This invention relates to a content delivery technique in a teleconference.
For example, in “A Proposal of Service for Communication Activation, “Presence Club”, Proceedings of IEICE General Conference in 2003, B-6-184, Michio Shimomura, Kazumi Chiba, and Ken Ojiri”, following matters are disclosed for a network service using presence information. Namely, when receiving a presence registration request including a photo and text from a cellular phone with a camera, a mail server stores the photo, and sends a presence registration request including a photo Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and the text to a presence server. The presence server updates the presence by the photo URL and the text in response to receipt of the presence registration request. Then, the presence server sends, as a presence notification, the photo URL and the text to a PC or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). Then, the PC or PDA sends a photo acquisition request to the mail server by using the photo URL, and acquires the photo data from the mail server.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 7,233,589 discloses a technique, which applies the instance messaging (IM) technique to a teleconference. Specifically, presence information of each IM client, usable media and user information are managed by an IM server, and each IM client can obtain such information. When carrying out a text chat, the IM server manages the connection between each participating IM client and the IM server, and merges text data from each participating IM client to deliver the merged result to each participating IM client. When carrying out a voice chat, an AP server manages the connection between each participating IM client and an MD server, and the MD server mixes the voice from each participating IM client except a target IM client to deliver the mixed result to the target IM client. This processing is carried out for each participating IM client. However, this publication only indicates a typical usage method of the presence technique (a usage method of indicating states of clients such as off-line or during IM), and there is no special usage method of the presence data.
Moreover, in addition to those, publications of the presence technique include WO 01/67675, WO 02/084913 and WO 02/084895.
According to the aforementioned conventional art, when content data such as images is shared among users participating in a teleconference, which uses the presence technique, the URL is delivered to each user terminal. However, because the content data itself is not transmitted, it is necessary for the user himself or herself to obtain the content data by using the URL.
However, when access authority to the content data is set, but, for example, some of the participating users in the teleconference do not have the access authority, it is impossible to share the content data with all of the participating users only by the URL.
In addition, the user terminals of the participating users in the teleconference are not always the same type, and according to the user terminals, the content data may not be treated as it is.
Furthermore, when the content data such as the images is treated, the load of the server side may be a problem.
Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide a new technique to appropriately deliver the content data to the users participating in the teleconference.
In addition, another object of this invention is to provide a technique for delivering the content data to the users participating in the teleconference regardless of the access authority of the users in the receiving side.
Furthermore, still another object of this invention is to provide a new technique for delivering the content data usable for the users participating in the teleconference.
A content delivery method in a teleconference according to this invention includes: receiving a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of content data to be delivered to participating users participating in the teleconference, from a user terminal of a specific user; obtaining content data corresponding to the URI from a server relating to the received URI, and storing the content data into a content data storage device; and transmitting the content data stored in the content data storage device to the user terminals of the participating users.
Thus, only by designating the URI by the user having the content transmission right, a server for the teleconference obtains the content data corresponding to the URI, and transmits the content data to the user terminals of the participating users in the teleconference. Therefore, it is possible to use the content data regardless of the access authority. That is, the usability of the users in the teleconference is enhanced. Incidentally, when there is predetermined mutual trust between the server having the content data and the server for the teleconference, there is no problem for the access authority, completely.
Incidentally, the content delivery method may further include confirming whether or not said specific participating user has a content transmission right, and the aforementioned obtaining may be executed in a case where the specific participating user has the content transmission right.
In addition, in the aforementioned transmitting, as presence data in the teleconference, the content data stored in the content data storage device may be transmitted to the user terminals of the participating users. This is to utilize a presence delivery mechanism for the teleconference.
Furthermore, the content data delivery method according to this invention may further include: receiving information concerning data usable in the user terminal of the participating user when participating in the teleconference, and storing the received information into a data storage device; and judging based on the information concerning the data usable in the user terminal of the participating user, which is stored in the data storage device, whether or not the content data stored in the content data storage device is data usable in the user terminal of the participating user. Then, the aforementioned transmitting may be executed for the user terminal for which affirmative judgment is made. Thus, because the content data is not transmitted to a user terminal, which cannot use the content data, the effective use of the communication bandwidth is realized.
In addition, the content delivery method according to this invention may further include: receiving information concerning data usable in the user terminal of the participating user when participating in the teleconference, and storing the received information into a data storage device; judging based on the information concerning the data usable in the user terminal of the participating user, which is stored in the data storage device, whether or not the content data is data usable in the user terminal of the participating user; and when negative judgment is made in the judging, converting the content data into the content data usable in the user terminal of the participating user, based on the information concerning the data usable in the user terminal of the participating user, which is stored in the data storage device, and storing the converted content data into the content data storage device.
Such a conversion processing may be carried out before outputting, as the presence data to be delivered, to a presence manager, after outputting from the presence manager, or before transmitting, as data other than the presence data.
Thus, it is possible to obtain the data usable in the user terminal of the participating user. Incidentally, it is possible to adopt various modes for the conversion processing, and the conversion for each user terminal, such as a format conversion or resolution conversion, may be carried out, and the content data may be converted into a data format common to the user terminals of the participating users.
Furthermore, the aforementioned obtaining may includes transmitting an acquisition request including the URI to a virtual client; obtaining, by the virtual client, the content data corresponding to the URI from the server relating to the URI included in the acquisition request; and receiving the content data from the virtual client, and storing the received content data into the content data storage device. Thus, by acquiring the content data by the virtual client, the virtual client is executed as a thread other than a thread, which carries out a main processing. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the load increase in the server for the teleconference. In addition, as for the virtual client, it is possible to carry out the load distribution in other servers.
Furthermore, the content delivery method according to this invention may further include receiving authentication information for the server relating to the URI from the user terminal of the specific participating user. In such a case, the aforementioned obtaining may include transmitting an acquisition request including the URI and the authentication information for the server relating to the URI to the virtual client; by the virtual client; transmitting the authentication information to the server relating to the URI included in the acquisition request to make the server relating to the URI carry out an authentication processing, and acquiring the content data corresponding to the URI; and receiving the content data from the virtual client, and storing the content data into the content data storage device. Thus, even when the server holding the content data enables only the specific user to use the content data, such a configuration can handle this case.
In addition, the content delivery method may further include receiving designation information of the virtual client from the user terminal of the specific participating user. The participating user may designate the type of the virtual client, for example, and may specifically designate an ID of the virtual client. Furthermore, there is a case where the virtual client is automatically set based on the URI or the like by the user terminal side. In addition, there is a case where the virtual client is activated and designated by the server for the teleconference.
Incidentally, it is possible to create a program for causing a computer to execute the aforementioned content delivery method, a program for causing the conference management server or the presence server to execute the aforementioned processing and a program for causing the portable terminal to carry out the aforementioned operation. The programs are stored into a storage medium or a storage device such as, for example, a flexible disk, a CD-ROM, a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory, or a hard disk. In addition, the programs may be distributed as digital signals over a network in some cases. Data under processing is temporarily stored in the storage device such as a computer memory.
The network 1 is connected with a SIP/SIMPLE server 3, a Push-to-talk over Cellular (PoC)-Multipoint Communication Unit (MCU) server 7 and a content server 9 (or called a media server). The SIP/SIMPLE server 3 and the PoC management server S may be one server computer having their functions. Furthermore, there is a case adopting such a configuration that the POC-MCU server 7 is further integrated into them.
The SIP/SIMPLE server 3 has a presence manager 31a of the user A, a presence manager 31b of the user B, a presence manager 33a of a conference A, a presence manager 33b of a conference B. and a routing processor 35. Here, in order to simplify the explanation, only the presence managers of the users A and B are shown. However, the presence managers are provided only for the number of users. In addition, although only the presence managers of the conferences A and B are shown, the presence managers are provided only for the number of conferences. Moreover, the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 includes processors not directly related to this embodiment such as processors carrying out a user authentication processing. However, they are not shown, here. The presence manager of the user and the presence manager of the conference will be explained by using functional block diagrams later.
The PoC management server 5 is also called a PoC control server, and is a server managing and controlling the teleconference, and includes conference managers 53 carrying out a processing for each conference (here, a conference A manager 53a carrying out a processing for the conference A, and a conference B manager 53b carrying out a processing for the conference B), a message distribution processor 51 carrying out a distribution processing to transfer messages transferred from the routing processor 35 of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 to a conference manager 53 in charge of the message, a content data acquisition unit 55 obtaining content data, requested from the user, to be delivered to teleconference participants and a content converter 56 carrying out a conversion processing of the content data. In addition, the conference manager 53 includes a MCU information storage 531 (here, a MCU information storage 531a of the conference A), a user data storage 533 (here, a user data storage 533a of the conference A), and a content data storage 535 (here, an content data storage 535a for the conference A). The content data storage 535a stores content data to be delivered to participants of the conference A. Thus, the PoC management server 5 also manages the data to be delivered to the participants of the conference A.
In addition, the PoC-MCU server 7 includes a conference voice communication manager 71 that manages and controls the voice communication for each conference (here, a conference A voice communication manager 71a carrying out a processing for the conference A and a conference B voice communication manager 71b carrying out a processing for the conference B), and the conference voice communication manager 71 includes a speaker and participant data storage 711 (here, a speaker and participant data storage 711a of the conference A).
In addition, the content server 9 delivers data stored in the content data storage 91 to registered user or arbitrary users. The content is presumed to be data, which can be browsed by the user terminal, such as still image, moving image and/or text. However, it may be other data. Incidentally, in the first embodiment, even in a case where the content is delivered only to the registered users when the administrative entities of the PoC management server 5 and the content server 9 are the same or they have any cooperation contract, there is no problem that the content server 9 respond to the request when the request is transmitted from the PoC management server 5. However, only the ID of the requesting source user may be confirmed without the authentication.
In
Next,
In addition,
Furthermore,
In addition,
In this embodiment, as for the presence data whose presence IDs are “FloorUser”, “Member”, and “JoinUser”, only subscriber IDs are notified, and the states of the user of the subscriber IDs are not notified. As for the state, the individual presence data of the user may be notified. As for the presence data whose presence ID is “SendingUser”, only the subscriber ID is notified in this embodiment, and the state of the user of the subscriber ID is not notified. However, the state data such as “during content delivering” may be included into the presence data, and the state data may also be transmitted.
In addition, the presence group information storage area 3333 includes an area 337 including an area 3371 to store presence IDs belonging to a group I “default”, which is a presence group, and an area 3373 to store user IDs (i.e. subscriber IDs), an area 338 including an area 3381 to store presence IDs belonging to a group II “voice conference”, which is a presence group, and an area 3382 to store user IDs (i.e. subscriber IDs), an area 339 including an area 3391 to store presence IDs belonging to a group III “content”, which is a presence group, and an area 3392 to store user IDs (i.e. subscriber IDs).
The subscriber IDs of the users who participate in the voice conference are stored in the are 3382, and data disclosed to the users who participate in the voice conference is the presence data whose presence IDs are “FloorUser”, “Member” and “JoinUser”. That is, the subscriber ID of a person who has the right to speak, a list of the subscriber IDs of the called users, and a list of the subscriber IDs of the participating users. In addition, the subscriber ID of the user participating in the content delivery is stored in the area 3392, and data disclosed to the users who participate in the content delivery is the presence data whose presence ID is “SendingUser”. However, the URI itself included in the presence data whose presence ID is “SendingUser” is not delivered in this embodiment. That is, the subscriber ID of the content transmission right holder is presented.
The user IDs (i.e. subscriber IDs) of the users for whom the information delivery is approved such as the user A, user B and user C are registered in the subscriber list storage area 3335.
In addition, in the user terminal, marks representing respective users, not the subscriber IDS, may be shown, and a mark representing the right to speak may be attached to a user pertinent to “FloorUser”, or a different type of mark may be shown. Furthermore, a mark representing the content transmission right or the state in the content delivering may be added to the user pertinent to “SendingUser”, or a different type of mark may be shown.
Incidentally, the users who are delivery destinations of the content data may be some or all of the users participating in the voice conference. In the following explanation, a case where the users who are delivery destinations of the content data are conference members of the teleconference or all users who carried out the participation response. That is, the subscriber IDs in addition to the presence data whose presence ID is “Member” or “JoinUser” are registered into the area 3392.
Similarly, data having the tag data structure as shown in, for example,
Furthermore, data of the tag data structure as shown in, for example,
Moreover, data of the tag data structure as shown in, for example,
The presence data is basically updated by the owner, and when updated, the delivery processor delivers the presence data to users of user IDs associated with the presence ID of the presence data. In addition, the conference A manager 53a and the conference B manager 53b of the PoC management server 5 may have a supervisor authority for the presence data in the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 to change the necessary presence data at any time.
Next, a processing flow of the system shown in
When receiving the calling request including the list of the conference members, the message distribution processor 51 of the PoC management server 5 newly activates the conference manager 53 (e.g. newly activates the conference A manager 53a) because the new conference is carried out, and assigns the SIP-URL to the conference A manager 53a (step S14). The conference A manager 53a stores the list of the conference members into the user data storage 533a, and transmits a new conference creation request including the list of the conference members to the POC-MCU server 7 (step S15). In addition, the list of the conference members includes the user ID of the calling request source user and the IP address of that user terminal, and the user is identified as the holder of the right to speak. Incidentally, the conference A manager 53a registers the media information by SDP, which is included in the calling request, into the user data storage 533a in association with the calling requesting source user.
When receiving the new conference creation request including the list of the conference members, the PoC-MCU server 7 newly activates the conference voice communication manager 71 (e.g. the conference A voice communication manager 71a) in order to secure the resources for the new conference. Then, the conference A voice communication manager 71a stores the list of the conference members into the speaker and participant data storage 711a (step S17). Incidentally, the conference A voice communication manager 71a holds the SIP-URL of the conference A manager 53a, and thereby it becomes possible to respond to an instruction from the conference A manager 53a. Then, the conference A voice communication manager 71a secures the resources used in the conference relating to the calling request, that is, the IP address, the port number and the like, and further sets the right to speak to the calling request source user (step S19). As for the user having the right to speak, data is held in the speaker and participant data storage 711a in the distinguishable form. In this embodiment, only the person who has the right to speak can cause the POC-MCU server 7 to transfer the voice data to the other participants. After this, the processing shifts to a processing of
The processing subsequent to the terminals A to D will be explained by using
The voice conference processor 911 of the client application 91 in the user terminal A receives the conference information from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3, and stores the information into a storage device (step S29). The voice conference processor 911 replies an OK response to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S31). When receiving the OK response from the user terminal A, the routing processor 35 of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 transfers the OK response to the PoC management server 5 (step S33). The conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 receives the OK response from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S35). Incidentally, the message distribution processor 51 receives a message (here, the OK response) from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3, and transfers the message to the conference A manager 53a in charge of the message. However, in the following explanation, the explanation for the receipt of the message distribution processor 51 is omitted.
In addition, in response to the receipt of the conference information, the voice conference processor 911 of the client application 91 in the user terminal A activates the microphone driver 93 (step S37). That is, the microphone of the user terminal A detects the voice of the user A, and converts it into electrical signals, and the microphone driver 93 generates voice packets in order to transmit the voice received by the microphone. Thus, the user terminal A can transmit the voice packets to the PoC-MCU server 7 according to the IP address and the port number, which are included in the received conference information. However, even when the voice packets are transmitted to the POC-MCU server 7 at this stage, other participants are not identified. Therefore, the PoC-MCU server 7 never copies and transfers the voice packets. The processing shifts to a processing of
Next, the processing subsequent to the terminals E and F will be explained by using
The conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 receives the presence data of each conference member from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S45), and extracts conference members who can be called from the presence data of each conference member (step S47). That is, the conference members whose presence data indicates a state (e.g. ONLINE) in which the call can be carried out are extracted. When the state is “OFFLINE” or “BUSY”, the calling processing described below is not carried out because the calling in the voice conference is impossible. This enables the calling processing to be speedy. However, the processing from the steps S39 to S47 is optional. The processing shifts to a processing of
The processing subsequent to the terminals G and H will be explained by using
The voice conference processor 911 of the user terminal B transmits the OK response to the calling to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S55). The routing processor 35 of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 receives the OK from the user terminal B, and transfers the response to the PoC management server 5 (step S57). The conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 receives the OK response from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S59). This OK response includes the media information by the SDP, and the conference A manager 53a holds the received media information in association with the user ID of the user B.
In response to the calling at the step S53, the user B judges whether or not he or she participates in the voice conference. When he or she participates in the voice conference, he or she operates the user terminal B to input a conference participation instruction. The voice conference processor 911 of the user terminal B accepts the conference participation instruction by the user B (step S61), and transmits a participation response to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S63). When receiving the participation response, the routing processor 35 of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 transfers the participation response to the PoC management server 5 (step S65). The conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 receives the participation response from the user B from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S67). The conference A manager 53a registers, as the participant, the user ID (i.e. SIP-URL) of the user who carried out the participation response and the IP address of the user terminal into the user data storage 533a. Here, the media information received from the user terminal B at the step S59 is stored into the user data storage 533a in association with the user ID of the user terminal B. In addition, the conference A manager 53a transmits a participating member addition notice including the user ID (i.e. SIP-URL) of the user who carried out the participation response and the IP address of the user terminal to the PoC-MCU server 7 (step S69). The conference A voice communication manager 71a of the PoC-MCU server 7 receives the participating member addition notice including the user ID and IP address of the participant from the PoC management server 5, and registers the user ID and IP address of the participant into the speaker and participant data storage 711a (step S71).
After the step S69, the conference A manager 53a transmits the OK response to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S73). The routing processor 35 of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 receives the OK response from the PoC management server 5, and transfers the OK response to the user terminal B (step S75). The user terminal B receives the OK response from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S77).
Incidentally, the processing of
The processing subsequent to the terminals I and J will be explained by using
Furthermore, the conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 uses the data stored in the user data storage 533a to generate a presence registration request of the member information including the information of the conference members including the user who carried out the calling request, and transmits the request to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S87). More specifically, the conference A manager 53a requests to register the user IDs of the conference members including the user who carried out the calling request as the presence data whose presence ID is “Member” and whose owner is the conference A manager 53a. The conference A presence manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 receives the presence registration request of the member information from the PoC management server 5, and the presence data manager 331a of the conference A presence manager 33a stores the presence data (in the example of
In addition, the conference manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 uses the data stored in the user data storage 533a to generate a proxy subscription request for the conference members including the user who carried out the calling request, and transmits the request to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S95). More specifically, it requests to register the conference members into the subscriber list storage area 3335 in the presence data storage 333a and the area 3382 for the subscriber IDs in the area 338 of the group II “voice conference” in the presence group information storage area 3333. Incidentally, it may request the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 to register the user who carried out the calling request and the users who transmitted the participation response, not the conference members. However, for each participation response, it is necessary to carry out the proxy subscription for the user relating to the participation response. It is also possible to adopt either a method for delivering the presence data such as the participation state, the holder of the right to speak and the like only to the users who transmitted the participation response or a method for delivering the presence data to the called users. This is because it depends on the publication policy of the conference. However, primarily, each user who requires the subscription requests the subscription of the presence data, and after obtaining the permission from the owner of the presence data, each user is registered as the subscriber. Therefore, primarily, each user who participates in the conference or was called must access the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 to request the subscription registration. However, in this embodiment, according to the characteristic of the conference, the PoC management server 5 carries out the proxy subscription registration in a viewpoint in which the subscription of the presence data such as the participation state, the holder of the right to speak and the like is necessary information for the participants (or users who were called) and a viewpoint in which the data communication volume increases in the wireless section when each user is caused to carry out the subscription registration, the communication bandwidth is uselessly wasted, and the progress of the conference becomes slow. Incidentally, the owner of the presence data storage 333a of the conference A presence manager 33a is the conference A manager 53a, and there is no large problem in the proxy subscription registration by the owner.
In addition, in this embodiment, it is requested to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 that the user who carried out the participation response or the conference member is registered into the area 3392 for the subscriber ID in the are 339 of the group III “Content” in the presence group information storage area 3333 of the presence data storage 333a. Thus, it is possible to carry out the content delivery to the user who carried out the participation response or the conference member in the following processing. Incidentally, the calling into the content delivery may be separately carried out without carrying out such a processing.
The conference presence manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 receives the proxy subscription request for the conference members including the user who carried out the calling request from the PoC management server 5, registers the conference members (or participants) into the subscriber list storage area 3335 of the presence data storage 333a, and further registers the conference members (or participants) into the area 3382 for the subscriber IDs in the area 338 of the group II “voice conference” in the presence group information storage area 3333 (step S97). As described above, the presence data manager 331a registers the conference member (or participant) into the area 3392 for the subscriber ID in the area 339 of the group III “Content” in the presence group information storage area 3333. In addition, the conference A presence manager 33a transmits the OK response to the PoC server 5 (step S99). The conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 receives the OK response from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S101). The processing shifts to a processing of
Thus, when the conference members (or participants) are registered in the subscriber list storage area 3335 and the area 3382 for the subscriber IDs in the area 338 of the group II “voice conference” in the presence group information storage area 3333, the presence data of the presence IDs registered in the area 3381 for the presence IDs in the area 338 of the group II “voice conference” is delivered to the conference members (or participants) by the delivery processor 335a. Incidentally, the presence data of the presence ID registered in the area 3391 for the presence ID in the area 339 of the group III “Content” in the presence group information storage area 3333 is delivered to the conference members (or participants) by the delivery processor 335a. However, because the presence data itself has not been registered at this stage, the delivery is not carried out.
Next, the processing subsequent to the terminal K will be explained by using
At this stage, because the participants have not been registered in the presence data storage 333a, the display in which only the conference members and the holder of the right to speak can be grasp is carried out. Then, the presence data processor 915 of the user terminal B replies the OK response to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S109), and the presence data processor 915 of the user terminal A also replies the OK response to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S111). The conference A presence manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 receives the OK response from the user terminals A and B (step S113). The processing shifts to a processing of
Next, the processing subsequent to the terminal L and M will be explained by using
Then, the delivery processor 335a of the conference A presence manager 33a in the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 carries out a notification processing of the presence data (user ID of the holder of the right to speak, user IDs of the conference members, and the user IDs of the participants) of the conference according to the state of the presence data storage 333a (step S123). Here, the presence data of the conference is transmitted to the user terminals A and B. The presence data processor 915 of the user terminal B receives the presence data of the conference from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3, and displays the data on the display device (step S125). Similarly, the presence data processor 915 of the user terminal A receives the presence data of the conference from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3, and displays the data on the display device (step S127).
At this stage, because the participants have been registered into the presence data storage 333a at the step S117, a display in which the conference members, the participants, the holder of the right to speak and users who was called but does not participate can be grasp is carried out. Then, the presence data processor 915 of the user terminal B replies the OK response to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S129), and the presence processor 915 of the user terminal A also replies the OK response to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S131). The conference presence manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 receives the OK responses from the user terminals A and B (step S133). The processing shifts to a processing of
When the conference members were registered for the subscription at the step S97, the steps S115 to S133 are executed for each appearance of the new participant. When the participants were registered for the subscription at the step S97, the steps S115 to S133 are executed for each appearance of the new participant, the presence data is delivered to the users who have been registered for the subscription as the participants, and, furthermore, the steps S95 to S113 are executed and the presence data is delivered to the new participant.
When the processing shown in
That is, the processing shown in
The conference A voice communication manager 71a of the PoC-MCU server 7 receives the voice packets from the user terminal A, and transfers the copy of the voice packets to the IP addresses of the participants, which are stored in the speaker and participant data storage 711a (step S137). The voice conference processor 911 of the client application 91 in the user terminal B receives the voice packets from the PoC-MCU server 7, and outputs the voice relating to the voice packets through a speaker driver and a speaker not shown. Thus, the voice-based teleconference is carried out. Incidentally, the movement of the right to speak is not the main portion of this embodiment. Therefore, the explanation is omitted, here.
Next, the processing subsequent to the terminal P will be explained by using
Primarily, the data of the presence data storage 313a in the user A presence manager 31a can be changed only by the user A. Similarly, the data of the presence data storage 313b in the user B presence manager 31b can be changed only by the user B. However, in this embodiment, in order to smoothly progress the voice conference and reduce the communication volume in the wireless section, the change is permitted to the PoC management server 5, specially. As described above, it is effective that the supervisor authority for the presence data in the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 is granted to the PoC management server 5.
The user A presence manager 31a (and the user B presence manager 31b. However, in the following, because of the duplication, the explanation is omitted.) of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 receives the update registration request of the presence data of the participant from the PoC management server S, and the presence data manager 311 of the user A presence manager 31a stores the presence data such as “BUSY” or the like in association with the presence ID “State” (step S143). The user A presence manager 31a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 transmits the OK response to the PoC management server 5 (step S145). The conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 receives the OK response from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S147).
Thus, when the update of the presence data of the users A and B is carried out, the presence data of the user A or B is notified to the users who are registered as the subscribers of the presence ID “State”. That is, the delivery processor 315 of the user A presence manager 31a in the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 carries out a notification processing of the presence data of the user A according to the state of the presence data storage 313a (step S149). In the example of
Then, the presence processor 915 of the terminal B receives the presence data of the user A from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3, and displays the data on the display device (step S151). Similarly, the presence data processor 915 of the user terminal A receives the presence data of the user B from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3, and displays the data on the display device (step S153). In the other user terminals, the display is changed, similarly. This enables other users who subscribe the state of the participants of the voice-based teleconference to recognize the participants cannot be reached because of BUSY.
Then, the presence data processor 915 of the user terminal B replies the OK response to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S155), and the presence data processor 915 of the user terminal A also replies the OK response to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S157). The user A presence manager 31a and the user B presence manager 31b of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 receives the OK response to the user terminals A and B (step S159).
By carrying out such a processing, the pre-processing for the content delivery is completed.
Next, a processing when a content delivery processing is carried out according to the first embodiment will be explained by using
In addition, after the conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 confirms a setting state of the content transmission right, which is stored in the user data storage 533a, when there is no user who has the content transmission right, the conference A manager 53a generates a presence registration request for the setting of the content transmission right, which has the user ID of the transmission source of the acquisition request of the content transmission right, and transmits the presence registration request to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S175). The conference A manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 receives the presence registration request for the setting of the content transmission right, which has the user ID of the transmission source of the acquisition request of the content transmission right from the PoC management server 5, and registers the user ID into the presence data storage 333a (step S177). Specifically, in the presence data storage 333a, the user ID “UserA” of the transmission source of the acquisition request of the content transmission request is registered to the presence data (
Then, the conference A presence manager 33a replies a notice of the registration completion to the PoC management server 5 (step S179). The conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 receives the notice of the registration completion from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S181).
In addition, the delivery processor 335a in the conference A manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 carries out a notification processing of the presence data (the user ID of the user having the content transmission right) representing has bee set the content transmission right for the user A according to the state of the presence data storage 333a (step S183). Here, the presence data whose presence ID is “SendingUser” and which is stored in the presence data storage 333a, is transmitted to the user terminal B. The presence data processor 915 of the user terminal B receives the presence data representing has been set the content transmission right from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3, and displays the data on the display device (step S185).
The presence data processor 915 of the user terminal B replies the OK response to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S187). The conference A presence manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 receives the OK response from the user terminal B (step S189). Incidentally, the notice may be sent to the user terminal A.
On the other hand, the user of the user terminal A designates a delivery source URI of the content data. In response to this, the content processor 913 in the client application 91 of the user terminal A accepts the designation input of the delivery source URI of the content data from the user (step S191). The processing shifts to a processing of
Shifting to the explanation of the processing in
In addition, the conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 confirms the setting state of the content transmission right, which is stored in the user data storage 533a, and when it is confirmed that the transmission source of the URI has the content transmission right, the conference A manager 53a generates a presence registration request including the URI received at the step S197, and transmits the presence registration request to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S205). When the URI is designated by the user who does not have the content transmission right, the URI is discarded. The conference A presence manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 receives the presence registration request including the URI from the PoC management server 5, and registers the URI into the presence data storage 333a (step S207). Specifically, in the presence data storage 333a, the URI is stored to the presence data (
Then, the conference A manager 53a outputs the URI to the content data acquisition unit 55 to request the content data acquisition unit 55 to acquire the content. In response to this, the content data acquisition unit 55 transmits a content data request according to the URT designated by the user having the content transmission right (step S213). For example, the user ID of the user having the content transmission right may be included in the content data request. The content server 9 corresponding to the URI receives the content data request from the PoC management server 5 (step S215), reads out the content data relating to the request from the content data storage 91, and transmits the read content data to the PoC management server 5 of the requesting source (step S217). When the user ID of the user having the content transmission right is included in the content data request, the user ID may be confirmed. The content data acquisition unit 55 of the PoC management server 5 receives the content data from the content server 9, and stores the content data into the content data storage 535a in the conference A manager 53a of the requesting source (step S219).
Thus, when the content to be delivered to the conference members or the participants, to which the URI is designated, is obtained from the content server 9 by the content data acquisition unit 55, it is possible to deliver the content also to the user who does not have the access right to the URI, for example. As described above, when the PoC management server 5 and the content server 9 are managed by the same administrative entity, there is no problem when the authentication or the like is not carried out for the request from the PoC management server 5. Incidentally, when only the use right is confirmed, the user ID of the user having aforementioned content transmission right is confirmed.
In the following, the processing shifts to the processing of
First, the first example will be explained. When the content data is stored in the content data storage 535a, the conference A manager 53a reads out IP addresses of the participants (here, participating users who do not have the content transmission right. Here, specifically, the user B) of the conference A, which is stored in the user data storage 533a, and the like, and transmits the content data stored in the content data storage 535a to the user terminal B (
When such a processing is carried out, it is possible to share the content data itself, not the URI, with the conference members or the participants, and the conference smoothly proceeds.
Next, the second example will be explained. The conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 transmits the content data stored in the content data storage 535a as the presence data corresponding to the designated URI, to the SIP/SIMPLE server (step S231). When receiving the content data corresponding to the URI from the PoC management server 5 (step S233), the conference A presence manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 presumes the update of the presence data, and carries out a processing to notify the content data as the presence data (step S235). Here, it is assumed that the content data is not transmitted to the user terminal A of the user A having the content transmission right, and is transmitted to other participating users (here, the user B). The presence data processor 915 in the client application 91 of the user terminal B receives the content data from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3, and outputs the content data to the content processor 913. The content processor 913 displays the received content data on the display device (step S237). In addition, the presence data processor 913 in the client application 91 of the user terminal B replies the OK response to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S239). Moreover, the conference A presence manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 receives the OK response (step S241).
By carrying out such a processing, the content data is automatically delivered to the conference members or the participants, and the work of the user is reduced rather than delivering the URI.
Incidentally, in the aforementioned example, it is not confirmed whether or not the content data designated by the URI is usable in the user terminals of the conference members or the participating user other than the user terminal A. As described above, the PoC management server 5 side obtains the media information of the user terminal for each participating user and holds the data as shown in
Furthermore, (1) when the format of the content data is not the format (e.g. GIF in the example of
Thus, because it is possible to deliver the content data according to the user terminal sides, it is possible to proceed with the conference, smoothly.
Incidentally, although it is not described above, the repeal or transfer of the content transmission right can be processed similarly to the normal right to speak. However, in response to the repeal or transfer of the content transmission right, the URI has to be updated to the newly designated URI.
Primarily, although it is required that the load of the server is lightened as much as possible, the processing load may be increased in the first embodiment, because the PoC management server 5 includes the content data acquisition unit 55 and content conversion unit 56. Therefore, for example, the system configuration like
The different between
The content acquisition virtual client 59 may be prepared for each content server 9 if plural content servers 9 exist. In addition, the user having the content transmission right may identify the content acquisition virtual client 59 to be used. Furthermore, for example, the content processor 913 in the client application 91 of the user terminal may automatically set the content acquisition virtual client according to the URI without the user's intention, or for example, options (the content acquisition virtual client 59 for the content server 9, which requires the user ID and password or the content acquisition virtual client 59, which does not require the authentication), which can be understood even by the users may be presented to indirectly make the user designate.
In addition, in case of the system configuration as shown in
In addition, “FetchRequestingUser” is added to the area 340 of the group III “Content” in the presence group information area 3333 as the presence ID in addition to “SendingUser”. However, the presence data whose presence ID is “FetchRequestingUser” may not be delivered.
The presence data stored in the aforementioned area 3365 includes data having the tag data structure as shown, for example, in
Next, a processing flow in this embodiment will be explained by using
When the routing processor 35 of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 receives the acquisition request of the content transmission right, which includes the URI and the additional data, and recognizes that the request is the acquisition request of the content transmission right, the routing processor 35 transfers the request to the PoC management server 5 (step S305). When receiving the acquisition request of the content transmission right, which includes the URI and the additional data (step S307), the conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 replies the ACK response (step S309). When receiving the ACK response from the PoC management server 5, the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 transfers the ACK response to the user terminal A (step S311). The user terminal A receives the ACK response from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S313).
In addition, the conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 refers to the user data storage 533a to confirm the setting state of the content transmission right, and when there is no user who obtains the content transmission right, the conference A manager 53a generates a presence registration request, including the user ID (here, the user ID of the user A) of the acquisition request source of the content transmission right, for the setting of the content transmission right for the acquisition request source of the content transmission right, and transmits the presence registration request to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S315). When receiving the presence registration request, including the user ID of the acquisition request source of the content transmission right, for the setting of the content transmission right for the acquisition request source of the content transmission right, the conference A presence manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 registers the user ID into the presence data storage 333a (step S317). Specifically, in the presence data storage 333a, the user ID “UserA” of the transmission source of the acquisition request of the content transmission right is registered to the presence data (
Then, the conference A presence manager 33a replies a notice of the registration completion to the PoC management server 5 (step S319). The conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 receives the notice of the registration completion from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S321).
In addition, the conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 generates a presence registration request, including the ID (Here, “ContentHandlerA@poc.fj.com”) of the content acquisition virtual client 59, which is included in the additional data of the acquisition request of the content transmission right, for the setting of the content acquisition virtual client, and transmits the presence registration request to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S323). When receiving, from the PoC management server 5, the presence registration request, including the ID of the content acquisition virtual client 59, for the setting of the content acquisition virtual client, the conference A manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 registers the ID into the presence data storage 333a (step S325). Specifically, in the presence data storage 333a, the ID “ContentHandlerA@poc.fj.com” of the content acquisition virtual client 59 is registered to the presence data (
Incidentally, when the ID of the content acquisition virtual client 59 is not included in the additional data of the acquisition request of the content transmission right, which was received from the user terminal A, the conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 may activate or select an appropriate content acquisition virtual client 59. In addition, in certain circumstances, when the content acquisition virtual client 59 included in the additional data of the acquisition request of the content transmission right, which was received from the user terminal A can not be used, the conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 may activate or select an appropriate content acquisition virtual client 59, similarly to a case where there is no designation.
Then, the conference A presence manager 33a replies a notice of the registration completion to the PoC management server 5 (step S327). The conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 receives the notice of the registration completion from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S329). The processing shifts to a processing of
First, the delivery processor 335a in the conference A presence manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 carries out a notification processing of the presence data representing has been set the content transmission right for the user ID (user A) of the user having the content transmission right according to the state of the presence data storage 333a (step S331). Here, the delivery processor 335a transmits the presence data whose presence ID is “SendingUser”, which is stored in the presence data storage 333a. The presence data processor 915 of the user terminal B receives the presence data representing has been set the content transmission right from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3, and displays the presence data on the display device (step S333).
The presence data processor 915 of the user terminal B replies the OK response to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S335). The conference A manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 receives the OK response from the user terminal B (step S337).
In addition, the conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 transmits, to the content acquisition virtual client 59, the URI of the content transmission source, which is included in the acquisition request of the content transmission right and the ID and password (when designated) included in the additional data, according to the ID of the content acquisition virtual client 59, which is included in the additional data of the acquisition request of the content transmission right (step S339). The content acquisition virtual client 59 receives the URI of the delivery source and the ID and password (when designated) from the conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 (step S341). In addition, the content acquisition virtual client 59 replies the OK response to the conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 (step S343). The conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 receives the OK response from the content acquisition virtual client 59 (step 8345).
Furthermore, the content acquisition virtual client 59 transmits, to the content server 9, a content data request including the ID and password (when designated) according to the URI of the delivery source (step S347). When receiving the content data request including the ID and password (when designated) from the content acquisition virtual client 59 (step S349), the content server 9 carries out the well-known authentication processing by using the ID and password, reads out the pertinent content data from the content data storage 91 when the authentication succeeded, and transmits the content data to the content acquisition virtual client 59 (step S351). Incidentally, when the authentication is failed, or when the ID and password were not received even though the authentication is necessary, the content data is not transmitted. The content acquisition virtual client 59 receives the content data from the content server 9 (step S353), and further transmits the content data to the conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 (step S355). When receiving the content data from the content acquisition virtual client 59, the conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 stores the content data into the content data storage 535a (step S357). The conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 replies the OK response to the content acquisition virtual client 59 (step S359). The content acquisition virtual client 59 receives the OK response from the conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 (step S361). Because the processing of the content acquisition virtual client 59 is completed at this stage, it becomes possible to respond to another request. In addition, the thread may be terminated. The processing shifts to the processing in
By adopting such a configuration, even in a case where the authentication is required, such as a case where there is no cooperation relationship between the PoC management server 5 and the content server 9, it is possible to obtain the content data on behalf of the user A and deliver the content data to the conference participating users or the like.
Then, the conference A manager 53a reads out the IP addresses and the like of the participants of the conference A, which are stored in the user data storage 533a, and transmits the content data usable in the user terminal A, which is stored in the content data storage 535a to the user terminal A (step S367). The content processor 913 of the user terminal A receives the content data from the PoC management server 5, and displays the content data on the display device (step S369). The content processor 913 in the client application 91 of the user terminal A replies the OK response to the Poc management server (step S371). The conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 receives the OK response from the user terminal A (step S373). There is a case where the content data is not transmitted to the user terminal A of the user A having the content transmission right.
In addition, the conference A manager 53a transmits the content data usable in the user terminal B, which is stored in the content data storage 535a, to the user terminal B (step S367). The content processor 913 of the user terminal B receives the content data from the PoC management server 5, and displays the content data on the display device (step S375). The content processor 913 in the client application 91 of the user terminal B replies the OK response to the PoC management server 5 (step S377). The conference A manager 53a of the PoC management server 5 receives the OK response to the user terminal B (step S379).
Thus, it is possible to share the content with the user terminals of the conference participants and smoothly proceed with the conference.
In addition, because the content acquisition processing is shared with the content acquisition virtual clients 59, a configuration in which the load distribution is possible is adopted.
A processing as shown in
First, the content converter 56 of the PoC management server S identifies the data format of the content data stored in the content data storage 535a (step S381). In addition, the content converter 56 obtains data concerning the format (e.g.
Then, the conference A manager 53a transmits the content data stored in the content data storage 535a as the presence data corresponding to the URI to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S385).
When receiving the content data corresponding to the URI from the PoC management server 5 (step S387), the conference A presence manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 presumes the update of the presence data, and carries out a processing to notify the content data as the presence data (step S389). The presence data processor 915 in the client application 91 of the user terminal A receives the content data from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3, and outputs the content data to the content processor 913. The content processor 913 displays the received content data on the display device (step S391). In addition, the presence data processor 915 in the client application 91 of the user terminal A replies the OK response to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S393). Moreover, the conference A presence manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 receives the OK response (step S395). Incidentally, the content data may not be sent to the user terminal A.
Furthermore, the conference A presence manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 presumes the update of the presence data, and notifies the user terminal B of the content data as the presence data (step S389). The presence data processor 915 in the client application of the user terminal B receives the content data from the SIP/SIMPLE server 3, and outputs the content data to the content processor 913. The content processor 913 displays the received content data on the display device (step S396). In addition, the presence data processor 915 in the client application 91 of the user terminal B replies the OK response to the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 (step S397). Moreover, the conference A presence manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 receives the OK response (step S399).
When the content converter 56 of the PoC management server 5 judges that a specific user terminal cannot use the content data, the data to instruct not to send the content data for the user ID of the specific user terminal may be notified to the PoC management server 5, and the conference A presence manager 33a of the SIP/SIMPLE server 3 may not deliver the content data. Thus, the bandwidth in the wireless section is not uselessly consumed.
When carrying out the processing as shown in
As described above, although the embodiments of this invention are described, this invention is not limited to these. For example, the functional block diagrams are mere examples, and the actual configuration may be different from those. Not only the server configuration but also the functional blocks may not correspond to the actual program modules.
In addition, in the aforementioned example, it is shown, as an example, that the content converter 56 carries out the format conversion. However, for example, when there is limitation in the data size of the content data usable in the user terminal, the data size may be reduced, for example, by lowering the resolution, or adopting the nonreciprocal compression to increase the compression ratio.
Furthermore, the data as shown in
Incidentally, the SIP/SIMPLE server 3, the PoC management server 5, the PoC-MCU server 7 and the content server 9 are computer devices as shown in
In addition, the user terminal can be represented by the similar configuration by providing a storage device such as a flash memory instead of the HDD 2505 and drive device 2513.
This application is a continuing application, filed under 35 U.S.C. section 111(a), of International Application PCT/JP2006/301547, filed Jan. 31, 2006.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/JP2006/301547 | Jan 2006 | US |
Child | 12173320 | US |