Patent ID: 9686361
Date: 2017-06-20
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A communication device that communicates with a plurality of terminal devices, including a first terminal device and a second terminal device, via a network, the communication device comprising: processing circuitry coupled to a memory, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: receive, from the first terminal device, a connection establishment request containing at least terminal identification information of the first terminal device; establish a communication connection with the first terminal device, the communication connection established with the first terminal device being maintained absent an explicit operation of interrupting the communication connection; store the terminal identification information of the first terminal device and first terminal connection information indicating the communication connection established with the first terminal device so that the terminal identification information of the first terminal device and the first terminal connection information are associated with each other; receive, from the second terminal device, a connection establishment request containing at least terminal identification information of the second terminal device; establish a communication connection with the second terminal device, the communication connection established with the second terminal device being maintained absent an explicit operation of interrupting the communication connection; store the terminal identification information of the second terminal device and second terminal connection information indicating the communication connection established with the second terminal device so that the terminal identification information of the second terminal device and the second terminal connection information are associated with each other; generate forwarding information containing the first terminal connection information and the second terminal connection information; receive, from the first terminal device, a message to be transmitted from the first terminal device to the second terminal device using the communication connection established with the first terminal device; specify the communication connection established with the second terminal device based on the forwarding information contained in the received message; and forward the received message containing the forwarding information to the second terminal device using the specified communication connection.