Chat system and chat management apparatus

A chat system comprising:

• a plurality of talk servers;
• a gateway apparatus that allocates and delivers content posted from a user terminal to the plurality of talk servers;
• and
• a chat management apparatus that controls the plurality of talk servers and the gateway apparatus,
• wherein each of the plurality of talk servers includes a memory storing a room setting unit that sets one or more chat rooms of a plurality of chat rooms under control of the chat management apparatus, and a posting-related processing unit that receives content, which is posted from a user terminal of a user belonging to a chat room via the gateway apparatus, by the corresponding chat room, supplies the received content to an independent external storage apparatus different from the plurality of talk servers and stores the content in a database,
• the gateway apparatus includes a memory storing an allocation and delivery unit that delivers the content posted from the user terminal of the user belonging to the chat room to a talk server of the plurality of chat rooms in which the corresponding chat room is set,
• the chat management apparatus includes a memory storing a room allocation unit that allocates the plurality of chat rooms to the plurality of talk servers in a distributed manner to make processing loads on the plurality of talk servers satisfy a predetermined condition related to uniformity, and
• a delivery destination control unit that sets, by controlling the gateway apparatus, a delivery destination of the content posted from the user terminal of the user belonging to the chat room to the talk server in which the corresponding chat room is set according to allocation by the room allocation unit,
• the room allocation unit monitors the processing loads on the plurality of talk servers, and re-executes allocation of the plurality of chat rooms to the plurality of talk servers to satisfy the predetermined condition related to uniformity when the processing loads on the plurality of talk servers do not satisfy the predetermined condition related to uniformity,
• the room setting unit resets the one or more chat rooms according to allocation after re-execution when allocation of the plurality of chat rooms is re-executed by the room allocation unit, and
• the delivery destination control unit controls the gateway apparatus to switch a talk server of the plurality of talk servers to which the content is delivered according to allocation after re-execution when allocation of the plurality of chat rooms is re-executed by the room allocation unit.

A chat management apparatus for controlling a plurality of talk servers, each of the plurality of talk servers comprises a plurality of chat rooms, each of the plurality of talk servers performs a process of receiving content posted from a user terminal of a user belonging to a chat room by a corresponding chat room, supplying the received content to an independent external storage apparatus different from the plurality of talk servers and storing the content in a database, and a gateway apparatus that allocates and delivers the content posted from the user terminal to the plurality of talk servers, the chat management apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• a hardware memory storing a room allocation unit that allocates the plurality of chat rooms to the plurality of talk servers in a distributed and redundant manner;
• and
• a delivery destination control unit that sets, by controlling the gateway apparatus, a delivery destination of the content posted from the user terminal of the user belonging to the chat room to a talk server in which the corresponding chat room is set according to allocation by the room allocation unit,
• wherein the delivery destination control unit monitors an operating status of the plurality of talk servers, and controls the gateway apparatus when it is detected that a failure has occurred in one talk server of the plurality of the talk servers, to switch from the one talk server to another talk server of the plurality of talk servers.

A chat management apparatus for controlling a plurality of talk servers, each of the plurality of talk servers comprises a plurality of chat rooms, each of the plurality of talk servers performs a process of receiving content posted from a user terminal of a user belonging to a chat room by the corresponding chat room, supplying the received content to an independent external storage apparatus different from the plurality of talk servers and storing the content in a database to store the content, and a gateway apparatus that allocates and delivers the content posted from the user terminal to the plurality of talk servers, the chat management apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• a hardware memory storing:
• a room allocation unit that allocates a plurality of chat rooms to the plurality of talk servers in a distributed manner to make processing loads on the plurality of talk servers satisfy a predetermined condition related to uniformity;
• and
• a delivery destination control unit that sets, by controlling the gateway apparatus, a delivery destination of the content posted from the user terminal of the user belonging to the chat room to a talk server in which the corresponding chat room is set according to allocation by the room allocation unit, wherein the room allocation unit monitors the processing loads on the plurality of talk servers, and re-executes allocation of the plurality of chat rooms to the plurality of talk servers to satisfy the predetermined condition related to uniformity when the processing loads on the plurality of talk servers do not satisfy the predetermined condition related to uniformity, and the delivery destination control unit controls the gateway apparatus to switch one talk server of the plurality of talk servers to which the content is delivered according to allocation after re-execution when allocation of the plurality of chat rooms is re-executed by the room allocation unit.