Patent Grant
9800629
This patent application is based on and claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(a) to Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2014-197783, filed on Sep. 29, 2014, and 2015-177385, filed on Sep. 9, 2015, in the Japan Patent Office, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to managing transmission of content data from one communication terminal to the other communication terminal.
Description of the Related Art
With the increased need for reduction in business trip costs and time in recent years, communication systems that communicate via a communication network such as the Internet or a dedicated line are widely spread. In the communication systems, content data such as image data or sound data are transmitted or received among a plurality of communication terminals to carry out videoconference.
The communication systems may be used for providing various services including, for example, conversation, videoconference, lecture, reception, help desk, remote medical diagnosis system, and remote monitoring.
Example embodiments of the present invention include a system that stores, in a memory, first service identification information for identifying a service to be used by a first communication terminal that requests for content data, second service identification information for identifying a service to be used by a second communication terminal that transmits content data, and content data information indicating property of content data that can be transmitted to the first communication terminal, in association with one another. After a session for transmitting content data is established between the first communication terminal and the second communication terminal, the system controls transmission of content data from the second communication terminal to the first communication terminal, so as to transmit content data having a property indicated by the content data information that is stored in association with the first service identification information and the second service identification information.
The above-described system may be implemented by a management system such as a sever, a terminal such as the second communication terminal.
Example embodiments of the present invention include a method of controlling transmission of control data, and a transmission control program stored on a non-transitory recording medium.
A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendant advantages and features thereof can be readily obtained and understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The accompanying drawings are intended to depict example embodiments of the present invention and should not be interpreted to limit the scope thereof. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered as drawn to scale unless explicitly noted.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes” and/or “including”, when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
In describing example embodiments shown in the drawings, specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected and it is to be understood that each specific element includes all technical equivalents that operate in a similar manner.
In the following description, illustrative embodiments will be described with reference to acts and symbolic representations of operations (e.g., in the form of flowcharts) that may be implemented as program modules or functional processes including routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types and may be implemented using existing hardware at existing network elements or control nodes. Such existing hardware may include one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs), digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific-integrated-circuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) computers or the like. These terms in general may be referred to as processors.
Unless specifically stated otherwise, or as is apparent from the discussion, terms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical, electronic quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.
Referring now to the drawings, an embodiment of the present invention is described. In the following, a “communication terminal” may simply be referred to as a “terminal”, and a “communication management system” may simply be referred to as a “management system”.
<Configuration of Communication System>
The terminals (10aa, 10ab, 10ac, . . . ), the relay device 30a, and the router 70a are connected through a LAN 2a to be communicable with each other. The LAN 2a and the LAN 2b are connected through a dedicated line 2ab including the router 70ab to be communicable with each other. The LAN 2a, the LAN 2b, and the dedicated line 2ab are provided in an area X. Any one of these devices may be connected directly to the Internet 2i, without using the dedicated line.
The terminals (10ca, 10cb, 10cc, . . . ), the relay device 30c, and the router 70c are connected through the LAN 2c to be communicable with each other through the LAN 2c. The LAN 2c is provided in an area Y.
The terminals (10da, 10db, 10dc, . . . ), the relay device 30d, and the router 70d are connected through the LAN 2d to be communicable with each other. The LAN 2d is provided in an area Z. The areas X, Y, and Z may be located within one country, or over different countries.
The areas X, Y, and Z are connected through the routers (70ab, 70c, and 70d) to the Internet 2i to be communicable. In this example, the area Z is a location where a call center is provided. In this disclosure, any one of the terminals 10 (10da, 10db, 10dc, . . . ) located at the call center may be referred to as the call center terminal 10d. As described below, the terminal 10 connects with at least one terminal 10d (10da, 10db, 10dc, . . . ) at the call center to have reception services.
In the following, any arbitrary terminal of the plurality of terminals (10aa, 10ab, . . . ) is referred to as the terminal 10. Any arbitrary display of the plurality of displays (120aa, 120ab, . . . ) is referred to as the display 120. Any arbitrary relay device of the relay devices (30a, 30b, 30c, 30d, 30e) is referred to as the relay device 30. Any arbitrary router of the plurality of routers (70a, 70b, 70c, 70d, 70ab) is referred to as the router 70.
The management system 50, the program providing system 90, and the maintenance system 100 are connected to the Internet 2i. The management system 50, the program providing system 90, and the maintenance system 100 may be provided in any of the areas X, Y, and Z, or any area other than the areas X, Y, and Z.
In this example, the communication network 2 includes the LAN (2a, 2b, 2c, 2d), the dedicated line 2ab, and the Internet 2i. The communication network 2 may not only include a wired network, but also a wireless network such as a network in compliance with WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) or Bluetooth, or a mobile phone network.
In
When application is executed, the terminals 10 transmit or receive content data such as image data and sound data, to carry out communication among the users. More specifically, the terminal 10 transmits or receives content data using a predetermined communications protocol. The communications protocol used by the terminal 10 is mainly defined by a call control protocol used for connecting or disconnecting connections with the counterpart terminal, and an encoding format used for encoding the contents data to an IP packet.
Examples of the call control protocol being used by the terminal 10 include, but not limited to, (1) session initial protocol (SIP), (2) H.323, (3) the extended SIP, (4) Instant Messenger (IM) Protocol such as extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP), ICQ (Registered Trademark), AIM (Registered Trademark), or Skype (Registered Trademark), (5) protocol using the SIP message method, (6) Internet relay chat (IRC) protocol, and (7) extended IM based protocol such as Jingle.
<Hardware Configuration>
Now, a hardware configuration of the communication system 1 is explained.
The casing 1100 has an operation panel 1150, which is provided at a front surface toward the right side wall 1130. The operation panel 1150 includes a plurality of operation keys 108a to 108e, a power switch 109, and a plurality of sound output holes 1151. Through the sound output holes 1151, a speaker 115 of the terminal 10 is able to output sounds such as sounds generated based on human voice. The casing 1100 further includes a holder 1160, which is provided at the front surface toward the left side wall 1140. The holder 1160, which has a concave shape, accommodates therein the arm 1200 and the camera housing 1300. The right side wall 1130 is further provided with a plurality of connection ports 1132a to 1132c (“connection ports 1132”). The connection ports 1132 allow electrical connection to an external device through an external device connection I/F 118. The casing 1100 further includes a left side wall 1140, which is provided with a connection port to connect the external display 120 to the display I/F 117 through a cable 120c.
The following description uses the term “operation key(s) 108” for indicating an arbitrary one or ones of the operation keys (108a to 108e), and the term “connection port(s) 1132” for indicating an arbitrary one or ones of the connection ports (1132a to 1132c).
The arm 1200 is attached to the casing 1100 via a torque hinge 1210. With the torque hinge 1210, the arm 1200 can be rotated in directions of up and down with respect to the casing 1100, while making a tilt angle θ1 of up to 135 degrees.
The camera housing 1300 incorporates therein the camera 112 that takes an image of an object. The object may be a part of a user, document, or a room where the terminal 10 is located. The camera housing 1300 is provided with a torque hinge 1310. The camera housing 1300 is attached to the arm 1200 through the torque hinge 1310. With the torque hinge 1310, the camera housing 1300 can be rotated with respect to the arm 1200, in the direction of up, down, right, and left, such that the camera housing 1300 is kept at a desired position. More specifically, the camera housing 1300 can be rotated, while making a pan angle θ2 from about −180 degrees to 180 degrees in the direction right and left, and a tilt angle θ3 that ranges from about −45 degrees to +45 degrees in the direction of up and down. In
Note that the external view illustrated in
Since the communication management system 50, the program providing system 90, and the maintenance system 100 has the same appearance as that of a general server computer, a description of the appearance thereof is omitted.
The terminal 10 further includes the built-in camera 112 that captures an image of a subject and obtains image data under control of the CPU 101, an imaging element I/F 113 that controls driving of the camera 112, the built-in microphone 114 that receives a sound input, the built-in speaker 115 that outputs sounds, a sound input/output I/F 116 that processes inputting/outputting of a sound signal between the microphone 114 and the speaker 115 under control of the CPU 101, a display I/F 117 that transmits image data to an external display 120 under control of the CPU 101, the external device connection I/F 118 for connecting various external devices, and a bus line 110 such as an address bus and a data bus for electrically connecting the above-described elements as illustrated in
The display 120 is a display formed of liquid crystal or organic electroluminescence (EL) that displays an image of a subject, an operation icon, or the like. The display 120 is connected to the display I/F 117 by the cable 120c. The cable 120c may be an analog red green blue (RGB) (video graphic array (VGA)) signal cable, a component video cable, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) signal cable, or a digital video interactive (DVI) signal cable.
The camera 112 includes a lens and a solid-state imaging element that converts an image (video) of a subject to electronic data through photoelectric conversion. As the solid-state imaging element, for example, a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) or a charge-coupled device (CCD) is used.
The external device connection I/F 118 is capable of connecting an external device such as an external camera, an external microphone, or an external speaker by using a Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable that is inserted into the connection port 1132 or the like. In the case where an external camera is connected, the external camera is driven in preference to the built-in camera 112 under control of the CPU 101. Similarly, in the case where an external microphone is connected or an external speaker is connected, the external microphone or the external speaker is driven in preference to the built-in microphone 114 or the built-in speaker 115 under control of the CPU 101.
The recording medium 106 is removable from the terminal 10. The recording medium 106 can be any non-volatile memory that reads or writes data under control of the CPU 101, such that any memory such as an electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) may be used instead of the flash memory 104.
Since the relay devices 30, the program providing system 90, and the maintenance system 100 each have a hardware configuration that is the same as or similar to that of the above-described management system 50, a description thereof is omitted.
The OS 1020 is basic software that controls entire operation of the terminal 10 through providing basic functions. The videoconference application 1031 enables the terminal 10 to communicate with the other terminal 10 to carry out videoconference. The reception application 1032 enables the terminal 10 to communicate with the terminal 10d at the call center to have conversation (communication) with the operator at the call center.
In alternative to the above-described application, any other application may be installed on the terminal 10. For example, the program providing system 90 may store any desired application in its memory, and upon request from the terminal 10, transfer such application to be downloaded onto the terminal 10. Further, a plurality of types of videoconference application 1031 may be installed, such as application that differs in communications protocol.
<Functional Configuration of Communication System>
Now, functional configuration of the communication system 1 is explained.
<Functional Configuration of Terminal>
The terminal 10 includes a device controller 1050 and a communication controller 1060. The device controller 1050 is implemented with execution of the OS 1020. The communication controller 1060 is implemented with execution of, for example, the videoconference application 1031 or the reception application 1032.
The device controller 1050 includes a transmitter/receiver 11, an operation input acceptor 12, a display control 13, and a data processor 19. These elements in
The communication controller 1060 includes a transmitter/receiver 21, an activator 22, a display control 24, a function executor 25, and a data processor 29. These elements shown in
The terminal 10 further includes a memory 1000, which is implemented by the ROM 102, RAM 103, or flash memory 104 of
(Functional Configuration of Device Controller)
Now, functional configuration of the device controller 1050 of the terminal 10 is explained according to an example embodiment of the present invention. In the following description of functional configuration of the device controller 1050 of the terminal 10, relationships with hardware elements for implementing the functional configuration of the device controller 1050 shown in
The transmitter/receiver 11, which is implemented by instructions of the CPU 101 and the network I/F 111, transmits or receives various data (or information) to or from the counterpart terminal, device, or system, through the communication network 2.
The operation input acceptor 12, which may be implemented by instructions of the CPU 101, the operation keys (108a, 108b, 108c, 108d, 108e), and the power switch 109, receives various inputs or selections from the user.
The display control 13, which may be implemented by the instructions of the CPU 101 and the display I/F 117, controls display of an image through the display 120.
The data processor 19, which may be implemented by the instructions of the CPU 101 and the SSD 105, or the instructions of the CPU 101, stores various data in the memory 1000 or reads various data from the memory 1000.
(Functional Configuration of Communication Controller)
Next, functional configuration of the communication controller 1060 of the terminal 10 is explained according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the following description of functional configuration of the communication controller 1060 of the terminal 10, relationships of the hardware elements in
The transmitter/receiver 21, which may be implemented by the instructions of the CPU 101 and the network I/F 111, transmits or receives various data (or information) to or from the counterpart terminal, device, or system, through the communication network 2.
The activator 22, which may be implemented by instructions of the CPU 101, activates the communication controller 1060, in response to an activation request at the operation input acceptor 12, when the operation input acceptor 12 receives a user selection of application. More specifically, when the user selects activation of the videoconference application 1031, the communication controller 1060 is activated under control of the videoconference application 1031. When the user selects activation of the reception application 1032, the communication controller 1060 is activated under control of the reception application 1032.
The display control 24, which may be implemented by the instructions of the CPU 101 and the display I/F 117, controls transmission of image data to the display 120. Further, the display control 24 controls a user interface for display to the user, according to the selected application such as the videoconference application 1031 or the reception application 1032. The display control 24 is able to control display of information in a manner that matches the user's current needs according to the selected application.
The functional executor 25, which may be implemented by the instructions of the CPU 101, and at least one of the camera 112, microphone 114, and speaker 115, controls communication of image data or sound data.
The data processor 29, which may be implemented by the instructions of the CPU 101 and the SSD 105, or the instructions of the CPU 101, stores various data in the memory 1000 or reads various data from the memory 1000.
<Functional Configuration of Management System>
Referring to
(Authentication Management Table)
(Terminal Management Table)
(Application Use Permission Management Table)
(Session Management Table)
(Service Management Table)
(Transmission Management Table)
(Functional Configuration of Management System)
Next, referring back to
The transmitter/receiver 51, which may be implemented by the instructions of the CPU 201 and the network I/F 209, transmits or receives various data (or information) to or from each terminal, device, or system through the communication network 2.
The authenticator 52, which may be implemented by the instructions of the CPU 201, searches the authentication management table (
The manager 53, which may be implemented by the instructions of the CPU 201, updates the operating state, etc., in the terminal management table of
The session control 58, which may be implemented by the instructions of the CPU 201, controls a session through which content data is transmitted between the terminals 10. Examples of control include, but not limited to, control to establish a session, control to enable the terminal 10 to participate in the established session, and control to end the session.
The data processor 59, which may be implemented by the instructions of the CPU 201 and the HDD 205, or the instructions of the CPU 201, stores various data in the memory 5000 or reads various data from the memory 5000.
<Operation of Communication System>
Now, operation performed by the communication system 1 is explained according to an example embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to
In response to turning on of the power switch 109 by the user, at S1, the operation input acceptor 12 accepts the instruction for turning on, and the terminal 10db is turned on to be activated. In response to receiving turning on operation, at S2, the transmitter/receiver 11 sends a login request to the management system 50 through the communication network 2. The management system 50 receives the login request at the transmitter/receiver 51. The login request includes a contact ID for identifying the terminal 10db that sends the login request, and a password. These contact ID and password are read from the memory 1000 by the data processor 29, and transmitted to the transmitter/receiver 11. Alternatively, the contact ID and password may be input by the user through the operation key 108. Alternatively, the contact ID and password may be read out from the recording medium 106. As the terminal 10db sends the login request to the management system 50, the management system 50, which is the receiver side, obtains the IP address of the terminal 10db that is the sender side, which may be transmitted with the login request.
At S3, the authenticator 52 of the management system 50 searches the authentication management table of
At S5, the transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 transmits authentication result information indicating an authentication result, obtained by the authenticator 52, to the terminal 10db that sends the login request through the communication network 2. The terminal 10db receives the authentication result at the transmitter/receiver 11.
When the authenticator 52 determines that the terminal 10 that sends the login request is an authenticated terminal, the data transmitter/receiver 11 of the terminal 10db sends a request for application use permission data to the management system 50 via the communication network. The application use permission data indicates one or more applications that can be used by the terminal 10db. The application use permission data request includes the contact ID of the terminal 10db, which sends the request. The management system 50 receives the application use permission data request.
At S7, the data processor 59 of the management system 50 searches the application use management table (
At S8, the transmitter/receiver 11 transmits application use permission data, which is read at S7, to the terminal 10db through the communication network 2. The transmitter/receiver 11 of the terminal 10db receives the application use permission data at the transmitter/receiver 11.
At S9, the display control 13 causes the display 120db to display an application list screen 140, such as that illustrated in
Referring to
In response to a selection of the application icon 142 corresponding to the reception application 1032, from among a plurality of application icons on the screen of
The operation input acceptor 12 of the device controller 1050 instructs the activator 22, which operates under control of the reception application 1032, to activate the communication controller 1060 according to the reception application 1032. While the above-described steps up to S22 is performed by the device controller 1050, the following steps after S22 is performed by the communication controller 1060 that is activated under control of the reception application 1032.
At S23, the display control 24 of the communication controller 1060 instructs the display 120db to display a screen with available functions of the terminal 10 when the terminal 10 operates according to the reception application 1032. In this embodiment, the screen displays the functions “operator” and “guest” as functions of the reception application. The operation input acceptor 12 receives a user input that selects a specific function. In this example, it is assumed that the reception application 1032 is activated; however, any other application may be selected for activation. For example, when the videoconference application 1032 is activated, the display 120db displays a screen with available functions “presenter”, “audience”, and “participant” of the videoconference application. In another example, when the remote monitoring application is activated, the display 120db displays a screen with available functions “camera” and “monitor” of the monitoring application.
In the following, it is assumed that the operation input acceptor 12 of the terminal 10db receives a user input that selects the “operator”. At S24, the transmitter/receiver 21 of the terminal 10db transmits a request for using the reception service with the operator function (“service use request”) to the management system 50. In this example, the service use request includes the service type “reception”, and the function “operator” that is selected at S23. Further, in this example, the reception application 1032 that is activated causes the transmitter/receiver 21 to automatically include the service type “reception” in the service use request.
In this example, the service use request may not include the contact ID of the terminal 10db. Since the terminal 10db has already logged in, the management system 50, which receives the service use request at the transmitter/receiver 51, is able to identify the terminal 10db that sends the service use request without the contact ID. In case the service use request includes the contact ID of the terminal 10db that sends the service use request, the management system 50 may identify the terminal 10db using the contact ID.
At S25, the manager 53 determines whether the service, which is requested for use by the terminal 10db, is allowed for use by the terminal 10db. More specifically, the data processor 59 searches the service list management table (
The following describes the case in which the manager 53 determines that the terminal 10db can use the requested service. In such case, the manager 53 further obtains detailed information regarding the service requested by the terminal 10db, such as information regarding content data that can be used for that service. More specifically, at S26, the data processor 59 searches the transmission management table (
At S28, the transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 transmits a service use response indicating that the request for using the service is approved to the terminal 10db. The service use response includes information regarding the requested service. For example, the service use response includes the service type “reception” and the function “guest” read at S27, and the content “image data” and “sound data” read at S26. With this information, the terminal 10db is able to know that the terminal 10 using the reception service as a guest is allowed to transmit image data and sound data to the terminal 10db using the reception service as an operator. In case the management system 50 has a web server function, the transmitter/receiver 51 transmits the HTTP status code “200” indicating approval to use the service, and transmits the HTTP status code “403” or “406” indicating rejection to use the service. The terminal 10db may store the received information regarding the service of the counterpart terminal and content data, in its memory.
At S29, the manager 59 refers to the terminal management table (
At S30, the session control 58 generates a session ID for identifying a content data session “sed” that the terminal 10db will be participating. Further, at S30, the session control 58 selects a relay device 30, which is to relay content data in the content data session “sed”. In the following, it is assumed that the session ID “sel” is generated, and the relay device 30e is selected. The data processor 59 stores the generated session ID “sel” and the relay device ID “111e” of the selected relay device 30e, in the session management table (
At S31, the transmitter/receiver 51 transmits relay device connection data, which is to be used for connecting the selected relay device 30e, to the terminal 10db. The relay device connection data may include, for example, the IP address of the relay device 30e, authentication information to be used for authentication, a port number, and the session ID generated at S30.
The terminal 10db, which requests for service, connects with the relay device 30e using the relay device connection data transmitted from the management system 50. At S32, the terminal 10db establishes a content data session “sed” with the relay device 30e. Through the session, the terminal 10db is able to transmit to the relay device 30e various content data (image data and sound data) generated at the terminal 10db. In this example, transmission of content data from the terminal 10db to the relay device 30e may be started at any time, for example, in response to establishing the content data session, or in response to a request from the relay device 30e or the management system 50.
Referring to
In the following, it is assumed that the terminal 10aa receives a user selection of the reception application 1032, to perform S41 to S43 in a substantially similar manner as described above referring to S21 to S23 of
S45 to S47 are performed in a substantially similar manner as described above referring to S25 to S28 of
At S49, the manager 53 refers to the terminal management table (
At S50-1, the session control 58 selects, for the terminal 10aa that will use the reception service as a guest, a terminal 10 that can provide the reception service as an operator as a communication counterpart. For example, the session control 58 refers to the terminal management table (
In the following, it is assumed that the terminal 10db is selected as a counterpart of the terminal 10aa. At S50-2, the data processor 59 searches the session management table (
At S51, the transmitter/receiver 51 transmits relay device connection data, which is to be used for connecting the relay device 30e that is read at S50-2, to the terminal 10aa. The relay device connection data may include, for example, the IP address of the relay device 30e, authentication information to be used for authentication, a port number, and the session ID read at S50-2.
The terminal 10aa, which sends the service use request, connects with the relay device 30e using the relay device connection data transmitted from the management system 50. At S52, the terminal 10aa establishes a content data session “sed” with the relay device 30e. Through the session, the terminal 10aa is able to transmit to the relay device 30e various content data (image data and sound data) generated at the terminal 10aa.
Next, operation of processing a request for obtaining content data to be transmitted from the terminal 10aa, which is received from the terminal 10db, is described according to an embodiment of the present invention. This operation is performed after establishing the content data session “sed” between the terminal 10aa and the terminal 10db via the relay device 30e.
After the terminal 10aa participates in the content data session “sed”, at S61, the transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 transmits a notification indicating that the terminal 10aa starts participating in the content data session that the terminal 10db is participating, to the terminal 10db. The notification includes the contact ID of the terminal 10aa.
At S62, the transmitter/receiver 21 of the terminal 10db transmits a request for obtaining content data from the terminal 10aa, to the management system 50. The request for content data includes the contact ID “01db” of the request sender terminal 10db, and the contact ID “01aa” of the data sender terminal 10aa. The request for content data further includes information regarding content data to be obtained, such as a type of content data, a resolution of content data, a frame rate, a bit rate, a sample rate, etc. The information regarding content data may be previously stored in the memory 1000 of the terminal 10db as described above referring to
When the transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 receives the request for content data including information regarding content data, at S63, the session control 58 determines whether transmission of content data from the terminal 10aa to the terminal 10db is permitted, that is, whether to transmit content data from the terminal 10aa to the terminal 10db. Referring to
At S63-1, the data processor 59 searches the terminal management table (
At S63-3, the data processor 59 searches the transmission management table (
At S63-4, the session control 58 determines whether the service ID of the service being used by the terminal 10aa as the data sender, which is obtained at S63-2, matches any one of the service IDs read at S63-3 using the service ID of the service being used by the terminal 10db as the request sender. When it is determined that the service ID of the service being used by the terminal 10aa (data sender) does not match any one of the service IDs read at S63-3 (“NO” at S63-4), the operation proceeds to S63-5. At S63-5, the session control 58 determines that transmission of content data from the terminal 10aa to the terminal 10db is not allowed. More specifically, this indicates that a transmission source of content data (data sender) is not using a service, which permits transmission of content data to a transmission destination (request sender) using a specific service. For example, the service being used by a transmission source of content data (data sender) is different from or incompatible to the service being used by a transmission destination (request sender).
When it is determined that the service ID of the service being used by the terminal 10aa (data sender) matches any one of the service IDs read at S63-3 (“YES” at S63-4), the operation proceeds to S63-6. At S63-6, the session control 58 determines whether content data specified by the request for obtaining matches any content data indicated by information regarding content data that is read at S63-3. When the content data in the request for obtaining does not match any one of content data read at S63-3 (“NO” at S63-3), the operation proceeds to S63-7. At S63-7, the session control 58 determines that transmission of content data from the terminal 10aa to the terminal 10db is not allowed. This indicates that a type of content data that is requested by the terminal 10db does not match a type of content data that can be transmitted from the terminal 10aa.
When the content data in the request for obtaining matches any one of content data read at S63-3 (“YES” at S63-3), the operation proceeds to S63-8. At S63-8, the session control 58 determines that transmission of content data from the terminal 10aa to the terminal 10db is allowed.
Referring back to
In case the management system 50 has a web server function, the transmitter/receiver 51 may send the HTTP status code “200” indicating approval of transmission of content data to the terminal 10db, or send the HTTP status code “403” or “406” indicating rejection of transmission of content data to the terminal 10db. The HTTP response may include a reason of rejection in the body.
When it is determined that content data cannot be transmitted at S63, the operation ends. In such case, content data is not transmitted in response to the request for obtaining. When it is determined that content data can be transmitted at S63, at S65, the transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 transmits a relay start request for starting relay of content data to the relay device 30e. The relay start request includes the contact ID “01db” or the IP address of the terminal 10db, the contact ID “01aa” or the IP address of the terminal 10aa, and information regarding content data obtainable from the request for obtaining.
In case the relay device 30e fails to connect with the terminal 10aa or 10db, the relay device 30e sends an error message to the management system 50. In case the relay device 30e successfully connects with the terminal 10aa or 10db, the relay device 30e sends a message indicating that relaying of content data is started to the management system 50. The relay device 30e starts transmitting content data that matches the request from the terminal 10db, which may be selected from among content data transmitted from the terminal 10aa, to the terminal 10db.
As described above, the terminal 10aa transmits content data to the terminal 10db in response to a request for content data received from the terminal 10db. Since operation of transmitting content data from the terminal 10db to the terminal 10aa in response to the request for content data from the terminal 10aa may be performed in a substantially similar manner as described above referring to S61 to S65, description thereof is omitted.
Referring now to
Now, operation of processing a request for content data from the terminal 10db is described according to an embodiment of the present invention. The operation is performed after establishing a content data session between the terminals 10db and 10aa, as described above referring to
After the terminal 10aa participates in the content data session “sed”, at S81, the transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 transmits a notification indicating that the terminal 10aa participates in the content data session “sed” to the terminal 10db. The notification includes the contact ID of the terminal 10aa.
At S82, the transmitter/receiver 21 of the terminal 10db transmits a request for content data to be transmitted from the terminal 10aa to the management system 50. The request for content data includes the contact ID “01db” of the request sender terminal 10db, and the contact ID “01aa” of the data sender terminal 10aa. The request for content data further includes information regarding content data that can be transmitted, such as a type of content data, a resolution of content data, a frame rate, a bit rate, a sample rate, etc.
When the transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 receives the request for content data, at S83, the data processor 59 searches the terminal management table (
At S84, the transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 transmits to the terminal 10aa, in response to the request for content data from the terminal 10db, the request for content data received from the terminal 10db, the service ID “1004” of the service being used by the terminal 10db (request sender), and the service ID “1005” of the service being used by the terminal 10aa (data sender).
When the transmitter/receiver 21 of the terminal 10aa receives the request for content data and the service IDs, at S85, the function executor 25 determines whether content data can be transmitted from the terminal 10aa to the terminal 10db. Referring to
At S85-1, the data processor 29 searches the transmission management table (FIG. 8B) using the service ID “1004” of the service being used by the terminal 10db, transmitted from the management system 50, as a search key to read one or more sets of data sender service ID and content being stored in association with the request sender service ID “1004”. In this embodiment, the data sender service ID “1005” and image data, and the data sender service ID “1005” and sound data are read.
At S85-2, the function executor 25 determines whether the service ID of the service being used by the terminal 10aa (data sender), transmitted from the management system 50, matches any one of the service IDs read at S85-1 using the service ID of the service being used by the terminal 10db (request sender). When it is determined that the service ID of the service being used by the terminal 10aa does not match any one of the service IDs read at S85-1 (“NO” at S85-2), the operation proceeds to S85-3. At S85-3, the function executor 25 determines that transmission of content data from the terminal 10aa to the terminal 10db is not allowed.
When it is determined that the service ID of the service being used by the terminal 10aa matches any one of the service IDs read at S85-1 (“YES” at S85-2), the operation proceeds to S85-4. At S85-4, the function executor 25 determines whether content data specified by the request for obtaining matches any content data indicated by information regarding content data read at S85-1. When the content data in the request for obtaining does not match any one of content data read at S85-1 (“NO” at S85-4), the operation proceeds to S85-5. At S85-5, the function executor 25 determines that transmission of content data from the terminal 10aa to the terminal 10db is not allowed.
When the content data in the request for obtaining matches any one of content data read at S85-1 (“YES” at S85-4), the operation proceeds to S85-6. At S85-6, the function executor 25 determines that transmission of content data from the terminal 10aa to the terminal 10db is allowed.
Referring back to
Referring now to
Now, operation of processing a request for content data from the terminal 10db is described according to an embodiment of the present invention. The operation is performed after establishing a content data session between the terminals 10db and 10aa, as described above referring to
Further, in this embodiment, the terminal 10 is able to send a request for obtaining content data to a system different from the management system 50 of
After the terminal 10aa participates in the content data session “sed”, at S101, the transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 transmits a notification indicating that the terminal 10aa starts participating in the content data session to the terminal 10db. The notification includes the contact ID of the terminal 10aa.
At S102, the transmitter/receiver 21 of the terminal 10db transmits a request for obtaining content data from the terminal 10aa, and the service ID of the service being used by the terminal 10db, to the management system 50. The request for content data includes the contact ID “01db” of the request sender terminal 10db, and the contact ID “01aa” of the data sender terminal 10aa. The request for content data further includes information regarding content data that can be transmitted, such as a type of content data, a resolution of content data, a frame rate, a bit rate, a sample rate, etc.
When the transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 receives the request for content data and the service ID, at S103, the management system 50 transmits the request for content data and the service ID to the terminal 10aa.
When the transmitter/receiver 21 of the terminal 10aa receives the request for content data and the session ID, at S104, the function executor 25 determines whether content data can be transmitted from the terminal 10aa to the terminal 10db, in a substantially similar manner as described above referring to S85 of
Since operation of S105 to S108 is performed in a substantially similar manner as described above referring to S86 to S89, description thereof is omitted.
As described above, in some embodiments of the present invention, the management system 50 controls transmission of content data among a plurality of communication terminals 10. The transmission management DB 5007 or 1007 manages, a first service ID (an example of service identification information) for identifying a service to be used by a first terminal 10 as a request sender, a second service ID for identifying a service to be used by a second terminal 10 as a data sender, and content data information regarding content data to be transmitted to the first terminal 10, in association with one another.
When a content data session for transmitting content data is established between at least the first terminal and the second terminal, a session control 58 of the management system 50 or a function executor 25 of the terminal 10 controls transmission of content data from the second terminal 10 to the first terminal 10, such that the content data having property indicated by the content data information associated with the first service ID and the second service ID is transmitted from the second terminal 10 to the first terminal 10.
With the content data information indicating content data allowed to be transmitted, even when the first terminal 10 and/or the second terminal 10 communicates using a specific service having its function being customized for each user, the second terminal 10 as a communication counterpart of the first terminal 10 is able to transmit content data that is compatible to the first terminal 10 using the specific service. This may prevent occurrence of error in data transmission.
Further, content data that can be transmitted to the first terminal 10 may be freely set depending on a combination of the service to be used by the first terminal 10 and the service to be used by the second terminal 10. For example, when the services used by the first and second terminals 10 are provided by different service providers, content data that can be transmitted from the first terminal 10 to the second terminal 10 may be restricted, thus improving security.
In one example, the transmitter/receiver 51 receives a request for using a specific service from at least the first terminal 10. The transmitter/receiver 51 of the session control 58 controls transmission of content data using the first service identification information obtained from the request, in response to the service use request.
Numerous additional modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the disclosure of the present invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. For example, elements and/or features of different illustrative embodiments may be combined with each other and/or substituted for each other within the scope of this disclosure and appended claims.
For example, the terminal 10 may be implemented by one or more computers, which is capable of communicating content data. Further, any memory in the communication system may be provided in any desired terminal, device, or apparatus.
The relay devices 30, the management system 50, the program providing system 90, and the maintenance system 100 in the above-described embodiment may be configured by a single computer or a plurality of computers to which divided portions (functions) are arbitrarily allocated. In the case where the program providing system 90 is configured by a single computer, a program transmitted by the program providing system 90 may be separately transmitted in units of a plurality of modules, or may be transmitted in its entirety. Further, in the case where the program providing system 90 is configured by a plurality of computers, a program may be divided into a plurality of modules, and the modules may be individually transmitted from the respective computers.
In addition, a recording medium such as a CD-ROM storing the terminal control program, the relay device control program, or the communication management program in the above-described embodiment, the HD 204 storing these programs (separately or entirety), and the program providing system 90 including the HD 204 are used as program products in the case of providing the terminal control program, the relay device program, and the communication management program to users within a certain country or outside that country.
In the above-described embodiment, the terminal management table of
In the above-described embodiment, a videoconference system is used as an example of the communication system 1 (including 1A and 1B). Alternatively, the communication system may be a car navigation system. In such case, the terminal 10 at one end may correspond to a car navigation system mounted on one automobile, and the terminal 10 at the other end may correspond to a management terminal or a management server at the management center for managing the car navigation system, or a car navigation system mounted on the other automobile.
The other examples of the communication system 1 include a teleconference system, a personal computer image sharing system, a telephone system including the Internet Protocol (IP) phone, Internet phone, or mobile phone. In the telephone system, the telephone operates as the communication terminal 10.
In addition, although image data and sound data are described as examples of content data in the above-described embodiment, the content data is not limited to these items of data. The content data is preferably used as a medium of real-time communication. Examples of content data include, but not limited to, image data such as a still image or a video image, sound data, and streaming data such as shared screen data, message, stroke data, or instruction or operation data. Alternatively, the content data may be touch data. In this case, a feeling obtained by a user's contact at one terminal side is transmitted to the other terminal side. Further, the content data may be smell data. In this case, a smell at one terminal side is transmitted to the other terminal side. In addition, the content data may be at least one of image data, sound data, touch data, and smell data.
Further, in some embodiments, when the communication system 1 is used as a remote medical diagnosis system, the content data may be sound data that reflects pulse or beat generated within a human body, image data of electrocardiogram, coordinate data that shows a trend in body temperature, or any other data that may be used to examine the patient.
Note that the terminal 10 may be used not only for communication between different offices or for communication between different rooms in the same office, but also for communication within the same room or for outdoor-indoor communication or outdoor-outdoor communication. In the case where the terminal 10 is used outside, wireless communication using a mobile phone communication network or the like is performed.
In addition, although the case in which a videoconference is held by the communication system 1 has been described in the above-described embodiment, the embodiment is not limited to this case. The communication system 1 may be used in meetings, general conversation between family members or friends, or one-way presentation of information.
Each of the functions of the described embodiments may be implemented by one or more processing circuits or circuitry. Processing circuitry includes a programmed processor, as a processor includes circuitry. A processing circuit also includes devices such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and conventional circuit components arranged to perform the recited functions.
The present invention can be implemented in any convenient form, for example using dedicated hardware, or a mixture of dedicated hardware and software. The present invention may be implemented as computer software implemented by one or more networked processing apparatuses. The network can comprise any conventional terrestrial or wireless communications network, such as the Internet. The processing apparatuses can compromise any suitably programmed apparatuses such as a general purpose computer, personal digital assistant, mobile telephone (such as a WAP or 3G-compliant phone) and so on. Since the present invention can be implemented as software, each and every aspect of the present invention thus encompasses computer software implementable on a programmable device. The computer software can be provided to the programmable device using any storage medium for storing processor readable code such as a floppy disk, hard disk, CD ROM, magnetic tape device or solid state memory device.
The hardware platform includes any desired kind of hardware resources including, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a random access memory (RAM), and a hard disk drive (HDD). The CPU may be implemented by any desired kind of any desired number of processor. The RAM may be implemented by any desired kind of volatile or non-volatile memory. The HDD may be implemented by any desired kind of non-volatile memory capable of storing a large amount of data. The hardware resources may additionally include an input device, an output device, or a network device, depending on the type of the apparatus. Alternatively, the HDD may be provided outside of the apparatus as long as the HDD is accessible. In this example, the CPU, such as a cache memory of the CPU, and the RAM may function as a physical memory or a primary memory of the apparatus, while the HDD may function as a secondary memory of the apparatus.
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