Conference system and its multimedia data storage method

According to one embodiment, a conference system which is provided with a plurality of communication terminals, a communication network connecting the plurality of communication terminals thereto and forming a communication environment, and a server apparatus actualizing a conference among users by using the communication network, wherein each of the communication terminals includes a notice processor notifying an acquisition request including the fact of a request to acquire multimedia data and identification information to the server apparatus, and a storage unit storing the multimedia data, and the server apparatus includes a memory unit associating a communication terminal that is a request origin with the identification information, and storing them, an inquiry processor inquiring a possibility to become the route of the multimedia data, and a transmission processor transmitting the multimedia data to the communication terminal of the request origin via the communication terminal of the route.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-320376, filed Nov. 28, 2006, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

One embodiment of the invention relates to a conference system which is actualized as one application of a telephone system to be formed by using, for example, an Internet Protocol (IP) technique and its multimedia data storage method.

2. Description of the Related Art

A system which actualizes a voice communication via a best-effort type communication network such as the Internet is well known. The system of this kind is referred to as an IP telephone system or Voice over IP (VoIP), and is applied not only to a wide-area telephone network but also to a local communication network such as a private telephone network. Hereinafter, a telephone terminal in the system of this kind is referred to as an IP telephone including a fixed telephone and a software-implemented telephone (softphone). In recent years, a conference system also called a visual communication system (VCS) by using the system of this kind has become widely used (for example, refer to Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-115738).

By the way, in the existing technique, the conference system records video data and voice data of a video conference to a dedicated server by a terminal operation performed by a user who is actually participating in a conference. A user who wants to refer these items of the data obtains the data in a manner to receive steam distribution of the data or to download the data from the server.

The existing technique has to be provided with a server to store the data showing progress of the conference. If it is assumed that such a function is provided for the existing server, it is not preferable for the existing server because its original server function might be impaired by the provided function because the server consumes a large amount of resources. A user who wants to browse or listen multimedia data (including video and voice) has to access the server; it takes a long time for the access and sometimes, depending on the line conditions, irritates the user.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments according to the invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. In general, according to one embodiment of the invention, a conference system which is provided with a plurality of communication terminals, a communication network which connects the plurality of communication terminals thereto and forms a communication environment among the communication terminals, and a server apparatus which actualizes a conference among users of the plurality of communication terminals by using the communication network, wherein each of the communication terminals comprises: a notice processor which notifies an acquisition request including the fact of a request to acquire multimedia data regarding the conference and identification information of a communication terminal to be a route of the multimedia data to the server apparatus before starting the conference; and a storage unit which stores the multimedia data to be transmitted via the communication terminal of the route, and the server apparatus comprises: a memory unit which associates a communication terminal that is a request origin with the identification information, and stores them when the acquisition request is notified; an inquiry processor which inquires a possibility to become the route of the multimedia data to the communication terminal of the route; and a transmission processor which transmits the multimedia data to the communication terminal of the request origin via the communication terminal of the route when a permission response is received from the communication terminal of the route in response to the inquiry.

According to an embodiment,FIG. 1shows a system view of a conference system regarding the present invention. In the system, a plurality of IP telephones11-1n, a plurality of personal computer (PC) terminals21-2n, a software-implemented PC telephone (softphone) terminal100, an application server3and a private branch exchange (PBX)4are connected with one another via a LAN/IP network. The application server3implements call connection processing in response to a call connection request of inter-IP telephone11-1n, or call connection processing in response to a call connection request from an outside line telephone from a public network (not shown). The PBX4implements call control regarding the softphone terminal100and the IP telephones11-1n(generically referred to as IP terminals) through a cooperative operation with the application server3. The softphone is a computer with software for the voice communication processing installed therein.

The system ofFIG. 1especially uses a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to conduct a variety of types of control related to the voice communication. When each IP terminal operates, the system uses the SIP to register each IP address and telephone number of each IP terminal. The application server3associates between the IP address and the telephone number of each IP telephone to manage them through a database DB. Further, each of the IP telephones11-1nis associated with each of the PC terminals21-2none-to-one, respectively, by using the known technique.

FIG. 2shows a functional block diagram showing the IP telephones11-1ninFIG. 1. Each of the IP telephones11-1nincludes an interface unit41to be connected to the LAN/IP network through a LAN cable60, a display40, a controller42and a storage unit43. Among of them, the display40is a liquid crystal display (LCD), and displays a variety of messages visually. The storage unit43is a hard disk or a large-capacity semiconductor memory etc., and is used to store multimedia data such as video and voice data related to the conference.

The controller42includes a notice processor42a. When the user of the IP telephone requires the storage of video data of the conference because the user becomes impossible to participate in the conference, the notice processor42anotifies an acquisition request to the application server3in response to an operation showing the fact of the requirement. The acquisition request includes the fact of the requirement to acquire the video and voice data of the conference and identification information of the IP terminal to be a route of the video data of the conference.

FIG. 3shows a functional block view showing the application server3ofFIG. 1. The application server3is provided with a central processing unit31, a memory32and an exchanging processor33. The exchanging processor33is connected to the LAN/IP network to conduct a variety of kinds of call termination processing (group call termination, transfer, etc.) under the control by the processing unit31. The memory32stores a client information table. The client information table is a table in which the IP terminal of a request origin and identification information (ID information, IP address, etc.) of the IP terminal on the route are associated with each other.

The processing unit31includes an inquiry processor31aand a transmission processor31bas a processing function regarding the embodiment. The inquiry processor31ainquires a possibility to be the route of the video data of the conference to the IP terminal on the route specified by the identification information included in the acquisition request before the start of data communication in the conference. When receiving a permission response from the IP terminal on the route in response to the inquiry, the transmission processor31btransmits the video data of the conference to the IP terminal of the request origin via the IP terminal. Next, operations in the given configuration will be described with reference toFIG. 4andFIG. 5.

FIG. 4shows a schematic view showing a sequence in storing multimedia data in the system ofFIG. 1.FIG. 5shows a schematic view showing flows of the sequence ofFIG. 4. In bothFIG. 4andFIG. 5, the IP terminal is called a client and the application server is called a server s1. A client c1corresponds to the softphone terminal100, a client c2corresponds to the IP telephone12and a client c3corresponds to the IP telephone1n.

Now, the client c1intends not to participate in a scheduled video conference, but it wants to acquire the video and voice data of the conference. Since the client c1becomes impossible to participate in the conference, through it has been scheduled to participate therein, it wants to acquire the video and voice data of the conference. In such a case, the client c1transmits the acquisition request to the server s1in advance. Here, it is assumed that an acquisition request, specifying the client c2that is one of conference members as the route, is notified.

The server s1which has received the acquisition request records the user name of the client c1that is the request origin in a monitor column corresponding to the client c2in a client information table inFIG. 5. Thereby, the fact of the acquisition request for the data from the client c1is recorded.

When a video conference between the client c2and the client c3starts and the system completes preparation of a video communication, the server s1refers to the client information table in order to control the video communication. InFIG. 5, the clients to be controlled include the client c2which will receive an acquisition request from another client. Therefore, the server s1firstly inquires a possibility of the information acquisition to the client c2before transmitting a video communication start signal showing the fact of the start of the video communication. Here, the possibility of the information acquisition is transmitted by putting it on an SIP message (INVITE, NOTIFY, etc.).

The display40of the client c2who has been inquired displays a dialog to select permission or rejection. The client c2selects either the permission or the rejection. Thereby, a response signal is returned to the server s1. If the response signal indicates the rejection, the server s1transmits the video communication start signal to the client c2. If the response signal indicates the permission, the server s1transmits the video communication start signal including a transmission request (transmission destination is IP address of client c1) of the video data to the client c2.

The client c2who has received the video communication start signal from the server s1starts a video communication with the client c3. Here, if the video communication start signal has included the transmission request, the client c2transmits the video data of the started video communication to the client c1that is the request origin.

Further, the server s1utilizes a third party call control function owned by the PBX4which manages voice data on a telephone call and makes the softphone terminal100of the client c1participate the voice communication between the IP telephone12of the client c2and the IP telephone in of the client c3. That is, the server s1sends PBX4a command to make the softphone terminal100participate the voice communication. When the softphone terminal100participates in the voice communication, the PBX4transmits the voice data of the conference to the client c1.

The client c1records and stores the video data received from the client c2and the voice data received from the PBX4in the storage unit43the respective files. When the video communication and the video conference between the client c2and the client c3terminates, information transmission to the client c1is automatically terminates.

At the client c1with both the video data and the voice data stored therein, to browse both the data, the client c1utilizes the existing function of the client software which synchronizes and reproduces on the basis of time information included in a realtime transport protocol (RTP) packet.

As mentioned above, in the embodiment, in the conference system utilizing the IP technology, the IP terminal notifies the transmission request of the multimedia data regarding the conference before the start of the conference to the application server3. The application server3associates between the IP terminal on the route included in the transmission request and the IP terminal of the request origin, and records them in the client information table. Prior to the start of video communication in the conference, the application server3inquires the possibility of video data relay of the conference to the IP terminal on the route. If the relay is permitted, the application server3transmits the video data of the conference to the IP terminal of the request origin via the IP terminal on the route. The application server3makes the IP terminal of the request origin participate in the voice communication of the conference by means of the PBX4. After the participation in the voice communication, the PBX4transmits the voice data of the conference to the IP terminal of the request origin. The IP terminal which has received the video and the voice data of the conference records both the data in the storage unit43placed locally.

As the sequence for storing the multimedia data regarding the conference has performed the processing given above, the multimedia data is locally stored in the IP terminals of the clients, the system does not need to provide a dedicated server for data storage in the system. In other words, the user who dose not participate in the conference, but wants to know content of the conference, or the user who cannot participate in the conference suddenly benefits from the local recording of the multimedia data in its own terminal (telephone or PC terminal). Therefore, the user may acquire accurate information with ease and browse the information without depending on any server. Further, the user who does not participate in the conference may acquire the multimedia data without imposing trouble on actual participants. According to these given advantages, the embodiment of the invention may provide the conference system configured to readily acquire the multimedia data regarding the conference and multimedia data storage method of the system.

The present invention is not limited to the foregoing embodiments. For example, although each of the aforementioned embodiment has been described about the example which transmits the video data of the conference to the IP terminal of the request origin by setting the IP terminal as the route, even the case in which the video data is transmitted to the IP terminal of the request origin via at least either the IP terminal or the PC terminal related to the IP terminal may be embodied in a similar way.