Patent ID: 7262791

Claim:
A communication apparatus comprising: a reception unit for receiving frame images generated from a plurality of cameras via a network in a summary mode in which frame images generated from a plurality of cameras are displayed automatically and independently of users' control operation; an output unit for outputting the frame images received by said reception unit in order to display the frame images for each respective communication terminal on a display unit as multiple image displays corresponding respectively to each of the plurality of cameras; a detection unit for automatically detecting whether or not, for each respective camera, a current frame image displayed by the display unit is updated by a next frame image being received by the reception unit without users' control operation in the summary mode; and a notification unit for causing the display unit to display, for each respective one of the multiple image displays, an icon indicating an update state of the received frame images for the respective image display, wherein the icon is displayed on a predetermined area of the display unit at a time when the corresponding frame image is displayed, wherein said notification unit causes a flashing icon to be displayed corresponding to an updating state when the detection unit detects that a current frame image displayed by the display unit is updated by a next frame image, and causes a non-flashing icon to be displayed corresponding to a non-updating state when the detection unit detects that a current frame image displayed by the display unit is not updated by a next frame image, wherein, in the summary mode, receiving one frame image from the camera corresponds to displaying the flashing icon one time and display of the non-flashing icon corresponds to a period of time between receiving the one frame image from the camera and receiving a subsequent frame image from the camera, and wherein said notification unit does not perform notification when a frame rate of the received frame images is high, and performs notification when the frame rate is reduced.