Patent ID: 7680121

Claim:
A management apparatus that manages terminal information, comprising: reception means for receiving a search request from a first terminal, wherein the first terminal is connected to a first network, and wherein a second terminal is connected to the first network; storage means storing a session information table identifying communication sessions between two or more terminals, and including, for each communication session, network address in formation of said two or more terminals and status information of said communication session, wherein the status information comprises one of: (1) said two or more terminals are in communication, (2) said two or more terminals are establishing communication, and (3) said two or more terminals are disconnecting from communication; session management means for receiving new session information including network address information of said two or more terminals, and updating the session information table based on the received new session information; searching means for searching for a second network using said session information table, such that a third terminal is connected to the second network and the third terminal is a telephone communication partner of the second terminal and is in communication with the second terminal, and wherein network address and status information of the first network to which the first and second terminals are connected is employed in said searching; and reply means for returning, to the first terminal, terminal information on a fourth terminal in a case where the second terminal connected to the first network is performing a telephone communication with the third terminal connected to the second network, wherein the fourth terminal is connected to the second network.