Abstract:
This invention relates to information processing such as coordination of distributed information processing resources, and makes collaboration of distributed information processing resources easy and improves convenience of information processing. A high-speed information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a conversion processing section operable to model a plurality of distributed information processing resources through definition of the plurality of information processing resources by attributes thereof and to assign a collaborative relationship to modeled information processing resources obtained through the modeling.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to information processing such as coordination of information processing resources. In particular, the present invention relates to a high-speed information processing apparatus, a high-speed information processing method, and a high-speed information processing program used for information processing, such as collaboration and coordination, of various information processing resources, including CAD (Computer Aided Design) data, existing at remote sites, e.g., another continent, through the modeling and systematization of the information processing resources.  
         [0003]     More particularly, the present invention refers to a series of mechanisms for: growing high-speed central processing, for example, at a large-scale machine center; wide-area parallel collaboration with, for example, servers and clients distributed at a plurality of remote bases; simultaneous high-speed data transfer to a plurality of bases that enables a huge amount of data distributed at such remote bases to be manipulated in a collaborated manner through the same operation as when local data is manipulated; and definition and control of base-to-base application collaboration/parallel operation management. In other words the present invention relates to a business model based on these mechanisms functioning as a hyper framework. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a mechanism for transferring three-dimensional coordinate information, mouse events, etc., to a processing server at high speed to improve responsiveness in server-side dialog processing in an existing environment, such as responsiveness in the ASP (Application Service Provider) method where an application is located at the center and dialog is performed at a remote client.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]     One of the main goals in product development is to release high-quality products to the market as soon as possible. To achieve this goal, a large-scale, high-quality processing environment, like one realized with a virtual factory, is required. To build such a processing environment, CAD, CAE (Computer Aided Engineering), and CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing), which realize virtual development, high-speed simulation, and early-stage evaluation of products, are required.  
         [0006]     To build a product development environment, it is also necessary to build, for example, an ASP environment which can provide services for achieving high-speed processing of various applications free of temporal, geographical, and scale restorations. To build an environment to carry out high-speed processing of distributed information processing resources, such a collaborative environment is essential that supports collaboration and dialog with remote sites in the same manner and operational feeling as local operation. The realization of such an environment now extends beyond the product development realm to PLM (Product life cycle management) ranging from product development to product disposal. This PLM activity is ultimately expected to help the conservation of the global environment.  
         [0007]     The manipulation of processing resources distributed over a known local network will now be described with reference to  FIG. 1 , which shows the manipulation of processing resources distributed over a known local network.  
         [0008]     Information processing centers A, B, C, . . . X functioning as bases constituting a known local network are interconnected via a network  2 . The information processing centers A, B, C, . . . X each include many processing resources. More specifically, the information processing center A includes, for example, resources aa, ab, and ac as the information processing resources. If a client  4  is to use, for example, the resources aa, ab, and ac distributed in the information processing center A, a standard access method is used. No problems arise with the data transfer rate, resource operability, and responsiveness for the utilization of resources within a short range, namely, the utilization of information processing resources within the information processing centers A, B, C, . . . X.  
         [0009]     An ASP operating procedure for using information resources between information processing centers will now be described with reference to  FIG. 2 , which shows a processing procedure between information processing centers.  
         [0010]     In a known ASP environment, the user&#39;s information processing center A includes a computer  6  that performs information processing and a file (ua)  8 . The information processing center B includes a counterpart computer  10  and a counterpart file (ub)  12 . As described above, the information processing centers A and B are interconnected via the network  2 . ASP server processing  14  is performed in the information processing center A. The ASP server processing  14  includes tool selection and Web (World Wide Web) conversion  16 , which includes a file system  18 , CAD tools  201  and  202 , etc. Information transfer processing includes processing  22  of, for example, various FTP (File Transfer Protocol), and the processing  22  requires a plurality of work files  241  and  242 .  
         [0011]     Operating procedures for the ASP environment will be described below. Procedures (1) to (3) are shown in  FIG. 2  to clarify the relationships.  
         [0012]     (1) Required file transmission by a plurality of information processing centers  
         [0013]     This file transmission includes, for example, file selection, compression, transfer, decompression, etc.  
         [0014]     (2) Selection of a required CAD tool, startup of the tool, start of operation by specifying a file  
         [0015]     (3) Reception and updating of a result file after CAD processing, and exiting the tool  
         [0016]     Reception of the result file includes file selection, compression, transfer, decompression, etc. and updating includes management of editions, etc.  
         [0017]     An Internet-based collaborative design method has been proposed in the form of a system that allows both advisee and adviser to browse and select the latest catalog data free of temporal or geographical restrictions and allows design drawings to be produced in real time (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-195438). In addition, there has been proposed an integrated communication system that provides work files on the Web to allow two parties residing at remote sites from each other to exchange views based on CAD drawings (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-140277). Furthermore, a system that centrally manages distributed data in a common database has been proposed as an example of a system that achieves coordination of information resources (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-269330).  
         [0018]     More fast and extent collaboration is required due to a growing amount of processing and consequent demands for high-speed processing and global utilization of resources. With the known access method, however, simultaneous high-speed transfer of data to a plurality of information processing centers is not possible, and consequently practical resource utilization is difficult due to distance and a limited transmission band. With the known access method ( FIG. 1 ), for example, the resources aa and ab, which are limited in their own information processing centers A, B, C, . . . X, are used collaboratively only between one information processing center and another. What is the worse is that the known access method is supposed to transfer only a small amount of data. Moreover, with the known access method, frequently repeated transfer processing cannot be avoided to achieve large-scale collaboration among information processing centers. This repeated transfer processing is time-consuming because it involves pre-processing, post-processing, and transfer operation, making practical operation difficult. Furthermore, individual processing at information processing centers is not efficient.  
         [0019]     It is customary that to centrally manage engineering applications, such as large-scale CAD applications, data at clients is transferred to a server, which then carries out high-speed processing, and after the processing, sends back the processed results to the clients. This type of central processing takes a very long time to repeatedly transfer many large files between servers and clients before and after processing, and therefore, is significantly inefficient. Display of results of processing, if it is a long-distance dialog such as a dialog with a site on another continent via the Internet, also suffers from a large loss in transfer time, and a quick response cannot be expected for such processing.  
         [0020]     No suggestions or proposals about these problems or about solutions to these problems are found in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-195438, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-140277, or Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-269330.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0021]     The present invention relates to information processing such as coordination of distributed information processing resources. An object of the present invention is to facilitate the collaboration of distributed information processing resources to increase the convenience of information processing.  
         [0022]     In order to achieve the above-described object, a high-speed information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a conversion processing section operable to model a plurality of distributed information processing resources through definition of the plurality of information processing resources by attributes thereof and to assign a collaborative relationship to modeled information processing resources obtained through the modeling.  
         [0023]     According to the structure, the information processing resources are defined based on their attributes and modeled for integration of the information processing resources. Furthermore, the modeled information processing resources are given a collaborative relationship, which enables the information processing resources to be chained to increase the convenience.  
         [0024]     In order to achieve the above-described object, in the high-speed information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the definition may include modeling of basic components of the information processing resources and at least one of grouping, hierarchization, and parallelization of the modeled basic components. With this definition concept, the attributes of the information processing resources are defined, and information processing resources arranged through the definition become more useful.  
         [0025]     In order to achieve the above-described object, in the high-speed information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the definition may include definition of processing operation of the modeled information processing resources and the definition of processing operation may include a condition and behavior of the processing operation. With this definition concept, the attributes of the information processing resources are defined, and information processing resources arranged through the definition can be referred to and utilized more easily.  
         [0026]     In order to achieve the above-described object, the high-speed information processing apparatus according to the present invention may further include a transfer section operable to transfer the modeled information processing resources to another information processing apparatus. With this structure, the information processing resources can be transferred by the transfer section to increase the transfer rate of the information processing resources.  
         [0027]     In order to achieve the above-described object, the high-speed information processing apparatus according to the present invention may further include a transfer section operable to convert a quantization unit of bits of the information processing resources into an optimal variable number of bytes, express the quantization unit as the amount of change in transfer units, and reduce the amount of transfer information in overall processing in the units for transfer.  
         [0028]     In order to achieve the above-described object, the high-speed information processing apparatus according to the present invention may further include a display section operable to visually display a processing state of the related information processing resources.  
         [0029]     In order to achieve the above-described object, a high-speed information processing method according to the present invention includes: a modeling step of modeling a plurality of distributed information processing resources through definition of the plurality of information processing resources by attributes thereof; and a collaborating step of assigning a collaborative relationship to modeled information processing resources obtained through the modeling.  
         [0030]     In order to achieve the above-described object, in the high-speed information processing method according to the present invention, the definition may include modeling of basic components of the information processing resources and at least one of grouping, hierarchization, and parallelization of the modeled basic components.  
         [0031]     In order to achieve the above-described object, in the high-speed information processing method according to the present invention, the definition may include definition of processing operation of the modeled information processing resources and the definition of processing operation may include a condition and behavior of the processing operation.  
         [0032]     In order to achieve the above-described object, the high-speed information processing method according to the present invention may further include a transfer step of transferring the modeled information processing resources to another information processing apparatus.  
         [0033]     In order to achieve the above-described object, the high-speed information processing method according to the present invention may further include a transfer step of converting a quantization unit of bits of the information processing resources into an optimal variable number of bytes, expressing the quantization unit as the amount of change in transfer units, and reducing the amount of transfer information in overall processing in the units for transfer.  
         [0034]     In order to, achieve the above-described object, the high-speed information processing method according to the present invention may further include the step of visualizing a processing state of the related information processing resources and converting the processing state into display information.  
         [0035]     In order to achieve the above-described object, the high-speed information processing method according to the present invention may further include the step of, if the information processing resources include processing information including three-dimensional event information, decreasing the amount of information based on the amount of change of the information over time.  
         [0036]     In order to achieve the above-described object, a computer-executable program for high-speed information processing, according to the present invention, includes: a modeling step of modeling a plurality of distributed information processing resources through definition of the plurality of information processing resources by attributes thereof; and a collaborating step of assigning a collaborative relationship to modeled information processing resources obtained through the modeling.  
         [0037]     In order to achieve the above-described object, in the high-speed information processing program according to the present invention, the definition may include modeling of basic components of the information processing resources and at least one of grouping, hierarchization, and parallelization of the modeled basic components.  
         [0038]     In order to achieve the above-described object, in the high-speed information processing program according to the present invention, the definition may include definition of processing operation of the modeled information processing resources and the definition of processing operation may include a condition and behavior of the processing operation.  
         [0039]     In order to achieve the above-described object, the high-speed information processing program according to the present invention may further include a transfer step of transferring the modeled information processing resources to another information processing apparatus.  
         [0040]     In order to achieve the above-described object, a recording medium according to the present invention stores a computer-executable high-speed information processing program. The program includes: a modeling step of modeling a plurality of distributed information processing resources through definition of the plurality of information processing resources by attributes thereof; and a collaborating step of assigning a collaborative relationship to modeled information processing resources obtained through the modeling.  
         [0041]     In order to achieve the above-described object, in the recording medium according to the present invention, the definition may include modeling of basic components of the information processing resources and at least one of grouping, hierarchization, and parallelization of the modeled basic components.  
         [0042]     In order to achieve the above-described object, in the recording medium according to the present invention, the definition may include definition of processing operation of the modeled information processing resources and the definition of processing operation may include a condition and behavior of the processing operation.  
         [0043]     In order to achieve the above-described object, in the recording medium according to the present invention, the high-speed information processing program may further include a transfer step of transferring the modeled information processing resources to another information processing apparatus.  
         [0044]     As described above, the present invention relates to information processing such as coordination of information processing resources and promotes coordination of information processing resources distributed at remote sites such as other continents to increase available information processing resources and contribute to convenience such as reduction in control processing load.  
         [0045]     Advantages of the present invention are described below.  
         [0046]     (1) Information processing, such as coordination of information processing resources distributed at remote sites, e.g., other continents, can be performed at higher speed, available information processing resources are increased, and the convenience of information processing resources is increased.  
         [0047]     (2) Collaboration of information processing resources between remote sites can be achieved to effectively and efficiently utilize the information processing resources.  
         [0048]     Further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0049]      FIG. 1  shows the manipulation of information processing resources distributed over a local network;  
         [0050]      FIG. 2  shows a processing procedure in ASP processing;  
         [0051]      FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of an information processing system according to a first embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0052]      FIG. 4  is a diagram depicting one example of information processing between information processing centers according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0053]      FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram depicting a computer according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0054]      FIG. 6  is a diagram depicting the structural concept of a HFW and the structure of an information processing center;  
         [0055]      FIG. 7  is a diagram depicting a definition structure;  
         [0056]      FIG. 8  depicts remote access for DLL rewriting by a HEW;  
         [0057]      FIG. 9  is a diagram illustrating fast processing control in which the functional concept shown in  FIG. 7  is used;  
         [0058]      FIGS. 10A and 10B  are diagrams depicting a collaborative relationship table and a collaboration matrix table, respectively;  
         [0059]      FIG. 11  is a diagram depicting processing time and the degree of multiplicity at an information processing center;  
         [0060]      FIG. 12  is a diagram depicting processing time and the degree of multiplicity at an information processing center;  
         [0061]      FIG. 13  is a diagram depicting a concept of processing control of information processing resources;  
         [0062]      FIG. 14  is a diagram depicting a startup command;  
         [0063]      FIG. 15  is a diagram depicting a concept of processing control between remote files;  
         [0064]      FIG. 16  is a diagram depicting a concept of continuous processing carried out by model-defining information processing resources and input/output conditions;  
         [0065]      FIG. 17  is a diagram illustrating an example of resource attribute definition;  
         [0066]      FIG. 18  is a diagram depicting a processing description example;  
         [0067]      FIG. 19  is a diagram depicting a processing-resource definition example through group hierarchical processing model definition;  
         [0068]      FIG. 20  is a diagram depicting display content of related resources;  
         [0069]      FIG. 21  is a diagram depicting a transfer processing concept;  
         [0070]      FIG. 22  is a diagram depicting a processing example for performing parallel transfer of a plurality of data items;  
         [0071]      FIG. 23  is a diagram depicting the flow of processing in a case where a plurality of client-side data items is transferred in parallel to a server side;  
         [0072]      FIG. 24  is a diagram depicting processing of a mouse event at a client and a server;  
         [0073]      FIG. 25  is a diagram depicting one example of mouse event processing at a client;  
         [0074]      FIG. 26  is a diagram depicting a change in coordinate event at a client;  
         [0075]      FIG. 27  is a flowchart illustrating an information processing method and program for information processing resources according to a second embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0076]      FIG. 28  is a diagram depicting a processing screen;  
         [0077]      FIG. 29  is a diagram depicting a processing screen;  
         [0078]      FIG. 30  is a diagram depicting a processing screen;  
         [0079]      FIG. 31  is a diagram depicting a processing screen;  
         [0080]      FIG. 32  is a diagram depicting a processing screen;  
         [0081]      FIG. 33  is a diagram depicting a processing screen;  
         [0082]      FIG. 34  schematically depicts a HFW according to a third embodiment of the present invention the present invention;  
         [0083]      FIG. 35 a  diagram depicting high-speed information transfer according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0084]      FIG. 36  is a diagram depicting an example of changed quantization bytes; and  
         [0085]      FIG. 37  is a diagram depicting a control table and a compression result table. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
     First Embodiment  
       [0086]     A first embodiment according to the present invention will now be described with reference to  FIG. 3 , which is a schematic diagram of an information processing system.  
         [0087]     An information processing system 30 includes, for example, information processing centers  301 ,  302 ,  303 ,  304 ,  305 , and  306 , functioning as bases for a plurality of distributed information processing resources, interconnected to one another via a network  32 . This structure establishes an environment for promoting the facilitation of the sharing, collaboration, and coordination of the information processing resources.  
         [0088]     The information processing center  301  includes, for example, CPU resources  331 ,  332 , and  333 ; network resources  361  and  362 ; file resources  381 ,  382 , and  383 , etc as a plurality of information processing resources. The CPU resources  331 ,  332 , and  333  are hardware resources directly responsible for information processing, and include MEMs (Memories)  401 ,  402 , and  403 , respectively. More specifically, the CPU resources  331 ,  332 , and  333  constitute a conversion processing section that defines a plurality of distributed information processing resources by attribute for modeling and gives collaborative relationships to the modeled information processing resources obtained through the modeling; and a transfer section that transfers the modeled information processing resources to other information processing apparatuses. The network resources  361  and  362  are resources that link between the CPU resources  331 ,  332 , and  333 . The file resources  381 ,  382 , and  383  are resources that store information and are also information as resources. The information processing center  301  is linked with a client  34  for exchanging information. The information processing centers  302  to  306  also include the same resources as those in the information processing center  301 .  
         [0089]     The information processing centers  301 ,  302 ,  303 ,  304 ,  305 , and  306  further include a resource aa  411 , a resource bb  412 , a resource cc  413 , a resource dd  414 , a resource ee  415 , and a resource ff  416 , respectively. They are hyper frameworks (HFWs) as file resources that link among the information processing centers  301 ,  302 ,  303 ,  304 ,  305 , and  306 . The HFWs refer to a concept and a method for applying modeling and visualization to the resources  411  to  416  of the information processing centers  301  to  306  distributed over a wide area (global area), facilitating the sharing, collaboration, and coordination of the resources  411  to  416  among the remote information processing centers  301 ,  302 ,  303 ,  304 ,  305 , and  306  through the definition of behavior of the models, and promoting such facilitation of the sharing, collaboration, and coordination. The term “modeling” represents to formalize information processing resources. Examples of the processing by the HFWs are described below.  
         [0090]     (1) Modeling information processing resources (hardware, software tools, network environments)  
         [0091]     (2) Visualizing model-defined resources  
         [0092]     (3) Defining the operation of resources and their working (behavior and results)  
         [0093]     (4) Establishing an environment (high-speed communication infrastructure) for information collaboration/coordination  
         [0094]     Information processing between information processing centers will now be described with reference to  FIGS. 4 and 5 .  FIG. 4  is a diagram depicting one example of information processing between information processing centers, and  FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram depicting a computer.  
         [0095]     An example of the present high-speed information processing method and program is given below. Referring to  FIG. 4 , the information processing center  301 , serving as a user-end base, includes a computer  42  and a file  44 . Similarly, the information processing center  302  includes a computer  46  and a file  48 . Referring to  FIG. 5 , each of the computers  42  and  46  includes, for example, a processor  501  that carries out information processing such as arithmetic operations; a storage unit  502  as a recording medium for storing programs and data; an input unit  503  used to enter data; and an output unit  504  used for data output and presentation. A keyboard  505  and a mouse  506  are installed as the input unit  503 . A display unit  507  and a printer  508  are installed as the output unit  504  for presenting information. The input unit  503  may be constructed so as to be integrated with the display unit  507 . The above-described recording medium is a recording medium storing computer-readable programs and data, and may include various storage device such as a CD-ROM and a semiconductor memory in addition to the storage unit  502 .  
         [0096]     Referring back to  FIG. 4 , when information processing is to be performed between the information processing centers  301  and  302  in an ASP (Application Service Provider) environment, ASP server processing  50  is performed in the computer  42  of the information processing center  301 . The ASP server processing  50  includes the above-described hyper framework (HFW)  52  that eliminates the need for file transfer and processing accompanied by reception of files resulting from CAD processing, unlike in the known ASP processing ( FIG. 2 ), and also increases the data transfer rate. The HFW  52  is a program that changes an access method through basic library rewriting to achieve high-speed collaboration between remote sites without changing existing various processing resources. It generates modeled information processing resources through wide-area processing model definition and systematic definition of operational collaboration for faster processing control. The HFW  52  is a collection of resource-control definitions through, for example, a GUI (Graphical User Interface). It includes collaboration file (input/output) definition (local/external), startup tool definition, mirroring (updating) definition, processing condition definition (resource control), related job (JOB) condition definition, hierarchical job model definition, etc. For startup tool definition, the basic software (OS: Operating System) for executing programs in the computer system is selected. The HFW  52  causes DLL (Dynamic Link Library) rewriting  54  to be automatically performed. A DLL is an OS&#39;s quasi-hardware-access function. Information rewritten into a DLL is stored in preset work files  561  and  562 . The HFW  52  is also provided with CAD tools  581  and  582 . In the above-described related job definition or hierarchical job model definition, jobs are work units for processing in the computer.  
         [0097]     In this ASP server processing  50 , the HFW  52  is opened, the DLL is accessed, DLL rewriting is automatically performed, a desired tool is selected from, for example, the CAD tools  581  and  582 , and required files are specified. Through this processing, a hierarchical collaboration model and utilization-resource definition are provided.  
         [0098]     According to this processing, file transfer and processing associated with the reception of result files after CAD processing are not necessary, unlike in the known ASP server processing ( FIG. 2 ), access destinations of existing access functions can be changed, replacement with the DLL is performed, and the transfer rate of data replaced with a DLL can be enhanced because the DLL performs UDP (User Datagram Protocol) processing. As a result, necessary processing can be carried out with only tool selection and tool operation as essential processing. This enables remote center servers to be operated easily at high speed by the same degree of operation as local operation. Furthermore, the function of simultaneously transferring information from one base to a plurality of bases (1:n simultaneous transfer), parallel collaboration/independent collaboration through model-definition of networks, general-modeling of information resources among remote sites through hierarchical processing concept, and large-scale collaboration and scaling-up are facilitated. The data transfer rate can further be improved through parallel transfer, which is to be described later.  
         [0099]     The HFW (hyper framework) will now be described with reference to  FIGS. 6 and 7 .  FIG. 6  is a diagram depicting the structural concept of the HFW and the structure of an information processing center.  FIG. 7  is a diagram depicting a definition structure.  
         [0100]     The HFW  52  is a program for high-speed information processing, and is a high-level collection of resource control definitions for achieving high-speed collaboration, for example, among the information processing centers  301 ,  302 ,  303 , etc. The functions of the HFW  52  include overwritten DLLs that make a change of existing applications unnecessary, a collection of resource model definitions for controlling the DLLs for general purposes, and a collection of operation definitions for the resource models. In this case, the information processing centers  301  to  303  constitute data centers. The HFW  52  is controlled by the client  34 . In the structure shown in  FIG. 6 , the HFW  52  includes high-speed collaboration access methods  62 , DLLs  661 ,  662 , . . . written to the information processing centers  301 ,  302 , etc. For example, the information processing center  301  includes a process/task  68 , an application/system  70 , and a network/server/file  72 .  
         [0101]     Referring to  FIG. 7 , the collection of definitions of the HFW  52  includes model definition  74 , operation definition  76 , GUI definition  78 , etc. The model definition  74  includes grouping/hierarchization definition  80 . The operation definition  76  includes “behavior/condition/remote collaboration/parallel operation definition”  82  and collaboration definition  84 . The collaboration definition  84  includes data-transfer speed-up processing  86 , uplink speed-up processing  88 , etc. The uplink speed-up processing  88  includes amount-of-event-change detecting processing  90 . The amount-of-event-change detecting processing  90  includes, for example, difference detection due to mouse movement.  
         [0102]     DLL rewriting in the HFW will now be described with reference to  FIG. 8 , which depicts remote access.  
         [0103]     A file  92  has an access function hierarchy structure, which includes, for example, a local access driver  94 , a DLL library  96 , and an application layer  98 . The file  92  is converted into a file  100  by overwriting the DLL library  96 . More specifically, the DLL library  96  is replaced with an intermediary DLL  102 . The file  100  is linked to incorporate a high-speed remote access driver  104 . The high-speed remote access driver  104  includes, for example, UDP+ as a driver for higher transfer rate. The UDP is a protocol that allows the IP (Internet Protocol), which is a network layer protocol, to be used from an application. For the UDP, a port number and a checksum are added to data sent from an application, and the data is then transferred in IP packets.  
         [0104]     Since the DLL library  96  accessed by an application is replaced with the intermediary DLL  102 , as described above, the high-speed remote access driver  104  can be incorporated without applying a change to the existing application layer  98  to speed up remote access.  
         [0105]     Speed-up processing control will now be described with reference to  FIGS. 9, 10A ,  10 B,  11 , and  12 .  FIG. 9  is a diagram illustrating fast processing control in which the functional concept shown in  FIG. 7  is used.  FIGS. 10A and 10B  are diagrams depicting a collaborative relationship table and a collaboration matrix table, respectively.  FIGS. 11 and 12  are diagrams depicting the relationships between processing time and the degree of multiplicity of information processing centers.  
         [0106]     Referring to  FIG. 9 , a giant processing chain  23  capable of processing a giant job is constructed to achieve high-speed processing control through systematic definition of collaborative operation that enables collaboration among a plurality of the remote information processing centers  301 ,  302 ,  303 ,  304 , and  305  based on the above-described collection of definitions of the HFW  52 . In  FIG. 9 , it is assumed that the information processing centers  301  to  305  have jobs a, b, c, d, and e, respectively.  
         [0107]     In the collaborative relationships shown in  FIG. 9 , arrows indicate link destinations. The job a is linked with the jobs b, c, and d. The job b is linked with the job c. The job d is linked with the job e. The job e is linked with the job c. This giant processing chain  23  is a concept for realizing high-speed processing control by systematic definition of the above-described collaborative operation, where many jobs, such as the jobs a, b, c, d, and e, are included.  
         [0108]     A collaborative relationship table ( FIG. 10A ) defining the structure and processing sequence of the jobs a, b, c, d, and e is input to generate a collaboration matrix table ( FIG. 10B ) including link destination jobs and link levels. In this case, reverse links can also be assigned to further improve the processing speed at the time of updating.  
         [0109]     In the collaborative relationship table ( FIG. 10A ), the job names a to e are shown in the left column. In the right column, job names of link destination (collaboration) jobs corresponding to the job names in the left column are shown. The collaborative relationships of the collaborative relationship table correspond to the relationships in  FIG. 9 . “END” represents the end of link.  
         [0110]     In the collaboration matrix table ( FIG. 10B ), for example, N=2, N=3, and N=4 are set, where N is the number of link levels of the link destinations. Arrows indicate link directions. “S” and “*” indicate release of link. The processing sequence is arranged in the reverse order from the maximum value by setting the number of link levels N. In this case, jobs where the number of link levels is duplicated can be processed or collaborated in parallel, and the processing speed can be increased through this parallel collaboration.  
         [0111]     The processing of the information processing centers  301  and  302  proceed, for example, as shown in  FIG. 11 . In  FIG. 11 , the horizontal axis represents processing time, and the vertical axis represents the level of multiplicity of job processing. Processing proceeds and time passage occurs in the direction of arrows. In this case, high-speed transfer is carried out from job a to job b, and high-speed transfer is carried out from job b to job c. The transfer time can be calculated by measuring the network environment during this transfer.  
         [0112]     Referring to  FIG. 12 , the above-described processing leads to time reduction at the communication portions indicated by double dotted lines by about 90% compared with the known processing. This time reduction is effective for speeding up the overall processing especially in frequent high-speed transfer, such as in a case where a giant job is divided for distribution, collaboration, and high-speed transfer among many information processing centers.  
         [0113]     Processing control of various information processing resources will now be described with reference to  FIGS. 13, 14 , and  15 .  FIG. 13  is a diagram depicting a concept of processing control of information processing resources.  FIG. 14  is a diagram depicting a concept of processing control between remote files.  FIG. 15  is a diagram depicting one example of base distribution design.  
         [0114]     Various processing resources are subjected to modeling into collaboratable units. More specifically, for model definition of remote collaborative processing, the basic components of each of processing resources, namely, hardware, software, and network, are modeled and then the models are grouped, hierarchized, and parallelized. For collaborative operation, the processing resources are systematically defined, parsed, and developed into a table to map a series of processing systems for linking.  
         [0115]     Referring to  FIG. 13 , in this case, a plurality of the information processing centers  301 ,  302 , . . .  30 X are installed and collaborated. A server-side processing resource control section  106  that carries out processing related to the definition of clients is installed in the information processing center  301 . In the processing resource control section  106 , parsing  110  is applied to an assigned collection of processing-resource definitions  108 , and “center-to-center resource management table generation processing and upper-level remote resource collaboration command generation processing”  112  is carried out. More specifically, the overall resource system is hierarchized by applying parsing  110  to the assigned collection of processing-resource definitions  108 . The resources common to the information processing centers  301  and  302  and the information processing centers  302  and  30 X are managed by generating a management link table that is referable and easy-to-add, delete, etc. between the information processing centers  301  and  302  and the information processing centers  30 X and  301 .  
         [0116]     In this case, a collection of resource definitions  113  are defined by collaboration commands such as applications, files, and networks. For example, a center-to-center table link, a center-identifying ID (Identification), a hierarchical level, a resource attribute, a related resource link, an execution condition, and a lower-level resource link are assigned to a center-to-center resource definition table  114 . The collection of resource definitions  113  and the center-to-center resource definition table  114  are linked with each other.  
         [0117]     Furthermore, in this processing resource control section  106 , parsing  118  is applied to assigned processing control definition  116 , and a lower-level remote collaboration command  120  corresponding to the lower-level resource link of the center-to-center resource definition table  114  is generated. A startup command  122  is generated based on the interpretation of the processing control definition  116 , and detailed-processing definition is linked to commands.  
         [0118]     Referring to  FIG. 14 , for the processing of the processing resource control section  106 , commands with resource support and processing condition startup, related-program startup commands/execution conditions, etc. are generated at high speed through processing  112  and  120  based on the assigned collection of processing-resource definitions  108 , the parsing  110 , the processing control definition  116 , and the parsing  118 . More specifically, in this processing, resource definition and processing definition are interpreted, and a program startup command in which required input/output resources are described is generated. A high-speed processing space  123  constitutes high-speed processing centers distributed in a wide range.  
         [0119]     Based on a program startup procedure and processing conditions by processing condition control  124 , a specified server  126  is added on to start up a program for high-speed processing. Since an input file  128  and a remote file  130  existing at a remote site can exchange information via high-speed transfer  132  such as the above-described UDP, the input file  128  receives necessary data from the remote file  130 . The acquired data is executed with, for example, CAD  134  to generate an output file  136 . Multiple processing represents multiple transfer processing to be shown in  FIG. 22  later.  
         [0120]     The processing resource control section  106  is provided as described above. Processing resources and their processing operation (behavior) are defined. High-speed transfer of the information processing resources through processing based on the definitions is collaborated with processing operation that input such resources. With such processing, the transfer rate and resource operability at a long distance level are improved.  
         [0121]     Resources are associated with each other based on the above-described definition processing. In a case of remote resources, a startup command that starts up a high-speed transfer processing program is generated. Referring to  FIG. 15 , in processing control for such processing, data of “general system test data development” in a data center A (e.g., the information processing center  301 ) is composed of VHDL (Very high-speed integrated circuit Hardware Description Language) test data. Its subordinate concept, “system LSI (Large Scale Integration) development”, is carried out. This system LSI development includes system design, PCB (Printed Circuit Board) design, LSI design, etc. as tool screen menus. The system LSI development further includes development of a receiver {OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) library} at a center U (e.g., the information processing center  302 ), development of an image processing-section {MPEG7 (Multimedia Content Description Interface-7) library} at a center V (e.g., the information processing center  303 ), and development of a 3D (three dimensional) display section (graphic library) at a center W (e.g., the information processing center  304 ). In short, part design distributed in the centers U, V, and W is integrated as a system at the center A into design for resource control.  
         [0122]     Continuous processing by model definition will now be described with reference to  FIGS. 16, 17 ,  18 , and  19 .  FIG. 16  is a diagram depicting a concept of continuous processing carried out by model-defining information processing resources and input/output conditions.  FIG. 17  is a diagram illustrating an example of resource attribute definition.  FIG. 18  is a diagram depicting a processing description example.  FIG. 19  is a diagram depicting a processing-resource definition example through group hierarchical processing model definition. The same processing operations in  FIG. 16  as those in  FIG. 14  are denoted with the same reference numerals as those in  FIG. 14 .  
         [0123]     In this coordination processing, processing methods such as independent parallel processing and collaborative parallel processing, processing conditions, and operation/behavior are defined for resource models (modeled processing resources) through processing operation definition for remote collaborative processing in order to achieve collaborative processing of resources at remote sites. More specifically, as a result of attribute definition for each resource in the processing condition definition  125 , the input file  128  is generated and is then passed to a high-speed network file management system  140 . In this high-speed network file management system  140 , for example, CAD processing  1  is carried out as processing X of the CAD  134 . For this performance, data required for the CAD processing is provided from a library  142  and control data α is provided from a database  144 .  
         [0124]     Data resulting from the CAD processing  1  is replaced with an intermediary file  146 . In continuous processing condition definition  148 , the intermediary file  146  is assigned attribute definition for each resource and passed to a high-speed network file management system  150 . In the high-speed network file management system  150 , for example, CAD processing  2  is carried out. For this performance, data required for the CAD processing is provided from a library  152  and control data β is provided from a database  154 . The output file  136  ( FIG. 14 ) is generated from the high-speed network file management system  150 .  
         [0125]     Referring to  FIG. 17 , as for definition command, definition name, and attribute, definition for each resource includes file resource definition, processing resource definition, mirroring file definition, utilization resource definition in, for example, bottom-up processing through processing hierarchical model definition, and processing hierarchy definition. File resource definition is expressed as, for example, “FA=hftp:12.34.56.78/ABC.FILE;” (hftp=meaning high-speed file transfer). Processing resource definition is expressed as, for example, “CAD1=JOB123, CAD2=JOB987;”. Mirroring file definition is expressed as, for example, “MIRF=C:MIRROR.FILE;”. A definition name in processing hierarchy definition is expressed as, for example, “L1:CAD1, CAD2;”.  
         [0126]     In the processing behavior definition, processing methods, conditions, operation/behavior, resource collaboration with remote sites, collaborative operation such as practical collaborative utilization, etc. are defined for the above-described resource models. This definition includes processing behavior definition (resource control), processing condition specification, etc. The processing behavior definition(resource control) is expressed as, for example, “:if/for/while/do;”. Processing condition specification is expressed as, for example, “:if (CAD1.STT&gt;9)break;”. If the completion code of the processing of CAD 1  is higher than “9” in “CAD1.STT&gt;9” as a processing condition, the subsequent processing is terminated.  
         [0127]     With processing rules specified based on these resource definitions, coordination operation sharing files distributed at a plurality of remote bases and continuous collaborative processing using files at remote bases become possible. For definition in this processing, “fdef FA, FB, FC, FD, LX, LY;” is expressed for, for example, file definition. Continuous collaborative processing between remote sites and its control become possible by giving such a series of definitions.  
         [0128]     Attributes of each resource are defined as shown in  FIG. 17 . As a result of processing rules ( FIG. 18 ) being specified based on this resource definition, collaborative operation sharing distributed files and continuous collaborative processing using files at remote sites become possible. As shown in  FIG. 19 , processing resources are defined through group hierarchy processing model definition. As is apparent from this definition, for example, with regard to CAD files CAD 1 , CAD 2 , CAD 3 , and CAD 4  as processing resources, CAD 1  and CAD 2  are grouped in group definition HL 1 , and processing is possible in units of the group definition HL 1 . The group definition HL 1 , CAD 3 , and CAD 4  are included in parent-child definition HL 2 . In other words, HL 2  has a relationship of large group definition with HL 1 . In that group, the group definition HL 1 , CAD 3 , and CAD 4  are at the same level. This parent-child definition HL 2  is above the group definition HL 1 , the group definition HL 1  is below the parent-child definition HL 2 , and there is a hierarchical relationship between HL 1  and HL 2 . Objects not included in the group definition HL 1  or parent-child definition HL 2  are independent of each other and can be parallelized.  
         [0129]     Such assignment of definition finds correlation between information processing resources, and objects that can be processed independently serve as triggers for classification of parallel processing or functional classification. Especially in processing using a cluster CPU (Central Processing Unit), related jobs can be arranged in advance as a group of sequence processing for processing that requires priority indicating parent-child relationships of resources or the temporal order. Such processing is very important since it contributes to efficient collaboration of information processing resources existing at remote sites and efficient data collaboration.  
         [0130]     Facilitation of definition of related information processing resources will now be described with reference to  FIG. 20 , which is a diagram depicting display content of related resources.  
         [0131]     Modeled related information processing resources are visually displayed to facilitate various types of definition. In this mechanism, resource information to be processed at each base is specified. For example, the processing capacity, files, applications, networks, etc. are specified. Related collaborative items include applications, data support, etc.  
         [0132]     In this display example ( FIG. 20 ), the information processing centers  301 ,  302 ,  303 ,  304  and  305  and the networks  32 A and  32 B are displayed. The file ua is displayed in the information processing center  301 , the file ub is displayed in the information processing center  302 , and resource management menus  156  and  158  and work files LA and LB are displayed in the information processing center  303 . The resource management menu  158  is detail display of a tool  1  displayed in the resource management menu  156 . In this case, the networks  32 A and  32 B may be constructed as a single network  32 .  
         [0133]     Parallel transfer of a plurality of data items will now be described with reference to  FIGS. 21, 22 , and  23 .  FIG. 21  is a diagram depicting a transfer processing concept.  FIG. 22  is a diagram depicting a processing example for performing parallel transfer of a plurality of data items.  FIG. 23  is a diagram depicting the flow of processing in a case where a plurality of client-side data items is transferred in parallel to a server side. The same components are assigned the same reference numerals throughout the figures.  
         [0134]     In the processing shown in  FIG. 21 , for example, a plurality of data items in the information processing center  301  functioning as a client is transferred in parallel via the network  32  to, for example, the information processing center  302  functioning as a server. Transfer files  166  are provided as the plurality of data items. In this example, transfer files F 1 , F 2 , . . . Fn are rewritten into UDP+1, UDP+2, . . . UDP+n as UDPs  168 .  
         [0135]     Referring to  FIG. 22 , for example, the information processing centers  302 ,  303 , and  304  exist as a plurality of servers. In this example, the files F 1  to F 3  are transferred to the information processing center  302 , and the file Fn is transferred to the information processing centers  303  and  304 . The information processing center  302  is provided with UDP+1, UDP+2, and UDP+3 as UDPs  170 , and the transferred files F 1 , F 2 , and F 3  are generated. Similarly, the information processing centers  303  and  304  are provided with a UDP+n as the UDPs  170 , and the transferred file Fn is generated.  
         [0136]     Line measurement is performed in preprocessing  164  of the information processing center  301  functioning as the client. In this preprocessing  164 , the traffic is measured with a network command. Then, the effective range of line speed with respect to the capacities of the transfer files F 1  to Fn is calculated, and parallel communication is performed based on UDP to perform file transfer at higher speed between collaborating servers.  
         [0137]     As described above, UDP processing is a protocol in which the IP protocol as a network layer protocol can be used from an application only with a minor change. More specifically, data passed from an application is assigned only a port number and a checksum and is packed in an IP packet for transmission. Since UDP is a protocol with a function for sending data to a destination in a unilateral way, it is less intensive in protocol processing. Thus, UDP is advantageous to an application that exchanges small packets because the data transfer rate is increased without having to open/close a TOP connection or perform re-sending.  
         [0138]     The degree of multiplicity of this file transfer is calculated through a line measurement. In this case, collaboration among information processing centers is achieved by means of simultaneous 1:n transmission to a plurality of information processing centers to increase the data transfer rate. With these functions, optimal data reference and transfer according to the network traffic and usage are accomplished.  
         [0139]     Referring to  FIG. 23  showing processing where a plurality of data items, for example, in the client-end information processing center  301  are transferred in parallel to, for example, the server-end information processing centers  302  to  304 , processing procedures are described in the left column and processing ranges and times are described in the right column. In this processing, in the first step, the network environment is measured with a network command. Second, the line speed and parallelly transferable range and order are calculated. Third and fourth, parallel and high-speed transfer is performed based on UDP processing. At some interval, the network (nw) band is measured to calculate the degree of parallelization at which simultaneous transfer is possible and the order. Fifth and sixth, the degree of parallelization is changed though UDP processing for communication. The above-described processing is repeated. Processing operations P 1  and P 2  indicate multiple processing. The degree of multiplicity of the processing P 1  is 2, and the degree of multiplicity of the processing P 2  is 3. Thus, data reference and transfer at the highest possible speed can be performed according to the network state.  
         [0140]     Transmission of a mouse event, from a client to a server will now be described with reference to  FIGS. 24, 25 , and  26 .  FIG. 24  is a diagram depicting processing of a mouse event at a client and a server.  FIG. 25  is a diagram depicting one example of mouse event processing at a client.  FIG. 26  is a diagram depicting a change in coordinate event at a client.  
         [0141]     A mouse coordinate event  174  is displayed on the display unit  507  of the computer (e.g., computer  42  in  FIG. 4 ) in, for example, the information processing center  301  functioning as a client. The mouse coordinate event  174  is displayed by means of a plurality of dots  176  arranged from a point M 1  to a point Mn. As shown, the dots  176  of the mouse coordinate event  174  that represent movement coordinate positions of the mouse  506  ( FIG. 5 ) are fine coordinate data.  
         [0142]     The coordinate data is extracted through coordinate data extraction processing  178 , and is then subjected to UDP conversion processing  180 . Subsequently, the coordinate data is transferred to a server, e.g., the information processing center  302  via the network  32  such as the Internet. With a CAD tool  182  which is software loaded into a computer (e.g., computer  46  in  FIG. 4 ) in the information processing center  302 , a mouse coordinate event  184  is generated as server-side virtual processing. In this case, the coordinate data corresponding to a slow-movement portion of the mouse  506  is subjected to decimation. More specifically, the trace of the mouse movement from the point M 1  to the point Mn is expressed with two dots M 2  and M 3 . For this reason, the mouse coordinate event  184  contributes to a reduction in processing time compared with the mouse coordinate event  174 .  
         [0143]     The above-described decimation of coordinate data will be described in detail with reference to  FIG. 25 . At a client such as the information processing center  301 , when three-dimensional coordinate input is performed with the mouse  506  ( FIG. 5 ), the mouse coordinate event  174  is displayed on the display unit  507  with three-dimensional coordinates X, Y, and Z.  
         [0144]     The coordinate data representing the mouse coordinate event  174  is subjected to coordinate data extraction processing  178 , passes through an event filter  186  for data decimation, and is finally subjected to the UDP conversion processing  180 . The event filter  186  extracts coordinate data with a large data variation per unit of time. This processing by the event filter  186  decimates coordinate data corresponding to a low-movement portion of the mouse coordinate event  174  ranging from the start to the end of the mouse movement. Referring to  FIG. 26  showing a coordinate variation model of the mouse coordinate event  174  in which the vertical axis represents variations per unit of time and the horizontal axis represents times, the mouse coordinate event  174  starts from a movement-start point  183 , proceeds via a slow-movement portion  185 , a fast-movement portion  188 , and a slow-movement portion  190 , and finally reaches a movement-end point  192 . Here, an approximating line  194  to the slow-movement portion  185  is assumed. The slope of the approximating line  194  is expressed by the derivative value dx·dy·dz/d, so that the coordinate data is decimated in a portion with a gentle slope. In this example, the mouse coordinate event  174  is composed of coordinate points n 0 , n 1 , n 2 , n 3 , n 4 , n 5 , n 6 , n 7 , n 8 , n 9 , and n 10 . The slow-movement portion  185  is composed of the coordinate points n 0  to n 2 , the fast-movement portion  188  is composed of the coordinate points n 3  to n 6 , and the slow-movement portion  190  is composed of the coordinate points n 7  to n 10 . The coordinate points n 3  to n 6  in the fast-movement portion  188  are denser per unit of time, while the slow-movement portion  185  and the slow-movement portion  190  have a lower density.  
         [0145]     According to the above-described processing, for processing that requires high responsiveness between men and machines, such as dialog processing with a remote site in an ASP environment, coordinate data resulting from mouse operation at a client (e.g., information processing center  301 ) during uplink needs to be transferred at high speed. A decrease in responsiveness due to long transfer time of mouse coordinate events can be mitigated by eliminating the coordinate data with a small variation and by processing the coordinate data via the UDP conversion processing  180 . This processing suppresses a decrease in communication speed for inter-continental data transfer, and hence promotes smooth moving images.  
         [0146]     In a typical communication environment, the uplink (client to server) communication band is narrower and suffers from a lower communication speed than the downlink (server to client) communication band. More specifically, man-to-machine dialog processing in a server/client system exhibits a large delay with frequent mouse events, because the uplink (client to server) communication capacity is smaller than the downlink (server to client) communication capacity. In contrast, according to the processing shown in  FIG. 25 , mouse events can be transmitted fast to a server (e.g., the information processing center  302 ) of the information processing center  301  by decreasing the coordinate data density.  
         [0147]     Continuous coordinate information transmission resulting from a mouse operation is highly reliable if performed via TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). However, TCP/IP adds a time for bi-directional communication checking, which causes a delay in the transmission of mouse event information at the client and results in adverse effect on the responsiveness of the entire dialog processing. In contrast, the UDP conversion processing  180  is free of bi-directional communication checking, and therefore, does not exhibit a delay due to the bi-directional communication checking. This contributes to a reduction in processing time. Several comparisons between UDP and TCP are as follows. With regard to connection topology, UDP supports 1:1 or 1:n connections while TCP supports only a 1:1 connection. With regard to transmission units, data is transmitted in packets for UDP, while data is transmitted in streams for TCP. With regard to the establishment of connection before transmission, UDP is connectionless, while TCP requires the establishment of connection. With regard to computational load, UDP is less intensive than TCP in computation.  
         [0148]     Transmission of continuous three-dimensional coordinate information resulting from, for example, a three-dimensional mouse operation adds a delay due to bi-directional communication checking and exhibits slower event information transmission at a client over a long distance, adversely affecting the responsiveness of the entire dialog processing. Coordinate data with a large variation per unit of time is extracted by the use of the event filter  186  to alleviate the communication traffic to a server, e.g., the information processing center  302 . Along with this decimation of coordinate data, UDP-based communication contributes to an improvement in responsiveness.  
       Second Embodiment  
       [0149]     A second embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to  FIGS. 27, 28 ,  29 ,  30 ,  31 ,  32 , and  33 .  FIG. 27  is a flowchart illustrating an information processing method and program for information processing resources.  FIGS. 28, 29 ,  30 ,  31 ,  32 , and  33  are diagrams depicting display screens for processing.  
         [0150]     Access is made to, for example, an ASP center at a remote site via the network  32  ( FIG. 3 ), and, for example, a start menu display  196  ( FIG. 28 ) is loaded on the display screen of the display unit  507  ( FIG. 5 ) (step S 1 ). A tool selection display  197  is derived from the start menu display  196 , and a required tool is selected from the tool selection display  197  (step S 2 ). When access is made to a file which is an information processing resource at a remote site, file resource definition  200  is input to a tool selection display  198  as required (step S 3 ).  
         [0151]     For a tool started up with a specific OS, the file is selected (step S 4 ) and the tool is started (step S 5 ). In short, as shown in (A) and (B) of  FIG. 30 , a particular file  204  is selected from a file selection display  202  to start it up. For example, as shown in  FIG. 31 , a startup screen  206  of the file  204  is displayed.  
         [0152]     In this example of processing, a network file at a remote site is processed with a different OS (step S 6 ). This processing is executed by performing network specification  210  on a network specification screen  208  shown in  FIG. 32 . As shown in  FIG. 33 , a tool startup display  212  is derived to execute tool startup for the particular OS to start up the tool. Consequently, various information processing resources at the remote site can be utilized.  
       Third Embodiment  
       [0153]     A third embodiment according to the present invention will now be described with reference to  FIG. 34 , which schematically depicts the HFW as one example of the present invention.  
         [0154]     As described above, the present invention is mainly intended for efficient utilization of information processing resources existing at remote sites, such as other continents. In the following description, it is assumed that an EU center  220  resides as a plurality of bases in Europe, an ASEAN center  222  resides in Asia, a JP center  224  resides in Japan, and a US center  226  resides in the USA. It is also assumed that design data exists in the EU center  220 , PLM operation is performed in the ASEAN center  222  and the JP center  224 , and a design data library exists in the US center  226 . A PLM center  228  is linked to the EU center  220 , the ASEAN center  222 , the JP center  224 , and the US center  226 . The PLM center  228  has a hyper framework (HFW)  232  set as ASP server processing in a server  230 . For the HEW  232 , an application  234 , such as electricity/machine/analysis CAD, is executed. It is assumed that the application  234  is executed on various OS&#39;s including the commercially available ISV tool. In the HFW  232 , for the execution of the application  234 , data conversion processing by the use of the design data in the EU center  220  and the design data library in the US center  226  is performed. As a result, PLM data  236  is calculated. These centers  220 ,  222 ,  224 ,  226 , and  228  correspond to the above-described information processing centers  301 ,  302 ,  303 ,  304 , and  305 .  
         [0155]     For the transfer and utilization of information processing resources at other continents according to the above-described structure, ASP server processing ( FIGS. 3, 4 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 , etc.) is performed centrally using transfer data from information processing centers and the PLM data  236 , information processing resources distributed at remote sites can be utilized, and high-speed data transfer can be performed, as described above.  
       Fourth Embodiment  
       [0156]     A fourth embodiment according to the present invention will now be described with reference to  FIGS. 35, 36 , and  37 .  FIG. 35  is a diagram depicting high-speed information transfer.  FIG. 36  is a diagram depicting an example of changed quantization bytes.  FIG. 37  is a diagram depicting a control table and a compression result table.  
         [0157]     According to this embodiment, as means for defining information processing resources to achieve high-speed transfer, quantization units of bits are changed to an optimal variable number of bytes and are expressed as the amount of change in transfer units (e.g., buffer size) to combine a method for decreasing the amount of transfer information for the overall (compression) processing in the transfer units with high-speed characteristics of the UDP transfer method. According to high-speed transfer in variable quantization bits, the amount of transfer information can be decreased and the transfer rate can be increased as such processing.  
         [0158]     As for the origin of information processing systems, inputs and/or outputs are converted into a two-dimensional plane in order to conclude to human&#39;s visual (auditory) recognition. High-speed sequential processing is the basics of information processing, which needs to be ordered one dimensionally. On the interface, interconversion is continuously in progress. The digital signals are represented in values (quantization bits) of a certain number of steps. Actual transfer data has a structure for maintaining high accuracy, and is expressed in a larger number of bits than necessary, and consequently a larger amount of information than necessary is transferred. From a viewpoint of a similarity between before and after data with focus centered on the continuous uniformity of the data, visual data such as images exhibits a small variation, i.e., only several percent of the entire expressible information. In short, about 90% of the entire information is transferred meaninglessly.  
         [0159]     A typical information processing system is processed in units of four bytes (e.g., one word is composed of 32 bits). From a byte-by-byte viewpoint, there is a high similarity between every pair of four bytes preceding and following a byte. From a viewpoint of certain units of data, data similarity is likely to be high in units of two dimensions (planes) if the data is image data. Based on these data similarities, a byte-by-byte data similarity in units of words, units of transfer buffers, units of planes for each application, etc. are acquired, and similar portions of data are expressed as differences for omission to reduce the amount of information and achieve high-speed information transfer.  
         [0160]     For this purpose, quantization units of bits are changed to an optimal variable number of bytes and are expressed as the amount of change in transfer units (e.g., buffer size) to perform transfer in the units. This decreases the amount of overall transfer information.  
         [0161]     Referring to  FIG. 35 , according to this embodiment, an information transmitter and an information receiver are assumed to be the information processing center  301  and the information processing center  302 , respectively. In the information processing center  301 , transfer data  252  is compressed in a compression processing section  254  to generate a control table (CTLT)  256  and a compression result table (CNTT)  258 . This compression processing has been already described, and the CTLT  256  and the CNTT  258  are as shown in  FIG. 37 . The CTLT  256  and the CNTT  258  are transferred to the information processing center  302  via the network  32 . This transfer is based on UDP.  
         [0162]     In the information processing center  302 , the received CTLT′  257  and the CNNT′  259  are decompressed into data  253  through decompression by a decompression processing section  260 , and are sent to the information processing center  301 . In the information processing center  301 , transferred CNLT″  263  and CNTT″  265  are added to a data comparison section  262 , and decompressed with the returned compression table for comparison. If a mismatch (e.g., difference) arises as a result of the comparison, the portion associated with the mismatch is resent. In the known TCP communication, for example, matching of all data is automatically performed, causing a delay due to checking at routers for long-range communication, which leads to slow data processing. According to the above-described transfer based on variable quantization bytes, the data transfer rate can be improved.  
         [0163]     As shown in the example of changed quantization bytes in  FIG. 36 , in compression processing by the compression processing section  254 , information before transfer is expressed in bytes. In this example, through byte-by-byte reference to data in units of words, the number of subsequent duplicate bytes is recorded in the CTLT  256  as shown in (A) of  FIG. 37 . Subsequent different bytes remain as-is, and reference is made to the following word. Consequently, the CNTT  258  shown in (B) of  FIG. 37  is generated as a result of compression processing. The amount of transferred data can be reduced for faster data transfer by sending the CTLT  256  and the CNTT  258  as the result of compression in transfer units (e.g., 1024 bytes) through this processing.  
         [0164]     In this compression processing, the amount of transmission data and the compression ratio are as follows.  
               Amount   ⁢           ⁢   of   ⁢           ⁢   transmission   ⁢           ⁢   data     =         size   ⁢           ⁢   of   ⁢           ⁢   control   ⁢           ⁢   table   ⁢           ⁢     (     10   ⁢   B   ⁢     :     ⁢   2   ×   5     )       +     size   ⁢           ⁢   of   ⁢           ⁢   compression   ⁢           ⁢   data   ⁢           ⁢     (     13   ⁢   B     )         =     23   ⁢   B               (   1   )                 Compression   ⁢           ⁢   ratio     =       1   -     23   ⁢           ⁢       (   transmission   )     /   32     ⁢           ⁢     (     source   ⁢           ⁢   data     )         =     0.28   =     28   ⁢   %                 (   2   )             
 
         [0165]     Simultaneous processing of data compression and high-speed transfer at the transmitter and data decompression at the receiver for each transmission buffer makes efficient the integrated processing system including long-range communication. This offers the advantage of high-speed long-range collaboration.  
         [0166]     Although the most preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described hereinabove, it is to be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to the above description and that various changes and modifications will naturally occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention defined in the appended claims or disclosed herein. Moreover, needless to say, such changes and modifications are encompassed in the scope of the present invention.  
         [0167]     The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-382116 including specification, claims, drawings and summary are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.