the network, and

wherein said node is operable to commence access to the data.

37. A recording medium apparatus for storing data and for network connection to a node, said recording medium apparatus comprising:

a data manager operable to manage physical information of the data of said recording medium apparatus, distinctive information and security information concerning the data, and system configuration information of the network; and

an access manager operable to manage access to the data of said recording medium apparatus, said access manager being operable to judge whether or not to approve the access from the information of said data manager, a kind of access, a band state of the network and a band state of an interface of said recording medium apparatus, and to secure a transmission band for accessing the data, when the access is approved,

wherein said access manager is operable to receive queries from the node, in accessing said recording medium apparatus, whether or not the access can be approved, and the node is operable to act in accordance with the response of said access manager,

wherein said access manager is operable to investigate an access state of said recording medium apparatus and to send access approval to the node, if;

(a) a preceding access is a write access, and a present access request is a read access, (b) the preceding access is a read access, or (c) no preceding access exists;

if a first access band is secured in an I/O band of said recording medium apparatus; and

if a second access band is secured in a band of the network, and

wherein the node is operable to commence access to the data.