Patent ID: 8665306

Claim:
A communication terminal to transmit sound data to a counterpart terminal through a network, the communication terminal comprising: a sound input output interface to receive a sound signal input from a sound input device connected to the sound input output interface; a processor configured to: obtain information for identifying a type of the sound input device; determine whether the sound input device is capable of notifying the communication terminal of a mute state of the sound input device based on the obtained type of the sound input device to generate a determination result, the mute state of the sound input device indicating whether a mute function of the sound input device is activated or inactivated; determine the mute state of the sound input device based on notification received from the sound input device when the determination result indicates that the sound input device is capable of notifying the communication terminal of the mute state of the sound input device; determine whether the mute state of the sound input device is active based on a volume level of the sound signal input to the sound input output interface from the sound input device when the determination result indicates that the sound input device is not capable of notifying the communication terminal of the mute state of the sound input device; and generate a message including identification information for identifying the communication terminal, mute state data indicating a mute state of the communication terminal, and identification information for identifying a destination apparatus; and a network interface to send the message generated by the processor to the destination apparatus through the network to cause the counterpart terminal to output data based on the mute state data extracted from the message.