Patent ID: 8635276

Claim:
A network terminal including a memory and hardware, comprising: a plurality of communication units provided in one to one correspondence with a plurality of user environments that are configured to run in parallel on the network terminal connected to an interface device, each communication unit being configured to implement an Internet Protocol telephone call in the corresponding user environment; a plurality of collaborating units provided in one to one correspondence with the plurality of communication units, each collaborating unit being configured to perform a collaborative control on the corresponding communication unit and the interface device to thereby establish communications between the interface device and the corresponding communication unit; and a monitoring unit that monitors whether any of the collaborating units is performing the collaborative control, wherein one of the plurality of collaborating units performs the collaborative control when the subject collaborating unit of the plurality of collaborating units receives: notification from the monitoring unit indicating that none of the plurality of collaborating units is performing a collaborative control; and notification from the interface device specifying the subject collaborating unit as a specified collaborating unit to perform the collaborating control on the subject collaborating unit and the interface device.