Network System, Client and Communication Control Method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017104849-A1
Application number	US-201615284742-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 4, 2016
Priority date	Oct 9, 2015
Publication date	Apr 13, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Increasing the processing load on the server is suppressed in a network system in which response requests are intermittently transmitted from a client to a server. A network system has a client configured to transmit response requests at a specific time interval, and a server configured to send a response to the client according to a received response request. The server calculates a communication interval indicating an interval at which the client is to transmit its response request based on a factor affecting the processing load of the server, and sends communication interval information indicating the calculated communication interval to the client. The client transmits its response request at the time interval indicated by the communication interval information received from the server.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A network system comprising:
a network; a client coupled to the network and configured to transmit response requests at specific time intervals; and a server coupled to the network, configured to receive the respond requests from the client, and to send a response to the client in response to a received response request; wherein: the server calculates a communication interval indicating a time interval at which the client is to transmit response requests, the communication interval being calculated based on a factor affecting a processing load of the server; the server sends communication interval information indicating the calculated communication interval to the client; and the client uses the calculated communication interval indicated by its received communication interval information as its specific time interval, and transmits its response requests at the calculated communication interval indicated by the its received communication interval information.

2 . The network system described in claim 1 , further comprising a periphery device connected to the client;
wherein:
the client receives status information from the periphery device, the status information being related to an operating state of the periphery device; and
the client transmits status data including the status information received from the periphery device to the server as a response request at the indicated calculated communication interval.

3 . The network system described in claim 1 , wherein the factor affecting the processing load of the server includes the number of clients connected to the server.

4 . The network system described in claim 1 , wherein the factor affecting the processing load of the server includes at least one of the processing capacity of the server, the amount of data received as a response request from the client, and the time required to process the data received as a response request from the client.

5 . The network system described in claim 1 , wherein:
the server includes a communication interval calculator that calculates the communication interval indicating the time interval at which the client is to transmit response requests; and the client includes an interval updater that updates its specific time interval based on the calculated communication interval indicated by the communication interval information.

6 . The network system described in claim 1 , wherein:
the client transmits an initial response request after delaying transmission for a randomly set time period following booting up or following a period when communication with the server was prohibited.

7 . The network system described in claim 6 , wherein:
a plurality of said clients are connected to the server via the network; and when the server receives a response request transmitted from one of said plurality of clients (one client) following the booting up or resumption of communication (following a period when communication was prohibited) of the one client,
the server sends to the one client a response including information specifying an offset time for the one client to be added to its corresponding specific time interval when it next transmits a response request so that a time offset is created between the time when the one client sends its response requests at a specific time interval and the time when another of said plurality of clients having the same specific time interval sends its response requests; and
after transmitting the response request with the time offset specified by the server, the one client transmits its next response request without the offset time at its specific time interval.

8 . The network system described in claim 7 ,
the server sends the information specifying the offset time to the one client that transmits a response request of a size exceeding a specific threshold, the offset time being added to the one client's specific time interval when it next boots up or resumes communication after a period when communication was prohibited.

9 . The network system described in claim 7 , wherein
the plurality of said clients have respective, connected periphery devices; the plurality of said clients each transmit status data as a response request, the status data including information related to operating states of their connected periphery devices; and the server sends the response including information specifying the offset time to the clients that have more than a specific threshold number of connected periphery devices; the offset time being added to the client's corresponding specific time interval when it next boots up or resumes communication after period when communication was prohibited.

10 . The network system described in claim 1 , wherein the client is a printing device having a print mechanism that prints on a recording medium, and transmits the response requests at the specific time intervals.

11 . The network system described in claim 10 , wherein the printing device transmits status data including information related to the print mechanism as the response request at the calculated communication interval indicated by its received communication interval information.

12 . A client configured to connect through a network to a server and transmit response requests at a specific time interval, comprising:
a controller that delays transmitting the response request by a randomly set time following booting up or following resumption of communication after a period when communication was prohibited.

13 . A communication control method of a network system including a client configured to transmit a response request at a specific time interval and a server configured to send a response to the client in response to receiving a response request from the client, the method comprising;
using the server to calculate a communication interval indicating a time interval at which the client is to transmit the response request based on a factor affecting a processing load of the server, and to send communication interval information indicating the calculated communication interval to the client; and using the client to transmit the response request at the calculated communication interval indicated by the communication interval information sent from the server.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Mizuno Morimichi
• Yamamoto Takayuki
• Takamoto Akio

Classifications

• H04N2201/0039

  Connection via a network · CPC title

• H04N1/00344

  with a management, maintenance, service or repair apparatus (monitoring H04N1/00002) · CPC title

• H04N2201/0094

  Multifunctional device, i.e. a device capable of all of reading, reproducing, copying, facsimile transception, file transception · CPC title

• H04N2201/0043

  Point to multipoint (H04N2201/0039 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04L43/065

  related to network devices · CPC title