Apparatus, method, network system, recording medium and computer program for processing transmitted information

• US 7,359,942 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2001
• Issued: 04/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Accenture LLP (Accenture PLC), Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Accenture LLP (Accenture PLC), Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Koyama, Fumio, Fukuta, Yukihiro, Mizushima, Yasumasa, Hagioda, Koji, Endo, Haruyo, Mori, Masakatsu, Watanabe, Zenta, Katsuya, Nobuaki, Kinugasa, Masami
• Primary Examiner(s): Avellino; Joseph E.
• Application Number:
  US10/008,443
• Publication Number:
  US 20030126021A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,325 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/202, 709/238, 709/239, 709/244, 709/245, 709/246, 709204-206, 709217-219, 704 4- 7
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

An information processing apparatus that executes processing of a message transmitted among a plurality of sites connected via a network. The information processing apparatus includes a message reception part that receives a message to execute a prescribed piece of reception processing, a rule accumulation part for accumulating rules to execute message processing, a message conversion part for executing conversion processing of a message according to the rules accumulated in the rule accumulation part, and a message transmission part for executing a prescribed piece of transmission processing of the post-conversion message.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus for processing transmission of a message, said apparatus comprising:

a gateway operable to provide a local message exchange interface with a plurality of local sites of a system;

a B2B connector operable to provide a message exchange interface between the system and a plurality of sites external to the system;

a message translator operable to perform conversion between any two of a plurality of message formats on a message received from a sending site that is one of the plurality of local sites or one of the plurality of external sites, said conversion being performed in response to a field that is contained in the message and which serves as a trigger for a specific one of the plurality of message formats, and to check sentence construction of the message prior to performing said translation of the message;

a message broker operable to transmit a request to and to receive an answer from an application or database that is needed to carry out data exchange processing between the sending site and at least one destination site;

a message router operable to add a destination address to the message according to an associated piece of identification information contained in the message, to combine the message with another message having the destination address when the another message exists, the another message being received from another one of the plurality of local sites or from another one of the plurality of external sites, and to decompose the message into a plurality of messages corresponding to a plurality of a destination addresses when the piece of identification information is associated with the plurality of a destination addresses;

said B2B connector being operable to process the addressed message or the plurality of addressed messages for transmission to one or more of the plurality of external sites when the message was received from the one of the plurality of local sites; and

said gateway being operable to process the addressed message or the plurality of addressed messages for transmission to one or more of the plurality of local sites when the message was received from the one of the plurality of external sites.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said message translator is operable to specify a transmission destination of the message according to a transmission origin of the message and contents of the message.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said message translator is operable to perform automatic protocol conversion according to a message transmission destination specified according to a transmission origin of the message and contents of the message.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said message translator is operable to execute encryption processing that corresponds to a message transmission destination that is specified according to a transmission origin of the message and contents of the message.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said message router includes:

a message separator operable to decompose the message into the plurality of messages corresponding to the plurality of destination addresses,

a mail box operable to retain the plurality of messages corresponding to the plurality of destination addresses, and

a message director operable to determine the transmission destination of the message according to the contents of the message.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said message router includes:

a rule accumulation part operable to accumulate a plurality of rules for executing said message conversion performed by said message translator,

said message broker being operable to transmit the request to and receive the answer from the application or database if no rules exist that are applicable to the message, and said rule accumulation part being operable to extract a new rule from the answer received from the application or database.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said message translator is operable to convert the message into a prescribed format according to a transmission origin of the message and contents of the message.

8. A method of processing transmission of a message, said method comprising:

providing a local message exchange interface with a plurality of local sites of a system;

providing an external message exchange interface between the system and a plurality of sites external to the system;

receiving a message from a sending site that is one of the plurality of local sites or one of the plurality of external sites;

checking sentence construction of the message;

performing conversion between any two of a plurality of message formats on the message in response to a field that is contained in the message and which serves as a trigger for a specific one of the plurality of message formats;

transmitting a request to and receiving an answer from an application or database that is needed to carry out data exchange processing between the sending site and at least one destination site;

adding a destination address to the message according to an associated piece of identification information contained in the message;

combining the message with another message having the destination address when the another message exists, the another message being received from another one of the plurality of local sites or from another one of the plurality of external sites;

decomposing the message into a plurality of messages corresponding to a plurality of a destination addresses when the piece of identification information is associated with the plurality of a destination addresses;

processing the addressed message or the plurality of addressed messages for transmission to one or more of the plurality of external sites using the external message exchange interface when the message was received from the one of the plurality of local sites; and

processing the addressed message or the plurality of addressed messages for transmission to the destination address or to the plurality of destination addresses using the local message exchange interface when the message was received from the one of the plurality of external sites.

9. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein said step of performing conversion on the message includes converting the message into a prescribed format according to a transmission origin of the message and contents of the message.

10. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein said step of performing conversion on the message includes specifying a message transmission destination according to a transmission origin of the message and contents of the message.

11. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein said step of performing conversion on the message includes performing automatic protocol conversion in correspondence with a message transmission destination specified according to a transmission origin of the message and contents of the message.

12. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein said step of performing conversion on the message includes performing encryption processing in correspondence with a message transmission destination specified according to a transmission origin of the message and contents of the message.

13. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein said step of adding a destination address includes:

retaining in a mail box the plurality of messages corresponding to the plurality of destination addresses, and

determining the transmission destination of the message according to the contents of the message.

14. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein said step of adding a destination address includes:

accumulating a plurality of rules for executing said message conversion step, and

if no rules exist that are applicable to the message, extracting a new rule from the answer received from the application or database.

15. A network system, comprising:

a plurality of local sites; and

a server operable to control message transmission to or from a given one of said plurality of local sites said server including;

a gateway operable to provide a local message exchange interface with said plurality of local sites,

a B2B connector operable to provide an external message exchange interface between the system and a plurality of sites external to the system,

a message translator operable to performs conversion between any two of a plurality of message formats on a message received from a sending site that is one of said plurality of local sites or one of the plurality of external sites, said conversion being performed in response to a field that is contained in the message and which serves as a trigger for a specific one of the plurality of message format, and to check sentence construction of the message prior to performing said translation of the message,

a message broker operable to transmit a request to and to receive an answer from an application or database that is needed to carry out data exchange processing between the sending site and at least one destination site,

a message router operable to add a destination address to the message according to an associated piece of identification information contained in the message, to combine the message with another message having the destination address when the another message exists, the another message being received from another one of the plurality of local sites or from another one of the plurality of external sites, and to decompose the message into a plurality of messages corresponding to a plurality of a destination addresses when the piece of identification information is associated with the plurality of a destination addresses,

said B2B connector being operable to process the addressed message or the plurality of addressed messages for transmission to one or more of the plurality of external sites when the message was received from the one of the plurality of local sites, and

said gateway being operable to process the addressed message or the plurality of addressed messages for transmission to one or more of the plurality of local sites when the message was received from the one of the plurality of external sites.

16. The network system according to claim 15, wherein said message translator is operable to convert the message into a prescribed format according to a transmission origin of the message and contents of the message.

17. The network system according to claim 15, wherein said message translator is operable to specify a message transmission destination according to a transmission origin of the message and contents of the message.

18. The network system according to claim 15, wherein said message translator is operable to performs automatic protocol conversion according to a message transmission destination specified according to a transmission origin of the message and contents of the message.

19. The network system according to claim 15, wherein said message translator is operable to performs encryption processing in correspondence with a message transmission destination specified according to a transmission origin of the message and contents of the message.

20. The network system according to claim 15, wherein said message router includes:

a message separator operable to decompose the message into the plurality of messages corresponding to the plurality of a destination addresses,

a mail box operable to retain the plurality of messages corresponding to the plurality of destination addresses, and

a message director operable to determine the transmission destination of the message according to the contents of the message.

21. The network system according to claim 15, wherein said message router includes:

a rule accumulation part operable to accumulate a plurality of rules for executing said message conversion performed by said message translator,

said message broker being operable to transmit the request to and receive the answer from the upper-order application or database if no rules exist that are applicable to the message, and said rule accumulation part being operable to extract a new rule from the answer received from the upper-order application or database.