Information processing system using information caching based on user activity

• US 6,243,755 B1
• Filed: 07/15/1998
• Issued: 06/05/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Kamitake, Takashi, Takagi, Masahiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Backer, Firmin
• Application Number:
  US09/115,745
• Time in Patent Office: 1,056 Days
• Field of Search: 342/457, 382/305, 709/217-226, 709/229, 709/201, 709/202, 711/170, 711/164, 712/216, 712/217, 707/100, 707/4, 707/3, 713/200
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/147 for predicting network behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor

Abstract

An information processing system in which the necessary information can be transferred via a network by the time this information becomes actually necessary, without damaging the utility and convenience from the user'"'"'s point of view. An information transfer to a first information processing apparatus from a second information processing apparatus via a network is realized by predicting a necessary information which will be required by a user using the first information processing apparatus in future and a necessary time by which the necessary information will be actually required by the user, according to a knowledge concerning an activity schedule of the user; and controlling the transfer of the necessary information from the second information processing apparatus to the first information processing apparatus via the network such that the necessary information will be transferred by the necessary time.

Claims

1. An information transfer control apparatus for realizing an information transfer to a first information processing apparatus from a second information processing apparatus via a network, comprising:

a prediction unit for predicting information which will be required by a user using the first information processing apparatus in future and a location where the user will require the information, according to a knowledge concerning an activity schedule of the user; and

a transfer control unit for determining at least one of a transfer time and a network to be used among at least one available network for the transfer of the information, and controlling the transfer of the information from the second information processing apparatus via the network according to said at least one of transfer time and network to be used such that the information will be transferred to the location.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the prediction unit and the transfer control unit are integrally incorporated within the first information processing apparatus.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the prediction unit and the transfer control unit are integrally incorporated within the second information processing apparatus.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the prediction unit and the transfer control unit are integrally incorporated within a network service server provided in conjunction with the network to which the first and second information processing apparatuses are connected.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transfer control unit determines the network to be used for the transfer of the information, according to a knowledge concerning a relationship between the location and an available network, and controls the transfer of the information from the second information processing apparatus according to the determined network to be used.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the transfer control unit determines the network to be used also according to a current location of the first information processing apparatus.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the prediction unit also predicts a necessary time by which the information will be actually required by the user according to the knowledge concerning the activity schedule of the user, and the transfer control unit determines the transfer time for the transfer of the information according to the necessary time, and controls the transfer of the information according to the determined transfer time.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the transfer control unit determines said at least one of transfer time and network to be used for the transfer of the information according to a knowledge concerning an information transfer cost.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the transfer control unit determines said at least one of transfer time and network to be used for the transfer of the information according to a knowledge concerning a connection possibility of the network.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the transfer control unit determines said at least one of transfer time and network to be used for the transfer of the information according to an amount of the information.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transfer control unit determines the transfer time and the network to be used for the transfer of the information according to a necessary time by which the information will be actually required by the user, the knowledge concerning the activity schedule of the user, and a knowledge concerning a relationship between the activity schedule of the user and a status/environment of an available network, and controls the transfer of the information according to the determined transfer time and network to be used.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the status/environment of the available network indicates time dependent information on the available network.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an acquisition unit for acquiring at least one of a first relationship between a current processing carried out by the first information processing apparatus and at least one of present time and present place, and a second relationship between the current processing and a past processing carried out by the first information processing apparatus in past, and providing said at least one of the first and second relationships as the knowledge concerning the activity schedule of the user.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the prediction unit also uses a knowledge concerning a relationship between an activity of the user and an attribute of information in predicting the information.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

an acquisition unit for acquiring a relationship between a current processing carried out by the first information processing apparatus and an attribute of information handled by the current processing, and providing the acquired relationship as the knowledge concerning the relationship between an activity of the user and an attribute of information.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the knowledge concerning an activity schedule of the user is given in a form of a schedule table produced according to inputs by the user.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transfer control unit controls the transfer of the information such that the information is transferred from the second information processing apparatus to a third information processing apparatus first, temporarily stored in the third information processing apparatus, and then transferred from the third information processing apparatus to the first information processing apparatus.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the transfer control unit is distributedly provided over the third information processing apparatus and one of the first information processing apparatus, the second information processing apparatus, and a network service server provided in conjunction with the network to which the first, second, and third information processing apparatuses are connected.

19. A method of information transfer to a first information processing apparatus from a second information processing apparatus via a network, comprising the steps of:

providing a knowledge concerning an activity schedule of a user using the first information processing apparatus;

predicting information which will be required by the user in future and a location where the user will require the information, according to the knowledge concerning an activity schedule of the user;

determining at least one of a transfer time and a network to be used among at least one available network for the transfer of the information; and

controlling the transfer of the information from the second information processing apparatus via the network according to said at least one of transfer time and network to be used, such that the information will be transferred to the location.

20. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing a computer to function as a system for controlling an information transfer to a first information processing apparatus from a second information processing apparatus via a network, the computer readable program code means including;

first computer readable program code means for causing the computer to provide a knowledge concerning an activity schedule of a user using the first information processing apparatus;

second computer readable program code means for causing the computer to predict information which will be required by the user in future and a location where the user will require the information, according to the knowledge concerning an activity schedule of the user; and

third computer readable program code means for causing the computer to determine at least one of a transfer time and a network to be used among at least one available network for the transfer of the information, and control the transfer of the information from the second information processing apparatus via the network according to said at least one of transfer time and network to be used, such that the information will be transferred to the location.