Connection control in thin client system

• US 8,364,830 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2007
• Issued: 01/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Koshiba, Kunihiro, Kimizuka, Masahiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Dalencourt, Yves
• Application Number:
  US11/950,836
• Publication Number:
  US 20080263217A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,882 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/223, 709/226, 709/227, 709/229
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams

Abstract

In a first exemplary aspect of the present invention, a thin client server system includes thin client servers, which comprises clients which are grouped into client groups based on client data; thin client terminals which are allocated with terminal data and are grouped into terminal groups based on the terminal data, wherein users are allocated with user identifiers and are grouped into user groups based on the user identifiers, and each of the client groups is predetermined for at least one of one of the terminal groups and one of the user groups, and a connection control server interposed between the thin client servers and the thin client terminals. The connection control server determines connectable client groups based on a specific user identifier of a specific user, and a specific terminal data of a specific one of the thin client terminals used by the specific user, determines a desired client of at least a desired one of the connectable client groups based on a status of each of the clients. The specific thin client terminal connects with the desired client based on the client data of the desired client.

Claims

1. A thin client server system comprising:

thin client servers which comprise one or more execution sections which are grouped into execution-section groups based on client data, said execution sections being at least one of executable software and data;

thin client terminals which are allocated with terminal data and are grouped into terminal groups based on the terminal data, wherein users are allocated with user identifiers and are grouped into user groups based on the user identifiers, and each of the execution-section groups is predetermined for at least one of;

one of said terminal groups and one of the user groups;

a connection control server interposed between said thin client servers and said thin client terminals, said connection control server determining connectable execution-section groups based on a user group identifier to which a specific user belongs and a terminal group for a specific thin client terminal used by the specific user, and selecting one of the connectable execution-section groups in response to an instruction from the specific thin client terminal;

said connection control server comprises;

a storage section configured to store a group data management table and a connection destination setting data table, wherein said group data management table stores the execution- section groups for the execution sections, the terminal groups for said thin client terminals, and the user groups for the users, and said connection destination setting data table stores each of the connectable execution-section groups for at least one of one of the terminal groups and one of the user groups; and

a connection destination control section configured to determine the connectable execution-section groups from said group data management table and said connection destination setting data table based on at least one of the specific user identifier and the specific terminal data, to transmit the connectable execution-section groups to said specific thin client terminal, and to receive and determine a chosen execution-section group; and

a client status management table storing a status of each of the execution-sections, said client status management table used by said connection control server to determine a usable execution section of the selected connectable execution-section group based on the status of each of the execution-sections in the selected connectable execution-section group, wherein status in the client management table of the usable execution-section is not log on, and

wherein said specific thin client terminal connects with the usable execution section based on the client data of the usable execution section.

2. The thin client server system according to claim 1, wherein each of said thin client servers comprises a status acquiring section configured to transmit a data indicating a change of the status of each of the execution sections of said thin client server, and said connection destination control section further receives the status change data from each of said thin client servers and updates said client status management table based on the received status change data.

3. The thin client server system according to claim 1, wherein said connection destination control section further boots up the usable execution section and transmitting the client data of the usable execution section to said specific thin client terminal, and said specific thin client terminal connects to the usable execution section based on the client data of the usable execution section.

4. The thin client server system according to claim 1, wherein said connection destination control section further reboots up the usable execution section and transmitting the client data of the usable execution section to said specific thin client terminal, and said specific thin client terminal connects to the usable execution section based on the client data of the usable execution section.

5. A connection control method comprising:

transmitting a specific terminal data of a specific thin client terminal and a specific user identifier of a specific user from said specific thin client terminal to a connection control server,

wherein thin client terminals are allocated with terminal data and are grouped into terminal groups based on the terminal data, users are allocated with user identifiers and are grouped into user groups based on the user identifiers, and thin client servers comprising one or more execution sections grouped into execution-section groups based on client data, said execution sections being at least one of executable software and data, and

each of the execution-section groups is predetermined for at least one of;

one of said terminal groups and one of the user groups;

determining connectable execution-section groups based on a specific user group to which a specific user belongs and the terminal group for a specific thin client terminal used by the specific user;

determining a chosen one of the connectable execution-section groups in response to an instruction from the specific thin client terminal;

providing a client status management table which stores a status of each of the execution sections; and

providing a group data management table and a connection destination setting data table, wherein said group data management table stores the execution-section groups for the execution sections, the terminal groups for said thin client terminals, and the user groups for the users, and said connection destination setting data table stores each of the connectable execution-section groups for at least one of one of the terminal groups and one of the user groups,

wherein said determining the chosen one of the connectable execution-section groups comprises;

referring to said client status management table to determine a usable execution section of the chosen one of the connectable execution-section groups based on the status of each of the execution sections of the chosen one of the connectable execution-section groups, wherein the status in the client status management table of said usable execution section is not log on; and

connecting said specific thin client terminal with the usable execution section based on the client data of the usable execution section, and

said determining connectable execution-section groups comprises;

determining the connectable execution-section groups from said group data management table and said connection destination setting data table based on at least one of the specific user identifier and the specific terminal data;

transmitting the connectable execution-section groups to said specific thin client terminal; and

determining the chosen execution-section group through a selection by said specific user.

6. The connection control method according to claim 5, further comprising:

transmitting a data indicating a change of the status of each of the execution sections of said thin client servers to said connection control server;

updating said client status management table based on the status change data.

7. The connection control method according to claim 5, further comprising:

booting up the usable execution section based on the client data of the usable execution section;

transmitting the client data of the usable execution section to said specific thin client terminal; and

connecting said specific thin client terminal to the usable execution section.

8. The connection control method according to claim 5, further comprising:

rebooting up the usable execution sectionc4ient based on the client data of the usable execution section;

transmitting the client data of the usable execution section to said specific thin client terminal; and

connecting said specific thin client terminal to the usable execution section.

9. A computer-readable storage medium which stores a program for realizing of a connection control method comprising:

providing terminal groups obtained by grouping thin client terminals based on terminal data allocated to the thin client terminals, user groups obtained by grouping users to which user identifiers are allocated, and execution-section groups obtained by grouping execution sections of client servers based on client data, said execution sections being at least one of executable software and data;

providing each of the execution-section groups is predetermined for at least one of;

one of said terminal groups and one of the user groups;

providing a client status management table which stores a status of each of the execution sections;

determining connectable execution-section groups based on the specific user group to which a specific user belongs and the terminal group for a specific thin client terminal used by the specific user;

determining a chosen one of the connectable execution-section groups in response to an instruction from the specific thin client terminal, such that said specific thin client terminal is connected with a usable execution section based on the client data of the usable execution section; and

providing a group data management table and a connection destination setting data table, wherein said group data management table stores the execution-section groups for the execution sections, the terminal groups for said thin client terminals, and the user groups for the users, and said connection destination setting data table stores each of the connectable execution-section groups for at least one of one of the terminal groups and one of the user groups, wherein

said determining the chosen one of the connectable execution-section groups comprises;

referring to said client status management table to determine the usable execution section based on the status of each of the execution sections of the chosen execution-section group, wherein the status in the client status management table of the usable execution section is not log on, and

said determining connectable client groups comprises;

determining the connectable execution-section groups from said group data management table and said connection destination setting data table based on at least one of the specific user identifier and the specific terminal data;

transmitting the connectable execution-section groups to said specific thin client terminal; and

determining the chosen execution-section group through a selection by said specific user.

10. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 9, wherein said connection control method further comprises:

updating said client status management table based on the status change data indicating a change of the status of each of the execution sections of said thin client servers to said connection control server.

11. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 9, wherein said connection control method further comprises:

booting up the usable execution section based on the client data of the usable execution section; and

transmitting the client data of the usable execution section to said specific thin client terminal such that said specific thin client terminal is connected with the usable execution section.

12. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 9, wherein said connection control method further comprises:

rebooting up the usable execution section based on the client data of the usable execution section; and

transmitting the client data of the usable execution section to said specific thin client terminal such that said specific thin client terminal is connected with the usable execution section.